This week, I’m recording late in the lounge with a glass of Irish whiskey, reflecting on the usual mix of chaos and joy in a photographer’s life. Some good news first: the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast has landed in the Top 100 Photography Podcasts, Top 10 Portrait Photography Podcasts, and Top 35 UK Photography Podcasts—all thanks to FeedSpot. A massive thank you to everyone who listens, emails, or stops me at events to say hi.

The charts can be found here:
https://podcast.feedspot.com/photography_podcasts/
https://podcast.feedspot.com/portrait_photography_podcasts/
https://podcast.feedspot.com/uk_photography_podcasts/

 

I share stories from a beautiful small wedding at Le Manoir, talk about how AI is both transforming and disrupting our industry (and how I’m using it to write useful code for the studio), and confess to completely changing my Instagram strategy so it actually makes me smile—feel free to check it out @paulwilkinsonphotography.

The highlight? Racing through three days of corporate headshots in London, where the CEO arrives and my flash promptly refuses to fire—just classic timing. A reminder: knowing your kit inside-out and keeping calm is what clients are really paying for.

If you fancy joining me in Oxford for a day of portraits, stories, and good company, there’s still a spot on our next Location Portraits Workshop.

https://masteringportraitphotography.com/resource/mastering-portrait-photography-on-location-in-oxford-9th-june-2025/

As ever: trust yourself, enjoy the process, and be kind to yourself. Cheers!

 

Transcript

 

Introduction and Setting the Scene

Well, it's been a while since I've recorded a podcast quite like this, but I'm sitting in our lounge. It's late. I've got a glass of Irish whiskey for a change, which is just beautiful. All of my whiskeys have been bought by someone and I love that. I love sitting and thinking of someone, a family member or a friend.

'cause I enjoy, well, the smell and the taste. There's some, I dunno why I like whiskey so much. Um, I just do, there's something, I think it's 'cause my mom and dad liked it. And possibly because of that, I find there's something really magical about the smell and the taste and the color and just, I don't know, something that sat in a barrel for a decade or more just appeals to me, and it has been another busy week.

It's Wednesday as I record this, and yet it feels like it's been the end of a week. Um, it's just, it always feels like I'm playing catch up, but I think that's just the nature of the job. When I worked at Accenture all of those years ago, I quite liked the project mentality. Although we were busy, we ramped up and up and up and up until eventually we got to the delivery date.

And then of course, once it was delivered, you've got a week or two off all of that pressure built and built and built. It was to an end point. And I don't think, as a photographer, I felt like that since I left that world now it's just a constant churn of to-do lists, retouching shoots, being energized, even things like recording this podcast.

You have to be really in the mood to do it, and I'm not always. There have been plenty of times when I've sat down to record something and even a large glass of 15-year-old single molt doesn't do it. However, I am here, it is late. So forgive me if I sort of tumble over some of my words, but I really wanted to get, um, an episode out.

I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography  📍 podcast.

 

Podcast Achievements and Listener Appreciation

So before I get into the main body of, uh, the podcast this week or this episode, I wanted to give a little bit of good news. We have been voted by we, I mean the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast has been judged or voted, or I don't know. I don't exactly know how it's assessed, but we have been given three really cool things by the guys at Feed Spot who list and assess, uh, podcasts from all around the world.

I. So we are in, uh, for photographers, we're in the top 100 podcasts for photographers globally. We're in the top 10 portrait photography podcasts globally, and we're in the top 35 UK photography podcasts on the web. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much to everybody who listens and everybody who's made this thing possible.

We are ranking right up there with some really big commercial podcasts and at the end of the day, it's just me, a microphone and I suppose 20 years of experience of being a photographer. But nonetheless, it's an absolute thrill that we are getting recognized. Um, so thank you to all of you who listen.

Every one of you sends in emails. Everyone who, uh, stops us at the conventions and the shows to say that they like listening to it. Uh, so what have we been up to other than celebrating, uh, a major success. By the way, you can head over to Feed Spot. I'll put the links in the show notes if you're gonna go see the lists of everybody else Tell I listen to, there are some great podcasts on there.

And of course my target is to be higher up the list, not just one of the top 100 we wanna be. The one, but yeah, I dunno whether we'll ever get to that given it really is just me and a microphone. Uh, but I'll do my best, uh, last week. 

Recent Photography Projects and AI Innovations

Over the past week or so shot the most beautiful tiny wedding at Le Manoir. I lo I love these little weddings.

35 people, the nicest bride and crew who were so excited. Uh, they had family from all over the world, from India, from Austria, Switzerland, the uk. Why Europe? Brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant. The weather. Stunning. We had loads of time. We relaxed, we had, oh, it was just the best day possible. Uh, what else? What else?

Uh oh, yeah. Um, one of the things, um, sorry, that's, that's another subject jump. Um, I've got notes. Obviously. I sit here with a screen of notes and these are the things I wanted to cover. One of the things I wanted to cover is some other focus of what I'm doing at the moment and what we are doing in the studio.

And one of the things that's right front of mind at the moment has been ai, and I'm guessing from everything I'm reading and everything I'm studying is that AI is gonna stay at the front. And it might just be the last thing standing if I've understood it all correctly. So I've, I mean, those of you who know me know my PhD is in neural networks, which is the backbone.

Um, of AI 30 years ago, so of course I'm well outta date, but that hasn't stopped me being really quite curious and I guess I've got a natural, uh, sort of a natural aptitude for it in spite of the fact that it's advanced so far on the whole, I'm getting my head round. Most of it. Some of it's really daunting, some of it is frankly terrifying, but some of it is exhilarating.

So I'll give you an example of some ways we're using AI here at the moment. Um, one of the things I'm doing is I'm using it to help me code some really useful add-ons, scripts and plugins for things like Lightroom, Photoshop. And some general stuff behind the scenes, um, which we will be able to release as commercialized product.

Um, I'm not a terrible coder. I'm not a great coder, but I have enough knowledge to be able to know how to specify what I want, understand the problems I'm trying to describe. And now that I have all of these AI tools beside me is it's just opened up a huge wealth of opportunity to make our life in the studio simpler and faster.

And more productive. And while that, you know, all of that's really good, of course the downside of AI is it is gonna tear through the job market in every single industry. And of course our industry is particularly susceptible to it. If you think about any photograph you can imagine, um, where the subject is irrelevant, it as in, it doesn't have to be a named face.

It could just be. A nameless detective, um, a doctor, a medic, a firefighter, a parachutist, a pilot, a family, a child, a dog. As long as it doesn't have to be that dog, that person, that pilot, that firefighter. AI does it today. And this is just an early version chat. GPTs photo generator is off the top of the scale.

Good. Um, I've actually written. Some stuff where it's taking, so, you know, automated some scripts that are taking my pictures, generating the prompts to generate those pictures, and then generating more pictures. And I'm doing it as an experiment just to test where we are and honestly. Yes. Not perfect, but we are right at the beginning of where we're headed.

So, you know, if I was gonna be slightly gloomy, I suppose if, if you are a stock photographer, well, you know, that's gotta have limited legs unless you do wildlife or landscape where it's really important. That the location is key. I'm looking at um, I've got an Amazon fire stick in our TV here in the lounge.

Um, obviously it's gone onto a screensaver 'cause I'm recording this and it's showing pictures of real places in the world that's never gonna go anywhere. You are always gonna need that. But if it's just generic photographs, generic imagery than AI is already eating into those markets. But I'm still throwing myself into it.

Social Media Strategy and Personal Reflections

One thing I have done, um, on our Instagram account is I took a long hard look at social media. And again, for those of you who know me, you'll know I'm not the biggest fan. I know we have to use it. It's a necessary evil, but I am one of those doom scrollers. I spend my life scrolling down thinking everyone else is having a better time.

Everyone else is a better photographer. Everyone else has got a better business. You name it, I think it, I'm just wired that way. I'm also wired.  I can't resist it 'cause it's there. And so the longer I spend on on social media, the less inspired and the less energized I am. I really do have to stay away from it.

But one of the things I've done in our studio is my screens, in particular on my laptop and on my workstation. Whenever the screensaver kicks in, it's pointing at a portfolio of our images, our clients, our friends, the people, the photographs, the moments, the memories from our life. And so whenever I pause, I go make a cup of tea or something, and I come back.

All of these screens are showing. My favorite pictures from 20 years, sorry, I stumbled over the word 20, getting emotional, uh, of 20 years of working as a professional photographer, and I decided what might be nice is to use Instagram like that. So I've changed the way I'm working on Instagram. Stopped trying to show just current work and trying to do the whole kind of, you know, social sort of networking side of it.

And I've decided I just want it to make me smile. That's it. That's all I'm gonna do. So I've hauled together, I've written some code. It's got a little bit of an AI in there to help me. I. And it just goes back and picks out images from different parts of our portfolio and tells me what to post. I then just post it.

Simple as that, because if I sit for hours looking at my portfolios, I spent ages. Becoming really paranoid that my work's no good. Oh no, I can't post that. I posted something similar to that. Oh, no. Will people like it? And I've stopped that. It's just a hard list. Here's what you're gonna do today. Here's what you're gonna do tomorrow.

And I'm just posting these pictures exactly the same pictures that my screensaver connects to. So it has, it's giving me now the same joy seeing these pictures come up. Some are recent, some are from quite a long way away, a long way ago, rather. Some are landscapes. There's some stuff in there from some landscapes where we've been traveling, not many.

And of course, all my landscape friends, all my, you know, friends in the industry can happily laugh at me. I'm not a landscape photographer. But I am loving every single second of it, and it's really given me some of the joy I think I used to have with social media. It's become a portfolio of people, of memories, of moments, of my history.

You know, some of the pictures come up and I cringe. It's like, really? Did I really do that? But some of the old pictures come up and I can really see. The foundations of where I came from. Yeah, right. I shoot things differently now. Of course, we all do. I've learned techniques, new techniques, new post-production, new finishing grading.

The resolutions on the cameras are different. The lenses are different. Even for me, you know, one weakness I was talking to with the videographer the other day is that. On the older cameras, I didn't dare shoot below about F four because if I focused on the eyes focus, recompose in the recomposing, I had to move.

And in moving the eyes would go out of focus. But now of course with eye tracking, I could shoot at F1 0.8 and every time the eyes are pinned, sharp, and. It's weird that technology can fundamentally change my aesthetic because I always wanted to shoot at 2.8 or 1.8. I just never had the technique for it.

One of the things I'm very good at is working quickly. I work fast and I catch those moments, but unfortunately the trade off is I don't slow down and really concentrate on things like the focusing and that's problematic. But now the technology's helping me. And here similarly, you know, I'm using a little bit of AI to identify pictures, written some bits of code to do it, and it pulls the pictures from the catalog to make sure that there's a nice variety, that it's across all of our clients, all of our work.

It's not just one style, which is what tends to happen if, um. I do it on my own. So it's just lovely. And there's, you know, I've written here, it's a bit like a treasure hunt with a robot sidekick. The robot being the ai, I hope the robot's not me. I don't think it's me. Maybe it his, maybe that's the way around the AI is having the treasure hunt and I'm the robot.

But if it's me, I'd only pick things like pictures that I thought might do well in awards or pictures that other photographers would like. Whereas I've stopped that by doing this. The code tells me what I'm gonna. Post. I post it and then I can just smile and enjoy the memory. And I've long since stopped worrying about whether the algorithm rewards me, it ain't going to.

So if you've answer having a look, you can see what we're doing. Um, at some point, if anyone comes to the studio, I'll happily show you how I've done it, um, and what we're doing. Uh, what else do we do over the weekend? Oh, Sarah and I, um, we had to record our own a roll, uh, Katie. 'cause I was, I've been working Friday, Monday, Tuesday.

I. Out in London. Um, I knew we had to get the, a roll for video ready for Katie to be able to do something with it on Monday. Unfortunately, that meant Sarah and I doing it on our own, which is great. I mean, Sarah and I, we have all of the kit, the kit's, hours, um, I. It took a little bit longer than the setup.

It took me two hours to rig the studio for the video, which is way too long. Um, it was also quite a lot more disciplined when it was just Sarah and myself much less messing around. Mostly I think because I'm slightly scared of her. There's no getting around it. Sarah wanted to crack on, so we cracked on.

Um, I dunno if the video's gonna be any good, but it's certainly. Succinct and to the point. Um, so, uh, I'll let you know when that one comes out and see if you can tell the difference when, uh, it's Katie directing or whether it's Sarah, but it was a lot of fun and you will get to see it. 

Corporate Headshots and Technical Challenges

So, uh, moving on to the boardroom and this episode's point.

So over the past three days or so, Sarah and I have been ensconced in a room in an office in London and one of the world's biggest companies, and we were brought in to create headshots of senior execs, board members, CEO, CFOs, C-C-O-C-M-O, all of these people, C-level execs. And they'd approached us to do it as part of a bigger package.

There's some marketing going on. I can't talk about what the company is and I can't talk about what the product is. But the broad brush of it is there's some new product coming out. It's being sponsored by the entire board. Each of them was gonna record a video, and they also needed some stills to go out and posters and social media and things like that at the same time.

We were gonna create additional headshots, uh, just for general purpose. So right up my street. I love headshot. I love corporate work, smart people. Being smart is never a bad thing to photograph. I really enjoy it. But slight, slight challenge with this particular gig is that the predominant job was for them to record video.

Each slot was about 30 minutes, and these execs really had no time. They're close to a launch. There's a lot going on. It's a huge company, and half an hour in an exec's diary to record a video, as you can imagine, although they wanted to do it because they know it's important, they were also thinking about the next meeting and the meeting after that.

So. They'd come in, they'd spend half an hour in front of the video cameras and the green screen. And do their job brilliantly with a teleprompter and the scripting and everything. And then just as they thought they were gonna leave, um, the head of marketing would say to them, no, no, we just need to get a few headshots of you.

And I was given about 30 seconds to create these shots. It will have a lifespan of probably like five years, because you know what it's like with headshot? No one ever refreshes them. So we go from sitting around doing very little. To a hundred miles an hour. There's no warmup, there's no tea, there's no small talk.

It really was literally the head of marketing said, wait, uh, here's Paul. He's here to take some headshot. Go. And I would say hello, trying to get energy into a shoot like that. And of course the first person up was the CEO. And he walks over. Everything's set. Sarah and I have rigged, and we've, luckily it's a secure building.

Um, so we can leave all of the kit rigged overnight. Anyway, so we've decided, right, we've got, we've taken as much kit as we can spare 'cause I'm also working in the gaps back here at the studio. So we've got the lights, got the backdrop. Nice small. You've seen the videos we've created on doing this kind of stuff.

It's, there's, it's enough kit to do the job, but it's still small enough that Sarah and I can lu it in on the train. So a backdrop, a couple of rom threes with some soft boxes, and actually everything's pretty good to go. But the kit has been sitting here now for about four hours. And what I would normally do if I was about to meet someone and do studio style shots with a studio lighting is I would fire the lights a few times and make sure everything's perfect.

Slight wrinkle, we're in the same room as the video filming. So we can't do any of that. All I can do is check that nothing's gone to sleep. I can't, I didn't do anything because of the noise of the, um, beeps on the lights 'cause I use those to make sure everything's fired. And the flashes, of course, are gonna bleed into the video recording, so I can't do anything.

So of course the first person is the CEO, the most important person in the entire process. He's my subject. He does his video, it's very good. He comes off, but he's clearly tired, um, and has a lot on his mind. He walks in front of over to me, head of marketing. This is Paul. Really nice to meet you. Um, you know, normal kind of stuff.

Please stand there in front of the lights. How do you normally stand? And I'd watch him. And the great thing about watching people filming is you get to see how they naturally sit, how they naturally stand. And these were all to be standing portraits. And I kind of started, got chatting, going where I wanted it.

We'd mark the tape, mark the floor where I wanted him, got the lights, the same height. 'cause of course, everybody's a different height. We could do most of the work, but I can't set the height of the lights until I meet the subject. Pick up my camera, I focus it, I hit the button. Nothing. I mean silence. So I kind of talk my way through it.

Sarah knows what's happening, but because of course, the Z nine doesn't make any noise at all. I don't think anyone realized it hadn't fired. Sarah knew I knew, so I kind of carried on chatting, refocused, hit the button. Again, nothing. I mean, silence. Now, fortunately, I'm used to the fact that. When you are working with any kind of wireless technology, there's always connection, challenges.

Um, and so I kind of took a breath, paused to check that all the lights were up, checked the controller was seated correctly into the hot shoe. Third time's a charm, blink off. It went flash, the flashes flood, and I literally, I watched everyone in the room sort of breathe a sigh of relief. Even they, even though they didn't know.

It wasn't firing. They thought I was taking way too long to get this first shot. And if you've ever had that moment, you've ever had that moment where Kit just doesn't do what you expect, it goes on strike at exactly the wrong moment. You know that sinking feeling. And there's nothing I could do. I couldn't have pre-fire it.

We checked everything until they started filming, and then it, it just lost its connections. And once it happened, it all started rolling. Three days, amazing portraits. And we've had the most wonderful, wonderful feedback from the client, from the people. The pictures look great. We're really happy. But over those three days, I think I've, I'm estimating the actual amount of time I had a camera in my hand with a client in front of me.

15 minutes tops. That's not a lot of time. And we are obviously charging for those days 'cause that's days I'm not earning anything in the studio here. So you have to wonder, you know, why they pay people like me to come in and do that job. Well, I can tell you why. It's because in those 30 seconds for each of those people, we created magic.

We got them to laugh just by chatting really. Or maybe, maybe people just look at me and giggle. I have no idea. But they looked engaged. We took the lighting, of course Crumb, beautiful lighting. So the lighting is on point. Um, I know the camera, I know the lights. I also know my post-production. So I knew when I could compromise and I knew when I couldn't.

So things like, uh, nearly everybody wore glasses and you could spend as the videographers did hours trying to figure out how to get the reflections outta glasses in our studio. I would spend a bit more time doing it, but here, there was no way I could do it. So I lit, I drifted the light across and I knew when I was seeing blue or green reflections.

The Voto, the EVOTO.AI package, its glasses. Reflection cleaning button is a thing of weird genius. It just works. So there's lots of little bits to the puzzle, but broadly speaking, it's a lot of experience. It's a lot of energy, it's a lot of being totally present and in that moment so that you are subject, no matter what they're feeling, it's gonna get swept along with it.

And there's an awful lot. Of me knowing the kit, having bought great kit, knowing the kit and knowing that, okay, it didn't fire a couple of times, but it will, it's just gonna take a second for everything to just talk to each other and get rolling. And apparently this is all true because they've asked us to come back.

So in spite of the wobbly star and the crumbs, um, and the fact actually the hardest bit wasn't that, the hardest bit is that you've been sitting around for ages waiting. And you go from naught to a hundred miles an hour in a heartbeat, and that's really, really tough. But it is a huge amount of fun. And I, like I said, I absolutely love corporate headshots.

So get really good at what you do. Trust yourself. Buy good kit and know how to use it and trust in it even when it stutters. And ultimately, your client is not paying for your ability to press a button or connect things your client. Is paying for your ability to be calm, to be present, and to know what you are doing no matter what hiccups, uh, come your way.

Right. I'm gonna close out this, uh, happy little podcast for a moment. You can hear, Hey, fever is bad. I dunno if you can hear it or not, but my nose is blocked in spite of my whiskey. Uh, one last quick plug. Um. 

Upcoming Workshop and Closing Remarks

Is that, uh, we have had a last minute somebody's dropped out of a workshop. We are running in Oxford on Monday.

This Monday coming. I'm recording this Wednesday night, and on Monday the 9th of June. We are running our location portraits workshop in Oxford. We meander through this most incredible city. It's beautiful. Oxford is just stunning taking pictures, uh, creating portraits, looking for light and shape and form telling stories, uh, lunches provided.

Um, we have a space, somebody suddenly dropped out and it'd be lovely. It'd be lovely if we could fill that space. If you fancy it, head over to mastering portrait photography.com, uh, and look for the workshops and mentoring section. Uh, and you'll find a workshop in there. It's the Oxford, uh, location portrait photography.

It's honestly, it's my favorite workshop of the year, although, to be fair, the bootcamp, the bootcamp is coming close. I really enjoyed the bootcamp. This last one, our inaugural bootcamp was brilliant. The two day workshop was brilliant. Um, however, walking around Oxford, this glorious architecture, um. Uh, it is just amazing.

So if you fancy that here, if you fancy that, head over to our workshop section. Have a look and see what you think. We'd love to see you there. And that is me. I have a glass of Irish whiskey sitting beside me. The TV has now gone to a blue  📍 screen. Um, I'm gonna fire that back up while I do the edit for this and whatever else.

I hope your kit doesn't stutter. I hope it fires first time and whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care.     

It’s a late Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining, and the smell of freshly cut grass (and the inevitable hay fever) is drifting through the studio as I sit down to record this episode. After a whirlwind few months — including seven incredible weeks photographing on Crystal Cruises — it feels good to be back behind the mic, even if I’m a little sniffly.

In this episode, I’m reflecting on the magic of authentic portrait photography, the rapid rise of AI in our world (and our inboxes!), and why the human touch still matters more than ever. Plus, there’s news about upcoming workshops, a few tech tips for cleaner files and faster edits, and a good-natured rant about AI-generated podcast pitches. As always, it's a mix of stories, laughter, tech, and a reminder to stay creative — and stay human.

Cheers
P.

---

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

 

Transcript

 

Introduction and Podcast Setup

So it's Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining, and here I am late on Sunday recording this podcast and I'm recording it with the smell of freshly cut grass, uh, wafting in through the windows, which is gonna trigger my hay fever one way or another.

Um and also the reason I'm recording it quite so late at this stage of the day. It's 'cause my neighbors have been cutting their grass and they do have the loudest petrol mower in the world. I'm Paul, and assuming I can get through this without sneezing, this is the Mastering Portrait Photography  📍 podcast.

 Now, there is a lot going on at the moment. It is really good to be back. And of course, those of you who have been over the years, regular listeners will know this has been quite a long gap. 

Recent Adventures on Crystal Cruises

And the reason for that, as I may or may not have alluded to before we went away was Sarah and I spent seven weeks working for Crystal Cruises, working on onboard ship as a portrait, uh, photographer.

It is one of the best gigs in the world. I get to travel all over and this time around we were traveling around South America from Valparaiso in Chile all the way around the southern tip through re, which is just stunning. In Argentina over to the Falkland Islands, and then up through Brazil, across the Cape Verde and then finishing up in of all places, uh, grand Canaria.

It has been an incredible experience from start to finish, photographing the most amazing people I photographed. Interesting, funny, erudite professionals, creatives, musicians, authors. Oh, you name it, we did it. It was. An absolute, uh, blast. But of course that seven week gap has meant we've come back and life is incredibly busy here now two, and there's an awful lot going on at the moment.

Upcoming Workshops and Studio Updates

Tomorrow I'm doing one of my favorite things, which is to run a one-on-one workshop, which is part of an annual mentoring, uh, program. We run this program, um, for photographers, for portrait photographers. I should be clear, I dunno very much about landscaping at all. Uh, but certainly for portrait photographers.

And over the ki the course of a year, we set some targets, uh, and then work steadily towards 'em, and I absolutely love it. Honestly. I always come across, I always come outta these, uh, sessions buzzing with energy and ideas. Probably as many as our delegates do as well. So I'm really, really looking forward to that.

The studio is all clean and tidy, Sarah and myself. Painted it. We donned our overalls, um, and spent an entire day cleaning it all out and painting the white wall white. Again. It hasn't been done for a little bit. It. And for some reason this time round I've managed to pick the right white. I know that sounds kind of ob obtuse, um, but there are lots of different tones of white and this particular one is almost exactly, uh, the same as the ISO standard for a reference white, which is really nice.

So all of the images now have this really lovely clean look. I dunno what I picked last time, it clearly wasn't quite the right white or I didn't note at the time, but this white is perfect. So I have the reference numbers, if anyone's curious. I can tell you what it is and it seems to work really, uh, really well.

And if that wasn't enough of all the things that are going on, we've also released a whole stack of new dates and a couple of brand new titles for our workshops, which I will share with you at the. End of this podcast, if you fancy, uh, joining one of those. Uh, and alongside everything else we've been photographing with the hearing dogs.

We've been photographing with all sorts of commercial clients. Um, the diary is absolutely solid and somehow today I've had to squeeze in and find the time to sit and clear my head and figure out the planning for our upcoming bootcamp, which has been on the diary for a little bit. Now, it isn't a new workshop though.

This is the first time we've run it, so I'm having to figure out exactly. What that's gonna look like. Two days of intensive portrait chat, technique and practice. Um, all about portrait photography. But we have over two days the time to spend really exploring different ideas. And of course we have the evening in between the two days when if people wanna put some of what we've gone through into practice or start to shape what we'll do the next day, we have the opportunity to do it.

It's absolutely packed. We've got people coming from all over, all over Europe for that one. Uh, which I'm really excited about. I think there might be one place available. Gome, I should have gone and looked, uh, to see if that've gone, but I think there's a place available if anyone fancies it. It's on the 12th and 13th.

12th, can't even say it. 12th and 13th of May, and it's going to be a blast. So if you fancy that, I think there's, uh, a date available. Again, I'll give you, uh, details of where to find those things at the end. Anyway. Here's a question for you. 

AI in Photography: Tools and Trends

Has anyone else noticed a steady stream of emails lately that sound human, but simply because you get so many, you just know they can't be.

There's something about not just the email, but the number of them that I get that all have a very similar wording. I mean, maybe it's just me. Maybe it's because of this very podcast. Um, and I get a lot of emails, a lot of agencies and things offering me the opportunity. Here's the opportunity to have a guest that I'd never heard of, um, on the podcast.

And there's something about the way that these emails feel that a suspiciously well. Polished. So the question is this the future now? I mean, AI is brilliant for certain things. Evoto, for instance, is mind blowing. I love this application. Um, it's a retouching suite. It's from Singapore, a team in Singapore, and it's as close as I've seen yet to having.

Real craft finished retouched portraits. It is getting that good. It's not quite there. There's still a lot to be said for the hand finishing the final touches, the little bits and pieces, tune in the colors and the little things that I. Probably AI will never get because it's all down to you and you alone.

So AI will do the bulk of it, but when it comes to your personal little taste, your little tweaks, maybe it won't get there, but it certainly gets you 90% of the way there. I'm playing right now with the beta version five, and it is impressive to put it mildly. It is really, really, really good. Um, similar vein, you know, uh, in terms of.

Uh, prepping files. I love PureRAW5 from DXO optics. Um, it's just this plugin in Lightroom. I don't use an awful lot of its power, I suspect, but it's great when I have a slightly dirty file, something where maybe the noise has come up a little bit or I'm having trouble, maybe it's just, I dunno. There's something where it isn't quite right. It's very, very good for giving you beautifully clean files with no pin cushioning, no aberrations. Really nice, really nice if you like, a lovely clean file. So that's worth checking it out. I don't know, actually if, uh, PureRAW5 is yet in its public release.

Um. Uh, I'm a, I'm on the beta list, so I get to see it a little bit early, but as soon as it comes out, I suggest you get a hold of a, of a trial copy and have a play. And then of course, on top of that, if there wasn't enough AI floating around with, um, competitors. Adobe themselves, the king of the crop, the, the, the big, the biggest, uh, I guess the biggest name.

In photography, retouching and post-production. Um, Adobe have their own AI magic from generative fill to those ridiculously good subject and sky selection tools, which are probably the best thing about all of the ai as far as I'm concerned. The ability to hit select subject and there is, and of course, the remove tool for getting rid of people that you don't want in the background.

All of these things are saving hours on editing, and it's a joy, particularly if you keep a control of it. And you get it to do what you want it to do, but, and this is a big, but it's there to assist, but it doesn't create without me steering it. These emails though. Now you can tell they are AI generated.

Let me read you one. Let me just fix my email. Here it goes. Hey, Paul. It's always a good start. Hey, Paul, listening to your latest episodes really struck a chord, especially as you reflected on judging for the British Institute of Professional Photographers. Your thoughtful musings on stepping down from your role as chair were both insightful and inspiring.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. A visionary storyteller and celebrated director of photography would resonate with your audience's. Love for artistic narratives with an impressive track record working with global brands like Coca-Cola and Microsoft. He brings a wealth of experience in visual storytelling worthy of your podcast, and blah, blah, blah, blah, is not only a celebrated photographer, but also an accomplished musician and digital media artist.

His vibrant Tales from behind the lens, combined with his academic honors from Harvard and the Global Cinema Cinematography Institute would add depth and intrigue to your conversations. What makes blah, blah, blah, blah, an ideal guest. This content connects with a thriving community of 15,000 entrepreneurs, photographers and marketers, eager to explore the captivating world of photograph of photography and digital media.

Let's create something memorable together. Best, blah, blah, blah, blah's team. Now, in and of itself, I think I'd spot that as an um, ai, um, as an AI email. But I've had quite a few of those from different people, different photographers, different teams, different everything. But somehow your classic tale of the Land Rover, your classic tale of photographing on a beach, your classic tale of.

They all have a tone about them that clearly AI can now understand, or at least I say understand. Of course, we're delving into the definitions of intelligence here, but clearly understands what it's saying. It clearly understands it's, it's either listen to the podcast or it's read the transcript or both.

It's come up with some set of lines that make it sound like it's a human writing it, but it's not a human writing it. That's ai. So I've now got AI emails being sent to me to ask me to feature. I'm hoping a real human, though. I'm not going to feature him because he's using AI on my podcast. So should I set up an AI bot?

To respond to the AI bot, and then maybe the AI bot at the other end could schedule the guest. Or maybe an AI guest. And an AI guest. Maybe they could record, script record and publish a podcast that yet more AI will listen to. 

The Future of AI and Human Interaction

So the question is, at what point do we stop being involved? Maybe the AI should just talk to itself.

Are we gonna end up in a world where AI is talking to ai? And I suspect the reality is that yes, that is exactly what's going to happen because I today, I could download a chat bot that will respond to all of my emails. So would the email then be responded to by another chat bot responding to the ai?

Maybe the only thing that's gonna listen to the podcast will be ai, and maybe the podcast will all be about having a human context inside ai. But the only things listening to it. Are the AI bots curious? Huh? I wonder where we're gonna end up now. I'm a huge, huge fan of ai. I just, I love what it can do. I love what the future holds.

I have a PhD in it, so you kind of expect that from me. But my thought was always that it would make life easier. Not that it would remove life from the equation, but I'm not quite as certain as I was. Evoto, Imagen, Adobe and a plethora of incredible tools out there are gonna help us as photographers.

They're gonna enable us to do things that actually were not accessible unless you had a cast of thousands, you had models, you had assistants, you had venues. It's gonna allow image creation to a degree. That probably wasn't possible, but having just done three incredibly beautiful portrait shoots with lovely families over this weekend where the emphasis is on the authentic, not the synthetic, on creating reality and documenting it, not creating a fantasy and getting something else to write about it.

I think there's still space for humanity in all of this, but I do think we have to be careful. I do think we have to retain and hold onto the reality and let AI do what AI can do, where it helps us, where it makes things faster, where it makes things more efficient. But let's keep an eye out for these crazy emails and the different things that are just so clearly not real.

Anyway, that's enough of my rant. Sorry. A quick footnote. I mention all sorts of companies while I'm recording these podcasts, but I always make it clear if a company is sponsoring me. None of the companies I've mentioned today are. Uh, I'm not sponsored by DXO. I'm not sponsored, uh, by Imagen I'm not sponsored by Adobe.

They're just the tools that I use. In fact, I pay for the use of all of those tools. Um, but they happen to be incredibly useful. And if any of that has inspired you to pick up your camera and, uh, I always hope. You know, maybe it has, let's go and do something that isn't based around artificial intelligence.

Workshop Announcements and Closing Remarks

Here are the dates I promised you for our up and coming workshop. So there's, uh, five or six of these. Uh, number one, mastering ordinary to ordinary workshop. This is that one where we take a very standard small space and just create some beautiful images in it, to be honest. Uh, whether it's, uh, using strobes, using continuous light that's on the 27th of June.

Uh, this year. Uh, so actually if you're listening to this in a year's time, these are all in 2025. Uh, then there's mastering environment, uh, sorry, mastering Environmental Portraits Workshop, which is on the 18th of July, which is everything you need to tell stories through and using the location. Um, still planning that one out.

I had a brilliant one-on-one recently where we went out into location to a sculptor and to someone on their allotment and just created. Pictures. It was magical. It was beautiful, it was a great experience. But we're just trying to work out how five people, which is the theoretical maximum of the workshop, uh, would be able to do the same.

So, uh, I'll have a plan for that. So that's on the 18th of July. It's gonna be amazing. 

Then we've got mastering family photography, workshop one we've worked before. That's a maximum of four delegates in this one because obviously we have families and kids around, so we reduce the numbers. Uh, usually it's five. This one's four. Uh, that's on the 1st of August, 2025. Uh, a load of chaos, basically kids chaos.

What a hoot. Uh, exactly what family photography should be. Uh, then there's mastering dog photography. This is the from shutter to print version, uh, which is on the 12th of September, where we photograph dogs in the morning and then go through the techniques for prepping those files for great prints in the afternoon.

That's one of our most loved it. Always books it really quick. Uh, and then finally of this tranche is the mastering high-key and low key Studio lighting workshop, where this is an extension of one. We've run at the societies very successfully. Um, the society, we've done over a couple of hours. This is for a whole day.

Where we push to the extremes. We go as bright and as high key as we can, and then we swing it the other way and go as dark and as moody as we can. Um, just lighting, talking about lighting composition, talking about the mood, all that kind of thing. That's on the 26th of September, which will take us. To the end of the summer.

Uh, and then we'll have another set, uh, available. So just a quick footnote. Uh, all of the podcasts up until this one have said, go across to paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk to find details. Those details are on there, but all of the workshops now have moved to masteringportraitphotography.com, along with our mentoring and our workshops and any of the education side.

That's all over on masteringportraitphotography.com, under the Academy section. Uh, so that's, uh, masteringportraitphotography.com. Um, it's all over there. We always said we'd move the education and all of the trainings, mastering portrait photography. Um, and one of the many things I've been doing over the past couple of months is precisely that is shifting all of the workshops and all the bookings across to MPP.

And so there we have it. We have a little bit of sunshine, an awful lot of portraits, some AI musings, and a few workshop announcements thrown in for good measure. It's funny, really, we live this, we live in this incredible time where technology can do and does do so much for us, but I still think the real magic happens when we stay human in the middle of it all. Now, whether that's crafting an image, having a conversation, or just sneezing, you can hear I've got a blocked up nose or just sneezing away through a freshly cut lawn. It's the human bit that matters most.

So if you're interested in joining us for an upcoming bootcamp, as I said, or any of the other workshops, there's still time and we would love to see you there. And that is it for me or from me for today. I. It's time to go and have a glass of wine in the sunshine and pretend that the smell of, of fresh cut glass is actually a fresh cut grass, rather is actually  📍 romantic rather than just mildly annoying.

 

So thanks as always for being part of this little community. Wherever you are, whatever you're up to, take care, stay creative, and as ever, be kind to yourself. Goodnight.

Imagine that every person had exactly the same fashion taste. Imagine if each of us had the same clothing or the same hairstyle.  Imagine that everyone was the same height and build.  Imagine that everyone had identical makeup.

Just imagine.

Of course, it's a nonsense - different styling suits different people. Short, tall, thin, round, dark-skinned, fair-skinned, red-heads, blondes, straight haired, curly haired: everyone looks for something different to bring out their best.

So why do so many photographers light their subjects using the exact same lighting pattern without adjusting for the variety of life? Why?

I can't answer that but I do have a view!

Cheers
P.

---

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

 

Transcript

 Well, it's the end of an incredibly busy week and an incredibly busy day. And today the temperature hasn't. Risen above freezing. It's so cold that our shower at home has frozen. The Landrover won't start. And the two clients, the two families I've had in today who desperately wanted to go out. And take pictures in the wintery Wonderland were sadly disappointed when even they couldn't last more than about 10 minutes at a go. 

So we've been based in the studio, which is where I am right now. I'm Paul. And this is the mastering portrait photography  📍 podcast. 

 

   So hello.  how are you all doing? I must apologize. I spent quite a lot of the year with this ambition. I'm going to record. A podcast every week or every other week. And in fact, I haven't looked, but I think. Apple. Uh, quotes, the masteringportraitphotography.com podcast is being monthly.  It shouldn't be monthly. 

It should really be weekly, but it's been such a busy year. It's been a kind of a year that I'm glad if I'm honest. That we're at the end of it, where it's a new, fresh, shiny new year.  2024 has been reasonably successful on many fronts has been incredibly successful, but it has also been brutal a grueling year, I think, by any measure with not an awful lot of good news around. Um,  You know, Uh, various things happening. But we survived it. 

We hit our numbers, but we've had to work so, so hard to do it. And I think I careened into Christmas. Like one of those videos of cars on icy Hills, much as I fought it. There was nothing I could do. To stop it. So.  We're here. It's 20, 25 it's January. And once more, I'm sitting. At the microphone, today's been a busy day. 

We've had a couple of family shoots and yes, they wanted desperately to go out. Into the frost, but when we stepped out there, they didn't last any more than 10 minutes. Uh, piece and that's not that much of a surprise. So we already had the studio nice and warm.  And we've been working in there. But one of the things that's happening at the end of this month is Sarah and myself are heading off working with crystal cruises for seven weeks. 

That's a long stint of working, but it does also mean that we've had to clear a hole in the diary and all of the work that it would normally done normally be done in those seven weeks. Has had to be done either prior or after we get back.  Which has meant that we have been running at a hundred. Miles an hour with back-to-back shoots even yesterday. Um, one of my favorite gigs of the year, as , I know, you know, because I've talked about it. 

Incessantly is the Royal institution. Uh, Christmas lectures. Now at the end of last year, I photograph the three lectures. And for those of you who are in the UK, you can watch those on the BBC I play. They will with Chris fan, Dr. Chris van  Uh, talking about big food, talking about ultra processed foods. How it works and how it affects, uh, in particular. Our kids.  A really, really interesting and exciting set of lectures. 

And we usually shoot the PR. For these, the BBC lectures sometime around July or August. Um, but this year, this year we've had to do it slightly differently. So we were in London yesterday. I can't tell you who the lecturer is or what the topic is. But I can tell you that we were in London yesterday with the Royal institution photographing this year's publicity photos they'd been brought forward incredibly early. Uh, for not just because of our diary, but because of the presenter's diary to.  And so instead of doing it in July, we've done it in the first couple of weeks of January, but that's been on top of everything else. We're doing so it's been a hell of a week. 

And then today, if I'm honest, I'm quite tired. It's not also been the best. Start to the end that we've had a few bits fail. I've just had a monitor fail. If anyone has a great alternative to my Ben Q my trustee, Ben Q 27 inch. Something or other. Um, it just stopped working. Uh, it flickers on and off, and it doesn't seem to be anything. I can do to stop it.  I have tried. Every test I can think of, but no, it looks like. It looks like the monitor has died. 

 So I've had to replace it with a monitor that our son left lying around. Uh, which is to be fair to Dell. It's not an awful monitor. Um, I calibrated it and it's reaching about 90% of Adobe RGB, which isn't half bad. Uh, but I'd quite like to get back to my hundred percent. Uh, Adobe RGB coverage, because when you're doing color correction, you really do want to know that your images are a color-correct.

I could do with it. My second monitor. I love my iMac. Uh, but I don't trust the iMac display to give me accurate colors. So I've got a second monitor. That's always calibrated with it alongside. Um, to show me exactly how the colors will be in that one has suddenly died. But anyway, how are things with all of you? 

How was your year? How have you been.  Uh, I hope it was a good year. I hope you had a really good break. Over Christmas. And I hope you've started the new year full of ideas, full of inspiration. Um, and full of energy. Um, next week is the society's convention in London. Which historically has been such an incredible start to the year. 

I always love it.  It's back in its slot in January. Uh, and that is for me, at least the perfect place for it because you get to do a few days judging. You get to do a lot of socializing and I get to present masterclasses. And all of these other things. And so the whole thing is just the best. Energizer for the year.  And spending time with so many incredible photographers and friends of ours across the industry, whether it's on the photography side. Or whether it's on the trade side. so many amazing, amazing people cannot wait.

 

So if you're around in about next week, please do come and say hello. I'll be there all days. I'll be there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Uh, I'm on stage on Friday and Saturday, 

 

 I'm doing a couple of stints, um, at the convention this time round. Uh, I'm onstage on Friday and Saturday. Uh, I'm doing a masterclass.  Uh, called, uh, creating the coolest composites on Friday from four 30, till six. And that's all about bringing multiple images together, whether it's, um, family groups, whether it's corporate, where you photographing individual headshots at different times, or they're doing something cooler. Where, uh, your taking multiple images or acceptive images and place them onto new backgrounds. 

All of these are composites and there are techniques and ideas. For shooting that make all of that seamless, whether you're using. Um, playing backgrounds, whether you're using hand-drawn backgrounds or whether you're using, um, AI of course.  And so this will be. Uh, that's on Friday at four 30, till six. 

I think that's the last slot people, the drinks. So, uh, I might be doing it at a pace to make sure everyone can get out of the room, get into their posh togs and go down to the awards. So many and then on the 18th, Uh, on the Saturday.  We're doing high key, low key, which is a variant of some videos we've done before, but it's all about pushing to the extremes. Um, using very simple lighting to create incredible high key, bright white, uh, images, and equally going to the other end of the spectrum. Um, and shooting those dark moody sumptuous, um, low key images. That's on the Saturday from four 30 to six. I'm also going to be presenting on the Ellen. From stage. Um, throughout the convention.  I can't remember exactly what times. Uh, I'm there, but if you look it up on the schedules, Uh, Alan Crum schedules, you'll be able to find me and we're just doing mastering portrait photography. 

So we're just going to create incredible images with what I consider to be the best lighting in the business. So that's next week. That's the convention in London.  So please do come and say hello, whether it's to one of the two master classes. And if you have a convention pass, they're both free. Um, or if you want to come in. Uh, have a play or what you're saying, having a play, I suppose, on the Ellyn Crump state, then please do come and say hello.

 So I'll have to be honest. Um, this podcast is one of my unscripted. Sit down at a microphone and see what happens, sort of podcasts. I do apologize. It's just been a very long week, a very busy week. Um, and.  Sometimes it just Wells that way. And I just ended up sitting here thinking, oh, w w what should we talk about? 

Well, let me talk about a workshop. We ran this week because some points came up during it that I think. Are quite, uh, interesting now the master class or workshop this week. Was, um, booked as a one to one. And one of the things we are in a lovely position to do at our studio is we can run our scheduled workshops and they're an absolute blast. 

And people love having a fixed date. They can book in, turn up one of a crowd.  Um, and those are hugely popular, but equally we have people come to us to do one-on-one. So you get to pick your topic, we've sourced the models. Um, you can spend the entire day dedicated to whatever it is. That you feel you need. 

And so this week, um, a few guys came down.  Uh, from a camera club in the Midlands. And instead of it being one of our pre scheduled. Workshops. It was a masterclass, a one-on-one, but they booked. Extra places. So the three of them. Could come now, this works really, really well. If all three of you or all three of the delegates or 10 DS. Ah, of broadly the same standard and have the same interest and have the same goals. Because if you all do then. Even though it's a, um, a group think style workshop. It can be done in the style of a one on one, because we are showing it, going to teach the topic and everyone. Gets to S two. Explore it and play with it. And everyone, no one feels left out and no one feels like someone else is taking too much time because they're all doing the same thing or wishing to learn the same thing.  Um, and this particular one-on-one was all about. Getting the most out of lighting. 

Now, when we hear that, when we read the brief, we get the emails, people contact us. Whenever entirely certain. What it is that they really mean, and also what it is that they don't know because of course, people don't know. I mean, this is the Rumsfeld paradox is that people don't know what they don't know.  And so as a trainer, as a, as someone running a workshop, Um, part of the role is to try and figure out what would be useful. 

And so when they leave, it feels like you've answered that question. And I think from the feedback we got, we did do this, but it's always a bit of a puzzle. Um, and it, it was really interesting and. I think this was one of my favorite one-on-one workshops that we run this week in the morning, we had Abby who came so that we could just do simple portraits, simple light setups. Um,  And talk through how you develop the lighting and then in the afternoon, Uh, Jess and other one of our regular models came. And Jess is a gymnast and a dancer. 

Um, and so, uh, they wanted to learn, the guys wanted to learn how to light. And, uh, uh, capture dance and movement. So those are the two sort of ends of the spectrum and they're actually quite different things. To do. And I'll post some of the images up with some lighting diagrams.  Uh, onto the masteringportraitphotography.com. Uh, website at some point. 

Um, but it's been, it was an absolute through, but what surprised me? I think juring the masterclass and it didn't just surprise me. It saddened me. Was that the guys had been regularly going to a studio where everything is pre-set. So the lights are at the powers. They are they're in the positions. 

They are, you can do what you like in the middle, but you not to change. The lighting and I don't think I've ever taken three pictures of the same person without changing the lighting each time. So to hear this from the guys broke my heart a little bit. I think.  Now I can take. Take you back to 2008 when, um, I first joined the MPA, the master photographers association, which is now sadly. Uh, disbanded, but back then in 2008, when you joined,  um, you had to, or you didn't have to, but you went to an induction day. You, I had no idea what to expect. 

I had not long turned full-time as a pro. And so I rocked up to a conference in the middle of, in the Midlands, in, in England. And sat and went and listened through a whole series of seminars on different things, different aspects of, I dunno, portrait, photography, wedding, photography, studio, photography, lifestyle, all sorts of things. 

It was actually a very, very, very productive day. It was the day that I first met the person that was going to become, uh, my incredible mentor, Kevin Wilson.  And it was also the day that I nearly threw the towel in and left the MPA. And it was because one of the presenters stood up. And he started talking about lighting and he talked about lighting studio lighting. In a way that was so dry was so technical. 

So mathematical.  That I couldn't believe that something is creative as taking a photograph, particularly when you have control over the lights had been boiled down. To a whole series of numbers.  One stop on this half a stop later on that two stops later on those two. And you've got your picture. And that was literally the process.  Now I do understand. And in fact, not just understand, but love the fact that studio lighting can be technical. 

I absolutely adore the fact that this technical I'm a geek. I love all of that stuff. Um, it's one of the reasons I've gone back to Allen Chrome is because I love what they're doing with the technology. I adore it. But it's not, that's not creative. That's not how you. Produce beautiful art. That's not how you engage a client. 

That's not how you capture the mood of a moment. You don't do that with numbers. You can't do that with numbers now, I suppose. You could argue that if your lighting is secured and you're not worrying about that, then you can concentrate on your subjects. Okay. I'll take that as an argument. I do understand that might be. Where people are.  But let me put it a different way. What if we said, I don't know.  Jeans and a t-shirt or a suit and a tie. Our perfect uniform for everybody you photograph, let's do it that way around. Let's just assume that clothing. Is exactly the same for everybody. 

Now, the minute I say it, you can hear how stupid that sounds. So why would light. Be the same for every subject clothes, the same clothes don't suit everybody. Nor does the same lighting. If you have around figure around face, then you use the lighting, maybe. Two. Change that into something that the client would prefer. Now, obviously you have to tread a very gentle game and not so clients. One thing, different clients want different things. 

So maybe you have to shoot narrow. Maybe you have to shoot broad, maybe have to shoot with the softest light you've ever shot. Maybe you have to shoot with the hardest light. You've ever shot.  But not changing the light for every single subject. And in my case for every single image.  Doesn't make any sense? 

Why would you not change it? So when a guy said that, It really? It did surprise me. I'm honest. I wasn't expecting that. Um, and it saddened me because it was such an opportunity. Last, I think, um, that they're going into a studio and not able to change everything. So we spent an entire day, an entire day. Moving the lights we set in the lights.  Changing staff. Uh, we use some color lights. 

We did RC in the end. One of the things one of the guys wanted to learn. With how to combine movement. So dragging the shutter.  How to combine movement along with the studio strobes. So you get that. Sort of, um, it's a really beautiful effect. It's not one that I go to very often. Where you have a blurred image and at the end you have pop of the flash and it freezes just the end of the movement. Um, so Jess very patiently. 

She danced. She swerved. She spun.  She did all of these things so that we could practice or they could practice with, uh, dragging the shutter.  And it was. A really liberating day, just going through the principles of lighting, because with all of this stuff, if you understand.  

Why things work? Why you do certain things? Why, why you have a wide open? Sorry, why you have a long shutter speed too, to capture movement, but why the pulse of the light then freezes that movement at the last second. If you have rear curtains sink, if you understand all the bits of the puzzle. Um, you can piece it together for almost anything. Um, and so we spent the morning creating beautiful portraits of Abby and we spent the afternoon creating well havoc, basically lots of movement. Lots of color, um, with Jess. 

And I think there's the rub is that. When you're working in the studio. Every time you press that shutter button. Every single time you press that shutter button. It really should be not just a unique experience between you and the setter. Not just a unique moment in time. But you should have lit it. Like it's a unique moment. It's not just same old, same old. Don't just stick the lights on the wall.  Or in a high glider on their tripods. I love them at their regular settings. Take a look at your client is their skin shiny. In which case will you put the lights in the same place system on who's got very matte skin, um, are their clothes, clothes absorbing light? Because white. Tee shirts and white blouses. I create kicker light under the chin. 

Whereas black clouds don't.  Would you like them? The same? Is that the effect you're looking for? Um, Do you have a client with blonde hair or dark hair, because that will give you slightly different lighting patterns in the hair. Um, do they have a wide face or a narrow face or more importantly? How do they want their features to look. Because if you've got someone wearing contoured makeup and deep foundation, the chances are that person would quite like their skin to look smooth and their cheekbones and her jawline. To have shape. Whereas, if someone's just wearing, let's say the minimal amount of foundation.  Um, they may just want their face to look exactly the way. Um, it does naturally, without any shadows on it, you need to talk, you need to listen and you need to observe. And when you do that. Then, if you have the knowledge of why you like things in certain ways to do certain things, You can then piece that together, but you certainly never leave the lights. The way they are for every single image. 

And if I've one pet peeve and I'll finish this slight runs, it's not meant to be. And I don't know how I got here. Um, I was just thought I'd sit down and record a podcast. Cause it's been way too long. And to Paul from Chester. Um, I do apologize it. Nice comment on Instagram. We have something along the lines of, when will I find a moment to sit and record? Another podcast cause he enjoys them. 

So here GoPro, here you go. Paul. Here's that moment, but I haven't scripted it and I haven't really thought about it and I've ended up tub thumping a little bit.  Um, But I guess the point I'm making is spend the time understanding why you do what you do.  Um, why you play slights, why you post people and then use that knowledge you use that. Process. Two. Create the very best for each and every one. Of your subjects. 

Um, that's anyway, that's my thought for the day. So on that happy note, I'm going to go and have cottage pie. Uh, Sarah has been to, uh, Waitrose in town and has bought the stuff to make cottage pie. And I love it's my favorite meal. I think I know that's a bit prosaic and I don't know why it's my favorite, but it is. 

I love cottage by. Um, there's something really beautiful about it and given just how cold it is at the moment, it'll be wonderfully warming.  So for those of you around next week, we'd love to see you. Uh, for those of you cursed by our workshops. I think we have one workshop. We have one place on one workshop left. Uh, before we head off to work, uh, abroad for seven weeks.  And that's, uh, on mastering off-camera lighting. Uh, it's a workshop on, he says looking it up. 

It's a workshop on January, January the 20th. So just to just over a week away. Well, I think we've got one place left and we're going to explore assay many of the topics. That we did on the workshop this week, where we balance, um,  Uh, available light with, uh, off-camera flash off camera, tungsten notes, eyesight tungsten showing my age off-camera led people. Uh, I don't think we ever either. 

Remember the last time I used the tungsten light or a halogen light for anything. It's all absolutely led these days. So it's going to be a brilliant day. Um, exploring light lighting patterns. Um, Different ideas and showing how you can do everything from creating the most natural light all the way through to the most complex.  Uh, on that note as well on off-camera flash. Uh, look out over the next day or two for a video on exactly this off-camera flash, which, uh, Sarah, myself and Katie put together. Um, a few weeks ago, I've just finished the edits. 

I finished the edits for that last night. Um, and that will go up onto mastering portrait photography. For those of you who are members. Uh, it's a 30 minute video all about this very topic. So if you fancy having a look at that, please do. Become a subscriber. Where you can not only find tons of videos, tons of articles and lighting diagrams, but also get access to our Facebook page, our Facebook community, where you can ask questions and get answers from a really positive, energetic crowd. 

And I should say hi to all of the guys who are already in there. There's just a joy. I'm on that group.  Has never a negative word said everyone's really positive and enthusiastic and it will stay that way because we make sure. It stays that week  📍 stays that way. Sorry. So on that happy note, I'm going to go and fill it with some carbohydrate, a glass of wine, and have a nice cozy evening in front of the tele.

Um, and until next time, whatever else you do  be kind to yourself. Take care.       

Sometimes it's just a pleasure to sit back and listen.  This is one of those moments - for me, certainly, but hopefully for you too. 

I had the pleasure of sitting and chatting with two icons of the industry - Sean Conboy and the inimatable nonagenarian, Stuart Clark who is not only still shooting at the age of 97 but is a considerable racontour (you can hear me and Sean laughing in the background throughout!)

Stuart started his career in 1941, so his stories are not only entertaining but are fascinating as they cover every photography development from glass plate through to the state of the art digital wizardry we're facing today.

This interview is worth listening to every one of its 90 or so minutes!

Enjoy!

 

Cheers
P.

---

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

 

---

Transcript

[00:00:00] Paul: So there are so, so many things I love about being in this industry, the things we get to do, and in particular, this podcast, and one of the many things is having these moments that you're about to hear, where I get to sit and chat with someone I've known for a very long time, Sean Conboy, fantastic photographer, and just a wonderful human being.

[00:00:20] And someone he introduced me to, a guy called Stuart Clark. 

[00:00:23] Now Stuart is 98 years old in July this year. Self proclaimed as one of the oldest working photographers in the country, and I'm not sure that anyone's going to argue with that. He started training as a photographer in 1940. That makes this, he's been working as a photographer for 84 years.

[00:00:46] And the whole of this interview is taking place in what was, his photography studio in a little town just outside Leeds. It's his front living room, but it's huge. It's got a high ceiling and you can imagine how the lighting would have been hot, continuous lights and families just having the best time with someone who I learned very quickly, is a storyteller and a raconteur, uh, just a wonderful, a wonderful human being. There are lots of things to listen out for in the following interview, and let me draw your attention to just a few. Uh, listen out for the flash powder story. It's very funny. Uh, the story of, uh, People retouching, lots of retouching stories from the 1940s and billiard ball complexions.

[00:01:31] . Doing multiple jobs in a day. He used to do three or four jobs in a day, and have the timing so accurate that could include photographing a wedding. He learned his craft. He's great.

[00:01:42] He's spent time creating images for press, looking for alternative, alternative images and looking for PR images that no matter how much a sub editor crops them, the brand or at least the story is still very much intact. He talks about the utter love of the job and appreciating what a privileged position photographers like ourselves are in every day of the week.

[00:02:07] He talks a little about the role of agencies and how they now manage messages from companies in a way that probably they never did. He talks about relationships and he talks about being positive and persistence. He also talks about the role of the Institute.

[00:02:24] Finally, he talks a little bit about photographers always being the fag end of everything, but in the end, what he talks about really, It's the love of his job and the love of his clients. 

[00:02:35] Why am I telling you all of this upfront? Well, this is a long interview, but the sound of Stuart's voice and the history that it represents, as well as the fact that he's more current than an awful lot of photographers who I know right now who are much younger, uh, but just, there's something in his, his entire manner that is captivating and enthralling, informative and useful. And so, although it's a long interview, I thought I'd just explain a little bit about why I found it so appealing and why I've left the edit almost entirely intact. I've removed a few lumps and bumps where we all managed to hit a microphone as we're gesticulating.

[00:03:16] So picture the scene, there's myself, Sean and Stuart sitting, in armchairs and on couches.

[00:03:27] And if you're wondering why it took me quite so long, this interview is actually, it goes back to February of this year, and why it took me quite so long to get it out, it was partly because there was a lot of of lumps to remove and partly because it was this trip, this interview, this podcast that I was returning home from when the Land Rover blew up.

[00:03:46] And frankly, I think there's a little bit of trauma there with a six and a half thousand pound bill to re, to replace and repair piston number two. I think my heart just, I needed a minute just to not recall it every single time I try to edit this particular podcast down. It's a wonderful interview. Please enjoy.

[00:04:06] I know it's quite long, um, but what an absolute legend. I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. 

[00:04:32] So, firstly, Stuart, thank you for welcoming us into your home. We've driven quite a long way, uh, to come and see you. Sean, uh, recommended we speak to you, because the number of stories you have make even his collection of stories look Insignificant.

[00:04:48] And as we all know, Sean, The Footnote Conboy has more stories than any man I've ever met up until probably this, this moment in time. So to kick the conversation off, how did you become a photographer?

[00:05:05] Stuart: It was an unfortunate or fortunate chain of events because, um, I was at the Leeds College of Art in 1940, 41, and I had the desire and intention of being a commercial artist, which is now referred as graphic designer and at that time, being wartime, there was little advertising being done, and so, uh, perhaps I was not sufficiently talented, but I finished up working for a firm who were essentially photoengravers, but they had a commercial photography studio as well, and they were short of somebody to join them, and I went in there and became virtually an apprentice photographer. This was very interesting because at that time, again, there was very little commercial photography advertising being done, and so all our efforts, or most of our efforts, were centred on war work, which involved going round the factories and, uh, Photographing for record purposes, the input of the particular company. And in those days, I can tell you that that was not a very comfortable proposition because we were on total blackout, and therefore, all the fumes in the factory, whatever they were, had very little chance of escaping, so you've got the fumes and the heat, and then of course we were only Illuminating scenes with flash powder, which was an added hazard, and, and so Photography outside in the factories was not very pleasant, but inside the factory, or in the studio, we were also doing war work, and that was to photograph silhouettes, scale models of all aircraft of both the enemy and, uh, and, uh, Home, uh, Aircraft for identification purposes, so that the air gunners were not shooting our own planes down in action. And another very interesting thing which I have always remembered was that the four, or the eight cannons In the Spitfire, that was four in each wing, were harmonized to converge at a point away from the Spitfire so that the Fire, the maximum fire point was when those two lots of cannons converged.

[00:08:34] The only reference that the pilots had was a silhouette which we had photographed, so that he could visualize that silhouette in the, aiming sight of his 

[00:08:50] guns. 

[00:08:51] Paul: a very early heads up display. 

[00:08:53] Stuart: Indeed. 

[00:08:54] Paul: Yeah.

[00:08:55] Stuart: And, so, that was quite an important element, I think, of our war work for the Air Ministry.

[00:09:03] The main factory was engraving the, conical, rangefinder cones for 25 pound howitzers.

[00:09:14] Paul: Right.

[00:09:15] Stuart: And at the time of leaving school, everybody had to be doing war work. 

[00:09:21] And so I went to the company on the pretext of doing war work of that nature, rather than going round snapping.

[00:09:31] Paul: Right.

[00:09:32] Sean: Stuart, could you also, um, I mean you've told me many great tales about your time actually in the, uh, armed services film unit, i think that might be quite interesting, 

[00:09:42] Stuart: Well, I was called up and because of my interest in mechanical things and gadgetry and so forth, I finished up in the Royal Army Service Corps. But a friend of my mother's husband suggested that I applied for a trade test in photography. And one day I was called up to the orderly room and they said, We've got the movement order here for you. Um, to go to Pinewood Studios, of all places. I don't know what this is about, but anyway, here's your movement order. So, I went down to Pinewood, and we had a trade test, and I think I finished up, uh, top of the, the, uh, examination. But then I was returned to unit at Catterick, and I was up there for another few months, and then I was posted. And eventually, after about six weeks of the posting, I got another movement order to go back to Pinewood Studios, where I started my course in cinephotography,

[00:11:06] and still photography. Now, this was the last course. before Pinewood closed down and the unit closed down. I'm talking about Pinewood closing down, Pinewood was the headquarters of the Army Film and Photographic Unit from when it was formed in October 41.

[00:11:35] The course included preparation for action photography, essentially. when the course started, the war was still on in Central Europe. but before the course finished, it, uh, the war finished.

[00:11:58] And The Japanese War was still going on until September of the same year, which was 45. But we were still being trained, and when the course finished, we had very little to do but just wait to see what happened. And so from September to, um, December of that year, we were just hanging about in the studios.

[00:12:30] We were then posted to the Far East, in fact to Malaya, where the No. 9 unit was formed. Having been moved by Batten's headquarters, Mountbatten's headquarters, from Ceylon to Singapore, thought that it would be probably much more congenial there than in Ceylon, India.

[00:12:57] So number nine was there and it's interesting to note that right at this moment an exhibition is being produced for the photographer's gallery on Bert Hardy's life and Bert Hardy at the time that I there was, in fact, the stills captain in charge of all the still photography in Malay Command. Or the, not Malay Command, the Far East Command, because we had outstations in Java and Hong Kong, and even, uh, one guy, uh, was in, um, in Hiroshima. So that was the formation of the, the, uh, Far East, Southeast Asia Command photographic, uh, outfit. until it closed down, uh, in September, August September of 46, and we are then dispersed Some went to the Imperial War Museum, the Imperial, uh, war, graves Commission, et cetera, and six of us went back to Vienna, where we joined number 9, Public Relations, because unit had been disbanded completely. So, there in, uh, in Austria, we were doing what they call Local Boy Stories, and we made a couple of films on the Irish regiments and also the East Yorkshire, not the East Yorkshire, the Yorkshire regiments who were guarding and on guard duties at the palace, Shurnbran Palace, which everybody has heard of, and um, and so that carried on until, uh, the Until I was demobbed in 1947, December. came home and went back to the company I originally started with because they were compelled to take people for 12 months. And at the end of that time, I decided to leave I had a bit of a a difference of opinion with the studio manager, who was RAF, and I was Army, and I was a sergeant as well, and I don't think he was quite that when he was in the RAF photographic section, but there was a resentment anyway.

[00:16:02] of my presence. 

[00:16:03] So, I went to the firm called C. R. H. Pickards, who were one of the finest industrial, uh, and leading industrial photographic units, companies, in the north of England.

[00:16:24] It was there, then, that I began to learn industrial photography. And we photographed all sorts of various things, from factory engineering, factories, products and so forth, lathes, milling machines, railway engines, all manner of things. And that's where I cut my teeth on industrial photography.

[00:16:56] Sean: And, and Stuart, what sort of, um, equipment would you be using in those days? not 

[00:17:01] Stuart: so ha! 

[00:17:02] Sean: but how 

[00:17:03] would you be lighting these spaces in those days 

[00:17:05] Stuart: um The equipment that we were using was always, almost always, whole plate, six a half, eight by, eight and a half, six a half, uh, folding field cameras. when I started, we

[00:17:29] were on glass plates. But then the advent of film came in. And this was obviously much lighter stuff to carry around. And every, exposure had to count. Now in today's terms, where you press the button and pick the best out of however many, all we used to do was a duplicate at the most. So we used to There was a variation in the exposure or the aperture setting, and that was the only difference the two exposures.

[00:18:19] So what we used to do was develop one side of the, uh, the double dark slides, see what they were like, if they wanted a little bit more or a bit less development, that was applied to second side. And, don't know whether you've ever heard of the expression of, um, developing by, uh, vision. But we used to have a very dim green light, and the sensitive film.

[00:18:59] was not, uh, sensitive to the green light. 

[00:19:03] Paul: All right. 

[00:19:04] Stuart: But you had to be in the darkroom for ten minutes for your eyes to become adjusted, and you could then see absolutely every detail of the, the development process. And when the highlights started to you, to, To show a dark mark through the back of the antihalation backing, then the development was just about right, if but if you wanted a little bit more contrast, then you just pushed it on. If it had been a dull day, a dull, miserable day, then you pushed the development on a little bit further.

[00:19:49] Sean: And 

[00:19:49] Stuart: you've asked 

[00:19:50] Sean: be, how would you be lighting some of these scenes? I'm very intrigued at that 

[00:19:53] Stuart: I 

[00:19:53] Sean: that 

[00:19:53] Stuart: about to say that.

[00:19:54] Um, for big areas, we used to use flash powder. And a little bit of flash powder goes a long way, believe me. But it was pretty dangerous stuff. And um, I remember we photographed a wedding on one occasion at the Majestic Hotel Harrogate. And there were 450 people. at the reception and they wanted a photograph to show as many of the people as possible. So we put the whole plate camera on a table stood up there with tray into which I poured flash powder.

[00:20:38] Now then, this was actuated. with a percussion cap, like we used to have in little

[00:20:46] hand pistols for toys. and when you pulled the release catch, that ignited the cap,

[00:20:56] that ignited the flash powder.

[00:21:00] So, the exposure was only going to be once. One exposure.

[00:21:07] And so, the photographer I was with, he said, right everybody. Look this way, and I want to be making sure that everybody keeps still.

[00:21:21] I'm going to count five for you, but don't move until I've finished counting.

[00:21:29] So the idea was to take the sheath out of the slide. With having put a cap over the lens, shutter, just an open lens with a cap or a lid on the front.

[00:21:46] And the technique was to take the cap off hold it in front of the lens, so that that allowed the vibration or any vibration in the camera to settle down and then take the exposure. the idea was count 1, 2, 3, 4, then take the cup off. And on four I ignited the flash gun and then the cup went on and the guy that I was worth put the sheath back and said, right, let's get out of here quick. The reason for that was that you got the brightness, got the, the buildup of the available lights. then it's just topped off, illuminated with the flash, not a very big one, I hasten to add. But the significance of flash powder was that there was a flame which simply went upwards. 

[00:23:00] And that was it, that was all there was to be seen. But, it produced smoke, which used to go into, onto the ceiling, and it would roll across the ceiling, carrying with it the grains of the flash powder, which had obviously changed colour from

[00:23:24] silver

[00:23:25] To yellow, that was okay. But when the waiters came to move the, uh, soup plates, what they found was a white circle on a yellow 

[00:23:47] cloth.

[00:23:51] And you can also visualize the fact that a lot of people had a lot of. Little flash powder grains in their hair 

[00:24:01] as well. well. By the time that

[00:24:04] By the time that this happened, we were halfway back to Leeds. 

[00:24:08] Sean: Very good. 

[00:24:09] Stuart: But this this was the scourge of flash powder because you could only take one shot. Because the place used to, the whole of the place, the factory, if you using a large amount of powder, made a lot of smoke, and it just collected on the ceiling and it obscured it, the vision. So, we used to use photo floods, these were overrun pearl lamps, we used to have six on a button. And if the subject was still, we could go around on a long lead and paint scene with light. And that was, and that became established, So flash balder started to go,

[00:25:08] Paul: Right.

[00:25:10] Stuart: but you see, at this time, flash bulbs hadn't really got going.

[00:25:17] The GEC flash bulbs, which were foil filled, were about the only thing that was available. Um, in this, in this country. And they were sympathetic.

[00:25:31] And the GEC Warehouse in Leeds on one occasion, uh, a consignment of, um, bulbs came,

[00:25:43] Uh,

[00:25:44] in a, in a case, and, uh, one of the attendants decided that he would test them to see whether they were all alright.

[00:25:54] So

[00:25:54] he fired one.

[00:25:57] and 50 flashbulbs, because

[00:26:01] they had to be in contact with each other. If they were separate, it didn't work, but when you put them side by side, they were sympathetic.

[00:26:11] Paul: What

[00:26:11] happens? 

[00:26:13] Stuart: Well, the whole lot 

[00:26:14] went 

[00:26:14] off. A whole box full of, um, flashbulbs, and they weren't cheap at that time. 

[00:26:22] So 

[00:26:23] really, 

[00:26:23] that was, that was the basic equipment which we used to

[00:26:29] use.

[00:26:31] And

[00:26:32] it was all,

[00:26:33] it

[00:26:34] was all, uh, 8x6.

[00:26:37] Sometimes it was 10x8.

[00:26:41] The, uh, the railway engines, which we used to photograph for the Hunsley's Engine Company

[00:26:47] and hudderswell Clark's in Leeds, we always used to use 10x8 for those. Now it was interesting there because we used to have a particular date for going to photograph them. And

[00:27:04] they were all finished up in black, white and grey paint. Because that served the cost of retouching the finished print.

[00:27:15] There was very little photography done at that time. Apart from views and so forth. But anything that meant a machine, a lathe the, or whatever, it always had to go to the process retoucher who airbrushed the reflections or put one or two, put a shadow in or whatever it is. It was a highly skilled, uh, process. Uh, process, retoucher with white lines and so forth. But the interesting thing about these two railway engine companies was. that they only painted them on one side, the side that was being photographed.

[00:27:59] Paul: And

[00:28:01] Stuart: we used to go back to the studio, develop them straight away, yes, the negatives are alright, as soon as that happened, then they would strip all the black, white, and grey paint off and finish up in the customer's required, required colours.

[00:28:23] Paul: Wow.

[00:28:25] So, so the bit that strikes me is retouching has been part of this art 

[00:28:30] Sean: a long time. Well, 

[00:28:33] Paul: I mean, think about

[00:28:33] it, right? Because we, there's a lot of debate about retouching and post production. That rages. Even now, but when you think about a manufacturer only painting one side of a train, they're painting it colours that repro well, and then it's being handed on to a retoucher, retouching's been going on for a very long time. 

[00:28:51] Stuart: Well of course, everything at that time was, was, um, retouched, and most portraits finish up with complexions like billiard balls. There were no shadows, etc. 

[00:29:03] Paul: haha, It's like nothing's changed! 

[00:29:07] Stuart: Indeed. Indeed, and, and when people speak now in condemnation of, oh well you can see the retouching and so forth, well the only thing that you have to do now is to make sure that it doesn't show. But, it was, really when Photoshop and the like came in on the scene, this was manna from heaven.

[00:29:32] Paul: Yeah.

[00:29:33] Stuart: Because it cut out the need to do the work on the actual print. To retouch transparencies was a rather different process altogether.

[00:29:48] And it was 

[00:29:49] Sean: difficult process to be

[00:29:50] Stuart: Oh yes, and very highly skilled. And the firm that I worked for, Giltrous Brothers, who were the photo engravers, they used to retouch twenty, twenty

[00:30:02] four, twenty glass plates. Whereby, when you talk about printing today, and I think the, uh, top of the range, uh, Epson, Uh, printer works in, uh, we're printing 11 colors, but the, limited edition photolitho, uh, illustrations were, uh, certainly on, on 13 colors

[00:30:36] And from 13 separate plates. All of which were retouched.

[00:30:42] Paul: So

[00:30:42] the plates were retouched separately? 

[00:30:45] Stuart: correct? 

[00:30:45] Oh yes. 

[00:30:46] Paul: Wow.

[00:30:48] Stuart: So

[00:30:48] Paul: each of these plates is a black and

[00:30:49] white plate that's going to take one color ink?

[00:30:52] Sean: Correct. I understood the

[00:30:52] Paul: the process right?

[00:30:53] Sean: Yeah. 

[00:30:54] Stuart: process, right? Retouches were earning more than photographers at any time. 

[00:31:01] Sean: It's most interesting to hear this, Stuart, because you come into my era when I was learning photography and the discipline of the transparency, the 4x5 and 8 inch transparency, and of course there, retouching was an anathema because if we retouched the transparency, we started to lose some quality.

[00:31:17] Stuart: Yes. we to, it was a period of photography, I think, more than ever, when we had to get everything right in the camera because the client demanded the transparency. Whereas the processes you were using enabled this retouching method, which is very, very interesting.

[00:31:29] There are certain elements, as you well know, with your, even with your skills, whereby there are elements which cannot be lit out or exposed out or 

[00:31:43] whatever. And there has to be some artwork, or whatever you call it, retouching done. And at the end of the day, most of the photography which, which I was taking and involved with, was going to be reproduced. And so if it was retouched at source, before it got to the retouchers on the reproduction, uh, side.

[00:32:11] of the plate making, then that was, it was as we wanted it rather than what they thought it should be. 

[00:32:20] Paul: As ever photographers being control freaks. 

[00:32:24] Stuart: Well, after something like two to three years at Picards, by which time I got a fair amount of idea of what's going on. 

[00:32:37] Um, I decided that, um, I ought to seek pastures new and became a staff photographer for the 600 Group Of Companies just on the west side of Leeds. And there I photographed secondhand machinery, which they used to recondition and I photographed the, lathes and milling machines, drilling machines and that sort of thing, and they were then printed on and they, all these were taken on the half plate camera, which is half the size of a whole plate camera, obviously, um, and, um. they were made on 6x4 glossy prints, and these were distributed by the appropriate department to potential buyers. And I was there for three and a half years. But I'd got to the stage where I'd photographed everything that didn't move, and I was becoming rather dissatisfied with life. So I 

[00:33:49] Paul: Do you mind if I ask how old are you at this point?

[00:33:53] Stuart: this point? Well, let me see, I would be about, twenty, twenty four, twenty, what, twenty five. Right. Twenty five, six. 

[00:34:03] Paul: Right.

[00:34:04] Stuart: I was dissatisfied because I didn't think I was getting anywhere.

[00:34:09] Sean: So you were, you were ambitious, really, to take your photography on to another level and, and have more control, would you say, over what you were doing

[00:34:16] Stuart: you could say that, yes. just say to work for yourself, Stuart? 

[00:34:20] Sean: The Thing is that the, the company that I worked for. was part of the A. H. Leach corporate, uh, company at Brighouse, which was, uh, a very big organization with studios in Cambridge, Manchester, Glasgow. Um, and the prospects of moving to any one of those places was stalemate because they were well staffed was no flexibility for moving, and so I thought, well the only way to see whether I am a capable photographer was to make it on my own, see if I could make it on my own. And in fact started the business in some premises now occupied by the local library. down at the bottom end of the village.

[00:35:19] Stuart: But this was going on for some time, two or three years, and then the question of getting married.

[00:35:27] came into the reckoning, and this house in which we're sitting now became available, and very suitable because the front room lounge in which we now sit became my portrait studio.

[00:35:46] And across the top of the window, which is facing opposite you, was a bank of Kodak, um, lighting with five, four 500 watt lamps in each for general illumination.

[00:36:04] And So then I had a spotlight which is, was behind you for lighting the hair and then a fill in light on this side. And by this time, we'd moved on to two and a quarter square, real film cameras, 12 on 120.

[00:36:22] I hadn't really at that stage got into, back into the industrial scene because I was doing social photography, weddings and portraits, to build up a reserve of capital to move on to buying more advanced equipment.

[00:36:44] And the changes at that time were considerable. 5x4 were on the, on the fringe. At the time that I'm speaking of, German 9x12 plate cameras were still being used for press photography. And there they were, on the touchline at Heddingley, these, the local press photographers, with box of 9x12 single shot plates freezing to death, and um, and that's it, one off shots.

[00:37:26] But I missed the point earlier on, I think, of saying that uh, every shot had to count. And, over the years, that has influenced me considerably, because I've always made sure that everything was right before I took the exposure.

[00:37:48] And whatever the, whatever the occasion was, whether it was an industrial scene or a social scene, you look at the subject before you, to begin with, and then start looking round and see what's happening in the background. Because, if you do that, it saves retouching, and that's an absolute classical instance of today, where people, when Photoshop came, what about so and so?

[00:38:22] Oh, don't bother about that, I'll take it out. I can take it out in Photoshop, and I've heard speakers come to the Institute and talk about, Oh, I do this and do that, and I've said, well, how long does it take you to do that? Oh, well, a couple of hours or so, like that. It could have all been addressed in the taking, and that would have been eliminated.

[00:38:51] And when you talk about 2 or 3 hours retouching, well how much do you charge for, oh well I'll throw it all in.

[00:39:00] And the number of people who I've heard say that, oh well I'll just include it. I think they've got a bit wise to it now because Uh, any extramural activities are chargeable by the hour, and, uh, and it's certainly in need of that, but what I would say to any in, up and coming photographer, they need to sure of what it is that they're taking to avoid having to retouch it afterwards, albeit that in today's terms,

[00:39:40] With the relaxation of dress and disciplines and so forth, Um, I don't think it quite matters. And so, I think as far as today is concerned, I would find it difficult to go back to being a photographer in today's terms. Because, I can sit in a restaurant or in a room, somebody's room or whatever, and I'm looking at the, the vertical lines of the structure to, to see whether that line lines up with that, and it's surprising how often I can see lines that are out, even buildings.

[00:40:27] I could see buildings that, that were not, um, vertical. completely vertical and line up with the I sit there looking at the streets and doors and windows and it's very, it's very difficult to get out of that discipline into the much more free and relaxed attitude towards photography today.

[00:40:56] I don't know whether I, whether you would agree with that or not.

[00:41:00] Sean: Stuart, I would agree with what you're saying and it's like the photographer's eye, your whole life has been trained by your eye viewing scenes and viewing situations and it's quite impossible to turn that off really.

[00:41:10] That's part of you and how you see things, so no, I couldn't agree with you more. So Stuart, tell me, you obviously, the room we're in now was your studio, and you're in here, you're now married, you're doing more social photography, as you said, and obviously starting to make money. Where did the business go from there?

[00:41:29] What was your sort of next stage really? Because I believe you had another studio then in the village, is that correct? 

[00:41:35] Stuart: The children grew up and we were running out of room space,

[00:41:40] So an opportunity came in the main street down the road to take over a building, um, which I was able to use the ground floor and turn it into a studio, a reception studio and darkroom. And, uh, during that time, I was doing, um, mainly social photography, but also, I had got associated with the local newspaper which circulated in this area, and I virtually, without being on the strength, I virtually became the staff photographer for the whole of the circulation area.

[00:42:32] So on a Saturday in the summer, it was not unknown for me to do perhaps 11 cover 11 eventualities such as garden parties, a flower show, etc. and also fit in a complete wedding. So,

[00:43:00] Paul: So, 

[00:43:00] Stuart: so

[00:43:01] my time, my, my mind used to work like a, like

[00:43:07] a clock, uh, a precision clock, because it was, it was timed to the nth degree. Um, what time is the, uh, what time is the wedding? How long will the service be? Where's the reception? And I had a mental, uh, mental, uh, memo of the distance from here to there, and the length of time it takes to get from, from there to there.

[00:43:36] And, as far as the, as the newspaper is concerned, I tried to take a different picture. at each occasion, so that we don't want the same picture of women serving tea, uh, for the WI, the church of this and that and the other. Um, I tried to make a different picture. So that training and experience fitted me in good stead for when the industrial scene tailed off.

[00:44:15] Sean: I've just, uh, I've just, um, picked a photograph up here.

[00:44:18] Stuart's got quite a number of his photographs in the room with us here. It's a very nice PR, press type shot here of Harry Ramsden's Fish and Chips shop, and it's got a very 1980s mobile phone and the world famous in this part of the world, Nora Batty which some of you may know from a famous last of the summer wine tv show and i think this is to do with the flotation of Harry Ramsden because it became quite a successful company didn't it so talk a little bit about this photograph Stuart it's very captivating and i think very very well executed

[00:44:50] Stuart: Well, the story as you've already identified, I'm surprised that you have, because that was when they went public. And, uh, the, story was the Harry Ramsden fish restaurant, which, it was the center of all activities, just on the outskirts of Leeds, and they, as you said, they got Nora Batty there, who was a very leading personality at the time, and, of course, telephones, you can see the size of that, that mobile telephone, which is about the size of a half of a brick. Um, this was the, um, the story. And the essential thing was to locate the seed of the picture with the name of the, the company. across the top of the, the print or the format.

[00:45:46] Sean: And if I could just butt in there Stuart just to say sorry to do this but I think it's important to get this across that I've just picked this image up and the story has come straight across to me. We've got the mobile phone. You've got the Financial Times, which is holding the fish and chips. You've got the sort of banker type chap behind her.

[00:46:02] It just shows the skill that's gone into that picture, that an image is telling that story to me all these years later. Because I presume this photograph is 30 or 40 years old, Stuart. Am I correct there? 

[00:46:12] Stuart: It's quite a long time. And the essential thing about that picture, uh, Sean, is that however much a sub editor chops it down. There was always be something of the story there, because the nearest or the furthest down that they could chop it would be across the top of the bloke's head, but it would still say Harry on the left hand side.

[00:46:42] And, and, that was the, the art of, at that time, of getting the story across for public relations. Include the company's name or the brand in the background somewhere so that it had to be seen and it couldn't be taken out. 

[00:47:03] Paul: I ask you a question? Have you always loved being a

[00:47:06] Stuart: being a photographer? Oh, absolutely. 

[00:47:09] I wouldn't do anything else. Um, had a very enjoyable life in every aspect of it. And I'll tell you one thing about it, and Sean will agree with me on this. Photography, photographers are in a very privileged position, and they don't realize how much so. Because so often, they are in, at the ground floor of activity. A conference, a confidential conference projecting the aims of the company.

[00:47:46] I was in a company when I was in the conference actually, when the whole of the regional bank managers were in a conference at Harrogate, and they were told then, that we were going to dispose of the buildings, our assets, and I photographed several banks which were up for sale and they were simply being sold off. The managers didn't know. What's the photograph for? Oh, it's just for the estate. I knew what they were, why they were selling it. It was going on the market.

[00:48:25] You know all these little convenience grocery shops and so on, on filling stations, I was in the conference there for all the ESSO managers in the region, when the the project was put to them that we're going to put these little kiosks, or whatever it is, and, and, and there I was. Um, and we were privy to information that was light years ahead of the actual official announcement.

[00:48:59] Paul: Yeah.

[00:48:59] Stuart: Metahall, for instance, um, I was in the conference when they were talking about what their footprint was needed to be to make that viable. And there are several instances such as that. And you do get it to a more personal level, where we've got, uh, injuries, personal injuries to photograph.

[00:49:26] Oh well, what about Snow?

[00:49:29] Well,

[00:49:29] And you just can't get involved with passing that or repeating that information.

[00:49:35] Paul: Yeah.

[00:49:36] Stuart: It's confidential. And as I said, photographers are so often right in the heart of things. And I'm sure, Sean, that in today's terms, you'll be more exposed to it than I was with them.

[00:49:51] Sean: Well, very much so Stuart.

[00:49:52] Very much so. Yeah. I mean, it's, I can't tell you how many NDAs I've signed in my career, so, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. 

[00:50:00] So Stuart, so you've now got the studio, the, the biggest studio now on in the, in the, in the village here. And you're obviously doing your social, your weddings, you're obviously doing a lot of PR.

[00:50:11] Did you start to do, did the industrial photography come back a little bit more as well?

[00:50:15] Stuart: Yes But I was, I was extremely fortunate and the odd thing about it was that the connection came through the, uh, the work of the local paper because three miles from here was the control room for the Central Electricity Generating Board and they were having an open night and the local paper was invited to to cover the, the event. So I went along and took a few photographs of whatever was going on and had a bit of a look around the place and subsequently then I was approached by their, their public relations department for the northeast region. Would I take a photograph of something else? 

[00:51:13] From that stemmed the work, which really became the mainstay of my activities with the Central Electricity Generating Board.

[00:51:26] Again, I wasn't on the staff, but I was vir, virtually became the staff photographer for the Northeast Region. And the amazing thing is that here I was, photographing power stations, the grand openings of power stations, starting with Thorpe Marsh, which was the, down in Doncaster, which had two 400 megawatt sets, which were the f The Forerunner, they Thorpe Marsh was really the testbed for the, um, the 400 megawatt stations which followed.

[00:52:13] And there again, this was being in on the ground floor whenever there was a fault down there or whatever. or a problem, um, I was called in to, to, to take the photographs. 

[00:52:27] Sean: So

[00:52:28] Stuart, would you say that, um, he's very interesting listening to this about how your business built. Would you say that networking was a great part of building your business?

[00:52:37] Stuart: Networking, well they call it networking now, and it's, it's contacts really. And I think, I'm sure that you'll agree that being in the right place at the right time, and that really applies to anything, the theatrical world, et cetera, and, not necessarily knowing the people, the right people, but getting on with them, and being able to mix with people, and behave in a way that people expect you to. So 

[00:53:10] Sean: Would you have any sort of advice or tips for a young photographer or somebodnew breaking into photography and how to. build a business? Have you anything to add there at all? 

[00:53:22] Stuart: I think that in today's terms, it is extremely difficult for photographers. And I'll tell you why, because I think that the opportunities which I just mentioned are remote, probably remote in the extreme. Social photography is something else, and the, the website, and all the various media opportunities, with which I am unfamiliar and have no knowledge of because I've not had the need to do it. But I am aware because I look at what people are doing. And that's another instance of success. Of keeping an eye on what other people are doing. If you admire anybody's particular work, then that sets the example and the criteria to work to. But as far as going back to contact is concerned, I have the distinct impression now that not only photography, but everything now stems from public Relations and I don't know whether you've noticed it or not, but if there's, if there are any problems, on the one hand, of people's behavior or their activities, or whatever it may be, adversely or favorably, and the promotion of brands and industries and business, it all seems to stem now very much from the agencies. 

[00:55:12] If you read question of the so and so company are going to introduce this product or

[00:55:22] service or whatever it is, or they've taken over a business. the

[00:55:27] statements attributed to the managing director or chief executive or accountant or whatever it is, right across the board, a great many of the people that are being quoted, I would suggest, are not capable of speaking and thinking the way that the statement appears in print. And it raises sometimes, a lot of suspicion as to just what is behind this thing. This business with the post office. It's full of it. And so the point that I'm making is that advertising agencies, that's another one, the advertising agencies are in direct contact with the, um, with the brand or the company.

[00:56:24] And so the opportunities of the photographers, in my judgment, are minimized because of the hold. that the advertising agencies have on the job. 

[00:56:43] And 

[00:56:43] they, 

[00:56:45] they will say who they want and who should be employed. They may think them best or otherwise. And it also then comes down to, rights, and I bet you are right in the thick of this, that, uh, you are the, the favorite bloke on the, on the block, and whilst ever that person is engaged in that company, your situation is secure. But suddenly, if he goes to pastures new, and they've already got their established photographers, as far as you're concerned, you've lost that company.

[00:57:28] Sean: Very 

[00:57:28] Stuart: company. 

[00:57:29] Sean: very true. Yeah, yeah. 

[00:57:30] Stuart: Is it true?

[00:57:31] Paul: But there's always opportunities with these things, I mean, in the end, there are more photographs being created today than ever historically, I think you're right about the structures of advertising agencies, though this isn't my world, when someone moves on, there's an opportunity, and there's always the opportunity to stay as well, there is risk, of course there's risk, but equally, you could be the guy he takes with you.

[00:57:54] So how do you make that happen?

[00:57:56] Sean: Well, I think it's very apt because I've had two or three key clients in my career that have moved numerous times, you know, seriously big companies and they've taken me with them, yeah. And not only that, in some cases, they've taken me to their new company. And it's gone well. They've then moved on to another company and taken me with them, but the company they've left still retains me.

[00:58:19] So there's a benefit that way. But I think it's really, I greatly believe in the, in the networking, keeping in touch with people, making an effort at all times. And I think, I know we've got today's digital world and there's lots of advantages to that, but also personal contact I think is still really, really important.

[00:58:38] Relationships and personal contact.

[00:58:40] Stuart: What you are saying is, is correct. And I remember an uncle of mine who was a milkman and, had a, a big dairy, and he once said to my mum, oh, well, it's so and so, he's come again, a rep has come. It's been three times, so really it deserves an order.

[00:59:03] There's a 

[00:59:04] lot 

[00:59:05] Paul: in

[00:59:05] Stuart: a lot in

[00:59:06] truth in that, backs and it backs up what you were just saying, of keeping in contact, and, of course as far as advertising is concerned, or mail shots. the first one they take no notice of and throw away. The second one, oh well, there's another one from this so and so. The third one, it is usually reckoned that the person will be activated by that And so, as you said, keeping in contact is very important.

[00:59:42] But I'm bound to say that breaking in a lot of it is by accident, but certainly the persistence of contact is very important.

[00:59:56] And when you consider, you see, over the years we have thought of Only the Institute, or I have, and I've done, I've put a lot of time and work into it, as other people have, without which we might have been a lot more better off or a lot wealthier than we in fact are.

[01:00:20] Sean: Stuart, did, did, when we say the institute, it's the British Institute Professional Photography we're talking about here. And I, I'm a member too, and that's how I met Stuart through the institute. Through your long career as a photographer, how important did you find the, The Institute and the ability to mix and talk and, and, and work, you know, get information from other photographers, I suppose.

[01:00:41] How important did you find that 

[01:00:44] Stuart: Photographers, um, are, as you know, very, very much individualists. they work a lot on their own, and when you consider that there are probably 7 or 10, 000 practicing photographers in this country, and so few of them belong to anything. 

[01:01:10] It makes you wonder how all those people survive. but, it really comes back to, to, uh, what we were saying earlier, of contact, those people must be in contact with other people.

[01:01:29] Their reputation goes before them, obviously, and when you consider the situation with the Royals, for instance, who, from time to time, have official photographs taken, um, by names that I've never heard of, where you would perhaps expect that they are members of the, this organization, the Royal Photographic Society, as a case in point. Um, these people are not members of them and so how they I'm not talking about the Litchfields, I'm talking about the other people who officially, officially photograph, uh, in recent times, the, um, William and Kate's family, the, their birthday or whatever anniversary it was. So, those people, um, are plowing their own furrow.

[01:02:33] But going back to the the meaning of the institute, whereby people are individual, the opportunity over the past years was for all these individuals to rub shoulders with each other and the networking that went on then. For instance, you go to a meeting and you're chatting away, and a couple of blokes have a common, common interest, uh, uh, or they're equal practitioners, but suddenly, one of them comes up with a problem that he can't answer, and so he's able to phone this guy in Nottingham, or wherever, because he is not in competition down the street. He can't ask the guy down the street how to tackle the question, but the man in Nottingham will willingly bare his soul for you, and keeping in contact with, um, with other people to solve problems where they have them is incredibly useful, in my judgment. 

 

NOTE: to see the rest of the transcript, head over to https://masteringportraitphotography.com (it exceed the normal limit for podcast texts!)

Well, I'm back on the road with a microphone - but this time in my wife's nippy little Peugeot!  

 

There are so many aspects of customer service but one of them is how you explain what you're going to deliver and how you're going to do it and, given the stories in this episode, that is something that is very easy to get wrong!  Ultimately, clarity is king!

 

Cheers
P.

---

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

---

Full Transcript:

EP148 - Clarity Is King

[00:00:00] So for those of you with sharp ears, you may have noticed that that does not sound like my regular Land Rover biscuit tin on wheels, and you'd be absolutely right about that. I shall tell you the slightly sorry tale of what's happened to my Land Rover, uh, later in the podcast. In the meantime, I'm heading up to the photography show in Sarah's car, which is, frankly, as nippy as hell.

[00:00:26] It's like driving a go kart. It's tiny, it's quick, it's a lot of fun to drive. It's not my Land Rover, but hey, I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.

[00:00:40] So hello one and all, it is a very, very wet Sunday here in the UK. It's one of those, it's one of those days when I look around me And everything looks monochrome. You. You wouldn't be certain if this was an entry in a photographic , competition, I'd be accusing the author of putting a, a plugin on it that has sucked the color, sucked the life outta the scene. The sky is well gray, the road gray, the walls. The trees and hedges as I drive past them, sort of a grey green. Even, even the bright yellow markers on the roundabout signs that I've just driven past are not iridescent yellow. They're sort of a dull ochre.

[00:01:44] Everything about today, except for my mood, is grey. And actually, it's been a little bit of a mixed month. Now, I know I said at the beginning of the year, and this, I said also at the beginning of the year, You never set yourself. New Year's Resolutions, because they're impossible to live up to, and if you want to do something, just set out about doing it, whatever time of the year it is, just set about doing it.

[00:02:05] I set about doing a podcast a week, and then crunched into some of the busiest couple of weeks, I think, I can remember, which I'm now, well, sort of surfacing from. It hasn't, it's not exactly clear As in, the diary isn't clear, there's a lot going on but there are also chunks like today when I'm gonna spend the best part of three hours sitting in a car.

[00:02:26] Now I know three hours, to my American and Australian friends, is like driving down to Starbucks for a coffee. For us in the UK, that is not an insignificant amount of time. So I'm going to record a podcast or two and then maybe over the coming weeks I'll get back into the rhythm of it and get these things rolling.

[00:02:44] But there is so much going on story of the Land Rover so let's deal with some of the slightly sadder news over the last couple of weeks or last month or so. It started with an accident. Excellent couple of days up with the BIPP, that's the British Institute of Professional Photographers, or Professional Photography up in Preston, and then had a great meeting and spent a lovely evening with the guys for, with Martin and the guys there.

[00:03:12] Discussing things like the monthly competition, how we're gonna, promote it. It's been very successful so far but of course, there's plenty more we could be doing. And then on The following day, went across to record a podcast, went across with a friend and a photographer, Sean Conboy, to meet a photographer who I had never met personally, but knew about, a guy called Stuart Clark.

[00:03:35] Now, Stuart is 97, nearly 98 years old, and one of the sharpest, most interesting photographers I think I've had the privilege of meeting. We sat in his lounge and recorded, probably about an hour and a half, I have a conversation about photography, his life in it, his history in it, the things he has seen change, and when I say the things he's seen change, I mean fundamentally, you know, he started on glass plate cameras, and is now in the digital age, I mean that's in one lifetime how far it's come.

[00:04:11] Almost in one set of stories we've gone from the origins of photography, maybe not quite, there's a little bit before that of course, I mean it started in the 1850s. But you know, almost the origins of photography as we know it through to today, and it's a fascinating interview, and as much as anything else, just listening to his voice on the microphone, I sat at the beginning of this interview and we popped a microphone in front of him and I put some headphones on, and as he spoke, it was the most breathtaking sound, he's quite quietly spoken, But the mic, and the room, and the ambience, and the stories he was telling, I mean, it was electric in my headphones.

[00:04:51] I actually gave the headphones over to Sean so he could have a listen, simply because it was so beautiful. I'll cut that down, it's just a long interview, and I need to just figure out how I'm going to share that. But it was a wonderful thing. Wonderful thing. And at the end of it, took a few portraits of the man with He said, oh, I've got all my cameras.

[00:05:09] We said, oh, get them out, get them out. And of course, he went looking for them and couldn't find them in the attic. I mean, Sean and myself, slightly terrified that we've sent this 97 year old into his roof space to see if he can find a camera. Anyway, he eventually returned with a Raleigh, a TLR.

[00:05:25] Twinlens, Reflex, Rolleiflex. Beautiful camera, and so I've got some pictures of him with that, so a little bit of his history. Anyway, roll o'clock forwards to that evening, I leave Leeds head down the M1, which is the in the UK, for, again, my listeners around the world. It's the motorway that runs straight down the middle.

[00:05:44] of the UK connecting the north to the south. It connects all the way up to pretty well, it goes up to Scotland pretty much and then drops straight into London. And I was heading down the M1 when suddenly, 70 miles an hour, I'm in the fast lane, they, there is, there wasn't really a bang, but you felt this kind of thunk, and then the engine's vibrating, I can smell oil, oh man, the smell, it's, if you've owned cars for a while, And you've had them go wrong, you just know, when you can smell oil like that, there is nothing but trouble.

[00:06:19] Coming I planted my foot on the brake pedal and manoeuvred my way across a couple of lanes of reasonably fast moving traffic. Sort of slan slapped it into the hard shoulder as quickly as I could, because if you're running an engine, You can smell oil, it's vibrating, the last thing you wanna do is keep going because you are at that point destroying what is left of your engine.

[00:06:45] So I lifted the bonnet to have a quick look, just to make sure there wasn't anything obvious. Sure enough, there is oil everywhere. Engine's not good. That's not going. So, luckily, I say luckily, this is, it's my life. I spend my life in a car. And we have recovery, RAC recovery. So I rang the RAC.

[00:07:04] They said they'd be there within an hour because I'm on, I'm in live, I'm on the edge of live traffic. This is the, probably the busiest motorway in the UK and I'm sitting on a hard shoulder in the pouring rain by now. And I keep getting the updates and, you know, it's like, it says it's going to be an hour, then it's an hour and a half, then it's two hours.

[00:07:21] It's, it's four degrees, which is pretty chilly. It's raining and sleeting. So I've, thinking, well, I don't really, and this is a lesson, I don't have any rain gear in a car. Luckily, I had a couple of blankets in there that we use for, if I want to sit people, if I'm doing a shoot somewhere out and about, I've got it in the back of the car, just in case I need to sit somebody down on the ground.

[00:07:41] So I wrapped myself in a pair of picnic blankets, sat under one of our wedding umbrellas. Luckily I got some battery packs so I could keep my iPhone charged up and sat and watch Netflix. And of course I'm watching the arrival time of the RAC and it keeps creeping out and creeping out. And eventually this orange van arrives he takes one look at the car, sticks his head under the bonnet and says yeah, you've blown your engine, that's not going anywhere.

[00:08:04] I can't tow you, he tells me, because the limit for towing a car as heavy as the Defender is one mile, and I'm six miles from the next available exit. So, he says the next, they'll send the recovery vehicle, proper recovery vehicle out, and I say, well, am I supposed just to sit here in the rain then? And he says, yep.

[00:08:24] And so, for the next couple of hours, yet again, I'm out in the rain, I keep my phone charged up, keep watching Netflix. It turns out Netflix, I like watching Netflix anyway, it's always on in the background while I'm editing. It turns out it's quite a useful distraction, because by the time the recovery vehicle turned up to actually put it onto the flatbed, the guy looked at me and he just said, Simply, get in the cab, get warm.

[00:08:47] I could barely move, my legs were shaking, I was beginning to get hypothermic. You stay out of the car for safety reasons, but I'm beginning to think it was more dangerous being not in the car than it was being in the car, which is an absolute nightmare. He had to open the door for me, my hands were so cold I could barely pull the handle.

[00:09:04] I climbed into the cab, which turned out to be like a sauna, and sat and defrosted as he hitched up the car. and took me halfway home. Yeah, halfway. Because I was so far away, they couldn't drive me all the way back to home. So of course I'm in touch with Sarah, I've told her what's going on. They parked me at Northampton Services where they're going to send another recovery vehicle out for me.

[00:09:27] And again, it says it's going to be an hour and a half. And I wait and I watch as the time increases, two hours, three hours, four hours. It's not clear, they never, they're never clear about how long it's going to take. And they, they deliberately obfuscate, I think, so that you can't say, well you said you'd turn up then.

[00:09:44] They give you a range and then they keep telling you the range is creeping out. And, apart from the gas, I'm not the only person that needs recovering. And the driver did give me a. a heads up. He said to me as he left, he said, you might be a while because you're no longer in live traffic, so you're no longer in danger.

[00:10:02] You're just sitting in a services. Now I would agree with him about the danger bit, but sitting in Northampton services at what were we now? Sort of midnight, 11 o'clock I think I arrived there. Maybe 10. 30 we arrived. And it's not a place you'd want to sit. There's nobody else around. Then luckily for me, I have a, you know, guilty pleasure in McDonald's and KFC and things.

[00:10:23] Can't help myself, the smell of it. And I thought, I'll get myself a McDonald's. And so I got, I did, I got myself a burger. Some coffee and some chips, and sat chewing on those. And within two minutes of me buying it and getting it, I noticed that McDonald's had changed their sign. The big signs outside say that it's open 24 hours.

[00:10:43] Big sign. McDonald's. 24 hours. Five minutes after I buy my burger, they put up signs that say, Sorry, only serving coffee. So that's not Open. That's not, that's a complete breach of contract as far as I'm concerned. They said they'd be, I'm thinking it's alright, I'll just get a burger and if I need one in a few hours I'll get another one.

[00:11:02] Nope, none of that. I could get a coffee but couldn't get a burger in spite of the sign saying 24 hours. I'm gonna come back to this point because it's quite important for us as photography businesses. Anyway, I'm sitting there. The great and good of those that probably need a little bit of help from mental support and social services came and went, came and went, came and went. One or two drug deals were going on out in the car park. I don't know how, the police don't spot it. You can see it a mile away. So it's a fairly lonely thing. So I recorded a podcast. I recorded what was going to be this podcast. I got my recorder because it was in the car.

[00:11:37] Obviously, I'd been recording with Stuart. And so I sat and I recorded a pretty, I think it was a pretty good, quite emotive podcast, I sat clutching my coffee because obviously that's now all that McDonald's was serving. It's fairly lonely except for the rantings of one chap who was telling me all about his relationship with the Queen.

[00:11:57] I don't think he was very well, if I'm honest. I also don't think he was sober. So I recorded this, what I think was a rather excellent podcast, very Radio Four very radio documentary, you know, lots of background sounds and lots of life real life going on. And at the end of it, I sat back and thought to myself, that, that is going to be an excellent podcast, and I noticed that I hadn't hit the record button.

[00:12:23] I was just so tired by now and a bit stressed. just forgot to do it. And so that was the end of that really, and I never, I didn't have the heart to do it again, even though I did have the time, because I was there for another couple of hours. I think in the end I waited there for four hours front to back.

[00:12:39] Recovery vehicle, the phone rings, he says, I'm here, but where are you? And I look across six lanes of moving traffic, and he's on the other side of the motorway. Heading North. So, I'm heading South, so I have to direct him somewhere. Surely the guys have told you where I am, and they had, but not very well.

[00:12:58] And he had to drive up to the next junction, turn around and come back and pick me up. And then, on it goes, and, and, we drop the car, I nominate to drop the car at our next stop. The guys that service it, my local, well it's not local, it's about 10 miles away, but the garage that services the Land Rover on a regular basis.

[00:13:15] I dropped it in there lay by, switched on the immobiliser, locked it all up and Sarah picked me up and I got home at just about quarter past four in the morning. Now having left Leeds at about Two in the afternoon to get home at four in the morning was, well, a little bit heartbreaking. By now I was fairly fed up, fairly cold, incredibly tired, and I knew I had to wake up really early to let the guys know at the garage they've got a service to land over and also to get on with our day that was already in the diary.

[00:13:49] So rang up the garage the next day, he didn't sound at all surprised. I'm glad to hear from me having spotted my Land Rover and he knows If the Land Rover's there, it needs something doing. And, obviously I got the engine, I went over, I got the engineer out to have a look at it, and even he rubbed his chin a bit.

[00:14:05] And the only good news was there was still oil in the engine, which gives you hope. If there's oil in the engine, you haven't seized it. That's the good news. Anyway, 24 hours later, I get a ring from the engineer who says Found the problem, you've got a hole in Piston 2. Now, I don't, I'm not a mechanic, but I've been around engines all my life, and I know that if you hear the line, you've got a hole in Piston 2, you're in trouble.

[00:14:33] And so it has proved to be, because to get a piston out to replace it, you have to take the entire engine apart. There's no getting away from it. The engine has to basically be dismantled, almost certainly taken out and put back in. Or in a Land Rover, they can actually lift the bodywork and service the engine on the chassis, but it depends what they're doing.

[00:14:53] On this, I haven't asked the guys, I haven't been back to get it yet, and this is three weeks ago. So, So he explained to me that if an injector is maladjusted and is running a little bit rich, the additional heat from the fuel burns a hole through the aluminium. And I said, well, should I have done something?

[00:15:08] And he said, no, there's no way of knowing. It's just not something that you could detect. And it's something that used to go wrong a lot. He hasn't seen it for a while with the later engines, but this one, he said, we used to see this quite a bit. For the past three weeks, they have been replacing the hole or replacing the pixel.

[00:15:22] Piston with the hole in it in my Land Rover. I got a phone call yesterday, Saturday, but unfortunately I was in a shoot, and this is how the phone call went. He said, We've road tested your Land Rover. It's ready to drive. You can come and pick it up, but please bring your piggy bank with you. I kid you not, he used the phrase, bring Piggybank with you.

[00:15:43] So I couldn't pick it up yesterday, can't pick it up today, can't pick it up tomorrow because I'm running a workshop, so I'll go over on Tuesday. I still don't know how much it is because the garage hasn't told me, in spite of me asking because it's a labour led cost. So the parts have been 1000 plus VAT, I know that much.

[00:16:01] The labour is 75 an hour and I reckon, he reckoned it was 4 5 days work. So I know I'm in it for quite a large amount of outlay. Unplanned, bad time of year. I've got to find, who knows, anywhere between four and seven thousand pounds, who knows. So again, no clarity. Something I'm gonna come back to.

[00:16:27] However, rest of the week, not so bad. And Another story. I think about podcasts, right? I could just tell you the facts, but it wouldn't be that much fun to listen to. Well, I don't think it would be fun to listen to. I wouldn't listen to it. 20 years ago, and I only know this because I picked up the light that I still have and looked at the Flash Center's service and and Quality Assurance sticker on it, and the light I bought second hand was serviced by the Flash Centre in 2003.

[00:17:00] There's a sticker on it, and I remember going to the Flash Centre in London, scratching my chin, and I can't remember the guy's name, he's still in the industry, he doesn't work with the Flash Centre anymore and I, he said, can I help? And I said, yes, I want my first strobe, please. He said, I said, I'm happy to buy second hand, I don't know whether this is something I'm gonna do, but Would you recommend?

[00:17:20] And we looked at the shelves, and, and, if you've ever been to the Flash Centre in London, it was brilliant. It wasn't a posh shop. It was, in some ways, it was like the drum shops I used to go to when I was a working musician, and it's just got racks and racks and racks of stuff. You know, there'd be a posh rack somewhere with all of the new bits and pieces from then, Bowens and Elinchrom, but then there'd be sort of, you know, Shelves and cupboards with interesting little bits of second hand kit and cabling and softboxes and umbrellas And it was brilliant and I was like toy a kid in a sweet shop And he said I think this would do you and he lifted off the shelf a second hand Elinchrom 500 so that's an Elinchrom 500 as this is a A strobe but it's got the old school analog sliders on it.

[00:18:09] There were two sliders, one that controlled the strobe power, and one that controlled the power to the modeling light. And if you wanted them to stay the same, you move the sliders together. The slider's been designed to be close together, so you move them up and down, which, to me, having worked on audio mixing desks for concerts in the music industry, was absolutely brilliant.

[00:18:32] Perfect. It was absolutely brilliant because I knew, it felt completely natural. Now, of course, one of the things was you never had the same Bower twice. It was already a second hand light when I bought it, and not a new one. So, whenever you set the lights in the studio, you had to reset your aperture to suit.

[00:18:51] Because the things, it didn't matter. It didn't matter that you put a mark against the sliding scale. The sliders were so worn that lighting power would go up and down all the time. But it was metal cased. It's got a fan. It was quite loud. It's quite loud. And I bought that light. I. I bought a big tripod and I bought an Octabox, a six foot Octabox.

[00:19:14] That was the three things I bought. A tripod, an Elecrom 500, an Elecrom tripod, Elecrom six foot Octa. Took it home and for the next year or two, practiced lighting. It wasn't part of our business for quite a long time because I never really had the space to do it. At that time I didn't have a studio.

[00:19:34] I just knew that was the road we were going to go down, or I thought I might go down. But I didn't understand studio lighting, and so I needed time to get my shit together. So, I used to practice, I bought a polystyrene head, so there's a shop in London called the London Graphic Centre, which sell stuff. They sell art pens and graphics and it's two glorious floors of anything you can think of to be creative. It's absolutely fantastic. And in there, for some reason, they sold polystyrene heads. I don't know what they're for. You know, if they were in a hat shop, I'd understand it. If they were in a wig shop, I'd understand it.

[00:20:14] In a graphics shop? I've no idea. What do you do? Sit with your pen in your hand looking at a fictitious head going, What do you think of this? Having a conversation with Polybeads, and I don't know. Anyway, I bought one. It was like three pounds or something. Carved out the eyes like something from a CSI episode.

[00:20:31] I got a penknife, carved out the eyes, got a couple of big glass marbles, and shoved them in. I mean, it was quite macabre, but if ever, I'm found out to be a psychopathic, sociopathic, you know, mass murderer. Everyone will go back to this head and say, Well, we could see it then. Look what he did to the eyes.

[00:20:49] But I popped those in because what I wanted to understand was how I move light around, what happened to the face, And what happened to the reflections in these glass marbles? It was just a very simple way of me being able to, without having models, because I didn't have a reputation back then, I didn't have a client base back then, I didn't have a steady stream of people that would come to the house to be photographed, but I needed to understand it.

[00:21:15] So this polystyrene head, with its macabre eyeballs, was my go to. I stuck it, I skewered it, like Queen Elizabeth would have done. And off with the head, I said! I skewered it on a pole of some description and stuck it in the middle of the room. And, that's how I learned to light. It was all with this Elinchrom 500, the, the, this brilliant bit of light, and I still own it.

[00:21:40] I still have it, it's still in the attic, unfortunately the tube was blown, you can actually see that there's black in there. The rest of it I'm sure still works so if I actually sent it back for a replacement tube, I could probably get it working again. I don't know that I will maybe I will, maybe I will, because the footnote to this story is that last week, Elinchrom asked me if I would be an ambassador.

[00:22:03] for them. Now, this comes off the back of a conversation where I'd looked at the Elinchrom lighting at the London the Society's Convention of Photographers in London, and got chatting to the guys, Simon Burfoot and the, and the guys, uh, at Elinchrom, people I've known for quite a long time. He used to work at the Flash Sensor, he's now looking after Elinchrom, so I got to chatting to him about the lights had a look over the product, had a look at what they're producing, both in terms of the technology, in terms of the roadmap in terms of the light that these things produce, and the light has the same quality that I remember with my Elinchrom 500.

[00:22:38] Now the thing is, if you look at the cover of the box, Book, Mastering Portrait Photography. That was shot in a study in somebody's house with my very first light. It was shot with my Elinchrom 500, my 6 foot Octa, which was wedged in because the ceiling was only just 6 foot, so we had to wedge this thing in on its tripod in their room with some black velvet behind.

[00:23:01] Pinned to the curtain rail, and it's still, to this day, one of my favourite ever shots. And, when you go to Elinchrom, one of the things I've always loved about them is the colour accuracy of the tube. Now, every time you ignite um, Xenon in a tube, it gives off a very particular light. For all sorts of reasons with the, to do with the design of the circuitry and the light, getting that right is really important.

[00:23:26] And Elinchrom have always had this really beautifully consistent quality of light out of the units. Now I moved away from Elinchrom about six, seven years ago, I think to Profoto for the simple reason that And maybe it's a bit longer, but for the simple reason that when I went looking for a battery powered, rather than a mains powered monoblock.

[00:23:48] Now a monoblock strobe is simply when everything is in the head, as opposed to a battery pack and the small flying heads. I didn't want that. I wanted something that was self contained. I wanted something with a battery. I wanted something with no cabling. And so when I went to Elinchrom at that time, they didn't do anything.

[00:24:04] I think even now I have eight Elinchrom lights up in the attic. And I had to retire them because I went over to ProPhoto who produced the B1. The B1 is an excellent light. It's brilliant. There's, you know, it did everything and has done everything that I would ask of a light over the years. Beautiful kit, beautiful lighting, beautiful modifiers.

[00:24:26] They're having said that I've kept all of my Elinchrom soft boxes because the Rotalux system is the best in the world and I still prefer it to my Profoto stuff. But nonetheless, you know, there's no doubting the quality of the Profoto units, and there's no doubting that I've created some images that I really like with it, But I've never felt the same nostalgia as I have with Elinchrom. And so when Elinchrom showed me their kit at the convention, it's you know what, I would absolutely love, love to switch back. It's about time that I thought about it. And so I asked the guys if I could get a price on a full rig of kit, switch over to Elinchrom and it went a little bit quiet if I'm honest.

[00:25:12] I'd sent the email, I'd listed out what I wanted and then I got a quick message saying was I around the other morning, could they pop into the studio and come and see us, and Simon and Mark from Elinchrom popped into the studio, had a look around, and during that conversation asked if I would be an ambassador for Elinchrom. So for the first time in quite a long time I got a little bit emotional about kit. I do get attached to kit. Even though the Profoto stuff is brilliant, I've never felt that way about that. But with Elinchrom, it was that first light. It was that first moment that I learned to read and and understand Studio Lighting.

[00:25:54] And to be asked to be an ambassador is, it has a couple of angles on it. I mean, the first and most important is that what an honor, you know, this is a lighting company who I have so much of an emotional connection with, and here I am 20 years after buying my very first secondhand light, here I am as an ambassador for them.

[00:26:17] So I'm quite emotional about that. But also the kit is so. Phenomenal. There's something about the way it works, the way it operates. It feels like photographers designed it for photographers. So, I'm very happy. They've lent me some kit at the moment. Now, I have a bit of a challenge tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'm running a workshop.

[00:26:35] It's a workshop. All around, using studio lighting of various types in small spaces. Because if you go out into location, you very often end up in a boardroom or a kitchen. Well, the other day we ended up in a storeroom for computer equipment. It was quite bizarre where we were working. And you have to very quickly read the room, figure out what you're gonna do, and create something.

[00:26:59] Magical from it. So, that's what we're doing tomorrow. And of course, it's premised on using my strobes. Now, understandably and I suppose predictably, Elinchrom are not that keen that I continue to use Profoto kit, my Profoto lighting for my workshops. So at 9. 30 tomorrow morning on the day of workshop, I am expecting a delivery of a whole load of Elinchrom kit that I'm going to actually then use for the training day.

[00:27:33] Interesting, huh? It's a good job that not only did I learn to use light, but I'm really quick to get my head round the technology. Now they did leave me the other day with an Elinchrom 5 and an Elinchrom 3. And fortunately I have a trigger. I have a dedicated Elinchrom trigger anyway. Bye! From some Rotolight kit, which also uses, thankfully Elinchrom radio telemetry.

[00:28:00] So, I've got the, I've got the Elinchrom trigger. Now, as an aside, here's a little bit of detail, right? This is just a bit of detail. It doesn't, it has no bearing on anything, really. My Profoto dedicated Nikon trigger. The something or else, something or else. Is it AirTTL, TTL, TTL? Unit. If I leave the batteries in it, it goes flat in about 10 days, even if it's switched off.

[00:28:25] I pulled the Elinchrom trigger out of its box, having not used it as a trigger in probably three years, forgot that I'd left the batteries in there, which is a dreadful thing to do, never leave batteries in kit when you store it, but I had, so I hit the power button thinking, oh, that's not gonna work. Nope, fired up instantly.

[00:28:43] There is a joy when you're When someone designs kit properly, there is a joy in it. This Elinchrom trigger has had those batteries in it for as long as I can remember. I can't remember the last time I used it as a trigger, and it fired up instantly. I know for a fact my Profoto unit would have been dead in 10 days.

[00:29:02] And as designers of kit, this is a plea to everybody who designs for our beautiful industry. It's for good. Goodness sake, think this stuff through properly. You know, if you're going to turn something off, it shouldn't be draining enough current to flat a pair of AAA's in 10 days. It just shouldn't.

[00:29:21] Because many of us don't pick up our triggers in those kinds of time frames. Many of us would just be out, you know, location photographers that use the strobes intermittently. So think about that. Think about how, um, The kit is going to be used in design. Even the circuitry has to be designed in a way that makes sense.

[00:29:40] You know, Elinchrom, this unit, it's been in its box. It's still boxed. It's been in its box for a few years. Powered it up because I'd forgotten to take the batteries out. Nope, quite happy. Right, where do I go? Downloaded the new firmware because it's so old that It doesn't actually know about or didn't know about 3.

[00:29:57] They weren't on its list of recognized Elenchrom lighting. Connected it up, and off it went. Just genius. That's I'm sorry though, that is an aside. Anyway, tomorrow morning, tomorrow morning, I've got a handful of delegates we've got a room full of people, a couple of models, and some lights that I have never ever seen.

[00:30:13] ever used in anger. It's going to be an exciting day. Other good news this week so that's, I mean that is my good news this week, but other good news this week is that I finally managed to get our broadband account sorted out. We live in funny times my broadband contract had come up a little while ago with BT.

[00:30:32] Um, I've got both the house and the studio are on the same contract because primarily we use it. all of the bandwidth for when I'm working, and I like to be able to work from home a lot. And we're paying, I don't know, I think nearly, I think we're paying 300 quid a month for the two. So I'd rung BT a couple of weeks ago and said, right, it's time to renew because I'm out of contract.

[00:30:53] I will stay with BT although there are other providers in the village now, their reputation is awful, so I can't build my business on that. And while BT might be a little bit dull. They're also the most reliable. This is British Telecom. It used to be British Telecom. Isn't it interesting how a brand evolves to be known as BT?

[00:31:12] But it has to have such a long history. You know, if you say BA, we know we're talking about British Airways. If you say BT, you know you're talking about British Telecom. You know, I've no idea in any more what ICI Stands for, we know what it does though. Interesting to see if the BIPP, the BIP, or the British Institute of Professional Photography can evolve the same way.

[00:31:33] Time will tell. Anyway, BT, so I rang them up spent the best part of half a day on the phone because you have to. I'm sorry, we're experiencing a very high volume of calls at the moment. Your call is important, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Yeah, right. There's only, there's one call handler, but I have no idea, but there's certainly not enough.

[00:31:52] So anyway, I got through a long conversation, got both contracts more or less nailed, or the one contract with both lines more or less nailed, and our bill came down by two thirds. My speed went up, I'm on a digital line, my bill came down. You have to think, maybe I was being stitched before, or maybe I built a bad contract before, but anyway, that was half a day well spent.

[00:32:15] So, and it's, I mean, it's like, you know, it's 300 quid a month, or was. It's now for the two lines, 100 quid a month and I've got gigabit down, 100 megabit up, and life is pretty good. But the delivery cycle of it, I've no idea. I mean, I get random boxes, I get random texts from DHL, or FedEx, or Royal Mail, as to what's going to arrive when, it's I couldn't make head nor tail of it.

[00:32:39] Sarah said, when are they connecting us? Well, I've got this date, Monday the 11th. Okay, Monday the 11th, that's brilliant. Monday the 11th, that's when they're going to connect everything up. Monday the 11th. Right, are we sure about that? Yeah, Monday the 11th, I've got an email here. Monday the 11th. F Thursday, before that, what's that, 11th, 10th, 9th, 8th, so Thursday the 7th, I get I walk into the office 10 o'clock, and Michelle says, phone line's dead, and I'm like, can't be dead.

[00:33:05] Why would it be dead? I look at the hub for the broadband, the broadband's working okay, but no telephone, and they say, oh, you are kidding me. They've switched it over four days early. Now, I'd had some text saying the engineer was working on our line, and the engineer had completed his work, but at no time, at no time, did it tell me which of the two lines were being affected and what they'd done.

[00:33:30] So I rock up on Thursday to find no telephone. Now, again, fortunately, we'd had the digital phones arrive. They were in their boxes, but I hadn't set anything up yet because I had been told it was all going to happen on Monday the 11th of March. Have I got those dates right? Yeah, I'm sure it's Monday the 11th of March.

[00:33:49] Monday whichever day it was, only the Monday of March. And, so I'm very frantic, because at this point, anybody that rings us up isn't going to get through. I didn't know even if we had voicemail because I got, none of it is done as far as I'm concerned. So we rattly, a bit of a rattly morning as I sort of ripped out the old phones, put in these new digital lines, logged in, set it all up, got admin rights, because of course it's basically VoIP is nothing more than Zoom without pictures.

[00:34:18] So. And I got all of that set up and all of it is now working, but it got me thinking, and here we go. This is the point of this bit of this podcast. Now, I don't know whether the second half of the podcast is gonna be the second half of this podcast as I drive back from the photography show or whether I'm gonna release that as an entirely self-contained episode.

[00:34:39] I guess it depends how much news I find at the photography show. But let's assume. This is a self-contained driving to the NEC Podcast, and it's done. This is the point of this podcast. I've told you three stories, okay? I've told you about the RAC, I've told you about the garage, and I've told you about British Telecom.

[00:34:59] All of these have been suppliers that I would say on the whole, I rate pretty highly, the RAC. They've got me out of a pretty horrible situation. I pay money for that. By the way. It's not like they're, they're definitely not a charity. It's not the NHS, but. They rescued me when I needed it. Admittedly, they weren't clear about when and how, and it took quite a long time, but I'd have been in a lot of trouble if I couldn't have got off that motorway, and the car was undriveable.

[00:35:26] Our garage. I know they fixed it because they always fixed it. But I do wish they'd be clear. I do wish they'd tell me how much, to the best of their knowledge, it's going to cost me. I don't like obfuscation. I don't like not knowing how long it's going to take. They've had the car for three weeks to do a week's worth of work.

[00:35:44] Again, I know they've had to order parts. In a sense, I'm an experienced buyer. And then there's BT, who They told me certain things and then did them in a different order on different dates and put me into a flat spin when they disconnected the phone line to my business. All of these are quite important.

[00:36:04] It's about clarity. It's about being clear with your client. It's about When you say you're going to do something, you do it. Now there is a theory about under promising and over delivering. So being, having things connected early, in theory, should be a good thing. But it's only a good thing if your client's ready for it and their new phone's ready.

[00:36:25] If they're not, what you've basically done is disable part of their business for part of a day. Clarity is really important. For me, even now, I go back through the BT, various texts and emails, and even I After the event, couldn't tell you exactly what was supposed to happen, and the order. I still have some stuff to do, I still have to send some kit back, but, because I've got these two lines into two different buildings being contracted at the same time, none of the emails make sense, because they send both emails, or rather they send emails for both lines, on the same contract number.

[00:37:02] It's never clear exactly what is going on. It's not clear. that some kit is going to work and some kit is not going to work. It's not clear quite what should have happened. And that can't be a good thing. That can't be a good thing when I'm sitting here telling you about three suppliers who I rate actually pretty highly.

[00:37:21] I've chosen them through years of experience, I've picked them out of the crowd, and I've decided who I'm going to use. Are they all working now? Well, as far as I know, they are. RAC rescued me, the garage has rung me to say the car is ready, and I have Absolutely electric connectivity in our building or buildings, but the confusion is unnecessary.

[00:37:43] The confusion, had that confusion happened in the sales process, I don't know whether I would have bought. It didn't happen in the sales process, it happened in the fulfillment side. So the sales guys, they got it nailed. When I bought my RAC, Membership, I don't know how many years ago. The guy was utterly convincing.

[00:38:05] When I bought my BT contract, the guys were utterly convincing and of course when I go to the garage, well, the first time I went to the garage, I went reputationally because somebody else had recommended them. I bought instantly because they were They were utterly convincing. The problem happens in the fulfilment stages.

[00:38:27] And as such, I think we need to keep an eye on that. We need to be very clear to our clients, exactly what it is that we're going to do, and when we're going to do it. I was doing a wedding pitch yesterday. And I had to be, and I've, I mean I've well practiced at it, I've done it a long time. I say to them, okay, here's the process.

[00:38:45] I actually talk them through the fulfillment process. We talk loads about the wedding, but then I go through to the fulfillment process, and I suspect occasionally I lose a gig because of it, because maybe it sounds just a little bit too boring. Precise. I don't know. But, I said to the client yesterday, who are buying with us, by the way, you come to the studio two to three weeks after your wedding.

[00:39:10] That gives you enough time to have a short honeymoon. If it needs to be longer, or you want it shorter, we can do that. Two to three weeks, you're gonna come, you're gonna have lunch. During that meeting, we are gonna show you a slideshow. We're gonna melt your hearts. I do say this. We're gonna say, I'm gonna soften your wallet,

[00:39:27] We are gonna make life very difficult for you to say no to any pictures. Then we're gonna bring up those pictures and we're gonna, we are gonna help you choose the pictures that are going to go in your album. It's a lovely process, but it's not an easy process, so we're going to give you some lunch.

[00:39:42] It'll take a few hours. At the end of that, you're going to pay for the extra images you put in your album. I'd say that a little bit softer, but that's what I'm saying. You're going to settle up with us as to the images that are going to go into your album, on top of the ones you've already paid for as part of your initial contract.

[00:40:00] Then, We're going to give you a USB that has watermarked images of everything we've shown you, and the slideshow of the, uh, that we showed you in that reveal. We license the music, by the way, with the MCPS, so you can have any music you like. So, you let us know what music you like. That's what your slideshow will be set to.

[00:40:19] It'll be on a USB. At the end of the meeting, when you've settled up with us, that's what you take away with you. The next morning, we start working on that design. Within a week, maybe two, depending on what's going on in the studio, we will send you a PDF that shows that design. You have a look at it and decide whether you like it or not, or if there's anything you'd like to change.

[00:40:40] And the things we're looking for from you are A. Do you like the design? And B. Is there anything in any of the images that needs additional retouching? Fire exit signs, those kinds of things. When you eventually sign off the design, and you can go backwards and forwards as much as you like, by the way, because the most important thing is that you love your album more than anything else in the world.

[00:41:02] You're going to have that for the rest of your lives together. You must love it. You make as many changes as you want. Yes, okay, by iteration number seven or eight, we might be rolling our eyes at you. But we will still do it, and we will get it perfect for you. When you're happy, you sign that off. We will do two things.

[00:41:20] Firstly, we will order your album and any copy albums you need. I don't say it like this, I'm saying it really clearly because I'm driving a car at 70 mile an hour and I'm trying to make this clear. But nonetheless, this is the process, right? Uh, I say we will order that album and any additional copies you'd like.

[00:41:35] Eight weeks after that, as a maximum, you will have your album in your hands. The actual order time, by the way, is shorter than this, but we always say, 8 weeks, because then I'm under promising and over delivering. You will also receive a link online that has a link to the finished images. The edits that we've done for you without the watermarks, because part of what we do is any image a client puts in their album, we will give them a digital copy of that as part of the contract.

[00:42:06] We charge quite a lot of money for this, so it's fine that they can have the files, but we only release the finished files. When the album design is signed off. Why do I do it that way? Well, it gives me a couple of things. Firstly, it gives me a lever to pull when people are saying, Can I have a file? And I say, Yeah, as soon as you sign off your album.

[00:42:23] The second thing is, The only hi res files that go out are fully retouched and finished. There's no danger that an artist Unretouched image can end up in a big frame on someone's wall. So that's why we do it that way. And I'm really clear about that fulfillment process to the client. Now, I think there's other bits of our business where we're not so clear and I'm figuring out those areas and trying to work out and make sure that everything we do is super, super clear because the experience I've had with three suppliers who genuinely, I rate, genuinely.

[00:42:58] I'm happy to pay for their services. I think it's been a little bit muddled and a little bit muddy. And that, well, that can never be a good. Do you know what? I'm going to round this podcast off there and I'm going to make the journey away from the photography show another edition which I might release at a later date because that gives me extra content, right?

[00:43:20] For those of you, for those of you who are part of our workshop community, we released a new challenge last night. So we, inside, anyone that's been on our workshops, you get invited into a secret and private Facebook group. The only way you can get in there is by being on one of our workshops because that is creating a super concentrated little audience, a little community rather.

[00:43:42] of like minded people who can ask questions in a way that is safe, a way that is positive, and you get feedback from others in there. It's a really nice community. On top of that, people like Simon and Mark from Elinchrom are inside the group, so that if you have any specific questions about flash photography not only will you get answers from people who run the group companies based around this kit.

[00:44:06] Of course they're going to bias their answers towards Elinchrom, but hey, I'm an ambassador for them. So what else would you expect me to say? Likewise Jeremy and Miranda and the team from Neal and the team from Graphistudio are in there. So if you have any questions about albums and those kind of things, it's just a really nice place to be.

[00:44:21] But we run these image challenges. The current challenge which I released last night is the one chair challenge. Take a subject, take one chair, just one chair, and pop a photograph into the community. And then at the end of the month, I have a run through them, pick out my favourite, do a video critique, and set a new challenge.

[00:44:41] And we did this one because the article is featured in Professional Photo Magazine this month from us. We do an article every month, but this particular one is of Lucy in a chair, and it's just a simple shot of a teenager. Just looking super cool in what is my Nan's old throne, old armchair. So that's that community thing.

[00:45:02] Workshops, if anyone's interested in any of our workshops, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops. You will find them they'll pop up in Google and And then you can see what's going on at the moment. The tomorrow's workshop is all about small spaces and it wasn't, but it now is about how to use Elinchrom lighting in small spaces.

[00:45:21] We'll see quite how that adventure goes, so to wrap up, let's overtake this tanker in tons of spray. Thank you for listening to this podcast. It's kept me entertained for at least half of my journey up to Birmingham. If you have any questions, please do email paul@ paulwilkinsonphotography.co.Uk. I've had a couple of really nice emails in the past few weeks. Apologies. I know I've been a little bit slow in getting back to everybody, but it really has been a . a tiny bit, a tiny bit crazy at the studio but also head across to masteringportraitphotography. com which has a heap of stuff all around this beautiful skill of ours or topic of ours the joy, the creativity and the business of portrait photography.

[00:46:08] Head over to masteringportraitphotography. com and do please subscribe. Hit that subscribe button. I don't know how you're listening to this right now, but I'll lay you a bet there's a subscribe button there somewhere. Subscribe to the podcast and then it just arrives. You know, you didn't even know you were going to listen to me today, and there you are.

[00:46:26] Forty minutes later, whatever it is, I've no idea how long I've been driving and talking forty minutes later, you are sitting thinking, Well, that was worthwhile! Do you know what? I'm really glad I hit that subscribe button. Also, if you get a chance, leave us a review.

[00:46:39] If it's a nice review, stick it somewhere public. If it's not such a nice review, email it to me, and then we can make changes to make things better, which is a constant process of evolution. Me and Darwin, well, we'd be great mates. And whatever else, as I head my way north, be kind to yourself. Take care.

Suddenly it washed over me - that odd euphoric sensation of contentment.  No idea what triggers it, but it's well worth holding onto! 

Also in this episode, a quick review of ACDSee 10 (the Mac version).  If you'd like to try it yourself, please use this link (there is no kickback or finance attached, but it does let the guys at ACDSee know that the referral has come from me and the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast!)

Enjoy!

Cheers
P.

---

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

---

Full Transcript:

EP146 On Being Content

[00:00:00] Introduction and Studio Update

[00:00:00] So in an effort to keep up my weekly episodes , I am recording this mid afternoon on a Tuesday, which normally would be fairly busy here in the studio, but given I've got two people who are off sick, with both Michelle and Sarah coughing and spluttering and generally not feeling very well.

[00:00:16] So with a degree of persuasion, managed to get both of them to go home. I'm assuming they are now wrapped up in duvets drinking brandy or whiskey or possibly just Lemsip. And so I suddenly found myself with some time in the studio during normal working hours. So this is episode 146 being recorded when, well, I could be doing a million other things.

[00:00:41] I'm Paul and this is a very distracted Mastering Portrait Photography podcast.

[00:01:03] Now if you look at the list of things I should be doing, it's long, it's complicated, there's a lot to do in the studio just now, but I quite like recording the podcast, and so I am somewhat using it as a distraction. Displacement, I think is what it's called, and I'm going to record this episode.

[00:01:22] Mastering Dogs and Their Owners Portraiture Photography Workshop

[00:01:22] It's not that long since the last episode, so it's not like I've done a million different things, but yesterday we ran a Mastering Dogs and Their Owners Portraiture Photography, I can't remember the title, ah, uh, workshop, which essentially is a Photographing dogs with their owners.

[00:01:37] Had the most incredible bunch of people as delegates and also as models. One of the great things about running these workshops, of course, is that we can bring in models who are regular clients. Steve and Ambra and their dog Luna, and then Gemma who came in the afternoon with her dogs Luke, and, archie.

[00:01:58] It was just brilliant. Spent the whole day laughing, the whole day answering questions and discussing things about photography, not just how to take these pictures, but why we take these pictures. And certainly from the point of view of running a business. The weather held, it was gorgeous and sunny, a little too sunny, with that low raking February sunshine that we don't get enough of, and when we do get it, of course, as a photographer, I moaned that it was too harsh, uh, for some of what we were doing, particularly when we were trying to photograph in an alley where I needed both walls to have the same light, more or less, and of course the sun sort of threw that out the window, but hey, you know, what can you do when you get those days?

[00:02:39] It was a fantastic day, and loved every second of it, I've created some images that I really like, and more importantly, I think our delegates went away with ideas and enthusiasm and determination and confidence, possibly more than they did when they arrived, which is the right way around, and if you ever give when we're delivering workshops, the great thing is not It's not about technical stuff really, it's about having the confidence to go and do it, because without that, it doesn't matter how good you are with a camera, or how good you are with Photoshop, you're not going to run any kind of business.

[00:03:14] You'll never produce anything. You need the confidence to do it in the first place. So a big shout out to all the guys that came on the workshop yesterday, and a huge thank you to my clients.

[00:03:22] ACDSee Software Review

[00:03:22] Uh, before I get into the nuts and bolts of the podcast I want to give a quick shout out to the guys at ACDSee.

[00:03:30] That's letter A, letter C, letter D, and the word 'See' S E E. A brilliant bit of software. It's a bit of software that I first used, I was trying to remember when they asked me to get involved. I was trying to remember when I last used it. I think I used version 1. I think it came free on the front of a magazine.

[00:03:49] It was I think, recalling it was shareware back then. Shareware is not really such a common model, but back then, I'm guessing 15 or 16, maybe even longer years ago. Um, and it was an amazing piece of software primarily because it was super fast and It has the ability to preview files and organize files for you in an incredibly quick way.

[00:04:13] And anyway, the guys at ACDSee asked me if I'd review it and then talk about it. So, cards on the table here. I have been given a free copy of ACDSee to see what I think. I'm on version 10, it's the MacStudio version. And so I've been bunged a free license, which I've been using for the past couple of months.

[00:04:34] So it's not really, this isn't a paid commercial. Genuinely, I'm using the software and I said I would talk about it if I liked it. But I'd hate anyone to think that I wasn't being straight up and honest when I'm talking about it. And clearly I've been given a free license. But of course, here's the but in all of this stuff is I will never talk about anything on this podcast that I haven't had first hand experience of.

[00:04:58] Somebody did ask me, there is someone has asked me to review like an energy drink from the US to use it for a while and then talk about what I think. Sadly though you can't get it in the UK so I had to go back to them and say I can't do that until you've got a supply chain or an importer over here.

[00:05:15] And then of course I will try it and let you know what I think. So I won't talk about anything that I don't have first hand experience of there are many reasons for doing this podcast but being able to be authentic in the middle of it is the bit that under pins it. So what are my thoughts on this version of ACDSee?

[00:05:31] So this is version 10, the Mac version. Um, so okay, straight up, slightly mixed bag, but don't I don't take that as anything other than there's just one little bit that I'm not happy about. So when they approached me, so when ACDSee approached me, I was beyond excited to do it. Firstly, I got to play with a bit of software that I used an awful lot back in the day.

[00:05:57] And it was wonderful to be using the same software again. There's a degree of nostalgia, I suppose, about that. And it's always good to see a great piece of software, as it was, not only survive, but expand and become even more useful. The second reason I was excited about it, so I went and did a quick hunt around before I committed to giving it a go, is everything I read talked about the new AI keywording tools, and they looked incredible. It would help me enormously if using a bit of AI inside the software that I have on my computer, as opposed to going online and doing round tripping and all of those things, if I had some AI software that would help me identify with some very simple keywords. I'm not after that. Detailed keywords, but very simple keywords that would let me find, for instance, like a low key studio portrait, or a high key dog image, you know those, I'm talking really quite basic stuff.

[00:06:50] Now we manage our catalogue really well, but stuff slips through, and with keywording, you know what it's like, you get one folder, I've got to archive it, I've run out of disk space, I need to move some stuff today, do I keyword it now? No, I'll do it later, and of course by do it later, what I actually mean is, it doesn't get done.

[00:07:07] So, that was What I was looking forward to the the speed and the simplicity of this piece of software as it used to be, but also with some of the new AI stuff in particular, the keywording. And so I suppose the question is how did it do? Brilliantly, I think, is the word I'd use. It is still blazingly quick.

[00:07:27] It's an unbelievable piece of software from that point of view. It's faster than using the Finder on the Mac or Pathfinder I also use. It's incredibly fast. Now, let me just clarify how I've used it or how I'm using it right now. Lightroom is at the heart of our workflow. All of our live catalogues. All of our live RAW files, all of our live PSDs are in Adobe Lightroom .

[00:07:52] And what do I mean by live? Live just means the job is not yet archived. I looked earlier and there's about 75, 000 assets in Lightroom at any one point. That includes all of our live jobs but also our portfolio, our portfolio of heroes. Now, I've configured Lightroom in a very particular way so when I run an export of JPEGs that are going to go to the client, they're going to go into album designs anything that's flagged with five stars, the little bit of code in the background that I've written spits those out into a series of Dropbox folders that are organized in line with the jobs.

[00:08:27] So, let's say there's a Le Manoir wedding Tom and Amy get married at Le Manoir on a date. When I spit those files out, there'll be an equivalent Dropbox folder that contains anything that was ranked with five stars. So it allows me to have these heroes in Dropbox. And we've been doing that for about eight years.

[00:08:45] So you can imagine just how many images and folders we have in Dropbox running that little bit of the catalogue. But when I archive the folder away, when it's done, the job's finished, Tom and Amy have got their wedding album, then we remove all of the files off our live drives, remove the catalog components from Lightroom, and obviously new stuff has come in.

[00:09:07] Those heroes, though, still need to be active, and they stay active in Dropbox, a series of Dropbox folders that I have. And it's always a little bit of a pain trawling up and down them. Well, ACDSee solves that, because once I visited a folder with this software, All of the thumbnails stay in its catalogue.

[00:09:24] So it's as if I can browse things that go across folders. There's this thing called the Image Well, which is brilliant. I can find things by flags. I can find things by colour labels. It's absolutely phenomenal. So at the moment, I've got about a quarter of a million. There's about 250, 000 JPEGs in ACDSee.

[00:09:47] It's really, really fast. And one of the things I really have liked about it, which is useful for me, is, and this is the bit of the AI that is working, is the facial recognition. Now, no Lightroom has facial recognition, but of course, in the end I don't use Lightroom for longer than the job is live for any folder.

[00:10:05] Whereas this is folders that go back historically. And I'm not really that worried about identifying every face. What I am interested in is having the faces all looking at me in a series of thumbnails that I can scroll through and go, Do you know what, I remember that shoot or I remember that image.

[00:10:22] That's what I'm looking for. Then I can find the shoot and then I can expand that to all of the other images. And on top of that, slightly weirdly, Hehe. I found myself just smiling this morning as I was trawling through this big page of thumbnails of my clients. It's all my clients faces looking back at me and smiling.

[00:10:39] And it was really nice. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane, I think, for many of these. And I know that's not its intended purpose, but if you ever want a pick me up It's simply look in this folder on ACDSee of faces looking back at you, of all these clients, and of course the memories that go with it.

[00:10:57] And it is rapid, I mean it's unbelievably quick in the way it does it. And it's really useful to have that. Now on the indexing side, it's a little bit, you have to get your head around it a little bit. It indexes any folder you've visited. Browsed. However, there is also a behind the scenes index that you can get ticking over, which will run whenever you're not using your computer and ACDSee is open.

[00:11:20] So gradually over time, it picks up the files and it pops them pops all the thumbnails together and categorizes them for you. So it's really really useful. On top of that, a nice little touch that I've only really discovered this morning is that your license includes the use of a thing called SendPix.

[00:11:38] This won't be useful to everybody, but it's quite a nice little bit of software. So it's, if you can imagine I suppose a hybrid version of something like Zenfolio which is a catalogue system for images for your clients and WeTransfer which is a way of sending files to your clients. It's sort of in between the two.

[00:11:58] What it allows you to do is select a load of images, send them to someone but instead of sending them directly it creates a short lived online gallery. It's there for a couple of weeks, I think, looking at the dates it gave me. And that allows your client, or whoever you're sending them to, to log in, see the images, and download what they need.

[00:12:15] So in a sense, it's like WeTransfer, but with an interactive component. And it's equally, it's a little bit like Zenfolio, but with a gallery that only lasts for a couple of weeks. So you don't have to worry about taking them up and taking them down, and all that kind of thing. It's only there for the time you need it.

[00:12:30] And, surprisingly It's actually really useful, which I hadn't seen coming. It wasn't a bit of the software. I certainly didn't pick that up when I said yes to reviewing ACDSee, but it's incredibly useful. Now, sadly, the software doesn't integrate with Dropbox properly. There is no integration with Dropbox, which is a shame.

[00:12:47] It would have been really nice. It does have an integration with iCloud, but I don't use that, so I can't comment on that part of it. But it would have been quite nice. It's no big deal. Doesn't really change my usage of it. And all in all, there are just dozens of little functions that make finding and retrieving files that you have on your folders and drives really easy.

[00:13:09] It makes it fast, it makes it visually interesting. I haven't used the editing tools because for us, everything we do is edited in Lightroom on the RAW files and the PSDs. I suppose it could be useful if I do pick up a file, I just think, you know what? I wish that was slightly brighter, I wish that was slightly darker, or something like that.

[00:13:26] I know there are some quite sophisticated tools in there, but that's not the part of the puzzle I've been interested in. And I think the license for the Mac version is about 99, and it's absolutely worth it.

[00:13:38] Sadly, the AI keywording is in the Windows version but not the Mac, but still

[00:13:42] I think it's absolutely worth it. Anyway, now whether that fits into your workflow is entirely down to you.

[00:13:49] Only you can answer that question. Now bear with me, I'll come back in a minute.

[00:13:53] Reflections on Happiness and Contentment

[00:13:53] I've got a phone call to answer.

[00:13:55] So sorry about that, I had to answer the phone. It was the editor, it was Terry, the editor of Professional Photo Magazine, who we regularly write for calling about the next edition, which is very exciting, as always. I've no idea, I've no idea in the final edit where I'll leave that cut in, or whether I'll just gloss over it.

[00:14:15] Either way, as I was trundling in this morning, I don't know whether this happens to you, but it happens to me occasionally, where It's just this, it's almost a feeling of euphoria, and it's happened to me a couple of times today, whether it's just chemistry, whether it's just, I don't know, I've no idea. But today, I felt like everything was good in the world.

[00:14:37] And, it's a real sort of skill, I suppose, in being completely comfortable with where you are. We had a text this morning. Someone was asking, how are things out in the industry? And I can only answer from our experience. And right now, we're doing well . Everything is busy phone's ringing, even this morning.

[00:14:56] We had an enquiry for a wedding just come through. We've got enquiries for headshots and commercial. Portraiture feels maybe a little bit squidgier than it has been on the economy. But all in all, our business is running really well and I'm really happy.

[00:15:07] I'm very satisfied with my lot. Now, I don't mean to be self satisfied, that's not what I'm saying, but I think the art of being content with your lot is a tricky one. Now don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly ambitious and driven and impatient. I want everything to happen and I want it all to happen now, but the reality of course is things are slower.

[00:15:27] So I get frustrated with it, of course I do. But trying to find the space in my head to be content is a skill that I am still learning, I guess. It's really easy not to be happy. Even this morning, Sarah had the radio on, and the news came on, and I could feel myself just getting wound up. The state of our economy, we have a particularly crappy government at the moment, and I'd like to say that's specific to the UK.

[00:15:57] I've got friends all over the world, and I keep, as best I can, I keep abreast of world news, and I think it might just be a global phenomenon. The kinds of people who you'd really want to lead you are not the kinds of people who we have leading us, I don't think. So it's easy to feel down, the weather's pretty rubbish, it's that time of year, you know, it's grey.

[00:16:18] Yesterday we had this phenomenal day of beautiful weather, but today, well, it's back to normal, it's chucking it down. But yet, even though it was cold and dark, I still found myself skipping into work this morning. Life is okay. And being happy with yourself is not that straightforward, I don't think. Jake, our son, was asking me if I liked myself and I thought that's an interesting question and I don't really have a satisfactory answer.

[00:16:45] Some days I like bits of me, some days I feel dreadfully insecure, but I'm always confident that on balance I'm alright. I feel alright, I'm on the whole nice to people, I try really hard not to be nasty to anybody. There are people I like more than others, of course there are. You know, you marry the one you like the most, right?

[00:17:09] And she's incredible. So being happy with your lot. I think is something you can do and it just washed over me this morning, maybe it's the fact that we ran the workshop yesterday and I was around people who I liked

[00:17:23] And even writing up the notes on ACDSee, it still feels really strange saying ACDSee, when I grew up in the 70s and the 80s, when ACDC was a band for those about to rock and all of that stuff. So it sounds really weird when I say it, but writing my notes on ACDSee I had to look through thousands of images that had dropped into our Heroes folders, which reminded me of the things we do.

[00:17:46] And on top of that, of course, I put the facial recognition on, and that reminded me of all of the incredible people we do it for. And if it wasn't enough that I came in skipping down the road as an image, right? What we do for a living, the things we create, and the people we create these things for, what an honour.

[00:18:05] not only ACDSee, but Sarah spent the past couple of days designing the most incredible book. A Tramontino book is the range from Graphistudio. And it's full of the same pictures, these pictures that we took in the past 12 months. It's a collection of some of our Favourite moments, I guess, out of 2023. A mix of clients and some dogs, all sorts of bits and pieces.

[00:18:31] One or two award winning images. But mostly, it's just a celebration of the people we work with. And I can't wait for that to come, for Sarah to get it made, uh, and Graphistudio to get it, to get it made.

[00:18:47] The Joy of Photography

[00:18:47] It'll be beautiful, I know that. But more importantly, it will sit on our coffee table, and every time I feel flat, or I feel like, Oh, do you know what? I'm not sure how I feel about all of this. I can go down and have a look at it, just as I do with one or two other bits down there.

[00:19:00] And it reminds me, just What a lovely job this is, and I can't wait to have that actually on our coffee table, not just as an advert for the product, and of course it is a great advert for the product, a Graphistudio product I may have mentioned we're ambassadors for Graphistudio, so there's my cards on the table again, but in the end, I am really lucky, and we are really lucky, to have a skill that allows me to create the pictures that we do, for the people that we do, the moments that we get to enjoy, the places that we get to visit, and the joy, that we get.

[00:19:36] It's easy to get distracted by life, but sometimes it's worth focusing on what it is I do. And for whatever reason that happened subconsciously this morning, but I probably should make it happen more of a deliberate thing as I go.

[00:19:52] Still ambitious, still competitive, still driven, still want it all to happen today. But maybe it just takes a little bit of time. .

[00:19:59] Conclusion and Workshop Information

[00:19:59] And on that happy note, I'm going to wrap up. If you're curious about our workshops, please do head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the coaching and workshops section. Eventually we're going to move all of those across into Mastering Portrait Photography, but for now they're all still on my normal website.

[00:20:19] I'll put a link if you're curious about ACDSee and want to download a copy to have a play. I recommend you do actually, I've really I've grown to love it. I have two screens on my Mac, two huge 27 inch monitors, and ACDSee sits permanently on my right hand monitor whenever I'm doing any design work or doing anything for the websites.

[00:20:39] It's there because I have easy and straightforward access to all of our hero images, all of my favourite images. It's incredible as a tool like that. It slots in alongside Lightroom for me. At least it won't replace it, though I'm sure the guys at ACDSee would love it too. That's not, for me, the function that it serves, but does that make it still worthwhile?

[00:21:00] I think it does, and I, for one, will renew my license when the time comes up. So I shall put a link down in the show notes for you to head across. It does have my name in it. I don't get a kickback from it. I think it just allows the guys at ACDSee to see that it came through me. And I'll also put it on our Facebook group for all of the people that have been on our workshop community.

[00:21:19] But All in all, I highly recommend it.

[00:21:23] In the meantime, I hope the weather is a little nicer where you are. I hope it's more like yesterday than today. But whatever else, keep skipping, keep smiling, remember that what we do is an incredible job. I'm Paul, and whatever else, be kind to yourself.

[00:21:38] Take care.

Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast: Land Rover Edition

This is one of our "Land Rover Editions" which is to say, slightly noisy.  I'm on my way to and from the Hearing Dogs for a shoot, which is always lovely.  Various topics, but mostly "Yvonne's Law: Shoot For Dough Before Shooting For Show".  In other words, it's all about your client before it's about us and our lust for awards! haha.  Sadly, it does mean you can't always create award-winning or qualification-worthy images on every client job, no matter how much you want to!

00:00 Introduction and Land Rover Editions
01:06 The Journey and the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast
03:04 The Importance of Being Part of the Photography Industry
04:35 The Challenges of Recording Podcasts and Listener Engagement
06:00 The Timelessness of Radio Programs
07:05 The Arrival at Hearing Dogs and the Importance of Initials
07:45 The Challenges of Building a Website and Judging Image Competitions
16:08 The Arrival at the Wedding and Yvonne's Law
20:14 The Wedding Shoot and the Difference Between Shooting for Show and Dough
27:17 Conclusion and Farewell

 

Enjoy!

Cheers
P.

---

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

---

Full Transcript:

EP145 Yvonne's Law

Introduction and Land Rover Editions

[00:00:00] As I'm absolutely certain you can hear, I'm back in the Land Rover. I think maybe, maybe I should call these the Land Rover Editions and actually separate them out from our normal podcasts. Mostly because when I was at the photography show at the beginning of the year, quite a few people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed them.

[00:00:24] Though looking in the mirror right now, I do look like I think a pilot, with my microphone, it's either that or Madonna, and I don't know which is better. I'm gonna go with pilot with the microphone on. However, quite a few people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed the podcast, when it's from the Land Rover, the podcast episodes.

[00:00:43] Except for Fiona. Fiona told me in no uncertain terms that not so keen, doesn't like them, wish I'd stopped doing them. Sadly however, look at the weather out here, it's just ridiculous. There's a huge flood. Water everywhere. Good job I'm driving this thing, I think. It's going to be an exciting trip.

[00:01:03] Note to self drive careful.

The Journey and the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast

[00:01:06] Anyway, this is one of the Land Rover editions of the Mastering Portrait, no, hang on, yes, no, that's right. I'm Paul. This is a Land Rover edition of the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.

[00:01:33] The challenge with doing these particular versions of the podcast is, of course, the priority is to arrive safely at wherever it is I'm heading.

[00:01:44] Today it's the Hearing Dogs: I've got to photograph of some newborn puppies. Well, eight weeks old, so cute, yeah, cute. And also some Christmas stock imagery. The date today is the something of February. What is it? 7th, 8th, 9th something of February. Haven't looked the date up. And we're doing the Christmas, or some of the Christmas stock imagery ready for the end of the year.

[00:02:06] Now in some ways it feels absolutely ridiculous that we're doing that, but on the other hand, it's perfectly planned. So I'm actually quite happy about it because normally, every year I've photographed Christmas stock imagery in sort of August, which makes life very tricky when you're trying to hide flowers, make it, the light look slightly bluer.

[00:02:25] And ignoring the fact that the dog is panting in the heat. Today, that's not going to be a problem. It's 4 degrees according to the thermometer on the car. It is absolutely tipping it down with rain and has been by the look of it for the past 12 hours because there are floods everywhere. It's going to be a slightly lively journey through the lanes of Buckinghamshire to the Hearing Dogs site.

[00:02:49] So anyway, Fiona, I'm sorry I've, I set out at the beginning of the year that I was going to run at least once a week, the podcast would come out once a week, but finding the time for that has been nigh on impossible. On Tuesday.

The Importance of Being Part of the Photography Industry

[00:03:04] We spent the entire morning judging the images for the British Institute of Professional Photographers, the BIPP image competition, which is such a joyous, I mean, you know, some of the greatest pleasures of getting involved in the industry are that I'm involved in the industry.

[00:03:21] I know that may be alien to some people. I get asked quite a bit, what do you get out of it? And I'm going to guess that everybody who sticks their head over the parapet and does judging, mentoring, gets involved with various associations. You get a fairly, a fairly repeated question of what on earth is in it, for me, for other, you know, people asking why they would join, for instance.

[00:03:44] What do I get for my 15 quid a month or whatever it is, I don't even know how much it is. And the answer I'd always say is I get to be part of something. I get to be part of something bigger than just myself, Sarah, Michelle, and we're actually a pretty big business when it comes to the photography industry in terms of brand, but also in terms of turnover.

[00:04:02] We have a You know, a reasonably big business, the three of us run but it's still, in terms of the industry itself, if it wasn't for the associations, we'd be running it on our own, and yeah, alright, I'm with clients all the time, which is amazing, but it's the, things like the society's convention. Being part of the BIPP.

[00:04:19] com, being a judge for the FEP, that's just started this week, so I'm judging for the Federation of European Photographers as well, and it looks like I'm about to do some judging across the pond. with our American friends.

The Challenges of Recording Podcasts and Listener Engagement

[00:04:35] So, all in all, a lot's going on and, and , finding time to record the podcast just isn't that easy.

[00:04:42] On top of that, the thing I've suddenly had to become increasingly cognizant of is I've started to get emails of people who are discovering the podcast for the first time and are now listening to back episodes, and this particular message, I suppose, was triggered, or this thought was triggered, by an email that came from another Paul, I mean, great name, of course, another Paul, who had started listening to the podcast, and when he emailed in the other day, he was on episode 31.

[00:05:09] Now, I didn't look up the date of episode 31, but given we've been doing this for about Eight years now. Seven or eight years. Episode 31 is quite a long way back. Goodness only knows what's changed since then. And it may be another six years at that run rate before he gets to this episode of 145. So, who knows?

[00:05:33] So now I've got to be very careful. I don't get too specific on dates because by the time some people listen to these episodes it could be well out of date. Equally, there are people who've probably started episodes What, 144, and are now working their way backwards, but still won't get to 100, this episode, 145, for quite a long time.

[00:05:53] So forgive me if some of the stuff I talk about is very particular to the moment. Can't do a lot about that.

The Timelessness of Radio Programs and the Future of the Podcast

[00:06:00] One of my favourite radio programmes to listen to is Letter from America. Have I talked about this before? I've no idea. Letter from America, by a guy called Alastair Cook. He's, he's dead now.

[00:06:12] This was on Radio 4, BBC Radio 4, and I think you can still Listen to it. Oh, I listened to it on the BBC Sounds app and many of the back episodes are there. And I really like the fact that it's of its time. I was listening to an episode the other day that was actually about the Middle East, and it's incredible.

[00:06:31] I mean, These episodes must be, I think, 40 years old? You're looking at the mid 80s. And the politic of the region and things that were going on sounded like they could have been today, right here, right now. And I find stuff like that really interesting. So I suppose in a sense you can have a recording that is of its moment and yet still be pertinent later on.

The Arrival at the Hearing Dogs Site and the Struggles of PodcastingThe Arrival at the Hearing Dogs Site and the Struggles of Podcasting

[00:06:57] If I'm still doing this in 40 years, I don't know if I'm going to be driving around the country photographing hearing dogs, but that's what we're doing today. So thank you to Paul for emailing in. It's lovely to get these emails. We get them from people dotted all over the world.

[00:07:12] Describing what they're up to. I try to get back to everybody within a certain time frame not always possible, but I do try to, to do it. And those that sort of make me smile, I, I talk about on the podcast itself. Uh, An awful lot going on just at the moment, which is also a reason why I haven't managed To do a sit down at my desk recording really, the only time I've got.

[00:07:34] Sorry, I'm so sorry Fiona, I know, alright, I know. But I'll try and make the broadcast as clear as I can.

[00:07:41] Even in this clattering vehicle.

The Development of the Mastering Portrait Photography Website

[00:07:45] Still building the masteringportraitphotography. com website, causing me no end of head scratch. The hardest bit is a combination of technology and trying to figure out where Articles should sit. It's not, it turns out, as straightforward as I would like. Mostly because the platform we're using, or trying to use, or switching to, is more basic than the one I have at the moment.

[00:08:12] So the one I have at the moment, I can do anything I like. WordPress, with all of its plugins and all of its technology, of course you can do anything you like. But the problem is, with that kind of power comes an immense amount of work. Keeping on top of it, making sure it's patched correctly, making sure that all my licenses are up to date.

[00:08:32] And on top of that, a huge amount of expenditure. Because of its sophistication, well, you pay for it. So, what we're trying to do is simplify everything, because I don't really need that power to do the things I need to do. It's overkill, really, although I enjoy having that sort of level of control.

[00:08:54] But the kicker, of course, is now we're simplifying things down, is I'm discovering that certain core things that I relied on, for instance, the structure of how one article can be the child of another article, so you can have a parent which is a really simple idea.

The Challenges of Creating a User-Friendly Website

[00:09:12] But very powerful. I can't do that on the new platform, so I'm having to figure out ways of still making the content visible, make it logical make it easy to upload and easy to access.

[00:09:24] And have a structure that really makes sense, but haven't necessarily been able to find the way of doing that.

The Experience of Judging for the BIPP Image Competition

[00:09:32] Of course, things like judging the other day they take up time too, but it warranted pleasure. It was just It's the new BIPP monthly competition. So this was month one. So if you're listening to this podcast five years later, you will know whether the BIPP.

[00:09:47] com monthly competition has been a success because this was the very first round. A couple of hundred entries, which is really nice. Hopefully that will climb but the, the fun of it is sitting we've recorded the call, so I have it as an audit trial, but sitting on this video conference with two judges looking at images and enjoying the process of assessing images.

[00:10:10] Now, the only thing is, it didn't really occur to me, I thought we'll film this, we'll do it properly, so we're using a bit of software called Squadcast which is brilliant, it's one of the, it's, there are various things, a bit, Riverside FM is another one. Where you do it as if it was Zoom, but the video and audio for each participant is recorded locally on their machine, which means it's really high quality.

[00:10:29] I can run that then into our podcast software and do an automated transcription, transcribe it, because the new AI tools are Word Perfect. It's brilliant. However, what I hadn't allowed for in the four hour recording is, of course, we judge in silence. Why? Well, it's not because we're really dull.

[00:10:53] Well, maybe it is. It's because, actually, we want each judge to determine the score for the image independently. And if there's chatter, if people are sighing, if people are going, Oh, if only they'd done this better, it influences the, the, the judges. They influence each other. And of course, we want there to be an independent scoring because that helps to take out any sort of personal or subjective, I mean the whole thing is subjective, but sort of variability and, and outside influence. So it's great, they judge in silence, they punch in their scores, I announce the score and record it. It doesn't make for a very interesting video. So I'm now not certain that we'll ever release these things because the idea was, and still is, to find ways of providing insight into why an image does well, why an image maybe hasn't done so well, what the judge's thoughts are, but we never really do that during judging.

[00:11:50] So, having to have a think about how we might do it. We certainly can't critique a couple of hundred images in the time we have available. And we're going to do this every month. And the thing about the judges is that they are not retired. They are not Part time photographers. These are the best of the best.

[00:12:10] They have to be. They have to be current. They have to have their eye in. They have to be working pros for the judging to have validity. If I just used people who are no longer in the industry, they're no longer up to date. They're no longer current. So it's not that I can use judges that have, or we can use judges that have a ton of time at their fingertips.

[00:12:33] The most important thing about the judges is they are current and as such they need to be working and if they're working I cannot get a hole in their diary for more than a few hours at a time so we can't critique every image. It's not physically possible but somehow I've got to find a way of getting some of this information out to everyone who entered, entered the monthly competition.

[00:13:00] Anyway, it's a lot of fun doing it and those results, the first set of results, will come out. Next week. So if you're a BIPP. com member, look out for those results if you're listening to the podcast. And of course, I would encourage all of you to enter. You get one free image every month. You don't need to pay any money.

[00:13:18] But just make sure, just because it's free, doesn't mean that it can be any old image. It's a real competition. We're judging it to the international print competition standard. So it's tough. I make no apology for that. It's really tough, and as such, it's not your everyday work that is going to do really well.

[00:13:41] And I'm gonna come back to that as a topic of conversation on the return leg of this journey. However, before I do that, as I'm getting fairly close to the hearing dogs now, the weather's improving. It's still pretty horrible, but at least it's not literally lashing it down as it was when I got into the car.

[00:13:58] Quick tip!

The Importance of Presets in Photography

[00:13:59] This is a quick tip for nothing. It's not the subject of the podcast, but I thought about it while I was a moment ago prepping some files for a upload, and I was in Lightroom, and then in one of the Nik ColorFX, uh, plugins. Is, there are so many presets, lots, presets for plugins, presets for Lightroom.

[00:14:23] Presets for Photoshop. There's so much stuff around actions that it gets really hard to track the ones that you created for yourself. And I have this very simple rule of thumb. is for any, any preset, any action, any workflow item, any LUT, any, sorry, a LUT, L U T, lookup table, any color LUT anything at all really, I put my initials at the front of it.

[00:14:51] I always put P W because it identifies the things that I created for myself. As opposed to the things that I may have bought the things that I may have downloaded, the things that somebody else was helping me with, the things that I've done for myself, they have the initials PW at the front. And it's not an ego thing.

[00:15:11] A couple of times people have cocked an eye because everything I've got has got PW, PW, PW, PW. It's got nothing to do with that. It's got everything to do with the fact that I get really easily confused with the different things that are in the business, the different presets, folders, you name it. So I stick PW at the front to make it clear I did that one and then in two years time Because some of the things I've written they are like five six years old There's some scripts I wrote for Photoshop that we're still using and I think I wrote them ten years ago I know they're mine because they have PW at the front as opposed to some of the scripts I found and downloaded Which are by third parties, and of course, you know, I can use them.

[00:15:51] But I certainly couldn't distribute them. And I want to know that if I'm modifying them, I'm modifying somebody else's work. Which is only fair. So, stick your initials. At the beginning of any presets and things that you create for yourself. There you go, that's a top tip for nothing.

The Arrival at the Hearing Dogs Site and the Weather Conditions

[00:16:08] I'm just about to pull in to the hearing dogs.

[00:16:11] Wow, it's a grey day. Look how blue the light is, it's horrible. Ha, ha, ha. Usually, usually at this side of the hill, we come over a slight hill. Um, so it's only, how long I've been driving? What, 10, 15 minutes? It's not that there's a huge difference in location between us and the hearing dogs. The geography does change slightly.

[00:16:33] We come over a slight rise onto the other side of a hill, and then onto a plateau, a little bit of a plateau at the foot of the Chilterns. And the weather here is quite often different, very different. Sometimes, particularly, it's most pronounced when it's snowing. We will have snow and they won't, and vice versa, and it really is only 10 minutes separate.

[00:16:51] Today, sadly, the weather is exactly the same, which is to say, shitty. There's no, I'm sorry if you're offended by the word, but it's the right word. It is shitty. Dead flat light, cloudy, wet. It's gone down by 0. 2 of a degree since I've been driving. Over this side of the hill, it's 3. 8 degrees. Usually the temperature rises.

[00:17:17] Today, it's slightly colder. And I normally would say that I am looking forward to photographing the Hearing Dogs, particularly the puppies. Today, I'm looking forward to the photography. I am not looking forward to lying in a wet field. God, that car park needs a little bit of TLC you can hear the car rattling around on all of the divots and holes and puddles.

[00:17:42] And then my, my car cam pinging as it thinks I've hit something. I do think at the moment we live in a country where the roads are in such bad condition. My dash cam. Constantly thinks I've had an accident and records that little bit of footage automatically because it thinks I've hit something, and I haven't hit anything, I'm just driving along the A40.

[00:18:05] Right, I'm here. I shall return with the actual subject of this podcast. Maybe that's what Fiona doesn't like, is the randomness of it. Sarah says I repeat myself a lot when I'm recording from the car, so apologies if I am about to do that. However I will see you at the end of this particular shoot.

[00:18:23] Right, I'm back. So at the end of that, I've just spent, what is it now quarter past two, uh, four and a bit hours photographing puppies which is beautiful, photographing dogs which are equally beautiful, running dogs, jumping dogs, wet dogs, god the weather's been horrible, and some Christmas images. Of course it's this time of year when we shoot Christmas stuff, but actually created some really, well I mean I think they're beautiful, my client seems to think they're beautiful at this stage, I've only seen them on the back of the camera, but a lot of fun.

[00:18:59] We're using more and more and more LED lighting. Which is great when you're balancing up against Christmas lights and fairy lights and daylight. It's so much easier using LED than strobes for that. For the studio stuff, we are still using strobes because we can freeze movement really well, which is really, really important.

[00:19:20] So for the white background stuff, those standard shots we create for the charity, very much still strobe, and I don't see that changing. In the near future, uh, because that ability to have, you know, F 16 and that instantaneous pulse of light that freezes motion is a very particular look and just the moment, I don't see that becoming that being replaced.

[00:19:44] However, the LED side of it we had four different LED lights two with modifiers, two focusable spots with modifiers and two LED bars. Which just added beautiful touches of light where I wanted them. Made life really easy. I'll share a few of those hopefully on Insta over the next couple of days.

[00:20:04] Actually, I won't show them on Insta because they're our Christmas pictures. So no, no, I won't be showing them on Instagram. They're the Christmas pictures, but maybe I'll get to show them. In December next year, or this year.

The Concept of Yvonne's Law in Wedding Photography

[00:20:14] Over the weekend, and this is, I guess, we're heading towards the point of this particular podcast.

[00:20:19] I was photographing a wedding, beautiful wedding, only 13 people, pretty hectic, lots going on, Friday night, Saturday all day, Sunday morning and some of the afternoon. A really beautiful venue, and on the Friday night I got sitting chatting to the mothers of the groom, or the mother, sorry, mother and father of the groom, mother and father of the bride.

[00:20:38] And one of them said to me, she said Yvonne told me this. Now at that stage I didn't even know who Yvonne was, so Yvonne, Yvonne, said that she was complaining that all of the shots of her son were the back of his head. And it turns out Yvonne, at a different wedding, was the mother of the groom. And every shot of the groom, it was just the back of his head.

[00:21:00] And I said, I don't understand. She said, well, there's lots of shots of them as a couple. You can see the bride's face, very moody, just the back of the groom's head. And do you know what? Instantly, instantly, I knew the kind of shot she was talking about. It's the kind of shot that we see quite a lot when we're judging competitions, or maybe doing Quals.

[00:21:21] There's some, it's very moody, but essentially it's a bridal portrait using the groom as context. It's fine, there's definitely a place for it. But if you're shooting a wedding, you might just find yourself getting the reaction that, clearly, Yvonne gave. So, Yvonne is not happy that the photographer has not done what she would regard as the photograph that she would like.

[00:21:43] Which, I'm gonna guess, is a photograph of the bride, the groom, three quarter length, front on, snuggled up. Smiling at camera. That's the, that's the, still one of the best selling shots you can create. Certainly if you're pitching to sell to the parents of the couple. Yvonne's Law, I'm going to call it from now on, and I think we're going to talk about this, and I'm going to add it to my list of things that people should think about.

[00:22:09] Yvonne's Law is this. When you're photographing a wedding, make sure you cover everything that the people who are attending and the people who might be buying the pictures would wish for. Going for awards is fine. We all do it. We all need to do it. We need to push ourselves and be creative. That is For most of us, why we came into these industries in the first place, we want to do something exciting and different.

[00:22:32] We want to do something engaging and moody, and on the whole, those are not the shots that you can sell to the couple. Not always, it's not an entire, there is a Venn diagram with an overlap. You can, of course, sell really dark, moody pictures of the bride to the couple, and that may well happen. But there's a law of averages here and you're being paid by the client to satisfy numerous different angles.

[00:22:57] Now, the other thing I don't know about the wedding that was being described is whether the bride and groom had asked specifically for a certain type of image. I have shot a wedding, this is going back a little bit in my career. Where the bride and groom wanted me to, and I kid you not, ignore the mother of the bride.

[00:23:16] That was my brief. Do not pay any attention to her. She's gonna ask you to do all of these different shots with different people, but she is not paying. The bride and groom were really very clear about that. The problem is, from a diplomatic point of view, I've got a nightmare because, of course, the mother of the bride is asking me to do things.

[00:23:36] And I've been briefed not to, because it'll draw time and they're not shots that the bride and groom, who are my client, are going to buy. So yes, you can end up in that situation. But here's the rub for that particular wedding, is I ended up going back and doing a portrait shoot with the whole family, because the mother of the bride felt she hadn't got the pictures of them as a family that she would wish for.

[00:23:56] We ended up dancing through, or jumping through a few hoops, jumping through a few, I can't even say the word, hoop, jumping through a few hoops, hoops to get to the end goal. So Yvonne's Law simply states, remember that you're shooting for a client, you're not just shooting for you. Eventually I'll word it slightly differently as I probably think of 25 iterations of it.

[00:24:17] Let's just let these people out here. There you go. You go through there. That's good. Perfectly good. And so it was a really beautiful wedding and throughout the day though I laughed with the two mums about Yvonne's law and made it perfectly clear that I was getting everything they had asked for.

The Differences Between Shooting for Awards and Clients

[00:24:35] Now there's a slight addendum to this thought process which is well how come what you shoot for a client doesn't necessarily do so well in awards or so well in qualifications.

[00:24:49] And the truth of that is that we have to, to a degree, separate out context from the picture. So when we're judging we don't have the context which makes it sometimes a little bit tricky. As wedding photographers we know that shooting on a commissioned wedding is that little bit more complicated which is why in the categories for wedding photography most of them state really clearly Must be linked to the wedding day, must be commissioned.

[00:25:16] You can't use models, it can't be you just shooting for fun, because once you eliminate that sense of pressure, the time pressure mostly, but the performance pressure and having to work for a client, everything's much easier. Which is why fashion magazines have these beautiful pictures of models in bridal gowns and actually on a real wedding day.

[00:25:37] It's a lot trickier, it's not impossible but it's a lot trickier to get those images. So there's this thing, and I, we all know it the best I've ever heard it was shoot for show, shoot for dough. The difference between shooting for your portfolio, shooting for awards, shooting for qualifications, and shooting for the money, shooting for your client.

[00:25:58] They are slightly different things, and one photographer, a really nice photographer called Hoss Madavi, photographer, Put it like this. He said, think about designing for a catwalk. Think about what you would design out there for a catwalk and then think about what you actually end up selling through a high street chain like John Lewis or Marks and Spencer or whatever in the UK or maybe Macy's or someone like that in the States.

[00:26:27] Think about the difference between those two. Your haute couture arranges that you're going to produce on the catwalk. By the time they end up being sold to the mass public, not quite the same thing. Nor should they be. They're for different purposes. One is to show the world what you're capable of. One is to show, or it's actually sell to the world.

[00:26:46] Not quite the same thing because most people are not going to buy a really funky haute couture dress or outfit off the catwalk in the same way that a lot of our clients won't wish. to buy a moody dark shot that's of the back of the groom's head. There you go. Yvonne's Law is now what we're calling it.

[00:27:05] I might have to change it. I feel, I don't, I've never met Yvonne. I'm going to credit her with it because that was the story that was told to me. On that happy note, I am just pulling into a garage because I am absolutely starving.

Conclusion and Farewell

[00:27:17] I need to get some food and I need to get some food quick before I start getting grumpy.

[00:27:22] So I'm going to park up and I'm going to wish you all well for the week. So for this week's podcast, thank you for listening. Of course you can email me. At paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. You can head over to masteringportraitphotography.com. Please do subscribe to the podcast wherever it is that you consume your podcast.

[00:27:43] And if you feel like it, please leave us a review. If you feel sorry, if you feel like leaving us a nice review, please leave us a review. If you feel like leaving us some nastiness, then please email me so I know what we could improve on. But on that happy note, I hope you're having a good week. I hope the weather is better where you are than where we are.

[00:27:58] And of course, in the spirit of this morning, a very happy Christmas to you all on this February day. And whatever else, be festive, but be kind to yourself. Take care.

I am recording this having just spent the day running one of our workshops with some of the nicest people imaginable.  A top day (though I am now shattered!) at the end of a top month (January has been amazing) and who knows?  Maybe it's the start of a top year.  Don't want to tempt fate though...

This episode was triggered by a shoot I did last week, when just a few words seemed to change the course of a shoot.

Enjoy!

Cheers
P.

---

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

---

Full Transcript:

[00:00:00] Can you believe it? January has nearly gone. We are almost into February, the second month of only 12 in a year, and this has already been one of the best starts we've ever had to any year. I'm Paul, and this is a very optimistic Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Well, I'll be honest, I did not see that coming.

[00:00:39] I think when we got to the end of last year, exhaustion took over, I crashed into Christmas, came out of it the other side, went into the convention, we're having a ball, but I think I don't know why I wasn't expecting this year to be quite as lively as it has been, but it does seem to be that there is a ton of energy out there.

[00:00:59] Maybe, maybe I was expecting the general election to be early in the year, and so things tend to get a little bit quieter around elections or around referenda. But the phone is ringing like crazy, emails are coming in. This week we've had a handful of reveals and they've all been brilliant. The clients have loved the images, everything's gone well.

[00:01:23] My bit of the puzzle is to create images, create an experience, send them away with memories and make sure they know what to expect when they come back for the sales, for the reveals. And they've gone really smoothly, which means I've done my bit properly, which makes me very happy because as you all know, a little bit chaotic at the best of times, uh, but it looks like my debriefs are working.

[00:01:43] I'm getting the point across to the client. We're creating pictures that people love and I am having a ball. I did think I might feel a little flat after the success of the Society's convention. It was such a good week. I know I spoke about it in the last podcast, but I'm still smiling at just how much fun we had, just how many people I met.

[00:02:06] The workshops were full. I spend a lot of time chatting photography, having interesting conversations, meeting interesting and funny people, and I think, I suppose, last week, I thought I might feel a little flat about it all, but that could not be further from the truth. If anything, I'm more energetic now than I have been for a long time, ignoring the fact that I'm also pretty exhausted and my eyes. I don't know why, but my eyes have been tired today. You know, you get those days when I put my glasses on and within three minutes, I've got to take them off, even though everything is just slightly blurry because I don't know why, it just makes my, it's just been making my eyes tired today.

[00:02:46] Maybe I just need to go and get them sorted, but this has been the most successful January we've ever had. And sometimes everything goes like that. It's just hectic, it's full of stuff, all unexpected, but being busy is a good thing. I think? Isn't it? Uh, I don't know. Anyway, today we've just finished the first of this year's workshops.

[00:03:11] This particular workshop was our From Shutter to Print workshop, uh, which steps through everything from picking up your camera all the way through to prepping your images ready for print. It's a huge, if you think about it, that's a huge field to cover. And of course, we try really hard to To tune it, we ask all of the delegates coming, we ask questions on what they're looking for.

[00:03:35] So we try to make sure that everything we're delivering is in line with what would be useful for them. And at this point of the day, it's quarter to eight in the evening. I don't know, a couple of hours ago when they left But they all look just slightly shattered, whether that's just because I've thrown so much information at them, whether it's just because it's a Monday, a dark Monday in January, or a combination of the two, I've no idea.

[00:03:59] Of course, I'm always slightly nervous of whether I've done a good job of delivering the information that would be useful for them, but it certainly has been a blast. And it was Loretta today. I don't know if I've ever talked about Loretta. Loretta was one of my clients. I photographed her wedding. Oh, it must be 10 years ago now.

[00:04:17] Um, and we've been friends ever since. She is a ball of energy and I absolutely love it when she's in the studio because there is not a dull moment. There's never a flat. Easy, calm couple of minutes. It's just 100 miles an hour from when she arrives to when she goes. So today has been one of those days.

[00:04:39] So thank you to everybody who came on the workshop. And obviously, thank you to Loretta for modeling. And once again, best lunch. ever. The guys, there's a delicatessen in our local town of Thame called What's Cooking. I don't know if a shout out to a small company in Thame is any good to them on a podcast that has photographers all over the world, but I'm going to give them a big shout because every time they do the food for us, it is a highlight of the day.

[00:05:06] I like to think the pictures I've created might be the highlight of the day. But no, no, I'm absolutely convinced that as everybody's driving away, they'll have been thinking that was a great lunch. We had beautiful food full of flavor, not your sandwich, not your average sandwiches that you get in packets or bowls of crisps.

[00:05:26] No, no, no. These are. Big plates of really beautiful vegetables and salads and a quiche and chicken and scotch eggs. It was absolutely incredible. So thank you to What's Cooking in Tame for yet again. They're our regular, they cater to our workshops all the time. I, when I set out with this thing. I wanted to deliver something that's genuinely useful, but also something that people will enjoy coming to.

[00:05:52] And lunch, for me at least, is a big part of that. I'm always disappointed when I go somewhere and it's a crappy lunch. You know, the edges of the sandwiches are curled. It's like tea in Tearns. Those annoyingly sweet biscuits that you get. None of that. Mid afternoon, so the first part of the day, the first half of the day is all photography.

[00:06:13] And the second half of the day is all Uh, techniques and things in Photoshop and Lightroom. And midway through that, Sarah arrives with Millionaire's Shortbread and tea and coffee and just lovely. And it just picks everybody up long enough for them to survive, survive me rabbiting on about Photoshop and Lightroom and retouching and layers and masks and curves and color profiles and LUTs and all of the things that are part of this thing.

[00:06:43] The mid afternoon snack is my highlight. I actually look forward to it. So I had this brilliant lunch. We've had beautiful people around, created amazing pictures, had a lot of fun. And mid afternoon, in comes a millionaire's shortbread. Oh my days. Yes, please. Thank you very much. Uh, anyway, what did I actually learn today?

[00:07:00] One of the things that came up in the editing section , someone asked me, Um, why I choose the order that I do for making my edits. And I've never really thought about why in anything other than, well I, you know, the background I'll do, I'll do this, then I'll do that, then I'll get all the way up to the front layers, then I'll do the retouching on skin, etc, etc, and any, you know, liquefying things.

[00:07:24] And actually when I thought about it, I stopped dead and I thought about it. I edit in the order of certainty that I won't need to go back to it. Now, I've never really thought about it logically like that till today. Maybe I should have. I've done it instinctively.

[00:07:42] So there's a thing called a desire line, or desire lines, and these are those paths that when you look at like a park, uh, like a park, particularly in a town, like a big expanse of green, or maybe in our village here we have, um, walk into the station, you go along the path, and the path dips into each of the cul de sacs.

[00:08:04] So the designers, the architects, or the town planners expect you to walk round the corner by about 20 feet, cross the road, Inside the cul de sac, and then come back out on the path, and on the corners of each of those cul de sacs, there's green, there's grass. But if you actually look, the grass is worn down because people have gone sod that and walking in a straight line.

[00:08:22] Similarly in a park, you'll see where the planners and the architects and the designers wanted you to go, and then you'll see where people actually go, and it's never the same place. Well, there's a name for it, they're called desire lines. And the same is true in how you develop processes in your business.

[00:08:39] I've talked about this before, and the trick really is to do the same thing over and over and over and find your own desire line. So much as you sit and plan things, much as you sit and analyse and decide to do this after that and that before this, in the end, you'll do what comes naturally. You'll go and basically The straightest line you can, the path of least resistance.

[00:09:00] It's called a desire line, it has a proper name. So when I was thinking about it today, because one of the delegates asked, why do I do it in this order? And, what I actually do, is I start with the background. So I've got my background layer that's come in from the raw file. I'll duplicate that, because then I've always got an original, uh, layer to go back to.

[00:09:19] Then I usually clean up, so if it's a studio shot, I'll clean up the background. I'll sort out anything to do with the background, because that isn't going to change. It, there's no real decisions to make there. I'm just going to do it, because Once it's done, it's done. I'll never need to go back to it. Then, I might work on, uh, all of the elements of the image that, although they might be quite intensive Photoshopping, they definitely need to be done.

[00:09:45] So, for instance, if someone's wearing a black outfit, as they were today, And there's lots of little hairs and flecks of dust and things. They're gonna need to be cleaned off. There's no ifs, no buts, no wherefores, no decisions to be made. I'm just going to clean it. I'll never need to go back to it because once it's clean, it's clean.

[00:10:03] And I can move on to the next stages. Then I've got a couple of decisions to make. Um, probably what I'm gonna do is do my skin work. So if it's a face, I'm a portrait photographer, there's nearly always a face. I'll do some skin work. I might Photoshop around the edges of the hair, any stray hairs. And I might do things like, um, frequency separation and some retouching with some dodging and burning.

[00:10:27] Then once I've got clear of that, probably what I might think about doing is maybe putting in a texture on top of a background layer. But things like that I might change my mind about, so they're right at the top of the stack. Um, then when I've got there If I need to do any liquefying or any puppet warping, this is the moment.

[00:10:44] It's really late in the stages of photography. Why? Because I'm not certain at this stage, or I'm not 100 percent ever at this stage, quite what would be the right amount of that kind of work. Of all the things we do, I think it's probably the most contentious. Changing someone's body shape because I've posed them badly.

[00:11:07] It's still an area where it's a little bit vague as to how much is the right amount to do, particularly as someone who photographs all sorts of walks of life, all sorts of ages. I don't want to be in that realm of, you know, everybody has to look a certain way. But equally, if I've posed someone not as optimally as I should have, maybe I'll just fix that.

[00:11:27] But it's going to happen really late in the edit. If later on, I'm really close to finishing an image at this point, so if I decide, well, I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have done that, I can go back and I don't have to undo any of the rest of it. And then the final tiny little bit, probably to put a vignette on top, uh, if I, if I want to, and then maybe finish off with a black and white conversion, or something like Nik Color FX.

[00:11:52] So basically what I'm doing is I'm working all the way up from the bottom with all of the things that really, really, really, uh, are definitely going to be done no matter what, all the way to the things actually if I change my mind tomorrow, I won't have to start again at the bottom of the layer stack.

[00:12:07] And I've never really thought about it like that. Um, so many of the processes in our studio are my own desire lines, but I've never thought about that one. So it's kind of cool that at the end of a workshop I've learned something really good as well. So thank you to everyone who came. Really excited about this year's workshops.

[00:12:24] All of them. They're going to be brilliant. Particularly if they go like today. But the one, if I'm honest, that I am most looking forward to is the one we're running on the 18th. So, uh, I've got about six, what's that, six, eight weeks, uh, to think about it. Uh, it's called at the moment, Ordinary to Extraordinary Studio Photography, probably because we were hunting around for a title for it.

[00:12:46] Sounds alarmingly like some of Gerry Guionis titles. Uh, but it could also have been called, I don't know, the Storeroom Studio or Lighting Up in the Lounge. No, no, not lighting up. That makes it sounds like you're smoking lighting in the lounge or maybe the basement backdrop. I don't know, but whatever it is titled, it's all about creating magic in small, awkward, tricky spaces, which is something I've had to do a lot of when I'm working in office buildings.

[00:13:17] When I'm working in other people's homes, you never quite know what you're going to get. And this whole workshop is dedicated to things like basements. Boardrooms, cellars, lounges, hallways, corridors, even store cupboards. I kid you not, I did a shoot the other week in a store cupboard. A big store cupboard, but a store cupboard.

[00:13:40] So at the moment I am coming up with ways to mimic what it's like to work in these little spaces that are awkward, but still create gorgeous images. Now I'm really excited about it because one of the things about smaller spaces is you tend to get, assuming you can get your kit. In there, you tend to get lower contrast because the light pings around a little bit and you can get some really beautiful, gentle, effortless setups.

[00:14:06] Uh, so that is going to be an absolute blast. Cannot wait, uh, for that. Uh, how am I doing? What did I say I was doing last week? Oh yes, the MPP website. Still rebuilding it. It's a long process. We are getting there, slowly but surely, we are getting there and it is taking shape. The content is nearly over. But I've still got to reorganise it all.

[00:14:29] And in the process of doing it, we're reading everything. I'm reading every article, double checking to see if it's still relevant. One or two of the things we've ported over that came from the book, and then went to the Mastering Portrait Photography website. Well, of course, the book was published in 2014.

[00:14:43] It's 10 years old this year. And some of the information in there is now, frankly, outdated. Anything to do with cameras and lighting, things have moved on. Probably also the Photoshopping, although luckily, the small bits of Photoshopping I put in were basically about principles, not about specifics. So, you know, generative AI hadn't even been thought of at that stage, nor had things like the removal tool, nor had actually quite a lot of the tooling in Photoshop or Lightroom.

[00:15:12] It just, the latest versions are worlds apart from what was going on in 2014, but equally, an awful lot of what's on there is Totally relevant, totally pertinent, uh, to, uh, what's going on. So, um, we are working on it. We will get there, trust me. When it's done, we will sing it from the rooftops. Uh, but I'll keep you up to date with how that is all going, uh, including my excitement, uh, for it.

[00:15:39] Um, this week's Thought of the Week. And it's a simple one. Well, they're always simple ones. I mean, I'm not a complicated guy, not really. This week's Thought of the Week is that you genuinely You genuinely have the power to make people feel amazing with words, just as you do with pictures, if not more so.

[00:15:59] Why do I say that? Well, two different clients this week, one in particular, he came, he was just a lovely guy. Uh, he made the claim right at the beginning of the session that he hadn't really ever had a picture that he really liked of himself. And I'm looking at him thinking, I'm not quite sure why. I can't see it visually, but maybe it's the way he reacted to being in front of the camera.

[00:16:24] We've got shooting and all was going reasonably well, and then suddenly. Something about the way he looked and the way he moved reminded me of Vernon Kay. He's from a different area of the country, one's from the North, Vernon Kay's from Bolton, I think, and my client's from the South. Different heights, I think Vernon Kay's about 6 foot 8 or something, ridiculous, 6 foot 2, I've no idea.

[00:16:46] But he's tall and he was a model, my client, anything but. But, there were definitely similarities in the mannerisms, in the haircut, and if I got the light in a certain position and the angle was right, In the way he, it lit his face. And I've said this, and I'm laughing. And he didn't know who Vernon Kaye was, which is a little bit sobering.

[00:17:08] Obviously, people who are younger, uh, maybe Vernon Kaye's not on their radar just yet. But. As I talked it through, visibly, the guy grew in confidence. You could see his body language change, you could see him just come out of himself a little bit, and of course as he's doing that, I'm getting better pictures because his confidence has grown.

[00:17:30] It's paying dividends just having someone in front of me who feels better about themselves. Now don't get me wrong, you cannot tell someone they look like Robert Redford if they don't. That's not what I'm saying. But in finding really good positives Things about someone, not only that you like, but things that you can verbalize, whether it's something to do with a glint in their eye, whether it's something to do with their clothing.

[00:17:54] In this instance, it was someone he looks a little bit like. And with a shoot, particularly with headshots where it could be corporate, it could be an author, it could be a musician or an artist, I don't necessarily know who's coming in or how confident they are. or what we're going to do. Sometimes I do, but not that often.

[00:18:16] And so I will nearly always in my head figure out an actor or a public figure who has a media presence. Obviously not, hopefully someone who's nice, not a Donald Trump or a Liz Truss. Uh, to, to, and what I'll do is it's with that personality is I'll figure out what would their agent have asked of them for photos.

[00:18:40] What would be in their portfolio, their lookbook? What would be on the inside sleeve of an author's bio? If they were in a BBC or an ITV or a Netflix drama, what would the cover shot look like? Because the thing about actors, in particular, the thing about actors, is they reflect Every day Life.. So you get actors from all sorts of backgrounds and skill sets.

[00:19:06] You get every ethnicity, you get every gender, you get every identity, you get attitudes, you get heights, you get everything. Because actors have to represent the world in which we're all familiar. So you get as many different types of actor. As you do people on the planet. And if you can find an actor that is close enough, close enough to the person you have in front of you, and then work out in your head quickly, what might the film they're in be?

[00:19:37] What might a book they've published be? What would a cover look like? What would the poster image on Netflix or Amazon or Maybe in an agent book or maybe on a, on a music album cover. I don't know. I'm making this up as I go along, but if you can picture it, if you can find it, if you can drag it out of your imagination and your history, two things.

[00:20:01] Firstly, you can say to the client, Oh man, you remind me of X. And that's a very helpful thing to do because the client will grow in confidence, but secondly , so do you. Because you're now shooting with something in mind that you might not have had when the shoot started. You might have, but you might not have.

[00:20:21] For me, I love that moment when I open the door and suddenly I've got to figure out what shots are going to look good. How am I going to do this? What's I'm going to look at their clothing, get them to talk me through their clothing and step through all of the things we're going to do with that. I love that energy and that positivity as we drive the shoot forward.

[00:20:39] And I'm not kidding, not only did my client feel better, but so did I because I was now producing better pictures because my client was reacting to the camera in a way that could really only result in beautiful images.

[00:20:54] Please do, when you're working, think of ways of making your client feel a million bucks. And language is every bit as important as what you do with your lights and your camera with Photoshop. Now that's a proper time to know, a proper point to end. As always, if you're interested in our workshops, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops, or head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the coaching section.

[00:21:20] Please do give us a like, a wave, a review. Uh, some five stars maybe that'd be really nice, uh, on iTunes or wherever you get your podcast. If you wanna subscribe to the podcast, please do so on your, on your, uh, podcast Player of Choice so that every time I record one, it'll drop as if by magic, straight into the list of things to listen.

[00:21:41] Like I said last week, I'm gonna try and keep this as a weekly podcast, this time round. Shorter episodes, but far more. Of them. As always, if you have, uh, any questions at all, you can reach me onPaul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. We've had some really lovely emails this week from people. Thank you to everyone who's emailed in, uh, to say they're enjoying the podcast.

[00:22:03] Uh, so you can reach me atPaul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. And until next time, however your week is going, however, your January is ending, your February starting, or if you're just listening to the back catalog, whatever it is you're up to, whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care.

Well we're back from The Societies Convention in London and it's been a blast (though I am a little weary!)

However, no matter how tired I am, I am going to have to find the energy for my clients - just as we all need to.  And that is the topic of this episode.

Enjoy!

Cheers
P.

---

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

---

Full Transcript:

 

[00:00:00] Just got back. From the Society's Convention in London. Four days of hugging, laughing, talking photography, talking crap as well, I think, drinking, eating, not sleeping, running workshops, meeting suppliers, having conversations with editors, more drinking. And generally feeling good about this industry of ours.

[00:00:20] I've met so many people, I've hugged so many people. And for people like us who work in small businesses, many of us on our own, the convention is by far the best possible start to the year. I'm Paul and this is a slightly bleary eyed Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. 

[00:00:41] 

[00:00:55] Well, hello one and all. Um, coming back down after the annual convention is a little bit of a task.

[00:01:03] I needed to sleep quite a lot and to eat, well, something sensible if I'm honest, rather than a diet of beer and carbs. On the night of the awards themselves, I look over, it's about two o'clock in the morning, and I see Sarah sat in a corner, eating the world's largest packet of popcorn. And you do know what it's like when you get the munchies, there's nothing quite like sugary, salty goodness of popcorn.

[00:01:28] The hardest part of huge conventions for me is always that I struggle to place people, so it's slightly stressful, and it's not really made any easier by the fact that a lot of people only know me because they've heard my voice on the podcast. So lots of conversations start with me saying, hello mate, and then rapidly trying to remember why or how or where I know someone from.

[00:01:51] Sarah is in a different league, of course. She seems to have an encyclopedic ability to recall conversations and characters, whereas I'm oblivious trying to figure out the light on someone's face. The number of times I've met someone and all I can think is that the lighting is perfect and it would make a great portrait.

[00:02:08] Not very helpful when you're trying to hold a normal conversation . 

[00:02:11] So this year, I jumped back into the fray and entered the print competition. Haven't done that for a couple of years for one reason or another, mostly because I've been judging. But this year, as chair of judges for a different association, I've been relieved of my duties at the Societies convention, which frees me up to enter. 

[00:02:29] And of course it's a good idea whenever you do get the chance to enter a print competition because it forces you, I mean literally forces you to practice what you preach. However, as always Uh, the images that I hadn't expected to do well did brilliantly, while some I had high fa hopef bleh bleh, I'm breaking these teeth in for a donkey, while some I had high hopes for didn't do quite so well.

[00:02:54] Overall, though, a really good show for me. Out of the 12, I entered 9 achieved merits. Uh, 2 were finalists, so runners up, uh, which is one hell of a rate. The other thing I'm proud of is that they're all from commissioned shoots, bar one, just the one. There is in there an image of our dog Rufus, the studio dog Rufus, which I entered into the pets category because, well, he is a pet and he is really photogenic.

[00:03:23] But you can only ever get one shot of him, just the one. You put him in front of a nice light, you take your picture. He's out of there. Doesn't matter how many treats, how much you persuade him, you get just one shot. So I've had to learn to be right on my toes. Anyway, all respect to the judges, as in my opinion at least, there was no doubt that when it got to the final three images in each and every category, and that includes the ones I did and didn't do well in, I don't think you could argue that they didn't warrant the placing that they gave them.

[00:03:51] Though for me this year, uh, I was a little bit of the bridesmaid, not quite the bride next year. You know, next year. Because there's always that thing when you pick out your images that this time. This time, that's, that particular picture is going to do well. Think about it. You wouldn't enter if you didn't really believe that you were going to win.

[00:04:11] You wouldn't pay the fees, you wouldn't spend the time prepping, you wouldn't spend the time printing, if you really and truly didn't believe that particular image stood a chance. But, as ever, it's a little bit of a lottery, if I'm honest. I think I did alright. Uh, on guessing, but there's a one image in particular that I thought would do much better than it did.

[00:04:32] And it really didn't score very well. It didn't quite put me on the wooden spoon. Yep, there is a wooden spoon floating around, uh, which has been going for years. My name is on it from one year, but thankfully not this year. And that's for the entrant who scores the lowest out of all the people, um, who are involved, uh, with that particular competition.

[00:04:52] But at least you get to take one prize home. I am quite lucky, as I do know pretty much every judge personally, many of them I've judged alongside for a lot of years, so a few of them were kind enough to tell me what had been discussed and what I might do to improve. Even after all these years, you do have to keep developing it, it would be, well apart from anything else, it would be very boring if you didn't.

[00:05:16] And every other photographer at the convention will be doing exactly the same thing, except maybe the overall winners, who I'm guessing are enjoying a little champagne and admiring their own work, at least for the next day or three. Anyway, it turns out one errant shiny button and one pair of shoes that I could have placed more prominently and I might just have made it to be the bride not the bridesmaid.

[00:05:40] This year's target, the one coming up, that is 2024, is to get my shit together on the post production side. All my life I've constructed images in camera and not really needed to focus too much on Photoshop, though I do love the power of it and I really love The whole process of putting an image together, but I really do think it's time for me to up my game with Adobe's finest.

[00:06:05] Uh, there were also a ton of meetings, some formally arranged with others being far more impromptu and involving a pint. It was so good to see the people who make many of our bespoke products. So we saw Graphistudio, we saw Kaleidoscope, these guys supply the stuff that we supply our clients. It was wonderful to catch up with them, as well as the editors of various magazines that I write for.

[00:06:27] Though that does now mean there's a load of work for me to do and the corresponding deadlines to contend with. And if that weren't enough, and there was certainly plenty going on, there is of course an entire program of workshops. And this year, Sarah and I were having a ball running two. A superclass on headshots and a masterclass on simple but effective lighting.

[00:06:50] Both of the workshops, thankfully, were chock full. The second, the masterclass, was standing room only. So a huge, huge, huge thank you. Know who you are to everyone who came and laughed our way through many hours of creating images. One of the best things about the convention is it really is all about energy Which brings me, neatly, or maybe not so neatly, depending on your view, to the thing that occurred to me this week.

[00:07:17] And it's a very simple thing. It's that you walk energy. into the room. 

[00:07:24] Simple thing, huh? 

[00:07:26] It doesn't matter whether you're running a workshop or you're with your client, the energy of the room is almost entirely down to what you bring in with you. And if you don't have it, you can bet your delegates, your audience, or your subjects won't have it either.

[00:07:41] I am not saying, I'm not saying you need to be loud. I know I am quite loud or out there, uh, but you need to have an energy about you, a positivity. You need to be on 10. For me, it's reasonably easy. The fact that I have someone in front of me just seems to trigger something in me. It brings out the performer and it's important that it's a performance and not an act.

[00:08:04] Authenticity is crucial. The lie of acting will very quickly be found out. A performance, on the other hand, is exactly what it is. You and you at the fullest of your ability being truly present, truly engaged in the moment and the people around you. Sometimes, if I'm honest, I really don't feel up to a shoot or I'm not massively full of energy and I have to take a breath and remember that it's me that drives the shoot.

[00:08:32] It's me that provides the pulse.

[00:08:35] It's me that defines it. 

[00:08:37] I have to find whatever it is in me that will define how the shoot or the workshop is going to go. I have to be on a 10. Always. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, there's a thing called the Laughter Club. It was first popularised by an Indian physician called Madan Kataria.

[00:08:57] I think I've pronounced his name correctly, apologies if I haven't. And this is where groups get together and deliberately laugh. But the effect on the brain, even though they're doing it deliberately, and not necessarily for any good reason, has exactly, is exactly the same as if you went to a comedy club.

[00:09:16] The effect on the brain, it doesn't care that the laughter isn't because you're out being entertained. It doesn't care, it doesn't know that the laughter might not be real. It has the same effect on your brain. The trick to this, and this is to take a quote from Wikipedia, is that the brain does not know we're faking it.

[00:09:38] It's as if you were genuinely laughing. It's as if you were genuinely happy. Well the same is true when you put yourself on a 10 The same is true if you talk yourself into being energetic, if you talk yourself to being present, you will feel energetic, you will feel present, just as laughter in a laughter club makes you feel like you're having a funny moment.

[00:10:02] The same endorphins, the same processes. So it's not just that you will give out, but that you will end up feeling the same way. Not only will your clients feel it, you will feel it. And this is also the same way I prep to record this podcast. It can't work if I'm not feeling it, so I have to feel it every time.

[00:10:22] As an aside today, I've been sitting here waiting for the moment to record it, uh, because there's been, uh, an Amazon delivery waiting and waiting. It's eight stops away, six stops away, and all the way up until it's nearly here, and then I realized I can hear the van. I can hear the driver. So I've just had to leg it down the road, uh, knock on his door and say, look, they're going to the wrong house. They should be at the studio and got my delivery. And of course that puts you in the wrong frame of mind to come back and do the podcast. But I still had to sit, get my head in it and figure out what I wanted to feel, what I wanted to convey. And why bother? I mean, why is it important?

[00:11:02] Well, if your clients are having a good time, they will to put it absolutely simply, spend more. Partly because if they've loved it and you've formed positive associations and memories with the shoot and partly because if you're working at a hundred percent, you'll be more creative. But if you bring the two together Well, that can only increase the odds of getting your best sales.

[00:11:25] Anyway, back to the here and now. As I'm busily rebuilding our Mastering Portrait Photography website, something that is slow going, but I am honestly really enjoying it. We will release it in the next few weeks. And I've always loved being a coder, though I was never, ever particularly talented at it. But it is quite nice to spend time absorbed in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, API documentation.

[00:11:48] Uh, you know, if you know, you know what I'm talking about. 

[00:11:51] Anywho, thank you for staying here until the end of this podcast. My target this year is to get back to doing them weekly, which is how I started out. This might not be entirely realistic given the diary that I have, but it is still my ambition.

[00:12:07] Shorter episodes, But more of them. And, well, we'll see. As always, if you have questions or feedback, please do drop me a line. I can always be reached at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk, that's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. Or leave us a 5 star rating on Apple's podcast app as it helps to drive SEO up massively and every little helps.

[00:12:28] If you're interested in any of our upcoming workshops, please head to paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk and then just search out the coaching section or more simply just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops. If you'd like to hear more episodes they can be found on all popular podcast players or head over to the spiritual home masteringportraitphotography.com where you can find the entire Back Catalog and a whole heap of other resources dedicated to the art, the craft and the business of portrait photography. And whatever else you do in the coming week, remember, be kind to yourself. Take care.

[00:13:07] ​

Hi all! I am sitting writing this late on a Sunday evening with a glass of whisky in one hand (a small glass I hasten to add) and typing with the other.  It's already a business year and we're only a week or two in!

In this episode, I have been pondering how you build your business and how, in particular, you do it one client at a time.

It's the Societies Convention in London next week and I spent much of today figuring out exactly what I'm going to be doing.  It's been a lot of fun, but it has highlighted my lack of liner thinking, that's for sure!

The Superclass and Masterclass we will be running at the Societies Convention 2024 can be found at https://thesocieties.net/convention/speakers/paul-wilkinson/ and we would love to see you there - either at the workshops or just for a well-deserved pint!

Finally, all of our workshops at our studio can be found at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops-and-training/ 

Enjoy!

Cheers
P.

---

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. 

---

Full Transcript:

 

[00:00:00]

SO it's late Sunday evening, and I'm sitting here on my own, the fire is ticking over, Sarah's fast asleep, and I have a glass in my hand of something, well, rather lovely. It's a glass of whiskey from my in laws who brought me a bottle of Dartmoor whiskey for my Christmas.

Tonight, Sarah and I have sat and watched Vera. Of all things, how middle aged can you get we sat and watched Vera on ITV? Why? Well, on Friday night we watched Oppenheimer. On Saturday night, we watched Saltburn. Tonight, we needed something, frankly, a lot less stressful. Harriet, our daughter, did warn us that Saltburn was a little bit on the, how do I put this, fruity side? But, I'm not sure Sarah or I were necessarily predicting it to be quite As lively as it was. And so tonight, we really did need something very gentle. Something very uncomplicated. A whodunit actually is relatively obvious and with no [00:01:00] major stress. Very, very different to the other two films.

Which may explain why I'm sitting here drinking a large whiskey that was bought by my in laws. It's been a busy week and I've just prepped a wedding which made me laugh. So, it's a wedding I shot a couple of weeks ago just before Christmas and at this wedding I met a pilot. Now, I've always had a theory that pilots get recruited on their debonair looks and their ability to say what they need to say over the microphone and sound reassuring.

Sure enough, as I got talking to him, both things became markedly apparent. So, I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.

[00:02:00] Haha! So January appears to be running at full throttle and that is not an understatement.

I don't know what's going on for a moment emails coming in, inquiries coming in, the phone is ringing we're booked up solid, and next week of course is the Society's Convention, which I'm very, very much looking forward to. It was a shame when it moved around the year a little bit. I couldn't be there last year but this year back very much in full effect.

I'm running two workshops, one of which is sold out, the other I hope to see a large crowd. So on the 18th from 11. 30 to 1, headshots. And on that note today I spent the whole day. Piecing together exactly what we're going to cover because the way I've decided to do it is to just have two very basic strobes. Obviously, when you're doing a workshop at a convention, they give you a list of the kit you can cherry pick from and I could have had the very best of the very best.

[00:03:00] But the lighting I've chosen isn't, it's not that it's not great lighting, but it's not sophisticated lighting. Very simple lighting that every photographer would start out with, and for both my workshops, both the superclass and the masterclass, I'm going to use this very, very simple kit. Because I get a little bit frustrated when people say to you, oh, you must have amazing lights, or you must have an amazing camera.

In the end, it's what you do with these things. And not only that, but after we've finished doing a workshop, I want people to go away and say, Do you know what? I can do that. Otherwise, there's no point in doing a workshop if you're just gonna do a workshop. And in the end, everyone's gonna go can I do that with my lights?

And the answer is, no. Or, can I do that with my camera? No. Can I do that with my models? No. There's no point coming to a workshop like that, you know, or rather, there's no point running a workshop like that. So I've backed everything off. We have two simple lights with two small softboxes. That is it.

They're mains powered, so I'm going to be tripping over live cables, which I [00:04:00] hate. But today, to try and get my head around exactly what we're going to do, because in the second Masterclass, I committed to doing two lights, ten looks, one and a half hours, one personal.brand, so it's portraits but based around personal branding.

I picked on that because it's a very topical thing at the moment. Lots of personal branding, lots of headshots going on. So it seemed like a good vehicle for it. But in the end, it's portraiture. Lit beautifully, lit quickly. You should be able to create pretty much anything you want to with just two lights.

In fact, I've won more awards with one light than I have for any other combination of studio strobes. So. I'm running a workshop around just these two lights, but the problem is that I do not have a linear mind. I wish I did, but I don't. I'll give you the example today. Very kindly, one of my clients someone who's modeled for us a lot is both a [00:05:00] client, the daughter of a client and has been one of those handful of people who's been in front of our camera more than anybody else.

Stepped in on her Sunday afternoon off to help me figure a path through what we're going to show. I had it all written out, I had it listed. I spent an hour this morning going through that so that I could work my way through a shoot and work out what we're going to do in the workshop. Within seconds of Libby arriving and standing in the middle of the studio, I changed my mind four times.

I had to keep going back to the list to remind myself what I was supposed to be doing, what Is it that I intended to do? Because honestly, I don't think like that. I just, I see the person in front of me. I look at the lighting I have and ideas just spring to mind. Not always good ideas. I never said they were good ideas.

Just ideas. Or I suppose if you're someone who works in a linear fashion, you might call them distractions. I would call it creativity. Everybody else [00:06:00] might just call it a lack of focus. Forgive the pun. But I did spend today figuring out. Different lighting patterns with the two lights that not only can I do, but they create beautiful imagery and they show just what can be achieved with the simplest of kit and some knowledge of how you're using it.

Of course, one of the challenges is going to be in the hotel next week. is it's not a nice dark studio, I don't have all my equipment to hand, anything I'm going to use, the only things that the convention are giving me are a model and two lights and two softboxes, they've said this year, no background, so anything I want to shoot in front of, I've got to take in with me, as well as the stands for it.

Which is fine, it's not a big deal, but I need to be able to travel light because I do not want to be traipsing on the train and on the tube across London with tons of equipment if I can avoid it. So I'm going to try and do this in very light touch, very simple equipment and that lends itself to being [00:07:00] something that if you are just starting out in photography, if you've just started to think, you know what?

I'm going to do some studio lighting. Then this is going to be one heck of a masterclass for you because I'm literally using the equipment that I started out on. In fact, the equipment we're going to use is even more sophisticated than what I started out on, but that's because everything has evolved. When I started out, everything had analog sliders to set the power.

They were great, but they were unreliable as hell. You had to do everything by eye or by light meter, I suppose. And some days, the little sliders would work really well, and it'd be, you know, linear, and as you moved it up a little bit, it would change a little bit, move it down a little bit, it would change a little bit.

Heh heh. Uh, but then of course, gradually over time, the carbon tracks wore, and you'd move it up a little bit, and the light would go really bright! And then you'd move it down a little bit, and the light would go off. And I'm like, why am I in the dark now? And then, the modeling light would be a very different power.

You could never get them, even though there was two sliders side by side, the modeling light never tracked against the actual [00:08:00] power. Oh, a million things. So, of course, in this day and age of digital control, where you set the numbers on the back of your light, no matter how basic your light is, you're going to set a number, either with a click wheel or with a digital input, and it's going to be pretty much spot on, certainly compared to how people like me, who started out You know, I started out with second hand Elinchrom, a pair of Elinchrom EL500s.

I think they were, they were great, but they got very hot, the fans were noisy, they didn't always go off. You didn't have radios back then, we had wires. Um, you had a mains cable, you had a trigger cable. If you were lucky, you could get the little Magic Eye thing to work. I had these, I bought them second hand, but they were fantastic and I loved it.

But if you compare that technology to what we're using today, of course, what we've got today, and even the most basic kit, is so sophisticated. Anyway, today I've spent the whole day, or I haven't, I've spent the afternoon, stepping through [00:09:00] the lighting patterns we're going to use, and I'm really excited about it because the images are absolutely stunning.

Well, I think they are. You may disagree. They weren't what I expected to do, even though I had a list, but then, I guess, if there's one thing you would expect from me, it's that I'm not going to do what was expected of me, but that's, that's not by choice, I'm not a rebel, it's just I don't think in a linear fashion.

That's not my superpower. Sarah and Michelle both do, and that's their superpower. They're very organized. They're very methodical. They're very step by step by step. And I am so not, except in one key area, and that's our workflow. So if ever I talk about workflow, it's actually, it's, it's, in some ways, it's the most.

Exciting thing because it's super organized and it's super organized because over the years, I've spent a lot of time making sure I've got it absolutely how I want it. On the other hand, it's not that exciting because it's linear and I'd much rather be out there [00:10:00] being creative. But nonetheless, the one part of my life that is truly methodical is how we ingest images, how we bring them into Lightroom, how we rename them, the workflow from Sarah through to Imagine to do the coloring and back to me. Very linear. There's no messing around with it. If, if the files are brought in they don't go anywhere until there's another backup of them and that's on a different disk.

The memory cards are never formatted until the backups are done. The jobs are logged on a big spreadsheet, so I know exactly where everything is. They go to Sarah. I know exactly the workflow of everything. Until yesterday, until yesterday, when Lightroom decided to corrupt the catalog. Now, in itself, not a big problem.

It's not a big deal. It hasn't corrupted the images. It's only corrupted the catalogue, but the catalogue has a lot of areas in it, including collections, including certain colourings, and although I've set it to write [00:11:00] any changes in the develop area back down to either the XMP sidecars, or directly into the Photoshop files, that's not as reliable as you would like because of the way it does it.

The catalogue is backed up, it's backed up a couple of times, so again, shouldn't be a problem. But it's a big catalogue. It's 11 gig. It's got 738, 000 images in it, as of when I looked a couple of hours ago. So it's a big catalogue. And it was yesterday failing to load. I could kill Lightroom and load a small catalogue.

So we, the way Sarah and I move images between the two of us is I export a little catalogue with Smart Previews. She can do whatever she needs. It can go to ImagenAI. It comes back to me. I import it, take all those settings off the Smart Previews. And apply them to the master files. Very straightforward. So we have lots of little catalogues I can use to check that it's not Lightroom that's broken, it's the [00:12:00] catalogue.

Try it on a small catalogue, works fine. Try it on our main catalogue, nothing. So, in the end, last night, I left it just running. It was doing nothing, the system was saying Lightroom had crashed, but it was still ticking over, so I just let it go. I went back in this morning, and the catalogue was up, but it wasn't happy.

Something has glitched in the catalogue. We had a little bit of a, a sequence of events that led to power glitching, and it must have been writing into the database, and although it's not supposed to cause a problem, it did. So, this morning, I tried to load the catalogue up again. Although it was there, it wasn't happy, so I left Lightroom.

Tried to open it again to see if it would flush a cache or two. Now it's not really opening. So, I downloaded a backup. So we have backups. I use Backblaze, which is really good. It just ticks over in the background. And I've got a backup from the last day or two, which is fine. I know exactly what things have changed since that [00:13:00] backup.

Because that's the problem with backups, right? Backups are not something that are always today's data. By definition, they're going to be data that you had. Yesterday, or the day before. And that's true here too. But nonetheless, Backblazed downloaded the 11 gig file, told Lightroom to open it, same problems.

So I'm not quite sure what's gone wrong, or when it's gone wrong, but it's certainly causing a problem. So, now what I've done is, this morning I set it rolling. And left it ticking over, and as of right now, which is what, midnight, it still hasn't entirely finished re importing and reconfiguring the database.

Tomorrow I shall find out whether my efforts to fix it have worked. But the point is always back up your work and always have a solid, methodical, linear process for how you bring your images in, how you catalogue them, how you back them up, how you archive them, and what happens if you have failure, because you're going to [00:14:00] have it.

I know that, you know that, everybody knows that. So have a plan as to what you're going to do. It's another reason why, for instance, one of, one part of our workflow is that I don't use Just Lightroom to manage which images are where. It's actually done in folders on the hard drives and then Lightroom reflects those.

Why? Well, for precisely the reasons from today. Sometimes things go wrong and the only thing you're left with is a folder of, I don't know Portraits, a folder of weddings at this venue, weddings at that venue. And that way if you do that, at least you're not beholden to the Lightroom side.

And I'm pretty chilled about it because I know in the end, if the worst came to the worst, I would simply recatalogue the main drive, which is also backed up twice. It's all fine, everything's still there, I can still get to every image, it's just that I can't get to things like the collections, virtual copies, different crop variations of different images, because of course [00:15:00] they are stored in the Lightroom catalogue.

Anyway, I'll get it sorted, I will get it sorted. January's rolling on at a pace and I could have done with it rolling a lot slower today, it would have given me a chance to actually get in there and I know that I've got breathing space for planning and things, but that's not to be. What do we have last week?

We did I was shooting a Paralympian, an amazing lady. Of course, these things are always, when I get to speak about them, still under embargo. But it's for the hearing dogs. She's an incredible human being. I might ask if she'd come on the podcast, actually, because she is someone who would be really interesting to talk about the psychology of winning, to some degree, against the odds, but the psychology of winning, absolutely incredible person to work with, just made us laugh.

And then another day I spent working with Kent, Sussex and Surrey Air Ambulance, KSS Air Ambulance, photographing doctors, paramedics. Patients, pilots, and of [00:16:00] course, helicopters. And we had one of those really odd days where twice the helicopter was called out, and twice it came back really quickly. I don't know the reasons for that, but it meant I got pictures in this beautiful, crisp, sunny day, a rare one.

We haven't had many days like that up until now this year. Of the helicopter lifting, and off it went into the, into the blue sky. It turned around at about half a mile, it came straight back and landed, and it did it twice during the day. And then obviously we were there all day some night time photography as well.

And then really all I'm doing now is doing the prep for next week's convention. I can't wait to be there. It's been a while and I am super excited. I'm going to be there Tuesday night all the way through to Saturday doing a super class on Wednesday. Masterclass on Thursday. If you're around and about that, the superclasses sold out, sold out a couple of weeks ago.

Apologies if you wanted to come to that. Of course, you could come across to our studio and go to one of our workshops [00:17:00] here. Just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops. There's a whole suite of those. in the next few weeks, which is, uh, literally this year, it was just going at 100 miles an hour. I don't know, I didn't anticipate it was going to be quite like that.

But if you can't, if you fancy coming and talking, doing headshots, for instance, we are running a headshot workshop here at the studio in the next couple of months. So feel free to look at those, Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops, if you fancy it. The Masterclass on Thursday, which is free with your convention ticket.

Come along. We're gonna be doing, like I said, two lights, ten looks, one brand. Just having a look at how you can create a lot of variety out of the simplest of things. But not just variety, some beautiful imagery. And that's what I've been doing today, is putting a plan together, because like I said, and you can hear it in the podcast, you know, I just, I can't help myself.

I head in one direction, and before I know it, I'm heading in another.

Anyway, my thought for this particular episode, it's only a short one, [00:18:00] the episode and the thought, it's not a particularly deep thought, it's fine. It's clearly January, Christmas is only just past, New Year is Just behind us I'm sitting with a glass of whiskey.

This is not in depth psychology, but have you ever wondered when you're sitting on the motorway, as I was coming back from the air ambulance, I had a couple of hours on the motorway looking at all of the cars, every one of those cars is a little ecosystem of people. It's a driver, probably some family members, friends, business, business relationships.

The car is going from somewhere to somewhere. It's an individual at the wheel. Yeah, we see it as a traffic jam. We see it as traffic. We see it as a crowd, and yet actually when you're sitting there looking at each of these cars, there's a life, there's a family, there's parents, there might be kids, definitely parents, might be kids.

There are Emotions. There are stories. [00:19:00] What are they listening to? Where are they going? What have they been doing? And when you think about it, a traffic jam and all of that chaos on the M25 around London is not a crowd. It's not, it is a car park, it feels like it, but it's lots of individuals. When you think of it like that, it starts to play in your mind about how we look to win customers in our business.

It's easy to get drawn into this idea of social media influencing, having a presence, having tens of thousands of followers, I'm going to get a thousand likes on this post, I'm going to interact with this group, that group, every day I'm going to post five or six messages out there. And you can very easily lose sight of the fact that your business isn't a crowd.

Your customers are not a crowd. [00:20:00] Your customers are individuals, with parents possibly, with kids, with lives, with jobs, with income. Hopefully enough income they can afford your services. And, when you think of it like that, everything becomes a little bit clearer as to how you should approach. winning your clients.

In my opinion, it's not a smart move to just go for glory and have thousands of likes or thousands of conversations because you don't have time to service them. You're not going to service them particularly effectively. You get lost in the noise. Whereas today Libby, she is a client. She's also worked for us as a model.

Her father is coming on a workshop In the coming weeks, they bought a voucher for him to come on one of our workshops at Christmas, because he can't stop talking about photography. Their friends came to us for a shoot the other day because they liked what they'd seen on Libby's [00:21:00] family walls. And so the thread continues.

And if you ask me about any one of our clients, I can tell you a story that's very similar. One story in particular is of an incredible person called Nikki, who was a bride of mine. I won her wedding. I went round to see her. It was in the days when I would go and visit people to put the pitch in, before we had a really posh studio.

I would drive out. I'd take the albums out and I'd arrive. And I arrived at her home in Henley. A little terraced house, beautiful, but a little terraced house. Took me ages to park because it's all little one way streets. Knocked on the door, and I don't think they'd forgotten I was coming as such, but they certainly weren't ready for me, and they were still eating their Chinese takeaway.

So I sat, we chatted, got on really well. I won the wedding. Before I'd even shot the wedding, Nikki got back in touch and said, did I fancy pitching to become the photographer for the Hearing Dogs? Forgive me if you've heard this story. [00:22:00] And of course, I said to her, well I've never photographed dogs before, I'm very much a people photographer, it's very much about portraiture.

What does it entail? And she said, well that's why I'm asking you, is because I don't want it to be about the dogs, I want to make the hearing dogs a brand that represents helping people with hearing loss. It's not about the dogs. The dogs are hearing aids for people who suffer with hearing loss. Would you consider it?

So I said I'd consider it. I pitched for the work. I worked out a photograph of some dogs. I won it. And I'm still there. That's what, 11, 12 years ago? Still doing it. Still loving it. That's where I was with the Paralympian this week. And coincidentally, Nikki now works at Air Ambulance. And she's dragged me over there.

Dragged me, that sounds terrible. She's pulled me into working with them as well. One client, one person, an individual who we've looked after throughout. Right from the minute I sat on her sofa, while her and her fiancé sat and ate their Chinese takeaway in front of me. And the one [00:23:00] thing about that, I was starving.

I was sitting there thinking, oh God, give me some food. I had to wait until I had closed the pitch out. I'd thrown everything back into the Land Rover and was heading my way back and I could find something to eat. But you should always think of your business, not as a crowd, not, I mean, we do, sorry, I'm contradicting myself slightly here.

We work on averages and Sarah and I constantly talk about it's an averages game. It's an averages game. And so it is when you're looking at your numbers and analyzing your sales per shoot, your margins, your revenue per year. Yes, that's an averages game. But your clients are not. Each of your clients is truly unique.

And if you're a photographer, I mean that in the absolute strictest sense. They are unique. Banks, shopping centers, car [00:24:00] servicing, they use lines like that. You're unique. You're important to us. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They don't have to mean it. They can get away with saying it. But not really meaning it, because we're all expecting exactly the same service from them.

But, if you're a hair salon, or a beautician, or a personal trainer, or of course, a photographer, when we say to a client, you are unique, you better mean it, because it's true. You build a business, one client. By one client, by one client, and you treat each of them uniquely. If you drift into that whole kind of rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, not only are you going to run an.

inefficient business that doesn't do justice to your clients, my suspicion is you're going to get pretty bored because that type of photography, at least for me, isn't at all interesting. I love the idea that [00:25:00] in every one of those cars, I saw on the M25. was another client who would look differently, would be wearing something different, would look different, would have their hair different, I'd have to light them differently, they had a different business or occupation, so we'd probably have to tune if we're doing headshots, it'd be different, or if they're a family, doing it differently.

Every client is unique. You build a business. One client, by one client, by one client, and that's my view on the matter. See, I told you it wasn't deep, but I do really believe it. You really do need to think of this kind of, certainly this kind of business, where your client is in front of your camera. You build a business, one client at a time.

And on that happy note, on that happy note I'd love to see you next week, or this week, it is now At the convention, if you're around, I'd love to catch up and have a beer. Mine's a Guinness. That sounds really bad. Buy me a drink. That's not what I'm saying at all. I really am not saying that. I'm simply saying I would love to sit and have a drink.

I'll buy [00:26:00] you a drink. Well, not everyone. There's a lot of you, but I'll, you know, we'll have a drink, have a chat. I'm so excited to be going. It's going to be clearly if January is anything to go by, this is going to be one heck of a year. So I hope it's the same for you. I hope you're firing on cylinders.

I hope you're having a time of your life. If not, let's have a chat about motivation and excitement at the convention. If it is, well, maybe you could do the same to me to keep me buoyed up too. And in the meantime, whatever else, ladies and gentlemen, be kind to yourself.

Take care.