I took part yesterday in a London Photowalk hosted by Daniel Davies.
It’s the first time I’ve done a photowalk and the reason I took part in this one was because of an interesting format for the walk.
Rather than walking about snapping photos, there were the following restrictions:
1) We were allowed a maximum of 36 exposures during the walk
2) We set the ISO at the beginning and it couldn’t be changed.
3) The display on the back of the camera was taped over so we didn’t know how we were doing
What made this interesting is that we’re taking the principles of film photography and applying it to the modern technology. By giving us these self imposed restrictions makes us really slow down and really think about our composition before taking the shot.
I knew it would be an adjustment (the last time I shot film was in college), and it was a bit more of an adjustment than I expected. I’m not one to waste shots as it is, but by restricting the exposures to 36 and hiding the display really emphasised this.
At the end of the 2 hour walk I was well under the 36 allowed shots, so I rushed the last few … and it shows.
I took 33 alltogether and we sat in the pub at Tower Bridge (we started at London Bridge) with hot drinks to thaw our frozen fingers while we reviewed the shots on a laptop.
If you’re interested in seeing my pictures, then click on either the top image or one of the images below
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Not much happening at the moment so I thought I’d blog about some commercial photography I did for the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) in mid-July when they were opening a couple of new Hi-Tech Ponds sponsored by Thames Water to add to their park experience.
The 42 hectare London Wetland Centre in Barnes (London) is regarded as the best urban wildlife site in Europe and, as I’d never been before, it was something I was looking forward to.
When the day came it was a scorcher.
The temperature was hovering around 28-30 Celsius which wasn’t ideal when I was carrying around 10kg of equipment on my back and 3kg in my hands, but the scenery in the hot summer sun was stunning.
My task was to photograph the opening of the new Interactive Digital Pond as well as their Pond Safari, a remote-controlled underwater camera pond (that water was looking very tempting in that heat).
They were opened by TV wildlife presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff who was great to work with and sharing her love for wildlife with the kids.
Following the 2 unveilings I was to take some general scenery images for the WWT to put in their image library which would be used for future advertising, poster, banners etc.
My contact for the day was the very knowledgeable Jamie Wyver and we walked around the park with Jamie showing me the areas of the park which he wanted photographed. We made an efficient team with him getting disclaimer signatures from parents and me getting the shots of the landscape.
At the end of the day the images were given to the WWT to put into their image library for press releases and to Thames Water for their own press releases.
It was a longer day than I expected, but the park was such an amazing place to visit and the time flew by.
Who knew such a jewel sits virtually in the middle of London?
More pics below:
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I know which direction I want to move my photography and with that in mind I started looking for workshops that would broaden my experience in the disciplines that interest me.
Bert Stephani is a Commercial and portrait photographer based in Belgium and has become well known through his videos on Youtube and workshops where he openly shares his knowledge and experience. He also co-founded the LIME project with Pieter Van Impe, a Belgian Wedding Photographer, and the ethos of LIME is Learn, Inspire, Motivate, Experience.
Bert occasionally gives 2 and 5 day workshops in Belgium around his busy schedule, but I was unable to attend some earlier in the year due to some bookings, so I dropped him a mail about doing one in the UK later in the year. He said, “Sure, you arrange it and I’ll come over”
Fast forward 5 months and I’m standing in Heathrow Terminal 5 with my girlfriend on a cool Sunday evening holding a sheet of A4 scrawled with “The Varnisher” in black marker. Meanwhile a 6’6″ Belgian wanders out of Arrivals with a big grin and a 50mm f/1.4 mounted 5DMkII slung over his shoulder and shakes my hand with one of his big paws.
Bert is in the UK.
For 2 sunny hot days in early September, Bert guided us through one of his Location Lighting workshops “Seeing the Light”.
Day 1 was indoors where he covered the management of light within composition and talked us through the process of making images from editorial and advertising assignments which the group thought up for him.
We used the Richmond RACC Drama room as it was spacious enough for the group and had lots of props and clothing which we used in the assignments and for goofing about in the breaks.
On day 2 we were running about Richmond by the towpaths, bridges and in the parks in groups of 3 with a couple of models and a make-up artist while Bert gave us assignments. Although the workshop ended at 18:00, Bert and a few of us headed into Canary Wharf for some food and then we did some night shots around the unique architecture that Canary Wharf provided.
Apart from being approached by Canary Wharf Security, where a copy of our permit sated his questions, the workshop seemed to go pretty much like clockwork. The people that signed up for the workshop were a relaxed and creative crowd and that helped to make the workshop a great success.
Wednesday came and a relaxed Bert headed back to Terminal 5 with some presents for his family
He landed, he LIME’d, he left.
Or as my girlfriend says, “Veni, vidi, visa ….. I came, I saw, I shopped”
Our talented make-up artist was Emma Ridgers: www.fabulousyou.co.uk
Male Model – Nick Crispini: www.crispini.co.uk
Female Model – Prabha Shiyani: Prabha at Usana.com
Images from the group are here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1228981@N23/
Slideshow Below
On September the 7th and 8th Bert Stephani will be giving a 2-day Portrait Lighting workshop in London, England.
The Workshop:
On Monday, we’ll start out by going over the basics of light. We’re going to learn to recognize good light and shape bad light into good light.
In the afternoon we are going to learn how to MAKE the light with small flashes and mix ambient light with flash.
Bert will also discuss equipment choices and will squeeze in lots of tricks of the trade. With lots of real life examples and mini-shoots, we’ll make the theoretical part easy to digest.
On Tuesday, you’ll get the chance to put everything you’ve learned into practice on a location shooting day. You’ll get some fun assignments, that you will work on in small groups under Bert’s guidance.
You don’t need any experience with flash, tons of expensive gear or a degree in photography to benefit from this workshop. The motivation to improve your photography, is all you need.
The main focus on the workshop days will be lighting, but you can ask any questions you like, from technical to the business of photography.
BONUS:
Those attending will get the chance to win a California Sunbounce Micro-Mini (rrp £120) during the workshop
Everyone who comes will also receive a small pack of colour correction gels big enough to fit their hotshoe flashes
2x 1/4 CTO (Lee 206)
2x 1/2 CTO (Lee 205)
1x Fluor 5700k (Lee 241)
1x Fluor 4300k (Lee 242)
1x Fluor 3600k (Lee 243)
Workshop Location:
The workshop will be held in the heart of Richmond in the Parkshot Richmond Adult Community College (RACC) building – about 2 minutes walk from Richmond station and is also easily accessible by road, tube and bus.
The first day will be in one or 2 of the college’s rooms and we will also have run of the corridors and the gardens too if required. The second day we’ll be exploring different locations in a walking distance in and around Richmond†. On both days the workshop we will gather at 09:30 and start at 10:00 and aim to finish at around 18:00.
Directions and other information and forms will be emailed to each participant prior to the Workshop
† Final location to be booked. We’ll update this page once finalised
Workshop Pricing:
To celebrate first classes with Bert in the UK, this workshop is temporarily offered at the introductory price of 220GBP*.
We may have some models and a make-up artist lined up for our practical day. If they come then they will be with us on a TFCD basis, so it’ll be courteous to supply to them some polished images for their portfolio to thank them for their time
* All prices include UK VAT
If you wish to book your place on this workshop, please use the Registration/Payment link below.
Bert Stephani is an internationally known professional photographer, mostly known for his creative portraiture, commercial work and his lighting style. He’s also a passionate teacher who’s frequently asked to conduct workshops, seminars and lectures in Belgium and the rest of Europe. Bert doesn’t believe in ’secrets’ and is always willing to share everything he knows in his workshops
Bert became known initially for his ’Confessions of a Photographer’ videos on youtube where he takes us on portrait shoots and talks openly about technique and the processes going through his head when he’s working.
Since then he also started the LIME project with his friend Pieter Van Impe and the mission behind lime being:
Learn, Inspire, Motivate, Experience (L.I.M.E.) A resource for photographers, by photographers.
Their ethos is very much about sharing their experience with other photographers and don’t believe in keeping ’trade secrets’
If there are no more places and you wish to be notified in case someone drops out,
then leave us your contact details and we’ll email you
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Refund Policy
Registration
