professional photographer uk 2011-04

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APRIL 2011 ONLY £3.99INSPIRING • INFORMATIVE • HONEST • ESSENTIALWWW.PROFESSIONALPHOTOGRAPHER.CO.UK

PROFESSIONAL SINCE 1982

IN THIS ISSUETHE TRUTH ABOUT SHOOTING PORTRAITS, BEAUTY,

FASHION & REPORTAGE PLUS: THE HASSELBLAD DILEMMA RESOLVED

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL PRO PHOTOGRAPHER

YOU NEED TO BUY THIS MAGAZINEReese Witherspoonby Michael Thompson

“Some people think that if they change the names of things, the things themselves will have changed, too.”Anon

PP - COVER -APRIL:Layout 1 09/03/2011 12:52

You pay a price for switching to Hasselblad medium format

The same one you pay for a high-end 35mm DSLR

£8,995 + VAT

The new Hasselblad H4D-31. The H4D body, the 31 megapixel back, the 80 mm lens. A

complete Hasselblad system for just £8995 + VAT. For high-end 35 mm DSLR users who

know that image quality is everything but who thought they could never afford it. Until now.

Visit www.handsonahasselblad.com or call us on 020 8731 3250 to find out more.

This month I’m not going to beable to say as much as usual

about the latest issue, but hey, I guess that’s not such abad thing, when design and photography define a page.I never get bored of talking to photographers about

photography or listening to what photographers have to say;

it’s what feeds the content of the magazine and dictates how and

why we include what we do. Any of our regular readers will

know that this is not a magazine created to a format.

Each month we try to bring together a whole host of stuff that

responds to what we see and hear. We also try to make sure

we listen and talk to people working in all areas and at all levels

of success, from iconic photographers such as MichaelThompson on Page 54 to people just starting out like the

Haarala Hamiltons on Page 88. We have photographers

filled with passion and determination, such as MaciejDakowicz on Page 64, and humour and commitment,

like Peter Dench on 6, as well as thosewho understand the business and future of

photography, such as Clive Booth on Page 30.These are just some of the photographers

who help to define our community which I hope

you also feel part of. Welcome to the club.

Grant Scott, Editor

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NEW PHOTOGRAPHY8PortfolioThe best of your work posted on to our online portfolio.

53ExposureFashion photographer Ellen Von Unwerth shoots forwedding dress designer Jenny Packham.

NEED TO KNOW25Being TherePP Editor Grant Scott recalls a shoot at the Moët& Chandon chateau in France where he was caughtin the crossfire between a non-English-speakingphotographer and a fashion editor.

30DispatchesClive Booth gears up for the high-octane eventthat is London Fashion Week.

36 TheDenchDiaryThe sometime working pro travels to Norway toteach up-and-coming photography students.

42 TheWorld of ConvergenceDon’t miss film maker John Campbell’s regularnews-packed take on the world of convergence.

45 FrontlineWe talk to Roger Tooth, head of photography atThe Guardian and The Observer.

51Guess the LightingEver seen a great image and wanted to know how itwas lit? Ted Sabarese explains all.

64 The Year of LivingDangerouslyPeter Dench catches up with the ownersof the Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff to discover whatit’s really like to run a gallery.

80August Sander is Important...Robin Gillanders explains why the German portraitphotographer matters so much..93 Talkin’ PhotographyBluesFollowing an overwhelming response to his articleon loneliness last year, Grant Scott revisits thesubject of depression among photographers.

114 LegendWe look at the life of American photojournalistJames Nachtwey, who has turned his lens on warand disaster for more than 30 years.

INTERVIEWS WITH...54God is in theDetailsPP Editor Grant Scott speaks exclusively to fashionphotographer Michael Thompson about his stellarcareer and what it was like to assist Irving Penn.

contentsapril

AportraitofDavidBaileybyNorwegianphotographerPålHansen.Readour interviewwithPålonpage74.

www.professionalphotographer.co.uk 5

23DiaryOur pick of this month’s most exciting photographicexhibitions around the UK.

98Working the SystemPP Editor and longtime Hasselblad user Grant Scottdiscovers that going back to the legendary brand isall about asking yourself questions.

103 StopPress...The latest essential news, gossip and kit from thepro world.

KEEP IN TOUCH28PodcastFree photographic discussion for the masses.

49 FeedbackYour thoughts, your opinions, your page.

96 SubscribeCheck out our latest subscription offers.

70 It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Rollbut I Like ItPaul Middleton talks to Michael Ochs, possibly thegreatest archivist of music images in the world.

74What Lies BeneathJulia Molony meets Pål Hansen, the Norwegianphotographer who sees beyond the glamour andglitz of the celebrity world he shoots.

88 Supermarket SweepCass Chapman talks to Max and Liz HaaralaHamilton, whose personal project on The People’sSupermarket is now bringing them new work.

NEWS & REVIEWS14 ClickThis month’s line-up of the best news, dreams,themes and photographic schemes.

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© Archant Specialist. Archant Specialist is part of Archant Ltd.�While reasonable care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the information in Professional Photographer, that information is obtained from a variety of sources and neither the publisher, the printers nor any distributor isresponsible for errors or omissions. All prices and data are accepted by us in good faith as being correct at the time of going to press. Pound conversion rates correct at the time of going to press. Advertisements are acceptedfor publication in Professional Photographer only upon Archant Specialist’s standard Terms of Acceptance of Advertising, copies of which are available from the advertising department. All advertisements of which the contentis in whole or in part the work of Archant Specialist remain the copyright of Archant Specialist. Reproduction in whole or in part of any matter appearing in Professional Photographer is forbidden except by express permissionof the publisher.

Competition terms and conditions: � The closing date for competitions/giveaways is displayed alongside the competition/giveaway online. � Employees of Archant Specialist, and those professionally connected with the competition/giveaway, for example, employees of the sponsor company, are not eligible to enter. � Unless otherwise stated, competitions/giveaways are only open to UK residents. � Prizes are as described and no alternatives can be offered.� The Editor’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. �Archant Specialist may wish to contact you in the future, or pass your details to selected third parties, to introduce new products and services to you.If you are sending your entry by text and do not wish to be contacted, please add the word ‘NO’ to the end of your text message. If you are sending your entry by post, please tick the appropriate boxes on the entry form.

Professional Photographer is publishedmonthly by Archant Specialist.Archant House, Oriel Road, Cheltenham,Gloucestershire GL50 1BBwww.professionalphotographer.co.ukTwitter: @prophotomag

ABC certified circulation(Jan-Dec 2010): 9,386.

www.professionalphotographer.co.uk \ [email protected] \ 01242 264767

SUBSCRIPTIONS/BACK ISSUESCUSTOMER CARE 01858438832ORDER HOTLINE 01858438840VISIT www.subscriptionsave.co.ukEMAIL [email protected] OF DIRECT CUSTOMER MARKETINGFiona Penton-VoakSUBSCRIPTIONS MARKETING EXECUTIVELisa Flint-Elkins [email protected],01242 264751MD SPECIALIST MAGAZINES Miller Hogg

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DISTRIBUTIONIf you have difficulty obtaining Professional Photographer,contact Seymour, 86 Newman Street, London W1T3EXTELEPHONE 020 7396 8000

friends

GROUP BRAND EDITOR Grant [email protected] EDITOR Eleanor O’[email protected] EDITOR Rebecca [email protected] EDITOR Simon [email protected] ASSISTANT Kelly [email protected] ASSISTANT Jessica [email protected] EDITORSLondon: Suzanne Hodgart, Geoff Waring,Jonathan Worth. New York: Jake Chessum,Phyllis Giarnese, David Eustace

Robin Gillanders is Reader inPhotography at Edinburgh NapierUniversity. He is also a practisingportrait photographer and hasseveral works in the collection of theScottish National Portrait Gallery.The author of several books onphotography, for PP he looks at thework of the German portraitphotographer August Sander – whois the subject of a major exhibitionin Scotland – and explains why hiswork is so influential. See page 80.

Paul, a part-time football and musicwriter, is a full-time fan of late folksinger Phil Ochs. It was through thislink that he gained access to hisbrother, the music archivist MichaelOchs, whom he interviewed for thefeature on page 70. Describing theincredible archive as “a hobby thatgot out of control”, Ochs begancollecting photographs whileworking at Columbia Records in thelate 1960s. Paul runs the Phil Ochswebsite No More Songs.

A press photographer who cut histeeth on the Hackney Gazette, Rogeris now head of photography forThe Guardian, The Observer andguardian.co.uk. Since he joinedThe Guardian as assistant pictureeditor the industry has embracednew forms of multimedia, changingthe commissioning of photography.In our Frontline feature on page 45he discusses the changing face ofphotojournalism and what it takesto be a press photographer.

Michael has shot celebrities formagazines such as Vogue and VanityFair, as well as campaigns for luxurybrands including Emporio Armaniand Chanel. At the start of his careerhe assisted Irving Penn, havingknocked on his door to find it beingopened by the legendaryphotographer himself. From therehis career went into orbit. On page54 he talks to PP Editor Grant Scottabout his approach and how being aVirgo has influenced his style.

RobinGillandersLecturer in photography

PaulMiddletonWriter

RogerToothPhotojournalist

MichaelThompsonPhotographer

april

Printed by William Gibbons

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Eleanor [email protected], 01242 211092SALES EXECUTIVE Leigh [email protected], 01242 265895SALES EXECUTIVE Amy [email protected], 01242 216054CLASSIFIED SALES EXECUTIVE Bianca [email protected], 01242 211099GROUP COMMUNICATIONS MANAGERLucy Warren-Meeks, 01242 [email protected]

PRODUCTION MANAGER Susan BozzardREPROGRAPHICS MANAGER Neil PuttnamWith special thanks to Mandy Pellatt


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8 www.professionalphotographer.co.uk

Each month we share the best of the latest postings from our online portfolio with our magazinereaders, so for your chance to appear in Professional Photographer, go online and startuploading your best images to www.professionalphotographer.co.uk. If you want to see moreof any photographer’s work, go to their online profile to access their website details.

PORTFOLIO

SIMON TURNER,UK

ILIAN,UK

SAM COOPER,UK

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JOHN LYNCH,UK


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FOLIO

PAUL THURLOW,UK

JOANNA ZYSNARSKA,POLAND




KRYSTIAN ZIELINSKI,UK

SIMON HADLER,UK


TEAGHANMcGINNIS,CANADA



PORT

FOLIO

MATTHEW PAYNE,UK

KRYSTIAN ZIELINSKI,UK

JACOB GIBBINS,UK

SAM COOPER,UK

PAUL D SMART,UK


Check our new website for times and prices and more great workshops!

www.calumetseminars.co.uk

seminars & events

We now accept paypal for seminar and event bookings.

Calumet Spring Open DaysCome and meet us at our Spring Open Days in-store.There’ll be lots of product demonstrations, promotions and experts will be on hand for advice. Of course we’llhave sensor cleaning at each location too.Our stores will be open from 10am until 6pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Birmingham Wednesday 6th April Belfast* Wednesday 13th April Edinburgh Wednesday 20th AprilManchester Wednesday 4th May Drummond Street Wednesday 11th May * Belfast 10am-4pm

Morgan MotorsPhotography Day For full details visit www.calumetseminars.co.uk

Morgan Motor Company, Pickersleigh Road,Malvern Link, Worcestershire WR14 2LLTuesday 10th June

Studio Lighting John Clements If you need ultimate control of where and how youplace light, and or simply a need for sheer power,then studio lighting is the answer.

And for many photographers it becomes a toolthey cannot be without.

During this event John shares his many years ofexperience too show from the absolute basics,how to choose and use studio lighting for simpleand repeatable, people, product and still-lifephotography.

Manchester Thursday 14th AprilGlasgow Thursday 5th May

Studio Lighting – The Next Level John ClementsStudio Lighting Seminar Level 3 Morning session 10.30-13.00Creating lighting solutions for various face andbody shapes Creating the all important backdropLighting for mood, atmosphere and drama Furtherposing and composition advice, hints and tipsBringing a variety of lighting effects together towork as a ‘whole’

Studio Lighting Seminar Level 4 Afternoon session 14.00-16.30Mastering your cameras characteristics andlighting for its specific performance capabilitiesRefining exposures through histogram usage Flashmetering for accuracy The best lighting tool(accessory) for the job Recreating famous stylesOn location shooting - working with ambient lightLighting or Post Capture? Choosing the bestsolution

Drummond Street Saturday 30th April

Say it with Flowers Jenny LillyJenny is a widely published and exhibited stockgarden photographer, who has a one-womanexhibition of her photographs of gardens which willcoincide with this seminar, at Birmingham BotanicalGardens and Glasshouses, where the photographywill take place.

The seminar will start at the Gallery at BirminghamBotanical Gardens and Jenny will discuss aspects ofher work as displayed in the imagery on view,followed by a session of photography at the Gardens,

Birmingham Botanical Gardens and GlasshousesWestbourne Road, Birmingham B15 3TRWednesday 1st June

Portraits usingHome Studio Paul Southall This workshop will show how to set up and use atwo head kit to achieve professional style portraitimages. The format of the day will be a demonstration of the use of the Home Studio Kits and the techniquesused to light a model to give varying styles of classic poses. A practical session will then follow for students tophotograph the model.A critique of the students images and a finalquestion and answer session will close the daysworkshop.Birmingham Thursday 28th April

An Introduction toNight Photography Richard SouthallRichard is a prominent nationwide architecturaland interiors photographer who has beenproducing images to the leisure, retail, residentialand constructions industries for over 23 years. He is a qualified college lecturer and a member of the Association of Photographers.

An evenings walking tour of Birmingham citycentre where the participants will gain a basicunderstanding of the techniques required forsuccessful night photography in a cityenvironment. A digital SLR and tripod will beessential.

Birmingham Thursday 14th April

An Introduction toSuccessfulArchitecturalPhotography Richard Southall A seminar session followed by a walking tour of Birmingham where participants will gain abasic understanding to architectural exteriorphotography.

Course will include discussions on the legalaspects of street photography and the law. A camera and tripod will be essential.

Birmingham Saturday 21st May

Landrover –Location LightingExperience Tim Wallace Join Commercial advertising and carphotographer Tim Wallace at an exclusive liveshooting event .

Tim works with clients across the globe such asAston Martin, Land Rover, Mercedes and Morgan.Well known within the automotive industry for hiscreativity and open approach he is regarded bymany as one of today's leading carphotographers with a unique and strong style ofwork that inspires not only his clients but alsotheir customers, something that was reflected in2010 when he won International Advertisingphotographer of the year.

Thursday 19th May & Friday 20th MayLandrover Experience, Lode Lane, SolihulllWest Midlands B92 8NWMaximum 14 Attendees - book early to avoiddisappointment

2dayevent


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click the latestphotographic news,dreams, themesand schemes.edited by Eleanor O’Kane

HonkyTonkManThe subject of a retrospective at last year’s LesRencontres d’Arles photo festival in France, MickJagger is one of the most photographed rock starsin the world, perhaps due partly to the longevityof his career. A book by François Hebel – thedirector of the Arles festival – features images

TheseldomseenkidIt’s often the case with a long-deadsuperstar that some information bubbles upto the surface revealing just a little bit moreabout their life than we previously knew.Photographer André de Dienes was born inRomania and came to America in 1938 toshoot fashion, which he then abandoned toconcentrate on shooting nudes. In 1945 hehired 19-year-old aspiring actress/modelNorma Jeane Dougherty for her firstmodelling shoot and struck up a lastingfriendship with the woman who was to takethe world by storm as Marilyn Monroe.Taschen has decided to reissue a book ofimages by de Dienes showing a muchyounger, more naïve (and less blonde)Monroe than we are used to seeing.André de Dienes, Marilyn, published byTaschen, £24.99, ISBN: 978-3-8365-2710-1.www.taschen.com

from the 2010 exhibition spanning Jagger’swhole career and shot by a variety ofphotographers, including Cecil Beaton,Anton Corbijn, Herb Ritts and Andy Warhol.Mick Jagger The Photobook is published on3May by Thames&Hudson, priced £14.95,ISBN: 978-0-500-289495.www.thamesandhudson.com

MickJagger,London,1987.

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I like to make peoplelook as good as they’dlike to look, and withluck, a shade better.Norman Parkinson

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

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“She wasabsolutely nobodyat the time, justa 19-year-oldgirl who had juststarted outmodelling a fewweeks beforethat trip. Shewas completelysincere andnatural.”André de Dienes

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DreamonAmerican photographer Paul Jasmin shoots for topmagazines such as Vogue, W and Interview. In hislatest book, California Dreaming, he uses models hefound through his college job and friends to explorethe notion of dreams and desires, shooting in andaround his apartment on Wilshire Boulevard in LosAngeles. The perfect weather, pure light andotherworldly air of the young models make forbeautiful images that embody the spirit of California.California Dreaming by Paul Jasmin, published bySteidl, £31.50, ISBN: 978-3-86930-030-6.www.steidlville.com

TruecoloursOne of the 25 bad boys from ourAugust 2010 issue, Guy Bourdin wasfamous for his sophisticated use ofcolour and form. A new book fromteNeues, part of its SternFOTOGRAFIE Portfolio series, pullstogether the work of this influentialphotographer, whose collaboration withshoemaker Charles Jourdan changed theface of fashion advertising. Breakingthe boundaries of what was possible inthe ad world, Bourdin’s images stillprovoke extreme reactions. Love themor hate them, their force is undeniable.Stern FOTOGRAFIE Portfolio No. 61Guy Bourdin, published by teNeues,£26.95, ISBN: 978-3-652-00002-4.www.teneues.com

NEWS...RunforcoverRedCover, the homes andinteriors picture library, hasfinally closed after hitting hardtimesmore than two years ago.In summer 2008 the agencyaccepted aCompany VoluntaryArrangement, which sawcreditors agreeing toworkwithRedCover in a bid to keep theagency afloat. Thosewith imagesat the agency have beencontacted by email and advisedto send hard drives to theRedCover office for retrieval.

Jonelle,LosAngeles,2009.

Shoot forVogue,Paris,1977.

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Lifebehind the lensThe National Media Museum in Bradford houses collections from some ofthe world’s greatest photographers and while its images might be familiar tous we don’t always know much about those who took the pictures. A new, freeexhibition at the museum, The Lives of Great Photographers, explores thelives of the men and women behind the lens with images and histories of thephotographers themselves as we’ve rarely seen or heard them. The exhibitionencompasses a variety of photographers dating back to the early days of themedium; portraits and work of legends such as William Henry Fox Talbot andEdward Steichen, sit alongside images and work of street photographerWeegee (pictured above in Coventry in 1963), Dorothea Lange, TonyRay-Jones and Larry Burrows. Famous for shining a light on how otherslive, each photographer – none of whom is still alive – is represented bya portrait, some of their remarkable images and personal effects such asnotebooks. It’s a great insight into the minds and motivation of those whohave changed how we see the world.The Lives of Great Photographers, Gallery One, National MediaMuseum,Bradford; 15 April-4 September; www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

ClosecallThe Association of Photographers has launched three of itscompetitions: The Photographers, Assistants and Openawards. The Photographers Award is open to full andprovisional AOP Photographers, while the Assistants Award isopen to AOP Assistant members to showcase the best imageryfrom the next generation of professional photographers. As itsname suggests, the Open Award is for both members andnon-members. With no categories or themes, it recognises allforms of outstanding imagery shot by professionals andamateurs alike. The deadlines for entry are: Photographers –3 May; Assistants – 15 April; Open – 20 May.For more information visit www.the-awards.com

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To the treats! magazineblog. If anyone asks,it’s research.http://treatsmagazine.com/blog

TREATYOURSELF...

OutofAfricaThe National Archives has digitised the photographic collectionof Britain’s defunct Colonial Office, showing for the first timesome of the earliest images taken in Africa. The collectionincludes pictures of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan draped inleopard skin on his ‘Wind of Change’ tour in 1960 as well as thisimage of his wife at a market in Accra, Ghana during that trip.View the archives at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/africa

PP -CLICK - APRIL 04/03/2011 16:42

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The Vanguard Alta Pro 283CT isan award-winning, carbon fibretripod and we’ve got three togive away. Flexible and stable,it incorporates clever featuresthat also make it extremelyversatile. The innovativeMulti-Angle Central Column(MACC) System lets you movethe central column from zero to180° angles in variable

vertical and horizontalpositions – so thetripod is ideal for

macro photography andawkward,wide-angle shots.The Instant Swivel

Stop-n-Lock (ISSL) Systemsecurely repositions the centralcolumn in a simple movementwhile maintaining the tripod’sstability. It has advancedcamera vibration and shockcontrol, a hexagon-shapedcentral column for extrastability, legs that adjust to25°, 50° and 80° angles,quarter-twist leg locks andnon-slip, spiked rubberfeet for varying terrains.The suggested retailprice is £319.99(including VAT).

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To be in with a chance of winning one of thesegreat tripods go online to our Vanguardcompetition in the competition section ofwww.professionalphotographer.co.uk

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Lens flare, alcohol, changing the world,shooting portraits at f/1.2 and clothes withlots of pockets; it’s all shit photojournalistslike, apparently. To find out more seehttp://shitphotojournalistslike.tumblr.com

EasternpromiseIt doesn’t come much betterthan a backing fromHenri Cartier-Bresson.In 1977 the legendary Frenchphotojournalist saw the workof Raghu Rai at an exhibition inParis and recommended himto become a member ofMagnum. Since then, usingIndia as his backdrop, Raghu,who was born in what is nowPakistan, has created imagesthat perfectly capture thespirit of this jam-packed,chaotic culture. His first soloUK show, at Nottinghamgallery New Art Exchange,finally gives the British publica chance to see Raghu’s Indiain all its glory.Raghu Rai’s Invocation to India isat the NewArt Exchange,Nottingham, until 30 April.www.thenewartexchange.org.uk

Work by finalists in Hasselblad’s 2010Masters competition is now online to viewand this year the public have a castingvote in the eventual winners. More than 2,500photographers from across theworldsubmitted images in a bid for the prestigioustitle. Just 110 havemade the finalcut and their pictures – in 11 categories –are in online galleries atwww.hasselblad.com/masters-finalists

Womanatwork,Delhi, 1989.

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: : w w w . f o c a l p r e s s . c o m : :

Focal Press Books are available wherever fi ne books are sold or through your preferred online retailer. Join the Focal Press Monthly Photography Contest at www.focalpress.com

Photography technique, software video, and PDF tutorials are now available at !

Real RetouchingBy Carrie BeeneISBN: 9780240814179£24.99

Learn the retouching tips, tricks and skills that author Carrie Beene has developed over years of working with the world’s most prestigious companies and publications.

The Photoshop Darkroom 2By Harold Davis and Phyllis DavisISBN: 9780240815312£24.99

You asked for more and Harold and Phyllis Davis have delivered — a brand new volume for advanced creative digital transformations that will take your images to the next level!

No Plastic SleevesBy Larry Volk and Danielle CurrierISBN: 9780240810904£21.99

Make an impact with your portfolio — this essential guide will give you everything you need to know about displaying your images and making them stand out from the stack.

focal press booksInspire the photographerin your life Whether photography is a profession

or simply a passion, be inspired by the latest titles from Focal Press

We have done the hard work for you this month and chosen our essentialthree photographic exhibitions on show now or coming up soon. For a full listof exhibitions and events visit www.professionalphotographer.co.uk

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2011University of Westminster’s Ambika P3 Space, 35 Marylebone Road, London,NW1 5LS. 0845 262 1618; www.photonet.org.uk5 April-1 May 2011Thomas Demand from Germany, Roe Ethridge and JimGoldberg from the USA, and Elad Lassry from Israel havebeen short-listed for the Deutsche Börse PhotographyPrize 2011 and examples of their work can be seen at anexhibition this spring.

The £30,000 first prize goes to a photographer of anynationality who has made the most significant contributionto photography in Europe during the previous year.The winner will be announced at a ceremony on 26 April.

The awards, now in their 15th year, are run by thePhotographers’ Gallery, but the 2011 exhibition will beshown at Ambika P3 at the University of Westminster whilethe gallery is closed for redevelopment. The prize is one ofthe most prestigious of the international arts awards.

TheRollingStonesoutside theDonmarWarehouseTheatre,London,1963.

Thanksgiving,1984.

Terry O’Neill: 50 Years at the TopChris Beetles Fine Photographs, 3-5 Swallow Street, London, W1B 4DE020 7434 4319; www.chrisbeetlesfinephotographs.com23 March-23 April 2011A collection of vintage and modern prints will be onshow this spring to celebrate the 50-year career ofphotographer Terry O’Neill. Many previously unseenimages, created from his original negatives, will beincluded in the exhibition. The work has only recentlycome to light after extensive research into the archivesof the legendary British photographer.

Over the past five decades O’Neill has createda different kind of celebrity portraiture with an intimate,behind-the-scenes approach. His subjects have includedsome of the world’s most famous actors, actressesand musicians, including Brigitte Bardot, Frank Sinatra,Elizabeth Taylor and the Rolling Stones.

The exhibition gives collectors and fans an exclusiveopportunity to buy previously unavailable prints.

Bob Marley & the Golden Age of ReggaeProud Camden, The Horse Hospital, Stables Market,Chalk Farm Road, London, NW1 8AH020 7482 3867; www.proud.co.uk7 April-15 May 2011Proud Galleries present Bob Marley & theGolden Age of Reggae, a series of intimatephotographs to mark the 30th anniversary ofthe artist’s death. The photographs, taken in1975 and 1976 by photojournalist KimGottlieb-Walker – the wife of Island Records’head of publicity Jeff Walker – capture excitingmoments from Marley’s career.

As well as images of the iconic reggaesinger, the black-and-white collectionincludes other stars who brought reggae tothe international stage, such as Peter Tosh,Bunny Wailer, Toots Hibbert, Burning Spearand Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.

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FOR DAILY UPDATES ON EXHIBITIONS ACROSS THE UK VISIT THEPROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER WEBSITE www.professionalphotographer.co.uk

PP -DIARY - APRIL 08/03/2011 16:47

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It is often said thatphotography is auniversal language butthat’s not a lot of usewhen you’re squeezedinto a location buswith a truculent Frenchphotographer refusingto take any pictures,

a fashion editor at her wits’ end, twophysically shaking French fashion models(I presumed fear and cold were the reasonsfor that) in the sodden grounds of the Moët& Chandon chateau in the Frenchcountryside on the edge of the champagnetown of Épernay.I had got to the shoot later than everyone else

and by the time I arrived on the Monday morningthere was already stalemate. The atmospherewas as cold and depressing as the weather andwe still had four days to go.The fashion editor had arrived the day before

and had no problems checking into the chateauwhere she was staying as a guest of honour.The photographer had pulled together the rest ofthe team, including the models, from people heliked working with (all French-speaking only) andthey had driven up from Paris the previous day tocheck into a hotel in the town. And that is when

things had started to go wrong. As always oneditorial shoots, budgets were tight but this was tobe a magazine supplement created in associationwith Moët & Chandon (well, they were paying forit on the basis of the concept I had sold to them),so the expectations of everybody involved wereslightly higher than for the standard magazineshoot. Unfortunately, they were not impressed bythe local Ibis. The photographer had refused tocheck in and instead found himself and hisassistant what he considered to be a much moreappropriate hotel at considerably higher cost.“The magazine will have to pay,” he had declaredwith a Gallic shrug. Everyone else had checkedinto the Ibis but no one was happy there. On theMonday morning the French contingent hadwoken up to both black, rain-filled skies and therealisation that the fashion editor was stayingat the chateau. They were now very unhappy.The first three days were meant to be devoted to

shooting three fashion stories based around lightspring frocks and bright spring days before thefashion editor returned to the UK and the modelswent back to Paris, leaving the photographer andmyself to spend the last day shooting still-lifesetups within the chateau. Heavy rain, cold daysand no communication, even without thelanguage barriers, meant that this was not goingto happen. It was time for me to adopt the role ofinternational peacekeeper. Much to the fashioneditor’s disapproval I agreed to pay for thephotographer to stay in his hotel of choice.Instantly he was happier and agreed to leave the

location bus with me to start scouting possiblelocations in the rain. We were off and running.The photographer was never going to be thefashion editor’s best friend but to me that wasn’t

a problem. I had to deliver to the client the imageshe was expecting and whatever that took wasokay with me. My stance on this matter instantlygained me the photographer’s respect. His namewas Michel Momy and he is one of thephotographers from whom I have learnt the mostthroughout my career. He had started out as aphotographer while a French punk. He had shotfor i-D magazine in the UK since its launch andhad an approach and personality that suggestedit was his way or the highway. A man’s man,proudly French and at home with the anarchicside of his personality, he was a photographer forwhom creating the best images possible waseverything. He spoke hardly any English and Ispeak very little French, but we instantly got onlike a house on fire.Locations decided upon and models dressed,

we started to shoot the first of the fashion stories.There was a definite English/French dividebut we were shooting and moving forward.Then at one o’clock on the dot Michel stopped.It was his lunchtime and he expected a Frenchlunch: hot, well cooked, with bread, wine andcoffee. This was the final straw for the Englishfashion editor, who was used to working throughlunch and grabbing a sandwich when possible.This was not Michel’s way and he strode off tohis car to go in search of the lunch he expected.The French crew did not expect to go with him,they were happy with the food they had picked upfrom a supermarket on the way to the location.I quickly followed Michel and jumped into his

car. He gave me a look that said he approvedof my decision.In a small square in Épernay we found a

family-run corner restaurant, which from the

“I had to deliver to the client the images he wasexpecting and whatever that took was okay with me.My stance on this matter instantly gained me thephotographer’s respect.” Grant Scott

Lost in France...Torrential rain, a Frenchphotographer who didn’t speakEnglish and a fashion editor atwar with the photographer werenot the best ingredients for asuccessful weeklong shoot.But they were just some of thechallenges that faced PP EditorGrant Scott when he arrivedat the Moët & Chandon chateau.

PP - BEING THERE - APRIL 04/03/2011 10:07


outside looked depressing and definitely thewrong choice. Michel, however, was convincedthis was the right place for lunch and he strodeacross the square and into what was a cold,dusty, empty place which felt as if it had beendreamt up by a set designer hoping to create themost perfect caricature of a provincial French

restaurant. An old lady, wonderfully appropriatefor the interior, came out to greet us from thekitchen. Michel ordered for both of us before wehad even chosen a table and sat down. We wereto have steak and red wine, a Saint-Émilion.We sat and ate. The steak was fantastic, as wasthe wine, and we tried to communicate throughbroken snippets of each other’s national language.A strong coffee and it was back into the rain andthe chateau.

The team was waiting; the French very chilledand relaxed, the fashion editor very cold andwound-up. We finished shooting all of the setupswe needed, despite the weather. Michel wasa whirling dervish with a Hasselblad. He wouldrun, jump, lean and do whatever it took to get theimage. He was constantly experimenting withcomposition, never content with one approach toframing. I had never seen anybody work like itand it was inspirational. He did all the work andrequired little from the models other thanexpecting them to look great and help him createhis images by listening to minimum instruction.

At the end of the day everybody went off totheir designated hotels. I went to the Ibisand immediately understood why Michel had notwanted to stay there. The next day the weatherhad improved and everybody was getting on well;everybody, that is, except the fashion editor,who was never going to be persuaded by Michel’sanarchic charms.

On fashion shoots the strong relationshipshould always be between the fashion editor or

stylist and the photographer. The images theycreate on a shoot should come from theircollaborative effort and vision. The art directorshould be there as a creative and client barometer,not as a dictating force. At least that’s how I havealways liked to behave on shoots. There is nothingworse than a pushy art director on a shoot,

being disrespectful to the photographer and theother creatives involved.

However, on this occasion it was obvious thatMichel was never going to work with thefashion editor and vice versa, so I had no choicebut to step in. Again we scouted locationsand worked through our shoot list. At one o’clockon the dot, Michel again mimed the actions ofeating and drinking to me and off we went toour little restaurant in the town. Again he orderedsteak and wine from the old lady out of thekitchen. Our conversation was just as stilted, wedrank coffee and then returned to the shoot.The next day was just the same, a morning offashion images around the grounds witha one o’clock stop for the same lunch in the samerestaurant. By the end of Wednesday we had shotall of the fashion setups we needed and it wastime to say our goodbyes to the French team ofmodels, hair and make-up, and to the fashioneditor, who could not wait to escape back toLondon. Just Michel and I were left to spenda day shooting still-life setups of place settingsand glasses in the interior of the chateau.

It is never ideal to ask a photographer whospecialises in fashion, beauty and portrait work toshoot still lifes as well and when commissioningit is something which you always do your best toavoid. Unfortunately, in those days and evenmore so now, budgets dictate and you are leftwith no choice.

Michel took it all in his stride and wasn’tbothered in any way about shooting the setups.

I have always thought of still-life art directionlike playing soldiers as a child. You move thingsaround with an idea of where you want to putthings but there are no rules. You aremoving things and positioning them in ways thatmake sense only to you. Then when you getthings right you sit back and admire your display.The judgments you have made are based solely onstorytelling and aesthetics and that was theformula, which Michel and I brought to ourdinner party still lifes. We found a table near awindow which gave us some beautiful and softnatural light, and I began to create the setups fromthe glass and ceramics we had been supplied with.Having worked on innumerable still-life shoots inthe past I had a pretty good idea of what workedand the importance of having odd numbers ofitems and not using too many props. Less is moredefinitely applies to still-life shoots. What Iwasn’t expecting was Michel’s photographicapproach to what I’d created. Hasselblad in handand with no sign of a tripod, he leapt and boundedaround the setup in exactly the same way as hehad photographed the models over the previousthree days. It was still-life photography asan extreme sport as he battled with the setup andlight to get what he perceived to be the perfectframe. He didn’t even shoot a Polaroid; he trustedhis instincts and made still-life photography fun.

Of course it goes without saying that come oneo’clock we were off to what had become ourregular lunchtime location and meal; only thistime our lunch was both longer and more relaxedthan on the previous days. We had become firmfriends through adversity and our joint passionfor photography. We didn’t speak each other’slanguage but it didn’t actually matter.

We polished off the remaining shots thatafternoon and then Michel drove me back toParis. The rain had started again and I slept formost of the journey, exhausted from the stress,tensions, work and wine of the past four days.

My friendship with Michel continues to thisday. We have shot together all over Europe on allsorts of shoots and campaigns. But whereverwe have been and whomever we have beenworking for, come one o’clock I always get thelook that says “time for lunch”.

www.michelmomy.com

PP

GO ONLINE FOR MORE EXCLUSIVE TALES FROM THE WORLD OF PHOTOGRAPHY, VISIT WWW.PROFESSIONALPHOTOGRAPHER.CO.UK

“He was constantly experimenting with composition,never content with one approach to framing.I had never seen anybody work like it and it wasinspirational.” Grant Scott

PP - BEING THERE - APRIL 04/03/2011 10:08

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THIS MONTH’S PODCASTApril IssueGETTING YOUR WORK EXHIBITEDIn the latest podcast, the PP team of Grant Scott,Eleanor O’Kane and podcast regular Peter Denchdiscuss the world of exhibitions. As curator andexhibitor respectively, Grant and Peter share theirexperiences and the team discuss the right way tomake an exhibition of yourself.

AND THOSE YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…March IssueTHE PERSONAL PROJECT SPECIALThe team grapple with the importance of creatingpersonal projects for sustaining and developinga photographer’s career. Should a photographerapproach the project in the same way as acommission or adopt a different tack? They lookat photographers who have got it right and ask ifthere are too many introspective projects.

February IssueTHE BUSINESS SPECIALThe regular podcast team talk tax, finance andmarketing. They ponder whether possessing

business and photography skills go hand inhand, discuss potential areas where seekingprofessional advice could reap rewards and askif current photography students are aware ofthe importance of business skills when choosinga career as a professional photographer.

January IssueICONS OF PHOTOGRAPHYPP Editor Grant Scott and deputy editor EleanorO’Kane are joined by regular columnistand photojournalist Peter Dench to discuss theimportance of learning from the masters, anddebate the point at which they believe aphotographer becomes an icon. The team talkabout their personal favourites and explain whythey think their choices deserve iconic status.

December IssuePHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITIONSGrant Scott is joined by Eleanor O’Kane andphotographer Peter Dench to discuss the world ofcompetitions, the contentious Taylor WessingPhotographic Portrait Prize and whether there issuch a thing as a formula for winning.

November IssueSEXY OR SEXIST?Grant Scott, Eleanor O’Kane and Peter Denchdiscuss an issue that often crops up in theindustry: why some images are seen as sexywhile others are labelled sexist. Does it dependon context or are there other factors at play?

October IssueTHE SECRETS OF BEING A PROThe team discuss the secrets of professionalphotography. Veteran pros Grant and Peter relatetheir experiences of working alongside otherphotographers and how these have influencedtheir working practices. With the days of thecommunal darkroom and lab long gone, theopportunity to share news and advice in personhas disappeared. The team look at new ways ofnetworking, including the PP’s United States ofPhotography support group.

You can subscribe for free and download thepodcasts from iTunes by typing professionalphotographer into the search tab or listen viawww.professionalphotographer.co.uk. PP

WAVELENGTHEvery month we record a free to download podcast in which we discuss, debate and talk arounda subject featured in the magazine. We post them on our website and you can subscribe forfree and download them via iTunes. So if you haven’t listened in yet, it’s time to join us online.

ON YOURpodcast

PP -Podcast - APRIL 07/03/2011 11:55


dispatchestales from the frontline of professional photographyClive Booth

This month:Clive steels himself to shootat the UK fashion industry’sbiggest event of the year:London Fashion Week.

CLI

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According to the British Fashion Council’sValue of Fashion Report 2010, the UK fashionindustry contributes £37 billion to theeconomy and directly employs 816,000people, making it the largest employer of allthe creative industries. It is similar in size tothe food and drink service and telecommunicationindustries, and bigger than the wholesale andretail auto industry, sports activity, chemicalmanufacturing and advertising/video sectors.So here I am, ready to shoot at the industry’s

top event: London Fashion Week. All theequipment is packed, batteries charged, and lensesand sensors cleaned. It used to be that one bigLowepro bag would hold everything; now it’sthree and, along with tripod bags and Pelicancases, it’s still growing. Sometimes I yearn for thesimplicity of one camera body and a handful oflenses... in the old days, not even 10 years ago,just two. The past few days have been spentfinalising security passes, organising equipmentloans, checking the location lighting and chattingwith the team: Charlotte Lurot (director, BacchusStudio and co-collaborator), without whom noneof this would be possible; Bill Waters, firstassistant and lighting; and Michael Williams,second assistant.I try to relax watching Stanley Kubrick’s

Spartacus; I’ve been slowly ticking off the greatman’s work, first reading the books and thenwatching the films. I find the books are essential,especially when watching 2001 and more recentlyThe Shining, which scared me half to death.I marvel at the monumental levels of effort thatKubrick went to in order to fulfil his vision.I always feel nervous before shooting, and the

more uncertain the shoot the more nervous I get.There is nothing certain about the outcome of thisshoot. My hope is that the finished film short willgive the viewer a glimpse of what it feels like tobe a part of the strange, mystical and magicalworld that we are about to enter. As always I wantthe final result to be beautiful, atmospheric and tosome degree meaningful and real.Sunday 20 February. At 8am I leave for London

after a half-eaten bowl of porridge and a cup ofLavazza. The journey is easy and I make it toSomerset House for 11am. Security is tight andCharlotte’s assistant has the passes (around fiveper person) and we enter backstage B at LondonFashion Week. Bacchus Studio is responsible for

putting on the five shows I am going to cover overthe next three days: Osman, David Koma, HollyFulton, Mark Fast and Emilio de la Morena.As usual it’s chaotic and space is at a premium.Billy fights to get us a table, while Michaelorganises a tiny area in Charlotte’s office for thelaptop card reader and twin G-Tech portables.I start to assemble the DSLR equipment, ZacutoCrossfire, Z-Finder x2.5 and follow-focus system.I’ve fitted the zip gears (a gear ring which hugsthe lens) to five of my favourite lenses: 24mmf/1.4, 35mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.2 and135mm f/2. As we unpack the bags the table fillswith two Canon EOS 5D MkIIs, an EOS-1DMkIV and a 100mm f/2.8 macro, 180mm f/3.5macro, two 14mm f/2.8, another 24mm f/1.4 and85mm f/1.2, plus a 17-40mm f/4, 28-70mm f/2.8,70-200mm f/2.8 and finally 45mm and 90mmtilt-shifts. As I want to shoot at wide apertures Ibring along several ND filters. I count 16 lensesin total and although it is entirely possible to dothis project with fewer, I prefer to have them allat my disposal.As it’s DSLR I have two trusted Manfrotto

tripods (546GB legs, 501HDV head, a firmfavourite with a very easy levelling system) andone compact lightweight (190CXPRO4 legs,701HDV head) along with a rented GlidecamHD-2000 camera stabiliser and Manfrottomonopod (682B). For sound it’s the usual Rodeon-camera along with a Rode studio mic andTascam portable recorder. Additional lightingcomes from the ever-faithful Litepanel 1x1Bi-Color LED with an array of gold, white andsilver reflectors for subtle fill. Media comesin the form of four SanDisk Extreme Pro 90MB/sUDMA6 CF cards along with the essential LexarCompactFlash Pro card reader.When I stand back and look at this somewhat

confusing, bewildering and dazzling array ofhardware I think, “What the hell have I got myselfinto?” but quickly dispel the thought when Iimagine the potential results. Given all thishardware it’s difficult to believe that I can stillshoot so freely and move so easily but there is nogetting away from the fact that it would not bepossible without Billy and Michael. The DSLRequipment is far more cumbersome than thecamera alone, but Zacuto has made a fine job ofcreating a modular system that can be assembledand broken down very quickly and easily. I decide

“Handheld again and I’mchanging lenses quickerthan the models arechanging outfits...” Clive Booth

Amodelruns tochangeoutfits,CanonEOS-1DMkIV,50mmlens.

PP -DISPATCHES -APRIL 09/03/2011 10:06

BackstageatLondonFashionWeek,Clivecapturedthisshot withaCanonEOS5DMkIIand14mmlensclamped

to thebaseofa lightingrigwithamonkeygrip.

“My hope is that the finished film short will give the viewer a glimpse of what it feels like tobe a part of the strange, mystical and magical world that we are about to enter.” Clive Booth

Onthecatwalk,CanonEOS-1DMkIV,14mmlens.



dispatches

to shoot almost everything on the Canon EOS-1DMkIV. It has a very long battery life, excellentlow light capability, 50 fps (if needed) and areassuring weight and strength. The 5D MkIIswill be static cameras shooting from occasionalfixed positions on tripods or monkey grips.Day one is a reacquaintance with the fashion

show and the multitude of moments andopportunities it brings. Backstage it’s bright light,hot as hell, make-up mirrors, the sound of anadvancing army of hair dryers, and little pocketsof peace and quiet for the art of make-upapplication. Models eating, sleeping, texting; hairstylists, make-up artists, stylists, production crew,designers, dressers, seamstresses, the list goes on.The smell of a hundred different products, wallsof clothes rails, boxes of shoes, model cardsallocating wardrobe and space, tables full ofaccessories, steamers, ironing boards, Hoovers,bottles and bottles of water, grapes, sandwichesand Haribos, radios, clipboards, note pads andcameras. Lots of cameras. Interestingly it hasbeen two seasons since I was last backstage andnearly all the photographers are now using Canon.In fact I have to look hard to find anything else.Most are now shooting video with all manner ofDSLR contraptions, from the professionalto the home-made (aluminium, rods, wood andweightlifting weights). It’s chaos and calm,both at the same time. Shooting backstage is nopicnic but my drive and passion to capture this

world in moving pictures pushes me into the verynecessary spaces which are normally the domainof the models, hair and make-up artists. All arepatient and polite and there is a peace that existsdue to this symbiosis of being made up to be seenand recorded. There is so much to shoot here it’salmost overwhelming and I have to keepreminding myself that although I’ve shot showsmany times in the past I must try to see this as ifit were the first time as I move from 85mm to50mm and then 100mm macro. Both Billy andMichael have never been backstage before and Iwatch their reactions as we walk from hair andmake-up to wardrobe, line-up, rehearsals andcatwalk. As we have five shows in the onelocation the final edit can be cut from elementsof each, enabling the finished film to appearas one show, shot from a multitude of angles.I like the idea of this eclectic mixture of people,colour and styles all wrapped up into one.The available light is for the most part bright

tungsten and we decide to set the white balanceaccordingly. It is simply not possible to keepmanually resetting the white balance, so thiscompromise must be made. All cameras are setto record PAL 25fps 1,920 x 1,080p on manual,LCD monitor brightness at 4 (vital when thisis the viewfinder) with grid display switched onand picture style set to neutral.Day one goes well and even exceeds my

expectations, with some great static and panning

footage shot on the tripod with the 50mm f/1.2as the models come off the catwalk and rush tochange and then reappear. The Zacuto Crossfirecan be lifted off the tripod in one move and Iwork handheld, walking through the line-upsshooting into light as girls have last-minutetweaks to hair and make-up while what seem likedozens of photographers fight for positions.I switch to the Glidecam and a 5D MkII alongwith the 24mm f/1.4 Mk1 (I love the way thislens shows the elements when shooting intolight). Handheld again and I’m changing lensesquicker than the models are changing outfits:35, 85, 135, 24, 100, 135, each time making sureto allow the camera to do a sensor clean, which isin addition to a manual sensor clean with theblower, every hour or so. Billy and Michael arepros and make it look effortless, Michael literallyrunning to download cards. As with stills theshooting is intuitive, reacting to what I see,trusting much to instinct, but unlike stills I mustmake sure I have covered multiple angles,focal lengths and cutaways to make sure there isplenty of material for the edit. One beautifulpiece of moving imagery will work better whenseen from different viewpoints.By day two it’s clear that the three of us are

working as a tighter unit. For many assistantsDSLR is still new and learning to assemble anddisassemble the gear is very different to the skillsneeded for stills. As the day unfolds I’m C

LIVE

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Backstagemake-up,CanonEOS-1DMkIVhandheld,50mmlenswithNDfilter.

“...while the backstage14mm capturesa multitude of magic,last-minute make-up,hair, darkness then light,models distorted withgiant red shoes,clapping, whooping anddancing.” Clive Booth



GO ONLINE FOR MORE DISPATCHESFROM CLIVE BOOTHwww.professionalphotographer.co.uk

beginning to enjoy myself and relax a little,knowing that we already have many very usableshots. Billy has to leave at lunchtime as he isphotographing Bee Gee Robin Gibb at arecording studio in the West End, and so Michaeland I trim down the gear and head to the catwalk.First I shoot the rehearsal from three anglesmoving from wide to tight, and then I positionmyself in front of the photographers’ pit (it’s arunthrough and nobody minds) with the 135mmf/2. I let the models walk into the f/2 focal planeand then out again, the beautiful soft shapesgradually moving into focus to reveal determinedfaces full of attitude. I linger on this, as the bokehis mesmerising and dreamlike. Before the showwe take a position centre and back overlookingthe audience and catwalk. Michael stays with thetripod and I head off with the Zacuto Crossfire,EOS-1D MkIV and 35mm (nudging 50mm due tothe MkIV’s sensor size). I move freely in themidst of the melee and there is a feeling ofdetachment as I watch the proceedings throughthe viewfinder. Again I follow my instincts andjust let the world unravel around me. I stand likean island in the middle of a surging tide ofcelebrities, fashionistas, journalists andphotographers. Turning, I move downstreamcircling interviews, conversations and looks ofrecognition followed by fashion kisses.Behind me there is an explosion of flashes andI turn to see Prime Minister David Cameron’s

wife Samantha surrounded; she sits calmly astens of photographers just feet away open fireagain and again. A quiet anticipation follows andthe lights dim. I am now behind the onlookers,camera on tripod and 14mm... sssh, sssh and thenmusic, mobile phones dance like fireflies andthen light. Too much light; I quickly stop downthe lens as models walk from left to right acrossthe top quarter of the viewfinder. Happy with the14mm footage, Michael hands me the 24mm,then 35mm, 50mm and finally 85mm. My hopeis that this will cut well in the edit, finishing ona 50mm ultra-tight shot on the shoes (to be shotlater that day).Day three. Because much of the detail and

atmospheric footage are already on the harddrives, we set to work covering the last showfrom multiple angles. A Canon EOS 5D MkII isattached to the lighting rig with a monkey gripabove the photographers’ pit with a 24mm whileanother 5D MkII is secured to the floor at themodels’ feet covering the line-up and entrance tothe catwalk. As the show is about to begin, Billyjostles for a ladder to press ‘record’ in thephotographers’ pit (12 minutes’ maximum recordtime on the 5D MkIIs) while Michael is on hishands and knees doing the same backstage.I have a ringside seat using the lightweight tripodand fluid head covering the show on a 24mm,35mm and 50mm. It all works beautifully, the24mm over the pit shows the sheer size and scale

of the show with photographers in silhouette,while the backstage 14mm captures a multitudeof magic, last-minute make-up, hair, darknessthen light, models distorted with giant red shoes,clapping, whooping and dancing. Billy runs to myposition and grabs all the stuff as I headbackstage, handheld for one last key shot. I movewith the crowd and push through to the securityguard who, seeing my pass, waves me on, all inshot, all good. I find the journalists, cameracrews and celebrities jostling to interview andmeet the designer, and I go into orbit around thisfascinating scene, occasionally stopping tocapture a nuance, look, question, kiss and hug.Then it’s all over. The space is cleared;hair and make-up are already setting up forthe next show.

www.clivebooth.co.uk

Next month: Clive sits down to edit his workfrom London Fashion Week.

PP

Catwalkbootdetail,CanonEOS-1DMkIV,85mmlens.


Award-winning photojournalist Kieran Doherty travels around the world covering major sportingand press events. Because he shoots in all light conditions, come rain or shine, reliablecameras and lenses are a must and here he explains why his Nikon kit never lets him down.

STREETTOUGH

The first time I used Nikon kit was in 2008.I was covering the tennis at Wimbledon andphotographing Andy Murray playing inthe evening. This was before the roof wasput into place with the artificial lights,so it was quite dark. I took a couple ofpictures while sitting on the side of the courtand when I looked at them, I started tolaugh because what I saw was incredible.I couldn’t believe the clarity and thateverything was so sharp. I was using Nikon’s24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses. I thoughtimmediately to myself that if these lenses

could produce these kinds of images in thislow light then I couldn’t go wrong.My personal kit has taken knocks in all

different climates. In 2010 alone, I shot inDubai, Canada, Barcelona and China, and Iwill use pretty much every lens I own whenon assignment. In my kit bag are Nikon D3sand D700 bodies with the following manualAIS lenses: a 24mm f/1.8, a 50mm f/1.2 andan 85mm f/1.4. I also have these autofocuslenses: the 50mm f/1.4G AF-S NIKKOR, the24-70mm f/2.8G AF-S ED Zoom NIKKOR andthe 70-200mm AF-S NIKKOR f/2.8G ED VR II.

It is a testament to Nikon kit that I havenever once had to send a lens in for service.I have never had to say it needs tweaking, orit’s not focusing or it’s back focusing,and I rely on the kit to get me out of trouble.There are times in football matches, for

example, when you have to pick up the70-200mm really quickly because there’saction in the goalmouth. Frankly, I don’tdeserve to have the lenses and camerasreact as quickly as they do. They are so goodthat I would say they pick up a little bit ofground for you. So if you are slow to react, as

TheBurjKhalifabuilding inDubai,the tallestman-madestructure intheworld.Kierantookthispicture

fromaviewingplatformatsunrisewhileshootingstills

onassignment forBBC’sHumanPlanetseries.

PP -NIKON ADVERTORIAL V2 09/03/2011 10:02

From 1993 to 2008, Kieran Doherty workedas a freelance and staff photographer forthe Reuters News Agency. Today he iscommissioned to covermajor press andsports events, and produce documentarywork theworld over. His images havefeatured in and on the covers ofmanymajor international journals andmagazines, including TIME, Newsweek,Stern, National Geographic, the New YorkTimesMagazine and the Sunday TimesMagazine. Most recently hewascommissioned by the BBC to shoot stills toaccompany the Human Planet televisionseries. In 2010 he took first place in thenews category of the Press Photographer’sYear awards. www.kierandoherty.com

ADVERTORIAL

BIOGRAPHY

soon as your finger touches that button andthe lens kicks in, it can almost save yourbacon. That for me is the ultimate test,especially when working in stadiums wherethe light is pretty grim and murky. They arereally sharp and as a photographer you can’task for anything more.If you want to talk about the toughness of

Nikon lenses, I covered the 2010 Ryder Cupgolf, where it rained for eight days. Apartfrom some fogging on an LCD screen and toa lens because I forgot to take it out of mybag when I returned to my hotel room, I didnot encounter any problems with the bodiesor lenses I used. This is incredible, bearingin mind that every time I took out the camerato check an image it got soaked.For my street photography, when I am not

assigned to shoot for anybody I use my rangeof prime lenses. I always use a 50mm forstreet photography and I have two lenses.One is the old f/1.2 and the other is the newautofocus version – the f/1.4G AF-S NIKKOR– which is instant. It’s solid, but so light andgreat value. The quality is there; as soon asyou touch the button, everything comes intofocus. The primes are great if you want to bea little less obtrusive, but I never thought Iwould ever ‘shout from the rooftops’ asmuch as I have done about how great thezoom lenses are, in particular the 24-70mmand the 70-200mm.KIE

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24-70mm f/2.8G AF-S ED ZoomNIKKORRRP: £1,565.99

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WestHamgoalkeeperRobertGreenstretches to try tosaveashot fromArsenal’sEduardoduring the

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The results I get from Nikon cameras andlenses are instant, even in low light. They doexactly what they say on the tin.For more information about the kit Kieranuses, please visit www.nikon.co.uk

PP -NIKON ADVERTORIAL V2 07/03/2011 12:27


1st “Whilst Peter has shown an increaseddedication to photography and has produceda good portfolio of work for interview, hisoverall attitude tends to be one of indifference,flippancy and at times complacency.Unless Peter grows up a little in the very nearfuture and works hard in all his subjectshe will soon find himself out in the cold worldsurrounded by students who leave him standing.”Words as relevant now as they were 21 years ago.Keen to know her progress, I Google VirginiaBolton, my former A-level photography teacher.I discover eight used copies of her book Focus onPhotography for sale at a penny on Amazon,but nothing else. My mum has retired and isdoing what mums do best, sorting things out.In my home town of Weymouth there are threeboxes of my life needing rescue, including thiscollege report. Flicking through the viewed-oncemagazines it’s clear just how much editorial

photography has changed. A 1999 Marie Claire awhacking 426 pages, a 1998 GQ a healthy 321.The format is big and the pages are jammedwith adverts for PalmPilots, pre-Viagra remediesand photographs of Gail Porter with hair.My contributions failed to save some of thepublications: Frank, The Face, Wish and Nova allgone. It’s poignant tipping them into recycle.Today what were probably my last editorialmail-outs will reach their destination. From habitI ordered 200 postcards. Three immediatecommissions would usually follow, plus another

half dozen within a few months. Checking thelist, fewer than 70 recipients still have their job.I say a mental goodbye to the days of jolliesmasquerading as stories, visits to a towndedicated to Superman and foam parties at ClubMed, and I go out with a smile. The stamps boremy cheesy pate next to a billowing Union flagcourtesy of the www.royalmail.com/smilersservice: ‘Smilers – Share a special moment.’

8th I’m hanging my LoveUK exhibition atcreative ad agency Archibald Ingall Stretton intime for Valentine’s Day and pop along to theoffices to assess the space. Afterwards, I havethree hours to occupy before a long-anticipatedprivate view of an important Eve Arnoldretrospective at the Chris Beetles FinePhotographs Gallery in Swallow Street. The sunis out. Resisting the urge to imbibe I startsnapping the street. It feels as if I’m trespassingall over iN-PUBLIC member and streetphotographer David Solomons’UpWest project.While stalking red scarves around Carnaby Streeta Hexar AF sneaks into view. It’s iN-PUBLICmember and street photographer David Solomonsshooting his UpWest project. We start one ofthose twitchy conversations photographersoften have with one another where no one isreally paying attention; eyes and wristsflick to the colours that pass and the people whowear them. David is gracious enough to let mecrash his drinks meeting but something oddhappens: I decline. I’m enjoying myself andcontinue to play peek-a-boo with the sun as webounce up and down Piccadilly before Ifinally succumb and head up to the fifth-floor barin Waterstone’s Bookstore. If I ever have alover of advanced years who enjoys theDaily Express and a good royal wedding this isthe ideal venue to take them. Looks like many ofthe men at the tables agree. The walls are

This month, Peter Dench,the award-winningphotojournalist finds thatself-imploding magazinesand shrinking expenseaccounts mean thingsjust ain’t what they usedto be in the world ofprofessional photography.On the plus side there’salways a launch party justaround the corner...welcome to the world of asometime working pro.

thedenchdiary

Above,clockwise:Peter,GraceandMarcusBleasdaleenjoy thesnowinOslo;partydancesgetunderwayattheswimmingpool,ClubMed,Kemer,Turkey;catchingthesun inCarnabyStreet,London; the first foampartyof theweek in full swing,ClubMed,Kemer,Turkey;twomalevisitors to theCLAGameFair liedownforarest in front ofBlenheimPalace,Oxfordshire.

PP -DENCH DIARY- april 07/03/2011 12:30


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decorated with the covers of 40 years ofPulitzer Prize winners. I scribble some down.The woman next to me asks if I’m a writer. I snortderisively. Then say yes. For a second I thinkshe wants to caress my head in her leathery nape;her friends turn up and the moment fades.It’s opening time at Chris Beetles and I

jittery-flit moth-like towards the gallery door,swerve sharply and compose myself around thecorner. My legs bow, the table I glanced insidewas groaning with fizz. Breathe, skip back roundand nip through the door. No name or invitecheck, they let anyone in these days. A man viewsthe work seated, by scooting round in a deskchair. Another prods me out the way with hiswalking stick. The bubbles are introduced to mypalate and I acquaint myself with the work,some of it familiar, some not. In a fantasymoment I rehearse purchasing Bar Girl in aBrothel in the Red Light District, Havana,



Cuba, 1954 and check the price, £2,800. It’s oneof the cheaper prints. Marilyn Monroe During theFilming of The Misfits, Nevada, 1960 is abusty £17,500. Most I talk with think them a fairprice. The red dots are out and at least fourhave stuck. I check my lapel for a scarlet disc.I decide to leave when my camera bag dominoesan empty glass into a terracotta army of others.I momentarily detect the spirit of Roy Castle andNorris McWhirter chortling their approval.I hold my nerve and let the lady trying to standthem up take the blame, doff an imaginarycap to the £8,000 Barmaid, NewYork City, 1950s,grab my coat and burp into the evening.

12th Attend the first anniversary party of theThird Floor Gallery in Cardiff – turn tothe six-page feature in this issue to read of theexperience. Wait! Finish the diary first.

17th The editorial mail-out has tweaked theinterest of Stylist magazine; a portrait in

Soho of former Home Secretary and MPJacqui Smith. I breeze past presenter ClareBalding and into the BBC’s Henry Wood Housewhere we are to meet. While Jacqui is havingher make-up done I get a call delivering newsthat is as significant as winning a World PressPhoto Award. I’ve only ever spontaneouslyshouted out loud for joy three times in adult lifeand, to the surprise of the office, release ashattering fourth. It’s the director of the 2011Visa pour l’Image festival of photojournalism,Jean-François Leroy, with confirmationthat they would like to exhibit EnglandUncensored. This is big news. Leroy endsthe call with those magic words, “Welcometo the club.”

18th TAXVAT-Man has cleaned me out and isstill squeezing. I check my Air Miles from moreprolific times and book an escape. It is timeto go on a journey to see a man. Not just anyman, but a man with a fine head of hair.

The ladies call him Mr Darcy. Many callhim Captain Congo. Others call him friend.I simply call him Bleasdale. Marcus Bleasdale.I first met Bleasdale when he joined the IPGagency, of which I was already a member, in2002. I think he will concur that he benefitedfrom my tutelage. It’s satisfying to see him doingso well and progress to a point where I was onlyon the subs’ bench at his wedding. Winner ofWorld Press Photo of theYear 2005 FinbarrO’Reilly shot the stills. Current Magnumpresident Jonas Bendiksen was on video duty.Now with the VII photographic agency,Bleasdale has got me a gig teaching a workshopat the Bilder Nordic School of Photography inOslo, where he lives. Realising that I’m headingto one of the most expensive cities in theworld I log on to www.wonga.com to see if Ican raise enough for a round and head offto the airport. I arrive bearing the requestedmaximum quota of duty free and series eightand nine of Silent Witness.

“It’s the director of the 2011 Visa pour l’Image festival of photojournalism, Jean-François Leroy,with confirmation that they would like to exhibit England Uncensored. This is big news.” Peter Dench



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19th Arriving at the £8,000-a-year School ofPhotography the nerves aren’t bad but I postponebreakfast just in case. Last night, over venison atthe Crown Prince’s favourite restaurant (I wastempted by the braised ox cheek in beer)Bleasdale had warned me: “Dench, you’d betterbe funny.” This morning I don’t feel funny.Breakfast with Bleasdale is not always anamusing start to the day. All the hope and lightfrom this dawn is juiced into a tale of Congorape and child soldiers. I stare out the window atthe residence across the road and applaud theNorwegians’ aversion to net curtains. It’s aPeeping Peter paradise. “Are you a nation of tall,blond, fluffy-jumper wearing, whale-killing,pillaging sea warriors?” may not be the mostconventional question to kick off a presentationbut most of the ensemble seem to take it in

their stride. I check the slow-blinking lids ofice-cool Catrine on the front row for a writtenmessage. Nothing. She just seems tired andidly jabs at her phone. The theme of the workshopis Irony and Humour in Norwegian Life andSociety. I show them a cross-section from mywork on England, from Dagenham estatesto Blackpool hen parties, country house events toBanbury Hobby Horse Festival, and end byreading a few extracts from the Diary to see if ittranslates and am pleased the laughs are loud.Skidding round to the Dubliner Pub on a highI get the drinks in. Two pints of Guinness andtwo packets of crisps please, £22.59. My legs startdoing an involuntary charleston. I’ve never takenso long to finish a pint.

20th The family have joined me for a mini-breakand while we watch the girls ice skate Icomplain to Bleasdale about having to pick up thecab fare on my Jacqui Smith all-in-feecommission and ask him about his recent 21-daytrip to north-east Congo on assignment forHuman Rights Watch and the Pulitzer Center onCrisis Reporting. He flatly explains spending$17,000 on flights and only eight of those daysbeing shoot days. Of having to fly withmotorcycles and a generator before seven-hourrides through the bush. On one ride anaccident smashed his knee and chewed the skinoff his elbow down to the bone. Two daysfrom decent medical care he patched himself upand finished the job. Not wanting to alarmhis wife, the first she learned of his ordeal was ashe crawled the stairs to his apartment 10kglighter and urinating blood. Three trips to A&Efollowed before he headed off on a three-weektrip to the Central African Republic and

10 days in Uganda. After ice-skating, hotchocolate and waffles we move on to theInternational Museum of Children’s Art; I pick upthe entrance fee and make a donation.Under the Chinese masks Bleasdale talks aboutan orphanage he and a bunch of Congo-consciousjournalists have set up (www.congochildren.com)feeding, medicating and educating around134 kids from past or current conflicts. He hadstarted to regale me with a story of shootingbackstage at Marc Jacobs during NewYorkFashion Week when a nun called from Congo;she was having difficulty raising the $65 taxrequired to get six cows across a lake intendedto provide milk for the orphanage. Before hecan finish he beats off to catch the start of anAfrican drum lesson, you can take Bleasdaleout of Africa...

22nd Today I’m back at the Bilder Nordic Schoolto assess the work of the students. I kick off themorning with aYouTube video of Jahn Teigen’s1978 Eurovision Song Contest nul pointerMil Etter Mil (Mile After Mile) just to show thatNorwegians are capable of being hilarious. Of the40 students who attended my presentation, 20have returned and 17 produced work. I askSebastian what’s his excuse and float theidea of getting the non-shooters to sing a chorusalong with Jahn: “My best friend’s brother tookan overdose and his wife hanged herself.”I let thoughts of punishment pass. Later, whilereflecting on the quality of work from the BilderNordic School I find myself once again out in thecold world surrounded by students who willprobably leave me standing; I assume an attitudeof indifference, flippancy and at timescomplacency, board the plane, sit back and suckback the British Airways Malbec, Mil Etter MilEtter Mil...

www.peterdench.com

You can hear Peter in person eachmonthon theProfessional Photographer podcast,available on iTunes or on ourwebsite atwww.professionalphotographer.co.uk

PP

thedenchdiary

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Above:JonasMeekStrømmanreceivesasignedDenchfor thebestworkshopprojectat theBilderNordicSchoolofPhotography inOslo.Right:Oneof the imagesshownto thestudentsat theSchoolofPhotography,Oslo.Oppositepage:A fatherholdshisson’shandwhilecarryingagun in theotheras theywalk throughthegroundsat theWar&PeaceShow,Kent.This imagewillbeonshowat Visapour l’Image,Perpignan.

“The theme of the workshop is Irony and Humour in Norwegian Lifeand Society. I show them a cross-section from my work on England...and end by reading a few extracts from the Diary to see if ittranslates and am pleased the laughs are loud.” Peter Dench


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TILT-SHIFT-TASTIC� Sometimes being a film maker meansyou must think on your feet; having to turn badcircumstances into beneficial ones is all toocommon an occurrence. After turning up at theFormula DRIFT motorsport competitionat a racing circuit in Sonoma, California,photographer Joe Ayala discovered that he wasnot on the media guest list. Not wanting towaste his trip, Joe decided that instead ofclose-up action shots he would try a differentperspective and make a film of the cars froma distance. This, coupled with his recentinterest in tilt-shift lenses, has produceda stunning and unique film. The way thetilt-shift lenses make everything look like toysworks amazingly well in this particularcircumstance. I think the film will inspire a lotof DSLR users to experiment.http://vimeo.com/15045149

THE POWER OF THE MEDIUMThe Journey is a film by Scottish film makerRichard Jobson, narrated by the actress EmmaThompson, and shot on a Canon EOS 5DMkII. Watching it will reaffirm the reasonswhy most of us get into film and its power isobvious to any viewer. The film tells the storyof a woman who has been trafficked fromeastern Europe and forced to become aprostitute in a north London basement room.Be warned – this film contains strong violentand sexual scenes that some people may

find disturbing. It is a stark reminder of theworld we live in, and how most of us aresheltered from this desperate and awful side ofsociety, leaving the victims ignored. It alsoshows how DSLR film making is changing theway we make films, mixing green screen,animation, photography and live action tocreate a truly thought-provoking piece.www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/0434

A GLANCE AT DUALEYESEven though the images createdwhen using a DSLR are stunning, thefact the audio is somewhat lackingbecomes pretty evident when youstart working with it. The preferredsolution is to record on a separateaudio recorder, but this creates theproblem of having to sync the audioand image in the edit suite. To makethis process simpler, downloadable

software called DualEyes is nowavailable. It uses technologies toautomatically sync and cut the audiorecording into clips that match thevideo. The beauty of this software isthat it is standalone and can be usedin conjuction with any NLE(non-linear editing) system fromconsumer level to professional.At $149 (£93) this could speed upyour workflow instantly.www.singularsoftware.com/dualeyes.html

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To make sure you don’t get left behind in the rapidly changing world of DSLRfilm making, John Campbell brings you the latest news, the most exciting filmsand the best kit from this brave new world that is transforming our industry.

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Rumour has it that Canon isabout to launch a new camera,the much-anticipated EOS 5DMkIII or 6D. Suggestions are itmay offer a 24-megapixelsensor and a dual DIGIC 4processor as well as anarticulated LCD screen with1.04 million dots. This mayalso have the advantage ofbeing a touch screen, whichwould make it the firstfull frame camera to have suchtechnology. The word is itwill be released by the middleof the year. Watch this space.

ON THE GRAPEVINE///////////

PP -FILM SCHOOL - APRIL 08/03/2011 15:54


NEWSFROM MODEST BEGINNINGS� Shot on a Canon EOS 7D, the indiemovieLike Crazy, directed by Drake Doremus, wasgiven the US dramatic competition grand juryprize at the Sundance Film Festival, andEnglish lead actress Felicity Jones won thespecial jury prize for her performance.The film has since been sold to ParamountPictures for amassive $4million.Inspiring stuff for us DSLR filmmakers.www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/0488

EOS 5D MKII ON THE FRONTLINE� During the protests in Egypt, we sawagain how in places where political unrestharbours fears of outside interference, theability to shoot covertly and discreetly on aDSLR comes in handy. Sky News shootersused the Canon EOS 5DMkII again to filmremarkable footage of the unfolding violence.Apparently, the cameraman just used the EF24-105mm IS kit lens with no rig or Z-finder,and the audio was recorded on a TascamDR-100 recorder and a Sennheisermic.www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/0401

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MIXERS� Designed for those on a budget, the RollsMX410 and MX422 location mixers areoutstanding for new film makers as wellas established camera operatorswho need to be able to shootwhile monitoring soundsinglehanded. Second-handSQN mixers, which are the industrystandard, can cost thousands and are generally

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input level trim is added insteadof the line/mic switch.Each channel has a pan pot [dial]instead of a straight switch andthere is a mixer master fader.

Meters are now analogue VU and you geta battery test button. The headphone sectiongains a full ¼in (6.35mm) headphone jack andthe ability to switch the monitoring from themixer output to a return input on the back ofthe mixer; if this is plugged to the headphoneoutput on your camera, it gives you confidencethat the audio is actually reaching therecording. These two mixers are excellentvalue for money and using them willundoubtedly improve your audio recording.www.rolls.com

EQUIPMENTVIEWFINDER� Having the ability to monitor externally from HDSLRs isessential. The VFM-056W/WP from TVLogic is a light (300g) andcompact (156mm x 103mm x 26.5mm) viewfinder monitorspecially designed for HDSLR and small camcorder shooters.The monitor’s 5.6in LCD panel has a resolution of 1,280p x 800pand a wide viewing angle of 170º. The VFM-056W/WP is perfect for both indoor andoutdoor shooting with an HDSLR camera. It has an ergonomic design and comes with asolid and light magnesium case which provides stability and outstanding ventilation.www.tvlogic.co.kr

CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE� Opening the door for all DSLR filmmakers, Danfung Dennis, a photojournalistturned filmmaker, has won the grandjury prize in the documentary category atthe Sundance Film Festival.His film, Hell and Back Again, which

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PP -FILM SCHOOL - APRIL 03/03/2011 18:08

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How have things changed since you joinedThe Guardian?Well, the number of products that we do hasgrown. When I came here there were three pictureeditors, a researcher and a secretary, and nowbetween the two newspapers there are about 30of us working on desks. That was beforeThe Guardian had a weekend magazine andbefore they bought The Observer. It was a simplerplace although, of course, the communicationswere worse. If we wanted a picture taken inManchester we used to have to get it wired downand then film was sent down on a Red Star train.In a way things were more difficult then, becauseof bad communications. Now, with FTP andphotographers shooting on digital cameras withApple Macs in the back of their cars, in a way it’seasier. In terms of images there’s a big differencein numbers so if you worked over a weekend inthe late 1980s you might get 200 pictures to lookat; we’re now getting around 15,000 to 20,000pictures a day.

Is that becausemore people are nowphotographers?Yes it is, but also because there are more ways forpeople to get pictures to us. It is a good thing tohave more choice, although we do wade throughsuch a lot of images we’re not interested in.For example, if you’re working on news you’renot interested in a sports picture but first thing inthe morning you might find yourself ploughingthrough American baseball pictures. It’s moretime-consuming but actually the standards havegone up hugely in those years.

Why do you think that the standard ofphotography you are seeing has risen?I think it’s due to the fact that these days manypeople go to college and study. They might havegone to study art or graphics but they take timeout to study the art of photography, the aestheticsof it. Possibly it’s also because the craft sideis easier – it’s simpler to tweak a photograph inPhotoshop than it was to tweak it in the

frontlinefrom the

Roger ToothHeadof photography: TheGuardian,TheObserver andguardian.co.uk

Career history:Photographer: Hackney GazettePhotographer: IPC magazinesFreelance photographerAssistant picture editor: The GuardianPicture editor: The GuardianHead of photography: The Guardian,The Observer and guardian.co.uk

“..it’s simpler to tweak aphotograph in Photoshopthan it was to tweak it in thedarkroom – so everything isso much more accessible tophotographers.” Roger Tooth

Need to put a face to a name, get the background story, the right advice and the insidetrack on how to get commissioned? This month we hear from Roger Tooth, head of photographyat The Guardian and The Observer to hear his thoughts on what it takes tobecome a photojournalist in 2011 and how the platforms of news delivery are changing.

THE

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PP -FRONTLINE- APRIL 04/03/2011 12:05


frontlinedarkroom – so everything is so much moreaccessible to photographers. We’ve got someonein the office who trained on a regional paper inScotland – a snapper – but the work he does nowis of magazine quality. That’s what we now expectin news on a daily basis as well as in editorial.

Do you think education is preparingphotographers for the real world?No, I think students have unrealistic expectationswhen they leave college. I think people are doingthe wrong courses. I recently gave a talk ata careers event and my take was that peopleshouldn’t do photographic courses. Instead theyshould be studying, for example, fine art whenthey leave school. Someone asked if that’s whateveryone in the industry thought and I replied thatno, it was probably just me and Lord Snowdon!I definitely think a first degree should be an artdegree rather than a photographic one. [Taking aphotography degree] is too narrow and I suspectthat students are spending too much time doingprojects rather than the groundwork. I thinkthere are two problems: one is that people aren’ttrained in the basics of photography; the otheris that they aren’t trained graphically, so theydon’t understand how their photography might beused, which leads to a bit of naivety. Also, youcan’t just go to college for three years and comeout and say you’re a photojournalist. You need toget more experience.

Which courses do you think those hopingto become photojournalists should study?I think people should probably do a general artcourse and think about looking at things, howthey look and how they translate on to pieces ofpaper or computer screens. You need a generalfeeling for imagery. If photographers really wantto do photojournalism I think they should do aone or two-year postgraduate course, possiblywith a bit of photography in between.

Do you build relationships withphotojournalists or rely on submitted images?On a daily basis, just to get the website out everyday, we rely on our staff people and the wireagencies. The Gettys, Reuters and APs of theworld drive the news side of things now, theyproduce the work we need to get the newspapersout. Most of the commissioning that we do now isfor portraiture, which we do a lot, given that weare a features and arts newspaper.

Given that you have staff photographers doyou build relationships with freelancers?We have five photographers on staff full-time andwe have another set of regular freelancers who

are contracted up to four days a week. When weneed a bit more help we’ll go out looking forphotographers or I’ll remember people I’ve seen,but we haven’t done that for a while. I getphotographers contacting me every two hours!

What do you look for when you see newwork?I like clean, graphic, simple pictures because Ilook at it from a newspaper point of view.The other thing I look for in photographers ispoliteness, because if we do commission someonethey are representing the newspaper. We’re verykeen on The Guardian’s reputation being held infairly high esteem, so I’m quite careful about whoI might send on a particular job. We’ve got acouple of women on contract, which I think isreally important. You could be sending aphotographer round to shoot a female in her homeand perhaps she’s not comfortable with a male, soit’s good to have that option. Some peopletelephone us and say they are very nervous abouthaving their picture taken, so sometimes it is bestto send a female photographer. It sounds sexistbut I think it’s the way things are. The personalityof a photographer is important, things can gowrong very quickly on a shoot. It’s horses forcourses really. Of course on the news side we’reso rushed it’s almost a taxi rank service. It’s morea case of who is available.

How is convergence affecting thewayyouwork?I think photographers have to understand that theymust embrace it. For me the question is whetherphotographers end up doing video driven bya photographer’s eye or producing more inspiredvideo; I think there’s a difference between thetwo but I don’t know if that’s been worked out yet.At the moment we have a separate videodepartment but I don’t know if it will stay likethat forever; I suspect it won’t. I thought we

would have [formally] converged more quicklyhere than it has done, but both myself and themulti-media editor are busy in our own areas, soit hasn’t happened yet. I lend him photographerswhen he needs people.

Do you have any other advice for prospectivephotojournalists?I think they have to be prepared to work aroundthe clock and not be looking for a nine-to-fivejob. They must be fairly self-starting; for exampleif they go abroad we can’t really help from theoffice but, actually, I think most photojournalistslike that independence. We tend to rely on them toorganise themselves and just get on with it.

Do you think there are anymisconceptionsabout photojournalism?The thing I’m slightly cynical about, after allthese years, is when people say, “I want to coverthis in this part of the world.” Sometimes I think,“Are we just buying you an air ticket to go offto complete your gap year?” I’ve always beenkeen on people documenting Britain. With all thecuts, it’s a really good time to turn round anddocument what’s happening in this country, onyour own doorstep. Why don’t we look at ourown country for a bit? Although we have foreigncoverage we’re a UK paper. For example, ifwe want a picture of a closed factory it’s actuallyquite hard to find a picture like that.People don’t turn the camera on their owncommunities enough.

So it’s not necessary to take a gap year andtravel the globe to become a photojournalist?Certainly not, quite the opposite really. I’m surethe French are doing it in their own country.The current climate feels very 1980s to me,it’s like we’re in a Thatcher era. Now is the timeto document Britain. PP

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Dear Professional Photographer,I enjoyed your article on personalprojects [March issue], we’ve allseen them and some certainly havemore success than others – generallyspeaking, deservedly so. However, Iwanted to ask you to consider afollow-up article highlighting theimportance of the ‘other’ sort ofpersonal project. Dewi Lewis pickedup on it [“A lot of photographerswill consider the term ‘personalwork’ simply as the work they do fornon-commercial reasons.”] I wassurprised you didn’t include moreon that in the article, but understandspace is limited and ideas flowaplenty! I was expecting morebecause I’ve been doing the samesubject (around professional work)since 2004 and, for me, it’s been themost positive thing I could havedone. And now, because of it, I’vebeen asked to quote for a massiveinternational advertising campaignfor a well-known company.I think this would be a fantastic

idea as a follow-up: with a positive,encouraging tone and first-handbeneficial advice; all of thephotographers you speak to monthon month will have some degree ofexperience in this (like your bangerracing project, February issue).We all need an arena to testourselves in; as professionals wewant to keep our eye in, our skillscurrent and ask ourselves importantquestions. You can’t ‘play’ in thesame way within the boundaries ofcommercial work (well, you can butit’s risky!) I was advised in my finalyear of college that ‘it’s a good ideato have something to keep goingback to’ – a personal project of yourchoosing that you do in your sparetime and is always on the backburner. When I finished, I foundsomething that interested me and

I know it inside out now. I use thework for marketing, promotion,networking, exhibitions etc and I’veeven been approached by a publisherabout getting it published. One ofthe biggest benefits I see that couldcome out of it is that if you canjustify it in print, the families ofpeople who undertake such projectsare likely to be a little moreunderstanding and supportive. I havestruggled and fought with my wifefor the time it’s taken me to do thiswork; she could never understandthe point of doing something thatdidn’t pay – speculative work, eventhough I had a clear idea of howuseful it could be. Now, after sevenyears, she is starting to get it,but we still fight over it occasionally.Help us out sir!BillBradshaw,viaemail

Dear Professional Photographer,I just wanted to drop you a quickemail to say thank you for the onlineShoot the Catwalk competition[to shoot a show at London FashionWeek]. It was my first timeshooting a fashion show, so it wasan interesting experience to shootsomething different to what I amused to and get a small taste of

another part of the photographyindustry. Best of luck with themagazine, it’s an enjoyable read andis a useful tool for someone like mewho is trying to find his feet as aprofessional photographer.DarranArmstrong,viaemail

Dear Professional Photographer,Just wanted to say I really enjoyedthe article The New Kid in Town inthe March issue along with CliveBooth’s article about establishingand maintaining your onlineidentity. In fact the whole magazine

was (and always is) great. The NewKid in Town was especially relevantfor me as I have really started toembrace the idea of blogging as aform of personally promotingmyself. Also the idea of showinghundreds of people my workthrough a blog rather than it sittingin a folder on my hard drive ismaking me a better photographer.I found this month’s issue

extremely relevant; your publicationis providing me monthly withinsightful information about thestate of the industry. I'm alsoenjoying the little gems Grant Scottwrites up on his tumblr blog[http://aneditorsview.tumblr.com].They make me consider things dailyabout the industry and my work thatI might not have done otherwise.JamesWhitty, viaemail

CorrectionIn the Professional Photographer oftheYear Awards 2010 feature inthe January issue, we incorrectlystated that Irene Frowley wascommended in the still-life sectionwhen, in fact, it was Irene van derMeijs. We apologise for the error. PP

tell us what you think at [email protected].

In Februarywe ran an onlinecompetition in associationwithCanon to give away 20 uniqueaccreditation passes to shoot aJaeger showat LondonFashionWeek at Somerset House.We asked you to showus howyousaw theworld andmore than150 of you responded, uploadingyour images to the competitiongallery on ourwebsite.Passes for LondonFashionWeekare highly prizedwith only 200photographers granted accessto the catwalk pit, so it was afantastic opportunity. On 20

February ourwinners came toLondon fromas far asBelgiumandRomania. All thewinnersgot the chance to shoot therehearsal aswell as the showitself and you can see someof their images in our fashiongallery on thePPwebsite.

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Professional photographer Ted Sabaresepublishes a blog in which he tries to workout how other photographers’ images werelit and offers his own theory on how theshoot went. This month he brings his lightingexperience and limited drawingskills to Rhianna and Michael Thompson.

Remember, this is called ‘Guess’ the Lighting. Therefore, all lighting,camera, lens, grip, f-stop, shutter speed etc informationmay nothold up in a court of law. There is a lot of guesswork in guessing.

MICHAEL THOMPSON/RIHANNACOVER, GQUSA, JAN 2010Rihanna may currently be entangled in a dab of plagiarism controversyover her latest video, but that doesn’t take away from the uttersexiness seeping from this January 2010 GQ USA cover. Michael’s softbacklighting paints a glamorous yet angelic picture of this rockand roll siren. Five strobes did the trick.

Camera: Hasselblad H3D-39 and 100mm lens, handheld 10ft back.Shot at 1/125sec, f/8, ISO 50.

Lighting: The main light sources come from the sides and behind.A large soft box at f/16 ½ (+2½ stops) is positioned behind a framed,one-stop diffusion silk to camera left and behind Rihanna.Another large softbox at f/8 ½ (+ ½ stop) with framed silk sits similarly to

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camera right. A medium soft box at f/5.6 (-1 stop) sits 4ft to cameraleft and 8ft high. Two white umbrellas at f/11 (+1 stop) light the whitebackground from both camera right and left, in the rear.

www.guessthelighting.com

Turn to page 54 for our interview with Michael Thompson.

PP

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PP -Guess the lighting - APRIL 08/03/2011 15:50

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We spend a lot of our time here atProfessional Photographer suggestingto wedding photographers that theyshouldn’t be looking at weddingphotography for inspiration but at thebest of the world’s fashion photography.It’s not always met with understanding,but to help us in our quest comes one ofthe world’s leading fashionphotographers, Ellen Von Unwerth(and PP bad girl – you can see ourNovember 2010 issue to find out why!),shooting the Spring/Summer 2011campaign for leading wedding dressdesigner Jenny Packham. We applaudthe collaboration and can’t wait to seesimilar partnerships. Anyone ready forPeter Dench shooting weddings?Visit www.jennypackham.com tosee all the images. PP

exposureImages that have us thinking, talking and debating...

PP -EXPOSURE- APRIL 03/03/2011 18:03


PP -THOMPSON - APRIL 04/03/2011 10:32


GOD IS IN THEDETAILS

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He shoots beauty, fashion and portraits for the world’s mostprestigious magazines and commercial clients, learnt his craft

assisting Irving Penn and has just released the secondmonograph of his work but, as Michael Thompson tells

PP Editor Grant Scott, he has paid his dues getting to the top.Singer Joss Stone.

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Grant: Michael, I first became aware ofyour work in the early 1990s when it wasa major factor in the re-launch of AmericanHarper’s Bazaar under the art directionof the great Fabien Baron. How did thatcome about?Michael: I started in 1991 doing beauty imagesfor Allure magazine in NewYork and then Istarted doing the same for Bazaar. I was knownas a beauty photographer and I didn’t do anyfashion or celebrity images, because celebritywork wasn’t that big a deal then. So I wasshooting beauty for them but with Fabien there

things were done a little differently. He tooka lot of chances and went outside the box, so itwas very interesting to be part of that group ofmovers and shakers. I was part of a groupof new, young photographers there, kids in their20s who caused a big shake-up.GS: Your work at that time and ever sincehas had a very clean and precise aestheticto it. It felt fresh.MT:Yeah, coming out after three-and-a-half yearsat Penn’s studio I was obviously very influencedby his work and initially mine was very similar toPenn’s. I kind of stuck with that, then went off

on my own and branched out into my own styleas the years went on.GS: Was Penn a great influence before youwent to work for him?MT: Yes, I had his books, along with RichardAvedon’s and all the other big guys, like HelmutNewton. But I was just dreaming, you know,living on the west coast looking at these images.So when I knocked on his door in NewYork andhe answered the door, not an assistant, I almostfell on the floor. Every day I worked with himand saw him I would have to pinch myself and go,“Oh my God, that’s Irving Penn.”GS: That’s an incredible start to a career,from working with Penn to working forHarper’s Bazaar and Fabien Baron.MT: It was amazing; I’d driven all of mybelongings from the west coast in a rented truckto NewYork with my girlfriend who is now mywife. When I’d arrived I didn’t have any leads orcontacts so I just started doing what everybodydoes and began making calls. Penn wassomeone who agreed to give me an interview.GS: David Bailey once said to me the mostvaluable Avedon book was the one he hadn’tsigned, because he was very much on thescene and available but Penn was reclusive.MT: I had an interview with Avedon too andthey couldn’t have been more polar oppositesin personality. They were both geniusesbut they went about it in such different ways.GS: After your work appeared in Bazaar youhad a pretty meteoric rise, because it wasso influential internationally at the time.MT: I think it was just the clean and chic look ofBazaar at the time that people liked. Fashion isvery much like that, you know, there are alwaysthings that shake it up. In fashion everyone is soblasé about everything, they’ve seen everything amillion times, so they need to be shocked nowand then. Bazaar was a great shock back then.In the early 1990s the economy in the States

was not unlike how it is now in the sense thatpeople were not willing to take chances and itwasn’t until later on in that decade that thingsstarted to pick up financially; when that happenspeople love to take risks because they have a lotof money to take them. Now people are holdingon to their wallets. It was a great time to start inthe early 1990s, however, because I was going

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Left:ActressGwynethPaltrow.Oppositepage:ActressMillaJovovich.

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“In fashion everyoneis so blasé abouteverything, they’veseen everything amillion times, so theyneed to be shockednow and then.Bazaar was a greatshock back then.”Michael Thompson



from an assistant’s salary I didn’t see thatthings were at an economic low. If I made $1,000for the day then I was happy, whereas thephotographers who had been around for a whilethought that was nothing and were all upset.

In the beginning people were hiring me likethey do now, on the basis of what they see in themagazines. I’m fine with that. I worked a lot forthe beauty houses in the beginning, which wasgreat for me financially so I was able to pay myrent. There weren’t a heck of a lot of beautyphotographers so it was a nice place to step in andsay, “Hey, maybe I can be important in this area”and then move on into fashion. There were somany people doing it and there still are.GS: Your work is very controlled and alwaysinvolves a very high level of technical ability,which you seem to bring to all of the areasyou work in, even the ‘caught’ moment.MT:Yes, yes, I guess that’s me being a Virgo.There’s nothing wrong with an out-of-focus,

grainy picture, so many amazing images are justthat. I always say you can’t duplicate a moment.You can have a beautifully lit, beautifullytechnical photo but if it doesn’t have that feelingbehind it, then it’s really nothing. So I alwaystry to marry the two together. It takes a little bitof planning but I try to leave myself open. In thevery beginning everything was very controlled,I was so nervous about getting the image I hadeverything planned out. Now I do the opposite.I have great assistants and equipment, andhave enough confidence now after 20 years tojust let things roll.GS: But there is a Michael Thompson eye;I can always spot one of your pictures, theyare so resolved and have such an incredibleattention to detail.MT: Thank you, that’s a nice compliment. In the1960s and 1970s Penn was known for his whitebackgrounds and in the 1970s and 1980s BillKing was known for working with movement but

I have always found it hard as a photographer tostay with one style, because I think I would getbored working in one way every day. I try to movearound, I just think there are different lightings,feelings, stories and locations that I want to do.GS: For me your work is defined by theattention you give to the shapes that youmake with your subjects. You always seemto be searching for absolute perfection.MT: Right, that’s the nice thing about doing abook, you get the chance to critique your ownwork.You can see threads running through thework and growth.GS: Why was this the right time to produceyour second book?MT: I knew that when I did my first book in ’05that I didn’t want to do a celebrity book, I wantedto do an all-encompassing book, but as time wenton I thought I should do a portrait book. I actuallydecided to do one four years ago but by the timeyou get things together – a publisher, everybodyto sign for picture usage – before you know it, it’sthree-and-a-half years later. But during that timeI’ve shot a lot of images, so the book has changedits look from my initial concept.GS: Pretty much every photographer wantsto see their work in book form but it canbe hard to judge when it is the right time toactually begin to compile one.MT: For me it’s become more important than everto see my work in book form. I used to go intoRizzoli in NewYork or any bookstore and spendhours looking at the images. That’s how I fell inlove with photography and I wanted to come backto that. There are a lot of great things about thedigital age but there is nothing like holding andturning a page in a book. Also, as photographersall the things we work for and our images appearin are disposable, so it’s nice to have the imagethe way you envisioned it with no type all over it;I’m sure every photographer feels that way.GS: It also proves that we actually existed!MT: Exactly.GS: Your career was well-establishedbefore the advent of digital capture but a lotof the beauty work created today reliesheavily on post-production manipulation.How do you feel about that?MT: I think in my group of photographers I wasone of the last to start working with a digital

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Above:ActressKateHudson.Oppositepage:ActressSelmaBlair.


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“...I have always foundit hard as a photographer

to stay with one style,because I think I

would get bored workingin one way every day.I try to move around,

I just think thereare different lightings,

feelings, stories andlocations that I want to do.”

Michael Thompson

Actress Julianne Moore.



camera. I didn’t want to move over just to say Iwas shooting digitally but also because I didn’tthink it had the qualities of film. So I waited andwaited and hung on and hung on. People werecoming to the studio and going, “Oh, you’re stillshooting film and Polaroids, oh okay.” I’d beenretouching digitally for a long time, but onscanned negatives; it wasn’t until three or fouryears ago that I started capturing in digital format.I’m fine with it now, it’s just like having a newcamera. But the one thing that will never changeis the way in which you look at light and howyou find light. That’s not going to change, nomatter how many bells and whistles you have.GS: Your way of seeing.MT: Yes.Your way of seeing. It’s great that itallows you to work quickly, but there aredrawbacks also. Everybody wants you to workfaster and faster and then when you’re on the setwith a celebrity they want to see the screen.It takes the mystery out of the process a little bit.GS: That’s an interesting point. I wouldnever show the subject the Polaroid whenI was shooting celebrities and I won’t shoottethered for the same reason. I don’twant the session to be judged on one frame.How do you deal with that situation?MT: The good thing about having worked for awhile is that you can pretty much say, “This ishow I work” and people respect that. You can tellthe publicist to stay outside the shooting area andI can tell the celebrity that I will show themsomething when I’m ready and they respect that.I shoot with the monitor next to me becauseI like to know what’s going on and one of the firstthings I did was to make a cardboard hood forthe screen that has a hole for me to look throughand a little window at the side for my assistant tolook through. Then when we’re ready and feel wehave a nice image to show them that we wantfeedback on, we take the cover off the screen.It just pops off, then goes right back on again.GS: That sounds like a gadget you shouldbe copyrighting and selling asMichael Thompson approved kit.MT: Exactly, because without the cover everybodyjust looks at the screen and it becomes likewatching TV; then the person being photographedstarts thinking, “What are you looking at?”and then they go to see and the shoot falls apart.The hood solves all of this.GS: I think you’re outlining a problem thata lot of photographers will be familiar with.MT: The thing is that when the celebrity goes onanother set with a different photographer who

lets them have access to the screen, they becomeknowledgeable on what is possible and realisethey can see the images as they are shot. But Iused to work the same way with Polaroids.I would look at them with my assistant behinda curtain and only show the celebrity one ifI was happy with it. But I would never pull it outof the camera and show them it.GS: You were slow moving into digital butare you going to be as slow to move intocreating moving images?MT: Past history would suggest that I will be, butif you look at the iPad, where you have the minisnippet movies of a photo shoot, that’s going tohave to be done by the photographer along withthe stills. I think that photographers are going tohave to become cinematographers, directors ofphotography and stills photographers all rolled upinto one. The client is not going to hire someoneto come in and do that part of the photo session;they’ll rely on the photographer to do everything.GS: You often reference great paintingsor classic photographic images in your workand use them as inspiration.MT: I’ve always looked to art for inspiration butI think it started when I began working forFrench Vogue in the mid-1990s. That audienceis very open to referencing images because theyknow the originals.GS: It’s a sophisticated readership.MT:Very and that was a big education for me.GS: A lot of other photographers will lookat your career and the work you getcommissioned to do and think, “It’s okay forhim but that’s got no relevance to my life asa photographer.” Your position and workcan seem like an untouchable ivory tower tomany photographers, with little relevance tothe real world. How would you respond?MT: There are so many photographers out therethat you should only do it if you really love it andput the effort into it. I can’t tell you how manytimes I’ve worked late into the night while I wasjust plugging away but I never thought, “This isbullshit, this is not working.” I was enjoying it.I was happy to do just one job and paying my rentwas always my first goal. The next was to try toget something published and it was thesemini-goals leading up to the bigger picture whichmade it seem possible. It’s like going on a trip.You have to look at the whole map to see yourfinal destination, but the towns on the way are themini-goals to that destination. That’s important.

Over the years I have never been afraid to workhard. Too many photographers want things

instantly; if they haven’t been published in thefirst two years they’re ready to give up.You canask anybody in any profession who’s successfuland you’ll find out that they’ve been workingat it for a long time. When I started assisting, if Ihad to polish shoes I would do it, I didn’t reallycare. Just being around a photographic studiowas enough for me. I worked for a cataloguephotographer for three years in Los Angelesbefore I had even set foot in Penn’s studio.He was very busy and I was able to cut my teethin the industry, and because of the knowledgeI gained from him I was able to get the Penn job.You wouldn’t think that a catalogue photographerwould relate to a Penn job but that’s how I got thatjob, because when I met Penn he asked me aboutall of the technical things that I knew and I wasable to answer comfortably and became his firstassistant. If I had come straight out of collegewanting to work for Penn, he wouldn’t have hiredme and I know that for a fact.

Even when I was assisting I would doarchitecture photography just to find out how towrite an invoice and how to work with a client.I didn’t say, “I’m not interested in doing that.”I just said, “Hey, I could learn from this.” I wasstill lighting and composing things, it was relatedto what I wanted to do and I got a paycheck for it.You never know where things will lead so I wouldsay, leave things open, don’t close that door,because you never know where that door leads.

It’s easy to say what I do is easy, you knowwhat I mean. In the beginning nobody knew whoMichael Thompson was and even today thathappens. I shoot young actors and actresses whohaven’t even heard of Penn or Avedon.You justhave to swallow your pride, be patient and havethe drive to keep close to what you believe in.You’re only as good as your last photograph.GS: I always say that after that last shot weare always unemployed.MT: Right, maybe that’s why I’m doing thisbook, so I can show it to people and say,“Here, I’ve done this before, so please trust me.”GS: Professional photography is not a greatplace to have a big ego.MT: Exactly.

www.michaelthompsonstudio.com

PP

FOR MORE INTERVIEWS WITH THE WORLD’SLEADING PHOTOGRAPHERSWWW.PROFESSIONALPHOTOGRAPHER.CO.UK M

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Model Heidi Klum.


THE YEAROF LIVINGDANGEROUSLYAn independent gallery located at the topof a period building in Cardiff is showcasingsome of themost exciting contemporaryphotography in the UK. On its first birthdayPeter Dench catches up with the ownersof the Third Floor Gallery to discover if itreally is tough at the top.

PP -GALLERY CARDIFF dench - APRIL 04/03/2011 16:09

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An image from Maciej Dakowicz’sCardiff After Dark project.

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Maciej Dakowicz is not comfortable.He presses a splayed hand hard into his faceand rubs. It’s not the disco ball lightspeppering his face that is causing distress,it’s the questions. Maciej doesn’t likequestions and doesn’t like to answer them;in fact he doesn’t like to talkmuch at all.We are at the Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff thathe launched with Joni Karanka (Bartosz Nowickijoined some months later). Today is thegallery’s first anniversary party. I ask Maciej(pronounced mach-ic) what he enjoys aboutrunning the TFG. He rubs harder: “Ask Joni.”I’d arrived a few hours earlier. As I approachedthe gallery, Joni and Maciej had parked upoutside with a car boot full of beer. It had takenthem three hours to choose it, checking forthe best deals. “Give us a hand, Peter.” No one isbeyond being asked to help and we take turnsto deliver the crates up 60 stairs past a taxi rankand Indian dance class to the top-floor premises.On 22 December 2009 I received an email from

Joni that said: “Dear Peter, I wonder if you’dbe interested in exhibiting loveUK in Cardiff.Maciej Dakowicz and I are opening asmall photography gallery in February, and wewanted something with a bit of a nice bangto open up. Any reply is good for me, rangingfrom interest to rejection with alternativesuggestions.” Feeling festive I answered in theaffirmative. A call from the considered andunassuming Joni followed and the details requiredsoftly spoken through a hybrid Finnish-Spanishaccent. The gallery and exhibition opened on12 February 2010 to a warm welcome from theCardiff media and community. Located inthe Bay area of the city, a short bus ride from thecentre, TFG sits comfortably opposite theMillennium Centre and the developing MermaidQuay. A sandwich board at the door of theperiod building, padlocked to the railings, quietlyintroduces the venue.One year on I am back visiting the gallery to

find out how the first year has progressed for theteam and what is involved in running a successfulexhibition space. A theme quickly dominates,moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoney.No one has any and how to get it is a constanttime consumer. Joni heads down to Iceland to getsome nibbles for the evening bash. The budgetis £7-£8 but he splurges: 75-piece Tex MexPlatter, £4.36; chocolate strawberries, £2.14;filo wrapped prawns, £2; Blackforest gateau,£3. I throw in some crisps and buy a couple ofpasties to keep us going. TFG has achievedcharitable status but the benefits are yet

to be realised. Around £700 a month comesfrom donations, any shortfall is made up fromthe pockets of each proprietor. There is anAmazon wishlist that to date has provided anA4 multifunction mono laser printer, TV,professional trimmer, pair of scissors, tapedispenser, screwdriver set and someWhite Tack

(the sandwich board was a wishlist gift).In the initial business plan, it was hoped the rentwould largely be funded by print sales from eachexhibition. Collective sales so far fall short ofdouble figures, which is surprising, because sincethe loveUK launch the list of exhibitors hasbeen impressive, including David Solomons,Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Carolyn Drake, and Magnumroyalty David Hurn and Chris Steele-Perkins.To exhibit, the photographer is approached

and direct submissions discouraged. The threegallerists chat informally, usually in the £2-a-pintCaptain Scott pub nearby, about what work theywant to see and what photographers theywould like to work with. Rob Hornstra isscheduled to exhibit next and there is aworkshop by Joseph Rodriguez in the diary.Marcus Bleasdale is being pursued.Volunteers lubricate the gallery, a central pool ofaround a dozen help with the day-to-day running.This allows Joni, Maciej and Bartosz toconcentrate on off-site matters. The volunteerscall ponytailed Joni ‘The Thinker’ for hisZen-like presence and Maciej ‘The Director’,

because of his matter-of-fact way of explaininghow and when things should be done. There is nonickname for the open-faced Bartosz; ‘TheSmiler’ wouldn’t be inappropriate. Each teammember has no specific role. Tasks are taken asand when by who has the time or most suitableallegiance. Joni and Bartosz are perhaps better

with the PR and communication side of it,Maciej with the details, or as he would describeit, “Dealing with the shit.”Thirty-five people visited the exhibition on the

first anniversary day, taking the estimated annualnumber over 4,000. More than 50 guests arejostling for position in the 60ft² gallery spacetonight. It’s an open-door policy, invitationswere sent via social networks and word of mouth.The crowd is eclectic, with Poland heavilyrepresented courtesy of Maciej and Bartosz.The mood is friendly and familiar. Also wellrepresented is the University of Wales, Newport.Students from the prestigious documentaryphotography – BA (Hons) course gobble beer andpeer at the pinned Laura Pannack prints.The university is very important to TFG due to itsproximity, as well as providing a ready andwilling rotation of visitors and printing some ofthe exhibition leaflets in return for having itsname on the fliers and in the gallery space.Photographers often consult the course leaderat Newport, Ken Grant, for his opinion beforedeciding to exhibit at the gallery.


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Joni, Bartosz and Maciej are all keen andproductive photographers as well as appreciatorsof photography. However, Joni is in a hiatusfrom taking his own photographs, too busy withhis paid day job and the gallery. Bartosz, a

recent graduate from Newport, is quickly findinghis voice. Maciej has already pinched theindustry’s consciousness with his pictures and hashis 5,000 or so Flickr followers anticipatingeach update. Cardiff After Dark, his burgeoning

“One year on I am backvisiting the gallery tofind out how the first yearhas progressed for theteam and what is involvedin running a successfulexhibition space.A theme quickly dominates,moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoney.”Peter Dench

Top:MaciejDakowicz (left), JoniKaranka (front)andBartoszNowickiof theThirdFloorGallerywithexhibitorCarolynDrake;above left:Anexhibitionat thegallery.Oppositepage:An imagefromDakowicz’sCardiffAfterDarkproject.M

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project on the city’s nightlife, is where he thrives.Five images from the project were included inthe Street Photography Now book and the workhelped him to achieve an honourable mention inthe reportage competition category for NationalGeographic Polska magazine. His work hasappeared in many national and internationalpublications, The Guardian, Independent,American Photo and Der Spiegel among them.I have walked with Maciej along St Mary

Street where the bulk of his project is shot.The spectacle of the street has held his attentionsince the Pole moved to Wales from Hong Kongin 2004. I’ve seen my fair share of Britain’s badbehaviour and St Mary Street is top ten. A nightlyproduction penned by the devil himself,choreographed girls shiver, totter and titterthrough the litter, warmed only by the click-flickof cigarette lighters – the police and the bloodiednever far away. On this occasion Maciej wasfidgety in his skin. He admits to a lull in creativelibido, researching too many pictures on theinternet to be interested in taking them. I’m sureit will pass. He usually shoots in tandem withanother snapper for safety, each watching theother’s back, the imbibing stars of Cardiff AfterDark haven’t relished the attention (although thecouncil did deliver a yellow skip to the street tohelp with the mess after seeing some of thework). Certain bars are out of bounds, the securityrecognises him, his name is down and he’s notcoming in. I left Maciej at 3am; he stuck aroundfor a while, just in case.In the Claude Hotel over lunch the following

day I asked him how his night had gone.Clicking through the results I spot some keepers.What Maciej enjoys about photographing hewon’t say. What inspires him to take photographshe doesn’t quite know. What’s the best thingabout running a gallery? It’s difficult to explain.Is he happy with his situation? Stopping ona frame of a couple kissing in the rain undera black leather jacket, I would suggest that –for 1/200th of a second each night spent on thestreet in Cardiff – he is.At a recently attended private view in the West

End of London, the glass-fronted and lighthousebright interior felt intimidating, the £1,000 printsinhibiting and the bar staff prickly on repeatreturns to refill. There wasn’t a Tex Mex Platterin sight. Bounding up to the Third Floor Galleryyou know you’ll be welcome, to have a drinkand a chat or just to look through the donatedbooks. There’s an adjoining artist’s studio, whereIan Smith is currently resident, that gives theplace the feel of a work in progress and one youare encouraged to take part in. Exhibitions comeand go every four to six weeks. TFG is yourfriend, an arm around the shoulder, a social clubfor the creative and surprisingly forgiving.

At the party I see an ejected fist from theopening show event that one year ago put a holein the wall so big that it could have beenappropriated for use on TV by Anton Du Beke:“Bring on the wall!”

As the anniversary hour approaches,shots are distributed and speeches delivered.A comment in the visitors’ book catches the eye,“With all the technologicel (sic) advances,people don’t change that much. Loved the show.Came with my daughter Amy who is studyingphotography in college, and is a big fan.

Also, good to know you’re not only alive butvital.” I sniff the 50% proof Finnish vodkaand down a toast to the Third Floor Gallery beingalive and vital in another year.www.thirdfloorgallery.com

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This page and opposite page:Scenes from Cardiff After Dark,the project by Maciej Dakowicz.

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How did a non-photographer come to assemble what became,according to the New York Times, the world’s pre-eminent rockimage archive?I actually was a photographer, very briefly. I came to Los Angeles in 1966with a useless degree from Ohio State University, but I was pretty good witha camera. I was at a concert where the photographer didn’t show up, andthey asked me to shoot it. I said, “How much? He said, “15 bucks” and Ithought, “This is it, this is what I’m going to do”, and I did work for a fullyear as a professional photographer.Then, at the beginning of ’67, Phil (the folk singer, and Michael’s brother)

called, wanting me to go back to NewYork and manage him, and that wasthe end of my photography career.

So when did the archival process begin?I started working at Columbia Records in 1969 and, one day, I saw themthrowing out all these boxes of old photographs of artists who had left thelabel. I thought, “This is criminal, this stuff should be documented.”I’d always been an avid collector of records so I figured, why not collectphotos as well? This led to collecting sheet music, programme books,everything I could find to document my fanatical love of popular music.

When you got the first lot of pictures from Columbia, did you have anyidea where it would end up?Not at all. I’ve always said if I’d planned to do this I would have failed.It was basically a hobby which got way out of control, because I was reallyjust getting stuff for my own private collection. It was whilst I was workingas head of west coast publicity for Columbia, that I started saying to writersI was dealing with, and who were working on historical or retrospectivepieces, “Y’know, I have pictures of Carl Perkins (for example) when he wasat Sun Records, which you can have for free.” This was great because, apart

from making sure the writer stayed in touch with me, which made my jobeasier, it meant I could push the past, to give music some kind of perspective.

With the job at Columbia, and the fledgling archive, how deeplyinvolved were you in the music industry itself?Oh, I was right in the middle of it. In those days, the record companies hadwhat they called house hippies and, as publicists, it meant we could deal withboth the artists themselves and the corporate side of the business. The artistsloved us, because we loved the music, and it meant we got to hang out withthe likes of the James Taylors or the Carole Kings or the Rod Stewarts.There was a camaraderie. The ‘star system’ didn’t exist yet, which meant Idid get to know Jimi Hendrix, I did go out drinking with Jim Morrison andJanis Joplin did come on to me [laughs].

So when did the archive take over, in terms of actually being amoneymaking career?It was in 1975, and Dick Clark [the TV producer and show host] was doinganother TV retrospective. He called, because he knew I had the images, and Isupplied what he needed for the show. A few days later, a cheque arrived fora thousand dollars, totally unsolicited, and it occurred to me that maybeI could make money from this. I had never previously thought about makingmoney from the archive, but this made me realise that maybe therewas a career in it and maybe I should take it just a little more seriously!

Was this the point when you left the music industry?Not quite. I lost my job at ABC Records at the end of ’75 then, three monthslater, my brother killed himself. I had another job lined up, but was in themiddle of organising a tribute to Phil. My new employer assured me theyunderstood and told me to take the time to organise the tribute. It seems theychanged their minds because, whilst I was organising the concert, they wentahead and gave the job to somebody else. Through the rest of 1976, I trieddifferent things, but knew that I would never work for corporate Americaagain and decided, at the beginning of ’77, to make the archive work.

Nowadays, of course, copyright is a big issue. Did it ever occur to you inthose early days when, for instance, you were selling the use of imagesto Dick Clark, that you might be breaking the law?As it happens, I got lucky. Although, unbeknownst to me, what I was doingat the time was legal, I was always terrified that I was breaking the law.

It’s only

but I like it You may not have heard of Michael Ochsbut, as Paul Middleton discovered whenhe spoke to him, he is the saviour of thehistory of music photography.

ROCK N ROLLFor 35 years, Michael Ochs was the only name an artdirector needed to know to get images of musiciansand singers. His work in the music industry led him tostart the Michael Ochs Archive, which grew to containabout 3 million items and was dubbed “the premiersource of musician photography in the world” by theNew York Times. He sold the archive to Getty in 2007.

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It wasn’t actually until 1978, 12 months after I started doing the archivefull-time, that a law came into effect giving photographers more rights overtheir images. What they didn’t do though, was apply the law retrospectively.The law stated that any photographs, taken prior to the new legislation beingpassed, and created for publicity or mass production or that ran withouta copyright line, became public domain property regardless of who ownedthe original negative. Overnight, it turned out that all the stuff I was worriedabout was perfectly legal.

Did you ever consider commissioning photographers to shoot aparticular artist who you were interested in holding images of?No, but I knew that I had to make the archive completely legal if I wanted toprogress. Rather than commission photographers, I started to represent them,and started to buy collections where I could get complete rights.

Have you had photographers who objected to you holding on to imagesof theirs when you were dealing directly with them?I got calls from some photographers who threatened legal action over someof the publicity photos I had, saying I had no right to use them. I did have theright but, rather than fight them, I would ask if I could represent them.I wanted to become a kind of one-stop shop for anybody who was lookingfor photographs of musicians. I wanted to become the biggest and best in theworld. If there were images I didn’t have, I would find a photographer whohad them, and offer to represent that photographer. What I offered, thatnobody else did, was non-exclusivity. This gave the photographer thefreedom to put images anywhere they wished and so they had nothing tolose from coming with me.

Was it ever a burden for you, knowing the responsibility you had inkeeping the archive safe and what a loss it would be if the archive wereever destroyed?I spent a lot of money ensuring that we never had to loan out an original.We housed the archive in a building that was bombproof, fireproof,earthquake proof, the lot. I knew that what we had was irreplaceable and,by the end, the cost of simply looking after the archive and preservingit was approaching half a million dollars a year.I also knew that the archive could only ever bea single collection and, although I’ve had offersover the years for people to buy certain sections ofthe archive, I always refused.

Offers such as?When one publishing company went bankrupt,I bought their entire image collection, which ran toabout 100 filing cabinets. They were theoriginal publishers of Right On! magazine, andone of these cabinets had all the images from themagazine. What this meant, basically, was thatalmost every image ever taken of the Jackson 5to that point was in this one filing cabinet. I wasfriends with Michael Jackson, and Miko Brando(Marlon’s son), was acting as Michael’s runner at thetime. Miko knew I had the collection and,within the hour, I had a call from Michael askingme to name my price. Now, it may be the moststupid decision that I ever made, but I told him itwasn’t for sale for any amount. I was always moreof a hoarder than a seller.

Anyway, about a year later, Michael had just performed at the [Americanfootball] Super Bowl and his career was really on the up. I called him andsaid, “Hey, why don’t we do a book? We could use all the images I’ve got,and get comments from you and Janet and everybody else.” He agreed and Iknew I was on the verge of something big. As luck would have it, the wholesex thing then broke, killing the project stone dead and that was the end ofthat! The collection, when I bought it in the publisher’s bankruptcy sale, hadan exaggerated appraisal put on it of $3million. I bid just $30,000, mainlyas a token effort and not dreaming I might be successful, but it turned outI was the only serious bidder. Sometimes you get lucky.

So which collection would you consider the best you ever got?Oh boy, well, I’d probably have to say the James Kriegsmann collection,which I got due to a complete fluke. Kriegsmann probably photographedmore musicians than anybody else, ever. I mean, he went way back to thelikes of Cab Calloway, did the first publicity shots of Sinatra, and was thefirst person ever to photograph black people properly, instead of trying toanglicise them. He loved the texture of the black skin, and concentrated oncapturing the shot properly. Because of that, he became known as the manfor black singers and musicians to go to, if they needed photographs taking.Motown and Stax both used Kriegsmann exclusively.

And how did you come to own the collection?Actually, it comes out of another story. I had a single image of a singercalled Ersel Hickey, who’d had a one-hit wonder a few years earlier withBluebirds Over the Mountain. Hickey, I thought, looked like a genericElvis Presley, the same hair, same stance, everything. I knew the imagewould sell, and I was right, eventually leasing it over a hundred times,culminating in its use at the front of the Rolling Stone History of Rock andRoll book. Anyway, one day, the phone rings and it’s Ersel Hickey. My firstthought was that I was about to be sued for something, but he actuallythanked me for giving him a second career! We arranged to meet next time Iwas in NewYork, and it turned out he was due in James Kriegsmann’s studioon the day I was available.It was ideal for me, as I really wanted to meet Kriegsmann. We went in,

and it was like going back in time. The studio looked likeit had never changed since the day it first opened.There were boxes of images everywhere, and I askedKriegsmann if he realised what a fortune he was sittingon. His answer was, “Yeah? Prove it kid,” and Irepresented him from that point on. The collection hadshots of The Band, when they were still Levon and theHawks, and Simon and Garfunkel when they were stillTom and Jerry. I mean it was amazing, the stuff he hadand, actually, didn’t know he had. There was even apicture of Joan Rivers as a member of a folk trio!When Kriegsmann turned 80, he called and asked if Iwanted to buy the collection. Of course, I didn’t hesitateat all in agreeing.

How much competition, typically, would you havewhen trying to buy a collection?It depended on the collection. One I was thrilled to getwas from the photographer Earl Leaf. I called the guywho had the collection, and made an offer, but he said hewanted to think about it. As it was, I was the only bidderfor it. The guy selling it only contacted one other party,and that was the National Enquirer. I asked if they were

“I got calls fromsome photographerswho threatenedlegal action oversome of thepublicity photos Ihad, saying I had noright to use them.I did have the rightbut, rather than fightthem, I would ask ifI could representthem.” Michael Ochs

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interested, and he said their reply was just, “Ah, sell it toOchs, we use him anyway”.

Was there a collection you regret missing out on?Yes, but not because I didn’t bid enough. In the mid-’80s,I got word that there was a massive collection of imagesin a room in the back of the newly re-opened Apollotheatre, in Harlem. I called the guy who was running theplace and, although he wasn’t keen on me turning up onhis doorstep, we eventually made an appointment. So, Igo along to the theatre for a 10 o’clock appointment,bearing in mind that racial tensions were still very highin all the major cities, and I’m just about the only whiteface for miles. The guy didn’t show at 10, and still hadn’tarrived at 11 o’clock, but I bumped into someone therewho was an original member of the Famous Flames, whoplayed with James Brown. I told him why I was there,and managed to persuade him to let me see thephotographs, as long as I was out before the main guyarrived, and that I didn’t take any originals, only doubles.I worked frantically, getting armfuls of doubles and a

whole load of originals. I promised to send the originalsback as soon as I’d copied them and, incredibly, heagreed. I managed to get them into my bag just as theowner arrived and threw me into the street. Once I’d copied the originals, Idid as I had promised and sent them back. I learned later that those originals,along with the rest of that magnificent collection, simply got thrown into thetrash. At least I got to preserve some of it.

As time went on, and artists became more image-rights aware, did yousee a change in attitude from them, regarding images you held?Well, yes and no. Personally, I wasn’t that affected by the new awarenessamongst artists, and it was the photographers who bore the brunt of it.There was a photographer called Michael Montfort, who used to shoot for allthe big German magazines. He had terrific access to everybody and anybodyand then, almost overnight, he had no access at all. Eventually, he lostinterest in the business and sold his collection to me. That’s how quicklythings changed for those guys.A bigger change for me, actually, was the increased demand for editing

work on the images. As the world’s attitude towards certain things changed,we were asked to Photoshop out things like cigarettes or other increasinglyundesirable elements – with Photoshop, even the past is changing!

How do you feel if you see websites using images from the archivewhich you just know won’t have been licensed?Well, the world has just changed so much. A lot of the older images, whichpre-dated the 1978 law change, were already in the public domain, so thething that had benefited me in the early days now came back to hurt me.Add to that Getty dropping their licence rates and it all made life verydifficult. I got to the point where Getty were offering images for website usefor just $49. Our price point wasn’t exorbitant, but nor was it $49, and thatreally hurt my business.

Do you think we’ll ever again see a library of the magnitude of theMichael Ochs Archive being assembled by an individual?I don’t think so, I think I was just in the right place at the right time. In thelate ’60s, archival images were considered worthless, so I was able to pickup whole collections for a song, because nobody else wanted them. It wasn’t

unusual for me to buy an entire collection just so I couldget a single negative of, say, Leadbelly or Charlie Parker.What that meant was that I ended up with an archivefull of images which were important to me, but whichwould never generate any money. Of course, what Ididn’t realise at the time was that someone would begood enough to invent CDs! In the ’80s, all the recordcompanies started re-releasing entire back catalogues,and suddenly they were desperate for images that hadbeen sitting in the archive, unsold, for years. From asmall percentage of the archive being used regularly, itsuddenly went to 100% of the archive being useful.Of course, the downside of that meant that othercollections suddenly became prohibitively expensive.

You sold the archive to Getty in 2007. You were 63years old, at the time. But was there a reason otherthan age, which prompted your retirement?What really made my mind up was that I hadn’t actuallybeen able to buy a decent collection in five years, forone reason or another. I was getting requests for imagesfrom the early ’90s, and looking through collections ofBritney Spears and so on, and I just thought, “I’m notinterested in this shit”. The fun, for me, was taking

months to sift through thousands of negatives and that aspect had gone.I was really at the point where I didn’t want to, nor could I, play that gameproperly anymore. Nostalgia, as they say, isn’t what it used to be.

Had you been a younger man, say in your 40s, would you havepersevered?Very possibly. I probably would have still had the enthusiasm and slightnaivety of youth to at least try to continue. But, y’know, even then I hadn’tthought about actually retiring until someone asked me how much I thoughtthe archive was worth. I didn’t have a clue, as money had never been thedriving force behind what I did. It was suggested to me that we run it up theflagpole to see what response we got, so I saw my lawyer and we did justthat. I’d really assumed that I’d be doing it for the rest of my life.

How did Getty come to be the successful purchasers? Did you intend fora bidding war to dictate the sale price?It was a combination of price and finding the right home. We approached afew people, but it was my desire that the archive should go to either Getty orCorbis, and I hoped for a bit of a bidding war between those two. The reasonthey were my preferred choices was simply because they offered the bestchance of keeping the entire collection together, which was important to me.The archive was my baby, and I didn’t want to see it broken up.Another reason why Getty were a good choice was that they also hired myentire staff after the purchase, which was great. Here were people who knewthat archive better than anybody else and Getty did exactly the right thing bythem. That was great for me, to see that.

When you sold the archive to Getty, did you keep any back for yourself?Apart from a few art prints, all I kept were the images of Phil that were inthe collection. I allowed Getty to take all the digitised copies of the images,for leasing, but I kept the originals.

To view the Michael Ochs Archive visitwww.professionalphotographer.co.uk/ochs

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“As the world’sattitude towardscertain thingschanged, we wereasked to Photoshopout things likecigarettes or otherincreasinglyundesirableelements – withPhotoshop, even thepast is changing!”Michael Ochs

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Artist Damien Hirst.

PP -PAL HANSEN - APRIL 07/03/2011 12:02


Compassion and a genuine interest in his subjects have helpedPål Hansen to carve out a successful career in portraiture.Julia Molony meets the Norwegian photographerwho sees beyond the glamour of the celebrities he shoots.

What lies beneath“I like to pick subjects for personal storiesthat don’t have a voice or that I can be thevoice for,” says the Norwegian-bornphotographer Pål Hansen. It was in this waythat, as a young assistant looking to navigatehis way to a career as a freelancephotographer, Pål went after his first break.It was 2001, towards the end of the UK’s

foot-and-mouth crisis (a time when almosteveryone thought that the issue, as a subject forfeatures and photo-essays, had been well and trulyexhausted) when Pål rolled up at some of themost badly affected farms with camera in hand.With a bit of lateral thinking, Pål managed touncover an as-yet-unseen angle behind all theendless images of carcasses to which the publichad become inured. His report on the human sideof the crisis, and the losses suffered by farmers,earned him his first major commission, fromthe Telegraph, and a place on the short list of theObserver Hodge Award.His journalistic nose had won him his first

break and taught him the immediate selling powerof a newsy, noisy concept. It set him apart fromhis peers in photography, because he was ableto offer more than his skills as a photographer.The strength of his ideas became his currency.“By having a story, I think you have a lot more

to offer. It’s easier to get in the door. And it’seasier to be used again because you are basicallygiving them (editors) something and then theywant to try to see if you can do a similar thingagain, with a commission after that.”And for Pål, the commissions do indeed

keep on coming. He managed to parlay that first,self-initiated story into an incremental, butsteady career trajectory, and has since madeportraiture something of a specialism.Photographing the rock, sports and movie stars

who litter his portfolio might not seeman obvious development for a man who admitsto being preoccupied by social issues in hispersonal work. But after deeper inquiry, thelink is clear.“I would definitely say the interest in people

maybe almost came first for me,” he says.“Often when I pick subjects they are sociallybased and they are based on social issues, and it’soften about people who maybe don’t have avoice at the time. Teenage parents,” he says,citing a picture essay from 2005 short-listedfor the National Portrait Gallery Portrait Prize,“they’re getting slaughtered in the newspapers,but hold on, they’re teenagers; they don’thave a voice themselves. It’s easy to pick onpeople who can’t stand up for themselves,PÅ

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“I think if you impose toomuch that isn’t naturalto them, then you’re notreally photographingthe subject. It becomesmore about you.”Pål Hansen

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especially teenage parents, they’re new parents,they’re vulnerable.”

Perhaps it’s his compassion as a photographerthat has made him such an expert at portraits.Certainly, there’s an ease to his manner whichmust smooth the way with people he photographs– a gentleness, or not being judgmental. He is tall,with a strong, Nordic face and fair, waist-lengthdreadlocks. This warrior look might seemimposing if it wasn’t offset by his open face andthe soft Scandinavian lilt to his voice. He’s utterlyunthreatening, which may go some way towardsaccounting for his talent for getting his subjectsto open up, to reveal something new or previouslyunseen about themselves to him.

“I like to involve my subjects as much aspossible in the ideas and the thinking behind them,”he says of the way he works on an editorial shoot.“I meet someone before the shoot, run throughthe ideas and see if they’ve got any. Often thebest shoots are when you get a lot of input fromthe subjects, when they think of somethingon the spot or they do things that are natural tothemselves. I think if you impose too muchthat isn’t natural to them, then you’re notreally photographing the subject. It becomesmore about you.”

Beyond that, he says, the key is preparationand the contribution of a practised, efficientassistant. “At the time of shooting, it’s good tohave the technical part running as machineryin the background, while the communication iswhat you are focusing on: how you talk, howyou make them relax, how you see if you canget emotions out of them just by being yourselfand talking to them normally.

“What I find important now is to have a verygood assistant who knows exactly how youwork and you really just have to turn your heada little and everything is there – to keepeverything running smoothly in the backdrop.”

Pål grew up in Norway, but his mother comesfromYorkshire, so he has always had a strongaffinity with the UK. It was during his shortcareer in the army (“something I fell into”) thathe first picked up a camera. In the last of histhree years doing national service he “stumbledupon photography” almost by accident.

“I found a camera and started taking pictureshere and there of army life and I thought,‘Ah, this is great. I’m going to have to dosomething about this.’ In Norway there was onlyone course where you could do photography –nothing like a proper university degree.”

He can’t identify exactly where the impulsecame from to take pictures, or to pursue thetaking of them as a career. “Maybe it was a vagueconnection to a boyfriend of my mum’s who wasinto photography and I thought, ‘Ah, wow, that’sactually a job. I could do something with that,’ ”he says lightly. Whatever the reason, he was soonon a plane to the UK and to a degree atNottingham Trent University. Initially, he had hissights set on fashion, with its obvious draw ofglamour and, well, models, but by the time of hisgraduation, he had discovered where his realinterests lay, putting the diversion down to beingin his 20s. “You realise there’s more to life thanthat. It was never really me, looking back at it. It’snot in me to be in that world. They often talkabout how the world is very different for fashion.I definitely ended up in the right place.”

Singer andsongwriterDavid Gray.

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Pål has recently signed up to an agency witha view to taking on more commercial work.When we meet, he is about to become a father forthe first time and is clearly preoccupied morethan ever with the importance of having financialsecurity. But in his personal work he remainspreoccupied with photography’s potential tointerrogate moral issues and to provide a bridge tothe fringes of human experience. One suchproject he took part in recently brought him intothe world of TimAndrews, an ex-solicitor who,when diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2005,gave up his job and decided to turn his life into anart project. Pål is one of the 128 (and counting)photographers invited to document Andrews’s lifeand the progression of his disease through a seriesof photographs. The project was recently thesubject of a feature in the Guardian Magazine,and an exhibition at the Lightbox Gallery inWoking, Surrey.

For his latest self-initiated venture, Pål hastackled one of the most controversialcontemporary issues head on. Making use ofMegan’s Law, instituted in the USA to allow thepublic access to the names and addresses ofconvicted sex offenders, Pål went around LosAngeles and took portrait images of the houseswhere those people identified by the law lived.“They are these very suburban American houses,”he says. “It could be anyone’s neighbour – and

that’s the whole idea.You never know what yourneighbour is up to; these houses with very greenlawns, American dream homes.” The title of eachpicture is the name of the inhabitant’s offence.“The idea is that a house offers protection fromthe outside and this becomes their wayof protecting themselves from the outside.”

It’s an incendiary topic, and although plenty ofmagazines have expressed interest in his story,it doesn’t come as a surprise to learn that hehasn’t yet been able to get it placed, mostlybecause of legal constraints. But you get thesense that for Pål that’s not the point. It is theneatness of the concept that has becomesomething of a trademark of his – an unflinchingapproach that seeks to lift the lid on otherwisehidden lives. Through these thoughtful studiesthat reveal something of the experience of thosewho are outcast, ignored, unrepresented andeven reviled, Pål seeks to expose, it seems,something about us all collectively. About whoand what, as a society, we really are.

www.palhansen.com

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FOR MORE GREAT INTERVIEWS WITHPROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS VISITWWW.PROFESSIONALPHOTOGRAPHER.CO.UK Sir Bob Geldof.PÅ

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“I found a camera and started takingpictures here and there of army life and I

thought, ‘Ah, this is great. I’m going tohave to do something about this.’ ” Pål Hansen

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AUGUSTSANDER

is important and this is why...

Self-Portrait, 1925.

Self-portrait, 1928.

ARTISTROOMSNATIONALGALLERIESOFSCOTLANDANDTATE.LENTBYANTHONYD'OFFAY2010

©DIEPHOTOGRAPHISCHESAMMLUNG/SKSTIFTUNGKULTUR–AUGUSTSANDERARCHIV,COLOGNE;DACS,LONDON,2011.

He was an undoubted influenceon Arbus, Penn and Avedon, theinspiration for many DüsseldorfSchool portraitists today and ascourge of the Nazis. Here, RobinGillanders takes a backward lookat the iconic German photographerwhose influence is still strongnearly a century after he createdhis most important works.


PP -AUGUST SANDER - APRIL 08/03/2011 16:27

Bricklayer, 1928.

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Afew weeks ago I attended theopening of an exhibition ofphotographs by the Germanphotographer August Sander at

the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Artin Edinburgh. Besides the usual artists,academics, gallerists and glitterati whoattend these events, I met two friends,both highly respected professionalphotographers, there to pay enthusiastichomage to this remarkable man whosemost important work began a century ago;but who is August Sander, why shouldwe be interested in him and what relevancedoes he have to us today?

Sander’s origins were humble. He was born in1876 and his father was a carpenter working inthe mining industry. There was no private wealthin the Sander family. Leaving school at 14,August worked at a local mining waste tip, wherehe became enthralled by a photographer workingat the mine. Sander’s future direction and careerwere established and he spent his two years ofmilitary service, from 1897 to 1899, working asa photographer’s assistant and doing various otherphotographic jobs. He was then employed torun a general commercial studio in Austria andthen, in 1909, a studio in Cologne, Germany,

specialising in portraiture. So far then, nothingunusual and perhaps even today, many readingthis will identify with Sander’s ratherunremarkable early career progression.He was, however, an extraordinary man.

Although having relatively little formal education,Sander immersed himself in literature andart, and quickly made friends and contacts withinthe cultural scene of Cologne, occasionallyexhibiting his work in international salons (smallgroup exhibitions) and winning numerous prizes.But it was while engaged in the day-to-dayactivities of his studio that, in around 1911, hebegan to plan a major project that was to becomehis life’s work.

Many professional photographers like to setthemselves personal projects. For some,photography is in the blood – it’s a lifestyle andnot just a career – and to produce work only to therequirements of clients, editors or art directorshas the potential to be enervating. However, nophotographer had conceived a project of thescale and scope of Sander’s. His plan was todocument, catalogue and photograph the entireGerman population by type and trade. This hewould do by dividing his immense project intoseven distinct sections: The Farmer, The SkilledTradesman, The Woman, Classes and Professions,

The Artists, The City, and The Last People(which was to represent those on the fringes ofsociety: the blind, disadvantaged, homeless anddestitute). Sander photographed professionals,middle-class families, farmers, students, warveterans, circus artists, beggars... and Nazis.This astonishing project was entitled People ofthe Twentieth Century and would result inmore than 600 photographs. It was nevercompletely finished, nor were all the picturespublished in his lifetime.In each photograph Sander had his subjects

simply look into the lens of his plate camera.He allowed his subjects to ‘speak’ for themselves,with quiet dignity. He didn’t impose an opinion,and in this respect, his work may be termed‘objective’; everybody, whether aristocrat orbeggar, was accorded the same respect. He neitherelevated his subjects, asYousuf Karsh did in the1950s, nor did he denigrate them as Martin Parrsometimes appeared to do in the 1980s and1990s. When his photographs were first displayedat the Cologne Art Union in 1927, he said this:“Nothing seemed more appropriate to me than torender through photography a picture of our timeswhich is absolutely true to nature... In order to seetruth we must be able to tolerate it... whether itis in our favour or not... So allow me to be honestand tell the truth about our age and its people.”Sander’s work had no sponsors; he had

to endure the privations of recession during the1920s and extreme hostility from the Nazis.They destroyed the printing plates of his bookFace of Our Time, published in 1929, and whichcomprised 60 photographs from what wasto be the final project, because they felt his‘objective’ approach did not represent theGerman people as the master race that the Naziswere trying to promote.Today, much is made of Sander’s ‘objective’

approach. His magnum opus was a typologyaccording to the original meaning of the word – inthat it is a process of cataloguing ‘types’.Sometimes we are told the name of his subjectand other times merely their societal position:secretary, coal heaver etc, so they aredepersonalised. However, it could not be termeda ‘photographic typology’ in the sense thatwe have come to understand the term from themore recent Düsseldorf School. This beganwith Bernd and Hilla Becher cataloguinggasometers, winding engines and so on, and

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PoliticalPrisoner,1943.

Soldier, c1940.

“I hate nothing more than sugary photographs with tricks, poses and effects.” August Sander


Pastrycook, 1928.


Farm Children,c 1913.





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was extended to portraiture by artists includingThomas Ruff and Rineke Dijkstra, whosepostmodern, deadpan, anaesthetic head studieshave had a remarkably enduring influence onartist photographers today.In many cases, Sander’s subjects are placed

serially against similar plain backgroundsand these images seem coldly dispassionate;however, a considerable proportion ofhis work demonstrates a subtlety andsophistication of picture-making, and a finelytuned humanist sensitivity.In public conversation with Keith Hartley,

chief curator at the Scottish National Gallery ofModern Art, Sander’s grandson Gerd commented:“It’s not about photography, it’s about the idea...and Sander’s work is not about making beautifulphotographs, it’s about documenting an idea.And stylistically if anyone influenced him it wasRembrandt for the lighting.” In other words, andas Keith Hartley pointed out, the implication isthat Sander’s was one of the first conceptualphotographic works. And yet the visual evidenceof the work itself does not suggest this.Aren’t all projects initially the result of an idea –a concept? Having said that, Sander rejectedpictorialist ‘fuzzygraphs’ and championed‘straight’ photography, much as Paul Strand didin the USA in the 1920s. As Sander saidhimself: “I hate nothing more than sugaryphotographs with tricks, poses and effects.”Sander worked with 5x4 and 5x7 cameras and

most of his images were made on locationrather than in the studio. Generally he made onlyone or two exposures of each subject –perhaps understandable given the weight of theglass plates that he used. So why is it thatdespite huge advances in technology over the pastcentury, the standard of picture making hasnot necessarily improved? It is so much easier toproduce technically proficient images –anybody can do it now to a certain standard – andyet we still look in awe at the intensity,intelligence, vision and beauty of some of theseearly photographers. It’s logistically mucheasier to take pictures, but... Here’s Sander againin a radio lecture in 1931: “One can snap ashot or take a photograph; to ‘snap a shot’ meansreckoning with chance, and to ‘take a photograph’means working with contemplation – that is tocomprehend something, or to bring an idea from

a complex to a consummate composition...By means of seeing, observing and thinking...we can capture world history... by means of theexpressive potential of photography.” What wouldSander think now, 47 years after his death, of the

huge impact of digital, where it is possible totake hundreds of images of one subject withthe possibility that without serious prior‘contemplation’ none of them will be anygood? Surely it is better to take one image

“By means of seeing, observing and thinking... we can capture world history...by means of the expressive potential of photography.” August Sander

Raoul Hausmannas Dancer, 1929.


Girl in a FairgroundCaravan, 1926-1932.




as a result of “seeing, observing and thinking”than a hundred without.Sander had an immense influence on most of

the major portrait photographers of the lastcentury, especially photographers such as IrvingPenn, Richard Avedon and Diane Arbus. Each ofthem worked commercially while followingSander’s example and engaged in ‘personalprojects’ – for example, Penn’s Small Trades,Avedon’s In the American West and Arbus’sportraits of people on the margins of society.None of these projects, however, had the scaleand ambition of Sander’s.Avedon for example, must have been aware

of – and been influenced by – Sander’s portraitof Bricklayer, especially since it was one ofseveral of his pictures selected by EdwardSteichen for the NewYork City Museum ofModern Art’s seminal, blockbuster showThe Family of Man in 1955. A portrait of dignityand strength, not least because one can onlyimagine the weight of those bricks as thebricklayer waited, apparently effortlessly withhand casually on hip (so essential for thecomposition), while Sander composed, focusedand exposed.And what about the portrait of Girl in a

Fairground Caravan? If it wasn’t for theprecision of the crop and composition, it could bean Arbus. Most of Sander’s subjects appear tohave an air of melancholy – and tension –as if they are presaging or reflecting on thetragedy of the German people in that period.The conscious positioning of the girl’s hand onthe key in the lock looks at first glance as if sheis bleeding on to the door...If Avedon and Arbus, among many, were

influenced by Sander, in turn each of theseinfluenced countless later generations ofphotographers. Some, like my two friends at theSander exhibition opening, drew their inspirationdirectly from the instigator of it all.

August Sander: People of theTwentieth Century is at the Scottish NationalGallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh,until 10 July 2011; admission free.www.nationalgalleries.org

PP Painter’sWife[HeleneAbelen], c1926.

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“It’s not about photography, it’s about the idea... and Sander’s work is not about makingbeautiful photographs, it’s about documenting an idea.” Gerd Sander

FOR THE LATEST PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS VISIT WWW.PROFESSIONALPHOTOGRAPHER.CO.UK


To read our feature on the Düsseldorf School from the October issue go to themagazinesection on www.professionalphotographer.co.uk


LizandMax, theduobehindphotographycompanyHaaralaHamilton,havetwo very different lives as photographers. One exists on the commercialside, involvingclientcommissions fromengineers togovernmentquangos.Then there are the personal projects they undertake, all a far cry, bothcreatively and aesthetically, from the bread-and-butter work they referto, that “pays for life”.A couple both personally and professionally, Liz andMax do what few achieve: to work and live together as a happily marriedcouple. Max laughs: “Of course there are disagreements along the way, aswith all things, but if you have someone else there you have another set ofeyes. One person sees something and the other sees something else, so itworks really well for us to work together.” Liz adds that working by yourselfcan be a lonely existence but in their experience it is a lot of fun.Their professional collaboration began before they became a couple and

eventually married. Having met on their first day at Camberwell College ofArts in London, they started working together five years ago. Before that,

they worked independently but travelled together, their unity asphotographers metamorphosing along the way. “We weren’t a couple atcollegeorafterwards for quite awhile,”Max tellsme. “Wegraduated in2000so we’re going back a way, but we always worked together when we wereprinting and we also did a few projects together so knew we could work asa team. It just happened organically becausewewere both interested in thesame things. We always went to the same places and got excited about thesame things we saw.”Since then theyhavesuccessfully established their owncompany,Haarala

Hamilton Photography, which has a varied client list, but their reallyattention-grabbing work stems from personal projects, one of which hasbeen garnering a lot of attention lately. The People’s Supermarket, aneco-ethical co-op in Lamb’s Conduit Street in central London, is the latestfocus of Liz andMax. Promoting itself as a grocery store “for the people, bythe people”, it sparked their interest just before opening last year, began asa personal project and quickly developed into something far morecommercial. Started by Arthur Potts Dawson, one of the players behind thecapital’s eco-friendly restaurant AcornHouse, The People’s Supermarket isa not-for-profit organisation; members pay an annual £25membership feeand sign up to work a four-hour shift in the supermarket every four weeks,becomingpart-owners in the process.This gives themasay in key decisionsinvolving the business and also a 10% discount on their shopping. The ideais that shoppershaveachoicebeyond the largesupermarket conglomerates,that the produce is all sourced from sustainable outlets and that volunteers


What happens when a leisurelycycle ride through London turns into apersonal project that becomes aninternational commercial campaign?Cass Chapman talks to photographerteam Max and Liz Haarala Hamilton to find out.

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SUPERMARKETSWEEP Thisimage:ArthurPottsDawson,

co-founderofThePeople’sSupermarket.Oppositepage:Someofthe facilitiesandproduceonofferatthestoreand(below, farright)Kate,oneof themembers.

PP -THE PEOPLES SUPERMARKET - APRIL 08/03/2011 16:39

“...we’dnever heardof anythinglike it in theUK, so itseemed likea uniquething atthe time.”MaxHamilton

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have a say in how and where theirfood is sourced, while givingsomething back to the localcommunity by working on thepremises for a few hours a month.This system of ethical shopping andsupplying was such an inspirationthatChannel 4quickly cameonboardand started filming events within thepremises for a television series thatfirst aired in February. Liz and Maxwere impressed from the outset andcontacted Potts Dawson aboutshootingportraits of the volunteersatwork.CyclingaroundLondon, as they

oftendo together, thecouplenoticed thenewdevelopmentandpeeked insideas the interior was being completed. “We saw Arthur [Potts Dawson],”explains Liz, “and he explained the concept of the shop to us. We thought itwas a really interesting idea and that maybe we could start working on alittle project or something. We had a few magazines and editors in mind,thinking itmight besomething thatwould fit inwithwhat theypublish, sowethought, ‘Why don’t we start a project?’ The following week we went backand just did loads of photos. It built up from there, though we originallyimagined it would be only a few days of shooting.” That said, since startingin June last year, they have been photographing regularly on the premises.“Now the organisers at the supermarket know us and, indirectly, weseem to have become their official photographers.”ThephilosophybehindThePeople’sSupermarket impressedLiz andMax

who instantly recognised a fantastic concept. “I think someone mentionedone in New York,” explains Max, “but we’d never heard of anything like it inthe UK, so it seemed like a unique thing at the time.” Not to mentionworthwhile. Of course, they instantly recognised the commercial viability inshooting the project, believing it was something that could grow, but thecause itself was what drew them in and, from there, everything flourished.Asa result, TheObserverFoodMonthly ransomeof their shots alongsideanarticle about the supermarket, as did The Guardian, and no doubt theChannel 4 television serieswill encourageothers to followsuit. “Thewaywework,wehave to be interested inwhatwe’re photographing, so if there is nopersonal interest, then why do it? It was both the ethical cause and thecommercial possibility that drew us in – it is really interesting to us and it’ssuch a great concept.” As Liz notes, the personal relationships that haveblossomedasa result haveaddedanew layer to their involvement: “Wemeetsomanypeople there to shoot portraits. They’ve all got stories to tell and it’sbeen really enjoyable. There is such amixture of people: actors, barristers,people from the local estates.” Max adds: “We also got interested in thepeoplewho supplied the supermarket, so oncewe’d done the original shootwe started talking with the people who worked there about their suppliersand they opened up a whole new area of interest for us. We saw it as anopportunity to go to someof the farms to shoot anddosomethingdifferent.”The resulting images arewonderful, stark, honest portraits of a variety of

characters and faces; simple andhonest but vivid as a collection. Liz admitsthey would “ideally like to get them in some sort of book for The People’sSupermarket, though it would be nice to hang the portraits as an exhibitionas well; there was talk of some sort of exhibit at the shop, using the shop

itself as the exhibition space.” The buzz around The People’s Supermarketwill only increase with the television exposure and a book isn’t out of thequestion if thebusiness increases inpopularity andscope.“Itwouldbe lovelytodosomethingwith themwhen the timecomes todoanexhibit,” offersLiz.Aside from this unique, worthwhile, and now successful commercial

project, Liz and Max have other plans under way. They are starting aphotographic series on female footballers, Max mentions a project aboutSkypeand theyhavebeenworking inFinlandonaproject “about a traditionalFinnish knife-maker which is going to be published into a book. The serieslooks at dying traditions. The puukko is a traditional Finnish knife originallycrafted for hunters and everyday use. Once widely seen, these knives arenow used mainly for show and the practice of making them is dying out.This is aproject onMattiHesitance (Masa), a traditionalFinnishknife-maker,a ‘puukko mestari’ [champion].” Interwoven with visits to Finland are thecommercial projects that enable such private ventures to occur in the firstplace. I imagine itmust behard to changehats in thisway, but, chattingwithLiz and Max, it clearly comes easily. “We do a lot of corporate work forengineers, architects andothers –obviously youneedcorporatework topayfor life, but then we do other projects as well, so we’ll work on a personalproject always with the aim of having it published and used for somethingelse. It’s thosepersonal projects that,we find, takeuson to somethingelse,”saysMax. “Wedon’t showour commercialworkasmuchbecause it’s not asinteresting to us as the personal work which definitely tends to generatefurther stuff.”Neither had any formal training in photography. After graduating from

Camberwell, Max worked in a studio, “doing retouching and a bit ofassisting,” but admits to being “pretty much all self-taught. We bothgraduated and just started working straight away.” Liz did an MA atGoldsmiths,University of London, a fewyearsago, studyingphotographyandagriculture, “but that wasn’t technical photography as such,” she explains.“It was more a sort of ‘theory behind the photography’ course.I shot a lot and learnt from other people and learnt by accident.” What theyshare, aside from an obvious love of photography and a talent in thatmedium, is a confidence with their equipment and courage when it comesto exploring new personal projects. Liz says they shoot with digital forcommercial projects because they have to, but a lot of their personal workis, interestingly, still shot using film. As Matt explains: “We either usemediumformator large format.We just prefer it asamedium. It’s adifferentway ofworking becausewhenweuse a large format camera it’s obviously amuch slower process and you have to think about composition andeverything and for two people toworkwith large format cameras is actuallyeasier than one of us having a digital camera.” Their equipment of choice is“an old Linhof Color Monorail 5x4 and then for The People’s Supermarketproject we used a Mamiya RB67.” Liz likes the Mamiya 7II when they travelbut the couple always take the Linhof as well when they are away. Max andLiz agree virtually all the time about equipment and subject matter. Such aunifiedapproach toworkmakes thishappycollaborationpossibleandresultsin innovative creative photography. The People’s Supermarket project mayhave attracted great interest in this couple, but it is clear that there is farmore to come.

www.haaralahamilton.comwww.thepeoplessupermarket.org

PP

“Itwasboth theethical causeand thecommercialpossibility thatdrewus in...”MaxHamilton

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Tom – a member ofThe People’s Supermarket.


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Diane Arbus, Terence Donovan, Francesca Woodman, Bob CarlosClarke and now Penny Tweedie. What do they all have in common?Well, apart from all being photographers who made their personal marksthrough the images they created, they all decided to end their own lives.These are photographers whose names most of us know, who varied in age,work and approach. They also span decades in the history of photography.For many years Diane Arbus was seen as the archetype of a tortured

artist/photographer. Her life was complex, the subject matter that she

photographed challenging to many and deeply personal to her, and themanner of her death was almost an inevitable conclusion to a life devotedto creating images of such personal introspection. A sad end was almostpreordained. It is easy to romanticise such a life but the stark reality is thatArbus was a tortured soul who chose photography as a form of emotionalcommunication. She didn’t choose to take photographs – she needed to takephotographs. But she also suffered from depression, as had her mother, andhepatitis, which worsened the symptoms of her depression.The same could be said of the tragically short life and career of Francesca

Woodman, a photographer whose work received critical acclaim after herdeath. She ended her life aged just 22 (Arbus was 48), distraught that herdelicate, highly personal and ethereal images were not being given thecommercial recognition she wanted and expected. But personal turmoil alsohaunted her work and life, and she had been receiving therapy fordepression. In retrospect her images are often explained and discussed inthese terms and as visual representations of her delicate mental state.When an important relationship ended and combined with the way in whichshe felt ignored by the photographic world, she stepped out of the windowof her NewYork loft apartment. With her sad demise came the photographicrecognition she had so needed.Both Arbus and Woodman were photographers on a personal photographic

journey largely unconcerned with bending to commercial requirements whencreating their images. Donovan, Carlos Clarke and Tweedie were alltravelling very different roads.Terry Donovan’s story is well known. Many of his images have gone on to

become iconic statements of their time. Huge financial success through the1960s and 1970s saw him living an enviable lifestyle, getting involved withfilm making and counting both Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana asfriends. He was a photographer who had achieved celebrity status.But creatively he had become confused and found himself out of step withthe times by the beginning of the 1990s with his celebrated work ofthe previous three decades largely forgotten (I wrote about my personalexperience of this in Being There in the February issue of PP).That confusion led to him not being able to understand why he was nolonger getting as many commissions as he had done in the past and why hewas no longer able to achieve the level of fees which had previouslyfunded the lifestyle he so enjoyed. Like a pop star who gets to Number Onebut soon finds himself replaced by the next best thing, it is hard to gofrom Number One to Two, Three, Four or worse. Despite a late revival offortune, thanks to an excellent agent who managed to make Donovan’swork seem more relevant to a younger market, the photographer endedhis life aged 60.

Over the past year we have tried toraise awareness of the pressures andstresses that professionalphotographers face, through a seriesof articles in the magazine and online.However, with the recent sad deathof photojournalist Penny Tweedie andthe arrival of a reader’s email,PP Editor Grant Scott decided tore-visit the issues previously raisedand attempt to put them intoa photographic, historical context.

TALKIN’PHOTOGRAPHYBLUES


PP - SUICIDE PHOTOGRAPHERS - APRIL 09/03/2011 10:46

A similar tale could be told about the life and career of Bob CarlosClarke. Like Donovan he had achieved celebrity status through hisphotography. His work changed hands for high prices and was widelyexhibited. He also lived a celebrity lifestyle hanging out on the FulhamRoad with many of the celebrities he photographed and counted asfriends. But there was a dark side to Carlos Clarke’s life andphotography. His approach to photography was singular and driven witha sexual edge similar to that of Robert Mapplethorpe’s, except CarlosClarke was obsessed with the female form and not the male. He alsosuffered from clinical depression for many years.Like Donovan his work suffered from the vagaries of fashion and by

2006 his powerful women and sexual aesthetic defined the 1980s, notthe ‘new woman’ advertising that editorial clients were looking for.Despite the strong market for his work within galleries, Carlos Clarkefound himself checked into that last refuge for many celebrities,The Priory, but sadly didn’t stay for long. After checking himself outhe threw himself under a train – a terrible end for someone whosephotographic life had been so obsessed with perfection. He was 55.I first met Penny Tweedie in the late 1980s. She was complaining even

then about the difficulty of making a living as a photographer but shewas a fighter and was not going to accept the reduction in fees as shesaw it. Of course, looking back, those fees look like the golden days butthe benefit of hindsight is a rare gift. Tweedie had paid her dues as aphotojournalist through the 1960s and 1970s shooting in Bangladesh,East Timor, Vietnam and Uganda. She covered the plight of theAboriginal people in Australia, the war in Lebanon and the devastationcaused by the tsunami in the East Indian Ocean. Tweedie was a seriousphotographer who took seriously her responsibilities to record man’sinhumanity to man. She was also a single mother and often took her sonwith her on assignments. Finally, everything became too much for her.After what she had seen and the lack of commercial recognition for herwork, she chose to end her life aged 70.Five very different stories about five very different photographers

who all chose to end their own lives. The same end but for manydifferent reasons and that is my reason for looking behind the headlines.The response we have had to the articles we have run over the last yearon the pressures professional photographers face has been bothencouraging and enlightening. The main theme to all of the responseswe have received has been one of thanks. Thanks for speaking outabout the subject and thanks for giving photographers the opportunity tospeak about their experiences. That’s why I wanted to talk about thesefive photographers; to show that we all have shared experiences(however successful we are) and to help photographers not to feel soalone or frightened to speak out.I hope that any photographer reading this article will understand

why we have published it and applaud Andy Craddock for getting intouch with us to share his story and feelings in the blog entry thatfollows. Sometimes it is hard to step out from the crowd and makea stand. It may be hard but we think it’s the right thing to do.

Loneliness (Depression) and Photographyby Andy CraddockI read an articlewritten byGrant Scott in theAugust 2010 edition ofProfessional Photographermagazine. Itwas about the loneliness ofbeing a freelance professional photographer.As photographers, we do sit in front of our computers staring at the

screenwonderingwho to contact next looking forwork and how.We dowonderwhy nobody replies to our emails, returns our telephonecalls or rings uswith the perfect job.We do look at other photographers’sites, compare ourwork to theirs andwonder “why are they busyand I amnot, what do they have that I have not?”Without the social elements of an office or studio full of people it is hard

to get up every day andmotivate yourself to create new reasons forpeople to come and see you, it is hard to find new clients and it is hard toremain creative and continue the daily slog of self-promotion.It requires a huge amount of determination, self-belief and stamina to

keep going. A photographerworks in a profession that requires hugeself-belief in one’swork and oneself.We have nothing to sell other thanour personality and creativity.When either or both are rejectedour self-belief takes a battering and themore it happens themore ourself-belief declines dramatically. Few of us have anybody close to us thatunderstands the pressures of being a professional photographer.We try, we desperatelywant, to give out a successful, positive persona

to persuade our prospective clients they are buying into a success story.Thuswe lie.Whenwe are asked howwe are doing, how the recession is affecting us

and howwe are enjoying things at themoment, we lie.We try to jugglethe truth; we create two versions of ourselves, the real one and the publicface thatmeetswith the client and exudes successwherever andwhenever one advertises.It is a hard act tomaintainwhen you read the photographic press and

see the success others are having. It is a hard act tomaintainwhenyou see the success your peers are purportedly having. It is a hard act tomaintainwhen inmoments of ego and extreme self-belief youcompare yourself to the truly successful in theworld of photography andknow, “I could have done that.”There is a subtle difference to the paragraph above and the old joke

about photographers: Howmany photographers does it taketo change a light bulb? Fifty, one to change the bulb and 49 to say,“I could have done that!”Sometimes, if budget and equipmentwere not an issue some of us

really could “have done that.”Sometimes, the editors and creative directors thatwe as photographers

are applying to forwork forget that the Crewdsons, the LaChapellesand the Leibovitzes of the industry are teams of other creatives, includingassistants, lighting assistants,make-up artists, stylists, post-productionteams andmarketing assistants. They are not freelancersworking alone.In fact, Annie Leibovitz tells a story in her book, AtWork, whereDorothy

Wildingwas employed to photograph theQueen andwasn’t even in the


The following blog entry was sent to us by a reader as a directresponse to an article I wrote in the August 2010 issue of PP on theloneliness of being a professional photographer. It is an honestand touching account, which I hope you will find moving, honest and,most importantly, appropriate for a magazine with the titleProfessional Photographer to feature. We publish it in the spirit ofsharing experiences and to show that we are willing to speakabout the realities of the profession that we are passionate about.It’s good to talk.

YOURCOMMUNITY{ }



roomwhen the photographwas taken! ApparentlyWilding’s assistants,whowere trained in her style, oftenwent out and took photographsfor her. Often, shewasn’t in the same country. At one time she employedaround 37 people in her studio.In his Professional Photographer article, coincidentally, Grant Scott

mentioned a book called Shoot theDamnDog. It waswritten bySally Brampton, thewomanwho launched themagazine ELLE and thensuffered a clinical depression. She recovered (or so she’d thought)and became the editor of Redmagazine, a position shewas fired fromdueto ongoing depression. I’ve just finished reading the samebook.On page 62 Sally describes how she felt after being fired: She felt thather self, her sense ofworth and her callingwas that of a successfulmagazine editor. By being fired, by losing her job as an editor of amainstreammagazine she felt that she’d failed at being herself. If shewas no longer fit to be an editor thenwhatwas herworth? By failingin the role of an editor she herself had failed.What did she haveleft if her self had been taken away and she had noway forward orway to regain that self?That struck a chordwithme too… If I fail at being a photographer then

what do I have left? I definemyself as a photographer. I live to be aphotographer. If I cannot be a photographer thenwhat do I,myself, have

left? I cannot answer the question. I have no answers. I do not seemyselfas anything but a professional and successful photographer.For onemoment in time, I’m going to refuse to lie. The public face is

going to be the real face. The real face is going public.Maintaining a showof successwhere there is none is laborious andwearisome. Trying tomaintainmomentumand enthusiasm in themidst of a clinical depressionis nigh on impossible.Motivation and creativity are all but impossiblewhen you’re this lonely and depressed.Within the pastmonth I could have andwasmore than prepared to die,

which I would havewere it not for a sentence spoken tome. I can trulyunderstandwhy photographers and other creatives commit suicide.I did not know themor could ever purport to knowwhat theywere

thinking at the time but I can sympathisewith Diane Arbus, BobCarlosClarke,WarrenBolster, TerenceDonovan, PierreMolinier, FrancescaWoodman and themany other not-so-famous unnamed photographerswho have committed suicide.I will leave the last words on suicide to Kevin Carter, a Pulitzer Prize

winner. Part of his suicide note read: “I amdepressed…without phone…money for rent…money for child support…money for debts…money!!!I amhaunted by the vividmemories of killings and corpses and anger andpain…of starving orwounded children, of trigger-happymadmen, oftenpolice, of killer executioners… I have gone to join Ken (his recentlydeceased colleague, KenOosterbroek) if I am that lucky.”Since I took up photography as a profession I have failed (by the

definition of being a ‘professional’) and have therefore failed to be theessence ofwho I perceivemyself to be. If I amnot a professionalphotographer then I am just a photographer, a hobbyist.Yet, in times of clarity I know I have the talent. I can be a professional

photographer. I can be a great professional photographer.When I need remindingwhy I do this I try to read the compliments on

mywebsite and take themon board; unlike the testament fromMrs Smithin Blackpool on howUnionMeerkat Insurance provided herwith the bestservice ever, the testaments onmywebsite are real and verifiable.I became a professional photographer because thatwasmy dream job.

Being a professional photographerwould also pave theway formy other

dreams to come true. So far I have failed and amcrushed by depressionwondering, like Sally Brampton did, if I amnot a professionalphotographer thenwho am I?I know I amnot a corporate slave. I amnot amember of the service

industry, neither am I a cook or amechanic or a lorry driver. I amnot awedding photographer and neither am I a photographer that sellsshoddy ‘portfolio’ photo-shoots to ill-informedwant-to-bemodels for30 quid a time.I want to be a PROFESSIONAL, PUBLISHED,WORKING, ARTISTIC,

photographer/artist. But. I sit here at the computer, lonely and depressedwonderingwho to contact next and how. I have theweight of fear, anxiety,procrastination and depression crushingme every day and I have no oneto turn to for help.My counsellor is onlywords inmy ear once aweek.My closest friends

don’t have the experience to helpme and as yet, even though I’d be loathto sharemy planswith peers, I don’t even have the peerswith enoughexperience to helpme. I am the one they often turn to for advice!So. I sit here at the computer, lonely and depressedwith a plan to turn

everything around. A plan that I knowwill work, wonderingwho tocontact next and how. Knowing thatwhen I do know the right person tocontact, I’ll have to put onmy public face full of lies and stories of

successwhen, underneath,my current defeated self is coweringwithfear, procrastination and depression.I have spent hours onmy plan. It is a story, in itself, of self-discovery.

It is biographical. It is life changing. It ismy dream, it ismy dreams cometrue. It is altruistic in parts, it is self-serving in parts. It is awondermentand an abhorrence. It is a thank you and a fuck you. It is charity and it isgreed.I sit here at the computer, lonely and depressed, with a plan to turn

everything around…I need encouragementwhenmymotivation fails. I need someone to

have belief inmewhen I fail to have belief inmyself. I need someone tohelp financially supportmy plan for the next threemonths.Who the hell do I turn to? PP

Weestablished TheUnited States of Photography as a direct resultof the responsewe received to Grant’s original article inProfessional Photographer (now available on ourwebsite). Youcan find outmore about this free-to-join photographic help groupby visiting ourwebsitewww.professionalphotographer.co.uk

To share your personal experiences of being a professionalphotographer, please email us [email protected]

You can read Andy’s blog at http://blog.neolestat.com

If you recognise some of the points Andy raises andwould like tospeak to someone, you can find a counsellor in your area bycontacting the British Association for Counselling&Psychotherapy(BACP) on 01455 883300 or visiting http://www.bacp.co.uk

Shoot the DamnDog: AMemoir of Depression, by Sally Brampton,is published by Bloomsbury at £15.99

“Motivation and creativity are all but impossible when you’re this lonely and depressed.” Andy Craddock


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PP -SUBS - APRIL 08/03/2011 15:21

Working the System

PP -Hasselblad - APRIL 09/03/2011 10:27


I picked up my first Hasselblad in 1998 andimmediately fell in love. Everything about itwas right for me. The build quality wasimpeccable, the sense of tradition wasunbeatable, the lenses were beautiful, andeasily available. I was hooked. I bought fourbodies, a bag of lenses, countless film backs andI started shooting. The square format worked forme, as did holding the camera at waist level.I created my way of seeing with those cameras,won some awards, and built a portfolio of imagesand clients. I even had my work publishedin a square book so the images didn’t need to becropped. Then everything changed.With the advent of digital capture my head

was turned by a new mistress and my Hasselbladmarriage was over. I had to start from thebeginning again, re-learn to see with a DSLR and,truth be told, even though I love the camerasI now work with, I’ve always had a very soft spotfor my first love.Now as I sit at my desk and look at the pile of

Hasselblad kit that has just been delivered for meto review I can’t help but feel the same as whenyou see an ex after years apart. There is a sense ofwhat could have been. If Hasselblad had givenme a realistic digital option in those early digitaldays would I have remained faithful?This feeling of regret leads me straight to the

CFV-50, the 50-megapixel digital back that issitting tidily behind the oh-so-familiar traditionalHasselblad body of the 503CW. The back has thesame quality of build and familiar feel of atraditional film back; it clicks on to the body inthe same way as a film back and suddenly I’m aHasselblad photographer again. It just feels rightin the palm of my hand and allows me to starttaking pictures in the way I so loved back in theanalogue days. It’s exactly the solution I wantedsix years ago and the right solution for me now.The CFV-50 is designed to match the

appearance and functionality of the Hasselblad VSystem and does it perfectly. With the CFV-50strapped on I was back and shooting squareformat 38-megapixel images – or 50-megapixel infull rectangular format. That’s all I wanted to door know but if you want the headline specs andfacts, here they are: it delivers 16-bit colour, ISOfrom 50 to 800, a longest shutter speed of 64seconds, writes on to a CF card and stores 60images on average on to a 4GB card. Which is allfine with me. Hasselblad seemed to have goteverything right with the CFV-50, but then we

get to the price. The CFV-50 may bring all of yourHasselblad kit back into operation but it’s goingto cost you £13,194 to do so. And therein lies therub. There is no doubt that it’s a great pieceof kit but that kind of investment requires someserious thought.The quality of the images the CFV-50 delivered

was exceptional but at that price I am afraid that Iexpected it to. What I think is more relevant is toconsider what you are going to do with theseimages. How are they going to be reproduced andhow? This is when we get down to the nitty-grittyof the CFV-50. If you’re shooting billboards, forlarge format printing, ad campaigns, complicatedset builds or if you need a large file for extensivepost-production, then the CFV-50 makescomplete sense. If the Hasselblad format fits yourway of seeing and defines the way in which youcreate images, and you have been waiting for themoment to return to it or move finally into digitalcapture, then it also makes sense.I would love to make this my everyday camera

solution for all of my commercial shoots andas I have the bodies and lenses already it wouldmake sense for me to do so. I could trawl theinternet and eBay for rare and interesting lensesto add to my system and go back to being aHasselblad photographer. But before doing so Iwould have to seriously consider where thatleaves the digital investment in my DSLR systemover the past five years. Of course, every proneeds a backup so I’m going to have to buytwo and that’s now become a £26,388 investment.And that’s the problem.If I were starting from scratch my decision

would be based on image usage and availablebudget as much as anything else, plus, of course,choosing to make a commitment to theHasselblad brand. In short the CFV-50 is a greatpiece of kit which answers many problems forcurrent and lapsed Hasselblad photographers andpossibly new members of the Swedish

Hasselblad’s latest systemupdates are specificallydesigned to temptpros back to the Swedishbrand but, as PP Editorand longtime Hasselbladuser Grant Scottdiscovers, going back toHasselblad is all aboutasking yourself questions.

“The CFV-50 is designed tomatch the appearance andfunctionality of theHasselblad V System anddoes it perfectly.” Grant Scott

review


Hasselblad CFV-50 TECH SPEC� Sensor size: 50 megapixels

(6,132 x 8,176 pixels)� Sensor dimensions: 36.7mm x 49.0mm

(lens factor 1.1) and 36.7mm x 36.7mm(lens factor 1.5)

� Single shot� 16-bit colour� ISO 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800� Longest shutter speed: 64sec� Image storage: CF card type II (write

speed >20MB/sec) or tethered to Macor PC

� Colour management: Hasselblad NaturalColour Solution – one generic profile

� Storage capacity: 4GB CF card holds60 images on average

� Battery type: Sony InfoLITHIUML NP-F series

� Colour display: 2.5in TFT type,24-bit colour

� Histogram feedback� IR filter: Multi-coated, mounted on

CCD sensor� Feedback: IAA – Instant Approval

Architecture; provides acoustic andvisual feedback

� File format: Lossless compressedHasselblad 3F RAW

� Software: Phocus for Mac and PC� 3FR files are also supported directly in

Apple and Adobe environments� Camera support: Hasselblad V System

cameras manufactured since 1957 (notrecommended for critical work togetherwith SWC models and ArcBody due tooptical incompatibility. Some earlier SWCmodels need slight modification forbattery mounting reasons). 2000 seriescameras and 201F with C lenses only.202FA, 203FE and 205FCC models needa minor camera modification to useF/FE lenses. All other cameras withHasselblad V interface

� Digital lens correction supports thefollowing lenses: CF/CFE 40 FLE,CFE 40 IF, CFi 50 FLE, CFi/CFE 80,CFi/CFE 120, CFi 150, CFE/CFE 180,CFi 250, CFE 250 Sa and CFE 350 Sa

� Host connection type: FireWire 800(IEEE-1394b)

� Battery capacity: Sony InfoLITHIUM L,up to eight hours of shooting capacity

� Operating temperature: 0-45°C /32-113°F

� Dimensions: 91mm x 90mm x 61mm[W x H x D]

� Weight: 530g (excluding battery andCF card)


Hasselblad H4D-60 TECH SPEC� Sensor size: Dalsa 60.1 megapixels

(8,956 x 6,708 pixels)� Sensor dimensions: 40.2mm x 53.7mm� Image size: RAW 3FR capture, 80MB on

average. TIFF 8-bit: 180MB� File format: Lossless compressed

Hasselblad RAW 3FR� Lenses: Hasselblad HC/HCD lens line

with integral central lens shutter� Shutter speed range: 32sec to

1/800sec� ISO speed range: ISO 50,100, 200, 400

and 800� Colour definition: 16-bit� Colour management: Hasselblad Natural

Colour Solution� Focusing: Autofocus metering with

passive central cross-type sensor;Ultra focus digital feedback;Instant manual focus override;Metering range EV 1 to 19 at ISO 100

� Viewfinder options: HVD 90x: 90°eye-level viewfinder with diopteradjustment (-5 to +3.5D),image magnification 3.1 times

� HV 90x: 90° eye-level viewfinder withdiopter adjustment (-4 to +2.5D),image magnification 2.7 times

� HVM: Waist-level viewfinder, imagemagnification 3.2 times

� IR filter: Mounted on CCD sensor� Exposure metering, metering options:

Spot, Centre Weighted and CentreSpot.Metering range – Spot: EV2 to 21; CentreWeighted: EV1 to 21; CentreSpot:EV1 to 21

� Power supply: Rechargeable Li-ionbattery (7.2 VDC/1850 mAh)

� Storage options: CF card type U-DMA ortethered to Mac or PC

� Storage capacity: 8GB CF card holds100 images on average

� Capture rate: 1.4 seconds per capture,31 captures per minute

� Colour display: Yes, 3in TFT type,24-bit colour, 460,320 pixels

� Histogram feedback: Yes� Software: Phocus for Mac and Windows� Host connection type: FireWire 800

(IEEE-1394b)� Operating temperature: 0-45˚C /

32-113˚F� Dimensions complete camera:

with HC80mm lens: 153mm x 131mmx 213mm (W x H x D)

� Weight: 2,290g (complete camera withHC80mm lens, Li-ion battery andCF card)

community, but it is an investment whichcomes with a lot of questions before a decisioncan be made – all of which are about you andyour photography and not the CFV-50.

So the CFV-50 claimed my heart but sittingnext to it like a grey super-sleek intruder in theclassic Hasselblad world is the H4D-60. This isthe flagship model in the Hasselblad range andwith a 60-megapixel 40mm x 54mm sensor it’sthe mother of pro cameras. The H4D-60 is lessabout heart and more about mind. All of theH system cameras are built using solidstainless steel housings and a high-strengthaluminium for the inner core, so despite theirergonomic, smooth styling they are toughpieces of kit. But these are Hasselblads forphotographers who don’t want waist-levelviewing and a connection with the past; theseare very much for photographers wanting tostep up to medium format quality fromDSLRs. Based on the H3D platform the H4Dsystem features Hasselblad’s True FocusTechnology. Most DSLRs are equipped with a

“But these are Hasselbladsfor photographers whodon’t want waist-levelviewing and a connectionwith the past; these arevery much forphotographers wanting tostep up to medium formatquality from DSLRs.”Grant Scott



multi-point AF sensor which allows thephotographer to fix an off-centre focus point onan off-centre subject, which is then focusedcorrectly. Due to the physics of an SLR camera,the off-centre focus points that are offered are allclustered relatively close to the centre of theimage. To set focus outside of this centre area, thephotographer is still forced to focus first, andthen shift the camera to reframe, with theresulting loss of focus as a result. To overcomethis, Hasselblad has used modern yaw rate sensortechnology to measure angular velocity in aninnovative way. The result is the newAbsolutePosition Lock (APL) processor, which is the basisof Hasselblad’s True Focus. The APL processorlogs camera movement during any recomposing,then uses these exact measurements to calculatethe necessary focus adjustment, and issues theproper commands to the lens’s focus motor so itcan compensate. The APL processor computes the

advanced positional algorithms and carries outthe required focus corrections swiftly so that noshutter lag occurs. The H4D’s firmware thenfurther corrects the focus using the precise dataretrieval system found on all of the appropriatelenses. That’s all a long way from my firstexperience of the H system with the H1 way backin 2001, of which the less said the better.The H4D range seems then to be a

well-conceived and well-resolved option forthose wanting to step up to medium format.The H4D-60 I was sent came in a kind of kit formwith a removable back, handle, battery and, ofcourse, lens, all of which are easy to work outand put together (even without a manual!).Once together it’s a sturdy piece of kit which hasa real weight about it. It was just a shame that thebattery charger and battery were third-partypieces of kit without Hasselblad’s customaryattention to detail and build. The menu systemand controls are easy to use and obvious in theirfunctionality; surprisingly so actually as it wouldbe easy to think that a camera at this price(£31,800) would be intimidating, but it is one ofthe easiest cameras to work out that I have usedfor some time. So easy in fact that I challengedsome of the PP team who had never beenanywhere near a medium format camera toshoot with it, which they did with ease.Image quality in general use was

everything I wouldexpect of a camera ofthis quality andcost. My way oftesting this wasto use it as Iwould on ashoot, not in alaboratoryenvironment, and

I found it responsiveon focus and easy to

manipulate to my own way of working on thatbasis. Again I was impressed by how easilyI found myself feeling completely at home with it.The only negative I found was with the overallaesthetic of the back screen area, which had thefeel and look of an in-flight back-of-the-seat filmconsole. I know this has nothing to do with howthe camera performs but it didn’t have thatHasselblad touch of class I expect from thismanufacturer. Of course, the true test as towhether this is the camera for you is exactly thesame as I outlined with the CFV-50: how are yougoing to use the images you create? For me thesame rules apply to the H4D range, andparticularly to the 60, as I outlined earlier.For many both of these Hasselblad options aregoing to overdeliver but if you need the quality,they provide the solution, especially the H4D,which gives you the option of an entry-level priceof £10,794 with the H4D-31 (which, notsurprisingly, features a 31-megapixel sensor).It’s still a lot of money but it may well be theright tool for the job and in conclusion that iswhere I think I find myself at the end of fourdays spent with well over £50,000 worth ofHasselblad photographic kit.I love the CFV-50 and if funds allowed I would

go out and buy myself one, two or three and startusing my Hasselblad kit again. If I were beingcommissioned to shoot the kind of work thatrequires Hasselblad’s quality I would invest in theH4D at whatever level I could afford. As neitherof these things is currently true I will stick withmy DSLRs because they do the job I need them todo. As professional photographers we need our kitto do a job, and there is no doubt that Hasselbladhas now got a range of systems that do exactlythat. You’ve just got to decide if you are doingthat job.

www.hasselblad.co.uk

PP

“It was just a shame that thebattery charger and battery werethird-party pieces of kit withoutHasselblad’s customary attentionto detail and build.” Grant Scott

review



stoppress...VANGUARDNIVELO TRIPODIncredibly lightweight andcompact, the Nivelo 204 hasbeen designed specifically toaccommodate the latestcompact system cameras.Small enough to tuckinto a rucksack,its substantialfeatures includeshock-absorbingrubber feet,Twist-n-Locklegs and a spiritlevel on thepan head.The 20mm-diameter legs providesupport at 23 degrees, bringing stability tothis little tripod. The 360-degree rotatinghead allows panoramic shots whileside-to-side tiltingmeans you can get aunique take on the world. The Nivelo 204 isavailable in black and silver. RRP is £59.99(including VAT). www.vanguardworld.com

LENSPEN SIDEKICKWe first spotted the LensPen people at Photokinain Germany last September and featured theirhandy camera lens cleaning pens in ourNovember 2010 issue. This month they were backat Focus on Imaging at Birmingham NEC witha nifty new product, the LensPen SideKick.Designed to remove those unsightly marks fromthe iPad’s supposedly fingerprint-resistant screen,it uses the same carbon-based cleaning compoundas the award-winning LensPen. The SideKickcomes with one replaceable cleaning head thatlasts for 150 to 200 uses and costs £14.95; it costs£10 for two replacementheads. Available fromApril in the UK fromJessops and independentretailers, seewww.lenspen.com

We’re always keeping our eyes open and our earsto the ground to make sure we bring you the latest news,industry rumours and kit from around the world...

� At a recent performance, Lady Gaga’speople issued a release form forphotographers to sign stipulating notonly where and how the image couldn’tappear but also demanding that thephotographer transfer “all right, titleand interest (including copyright) inand to the Photograph(s)” to the artistknown for dressing in meat.Now that’s hard to swallow…

� Apple’s iPad2 is out, bringing a sinkingfeeling in the stomachs of those whohave yet to pay off their credit card bill forthe first-generation version. While itdoes contain cameras both back andfront, tech pundits on the internet areunderwhelmed due to the fact thatscreen resolution hasn’t improved andyou still need the clunky white cable toconnect it to your computer…� There’s a strange andmesmerising beauty tothe image of a Pentaxcamera taken apart andin bits posted bycamera-friendly websitePhotojojo on itsTumblr blog recently.www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/sp04...� Every revolutiondeserves asoundtrack andthe HD videorevolution is nodifferent. The laureate of convergencemight well be Romanian Cosmin Serban,who has recorded DSLR Song – a tributeto all the DSLR filmmakers out there.Listen, if you can bear to, athttp://vimeo.com/19327519

PROFOTOPRODAYLIGHT 800The Profoto ProDaylight 800 Air is anew continuous light source aimed atphotographers entering the world ofDSLR film making. Designed for usewith some (but not all) of Profoto’s Light ShapingTools, the 800W metal halide base (HMI) lampprovides daylight colour temperature, ideal for proHD video shooting as well as stills photography.Built-in radio remote capability allows you toswitch the unit on and off as well as increase anddecrease light output from 50% through to 100%,from up to 300m. To find out which Profoto LightShaping Tools the ProDaylight 800 Air iscompatible with visit www.profoto.com

LOWEPRO COMPUDAYPHOTO RANGELowepro’s latestrange isdesigned forphotographerson the move, toaccommodate alaptop and asingle camera.The CompuDay Photo range has a messengerbag and backpack, both of which will hold aDSLR, laptop up to 15.6in and other pieces ofkit such as a portable hard drive. The bag andbackpack are aimed at photographers whoneed to get around and upload images on thego. For more details visit www.lowepro.com

LATELYWE’VE BEENHEARING...

“It’s fantastic; it’s agreat ride to be on.”HDSLR hero Philip Bloom on the growthof film making with DSLR cameras,during a talk at the Convergence Festivalheld at the British Film Institute, inLondon, in March.

PP -STOP PRESS - APRIL 09/03/2011 16:30

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“Contact us to arrange a Demo”CFV - 39 £ 9709New CFV - 50 £11336

HC LENSES28mm Lens HCD £ 312635 mm Lens HC £ 266235 - 90 HCD £ 496250 - 110 mm zoom HC £ 319150 mm MK II Lens HC £ 291080mm Lens HC £ 1711100mm Lens HC £ 2370120mm Macro Lens HC £ 2694120mm Macro MK II HC £ 3310150 mm Lens HCN Lens £ 2478210 mm Lens HC £ 2586300mm Lens HC £ 3083HTS Tilt + Shift adapter £ 37741.7 X Teleconverter £ 1139GIL - GPS £ 523Battery Grip 7.2V £183X1 Scanner £ 9499X5 Scanner £ 15095

MORE LISTED ON OUR WEB SITENikon D200 body £399Nikon MB-D200 Grip £75Nikon D60 + 18-55 VR £329Nikon D80 body £295Nikon D2X body £599Nikon F3HP Body £395Nikon F3/T HP body £395 Nikon F5 body £449Nikkor 10.5mm DX Fisheye £395 Nikkor 17 - 55mm f2.8G AFS £675Nikkor AFS 24- 85mm £250Nikkor 14mm f2.8 ED AFD £695Nikkor AFS 18-70mm G Lens £145Nikkor 18 - 35mm AFD £295Sigma 18 - 50mm f2.8 DC - Nikon £229Nikkor 24 - 85mm f3.5-4.5G IF £250Sigma 28mm f1.8 AF - Nikon £130Nikkor AFS 24-120mm f3.5-5.6G VR £325Nikkor AFS 70 - 300mm VR £299Nikkor 50mm f1.2 AIS £495Nikkor 300mm f2.8 ED AIS £595 PCE Micro Nikkor 45mm f2.8 £1099Nikkor AFS 24-120mm f3.5-5.6 VR £325Canon EOS 1D MKIV body £1495Canon EOS 60D + 18-55 IS £750Canon BG-E4 Grip £99Canon TSE-24mm £695Canon TSE 45mm £ 695Sigma EX DC 17-50mm f2.8 OS £395Canon EF 24-85 f3.5-4.5 USM £139Canon EF 20 - 35mm f3.5/4.5 £ 250Canon EF 28 - 135mm IS £199Canon EF 28 - 200mm f3.5-5.6 £250Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM £245Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro USM £299Sigma 28 - 300mm Macro EOS £149 Sigma 105mm f2.8 Macro EOS £299SEE OUR WEB SITE FOR LATEST USED

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550 £434 445 £237 335 £220 225 £212555 £268 307 £ 247 207 £229 107 £212

LIGHT METERS UK STOCK Gossen Sixtomat Digital £ 188Gossen Digi Pro F £ 152Gossen Starlite 2 £ 458Sekonic L 308S £148Sekonic L358 £ 224Sekonic L 758D £ 392Sekonic L758 DR £ 432Sekonic C 500 £ 799

POCKETWIZARDMini TT1 CE NIKON IN STOCK £199FLEX TT5 CE NIKON IN STOCK £216BUNDLE 1 x Mini 2 x Flex NIKON £549Mini TT1 CE Canon IN STOCK £197FLEX TT5 CE Canon IN STOCK £216BUNDLE 1 x Mini 2 x Flex Canon £520PLUS II TWIN Pack £249

NIKON Professional DealerALL UK STOCK FROM - NIKON UKD300S Body £ 999D300S + MB-D10 Grip £ 1195D300S + 17-55 f2.8 D £ 2099D300S + 10 - 24mm DX £ 1579D300S + 18-200 VRII £ 1529D300S + 16-85mm VR £ 1459D700 Body £ 1699D700 + 24 - 70mm f2.8 AFS £ 2960D700 + 14 - 24mm f2.8 AFS £ 3049D700 + 24-120mm f4 VR £ 2599D700 + 28-300mm AFS VR £ 2499D3S Body £ 3599D 3S + 24 - 70mm f2.8 AFS Lens £ 4849D 3S + 14 - 24mm f2.8 AFS Lens £ 4899D 3S + 70 - 200mm f2.8 VRII £ 5248D3X Body £ 5199D 3X + 24-70mm f2.8 AFS Lens £ 6199D 3X + 14-24mm f2.8 AFS Lens £ 6299D 3X + 70-200mm f2.8 VRII Lens £ 6649D7000 + 18-105 VR II £ 1149D7000 £ 96914 - 24mm f2.8G AFS £ 136716 - 35 mm f4G AFS VR £ 87717 - 35mm f2.8D AFS £158124mm f1.4G AFS £173524 - 70 f2.8G AFS £ 1282New 24 - 120mm f4G AFS VR £89910 - 24mm f3.5/4.5 DX £ 58912 - 24mm f4 DX £ 85516 -85mm f 3.5/ 5.6 DX VR £ 46917 - 55 mm f 2.8 DX £110918 - 200mm DX VR II £ 539NEW 28 - 300mm AFS VR £ 779 PC-E 24mm f3.5 Tilt +Shift £144935mm f1.8 G AFS DX £ 17550mm f1.4G AFS £ 30770 - 300 mm AFS VR £ 38970 - 200 mm f 2.8 AFS VR II £ 168980 - 400 mm f 4.5 / 5.6 VR £ 1149200 -400mm f4 AFS VR II £ 5199200mm f2 AFS VR II £ 4432300mm f 2.8 AFS VR II £ 4265400mm f2.8 AFS VR £ 6999500mm f4 AFS VR £ 6153600mm f4 AFS VR £ 743360 mmf 2.8 AFS Micro £ 40885mm f3.5 AFS Micro £ 42685mm f1.4G AFS £ 1399105mm f 2.8 Micro VR £ 639SB 700 Speedlight £ 259SB 900 Speedlight £ 342SB-R1C1 Macro Flash kit £ 608Nikon TC 14 EII / TC17 £ 323

NEW FUJI GF670

medium format, rangefinder6x6 / 6x7 folding camera, withlens hood + case + film £1699

Canon UK StockUK STOCK- FROM CANON UK7D Body £ 11897D + 18 - 135mm IS £ 14797D + 15 - 85 IS £ 16725D MKII Body £ 16995D MKII Body + 24-105L IS £ 23445D MKII Body + 24-70 f2.8L £ 25755D MKII + 16-35 f2.8L MK2 £ 271960D Body £ 83960D + 17/85 IS Lens £10792 Free sensor cleans worth£90 when you buy a Canon5D II, 1DS MkIII or 1D Mk4EOS 1 D Mk4 £ 3679EOS 1 DS Mk III £ 53991 Free sensor cleans worth£45 when you buy a Canon7D / 550D /600D/60D camera600D +18 -55 IS £ 749600D Body £ 659550D +18 -55 IS £ 619550D Body £ 549Powershot G12 £ 41916 - 35 f 2.8L MK2 £112217 - 40 f 4 L USM £ 60917 - 55 f 2.8 EFS £ 82910 - 22 EFS USM £ 63317 - 85 EFS IS USM £ 38518 - 200mm EFS IS USM £ 42960 mm EFS Macro £ 34724 - 70 f2.8 L USM £98724 - 105mm f 4 L IS £ 89924 - 105mm f 4L IS White Box £799TSE 17mm f4L £1999 TSE 24 mm f 3.5 L II £174924mmf1.4 L II USM £ 137550mm f1.8 II £10150 mm f 1.4 USM £ 32250mm f1.2 L USM £131070 - 200 f 4 L USM £ 49970- 200mm f4 L IS £ 922 70 - 200 f 2.8 L £ 98470 - 200 f2.8 L IS MKII £ 1864 70 - 300mm f 4 / 5.6 IS £ 41770- 300 f 4 5.6 L IS £ 119985 mm f 1.8 USM £ 31985mm f 1.2 L II USM £ 1813100 - 400 f4.5 / 5.6 IS £1243100 mm f 2.8 Macro £ 417100mm f2.8L IS Macro £ 749300 mm f 4 IS USM £ 1195300mm f 2.8 L II IS £ 5999400mm f 5.6 L £ 1149400mm f 4 DO IS £ 5344400mm f 2.8 L II IS £8899500mm f 4 L IS £ 54991.4x EXTENDER III £ 4992x EXTENDER III £ 499580 EX MKII Speedlight £369430 EX MK II Speedlight £199

Hasselblad 35mm HC Lens £1495Hasselblad HM 16/32 Film back £ 295Hasselblad HM 16/32 Film back £ 395Hasselblad C 50mm f2.8 Lens £350Hasselblad 50mm C Chrome £ 350Hasselblad 120mm CFE Macro £995Hasselblad 150mm CT* Lens £ 195Hasselblad 150mm CF Lens £450Hasselblad 160mm CB Lens £595Hasselblad A12 - Latest type £295Proshade 6093T + 060 adapter £150Bronica RF645 + 65mm Lens £595Bronica 40mm PE Lens £295Bronica 40mm E Lens £195Bronica 50mm PE Lens ETRS / i £ 250Bronica 150mm E lens £ 125Bronica 150mm MC Lens £125Bronica 250mm E lens £ 195Bronica 50mm f3.5 PS Lens £ 195Bronica 65mm PS Lens £ 195Bronica 150mm PS Lens £125 - £195Bronica 250mm PS Lens £ 195Bronica S-36 Tube £ 75Bronica E-42 Tube £ 125Mamiya 645 AF 55-110mm New £ 695Mamiya 645 AF Polaroid Back NEW £95Mamiya 645 110mm f2.8 Lens £ 179Mamiya 645 210mm f4 Lens £ 105Mamiya 645 210mm f4 Lens £195Mamiya 645 300mm f5.6 Lens £ 199Mamiya 7 - 43mm Lens + finder £995Mamiya 7 - 50mm Lens Ex Demo £995Mamiya 7 - 65mm Lens £709Mamiya 7 - 150mm Lens £505Mamiya 7 - 150mm Lens + finder £695Mamiya 7 - 210mm Lens + finder £607Mamiya 7 - 35mm Panoramic kit £78Mamiya 120 back 645 Super £ 50Mamiya RZ 180mm Lens £ 125Mamiya RZ Polaroid back NEW £ 125RB67 Pro SD + 50 + 90mm lenses £895RB67 180mm PRO SD Lens NEW £195Mamiya RB 67 210mm Sekor £ 150Mamiya 6 - 50mm Lens £ 350Contax 645 Film back + Insert £ 195Contax TVS £195Pentax 645 - 200mm f4 £ 295 Pentax 6x7 300mm f4 £ 249Rollei 40mm PQ f3.5 super angulon £1495Minolta booster II £ 50Leica winder M £ 99

WE STOCK LEE FILTERS WITH10 % DISCOUNT OFF LISTBig Stopper £96 In Stock

POLAROID FILMPX100 Silvershade B+W £18.38PX600 Silvershade B+W £18.38

USED EQUIPMENT

Zeiss Lenses - NIKON + CANON18mm f3.5 Distagon - Nikon ZF.2 £ 109818mm f3.5 Distagon - Canon ZE £ 105521mm f2.8 Distagon - Nikon ZF.2 £ 139521mm f2.8 Distagon - Canon ZE £ 139525mm f2.8 Distagon - Nikon ZF £ 78028mm f2 Distagon - Nikon ZF.2 £1006 28mm f2 Distagon - Canon ZE £ 98235mm f2 Distagon - Nikon ZF.2 £ 84635mm f2 Distagon - Canon ZE £ 84650mm f1.4 Planar - Nikon ZF.2 £ 56950mm f1.4 Planar - Canon ZE £ 55050mm f2 Makro-Planar Nikon ZF.2 £100650mm f2 Makro-Planar Canon ZE £ 98285mm f1.4 Planar - Nikon ZF.2 £ 100685mm f1.4 Planar - Canon ZE £ 1000100mm Makro-Planar - Nikon ZF.2 £1415100mm Makro-Planar - Canon ZE £1423

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4.3.11

LeicaM9 STEEL GREY BODY £4899

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21mm f2.8 Elmarit asp M £280724mm f2.8 Elmarit asp M £257335mm f2.5 Summarit M £115350mm f2.5 Summarit M £88350mm f2 Summicron M £134775mm f2.5 Summarit M £112290mm f2.5 Summarit M £1122

X1 STEEL GREY £1377X1 BLACK £1395V-LUX 20 £489D - LUX 5 £645

BOWENS Lighting500R/500R Kit £887500/500 Classic kit £730500/500C Pulsar Kit £820500R/500R Travel Pak£1326500R/500R/500R Kit £1299500/500 PRO Kit £1075500/500 PRO Travel £1541500/500/500 PRO Kit £1741750/750 PRO Kit £1291750/750 PRO Travel £1719750/750/750 PRO Kit £19941000/1000 PRO Kit £15171000/1000PRO Travel £1999QuadX Studio Set £ 3298QuadX 2400 kit £ 2532Explorer 1500 - 2 Kit £ 2552Fresnel 200 £ 449Pulsar twin pack £ 233Pulsar Trigger Card £75Pocket Wizard card £107

SIGMA 8 - 16mm f4 - 5.6 DC £ 52910 - 20 mm f 4 / 5.6 EX DC. £ 41010 - 20mm f3.5 EX DC HSM £ 47912 - 24 mm f 4.5 / 5.6 EX DG£ 64210mm f 2.8 EX DC Fisheye £ 487 24 - 70 mm f 2.8 EX DG £ 44724 - 70mm f 2.8 EX DG HSM £61085mm f1.4 EX DG HSM £669 70 - 200mm f2.8 DG OS £979120 - 400mm Apo DG OS £689150 - 500mm Apo OS £ 79550 - 500mm Apo OS £1197

TOKINA10 -17mm f 3.5/4.5 ATX Pro £ 50911 - 16mm f 2.8 ATX Pro £ 56016 - 28mm f2.8 ATX Pro DX £ 84916 - 50mm f2.8 ATXPro £ 621100mm Macro f2.8 £ 407

ColorMunki Photo £299X-Rite Eye 1 Display 2 £139X-Rite ColorChecker Passport £79Spyder 3 Pro £107

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James Nachtwey

Peter Silverton explores thecareer of the Americanphotojournalist James Nachtwey,an unrelenting documentorof human tragedy for morethan 30 years.

James Nachtwey was bornMarch 14 1948,in Syracuse, New York state. As Robert Capawas to themiddle of the 20th century, soNachtwey was to its last decades.He is thelate 20th-century war photographer – outragedthat, after the Holocaust and Vietnam, war isstill, shockingly, an ever-present. He’s won theRobert Capa Gold Medal five times.Like Capa, like Goya, he is powered by the urge

to document. “I have been a witness, and thesepictures are my testimony. The events I haverecorded should not be forgotten and must notbe repeated.” That’s the opening statement onhis website. His is not a world of ironies ordoubts; it’s one of rage – an anger that has yet tobe assuaged or diluted. Never will be, perhaps.Never can be, even.He grew up in Massachusetts and went to

Dartmouth, the small Ivy League college in

New Hampshire, where he studied art historyand political science. Then, though, he was sweptup and away by the radical tenor of the times.In particular, he was driven to action bythe Vietnam war. Even more particularly, by theimages of that conflict. As he has said, he andhis generation were presented with a choiceabout what to think about the world. They couldbelieve what they were told or they couldattend to the evidence they saw in photographs.Nick Ut’s picture of a naked, running, napalmedPhan Thi Kim Phúc. Philip Jones Griffiths’sbook, Vietnam, Inc.He decided to become a war photographer.

Deliberately, he set about learning his trade.In 1976, he took a staff job on the AlbuquerqueJournal. By 1980, he was where he wanted to be:in NewYork, a freelance photojournalist, ready,willing and able to go to war. In 1981, hewent to Northern Ireland – the time of the IRAhunger strikes. Since then, there’s barely beena war or conflict he didn’t turn up for. You mighteven say: It’s not a war until Nachtwey’s there.Rwanda. Chechnya. Bosnia. Famine in

Sudan. Romanian orphanages. Kosovo.The invasion of Iraq, where a grenade attacksmashed up his foot. He kept photographinga medic who was treating the other injured, untilhe lost consciousness. By the end of thefollowing year, he was up and off east, to coverthe aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami.There is rarely a name on a Nachtwey caption.

His subjects are not people but ‘people’,representatives of human tragedy – and thereforeof us all. Hence the echoic power of hisimages. There is nothing romantic about his wars,though. He doesn’t share other photographers’admiration for front-line soldiers. Yet nordoes he share the nagging doubts of the latestgeneration of war photographers – that theirimages can actually prolong and deepen wars, thatthe relationship between aid-giving ratesand images of hacked-off limbs is all too oftena mutual one.His 1999 book, Inferno, is nearly 500 pages

long and weighs almost 5kg. Unable to

exhaust himself, he set about exhausting us.The idea, I guess, is to go beyond desensitisation,to a place where we cannot not look.The book is prefaced with a quote from hell’sown poet-in-residence, Dante: “There sighs,lamentations and loud wailings resoundedthrough the starless air, so that from the beginningit made me weep.”He was in NewYork the day the Twin Towers

were hit and fell. He lived nearby. “I heard asound that was out of the ordinary. I went to thewindow and saw the tower burning. I made myway there through the smoke. It was virtuallydeserted, and it seemed like a movie set from ascience fiction film. Very apocalyptic.Very strange ambiance of the sunlight filteringthrough the dust and the destroyed wreckage ofthe buildings lying in the street.”I’ll pause him there. Because that’s

where Nachtwey’s tragic genius lies: his capacityfor aestheticising conflict and destruction.Or, at least, to find an aesthetic in them. All kindsof war photographers record, vividly, thedestruction of war. The thing about Nachtwey,though, is when all around is death and horror andconfusion and blood and pain, he can make aformally composed, resonant image of it.Not glamorous but aesthetically saturated,generally with sorrow – the anguish of theAdagietto in Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.Back to 9/11. “As I was photographing the

destruction of the first tower, the second towerfell and I was standing right under it. I wasunderneath this avalanche of falling debris. I wasin a state of disbelief. The scenes were veryfamiliar. But now, it was literally in my ownbackyard. And I think that one thing thatAmericans are learning from this is that we arenow part of the world in a way in which we neverhave been before.”So he goes, uncoloured by cynicism, seemingly

inexhaustible. Afghanistan. Haiti earthquake.Victims of AIDS and drug-resistant TB. So itgoes, perhaps inexhaustibly.

www.jamesnachtwey.com

PP

GO ONLINE FOR MORE FROM THE LEGENDS OF PHOTOGRAPHY, VISIT WWW.PROFESSIONALPHOTOGRAPHER.CO.UK

“I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The eventsI have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.”

legend1948-

PP -LEGEND - APRIL 09/03/2011 11:15

professional photographer uk 2011-04

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