Lights, Camera… Action

Posted on February 22, 2012 by pennyhardie

I am probably about to make sweeping generalisations here…. Many of the men whose photography I admire use lots of lights to create fantastic dramatic images and to make the very best of their models. On the whole, the women whose pictures I love use natural light where ever possible and a flash gun if necessary.

On the forums the men are usually into the gadgets. They know about all the latest cameras on the market, they have a wish list of models they want, they know the benefits and disadvantages of all the software packages and keep up to date with new developments. The girls say they need something and the men always come back with a list of options for them to try.

I am not afraid of all the gadgetry, although it can be very intimidating and wildly expensive, but I hate the complexity of it all. You can’t just put on a light, it has to have a stand, a trigger lead or a wireless trigger system. It needs to link to another light, as one is rarely enough and three is even better. The lights have to be pointing in the right direction, the shadows just so (that is what makes a photograph after all!!) and to know just how much light is required you need a light meter. Diffusers, soft boxes, umbrellas, snoots, barn doors and reflectors… Come to think of it, using a simple flash gun gets equally as complicated when you use it properly!

Anyway, the point of this ramble is to tell you that I dusted off my lights (which I share with my good friend, Mandy)and found some willing volunteers to let me play with them in my portable studio. Helping another photographer, who I work for occasionally, set up his lights seems to have helped me overcome my dislike of wires, cables and triggers and I was set up in five minutes… and here is the result!

For this picture of Emily I used one light with a soft box. She has the most amazing skin so I made the image very ‘contrasty’ when I converted it to black and white so that it was black and white, not shades of grey. The pictures of me that I took however are in shades of grey because my poor old sun damaged skin can’t handle all its faults being exaggerated in any way! I may share them in a later post…

Aw… Shucks….

Posted on February 16, 2012 by pennyhardie

The problem with being a photographer is that that we are our own worst critics, which is good because it means we constantly try to do things better. I try to attend some kind of training event regularly with tutors whose work I admire, I belong to photographic forums and groups where I am surrounded by years of experience and advice, and I look at literally hundreds of photographs for ideas and to learn. Funnily enough, when I left school I thought I had enough of learning, but now that I have found an interest that is rapidly turning into a passion I can’t get enough of it!

I think people choose a photographer on the pictures they see and not the qualifications they have. There are so many photographic qualifications out there they are fairly meaningless to most outside the industry, and if I were going to choose a photographer I would want to see their portfolio, not their certificates, to see that they produce consistently good images in a style that I like. I used to think that anyone with a fairly good eye for a picture and a half decent camera could make a quick buck and that most photographers charge way more than is reasonable… that was before I decided to set up in business… and discovered how much money is required to set up a professional service in terms of kit, how much time it takes to produce photographs people love and just how much hard work it takes to be technically of a standard to ensure that you can consistently come up with ‘the goods’!

I digress! So, being of the opinion that qualifications are a ‘nice to have’ and not a necessity, I surprised myself by submitting twenty of my pictures for qualification with the Guild of Photographers… and was delighted that to find that I am now a ‘Qualified’ member of the Guild, and not just a member! I still think that my potential customers will choose or reject me as a photographer based on the work they see, but The Guild of Professional Photographers have seen fit to award me ‘a qualification level which indicates competence to the level that the public should be ‘pleased with the results’ when employing the services of a “Qualified” photographer. In other words ‘Qualified’ means ‘competent’ and those who achieve that level should be proud of doing so.’

And do you know what? I am still my own worst critic… but I am a little bit proud!

A Hard Days Work.

Posted on January 31, 2012 by pennyhardie

I don’t feel right about sharing my weekend’s work on the blog so I have tried a different angle… I was photographing a Freestyle Disco competition and, although this is my second, I still find them rather alarming. I worked for another photographer and concentrated on taking shots of the dancing while he did studio portraits and winners photographs. The girls themselves love the events, this is clear to see. The dressing up, the competition and the chance to cheer on their team mates would appeal to anyone. The noise was incredible… a heavy disco beat in an echoing sports hall with lots of people shouting to make themselves heard for nine hours… my ears are still ringing two days later! The girls’ costumes are equally as loud. Brightly coloured, covered in feathers, crystals and faux fur, they really are works of art. Expensive ones at that. My problem comes when I want to share the day with you. I don’t think it would be right for me to post pictures of the girls in their loud, but often very skimpy, costumes.

Apart from the noise, the colour and the competition the other things that I couldn’t get over were the judges’ choice of footwear… They are standing nearly all day on a hard floor and I really have to admire their stamina. With the obvious exception of the middle pair(the head judge) you have to hand it to them, they judge in style!!

What’s in a Picture?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by pennyhardie

What’s in a picture? I took this photograph late on Saturday afternoon in Whitstable. It has a very quaint and pretty shopping area leading down to the sea. Lots of small individual shops (the highest proportion of independent retailers in the country) in bright colours line the way. The first thing that caught my eye was the man in the hat, looking stylish and very confident as he walked down the high street looking in every shop window. Then I noticed the little dog. It clearly hated shopping and was absolutely intent on continuing its walk, getting to the sea and saying hello to everyone it met on the way. What I didn’t see until I looked at the photograph at home was the expression on the face of the woman leaving the shop.

Photography is a great way of capturing every detail of a moment. I planned to capture the man and his unwilling window shopping partner but the woman coming out of the shop and glancing at the dog was a bonus. It’s now for you to imagine whether she hates dogs, is surprised to see it there and what she is thinking…

Early Lambing

Posted on January 15, 2012 by pennyhardie

It’s lambing time here in the village and I just had to share some pictures I have taken of them. I am sure I will be making these into cards so watch out for them in Newlyns Farm Shop (www.newlyns-farmshop.co.uk) and Upton Grey village shop!

Having lambs so early here (ready for Easter) is always a real treat after all the excitement dies off after Christmas. I’m looking forward to them getting a bit bigger and jumping about.

Making a Splash!

Posted on January 12, 2012 by pennyhardie

Such excitement in The House of Hardie! Some months ago, and I mean some months ago, I was leafing through Digital Photographer magazine and happened upon their Digital Photographer of the Year Awards. I love looking at other people’s pictures so looked at the entries so far and compared them to my photos, as one does. One caught my eye of a man on a kind of small chariot being pulled by two charging horses. I had taken a picture that I liked of a spaniel in the ford at North Warnborough a few weeks earlier (not my dog I hasten to add, Jess just lies in it or stands looking at me, wondering when we are going to get on with her walk!). It was similar in that there was lots of movement, a disregard for the camera and much ‘stuff’ flying about. Hmmm, thought I… I wonder… and then before I could think any more about it I sent them a copy of my spaniel in the ‘Action’ category and promptly forgot all about it. As my new website was developed I had the picture added to the gallery. By mistake it was put as the opening image in the Gallery, but as I quite liked the effect I left it there.

Since then I joined The Guild of Photographers in order to develop my skills, learn lots more and have some support and guidance form experts in the field. In the spirit if taking part I entered the same photograph into their monthly open photograph competition, hoping to receive some feedback and wanting to show that I am keen to be an active member of The Guild. I was stunned to learn that I had been awarded a silver bar for my picture as ‘a silver bar is rare and only given to a few truly exceptional images each month’. The email even said that it would have been awarded a gold bar if it had been cropped differently! A certificate arrived a few days later which now has pride of place in my study.

Having calmed down from all that excitement I nearly fell off my chair when I received an email two days ago, the first line of which read “We are currently judging the first stage of the Digital Photographer of the Year Awards and your image has made it onto the shortlist”…

I’ll keep you posted!

The Value of a Photograph

Posted on January 10, 2012 by pennyhardie

At the very end of the summer I was asked by Andrea to take some pictures of three dogs as a surprise Christmas present for her husband, Angus. We agreed that I would go there on a week day afternoon when the sun was shining (not only great for the photos but the Angus is a farmer and so would be out!) and October seemed to produce just those sorts of days.

The shoot went very well; three jack russells and one ball meant they all stayed together and as the sun went down I was able to get some great shots of them in the pathways mown into the wild bird meadow. I was really pleased with the pictures but have had to wait until after Christmas to share them so as not to spoil the surprise.

Today Angus popped into the Post Office and saw one of the pictures I had taken for him in my ‘gallery’. He told me that Andrea had made four of the pictures into canvases and that when he opened them he had a tear in his eye. Two of the pictures have pride of place in their dining room and he was really pleased with them all.

The point of my rambling is that his remarks about how much he loved his Christmas present brought it home to me how special a photograph can be. Sometimes it is the person, sometimes the place, sometimes the event and sometimes a combination. Photographs evoke memories, or in this case produce artwork that has special significance. As a photographer it is a privilege to be able to produce treasured pictures. It is not always easy, but it is usually rewarding.

Street Photography

Posted on January 9, 2012 by pennyhardie

On Friday I came over all ‘spontaneous’ and headed to London for a spot of street photography. I met up with another like-minded photographer and we checked out the South Bank to see what was happening and what interesting characters we could find.

Street Photography can be different things to different people. Some like to capture the individuals, some the goings on and some the architecture and things that gives an area its character. I like to have a bit of all three! I like to show what people are doing (or what they have done), where it is happening and to give an idea of the atmosphere of the day the pictures were taken. It’s about capturing the essence of a place, capturing the ebb and flow of city life.

A lot of street photography looks like a ‘snap’ taken, lacking formal qualities such as great composition and sharp focus, but this is its charm. It is literally a snapshot in time of a town that is constantly changing and moving on in time. Some of the great pictures taken today will not be truly appreciated until twenty years or more have passed and they become a part of ‘history’ and interesting to us as we see how things have changed.

The Proper Wedding – A Family Affair

Posted on January 4, 2012 by pennyhardie

On New Year’s Eve I had an invitation to dinner and one to the pub… but I was off to a wedding. Not as a guest, but as photographer. I had the pleasure of ‘doing a wedding’ in the summer, which was a very relaxed and informal affair in a village church with the reception in a field that had a fair ground theme about it. I had only been given a week’s notice and didn’t meet the bride until the day before so had no chance to worry about it. I was asked just to record the day and take a few portraits of the bride and groom later on, once afternoon tea and the barbecue had got underway. The bride and groom loved the pictures and I felt they reflected the relaxed day that everyone had.

I have been referring to The wedding on New Year’s Eve as my first Proper Wedding! I had been recommended by a friend to the bride and although I warned her this was my first Proper Wedding she looked at my work and was happy to engage me. I took the time to get to know Jenny a little and went back again to meet her again, but this time with James to talk about the sort of pictures they would like, discuss our contract and find out more about how the day would go.

A friend came with me to check out the venue. Audleys Wood near Basingstoke is gorgeous.. but very dark. Perfect for a cosy winter wedding but a nightmare for a photographer on one of the shortest days of the year with the weather being very grey! I immediately enlisted the help of my brother Al (Mum insists he is called Alister, but he prefers Al so I am making a huge effort to call him that!), for probably the first activity we have done together since we were kids. Al is a photographer in Oxfordshire (www.al-birmingham.co.uk) but agreed to help out for the whole day, or until I didn’t need him anymore. This collaboration could have gone one of two very different ways… As kids most of our joint activities ended in tears; his, when I got fed up with him and used to try and kill him, or mine when Mum and Dad thought I was being mean to him (well, what are little brothers for?). Thankfully the years have mellowed us and we worked very well together! I really appreciated his calmness, faith in my abilities and advice on the post wedding processing. It was great to have a second shooter so that I could concentrate on Jenny and the main events and both Jenny and James seem really pleased with the results.

Here’s to our next collaboration… Happy New Year!

Getting About A Bit

Posted on December 22, 2011 by pennyhardie

I received this lovely email last week:

Hi Penny,

My name is Nick Cole I’m an Aussie guy on my GAP year in Europe. It was my 19th Birthday yesterday and my mum sent me a lovely card that was from your collection. It was a pig from Newlyns farm. It’s a pretty special card to me because I used to work on the farm with the smelly pigs! I’ve just been looking on your website and must say I love your work. Keep it up.

Regards, Nick

It was lovely that someone had taken the time to look at the back of their card and taken the time to contact me through the website.

I have a busy card business and sell my cards in three places at the moment. They are all locally taken, even if not obviously so, and people come back and buy them time after time. Earlier this year I was approached by a national card company who want to use three of my pictures and I am looking forward to seeing them in WH Smith, Waterstones and Wyevale Garden Centres later in 2012.

I also take photographs for clients specifically to make into cards. Recently I made some cards for a lady who had moved house. She had already befriended a robin in the garden that she wanted included and her dog curled up in her usual place in the sun featured in another card. She was thrilled with the results and even sent me one of the cards to say so!