by Tim Gander

Two Cameras, Two Brains, One Photographer

Following on from my previous post focusing on my work with advanced propulsion R&I centre IAAPS (IAAPS for short) near Bristol, this week’s post centres on the official launch held in September last year.

However, rather than talk specifically about the opening itself, I’m going to use this as a case study to delve into the logistics and thought processes employed when covering an event like this.

This area of photography uses a different part of the brain from industrial work, which is very measured, precise and considered compared to the fly-on-the-wall, reactive style required for an official opening, especially one on the scale of the IAAPS launch.

The truth is, I enjoy both. Industrial photography is a chance to slow down, be methodical and produce images with a bit more finesse, while the launch event gets my editorial brain whirring. I’m having to react to emerging scenarios as I work my way through the brief and the events as they unfold.

Each aspect of an event like this requires a subtly different approach; choices around composition, timing, reading the light, lens selection – at times I’m making multiple decisions all at once. In these situations it helps to have both cameras on my shoulders; one for wide shots, and the other for long shots, which saves a lot of lens swapping.

And yet I have to remain calm and composed because no one needs a stressed photographer in the room.

Keeping a level of control starts with having a properly constructed brief in advance of the event, something IAAPS’ head of marketing communications is good at.

Armed with a solid brief, I can keep an eye on the timings of various key moments as well as check off the pictures I’ve achieved. Having a list I can work through methodically means I can keep the scale of the task in context. I can also look for additional off-brief pictures.

Reacting to changing moments and requirements is where the stress can creep in once again, but knowing how to pace a job and when to tie up an element of coverage is a skill in self-management.

For example, it’s easy to get bogged down in trying to capture absolutely everyone as they gather and chat. These make for good “flavour of the day” pictures, but not every attendee needs to be recorded. These pictures have their uses, but at some point, I have to gauge when opening speeches are about to start.

For this, I have one eye on the schedule, and one on the key speakers. Their behaviour changes as they realise they’re about to step up to the podium, and that’s my cue to ensure I have the right kit and settings already sorted.

Of course, I will have arrived ahead of the event to check out things like the light levels on the stage or the positioning of the podium, but these can change at the last minute, so it’s good to do a final check before speeches and presentations kick-off. Ideally, I’m in position before the speaker steps up onto the stage.

For speeches, I’m looking to capture the speakers with their heads up, eyes open and preferably making some kind of hand gesture. It’s also important to capture a variety of shots with design space around the subject, as well as a choice of upright and landscape orientations.

All this is to ensure that when the images are put out to press release, there’s something to fit the space on the page. If they’re used in corporate communications, either online or in print, that design space might be handy for a text box or graphic element.

Simultaneously, I’ll be looking for interesting and unusual angles, tight shots on the speakers as well as wider views showing the venue and audience.

Recording the setup before guests arrive is a useful reference for future events.
As guests arrive and start to network, I'll be on the lookout for interaction shots.
A quick overview moments before the speeches start.
Framing the speaker (Chris Skidmore MP) with members of the audience gives a sense of "being there".
A wider shot showing the speaker in context (Prof. Ian White, Vice-Chancellor University of Bath).
That decisive moment as the ribbon disintegrates.
Bringing together the people and the facility...
...to show elements of the facility and a flavour of the event.

If a speech is only a few minutes long, I have to make sure I divide the time carefully and prioritise the must-have images over the nice-to-have extras.

In the case of the IAAPS launch, there was a series of speeches followed by a ribbon-cutting. So I made sure that as the final speech drew to a close, my kit and I were both ready for that moment. This included organising the group, arranging the props and making sure the photographer behind me, who’d brought the wrong lens for the job, could also get a few shots without the back of my head being in the way.

This particular event was a busy one. After the ribbon cutting came tours of the facility for stakeholders and members of the press, so I was back in fly-on-the-wall mode, looking for interactions between visitors and the cells and capturing more images for potential press and industry journal use.

With an event like this, it’s important to pace the coverage. It’s too easy to get into a spin or to phase out and lose concentration. To most people, it might look like ‘just taking pictures of something happening’, but without a considered and measured approach, things can run away from the photographer very quickly. It’s important to take a moment every so often to pause and re-check the brief, the progress and the next stage, all while looking for ways to ensure the resulting pictures have as much impact as possible.

While there were no surprises at the end of this event, I always check in with my lead contact before pulling away. It’s also a good chance to double-check any urgent image requirements as sometimes the client will want a selection for immediate social media use or a press release.

Of course, the end of a job isn’t the end of the job; there’s captioning, editing, filing, supply and a whole load of other tasks around fully completing a job. Perhaps that’s a blog post for another time though. After 951 words, it’s time to take a break.

in Case Studies 2 comments
 by Tim Gander

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Yes, it’s that time of year when we all take a look in the rearview mirror to see what we’re leaving behind, simultaneously stepping on the gas, and accelerating into the year ahead. Or maybe we’re just trying to get away from zombies!

Assuming we’re not being chased out of town by the undead, I am of course building up (in a rather clumsy way) to my annual look at what has been and what is to come.

Except I’m not going to do that this time around, or at least not in quite as much depth as I normally would. I’m just going to say that 2023 had its highs and lows, and I have plans for 2024 which will evolve as I go.

At this point, I could sign off, wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, and be done, but that wouldn’t be particularly satisfactory, would it? Maybe it would, but tough; you’re here now.

No, for this post I’m going to use broad brush strokes which I hope will also stimulate some thoughts within you, my current or potential clients.

Looking Back – 2023

While my stills work held up remarkably well, video demand seemed to drop off sharply. Instinct tells me clients are struggling to decide whether video is worth the investment. My advice is, talk to me! I’ll be happy to discuss your ideas and will be honest about your best options.

All too often I have clients come to me with only the vaguest idea that they want ‘some video of a thing’. But rather than allow me to guide them further, they either kill the project or go to someone who will happily turn their half-baked plans into a massive invoice. Don’t fall into that trap.

Even the stills work was a bit up and down this year. I’ve done pretty well, but I can tell businesses are struggling to see through the fog of wars, climate crisis, cost of living, and so on. Some are taking positive steps to keep their marketing on track, while others see marketing as a cost (bizarrely).

If you can’t stretch to video, keep using stills to keep your brand fresh and alive. They’re far more cost-effective than video and more adaptable, but they also need a clear direction (purpose and brief). Again, talk to me if you want to develop the germ of an idea.

Overall, 2023 has been ok. Its school report would read, “Could do better”.

View into a French seaside cafe showing sunlight hitting a white table surrounded by red, grey and natural wood chairs. The table is set for three, with mats and coffee cups.
From August 2023, a favourite holiday photo taken in Brittany. Photo © Tim Gander. All rights reserved.

A highlight of 2023 was a trip by rail and bike to Côte Sauvage, Brittany.

Looking Forward – 2024

So let’s gaze into the crystal ball.

I predict it’s going to be more of the same because the uncertainties that have troubled businesses since (to put it frankly) the Brexit vote of 2016 are not going to be resolved in the next few weeks or even months. Domestically we’re going to have a general election, so there will be plenty of people waiting to see how that shakes out. Which is frustrating because it could be yet another year of bumpiness. And who’s to say something else won’t come along in the meantime to create more market jitters?

My advice is, if you want to do something, do it. If you don’t, someone else will and they’ll steal all the credit (and potentially your clients).

Moving on from the pure business aspects of the year ahead, I’ve decided to have another look at something rather more ephemeral; the ethics of my business.

That isn’t to say that for the past 25 years as a freelance photographer, I’ve operated unethically but I feel we’re at a juncture where it’s not a bad idea to have a fresh think about how we all work and how we treat each other.

Towards the end of this year, I finally managed to update my Terms and Conditions (something I’d planned to do last Christmas!) and in 2024 I plan to add an Ethical Statement that will cover a wide range of aspects, from use of AI in images, to how I approach my personal project work.

This isn’t going to be easy as I don’t want to just put up a bunch of warm, fuzzy words and say job done. This will, in effect, put into text the moral rules by which I already work, but will also tie in some new issues which have emerged more recently.

There’s no harm in any business or organisation, however ethical they already say they are, spending a little time having a deep think about whether their ethical practices are up-to-date and whether they genuinely implement them. Perhaps every business should have an Ethical Statement against which their actions can be measured.

So look, I’m not going to make great proclamations about how I see the year ahead. It’s all too up in the air for that, but I have set out a couple of road signs.

At the risk of labouring my metaphors, I’m going to pull up at the side of the road to stretch my legs, before getting back in the car, stepping on the non-greenhouse-gas-emitting accelerator peddle and zooming off into the bright new dawn of 2024.

Thank you to every one of my clients, suppliers, friends, and colleagues who’ve made 2023 bearable. Let’s do the same, but more and better, in 2024.

Happy Christmas!

Tim

in Industry Comment / Personal Opinion / Video 2 comments
 by Tim Gander

Who’s Afraid of False Reports?

What will you be doing this weekend? Don’t tell me, I don’t care because I’m going to be buried in Stephen Leslie’s book, just released, called Mostly False Reports.

If you don’t know Leslie’s work, I’m not talking about Virginia Woolf’s father (also a Stephen Leslie) who died, oh I dunno, quite a long time ago. No, this is London-based film director, screenwriter, and street photographer Stephen Leslie. He’s still very much alive.

I’m not a huge fan of street photography, so I’m very picky about who within that genre I follow or take note of. Leslie is one of them. Dougie Wallace and Matt Stuart also spring to mind (I realise there are no female photographers in there so if someone can point me their way I’d love to see that perspective too).

For the life of me, I can’t remember exactly how Leslie’s work showed up on my radar, probably through Instagram, but however it was, my interest in his work was cemented through his YouTube channel where he posts excellent if occasional videos focusing on photographic themes or specific photographers. His knowledge of photography, its practitioners, and history is impressive, but he rarely speaks of his own work.

Photo of Stephen Leslie's new book, Mostly False Reports.
Get copies of Mostly False Reports before it sells out...

What Leslie does with his images, exemplified in his latest book, is to compose made-up narratives around the photos he’s taken. The images already benefit from Leslie’s often witty, observational style, but the additional twist of his text, usually in the style of a very short story, delivers yet another layer. Not all the narratives are entirely false, so the reader is left to consider what is true and what is false.

Others will be better equipped to critique this book with more skill than I possess, but without wishing to appear arse-licky I think it’s brilliant. The photography is quirky and entertaining, even thought-provoking (as only the best street photography is). It has a high-quality feel, the design is simple and elegant and the effort and attention to detail are clear.

So you do your thing this weekend, I’m going to be curled up with this book until I’ve been through it cover-to-cover (and possibly back again).

If you’d like your own copy, you’ll have to hope it goes on general sale at some point because so far it’s only been available through the Kickstarter campaign which brought it to fruition. There’s no point asking to buy my copy, it’s not for sale! EDIT: Contact Stephen directly to order your copy. Scroll to the bottom of the page on this link for his contact form.

Have a great weekend

in Industry Comment / My News / Reviews 1 comments
 by Tim Gander

End of an Era?

“Perhaps I’m joining dots which aren’t there, but with the passing of Elliott Erwitt, I’ve found myself pondering the state of the photographic industry and whether it’s truly entering a new era.

We talk about eras as if there’s some sudden cut-off point between a time when everything is one way and then suddenly it’s all changed. That new era then chugs along solidly until there’s another great upheaval.

Era Today, Gone Tomorrow

Of course, this is nonsense. It doesn’t matter how sudden a change is, there is always a transition period. And that speed of transition will happen more quickly for some, while others will barely notice it happening in their lifetimes. It also comes down to the nature of the era under scrutiny; in the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, the use of bronze didn’t vanish. Likewise, though obviously on a smaller scale, the same goes for the transition of film photography to digital, or black and white to colour.

Back to why Erwitt’s passing got me thinking about this then. Well, it wasn’t just that. Nor was it the passing of Larry Fink, but it’s fair to say we’re well into an era when great photographers of the 21st Century succumb to the inevitability of chronology, and that in itself is enough to signal a shifting paradigm.

That AI Thing

The passing of ‘the old guard’ comes as AI-generated images have started to make an impact on the world of photography. That’s why this feels to me like a moment of deeper change.

Recently, World Press Photo tried to allow AI image generation in one of its categories. How anyone in their right mind thought AI should have any place whatsoever in a World press photography prize is beyond comprehension. They have now withdrawn the permission to use AI or Generative Fill, but that was after some stiff criticism from photographers.

My concerns around the widespread use of AI in image creation are currently threefold:

1 The data training required for machine learning is a mass copyright infringement almost impossible for creators to track and prosecute. They’ll certainly be last in line to benefit from it financially.

2 Trust in genuine imagery will collapse, leaving us even more exposed to false narratives by toxic groups and regimes.

3 The public will become increasingly ‘anti-photographer’ if they become fearful that, whether with the photographer’s permission or not, the images can be scraped and used to generate images of a damaging or downright nasty nature. We’re already seeing a massive rise in AI-generated child abuse imagery and unless it’s addressed head-on, it’ll only get worse. In return, photographers will find it increasingly difficult or even impossible to document news or simply everyday life if they can’t include people.

A Visual Desert

One way or another, left un-addressed, each of those three concerns will eventually lead to a collapse in our visual culture. All that will be left will be kittens, sunsets and pretty landscapes, and none of those will be real either. The visual white noise of the internet will finally blot out anything of worth.

We can’t live in the past, yet all too many photographers, myself included, yearn for some kind of good old days. A time when photographers, like Elliott Erwitt, Diane Arbus and many besides, could document even the simplest human activities without feeling as though we were committing some kind of crime. A time when pictures mattered more and had greater value, both culturally and in hard currency terms.

Here is my meagre hope; that while AI won’t go away, it will at least settle down into its own genre, an art form in its own right and a play thing for people with too much time on their hands. I hope also that, like the resurgence of vinyl and analogue photography, non-AI-tainted photography might see an increased appreciation. It might even lead to improved values for professional photographers’ work. Miracles may happen.

AI to Restrain AI

Manufacturers are starting to integrate Content Credentials technology into cameras so images can be verified as having been altered (or not), meaning media outlets (and thereby the public) will know that what they’re seeing is authentic. With luck this will make it far easier to separate true from false, but it’s just the start. We need to reach a point where AI imagery can exist without it casting doubt on the veracity of news images.

AI generated image, an aerial view of the Sellafield nuclear power station in Cumbria, England.
Image generated by deepai.org

The Image above was generated through deepai.org using this headline from The Guardian, “Sellafield nuclear site has leak that could pose risk to public”. It would be tempting (but on the whole, wrong) for media outlets to use AI-generated images to illustrate their stories. To be clear, The Guardian did not use this image to illustrate its story.

The Next 40+ Years

Whatever era we’re leaving behind, whatever we’re moving into, change will be both fast and slow depending on your perspective. Whatever happens, we’ll look back on this decade, at the photographers who have passed (and who will yet do so) and we’ll be tempted to draw an arbitrary line and say this was the end of an era.

The truth is, the current era started almost 20 years ago, and it will easily take another 20 years to stop starting by which time it’ll be about ready to start stopping. By which time I’ll be 107 years old (or more likely dead). Either way, it’s highly likely I’ll have stopped caring.

 

in Industry Comment / Personal Opinion 0 comments
 by Tim Gander

Head Space

Corporate portraits, one of the under-sung heroes of corporate communications. An evil necessity (for those who don’t enjoy having to sit for one), but the only way your potential clients get to see the people who make your business tick.

But in the planning of a portrait session, I think one of the most over-looked aspects of the whole process is the question of where is best for the photographer to set up. What considerations need to be factored into the planning to make it all run as smoothly as possible?

Best Place for Portraits?

Location, location, location, as the property gurus like to say, but it’s also true when finding a spot in your office in which to set up for headshots.

The first, and possibly most crucial element required is space. The more the merrier. The greater the area I have to work in, the more options I have to create a consistent look across the set of portraits.

Occasionally a client will tell me they have an empty room I can work in. There might be a 30ft faux mahogany table and 20 heavy swivel chairs in there, but as far as they’re concerned, it’s an empty room.

So now I recommend a minimum empty floor space of at least 3m (10ft) square. Bigger is better, but I can work with that.

How High?

Ceiling height also has a role to play. Many modern offices have relatively low-slung ceilings, and these can make certain lighting set-ups difficult or impossible.

For example, my preferred arrangement is to have my main studio light pointing down over the sitter’s head, just in front of their face. A low ceiling makes this difficult/impossible, especially if the ‘house style’ is to have subjects standing for their shots. It’s easier if I can sit them, but even then some ceilings are too low. This particular arrangement also requires a bit more floor space, so double whammy if I’m in a small space with a low ceiling.

Occasionally I get super lucky and find myself in a room which has a plain wall. It might not sound much, but if I don’t have to account for the space a backdrop takes up, this can save valuable space in a small room.

Background Effect

Speaking of backdrops, if a client wants a particular look to the backdrop, I then have to think about how I light it separately from the subject. Once again this takes up more space as I have to work a flash in between the back of the subject and the background. Given enough space and the right lighting set-up, I can turn a white wall into anything from pure white to pure black, or light it with a coloured gel, but all these options need space.

Stray Light

Other sources of lighting in the room can also affect how much space is required, or they can influence the final outcome.

As I’m generally working with flash for headshots, I don’t need bags of daylight or ceiling lights. I just need to be able to see well enough and for the camera to be able to focus accurately, so some light is good, too much can be bad.

What I mean by too much is when sunlight is screaming in through a side window and splashing onto the subject or backdrop. Or when ceiling lights are beaming down onto the subject’s head, which can cause ugly colour casts. These casts are often difficult to correct in post-production, so I do my best to avoid them when taking the photos.

A Little Test

There are many factors which influence how I set up my gear for a portrait session. It can even be that the same set up in the same space on a different day can yield slightly different results, but change the room from one session to the next and it becomes a real challenge to get one batch of headshots consistent with a previous set.

To round off the article, I’ve dug out a small selection of different spaces and set-ups I’ve used over the last few years – I always try to take a reference shot for when a client calls me in again. I wonder if you can work out which set-up was used for the portrait at the end?

 

A three-head studio portrait set-up in a hotel ballroom.
Hilton Bath ballroom is one of the biggest spaces I've ever had!
Single-head portrait lighting set-up in an empty office in Bristol.
A simple set-up, but one of my favourites. And so much space!
Two-head photo studio in a corridor.
I think this might be the smallest space I've ever had.
Two studio heads used for a portrait set-up in an empty area of office space.
Plenty of space, though spill from large windows was a challenge.
Head and shoulders portrait of a man in a dark blazer, open neck white shirt and glasses looks directly into the camera without smiling.
Can you work out which of the previous photos shows the set-up for this portrait?

Of course the best way to ensure I have the space I need for your next corporate portrait session is to get in touch and arrange a conversation. So drop me a line, let’s see if we can work out your best location, location, location.

in Advice 0 comments
 by Tim Gander

I’m Still Alive!

Gosh, I have been a bit slack – I haven’t posted here since King Charles III came to the throne! Well sometimes life just runs away from you, then you get out of the habit. Before you know it, well here we are…

What started this un-planned hiatus was a thing called Photo|Frome (see photofrome.org if you haven’t heard of it). Being in charge of outdoor exhibitions meant I had no time in the run-up to the launch on June 24th to write anything anywhere.

To be fair, the result of all the hard work stunned even cynical ol’ me. Here’s a bit of a tale about it all.

Working closely with Italian photographic collective T House (Hugo Weber, Alex Zoboli and Angelo Leonardo), we achieved a first for Frome. We took over an entire outside wall of Frome Library and covered it in vinyl prints from our various projects (one project from each of us). The photos below barely do it justice, but you get a better idea of what I’m talking about.

High view looking down on the vinyl prints laid out on the ground.
The vinyl prints laid out on the ground as we planned how to get them up.
L-R: Alex Zoboli, Angelo Leonardo and Hugo Weber wearing high-vis vests and discussing how to install the prints. Hugo is carrying a large wooden cross which was part of our installation method.
L-R: Alex Zoboli, Angelo Leonardo and Hugo Weber discuss how we're going to get the 6 metre wide vinyls up. The 'crucifix' was Hugo's brilliant solution.
Wide view of the Frome Library showing some of the vinyl prints already installed and Alex with Alex and me working on the scissor lift.
The library installation happening with myself and Alex working using the scissor lift.
The finished library installation.
The finished installation.
Selfie of me on the left and my son Joe taken on the scissor lift at full height as we work to uninstall the vinyl prints. Joe is doffing the peak of his hard hat and holding a cardboard tube we used to roll up the banner images.
Me and Joe at the top of the scissor lift on the day of the take-down.
Exterior view of Frome Library after the images have been removed again.
Back to blank. The library is restored to its former blandness.

While T House specialise in outdoor exhibitions of photographic works, they tend to work using large paper-based posters applied directly to walls. In the case of Frome Library we had to work differently due to the uneven surface we were dealing with. We needed to use vinyl prints mounted on timber frames screwed to the building wall. This was not going to be easypeasy!

Famous artists have minions install their work for them; in our case this was definitely a DIY affair.

T House organised the artwork and printing of the vinyls, while from my end I organised liaison with the library manager, measuring the building, ordering the timber, fixings, scissor lift and general logistics (none of which I’d ever done before, so somewhat daunting). To be fair, T House had the tougher job in curating the work and dealing with me and my constant doubts about what we could/couldn’t do.

Installation took two of the hottest days of the year to complete, but the effect was powerful. I was worried locals and visitors wouldn’t ‘get it’ or like it, or have any reaction at all, but there was a full spectrum of reactions – none of which involved just ignoring the work, so that was a major achievement. The giant portrait of Monika was a particularly popular selfie spot.

As if that wasn’t enough, I also commandeered some 60 metres of perimeter hoardings at Saxonvale in Frome. This is a place many of you will know that I documented between 2017 and 2019 (which became the book What Happened Here). It was the perfect place to show our combined projects, continuations of the images we installed at the library.

The only slight concern was that this part of our exhibition was being undertaken without permission of the landowner, Somerset Council. However I calculated that it would take longer than the three week run of the festival for anyone to raise a complaint and anything to come from that. I was correct, and in fact nobody complained. We even gave Somerset Council a name-check on the information panel, so it looked official (sneaky!)

T House set about curating the images for this second mammoth installation. This time working with 2 metre by 1.4 metre poster paper sheets, they stapled images from each of our projects as far along the hoardings as we could go before running out of posters.

It took another two, hot days to get this work up, but removal commenced a bit sooner than we’d anticipated as our installation antagonised some of the local graffiti artists by covering their art. Less than 12 hours after the posters went up, they were sprayed, tagged and torn. But that was ok, it meant the work got far more exposure than we could have hoped for, and the ‘intervention’ became part of the narrative of the installation. None of this was planned, but it was all good. Some visitors were even taking fragments of poster away with them as keepsakes!

Alex, Hugo and Angelo hold a poster in place and staple it to the wooden hoardings.
Alex, Hugo and Angelo get busy with the stapler.
A female visitor looks at one section of the Saxonvale installation.
Within moments of finishing the installation and we have our first "gallery" visitor.
Photographer Tim Gander sits on the pavement in front of his print which is stapled to the hoardings. The photo behind him depicts the flames and smoke of a burning caravan.
I was so proud to see my work here. Alby's caravan on fire from What Happened Here.
A section of the poster installation showing the graffiti the day after we finished.
The day after installation, the posters are sprayed and torn, but it worked well with the theme.

 

Three weeks after all this effort, and it was time to un-install everything. To be fair, the graffiti artists and the weather did most of the work for us at Saxonvale, but the library show needed to come down in a more controlled manner.

This time I didn’t have a team of three highly-caffeinated Italians, but my son Joe stepped in and we got the lot down safely in one long (sometimes excessively wet) day.

It would be easy to question the value of all this effort, but I know that what we did had a huge impact locally. It was also a big hit with the many thousands of national and international visitors to the Photo|Frome festival. On a personal level I now have three very special Italian friends whose enthusiasm, professionalism and the sheer exchange of ideas has helped me enormously. I’m very much looking forward to working with T House again.

So having not posted for a few weeks, this one has turned into something of a marathon essay. I haven’t even touched on the wider Photo|Frome festival (which really was a very special thing), or my involvement in the various aspects of it. Nor have I mentioned any of the client work which of course carried on over that period.

To say I was a little burned out after all that would be an understatement, but I’m now looking forward to a period of breaks and holiday time in the coming weeks. That will mean another interruption to my blogging, but I’m hoping to get more regular again in September.

For now, have yourself a splendid Summer and I’ll see you again soon!

in My News / Personal Work 1 comments
 by Tim Gander

Coronation Coverage

Away from the hubbub, pomp and ceremony of London this past weekend, I sought out a more local view of the coronation.

Taking the opportunity to work on my Salisbury Plain project, I set out to see the scale of the preparations and celebrations in that area. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but neither did the outcome surprise me – a mixture of nothing much and concentrated activities.

This is just a small selection of my favourites. I wish I could have covered more ground, shot more variety and really fleshed out the story, but my intention wasn’t to shoot an entire coronation photo feature. What I wanted to get was a few images to fit within the wider project. Plus there was a lot of ground to cover in a very short timeslot.

I’ll leave the photos to speak for themselves.

Black and white photo of people draping union jack bunting along a street and round a historical stone blind house (or jail) in Shrewton, Wiltshire. A black dog is standing watching what's going on.
Preparations underway in Shrewton on April 29th.
View of the back of a woman's head. She has curly strawberry blonde hair with a union jack hair clip in it with red, white and blue ribbons. She is seated at a table covered in a union jack oilcloth.
May 6th 2023 - Watching the coronation at Shrewton Sports and Social Club.
A large wall-mounted television is showing the moment King Charles III is crowned. There is just one man sitting watching the event in a side bar where all the other chairs are empty.
May 6th 2023 - Shrewton Sports and Social Club. Watching the moment the crown touches down.
A young girl wearing a large union jack like a cape runs away from the camera across a field towards coronation picnickers.
May 7th 2023 - The Shrewton Big Coronation Lunch at the village recreation ground.
Close-up view of a woman's back showing her union flag dress, her bare upper back, bra straps and love heart tattoo.
May 7th 2023 - A sunny afternoon in Figheldean brings out the flags and the bare English skin.
Union jack flags and a hat are left on a blue paper table covering on a trestle table after a coronation picnic.
May 7th 2023 - With the Big Coronation Lunch drawing to a close in Figheldean, hats and flags are left on the trestle table.
in Personal Work 0 comments
 by Tim Gander

Grape Expectations

I am so sorry for that headline. Be assured, that’s the worst pun in this post!

One of the joys of my work is in meeting and photographing creative people who are passionate about their particular field of business.

When this work comes through recommendation, that makes it even more rewarding.

And so it was with Neil Tully MW (that’s Master of Wine to the uninitiated).

Neil, founder and creative director of Amphora Design in Bath, came to me through recommendation, even though he couldn’t remember who’d recommended me.

But that’s less important than the fact that Neil’s requirements were a perfect fit for what I do.

Neil needed fresh images for his professional social media and industry profile listings, but also for less predictable uses. He’s occasionally asked to supply pictures for editorials too, so I bore that in mind for our shot list.

Getting the right variety

A brief like this can seem woolly and vague, but I knew his photo session should cover the following:

  • Plain headshot against white/plain background
  • Headshots with some background interest
  • Feature-style images showing more of Neil in his surroundings

 

Professional photographic portrait of Neil Tully MW
A standard portrait is a very versatile image asset
Professional photographic portrait of Neil Tully MW
A much tighter crop with design space to the side offers more creative options
Professional photographic portrait of Neil Tully MW
A more feature-style approach is great for editorial use
Professional photographic portrait of Neil Tully MW
A simple portrait against an interesting background adds subtle character

Vintage Chateau

The next question was where to do the session.

Amphora Design is the international wine industry’s specialist design and branding consultancy, but that doesn’t lend itself to an easy backdrop for pictures. One office of computers looks much like any other.

After a little more discussion, Neil and I decided that since his business location wouldn’t give us any specific advantages in terms of backgrounds, his home would be the better choice.

It turns out that Neil’s home in rural Somerset had the perfect combination of light, space and architectural interest to give us options for everything we needed.

A handsome, period building with room to set up a backdrop and lights, we also had a choice of feature backgrounds. Tall windows meant I could use natural light too, even though the day was quite grey.

A wonderful finish

We got the headshots done first because they’re the ‘safety shots’. If nothing else quite works, at least you’ve got the basic portraits in the bag. Headshots can often end up being rather routine, but on this occasion I had time to add a mix of closer and landscape oriented options which also worked well. They’ll give Neil more design scope too.

Then we moved on to the more editorial-style pictures. Using window light and an interesting, but uncluttered background created a more relaxed, less formal set of pictures. Perfect for PR and editorial use.

And before we knew it, we were done. A tidy set of images, taken over a couple of hours of conversation and laughs, it barely felt like work at all.

But that’s the joy of meeting and photographing creative people who are passionate about their particular field of business.

If you’re passionate about yours, but your images don’t show this, drop me a line and let’s get started.

Cheers!

Tim

 

 

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 by Tim Gander

AI AI, What’s All This Then?

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ll be aware of a great deal of chatter about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and its increasing influence on all our lives. I suspect some of that chatter is AI-generated, but how would we know?

Of course in this article I’ll be contemplating AI’s impact on the future of photography. I think it’s going to be interesting.

The AI Roadmap

I say interesting because you can see that AI is at the foothills of its potential (good or bad). Give it a few years and you’ll see it progress beyond what we can imagine right now.

Also bear in mind that different areas of photography will be affected in different ways and at a different pace.

Right now, AI images of people are creepy, weird and downright unnerving (see examples below generated using DeepAI.org).

A triptych of AI-generated business portraits
Generated using deepai.org's image generator, these are not great examples

Inanimate objects are generally better, but are they convincing? I’d say this is where progress will advance most rapidly. For now, many product shots are rendered using computer graphics anyway, so AI will probably simply change how those renders are generated. Product photographers will still find themselves in demand for the more bespoke shoots.

Some areas could see no impact at all. Do you want AI-generated family photos? How about a wedding? What would be the point?

We’ve Been Here Before

Thinking about images for business, I see AI as having parallels with micro-payment stock photography of a decade or so ago; businesses embraced it as an easy way to fill the gaps between words on their websites, but many have reverted to commissioned work as it’s more convincing.

There is currently a cost barrier to AI. It’s more expensive and time-consuming to get usable visual AI content for marketing purposes than it is to commission original work. However, even if the cost and quality of AI become non-issues, there’s the question of the human factor.

Microstock flourished while it was novel and before businesses realised they needed to connect with clients and consumers on a human level. They discovered their audiences weren’t engaging with the over-polished models and unrealistic scenarios of the stock world. Where we are now is that stock images supplement pictures of ‘real’ people, but they can’t replace them. The same will stand for AI.

In fact commissioned work (in my personal experience) has grown over the past decade. It will continue to grow as businesses use more video, which stock (and AI) imagery won’t be able to compete with for a very long time (if ever).

What stock could never replace, AI won’t be able to either. If anything, AI will replace stock imagery and we’re starting to see that happen.

Stocks and ShAIrs (ouch)

Shutterstock, the bete noir of photography and the murderer of the viable stock image industry, have seen the future. And the future is bleak.

They now have their own AI image-generating portal, which I suspect not only undercuts their contributing photographers, but might also be using the existing library of 400 million+ images (supplied by those same contributors) to feed the neural engine which generates the AI images. It’ll be interesting to see how Shutterstock plans on ‘rewarding’ contributing photographers when their images are reduced to AI fodder. An AI-generated image will contain data from hundreds (maybe thousands) of images from the library, so who gets paid for that data. Will photographers know which pixel was theirs?

Am AI Safe From All This?

Notwithstanding my tortured AI-themed puns, I can see how AI might impact certain areas of my work, but since I mostly concentrate on photographing real people, and since this is what businesses need, it’s hard to see how AI can impact that.

And AI currently works best when used to generate static content. Video would require an unimaginably high level of computing power (read ‘cost’) which doesn’t yet exist. I say yet, but processors based on quantum physics are emerging in laboratories and could be in our devices soon enough.

Ultimately I don’t think it matters what AI does, because one thing it can never replicate is reality. It will have its uses, but for my typical client there is nothing that can beat the human touch. I am going to confidently say, there never will be.

One More Thought

This is perhaps the most troubling thought too. AI has already been used to generate ‘deepfake’ news images and video. We can’t stop this, but news outlets will need new tools and rules to spot and stop this. That is where the real danger of AI lies. The last two words of that sentence are the perfect note to end on.

in Industry Comment / Personal Opinion 0 comments
 by Tim Gander

The Pop-Up Job

One of the toughest tasks for a photographer can be to shoot a photo which works well in an extreme shape. Ultra-wide and extreme deep crops from a standard image ratio can create challenges. Shooting a full-bleed image for a pop-up stand is a perfect example of this.

A good illustration of what I’m talking about is the recent shoot I undertook for University of Bath’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. They needed a new image for their Sports Performance course pop-up banner which was needed for the university open day on September 10th. It wasn’t a massively tight deadline, but things had to move apace to get the image to the designer in good time.

The concept was to have a student in sports kit with a library scene behind. I’d shot something similar back in 2013, but where on that occasion I photographed the student against a plain backdrop so they could be cut out and placed against a library shot (literally a library shot of the library), on this occasion we decided to get the whole image done in-camera.

Twin netball players Jasmine and Jemma Nightingale very kindly volunteered to model and we set the shoot up on the 4th floor of the university library. It had the benefit of being relatively quiet, so I wouldn’t disturb too many students, and it just happened to have the right aisle configuration to work. It’s amazing how many aisles just weren’t right. Too narrow, a pillar, a window on the back wall, not “library-ish” enough; I eventually found one aisle I could work with.

I set up portable studio lighting to get full-length, even light on the sitter (I shot mostly individuals of Jemma and Jasmine). Even this was quite awkward because there wasn’t much floor space for lighting stands, and I also had to set up lights behind the sitter to lift the background so it didn’t look gloomy.

There were overhead strip LED lights in the ceiling which also needed to be on, but they were motion-sensor controlled. Every now and then I’d have to jog down the aisle to make the lights come back on. I certainly got my steps in that day!

Of course I forgot to do the BTS shot (I’ll remember one day!), so I can only show you the end result.

Pop-up stand final artwork
The final artwork which went to print
Sports Performance pop-up banner at University of Bath Open Day
The pop-up banner in use
single portrait of netball player Jemma Nightingale in a university library
Jemma Nightingale also posed, but the shot of Jasmine with a slightly different pose just worked better
twin female netball players photographed standing in a library aisle
Jemma (left) and Jasmine Nightingale in a double portrait
Portrait of a smiling female netball player looking to camera
Portrait of Jasmine Nightingale, a useful shot for other materials
two young female netball players walking away from a modern building
A useful stock image with plenty of design space around the subjects

But the location worked well. I made pictures with each student individually and a few of them together. The latter didn’t work so well for the tight upright format, but did make good alternative shots the university can use in other ways.

Once I was happy we had what we needed, I packed down the kit and we headed outside for a few alternative shots, again mainly for other uses.

Among my favourite shots from that session is the one of Jasmine and Jemma walking through the scene – their confident smiles and purposeful strides set against a modern University of Bath building (it happens to be the School of Management) make this a multi-purpose image that will sit well in either a web or print design.

One other technical aspect I brought into play was Lightroom’s new Enhance feature. Using AI, Lightroom can double the resolution of the camera’s native image. In the case of the pop-up stand image, that meant I could supply a file which was now 12,000 pixels on the longest side rather than 6,000, giving the designer a greater quality print out on the finished display.

Thanks to Sophia who sent me the photo of the stand in-situ on the open day, and I have to say I’m really pleased with how well the image works in the design, how it really ‘pops’ and catches the eye.

This kind of project is a creative and technical challenge, but with pre-shoot planning, adaptability on the day and careful treatment of the image files afterwards, it all comes together for a really satisfying result.

If you’re looking to have images taken for potential use in exhibition materials, bear in mind that they may need to be taken specifically for the format you’re working in. Stock images probably won’t be high-enough resolution (and will be too generic anyway), so feel free to drop me a line to discuss your needs and ideas to ensure you’re getting the best for your project.

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