admin | Mark Wakefield

Photography Course Commenced

by admin | Jan 22, 2013 | Photography

Last Wednesday I attended the first session of a 10 week Advanced Photography course in Birmingham at David Rann’s Fotofilia Studio. ‘Why choose advanced?’ I hear you ask. Good question. I suppose the answer is that I am much less concerned with the equipment and more interested in the ideas behind the picture.

Luckily this is exactly what the course is about. There is much less emphasis on the equipment and more on the thought process behind the creation of the image.

For our first project we have to produce a series of pictures based on a theme. Currently I am trying to decide which of the themes to adopt – and then I’ll have to work out what photos to take.

So it’s not a case of wandering around hoping to spot a good photo. It’s all about planning & preparation in advance of creating the photos. A more methodical and deliberate approach. See – I’ve leant something already!

Urban Shoot with David Rann

by admin | Aug 27, 2012 | Information

David Rann of Fotofilia in Birmingham – a friend and all-round nice guy – allowed me to tag along with his photographic group on an ‘urban shoot’. The model was Michelle Grice who (as well as being very beautiful) was excellent as a model in that she knew what poses to adopt without much prompting, was also happy to try any suggestions made by the group – and brought several outfit changes – and most of all didn’t mind the cold!

I took a lot of photos – most of them when not connected to David’s portable lighting system as I found myself hoping I could catch Michelle looking less ‘posed’ and more natural. I was pleased with some of the shots and technically they are much better than my normal pics because of David’s guidance. However I really felt that all I was doing was pressing the button .. the work was being done by David, the lighting rig, the model and the location. I was just the technician .. So in some ways I was more pleased by the more natural shots I took (as they had something of me in them ..)

Good experience .. hopefully will do something similar again soon.