"Reality in photography is for people that don't have any imagination"

 

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are"

- Anais Nin

 

“I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at - not copy it.”

- Georgia O´Keefe-

 

“Photography is not about replicating reality, its about evoking emotion.”

- Unknown -

 

My Photographic History

1971 - Given my first serious camera by my Father a Corfield Periflex

1973 - Father is told Corfield Periflex could now be valuable and takes back camera :-) replaces with "Zenit E" Russian very manual camera looks and feels like it was manufactured by a military tank manufacturer

1977 - I attend art college for one year general art course followed by three years studying Photography. Culminates in an Exhibition of my work called "People & Places" in a gallery in Southend-on-sea

1979 - Won the "International Salon of Photography" Student Award.

1980 - Freelance assistant photographer in London commercial advertising work

1981 - Worked at 10X8 Studio in Essex

1982 - Left photography disillusioned not picking up a camera for 25 years.

2007 - Bought my first DSLR camera a Canon 5D and range of lenses and start to study digital photography.

2007 - Joined Flickr amazed at the improvement in the general standard of photography due to the advent of digital photography. This I believe is also a result of the instant feedback digital photography provides and ability to share images and knowledge via the Internet.

2008 - Founder member of Great Notley Photography Club www.gnpc.co.uk

2009 - Published in Digifoto Pro Magazine as competition finalist

2013 May - Passed ARPS to become an Associate member of The Royal Photographic Society

 

"Egg on a Plate"

2010 - Published in Oxford Medical School Gazette 2 images.

"Alzheimer's Tightening Grip"

and

 

"No More Smiles".

 

Competition Winner: Canon "Battle of the Clubs" competed over nine months Great Notley Photography Club www.gnpc.co.uk Won Best Club and my Image of my Mother won Best Overall Image"

 

"In the Wake of Alzheimer's"

 

2010 (continued) - I was also featured as "Artist of the week" in Public Republic publication see www.public-republic.net/artist-of-the-week-%E2%80%93-mark...

 

Winner Of The Canon Battle Of The Clubs Competition

I am third from the right

 

2011 - I have a number of exciting photographic goals set for this year including continuing my work on the homeless and Alzheimer's as well as producing some fine art images and to improve my ability in sports action photography.

 

Article That was published in The Daily Mail and online

 

This image won the first round of the "Advanced Photographer" magazine club competition June 2011

"Wear Pattern"

 

www.advancedphotographer.co.uk/newsl/june11/camclubs-news...

 

8th May 2013 ARPS - after making a promise to my Mother some 32 years previously that I would attain an Associate distinction with the Royal Photographic Society I finally submit a panel and pass. Panel of images can be viewed here www.flickr.com/photos/mark-edwards/sets/72157633166994449/ in their correct order as submitted three rows of five. Great experience, very worthwhile doing.

  

Currently

I know that buying a DSLR does not make you a photographer just a camera owner and it takes work and perseverance to use the camera to create images that really communicate. The photograph can very artistic and a great means of communication if you can put behind you the technical, learn the visual language of the subconscious so that you can translate that language to convey the meaning and emotions that you have experienced in being there.

 

I am a member of Harlow Photographic Society and am currently working on a few photographic projects. The main one is a series of 20 surreal photographic images to create a panel for my Fellowship (FRPS) of the Royal Photographic Society. There you go (Sept 2017) I have committed my goal to writing and published it so am now committed. The theme for the panel is called teenage dreams. I aim to submit the finished panel towards the latter part of 2018.

 

A Digital Beginning

I started taking Digital photographs towards the end of the summer (Aug 07) after a break from photography of 25 years. I felt almost compelled to take photographs at the time initially feeling that is was just about taking me back to something that I had enjoyed previously and wanted to recapture.

 

Now (September 2017) whilst updating my profile I realise looking back that it is more than that. The last ten years have been a journey through photography and my life. As I strive to improve my photographic skills I now realise that it also allows me to better understand myself. When I have a camera in my hand and I am fully focused on the scene around me, I feel totally at peace. It is a very calming experience, like a form of moving meditation. Happy relaxed and in the moment, focused on capturing what I am seeing, feeling and wanting to convey.

 

There are many disappointments and frustrations as I try to create images that I am proud. How I have handled those frustrations and disappointments has allowed me to understand more about myself.

 

When it is so easy to let your life slip by in a endless stream of busyness what a gift it is to be able to step out of that flow for a few hours and just STOP the endless bubble of thinking. To be able to relax and stop the internal chatter of our minds that clutters our life and controls our feelings once truly discovered is a gift. In those moments of calm when I feel centred without a stream of endless thinking is when I take and process the best images. They may not appear at that precise moment but I think just giving your mind that holiday is when we allow our mind the space to figure out the really important questions. Its about subtractive and not additive thinking. When we allow our minds some space to be free and happy and operate with innate wisdom. The Dalai Lama once wrote a book all about the essence of life is to be happy. Clever chap I wonder if he takes photographs? :-)

 

Digital

Picking up a digital camera made such a difference to my early photographic when I used film and chemicals. With digital photography you have instant feed back of the image, seconds after clicking the shutter. This to me really makes a difference as it helps steepen the learning curve. Most of all I enjoy the process of taking photographs as I find when I have a camera in my hands, I put on the eyes of a child and really start to SEE things.

 

I tend to gravitate towards the bolder images with strong colours and clean composition. I am not afraid to pump up the saturation (within limits) as I like images that make you see things from a fresh perspective.

 

Slowing Down

One of the things that really works for me is to deliberately slow down or to get in the zone. I first get myself comfortable.

 

I then go through the process of checking all my camera settings. In the first few minutes I will often take a photograph just to get myself warmed up. I try to keep my mind relaxed and light, scanning the scene around me without any preconceptions, looking for what attracts my eye. Once I see the first shot I will take it fairly quickly and then slow down as I ask myself some questions.

 

1) What is the main subject / focal point? What caught my eye? Is it the colour the contrast, the shape. texture, something humorous?

 

2) I then decide upon my theme for the photograph. I may be taking a photograph of a jetty over a lake but the theme is tranquility and stillness.

 

3) What ever theme I have I will then work to try and enhance that theme in the image and consciously make that message stronger. In the above example I may use a polarising filter and a long exposure to get a still and clear reflection.

 

4) What other elements are attractive in this shot? In this example it may be the glow from the sunset. What can I do to ensure that the full colours are captured and the sunrise is not blown. In this example maybe I take a number of different exposures so that I can do some image blending or an HDR. I then go through the same process looking at any other elements within the shot perhaps this could involve reducing the depth of field or using a filter.

 

5) Have I found the best angle? I will then move around looking for other angles and heights. Can I create better separation between the main elements in the photograph with a different angle? Where does the horizon cut across the subject? Are the main elements overlapping? Would it be better if they were separated? Sometimes moving just a few inches makes a big difference. I find this important to enhance the main elements in your image.

 

5) Then I will look at the images that I have taken and see what is the best shot so far? Why is it the best? How can it be better?

 

6) It is at the stage that I become more critical about the composition and exposure. I will look at the shapes within the frame both the main subject and the negative spaces. How can I simplify the shot and make the shapes bolder, clearer. Have I clipped important shapes? Has the shot been framed correctly? Have I given the subject / shapes room to breath within the frame? Can I remove any distracting elements in the shot that don't add to the scene by tighter cropping (In camera)? Do I need to remove litter from the scene?

 

7) By placing my jacket over my head I will view the screen to get a close look at the image. I will zoom in to check the obvious like is it pin sharp. Is it correctly exposed? Is the DOF right for this shot? Then does it convey the atmosphere / message I want to deliver? How could I enhance that message? Perhaps it is the feeling of tranquillity that I get from the scene, how can I make this communicate that feeling better? What "in camera" changes can I make to improve that feeling or message?

 

I do stress that this is just my personal approach for landscape and still life photography. Obviously not possible in quite the same way for instance with fast action sports photography. It will change according to the type of photography I am doing and the circumstances at the time. However there are elements of the above in what ever type of photography I am doing.

 

Surreal or Phototrickery Shop

In recent years I have been doing more surreal images. This is where the final image comes more from my imagination than from the world around me. This I have enjoyed immensely as it has stretched me and made me learn more about what creates a strong image. It has made me broaden my study to include the study of art history and in particular modern art. It has been a fascinating journey and one in which I am hopefully still travelling and learning.

 

I know that there will be many traditional photographers who will see my surreal images and will not like them not because of the finished result but because of the process that has been used to create them. Although, I don't agree with their thinking I do understand it. To them photography is about capturing reality. I agree that a massive part of photography has been and always will be about capturing special moments from your life. However, just like with all forms of art it can also be about conveying our inner thinking, feelings and emotions with the use of visual communication.

 

To do this with digital photography requires a certain level of mastery of processing software. This does not differ in thinking than when photography was analogue. Many famous photographers from the past manipulated reality to create images of surrealism including Man Ray born August 27, 1890 – Died November 18, 1976. He died without ever having the benefit of a digital process. I am sure if he had been born sixty years later he would have welcomed digital photography with open arms.

 

There are many famous images that we will have seen many times that are surreal in as much as that they were created from the artists (authors) mind and not a discovered image. Look for instance at the well known image of Salvador Dali by that was taken by Philippe Halsman in 1948. This was cleverly created mainly at the second of exposure but conveyed an essence of the artist he was wanting to capture. This also was a form of image manipulation but without the use of "Phototrickery shop".

 

For those of you of a certain age you may remember the series "Catweazle" an eccentric 11th-century wizard who accidentally travels through time and arrives in the year 1969. His discovery of electricity is similar to the reaction I have seen in some more tradition photographers when they look at images that have been created in Photoshop. Catweazle called electricity "elec-trickery" and would hiss at it in fear, whilst holding his rabbit foot that was around his neck for luck.

 

It is difficult to appreciate something we fear or want to push away from us. Just like any tool Photoshop can create some awful ugly images. We all see those heavily processed HDR images with the halos and overly saturated colours. As well as the photo-composite images that look like the people were cut out with blunt scissors from a Sunday supplement and pasted on a different background with wallpaper paste. Very few of us like to see that type of image. I have to admit that in my learning journey I have created a few of those Frankenstein images. But with a little more mastery it also allows greater expression. It allows a photography to create any image that they can imagine and show what has previously only been in their head to the world.

 

I know that some will see this as a form of photographic "cheating". To those I say. Try it and see. I know for me it has made me work harder at my photography fundamentals of what makes a strong image. To work harder at such things as composition and the use of light. They are all the same building blocks that we use when creating any image that attracts the eye. It has enabled me to go beyond the typical "Ten Top Tips" photographic magazine article that talks endlessly about "leading lines" and the "rule of thirds". I am not saying that these articles don't serve any purpose but by endlessly repeating such articles it can make some photographers think they have learnt all there is to learn. It's like watching a educational programme that is on an endless loop.

 

I start with the mindset that in EVERY location there is a great photograph waiting to be discovered and I just need to find it. Maybe that is not always true but that is the thinking that works best for me so I keep that thinking until I find something better.

 

Slowing Down is the Objective

I really don't want to be a dawn/dusk, blue sky, fluffy white clouds, wind in the east, R in the month type photographer. When all the elements have to be perfect before I take my lens cap off. All situations, weather and light conditions are a challenge I just need to be "up for it". For me it is all part of the fun of photography.

 

I have come to the conclusion that slowing down is THE goal, the images are a great by-product.

 

1.

2. Split Personality,

3. Powering Home,

4. Need a Hand,

5. Reflective Opposites,

6. Thaxted Parish church of St John,

7. Armani Dreamer,

8. Homeless Army Pals Looking Out For Each Other,

9. Grey Rainy Day in London,

10. Quiet Pint at Christmas,