Looking for inspiration in all the wrong places

So with 2014 already in full swing I have been pondering where my photography adventures have taken me over the past year.

But looking back can only get you so far, what about moving forward?

Well my skills have been improving but there is still more to do and learn. Fortunately the studio nights at bright lights are continuing, my confidence is steadily improving and I'm even finding myself starting to give not just direction but detailed direction to some of the models who are very pretty and on my first night there were able to inspire such a sense of somewhere between awe/ and a sense of confusion that they were actually talking to me that I might as well have been talking caveman ..." ugg, me caveman press button now to take picture of pretty girly"

(Side note if any of you have a second please go and visit one of the models blogs that I have worked with, Jo Jo  but be warned, it;s not part of facebook so some images on her website and blog are to be considered "adult" so consider yourself warned!" )

So all this studio practise gave me some inspiration. I decided that I wanted to spend some more time in the studio for "me" on my own project as it were rather then a TFP night or a family shoot. I came up with a idea to work again with one of my friends, firstly to take some classy fashion style shots in a ballgown and secondly to take pictures of her dancing as she's a awesome dancer and helped me to produce one of the best images in my portfolio, "dancer in the dark".

Which seemed simple and she agreed but unfortunatly life as it tends to do sometimes interfered and this project is now on the indefinite back burner.

So simple right. I just need to find some more inspiration, come up with a rock solid idea and away we go.

However the only thing that has gone away right now is inspiration.

I have zero, zilch, nada, not a thing.

And it's driving me crazy.

Even looking in magazines and photography books right not isn't help. As it's driving me mad as nothing is firing my imagination and making me sad as I look at some of these shots and wonder if I'll ever be able to do that.

That I remind myself that this time last year I would never have anticipated what I have done in the studio to date so I need to stop worrying about that.

But that brings us back to the main point. Inspiration or the lack of.

Now some people would argue that by looking so hard for inspiration that I might be actually failing to see it. And that may be true.

But like most cliches it doesn't always help ;-)

The only thing that springs to mind is I want to do something that allows personality to shine through.

Hopefully something else will spring to mind soon. And I'm sure some people will argue that with the amount of space in my head, a idea will be in there somewhere.

Later folks

A sneak peak from the latest studio work

Show me yours and I'll show you mine: Adventures in networking episode 1

So after the time for print night, it was time to do what most photographers do these days.

Yep sit in front of a computer and edit things!

If you're not a photographer you might struggle to grasp in this digital age just how much we have to edit. But wait! I hear you cry. Why edit? Haven't you got it right in the camera?

errhh, well yes and no. Yes, you do get it right more rather then less. Editing is just a way of maximising the best attributes of a photo. It can also get annoying as you can spend ages on something that you are convinced is totally and painfully wrong looking but anyone who isn't a photographer will never notice.

This is especially true on a 32 inch screen but hey ho. It also explains why a photographer may look stricken if you simply say " that's a good photo" as they probably spent quite some time in front of a computer.

So once the photos were done it was time to send them to the models. Now previously I have used google docs's to send photos to people but all of the models said they used dropbox. Something I had never used before so I had to download the software and get myself ready to use a whole new program.

Which worked in precisely the same way as google docs ( and with one sentence I make two seperate teams of techie people at two companies go eeekk). so it was fairly easy uploading the pictures. Of course what was not so easy was the gnawing tension waiting for any response from the models, because lets face it was my first time doing "proper" studio work outside of the classroom so I literally had no meter stick to judge myself against.

to my great delight the first model who responded loved the photos and asked if I was on purple port so she could leave a reference. So it was great, first feedback was postive and she wanted to leave a reference. Only one problem.... what the heck was purple port?

Way, way back in the dim mists of time... okay well only two years when I first got a DSLR but you get the point, if a effort to get to know more people and potentially take more portraits I tried to sign up to a site called model mayhem which was recommended by several magazine as a fantastic networking site. However in order to sign up to the site you had to be able to prove photos of at least two different models. Which of course fairly defeats the purpose of signing up to the site to begin with. If I had two models to take photos of, I wouldn't be wanting to sign up to the site to get models now would i?

Okay well purple port is along the same lines, it's a networking site for models, photographers and MUA ( that's make up artists for anyone who is unfamiliar with the lingo :-)

Firstly it was very easy to set up a account, you only have to provide a very small number of images and there's no requirement for them to be of different models. So already a big tick in the plus column. Secondly you can see if people are coming to visit your profile which is handy, i/e if no one is coming to paraphrase a hollywood film " You've built it wrong" or at least spelt it wrong or phrased it wrong. Because for example no matter the basic truth of it saying something along the lines of " I have a camera and want to take pictures of pretty girls" in your profile is just not going to go down very well.

Just like facebook you can tag people in photos, you can also like, ehhh I mean "love" photos and the system for leaving references is very easy.

Now of course with the many and varied portfolios on display, there are going to be photos of "adult" nature but that's no bigge because if you don't want to see them you can engage a filter that will shield said pictures from view.

Now there are also options to list who you have worked with, who you would like to work with and "collect" your favourite photos from across the site to keep in your own collection to help inspire you.

The final two things that I thought were really cool, the first is that when you look at someone's profile it tells you how far they are away from you and secondly you can make "casting call's" where basically announce you are looking for someone to work with either for a specific shoot, specific theme, or just that you feel the need to take some pictures.

Now there are some more features such as articles and forums I haven't yet looked at yet. Forums always make me a little nervous as they can be very much a double edged sword but I think once my portfolio has started to expand a bit I will give them a go

So, I basically now have a profile and my very first reference which made me act very happy and pleased in a not very adult fashion at all :-) I/e happy dance.

Of course this means no pressure for the next studio night.... no pressure at all.

erhhhhhhh................

Teaching a slightly aged Dog new tricks

Ever since I have got my hands on my first DSLR I wanted to give studio photography a go. However to paraphrase kryten from Red Dwarf two problems faced me. Firstly that studio lights are expensive and secondly studio lights are expensive. Which is yes the same problem but so significant I thought I would mention it twice.

 Also where I live there was a depressing lack of reasonably priced studio courses. Most of them cost a fair amount of money for a depressingly short space of time actually in the studio and if I was going to spend that kind of money I would want opportunity to keep doing studio work. Not just do it once and then have to leave it until I had saved enough money to get lights of my own... or won the lottery.

But two things recently changed that allowed me to revisit my goal of doing studio photography. Firstly my parents bought me a studio course for my birthday and secondly I found a studio near Derby, Bright Light studios which runs regular Time for print/networking/social evenings. ( which is a complicated way of saying you have models, photographers and make up artists all turn up, photos are taken, the models get them for free to use in their portfolios if they wish, the photographers also get them to use and basically nobody charges anyone) Still with me? Good. 

So I decided as the next night was only three days after my studio course that it was worth a try. Now the studio was the first "proper" studio I have ever been in and it was amazing. They have several different sets, including a white area, a black area, and a studio "apartment" area. Now for the night we kept to these sets, they do have more sets that I didn't see and didn't really want too, as these are sets can be used for slightly more "adult" photography, which I'm sure most of you will get what I mean. If you don't ask your mother :-)

Now the evening isn't "totally free" to photographers, you have to pay £10, but you do get £5 off if you book the studio or sign up for one of their model workshops within 28 days which considering the size of the sets and equipment you get to play with is more then fair. 

Secondly I was pleased to discover as I spoke to some of the other photographers I was far from the only "rookie" which was quite heartening as I was worried I was going to be the only one among a group full of expects. Not exactly a thought to put your mind at ease.

As there were several photographers there, we were going to be taking turns in shooting and rotating between available sets and models. So I thought I would take some time to watch some of the other photographers, see how they worked and then give it a go.

Did that plan work?? Erhhh no...  The plan rapidly went out the window as I was picked to be 2nd up and found myself face to face with one of the models with the kind of looks that would usually instantly make me tongue tied and I was supposed to stand there and give her directions?

If this was a cartoon, this would be the point where you would have the sound effect of a really large and loud gulp :-)

However fortunately the models were very patient and I gradually found myself relaxing and starting to have a lot of fun. Well it was hard to maintain a serious demeanour when one of the models finding out it was my first time in a studio started singing about how she was taking my cherry ;-) ( if you don't know what that means either ask your mother about that too :-) )  The staff at at the studio were also very good, giving bits of advice and also constantly moving around to make sure each photographer was having equal chance to work with each model, not just once, but in the different sets and different outfits.

Another thing to mention is that you had all of the lights set for you, so even if I hadn't been on that workshop it wouldn't have mattered that much. Or to put it another way I would have just been pressing the button with no idea whatsoever how certain things worked.

The whole evening blew by far quicker then I anticipated but I was fairly happy with the shots I had taken ( whether the models would be a matter for later and the next blog post)

Now the important points.  What did I learn? Well a lot and that I need to do some work on improving my confidence in giving direction. Not all models are mind readers. ( and every model who reads this will now be going well d'uh!)

Would I go again? Yes, I certainly would, the studio was fantastic, the staff were great and the models and other photographers were all awesome.

Is it worth it? Well let's see £10 for three hours, with a complete studio and three different models who also had a make up artist as well. I think we all know the answer to that one.

In fact the evening went so well that my friend, from Dancer in the dark on the left here, is considering coming to the next one as well.

Now it would be foolish of me to say (and not to mention dishonest) that hey I've had one night in a studio so I know everything. I don't but that's part of the joy of photography there is always sometime new to learn and always ways to improve.

The main thing is that the night has opened up some rather interesting possibilities that I didn't have before so if you are reading this and sitting there wondering if you should try something new with your photography my main advice is to go out and try it.

The worse that could happen is it doesn't work but if it does, well who knows where that will lead.