EP123 Interview With Street Photographer Ross Grieve

EP123 Interview With Street Photographer Ross Grieve This episode was recorded in a bar - possibly my favourite but, in contrast to our studio garden - not the quietest place to record audio.  But it makes me happy.  It was at this year’s incredible Societies of Photographers Convention in London where I spent the week judging and, well, generally feeling liberated from the previous two years of lockdown! The interview is with one of the nicest guys in the industry ...

EP122 Fireworks and Finding Freedom In The Studio

EP121 Portraits Are Portraits, Even If They're Corporate! It's late and I'm driving back from a beautiful spring wedding, shot in uncharacteristic April sunshine.  I am, to put it mildly, hot and tired.  in spite of this, I thought it would be an idea to record a quick podcast on my way home, so here it is - various musings on finding freedom in the studio and the joy of using the Z9  as a wedding photographer. Oh, and I ...

EP121 Portraits Are Portraits, Even If They’re Corporate!

EP121 Portraits Are Portraits, Even If They're Corporate! I think I may have mentioned this before, but I LOVE creating portraits.  The past couple of days have been all about headshots - part corporate, part creative branding.  Either way, these are just portraits. And that is something that I cannot stress enough: if you're a portrait photographer, creating cool, engaging headshots is no different to creating fine-art portraits - and you get to meet some incredibly interesting people along the ...

EP120 Service Is King, No Matter The Price

EP120 Service Is King, No Matter The Price So it's been a month since recording the last podcast.  A busy month. A very very busy month.  But during that time I did manage to get some time out with Sarah and our trusty spaniel, Rufus, and go for a walking holiday in South Wales. Wales is my home country so it is always a real joy to be back - there is something about the country, its ruggedness and its ...

Do you need your own studio to be a pro?

A couple was walking up the drive of our house to meet us. They were choosing a photographer and this was the first time we’d meet in person. In fact, it was the last time. I was inside and they didn’t know I could hear them, or that I would pick up on the disappointment in the woman’s voice. “Oh,” she said, “it’s just a converted garage.” We didn’t win the job this time. That’s when my wife Sarah and …

Thieves, Drumsticks And My Very First Nikon

We’re taking our daughter to see The Lion King, and we’re passing time before the show starts. The tickets are tucked inside my camera bag, along with my trusty Pentax, loaded with film. This is 2002, after all. The camera bag is on the floor under our table. I reach for it and it’s no longer there. Our house keys, my wife’s purse, the tickets and the camera inside it have been stolen. A great day out quickly turns into …

Dealing With Disappointment | How To Make Sense Of That Sinking Feeling

How are you feeling?” The groom asked me, as he showed me around the wedding venue on the morning of the big day. “I’m so excited about today,” I started to respond. I should’ve stopped there. Instead, as a perpetual oversharer, I continued. “But I also know I’m going to be so disappointed tomorrow when I think about all the photographs I didn’t capture.” We were at Wells Cathedral, arguably the most beautiful of all the UK’s cathedrals, and a …

The F-Words For Photographers | Dealing With The Stresses Of Your Photography Business

Hey honey,’ I typed, ‘I thought I’d dump some thoughts on the photo business… I really want to get this thing rolling.’ I was on the 8:49pm train back from London. All the regular commuters had returned home hours ago. The ones still out in town for drinks and dinner would be staggering into seats on later trains. This carriage was full of IT consultants like me, the ones working crazy hours for demanding clients in return for six-figure salaries. …

Lessons from Las Vegas | Why Customer Experience Is As Important As The Photography

We were in the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas as part of a weeklong trip to celebrate my 50th birthday. My wife Sarah and I had been here before for our honeymoon, and I’d always wanted to return with the kids. On this evening we were looking forward to Love, the Cirque du Soleil show based on the Beatles’ music. First though, we were fuelling up with a hot meal, and were midway through the main course when the hotel …

Hard critique | Be Brutal And Think Like A Photography Judge

A photography competition judge’s job is to whittle down huge numbers of entries into a shortlist of possible winners. To do this effectively, they look for common mistakes they can deduct points for. I’ve been on the judging panel for local camera club competitions as well as national and international competitions. Every time, there are recurring themes that cause otherwise great images to lose marks and miss out. Even if you don’t plan to enter competitions, knowing the common mistakes …