NathanPhoto Blog

Hello welcome to my blog as mylifeasaphotographer. Here I'll talk, so feel free to chip in at any point or find me here at www.nathanphoto.co.uk

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My 2020 in images

What. A. Year / End of an era

What can you say about this year that hasn’t already been said?  Not really that much, so I’ll just add in my 3 words to the reviews and as such, they are:

What. A. Year.

Each year I’ve done an end of year review where I select 12 images, one from each month that sums up what NathanPhoto did, saw or was. The Image choice was tough this year as what makes an image, a “NathanPhoto image” up for selection rather an image that was more suited to one of my (new) other hats was difficult. The way I did it before when Nathan Photo was my main work was if an image was paid for or commissioned or something relating to a job then that was up for selection. As I was quite busy then it made it easy to do that. This year NathanPhoto had mainly been about stock, Insta, keeping work going and a period of reflection on what it is.

The image choices range from taken for Insta to tap into current thinking, playing to a theme, a way to shoot stuff I hadn’t shot and photographing my surroundings. Not that far from a normal year but this year with intriguing results??

Hopefully the images speak for themselves but as a fun game here is a caption to describe each image so can you match these 12-word descriptions to each of the images, that will hopefully give you the month they were taken:

A month of change starting with what I put into my body. Good to love this month, a rose by any other name would. Early morning light starts to catch things we haven’t seen since when? More time means Image making trends start to flourish, this is mine. Time spent in the company of others leads to thought and reflection. Old days I would have stopped to make image, now it’s drive-by. Summer in the country gives time to see things that work wouldn’t. A rare trip out in a post covid world, see what’s different. Back to a new normal and good to see a loved landmark. Changing of a season leads to colour and beauty in unexpected place. Weekend walk for supplies and what’s that? I’ll be glad to leave. This time of year leads to advent in an attempt of recapturing

That fun? Let me know what you got and what 12 words would you use to describe 2020? Make it more difficult by not swearing.

Now with this year and with the fact that I haven’t been working freelance very much as a lot of energy was poured into my MA, day job and just simply existing in this year…I now see NathanPhoto existing in a world where I go after the jobs I want rather than what I need to do and see my 30 year career as something I will draw upon as part of my teaching practice. It strikes me as funny when I type this as the word career has 2 distinct meanings that in my case don’t seem that far apart in a description of my life as NathanPhoto...I know I’m incredibly lucky that I can do this as Covid19 put pay to a lot of peoples work, careers and lives but I had been working at this before this started as I was at a sort of crossroads anyway.

So looking at the images I’ve seen a change in style and have noticed a few tech things as well, noticing that my long lenses only work well in good light conditions was one of them. Speaking on a technical point I have changed my gear to accommodate this new direction, so I’m on the lookout for a new second body with a 7dmk2 coming out in front. The act of gafferring them up may need to be looked at as well.. Which is a bit of a shock thought as a gaffertaped camera was a major part of NathanPhoto identity..

All change.

Thank you for reading and hope you are safe and well.

Reach out if you need to speak to someone.

Do what you can.

Be nice.

Hopefully see you all in 2021.

[nathanphotoblog]

Highlights of #lifeasNathanPhoto 2018

What a mixed year this has been fro NathanPhoto, from one extreme to the other with new challenges and old obstacles but we got through it !  

As I’ve done for a few years I’ve put my images of 2018 together and they’re here http://www.nathanphoto.co.uk/images-of-2018/ as you can see there has been some great jobs, one noticeable factor is the higher proportion of projects that have made the cut. More so than in previous years this is due in part to a conscious refocusing of my work to actively include more project based work like this, and coupled with my MA it’s allowed me to shoot more of this type of work. Project wise we have New, New Europe in there, plus an MA project on Urban Surfaces as well as some street too, do they stand out too much or do they fit fine? Have a look and let me know.

Paid for workwise as well as Laura and Dan’s fantastic wedding, I’ve been lucky enough to have had some fantastic theatre jobs this year with Opera De La Luna, Matthew Bourne and Early Doors at The Lowry all making the cut, and yes after my last post there’s a few club images in there too with NYE but a subtle change with the addition of the kids rave Big Fish, Little Fish. With a couple more images there we have 2018 in pictures, not a bad year at all if I do say so myself.

Looking back has helped me focus on what I’ve missed last year, pointing out what I’d like to do this year, in the upcoming folder we have a few projects that may or may not see fruition, a portrait project that should be quite interesting as well as a location based one that is tying in with my studies, defintley want to shoot a lot more fashion stuff this year plus I’m still looking for a long term documentary project, couple all that with the on-going monolith of New, New Europe then it all looks like a busy year, but if you’re reading this and thinking I’m far too busy, I’m not ! I’m still one hundred per cent available for freelance work so get in touch if you have anything, same contact details as ever.

Looking into the crystal ball I foresee 2019 has a lot of challenges ahead but like Canute proved there’s no way of stopping their arrival, so year number 19 past the millennium lets see what you’re made of?

Hopefully more equality, no brexit, a decrease in global warming, increased peace and a lot more happiness all round.

Thanks for reading and hopefully see you all soon.

[nathanphotoblog]

nye

So I managed to retire myself this week without planning it, for the first time in 25+years I’m not doing any sort of photographic documentation work on the turn of the year and it’s even longer if you take into account that for most of my adult working life I’ve done some sort of work on the eve. Thinking purely photographically though it’s been at least since the early 90’s that I’ve photographed a party, a club night, an event,

I start thinking is this a repeat of my gig photographic career or more akin to my pap career? Have I told (bored) you with these stories? Should I?

So maybe this needs a little background, so here it is as follows, obvs this is my interpretation.

I’d approached this year with trepidation with clubwork, once a massive staple of my paid for work. I’d started to get older, busier, less energy but was still enjoying the ones that made the effort (that’s you Pop Curious) and still in my opinion producing the goods, although, the youngsters coming into the scene seemed to have a very differing idea of what was good (they couldn’t put it into words or communicate it any shape or form) but they knew what worked and maybe in a roundabout way I was being told this (I wasn’t but that’s subjective). Starting to see the Emperors New Clothes anyone?

This particular scenario started with a callout to photograph 2 events, one of which I have covered for the last 10 (? I think) years, which was a bit of a shock to the system, presumption is a dangerous thing.

So I put out a tweet mildly questioning what had just happened and then got a thanks for all your service set of replies! One from the nightlife tsar no less !!

Ok I’ll admit I have slowed down with my club work both by design and by being “ghosted” (thanks for that) and maybe I didn’t listen as intently as I should have (that’s a New Year resolution right there..) but didn’t think that was deserved !

So which way forward, I’ve taken this one as accepted but going forward what to do? I think it’s the way of many creative professions (and yes I am a creative despite what people may say..) so I think I have two clear paths :

1.    Lie down and retire, post my archive online maybe in black and white

2.    Keep working, fight for my vision to be recognised and respected

Wish I had the utter, unassailable, chutzpah that many seem to have, mainly thinking of certain politicians and celebrities, that even with the weight of evidence they keep going and in most cases not rightly so..

No on reflection I don’t wish that I think that way at all..

So who’s for a glass of fizz, sofa and tv tonight?? Me that’s who !

Happy New Year and I wish you all the best for 2019 and beyond..

[nathanphotoblog]

#NathanPhotoBlog18 #LifeasNathanPhoto

Summer Hols

So it’s been awhile since I blogged and again its life/work that gets in the way. So now its summer and I’ve had my boy for the holidays and one thing I’ve kept noticing is the total dismissal of what the teenage class call “Try Hards” now I’m not sure what his or the complete definition of a TH is, as it changes to encompass so many people in many different scenarios but what I realised about each of the TH’s is that they seem to have a larger passion or enthusiasm for what they do**…

I’ll liken this dismissal with that total feeling of dread when a fundamental religious person approaches you with their potted fervour or when a teacher was a bit too passionate about their subject or just plain old embarrassment when someone is just so, like totally into it, coupled with the feeling of being a little scared…

Add into the mix the ever so tiring teenage dismissal thing, and a touch of a regurgitated *britiish thang and you have the pure dismissal of disinterest that only your own teenage flesh and blood can bring to the party..

Anyway you’ll wonder how this links into what I do.  Well I think that I’ve been on the receiving end of this (“bloody TH’s”) for a long time. The fact that I’ve loved photography my whole life and in places I have been incredibly passionate about it, has led to dismissal (that and not being able to be pigeonholed see future blog for that one)

It’s a sad society where passion is dismissed but it seems to be a by-product of this horrible age we are living in, almost a return to the “I’m alright jack” age of the 80’s where people seemed to not give a jot about anything other than money..

Maybe this one is more a statement of the world in which photography lives than photography its self. So if we don’t look at the bigger picture then aren’t we disarming photography’s incredible power by dismissing its passion both in supporters and advocates?

To this week’s image…. Well with the subject matter, how do you photograph a shrug? This blog has led me onto a number of future projects that will be very useful in the new direction, (more on that in a future blog too) so here’s my diptych attempt at both passion and a visual shrug…let me know you’re thoughts………

Thank yous  

*Yes I know britiish thang is spelt different and that is because I see a new British-ness rising that needs separation via a new spelling and slang approach.

**This dismal dismissal goes totally goes against the majority of teenage job aspirations of blogger, YouTuber which is quite the ironic.

 #Photography #thoughts #lifeasNathanPhoto #passion #tryhards #summerholidays #anxiety # social #teenage #movingforward #VisualLiteracy #Importance #energy #Value #alternate #time #filmsnotdead #analogue #creativebreathingspace #time #energy #social #instagram #facebook #britiishthang #

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To Search for….. So the two main strands of my work (education and freelance) have combined and overlapped to result in a dilemma, so what do we do with those but blog about it! First a little background to this. It usually goes like this…. a photographer or photography group put out a call for some models for a fashion or portraiture project. The initial feedback is that’s great! Let’s do it! One or two come forward then it sits....it’s ignored and untended until it leads to complete deflation and limps off into the could have been drawer.. So the search for models/subjects/muses is this weeks unifying theme. A) As part of my education work we are undertaking Scholarly Activity. I pursued a direction with students as partners, which has been an interesting challenge as the traditional roles have been blurred slightly. The upshot was that we, as a group, were on the lookout for people who had turned 18 this year and just to complicate matters we had a set of 5 specific dates, which were quietly side-lined in favour of anyone turning 18 in 2018 for ease of subject matter. B) On the flip side of that is my current portfolio reshooting and looking for more specific areas of work. I therefore need to shoot new material to enable people to see this specific direction. As I examined in a previous blog, unless people see near enough the exact representation of what they think they want, then they don’t believe you can shoot it or bring anything to the table.  I like to call this the banana/cucumber/strawberry/cherry paradigm. Otherwise translated as, unless they see it, you can’t do it.See awards and winning too.

What unifies these is that the initial callout on Facebook and other social media outlets was positive but quickly dissipated into nothingness and blanks, it so reminded me of previous endeavours in so many ways. Thought this was high time that I got to the bottom and analysed why does it happen?  

Some theories so far ……..

Photographer error or fault. 

Initial enthusiasm fades into reluctance after time to think has set in

   It’s just the way of the world at the moment?  

Lets take those one by one. The photographer quite likes to do a shoot to put in portfolio to show how good he/she is and therefore gain more work in that field which would lead to money hopefully, so should they pay model?        Or Photographer isn’t well liked and nobody cares. People reply positively when they see it but when it comes to investment of time and effort they feel they should get something out of it or are asked if they are getting paid for it which they feel a bit silly that they aren’t or life simply gets in the way. It’s just accepted that you can let people down or walk away when you’d like and just because you said you would that doesn’t mean anything. It’s not like the old days where you have to live up to your word or anything….lol. Just some theories I’m putting out there… This subject also relates to some areas of fashion I’ve worked in where it gets a bit confusing about who pays who and what’s each party getting out of the shoot….then that naturally leads onto where is the value and who is valuing it……..but I think that’s for another blog..

So to this weeks image, well the suns been out and so have the photographers so here’s one from the recent archive and something that looks good or does it really underline the above themes ??

You decide and Thank you for reading  

#Photography #thoughts #lifeasNathanPhoto

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Repudiate….Rejuvenate…Redundant…

So continuing with the change in direction and the fact it’s been going really well, I always had to encounter some sort of pitfall, of course there is and one has...

To top it off this week there has been one that has cropped up not once but twice so of course into the blog it goes....thinking on it I suppose the basis of this started out with an earlier post with the working title….

“What do you do when people don’t like your work?...”

Photography can be a hard industry both to work in and be around. What is especially frustrating is when you are not liked by the people paying for the services. The demands of budget get in the way i.e. wanting champagne on a lemonade budget…or those paying wanting blood from dust…. This could possibly be otherwise known as rejection by proxy..(See rejection posts of old…)

Part of this was brought about by the usual image research. Going through various images, social media feeds and having a general look around, seeing that a few previous clients have not come back for repeat business. They have some new projects for which they haven’t used my services. Which is of course their prerogative and while this is their choice, in the hope that commissioning other photographers may lead to a freshen up  of their tired brands or a cheaper option may help the budget, in one case in particular…from what I’ve seen, they have seemed to make a right hash of it..

As ever the re-evaluating and thoughtful photographer that I am, I started to go through thoughts about all the other clients that haven’t come back or objected, which over a 25 year career will be a few but proudly for me not as many as others I’ve heard of..

I started to hypothesise about what the reasons are and came up with these;

Market changes, costs, design, new personnel, contracting budgets and so on and so on…….but the one that really rankles though is the fact that you just don’t know why or what happened…a bit of truthful feedback would have been fantastic but much like regular job feedback, you just don’t know if it can be trusted..

So of course you wonder if it’s your fault (should that be another word for fault?) or the image I portray or does it just show cowardice at talking honestly? Or is it just the fragile nature of being an artist ?

As to the image - well it was difficult to illustrate this particular subject matter so I’ve gone with something I’d taken this week while ruminating on this subject. What do you think?

#photography #thoughts #lifeasNathanPhoto

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Wedding season !

Spring is here, well it was yesterday but looking out the window today looks like winter is starting up again…..but as mid April approaches it signals that wedding season proper is here!! And what a time it is…..love, free cake, dancing, booze and more love really if you were putting together a wish list for an event to photograph what more could you ask for??

You may ask what brought this subject into the blog I hear (very faintly admittedly) you ask?? Well I have just finished editing the final selection of images that I shot at my first wedding of the year !

What an event it was too! Everything you’d want from a wedding, great organisation, relaxed and fun! It felt great to have the opportunity to photograph such a fantastic day! Shall let you into a secret…. one that I think many years ago would foist you into the uncool bracket, but I don’t really care! I love shooting weddings and would quite fancy doing more after slowing them down a bit and only do them when asked rather than actively looking for ‘em which is probably why I get only photograph the nice ones !

That’s not to say that they can’t be hard work, as they can but ah what work it is, great to see people so much in love committing to each other. It does add to the pressure of capturing it to the best of your abilities! The day can be pretty hard work both physically and mentally, there’s a lot of stuff to carry around and lots of added pressure to get it right.

You have to think about pre planning, timings, prime or zoom, levels of flash and then after all that there is image choice, editing, presentation etc (wouldn’t they all make great individual blog subjects, yep I’ll write them soon!)

And now for the picture, well you can see some shots from their day at my website www.nathanphoto.co.uk/laura-and-dan-wedding/

Thank you for reading.

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To Monetise

First things first, apologies for the not blogging recently. I have been mad busy with work and other duties that I’ve simply neglected you. So I apologise for that but while I’ve been away the recurring theme that has cropped up has been my roots and while this blog isn’t about that (would anyone be interested in that?) it got me thinking about how I and other people started in photography

Like most, all those years ago I started it as a hobby, picking up a camera and shooting stuff I was interested in and sometimes shooting stuff that I wasn’t just to see what it looked like photographed. In general I was just doing “stuff”.....that lead me to common thoughts of time and the difference that the years affords .....then it hit me one of the big differences these days is that.....

         People don’t just do things for the simple pleasure of doing, do they?

It seems that these days it’s all about competing, judging or monetising or a derivative of that.  Wouldn’t you say?

It seems that not many people just have hobbies anymore do they? Our past times have to be nice earner on the side. We don’t just do things for the sake of doing them....

Not sure what this says for the state of modern day society, education, humanity or general well-being? If we only do things for monetary reward then don’t we run the risk of devoting all our time to chasing pounds? What will that do for our sanity?

Yes it’s nice to be recognised for something but maybe it should be about the journey rather than the destination?

Now I realise this is just a set of (possibly meandering) musings, questions and idle thoughts but since this is the first Blog in a number of weeks because of work, health and “ stuff “ then you’ll just have to settle for it.…

So to the picture and as they say “Water is just nice.”

Thank you for reading.

[nathanphotoblog]

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Bags of

Hello, sorry for missing last weeks blog, half term, work, illness all been contributing factors so hopefully this weeks will be of some reward.  I have been thinking that my blogs just recently have been a little heavy.  As many of you who know, that’s not the totality of my character, and with the last week spent deep in half term activities then I thought I’d make this one more fun !

So this week the blog will be about what we carry our gear in and sits in the corner of our room, protects up and gives strength and protection…

What is it? The ubiquitous camera bag ! That should be bags of fun!! Haha you see what I did there??

So what lead me to write a blog about it? Well recently I got the chance to do a quick job in town on my lunch break and so took a very old fashioned bag with me, which made me feel like I did in the early days, simple small bag, few bits of gear and no back ups which gave me a yearning for the more simplistic times….(flag this as I’m sure I’ll revisit it)

Looking back I remember so many of my bags in my photographic life from the first small blue one from Jessops to the huge giant grey Tenba one; so much room in that one! The special Canon CPS, to the classic black Billingham and to my current incognito backpacker.

They all seem to make me feel a certain way when carried which mirrored life at that point……

Were they statement bags before statement bags existed?

In the early days you advertised the cameras inside and the fact you were a photographer and latterly you became more subtle and didn’t draw attention to yourself. All of which seemed to have as much to do with era’s and moods of photography than any other bit of kit has done. Mine was and is as much a security blanket as any other item that I have owned.

I went from advertising I was a photographer to wanting to blend in and achieve anonymity with a cheap non descript one. Pretty much how my photography happens as well these days and as the way I travel and carry cameras.

Ah they are funny thing, aren’t they, and for the picture I’ve shot the one that inspired this reminisce!

Thank you for reading.

[nathanphotoblog]

RePass

So for this weeks blog I’ve mainly being mulling over something I’ve thought about and mentioned before a few times in blogs and musings. I almost want to call it rejection but think that would be over dramatising it a lot! In a way it’s the only word that fits as the other synonyms don’t really convey what the feeling is when you’re either passed over for a job or an image taken gets totally dismissed…..and in that twist of linguistics what the first two letters of it say (RE) imply that it’s insistent on return visits. How apt a word!

But anyway I’ll settle on using the word pass, as the other one is too emotive for a balanced conducive argument. Added to that it could muddy the waters when trying to discuss specific elements.

Now, I know that my particular photography isn’t universally liked, hasn’t always been majorly liked, nor appreciated so much or overly gushed about on social media. I understand about taste, timing and style, playing parts in that and no this is NOT “woe is me” but an attempt at a conversation. Yes, I know that none of those recognitions are needed, appreciated, but not necessarily needed.

Throughout my career of 20 plus years depending on which way you slice it (and if you subscribe to the 10,000 hours thing then well…) I’ve always been a worker throughout. Looking back on my early days, I was more reactive than constructed but I saw that as a strength rather than a weakness, and anyway I’m not sure what I could have done to change that, or even if I had whether that would have been right.

Looking back, other words start flickering through like an episode of Max Headroom on a Sunday morning

................…………talent…effort…planning…thought…why………………………

and before anyone reading starts with the groans, none of this is meant in a sad, bleak way but more an examination of what was and is, and looking for a more accepting way of examining what, how, when and why.

So what brought this bought of introspective reflection? Well recently there have been a few jobs on the horizon that I thought I may have got to do but haven’t. Now I understand that there can be a myriad of reasons for these non happenings, things such as cost, timing, free, flavour and so on and so on.

It reminds me so much of an old portfolio criticism. When I asked why I didn’t get a specific job, the answer was similar to “ah we didn’t use you because we wanted someone who could shoot an orange on top of a cucumber and you have only ever shot an apple on a courgette”…..

                                    “insert hands shrug emoji here”

In fact, It’s similar to the feedback you get from a job when you know they can’t tell you the real reason why you didn’t get it….. age, facefit, etc which links very nicely to a future blog, so watch this space.

To this weeks image - well what can you put in for that word?

Well as ever, valued reader what do you think to the above, good or pass?

Let me know.

Thank you for reading.

[nathanphotoblog]

#NathanPhotoBlog18 #LifeasNathanPhoto

Pro.je.cts

Well after a shorter than desired rest period 2018 has taken off with a blistering quick pace, with ideas, work and doing (none of that #doingnothinganxiety). Already a month down and I feel like I’ve done a shift already…

With this spiral of activity what would reoccur but thoughts of the projects I’m working on. I think it stemmed from something I shot the other day which you can see here http://www.nathanphoto.co.uk/look-at-the-light/ A mini thing I did when I saw that beautiful wintery light that we get every now and again…actually there’s a side question there of how come when you have so little time spare, the perverse idea of projects crops up…it’s a psychology of the condition that’s a bit of a mystery…reasoning maybe it’s the need for sanity, for control, for the feeling of creativity or another obtuse abstract reason.

I remember someone asking many years ago in a dark distant past what’s the point of them? I think their reasoning was “why you do something when you’re not being paid…why would you do that?” I always seemed to attract negativity !!

I’ve still got the ones I started an age ago (One Glove). Others have fallen by the wayside (white shirt) and others are just waiting to be picked up and run with (my This is Manchester biopic for instance!) Plus the age old dilemma of  finding the right time for sorting the archive (recent estimates suggest I have 2.5million plus images to edit, file and keyword)

With my recent workings in education, I re-see the massive value in this from expanding skill sets to flexing the internal creative processes and just the importance of simple acts of keeping relevant and I wish I maybe had made more time for them…….

This is something I haven’t mentioned to anyone but I have about 10 ideas a week for photographic/film projects and the only obstacle to getting these done is energy and time.

Ah… energy and time the two age old barriers to everything and anything ! If there are any answers to that one please……..answers on a postcard!

Thank you for reading.

[nathanphotoblog]

Cliché…

 Every now and again an event drags photography into the headlines usually in the shape of an upcoming earth shattering event and none more so than whatever bloodshot, supersized, supermoon is currently to be witnessed that hasn’t been witnessed for 3 millennia or something like that..

So this weeks chat has been all about the super red blood moon that’s not been seen since 1858 (..or seven o’clock) depending on which web or BBC flogging segment you want to believe…..forgive my cynicism it’s mostly because I’ve worked in the media for long enough to smell a slow news filler or a flogging of programmes as news items.…

I’ve never know so much hype around events as much as when there’s something happening in the sky (just like some recent articles I’ve read about millennial’s and horoscopes….long story short is they love ‘em)

So this super red moon had sent out every blogger, instant, camera phone and telescope enthusiast that night to photograph it, with such varying results, a quick trip to social media showed nothing too outstanding locally but with increased power of globalisation otherwise known as Instagram, I was able to see so many amazing shots from around the world, as photographers your livelihood depending on getting the best shot possible, so to see the whole range of better pictures then it leads to a whole range of photographic feelings….interesting stuff.

On the flip side doing a quick google of Manchester and the supermoon comes up with agency pics of Beijing, Berlin and Bangkok, which are all beautiful places, but alas the Manchester equivalent is somewhat lacking to these superior locations closer to the moon, it’s the positioning of Manchester at the centre of the known universe with makes photographing the moon difficult. So with all this in mind I’ll round up a couple of my tips to these type of events as these sort of events require a couple of things first

 1.    The weather conditions have to be super right to enable this and in typical British fashion you couldn’t see it at its peak but don’t panic and see point 7

2.    Moon is far away like really far away so use the visual illusion that a long lens can provide something along the lines of 400mm plus (if you don’t have one of these see point 7)

3.    If using a wide angle lens then exposure will play a key part in getting a great pictures, you’ll need to balance out the light in your picture as digital latitude isn’t the best for this sort of subject, for help on this see last point.

4.    Pre plan destination with scale usually facing upwards, think about what buildings are in line of view and scale accordingly.

5.    Go to the internet and book a ticket to those places where you can see it usually beginning with the letter B  

6.    Don’t bother, get some sleep and next morning use the next point

7.    It’s always been a difficult one to capture without forward planning so this is where photoshop becomes the best editorial friend, use Photoshop to help craft the image you want and voila a much liked image

Joking aside (shush that inner voice saying but I wasn’t joking…) this will become a major talking point here and in general as the nature of truth/belief/fake/thereof within photography is something that I predict will become a huge part of my future as a I’m hoping to make this part of my MA practice..

So apologies in advance for that as you’ll know that I’ll go on…

Thanks for reading.

[nathanphotoblog]

Film

Last weeks #lifeasNathanPhoto blog talked about the importance of resting periods..so as usual the complete contrast happens and I’ve had a really busy week…. The law of sod rides again, so as an attempt to get back to, feed into, contribute and aid this approach of slow boil creative thinking, I’ve started to shoot film again.  I think the nature of shooting film correlates well with that process. It stops the instant gratification speedy nature of digi which is the ideal food for a slowed down creative process, but careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water though, as they say.

In order to facilitate this you’ll need a film camera. I dug out an old one that has been on my shelf gathering dust for a while and put in a roll of black and white - which was great! Although while shooting I still “chimped” at the back of the camera with the processing time eventually shortening enough for me to realise that however long you looked at the back of the film camera the image was definitely not coming up !! This rediscovered compact (that I must have bought about 10 years ago) is the Yashica T3 using this after my much beloved hipster T4 died last year (as ever in a very apt setting.)

Not sure I’ve used this one before so was an new experience and education, the Yashica T3 is slightly bigger unit, slightly bulkier but still not huge, little more 80’s lambo design (think along the lines of that Countach Athena poster…) believe this is because it incorporates a small waist level finder that is fun to use and will aid street photography like the large format ones do. I dutifully shot 36 exposures, as usual a bit quickly, and then saw a million frames that would have been the prize winning shot of the decade (much like when l did gigs on film and whilst changing a roll the lead singer would come right up to camera!  Strikes me now, that maybe they were waiting for that specific moment!). The initial results have been mixed, getting used to the focussing is more difficult than previously thought, with it’s F2 lens leaving no room for focussing errors, although it made some shots more interesting and emotive, so a great learning curve and discussion point

I am coming round to the idea that film may become a bigger part of my working process again. Although I have been using the Maimya RB’s for work for a while, in my personal work going back to basics has been interesting.

My thoughts at the moment are to move back up to a proper film camera with specific focus and settings. This will require some level of investment -maybe either fixing my old EOS1 or looking to something else maybe the T90, Eos 600 or per chance to dream…. maybe a Leica? More to ruminate on!

So to the image to illustrate this…. I have purposely not shown the direct results as they need some time to develop (ha-ha unintentional pun klaxon!).  So… I’ve called upon my editorial representational skills to translate this writing into an image. What do you think? Does it need more time, burning in or filing in the round file?

Thank you for reading.

[nathanphotoblog]

#NathanPhotoBlog18 #LifeasNathanPhoto

Rest

So last week I talked about the importance of photography. This week I’ve been thinking about the undiscussed benefits of having a rest. I’ve lived my life pretty full on, workwise, for a very long time and boy does it knacker you right out! So, in 2018 I’m taking a more considered approach to my well being both physically and mentally. I’m sure you’ve all seen my running shizzle on Insta (running style is legless dog apparently!) I ain’t convinced but we’ll see what benefits that brings.

My main reasoning behind this thinking was looking around at a few people whose work ethic and creative thoughts I admire and trying identify what they do and analysing what I am currently doing. What seemed to be the unifying thing I noticed was that they had quite a few more resting periods than I did...so as they say only borrow from the best, so in 2018 I’m making a concerted effort to try that…

It’s quite a different approach for me, as when I first started working in photography, the prevailing work ethic was to keep going, be out, be doing, be thinking, be something, be, be, be, be, be…. As they (and I ) say, that can be quite exhausting and while I subscribe to that wholeheartedly, I’m seeing that the creative side needs nurturing as well. I’m not sure that being “at 100%” all of the time is the best for that. To truly nurture the process of creativity, perhaps you need to be “off” and you need to do this through adequate rest periods and thinking time and mindfulness plus the many other names it seems to be called.

 Its quite scary to do this as it goes against the freelance nature that I’ve had to develop to keep on top, but at this stage of my career and development a new approach with the occasional rest might be what’s needed. I dread putting this blog out as I’m still open and available for work so don’t be put off if thinking of approaching me – I’m ready to go after a rest!

 So lets throw oneself into trying this new style this year in-between bouts of work, I’m already reading more both for work and for relaxation, hopefully this blog will see the benefits of that !! Let’s hope I can bypass this #doingnothinganxiety before it kicks the #creativebreathingspace right into touch.

 So for an image to illustrate relaxing, nonbeing and restfulness as the pursuit of creative exploration…. difficult…this restfulness isn’t as easy as I’d thought..…do you think I’ve done it? Or does one need to rest more?

 Thank you for reading..

[nathanphotoblog]

#NathanPhotoBlog18 #LifeasNathanPhoto

 Importance (and value)

 So this week back has thrown up some very interesting photography issues that have all pointed (indirectly or directly) to what could be called, the importance of photography....

So this blog deals with my week and the movements of my everyday which, this week, has involved discussions about how the structure and value of photography is regarded and where that view comes from; to recent articles about photography’s intrinsic value (from not very much to amazing, but can we have for free?); to the discussions with clients about pricing and therefore it all links back to importance of.

 It’s not new news that we take more pictures than we ever have done, (1.2 trillion in 2017 anyone?) it’s use is more widespread than ever, it’s more than holding it’s own against video content, when many supposed it wouldn’t. The increase in visual awareness is evident in many areas and there is an increasing demand for imagery.

 However, when you couple this with declining camera sales, the growth of working for free, lowest stock photography prices ever and industry wide lower wages, then depending on your own personal philosophy then you have either an exciting, horrible or interesting ‘thing’

 Photographers need to eat, recharge and be who they are and that is reflected in the price structure of imagery.  We have, as a group, not been the best at sticking to pricing structure or working methods and that has come back to haunt some.  We are a disparate group at the best, so that’s hardly unexpected. However, future directions will be different, new avenues open up which are not always paid …….. so we have to become much more hyphenated to earn and learn. I hope the millennials are up for that !

 I’m not sure which of these is more prevalent but you can’t deny that there is definitely increased momentum, pushing towards a significant make or break happening. Whether this will come to a head in 2018 or photography will ride that pendulum straight back again, I daren’t hazard a guess !

 I will tell you though, that I’m enthusiastic about this year. I’m working on some very exciting projects and ideas which have sparked more energy for photography than of recent times…..yet I still have time to take on other work too (email is on the website if you want to talk work).  

 So come on 2018 let’s move this thing I love called photography forwards!

 So have included an image this week too. It’s my picture of the week and it’s an illustrative one that outlines the undercurrent of the words above, as in, which way the wind is the blowing, get it?? Yes I know !

 Thank you for reading..

[nathanphotoblog]

best of ‘17

So as we get to the end of 2017, like most l went through what photographically I’d done this year and despite going through (what I thought was....) quite a radical change workwise it appears I’d more than touched upon on my editorial background, which was surprising but do feel that 2017 had the added benefit of having better and more street, documentary and art based images than I have ever attempted.

What a year it was looking back, with the ups and downs, thinking this year had more downs than ups but that can happen, touched upon many of these in the last year with blogs (both written and unwritten) like missing things, change in direction and finding my place….

So to the images this has been quite an editorial year, so it’s been the usual celebs, events, food, clubs and portraits, less gigs this year but that was always expected, quite a few new clients again this year which is always good, Rambert Dance, Patchwork foods amongst others.

So it’s a mix as my career has always been, prided myself on being a photographer in all senses of the word, I’ve enjoyed this role for over 20 (25 years, if you think that I started being paid as a photographer in 1993 !?!)

The changes will be more this year with my teaching taking over, the change in direction in working methods will continue and new avenues will be explored, it’s an exciting time to be a photographer, much like a white water ride is, you may get wet, fall off the boat, end up swimming or ride it all out but you’ll get to the finish line somehow.. let’s see where each of our finish lines are shall we..let’s hope they be long on the distant horizion and none come too soon.

 So here we go with 2018 and already got one lovely shot in the bag for next years images of the year so it’s looking good..hope yours is looking as positive and if not then hopefully the positive and good will out soon.

 Peace, joy and love to you all.

 You can see the images here at http://www.nathanphoto.co.uk/best-of-17/ ‎

[nathanphotoblog]

So here we go.. #lifeasNathanPhoto