Prepare.

You've booked a photographer for an event you are holding. He turns up half an hour late. Gingerly, he makes his way through the crowd towards, well, he's not sure where. Finds a spot, fiddles with his camera for 20 minutes, in which time the main activity of the night that he's there to cover is going on. In a totally different room. He spends the next hour taking photos of people, walls, the bar, everything. Except none of it is particularly relevant. Unfortunately, he never did make it to that back room with one of your main exhibits in it, although he did walk by it several times. He didn't even know it was there.

Now you have to consider how to approach writing him a tactfully worded thank you email. Dear photographer, many thanks for all the pictures of people talking to each other. It really put across the sense that there were people at the event. And that they were talking to each other. I enjoyed your interesting take on the colours you saw in our building, too. I never knew everything was so orange. Not to worry about turning up late, missing the main point of the evening and then leaving early because you hadn't charged your camera battery - it could happen to anyone.

Anyone who isn't fully prepared.

OK, so that's what could be classed as an extreme example. That said, I do not doubt for a second that there are photographers out there that follow this exact practice, time after time.

Although true of any photography, preparation is vital when covering events. A well prepared photographer will get the shots that truly document the night. Here's a little list of things I do or keep in mind with regards to event photography:

•  Figure out the lighting levels in each room / area, making a note of how to achieve the best exposure in each room. You won't always be looking to achieve a "perfect" exposure, depending on the room and the event itself. If you're in a room with a particular atmosphere and that is the intention of the room, you will want to match that atmosphere in order to correctly communicate the feel of the event.
  

•  To help achieve this, ensure you get a chance to speak to the organiser for at least 10 minutes before the event begins, ideally also by email prior to the day of the event. You will set yourself in good stead if you find out what is happening when and where, what the desired efffect of the photographs is to be (e.g. get a sense of the place being busy to document the success of the evening) and any shots in particular the organiser has in mind.
  

•  It seems like a small point, but making sure your white balance is as accurate as possible is also important for most reportage and coverage. Event coverage is, essentially, a photographic document. You want to reproduce the event as accurately as possible. Of course, there is much more to this than getting the colours correct in your image, but every little helps.
  

•  Reportage doesn't just require you to take a photo of what's there, therefore proving it was there that night. Anyone could do that. Good reportage and event coverage should focus on trying to get a sense of the evening across.
  

•  Make sure you know your way around the event area physically. Where you can and can't go, how best to traverse the space whilst remaining unobtrusive. I find that I get the best images when I remain inconspicuous. You do, of course, sometimes need to get directly involved and ask people to do certain things for you for a shot you have in mind, but try to make it fun for the participants, if at all possible. This is, in a way, another form of preparation; preparing your subjects prior to a staged shot.
  

•  Remember to bring your own personal style to the images, whatever that may be, whilst respecting and fulfilling the requests of the event organiser.

• Oh, and remember to enjoy yourself!
  

If you do all this, you are totally prepared. You know your light, you know what the organiser wants from the shoot, you know what is happening where and when, you know your way around. As a result, you know you will take better photographs and end up with a happier client.

I suppose you want to see some examples, do you? Here are examples of two contrasting event types.

LDN Wrestling is a fantastic professional wrestling company I have the pleasure of working with on a regular basis. Although we undertake a variety of projects together, the most demanding are, without a doubt, coverage of matches themselves. The best moments last for less than a second.

The trick is getting the shot without the ropes in the picture; dealing with a shaking canvas alongside the low light conditions; getting as close as possible to the action whilst avoiding flying limbs. It's exhausting over a 3 hour period but just about the most fun you can have covering an event. As before, click on the images for large versions.

John Jones are an excellent art framing company who are keen to support emerging artists. They hold regular nights of art installations and music. Being surrounded by art and music while you work can be incredbly inspiring; you feel part of a bigger creative atmosphere.

That's all for this update. I'm not sure how it got so enormous. Sorry about that. Go and have a cup of tea and a choccy bar, you've earned it.

Next time, I'll be easing off the business side of things and tackling one of my favourite kinds of photography - portraits. Faces. People.



For more images and info, be sure to visit www.garethdutton.com

Not Pictured; When is a Landscape not a Landscape?

Personally speaking, I have a hard time garnering any sort of enjoyment out of looking at landscape photography, even if the image demonstrates a high level of technical ability. Don't get me wrong, I love a burning scarlet sunset over rolling hills, reflected in a shimmering, clear lake as much as the next person, it's just that when you remove the element of actually being there, you lose something. You lose a lot, in fact.

As a result, I often feel that a traditional landscape photograph, no matter how well executed it is, doesn't get across the sensation of "being there". Whilst I don't completely agree with the notion that every photograph has to say something or tell a story, I tend to feel acutely aware of a lack of focus or feeling in a photo of a mountain on a nice day, for example.

Of course this also raises the question of what a "traditional landscape" is. Is it one that perfectly follows the rule of thirds, has some nice lines to lead you through the image and has perfect exposure, perhaps using an NDGrad filter to get the sky just right? Does a landscape image have to have a minimum field of view, in both width and depth, to be classed as such? Does it have to be landscape oriented or can it be portrait oriented? Does it matter? Have you fallen asleep?

I suppose what I'm really driving at is whether we need to worry about this question at all, and whether working within the limits of a landscape framework limits what we can do creatively.

Believe it or not, I do sometimes dabble in landscape myself (or at least I think I do). The main draw of this kind of photography I find is the adventure itself; going out into the big bad world and trying to create an interesting image from your surroundings. I sometimes feel frustrated at first, as you review your images so far and they're just hills, trees, mountains, arranged slightly differently each time.

The recent snow we've had has given me an opportunity to experiment a little more. I travelled up to the lake district and snapped some wintry scenes. I've picked a little selection of shots, some that lean towards the traditional and some that lean away. (click the images for larger versions)

With wintry scenes, I like to emphasise a starkness, similar to the way you might approach a desert photo. Strong, simple lines, minimalistic and sometimes with a human interest of some sort, either for a sense of scale or for a figure to relate to within the image.

The viaduct you can see is situated at Ribblehead. You'll find a nauseating wealth of images of landmarks such a viaducts and aqueducts, so it can be a real challenge to produce something more interesting. The heavy snow was a perfect opportunity to do this and I wanted to get across a sense of the temperature.

As for composition, landmarks like these are always shot at some kind of angle, to supposedly make them different and more interesting. Unfortunately, when everyone is doing this, it then makes it the norm to take this approach. That's why I've included an alternative approach, taking the viaduct head on with nobody in sight. It does weird things to your sense of perspective and you can't really tell how large a structure you're looking at. Is that a good thing? I don't know, but I just shoot what pleases me aesthetically.

So my answer to the question, "when is a landscape not a landscape?" is "when you stop worrying whether it's a landscape or not". I know it's cold outside, but wrap up warm, grab your camera and go break some rules.


For more images and info, be sure to visit www.garethdutton.com

Not Pictured; An Introduction

The first thing that may enter your head as you read this introduction is why I've decided to call the blog "Not Pictured". I guess it's time to explain myself.

As I see it, photography isn't just about the image you see presented before you. There are countless elements that come together to form a great picture. These, of course, vary depending upon exactly what image you are trying to create.

Preparation, making a connection with the person you are photographing, foresight, predicting where and when the moment you want to capture will happen, sudden inspiration, an outside influence or suggestion, perhaps from the subjects themselves, working with unfavourable conditions and discovering a new approach as a result, sheer physical effort (for example, hefting your gear another half an hour up that mountain to see what you can find).

Then you have your own personal style and what has affected it and caused it to develop over time. This ranges far and wide also, from the photography you enjoy the most, to the films you watch, the kind of art you enjoy, the music you listen to, the books you read, everything.

These are just a few examples of the influences behind the final image you see, just a few of the things that are not pictured.

As a result, my intention is to make this blog a mixture of photography discussion and general discussion, discovering my own influences and reasons for my approach to photography. You don't have to know anything about f stops, ISO, spot metering, key shifting and other such exciting terms in order to understand what's going on, although I can't promise I won't get techy from time to time.

Which brings me nicely to a little something I'll leave you to think about. There's an age old question about photography; is it an art or a science? Everyone has their own answer, but I would say it is art with a small, yet essential, sprinkling of science. Like a big chocolate cake with a side order of spinach. If that makes sense.

My first topic (with actual photographic content!) will be all about landscapes. I'll be asking what exactly qualifies as a landscape, and how in the world do you make them at all interesting?


For more images and info, be sure to visit www.garethdutton.com