Step 1. Give it a go!

After my last blog about not entirely knowing what kind of photography I wanted to go into I had a bit of a think.

This week is "Varsity" week. This basically entails a whole series of grudge matches between UKC (University of Kent in Canterbury - my university) and CCCU (Canterbury Christchurch University). Two universities in one town is bound to draw up some rivalries! I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try out some sport photography. I managed to get myself on the side lines for Varsity Mens Rugby match.  The problem however was that it was a 7:30pm. This means it was dark. The pitch was flood lit which was fine for the spectators (quite a good crowd turned up!) But in terms of photography it was dark. After having done some research I learnt that I'd need a shutter speed of about 1/1000 of a second to ensure that I froze the action. Looking back I think I could have brought this down to somewhere between 1/350 and 1/500. But never mind. However this meant that I had to use an ISO (film speed) of 12800. This is very high. High ISO means you get grainy photos. Grainy photos are horrible (unless they're "artistic"!). 

The match itself was ok. But I didn't get any "killer" photos, But experience is experience. Something I do have is called "noise ninja". This is a plug-in for photoshop that does wonderful things to remove the grain from "noisy" images. Below are two versions of the same photo. One using noise ninja and one without:

No Noise Ninja

                                                                                    




















Noise Ninja

You can see there is definitely a difference although the noise ninja-ed(?!) image does lose a bit of detail.
I would never consider using an image like this professionally but it's an interesting test and noise ninja could be very useful on images that don't have quite so much noise.
So the sport experience was good, and depending on how much time I have I may well try and go to other varsity events to photograph as well. Although I have serious amounts of work to do. (and yet I'm still writing this :S!)

The second completely different thing I did to procrastinate in the library yesterday was to create a "fantasy scene". This is not something from my own mind unfortunately but I followed a step by step photoshop tutorial  to try and create an image. Just like following a recipe and trying to get your food looking just like it does in the book! This is the first "complicated" tutorial I've followed and I loved it! I shall show you the image...

This image obviously isn't real but it's a long complicated mash up of different images to make a cool fantasy style image. This is the first time I've successfully followed a tutorial of this kind and I learnt quite a lot on the way! Now all I need is the creativity in my own mind to come up with this in my head and then try to get it out on the computer!

There you go. Two entirely separate events and experiences. Both I thoroughly enjoyed. And both I plan on doing again soon.

Done for now.

Which branch of that metaphorical tree next?

So. I have finally worked out what I want to do after university. Photography. Excellent. Most of my friends and family are getting used the idea now (although some are making sure I'm being realistic about the likelihood of it happening (it's good to dream (and conveniently I have one (I also like brackets)))).

Now the question seems to be coming along that says "Cool, what sort of photography are you into?"
Ummm,
Errr,
Good question.

The obvious answer, and the one I seem to give at the moment is "Well, wedding and portrait photography mainly".
It seems every man and his dog is doing wedding photography now (well maybe not his dog, opposable thumbs are quite important). It's easy to turn up to a wedding and take lots of photos. But there is definitely something that sets apart your average wedding photographer from your world class photographer. David Ziser is a one of (many) world class photographers and although his website is less than inspiring (weirdly!) His photos are astonishing. He probably doesn't need a website to advertise. I think he's that in demand!

Portraits? Well I've tried my hand at portraits and I like what I see but again there's a huge difference between normal portrait photography and world class photography. Check out Joe McNally or Blair Buntings website.

These seem like the obvious ones to get into because loads of people are getting married and want family portraits (even in the recession) and still pay the money for them.

But what about the other aspects? Wildlife, Sport, Travel, Photojournalism, Fashion, Commercial.

How does one go about getting into those catagories?

Again in my mind it spans that huge chasm between being a photographer and being a world class photographer and I think the guys who fill that gap have found the ultimate combination:
Skill, Luck (right place right time), People, Experience, Natural Talent

You can gain experience, you can (sometimes) meet the right people, you can gain skill. But you can't do anything about luck or natural talent.

If I'm honest I don't know what I would like to do. I think I would love to do any combination of Wildlife, Sport and Travel, Weddings and Portraits. Greedy I know.
But the first three? How do you convince someone to pay you to travel and take photos. Sport photography is a very expensive hobby and it seems like a vicious circle. You can't get the jobs without the kit and you can't get the kit without the jobs. Obviously you could get other jobs to get the kit but it's a steep investment if you don't know if you're going to make it or not! (£2,000 - >£10,000 for a lens).

So where do I go? Who do I speak to? What's the way forward? How does one go about taking the iconic images we all would recognise in a flash. Marilyn Munroe and the floaty skirt? The naked girl running from the Vietnam napalm attacks? The man blocking the tanks in Tiananmen Square?

I'll figure it out. I've decided not to be happy with mediocrity.

Done for now.