Luck or Experienced Calculation

‘You have it so easy’ say you out there. Perhaps not! As a photographer and videographer for the corporate world and mainly within London, I have been asked to shoot various people or objects in situations that sometimes have not a great deal of control, but I need to come home with the shot.
Over past years in these situations, that can be, not stressing but certainly let the adrenaline rush through your body, I have only had a few moments where I can honestly say ‘Is this going to go right for me?’ Or is this going to work out, will I loose out or become a winner with the wow factor and obtain that perfect frame. One time I remember was when I was working for American Airlines and needed to take a photo of Gary Lineker who at the time was in his prime of his football career with the England team on a training day. We needed a run of images for a PR article, I managed to fire off about three frames before he turned ran away from the gathered photographers to join his team mates on the training pitch. This was one situation that was going all ok but the tide turns very quickly sometimes and even in efforts to request his return ‘could you please come back not quite finished’ fell on deaf ears and as yet have not had the opportunity to meet him again in the flesh to thank him for that one.The images I got were fine for the article.
This one was great fun! It was a very early start. 5.20am to be precise. But apparently these balloonists like to float on the early morning thermals. I believe that actually it’s because they don’t know where they may land and when so need the rest of the day to make their way home, but hay that’s just my opinion. All the preparation of erecting these huge floating bubbles was nearing the end and shortly they will be off. Quite a dramatic experience really as they fire up the balloon and the basket drags alone the ground to lift up into the sky. Then complete calm as they float away in the distance. So my opportunity is close to achieve that shot. How well was this going for me.
All the balloons left within a good time frame and the soft breeze gently let them gain distance, there it was. The moment I was hoping for. Now feeling somewhat alone, with a slight adjustment to the angle by running to my left in the long bumpy grass of the field, I had the three balloons in the frame. The nearest one dominant in the picture displaying bold colours, the others just starting to become faint in the distance but adding to the overall composition of the shot.

This was the shot to end the set. Was it luck or was it a calculated situation on my part that this could happen for me, that the timings of that early morning produced this situation of the balloons in a line as they took off.
To be honest it was a bit of both really!

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The Beauty of Autumn Light

This time of year go out and have that stroll in the woods or through your local park and see the wanders of autumn. This is a fantastic time if you are one to enjoy taking photographs of landscapes and views of our countryside. As a corporate photographer working in London and the surrounding areas this does not usually allow me to go and photograph scenery like this as an assignment with my day to day working environment. But I make the effort to go and explore with camera in hand not only to give me some well needed exercise but adds to my portfolio of images that can be useful to have at some point later.

Autumn PhotographyOne of my favourite ways of shooting these scenes is to use the strong backlight that the sun has to offer. Shooting into the sun but slightly hiding it from the camera lens to reduce flare creates a glow effect on the trees.This shines through to the foreground to highlight areas but still leaves a great deal of the image in a darkened tranquillity with depth and shape. Notice how on some of these the contrasting reflections and the detailed shadows on the ground really add to the feel of the photograph.

Late September and October the evenings start to draw in and the sun becomes low in the sky. This creates some of the long and moody shadows later in the afternoon that make these images so interesting.

 

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Alternative Images Launch New Website for London

A new website page has been launched this week for services from Alternative Images. This has been produced under the new dot London domain that was introduced for companies supplying services specifically within London areas. Corporate Photography London briefly outlines what the company has to offer to existing clients and new visitors.

The site has a theme with images that have been produced while I have worked within our capital city on various assignments for corporate clients, hence the name. The main image is a dramatic photograph of the Hungerford Bridge walk way over the River Thames looking towards Charing Cross Station with inset images of events taken at venues in London. The page has reference to business, portrait, conference and event photography with a special addition to architectural and interiors.

When visiting the site there is a Video link that has Peter Austin of Alternative Images explaining some of the services with examples of work associated with the company and how video can enhance many websites, be it an existing company or a smaller start up.

The link to the new site can be found here.

Corporate Photography Lonon

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Landscape Timelapse

Sometimes it can be fun and go out and experiment with a camera. Especially if it’s something you do not usually need to do or know a great deal about in everyday life being a Corporate Photographer in London. I have never actually been asked to capture time laps professionally but wanted to have a play at it just in case someone does!

The old and correct way was using cinematic film and shooting over a period of time and then speeding the whole process up in edit to the desired effect. With digital cameras it’s pretty much the same procedure by taking a sequence of frames and joining them up into a cinematic view in post edit on computer.

I think some of the best ones done are where a camera is positioned and the operator does sequences of perhaps a structure being built or building project that can take a good deal of time but weeks worth of events are crammed into a few minutes of time. Also the ones where there are high skyscraper views over a city and the day turns to night and all the lights come to life on all the buildings. Next time I’m in a hotel on the 25th floor I promise I will do one and share with you.

The process is pretty simple once you have understood how many frames you need for the period of time you want the ‘video’ to run for. One second of time equals 25 frames in video in the UK. So two hundred images will give you an eight seconds clip. Most modern cameras give you a nine hundred and ninety nine frame count in one shoot but this can be overridden and reset. The only problem I have with this method is that you need to stay with the camera as its shooting its sequence on a tripod that is a necessity, because you cannot leave you valuable camera unattended due to theft! The only way this can be done is if you have a safe box that the camera unit is actually locked away in and this in turn is fastened securely to a mounting on site.

Good Luck if you give it a go, this is one I did one breezy afternoon recently just for fun.

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