Too Long!! Too Long!! Since I blogged; where did the time go? Too much work.

These past weeks have been taken up making videos, something I've never done before (did you know that underwater work is just about the only area of photography I haven't experienced?); apart from video of course. I wanted to shoot Ron, my son David's swimming coach at the Salisbury pool. To complete the job, I wanted to do an interview with him; more of a 'musing' than an interview actually, I told Ron what I wanted to do; he responded in spades. When we set up by the side of the pool, Ron having given his troops a long swim to complete, the shot was good and Ron spoke movingly of his memories, especially those in the war. I was delighted. Until, that is, I played back to sound and discovered that Ron's words had been drowned out by the pool's background noise.
Just look at the picture:

So next week, I'm using a lapel mic, attached to the Nikon D800 and monitored by a pair of Bose headphones I'd bought years ago in LA.

Amazing, isn't it, that you can never predict the future? 

I'll keep you blogged.

Thanks for reading.

JB

Project Ron

Hey. Had great day today at AUB. Best yet.

Listened to others project proposals then given the opportunity to talk about mine.

Told you before about the 'Age' thing, and when I mentioned it to son David on the way home last week he said I must meet Ron.

Ron Pankhurst is David's swimming coach, legendary in those circles. What's more, Ron is the same age as me. Born in '34; eighty one now and still active. 'Still' is one of those adverbs that I hate using and hate others using: "you still taking pictures?" they ask, "you still doing this, doing that......". As if you should have closed down by now, parked in some home, smiling blankly at each visitor before asking them to repeat what they've just said. "Hearing isn't what it was" you apologise, so they have to repeat that you've forgotten to do up your flies again.

Volunteer Ron coaches Salisbury Stingrays Masters' swimming team at Five Rivers Leisure Centre in Salisbury, the team that has won Wiltshire County Championship title five times in the past seven years, with cups and medals galore, and  individual successes in both men and women events. The weekly training sessions at the Pool are invariably well attended, a tribute to the group's dedication.

I talked to Ron. Humorous man; caring, knowing. Spent a lifetime as an engineer. He listened to me, generally agreeing but modifying here and there.

We took some pictures, with Ron pointing out photo opportunities in the swimming lanes, modestly allotting emphasis on his people rather than himself.

We'll get lots of good pictures; shots of Ron at the pool, Ron at home, Ron in my studio, Ron flower arranging (he does that too),  Ron being husband, father, grandad, friend, neighbour, pal. Ron being Ron.

Looking forward to that.

Must get a picture of Ron for you.

JB

Renaissance

Renaissance

Until 29th September 2015 I thought I knew about photography. Hell, I'd been doing it professionally in some form or other for the best part of sixty-five years. I was developing films on my folk's kitchen table before most people reading this were born. I built my darkroom above my Dad's shop in the fag-end of Coventry, right next to the Gasworks then years later built another darkroom, this time for a bunch of rich kids at a landscaped private boarding-school in Hampshire. Look at me; I had become 'Sir' -- the rented-in expert, delivering some reality to their expensively-subsidised lives. 

My subsequent self-delusion was supported partly by the fact that two of those kids not only remained friends but also went on to become successful professionals in the LA film/publicity industry.  I remember the surprise birthday party for one of them -- he who became a movie scene designer -- at his pad overlooking LA; he walked in to choruses of 'Happy Birthday', hugged his wife, said hello to adjacent friends, then saw me. His expression combined disbelief with delight, he hugged me, as Americans do, often to the slight discomfort of us Brits, and tears ran down his face. That's when he told his guests that but for me, he and his photographer pal, also standing close, wouldn't be there, working at something they loved, were good at and which gave them a more-than-comfortable living. His friends' reactions convinced me that I was some sort of revered, venerable professor; a font of knowledge, understanding and experience. I few more Brownie points and I would have been up for President. 

Bathed in modesty, of course I protested that it wasn't all down to me. "I just showed them the route and they made the journey" I said, but actually starting to believe my own publicity.

But let's cut the crap and get to today. 

I'm just starting to plan pictures; my pictures. I've been making pictures for other people for the best part of those sixty-five years: Weddings, Dinner-Dances, Advertising, Corporate, Aerial Survey, Industrial stuff, Portraiture, Photomicrography, Process-camera work -- even Industrial Radiography. Apart from underwater photography, you name it, I've done it and taught it. But not always with enough thought.

Let me qualify that. I do love photography; I always have. It's my work and my hobby; I live it. And that's why I can start again now, shooting for me, working not only towards a folio but also towards understanding current imagery and an ability to read the thoughts and intentions of other photographers. That's the most difficult bit; having run the race and finished ahead of many, I have to go onto an adjacent track and run again but this time with handicaps of heavy limbs and a slower mind. 

Oh, if it's experience of lighting, exposure and invoicing you're looking for, I have that in spades; but this course requires and demands other skills, cerebral, philosophical, perceptive. Excuse me, I must look in my satchell for those.  JB

New Project

Thinking of doing a project on First Imprssions. Let's see what PWC thinks about it tomorrow.
JB

Luis Bustamante at City of Bristol College

I spent three very special years as External Examiner for the Foundation Degree in Professional Photography course at City of Bristol College; amongst lecturers there I met Jeff, a happy and relaxed American who shoots wonderful editorial work, Martin who wrote a great deal of the course (and has since successfully gone freelance) and Steve who mainly teaches on the ND course and is the External Verifier for our NVQ courses. They're all still good friends, and we had many very worthwhile discussions together with the charismatic Course Leader Luis Bustamante. Luis retired around the same time as my three-year contract finished, and he wrote me a final letter in response  to the External Examiner Reports that I had made during that time. He started by very generously listing the features of my visits that he thought valuable, and although it's blowing my own trumpet, I must tell you what he said:

"...I'd like to highlight some of the features of your visits which we appreciate:-
* Fairness, balance and depth,
* Understanding of the sector and of the changes taking place in the profession,
* Adherence to high academic and professional standards,
* Sophisticated understanding of the everyday issues of running an academic programme and of the wider context,
* Inspirational - your comments have always generated internal debates that help set future agenda,
* An ability to call things by their name."

And he finished his two-page letter by saying:

"Finally I would like to state that your visits have constituted a form of 'inspection' that is functional and highly motivating to us, They have invariably instigated staff discussions that connect the programme with the wider picture. We can only wish that educational institutions relied more on this type of real-life experience ......"

That sort of genuine response to your work is just about the most valuable reward you can have.

JB

Junior Rugby at Buckingham for D&C Photography

Spent last Sunday shooting junior rugby for Chris Cummins at Buckingham. The've got a wonderful set-up there; lots of junior teams from under 9's to under 12's. I was given the job to shoot under 11's and under 12's and spent from 10am to after 3pm doing it on the D800 with the D3 as back-up. Gave the 16Gig card to Chris, who then had the job of downloading and tickling all the pictures that she, Susie and I had shot -- hundreds! I heard yesterday that se'd just finished and had got her first sale, together with a request from the local paper  for pictures. Good for you Chris. BTW it's real difficult to get good action shots of games like that if you're not used to doing it. Susie got some great shots too; seems she might use one or two for her course.

Slaving Away on the MA

Three weeks into the course and I'm both thrilled and a bit scared at the amount of work there is to do. 
Last week we showed samples of our work (there's six of us on the course) and mine looked tragic because the overhead projector lost all saturation from the files. 
This week I've made a short PowerPoint presentation to show where mine stands in relation to some stuff that I've referred to on the AoP website.