It's Friday the 13th, a day often associated with superstition, but instead of dwelling on the negatives, let's focus on the positives that have brought joy over the past week. In this episode, I share my experiences, from the challenges of a busy schedule to the joy of working with families in the studio. Join me as I reflect on the importance of community and giving back to the photography industry.

Getting stuff off my chest: - The significance of staying positive amidst challenges - Insights from recent judging experiences at photography competitions - The importance of community support and paying it forward in the photography industry - Tips for preparing your prints for competitions and avoiding common mistakes - Updates on upcoming workshops and events in portrait photography

Join me as I delve into these topics and more, encouraging you to embrace the joy of photography and the connections we build along the way. Read on or listen to the episode for a dose of inspiration!

It's Friday the 13th of February, and while I might be tempted to think twice about recording a podcast today, I choose to focus on the positives. It has been one of those weeks where many little things have driven me to distraction. Sarah's car needed a new wheel bearing, and I had a video recorder malfunction. You know how it is—those little annoyances can really pile up. However, I want to concentrate on everything that has made me smile this week and the joy we've experienced over the past couple of weeks.

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

Please bear with me; I have a cough that lingers from a cold. The team in the office thinks it started back in November. I rarely get colds, but this season has been different. Even after receiving the flu jab, I've caught colds just far enough apart that I think I'm getting better, yet close enough that the cough remains. But in a few weeks, Sarah and I will be off on our travels again, working around the world with Crystal Cruises, so I know this will sort itself out.

As usual, I want to share a little update on where we are. I often wonder why I do this, but perhaps it's cathartic. You'll notice there's no video this time. I tried recording a video for the last episode, but Katie only watched a couple of minutes before suggesting that unless I tidied my desk and did it properly, it probably wouldn't look right.

The podcast is something I enjoy doing whenever I find a moment. It provides a chance to share information and reflect on the business we run, the photography we create, and the clients we celebrate. Each time I do this, I feel better about my work.

I've had to admit defeat, at least for now, on the video podcast front. Most of the feedback I receive is from people who listen while editing or commuting, so I've decided to return to audio. It was a one-time trial, and I didn't try very hard. I recorded one video, and it didn't turn out well, so I've chosen to stick with what I love most: simply chatting.

The past couple of weeks have been busy, but not necessarily with fee-paying work. For those just starting out, I remember looking forward to all the opportunities I now have, such as judging, mentoring, and creating content. I love it all, but ultimately, the core of our business is with our clients. Tomorrow, I have a full day scheduled with families in the studio, and I'm really excited about that.

It has rained incessantly, but the weather forecast for tomorrow predicts a clear and cold Valentine's Day. I hope we can take some photographs outside, which would be wonderful. We've had many headshot shoots recently, which are less affected by the weather since we can find shelter when photographing one person. Most clients looking for personal branding prefer studio-based sessions, so that's manageable. However, with families, we want to get outside, even if it's cold.

In the past week, Sarah and I chaired the UK PPA print competition at the Guild's photo hub, which was an incredible experience. Thank you to everyone who participated; it was truly amazing. While we don't get paid for judging, it is a wonderful opportunity. Sarah organized everything and ensured it ran smoothly, while I served as the voice of the judging panel.

The judging process was fantastic. I want to express my gratitude to the judges who participated. It was an honor to sit among such talented photographers. The audience was the most engaged I've ever experienced, asking questions and quizzing us. This interaction made the judging process more enjoyable and valuable for everyone involved.

Typically, judging is done in silence to maintain focus, but this can sometimes feel isolating. We need to concentrate, but we also want to engage with the audience. If we can make the process interesting and entertaining, more photographers will stay until the end, which benefits everyone.

A good judging team is essential. If judges feel comfortable with one another, they can cooperate, challenge each other, and support one another. This camaraderie leads to better outcomes and more considered scores. Each judge brings their unique perspective, whether it’s technical details, emotional connections, or composition. This diversity enriches the judging process.

During the judging, I noticed some common issues with print quality. For instance, we saw several prints with color banding. While we couldn't determine if the banding originated in the file, it was evident in the prints. If you're overlaying textures, ensure they only cover the intended areas. Some images had overlays that unintentionally covered the subjects, which detracted from the overall effect.

When entering print competitions, pay attention to the mount size and ensure your prints meet the minimum requirements. The combination of your mount and print is what we judge, so it's crucial to have a cohesive look. If you're using an inset mount, make sure the paper and mount colors match to avoid any jarring contrasts.

We also discussed the terminology we use, such as referring to creators as "authors" rather than just photographers. This term encompasses a broader range of creators, including illustrators and fine artists, and acknowledges their contributions.

An email I received recently from a student sparked a reflection on the importance of paying it forward in our industry. He reached out with several questions about our business, and while I took a while to respond, his reply highlighted a concerning trend. He mentioned that many photographers either didn't respond or were rude in their replies.

This saddened me. We often speak about the camaraderie and relationships in our industry, but it seems that the spirit of helping one another may be waning. Many of us have benefited from the kindness of others, and it's essential that we continue this tradition.

I believe it's our responsibility to give back, whether through mentoring, judging, or sharing knowledge. The joy of watching someone else flourish because you've offered a helping hand can be incredibly rewarding.

As we wrap up, I want to mention a couple of upcoming workshops. Our Bootcamp on the 11th and 12th of May has one space left. It was a fantastic experience last year, and we’re excited to run it again. We also have one space left for our Advanced Studio Lighting workshop on the 16th of March, which is one of my favorite workshops to run.

If you're interested in either of these, please visit masteringportraitphotography.com for more details.

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe on your preferred platform and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Your support helps others find the podcast and grow our community.

As we head into Valentine's weekend, remember to be kind to yourself and to those you love. Take care.

I also give you a quick update on upcoming workshops, where to find the new short-form video content, and what I’ll be covering next after a couple of judging days.

• Mastering Portrait Photography
• Our Reels & Shorts
• Mastering Portrait Photography on YouTube

• Mastering Dogs With Their Owners workshop (9 Feb 2026)
• Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting (16 Mar 2026)
• Mastering Portrait Photography Bootcamp (11–12 May 2026)

[00:00:00] So hello one and all. This is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast, which hasn't, hasn't been the most frequent in the past few months, one reason or another. Um, I just haven't managed to find either the time or if I'm more honest, I guess the headspace, the difficulty with doing anything creative is that if you don't feel it, if you're not right into it, and you know this as photographers, it's really hard to do it. And every time I've sat down, it's just been incredibly difficult to find, I suppose the words, I'm not sure that last year was the greatest year on earth. We got there, we grafted, but we got there, um, massively busy year, but I don't know if the positivity that we've had over the past years was quite, quite the same.

And so in that context, it's been quite hard, I think. To, uh, be a photographer, to be a portrait [00:01:00] photographer, and also to record this podcast. So when I talk to people and they say they're not feeling it, I totally understand. Somebody in a workshop the other day, we always, at the beginning of every workshop we run here, we ask the people on it what they'd like to get out of it.

And I think on every single one last year, and certainly the one we ran a couple of weeks ago, there is someone who will simply say. I've lost my mojo. What an interesting line given I think I've been feeling the same way about the podcast. Not that I haven't wanted to do it. I love doing it. I love sitting here and chatting.

It's sort of like having my own personal counselor, you, but I just haven't really found the energy and the headspace, um, to do it. And for a million reasons, some of it to do with just the mood, the news. Politics, the weather. Um, and then just to compound everything over Christmas, I completely lost my voice [00:02:00] and I do mean, completely caused a lot of hilarity amongst my family and my team.

But I had to do a couple of workshops at the convention. And they were quite squeaky. I literally sounded like squeaky from the toy story. Anyway, you'd be pleased to hear it's all back. It's all firing on all cylinders. 2026 is a new year. I'd like to say it's the start of a new year, but given it's February, I'm not even certain.

I can say Happy New Year to all of you, but here we are. I'm Paul, and this is the return of the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast.

So, hello one and all. I hope you're well. I hope the weather, I dunno what the weather's like all around the world. Of course I don't. But right here, right now in this bit of the world, it is miserable. We had to drive a Land Rover over to get, um, to. I think it's called an eyebrow repaired an odd, an odd phrase, but it's the bit of the wing that pro [00:03:00] protrudes over the wheel on the front, front driver's side.

Because the other day as I was about to head out and do a job for the hearing dogs and with my client, my client's climbing into the car next to me and somebody decided the gap between my front driver's side wing and the wall next to him was sufficient to get a very big Mercedes-Benz through it. It turns out it wasn't.

And the only damage, sadly for me was that it put a, put a hole in the, uh, wheel arch. It's called an eyebrow, this thing. So anyway, today we must have, find someone to get it repaired. The guy's paid, it's fine. It'll all get fixed. Um, so, uh, drove over, but the weather. The weather was horrific, and it's cold and it's gray and there's just water everywhere.

It's a miserable state of affairs and trying to, trying to be a portrait photographer in this. I'm glad we have a warm studio that I will say. Uh, so here we are. [00:04:00] Here we are. It is, what time is it? It's, uh, 10 past eight on a Tuesday evening. I'm still in the studio and this time. I am recording video for it Now.

I don't know whether you'll see the video. This is the first time I've tried to do, what do they call it, A visualized podcast? I'm not sure. It's a video podcast. That would be, um, over egging it a little bit. It's me staring at one very small camera that I dug outta a drawer. To see if I can get this to work.

If it works, then we'll throw something a little bit more sophisticated at it. But in our team at the moment, in the mastering portrait photography team, we have Katie, I've introduced you to Katie before. That's not news. But one of the things we have been doing is recording more and more and more and more content, mostly short reels, short videos of one sort or another.

And it's, I mean, it's a huge amount of fun. I'm having a blast. I come in on a Monday and Katie will tell me the topics we're going to cover, uh, and we get on with it and we film small [00:05:00] videos of one form or another. Um, and it's, I'll be honest, I'm loving it because it gets, it gives us a chance to talk about this business die love.

Um, however, some of the things that have popped up through that are that really the podcast also now needs to be on video. Here I am and if you take a look around me, if you are looking at this on the video and take a look around me, you can see that it's the first foray. 'cause even if, as I look around the screen here that I'm, I've got feeding information back to me, it does look like my desk has been burgled.

It is pretty bad at the moment. There is stuff everywhere. Uh, which isn't great, but I will get that fixed and get it sorted. So it looks a little bit prettier. I'm not sure this is the right camera, uh, for this particular job, but, uh, if it works, like I said, we might just upgrade. Um, but off the back of these videos, this is the topic I wanted to talk about today.

This is only gonna be a short podcast, uh, partly 'cause I am starving. I've been here all [00:06:00] day. I've had one banana, one sandwich, one pair. Um, and I really, really, really want to go and do a little bit of exercise, um, and maybe have some food. So this is gonna be a shorter podcast than perhaps you're used to.

However, this is what I wanted to cover. I wanted to sort of cover a point that has arisen through doing these little reels and videos with Katie that there is definitely more than one way of doing things. Now I'm doing this unscripted. I've got my pen to make some notes in case I kind of lose track. Um, so forgive me if I ramble, but.

There's more than one way of doing things in. When we do a workshop or I do a presentation, I will always, or nearly always put up a slide that simply has two words, opinion overload, and I put it up there to remind me, to remind the people watching me that just because I say this is a way of doing [00:07:00] it doesn't mean it's the.

Way of doing it. It's just the way that I found works for me on the whole, sometimes it'll be two or three different ways I've discovered will work and I'll point out which one seems to give me the most consistent results, or is the least expensive in time and materials, or is just simply the, you know, the one I enjoy the most.

Because if you, if you are attending workshops, if you are going through the process of learning, and we all do this every time the person in front of you says, this is how to do it, there's a tendency for us to believe them. There's a tendency for us to, in our head say, right, that's what we're gonna do.

Their photography is what I like. That's how we're gonna do it. And that can't possibly. Be the case. There are too many different styles, too many different photographers for that to be the case, and so I try to remind people, this is just my opinion at this [00:08:00] moment in time. This is how I do it, or this is how I have done it tomorrow.

It may well be different next year. It's highly likely to be different changes in technology. In equipment, in approaches in clients, your client drives an awful lot of this too. Remember, you know, if your client's demanding that you travel light, then you travel light. And so some of the techniques for lighting, for instance, won't be, uh, quite the same as if you have all the time in the world and a studio.

There's always a way of doing something that works for you, and there are plenty of other ways that maybe don't work so well. And the point is, we've learned this through the reels and videos that we've been posting, but all too often I'll put something up and somebody will tell me quite, quite vigorously, that's not right.

Whether it's clamshell, just use a reflector. You don't need two lights, whether it's white balance adjustments, differential white balance. I'll just do it all in night room in post, whether it's, and my favorite comment was, [00:09:00] you are three times my age. Maybe that's right for you, which I thought was entertaining, if nothing else, and these are all valid by the way, I'm not worried about it. It just struck me that people seem to think that there is just one way of doing something. And of course there isn't, there's not one technique, there's not one aesthetic. If, if we all liked the same thing, if we all liked the same output, if we all liked the same processes, life would be, frankly, frigging dull because there'd be nothing interesting every, and I use the musician, I know I use the musician musician's analogy a lot, but if you think about the number of different ways that you've heard a composer or different composers say they write music, some will sit at a piano, some will write the lyrics, some will hum it, some will record it.

Some people just have their phone to their bed and record a quick snippet of vocal or whatever it might [00:10:00] be. Everyone has a different way of doing it, and yet no one seemingly anyway, no one in that world criticizes another songwriter and tells them that that's how they should do it. They should do it differently, but somehow in photography, that's okay.

Or maybe it's not that it's in photography. Maybe it's just that the medium of imagery, the medium video, lends itself to social media, in which case it lends itself to people writing comments. And so I just thought I'd explain whenever I go through something. I mean, I'd love you to have a look at some of the reels and things we're posting.

I'll, I'll give you the details of where they can be found at the end, um, and see what you think. But I try really hard. To make it an open conversation. It's about, here's a way of doing it. Here's an explanation of what's going on. Here's why I like it. I mean, I think that's fair. It doesn't mean I don't have things that I like, but I do try really hard not to say this is a defacto [00:11:00] thing.

Technique, method route. You shouldn't, you don't have to have this equipment, you don't have to have, um, this way of doing things, you know, light meters. Another one, people are very enthusiastic about light meters, tripods, gotta have a tripod, gotta have a light meter. Um, two things that actually, I, I own plenty of them.

Um, just doesn't work particularly, or it does work for me. Of course it works and that's wrong. Saying it doesn't work for me, that's not true. It's just that not using a tripod and not using a light light meter works better for me in most circumstances. There are days when actually a tripod is really useful.

Long exposures stop frames when I just want that pin sharp thing you can get when your camera is bolted to a good sturdy tripod or a light meter. When I'm running lots of different light sources and I just need to run around the room, checking that everything's balanced. Yeah, line meter is brilliant for that.[00:12:00] 

But most of the time I just like the freedom. I like the pace, I like the fluidity of working without either of those things. Am I wrong? Well, to some people, clearly, but it doesn't feel wrong to me. It feels totally right to me. Do I think that people that use a tripod or like me are wrong? No, not at all.

Um, I can give you my reasons why. I find it easier without, I find the speed of it without, I find the availability and the fact that I can just drag a camera out and get on with it. I find that appealing, and so my point is that as fast as I'm trying really hard to provide information, provide insight into one photographer's way of doing things.

I think it's important to note that there's always more ways, um, of achieving an end result. Um, and I will try in the videos, actually, I'm gonna try in the coming months to do things in different ways. Things that I maybe I wouldn't normally do to illustrate my own point. Maybe [00:13:00] I will use a tripod to nail the sharpness.

Maybe I will use a light meter. Um, to show how that works. Maybe I will just do, I'll listen to the comments coming back and I will try some of these routes. Maybe I'll do differential white balance in Lightroom and Photoshop rather than using actual lights. And all of these things are doable and it'll be a huge amount of fun, actually.

'cause I love, I love the idea that there's a million ways of, um, creating things because the more ways you learn, the more holes you can get out of. And we've all been there, right? We've all been in a shoot. Where chaos ensues or there's no time, or the weather doesn't play ball or the client or the location, or it doesn't matter, whatever it is, that just is causing you a headache.

And so the more techniques you have at your fingertips, the better. And that's if there is one way of doing things. If there is a case where there's one way of doing it, there's the one thing I would say you should definitely do is learn lots of different ways [00:14:00] to do things. So I will try. Um, on that note, I said this is gonna be a short podcast.

It just occurred to me today that I would have a quick, um, chat about that and also test whether doing this straight to video is gonna work, in which case we can move to some, uh, maybe some longer topics and some interviews. Uh, so some updates on where we are with everything else. It has been a busy start to the year.

Lots of different things going on. Uh, workshops. Sarah's asked me to mention the workshops that we have, uh, in the diary at the moment. So I've got one next Monday actually, where we have a space left. It's dogs and their owners, I should say, photographing dogs and their owners. Uh, which is all about it's dog photography, but because I'm a portrait photographer, it's as important to me that we photograph the dogs with the people that bring them, their owners, their loved ones, all those kinds of things.

Um, and so it's a day's workshop, uh, February the ninth, um, here at our studio, uh, on March the [00:15:00] 16th. And this might. Be my favorite single workshop to run. It's Advanced Studio Lighting and I love it because people just rock up with ideas and we play, we play all day. Uh, the one we did a couple weeks ago was off-camera flash, and that was a huge amount of fun too because people just ask us to try things.

And I love that. I love the idea that, um, we have a maximum of five delegates on these workshops, and that's deliberate. It gives us a chance to chat. It, it gives us a chance to talk our way through things. Uh, so the off-camera flash, uh, day was just brilliant. And the advanced Studio lighting, which is on March the 16th, um, is fun.

Uh, for the same kinds of reasons, five people and me and a model or two just playing, just trying stuff and seeing what happens based on experience. And for me as a, um, as the person running the workshop. I love it when people come with ideas too, because. Quite often it pushes what we do here [00:16:00] at the studio a little bit further.

We try new things and it's great. And I mean, the other thing of course is I'm an crom ambassador, so I get to play with all of this kit, um, that I so love using. So that's March the 16th. Now, may the 11th and May the 12th. This is a two day bootcamp. Uh, there's a space, I think there's one space left. Um, we didn't know last year when we ran the first one quite what this would be like.

Um, we had to change tack a little bit, so we had a hall booked. Um, rather than do it here at our studio, uh, we had a hall booked at, um, a local hall. Um, and for one reason or another on the day before the bootcamp workshop, it just wasn't gonna happen for a million reasons at their end, not ours. And, and it just.

We decided in the end to sidestep it and run everything here. We reworked the studio, we changed the way we were gonna do things literally overnight. We're not, I'm not joking now, that's overnight. [00:17:00] Um, and it worked really well because everything's to hand. So anything that someone asks, we can try again.

Very limited number of people. Um, so it's not too busy. And that's a two day bootcamp. Um, and the other thing we did is at the end of the first day, we said if anyone fan sticking around in the evening and having a pizza and, and a beer, then you're very welcome to. It wasn't really part of the planned workshop as such.

It was just rather than everyone scattering to their bread and breakfasts and hotels and things. Why don't, if you want to, why didn't stick around? Everybody stuck around. Um, and so actually we dragged lights out into the garden. We did different things. We tried different things. We had really nice food and a beer and laughed away, uh, into the we hours.

It was brilliant and picked up the next day. So March, uh, sorry, may the 11th, may the 12th, two day boot camp. If you fancy it. Um, so those are the things. What have I got left for this week? Oh, right. I said, I'd say where the reels and things are. So we are publishing reels at the moment. Lots of short snippets alongside our long form stuff on, uh, you can head to [00:18:00] YouTube.

Instagram is mastering portrait photography. That's um. Our ID for that. Um, and TikTok as well. Um, TikTok is a whole new thing, uh, for us. I feel about four times the age of the people on there. Uh, but Katie, who's in charge of all the seeing, who's, uh, much younger than us, um, assures us it's a good idea. So we're also putting content up onto there and get some really interesting conversations.

Um, we're also putting all of those reels up on our mastering portrait photography.com website in a reel section. Um, still uploading those, still tuning them. So if you want to go to a single place. Uh, if you are not a social media freak, um, you can go up there and all of the little short reels will be on there with various links out to long form, uh, content that you have to be a member for, for the long form.

But the reels, the short form, uh, will be on there. Uh, what else, latest? Oh, this week is judging. Um, I do, I think I'm due to give a quick update [00:19:00] on the judging I did at The Convention in London. As ever, when I do a judging. Um, a whole process of judging or a couple of days of judging. I normally come back with some things I've learned, but this time, because I'm going into The Guild judging, I'm chairing the guild judging, I thought I'd combine the two and go through my notes from.

Both sessions. Uh, to be honest, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. It's the same things you know. Don't blow your highlights. Don't block your blacks. Clean your sensor. Learn how to print. And for goodness sake, mount your finished work beautifully because it counts. If it's a print competition, make sure your work arrives immaculate.

Um. So there you go. Those are some of the things I learned. Um, but I'll cover it properly when I've been through judging for the Guild, um, later this week, and I think that is everything. If not, um, Sarah will kill me or kick me or both. Um, if you have any questions at all, you can always reach me. And if you fancy, just browsing a ton of stuff, [00:20:00] lighting, diagrams, um, guides, videos, uh, the, um, frame previews that we can, you can download to visualize, uh, your, how your images will look on a wall. Then it's all on mastering portrait photography.com, which is also, as it happens, the spiritual home of this particular podcast and whatever else you're doing on this, really quite miserable Tuesday night before I go home and climb onto the Peloton bike to do some exercise. Please, whatever you do, be kind to yourself. Take care. 

In this one, I’m lifting the lid on what really happens inside a judge’s head when your prints hit the panel: the mindset you need, the mistakes we see over and over again, and the tiny details that can quietly kill an otherwise beautiful image.

We’ll talk blown highlights, grubby greys, over sharpening, dodgy mounts, vignettes turned up to eleven, and why blindly following the latest photo trend might actually sink your chances. We’ll also get into mentors, titles, paper choice, time pressure (my personal kryptonite), and why the only real failure in competitions is not to enter at all.

If you’re thinking about qualifications, print comps or you just want to finish your images to a higher standard, grab a drink, have a listen, and then go and do something brave with your work.

Workshops & mentoring: Come and spend a day (or more) with us at the studio, learning lighting, posing, dogs, families, workflow and everything in between. 👉 View upcoming workshops

One year mentoring programme: If you want ongoing support with competition entries, qualifications panels and growing your portrait business, this is where we dig in properly. 👉 Find out about one to one mentoring

Mastering Portrait Photography – the book (new edition): The fully updated edition of the book, packed with new images, new sections and new stories. 👉 Buy the book on Amazon

Signed copies from the studio: If you would like a signed copy straight from our studio (possibly with a bit of dog hair in the packaging courtesy of Rufus), order here. 👉 Order a signed copy

Leave a review for the podcast: Reviews genuinely help more photographers find the show and it means the world to us when you leave one. 👉 Review the podcast on Apple Podcasts

The Societies’ image competition: If this episode has nudged you towards entering, this is a great place to start. 👉 Enter The Societies’ image competition

Transcript

[00:00:00] it's Thursday, late afternoon, early evening. It's gone dark. It's November. I've got what's left of a mug of coffee next to me. And I just thought I'd sit and record this podcast. It's been, it has to be said a really good day. We've had a lovely client in seeing their wedding pictures, which is always lovely when it goes the way it did.

Lots of tears. Their's, not mine. Um, they love them. They've picked well for their album, cannot wait to produce that for them. It's been a really good week. Lots of nice clients, but over the next few days, Sarah and I are really hoping we get to step away from it just for a bit. We were hoping to get abroad, but it looks like with scheduling issues, that isn't gonna quite happen.

But we live in an area stuck between London and Oxford, so at the very least we have a huge proportion of interesting things to go and have a look at. And that's my hope is we get away from this beautiful business that I love, but it really is all encompassing. So just for a day or [00:01:00] two time to take a bit of a break, I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast.

So, hello one and all. I hope you're all well in this particular podcast, um, because I'm hoping to get out the door and go for a drink tonight with some friends. Um, a little less waffle and a , slightly more to the point podcast. Probably some of you will prefer that some of you might miss the randomness.

Um, however, if you listen to the last podcast, it was a little bit about what it's like to be a judge when you are assessing qualifications, panels, and print judging in general. Today what I wanted to do was go through some of the things that [00:02:00] occur to me that may be applicants either don't know or quietly ignore, which might be the truth.

But basically the things that as judges we see, and I thought I just stepped through it from that point of view. Slightly less about the judges, slightly more about what to look for if you are entering a competition. Now, I've done this style of podcast. I think this might be my fourth, fifth, maybe sixth version of it over the years, can you believe it's been nearly 10 years I've been recording this. Um, either way, what I wanted to do was just update it, go through some of the things that are fresh in my mind from judging qualifications a few weeks ago, and then judging the Print Master's competition, um, just, uh, a couple of weeks ago.

Both of those, you learn different things. You see different things, but I thought I'd just relay, if I can, the stuff that maybe you should consider if you are thinking about entering, in particular, print competitions, [00:03:00] but this extends out to really any image competition you can, you can think of. So with that, if that's not your shtick, then this isn't the episode for you.

But if you fancy just having a listen and seeing if this echoes with you, that would be great.

So.

Listen up. Now. Firstly, I have to admit that from my point of view, entering competitions, I recognize as being both terrifying and slightly addictive. There really is something wonderful about finishing your images to a level that maybe you don't normally do.

Maybe that, that tiny amount of perfection, those stray hairs, those eyebrows, lips, I mean, of course my portrait photographer, so I'm talking primarily people here, but that level of detail that maybe your regular, everyday Good Professional Practice, we call it, maybe your everyday work doesn't warrant because, in the end, every hour you spend on an image is cost. We [00:04:00] don't normally regard it as cost, 'cause we enjoy our job and it's time. You know what? It's like time. Who cares about time? Well, you should because it's your business. And so there's something really addictive about spending that time with a purpose on an image that you think you believe maybe, maybe just maybe will do well in a competition.

Now that said, of course, every time you enter to, you don't know what the judges are gonna say. And let's get that right out in the open at the beginning, at the top of this podcast, a different day, a different judge, a different result. And that is just the way of it. So you cannot ever really totally predict what you're gonna do, how your images are gonna perform. You can't. You can have a guess, and you can predict within a boundary or two. But in the end, it is totally down to what the judges see on the day and you have to get used to that no matter how much effort you've [00:05:00] poured into an image. And I've had images where I was certain, certain it was going to do well and did nothing.

And I've had other images where I was like, well, it's all right, but if I'm lucky in the right judges are on the panel, it might do okay and they've gone on to win. You really dunno. So just be aware of that because those disappointments shouldn't deter you. Yeah, they should just really drive you to do more of it.

But that's very hard and I will admit that I too suffer from that sense of disappointment. The inferiority complex that comes with it. A degree of resentment, I suppose. What do the judges know when, when you win something? The judges amazing. I love them. They were brilliant. You could see how sharp their eyes were when the judges don't award you something or your images don't do well, of course, the judges were idiots. They didn't know what they were talking about. And as a judge, I'm completely aware of it.

So in this podcast, we're gonna go through what you should look out for, the mindset, the, uh, technical side of it, [00:06:00] some of the presentation stuff, and some of the silly things really, that as a judge, we sit collectively and just groan.

Um, there's sometimes you hear in the room that if only, if only. The, uh, image had this, if only the author had done that, those kinds of conversations. So let's work my way through the list. I put together a little bit of a list of things, um, and let's hope that some of this chimes with you. So first section is all about, uh, mindset.

And at the end of the day, nearly everything about photography is what goes on in your head. So let's talk a little bit about your preparation and your mindset. First things first, you cannot, you cannot. Be objective about your own work. Alright? It's just not possible. And to be fair, no one can be truly objective about something that's creative.

You can be subjective and you can be experienced, but you cannot ever be objective when it's your own work. The memory of the shoot, the memory of the [00:07:00] client, the memory of the moment will totally cloud your judgment. You cannot do it. You are, you are emotionally invested in your work. So be aware of that because you need to get a mentor now by a mentor.

Ideally, it's someone who's been around a little bit, who's done a few things, knows their way around, competitions, the structures, the rules at the very least, um, hopefully, um, produces images that are of the standard you are hoping to produce, and preferably in a style that you wish to attain in a style that you wish to deliver.

Because if you are in tune with that person, in tune with their work, you'll listen to them more. It doesn't necessarily mean they have more or less skill than another mentor, but if you like their work and respect what they do, you're more likely to pay attention to what they see and what they say to you.

Now, if you can't get a mentor, at the very least, just pass it around some friends and see what people think and see [00:08:00] what they see. Be aware that your mom, or at least, my mom will always tell me my work is beautiful. Um, my mates are a little bit more brutal than that, but my mom will always tell me, but if you can find another photographer to give you a hand, it's the best thing you can do.

Next thing, the only true failure about competitions in the sense of failure is to not enter. Entering isn't a failure. Entering and winning is obviously the success we will wish for entering and not winning is simply just another level of success. It's not quite what you wanted, and it's certainly not recognizing your success the way you'd like, but not entering is the only true failure.

And of course with most competitions, they're anonymous. So who cares whether you enter and don't and your images aren't successful? Who cares whether your qualifications panel, um, doesn't get across the line? The only person who will tell the world is you. So if you are nervous, if you are concerned, if you're insecure, then [00:09:00] simply keep it under your hat until you need to.

So enter the competitions.

Go watch judging sessions. Not all judging sessions are public. The Societies they are, and of course, that's coming up in January as I record this. It's November 13th when I'm recording this. Um, but go and watch maybe The Society's judging.

Um, go listen to the judges, particularly in the new Vogue category because every image will get a critique from a judge. Um, maybe think about the click conference, which has been on the past couple of years, because again, each image has a short critique from at least one judge. So you get to learn. A lot of judging is anonymous and quiet, and it's just score panels, and that's not as useful as it could be, I guess, uh, but do go and listen because it's a free masterclass in, uh, critiquing and in standards. Now you must, you must, and I'll come back to this later, read the rules. Um, so many images get [00:10:00] in the end either disqualified or have so many marks knocked off them that they might as well have been disqualified simply because the applicant did not pay attention to the rules.

Whether it's about using ai, whether it's about composites, the wrong composites, whether it's about wrong print and presentation sizes, whether it's the wrong category and category definitions are sacred. As judges, we cannot move the images from one category to another. Even if we could see what the category should be, it's down to the applicant to move or to put the image rather into the correct category because if we move them, who knows, we might not just be helping you, um, win something.

We might be helping somebody else lose something and we may still be getting it wrong. And also there's a bigger challenge, I think in the, the order of categories in which we judge means what if we wanted to move an image into a category that we've already finished and signed off? What do we [00:11:00] do? How do we do that?

There's no way of doing that, not fairly. So judges cannot move images between categories. It's absolutely fundamental. So the category definitions are sacred. Read them, pay attention to them. Understand the nuance when it says domesticated animals. What does that mean when it says studio portrait? What does that mean?

Don't just assume you know it because every association will have slightly different rules. Every association will interpret them slightly differently. Go and read them. Pay attention, make notes on them. If you are at all, um, confused or don't understand them, go and ask someone. Email the people running the competition. They will nearly always get straight back to you.

Uh, give yourself time. Please give yourself time. There's always shipping delays, print issues, customs, nightmares these days are also part of the puzzle. Um, even recently we had stuff coming in, uh, from one of our supplies in Italy [00:12:00] and it just got stuck in customs in Italy coming outta the country rather than coming in.

I don't know why it got stuck, but it got stuck. Um, and it wasn't for print competition, but it highlighted just how easy it is for you to miss a deadline, and this is one that's really close to me is that, um, I'm the last minute kind of guy last minute.com, and so I'm forever up against a deadline and I'm forever aware that I'm taking a huge risk.

Um, unfortunately it's just the way my mind works and so I am truly qualified in making sure you do not make that mistake. Give yourself plenty of time. Uh, another one here, I dunno why I've put this in this particular section, but if I don't mention it now, I dunno whether I will, um, which is that, be careful of following trends blindly, being fashionable, creating images that are right now, the current trend is great.

Of course, it's great. [00:13:00] But if you're gonna win a competition, you better be exceptional at it because everybody else is highly likely to be entering the same style of image. Image. And if you do that, if you are picking images that are similar to other people's, then the impact scores that the judges are looking for, the impact.

And listen to my previous podcast about that, the impact is diminished because if we've seen 10 of the same style of image. Guess what? The winner will be the one that gave us the greatest impact. So it's highly likely to be one of the first couple, and it will certainly be the one that's probably the highest standard, because that's where the impact score is.

So be very careful of doing that. I mean, I'm not saying strive always to be completely different because you think that's what you have to do to be good. You don't have to be different to be good. Being good is in and in and of itself different enough. But in competitions that stand out, that impact of seeing something you've [00:14:00] never seen before well, that does truly count.

And on that, let's go on to section two, which is technical execution. Okay. So in the end, the execution is everything. Now for this, I recorded this thinking. This is mostly about print competitions and in a print, absolutely everything shows, and that's why we do it. We use print as a medium for assessing the creativity and the control of the photographer, and it exposes things that screens simply don't, or at least most screens don't.

If you have the most expensive, truly calibrated monitor in a studio, that is the right light, um, levels. Um, and your, your monitor's been on for two hours, but you haven't been at the screen, um, for hours. And you can sit down with fresh eyes and look [00:15:00] at the screen. Yes, of course it will expose details, but there is something about print that seems to just surface both high points and low points in a photographer's process, which is why we do it.

It's a really good way of assessing an image. So here are a few things. That we have seen on the technical side of it over sharpening, I cannot overstate about over sharpening. Over sharpening is a bit of a killer. Judges hate it and we always see it. In all the years I've done this, all the years I've done this, I've never heard a judge say This image is under sharpened.

Now, I've heard judges say this image is blurred. I've heard this. Judges say This image has been blown up from a file that's too small. But I've never heard a judge say This image has been under sharpened. But I would state with a degree of confidence that in every [00:16:00] single session I've been a judge, one of the judges or myself have said, this image is over sharpened.

And of course you see it in halos, you see these little lines around edges, and they're very easy to spot. If you are worried, if you, you are on the edge and you're thinking, have I sharpened it enough? Turn the sharpening down. Or indeed, with modern sensors, just turn it off. You don't need it. Print. Well control your exposure.

Well control your colors. Well control your tones, well control your printing well, and you don't really need to sharpen very much, if at all. Uh, always do it last in the process. Once you've got your file to the size you want it to, the print size, you want it. Apply your sharpening right at the end of that chain.

If you do it at the beginning. Um, I know there are pre- raw sharpeners and things out there. If you do your sharpening at the beginning, of course every edit you make runs the risk of exaggerating the effects of the sharpening. So always sharpen at the end if you need to at all.

You must get your [00:17:00] exposure right. And by that I simply mean don't blow your highlights, don't block your blacks. Um, blown highlights, on the whole, are a nightmare. If there are blown highlights in a print, it is highly likely that the judges are gonna firstly spot it, and then secondly penalize for it. And I speak from experience here.

There was an image that came up in the last round of judging where to me as a judge, everything about the image was essentially everything I would've liked to have created. The shape, the form, the moment, the emotion, the printing, the mounting, everything about it was on point. But some sunlight had coming through the ceiling in the, through the skylight, I think had clipped the edges of some shiny stone work had blown the highlights.

And that became the sticking point with most of the judges. Um, I was willing to give some leeway on it, on this particular image, um, because the emotion of it was so powerful, but quite rightly, the other [00:18:00] judges challenged that. Um, and in the end I had to, of course, see their point of view because blown highlights, are blown highlights.

Similarly with blocked shadows, and this is a little bit more subtle blown highlights are blown highlights, unless they're just a specular point on a shiny surface. Um, they are what they are. But blocked shadows are a little bit more nuanced because you have to ask yourself, would you see detail in that area of the print?

And if the answer to that is yes, we would or would expect to then block shadows are a bit of a headache and you can't have them. If on the other hand you wanna put an image on a black background, then that's a slightly different conversation. You can have black areas, big blocked black areas, if that's your style, if it's a stylistic choice.

Um, similarly, you can have big blocks of white as long as it's not paper white, um, on the page, you always want some ink on the page. Um, so [00:19:00] block black's a little bit more nuanced. So do your test prints, get your paper you're gonna use, print a series of blacks from 0% up to 10%. Find out where the break point is, where you can clearly see the difference between those points, and that's your minimum black. That's the darkest your image can be. Whether it's 5%, 6%, 7%, whatever. It's, that's the darkest you want for the blacks that you are producing.

Uh, make sure eyes are sharp. Um, again, I speak as a portrait photographer really here. Uh, if the eyes are not sharp, it's unlikely. That the image is going to do well unless demonstrably in the image you can see that that was the intent of the photographer.

Blurred eyes, very rare that they do well.

Make sure the catch lights are in there. You do need some kind of sparkle in the eyes. You don't want that sort of dark lifeless look, but just make sure they're in the right place and that makes sense 'cause it's easy to Photoshop. Um, highlights in catch lights into eyes these days.

But be careful. You put them in the right place. Uh, watch [00:20:00] for dust spots, stray hairs, cloning marks, those kinds of things. We had a couple of images recently where there were visible dust spots in the sky, and at that point, you know, you, you are very limited in how well an image can do if there are dust spots, because it's sort of digital photography 1 0 1: clean your sensor, do not have dust spots, do not have stray hairs in there.

Um, make sure that any, any cloning is invisible. 'cause the judges one or two judges. I know, I, I spot them reasonably well. I'm okay at it. But there are one or two judges I know that at the other end of a room will shout. I can see they're cloning and when you investigate it, yeah, you can.

Um, some people are just, they have a gift for that in the same way that some people can hear whether music is slightly just ever so slightly off rhythm or off key. Um, many judges I think, can spot things like, um. Cloning marks. I'm very good at spotting any kind of dust, marks and banding in skies. You know that color banding you get, [00:21:00] uh, but some of you, you just need to make sure it's technically on point.

Make sure you are using a fully color calibrated workflow. You need to calibrate your monitor. You need to calibrate your printer. You need to be producing images that the color is spot perfect, not just for you, but when the judges see it. So you're gonna need some way of viewing on the screen, checking your printer, and then viewing the prints afterwards.

Not many of us can afford D 50 light boxes, but you can get pretty close with some really high quality LED lighting. Bright lighting, I think Datacolor do one. Ilford do one to do spot checking on prints. They're about a hundred pounds I think at the moment, high CRI that make the colors pop and you'll see all of the tone.

Just pop your print underneath. And he'd be amazed, amazed how much detail just leaps off the page. And of course, as judges, that's how we are assessing the images. So you [00:22:00] need to do the same to be sure that what you see on your screen is exactly what you are hoping to show the judges,

uh, paper choice match your paper to your image. Um, there are lots of safe choices, of course, you know, these semi mats, um, good colors, good dynamic range. Good D Max. Um. Barita is a lovely paper, but just be aware it's very contrasty and it can run the risk of your block, your blacks blocking up a little bit, so just do your tests. Um, some of the papers they look great front on, but if you look from an angle they expose where there's not much ink on the paper, um, I think it's called chroming or bronzing.

And if you know this, if you hold a jet, an inkjet print up, and you move it around under the light, you see the the reflectivity change. Be aware of it. Um, and baritas one of those papers are quite susceptible. So be careful because when we're judging, as I said in the previous podcast, in a row of five judges, the outer judges walking in [00:23:00] will see your print initially from an angle.

And if that angle shows where the ink isn't being laid down on the paper, that's gonna mean the first things they spot. So print some test strips. Make sure you understand your paper.

Section three. Print quality and presentation. I've written down here the final polish. I must have been having a moment when I wrote this out, the final polish, um, and I wrote down, this is your shop window.

Hmm. Okay. Well, in a sense it is, um, it's certainly how you're gonna sell the image to the judges and your print must look spot, perfect. And here's the thing. Increasingly people are using labs for their prints and having their prints delivered straight to the competition. I can understand why people do that. You only pay for one set of postage for a start. However, always, always see your print before submitting it. I know it's more expensive, I know it's harder, but in the end, the judges assume [00:24:00] that you have seen those prints. They assume you delivered what you want us to see. So as such. We assume you did it.

Any defects? There's no excuse. It's yours. So you must, you must see your prints before submitting them. Too many people I know when you're working overseas, that's a little bit more difficult. You send your files to, say a UK lab, a UK competition, or you send your files to a US lab. It's a US competition in your UK based, but there's no excuse for a poor print.

Poor print. There's no excuse for a poor quality print coming in front of the judges. We will assume you've seen it. It's your problem.

Uh, mounting and presentation, your mount is really important. Um, if you get the wrong mount size, basic reading the rules 1 0 1. [00:25:00] If the mount size is wrong, it will be disqualified.

It should be disqualified. And we are having this debate recently. About how harsh some of this is. And as judges, we want everybody to do well. We shouldn't be here to wreck someone's life or you know, deter them from entering. We should be here to help promote and encourage, and it feels really weird when we have to do something like disqualify a print.

But here's the point. Everybody else in that competition has gone to the effort of mounting them correctly. And we had one or two in the last, um, competition. I judged the print masters where the presentation was bang on point 20 by 16, and the most exquisite mount cutting and presentation of the print.

So imagine we let a print through, even if it's scored really well, and it was of an incorrect size, and it did well at the expense [00:26:00] of another print that had complied with the rules. So a better way of looking at this is we're not penalizing the photographers that didn't comply with the rules. We are rewarding the photographers who did comply.

That's how we do it. We're not punishing those who didn't. We're rewarding those who did, and that feels a lot more positive. And then we can kind of, it feels a bit more human, but that's what we have to do. If somebody's gone to all this effort. Of creating the most exquisite printing and mounting the right size, the right mount cuts complimentary paper to Matt Color.

Everything about it's perfect. And then we have one that's the wrong size. What are we supposed to do? Well, of course, what we do is reward the author that complied, and in the end, we have to just accept the fact that if you haven't complied, it's not our fault. If you haven't complied to the rules, that's not the judge's fault.

So read the rules, understand what it is they're looking for. Make sure there's no ambiguity. You've got it [00:27:00] absolutely in inches. If it's in inches, in centimeters or millimeters. If it's in millimeters, you know what's required of you comply with the rules. We cannot score an image that doesn't comply.

, Here's another thing that occurred to me, and this occurred to me a couple of times watching prints being handled.

Do not. If you do a flush mount, a flush print, and it's very effective. Sometimes I saw some beautiful ones this year where essentially you print on the paper, there's no separate mount. Now that's, you have to be careful if you're gonna do this. So if you do a full print, so you are just printing onto a big piece of paper and then mounting that print onto a 20 by 16 board.

So the whole thing basically is one big print. Be careful for a couple of reasons. The first is, remember that when you pack them. Highly likely to scratch because the print surface itself is right there, right under the print above it, and scratching becomes a little bit of a problem. Yes, you can put sealants and lacquers and things on them, [00:28:00] but it's always a bit of a risk.

The second thing is if you do print edge to edge, allow space around the edge. Don't do a full edge to edge 20 by 16 print. If you do that, when the. Print handlers and the print handlers are so careful, but the print handlers, the edge of the glove, runs every risk of being on top of the ink when they're handling the edges of the print.

And my recommendation is don't do that unless you have a very specific reason to do it. You've got some design that just works that way. Be careful. Allow enough space around the edge of your image that the print handlers can handle it with any, without any risk at all of them touching the ink.

Uh, a few things we saw this time around.

Um, we saw quite a lot of prints that were rippled, and all that means is they'd been taped to the back of the mount. There was no backboard. They'd been taped to the mount, and that [00:29:00] taping had a different expansion rate than the paper and the board. So essentially you've got three different expansion rates.

You've got the mat, you've got the tape, and you've got your print. And when you do that, there's every opportunity for the print to ripple. If it gets humid, if it gets drier, warmer, cooler, it doesn't really matter. As they change shape, you get rippling and rippling will cost you points. So the best way, if you can, if you have time and you can afford it, of course, these things are not really that cheap, is put your print mount, your print.

Onto an adhesive backboard so that it's flat mounted. It's, it's not the easiest thing in the world to do, but once you get the hang of it, it's really effective. If not, you can always photo mount or spray mount your print down onto a backboard, and all you're doing is making sure that it stays absolutely flat all the way through the process.

Now the boards always move a little bit. There's not a lot you can do about that. I'm looking at some of mine [00:30:00] who are sitting up on the shelf right now, and some of them have bowed a little bit over the years. But the prints, every single one of those prints is still absolutely flat on its backboards.

And that's 'cause I photo mounted them down. Um, I've, I usually do that, um, rather than, um, using adhesive boards, um, simply because, uh, it's easier for me and you, you can have a little bit of movement on the print before the adhesive finally cures. Um, but do something if you can't, if you have a really, a print that you just wanna let hang, then obviously, um, t mounting is the way to go.

Um, but you still will need a back on that board. So you'll need a backboard, then your print and the T hinges, and then your front mount. Um, do not put tape all the way around a print and stick it to the back of a mount and then stick it to a board. Or worse, no backboard at all because that print is gonna ripple.

There's no doubt about that. Your print must lie flat curled edges. They're distracting and they will get penalized.

Uh, I've also written here, I [00:31:00] dunno why I've written this in print quality and presentation. I must've been having a moment. Uh, subtle edits win. I dunno why it's in this particular section.

It's absolutely right. By the way, um, heavy retouching and strong vignettes, particularly strong vignettes, I think are one of the things we see the most of. Um, don't overdo your vignettes. Um, you don't need to on the whole. Uh, you can guide an eye in, and at the end of the day, we use vignettes and use differential focusing or, you know, shallow depths of field to draw the viewer, to draw the judge to the subject.

That's what we're doing. That's why we do this stuff is where do I want the viewer's eye to go? You've put it in a mount, it's got a window on that mount. So already you've guided the viewer away from the edges of, um, the presentation into the image. Now they're in the image. Now you have to guide them to the bit of the image you want 'em to see.

And that's what vignettes do and they're very effective. But a vignette should be more or less invisible. The viewer should not know your bit. You are guiding them [00:32:00] to the bit you want them to see. And too often the vignettes are too heavy and too unsubtle. Two things. One, if you want to check your vignettes, look at them in a small grid, such as Lightroom's, thumbnail, view the library view, and you'll see your vignettes.

They just stand out when your images are small. So that's one way of just checking them. The other is too many people. Ignore the fact that in reality, if you had areas of shadow and shade and areas of light in those areas of shadow and shade, you would still have specular highlights. They would still be white.

So, um, when you do your vignettes, make sure you still allow subtle highlights to come through. They're not affected or else, and vignette will just look muddy and dark and we'll know. You've put it on there. If though, on the other hand, little pockets of light, little bits of reflectivity come through the vignette, it might be that that was a natural vignette and those are the ones, the ones we don't know have been done will always do the best.[00:33:00] 

Okay. Section four, composition and storytelling. Uh, composition should be a guide, not something that obfuscates or confuses. So just place your subjects. I, I'm, I don't tend to use the word composition. It's obviously. Um, something that's in almost all of the rules of the competitions that I judge. Um, I would, I still prefer to call it layout because you lay out the bits that you have on the, in the photo it sounds, and somehow everyone calls it composition.

And I dunno why I like the word layout so much more. But I just do take the things that are in the picture, lay them out where you want them. Just sounds logical to me, but hey, you know, each of the road. Um, but just place your objects carefully. Give the subject room. So avoid getting your subject too close to the edge of the frame.

Don't crop through a joint. You can crop crop through the middle of a limb, not through a joint. Try not to skim the edges of things at the edges of the frame. And quite a few images this year actually thinking about it were they looked [00:34:00] like there wasn't enough breath around the image when it went into the matt.

But my suspicion was there was in the original raw file, and so people print the file as they want it, and then forget that you've got at least three or four millimeters all the way around a mounted print that's gonna crop in. So prepare your files to allow for that. Don't get just the edges of an arm or the, just the tiny bit of the top of the hair or something.

Um, you know, my view is if you're gonna crop, crop, otherwise give it space. Um, try and avoid distractions, particularly behind your subject or at the edges of the frame. Anything that draws your eye away from the subject. Um, one thing as judges we do not do is we never turn an image upside down. We're not allowed to.

We are only allowed to see the image as the author wished to, to see it, which is correct, by the way. But as an author, you can turn the image any which way you want, and there are [00:35:00] tons of tricks you can do. Turn the image upside down. Use saturation maps, use luminosity maps. There's all sorts of tricks you can do to check where the richest saturation is, to check your high points, your bright points, all of those things, because you don't want to lose that impact that in, in, as the judges are going through the detail, you want the judges to be, oh, that's great, the impact as it came in. And then as I explore, as I interrogate this image, it just gets better and better and better. That's what you want. Uh, horizontals and verticals. Make sure they are horizontal or vertical.

Too many times have I seen an ocean scape where the horizon of the ocean isn't Absolutely. Flat isn't absolutely horizontal. The clues in the title horizon horizontal. Um, now I know if you've got a lake coast or a lake shore or sometimes even just a coastline, that might be, if it's coming towards the viewer, [00:36:00] might be at an angle, but you have to stand back and get it so that it looks correct, and if ever there's a horizon in the distance, almost always, unless you're doing something creative, it should be horizontal.

Similarly. If you're doing architectural stuff, unless there's a reason why you have converging verticals and it's apparent your verticals need to be well vertical. Uh, a thing on storytelling here, I've said this quite a lot. Um, I'm not sure how popular it is when I say it, but I'm gonna say it anyway 'cause I believe it.

It is not the judge's job to decode and understand your story. It is your job. To guide the judges to that story. If we don't get it, that's not our problem. It's your problem. Now, I know occasionally a really beautiful image comes in, but the judges don't really appreciate all of [00:37:00] the messaging in it, and only afterwards when the author talks to one of us, it's like, ah, that's what it was about.

I wish I'd known. That's not our problem. That's definitely you. You use every trick you have from the title to the printing, the composition, the color, the subject, everything about it. That's your job. You have all of these levers you can pull for the judges to react, but it's your, it's your job. And remember, whatever else in a photograph, emotion will always beat cleverness.

It doesn't matter how clever you think you are being. Emotion will win out every single time. Picture a face with one tear rolling down it and you are already halfway there just because of the emotion levels. So be careful of that. Make sure that you are telling the story that you want told and make sure by testing it with a mentor and other people that people are gonna get it.

Uh, strategy playing the long game, section five. Um, do not. Cannibalize your set of [00:38:00] images. If you have shot five or six or seven or eight amazing images from a shoot, pick one, pick two. If you're at a push, preferably in different categories, do not send all seven. 'cause essentially you're sending us the same thing over and over.

And by the time we get to the last one, no matter what order and randomized set we get by the time we get to the last one, the impact is diminished. And the impact is the first and the last of all the criteria we look at. Do not get duped into thinking because every image is beautiful. You should enter them all.

Don't do that. You can enter 'em into other competitions, but be aware even then that many of the judges judge across multiple organizations. So just be aware of that. Pick one, pick the best. Two, put 'em into different categories if you have to. Um, but other than that, do not send the whole set. Um, I've written this here where it's, I've written variety shows depth and control, but repetition looks lazy.

The talk with variety is we tend to think of variety from the same shoots. [00:39:00] My argument is variety across what you do, even stylistically there's gonna be some similarities, but pick different shoots, um, different subjects, um, and that will show far better than, um, repeating similar images from the same shot.

Same se uh, same session, uh, too buly, uh, your titles, your image titles. Now titles are a little bit of, they're one of those odd little things. I'm not sure what I feel about titles. I've always really, if I'm honest, fought against them and I fought against them for the simple reason that if we are judging images, I'm not judging you as a poet, I'm judging you as a photographer, um, as a visual artist.

However, I'm acutely aware that when a title is read out, it can help a judging panel connect with the image. I am aware that it can heighten the emotion in a similar way. The varnishing an image in the old days. Brings everything together and just ties it to some [00:40:00] message. Um, titles do that. So if you, if it's an, if it's a competition that allows titles, even though I would love them not to be there, if it allows you to enter a title so on, because there's, it's unlikely that it will distract from the score, but it is likely that it will enhance the enjoyment.

Consequently, the impact. That the image will have on the judges. Alright, uh, so titles, yes. Uh, where am I? Um, yes, uh, don't rush. Sorry. I was reading off a screen and lost position of where I was. Uh, don't rush. Um, I've already said this kind of, I have plenty of time. Print check, test, review. Alright. Um, ideally do your print.

Leave them a couple of days, have a look at them down the line. Of course none of us have time for that, but the very least, print them one day, look at them. The next, let the ink settle for a start. 24 hours for most colors to settle. Um, after that, um, [00:41:00] you want your emotions to settle. So do you look at the images cold or at least as cold as you can.

So print check and then, um, rest and review. Use feedback. Your mentor if you have to, people around you, friends, family, get feedback. Even if you don't like it, get feedback because you'll learn from it. Okay. Some common pitfalls. Section six, um, already mentioned a few of these. Uh, these happen a lot, so don't do them.

Simple as that. Don't enter your image into the one category. Um, you know, if it says newborns can only have another person in the shot as a supporting act, that doesn't mean, um, a family photograph that's not a newborn. That might be a newborn. They might have a newborn, but that's a family photograph.

It's a family group. Um, newborns are newborns. It's a very specific category. It's four newborns under the age of seven or eight or nine weeks, whatever is the, the category rules. Um, you can have hands, you can have shoulders. You probably [00:42:00] can't have people in most of the associations read the rules specific to the association or the competition.

You're entering, um, similarly, whether your print and mount sizing, make sure that you have the right print and or mount size, too many images get. Um, and, but the thing is, the real sadness here is that if you've gone to the effort of printing your image, mounting your image, and sending it in, it's the wrong size.

We're gonna disqualify it. But you've already paid the money. You've not only entered, you've not only paid the entrance fees, but you've produced a print and a map. Um, so the loss is just even harder. So just read the rules. Um, I've mentioned ripples and coal prints I've mentioned, mentioned poorly calibrated workflow.

I've mentioned trendy clone style. In fact, to be honest, I dunno why I've done this section. We've mentioned all of these. I must have been having a fit of peak, but it's always good to recap. So recapping don't, don't enter, um, trendy fashion style imagery. And by fashion, I mean following a trend, I don't necessarily mean fashion category.[00:43:00] 

Um, that's similar to what's out there in the big, bad world, because actually you might find there's 20 other photographers doing the same. Don't have a sharpen, don't have a lot blacks don't have grubby grays. Yep. Grubby grays. We haven't mentioned grubby grays. Grubby grays drive me insane. What do I mean by grubby grays?

I mean, in monochrome in particular. In monochrome. Make sure that it's a really well produced monochrome. And by monochrome we simply mean all the colors are in the same palette. Um, black and white is a very specific subset of monochrome. Monochrome could be all colors of, of brown, for instance. Um, but you must have detail, you must have contrast.

You must have all of the tones that you wish to portray in the print. So just watch for that. Uh, plasticy skin was another one that came up this year. Um, actually it comes up every, every year, particularly with the advent of AI retouching. The sliders are too easy to whack to a hundred. And you know, your clients may love it, but print judges [00:44:00] probably won't.

We want things to look great. Perfect. Of course. But real, it should look like you produced it, not a machine produced it. Uh, right. Okay. Last bit. Why bother entering? Well, primarily I think there are two aspects to entering competitions. And by extension qualifications that are worth your while, at least from a professional photographer's point of view.

Firstly, it's good business. Any kind of decent award. And by when you say award winning, please be award winning. I really don't like someone getting, you know, I dunno. Um, I don't want to, I don't want to moan about some of the things that go on in the industry, but. When you say you are award-winning, you better have won an award.

And by that I mean won at the very least, [00:45:00] um, got a silver, sorry, a bronze or silver or gold at the overall level. Um, not a commended in a small competition. That's not award winning. That's, I got commended now. I'm sure, I'm sure I may hear from people about this one. And those things are valuable, by the way, and you can tot them up and you can put them at the certificates on the wall.

But if you're award-winning, award-winning. Anyway, I'll get down off my soapbox on this one. Sorry. Um, every time you win an award, it's wonderful publicity. Even if you come runner up, you can say, came runner up in a national competition. Um, that's fair enough. That's what you did and it's still great publicity.

As long as you explain why and what and all the rest of it, um, and how it's your clients, your subjects that got you there. Those kinds of messages are brilliant. So there's one angle on it. The other angle, of course, is from a personal development point of view, [00:46:00] just the process of preparing your files for competition changes you, it's a very specific set of skills, not necessarily ones you'll use every day with every client, but.

Having that in your back pocket, understanding the color work, understanding the retouching, the subtleties in layout or composition, storytelling, how to create vignettes properly printing, you know, I know not everybody prints these days. I think that's the way of it, because most image consumption is digital, but printing really does highlight things that you will not see on a screen under normal circumstances.

So. Those are the two reasons. Great publicity and it develops your skills and with that you grow. You grow in confidence, you grow, your discipline improves, you grow your experience watching, judging. If you enter competitions quite often [00:47:00] you'll go and watch the judging and then hear feedback. That feedback is invaluable.

One of the reasons I judge is because I've learned so much doing it. I was laughing with the judges the other day, you know, um, even when it's me putting up a challenge because I think there's something in an image that the other judges maybe haven't seen, and I get beaten down. You know, when you raise a challenge, it's one of the scariest things you do as a judge on the panel is to stick your hand up and say, I love you guys and I respect everything that you do and see, but I think there's something here that you may have missed, whether you're talking an image up or talking an image down.

And it's really scary sometimes. You are absolutely right and the other judges go, do you know what? Saw that or didn't see that? I'll come with you. Sometimes they will line up and say, here's why we don't agree with you. We're gonna stay where we are. And that's heartbreaking too. But the process, the discourse, the investigation, the argument, they're really powerful.

It's why I judge, because I learned so much. [00:48:00] Um, of course, entering a competition is quite a brave thing to do. Of course keep it, keep it anonymous. You don't have to admit to ever entering anything. You only admit to winning something. And remember, the only real failure in image competitions is not to enter them.

So those are all of the points I wrote down. I'm sure there are many more, and there are plenty of other podcasts I've done on this topic. This is just my latest update on the same thing. But sure, surely there is something in there for all of us. Even me as I'm going through it, I'm thinking, I must remember that next time I enter a print, how many times have I got caught out by my own mistakes, when I should know better?

I'm a judge. I've been doing this a very long time now, and yet I still make those stupid mistakes. The biggest mistake I make, by the way, is to not allow enough time, and from that time box, everything else falls apart because I'm working at the last minute, I'm working at midnight or one or two or three in the morning.

I'm having to do everything on the back foot, which is [00:49:00] unfortunately the way I am, but from that single mistake, everything else flows. Sometimes I don't enter the competition because it was too late for me to think about it. Sometimes I do enter the competition, but it was too, too late to create the prints that I truly wanted to.

Sometimes I'm so late that I forget some great images that were in the, in my portfolio that I just didn't have time to go and find and I forgot about them. My biggest weakness. Is time. I dunno what yours is. Whatever it is though, get your images sorted, get yourself another pair of eyes, whether it's a mentor, workshops, friend, whatever, and get on and do it.

Right. So on that happy note, I'm gonna go um, and join some friends for a drink in our local pub and then I'm gonna have a few days out with Sarah. It's gonna be lovely. Um, I'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. Of course. We love to hear the feedback. Please do head over. To Apple's podcast. Um, and leave us a review on there.[00:50:00] 

Uh, no matter whether you are Google or Apple or you don't do any of those, the best place for reviews is on Apple, is it encourages so many more people to come and listen. If you fancy workshops, head over to mastering port portrait photography and go to the workshop section. Uh, we have a whole load of dates.

Um, some of them have sold out now, uh, but they're still in there. And I spent, I had a lovely week this week. It's been such a nice week. Um, spent a very happy hour going through someone's, um, images came across for a coffee, actually just as part of a mentoring session. Um, and we just sat and explored images and chatted ideas.

It's an absolutely wonderful thing to do. So if you fancy a workshop, uh, they're on the list. If you fancy, um, something a little bit longer term, some mentoring. Then of course, that's on there too. The deadlines for judging, uh, for the, uh, society's competition are looming. Um. So, uh, if you fancy that, then please do head across to the society's image competition website.

Um, I too, uh, must get my images in. Um, [00:51:00] I'm dreading leaving it to too late, but I can't help but think that might be what's coming because December for me is manic. So a load of that, um, please do, if you haven't already bought it by, this is a shameless plug. I don't care. Please buy the latest Mastering portrait photography.

Book, uh, the updated version, it's available on Amazon. Um, uh, Amazon by the way, can sell it to me cheaper than I can buy it from our own whole, from, from our own wholesaler, which I still think is slightly ironic. However, it is what it is. It's the way the world or the big suppliers. Uh, but if you want one signed, you can order that from mastering portrait photography.com.

Otherwise, head over to Amazon and if you do have a copy of the book. Please leave us a review. That's a lot of asking you to leave reviews, but all you have to do is log in, find the bit, write something nice, hit a few stars, well hopefully five or four. Um, and then you're done. And then I'm forever, I'm forever in your debt and you feel better about yourself.

Uh, so, uh, please do, uh, do those things head over to, uh, Amazon Lib's review on [00:52:00] the Amazon website. That would be great. And with that, I'm gonna sign off. I'm gonna finish what's left of a cold mug of coffee and I'm gonna go have a drink with some friends and spend a few days. Out and about with Sarah doing something interesting.

Not sure yet what whatever else you do, wherever you are, whatever you're doing with your, your prints, your competitions, your qualifications, be kind to yourself. Take care. 

If you enjoy a peek behind the curtain, you will like this one. You can grab a signed copy of the new Mastering Portrait Photography at masteringportraitphotography.com and yes, I will scribble in it. If you already have the book, a quick Amazon review helps more than you know. Fancy sharpening your craft in person? Check the workshops page for new dates and come play with light at the studio.  The book: https://masteringportraitphotography.com/resource/signed-copy-mastering-portrait-photography-new-edition/

Workshops: https://masteringportraitphotography.com/workshops-and-mentoring/

Transcript

[00:00:00] 

Hey, one and all. How are you doing? Now? I'll be honest, I still have the remnants of a cold, and if you can hear that in my voice, I do apologize, I suppose you could call it slightly bluesy, but you can definitely hear that I'm ever so slightly husky. It's Friday night, it's eight 30, and I was, I've been waiting a week to record this podcast, hoping my voice would clear it hasn't, and so I've taken the opportunity having a glass of whiskey and just cracking on.

So if you like the sound of a slightly bluesy voice, that's great. If you don't, I'm really sorry, but whichever, which way I'm Paul. And this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast.

So it's been a busy month or two. You can always tell when it's busy [00:01:00] 'cause the podcasts. Get, don't really get delivered in quite the pace I would like. However, it really has been a busy couple of weeks the past few. Let me, I'm gonna draw your attention to it. The past couple of weeks, we've, there's a ton of stuff going on around us for a moment.

I was up in Preston. I've been up in Preston twice over the past couple of weeks. The first one was working as a qualifications judge for the BIPP, the British Institute Professional photographers. Um. Which I love judging. I love judging. It's exhausting, but I love it. And that was qualifications, panels.

Then last week was the launch. Of the updated edition of Mastering Portrait Photography, the book, which is where it all started, where Sarah Plata and I published this book that seems to have been incredibly popular. 50,000 copies translated from English into four other languages. Chinese, Korean, German.

And Italian, do not ask me, do not ask me the logic on why the book is in those [00:02:00] particular languages. To be fair, we only found out about the Chinese and Korean when we were trying to get some marketing material together to talk about the new book Nobody had told us. I'm not even sure the publisher knew, to be honest.

Uh, but we have found copies. We have a Chinese copy here in the studio. I'm still trying to get a Korean version. So if you are listening to this. Podcast in Korea. Please tell me how to get hold of a version in Korean because we'd love to complete the set. There's, in fact, there's two Italian versions. We knew about that. There's a German version we knew about that hardback version. It's great. It's really beautiful. Very I, like I, I don't live in Germany and I don't like to stereotyping entire nation, but the quality of the book is incredible. It's absolutely rock solid, properly engineered. Love it.

We have a Chinese version here but the Korean version still alludes us. However, this week the new version, mastering portrait photography is out. And as you know, I, Sarah interviewed me for the podcast last week to talk about it. Well, it's out. We've had our launch party, uh, we invited everybody who [00:03:00] has featured in the book who, everybody, every picture in the book that we asked the person in it to come to the studio for a soiree.

And it was brilliant. I've never seen so much cheese in all my life, and by I don't mean my speech, I mean actual cheese. We had a pile of it, still eating it. So it's been a week and I'm still eating the cheese. I dunno quite how, well, quite by how much we vacated, but probably by several kilos. Which I'm enjoying thoroughly.

I've put on so much weight this week, it's unreal, but I'm enjoying the cheese. And then on Sunday we had an open day where we had set the studio out with some pictures from the book and some notes of the different people. Who featured and what I might do, actually, I'd, I wonder if I can do a visual podcast.

I might do a visual podcast where I talk about those images, at some point on the website, on masteringportraitportraitphotography.com. I will do the story and the BTS and the production of every single image that's in the book, but it's gonna take me some [00:04:00] time. There's nearly 200 images in there.

Um, and every one of them, bar one is a new image or is, is. It is, it is a new image in the book, and it has been taken in the 10 years or the decades subsequent to the first book, all bar one. Feel free to email me. Email me the image you think it might be. You'll probably guess it, but it's it's definitely in there.

Um, and so it's been really busy. And then at the beginning of this week, I spent two days up in Preston again, judging again, but this time it was for the British Institute of Professional Photographers print Masters competition. Ah, what, what a joy. Six other judges and me, a chair of judges. Print handlers, the organizers.

Ah, I mean, I've seen so many incredible images over those 48 hours, and in this podcast I want to talk a bit about how we do it, why we do it, what it feels like to do it, [00:05:00] because I'm not sure everybody understands that it's it, it's not stressful, but we do as judges, feel the pressure. We know that we are representing, on the one hand, the association as the arbiters of the quality of the curators of these competitions, but also we feel the pressure of the authors because we are there too.

We also enter competitions and we really, really hope the judges pay attention, really investigate and interrogate the images that we've entered. And when, when you enter competitions, that heightens the pressure to do a good job for the authors who you are judging. So in this podcast, I'm gonna talk through some of the aspects of that.

Forgive me if it sounds like I'm answering questions. It's because I wrote myself some questions. I wrote some [00:06:00] questions down to, how I structures the podcast usually, uh, the podcast rambles along, but this one I actually set out with a structure to it, so forgive me if it sounds like I'm answering questions.

It's 'cause I'm answering my own questions. What does it feel like? How do you do it? Et cetera, et cetera. Anyway, I hope it's useful. Enjoy. And it gives you an insight into what it's like to be a competition judge.

Okay. As you walk into the judging room. For me at least, it's mostly a sense of excitement. There's a degree of apprehension. There's a degree of tension, but mostly there's an adrenaline rush. Knowing that we're about to sit and view, assess, score these incredible images from photographers all over the world, and let's remember that every photographer when they enter a print competition, which is what I'm talking about primarily here.

Every photographer [00:07:00] believes that print that category that year, could win. Nobody enters an image thinking that it doesn't stand a chance. Now you might do that modest thing of, I don't know, you know? Oh no, I don't. I I just chance my arm. No one enters a print they don't think has a chance of doing well.

That just doesn't happen. It's too expensive. It takes too much time. And as judges. We are acutely aware of that. So when you walk into the room, lots of things are going in your on, in your heads. Primarily, you know, you are there to do a job. You are there to perform a task. You are going to put your analytical head on and assess a few hundred images over the next 48 hours.

But as you walk in, there's a whole series of things. You, you are gonna assess the room. You see that your fellow judges, you're gonna see the print handlers. You're going to see the chair, you're gonna see the people [00:08:00] from whichever association it is who are organizing it, who or who have organized it.

You'll see stacks of prints ready to be assessed. There's a whole series of things that happen. A lot of hugging. It's really lovely. This year the panel of judges, uh, had some people in it I haven't seen for quite a few years, and it was beyond lovely to see them. So there's all of that, but you, there's this underlying tension you are about to do.

One of the things you love doing more than anything else in as part of your job. So there's the excitement of it and the joy of it, but there's always this gentle underlying tone of gravitas of just how serious it is. What we are doing. So there will be plenty of laughter, plenty of joy, but you never really take your eye off the task in hand.

And that's how it feels as you go to take your seats on the judging [00:09:00] panel.

So the most important thing, I think, anyway, and I was chair of qualifications and awards for the BIPP for a number of years, is that the whole room, everybody there is acting as a team. If you are not gonna pull as a team, it doesn't work. So there has to be safety, there has to be structure.

There has to be a process and all of these things come together to provide a framework in which you assess and create the necessary scores and results for the association, for the photographers, for the contestants. So you take your seats, and typically in a room, there are gonna be five judges at any one time assessing an image.

It's typically five. I've seen it done other ways, but a panel of judges is typically five. The reason we have five is at no point do all of the judges agree. [00:10:00] We'll go through this later in more detail, but the idea is that you have enough judges that you can have contention, you can have. Disagreements, but as a panel of judges, you'll come up with a score.

So you'll have five judges sitting assessing an image at any one time. To the side of the room, there'll be two more judges typically. Usually we have a pool of seven, five judges working, two judges sitting out every 10 prints or 10 minutes or whatever the chair decides. They'll we'll rotate along one, so we'll all move along one seat and one of the spare judges will come in and sit on the end and one of the existing judges will step off.

And we do that all day, just rotating along so that everybody judges, broadly speaking, the same number of images. Now, of course there is a degree of specialism in the room. If a panel has been well selected, there'll be specialists in each of the categories, but you can't have, let's say there's 15 categories.

You [00:11:00] can't have five specialist judges per category. That's simply impractical. Um, you know, having, what's that, 75 judges in a room, just so that you can get through the 15 categories is. A logistics task, a cost. Even just having a room that big, full of judges doesn't work. So every judge is expected to be reasonably multi-talented, even if you don't shoot, for instance, landscapes.

You have to have a working knowledge of what's required of a great landscape. Because our job as a panel isn't that each of us will spot all of the same characteristics in an image, all of the same defects, all of the same qualities. Each judge has been picked to bring their own. Sort of viewpoint, if you like, to the image.

Some judges are super technical, some judges, it's all about the atmosphere. Some judges, it's all about the printing and there's every bit of image production is [00:12:00] covered by each of the individual specialisms of the judges. And so while there is a degree of specialism, there will be a landscape.

Specialist in the room or someone who works in landscape, there will be plenty of portrait photographers, wedding photographers, commercial photographers. The idea is from those seven, we can cover all of those bases. So we have seven judges all at fellowship level, all highly skilled, all experienced.

And then there's the chair. Now the chair's role is not to affect the actual score. The chair's role is to make sure the judges have considered everything that they should be considering. That's the Chair's job, is to make sure the judges stay fresh, keep an eye on the scores, keep an eye on the throughput.

Make sure that every image and every author are given a. The time and consideration that they are due. What do I mean by that? Well, I just mean the photographers spent a lot of time and effort and [00:13:00] finance putting this print in front of us, and so it's really important that we as judges give it due consideration.

The chair, that's their role is to make sure that's what really happens. So the process is pretty simple, really. We will take our seats as a panel of judges and when we are settled. The chair will ask for the print, one of the print handlers. There's normally a couple of print handlers in the room, one to put the image on, one to take the image off.

The print handler will take the first image or the next image off the pile and place it in front of us on the light box. They will then check the print to make sure there's no visible or obvious dust marks, um, or anything, and give with an air blower or with the back of a a handling glove, or very gently take any dust spots away.

They will then step back. Now, the way the judges are set, there are five seats in a gentle arc, usually around the light [00:14:00] box. The outer two judges, judges one and five will step into the light box and examine or interrogate the print carefully. They will take as much time as they need to ascertain what they believe the score for that image should be.

They will then take their seats. The next two judges in, so let's say Judge two and four, they will step in to interrogate the print and do exactly the same thing. When they're ready, they'll step back and sit down. And then the middle judge, the final judge in seat three, they will step up and interrogate the print.

And the reason we do it that way is that everybody gets to see the print thoroughly. Everybody gets to spend enough time. Examining the print. And at that point, when we all sit down, we all enter our scores onto whatever the system is we're using either using iPads or keypads. There's all sorts of ways of doing it, but what's really important is we do all of this in total silence and we don't really do it because we need to be able to [00:15:00] concentrate.

Though that has happened, sort of distracting noises can play havoc. Um, we really do it so that we are not influencing any other judge. So there's no, oh, this is rubbish, or, oh, this is amazing. Or any of this stuff, because the idea is that each judge will come to their own independent score. We enter them, and then there's a process as to what happens next.

So that's the process. If at some point a single judge when the image appears, says, I can't judge this for whatever reason, usually it's because they've seen the image before. I mean, there's one this week where I hadn't directly influenced the image. But the author had shown me how they'd done it, so they'd stepped me through the Photoshopping, the construction, the shooting, everything about the image.

I knew the image really well, and so when the image appeared on the light box, I knew while I could judge it, it wasn't fair to the author or to the other [00:16:00] competitors that I should. So I raised my hand, checked in with the chair, chair, asked me what I wanted. I said, I need to step off this. I'm too familiar with the work for me to give this a cold read, an objective read.

So I if, if possible, if there's another judge, could they just step in and score this one image for me? And that means it's fair for all of the contestants. So that's that bit of process when we come to our score. Let's assume the score's fine. Let's assume, I dunno, it gets an 82, which is usually a merit or a bronze, whatever the system is.

The chair will log that, she'll say that image scored 82, which is the average of all five of us. She'll then check in with the scores and the panel of judges. He or she rather, uh, they, so they will look at us and go, are you all happy with that result? That's really important. Are you all happy? Would that result?

Because that's the opportunity as judges for one of us, if we're not comfortable that the image is scored where we think it probably should. And [00:17:00] remember with five of you, if the score isn't what you think, you could be the one who's not got your eye in or you haven't spotted something, it might well be you, but it's your job as a judge to make sure if there's any doubt in your mind about the scoring of an image that.

You ask for it to be assessed again, for there to be discussion for the team to do its job because it might be that the other members of the panel haven't seen something that you have or you haven't seen something that they have, that both of those can be true. So it's really important that you have a process and you have a strict process.

And this is how it works. So the chair will say you are happy. One of the judges may say. No, I'm not happy or may say I would like to challenge that or may simply say, I think this warrants a discussion. I'm gonna start it off. And then there's a process for doing that. [00:18:00] So the judge who raises the challenge will start the dialogue and they'll start in whichever direction it is that they think the scoring is not quite right.

They will start the dialogue that way. So let's say the score, the judge who's raising a challenge says the score feels a little low. What happens then is raise a challenge and that judge will discuss the image or talk to the image in a way that is positive and trying to raise the score. And they're gonna do that by drawing attention to the qualities that they feel the image has, that maybe they're worried the other judges haven't seen when they're done, the next judge depends, depending on the chair and how you do it.

The next judge will take their turn and he goes all the way around with every judge having their say. And then it comes back to the originating judge who has the right of a rebuttal, which simply means to answer back. So depending on how the [00:19:00] dialogue has gone it may be that you say thank you to all of the judges.

I'm glad you saw my point. It would be great if we could give this the score that I think this deserves. Similarly, you occasionally, and I did do one of these where I raised a challenge, um, where I felt an image hadn't scored, or the judges hadn't seen something that maybe I had seen in the image, and then very quickly realized that four judges had seen a defect that I hadn't.

And so my challenge, it was not, it's never a waste of a challenge. It's never ever a waste because it's really important that every image is given the consideration it deserves. But at the end of the challenge that I raised, the scoring stayed exactly the same. I stayed, I said thank you to all of the judges for showing me some stuff that I hadn't noticed.

And then we moved on. More often than not, the scores move as the judges say, oh, do you know what, you're right, there is something in this. Or, no, you're right. We've overinflated this because we saw things, but we missed these technical defects. It's those kinds of conversations. So that's a, a chair, that's a, a judge's [00:20:00] challenge.

Yeah, this process also kicks in if there's a very wide score difference between the judge's scores, same process, but this time there's no rebuttal. Every judge simply gives their view starting with the highest judge and then working anywhere on the panel. Um, and then there's a rare one, which does happen which is a chair's challenge, and the chair has the right in, at least in the competitions that I judge, the chair has the right to say to the panel of judges.

Could you just give this another consideration? I think there might be things you've missed or that feels like you're getting a little bit steady in your scoring. 'cause they, the chair of course, has got a log of all the scores and can see whether, you know, you're settling into like a 78, 79 or one judge is constantly outta kilter.

The chair can see everything and so your job as the chair is to just, okay guys, listen, I think this image that you've just assessed. Possibly there's some things one way or the [00:21:00] other that you might need to take into consideration. It doesn't feel like you have. I'd like you to discuss this image and then just do a rescore.

So those are the, those are the mechanisms. So in the room you've got five judges plus two judges who are there ready to step in when required either on the rotation or when someone recuses themself and steps out. Usually two print handlers and then usually there's at least one person or maybe more from the association, just doing things like making sure things are outta their boxes, that the scores are recorded on the back of the prints, they go back into boxes, there's no damage because these prints are worth quite a lot of money. And so, there's usually quite a few people in the room, but it's all done in silence and it's all done to this beautiful process of making sure it's organized, it's clear it's transparent, and we're working as one team to assess each image and give it the score that it deserves.

so when the print arrives on the box. It has impact. Now, whether you like it or not, [00:22:00] whether you understand it or not, whether you can define it or not, the print has an impact.

You're gonna see it, you're gonna react to it. How do you react to it? Is it visceral? Does your heart rate climb? Do you. Do you explore it? Do you want to explore it? Does it tell a clear story? And now is when you are judging a competition, typically the association or the organization who are running the competition will have a clear set of criteria.

I mean, broadly speaking, things like lighting, posing layout or composition storytelling. Graphic design, print quality, if it's a print competition. These are the kinds of things that, um, we look for. And they're listed out in the competition guides that the entrant, the author will have known those when they submitted their print.

And the judges know them when we're assessing them, so they're kind of coherent. Whatever it is that the, the entrance were told, that's what we're judging [00:23:00] to the most important. Is the emotional connection or the impact? It's typically called visual impact or just impact. What's really important about that is that it's very obvious, I think, to break images down into these constructed elements like complimentary colors or tonal range or centers of interest, but they don't really do anything except create.

Your emotional reaction to the picture. Now, we do use language around these to assess the image, but what we're actually looking for is emotional impact. Pictures tell stories. Stories invoke emotions. It's the emotions we're really looking for. But the trick when you are judging is you start with the initial impact.

Then you go in and you in real tiny detail, look at the image. Explore it, interrogate it, [00:24:00] enjoy it, maybe don't enjoy it. And you look at it in all of the different categories or different areas, criteria that you are, that the judges that the organization have set out. And then really, although it never gets listed twice, it should do, impact should also be listed as the last thing you look at as well.

Because here's the process. You look at the image. There's an impact. You then in detail investigate, interrogate, enjoy the image. And then at the very end you ask yourself, what impact does it still have? And that's really important because the difference between those two gives you an idea of how much or how well the image is scoring in all of the other areas.

If an image has massive impact when you, let's put 'em on the light box, and then you explore it and you [00:25:00] enjoy it, and you look at it under the light, and then at the end of it you're still feeling the same thing you did when it came on the light box, that's a pretty good indicator that all the criteria were met.

If on the other hand, as you've explored the image, you've realized. There are errors in the production, or you can see Photoshopping problems or blown highlights or blocked blacks, or things are blurred where they should be sharp or you name it. It's these kinds of things. You know, the printing has got banding in the sky, which is a defect.

You see dust spots from a camera sensor. These gradually whittle away your impact score because you go back to the end and you ask, what impact does the image now have? And I've heard judges use terms like at the end of the process, I thought that was gonna be amazing when it first arrived on the light box.

I just loved the look of it from a distance, but when I stepped in, there were just too many things that [00:26:00] weren't quite right. And at the end of it, I just felt some would, sometimes I've heard the word disappointed you. So that's certainly how I feel. When an image has this beautiful impact and the hair stand up on the back of your neck and you just think, I cannot wait to step in and explore this image in detail.

'cause I tell you one thing, most authors don't own a light box. When you see a print on a beautiful light box, the, there's something about the quality. The way the print ESS is you actually get to see what a print should look like. So when you step in, you are really excited to see it. And if at the end of that process you're slightly disappointed because you found defects in the printing or problems with the focusing or Photoshop or whatever it is.

You really are genuinely disappointed. So that's how you approach it. You approach it from this standpoint of a very emotional, a very emotional connection with the image to start with, and then you break [00:27:00] it down into its elements, whatever those elements are for the competition. And then at the end, you ask yourself really, does it still have the impact?

I thought it would because if it does, well, in that case, it's done really, really well.

one of the things that's really interesting about judging images is we, we draw out, we write out all of these criteria and.

Every image has them really. I mean, well, I say that of course every image doesn't have them. If you are, if you're thinking about landscape or a picture of a shampoo bottle, it doesn't have posing, for instance, if that's one of your criteria. But typically there's a standard set of criteria and every image has them layout, color uh, photographic technique, et cetera.

So if we look at let's say composition, let's talk about composition. Personally, I like to use the term layout rather than composition because it [00:28:00] feels a little bit more like a verb. You lay the image out, you have all of the bits, you lay them out. I like that because when we are teaching photography when we say to someone, right, what are all of the bits that you have in front of you?

How are you gonna lay them out? It feels a lot more, to me, at least more logical than saying, how are you gonna compose the image? Because it allows. I think it allows the photographer to think in terms of each individual component rather than just the whole frame. So we are looking for how the image is constructed.

Remember that every photographer really should think about an image. As telling a story, what's the story that you want somebody else? Somebody that you've never met. In this case a judge, but it could be a client or it could just be somebody where your work is being exhibited on a wall. What do you want them to look at?

What do you want them to see? Where do you want that eye to go? And there are lots of tricks to [00:29:00] this, and one of them is layout or composition. So we've got through the initial impact, boom. And the excitement. And then you start to think, is the image balanced? I like to think of an image having a center of gravity.

Some photographers will use center of interest, which is a slightly different thing, but I think an image has a center of gravity. The component parts of the image create balance. So you can have things right down in the edges of the frame, but you need something to balance it like a seesaw. You can't just.

Throw in, throw parts of the puzzle around the frame. So you are looking for where do they land? And of course, as photographers, we talk about thirds, golden ratios, golden spirals, all of these terms. But what we are really looking for is does the image have a natural flow? Does it feel like everything's where it should be?

Does your eye go to the bit that the author probably wanted you to look at? Have they been effective in their [00:30:00] storytelling? And by storytelling, I don't necessarily mean storytelling as in photojournalism or narrative rich photography. What I mean is what did they want you to see, and then did you go and see it?

Separation? Is the background blurred? And let's say the, the subject is sharp. That's a typical device for making sure you look at the subject. Is the color of the background muted in a way that draws your attention? Again to whatever it is in the foreground. So layouts one of those tools. So we work our way around it and try and figure out does the positioning of all of the elements of the image does their positioning add or distract from the story?

We think that author was trying to tell. Let's remember that it's not the judge's job to understand the story. It's the author's job to tell the story in a way that the judges can get it. Too often, you know, when I, when I've judged [00:31:00] a competition, someone will come and find me afterwards and say, did you understand what that was about?

I was trying to say this, and it's like, well, I didn't see that, but that's not my fault. You know, it's, it's down to you to lead me pictorially to. Whatever it is you're trying to show. Same with all judges, all viewers, clients. It doesn't really matter. It's the author's job, not the judges. So at the end of that, you then move on to whatever's the next criteria.

So you know, you assess these things bit by bit, and by the way, every judge will do it in a slightly different order. There'll be written down in an order. But each judge would approach it in a different manner. For me, typically it's about emotional connection more than anything else, it's about the emotion.

I love that genuine, authentic connection of a person in the image. To me, the viewer. I will always go there if, if it's a portrait or a wedding or fashion image, if there's a person in it or a dog, I suppose, [00:32:00] then I will look for that authenticity, that, that visceral, it feels like they're looking at me or I'm having a dialogue with them.

That's my particular hot button, but every judge has their room and that's how you approach it.

So when it comes to a photograph in the end, you don't really have anything other than light when you think about it, right?

That's, you pick up a camera, it's got a sensor, it's got film, it's got a lens on the front, and a shutter stopping light coming, or it goes through the lens, but the, the shutter stops it hitting a sensor. And at some point you commit light to be recorded. And it's the light that describes the image.

There's nothing else. It's not something you can touch or hear, it's just light. And of course light is everything. I think, I think the term pho photography or photograph is a mix of a couple of words, and it's a relatively recent idea. I think [00:33:00] it was Victorian and it's, isn't it light and art photographic or photograph, um.

So that's what it is. It's capturing light and creating a reaction from it. So the quality of light is possibly the most important thing. There is too much of it, and you're gonna have blown highlights, nasty white patches on your prints, too little of it. You're gonna have no detail in the shadows and a lot of noise or grain, whether it's film or whether it's off your sensor.

And then there's the shape of the light. The color of the light, and it doesn't really matter whether it's portrait, wedding, landscape, product, avant garde, it's light that defines things. It's light that can break an image. So with portraiture, for instance,

we tend to talk about. Sculpting or dimensionality of light. We tend to talk about the shape of the subject. We talk about flattering light. We talk about hard and soft light, and all of these things [00:34:00] mean something. This isn't the podcast to talk about those in detail, but that's what we're looking for.

We are looking for has the light created a sense of shape, a sense of wonder, a sense of narrative. Does the lighting draw your eye towards the subject? And when you get to the subject, is it clear that the lighting is effective and by effective, usually as a portrait photographer anyway. I mean flattering.

But you might be doing something with light that's counterintuitive, that's making the subject not flattered. That's maybe it's for a thriller style thing, or maybe it's dark and moody. Harsh, as long as in tune with the story as we are seeing it, then the lighting is assessed in that vein. So we've seen some incredible beauty shots over the past couple of days where the lighting sculpted the face.

It had damaged ality, but it was soft. There were no hard shadows, there were no [00:35:00] blown highlights. The skin, it was clear that the texture of the skin, the light, it caught the texture. So we knew exactly what that would be. It had. Captured the shape. So the way the gens or shadows ripple around a body or a face tell you its shape.

They haven't destroyed the shape. It's it's catch shape, but it hasn't unnecessarily sculpted scars or birthmarks or spots, you know? And that's how lighting works. So you look for this quality, you look for control, you look for the author, knowing what they're doing. With landscapes, typically it's, it is very rare, in my opinion, for a landscape.

To get a good score if it isn't shot at one end of the day or the other. Why? Well, typically, at those points of the day, the light from the sun is almost horizontal. It rakes across the frame, and you get a certain quality to the way the shadows are thrown. The way the [00:36:00] light, sculpts hills, buildings, clouds, leaves, trees, the way it skips off water, whether it's at the beginning of the day or the end of the day.

It's quite unusual though we do see them for an amazing photograph of escape to be taken at midday. But you can see how it could be if you have the sun directly overhead, because that has a quality all of its own. And you know, if when an author has gone to the effort of being in the right place to shoot vertical shadows with a direct overhead son, well maybe that's so deliberate that the, the judges will completely appreciate that and understand the story.

So it's looking for these things and working out. Has the lighting been effective in telling the story? We think the author was trying to tell? Lighting is at the heart of it.

So when we've been through every criteria, whatever they are, lighting, composition, color, narrative, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, [00:37:00] we've assessed every image, hundreds of them. We've had challenges, we've had conversations. We have a big pile of prints that have made it over the line. To whatever is your particular association scoring, whether it's merit or bronze or whatever.

The puzzle isn't quite complete at that stage because there is of course, a slight problem and that problem is time. So if you imagine judging a section of images might take a couple of hours to do 70 prints, 60, 70 prints might take longer than that. In fact, it might take the best part of an afternoon.

During that time. There's every chance the scores will wander. And the most obvious time is if a category spans something like a lunch break. We try to make sure categories don't do that. We try to complete categories before going for a break. We always try to be continuous, but [00:38:00] you've still got fatigue.

You've got the judges rotating. So all of these things are going on. It sometimes it depends what images come up in what order could conceivably affect the scoring. For instance there's an image that came up this year where I think probably I was the judge that felt the strongest about it. There was something about this particular image that needed talking about, and so when it came up and it was scores that I raised a challenge and my heart rate, the minute the print hit the stand, my heart rate climbed through the roof.

It was. Something about it that just connected with me. And then when I explored the image on the lights, on the light box, to me, there was very little that was technically holding it back. There were a couple of bits, but nothing that I felt warranted a lower score. And so I raised a [00:39:00] challenge. I said my point, I went through it in detail.

I asked the other judges to consider it. From my viewpoint, they gave their views as to why they hadn't. But each of them understood where I was coming from and unlike the challenge I talked about earlier where no one changed their mind on this one, they did on this one. They also saw things that I saw when we went through it.

But at the end of the process, the image was got a higher score, which is great, but. I didn't feel that I could judge the next image fairly because whatever came in, my heart rate was still battering along after seeing this one particular image. And that happens sometimes. It's not common, but I felt I needed to step off the panel before the next image came up.

Which I did in work, working with the chair and the team. I stepped off for a couple of prints before stepping back on [00:40:00] just to let my eye settle and let myself get back into the right zone. But during the day, the zone changes. The way you change your perception of the images, as the images come through is so imperceptible, imperceivable, imperceptible.

One of those two words is so tiny that you don't notice if there's a slight drift. And so there's every opportunity for an image to score a couple of points lower or a couple of points higher than it possibly could have done. If it had been seen at another point in the day. Maybe it had been, maybe if the image was seen after a series of not so strong images, maybe it would get a higher score.

Or of course, the other way round. Maybe after seeing a series of really, really powerful, impactful images that came up, maybe it scored be slightly diminished. Both of those can be true. And so it's really important that we redress that any possible imbalance and every competition I've ever done has a final round.

And the [00:41:00] way this is done is that we take the highest scoring images, top five, top 10, depending on the competition, and we line them up. And all of the judges now, not just the judges who are the five on the panel, all seven judges. Get an opportunity to bring each image back onto a light box if they wish, if they haven't seen them already.

Because remember, some of those images may not have been assessed by the, well. It cannot have been assessed by all seven of the judges, so there's always gonna be at least two judges who haven't seen that image or seeing it for the first time as a judge. So we bring them back, we look at them, and then we rank them using one of numerous voting mechanisms where we all vote on what we think are the best images and gradually whittle it down until we're left with a ranked order for that category.

We have a winner, a second, a third, a fourth, sometimes all the way down to 10 in order, depending on the competition. And that's the fairest way of doing it, because it means, okay, during the judging, [00:42:00] that image got, I dunno, 87. But when we now baseline it against a couple of images that got 90 something, when we now look at it, we realize that that image probably should have got a 90 as well.

We're not gonna rescore it, the score stands, but what we are gonna do is put it up into there and vote on it as to whether it actually, even though it got slightly lower, score, is the winning image for the category. And every competition does something similar just to redress any fluctuations to, to flatten out time.

It takes time outta the equation because now for that category, all seven judges are judging the winner at the same time, and that's really important. We do that for all the categories, and then at the end of that process, we bring back all of the category winners and we vote on which one of those. Wins the competition.

Now, not every competition has an overall winner, but for the one we've just done for the print masters, for the BIPP print masters, there is an overall winner. And so we set them all out [00:43:00] and we vote collectively as a winner on the winner. And then, oh, we rank them 1, 2, 3, 4, or whatever. Um, really we're only picking a winner, but we also have to have some safety nets because what happens if for instance.

Somebody unearths a problem with an image. And this has happened, sadly, this has happened a couple of times in my career where a photographer has entered an image that's not compliant with the rules but hasn't declared it. And it's always heartbreaking when it does happen, but we have to have a backup.

So we always rank one, two, and three. So that's some backups, and that's the process. That's how we finish everything off. We have finished, we've got all the categories judged, the category winners judged, and then the overall one, two, and three sorted as well.

at the end of the process? I can't speak for every judge. I can speak for me, I feel, I think three things. Exhaustion. It's really hard to spend 48 hours or longer [00:44:00] assessing images one by one, by one by one, and making sure that you are present and paying attention to every detail of every image.

And you're not doing an author or an image a disservice. You pay each image or you give each image, you pay each image the due attention it deserves. I feel exhilaration. There's something energizing about assessing images like this. I know it's hard to explain, but there's something in the process of being alongside some of the best photographers that you've ever met, some photographers that you admire more than any others, not just as photographers, but as human beings.

The nicest people, the smartest people, the most experienced people, the most eloquent people. There's something in that. So there's this [00:45:00] exhilaration. You are exhausted, but there's an exhilaration to it. And then finally, and I don't know if every photographer feels this or every judge feels this, I do.

Which is massively insecure, I think. Can't think of the right words for it. There must be one. But I come away, much like when you've been out on the beers and you worry about all the things you've said, it's the same process. There was that image I didn't give enough credit for. There was this image I was too generous on.

There were the things I said in a challenge when it gets a little bit argumentative or challenging. 'cause the clues in the title, you know, maybe I pushed too hard, maybe I didn't push hard enough. There are images you've seen that you wished you'd taken and you feel like. I'm not good enough. There's an insecurity to it too, and those are the three things I think as you leave the room, it's truly [00:46:00] energizing.

Paradoxically, it's truly exhausting, but it's also a little bit of a head mush in that you do tend to come, or I do tend to come away a little bit insecure about. All the things that have gone on over the two days prior, and I've done this a long time. I've been judging for, I dunno, 15, 16, 17 years. And I've got used to those feelings.

I've got used to coming away worrying.

I'm used to the sense of being an underachiever, I suppose, and it's a wonderful , set of emotions that I bring home. And every time I judge. I feel better for it. I feel more creative. I feel more driven. I feel more determined. I feel like my eyes have been opened to genres [00:47:00] of photography, for types of imagery, for styles of posing or studio work that I've never necessarily considered, and I absolutely adore it every single second.

So at the end of that, I really hope I've described or created a picture of what it's like to be a judge for this one. I haven't tried to explain the things we saw that as photographers as authors, you should think about when you are entering. I'm gonna do that in a separate podcast. I've done so many of those, but this one was specifically like, what does it feel like to be a judge?

Why do we do it? I mean, we do it for a million reasons. Mostly we do it because people helped us and it's our turn to help them. But every photographer has a different reason for doing it. It's the most joyful process. It's the most inspiring process and I hope you've got a little bit of that from the podcast.

So [00:48:00] on that happy note, I'm gonna wrap up and I'm gonna go and finish my glass of whiskey which I'm quite excited about if I'm honest. 'cause I did, it's been sitting here beside me for an hour and I haven't drunk any of it. I do hope you're all doing well. I know winter is sort of clattering towards us and the evenings are getting darker, at least for my listeners in the north and the hemisphere.

Don't forget. If you want more information on portrait photography or our workshops we've announced all of the upcoming dates or the next set of upcoming dates. Please head across to mastering portrait photography.com and go to the workshop section. I love our workshops and we've met so many.

Just lovely people who've come to our studio. And we've loved being alongside them, talking with them, hopefully giving a bit of inspiration, certainly taking a little bit of inspiration, if I'm honest, because everyone turns up with ideas and conversations. Uh, we would love to see you there. The workshops are all are all there on the website and the workshop section.

You can also, if you wish, buy a signed copy of the book from mastering portrait photography.com. Again, just go to the [00:49:00] shop and you'll see it there on the top. Amazon has them for sale too. It is great. Amazon typically sells them for less than we do, but we have a fixed price. We have to buy them from the wholesaler at a particular price, whereas Amazon can buy many, many more than we can, so they get a better deal if I'm honest.

However, if you want my paw print in there, then you can order it from us and it's supports a photographer and it's really lovely to hear from you. When you do, uh, one thing, I'd love to ask anyone who has bought the updated edition of the book, if you are an Amazon customer. Please could you go on to amazon.com and leave us a review?

It's really powerful when you do that, as long as it's a good review. If it's a rubbish review, just email me and tell me what I could have done differently, and I'll email you back and tell you, tell you why I didn't. But if it's a half decent review, a nice review. Please head over to Amazon. Look for mastering portrait photography, the new version of the book, and leave us a review.

It's really important particularly in the first couple of [00:50:00] weeks that it's been on sale. Uh, it would be really, really helpful if you did that. And on that happy note, I wish you all well. I've grabbed my glass of whiskey and I'm gonna wrap up and whatever else you do. Until next time, be kind to yourself.

Take care. 

Links:

Signed Copy of Mastering Portrait Photography, New Edition - https://masteringportraitphotography.com/resource/signed-copy-mastering-portrait-photography-new-edition/

Sarah: So welcome back to the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast and today's a special one. Hi, I'm Sarah, and I'm the business partner of Paul at Paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk and also his wife too. Now, you might already know him as the voice behind this podcast, but today I'm gonna get the rare pleasure of turning the microphone around and asking him the questions. So Paul, it's been 10 years since the first edition of mastering portrait photography hit the shelves, and with selling over 50,000 copies, multiple reprints and translation into four languages, it's safe to say it's had a bit of an impact, but as we all know, photography doesn't stand still and neither do you. So today we're diving into the brand new second edition. So Hello Paul.

Paul: Hello.

It feels weird saying hello to my wife in a way that makes it sound like we've only just met.

Sarah: Mm. Maybe, maybe.

Paul: The ships that pass in the night.

Sarah: Yes. So I thought we'd start with talking about the, the first version. You know, how did it come about? A bit of the origin story about it. Um, and I'll leave that with you.

Paul: Well, of course Confusingly, it's co-authored with another Sarah, um, another photographer. And the photographer and brilliant writer called Sarah Plater, and she approached us actually, it wasn't my instigation, it was Sarah's, and she had written another book with another photographer on the Foundations of Photography. Very popular book. But she wanted to progress and had been approached by the publisher to create Mastering Portrait Photography. This thing that we now have become used to didn't exist 10 years ago, and when she approached us, it was because she needed someone who could demonstrate photographic techniques that would live up to the title, mastering portrait photography. And we were lucky enough to be that photographer. And so that first book was really a, a sort of trial and error process of Sarah sitting and interviewing me over and over and over and over and over, and talking about the techniques that photographers use in portraiture.

Some of it very sort of over the sort of cursory look, some of it in depth, deep dives, but all of it focusing on how to get the very best out of your camera, your techniques, and the people in front of you. And that's how it came about. I mean, little did I know 10 years ago we'd be sitting here where we are with Mastering Portrait Photography as a brand in and of itself.This is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast

Yes,

because the book sold so well.

Sarah: And did you expect it to do as well as it

Paul : Oh, I'm a typical photographer, so, no, of course I didn't, you know, I kind of shrugged and thought it'd be all right. Um, and, and in some ways, because you have to boil it down into, I think there's a 176 pictures or there, there were in the first book or somewhere around there, a couple of hundred pages.

There's this sense that there's no way you can describe everything you do in that short amount of space. And so instead of, and I think this is true of all creatives, instead of looking what we achieve. We look at the things we haven't done. And I talk about this on the podcast regularly, the insecurity, you know, how to, how to think like a scientist.

That's something that will come up later when we talk about the new version of the book. But no, I, I thought it would be reasonably well accepted. I thought it was a beautiful book. I thought Sarah's words were brilliant. I thought she'd captured the, the processes that I was talking about in a way that clarified them because I'm not known for my clarity of thought.

You know, you know, I am who I am, I'm a creative, um, and actually what happened was the minute it was launched, the feedback we got has been amazing. And of course then it's gone on to be translated into Italian. A couple of different Italian versions for National Geographic. It's been translated into Korean, it's been translated into German, it's been translated into Chinese.

Um, and of course, technically it's been translated into American English. And, and one of the reviews that made me laugh, we've got amazing reviews on Amazon, but there is one that kind of made me laugh, but also upset me slightly, is that both Sarah and myself are British authors. Using English uk, UK English, but for the international market right from the get go the book was using American spellings,

Sarah: right?

Paul : We didn't know that was what was gonna happen. We provided everything in UK English and of course it went out in with American English as its base language. Its originating language. Um, and that's one of the biggest criticisms we

Sarah: got.

Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V4 (new AI): And when that's the criticism you're getting that people are a bit fed up that it's in American English and apologies to my US friends, of which I have many.

Um, it was the only one that really. I don't like that. So I thought, well, it must be all right. And so for 10 years it's been selling really well. book. I never knew it'd be in different languages. Um, it was in the original contract that if the publisher wanted to do that, they could.

And really, I only found out it was an Italian when I started getting messages in Italian from people who'd bought the book in Italy. And then of course, we found out. So it's been a remarkable journey and. I don't think I've been as proud of something we've done as I have of the book. I mean, me and you spent hours pouring over pictures and talking about stories.

Sarah had to then listen to me.

Sarah: Yes.

Paul: Mono, sort of giving these sort of diatribes on techniques and things we do. Um, you know, and I think, I think it's a remark. I, well, I still think it's a remarkable achievement. I'm really proud of it.

Sarah: Yes. Did, did you think the second edition would, would happen or, um, or how did it come about?

Paul: No, not really. Because if you remember, we did a sort of interim update, which was just off the ISBN, so the same ISBN, same book number, but we'd been asked if there was anything that needed tweaking minor word changes, those kinds of things.

And I assumed not really being, you know, that time experienced with this stuff is that was. Was a second edition, it was basically a reprint. So I sort of assumed that was the end of it. And then, um, we were contacted the end of last year, um, to say that with the success of the book over the past decade, would we consider, uh, refreshing it properly refreshing it, a new updated edition because of course there's lots of things that change over time.

Um. And it's, it was worth having another look at it. So no, I didn't expect it, but it was an absolute joy when the email came in

It must have been. It's, it's one of those things that's so lovely when other people appreciate it and know that, um, it would be really good to have a, have another go at it and, uh, see what's changed.

Sarah: So it kind of brings me onto what, what have you changed in it? What's, what are the new, the new bits that are in the second edition? Or was it even that from the first edition? You, you knew that there were things you'd love to include?

Paul: Well, in a decade, so much changes. I. The equipment is the most obvious. You know, there's a chapter at the beginning on Kit, so you know, one of these dilemmas with books. I think again, we took advice from the publisher as to what do you include in a book? And the publisher were really keen and have stayed really keen that there's a chapter on the kit at the beginning.

Um, and apparently that just helps a very particular part of the market sell. So that's fair enough. No problem with that. It's quite fun talking about technology. I don't mind it. Um, but of course that technology's evolved, so we had to update all of that to reflect the fact that 10 years ago we were just beginning to talk about the advent of mirrorless cameras, but they were nowhere near the quality of a digital SLR, for instance.

Well, now mirrorless is the professional choice. Everything has gone mirrorless because it's got fewer moving parts. The sensors have increased in, um, sensitivity to focusing, you know, there's a million reasons why that's happened. So of course we've updated all of the technology. I think more importantly, certainly from my point of view is in those 10 intervening years, I've changed every picture.

Our clients, the techniques, the. Post-production, the thought processes, um, even down to the fact that with mirrorless cameras, you can actually shoot in a slightly different way. I mean, I'm a traditionalist in many ways. I grew up with a film camera. Yes. So, you know, metering either using a meter or very careful control.

Because your dynamic range is pretty limited. Um, maybe the fact that you would focus on a point and then wait for whatever it is that's moving through it, to move through it and take your, take your picture. Um, these were the kind of techniques, you know, lock your focus repose when I started, even even A-D-S-L-R, you know, I'll give you a really good example on how the technology has helped, though.

It's not actually part of this book, but it's a, it's a really good illustrative point. Um, technology isn't the be all and end all of photography. What goes on in your head is what matters, but the technology is the enabler. And I work with the hearing dogs every week. We photograph running dogs all the time and with the DSLRs I was using, it would just take four goes, maybe five goes to get that perfect moment where the dog is spot perfect in focus.

It's airborne, its paws are off the floor. Everything about it is absolutely right. Four or five goes, you know, because I'm shooting at maybe 10 frames a second. The focusing is more or less keeping up because of course, every time you take a picture, the mirror slaps up and the focusing then has to predict where the dog might have ended up.

It's not doing, it's not tracking it at that point, and then you move to mirrorless. Um, and the Z9 that I use now, the Nikon is an unbelievable piece of kit. It locks onto the dog. I can shoot at 20 frames a second. Um, and one of those shots is invariably the shot I'm looking for. And, and that sounds like I'm cheating in some ways, but when you are a professional photographer, your job is to do the very best for your client.

And so instead of spending an inordinate, inordinate amount, it's not easy for me to say a very long time. Um. You know, trying to get the right shot. Now I can do it very quickly and move on to another shot so we can provide a wider variety to our clients. And that's true with running children too. Yes. So the technology has changed and the techniques have changed with it.

Um, now you're seeing on the back of your camera or through the viewfinder exactly the image. Not a facsimile of it, not a mirror. Prism view of it, you're seeing precisely what you're gonna capture. Um, and that gives you a huge amount of confidence in the shot and a huge amount of control too. You can really fine tune exactly how you want the exposure to be.

For instance, you know, you don't have to worry about, is that right? Let's must check the histogram afterwards. You can check the histogram, live in the viewfinder and all these little bits, just make your job different. They, you connect with the shot in a different way. You connect with a client in a different way, and that's the tech side.

But I've also, you know, I, in 10 years, I'm 10 years older. You know, in some ways I'm 10 years faster. In other ways, I'm 10 years slower. You know, the cameras are quicker, my shots are quicker, my knees are slower. Um, and it's a different perspective on life. I also teach a lot. The podcast, the book itself, the first edition of the book, led us to the podcast and the website where we run workshops and everything else.

So all of this cumulative knowledge, when you look back at the old book, and while I'm still massively proud of it, the new edition was a wonderful opportunity to sit down and say, what would I like, how would I like to be represented this time?

Yes,

and it's a much more grown up approach, I think. I mean, I, I wasn't a kid back then, but this time around because the book was successful, instead of providing 10 pictures for every slot, I provided the picture I want, in that slot.

Right?

And so the book is much closer to how I would like it to be as a photographer. Every picture. Now, I could tell you a story about every single picture, every single client, and having the luxury of success on the first version gave me the luxury of being able to do more of what I wanted in this version.

This is much more reflective, I think. Of me personally. Yes. And so I've, I've loved it. It's absolutely, it's such a, a lovely process to go through.

Sarah: So how many pictures have been changed between the two versions?

Paul: All bar one.

Sarah: bar one. How intriguing. So will you tell us what the one is, or is that

Paul: can, you can go and find that out for yourself.

Yeah, so there's one single image that hasn't been changed. There's single image that hasn't been

but every other image has has changed from the first edition.

Uh, just a caveat to that, of course, some of the kit pictures, uh, 'cause they were generic, they've stayed the same. But every portrait,

Wow.

every single portrait except for one, has been changed.

Sarah: And how did you go about choosing those pictures? 'cause I can imagine, you know, if you're starting effectively with a blank canvas for where the images have gotta go, uh, how on earth did you do that

Paul: Um, slowly the publisher will tell you, uh. The thing to you have to remember though, is that this is an updated edition.

Yes.

And that was the contract. It was not a complete start again. So, although I had the opportunity to change every picture, every picture had to fit into an almost identical space because they weren't gonna redesign it.

Right. It's updated edition and we have to be clear about that. So part of the puzzle was not just, which pictures do I want to illustrate, which point.

It was, which pictures in the same shape previous do I want to illustrate? I mean, there's some wiggle room in there, but the designers did not want to do a full redesign. That was not what we were contracted for. Um, obviously the words were being updated too. And both Sarah and myself, um, I mean, since the first book I now write for magazines and online articles and things all the time, I write for all sorts of photography stuff.

Um, and so actually both Sarah and myself wrote words this time round. Um, but nonetheless, we couldn't change too much. We could bring it up to date, but there, there were still bits that, you know, if I was being truly honest, there are things that I think in the past 10 years have become less relevant. And things, it would've been nice to have put some different stuff in, but that again, this is an updated edition, um, not a complete from the ground up rewrite.

So actually I sat down and I looked at all of the, um, chapters and the words that we'd written in the first edition and thought about what we were trying to illustrate and went back to sort of basics really, and where I already had pictures in the portfolio. Um, we used pictures of great clients, interesting light, interesting locations, interesting techniques where there are certain things where, I'm not sure, the first time round, um, the illustrations of them were as good as I, as strong as I would've liked.

I shot them again here in the studio, so things like the lighting pattern. You know, I have, I've talked about them for 10 years, these lighting patterns. So it was a really nice chance to sit Katie, who works for us in the studio, uh, to sit Katie in front of the camera and say, right, this is what we're gonna do.

And I worked every lighting pattern and redrew every diagram to make that absolutely on point, which I think the first time round, while they are very, very good. They're not what I would've liked them to be this time round. So there was that side of it too. And then of course, and I'm sure you're gonna come onto it, there's a couple of, well, there's a new chapter in there which did give us a chance to explore something a little bit different.

Um, so yeah, it was just a long process of finding pictures that if I'm gonna put my name to it, are the ones that I would like. Yes. And it's not always the best picture. It's not always the competition winners. they're in there. They are in there. Of course they're in there. Um, but I think this time round, um, I really enjoyed reminiscing.

I think some of the pictures in there, they're all beautiful pictures, don't get me wrong. But some of the people I picked to be in them are people because actually that was a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life for all sorts of reasons. And I think the, the strongest example of that is our cover shot is Dory now.

The story of Dory. That sounds really weird. The story of Dory? photo. Dory. Story of photograph. Oh yeah, my

you met Dory? Or should we go with

I dunno if the story of Dory that's like, sounds like a children's book. That'd be a great chance to write a children's book. So Sarah and I were having dinner. Dory was working in the restaurant that, uh, we are having dinner in.

Um, I laughed to Sarah and said, I think, um, Dory would photograph beautifully. Sarah said, we'll, go and ask her. And I asked her and she said, no. She absolutely said no, categorically. And I said, okay. Then I wrote our email address, sorry, I wrote our web address. Uh, on the back of a, of a napkin and handed it to her.

I said, look, you know, if you're not interested, that's fine, but have a look at my work. Um, and this was after the first edition of mastering portrait photography, and my idea was for Dorie to come to the studio and we'd film some stuff where we photographed her and use it for information, stuff for people who read the book and maybe create some YouTube videos and things.

Um, anyway, at four o'clock in the morning, got an email back from Dory saying, actually, I've just looked at your work. Yes, please. And Dory has gone on to be someone we've worked with fairly regularly. Um, mostly, um, because she's just the nicest person in the world, but also she's supremely photogenic and you bring those two things together and they're the kind of people I love to work with.

I love to celebrate. Photography with, so her picture, one of those pictures I shot in that session is the cover shot in the book and she features later on as well. 'cause she's come back with her husband and her kids and it's just a delight. And then there, you know, there are people from all over the world.

Um, and so there's a lot of memories in there for both me and for you I

Yes,

Um, and it was, uh, just a pleasure to go through it. Oh, and the other thing is every single shot is shot since we published the first edition. So I did limit us to the past 10

everything is limited to what, what you've captured in the last 10 years?

Yeah. Yes. Because

figured that, um, if you're gonna do an updated edition, then, although there were pictures in the first version of the book, I would've loved to have had in there that never made it. Why don't we start from that point and move forwards?

Other than the one

Other than

other than the one other than,

one

Sarah: so you've, you've talked a little bit about how you've changed and that's been reflected in the book. You've talked a little bit about how the technology has changed, but probably one of the biggest changes has been post-production, um, the introduction of, of ai. So is that reflected in the book,

Paul: Yeah, of course it is. Um, the post-production chapter, um, I mean, the thing with post-production is that's a volume of books in and of itself. Uh, we put it into the book Sarah and myself, because I think it was important to note that an image isn't generally finished in camera. It's finished when it's finished.

And this is true for film, by the way. This is not news, you know? Um, and it's for as long as film has been shot, transparency's and negatives. People have been doing a certain amount of post-production on them afterwards in their development tanks. Um, or whether they're doing hand toning or something is', this isn't new for me.

I think you're about halfway there. Now, the second half might be a very short half, but it's almost certainly gonna evolve, at the very least, um, brightening controlling your tones and cropping. Okay. Maybe a bit of sharpening if that's your thing. So we put that chapter in just to make the point that there is a finishing stage.

That was 10 years ago. In those 10 years, everything has changed. Yes.

Yes.

You know, even if I just kept it to the Photoshopping that we had in the first edition, all of that is different. I. And of course AI has now arrived. Um, I mean, it's a precocious child of a technology at the moment, but it's growing up really very fast and it's gonna affect us in every single element of us as creatives of, of us as business owners.

There's, there's no part of our work. Even. Even the people that say I don't believe in AI are using cameras that have AI in them. You know, there's no way of escaping it. It's here with us and you can fight it if you want. And there are bits of it that I'm not that comfortable with. Certainly some of the training, the way they did it on images, without any acknowledgement of copywriting things, it's problematic.

But in the end, it's here, it's now, and if you don't embrace it, the people who are in your market as a professional competing with you. Are embracing it so there's no getting around it. So yeah, there's a part of our post-production now talks about specifically EVOTO.AI, which is the app that we use.

There's others as well re Bloom and a few others that do a very similar thing. Um, and we've put it in there. Again, not as this is what AI does, but for make, to make people aware that AI is now part of the puzzle. Use it, don't use it. And that's completely your choice. The same as it is with Photoshop. But it's a good place to just remind people.

That this is the direction of travel for a good chunk of the industry. So yeah, we've changed that quite a lot.

Sarah: And a section at the end. Is it

Paul: my favorite section? Yes. this

Sarah: a, this was a request from you to add this in.

Paul: Yes, yes.

Um, there's a, one of the things with doing this as a job, and it's not just a risk, it really does happen, is you find yourself.

Sort of burnt out isn't the right word for it, really, or the right phrase for it. But you find yourself same old, same old, same old. You get good at stuff, you get known for stuff. People ask you to do that stuff. You do more of it. You, you're still good at it, but eventually you start to find yourself just a little bit flat.

Um, and it happens all the time. And so I put a chapter and I asked the publishers if we could wiggle some stuff around and make some space to put one specific chapter in. It's not a long chapter, but to me it might be the most important chapter in there. It's about staying creative. It's just little techniques, little ideas for staying on top of your game, thinking of new things, being a creative.

And, and being a creative is something you have to work at. You can't just, you don't just invent ideas. You have to be open to seeing things and thinking things and trying things, experimenting, working with different people, having mentoring. These are all the facets that I wanted to just in a very short chapter, 'cause we could only squeeze in a couple of pages.

But it's the chapter that I think I am the most proud of

Sarah: Yes. And knowing you as well as I do, you know, it's part of my challenge in the business is making sure that you keep motivated and keep being creative. So I, I know how important it's, and how we have to put shoots in the diary and, and do things that are just for you, for no other reason. Just than just to let you play. So I, I can see how important that is.

Paul: Yeah. I'm, I'm aware of just how much cotton wool you wrap me in and I can feel it building as well. I always know when I'm not firing on all cylinders, because you start to sort of wrap cotton wool around me and start to think about putting it in other things that we need to do, or just a break to get away for a week.

You know, there's those things. It's really hard. It's hard being a creative, as in it's hard to be a creative a hundred percent of the time, and b, creative a hundred percent of the time. The, the, you know, being called a creative is one thing, but actually being creative is a process of invention and experimenting and doing things that you haven't done before.

That's the point of being creative. Um, and so, yeah, I'm always aware when I'm clearly starting to feel a bit frazzled because I can feel you starting to. Talk about doing other things.

Sarah: So what I didn't realize is what you said earlier, that the, all the images have all been taken since the last book. Um, and they're from clients we've had all around the world as well.

So I wondered if it would be. Nice to pull out a couple of our favorite images. Um, I sort of going on from your comments about staying creative. One that jumps out to me is when, um, Vivian and Dody came to the studio and, you know, this was a, a lady who came in with her West Highland tert. So Westy Westy, it's a

white west. Highland, ter.

And, um, we did some beautiful shots indoors, outdoors, um, having lots of fun. And then you built this, uh, amazing scene, um, which is including in the, included in the posing chapter. Do you wanna just explain and tell me a little bit about that one? Yeah. Um.

Paul: Um, you know, Dodie, sorry.

Vivian had emailed Dodie didn't email, obviously Doty's

Do's dog,

Vivian Vivian emailed to say she wanted a shoot with her dog. And I kind of, I say I distinctly remember the email. I remember what she said in the email, which is that she couldn't find another photographer who photographed the owner with their dog.

Now, I dunno how hard Vivian looked. I'm not, I'm sure there's a lot of photographers listening to this that photograph dogs with their owners and I judge a lot now as a, as a judge and as a coach. So I know it to. Out there. But anyway, she landed on us and I'm thrilled that she did Vivian and, uh, Dodie turned at the studio.

And Vivian is just beautiful. She's elegant. She has a real sort of gentle way about her, uh, and this beautiful little West Highland ter, which was for the first 10 minutes, I have to be honest in now. Backstory, my Nan had repeatedly West Highland Terriers. My Nan repeatedly did not train her. Westie, my Nan's dogs repeatedly bit us all of us as kids, as teenagers, as adults.

Even my dad would like shut the door and run because this dog would go for him. And so when she turned up with this little Westie, I must admit I backed away. However, Dodi, just like Vivian, was gentle and calm and just followed her around and, and he would sit. In the studio just looking at her while we worked, if it was shots for her on her own.

And then when she scooped him up or we tried to do something with him, he was so patient and so well behaved. So I've got this incredible client who wants to do these shots, and at the end of the shoot sometimes the greatest privilege you get is to say to someone, how long have you got? And if they've got a little bit more time.

What you can do is say, would you mind just trying a few bits with us? So we cleaned the studio out. It's a white, the, the dog was a white dog. Vivian had a light colored outfit and this kind of fair, and she was just, it. It struck me that we could do something interesting with the white walls of the studio, the white floor of the studio, the white posing blocks that I've had probably for 20 years here.

And so I did a couple of things and we, we shot some different combinations and then in the post-production STA stage, I built a model of our studio in 3D in blender, it with blocks exactly the same. And then I can create almost any scene I wanted around this shot that's right in the middle of Dodi looking up at Vivian.

Um, and it was one of those shoots that, I mean, every shoot in here, there's a story similar to this where I could tell you it's a shoot I'll remember forever. Um, and it was, and it was just a, a real luxury and, and just, you know, I dunno if Vivian listens to the podcast, but hello. Um, and Vivian's also very kindly sourced books from China for us.

Yeah.

yes. It's

hard to get hold of some of these things when you are not in country. So we're still in touch with her very much. He's a lovely client.

Another one that, um, oh, actually there's quite a few in the book from where we work as master photographers with Crystal cruises and so, um.

Sarah: We've got this lovely line where we talk about the book, where is it From Venice to Vietnam and Haddenham to Hawaii. Yeah. But, uh, one of my favorite shoots that's included is Christine, when we were in Brena Aires, and actually this is from this year when we were in South America and there's quite a few people that we borrowed on the ship to get some pictures. And also what a lovely opportunity.

I think it's in locations. Um. Where there is it and where was it? It was in Le Bocca. Wasn't Itca Le Bocca with Christine? Do you

Well, a little bit about that one? What's

Paul: It has been a, a real luxury for us in the intervening 10 years. So a lot happened in 20 14, 20 15. And one of the things that happened around the time of the book was they were asked to work with Crystal Cruises, a company that provided the photography to them.

Interviewed myself and Sarah. Sorry, us too.

It's

weird talking, made a third person and giving it right here. Um, interviewed us as a team and ever since then we've been traveling the world with them grading high-end portraits for these beautiful international clients. Um, and this time round the deadline.

Not the instigation, but the deadline for the book came up while we were working for about seven weeks around South America on the cruise. So I already had earmarked images from previous cruises, previous visits to different places. But when I was on the ship, there were a couple of people, um, that really leapt out just.

Ship. And one of the great luxuries when you have something like a book or you like you've become well known as a photographer, is you can say to people, would you mind stepping in to allow us to take some photographs? So there's a couple of people from the crew where you have to get permission to work with the crew.

Um, there's, um. Uh, Barbara is one of the team on there. Uh, say Hi is one of the people on there, um, who were crew members that we just loved the way they were with us. They made our lives wonderful. And so we photographed them specifically to put them in the book. Um, and then there's a client of ours, which is the one you've alluded to, which is Christine Now.

We met Christine at the end of another shoot, and this is. Um, I mean, remember this is still the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast, and so it's always worth remembering some of the things that you can do as photographers. This is not just an interview about me in a book, but here's some ideas for you that work.

So on the ship, we had just done a shoot, an amazing shoot, and a lady who was in that shoot was showing her images round the bar to all of her friends on our iPad. Now we were drinking, we were sat and we were sat next to this lovely lady who was very quiet and we'd said hello and had a quick chitchat, but not majorly a long conversation.

When our client handed us back the iPad, Christine, who was the lady who was sitting with us, said, do you mind if I have a look? And I said, yeah, of course. It'd be my pleasure. You know? So she had a look and she said, would you be willing to do that for me? And I said, well, of course we would, you know, this is what we're here for.

Um, and so we arranged to do a couple of different bits. A couple of it is actually two different shoots, but we did a site visit to Le Baca, this area in Buenos Aires. Is that right? Yes. Bueno Aires. Was it? No. Yes. Yes, it was. Bueno

Argentina. Yeah. Thank you. Are

confused. So we, we did a couple of visits to this place in, uh, bueno Aires Laca to go and check it out for different locations.

Uh, myself and you and Keith, who's our client, strictly speaking, who runs the, the photo. Um, company found all these locations and went the following day with Christine to go and explore this really beautiful, touristy area of leer. It's very characterful, it's very hot. Um, very intense actually. There's a lot going on and you do have to have your head on a swivel.

Yes.

it's quite notorious for pickpockets and thefts and so you do have to be careful. So, Sarah, I mean you, sorry, this is really weird. So

I'm

used those to talking on my own. So you and me, we were working as a team with Keith. Christine was not. Christine was stealing sausages from barbecue places and running them down alleyways that probably she shouldn't have been.

Christine

everywhere, but really where we wanted her to be, which was safe and in our site. Um, and if you remember, we kind of, um, we went round a corner. In fact, we were just heading back to the car. We, so Christina had arranged the driver and we'd gone round the corner, haven't we? And we were in this little street.

And I just, I looked over the top of the cars to the street shops, the shop fronts on the other side of the road and thought that would make a great picture because the color of Christine's dress, the color of these shops, the whole scene would just be something interesting. But I'm shooting across the road through cars.

Um, we've got Keith on the other side of the road with her. You are on the side of the road with me. Both of us trying to keep eyes everywhere 'cause we've now stepped out of the touristy bit. We are now in an area where, strictly speaking, you shouldn't be hanging around with a 10,000 pound camera.

Yes.

Um, so I dragged the shutter.

I got, I got everything else. I wanted it and dragged the shutter in a gap between the cars as somebody walked past. And I have this shot of Christine killing herself, laughing, looking at the camera. Um. With somebody walking past and it has this real vibe of a street shot, a candid shot. It's not, it's been staged, but it's one of my favorite shots in the book because it's, to me, every time I look at it, and this is true of your clients too, and when you're listening, the photographers are listening to this.

Remember this every picture, if you've created an experience around it, that picture. We'll hold memories for that client of yours. And it's true for me too. This experience was amazing. We're still in touch with Christine. She's desperate for us to go out and visit her in Texas. Um, but it was such a privilege, such a pleasure.

So much laughter and that every time I open that page in the book, that's what it takes me

it. I

I'm with

I love the colors, I love everything about it. And it's nice that it's such a lovely story too.

crazy story.

Sarah: So who do you think the book is for? Who do you think we'd pick it up and find useful?

Paul: Well, I'm hoping another 50,000 people will be. I've, I don't, I don't have total control over that. Um. It's really this, I think there's something for almost any portrait interested photographer in there. Um, if you are already a pro, you're probably not gonna pay a lot of attention to the kit chapter at the beginning. That won't be your shtick. Um, but there will be stuff on posing and interactions and some of the post-production might be of interest.

Um, if you are ready. You know, a supremely experienced photographer, you might like it simply 'cause the pictures are really beautiful. I still buy photo books because I will pick them up, look at the pictures and think, do you know what? I'm gonna use that idea. I'm gonna meld that into something else I'm doing because I like, I love seeing.

Great photographs. If you are truly a beginner, there's enough in there to get you going. And some of the techniques are a little bit further out there, but mostly it builds on this idea that you have a camera, you have a client, you have your subject, and you're gonna create an experience. And then from that experience, great pictures.

So I think it's broader than possibly the mastering portrait photography title gives it. Um, but it covers a little bit of all bases. And it certainly has enough in there to say, actually there's, there's stuff in there that if you do this, it really is quite, um, sophisticated.

Yes. Do you, we don't know at this stage in terms of whether it'll be translated into other languages that that usually comes a year after, doesn't it? After the, you

last time, say. It was only when I started getting emails in Italian.

Yes. Um,

that I noticed what happened. And we didn't know if you remember that it was in Chinese and Korean

no.

we started to put the marketing together for this book.

Yes. And we asked the publisher AB, in absolute terms, how many copies have you sold?

Yes. And they

back with different language versions that we never knew about. Yeah. So, you know. Been

been a, a journey of discovery,

a journey.

a journey.

Yes. So, yeah, who

knows? I, I really hope they do, uh, create some, uh, different language versions of it.

'cause there's nothing quite like seeing your work in Italian,

Yes. So, And, and Chinese, I think that's the one I find the, the most intriguing.

Sarah: So the book is officially launched next Tuesday, I believe.

Is the 28th. The 28th. Um, so what, what's on the horizon next is what, what are you gonna be doing with the book and

knows? Um, I mean, obviously the first thing we've gotta do is get through the launch of the book.

Yes.

Um, which is exciting. And obviously us two have been walking the studio trying to figure out how to tidy the whole place up. 'cause we haven't done a full on party probably since the last book. No. Or thereabouts.

So we've we're inviting. Everybody who's featured in the book Yeah. Um, to a, a launch at the weekend. Yeah. Um, and we are refreshing all of the pictures in the studio, uh, to reflect the pictures that are in the book as well. And it's just, it'll be such a lovely thing to do and it's, I can't wait to see everything when it's up.

Yeah. So that's, but next week's gonna be a bit fraught

It's 'cause in the middle of all that, I think I've got five shoots to work my way through.

Right. I don't sleep much. I

a challenge.

Yeah. I'm not, I'm

I'm not being super,

thankfully. Um, so there's that. And then, you know, once that gets rolling, of course I go back to our regular job. I'm judging for the British Institute. Professional photographers print competition straight after. So we've got.

A big bash on the Saturday night. Yeah. Uh, for all of our, all the people in the book on the Sunday, we're inviting anybody's around to come and a studio

open day, studio

open day in the afternoon. And then at some point in that afternoon, I have to go all the way up to Preston Salubrious, uh, Preston, to go and begin the process of judging the print competition for the 2025 print masters.

So a lot going on.

And you're gonna be busy signing books as well.

yeah,

It's been a

while since I've had to sit and do a big a book signing, but there's a load of that going on. Yeah. Uh, it's just lovely.

exciting. It really is. Well, I think that just about brings us to the end of everything. So I've enjoyed being on the other side of everything.

Sarah: So I'd just like to say, Paul, thank you ever so much for letting me do that and sitting on the other side of the mic today, um. We have got a limited number of copies here at the studio that Paul can sign, but they will be available at all. Good bookshops, um, with water zones. I think there's some competitions going where they will be with Graphistudio and with.

Um. A professional photo. Yeah.

Yep.

So there's, there's lots of ways for you to get your hands on it and uh, we'd love to know what you think of it and um, especially if you've got the first version and seeing the second version, we'd love some feedback 'cause we are so proud of it. And especially with the pictures in there, and if you can tell us what's that, what's the picture in there that, that haven't been changed? That will be even better.

There's no prize.

So, no, thank you. Thank you very much. Well,

it's a pleasure. And you know what you've gotta say now, don't you? What's

that? If you've enjoyed this podcast, is it? No.

If you've enjoyed this podcast, please head over to mastering portrait photography.com, which is full of articles.

And as it happens, I'm doing all of the behind the scenes diagrams and stories for the images that are in this book. It'll probably take me 10 years to get there, but there's a couple of hundred of those. Uh, and of course, whatever else you do.

be kind to yourself.

Take care guys.

Links:

• Elinchrom UK store/info: https://elinchrom.co.uk/

• LED 100 C product page: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-led-100-c

• Rotalux Deep Octa / strips: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-rotalux-deep-octabox-100cm-softbox/

• My workshop dates: https://masteringportraitphotography.com/workshops-and-mentoring/

Transcript:

Paul: as quite a lot of, you know, I've had a love affair with Elinchrom Lighting for the past 20 something years. In fact, I'm sitting with one of the original secondhand lights I bought from the Flash Center 21 years ago in London.

And on top of that, you couldn't ask for a nicer set of guys in the UK to deal with. So I'm sitting here about to talk to Simon and Mark from Elinchrom uk.

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

Paul: So before we get any further, tell me a little bit about who you are, each of you and the team from Elinchrom UK

Mark: After you, Simon.

Simon: Thank you very much, mark.

Mark: That's fine.

Simon: I'm, Simon Burfoot. I have, been in the industry now for longer than I care to think.

35 years almost to the, to the day.

Always been in the industry even before I left school because my father was a photographer and a lighting tutor, working for various manufacturers I was always into photography, and when he started the whole lighting journey. I got on it with him, and was learning from a very young age.

Did my first wedding at 16 years old. Had a Saturday job which turned into a full-time job in a retail camera shop. By the time I was 18, I was managing my own camera shop, in a little town in the Cotswolds called Cirencester. My dad always told me that to be a photographic rep in the industry, you needed to see it from all angles, to get the experience.

So I ended up, working in retail, moving over to a framing company. Finishing off in a prolab, hand printing, wedding photographers pictures, processing E6 and C41, hand correcting big prints for framing for, for customers, which was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. And then ended up working for a company called Leeds Photo Visual, I was a Southwest sales guy for them.

Then I moved to KJP before it became, what we know now as Wex, and got all of the customers back that I'd stolen for them for Leeds. And then really sort of started my career progressing through, and then started to work with Elinchrom, on the lighting side. Used Elinchrom way before I started working with them.

I like you a bit of a love affair. I'd used lots of different lights and, just loved the quality of the light that the Elinchrom system produced. And that's down to a number of factors that I could bore you with, but it's the quality of the gear, the consistency in terms of color, and exposure.

Shooting film was very important to have that consistency because we didn't have Photoshop to help us out afterwards. It was a learning journey, but I, I hit my goal after being a wedding photographer and a portrait photographer in my spare time, working towards getting out on the road, meeting people and being involved in the industry, which I love.

And I think it's something that I'm scared of leaving 'cause I dunno anything else. It's a wonderful industry. It has its quirks, its, downfalls at points, but actually it's a really good group of people and everyone kind of, gets on and we all love working with each other.

So we're friends rather than colleagues.

Paul: I hesitate to ask, given the length of that answer, to cut

Simon: You did ask.

Mark: I know.

Paul: a short story

Mark: was wondering if I was gonna get a go.

Paul: I was waiting to get to end into the podcast and I was about to sign off.

Mark: So, hi Mark Cheatham, sales director for Elinchrom uk this is where it gets a little bit scary because me and Simon have probably known each other for 10 years, yet our journeys in the industry are remarkably similar.

I went to college, did photography, left college, went to work at commercial photographers and hand printers. I was a hand printer, mainly black and white, anything from six by four to eight foot by four foot panels, which are horrible when you're deving in a dish. But we did it.

Paul: To the generation now, deving in a dish doesn't mean anything.

Simon: No, it doesn't.

Mark: And, and when you're doing a eight foot by four foot print and you've got it, you're wearing most of the chemistry. You went home stinking every night. I was working in retail. As a Saturday lad and then got promoted from the Saturday lad to the manager and went to run a camera shop in a little town in the Lake District called Kendall.

I stayed there for nine years. I left there,

went on the road working for a brand called Olympus, where I did 10 years, I moved to Pentax, which became Rico Pentax. I did 10 years there. I've been in the industry all my life. Like Simon, I love the industry.

I did go out the industry for 18 months where I went into the wonderful world of high end commercial vr, selling to blue light military, that sort of thing. And then came back. One of the, original members of Elinchrom uk. I don't do as much photography as Simon I take photos every day, probably too many looking at my Apple storage. I do shoot and I like shooting now and again, but I'm not a constant shooter like you guys i'm not a professional shooter, but when you spent 30 odd years in the industry, and part of that, I basically run the, the medium format business for Pentax. So 645D, 645Z.

Yeah, it was a great time. I love the industry and, everything about it. So, yeah, that's it

Paul: Obviously both of you at some point put your heads together and decided Elinchrom UK was the future. What triggered that and

why do you think gimme your sales pitch for Elinchrom for a moment and then we can discuss the various merits.

Simon: The sales pitch for Elinchrom is fairly straightforward. It's a nice, affordable system that does exactly what most photographers would like. We sell a lot of our modifiers, so soft boxes and things like that to other users, of Prophoto, Broncolor. Anybody else? Because actually the quality of the light that comes out the front of our diffusion material and our specular surfaces on the soft boxes is, is a lot, lot more superior than, than most.

A lot more superior. A lot more

Mark: A lot more superior.

Paul: more superior.

Simon: I'm trying to

Paul: Superior.

Simon: It's superior. And I think Paul, you'll agree,

Paul: it's a lot more,

Simon: You've used different manufacturers over the years and, I think the quality of light speaks for itself.

As a photographer I want consistency. Beautiful light and the effects that the Elinchrom system gives me, I've tried other soft boxes. If you want a big contrasty, not so kind light, then use a cheaper soft box.

If I've got a big tattoo guy full of piercings you're gonna put some contrasty light to create some ambience. Maybe the system for that isn't good enough, but for your standard portrait photographer in a studio, I don't think you can beat the light.

Mark: I think the two key words for Elinchrom products are accuracy and consistency. And that's what, as a portrait photographer, you should be striving for, you don't want your equipment to lengthen your workflow or make your job harder in post-production.

If you're using Elinchrom lights with Elinchrom soft boxes or Elinchrom modifiers, you know that you're gonna get accuracy and consistency. Which generally makes your job easier.

Paul: I think there's a bit that neither of you, I don't think you've quite covered, and it's the bit of the puzzle that makes you want to use whatever is the tool of your trade.

I mean, I worked with musicians, I grew up around orchestras. Watching people who utterly adore the instrument that's in their hand. It makes 'em wanna play it. If you own the instrument that you love to play, whether it's a drum kit a trumpet a violin or a piano, you will play it and get the very best out of your talent with it.

It's just a joy to pick it up and use it for all the little tiny things I think it's the bit you've missed in your descriptions of it is the utter passion that people that use it have for it.

Mark: I think one of the things I learned from my time in retail, which was obviously going back, a long way, even before digital cameras One of the things I learned from retail, I was in retail long before digital cameras, retail was a busier time.

People would come and genuinely ask for advice. So yes, someone would come in and what's the best camera for this? Or what's the best camera for that? Honestly there is still no answer to that. All the kit was good then all the kit is good now. You might get four or five different SLRs out.

And the one they'd pick at the end was the one that they felt most comfortable with and had the best connection with. When you are using something every day, every other day, however it might be, it becomes part of you. I'm a F1 fan, if you love the world of F1, you know that an F1 car, the driver doesn't sit in an F1 car, they become part of the F1 car.

When you are using the same equipment day in, day out, you don't have to think about what button to press, what dial to to turn.

You do it.

And that, I think that's the difference between using something you genuinely love and get on with and using something because that's what you've got. And maybe that's a difference you genuinely love and get on with Elinchrom lights. So yes, they're given amazing output and I know there's, little things that you'd love to see improved on them, but that's not the light output.

Paul: But the thing is, I mean, I've never, I've never heard the F1 analogy, but it's not a bad one.

When you talk about these drivers and their cars and you are right, they're sort of symbiotic, so let's talk a little bit about why we use flash. So from the photographers listening who are just setting out, and that's an awful lot of our audience. I think broadly speaking, there are two roads or three roads, if you include available light if you're a portrait photographer.

So there's available light. There's continuous light, and then there's strobes flash or whatever you wanna call it. Of course, there's, hybrid modeling and all sorts of things, but those are broadly the three ways that you're gonna light your scene or your subject. Why flash? What is it about that instantaneous pulse of light from a xenon tube that so appealing to photographers?

Simon: I think there's a few reasons. The available light is lovely if you can control it, and by that I mean knowing how to use your camera, and control the ambient light. My experience of using available light, if you do it wrong, it can be quite flat and uninteresting.

If you've got a bright, hot, sunny day, it can be harder to control than if it's a nice overcast day. But then the overcast day will provide you with some nice soft, flat lighting. Continuous light is obviously got its uses and there's a lot of people out there using it because what they see is what they get.

The way I look at continuous light is you are adding to the ambient light, adding more daylight to the daylight you've already got, which isn't a problem, but you need to control that light onto the subject to make the subject look more interesting. So a no shadow, a chin shadow to show that that subject is three dimensional.

There are very big limitations with LED because generally it's very unshapable. By that I mean the light is a very linear light. Light travels in straight lines anyway, but with a flash, we can shape the light, and that's why there's different shapes and sizes of modifiers, but it's very difficult to shape correctly -an LED array, the flash for me, gives me creativity. So with my flash, I get a sharper image to start with. I can put the shadows and the light exactly where I want and use the edge of a massive soft box, rather than the center if I'm using a flash gun or a constant light. It allows me to choose how much or how little contrast I put through that light, to create different dynamics in the image.

It allows me to be more creative. I can kill the ambient light with flash rather than adding to it. I can change how much ambient I bring into my flash exposure.

I've got a lot more control, and I'm not talking about TTL, I'm talking about full manual control of using the modifier, the flash, and me telling the camera what I want it to do, rather than the camera telling me what it thinks is right.

Which generally 99% of the time is wrong. It's given me a beautiful, average exposure, but if I wanted to kill the sun behind the subject, well it's not gonna do that. It's gonna give me an average of everything. Whereas Flash will just give me that extra opportunity to be a lot more creative and have a lot more control over my picture.

I've got quite a big saying in my workshops. I think a decent flash image is an image where it looks like flash wasn't used. As a flash photographer, Paul, I expect you probably agree with me, anyone can take a flash image. The control of light is important because anybody can light an image, but to light the subject within the image and control the environmental constraints, is the key to it and the most technical part of it.

Mark: You've got to take your camera off P for professional to do that. You've got to turn it off p for professional and get it in manual mode. And that gives you the control

Paul: Well, you say that,

We have to at some point. Address the fact that AI is not just coming, it's sitting here in

our studios all the time, and we are only a heartbeat away from P for professional, meaning AI analyzed and creating magic.

I don't doubt for a minute. I mean, right now you're right, but not

Mark: Well, at some point it will be integrated into the camera

Paul: Of course it will.

Mark: If you use an iPhone or any other phone, you know, we are using AI as phone photographers, your snapshots. You take your kids, your dogs, whatever they are highly modified images.

Paul: Yeah. But in a lot of the modern cameras, there's AI behind the scenes, for instance, on the focusing

Mark: Yeah.

Paul: While we've, we are on that, we were on that thread.

Let's put us back on that thread for a second. What's coming down the line

with, all lighting and camera craft with ai. What are you guys seeing that maybe we're not

Simon: in terms of flash technology or light technology?

Paul: Alright. I mean, so I mean there's, I guess there's two angles, isn't there?

What are the lights gonna do that use ai? What are the controllers gonna do, that uses ai, but more importantly, how will it hold its own in a world where I can hit a button and say, I want rebrand lighting on that face. I can do that today.

Mark: Yeah.

Simon: I'm not sure the lighting industry is anywhere near producing anything that is gonna give what a piece of software can give, because there's a lot more factors involved. There's what size light it is, what position that light is in, how high that light is, how low that light is.

And I think the software we've all heard and played with Evoto we were talking about earlier, I was very skeptical and dubious about it to start with as everybody would be. I'm a Photoshop Lightroom user, have been for, many years. And I did some editing, in EEvoto with my five free credits to start with, three edits in, I bought some credits because I thought, actually this is very, very good.

I'll never use it for lighting i'd like to think I can get that right myself. However, if somebody gives you a, a very flat image of a family outside and say, well, could you make this better for me? Well, guess what? I can do whatever you like to it. Is it gonna attack the photographer that's trying to earn a living?

I think there's always a need for people to take real photographs and family photographs. I think as photographers, we need to embrace it as an aid to speed up our workflow. I don't think it will fully take over the art of photography because it's a different thing.

It's not your work. It's a computer generated AI piece of work in my head. Therefore, who's responsible for that image? Who owns the copyright to that image? We deal with photographers all the time who literally point a camera, take a picture and spend three hours editing it and tell everyone that,

look at this. The software's really good and it's made you look good. I think AI is capable of doing that to an extent. In five years time, we'll look back at Evoto today and what it's producing and we'll think cracky. That was awful. It's like when you watch a high definition movie from the late 1990s, you look at it and it was amazing at the time, but you look at it now and you think, crikey, look at the quality of it.

I dunno if we're that far ahead where we won't get to that point. The quality is there. I mean, how much better can you go than 4K, eight K minus, all that kind of stuff. I'm unsure, but I don't think the AI side of it. Is applicable to flash at this moment in time? I don't know.

Mark: I think you're right.

To look at the whole, photography in general. If you are a social photographer, family photographer, whatever it might be, you are genuinely capturing that moment in time that can't be replaced.

If you are a product photographer, that's a different matter. I think there's more of a threat.

I think I might be right in saying.

I was looking, I think I saw it on, LinkedIn. There is a fashion brand in the UK at the moment that their entire catalog of clothing has been shot without models.

When you look at it on the website, there's models in it. They shoot the clothing on mannequins and then everything else is AI generated they've been developing their own AI platform now for a number of years. Does the person care Who's buying a dress for 30 quid?

Probably not, but if you are photographing somebody's wedding, graduation, some, you know, a genuine moment in someone's life, I think it'd be really wrong to use any sort of AI other than a little bit of post-production, which we know is now quite standard for many people in the industry.

Paul: Yeah, the curiosity for me is I suspect as an industry,

Guess just released a full AI model advert in, Vogue. Declared as AI generated an ai agency created it. Everything about it is ai. There's no real photography involved except in the learning side of it.

And that's a logical extension of the fact we've been Photoshopping to such a degree that the end product no longer related to the input. And we've been doing that 25 years. I started on Photoshop version one, whatever that was, 30 years More than 33.

So we've kind of worked our way into a corner where the only way out of it is to continue.

There's no backtracking now.

Mark: Yeah.

Paul: I think the damage to the industry though, or the worry for the industry, I think you're both right. I think if you can feel it, touch it, be there, there will always be that importance. In fact, the provenance of authenticity. Is the high value ticket item now,

Simon: Mm-hmm.

Paul: because you, everything else is synthetic, you can trust nothing. We are literally probably months away from 90% of social media being generated by ai. AI is both the consumer and the generator of almost everything online

Mark: Absolutely.

Paul: Goodness knows where we go. You certainly can't trust anything you read. You can't trust anything you see, so authenticity, face-to-face will become, I think a high value item.

Yeah.

Mark: Yeah.

Paul: I think one problem for us as an industry in terms of what the damage might be is that all those people that photograph nameless products or create books, you know, use photography and then compositing for, let's say a novel that's gone, stock libraries that's gone because they're faceless.

Simon: Mm-hmm.

Paul: there doesn't have to be authentic. A designer can type in half a dozen keywords. Into an AI engine and get what he needs. If he doesn't get what he needs, he does it again. All of those photographers who currently own Kit are gonna look around with what do we do now?

And so for those of us who specialize in weddings and portraits and family events, our market stands every chance of being diluted, which has the knock on effect of all of us having to keep an eye on AI to stay ahead of all competitors, which has the next knock on effect, that we're all gonna lean into ai, which begs the question, what happens after Because that's what happened in the Photoshop world.

You know, I'm kind of, I mean, genuinely cur, and this will be a running theme on the podcast forever, is kind of prodding it and taking barometer readings as to where are we going?

Mark: Yeah. I mean, who's more at threat at the moment from this technology?

Is it the photographer or is it the retouch? You know, we do forget that there are retouchers That is their, they're not photographers.

Paul: I don't forget. They email me 3, 4, 5 times a day.

Mark: a

Simon: day,

Mark: You know, a highly skilled retouch isn't cheap. They've honed their craft for many years using whatever software product they prefer to use.

I think they're the ones at risk now more so than the photographer. And I think we sort of lose sight of that. Looking at it from a photographer's point of view, there is a whole industry behind photography that actually is being affected more so than you guys at the moment.

Simon: Mm-hmm.

Paul: Yeah, I think there's truth in that, but. It's not really important. Of course, it's really important to all of those people, but this is the digital revolution that we went through as film photographers, and probably what the Daguerreotype generators went through when Fox Tolbert invented the first transfer.

Negative. You know, they are, there are always these epochs in our industry and it wipes out entire skillset.

You know, I mean, when we went to digital before then, like you, I could dev in a tank.

Yeah. You know, and really liked it. I like I see, I suspect I just like the solitude,

Mark: the dark,

Paul: red light in the dark

Mark: yeah.

Paul: Nobody will come in.

Not now. Go away. Yeah. All that kind of stuff. But of course those skills have gone, has as, have access to the equipment.

I think we're there again, this feels like to me a huge transition in the industry and for those who want to keep up, AI is the keeping up whether you like it or not.

Mark: Yeah. And if you don't like it, we've seen it, we're in the middle of a massive resurgence in film photography,

which is great for the industry, great for the retail industry, great for the film manufacturers, chemical manufacturers, everything.

You know, simon, myself, you, you, we, we, our earliest photography, whether we were shooting with flash, natural light, we were film shooters and that planes back.

And what digital did, from a camera point of view, is make it easier and more accessible for less skilled people.

But it's true. You know, if you shot with a digital camera now that's got a dynamic range of 15 stops, you actually don't even need to have your exposure, that accurate Go and shoot with a slide film that's got dynamic range of less than one stop and see how good you are.

It has made it easier. The technology, it will always make it. Easier, but it opens up new doors, it opens up new avenues to skilled people as well as unskilled people. If you want, I'm using the word unskilled again, I'm not being, a blanket phrase, but it's true. You can pick up a digital camera now and get results that same person shooting with a slide film 20 years ago would not get add software to that post-production, everything else.

It's an industry that we've seen so many changes in over the 30 odd years that we've been in it,

Simon: been

Mark: continue

Simon: at times. It exciting

Mark: The dawn of digital photography to the masses. was amazing.

I was working for Olympus at the time when digital really took off and for Olympus it was amazing. They made some amazing products. We did quite well out of it and people started enjoying photography that maybe hadn't enjoyed photography before.

You know, people might laugh at, you know, you, you, you're at a wedding, you're shooting a really nice wedding pool and there's always a couple of guests there which have got equipment as good as yours. Better, better than yours. Yeah. Got

Simon: jobs and they can afford it.

Mark: They've got proper jobs. Their pitches aren't going to be as good as yours.

They're the ones laughing at everyone shooting on their phone because they've spent six grand on their new. Camera. But if shooting on a phone gets people into photography and then next year they buy a camera and two years later they upgrade their camera and it gets them into the hobby of photography?

That's great for everyone. Hobbyists are as essential, as professional photographers to the industry. In fact, to keep the manufacturers going, probably more so

Simon: the hobbyists are a massive part. Even if they go out and spend six or seven or 8,000 pounds on a camera because they think it's gonna make them a better photographer. Who knows in two years time with the AI side, maybe it will. That old saying, Hey Mr, that's a nice camera.

I bet it takes great pictures, may become true. We have people on the lighting courses, the workshops we run, the people I train and they're asking me, okay, what sessions are we gonna use? And I'm saying, okay, well we're gonna be a hundred ISO at 125th, F 5.6. Okay, well if I point my camera at the subject, it's telling me, yeah, but you need to put it onto manual.

And you see the color drain out their faces. You've got a 6,000 pound camera and you've never taken it off 'P'.

Mark: True story.

Simon: And we see this all the time. It's like the whole TTL strobe manual flash system. The camera's telling you what it wants to show you, but that maybe is not what you want.

There are people out there that will spend a fortune on equipment but actually you could take just as good a picture with a much smaller, cheaper device with an nice bit of glass on the front if you know what you're doing. And that goes back to what Mark was saying about shooting film and slide film and digital today.

Paul: I, mean, you know, I don't want this to be an echo chamber, and so what I am really interested in though, is the way that AI will change what flash photography does.

I'm curious as to where we are headed in that, specific vertical. How is AI going to help and influence our ability to create great lip photography using flash?

Mark: I think,

Paul: I love the fact the two guys side and looked at each other.

Mark: I,

Simon: it's a difficult question to answer.

Mark: physical light,

Simon: is a difficult question to answer because if you're

Mark: talking about the physical delivery of light.

Simon: Not gonna change.

Mark: Now,

The only thing I can even compare it to, if you think about how the light is delivered, is what's the nearest thing?

What's gotta change? Modern headlamps on cars, going back to cars again, you know, a modern car are using these LED arrays and they will switch on and switch off different LEDs depending on the conditions in front of them. Anti dazzle, all this sort of stuff. You know, the modern expensive headlamp is an amazing technical piece of kit.

It's not just one ball, but it's hundreds in some cases of little arrays. Will that come into flash? I don't know. Will you just be able to put a soft box in front of someone and it will shape the light in the future using a massive array. Right? I dunno it,

Simon: there's been many companies tested these arrays, in terms of LED Flash,

And I think to be honest, that's probably the nearest it's gonna get to an AI point of view is this LED Flash.

Now there's an argument to say, what is flash if I walk into a living room and flick the light on, on off really quickly, is that a flash?

Mark: No, that's a folock in

Paul: me

Mark: turn, big lights off.

Paul: Yeah.

Mark: So

Simon: it,

you, you might be able to get these arrays to flush on and off. But LED technology, in terms of how it works, it's quite slow.

It's a diode, it takes a while for it to get to its correct brightness and it takes a while for it to turn off. To try and get an LED. To work as a flash. It, it's not an explosion in a gas field tube. It's a a, a lighter emitting diode that is, is coming on and turning off again. Will AI help that? Due to the nature of its design, I don't think it can.

Mark: Me and s aren't invented an AI flash anytime soon by the looks of, we're

Simon: it's very secret.

Mark: We're just putting everyone off Paul,

Simon: It's alright.

Mark: just so they don't think

Simon: Yeah,

Mark: Oh, it's gonna be too much hard work and we'll sort it.

Paul: It's definitely coming.

I don't doubt for a minute that this is all coming because there's no one not looking at anything

Simon: that makes perfect sense.

Paul: Right now there's an explosion of invention because everybody's trying to find an angle on everything.

Simon: Mm-hmm.

Paul: The guys I feel the most for are the guys who spent millions, , on these big LED film backdrop walls.

Simon: Yep.

Mark: So you can

Paul: a car onto a flight sim, rack, and then film the whole lot in front of an LED wall. Well, it was great. And there was a market for people filming those backdrops, and now of course that's all AI generated in the LED, but that's only today's technology.

Tomorrow's is, you don't need the LED wall.

That's here today. VEO3 and Flow already, I mean, I had to play with one the other day for one of our lighting diagrams and it animated the whole thing. Absolute genius.

Simon: Mm-hmm.

Paul: I still generated the original diagram.

Mark: Yeah,

Paul: Yeah, that's useful. There's some skill in there still for now, but, you gotta face the music that anything that isn't, I can touch it and prod it. AI's gonna do it.

Mark: Absolutely. If you've ever seen the series Mandalorian go and watch the making of the Mandalorian and they are using those big LED walls, that is their backdrop.

Yeah. And it's amazing how fast they shift from, you know, they can, they don't need to build a set. Yeah. They shift from scene to scene.

Paul: Well, aI is now building the scenes. But tomorrow they won't need the LED wall. 'cause AI will put it in behind the actors.

Mark: Yeah. Say after

Paul: that you won't need the actors because they're being forced to sign away the rights so that AI can be used. And even those that are standing their ground and saying no, well, the actors saying Yes. Are the ones being hired.

You know, in the end, AI is gonna touch all of it. And so I mean, it's things like, imagine walking into a studio. Let's ignore the LED thing for a minute, by the way, that's a temporary argument,

Simon: I know you're talking about.

Paul: about today's,

Simon: You're about the.

Mark: days

Paul: LEDs,

Simon: we're in, We're in very, very interesting times and. I'm excited for the future. I'm excited for the new generation of photographers that are coming in to see how they work with what happens.

We've gone from fully analog to me selling IMACON drum scanners that were digitizing negatives and all the five four sheet almost a shoot of properties for an estate agent were all digitized on an hassle blood scanner. And then the digital camera comes out and you start using it. It was a Kodak camera, I think the first SLRI used,

Paul: Yeah.

Simon: and you get the results back and you think, oh my God, it looks like it's come out of a practica MTL five B.

Mark: But

Simon: then suddenly

the technology just changes and changes and changes and suddenly it's running away with itself and where we are today. I mean, I, I didn't like digital to start with. It was too. It was too digital.

It was too sharp. It didn't have the feel of film, but do you know what?

We get used to it and the files that my digital mirrorless camera provide now and my Fuji GFX medium format are absolutely stunning. But the first thing I do is turn the sharpness down because they are generally over sharp. For a lovely, beautifully lit portrait or whatever that anybody takes, it just needs knocking back a bit.

We were speaking about this earlier,

I did some comparison edits from what I'd done manually in Photoshop to the Evoto. Do you know what the pre-selected edits are? Great. If you not the slider back from 10 to about six, you're there or thereabouts?

More is not always good.

Mark: I think when it comes to imagery in our daily lives,

the one thing that drives what we expect to see is TV and most people's TVs, everything's turned up to a hundred.

The color, the contrast, that was a bit of a shock originally from the film to digital, crossover. Everything went from being relatively natural to way over the top

Just getting back to AI and how it's gonna affect people like you and people that we work with day to day.

I don't think we should be worried about that. We should be worried about the images we see on the news, not what we're seeing, hanging on people's walls and how they're gonna be affected by ai.

That generally does affect everyone's daily life.

Paul: Yeah,

Mark: Yeah. But what

Paul: people now ask me, for instance, I've photographed a couple head shots yesterday, and the one person had not ironed her blouse.

And her first question was, can we sort that out in post? So this is the knock on effect people are becoming aware of what's possible.

What's that? Nothing.

Know, and the, the smooth clothing button in Evoto will get me quite a long way down that road and saves somebody picking up an eye and randomly, it's not me, it's now actually more work for me 'cause I shouldn't have to do it.

But, you know, this

is my point about the knock on effect. Our worlds are different. So I didn't really intend this to be just a great sort of circular conversation about AI cars and, future technology. It was more, I dunno, we ended up down there anyway.

Simon: We went down a rabbit hole.

Mark: A

Paul: rabbit hole.

Yeah

Mark: was quite an interesting one.

Simon: And I'm sorry if you've wasted your entire journey to work and we

Paul: Yeah.

Simon: Alright. It wasn't intended to be like that.

Paul: I think it's a debate that we need to be having and there needs to be more discussion about it. Certainly for anybody that has a voice in the industry and people are listening to it because right now it might be a toddler of a technology, but it's growing faster than people realize.

There is now a point in the written word online where AI is generating more than real people are generating, and AI is learning that. So AI is reading its own output. That's now beginning to happen in imagery and film and music.

Simon: Well,

even in Google results, you type in anything to a Google search bar. When it comes back to the results, the first section at the top is the AI generated version. And you know what, it's generally

Paul: Yep.

Simon: good and

Paul: turn off all the rest of it now. So it's only ai.

Simon: Not quite brave enough for that yet. No, not me.

Mark: In terms

Paul: of SEO for instance, you now need to tune it for large language models.

You need to be giving. Google the LLM information you want it to learn so that you become part of that section on a website. And it, you know, this is where we are and it's happening at such a speed, every day I am learning something new about something else that's arriving. And I think TV and film is probably slightly ahead of the photography industry

Mark: Yeah.

Paul: The pressures on the costs are so big,

Simon: Yes.

Paul: Whereas the cost differential, I'm predicting our costs will actually go up, not down.

Whereas in TV and film, the cost will come down dramatically.

Mark: Absolutely.

Simon: They are a horrifically high level anyway. That's

Paul: I'm not disputing that, but I watched a demo of some new stuff online recently and they had a talking head and they literally typed in relight that with a kiss light here, hairlight there, Rembrandt variation on the front.

And they did it off a flat picture and they can move the lights around as if you are moving lights. Yes. And that's there today. So that's coming our way too. And I still think the people who understand how to see light will have an advantage because you'll know when you've typed these words in that you've got it about right.

It doesn't change the fact that it's going to be increasingly synthetic.

The moment in the middle of it is real. We may well be asked to relight things, re clothe things that's already happening.

Simon: Yeah.

Paul: We get, can you just fill in my hairline? That's a fairly common one.

Just removing a mole. Or removing two inches round a waist. This, we've been doing that forever.

Simon: Mm-hmm.

Paul: And so now it'll be done with keyword generation rather than, photoshop necessarily.

Simon: I think you'll always have the people that embrace this, we can't ignore it as you rightly say.

It's not going away. It's gonna get bigger, it's gonna feature more in our lives.

I think there's gonna be three sets of people. It's gonna be the people like us generally on a daily basis. We're photographers or we're artists. We enjoy what we do. I enjoy correctly lighting somebody with the correct modifier

properties to match light quality to get the best look and feel and the ambience of that image. And I enjoy the process of putting that together and then seeing the end result afterwards. I suppose that makes me an artist in, in, in loose terms. I think, you know, as, as, as a photographer, we are artists.

You've then got another generation that are finding shortcuts. They're doing some of the job with their camera. They're making their image from an AI point of view. Does that make up an artist? I suppose it still does because they're creating their own art, but they have no interest 'cause they have no enjoyment in making that picture as good as it can be before you even hit the shutter. And then I think you've got other people, and us to an extent where you do what you need to do, you enjoy the process, you look at the images, and then you just finely tune it with a bit of AI or Photoshop retouching

so I think there are different sets of people that will use AI to their advantage or completely ignore it.

Mark: Yeah. I think you're right. And I think it comes down, I'm going to use another analogy here, you, you know, let's say you enjoy cooking. If you enjoy cooking, you're creating something. What's the alternative? You get a microwave meal.

Well, Paul

Simon: and Sarah do.

Mark: No.

Paul: Sarah does.

Simon: We can't afford waitress.

Mark: You might spend months creating your perfect risotto.

You've got it right.

You love it. Everyone else loves it. You share it around all your friends. Brilliant. Or you go to Waitrose, you buy one, put it three minutes in the microwave and it's done.

That's yer AI I Imagery, isn't it? It's a microwave meal.

Paul: There's a lot of microwave meals out there. And not that many people cook their own stuff and certainly not as many as used to. And there's a lesson.

Simon: Is,

Mark: but also,

Simon: things have become easier

Mark: there

Simon: you go.

Mark: I think what we also forget in the photographic industry and take the industry as a whole, and this is something I've experienced in the, in the working for manufacturers in that photography itself is, is a, is a huge hobby.

There's lots of hobbyist photographers, but there's actually more people that do photography as part of another hobby, birdwatching, aviation, all that sort of thing. Anything, you know, the photography isn't the hobby, it's the birds that are the hobby, but they take photographs of, it's the planes that are the hobby, but they take photographs.

They're the ones that actually keep the industry going and then they expand into other industries. They come on one of our workshops. You know, that's something that we're still and Simon still Absolutely. And yourself, educating photographers to do it right, to

practice using the gear the right way, but the theory of it and getting it right.

If anything that brings more people into wanting to learn to cook better,

Paul: you

Mark: have

more chefs rather than people using microwave meals. Education's just so important. And when it comes to lighting, I wasn't competent in using flash. I'm still not, but having sat through Simon's course and other people's courses now for hundreds of times, I can light a scene sometimes,

people

are still gonna be hungry for education.

I think some wills, some won't. If you wanna go and get that microwave risotto go and microwave u risotto. But there's always gonna be people that wanna learn how to do it properly, wanna learn from scratch, wanna learn the art of it.

Creators and in a creative industry, we've got to embrace those people and bring more people into it and ensure there's more people on that journey of learning and upskilling and trying to do it properly.

Um, and yes, if they use whatever technology at whatever stage in their journey, if they're getting enjoyment from it, what's it matter?

Paul: Excellent.

Mark: What a fine

Paul: concluding statement. If they got enjoyment outta it. Yeah. Whatever. Excellent. Thank you, Mark, for your summing up.

Simon: In conclusion,

Paul: did that just come out your nose?

What on earth.

Mark: What

Paul: what you can't see, dear Listener is the fact that Mark just spat his water everywhere, laughing at Si.

It's been an interesting podcast. Anyway, I'm gonna drag this back onto topic for fear of it dissolving into three blokes having a pint.

Mark: I think we should go for one.

Simon: I think,

Paul: I think we should know as well.

Having said that with this conversation, maybe not. I was gonna ask you a little bit about, 'cause we've talked about strobes and the beauty of strobes, but of course Elinchrom still is more than that, and you've just launched a new LED light, so I know you like Strobe Simon.

Now talk about the continuous light that also Elinchrom is producing.

Simon: We have launched the Elinchrom LED 100 C. Those familiar with our Elinchrom One and Three OCF camera Flash system. It's basically a smaller unit, but still uses the OCF adapter.

Elinchrom have put a lot of time into this. They've been looking at LED technology for many years, and I've been to the factory in Switzerland and seen different LED arrays being tested. The problem we had with LEDs is every single LED was different and put out a different color temperature.

We're now manufacturing LEDs in batches, where they can all be matched. They all come from the same serial number batch. And the different colors of LED as well, 15 years ago, blue LEDs weren't even possible. You couldn't make a blue LED every other color, but not blue for some unknown reason.

They've got the colors right now, they've got full RGB spectrum, which is perfectly accurate a 95 or 97 CRI index light. It's a true hundred watts, of light as well. From tosin through to past daylight and fully controllable like the CRO flash system in very accurate nth degrees.

The LED array in the front of the, the LEDA hundred is one of the first shapeable, fully shapeable, LED arrays that I've come across and I've looked at lots.

By shapeable, I mean you put it into a soft box, of any size and it's not gonna give you a hotspot in the middle, or it's not gonna light the first 12 inches of the middle of the soft box and leave the rest dark.

I remember when we got the first LD and Mark got it before me

And he said, I've put it onto a 70 centimeter soft box. And he said, I've taken a picture to the front. Look at this. And it was perfectly even from edge to edge. When I got it, I stuck it onto a 1 3 5 centimeter soft box and did the same and was absolutely blown away by how even it was from edge to edge.

When I got my light meter out, if you remember what one of those is, uh, it, uh, it gave me a third of a stop different from the center to the outside edge. Now for an LED, that's brilliant. I mean, that's decent for a flash, but for an LED it's generally unheard of. So you can make the LED as big as you like.

It's got all the special effects that some of the cheaper Chinese ones have got because people use that kind of thing. Apparently I have no idea what for. But it sits on its own in a market where there are very cheap and cheerful LEDs, that kind of do a job. And very expensive high-end LEDs that do a completely different job for the photographer that's gone hybrid and does a bit of shooting, but does a bit of video work.

So, going into a solicitor's or an accountant's office where they want head shots, but also want a bit of talking head video for the MD or the CEO explaining about his company on the website. It's perfect. You can up the ISO and use the modeling lamp in generally the threes, the fives, the ones that we've got, the LEDs are brilliant.

But actually the LED 100 will give you all your modifier that you've taken with you, you can use those. It's very small and light, with its own built-in battery and it will give you a very nice low iso. Talking head interview with a lovely big light source.

And I've proved the point of how well it works and how nice it is at the price point it sits in. But it is our first journey into it. There will be others come in and there'll be an app control for it. And I think from an LED point of view, you're gonna say, I would say this, but actually it's one of the nicer ones I've used.

And when you get yours, you can tell people exactly the same.

Paul: Trust me,

I will.

Simon: Yes.

Mark: I think

Paul: very

excited about it.

Mark: I think the beauty

of it as well is it's got an inbuilt battery.

It'll give

you up to 45 minutes on a full charge.

You can plug it in and run it off the mains directly through the USB socket as well. But it means it's a truly portable light source. 45 minutes at a hundred watt and it's rated at a hundred watt actual light output. It's seems far in excess of that.

When you actually,

Simon: we had a photographer the other day who used it and he's used to using sort of 3, 2 50, 300 watt LEDs and he said put them side by side at full power.

They were virtually comparable.

Paul: That is certainly true, or in my case by lots.

Simon: I

seem to be surrounded

Paul: by Elinchrom kit,

Which is all good. So for anybody who's interested in buying one of these things, where'd you get them? How much are they?

Simon: The LED itself, the singlehead unit is 499 inc VAT.

If you want one with a charger, which sounds ridiculous, but there's always people who say, well, I don't want the charger. You can have one with a charger for 50 quid extra. So 549. The twin kit is just less than a thousand quid with chargers. And it comes in a very nice portable carry bag to, to carry them around in.

Um, and, uh, yeah, available from all good photographic retailers, and, Ellen crom.co uk.

Paul: Very good. So just to remind you beautiful people listening to this podcast, we only ever feature people and products, at least like this one where I've said, put a sales pitch in because I use it.

It's only ever been about what we use here at the studio. I hate the idea of just being a renta-voice.

You it.

Mark: bought it.

Paul: Yeah. That's true. You guys sold it to me.

Mark: Yeah,

Simon: if I gave you

anything you'd tell everyone it was great. So if you buy it, no, I've bought

Paul: Yeah. And

then became an ambassador for you. As with everything here, I put my money where my mouth is, we will use it. We do use it. I'm really interested in the little LED light because I could have done with that the other night. It would've been perfect for a very particular need. So yes, I can highly recommend Elinchrom Fives and Threes if you're on a different system.

The Rotalux, system of modifier is the best on the planet. Quick to set up, quick to take down. More importantly, the light that comes off them is just beautiful, whether it's a Godox, whether it's on a ProPhoto, which it was for me, or whether if you've really got your common sense about you on the front of an Elinchrom.

And on that happy note and back to where we started, which is about lighting, I'm gonna say thanks to the guys. They came to the studio to fix a problem but it's always lovely to have them as guests here. Thank you, mark. Thank you Simon. Most importantly, you Elinchrom for creating Kit is just an absolute joy to use.

If you've enjoyed the podcast, please head over to all your other episodes. Please subscribe and whatever is your podcast, play of choice, whether it's iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or a other. After you head, if you head across to masteringportraitphotography.com the spiritual home of this, particular, podcast, I will put in the show notes all the little bits of detail and where to get these things.

I'll get some links off the guys as to where to look for the kit. Thank you both. I dunno when I'll be seeing you again. I suspect it will be the Convention in January if I know the way these things go.

Simon: We're not gonna get invited back, are we?

Mark: Probably not. Enough.

Paul: And I'm gonna get a mop and clean up that water. You've just sprayed all over the floor.

What is going on?

Simon: wish we'd video. That was a funny sun

Mark: I just didn't expect it and never usually that sort of funny and quick,

Simon: It's the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Paul: On that happy note, whatever else is going on in your lives, be kind to yourself. Take care.

I’m back in the Land Rover — which might be its final podcast outing before it finds a new home — and today’s episode is a rambling, reflective road trip through customer service, creative resilience, and the rapidly growing presence of AI in our industry.

The day started badly. Cold shower (thanks British Gas), broken editing software, and a head full of terabytes. But it ended with a reminder of why kindness, craftsmanship, and conversation still matter. A haircut from someone I’ve known for 18 years. A deep chat with the owner of Michel Engineering while he lovingly took apart my ancient-but-beautiful record deck — the very same design featured in A Clockwork Orange and owned by Steve Jobs, no less. And then... a disappointing interaction with a distracted barista and a headset-wearing drive-thru operator. Same building, worlds apart.

Customer service, it turns out, is alive and well — just not always where you'd expect it.

But the main theme of this episode is AI. Not the doom-and-gloom kind, but the real stuff: the tools I’m already using, how they’re reshaping our workflows, and how they might be reshaping entire economies. It’s not AI that’s coming for your job — it’s the photographer who learns to harness it.

We talk about:

• AI tools I already use (like EVOTO, Imagine AI, ChatGPT, and XCi)

• Using AI as a teaching assistant, sub-editor, and productivity coach

• The real-world implications of AI-generated ads, coding layoffs, and what it means for creatives

• Plans for a new AI section on masteringportraitphotography.com

And if you hang in there until the end, I’ll tell you about a girl named Dory, a gutsy 12-year-old contortionist, and the new edition of Mastering Portrait Photography — complete with fresh images, a decade of stories, and a very special launch offer.

So pop on your headphones, admire the wheat fields if you’ve got them, and come along for the ride.

Spoiler: there’s C3PO’s eye in here too. Yes, really.

• Michel Engineering (Turntables) – evoto.ai

• Imagine AI – Smart colour-matching editing masteringportraitphotography.com/workshops-and-mentoring

Transcript

Introduction and Setting the Scene

Well, as you can probably gather from the noise going on in the background I'm back out in the Land Rover, uh, for one more podcast out on my travels. Um, you'll have to bear with me as I navigate the carpark away from Starbucks. Uh, it's been an interesting day in so many, so many ways, and I will talk about all of that.

Uh, where do I, where do I start? Right? Well, I'm back out on the road. Maybe one of the last ones. 

Memorable Cars and the Land Rover

The Land Rover is, as many of you know, now up for sale and not because I don't absolutely love this vehicle. It is by far, by far and away my favorite car that I've ever owned, and I've owned some cars that I have truly loved.

Of course, my first car, an Austin Allegro affectionately named nicknamed Benny, as in Benny from Top Cat. Um, because it's small, bubbly, and round. Um, I owned a Mark two Ford Escort with a steering wheel so small you could touch your thumbs across it, but an engine so small that it really wasn't a sports car, but that was just a beautiful thing.

I've owned a Lexus IS 200, which. From a speed freak point of view is a lot more lively than even this Land Rover is, but in the end. This four wheel drive farmer's vehicle has traveled with me all over the uk from job to job, from client to client. And even today as I was visiting, uh, a place to get my record deck repaired, which I will tell you about, the guy that owns the company came out and all he could do, in spite of the fact we're looking at one of the rarest record decks around.

In spite of that, all he could do was talk about the Land Rover. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography  📍 podcast.

 Oh, do you know what I've just done? You know, when you get in a lane, because there's a roundabout coming that I have to turn right at. So I got in a lane and now I'm in an underpass going underneath the roundabout. That I needed to turn right at. How that's really frustrating. I hate it when that happens.

However, I'm up in Hichin, uh, Stevenage way, um, in the southeastern ish corner of the uk. Weirdly enough, I've been here before. I thought I recognized it. This is where I photographed Kevin Fong in the, um, British Aerospace. It looks like it's now Airbus here. I've just driven past the lab where we photograph Kevin Fong on the moon, on the Mars Lander.

A test area. So they've built, it's like the size of a football pitch or two. It's huge. This huge great expanse of sand and rocks, and they've lit it like the light would be on Mars. I don't know. Why that would be important if you are testing Moon Lands or Mars lands. I haven't a clue. Uh, but it's where they tested, uh, or at least the British scientists tested their parts of the Mars rover and things.

I've been here before. I photographed here. Uh, that's not why I here this particular moment. Uh, but I wanna start. Oh, there it is. Look at that. How cool. Sorry. This is way Yeah. Home of the exo Mars rover. I've been in there. Wow. Some days, some days ev well, every day is an adventure. Some days more than others.

Right? Now, let's see me, let's see if I can get into the underpass the right way around this time, having turned around to head back home, mop it. 

Navigating the Day and Customer Service

Um, I wanted to talk about a few things today, but one of the things that came up, which wasn't meant to really, so this is now gonna be a two part podcast. Let me talk about customer service first.

And it starts yesterday. Really, let me tell you a bit of my day yesterday. Not if I'm honest, my best day and we all have them. So the upshot is, everything worked out and I have the photographs I needed or I need, but getting there proved trickier than it does normal. And that's in spite of the fact that I talk in.

Very good story ab about being present and giving it your all. So the day started fairly badly with a cold shower. The boiler broke, well, it broke the night before. Actually it broke on Sunday night. So I got on the bike, did some exercise, sweated a lot, went to have a nice, warm, refreshing shower and had, well, it was a refreshing shower, but a cold one.

It was, I mean, I know they say a cold shower is meant to be good for you, not for me. Alright. It left me in a crappy mood and knowing I had to get in touch with British gas, um, the week before British acid service, the boiler, now it's broken. So you can imagine, as much as I'm trying to be stoic and sensible about these things, I'm really quite cross.

Uh, I try my best not to take it out on those around me. I took it out on those around me, uh, and to all those people around me, I do apologize. And by that I mean predominantly Sarah, who takes the, the brunt of all of my crappy moods when they happen. Uh, thankfully it doesn't happen too often, uh, but when they happen, it is always Sarah that's in the firing line.

So, um, after trolling through the website and trying to get an engineer booked, that was no good. They couldn't bring, couldn't send anyone out till. Tuesday or they said they couldn't send anyone out to Tuesday. Let me just navigate this Range Rover that's creeping on my inside. Thank you. Um, so, uh, yesterday morning, Monday morning, um, I got on the phone to talk to someone.

I thought, do you know what I'll do instead of trying to use computer systems, I'll talk to someone. Well, uh, I talked to a computer. I said, yes, no, no, yes. And, uh, punched in my credit card details because in spite of the fact the engineer probably broke the boiler. Um, we still have to have a credit card ready for any excess.

Now, the upshot is quite a good one, is that by calling in, I did mostly get a, an appointment far earlier than I could do on their website, which doesn't really make any sense given that on the website, I'm assuming it is plugged into exactly the same. Booking system that the automated voice was in case you in any doubt?

No. I didn't get to speak to a human. I got to speak to a very, very poor AI or automated something or other. Anyway, so that was the start of the day. Then in the office, Katie's machine running Da Vinci stopped talking to Frame io. Now for those of you into it, da Vinci is our editing suite, any videos and Frame io is where we store our assets.

Now this isn't ideal if the editing suite can't talk to the asset store. That's the end of a day's work, really. So that put me in a fairly bad mood. And then we're gonna be photographing three amazing kids. So we're doing a video on siblings. Why you photograph them, how you photograph them, the laughter involved in photographing them.

And we've got this amazing family, three teenagers and uh, they were due in and sure enough, they arrived and I still had my head inside. What do I do if Da Vinci no longer talks to Frame io? We're gonna have to re-license a load of stuff. I'm gonna have to move a couple of terabytes of assets around, which as anyone who's done it knows it's.

Probably, you know, a week's worth of work for me. Um, everything was just piling up and I was struggling to get my head into it. And of course they're teenagers and they're excited about coming into the studio, and I wanted to give them the best. Experience. I can, even though they're not here as a client, they have been as a client before, but they're not here as a client.

They're here because I would like to create a video about photographing siblings. So I owe it to them in so many ways to give the very best of me. And I was struggling. And I think in reality, probably for about an hour, I struggled to get myself into that zone where you are creating. Beautiful pictures.

The light wasn't light, I didn't feel great. My head is spinning because I think I've got days of work ahead of me to fix something else. Um, got there Eventually we did get both the photographs and the video ready to create, uh, another one of our mastering portrait photography videos this time on photographing siblings, how to approach it, what to look for, things you can do.

And then on top of that, some top tips for top Tip Tuesday on our socials. But it's really important when it comes to the service levels. At the end of the day, their customers and I offer our customer service, and that has an interesting run on into today. So today, so far, what time is it? It is quarter to one.

I've been on the road since about quarter past eight this morning, so I went for a haircut first. Our reg, my regular hairstylist, who I've been going to for 18 years, we worked out this morning. I photographed her wedding 18 years ago, and I'd known her a little bit before then when I pitched for the work and did a prew wedding shoot.

So 18, 19 years, I've been going to cap for a haircut and we chat shit. I mean, we just. Laugh and talk nonsense sometimes. Sometimes really serious stuff. 'cause she's got kids. I've got kids different ages, but you know, we've lived through similar things. I've watched her business grow and change over the years.

She's worked with me, I've worked with her. And I would say that her customer service is some of the best I've ever met. There's only her now. She did run a multi, a multi station, um, uh, salon for ages, but in the end decided that she would rather just work on her own, have a nice, steady, um, client base, um, who she knew and does very well, that which has a client at home.

But in spite of that, or maybe because of that, her customer service is absolutely brilliant as long as you don't try to text her late in the evening. We might get quite a short answer. 

The Record Deck Repair Adventure

And then today I've been over to get my record deck serviced. Now the kids have been on at me for about, about this for a few years now.

It's been broken. Um, and it came to a head this Father's Day when they said, what would I like? And I thought, well, find me a record or something. And they both went, no. And I'm like, sorry, what? They said, we're not buying you anymore records until you fix your flipping record deck because it's been broken for so long.

And you'd said you're gonna get it fixed and you haven't. So we're no longer buying your records. Now that's not to say I didn't get some really cool gifts from them, but it did sort of, okay, I take your point. Let me go get this sorted. So I rang in to the company that originally made it so a bit of history.

The record deck is a transcripter hydraulic reference turntable. The company was called Transcripter. Um, it's the same age as I am. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. It's glass and aluminum and big brass weights, soft belt drive. You can still get from the same company. A record deck that is derived from it called the Gyro.

It's worth thousands and thousands of pounds. Um, their decks. This deck isn't worth anything until it works. And then. Probably is worth a thousand pounds. If anyone has watched Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, then he will recognize the deck because it's that record deck. He won a design award in about 1967, I think, and he's still got the little British Design Award sticker on the lid, on the, the plastic, sorry, the Perspex cover.

It's all original. It was built by the company. I've just visited Michel Engineering and they make these most incredible, beautiful record decks. Now, I rang in a couple of weeks ago and they said, look, we haven't got any slots for service for a few weeks. Um, ringing again on the 24th of July, which I did.

So I rang on the 24th. Um, as it happened, it was Steven who owns Michel Engineering now, um, who picked up, I chatted to him and he's. When can you bring it in? So I said today, um, I'm on the road. Um, so why not bring it in on today, Tuesday? So, um, I brought it in, um, the most incredible service. Uh, I obviously, I didn't carry it to the door 'cause I didn't really know which one of the industrial units I was headed to.

So I buzzed it as it happened. It was Steven, um, opened the door and I told him who I was and he said, oh, put you in. And I said, oh great. And he said, no, no, I'll come with you. So we went over to the Land Rover where I parked up. First thing he does, I admire the Land Rover, which always makes you feel good.

Um, which followed up quite quickly with me by saying, it's you, it's up for sale. Um, and a chat there about pricing. Who knows? You never know, do you? Anyway, he admired the Land Rover, so I'm feeling better already. So I opened up the boot and there's obviously my record deck, this transcript, uh, hydraulic reference to the table.

And he's obviously seen a few of these, but he said, oh, that's a, that's an old one, that's an original. And I went to pick it up and he said, no, no, I'll carry it. Don't worry. So he picked it up outta the Land Rover and I locked it up. We took it into the service lab where it sits now amongst a few similar ones, some newer ones, well all newer ones.

Um, we took it apart or he took it apart and had a look at the different components. Um, puffed his cheeks out a little bit, which is always good when you're talking to an engineer. It's a bit like when you take your car into a garage and they go, oh mate, ah, your rings. But he was very affectionate, very respectful of the record deck, and it was built pre 1972.

And the way he knows that is there's no serial number on it because before 19. 72. They didn't put serial numbers on him, so he's got this very old turntable that my dad bought in. I think it was about 19 81, 82. He paid 15 pounds worth 15 of your British pounds at a jumble sale. Well, this deck is worth anywhere between 1500 quid and two and half thousand pounds of today's money secondhand.

Um, so my dad actually did pretty well. Uh, I dunno if he realized what he'd bought. It didn't work, which is why it was only 15 quid. But my dad attacked it with a soldier line. Probably the same things I've now got to have repaired this time. But he took all the bits off and he showed me how it worked and he explains it in detail.

And we just got chatting. We got chatting to the point where when I come back to pick up the record deck, Steven has very kindly agreed to come on the podcast because we talked about quality, we talked about the love of vinyl, which to an extent, I, I have a nostalgia for vinyl, but I don't have a particularly sophisticated, um, sense of hearing.

So I can't pick out the details that probably their guys can. But I appreciate the engineering and of course it was my dad. So now somebody who cares about it probably as much as I. Who is looking after it is gonna fix the bits that are not right. And given it was a gift from my dad to me for my 40th birthday, it was built around about the same year that I was born.

My dad bought it for 15 quid and absolutely loved it. And now it's in the hands of the company who built it. The very first company though, is his father who set up the company. There's this whole set of layers to the story that are gonna add even more love to it, even more passion for listening to records that the kids have bought me on it, and the service that they offer is so personable and so knowledgeable.

I couldn't help but just get excited. I got excited just walking in. By the time I left, he showed me this room. They've got a room downstairs with some of their legacy, Michelle. It's called M-I-C-H-E-L-L, Michelle Turntables and Michelle. And they've done all sorts of things over the years, not least of which is to create C3 PO's eyes.

No kid, you not, uh, my joy hit the floor when he was telling me he said, yeah, you know, it's based on some stuff we already had in some odd bins. And because it was all made round here where I'm driving the original Star Wars was actually filmed all around this area, Borum Wood, um, and Stevenage in West London.

And so the guys who were doing the special effects used to just hunt round OddBins around all the industrial states. They found some off cuts of something that was, I dunno what it was, a bit of a record deck I think. And hoed them out and modified them and they became C3 PO's eyes. I've literally just been eye to eye with one of C3 PO's eyes.

Um, also lots of stuff for Stanley Kubrick. Um, uh, Steven was telling me that his dad built, uh. Spaceship from Space Odyssey, the model of it. Um, you just, I dunno, you just get this sense of history and passion and just a love of engineering. Beautiful old school British engineering and. As part of that conversation, we talked about so many things.

I cannot wait to get him on the podcast. I think you'll find him hopefully as fascinating as I did, at least those of you that enter a little bit of media, his history, a little bit of film history. Also, if you're into your record decks, the record deck that these guys make, the the Michelle M-I-C-H-E-L-L, I will put a link in the, in the show notes so you can go and have a look at the things they they made because they are stunningly beautiful.

And if I was in the market for that kind of high fire, I'd have one. There's nothing like it. You've seen it in a million films. Steve Jobs owned one. This is how good it is. And I've just been chatting to the guys who made it off the back of that. I ended up talking about ai, which I'm gonna come back to, but let me take the story of customer service forwards just a little bit.

So I've left there. We've talked about all sorts of things. We've talked about his love of Laua, for instance, where I work regularly and I'm forever telling people they are the exemplar of customer service. They are the epitome of it. They are the very best of the very best. And I've been lucky enough to work all over the world with all sorts of companies and all sorts of places.

Um, LA Manu is the benchmark for how, in my opinion, customer service can be and should be done. He agrees. We've talked at a length about it, um, and. What a, a wonderful conversation it was. So I left there really buoyant and I thought, do you know what I'll do? I'm gonna nip into Starbucks, which is just on the same complex where they're based.

Um, write some notes for the podcast 'cause I'm driving so I've got some broad notes written on the back of an envelope so that I gotta take my eyes off the road obviously. And I, um, went to get a coffee and here's where customer service broke down. I don't think the lady who's served me, lemme just get past that car I was trying to pull in.

I don't think the lady who served me could tell you now who I was. I don't think she really made eye contact. Um, the guy that actually made my coffee lovely. I mean, just served it. He made it with passion. It's got a love heart on the top. Um, maybe he's telling me something, I dunno. Uh, gave it me with a huge smile and told me to have a nice day.

She barely looked at me to take my money. Now I don't think that's her fault when I actually watched, 'cause I love watching customer service and figuring out why things work or they don't work. She had a Bluetooth headset on and at the same time she was serving on the till, she was taking orders from the drive through.

Now I defy anybody to do those two jobs at once and do them both effectively. Dear Starbucks, you've ruined it because you've cut your costs so low that the customer service bit the element, that is the only element that can set you apart.

Your coffee's not that great. Your cakes are not so great. And go somewhere else. There has to be about the atmospherics. It has to be about customer service, a smile or two, the way they deal with people. That's what makes any customer service based organization stand out because you can get coffee anywhere, you can get cake anywhere.

You can get a seat in most places. I want somewhere that was clean, had some atmosphere. As much as a Starbucks ever has atmosphere, I accept that. Um, and if I'm gonna pay, you know, what is it, six quid, I think it was my coffee, then I'd really quite like it delivered with a smile. And the guy, the barista did, but the customer service, the person on the tilt did it.

And I think it's because she was trying to do two jobs at once. And that's not something that you can do, I don't think to the best of your ability, um, when you've got one voice in your ear and another voice over the front of the counter. However, that's the end of my rant about customer service because I've had two of the three.

I've been standout. One single person company just cuts hair, but she's so much more than that. She always has a smile, always has something to chat about. After 18 years or 19 years or whatever it is, we still don't run outta conversation. We still laugh about life, kids, business, you name it. And then going to Michelle, Michel, Michel, I, I've gotta work out how to pronounce it 'cause it's Michelle without an e.

Um, Michel Engineering. And honestly, I have skipped outta there with the biggest smile. And then to be somewhat deflated. Why is that the right word? It's not deflated. Somewhat energized by some, fairly average at best customer service from Starbucks. It brings the other two into sharp relief, shows you what can be done, how good customer service can be.

And it's nothing more, in my opinion, at least in this country, about being friendly, taking time and making someone feel valued. And as photographers. That's a really important message, though. It's not what this podcast is really about. 

AI and the Future of Photography

This podcast was meant to be about and is about to be about ai artificial intelligence.

Yeah. I can hear a few of you blowing your cheeks out and do I need to worry about this or, oh God, it's just awful. All of these. Things. But let me kind of try and put it into context, and I'm gonna start with what I believe is going to be the headline for all of us as an industry. Now, I'm a portrait photographer, as are many of you not a landscaper.

I'm not a fine artist. I have my moments. I'm a portrait photographer. If I'm shooting weddings, I'm still a portrait photographer. I'm just shooting your wedding guest's fine art, as sorry as beautiful portraits. AI is coming now. AI in itself is not gonna take our jobs. However, another photographer who's using AI is going to take our job.

I don't think there's any doubt about that. AI's not gonna take your job. A photographer with AI is gonna take your job. Now, this week's been an interesting. Weak. I keep an eye on the headlines and I'll come to, to that in a little bit about how I'm thinking of creating some resources to help all of us.

But the headlines this week, there have been two that caught my eye, both within a couple of days of each other. The first, and one I hope you've all seen is that Vogue published an ad for guests who I, I Fashion house, I guess retail. Dunno. I actually, I, I, I don't know. I should know, but I don't. But they published an advert for Guess.

That was fully generated by ai. No model involved. It's a beautiful image, no question about it. And the model in it is beautiful. So beautiful in fact, that supermodels have come out and said her look is unattainable. It sets the standard that no one can achieve. Now I think there's a little bit of irony here, just a small amount, um, when supermodels are saying that, look, if someone is unachievable, something is awry.

Now this is a, obviously, I mean, that's a complaint that's been land lauded around the fashion industry for as long as I can remember. And in some weird way, maybe just maybe having unattainable synthetic models is maybe healthier than having unattainable. Actual human models because in the end you can always say, well, there's no way I could look like that.

In fact, there's no way that anyone could look like that 'cause it isn't real. So there's an interesting spin on it, I suspect. Guess the company obviously have had some really good publicity out of it, or at least they've had publicity outta it. Um, but of it highlights where we are headed. The little agency that created it, they're a five person team.

They charge anywhere between. Five and low six figures for creating one of these ads. So there's still money in it, but not money for photographers, money for models, money for location scouts. In fact, there's no money for anyone at all except for the agency, possibly the clothed designers. But I'm gonna guess that AI is eating into their world.

Two, that's not my world, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't given. It's eating into everything. The second article I read, which I, in some ways is slightly more alarming, is that Tata or Tarter huge, a huge multinational company in India. In their IT division, they're laying off 12,000 coders and middle managers 12.

Thousand 2% of their workforce because the focus is all on AI doing those jobs. 12,000. There are commentary and opinion pieces around talking about how that will rip out the heart of Mumba. Middle class wealth. That's how, that's how impactful this is. Real estate companies are saying that the market has dropped retail luxury items.

The middle class is being torn apart because those were middle class jobs for people who were smart, gone 12,000 jobs, 2%. And this is just the beginning. By the way. As fast as AI develops, people will find ways of either and or cutting costs and increasing productivity for the same or lower manpower.

That's where we're headed. Um, there doesn't appear to be any graduate jobs around at the moment, if I've read the headlines correctly, because companies, and this is the right strategy, by the way, are waiting to see quite what's gonna happen with ai. Would you take someone on who under employment law is difficult to get rid of if you are thinking well?

I wonder whether AI is gonna add productivity in a way that people might not. So AI is absolutely here and it's getting better. I think. GPT five, we've been talking about chat GT four, forever Chat. GPT five I think is due out in August. So we are right on top of that. If you're listening to this layer in the ear, it's already here.

And I can only imagine having used Chatt PT four extensively, how good five is going to be. So it's upon us and it's gonna be increasingly necessary if we wanna survive that. We don't just accept ai, we embrace it, we find out how to use it, we compete with it, not against it, 'cause you can't beat it. I've got no intention of going anywhere.

We are gonna use AI in any way and shape and form I can to do everything we do better. I don't have a focus on reducing my team. I love my team, I love being part of a team. But AI allows us to do some things and will increasingly allow us to do some things that either was specific to my time, that now can be distributed around the team, or allow me to do things faster so I can do more of it.

How many podcasts have I started by saying I'm snowed under? I'm so busy, I just don't have the time to do everything I need to do. AI is an enabler in that regard. So for instance, the other day I wrote an article for Professional Photo Magazine. I love writing. I really enjoy writing. There's value in writing.

I love, I loved more when professional photo was in print. But it's not anymore. Um, but I still write for it. It's online. You can read the latest article and we use ai and everyone's like, oh, you're using AI to generate your article. No, I'm not. I sat and wrote it like I always do because it was my story, my experience.

I was there. But what I did was I hopped onto chat, DBT, and in this instance I used O three, not. Chatt PT four oh, um oh three. They have different models and I'll talk a little bit about that in a minute. So I used O three and put in my finished article and said, can you help me subedit this?

So for those of you who worked in print and media, you'll know a subedit. The journalist will submit the article, it goes to the subeditor who'll do the final cut. And then it goes to the editor for once over, uh, maybe a review or two before it goes out into the publication. It's a subedit is a role subeditor.

So I said to, uh, chat GPT-3. Oh no, hang on oh three. Get it the right way round. Help me subedit. And it was brilliant. It helped me work out the threads of the jokes if they're, as much as they're jokes, so much as just light humor. Um, it helped me, uh, reduce repetition. It helped me get the tone of it about right for, um, a readership.

I explained to the readership was likely to be. It did all of those things. Um, and it just gave me ideas and said, maybe you want to just shorten this paragraph length in that one. You've mentioned this at the beginning. You might wanna close it out at the end. Those kinds of things. And then he said, and then he did a second review that said, that looks about perfect.

But you have said you love this. Three times, and maybe you wanna just turn that down a bit. Brilliant. It did something that would've taken me hours to do, just going over and over and over refining it because I don't have a subeditor. Um, I'm assuming professional photo. The website probably does, but whenever possible, I like what I deliver to be finished so that, um, it goes out and goes onto the website, their website as I intended it to, as much as that's possible.

And I love that it does things that make my life faster and more efficient and actually pro increase the quality that I can produce. Of course, the obvious stuff for photographers is on the retouching side. Voto, I've banged on about Voto forever. They're now increasingly more competitors to that. But in my opinion, Voto is still, EVOTO.AI is still the best.

Um, imagine ai, A-M-A-G-E n.ai is brilliant for coloring, for instance, it learns your colors and delivers 'em every time. Um, AI sharpening is really useful where you've got soft images, oh, the list goes on where we can now do things using AI that make my life, it makes it possible for me as a single camera.

I'm the only editor in the, in the studio, only post producer in our studio. So it allows me to do things to a standard I couldn't do without ai. Now, on top of that, we are starting to explore other avenues for ai agent ai. Which you can use to do things like, what did I see the other day? A brilliant article from someone with A DHD who uses ai.

And this is a very simplistic view of what they do, but this is quite clever for those of us who have a DHD tendencies. Um, you will know as I do that there are days when I can be super productive. I mean, do the work of 10, and then there'll be nine days where I do the work of none. It evens itself out, I grant you, but knowing your own mood and knowing what tasks suit that mood would be a really useful skill.

And so what this article said was how this guy had developed an agentic ai. So Agen AI is where you use AI to control ai. So it's a multi-layered ai. Approach and every morning one of many things he does, and this is just a small component of it, but I thought it was kind of cute, is he describes his mood.

And if you've listened to the podcast with Helen May, I think I did a few years ago, she talks about this. She talked about knowing what mood she was in, and she talked about knowing what mood she needed to be in. 'cause she talked about when she would take the drugs and when she wouldn't. And there were days when she had to be productive.

And days where it didn't matter. So if you can identify whether today's gonna be productive or not, you can. This guy had programmed the system to do this. 

AI as a Productivity Tool

He would tell the ai, I'm in a productive mood. I'm not in a productive mood. The AI agent would then go off. And talk to other AI agents about all the tasks that were in this guy's world that needed doing and deliver back tasks that suited the mood the guy was in.

So it's sort of like having a very intelligent team member alongside you, who knows your mood, knows what you've gotta do, figures out how to distribute that. This is just a tiny example of how AI can be super helpful, and I think that's how we have to view it. We have to view it as a tool for helping us do our job better.

A tool for helping us compete with other people who are using these tools. Now we're all gonna keep coming back to that theme because if they're using the tools, we need to use the tools. Now we are using all sorts of AI in the business now to do all sorts of tasks. 

Exploring AI Software: Xci

Incidentally, actually, while I'm at it, there's a great bit of software I found called Xci, E-X-C-I-R-E.

I've no idea if I've mentioned it before. It's worth a look. It's a bit like. ACDSee, which I love too. But it has an AI component in it where you can do a search saying, find me all the images similar to this one, but it uses AI to do it and it's pretty good, which is really useful when you are building, if you're doing, uh, a themed post on, let's say you're like, we are, I'm doing a thing on siblings, I can say, I can get a picture of two siblings and say, find me a load of pictures like this one, and it'll find all the pictures with two people in it.

They probably won't figure out that they're siblings, but at least you're halfway there. X-I-E-X-C-I-R-E. It's got a, there's a trial on a website. Um, it's not cheap, but it's a one off license. When see decided, I think it's about $250, something like that. So AI is very much here and now and it's not gonna be long before.

It's a whole different world. 

AI in Portrait Photography

So one of the ideas I have, and I'd love to hear. From you, if you think this would be useful, I think I'm gonna do it and just test it anyway, is I'm gonna set up a section on mastering portrait photography that just has short articles on ways to use ai. Little things we've found that techniques prompt engineering.

Um, we can talk about what we are doing, um, because I'm doing it, we're doing a load of stuff behind the scenes. If you thought it's going a little bit quiet on MPP, just for a moment. That's why, because I'm trying to figure out how to really harness the tools that are here today and the tools that are coming tomorrow.

Now, of course, you know, I accept, I do accept, as a slight caveat, my PhD is in ai, so there is a fascination with what's going on in this sector that many of you probably or possibly don't have. And I, I do accept that. Of course, I accept that. My, my, my fascination with where the tools and techniques that we were part of decades of developing are now here.

And, and this is, you know, by the way, this is why I say that it, you know, we have a toddler, I've said this a lot, we have a toddler of an AI world right now, and it's growing up is because 30 years ago we were saying the same thing. Then, you know, imagine what the scientists are gonna do in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years.

Imagine that now what scientists are gonna do in the next 10 or 20 or 30 years. So yes, I accept, I have an enthusiasm and an excitement about AI that maybe you don't share. But equally, there's lots of little things you can do, like product engineering, like setting up memories if you use chat, GPT, like setting up product knowledge.

If you use Claude, like understanding how things like Gemini. Vo flow. These create more creative tools from Google, possibly can help you in your everyday work. These are all so useful and so right here, a, a, a great example. 

Using AI for Workshop Transcripts

Now, when I run a workshop or a one-to-one or I do mentoring is I'm aware of this same microphone that I'm recording now.

One of the roads, whatever they're called, uh, something or others. Um, I just record it and record all the audio of my voice when I'm running a workshop. That's all it needs. Just what did we talk about from my point of view? Ideally everyone would have microphones on, but it gets really quite complicated really quite quickly.

So for now, it's just me with a mic. I take that audio. Let's say there's 10 hours of audio from a day. I take that audio and I put it into Da Vinci. Why Da Vinci? Because actually the AI tools won't deal with a very long audio file yet. They're just not there yet, but. And I could put it into Descrip, which I use for the podcast, but you pay quite a lot of money for a 30 hour per month transcript.

And taking 10 hours of that just to do each workshop. And I do a couple of workshops a month is not ideal. It goes into DaVinci, which has a subtitle generator. So it takes an hour to go through 10 hours of foot of video, of audio, sorry. And it creates a transcript, subtitles, I take the subtitles and I put those into usually chat, TP, T oh three or four oh, and I can then interrogate the transcript and do different things.

So, great example, uh, chat, DPT. I enter something like, uh, this is a workshop I ran with five delegates and me, the voice you will read is mine. These are my words.

Teaching a subject title to them. Whatever the workshop is. Let's say it's mastering studio lighting, I dunno. So these are all the things I talked about in response to questions or self deduced. I want you to give me useful information that. I can send back to the delegates that are the key bullet points and details that they might find useful.

And then at the end of that prompt, I put the following, ask me whatever you need to be 95% certain of delivering this task to the best of your ability, or something along those lines. It will then ask me a series of questions. It'll say things like, what was the purpose of the workshop? What did you think delegates have done?

Again, out of it, were there any questions that delegates asked to you before the workshop that are not answered here, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You answer those and then it will feed you useful information. It will obviously, and here's a really interesting difference. I love chat. GT 4.0, all four one.

They're great. It will say things, if you put this into chat GPT 4.0, it will say, oh, Paul, oh Paul. That was not just a workshop. You did not just educate them, you inspired them. You are incredible. Oh, I love your work. Here's some ideas. Oh my God, they're gonna find so useful. Here's ba blah, ba ba, and they give you a load of things to send back.

And it will say at the end. And if you ask it, if you're very smart, what you actually do is you also ask it, how could I improve the workshop? And it will say, I don't think there's much you could change, but here's some ideas. And these might just help you deliver more, uh, I dunno, more, more clarity or more information or help the help certain types of, uh, delegate understand more.

It's really useful as a coach for me too. If you do the same exercise with O three, which is a reasoning engine, it works slightly differently. It's not just about language. It's now reasoning. It might say, well, you did these points, here's some useful information. Here's some ways you could do it better.

It's like having a very blunt, best friend with no filter. It's a lot more useful in so many ways. But nowhere near as much fun as camp GPT. Oh, Paul, you're amazing. I love it. I'd dread them taking that side away. Uh, Claude is even, by the way, if you use c Claude ai, it's even more, I sometimes wonder whether it's, it's in the name Claude.

It, it feels like it might be quite rude. It just tells you, these are the things you didn't do very well. You should do this better. Okay. 

AI Tools for Photographers

Anyway, point being, we're using AI to gather more value outta what we're already doing. We're not trying to make things. Um, streamline things or make things, uh, it's not a race to the bottom.

If anything, it's a race to the top. So we're using AI throughout. Uh, so I'm gonna set up a section of MPP that's all about ai, little tips and tricks, information I'm reading about engines, AI engines, et gentech ai. Things like zapier make.com, if this, then that where they've now got AI baked into them. So you can do clever things if you have, you know, just a spreadsheet, for instance, you can tell, um, things like make.com without ai.

If you are good at code, you can tell it what you want it to do in terms of maybe posting stuff. Um, if you are good at coding, that's great. If you're not good at coding, you can use AI to help you with the coding. It's not brilliant, but it's not bad. And you can get prototypes up and on their feet really quite rapidly.

You can get it to give you layouts of websites, just ideas. You can get it to design logos, just ideas. Now, yes or right, if you make your living on five or designing logos, maybe that's not a great thing to do. But actually when you boil it down as photographers, how many of us actually use Fiverr more than once or twice?

I've used it a couple of times in the entire time, and frankly, I've been disappointed. Might be strong a word, but certainly not thrilled with what I got back. Whereas with ai, yeah, all right. I might not be thrilled with the first one or the second one or the third one, but eventually I'll get there by tuning the prompt and getting it to refine what it's doing.

Um, I dunno if anyone else has done this. You say please and thank you. Um, I do, and then I feel guilty if I need to correct it, but you do need to correct it. And I'll, I'll publish some articles on these, all these little bits on a section of MPP to try and make it, uh, to try and it's, it is now so much a part of a portrait photographer's life.

That not having a section on it feels kind of weird. Um, and so look out for that in the coming weeks as I figure out quite how to, uh, get that information on there, uh, quickly enough and without it distracting from the things I'm already finding difficult to find time for. So that was my little thing of ai.

And if there's a footnote here, of course, it's, uh, from Michelle this morning, the record deck, my turntable, um, Steven and I were chatting and we got chatting a little bit about ai and he said, oh my God, we use it a lot. And introduced me to James, who is. His son-in-law, I think he said, and I had the opportunity.

We went back in, actually, we'd been sit, stood on the doorstep for an hour chatting. I went back in at Stevens behest to go and talk to James. Actually, it was to show me C3 PO's eye and then go talk to James. So I went to talk to James about how they're using ai and I won't. I, I, I, he never said there's anything confidential about it, but I'm gonna treat that with confidentiality.

But it was really intriguing what they're doing with ai because some of what they're doing, I didn't know. It was possible. So I'm gonna take that information now and have a look at how you can use things in a way that I was unaware was yet possible. It feels like certain areas are already possible ahead of what I was aware of.

Um, well, that's it. Let me retract that. That's stupid. Of course, there's a ton of stuff that's possible that I'm unaware of. Um, I meant more mainstream, just simple stuff. Just ideas of how to use things. Absolutely brilliant. And that's where we are. AI is not gonna take your job, but another photographer using it.

Well, that's a whole different discussion. Uh, I hope this recording's working all right. I hope it's not too noisy. Um, I'm now stuck in a 20 mile an hour queue behind a lorry because they've, uh, resurfaced the road. So there's a, uh, grip kind of, you know, a grip warnings everywhere for stuff flying up. So we're all traveling nice and slowly.

Skid risk gets in. I'm not gonna ski anywhere. Um, so what else do I just want to mention? Uh, right. 

Mentoring and Workshops

We have workshops running. Uh, we learned our lesson by the way, uh, everybody said that. Uh, yes. Workshops on a Friday. Great. So we asked you workshops on a Friday. Great. Um, and then we put workshops on a Friday.

Much harder. Thank you for that one. Uh, all of our workshops are moving back to Mondays, which in the end when we spoke to everybody yeah, everyone said, everyone who said, yeah, Fridays are fine. When we went back to Mondays he says, oh great, it's back to Mondays. That's much better. So Mondays, the workshops are back on Mondays as a whole series.

I can't remember 'cause I'm driving what they are. Uh, but please do head over to mastering portrait photography.com and find the section on workshops and, uh, they're all listed. We'd love to see you. Uh, we are doing a lot of one-on-one mentoring now, which is lovely. Some of my favorite things. To do is to actually spend time sitting and well, I mean, I have to hope we impart some knowledge, but there are days when I think I'm just enjoying spending time with photographers, um, and discussing, uh, their work.

So if you fancy that details, give us an email, drop us an email and find out what we offer because we do, uh, what else was, I'll just finish judging. Uh, or I've got one. I've done my first cut of judging. So the way I like to judge is to do everything. And by the way, the deadline is Wednesday, Thursday. Um, and you might think it's a little bit last minute.

It's last minute because my monitor blew up. Um, I've had this Ben Q monitor for years, a decade, and it decided to pack up. Um, my eye mark. The colors I've known for a while, the colors are wandering and no amount of, um, calibrating. And I always calibrate. No amount of calibrating is gonna fix that because it's got magenta areas turning up.

On the corners, the middle's all right, but the rest is awful. So there's not a lot I can do about that. So I had to buy, I had to shell out for a new Ben Q 4K photographer's monitor. It is stunning. Oh my God, it is so nice. It's all calibrated Spider Pro. Um, it turns out that Ben Q's own calibration software does an unbelievable job of calibrating itself with a, with a spider pro that I've got.

Um, so the colors that are absolutely gorgeous, they look well, I say gorgeous, they're accurate, which actually is not necessarily the same. Thing. Um, but of course you can't judge a competition until your monitor's calibrated. So I spent many hours yesterday judging now the monitor's in and on. Uh, it's such a privilege to do what I do.

Um, mentoring, judging, coaching, you name it. You know, when I started this business or I started out as a photographer two years ago, I never, well, and I nearly said I never dreamt. I did dream of doing the things I now do, and here I am doing it. And it's no less of a dream now that I'm doing it, uh, than it was back then when I imagined doing it.

It's brilliant. It's one of my favorite things to do. Uh, so yeah, I was judging. Week. I can't remember how I got into this. I, I've lost. Oh, mentoring. I'm talking about mentoring and coaching. What a privilege and a pleasure. So if you fancy bit of that, uh, we do offer it now. Uh, one of the reasons I stood down after three years of being the chair of judging in awards for the BIPP was to give me a little bit of bandwidth and the political space to do more coaching and mentoring because you obviously, it's difficult to mentor if you are the chair of the association that now assesses the people you are mentoring.

That's a little bit of a conflict of interest. So I never did any mentoring, uh, while I was chair with, see I do now. Uh, what else? 

Mastering Portrait Photography Book

Oh yeah, his news. Most of you may have heard this 'cause we've had various social posts out about it. The book, mastering portrait Photography, the book, which is where it all kind of started 10 years ago.

10 years it's been out, it has sold 50,000 copies. It has been translated from English into American English. Do you know what? There's a complaint on Amazon. One of the very first reviews, it gave it four stars. They knocked a star off because we used American spellings. I mean, you do have to ask yourself, I'm sorry.

It was never published in British English. It went straight to American English because do you know it's a bigger market? I'm sure the publisher knew exactly what they were doing. Um, and so they only published it in American English, so apologies to the British English fanatics. It's in American English this time as well.

So it's been translated from American English into, uh, Italian twice. There's a normal copy and what's called a kiosk copy. They were both done by National Geographic. It's been translated into German. It's been translated into Chinese, and it's been translated into Korean. Now. Those last two we knew nothing about.

It's only when we were doing the audit a couple of weeks ago that Sarah drilled into it. And found them. We actually have a picture of the Chinese copy 'cause we have some Chinese clients who very kindly sent us some pictures, um, from, uh, Hong Kong. Uh, if I, if anybody's listening to this from Korea, I don't know if there is, but if any of my clients have Korean contacts or Korean family, or are Korean, is there any chance you could send us a picture of a book cover of our book cover Mastering Portrait Photography by Paul Wilkinson and Sarah Platon in Korean.

Um, that would be super valuable. Uh, at some point I try and get a copy of it, but even our publisher doesn't have copies. It must have been done locally under license, but it's out there. 50,000 copies translated into four languages and a decade later we were asked to produce an updated edition. Um, you will know this 'cause I've talked about doing the process.

It is done. I have one copy sitting in the studio, one copy of mastering portrait photography, the updated edition, and I have changed every single picture except one. There's one picture in there that's exactly the same as it was 10 years ago. Uh, we may yet run a little competition to see if you can spot it.

It will be on sale or it's already on sale. Pre-ordering. It will be on sale I think on the 14th of September. The original date was the 9th of September, but it's been pushed back a little bit by the publisher to allow distribution. We should get copies in the studio. We'll order a couple of hundred to be able to do signed copies and get them out to anybody.

Um, we're holding a launch event, um, for anybody who's in the book. Anybody involved in the book sometime in, uh, October. We will let, we'll give you details about that once we've got them finalized. Um, right. Hang on a minute. I'm gonna take a back road 'cause this road's been really noisy, so I'm gonna go cut through the back roads, which are quieter.

Uh, and, um, it's, it's out and about for pre-orders. Yeah, I do apologize again if this, if this podcast is a little bit noisy, I do apologize. But like I said, it's a podcast on the Land Rover, uh, right. Roundabouts. Hang on, let me just concentrate on traffic. It was good. Okay. Um, however, I want to just, I will try and get this podcast, Eric, today, which is Tuesday, the 29th of July, 2025.

Um, why? Well, because Waterstones in the UK have an offer on the book. They have an offer 25% off pre-orders. It's being promoted by Waterstones. Um, I'll put the link in the show notes, but if you Google mastering portrait photography, summer offer Waterstones, you'll find it, um, if you pre-order it, uh, before the 31st of July.

The offer only started yesterday. Um. Then you get 25% off the, on the offer. I promised the publisher we would promote it. So that's, um, out in September and I am beyond excited about it. Um, I talk about this quite a lot and, and I think we'll update mastering portrait photography with the stories behind some of these images.

But every one of the images is in some form a client, a friend, someone we met, someone who stood in to do a photo shoot, you know, people like Barbara and say Hi, working on Crystal Cruz's, just the most amazing people who stepped in to allow me to demonstrate certain techniques. Our normal clients, our son Jake, and our daughter Harriet, who are both in there with their permission.

But broadly speaking, it's our clients. It's the people who we photographed along the way. There's so many in there. I can tell you a story about every single image, every single moment, every single client, and on the back cover. So the front cover is Dory, who we met. She was serving US food in a really lovely Thai restaurant in the Crazy Bear.

And I asked her, I met her and with, I mean I was with Sarah and um, we were chatting and I said to Sarah, I think she'd photograph really well. And Sarah bless her because you don't have to do this when there's just a couple of you having a nice romantic meal and you start talking about whether someone would photograph well, there's every opportunity, uh, for that to go wrong.

But Sarah is the most incredible human being, and she too realized that Dory would photograph well. And so I asked her, I said, with Sarah said, go and ask us. I asked her and I said, would you be photographed? Would you be willing to come and be photographed? I think you'd photographed beautifully. And she said, no.

She looked at me, shook her head, said No. Walked away. Now, luckily we weren't on the final course, so she had to come back and I wrote on a paper napkin. I wrote, uh, my web address, my email and said, look, go and have a look. Um, I dunno why I thought, I have no idea. I just assumed, I dunno, I'd call it arrogance.

I thought, well, if you see my pictures, you'll want to be photographed by me, people in a rare moment of super confidence. Um, so anyway, I gave her that and she walked. And last night I thought, we'll never hear from her. At four o'clock that morning, the next following morning, there was an email came in that said, yes, please, I've looked at your website.

I would love to have my photograph taken. And that has started a friendship that goes on today. Uh, Dory is still this most incredible person to photograph. She is lovely. She is funny. Um, she is, well photogenic, doesn't really begin to describe it. She has the most beautiful daughter, the most incredible husband.

Um, she now has done some modeling off the back of it, and it's her picture from that from.  First session that we filmed actually for mastering portrait photography. We filmed it specifically to go with the website to support some of the ideas in the first edition of the book way back. And it's her face on the cover. One of our first, one of the first times I approached someone to model, and on the back cover is Jess.

Now, I first met Jess a few years ago, age 12, and she came to the tame food for. Where we had a, you know, popup stand selling vouchers and our wares, and she approached us and said, how much would it be to do some portraits, some photographs of me doing contortion, contortion, contortion being a contortionist, and she's 12 years old.

And what am I gonna say to a 12-year-old who is gutsy and asking about being photographed? She was there with her mom. You know, this is no. Our conversation that I would have with a 12-year-old obviously. So I had the conversation with her and our mom and I said, well, look, one of the things we do a lot of is we create videos and we run workshops and mentoring.

And I'm always looking for people that we can point in front of the camera who are interesting, have ideas, um, we can create really beautiful pictures off the back of, um, so why don't I trade you some time? So if you come. To the studio and I'll do some pictures for you as a client as long as you come back as a model and let us just take whatever pictures my delegates need and we're always looking out for models like this.

Um, and she said, yes, she agreed. I said that way, I don't need to charge you, but I get something in return that is really valuable to me too. So she came for the first contortionist. Photo shoot. She's a gymnast and a contortionist and a dancer. And um, over the years we've continued to work with her. She has now got a modeling contract.

We now help her with that too. I was writing my instincts that she would photograph well. Um, more importantly, she came to a workshop, I think. I'm sitting in the Lounge Rover. If I sit in my microphones in the studio, I'll tell you exactly the title of the workshop. I think it was Advanced Studio Lighting, or it might have been a avail, it might have been mixed.

I, I think it was Advanced Studio Lighting. And towards the end of the workshop, a couple of the photographers, we'd done a lot of freezing movement. Hang on, let me just let this guy out. We've done a lot of freezing movement. 'cause of course, you know, one of rom's brilliant features. Um, is that you can read on the back of the lights.

The pulse width, so that how the duration of the photo of the light pulse on the strobes. And so if you're freezing motion, as long as your pulse width is, is you know, ideally three thousandths of a second, but a couple of thousandths of a second or faster, you'll on the whole freeze motion. So we'd done that all day and a couple of the guys said, can we do something capturing movement?

Now, if you. Saw the work I did at the Society's convention this year. You'll see this kind of technique in action, and what we did is we lit her with two light sources. We lit her with LED, quite a lot of LED actually, and slowed the shutter down so that we could capture that movement in light. And then we fired a fast pulse at her face and her hands to freeze that bit.

And then we practiced some, uh. Um, sort of dance moves really of her flinging a dress around a ball gown and caught a couple of images that do both. They both strobe, they both freeze her hand, capture her movement, and when you get that stuff right, there's something really magical about it and we got it right.

At least I say you get it right, if that's, did I get it perfectly? No, of course there are things I'd change. There's always some. Thing you'd change? No, no image is perfect. But I think we did pretty well and I would happily do it all over again. Well, that picture's on the back cover, and we didn't know this.

We knew about the front cover because we'd sent over probably 50 or 60 full face portraits for the designers of the book to pick, and they pick Dory, which fills my heart with joy and on the back cover unknown to us 'cause we never saw it in advance. They've put Jess, who you know, was a 12-year-old gymnast and contortionist who had the guts to ask how much would it be to come and have a photo shoot.

And so I'm thrilled for both of those people, both clients that, you know, for the next 10 years we'll be talking about the book with them on the front and them on the back. Uh, it's out there, it's on Amazon, or you can wait. Until we get our copies and we'll send out signed and mounted copies. Um, sorry, signed and signed copies not signed and mounted.

You get into a rhythm with these things don't you? Signed and mounted prints obviously, but signed copies of the book. Um, we'll put that onto, uh, our website in the coming weeks once we know when we are getting our stock of them. Uh, apparently the print run is now done. It's now all about warehousing and distribution, logging, all of those kinds of things.

So that's coming out in September. Waterstone's, just a reminder, they have a 25% offer right now that if you pre-order it, uh, on their website, you get 25, uh, percent off. And I'm selling it for full price, which is 20 quid. Alright. Just so you know, uh, I'm gonna sign it. Um, send it out. But it will, um, it will be the full price.

Uh. Uh, no discounts. You can get it from, if you want it cheap, go to Amazon If you want it signed, come to me. Oh man. I've brought us round a back route. Oh, that pub's open again. Wow, that's good. That pub closed. It's reopened. Um, and on that happy note, as Irun my way back through bucking shirt, Buckingham, she's back lanes.

I was laughing with someone the other day, just how beautiful this bit of the world is. You forget because it's familiar. You forget it's your doorstep. You. I've traveled across the world to go to places that don't look that dissimilar to where I live and sat in admiration of these locations when it, you know, sometimes it's not a bad idea to sit and admire my own back door.

It's absolutely beautiful out here. Um, though the roads are in need of a little bit of repair.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

So on that happy note, please do head over to mastering portrait photography.com, uh, which has, as ever, tons of articles and is the spiritual home of this podcast. If you've enjoyed the podcast, uh, please do subscribe wherever it is that you get your podcast. It's on iTunes, it's on Spotify, it's on YouTube, uh, wherever it is.

Please do subscribe if you have any questions. Uh, who knows? Maybe you do. Uh, please do email Paul at paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk co uk. Uh, people do email in now. I think. Uh, I'm trying to remember the name. I saw the email come in. I think it's John. I think John, thank you for your email, John, uh, who wanted to know about the type of paint we use in the studio.

'cause I've spent ages trying to get it right. Got it. Right. This. Time, uh, got it right on two counts. I can't remember what it is. By the way, if you wait, if you're hanging on waiting to find out what it is, um, I can't remember what it is. Uh, Sarah emailed, uh, this morning the answer. I've got a top of it sitting in the studio.

Uh, a white paint for the wall that is broadly speaking, the same white as a white calibration chart. It's also super tough and super white clean, which is great for any of the posing boxes we have because we've forever putting coffee on them and leaving coffee stay. Well now it cleans off. It doesn't stain the paint.

It's absolutely brilliant. Uh, the point of the story is somebody emailed in and asked me if you have any questions, please do so. Uh, so until next time, whatever you're up to, wherever you are, and I hope. The view as you drive along is just as stunning as this is. I've turned the corner. It's just wheat field after  📍 wheat field and hedges and hills.

It's like a postcard. Oh my goodness. It's lovely. I hope like me, you're enjoying where you live and until next time, whatever else, be kind to yourself. Take care.

Featuring Mauricio Arias – from Episode 165 of the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast

This summer, I found myself at the foot of the Dolomites, tucked inside a sun-drenched meeting room at Graphistudio HQ, chatting with the wonderfully philosophical Mauricio Arias. He’s part strategist, part designer, part storyteller—now officially dubbed (by me) the Product Philosopher of Graphistudio.

We’ve used Graphistudio products for over 15 years. Our clients love their albums and wall art. We love their consistency, their craftsmanship, and their beautifully obsessive attention to detail. So when Mauricio and I sat down for a conversation, I had one question in mind:

Mauricio’s answer was simple and heartfelt: because photographs are meant to be held. He spoke about growing up with albums on the coffee table and family portraits on the wall—how physical images root our memories in something real.

But what stuck with me most was this: "Printing reveals both the beauty and the flaws." A great print will elevate your best work, but it also exposes any cracks in your post-production. It’s humbling. And it’s powerful motivation to keep improving.

We talked about calibration (yes, you need it), about photography as an emotional craft, and about the importance of believing in what you offer. Because if you don’t believe your work belongs in an album or on a wall, how will your clients ever believe it?

We also touched on the future—on AI, on trust, and on the rising value of human, handmade, tangible things. Heirloom prints are becoming more important, not less.

Listen to this episode to hear the full interview with Mauricio Arias. There’s laughter, insight, and plenty of inspiration—especially if you’re in the business of turning moments into memories.

Subscribe to Mastering Portrait Photography for access to videos, articles, and behind-the-scenes tips to grow your photography business. Whether you're just starting or refining your craft, there's something for everyone.

Explore Membership

Written by Paul Wilkinson · Photographer, Educator, and Portrait Philosopher-in-Chief

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.     

I talk through this while reflecting on a busy week – from a stunning wedding at Head Saw House to a corporate shoot for Barclays, and a spontaneous portrait session that reminded me why I love this job. I also share some thoughts on the updated Mastering Portrait Photography book, which hits shelves in September, complete with fresh images and a whole new chapter on AI post-production.

If you’ve ever wondered what makes a light truly flattering – and why it’s about more than just the gear – this episode is for you.

And as always, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, be kind to yourself.

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, as I sit here in the studio, the sun is shining in through the windows and it's been a beautiful, beautiful week. I started it with a trip down to Devon with the in-laws. One great thing about being married to Sarah, whose family are from Plymouth, there are many great things about being married to Sarah.

But one of the ones, in terms of geography, at least, is her family still lived down in Plymouth, in Devon, by the sea. So it was absolutely glorious to spend a couple of days down there walking the dog, drinking a beer, enjoying the sunshine, and the sun is still shining here right now. And on that happy note, I'm Paul.

I'm very much looking forward to a barbecue, and this is the Mastering Portrait  📍 Photography podcast.

  📍  📍 So what did we do over the past week or so since I recorded the last episode? Well, Sarah and I went off and photographed the most beautiful wedding at a location called Hedger House, which is sort of in between us and London, give or take a bit. Um, and you'll have seen many, many Hollywood films, uh, that were shot there.

None of which I can remember. There's a couple of James Bond films, a couple of Dustin h Dustin Hoffman films. I don't know, I should have paid more attention, but it is the kind of venue that you can imagine. Downton Abbey, uh, being filmed in. As it turned out, it was Abby and Rob's wedding. Um, beautiful.

I've worked with the family for many years, photographed her brother's wedding, uh, a couple of years ago, and so we've been looking forward to this day enormously. And when Sarah and I work together, it is a great privilege. It's not just that Sarah, uh, Sarah's family are from the sea, but she's a fantastic photographer.

Um, not that we've ever really used that talent, but if you think about it, it makes sense given that she must see. Well, I dunno how many hundreds of thousands of images every single year go past her screen. 'cause she does all the selections, but also she knows exactly, exactly what's required to design a great album.

Because at the end of the day, I. It's Sarah designs them. So it was a real beautiful thing to be able to do. Sarah has created some wonderful imagery. We've also had a couple of portrait shoots, three or four this week, which I've really enjoyed today actually. We've had one came in for a reveal and one came in for a shoot.

Two lovely families, and at the end of the day, that is still what this business is about. There is so much going on out there in the news about ai, about technology, about the economy. But in the end, the bit of the industry that I sit in, this bit here is all about families. It's about memories, it's about real people doing real things.

So it's been absolutely brilliant to be. Uh, photographing families, uh, and also selling, uh, a beautiful frame. This morning. It was absolutely lovely, big layup of multiple images, uh, to go on the wall. Uh, also this week, um, I took a trip into London to photograph the Barclays bank. A GM set up quite specifically the setup.

The brief actually said, do not include people where it's possible. So that's fine. I was there to photograph, um, for the, um. The production company that do all of the work behind the scenes. They create all the staging, they create all of the film work. My job was quite literally, quite literally, to be there and make sure that was really well documented, which I did.

But of course, because it was such an early start, I had my, um, original call in time at the venue in the security on this. As you can imagine, this is Barclay's, the A GM. Um, I've never seen security like it, and I've actually photographed this event probably 10 years or so now. I never seen security quite like this one.

And with a seven o'clock start, I had to, uh, stay over in a hotel the night before, which was great. I mean, it's no problem. There's plenty of hotels in London, but it did mean I got to go out for the evening with Harriet, our daughter. So the two of us met up the night before, um, had pizza, margaritas, a beer, a glass of wine or two and more or less.

Gassed just gossiped, um, all the way through until it was time for both of us to part our ways, me to go to the hotel and for her to head home. And there was really something really special about getting to spend time with your kids as a dad. It is the greatest pleasure. As you watch your kids grow up, you watch their confidence increase, you just, well, I do anyway.

Absolutely love spending time, uh, with both of 'em. So that was really, really nice. Then of course, the next day, um, I went and photographed all of the bits and pieces for the A GM. And then at the end of that took the opportunity to go and meet a prospective client that we are planning a shoot for a big client.

Um, and they want to create over two days, sort of 50 unique portraits of different people with different backgrounds, but all looking like their shot in their place of work. But they're coming from all over the uk so we're gonna do it in one location, a mix of the street, a mix of different offices, almost like, um, filming really, it's a bit like putting together, um, a film or a documentary where you use different backgrounds to tell different stories.

So I met up with a client, um, a marketer and a graphic designer, and it was. It was actually quite a laugh because I didn't think I was only really there to help them shape the job, help them figure out how we're going to do it. But of course, I had all my cameras with me from the job I was doing in the morning, and so I dragged one out, dragged a lens out, um, and we sort of barreled around the building, taking portraits of them, um, having a look at how the different backgrounds might work, discussing lots of little details, you know, the things that people miss when you're working on location.

You can't, for instance, assume that you're going to be able to use strobes because much of this building is an open plan, and us firing strobes while we're doing portraiture probably isn't gonna work because it's distracting for everybody. Now, if we're in a closed room, that's fine, but if we're out in an open plan or in the atrium, or in the restaurant, or in the library.

I'm gonna guess that's gonna be majorly distracting. So things like allowing for the fact that we are probably gonna be using continuous lighting, probably gonna be using LEDs, which is fine. There's no problem with that. But that has other knock-on effects because it's slightly different equipment and it will work when the light levels are reasonably low.

But you can't overcome things like direct sunlight or you can balance to a degree, but it gets very bright very quickly. And we are not a film studio. I'm not gonna go and set huge great shadow boxes and things over the windows. I'm not gonna have a tunnel lighting. I'm gonna have a very simple portrait photographers lighting set up.

But it was a huge amount of fun, and the pictures have actually come out pretty well. I'm quite pleased with them. Even though we were working off brief, we were just sketching. But of course, as a portrait photographer, that's your job. And when you do this at weddings, people expect that of you. But when you're working on the commercial side, I think it surprised everyone that it was well, that easy.

I don't mean I'm not playing this industry down, but taking a portrait is mostly about understanding how light works and then understanding how to read. And manipulate characters, how to be a people person with great light. Actually, that could be the topic of a podcast. All and of its all, all in and of itself is, you know, portrait photography is understanding light.

I. And how to manipulate people. And once you're there, there's not an awful lot left, uh, to do. So that was, that was a real blast. Um, I'm looking forward to doing the actual gig. We sort of got our heads around the scope of it now and that couple of hours we spent really did illustrate the best way to plan the shoot book people in, and generally approach him.

Uh, also this week we spent a day, uh, Sarah, Katie, myself and, uh, Abby, one of our regular models. Um, the video we're recording for the mastering portrait photography website. This time round is going to be all about those lighting patterns that have names, the eight or so. Um, lighting patterns, uh, single light lighting patterns.

Lighting patterns with one light, maybe that sounds better, where, um, they're sort of lighting patterns for me. I, I didn't really understand or didn't know, rather, the lighting, the names of lighting patterns until I started to teach. And still, in fact, we wrote the original mastering portrait photography book because although I knew them.

I didn't even know they had names. I'm not in that regard, a formal photographer, but it's really useful to know them because you can jump straight to that starting point. It's a little bit like learning your scales on the piano or maybe learning your rudiments as a drummer. To me, certainly. I mean, I've done both of those things and to me they were the est, most boring, mundane things that you had to do, but you had to do them as a piano player.

You had to get your fingers to have muscle memory so that if you needed to move around certain notes, you could get there. You needed to know in certain keys what notes went together. Similarly, as a drummer, you had to get your wrists loose and your fingers loose. And be able to move around the drum kit fluently, fluidly, and fluently, and the only way of doing that is repe repetitive practice.

It's repetition, doing it over and over and over again. Much as I didn't enjoy it, it paid dividends when I found myself on stage or in a recording studio. Then all of those hours spent at a practice pad or. As a piano player learning my scales suddenly came to fruition. And just for clarity here, I was an awful piano player.

I hated the scales and I had very little talent. I, I could play a bit, I could play enough to, you know, Russell Une, if I really thought about it, um, was not a great piano player. However, as a photographer, the value in learning these named lighting patterns isn't about the names and the lighting patterns themselves.

It's learning why they're called what they are and how to do them and be able to recall them if you need to, and certainly when, for instance, as a mentor and as a trainer. It's so much easier if we can talk about lighting patterns by name. You know, I can, we can talk about this shot would've been better lit short or lit narrow.

I think this face shape might have looked better lit. Broad maybe. Um, you know, Rembrandt lighting is very theatrical actually. Rembrandt light is one of those really obscure lighting patterns that everybody knows about. Every photographer, loves and can name and can create the triangle on the cheek. But that's usually done with a hard light source.

But if you really want to use it, you've gotta use a soft light source. But knowing where the light goes so that you can create that beautiful, gentle roll off across the top of a cheekbone is a practice thing. So anyway, we spent the day. Recording all of these different lighting patterns, and they're gonna look really beautiful.

I mean, Abby's a beautiful model. Um, we shot it really clean, so every picture you'll be able to see precisely what we're talking about. So we shot each one with a hard light so you can see exactly where the light lands, where it falls, and then we shot them with a soft light. So you can see how might, how you might use exactly the same positioning of the light to create great portraits.

So I'm looking forward to finishing that video up, which we'll do, uh, I'm gonna guess Wednesday next week. Um, and that will go out onto MPP. That'll be this month's, uh, video. Uh, a lot of fun. Um, today, uh, like I said, a reveal. All the cookies have gone. The kids needed chocolate. Um, so I'm sitting in the studio thinking like, quite fancy a cookie and nope, they're all gone.

Um, but the sun has been beautiful and so what a lovely, a lovely thing to do. Uh, some big news. Now, this has actually been rumbling on since, uh, January, I think. Um, but it's now, um, out of embargo is that we've, Sarah Platon and myself have been asked to revise the mastering portrait photography book. Um, the reason the website is called Mastering Portrait Photography is 'cause we produce the book.

The publisher have asked us to rework it. And so I've actually just spent a few months, um, reworking every single portrait. Except for the one of me, you can't really see that it's me. I dunno when it was shot. I look like, um, I've been dragged through a hedge backwards, and I've left it well alone because it makes me laugh.

So there's still a shot of me holding a camera in there that hasn't been revised. But every other portrait in there has been, they're my clients. Every single one of the people in that book is a client of ours, or it's from a job where we're doing a workshop or a masterclass or something. I can tell you a story about every single picture, and it's been such a pleasure.

It's 10 years old this year. The book, it came out around about, I think it came out in May. Well, I could look the dates up in, um. 2015 and it's gonna come out is, I think the launch date is the 9th of September this year, 10 years. 10 years ago we first created it, but we've reworked all of it bit by bit by bit, picture by picture, by picture, um, so that it's still the same book.

Um, it's definitely a second revision. We haven't changed all of the wording. We've revised some of it. And the post-production chapter, I've reworked to be mostly about. As it happens, ai, so the mix of Lightroom, Photoshop, and then uh, tools like Voto. I should, again, for clarity. Uh, I'm not sponsored by any of these companies.

These are tools and apps that I pay for. I wish I didn't. If, if a Voto are listening, feel free to b me a sponsorship. But no, I pay for it. Um, I pay for it because it's useful, makes my life easier. Um, it polishes images at a rate that I could not have kept up with. Photoshop, not. In this market. Now, if you are a high-end fashion house doing fashion photography, maybe you could beauty shots on the covers of magazines.

Yeah, maybe you could. But to, we can produce, you know, to a level of about 18, maybe even 90% of that level of detail. And you can do it in a heartbeat. So things like a Voto, the last chapter in the book, the post-production, uh, chapter, has been completely rewritten to include. How we now use things like ai because if this book, let's say this book has another 10 years on a shelf before it needs revising or taking off ai, I think would've completely changed.

Not just this industry, but every industry and the most valuable things will no longer be how good you are with a computer or how good you are as a coder, or even how good you are as a writer. All of that will become. Commoditized. You can simply tell a machine how to do it. The value will be, I think, in your intellectual capacity to imagine things.

Now, I know you can go into Mid Journey and type a bunch of keywords in, or you know, Firefly or Dali or whatever, but in a very real sense. That's not art or creativity, it's just the computer spitting stuff back at you. And the same is true when you're doing creative writing, but if you truly have interesting and original ideas and configure out how to articulate those, AI is gonna be sitting alongside you every step of the way.

And what's left? What's left when. Those kinds of tools become just the heartbeat of your work. Whatever's left is the personal contact. It's the people to people, the human to human, the character to character, the very physicality of being in the same room as someone, hence the. Why I get so excited about doing portrait shoots.

I've done that all my life, and I still feel that way, that when I'm face to face with a client, yeah. All right. I mean, I know I'm an idiot and I am loud and I laugh a lot and you know, every time I have a a, an adrenaline rush, when I'm working with a client or I meet new people afterwards, I will forever beat myself up for being.

I guess embarrassing, but that's the joy of being human. Um, the tooling, the behind the scenes stuff, the management, even social media. You don't have to go onto social media for very long before you start to see AI generated videos, AI generated images. Um, and the truth of it is, I'm not sure I can tell the difference anymore, but the, the days of six fingers to three hands funny necks, they're gone.

These, the AI tools that are appearing now are super realistic. Um, and if you can do that with words, imagine what you can do with a photograph as your reference point. So anyway, the book will be out. Sorry, I've digressed slightly. The book will be out on the 9th of September. It's called Mastering Portrait Photography.

Um. Um, it's already available for pre-order on Amazon, which means I can now, um, share details of it. We've been under embargo up until this point, but, um, the rework has been done. Now looking forward to, um. Seeing the actual printed, but I've got some proofs sitting here beside me that arrived this morning.

Uh, that, uh, I just wanted to confirm some of the colors were are spot on because one of the great things I think about Amini to produce this book is their color work. That printed work is just beautiful. The prints look like competition prints in the book. It's a proper, it's, I mean, for us it's a training book.

It's a kind of a walkthrough. Things you should think about as a portrait photographer, but actually. As the photographer. It's a coffee table book of some of my favorite work, so that'll be out 9th of September. You can google mastering portrait photography. The book is available on Amazon, and of course we'll announce details of, uh, signed copies.

Uh, we're gonna have some kind of launch bash, I'm sure of it. Uh, I cannot, absolutely cannot wait. Uh, and then onto, I think what I intended to talk about today, which is linked to the lighting patterns I talked about. But it is simply this question, what makes flattering light? And I see titles of videos, how to use flattering light, how to use this light, how to use that light, and nobody really explains.

What do you mean by flattering? You know, Rembrandt pioneered. Well, did he pioneer? That's, no, he didn't. He put his name to an observed lighting pattern that created a triangle of light on his cheek. Um, is that flattering? Well, it created a very effective, very gloomy portrait, the way he painted it Anyway.

Is it flattering? I dunno. I mean, certainly it looks great. What about soft light? The thing about soft light is we all always talk about soft, flattering light. I mean, if you ever hear the word flattering light, you're probably, it's probably prefixed by the word soft. And what do we mean by soft? Well, usually soft.

We talk about soft edged shadows. That's normally what we're talking about. But of course, contrast ratios are supremely important, too soft. Edged shadows and low contrast tend to give forgiving light. They tend to reduce wrinkles or they reduce the amount of modeling that might be across a part of someone's figure or face, um, that makes it harder to discern.

Lumps, bumps, textures, hard light, hard edged shadows tend to reveal. I tend to reveal light. That's a shape more than soft light. But what if you want to, for instance, reduce the perception of somebody's width? Is soft, light, soft edge shadows, low contrast, light better, or is it better to have. Very contrasty.

Light, dark, dark shadows where everything disappears into the gloom and hard edge shadows where when it's wrapping around a curve around a body, for instance, the lip part is gonna be slightly narrower than if you lit it with a soft edged light. Well, no one can answer that. No one can tell you which is the most flattering, only the subject and the creator can tell you the people actually there in the room.

The interaction between the subject. And the creator, you the photographer. So when we talk about flattering light, what really do we mean? And I think what we mean and what we have to agree to mean is flattering light is the light that creates a picture that you love and a picture that your client loves.

If that's hard light, if it's contrasty light, if it's soft edge shadow light, if it's low contrast light, it doesn't really matter. Your ability to read your subject, your ability to read, shape and form and textures, and how to either exaggerate that or reduce that. Well, that to me is what creating flattering light is all about.

Anyway, uh, that was not, which I, I dunno why I thought that would be a topic to talk about, uh, today. And the last thing, um, I'm just, before I sign off, I've, I'm just, so I'm gazing round our studio as the sun is going down. I have to do a big tidy up tomorrow. That's my job tomorrow, is to absolutely sort this studio out so it's nice and tidy for our very first, uh, inaugural two day bootcamp, which is Monday and Tuesday next week.

Now, you may be listening to this podcast after that's been done, um, but I will give you an update. Next week as to how it has gone. So it's two days, a maximum of 10 people. Um, a mix of being here at the studio out on location round our amazing village. Um, we've also rented, um, a hall in a local church, which will give us a ton of room to really play and explore lighting.

Our studio here is incredible. I love it. It creates the pictures that I love and pictures that clearly our clients love. But putting 10 people plus me plus models into it is just. I'm gonna be a little bit tight if I want to move the lighting around. So we're gonna have, uh, spend some time over at local church hall, which is always funny, um, because it's very real for most people who don't own a studio.

Being able to show how to rig and use studio lighting in any space you are in and all the considerations that go with it. For instance, we've been around there and, um, the, um, lots of the pin boards around the room have bright colors because they use it as a crash. Well, bright colors get bounced back. So you're gonna get yellows and pinks coming back off your light.

So learning how to work with that and how to reduce the colors of light. You don't want an increase of color, of light you do want. Those are gonna be part of the topics. We've got two days in the evening between the two nights, uh, pizza, lots of chatter about portraits. Um, and then on the Tuesday, a wrap up.

Uh, more photography and in the afternoon looking at, uh, technology, looking at, uh, Photoshop, Voto, imagine all of these tools that you can do things with. So I'm really, really, really excited about it. And that's, tomorrow's job is to go through the studio. You can see it, if you can see the edges of my desk, I'm kind of glancing around.

It's, there's so much stuff here. Uh, I collect stuff. I can't help it. Sarah keeps trying to get me to either sell it or throw it. Um, and at some point, of course. I will, but in the meantime, in the meantime, if you fancy coming on one of our workshops, please do head over to mastering portrait photography.com and go to the academy section.

All of our workshops are listed there. A bit too late, obviously for the bootcamp. Uh, that is Monday, Tuesday this week and it's sold out. Uh, but coming up, uh, our various workshops throughout the summer ranging from our on location in Oxford Workshop, which might be, and we haven't done the two day, uh, two day bootcamp yet.

This might turn out to be my favorite, but working in Oxford for the day, just taking pictures on the street using whatever light we can find. And our client, oh, sorry, our models this time. Uh, one of our wedding clients, the beautiful people who I photographed at the Manir, the most unassuming and gorgeous couple.

So I think that's my favorite. That's, uh, on our website. I don't, I think there's a space left. And then of course, there's a whole load of other workshops and opportunities for if you would like to come for some mentoring, like to come for training. Um. One-to-one, whatever it is. If we can help, we will. So if you fancy any of that, head over to mastering portrait photography.com and uh, go to the academy section.

And on that happy note, I'm gonna go brave some hay fever. 'cause it's the evening the sun is set. I feel there might be a barbecue in the offing. My nose is ever so slightly bonged up with hay fever. In spite, in spite of the drugs. So I'm gonna head away. Uh, hope all is well with all of you and whatever else on this beautiful, sunny Saturday evening, be kind to yourself.

Take care.

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.

Judging, laughing, making friends, presenting workshops, representing Elinchrom Lighting and Evoto Ai, learning, exploring, creating and very little sleeping! The Convention is quite something to be a part of!

In this episode, I try and explain what it feels like to be a small part of it whether judging the print competition, presenting or mixing with the trade - the various stages I pretty much always go through from fear to elation and everything in between.

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

So late last night, we returned from the societies of photographers convention in London, and you can hear him. My voice. I'm exhausted. The convention is such an incredible thing. 3 4, 5 days. Of mixing with the trade running workshops, attending workshops. And one of the most important print competitions in the industry, and that is anywhere. In the world, it's been a blast. You can hear just how tired I am.

But in this episode I thought I'd battled through the fatigue and talk to what it's like to be a judge, a presenter, and a delegate. At this incredible convention firsthand. I'm Paul, and this is a slightly weary. Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.

Well, hello, one and all. I hope you're all. Well, it's been a busy store to January.

If I'm honest. Uh, we were hectic all the way up to the convention. And even today, the day after it's all over, I've just been photographing a family.

Uh, this year at the convention, um, I was a print judge, a presenter, and an ambassador for Elinchrom Lighting. Uh, the company that I just adore using their products.

And so to everybody who I've met, everybody, I've talked to everybody who I've laughed with, shared a drink with shared an idea with. Maybe argued over print score with thank you. Thank you for making the Convention such a pleasure. However, as I was sitting on the train coming home, it struck me. That there are definitely stages stages to how you feel. When, at least in the role I have. Uh, your attending. The convention.

Um, sort of like the five stages of grief, I suppose these are the nine stages that I go through each and every time I attend the convention.

It's the thought processes, it's the things that make me tick. Uh, it's how I feel. It's how I feel before is how I feel through it, doing it in this, how I feel afterwards. So let me step through them. Um, as usually when I come to the end of a judging process, I'll talk to all of the things I heard during the judging and give tips on producing. Uh, competition level prints, but I've done that so many times, this year, I just thought I go through the emotions, the various stages. Did I feel every time. Um, I attend the convention.

So let's start with the obvious stage one. Excitement.

This kicks in the minute that, uh, the convention confirm. That you're going to be attending. They confirm that you're going to be running some talks. They confirm that you're going to be a judge.

Um, there's a real kick, a real thrill when that comes in. And then you start to think about what you'll do you start to, you've already had to put some ideas in, so those are going to be the titles of the talks, but you start to really plan out what that might look like, and that's six months out. We will start to put in, um, our applications for the 2026 convention in the next few months.

So you have big ideas. You clear the diary. Of course, you make sure that those dates are available. And at that stage, there is nothing more than excitement. Obviously a little bit of pressure to get some social media out and tell the world you're going, but it's all about the excitement. And then you roll up closer and closer and closer to the day.

And you're sitting on the train, heading into London, stage two.

Nerves.

I don't know if everybody goes through this. But I do. I start to worry that I've got all of the kit. I need that. I've got enough of a plan of what the workshops and presentations are going to be. I start to worry about that moment you walk into a room full of people that for some reason, in my mind, I assume I'm not going to know.

Of course it's never like that, but that's how it feels. Um, also there's a really important to this year. It was a three o'clock deadline, you have to be in the judges room by three o'clock. Don't turn up. You're not judging and that's an Intuit. You have to be at the judges. Briefing. Meeting. And Terry Jones from the societies, she will talk through all of us as judges as to what she's expecting, how are we going to be. Uh, scheduled, what the runtimes are, what sort of language it's, uh, just an update and refresh on a language we're going to use how it's going to work.

And if we're not in that room, You're not judging. And of course, the bit where I get the most nervous is as I walk in now I'm an extrovert. I love being in a crowd of people, but I've always had this fear of walking into a crowded room and not knowing anyone and having to sit in a corner. Uh, sort of minding my own business, finding people to talk to not being certain of myself.

Now, luckily for me these days, I've been in the industry for so long that I know probably two thirds of the people in the room. Um, so it's not as bad as it used to be, but I used to be terrified and I'm still nervous. I'm still trepidatious. I'm still uncertain of myself. Um, but I walked in this year and of course it was just brilliant.

And that brings me on to, I think, Uh, stage number three.

A sense of belonging,

a sense of being part of the family. There were so many hellos and handshakes and hugs and laughter and faces. I recognize some, I don't. I was introduced to new people. There's just this wonderful sense of coming back home.

I love the convention for that. Of all the things that it brings, I think to all photographers. There's a sense of being part of something bigger. I think there are about 50, maybe 60 judges in the room, plus the print and handlers and all of the teams around us. And it is the most incredible feeling of belonging and for the next sort of 12 hours or so, um, after the briefing, there'll be socializing some food, um, maybe have a drink with a few people.

It's a real sense of family. But then we come on to stage four.

We're walking in to begin the process of judging the next morning. So this is the premier print competition in the world. So stage four is pressure.

And even though I've been doing this a long time, I've been a judge. I can't remember how many years it is now. Probably 15 years. Um, there's still this sense. Of responsibility. Because each and every print, we will see hundreds of prints. But every single print is unique to the author.

Every author has put everything they have into it. And trust me, you do not enter a print unless you think it stands a chance of winning? You might not say that to people you might say, oh, I don't know. I just thought he might try my arm, but you haven't entered a print. You haven't paid for it to be printed mounted and then the entry fees. For you not to think it stands a chance of winning.

And as a judge, you really do feel that sort of pressure. You feel the responsibility as you sit there, the print comes up and you have to go through all of the elements, the 10 elements that were giving us, given us judges. Um, Um, on which to base our assessment and ultimately a score.

And there are five judges on every panel. And these are some of the best. Photographers in the world. So if you put in a score and it comes on the screen, And you're wildly different to the other judges. Of course you feel that moment? Have I got that wrong? And there's a process for this as the challenge process. Um, and each of us know how to do it.

Each of us have our own particular way of doing it. Uh, I had to run a few challenges this year. Um, and you're looking at the scores and there was one in particular where it was quite a long way out of line with the other judges, my school was higher and I'd seen things in that image that at least based on my assessment of it, my experience warranted a higher score. And every judge by the way has had exactly this happened to them.

This is not just me. But I'm sitting there looking at the scores and I'm thinking. How hard have I got to work to try and get the other judges to see what I see, to feel what I feel, to evaluate the image in a similar way to me, or at least come closer to where I am. And these are photographers that some of them I've never met before.

Some of whom I have met before everyone has their own style and their own way, but you then have to talk to the image and talk to the other judges. And see if you can convince them. That possibly there are things in the image that this time round, they may have missed that you, um, have seen. It goes the other way as well, by the way.

So if somebody else puts in a score and minds lower. The same process will happen. But now it's me trying to listen, trying to understand where maybe I've missed some key factors in an image and that's particularly important when images come up, that aren't in your wheelhouse things that you don't specialize in when it comes to portraiture and weddings, or maybe photographing dogs. I of course know what I'm looking at.

I understand that process really well. That doesn't mean I will always have seen everything, but it does mean that probably I'm in the right ballpark, but sometimes you get an image that challenges you tries, you tests you, it forces you to think in a different way. And while I might understand the print process, I'll understand the creation process, I'll understand the presentation, there may be things about that moment or about that imagery or about that style of photography that I might have missed. And so I'm eagerly listening to the other judges to see if it's something where I've just mostly get my score a little bit out and I need to be. Um, come a little bit closer to the overall score that's been, uh, the first round score that's been calculated or maybe just maybe I'll hold my ground and say no. I hear you. I understand what you're saying completely, I just feel for these reasons I've got my score about, right.

So can you imagine the pressure when you raise a challenge or you're involved in a challenge with really well-known photographers from all corners of the world, um, the pressure is immense. It really is at that moment, the most important job in the world. And on top of that, we've got a live audience.

So it's not even just that you're having to do. Um, or having to think on your feet and figure out your scoring, but you also then have to articulate that in a way that is clear. It's polite. It's respectful to the print, new author and the rest of your judges, but it's also educational, interesting entertaining, maybe because to hold an audience in the room, as judges we have, not just the responsibility. Of creating the right scores or appropriate scores for the images and bear in mind. Bear in mind, if you have a different judge on a different day, the chances are you going to get a slightly different score?

So don't think that these are absolute objective. We feel all the time, the pressure of that. But during that process, we are also for the people in the room, entertainment. With air to be interesting, as well as educational we're there to help them understand, but also for them not to be asleep. In the room, the rooms are pretty dark because of course we've got the prince lit at the front. Um, We have a microphone, but our backs are to the audience.

And somehow we have to be not only knowledgeable and skilled and respectful, but also to a degree entertaining. There's a lot of pressure on it. And it's not just the pressure of judging the prints because of course. Um, for me and most of the judges. I was also running two workshops or two masterclasses, and doing presentations on the Ellen Crum lighting stage.

So during the rest of the convention, even once the judging is done. I'm still feeling a huge amount of pressure to be the very best I can be to represent Elinchrom and the brand, to the best of my ability. And again, that's part education, but mostly entertainment. If you're stood on the stage, creating pictures, it's not really about the technicals, that techniques, that care moonlighting modifies.

It's really about being interesting and entertaining and giving people things. To go home and try themselves. And the workshops are almost exactly the same, just on a much longer format. So you really do feel the pressure to make sure everything's working, and when the audience are in there, that you give the very, very best of yourself.

Even yesterday, I had what we euphamistically called the graveyard shift, which is the last set of presentations, not just of the day, but of the whole convention. The trade show by now is closed. There's nowhere else for delegates to go, except home. And nearly everybody you speak to is like, right.

It shows done. I'm going to go catch my train. So you rock up to a room and I had, for the final session, I had the biggest workshop room. There is, um, I don't know how many people it can hold. But I was expecting two or three people to stay behind, maybe. Uh, we've got the last, uh, workshop I ran. This year was on high-key and low-key, uh, studio lighting, um, and going through the process of how you think about these things, how you evaluate. Um, the person in front of you, how you react to them, how you decide what you're going to shoot and how you then go through the stages of shooting it. I'd put together. A pretty good idea. And I assumed I'd be presenting it to two or three people who are going to brave the last trains home and stick around, even though there's a gap after the trade show, closing and the workshop starting.

Well, the room was packed. It was an absolute thrill to be there. And the last few. Minutes or hour the hour and a half of the day, with a full room and incredible model. Uh, Eloise Hare was our model and playing with these beautiful Elinchrom lights and just showing different ideas and not just with a full room, but it's a room full of people who really interactive, really engaged.

And so thankfully all that pressure I'd felt throughout the five days. Uh, dissipated in the last workshop.

And of course at the end of that, you get to stage five, which is elation.

And that for me, at least a sort of celebration, um, uh, almost a euphoria. Um, I've been meeting people and I'm an extrovert, so being around people really recharges me. I've been talking sharp. I've been talking photography. I've been talking lighting. I've been catching up with people's businesses. And we've been creating images and I've just been feeling like I'm at home. These are my people. Every minute of every day, it's just a sense of recharging.

It's a sense of, um, joy and conversation. It has been absolutely brilliant. And that's that sense of elation and you close everything down. You finished your last presentation, you put everything into its bags and then you get to stage six, which for me.

Is sort of, I've called it regret. It's a sort of insecurity, a paranoia.

That's always been with me. I've never got rid of it, which is where I panic about all the things I've said that possibly I shouldn't have. The people I wished I'd had a chance to say hello to, but I only waived. Waved over a room. Um, You know, there are always people at the convention. I just would, I went there thinking I'm definitely going to see them.

And the closest I got was to wave at them across a bar maybe. And I regret not having had enough time to see everybody, but that isn't enough time to see everything or everybody. I regret that maybe. I didn't give the best to me. I've given everything I can every single moment, but there's still that slight insecurity that maybe I didn't quite get to everyone. And maybe of course my scores of the images were off.

Now, of course, when you're judging. You have a panel of five people, um, and that's there deliberately. That's there. To stop it, any outliers, really railroading and the show. And that's really, really good. It means that even if I'm one image, I scored it. S off slightly too high, a slightly too low. Maybe there are four other judges to make sure that that doesn't really matter, but you still worry about it.

You worry about whether when, um, the chair of judges is looking at you. Uh, whether the person who created the images, looking at you, or whether the people that run the competition are looking at you, they're thinking. Oh, Wilkinson's a bit off this year. Isn't it? You worry. And that's always part of this. Sort of coming down from the, all of the energy and the adrenaline. Um, and then the fatigue and the grief regret, start to really kick in.

And that leads us on to state seven.

The fatigue, the utter tiredness.

And you can hear that. in my voice. I can hear that in my voice and it kind of speaks for itself. Um, I got home, I think at about 10 o'clock last night, I was in bed by 11 I was asleep by five past. And Sarah myself. Woke up at about 11 o'clock this morning. I don't remember being quite so tired. I was so tired.

I am still so tired. And of course today I've had a family in the studio and I've had to go back to giving a hundred percent and all that meant is now I'm even more tired. The fatigue is part of it.

And yet that's not the whole story because there's also now beginning to, to kick in a sense of stage eight, which is opportunity.

I've made new friends, some incredible friends. Um, Chris and mark in particular. Uh, really made me laugh.

If they're listening, they'll know exactly who they are. Two monumental photographers from Australia, monumental creators, monumental. Um, intellects and I've loved sitting on the panel with them and listening and learning from them. It's refreshed existing friendships. It's refreshed all old friendships. Um, we've had new ideas, new thoughts. Um, new challenges, new things to think about new ideas for creativity.

And of course, being a judge, I get a double pronged chance at that. I get to not only mix with the most knowledgeable and in pressive photographers in the world, but also to see images, competition images up close and personal from some of the greatest. Um, talent's there to the people that have entered in. Not necessarily people I never get to meet by get to see their images. And that in itself gives you new ideas and new things to test you.

Today, in my family shoot, one of the four people, it turned out through chatting with them that they heavily into steam punk. I did not know this what a brilliant idea. And she's quite keen to come and do some photography she's into cosplay, um, and steam punk. And she would like me to create some pictures for her too.

But that really is it a development of some of the images I've seen over the past four days.

And that leads me on to what I think is the final stage.

And that's a sense of energy.

Now for me. I'm an extrovert. So being in this huge crowd energizes me on its own, but being in the judging, seeing these images, seeing these photographers, talking to the other, the other judges, um, just being in that space. Is energizing for me.

And there's enough energy out of the convention. Every January to last me a good six months it'll fade. Of course it'll fade. This is a tough industry, right? We all know that. 2024, I think was brutal. Um, I don't know if anybody feels the same way as me, but that's how it felt. We hit our numbers just about, um, our revenue figures, but of course, Our costs have gone up. And so we really had to battle. To, um, get the numbers in and get our clients in.

Um, 2024 is a year that I think on the whole I'm. I'm not glad it's gone. You should never, ever be glad that at the passing of time, but let's just say that 2025. Is a whole new year brand new, fresh. Um, full of opportunity, full of optimism. And the energy that I get out of the convention, having met all these incredible people will drive me for a good six months.

And that's really important. Uh, Sarah and I are about to spend. Seven weeks working for cruise company. Uh, around south America. So at the end of this month, um, we leave half the team running here. And myself and Sarah will go and, uh, travel abroad. Um, and so I need the energy. I need the optimism.

I'm going to need the drive because even though that is the opportunity of a lifetime to spend seven weeks traveling, including five days, uh, attending and working at the, um, Working on the cruise ship while it's docked at the Rio de Janeiro. Carnival is, um, just the opportunity of our lifetime. Um, but I'm going to need every bit of energy I can find because we've had to clear the diary for those seven weeks or at least reduce the amount of work in it and had to do an awful lot of work in the run up to it.

And I'll have to do an awful lot of work. Um, when we come back from it and particularly on the customer side, but also a Mastering Portrait Photography, still creating the videos and the articles. But that stage nine, is that sense? Of energy. And then before I know it, it'll be back to the sense of excitement when we're trying to, um, get our talks and our workshops booked in for next year, 2026.

So to everybody who I've met, everybody who I've talked with, everybody who I've laughed with, it has been the most incredible five days.

The first two, I was on my own. And then Sarah thankfully joined me, um, for the, the, the end of it. As no fun. Sarah being though, when we're judging, we are literally down in the basement, um, judging for from nine o'clock. I did the one day we'd judged from nine o'clock, till seven o'clock in the evening, nine in the morning to seven in the evening. Um, it was the thrill of a lifetime, not just to be judging the rounds. Um, but this year I was one of the judges I'm looking after the final, final selection, um, which is such an honor.

But it was no fun for Sarah, if she was. L on our own. Um, and so she joined me for the last, uh, few days. Um, thank you to everybody that made it such a joy, made it such a thrill. Thank you to the Societies. And of course, in particular, To Terry Jones and her team on the competition side. But everybody on the trade show, everyone at Elinchrom. Everybody who I met every delegate, every single delegate, those of you that came and were quiet.

And didn't say word those of you who came constantly ask questions. Um, all of it. Just made me laugh too. The two models I worked with. Um, to Marissa and Eloise. Thank you for just being beautiful, not just photogenic, but beautiful as souls. Um, thank you to every single one of you. And on that happy note, it's a Sunday night.

Apparently I've got some cottage pie waiting for me back at home. So I'm going to round this. round this. podcast off, and wish you all well for the coming year. And I hope. I hope. you're as energized as I am for the coming 12 months. Take it easy and whatever else be kind to yourself. Take care.

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.       

I have loved doing this and if it weren't for a million things I have to go on and do, I think I would do it forever!  So as I drive home from my last round of qualifications - possibly the best one I've ever been involved in - here are a few musings of things I have spotted.

This is a 'Tales From The Land Rover' edition so please forgive the audio quality and any mild road rage!

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 In The Defender: So for those of you who love the Land Rover episodes, you'll be thrilled to hear that I'm just leaving the BIPP, the British Institute of Professional Photography Awards, uh, event 2024 25. Uh, why do we call it 2024 and 2025 is because if you get an award at the end of a year, it's a real pain from a marketing point of view if you can only say you have an award for 2024. So we call it 2024 slash 25, uh, just to extend the marketing value. So you're, you hold the titles for a year, , so why wouldn't we? Anyway, that's where I've been. I've just spent an absolute fortune on some fuel, uh, because I hadn't got a lot of choice but to fill up at a service station.

[00:00:47] And I am just pulling in to traffic. He says, concentrating on driving.

[00:00:52] Paul In The Defender: I had a lovely, uh, lovely email from someone this week. , sorry I'm driving so I can't, uh, look up your name. I'm so, I think it was John McCarthy. I'm gonna go with John McCarthy. , who said, amongst many other things, uh, he doesn't know how I drive and record a podcast at the same time.

[00:01:09] Well, the answer to that is I drive. And chat. Uh, there's not a lot of structure to it, , and a few people have said this week they like the podcast like that, uh, because, uh, they find it interesting to hear me ad libbing. I don't know whether that's, I don't know whether there's merit in that, but yeah, I am ad libbing because driving is the priority.

[00:01:30] They also said, uh, John said, I'm sure it's John McCarthy. I hope it is, if not, uh, I'm crediting somebody who's a fictional character. , he also said that uh, he can hear in everything we're talking about just how busy we are here at the studio. And it must be hard to find the time to fit in to do the podcast, and it is, which is why, uh, I am recording while driving.

[00:01:52] , but he did also go on to say, he loves it when we do them. Uh, they are really valuable. They don't just disappear out there into the ether. There are lots of you out there in the photographic community listening to, uh, hopefully enjoying, uh, at least to a, a greater or lesser degree, the podcast.

[00:02:10] So here we are. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Well, hello one and all. Uh, I am in relatively. Reasonably slow, fast ish, medium paced traffic, which is not good for me getting home quickly. I've got about an hour and a half of driving, but it is good from a road noise point of view 'cause at this speed, the road noise in my Land Rover isn't quite as, uh, intrusive as it would be. I see. It's not so much the road noise as the wind noise in this thing. I'm just looking at the other side of the motorway and thinking, I'm glad I'm not going that way 'cause it's must have been an accident.

[00:03:01] It's absolutely log jammed.

[00:03:04] Paul In The Defender: Uh, so what have I been up to? Well, it was the awards. It was the British Institute of Professional Photography International Awards yesterday in, uh, Bromsgrove, which is in Birmingham, in the Midlands, in the heart, in the heart of the country. Uh, an absolutely wonderful event.

[00:03:20] Lots of our friends and lots of colleagues, lots of photographers, uh, having a drink, having a laugh, and celebrating some of the very best images. That you can, uh, possibly imagine is absolutely brilliant. Uh, I have to say it's my last formal event as chair, uh, of qualifications and awards of the BIPP and I.

[00:03:41] I guess I have to just say a quick thank you, uh, to Martin Bains and the guys at the British Institute for asking me to take on the role. It has been the honor of a lifetime. You know, when you start out in photography, I, I was just a kid with a camera. Actually, to be fair, I still probably am, uh, just a kid with a camera.

[00:04:02] I've just grown quite a lot older and now earn my living from it. But the enthusiasm and the awe and wonder of what you can do with this gadget hasn't diminished at all in the time since I first picked one up at age, sort of, seven or eight or whatever age I was when my grandfather's, uh, Kodak Brownie.

[00:04:21] So to be. Chair of Quals And Awards for the oldest photographic association in the world has truly been the honor of a lifetime and when Martin asked me if I'd take that on three years ago, I think I might have been a bit reticent because I wasn't quite sure whether I could deliver what he needed, but hopefully we've gone on to answer the question.

[00:04:42] That was an emphatic yes and he, he and the board let me create a program and methods and standards That I think we can be really proud of. , and at the end of the, uh, sorry, at the beginning of the awards yesterday, so it's the end of my tenure. It's my last one as chair. So it is a, it is a sort of a bittersweet moment for me 'cause I've loved it.

[00:05:01] Uh, I'm only stepping down because I desperately need to find time to do a load of other things. And now is the time after three years, all the work we've done, uh, you know, on the, on the judging side for me, but particularly on Sarah. Putting in processes and making sure you can get judges when you need them.

[00:05:18] , so I'm gonna say thank you to Martin, thank you to the B-I-P-P-A huge thank you to Sarah. And thank you to all the judges who've judged with me, , who've been part of the team. , hopefully over the coming years I'll be able to stand back on the other side of the line and judge alongside the judges that for the past few years I've been sitting in front of while chairing.

[00:05:38] Paul In The Defender: , the other thing that happened last night, , so forgive me, this is a very personal. It's one of those things where I don't know quite how to do it, but I'm so chuffed I'm going to tell you anyway. I was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the BIPP. So, if you're not in the industry, I guess it's hard to articulate just how rare these things are and what an honor they are.

[00:06:04] There's only 26 or 27 Honorary Fellows in the industry. And as of now, I am also one. I already had my Fellowship. I got that in 2011. , Uh, but I now have an Honorary Fellowship, which is, it's been given to me. It's engraved on the thing is for services to the BIPP, which I rather like it. Uh, so it's just a real privilege to be given that, , I never, you know, just being chair of quals was to be honest, gratitude enough but it is still a lovely thing to be presented with. And that will carry with me for the rest of my life, you know. You keep that title, , and I'm so proud. I was so surprised and pleased last night and so proud now.

[00:06:50] But I must also just put out there that, although it is me because I'm the photographer, it's my letters. , actually, this particular one has to be 50 percent Sarah. It's Sarah that coordinated the judges. It's Sarah that managed things and runs me. It's Sarah that manages my time. It's Sarah, and even last night, several of the judges were telling me they were sad to see me step down, but actually, , it's Sarah they're really gonna miss.

[00:07:16] So, uh, this goes to Sarah more than anybody else. Uh, so that's a huge, huge thank you. Right, traffic's all braking. Good job I've left lots of gaps, that's nice. Right, so, what was today's topic?

[00:07:31] Paul In The Defender: Today's topic is, , based on a question that a client asked me the other day. So I was photographing a beautiful family, mother, father, nine month old baby,

[00:07:42] The weather? Horribly unkind. It was cold and raining. Your perfect blend of the two types of weather that you don't really want to photograph a baby in. However, we did some studio work and the little girl possibly got a little warm and a little bit grouchy, and so we stepped outside just to see if we could get anything and it turned out, actually, just going out into the cool air, uh, sort of, she, completely cheered up so i think she might just have been a little bit warm or she just didn't like being in the environment of the studio i don't know which but out in the cool air so her mom's holding a huge umbrella over her she sat on one of my our doormats from the studio and scattered the front edge edge with leaves so it looks like the little girl is sitting in this beautiful sort of array of leaves but she's actually sitting on a dry mat in the middle of our lawn and beautiful light and of course when you have water around and Those sort of gloomy bluish tones from a cloudy sky actually the colors pop, you get these oranges and greens that are really interesting.

[00:08:45] So we got these incredible pictures and, and afterwards we're sitting chatting and it was the, it was my client, it was the dad said, so what is it? He said, what is it that makes, what's the, the one thing you have to have to make a great portrait? Ah, well, you know, you don't ask someone like me to talk about stuff like that, or at least you don't if you want a short answer.

[00:09:05] Uh, so of course the obvious answer, , I'm a lighting specialist. , I love portraiture, but I've always been fascinated by light, its qualities, its colour, the, the shadows that it creates, and I think light obviously is a key ingredient, and I think if you were being Purely pragmatic, you'd have to say the one thing you need to create a great photograph is light.

[00:09:31] There has to be light because without it, it's dark, and if it's dark, you've not got a picture. So, that's a really pragmatic answer, but it's a bit dull and a bit obvious. And as I'm a portrait photographer, and during that day, I was taking his baby's portrait, and I've taken their portraits before now. It got me on to think, what is it?

[00:09:48] What is that primal? Thing that absolutely makes a portrait. And I think it's a relationship. That is my answer. , it's the relationship you form. Oh man, we're in a rolling roadblock. , that's what's going on. , so there's a slow moving, uh, police car or two.

[00:10:06] At the front of, , this particular traffic jam, so we're now travelling at 10 miles an hour. Uh, if we, if we carry on travelling at 10 miles an hour, I'm assuming we won't, but if we do, uh, I'll still be travelling home tomorrow. It's going to take us a while. I'm going to assume up, up ahead, somewhere, they're having to clear an accident, and so all of the traffic, we're sitting straight behind, , a police vehicle.

[00:10:28] Anywho, uh, let's talk about the relationship. If you're creating portraits, the one ingredient that you cannot get away without to create a great portrait is a connection with your client.

[00:10:43] When you connect with your client, when you create that magic between you, , then something happens and yes, you need beautiful light, of course you do, but in that moment, that split second when they look down the lens and you, uh, fire the shutter, if you have some kind of connection with your client, people who see that picture later will feel it.

[00:11:08] It's a really subtle thing, but it's all about what happens when somebody else sees the picture. Because remember when you're holding a camera and you grab that shot. The ultimate consumer of the image isn't you. Yes, all right, you've got the camera, there's that moment, you can show the client if that's your particular workflow, , all of these things, but what you're doing is , you're going to show that image or the image is going to be shown by your client to somebody else.

[00:11:34] Normally, that's how it works.

[00:11:36] And if you've got that magical connection between you and the person in front of the camera, that connection seems to flow out to someone who views the image later. That's where the magic happens, and you really have to do it fast too. , when people come into our studio, we have an entire workflow that is based around getting our client to relax, getting them to feel comfortable.

[00:12:03] And we are starting to create a very temporary but very powerful relationship. It's not, it's not a love affair, but it is that sort of some kind of rapport. Where. You can have a conversation, you can laugh, you can maybe learn a little bit about someone, which is always lovely. And when you do that, when you pick up the camera, you, that sort of momentum of that relationship carries through.

[00:12:28] So if you tell 'em to look down the lens, it has a, a magic to it if you're tell, even if you're telling them to look slightly to the side or down, that still has a body language to it that feels comfortable. So for me and the kind of portraiture that I love, it's that. relationship that you build, that connection in the moment you hit the button, and that is the most important thing about a portrait, and it's beautiful.

[00:12:53] And I said this to my client, and I really hope he sort of thought, oh, okay, that's a, that's a, you know, useful answer. I don't know whether, , I think he might just be making chit chat, same, because it was, he's the client, and so that's the rapport, right? So instead of me asking the questions of it, he was asking questions, , of me.

[00:13:11] Anyway, there you go. Key ingredient other than light is a relationship, the connection with your sitter.

[00:13:19] Paul In The Defender: I know this is a short one as I'm pottling along, but I also wanted to take the opportunity in this podcast to formally, as much as, you know, anything is formal with me, to formally launch masteringportraitphotography.

[00:13:33] com. Now of course the website has been there for an eternity. It's been there pretty much ever since we launched the book. Actually on the book there might be some news coming, but I'll keep you posted if and when contracts get signed. , But the website's been there, it's had sort of content, but we've really only used it primarily for the podcast as its spiritual home.

[00:13:58] Yes, there's lots of articles, there've been tons of articles, , but we've never really used it as our first and foremost focus.

[00:14:14] Mastering Portrait Photography is now very much in our viewfinder, if you like, if you like the metaphor, and we are pushing a huge amount of energy and content into it. So every month there will be a long form video. By long form I mean half an hour. Video, uh, talking about something, uh, I think the ones that are up there at the moment, like I said, I'm in the Land Rover, and while I did make some notes, uh, prior to clipping on the microphone, I didn't make all of them, so I think there is how to structure a shoot is on there, uh, I think there is how to work in harsh sunlight in there, , I know the one that's on the editing screens at the moment is five ideas for off camera flash, oh, we're all speeding up again now.

[00:14:57] We're So it's about to get a little bit more background noise. They must have rescued whatever vehicle it was. , and so, uh, you get one long form video a month. There will also be an article a month, or every couple of weeks, with a lighting diagram. On top of that, there are the frame, room, whatever you want to call them, mock ups, where they are photorealistic Photoshop files that you can drop your own image into, and it just looks like that's how the image was put on a wall. Why do we do those? Well, originally it was to help sell, , wall art to our clients. Because obviously as a business, I need ways of getting them to visualize the, uh, the wall art that I'd like them to have. And the closer I can get it to photorealistic, the better it is.

[00:15:50] Because they'll, they can't touch it. Because. That we haven't made it yet. And the old adage in sales, if they can touch it, they'll buy it. , we can't quite get there, but we can certainly visualize it. So that's really good. , and that's why we built them. I built them for my own team and everything about the website, Mastering Portrait Photography.com is of and for us, I built it or we built it to support us as a business.

[00:16:17] The articles, some of it came out of the book, but then much of the rest of it. It's been to help train people, it's been to help train my own team when we've got assistants in, , the room mock ups or the art mock ups are entirely built for us. They were built for us to be able to improve our sales, and that works.

[00:16:38] Make no bones about it, they work. You can see them, there's hundreds of them, we're building more all the time, , Oh, this bit's bumpy. The thing about recording in a Land Rover is if the road, the M40, as it is, has a rubbish road surface, which it does at this particular bit, , then it gets a little bit shaky.

[00:16:56] You can hear everything rattling around. And so we built them to be photorealistic. We built them for us. There's tons of them, but there's actually a by product which I didn't necessarily anticipate. So while I'm building these things, I drop images into them all the time. I go back to my sort of stock of portfolio images, some of my favorite images, my favorite clients over the years.

[00:17:17] And I drop them in, , to create, , thumbnails that when you browse the site you can have a look at. , but actually what I've learned, or I'm learning as I go, is how different styles of image work in different types of frame. So certain images work great big on a wall. You know, I think as photographers We're drawn towards the idea of the Mona Lisa type portrait photograph, or at least I am.

[00:17:43] I love a headshot. I love a clean, big, bold, you know, almost as if it was an LP album cover. Uh, I think, you know, Bruce Springsteen or Peter Gabriel, that's I'm sure my age, I suppose, , on an album cover, something like that, I think would be just brilliant. But would my client really put that huge on their wall?

[00:18:04] Well, they might if it's Bruce Springsteen or Peter Gabriel. They're unlikely to if it's them. Now, they might if they have an only child and they might if it's a picture of a dog. There's some amazing photographers out there doing pet photography and I can, and certainly when we do it too, you know, I can visualize how one of our dog photographs, for instance, might appear in a big frame on a wall.

[00:18:28] I was with a client and an old friend of mine the other day and they had a A picture on the wall. It's one of Randall Ford's pictures. , and I know the family and their dogs and, and, uh, the dad. And I just think I could do exactly that with, uh, his dogs and his family. , something big and bold. A couple of frames lined up across the wall, but on the whole, if you are gonna sell big frames, single big frames, you probably want groups in there.

[00:18:56] Now, if you've got clients with huge walls and. You know, a couple of kids, you might be able to put individual headshots into individual frames on the wall, and I do have clients like that, and they look stunning, my oh my, do I love it. Uh, but they're not the norm, they're not the norm. The norm is a normal sized house, with moderate sized walls, and if you put a big frame up on the wall, it's either got to be something like a fine art piece, where, let's say, The couple are silhouetted against the wall, small, but there's a big sky or something, , or a picture of a dog, or a picture of, you know, the two kids, or the whole family.

[00:19:35] It's highly likely that they're going to want something full of joy and laughter, because that is something that would be appealing at that size on a wall. Similarly, if you're laying up three frames, you can tell a story across them. You can use a different star a different type of image. You can use individual shots in a different way.

[00:19:52] For more information visit www. paulwilkinsonphotography. com , if you put three acrylics on a wall, you can triptych across it, so you have one picture that's spread across the three acrylics, and that could look super creative, uh, really, really interesting way to do it, , and all of this, my understanding of this side of it is increasing all the time, because I'm laying out using these mock ups, so on top of them being brilliant as a sales tool for you and for your clients, they're also a really creative thing to play with, just trying different ideas, And seeing how they look.

[00:20:25] So that's the room mockups on the website. There's also, of course, the podcast, this very thing that you're listening to, that's the spiritual home for it. Even if you're listening to this on iTunes or on Spotify or on YouTube. The spiritual home for it is masteringportraitphotography.com.

[00:20:43] Paul In The Defender: And then the final section, or the main section is the academy.

[00:20:47] And this is now where all of our workshops, , are going to be. So, uh, while I'm on that topic, I'll just reel off the workshops that we have already got, uh, to book in the diary. Now these have got, uh, people have already started booking on them, , we only put them up a week or two ago. Uh, so on January the 20th, January the 20th, we've got an Off Camera Flash Workshop.

[00:21:14] Uh, funnily enough, one of the toughest topics to teach, uh, but also one of the most rewarding techniques to learn. , so we did, uh, we are in the process of releasing a video on it that will go on, a long form video that will go onto the website, uh, and that is a deep dive into some ideas of what you can do with off camera flash.

[00:21:33] I think people are a bit afraid of it because it's, , a little bit technical, but once you get your head around it and what you can do with it, you can do anything from create really natural, almost available light portraits but with stunning light wherever you are all the way through to theatrical halloween images with smoke machines and all of the paraphernalia and they're all in this video and the workshop on january the 20th is going to cover that ground it's Off Camera Flash we may or may not include some continuous lighting but at the moment the plan is for it to be Off Camera Flash but if the delegates ask to also cover continuous light then we could do Some of that because of course every workshop we run we tune it to the delegates We tell you broadly what the topic is going to be and then through the feedback we get in the Early forms that you submit and we can tune it if you want to

[00:22:27] It's the joy of having a studio. I guess we can do anything we want to as long as everybody's happy with that on March the 31st, we have a Mastering Headshots Workshop, so As it says, it's all about headshot. It's all about, uh, the, uh, for me, I think one of the purest, most beautiful forms of portraiture. I love doing headshot. They're my favorite, uh, thing to do.

[00:22:51] I think it, I dunno why I, maybe it's 'cause I've always been fascinated with faces and a headshot is simply an excuse to photograph a face. So that's headshots on, uh, April the 14th. So the headshots is March the 31st, April the 14th. We have got dogs and owners. We're photographing dogs with their owners for a day.

[00:23:11] , Of course, during that we will take some pictures of the dogs on their own. We will also take some pictures of the owners on their own. But primarily it's targeted at how to photograph dogs in conjunction with their, uh, their owners. Why do we do that? Well, most of our clients would wish to have a shot with the dog.

[00:23:32] That's the best shot you can get. , not all, we have plenty of clients that just want the dog photographed, but we also have plenty of clients, one in particular of the day, brilliant, oh man, one of my favorite sessions, Vivienne, who has given me permission to talk about and show the shoots. Vivienne came with her dog Dodie, tiny little West Highland Terrier, who contrary to my Nan's West Highland Terrier that used to bite my toes, this dog was the best behaved dog in the world.

[00:23:59] PAULWILKINSONPHOTOGRAPHY. COM , followed her everywhere she went, but also would just wander off and get inquisitive and then immediately return. A beautiful dog, beautiful shots, and she booked us specifically for one thing. She said, I can find people who shoot their dog on their own, I can find plenty of portrait photographers, only one photographer came up who quite openly and on the website said, yeah, we can photograph a dog with their owner, and I do it all the time with the hearing dogs, why wouldn't I?

[00:24:25] , I think it's a really lovely thing, and the shots of her. They're off the top of the scale. So that is April the 14th, Dogs and Owners. Uh, and then, this is a completely new thing. On May the 12th and 13th, we we have a two day bootcamp Now what's a bootcamp? Well, basically, it's as much stuff as we can fit in over two days. And we get the chance in the evening to have some food, maybe have a drink, have a chat, be together as a group. , We don't have accommodation at the studio, uh, but we certainly have plenty around us. So that will be, uh, two days, , either at our studio or somewhere local.

[00:25:06] , depending on what we decide exactly where it'll be. But it will certainly be within a mile or two of, of where we are based two days. That's two days back to back a maximum of 10 people. So it's a few more than our normal. Uh, workshops, but it'll be pretty intense. We're gonna cover all sorts of ground, , using available light, using studio light, using off camera flash, maybe a bit of post production thrown into the mix, again, depending on what the delegates, the delegates would like to cover.

[00:25:34] It's gonna be an absolute blast, cannot wait for that one. It's the first time we've run it, , and it's such a smart idea, it's Sarah's idea to do it. , as always, the smart ideas come from Sarah, uh, and, uh, looking forward to that one. That's May 12th and 13th. And then the final one that's available at the moment, right now, is June the 9th.

[00:25:52] We are doing our regular jaunt, uh, we're gonna dance to the weather, see what we get, uh, on location in Oxford. Now this workshop, I think, might be, might be my favourite, because it's just me with a camera, with some people to photograph, on a location. That's it. We don't carry a load of kit, don't carry particularly reflectors and lights, we just go and find locations, find light pools and patches, find stories to tell.

[00:26:24] We just go and photograph our models in Oxford on location. So that's on June 9th. And all of these workshops are now home, housed, ha ha, can't even say it, are now located, let's try that, are now located on masteringportraitphotography. com. We've moved everything over because that was always what we were building with the workshops.

[00:26:50] , originally it was under Paul Wilkinson Photography, uh, but we always knew, , and had, and had a reasonably openly talked about this, Always knew that we'd be moving it across to Mastering Portrait Photography. 'cause that's the place that's all about learning, all about teaching, all about enjoying and exploring portrait photography.

[00:27:10] So if you go to mastering portrait photography.com, there's a, a section called the Academy. So there's all these sections. There's The Visual Vault, that's all of the articles. There's The Podcast, there's, uh, The Resources, which is, , the mockups and , tools, Photoshop downloads and things. And then there is the, uh, Academy.

[00:27:31] And this is where you'll find the workshops. Exactly the same booking process as before. Everything's as it was, it's just now hosed, ha ha ha, it's just now located on masteringportraitphotography. com. Now, for the articles and the videos and the mock ups, at the moment the mock ups are 9. 99 each, uh, which is already a bargain, there's a few free ones, just so you can get an idea, uh, so they're about a tenner each, , there's a few backgrounds, I'm working on building more backgrounds as I need them, but mostly it's the mock ups.

[00:28:02] So they're a tenner, which is a bargain, you can create them, you can put them in magazines, you can use them on your website. It just shows your prospective or your existing clients how their images might look. A tenner. Bargain. However, there's a bigger bargain. I suddenly sound like a salesman. So sorry, it's because I'm driving.

[00:28:21] And I want to give you not one, but two bargains. It sounds like that. Anyway, if you become a subscriber of Mastering Portrait Photography, you get access to the videos. , and you get access to the downloads. And you get access, well, to everything we put on there, except the workshops. We charge separately for those.

[00:28:39] But you get access to all of the resources for 6. 99 a month, which is an even bigger bargain. So even if you only want to download a few of the room mock ups, it's still better to keep a subscription going at 6. 99 a month. It's less than an expensive cup of coffee. And, uh, we will keep the mock ups coming, we will keep the articles coming, we will keep the videos coming, so you'll always have value for money for your 6.99. If you're feeling a bit more, you know, a bit, you have a bit more conviction, then it's 69 quid, or 69. 99 a year, so that's 12 months for the price of 10. Uh, 10 percent saving, or whatever that is, 2 out of 12. Is it a 10? Yeah, it's a 10 percent saving. Is it? No, it's not. It's, I don't know what it is. It's two twelfths.

[00:29:25] There you go. It's one sixth. No! Which is a great saving. My maths isn't good enough, uh, while I'm driving. I can't concentrate. I'm concentrating on the road, as I should be, by the way. Uh, so it's 6. 99 a month, , or 69. 99 per year. So head over to masteringportraitphotography. com, , and we promise, we promise we'll make it worth your while.

[00:29:48] Oh, sorry, all of our members also. Uh, you get access to our Facebook community. Which is hidden and private. You can't get onto it any other way. , only people who are part of our community can be in there. And that way people can ask for critiques. People can ask for advice and tips is where we put discount codes for things.

[00:30:07] , like software where we have, uh, access to discounts from suppliers, those kinds of things. They all go onto the Facebook community. I know a few of you aren't on Facebook, and if I'm honest, it's not my favorite thing. Because I'm just a dopamine idiot when it comes to social media. Once I'm on it, I can't get off it.

[00:30:26] , however, it's the best way to do this to be, so you don't have to log into multiple places to find information. It's on our Facebook community, uh, and most of us have a Facebook account. So you see the, , the alerts come up when things, uh, are uploaded. So that is masteringportraitphotography. com. If you want to find the workshops, Head across there and go to the academy.

[00:30:47] You can Google Mastering Portrait Photography Academy or mastering portrait photography workshops. , they're a little bit lower down the rankings at the moment because obviously I've spent my entire life saying just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography workshops and everyone heads over there. So, uh, you might just have to scroll down, uh, one or two line items and we'll be there.

[00:31:05] Uh, that will change more and more of you. Uh, search for it and click on the link. So search for mastering portrait photography workshops or Mastering Portrait Photography Academy and you will. Find us.

[00:31:15] Paul In The Defender: And that's it for me. The traffic is free flowing. There's cars going everywhere. The light is dimming.

[00:31:20] They're salting the roads. They must be expecting some cold weather. It's a beautiful, beautiful afternoon. It's been a wonderful evening of celebrating photography. I am thrilled, thrilled to bits that I've rounded off my three years with setting up the most incredible monthly photo competition and also, of course, the surprise and honor.

[00:31:46] So on that happy note, I hope you're all well, I hope things are treating you nicely, and until next time, whatever else, be kind to yourself. Take care. P. S. Sorry if this sounds a bit shouty, but when you're driving a Land Rover, it's really loud, and I forget that although I'm mic'd up, or I forget rather that because I'm mic'd up, it might sound weirdly, like I'm simply yelling!

[00:32:27] That's because I'm traveling at Sixty mile an hour in a Land Rover Defender, so apologies if I'm shouting. Be kind to yourself. Take care. Bye.

I have loved doing this and if it weren't for a million things I have to go on and do, I think I would do it forever!  So as I drive home from my last round of qualifications - possibly the best one I've ever been involved in - here are a few musings of things I have spotted.

This is a 'Tales From The Land Rover' edition so please forgive the audio quality and any mild road rage!

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

So I'm driving home from Birmingham, just in a service station, having bought the most expensive cup of coffee in the world, um, but I need one. It's been a long few days, um, and I am beyond exhausted.

I've just been judging for the British Institute of Professional Photographers. I was there as chair of judges and quals for the last time, maybe not for the last time ever, but certainly for the last time, uh, in this current guise.,

it's been three years, I've done it for three years, and I need some time to be able to do some other things, it's nothing more than that, that's all I need, it's just to be able to do some other stuff, because we're building up Mastering Portrait Photography, which, by the way, we actually got another royalty statement through this week, um, for the book, ten years later, and the book is still .selling, I cannot believe it, uh, selling all over the world, and it's such an honor to have something out there that is still ticking over, you know, a few hundred copies, I'd say it might be more than that, but it's hundreds of copies, every year, around the world, it's still in print, after ten years, and while much of the book I would update now, it's still reasonably, uh, current, the pictures certainly stand up for themselves, as do the Uh, all of the notes.

I think the one thing I would change is the opening chapter, which is all about current cameras. And of course that's changed in 10 years. They're not at all like that. And that's kind of what we're doing. We're building this incredible website called Mastering Portrait Photography. That is what I always loved, which is images and explanations and diagrams and ideas.

And I have a bookshelf from floor to ceiling full of those kinds of books. So, it's time to stop judging for a moment, and I've just spent the past few days doing it. I'm on the M40 heading south. I'm Paul, and this, this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.

Well, wow, what a few days it has been, and what an honour and a privilege it's been to have the role of Chair of Qualifications and Awards for the world's oldest. Photographic society or association, um, just beyond belief that I was asked to step into that role and it saddens me to leave, particularly after these couple of days because it's been just the most exciting thing.

It's been absolutely wonderful, but I have to do it. We have to find a way of getting a little bit more time to do the other things that I need to get to. So.

I've stepped down, I stepped down a few months ago and said I'd run it to the end of the year, so I've just finished the last set of qualifications that I'll be chairing, for now anyway, and the last annual printmasters competition.

I've got one more round of monthly images to, uh, chair the judging for, and then I am done for a little bit. So I'm not done judging, I'll still be judging both for the, sorry, for the BAPP, I'm sure. And for the Societies where I'm going to be in January, we're presenting again in January at the Societies Convention in London.

Um, I'm doing a couple of workshops, a couple of masterclasses, but I'm also going to be judging. I'm also leading the judging for the Click, uh, Click Light event, uh, sort of towards the end of next year. I already know that's in the diary. So it isn't that I'm stepping away from judging, it's just I'm stepping away from the role that I currently have at the moment.

Um, because it's just too time consuming, it's all I can do. Um, so what have the last few days, uh, been?

Well, we've judged hundreds of images, and I, it is, it's hundreds and hundreds of images. We've judged eleven panels, there are six judges. I chair a team, there's myself and six incredible photographers across all genres, um, of our art form.

commercialphotography, portraitphotography, weddingphotography, landscape, wildlife, you name it. Uh, this broad skillset in the judges, um, was in the room. Six just wonderful people, um, and it's that I think I'm gonna miss if I stop judging, of course. It's being in a room with these massive talents who make me laugh and inspire me every time we do it.

So we have judged 11 panels. of which five, uh, came out as a fellowship standard. That's the highest grade we can offer is fellowship. Fellowship at the British Institute of Professional Photography. I got my fellowship, uh, 2011, I think. I should know the dates to my own life, but I don't. Um, and I remember then wondering what, where that would take me.

What did it mean? And where it's taken me is to where I am right now. We've written a book. I've chaired all sorts of associations, I've chaired, I've been the Chair of Quals and Awards for the, um, for the British Institute of Professional Photographers. Um, I've travelled the world, I've worked on cruise ships, I, just, so much stuff has happened, and it's all thanks, or at least it was triggered, by me doing my quals.

Uh, so five fellowships, uh, three licentiates, um, three of the panels we saw of the eleven sadly were unsuccessful, um, but of the others, eight were successful, and a couple of those were uplifts, which means they came in at one grade, and they didn't just get the grade they came in for, um, they were deemed to be so good, they were uplifted to the next level, the next qualification, and they both came out at fellowships.

And I've had the chance to see and talk to the most wonderful photographers and their images. One panel in particular really just blew me away. And it's rare that I look at a panel and I wish I'd taken those images. There are panels where I love the images, but they're not really my field or it's just, you know, a different thing to what I do.

But this was a panel of portraits of artists and creatives and artisans, famous artisans, some of them unknown artists, others, and the way the work was presented, the way the author was so down to earth and humble about what he did, the way he'd captured characters in a moment in time, the way he'd styled each image in each studio, everything about these images just made me wish.

I had captured them and that's how it's left me. But what a way to leave, right? What a way to finish my tenure, um, after three years in the role. What a way to decide it's time, um, and although I'd taken the decision a few months ago that it was time for me to step away, I couldn't have foreseen that the last round of judging that I would chair like this would be simply the best couple of days of my time in the seat.

Absolutely. uh, amazing. So as I said, we've just judged the printmasters 2020. I don't know if I did say it or not. Obviously when I'm driving in the car, I'm on the motorway, uh, concentrating on the driving is my priority. Speaking into a microphone is very, very low down the list. Um, so of course I'm making it all up as I go along and trying to remember what I've said.

I have no idea. Did I tell you that, um, we've just been judging the printmasters as well as some qualifications? I've no idea. So that's what we've been doing two days, one day printmasters, another day. Quals, the print masters, hundreds of prints, hundreds and hundreds of prints.

So what have I learned over the two days?

Uh, well, let's sort of think of, uh, some things. Firstly, and this sounds obvious, but I'm in the same way that McDonald's print caution is coffee might be hot on the side of their coffee. It's such an obvious thing, yet people don't. So I'm telling some of the obvious things and yet people don't read the rules.

Start there. Whatever else you do, read them. Don't ignore them, because we will find out. We have had one image confirmed as being generated by AI. I doubt it's the last. We're gonna see more. The judges spotted there was something not quite right about it, so we dug in. Sure enough, AI. That's not to say there isn't AI we've missed.

AI now is so good that if it's presented to us, Unless we forensically check every file, I don't know what else we're supposed to do. Um, we spotted it, we got it checked, that's disqualified. There are others maybe in there, um, that have more than a smattering, um, of artificial intelligence involvement. But, you know, uh, the tools will get better and better and better at spotting it.

Um, and maybe it'll get to the point where in all competitions we have to ask to see The original RAW file, but even that, you know, you can fake a RAW file. So, what do you do? Uh, either way, absolutely brilliant. Um, also if it says it has to be a commissioned image, that does mean you can't use images from workshops.

Um, commissioned means you had a client who paid you to take the picture, that's what a commissioned image is. And of course, when images of models start popping up, this In a room with six of the most experienced photographers in the UK, there's always going to be one of them that's like, I know that model, I've seen those pictures, I know where that was taken, I know who took that.

Um, and so yeah, sure enough, we had to ring around a little bit and find out, um, whether some images were, um, within the rules, um, and the confirmation, uh, came through one way or the other. And of course, just read the rules. Uh, I say this every time I do one of these mop ups. Paper and mounts. Paper and mounts.

Paper and mounts. If you have any white paper showing of the printing paper, it's a good idea that the matte is either significantly different in colour to that paper, or is exactly the same as that paper. Um, one of my favourite, um, ways to mount an image, and there were quite a few we've seen over the past few days, The idea behind this was to have a white paper border around the print that sits then inside the mount.

So there's a gap between the edge of the actual ink on the paper and then the cut of the mount. It creates a really beautiful sense of space as it sits into the opening. But the paper needs to be the same colour as the mount. Otherwise it looks really weird. I suppose you could have a black mount and white paper.

Yeah, that would be fine. But a slightly off white mount and a pure blue white paper probably are not going to sit that comfortably, uh, together. So think about that. Think about how the whole image appears.

So what else?

Well, good mentors matter. I might write a title. I might, might, maybe I should write a podcast on that and that alone. Good. Mentors matter. They really do. We can see the work coming through from great mentors. Um, because the panel is considered, the way it's laid out is considered, the image selection is considered, um, having somebody else's eyes on to help you step outside of yourself.

The problem is when you're looking at your own images is you are by definition attached to them. You can't get around it. That's the way it should be. You are attached to your own images, which means you're not looking at them objectively, or at least most of us can't look at them objectively. I'm sure there are photographers out there who profess that they can.

I can't. I need another pair of eyes on. I have a mentor, and having a mentor is utterly, utterly crucial. Um, someone who can not just cast their eye over what you're doing, but help and shape and guide, give you ideas, bounce stuff off of you. Someone, ideally, who you respect, that you think what they've created and maybe what they can drag out of you will just make you a better photographer.

That's your mentor's role. They don't have to necessarily be a better photographer, they have to be someone you respect. Um, so have a good mentor and talk to them. Being meant, I've said this, there's a podcast on this somewhere in my history. That being mentored, being a mentee is a skill in and of itself.

It's not just a case of a mentor telling you how to get better. It's you driving that, you asking for the right help. You listening to what a mentor tells, tells you, you deciding what from what they're advising, what to do with it. You won't do everything a mentor suggests because your mentor is them and you are you.

You know, unless your mentor is your twin or something, they're always going to tell you things that, well, I can see how that might work for you, but it probably isn't what I want to do for me. That's fine. That's completely fine. As long as it's a rational decision that you're going to do something slightly different.

It's not just, nah, can't be bothered because can't be bothered, got no one nowhere. So have a good mentor, listen to them, use them, drive it, uh, and, you know, It just, you can see it in the panels that came through where the mentor, the relationship with the mentor, uh, was incredibly, incredibly good.

The next thing I'm thinking of is be current.

And what do I mean by be current? Well, the trick, I think, is to love the world in which you work. Look at the art, look at the Tele, films, listen to the radio, be influenced by the world in which you work. Don't just, you know, it's the temptation always, I think, when you do things like fellowships, is to say, well, that's defined me, that's who I am.

And we see it sometimes in the work, and frankly, we see it sometimes in the judging, where, um, just because it's always been, So that's the way it always will be. And that's, that's, that's not a great way to be. I don't think, you know, mix with new photographers, new generations of photographers. If you're like I am just that little bit more experienced in the industry, you know, my influences now have to broaden into the younger market because that's not my natural fit.

So I've got to get out there and explore what's being created. On channels that maybe just maybe I wouldn't normally gravitate towards. You know, I can't say I am a TikTok king, um, but I do go on there. I do keep an eye on what's going on. I try to learn from it. Um, Insta, I have a big account on Insta, um, which right now is still reasonably current, but it won't be in the same way that Facebook probably isn't anymore.

So, be current, be aware of what's on magazine covers or the latest and greatest websites. Have a. I don't know, have a link on your browser that gives you the top ten designed websites in the world at any one time. You can do these searches. In which case, have a look at what they're using as the imagery.

As a photographer, that's our job. You can have a style, of course you can. But, you should all, always be absorbing and assimilating. And, some of what we've seen over the past few days, It felt a little bit like it was looking backwards rather than looking forwards and we should represent the future as photographers, not just what's gone on before.

Again, I'm not saying throw away the classical techniques, of course I'm not, because they're there for a reason. Cliches are cliches for a reason and rules are essentially just cliches. So don't ignore it, but interpret it in new and exciting ways. Style images. Finish images, use post production, try different things that it would never have occurred to you to do.

Just be exciting and be current.

Uh, for you wedding photographers or frankly anybody who photographs people who are in love, uh, or people I suppose because there's an extension to this, um, one of the things that came up a little bit was a disc or various discussions around whether A couple had been photographed and it looked like they were genuinely and authentically in love.

The connection between the couple, um, there needs to be movement in that. It's like choreographing a dance when you have a couple sort of, um, in each other's arms or really close to each other. Don't think like a photographer, what do you want the end, what do you want the shape of them to be? Think like a choreographer and think, what would I like the movement to be?

And then as a, as a photographer, think, okay, now I've got the movement and the shape and the emotion and the rhythm of this, what moment do I want to hit the button? Now of course you can pose it statically, that's not a problem, but it should feel alive. It should feel like they're moving, that they are in harmony with each other.

There needs to be a connection between them. And then ultimately, there needs to be a connection with you, the photographer. Or more importantly. The viewer who sees the image in the end and to do that they must connect with your camera now You're holding the camera So they have to connect with you and then you have to guide them towards the lens if it's eye contact that you want But there has to be they have to like you and you have to genuinely like them It shows in the images when there's a relationship between the subject and the photographer You can feel it.

It's, it's sort of there in the picture. It's there in their eyes and their muscles. It's there in the timing of the shot that you take. It's there in the way their shoulders rise or fall or the way he's not just holding her or she's holding him or she's holding her.

It's the way that they bring each other closer together with laughter or emotion of some sort.

So have a connection with your with your subject and get them to have a connection with each other. Um, one of the biggest things I've thought of, I've lost track of where I am, of course, because I'm in the car and it's, the road's busy.

Um, but one of the things that occurs to me, it's the most important thing you can do with, um, competitions and qualifications is do them.

Actually get off your hands and do them. I know some very good photographers who think that they won't win something or they won't qualify. And they certainly won't if they don't enter, that's certainly true, but if they do enter, who knows? I know some of the categories that came through for the print competition this year were eminently winnable.

There are great images in those categories, but I know photographers producing equally good images Who had they simply entered, stood as good a chances as anybody else? Why not? I obviously can't enter because I'm, uh, judging. But with another association I enter all the time quietly behind the scenes. I don't really make a fuss about it because if I'm not entering, if I'm not pushing my style and my techniques, how can I consider that I'm qualified to either mentor or judge others?

So I do it too, and yes, it's heartbreaking when your images don't. Well, of course it is. It can be expensive and soul destroying. You know, it's a real problem. But, equally, it can be hugely rewarding. So you, you can't win if you don't enter. You can't qualify if you don't try.

And the process, particularly with qualifications, the process is so much more important than Than the qualification itself, though that is absolutely not , not how it feels.

It's only afterwards when you can say these things. You never, anyone if, if anyone's ever going for qualification. Um, and I say to them, um, you know, uh, how do you feel? And they're like, ah, it doesn't really matter. It's just a process. It's a journey that I'm like, no way. No, no, no, no way. I know you are not telling the truth.

Why? You wouldn't put yourself through that kind of expense and that kind of pain and discomfort if it was just about the learning. But the learning is the bit of the puzzle. When you look back with hindsight, whether your panel is successful or not is the most valuable thing you'll do. Because that's where the lessons are.

That's where the learning is. That's where the development is. The letters give you confidence. The letters help you shape who you want to be. And they certainly, if you know what you're doing, help you market yourself. But they're not a definition of who you are. The process of getting there, though, is, because it gives you, or it shapes, or it demonstrates, I don't know what the right word is, that you have the dedication to your craft, that you're willing to get down and push and push and push to be the very best that you can be.

You're never going to be a finished article, or at least I don't think you can be.

I think every day, I mean for me for instance, I wake up every day it's a mix of enthusiasm and energy and ambition and insecurity. I just think, oh I'm not very good but today I'm going to be better. That might not sound like the most reassuring thing in the world but it is what it is.

You know, I've learned to use my insecurities as my driving force. I don't like feeling that way. God, I hate feeling that way. Why would I like feeling that way? You know, I look at some of the photographers out there that are Sometimes massively, they overrate themselves, but they're just hugely confident.

And I'm not that guy. That's not my personality. Mine is to feel, I suppose, um, insecure about my work. But I use that insecurity and that sense of, I wish I was better as my driving force. And everyone has their own driving force. You'll have to find yours. I've found mine. I know what it is. I wish it was something slightly different.

I wish it was something slightly more sort of positive, I guess. I saw a counselor would ask me why, why have I empowered other people to make me feel insecure or something. I have no idea. I've never been to a counselor, but I'm guessing that it's my, my, the energy that I use, the fire that I have might not be the most positive, um, and reaffirming way of doing things.

But for me, it, it is who I am. And it pushes me to do things. It pushes me to try things. It gives me the energy to overcome hurdles and, and create videos or create the website or write a book with someone. Um, terrifying though it is, I just want to be better at it and so I'll keep trying it. Uh, so put yourself forward.

Another thing I'm just thinking of is the headlamps. Headlamps and taillights are all around me. Is learn how to craft lights, or just as importantly, learn how to see light. Learn how it lands on someone's face, or their figure, or a scene, or a dog, or a cat, I don't know. Saw some of the most exquisite, exquisite cat photography today.

Saw some And the author of the panel has learned how to use light to bring out texture and form and character and personality in cats. That's her skill set. It's wonderful. And she's learned how to do it. And, you know, that's where photography stems from. It's all about light. If you're a daylight photographer, learn how to see it.

Learn how to observe. Learn how to almost Smell it out. , you know, you see it. You, you, do you ever get excited be, I mean, even now I'm watching a car ahead of me and I can see the pool of light on the road ahead from its headlamps and it's dark in between the Land Rover and him or her, and then there's a pool of light in front of that car.

Well, that pool of light might be quite an interesting thing to light somebody in. I spent my life doing that. I can't help it. It's like light is addictive. It's like a drug. Finding good light, or interesting light, or light that might give an effect, when, you know, the cars coming the other way, their headlamps are giving the car I'm following, kiss lighting, because of course it's bouncing off the sides of the metal, and I can see these kind of pockets of light along the side of the car, you know, that's just, oh, that'd be really interesting to photograph someone in that kind of lighting, you know, let's say a, you know, a car's headlamps are probably a bit low to the ground, But if you had a truck or something with overhead lights and you could get them to point down so they're above someone's head but you've got other trucks in the distance where they've got their normal almost ground level headlamps on and they they're going to create the backlighting yeah that could be really super interesting and it's that enthusiasm for exploring light that I think photographers need if they're going to create the truly stunning interesting images.

I mean I would say that, I love light. You know, as an Elinchrom ambassador, you'd expect me to say I love light, but I do. I just find it, I don't know why, why, I have no idea why that might be a thing, but I love it. I absolutely love it. And so, yeah, you know, after all of that, I'm sure there's a million things, I'm sure there's a million things that I've missed.

And had I spent the time thinking about it and driving home and writing up my notes and recording the podcast properly in the studio, it would sound a little bit better. I'd be jolted around a little less, um, but it probably wouldn't get done because we're so busy just at the moment. So apologies for me doing a Land Rover edition at 70 mile an hour because I can hear it's noisy, but otherwise I was not going to record one at all.

Um, the time pressures are now such that I really do have to dedicate more of it to mastering portrait photography, to our website, to building the, um, room mock ups to drop pictures into for beautiful framing, to creating interesting ideas on images and writing up notes on old images. Have I said the videos?

I must have said the videos. Oh, maybe I haven't said the videos.

We're creating these beautiful videos. We've got so many news joined us in the team. Katie's joined our team, who's amazing. She's great. She's a real breath of fresh air. She's young. And so she sees the world totally different to me. Um, so, you know, between us, I think, hopefully, it's a two way street.

I'll help her understand mostly software. I'm pretty good at picking up software. Um, and so Blackmagic's DaVinci is now another one of the tools that I'm reasonably comfortable with and can get my head around. Um, so I'm helping her get up to speed with that, but in return, she's showing us a young view of creating videos, which there's no way I would have done.

Sarah and I wouldn't have done it that way. But I'm really loving having that around. But it takes time. All of this takes time. And, um, running the workshops, you know, we now run regular workshops and they're going to increase.

Um, because we just love doing them but also it's part of our business model going forward.

Um, and to have time I've got to stop doing so many other things that I've been involved in for a while anyway. So, uh, Yep, standing down and it's all for mastering portrait photography. On that note about workshops, we do have a space actually, we've got a mastering studio lighting workshop which is on Monday the 4th of November, so it's a few weeks away, but there's still a space on there.

I love this day, I think this day is one of my favorite workshops, um, that we do, where we just play with lights, play with ideas, try things out, smoke machines maybe. GoBos, BigLights, SmallLights, um, HighKey, LowKey, you name it, we just play. Because that's by far the best way of learning stuff. Um, you can do whatever way you want.

Some people are bookworms, some people like a video or two. For me, I like messing around, um, and coming up with ideas. So that's on Monday the 4th of November, if you fancy it. Why is it right, when you're overtaking someone, why do they accelerate? Bye. Anyway, um, I don't like motorway driving very much. Everyone's very aggy, people are very aggressive, they just, it's a weird, ever since COVID it seems to be a very weird world. Uh, anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I just love playing in the studio, and that's the workshop. So it's Mastering Portrait, sorry, Mastering Studio Lighting, uh, on the 4th of November, if anyone fancies it, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops, or head over to paulwilkinsonphotography.co.Uk, or similarly, you can go to masteringportraitphotography.com, and the workshops are in there, in the Academy. The same workshops, but they're in the Academy, uh, over there. Eventually we're going to fuse all of the workshops into Mastering Portrait Photography. There's one single entity, so at the moment they're sort of co existing on the two sites, um, but it's the same workshop.

Uh, we will be putting more and more of them up on there.

If you subscribe, actually, to Mastering Portrait Photography, um, it's not a lot of money. It's 6. 99 at the moment, as at the time of recording, it's 6. 99 a month, which is actually the same price as the cup of coffee I've got sitting here in my Land Rover.

So it's one very large pumpkin spice latte per month. Um, To join the website, but if you do that, you get an advance notice of the, um, workshops, um, and you get to, uh, jump on them earlier than anybody else. You get to be part of our community, the Facebook community, uh, which we're building, um, making that more and more vibrant and interesting.

And, um, you can post pictures in there and people would jump in and give you tips. If you ask for it, if you don't really want it, then, you know, you can just post your pictures for the sheer joy of it. Uh, so that's all part of it. You get to download any of the tools for free, you get to download any of the room mock ups for free, you get to watch all of the videos and see all of the diagrams and there are hundreds of them.

I did a count up the other day and it's still like 400 diagrams I think, it's a lot. Um, but the whole site is there 6. 99 a month. If you want to spend it, if you want to spend a little less on a bit of a discount and do it over a year then you can enter the annual one. Um, and so if you pay annually it's 69.

99 for the year. Uh, which of course is about, what's that, 10 percent cheaper. You know, have I got that right? It's 10, it's 12 months for the price of 10. There you go. I don't know what that is. It's a mathematical term. I'm going to have to look that up if I'm going to publicize this. Um, uh, but that gives you a slightly better rate.

Slightly cheaper, but also gives you discount codes to the workshops. So not only do you hear about them early, but you get a little bit of a discount on them too. There are a couple of other options on there as well. If you fancy. And no, you're going to book onto our workshops or come to us for mentoring.

There's two other options to, uh, for the membership if you want them, um, and you can have a look on our website for that. Just Google or search for Mastering Portrait Photography Pricing, or just head to our website and hit the pricing, uh, link. So that's where we are.

I'm just heading south on the M40. Um, I've run out of things that I've remembered to say.

That's not that I have run out of things to say. I just have run out what I have remembered to say. to say. So as I thread my, oh that blooming van's just overtaken me again, um, so as I head my way south on thankfully a relatively clear motorway, uh, I'm going to say thank you for listening if you have listened to the end of this podcast.

I know it's a bit noisy when I'm driving in a Land Rover and recording it, um, if you're hearing it I managed to at least convince myself that the wasn't too bad, it didn't sound too rattly. Well, if you're not hearing it, it means I've pulled this podcast.

I'm not releasing it because it's just not good enough, uh, audio, but thank you for listening to this point. Please do subscribe, wherever it is that you receive your podcasts or you consume your podcasts. By doing so, you'll get to hear the episodes as they come out. So if there are any offers and things, or any last spaces, you get to hear about them first.

Uh, you can hear us on Spotify, iTunes, and all over the place, basically. And whatever else you do in the coming weeks, be kind to yourself. Take care.

But through all of that, we have to look for the possibles - the light at the end of the tunnel.  But maybe it's us that has to create, rather than simply walk toward, the light.  

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 - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: It's Sunday afternoon. It's late. It's getting dark. It's getting dark so early now. Um, Sarah finds it really depressing, but I love this time of year. I love the colors. I love the cool of the air. Though that said this has been well, a weekend of ups and downs. Uh, yesterday we photographed a beautiful wedding. Uh, Hannah and Tom, one of our clients, just the most stunning. Stunning day.

[00:00:25] Sarah came with me because it was a bit of a handful. It was a lot of photography to get through far more far, far more. In fact, Then I would have liked to have agreed to. But in the end, it was one of those very complicated weddings where there was family from all over the world. And they wanted lots of different combinations of groups to be photographed in a very small space of time.

[00:00:46] But they were the. The most incredible couple, the weather was beautiful. The venue were fantastic. The people there were amazing. And it was just, well, it was just a thrill to have Sarah at working alongside me, which made everything. Okay. Uh, the day before we'd spent with Jake, where. So we've gone up to Nottingham, stayed there for the night, had a wonderful night out and discovered amongst many other things, the magic of a wine bar that has vending machines, kid you not. So you put your card in. Uh, you can get a glass from any bottle of wine you like. And it was all just really, really lovely bit expensive, but really lovely. I also discovered the magic. Now I've not experienced these before I am 55 years old. And have never needed to use them.

[00:01:29] Blister plasters. Yep. Blister plasters. So I bought a pair of Converse, uh, decided for a change to have a different style. And it turns out to be a style that cuts the hell out of the back of my feet. Uh, but didn't discover that until two hours into walking around Nottingham. So Sarah, obviously, a bit more used to these things than me having worn heels, um, showed me the glory that is a blister plastic. I'm still wearing them. They're great.

[00:01:54] Anyway, an amazing day, a beautiful wedding, the following day. And then driving home. Last night, congratulating ourselves on having done a really good day's work, beautiful photographs, uh, into, uh, on the memory cards. Land Rover all packed up, um, and then proceeded to have a whole series of really irritating road closures, motorway closures queues, culminating in one

[00:02:21] that turned out to be well, possibly the end of the Land Rover we're queuing and have been queuing for about half an hour. But by queuing. I mean, we're essentially stationary, just stop starting. And then I went to put it into first gear. Nothing. Absolutely no way of getting it into first gear. I've got my foot on the clutch, lift the clutch, nothing. Put my foot down, the pedal is staying stuck to the floor.

[00:02:47] So I've got a couple of tons of land Rover in a single lane queue that no one can get round me. And it's not moving.

[00:02:55] Now. I remember an old trick. My dad taught me. And I don't know why. Why this was a tricky taught me because we don't have, or didn't have at that time. Anywhere near where I lived level crossings with no gates, but he said, if you ever get stuck on a level crossing and you can't for some reason, get your car to start, or it's just stalled, put it into first gear. Turn over the starter motor and it will give you just enough power to get yourself out of that situation.

[00:03:24] So I just very quickly thought, well, I'm blocking an already irate queue, cause we've all been stuck there for, for hours. Um, I can maybe get it over to the side of the road where I can call recovery. So I turned the engine off, wedged the gear stick into first where the engine, uh, stationary turned it over on the starter motor, which of course with the clutch being permanently engaged now. Uh, rolled the wheels and got me just enough movement to get out of the way of the barely moving traffic and onto the hard shoulder, up to the embankment, where Sarah and I proceeded to look like for the next five hours.

[00:04:04] I kid you not it's cold. It's dark. Thankfully, this time. I'm like the last time I broke down like this. It isn't snowing. Uh, but we lay with as many layers on as we could and a high vis vest over the top with our feet. Um, strapped into boots, but also now in polythene bags to try and keep the cold at bay, because it was absolutely freezing.

[00:04:23] We're laying on the embankment, up to the rear and above the Land Rover. And anyone who must have seen us and they all must have seen us. Cause we're wearing, high-vis looked like a pair of corpses. Just lying there in the Moonlight. It must've been a strain site, but given the RAC who came to recover us, took five hours and they took five hours, because all of the recovery vehicles were involved in re in, sorting out the crash that caused the motorway to close, which is the reason I was in a queue. So it's one of those very complicated things. But in the end. It culminated in Sarah and I lying side by side, like two corpses in a crime drama. Uh, it must've been a dump site, you know, the kind of thing the police say, wow, this isn't where they died, this must be the dumpsite. Um, and they've left them laying here on the embankment in homage to the Land Rover. I've no idea. I was very glad Sarah was there. Um, so in fits and starts, we slept eventually we got picked up at about, uh, I think it was about four o'clock in the morning, maybe half past four in the morning, um, and then, uh, took the recovery vehicle. The Landrover is right now sitting outside the garage that did the work on the engine earlier in the year. They're going to know the minute they turn up that something is wrong. My suspicion and I hope I'm wrong. Is that the slave cylinder on the clutch has failed because if it has, it means the whole transmission and gearbox has got to come out. And that's a proper, yet another expensive job.

[00:05:52] And. I think maybe, maybe this will be the one that says the end of the Land Rover. I'm Paul. And this is the masteringportraitphotography.com podcast.

[00:06:03] Well, hello again. We are back recording the podcast. And once again, it's a tale of woe and drama. Sarah said to me, as I left, she said, you need to record a podcast because you haven't done it for ages. She said, it's all right. It's all right. To feel a little less upbeat than you do normally. And that's just as well this year. I think this year is a year that I'll be happy to get to the end of, we started this year with such energy and enthusiasm.

[00:06:50] We thought that. You know, we're getting to the end of the backwash from COVID, everything would pick up, but of course, inflation hit the roof. We've had in terms of weather, just awful weather, which always deflates the mood. We've had a general election In this country, as well as in the states that you're about to have yours and we've already had ours. Which I thought would , would Herald in good news and optimism. Um, you know, I think it was time we had to change. There's no question about that. And no matter which side of the politic line, uh, you prefer, there's no question at all that we needed to change, but that changed that the good news side of that hasn't lasted particularly long. Um, Inflation is still high.

[00:07:28] The weather is still crappy. Seriously, we've had nothing but rain. I was so blessed with the wedding on Saturday. Um, the sun shone, and it was glorious. It was dry. It was warm enough. Um, it was just beautiful light. But that has not been the story of this year. The amount of water around us, just at the moment.

[00:07:48] And nobody's thinking when they wake up and read the news about the terrible weather, the terrible economy. They're politicians causing just all, just doing stupid things. You know, inflation, um, the stuff going on in the middle east or stuff going on in, on the Russian borders. You know, very few people are gonna wake up and think, oh, with all of that news do you know what I need what I need is a photographer. It's uh, there's work around, but it's just not the year we thought it would be, this is not been. A vintage year for photographers.

[00:08:18] And he really don't have to ask very far to find that out. Now we've done. All right. If I'm honest we're probably bucking the trend, but we have had to work, ah, back-breaking hours to do it far harder then we've had to work any of the year. It won't be a record breaking year, that's for that's for sure. But it will be good enough somewhere in the middle of our regular numbers, but we have worked tirelessly to do it. Backbreakingly tirelessly.

[00:08:47] I cannot remember feeling this tired though, having said that. I've just spent the night laying on an embankment in the freezing cold, trying to get some sleep. Maybe that's why I'm feeling. I quite so tired, but even talking to the videographer. Uh, on at the wedding on Saturday, he was talking about the bits of the industry in his region because we were working out of region and he was saying the same thing.

[00:09:10] There's just. It's just been a tough year. There. Aren't the number of weddings. For instance, if you're a wedding photographer. Um, and there isn't the money sloshing around at the has been, um, Sort of in the industry with our clients because our clients are under the same pressure as we are. I was trying to work out our operating costs. Um, on things like, you know, albums and frames.

[00:09:32] And I think on average, somewhere in the region of 15 to 25% increase, over two years. And if you put that into the context of running a business, And, and also assume that your clients are having exactly the same problems with their day-to-day expenditure. It means that we're running a business that's less profitable than it would be if we don't change our prices, but at a time when people have less money to spend. If we did increase all of our prices and of course we're all juggling that particular set of requirements.

[00:10:04] Uh, and on top of that, of course, one of the reasons we're also feeling tired. Is we're still running workshops. Uh, I'm still at the moment, the, uh, Chair of awards and qualifications for the British Institute of Professional Photography.

[00:10:17] But. Um, I mean, big news on that one is I am stepping down from that role at the end of this year. Now I've loved every single second of the past three or so years I've been in this seat.

[00:10:29] Uh, I've done everything that I wanted to do. We've organized it. We've got the standards where I wanted them to be, so that they're rock solid. You can trust if somebody got the letters after their name from. The BIPP then they've earned them. Um, and that means that we have real cute OSS in the industry. It means it's something that people really want to attain.

[00:10:49] And that's, I guess what I wanted to be able to do. But I also loved being a mentor. And while I was chair of one of the qualifications bodies, it's very hard. To be a mentor because it can be really easily accused that I might be, um, swaying results or influencing the outcome of judging.

[00:11:08] So I took the decision when I accepted . The chair of judge's role that I would not to do any mentoring towards qualifications or anything involved with people wanting to enter the competitions and things, because it just, it didn't look great,

[00:11:21] But it's something I've always. Really enjoyed doing so it's something I can return to. I'll get a chance now to actually enjoy looking at other people's work, um, guiding, nurturing, you know, also spending some time developing our own work because you need at the same time, I need the time to dedicate to our own businesses for a little bit.

[00:11:41] So I'm stepping back. At least, you know, in a frontline role. Uh, from, um, the chairing side of the BIPP. Hopefully I'll still get to judge, but I certainly won't be chairing it. Uh, we're still running the workshops, of course, on that note, uh, I think we have just two left this year. .

[00:11:58] So the thing without podcast is our podcasts have a very long lifespan.

[00:12:03] People are listening to podcasts from sort of six or seven years ago. Uh, but as of right now, which is the 28th of September, I think. Hang on a minute. Which I can't believe I had to go look that up on my screen, the 29th of September. Uh, 2024, we have two remaining workshops in our diary. I think there's one space left on each off the top of my head.

[00:12:26] Uh, on the 4th of November, we have Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting, which is, I might actually have become my favorite workshop to run because we just play: we play with lights.

[00:12:40] We play with ideas with form. Uh, we play with shape and color. We play with the smoke machines that people want to, we play with continuous light if people want to. Um, of course, as an Elinchrom Ambassador, that nearly all of it is geared around strobes. You name it? If it's in the studio, we can do it. And I absolutely adore this workshop.

[00:12:59] I think there's a space left on that last, the 4th of November. It's an all day course. Uh, all day workshop, sorry. Uh, and then the second one we have, which is a brand new workshop. We've never tried this before and we'll see how this goes. Having spent the night lying on an embankment last night, I'm not so certain. I want to be outside at night for a while. However, it's at the end of November 25th. Of November. We have a mastering day and night workshop. Now this workshop. Is one, uh, I think it might've been Sarah's idea. Uh, If it's successful. It was my idea. If it doesn't work, definitely Sarah's idea.

[00:13:36] No, I think it was Sarah's idea and I think it's a great idea. Uh, Mastering Day and Night. So we start unlike most of our workshops where we start at sort of 9, 9 30 in the morning. That this one. We're going to start straight after lunch. We're going to spend the afternoon working with daylight and then as dusk falls. We're going to work with a nighttime scene.

[00:13:55] So it's not really a, it's not studio lighting, but we might use some lighting. Depending on what the delegates want. So we're going to mix it up a little bit. We're going to spend a half the workshop working with available daylight and half the workshop working with a combination. Um, of available light, which of course won't be daylight, but it might be street lighting. Um, or light coming from people's porches and those kinds of things working around the village.

[00:14:21] We'll also have some lights with us. Just as I did at the wedding yesterday, I see. In this slide. Here's an aside. Uh, yesterday working with the videographer I had in the land Rover. Uh, I had to Elinchrom threes, which I thought we would work with. Cause I love them. Absolutely amazing lights. And I thought we'd do some stroke work. Um, but I also had a pair of aperture. Uh, continuous focusing, uh, spots, focusing spotlights led spotlights.

[00:14:47] They really quite chunky. Um, and they throw off who wrote the most beautiful light as well. Um, and so I said to the videographer, um, we might do some nighttime photography and he looked a little bit glum and he said, yeah, you mean with strobes? Don't you? And I said, well, do you want to do anything with it?

[00:15:02] So, yeah, I'd really, I'd really like to be able to capture some of that. So I'll tell you what, why don't we run the two spotlights were run continuous lighting for this one. Because working with a videographer, it makes it a little bit easier for you. Um, and while I'd still prefer to be using my Elinchrom Threes, there's no reason why we can't do something at least similar. Um, with continuous light, so threw a spotlight and had a play at night.

[00:15:23] And the reaction from Richard, the videographer. It was just brilliant. He took one for, oh, it's not a photo who's doing. Slow-mo. High-speed video. And he just went. Wow.

[00:15:36] And then everything I set up, he wanted. Like sort of five seconds of slow motion video of it. Um, moving around cause you get lens flan, all of those things. So we were creating very similar vibes that you can do with stills and a strobe, uh, with continuous light and uh, in his case with video. So it was quite exciting to do that. Um, anyway, back to Mastering Day Night, we will be using a mix of different lighting, maybe a bit of off-camera flash, depending on what people ask for.

[00:16:00] Um, Now. On the topic of workshops next year, we're looking at. Um, some new ideas and that if there's anything you'd like to, uh, like us to host, so you think would be fun, then please do drop us a line. You can always get ahold of me on paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk dot code at UK. That's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk .

[00:16:22] If there's something you can think of that, do you know what it'd be great. If you could run a day on whatever it is. As long as it's photographic people, not animals. And not buildings, not landscapes. I'm not good at all of those things, but it's photographing people. Uh, understanding light then of course, why not drop us a line?

[00:16:41] Um, one of the ones we're already looking at, and this I'd be curious if anyone's interested. Um, we haven't got dates for these yet, but we are looking to do. A two day workshop. That's a back-to-back workshop. Um, Now I don't yet. So we haven't quite worked out yet. What will go into those two days, but we know, we know it's just going to be. Uh, blast. And of course, with it being over two days in the interim evening, we get to sit. Have a meal, maybe have a few drinks. And chat about photography and not quite sure. Um, what the format will be.

[00:17:16] My guess at this stage is, uh, the very least. A day and a half of photography and then half a day may be. On workflow or maybe on Photoshop or maybe on Lightroom. Uh, maybe the use of AI tools, which of course are now a considerable part of all of our workflow. I don't know. I honestly don't know. We're still working it out um, for those of you who are part of our workshop community people who've been on our workshops. We've sent you a quick survey. Um, which we'd love to hear your thoughts on for those of you who listened to podcast, but never been on one of our workshops. Again, if you have an idea, and you think that might be fun to come along to, uh, please do drop me a line.paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk . Uh, of course alongside all of this. And another reason why you might hear the fatigue in my voice. I think today I can be excused. All right. I think today. I'm allowed to sound a little bit weary because having laid for five hours on an embankment next to a slow moving motorway. Um, until like four or five in the morning. I think I'm all right to feel to, to justifiably sound a little bit fatigued, but we're also running a couple of different businesses and one of the things we're still working on and I'm still reworking is the mastering portrait photography website, still a few bits to sort out.

[00:18:36] So those of you. Who do go on and off the website, apologies for things moving around as we're doing this. , I had an email the other day that said, do you know your shops down? Um, and for every user that I tested on the shop was just fine. Uh, but for just one or two uses, not so much. Um, I had to go digging around in some code. Uh, to find a one-line and do you know what it turned out to be?

[00:18:57] It was a line I'd put in to debug the rest of it. The rest of it was fine, but the line of debug code was glitching. It's just. Oh, I hate it when that happens. It's an old school. Uh, cockup . When you put in test code and it's the test code that causes the problem. Uh, so never mind apologies for that.

[00:19:16] Uh, so. But we will keep you posted. There's lots of new articles and there's going to be regular videos and all sorts of. Uh, features on their rolling forwards. Uh, sad news this past couple of weeks, is that the incredible NPhoto magazine, which I just loved writing for has stopped publishing. What a shame I'm gutted about it.

[00:19:37] I've loved every time they've asked me to write for them. And so it's just been, um, I dunno, it's just been part of my monthly activities is to sit down. Tapping the, uh, figurative pen on my teeth and wondering what to write. And of course it being about Nikon and my love of Nikon. It's been a real pleasure to do, however, as with all of these things, when doors close, other doors open and it looks like there's a chance, at least that I'll be writing for an even bigger online title. Um, They approached me. Um, some of the same editors were involved in the new, well, not a new sites and established site, but they've moved over from their role at NPhoto, into new roles. Um, and they reached out to see if I'd be interested. In putting together some ideas to write for that.

[00:20:25] So. Um, like I said, you know, some doors close and while I'm really sad and photo has gone. Um, then, uh, maybe just maybe another door is, uh, opening. I've just got to figure out what angle to take on it, because it's a really open, brief, as long as it's interesting. Um, then he said, I can pretty much talk about anything.

[00:20:44] I like. So, whether it's business or techniques may be creative ideas, I don't know. Um, the state of the industry, AI post-processing. I honestly don't know, but one thing they have said. Is I could do with writing some things that are slightly contentious, at least in the sense that they can create a little quote that, uh, will get people out of bed and engaged . There's some ways, many of the things, um, I'm not that good acts.

[00:21:11] I don't know. That I'm particularly contentious. I did get in a, it was a wonderful review. We had at one of our workshops through the day. Um, and the review said. It's just great. And he said he really appreciated the fact that I was ever so slightly irreverent sometimes. Uh, which I think is about as far as I would get, I don't know. That I'm known for being particularly contentious, but it might be something I have to get my head round.

[00:21:37] They also said I'm going to need. Good headlines now, for those of you who are regulars with the podcast, you'll know that one of my weak spots is I'm not very good at writing. Headlines. That's just not my scale. Just definitely not good at it. I try I've even tried just one of the few things that I've tried, getting chat, GPT input on.

[00:21:56] So dear Chat, GPT. Uh, please give me some, uh, I dunno, punchy headlines for this article. And when it comes back with just they're even worse than the ones that I write. So I've come back to writing my own. Um, that's definitely not my skill and the editors I've been working with whenever they've taken my articles, they've written far, far better headlines than I ever have.

[00:22:19] So hopefully they'll look after that, but it was there. In the brief. Um, so, you know, I'm gonna have to learn some new skills, enough to be a bit contentious. I want to write some better headlines. I'm just gonna have to get my head down and, learned some new stuff, but here's the point. No matter just how rough this year has been.

[00:22:37] And I think in some ways, at least psychologically, this has been a tougher year than some of the ones we've been through recently COVID well, that was out of our control. Um, coming out of COVID. Well, everybody knew it was going to be tricky. But now, with so little reason for it to be quite so tough.

[00:22:59] At least there's no. I mean, I know there are reasons for it. I'm not saying there aren't. But it just feels like there should have been a better year. But at the end of the day, there's only so long people can be depressed, whether it's me, whether it's my team, whether it's our clients or whether it's the bigger world, the greater world. In general, there always has to be. Light at the end of the tunnel, but here's the but, weirdly. I suspect that light at the end of the tunnel is the light that we put there ourselves. It's almost like a mirror being held up. So that it reflects back the light that you have to generate, and that's not an easy trick, particularly when you know, I'm facing yet another land Rover breakdown and possibly the Last land Rover Defender breakdown.

[00:23:50] I'm not entirely certain that at the end of this year, we'll still have a Defender. I don't know how I can have a car, that I'm worried is going to break down every time I head out on to a gig. Um, But it is the trick that I'm going to have to master, to be, to have light at the end of the tunnel. It will be me that has to create it.

[00:24:09] And it has to be reflected back at me. I have a suspicion. That's just the only way to do it. If you can't create the light, there's nothing out there to run to. And I intend to run towards the light. So in spite of the rain, the time pressures, rather buggered, Land Rover Defender. Ultimately it's down to me. To shine, a light that I am running towards, and I'm going to choose that light.

[00:24:36] I'm going to make that light. I am gonna look for the new opportunities. I'm gonna. put, together new workshops. I'm going to focus on all of the new opportunities that are thrown up over the past couple of weeks. Um, I am loving running the workshops and they are going to get bigger and stronger and more exciting.

[00:24:52] I'm loving making the website changes. To Mastering Portrait Photography, the videos that Sarah, myself and Katie are creating. Um, the time I've had to spend with the kids. And of course the incredible clients that we've been able to work with and the images that we've created so far this year, and the many more. There are to come.

[00:25:12] That's the light at the end of the tunnel and that's what we're creating.

[00:25:17] The team around me are well, frankly, fantastic. And one thing from last night is unexpectedly lying under the stars. I was lying under the stars with my wife, Sarah, who is to me. my savior. It was just not lovely. I'm not going to say it was lovely because it was so cold. Um, and so slightly depressing. Um, however, if I was going to be there with anybody, it would be there with Sarah. And so for me, that's a little high spot in what was otherwise quite a dark. Uh, at cold night,

[00:25:46] On that note, I need an early night now as I haven't had any sleep. And I have to be up early yet again. To go and explain why yet again, I'm not really happy that my clutch has failed. Less than eight months after having the entire engine and transmission, replaced. But whatever else you're doing. In this cold weather. Shine a light and be kind to yourself.

[00:26:10] Take care.

In this episode, I do my regular round-up of things I've heard during judging - I was chairing the Click Expo Print Competition (the standard was incredible!) and I made a few notes from this and a few other things I've been involved in.

I mention a couple of products and here are the links:

EVOTO AI - https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson (if you use this link, you'll get 30 free credits!)

ACDSee https://www.acdsee.com/en/index/ 

DXO - https://www.dxo.com/

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] So, let me read this out to you. I'm loving this podcast. It's like sitting in a bath of warm water in that the subject matter is gently flowing over you in a warm, friendly, soothing way. When I get to the end of the series, I'm going to start again. I think Sarah sends it to me, so I'm assuming it's on iTunes. So thank you to Skinny Latte via Apple Podcasts. Yes, it is. It's Apple Podcast. Who left that review. It made me laugh. I've never, ever. I don't think been compared to a bath of warm water, but Hey. It certainly, it certainly made me smile. And I will take a review worded like that. Poetry in its finest, in its finest watery form.

[00:00:43] I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.

[00:00:49] Well, I blew that ambition out of the water. Didn't I, the let's do one podcast every week for the rest of the year. Uh, I've barely managed three or four, I think. It has been just one of those. years, this is episode 154. And really it's just been busy.

[00:01:23] As I record this, it's the 4th of July. So, happy 4th of July, to all of our American. Listen is in so many ways. The 4th of July might be something of an independence day for us too certainly with a little luck, a day of change.

[00:01:37] Um, it's just been really busy in a year like this everything's working really well, but we're having to work that little bit harder to get there. Everything's a little bit more expensive. Clients have a little less to spend and somebody wrote in the other day. And said that they were waiting for episode 154. And partly because having the podcast, this podcast out there, from someone who is living and breathing the same industry that you are. It's feeling the same things that you are going through the same processes, the same client experiences that you are is comforting.

[00:02:11] And just knowing that they're not alone. So here is episode 154. In that sense, I think we really are. Um, a market, we're a collective of individuals. We're all going through the same thing, but on our own. It's useful to know. Uh, that there's other people out there going through the same thing. So I don't sleep very much. Uh, we're working flat-out I love every second of it.

[00:02:35] Don't get me wrong. Having having a camera in my hands is just the most natural thing in the world. So, and taking pictures for a living. Well, I couldn't ask for a better way to put food on the table, but that's not to say it isn't really hard work. And in fitting in all of the other things that seem to have crept up into my world. Um, it just takes a little bit of time.

[00:02:58] So apologies that the podcast has been a little bit more sporadic then I would have liked. Uh, before I get any further, I would just like to say thank you to everybody that filled in the questionnaire that Sarah has sent out. Um, It's really, really, really interesting. The data in it is incredibly insightful.

[00:03:18] And what we're trying to understand is what do we do with Mastering Portrait Photography? How do I push it and prod it and coax it forward? Um, we're due to give a really big kick this year? That's what we're trying to do, but at this stage we weren't entirely certain where to focus. So we now have an awful lot of really insightful, useful data. And the biggest thing that's come up is that it's well-worth. I know that sounds really bizarre. You know, I know people read our articles.

[00:03:48] I know people like the diagrams, our stuff is out there in Professional Photo Magazine. And this month also, In Digital Photography Magazine, you want to pick up a copy of that. On the news stand of a Professional Photo. Uh, it has gone all Digital, but Digital Photographer. Is there a paradox there that professional photo magazine is now all digital, but Digital Photography magazine, you can pick that up on it. I can't. I think there must be a paradox in there somewhere or an irony. Maybe it's an irony. I never entirely certain. The difference between an irony and a paradox. Anyway, anyway. Um, thank you to everybody who filled that in. Uh, I was due to record his podcast. This podcast was meant to be. It was meant to be a podcast from the land Rover. Uh, but it's been a very hot day.

[00:04:33] I was working. A two hour drive away. So two hour drive, half hour shoot, two hour drive back, and I was going to record one, maybe two podcasts. Um, weirdly the Landrover was more rattling than usual because, and I don't know why there is a toaster in the foot well. You know, when you get into a car and you, you, you drive away and you can either clanking rattling. There's a little Chrome toaster in my foot.

[00:04:56] Well, I need to pick that up with my son. Uh, anyway.

[00:04:59] On the topic of kids. Both my kids. I know. It's got nothing to do with photography, right. But I'm a dad and you can't help, but be proud of your children and this couple of weeks. I am beyond proud. Uh, today. Jake got his degree. Uh, Sport Technology from Loughborough University.

[00:05:18] So you got a two, one. Uh, degree in BEng. In it's literally engineering with balls, there's no other way to describe it. That's what it is. They study balls and things with which to hit balls. Cricket bats, baseball, bats, golf clubs, football boots. And then they also, uh, research things like, uh, helmets.

[00:05:37] So when the ball hits you, it stops you being an unconscious cricket player or backstop or whatever. Uh, so truly, truly a magnificent result for him really, really proud of him.

[00:05:49] And just as proud of our daughter who has for the past few weeks just started her new job, working in London for one of the biggest creative agencies, creative marketing agencies. In the UK. Um, as a creative account manager. Uh, she's just going to tear the world apart. She's super organized, super creative, super lovely to work with.

[00:06:10] She's a grafter and I could not be prouder of both of them. So forgive me for saying that and giving a shout out to my children, but Hey, my podcast. You don't have to listen to it. Uh, so where are we? Right, it has been a very busy. Uh, I think it's about six weeks since I've done an episode.

[00:06:28] Um, so I cannot I've lost count. I usually I'll give you a quick count up of everything we've done. Numerous hearing dogs shoots a load of workshops and one-on-one master classes them. I just. Do you know what? I never thought. I honestly never thought I'd enjoy running workshops and masterclasses as much as I do. There's something. And I don't know why, but there's something really thrilling about being in a room with a few people who genuinely want to, uh, take ideas and create ideas and push boundaries and try things and discuss things. Um, and that's turning into actually a really, really, for me, a really rewarding part of our business.

[00:07:10] And I never, I don't know if I ever really expected that. It's, I'm certainly not one of those people. That I want, you know what, I really love doing training because it's giving something back. It's none of that. It's not that at all. There's just an incredible buzz. Of a group of people working towards creating an image and explaining. And understanding and learning how things work and why more importantly, why we do things, why it's always, everyone tells you what. You know, when you look at things online, everything's about the what and the how, but why, why do we do things?

[00:07:42] Why do we approach. Light the way we do why'd we approach the camera settings the way we do. Why, why, why, why, why? I just find the Y. So much more interesting than the what and the, how. And I think probably more valuable because if I understand why then I'll do it. If I understand the what I won't necessarily do it, it might be a useful tool or it might be a useful technique. But if I don't really get why I'm doing something, I will bin that off as just not useful.

[00:08:12] But if I understand why there's a rationale to why. And so all of our workshops and masterclasses now are premised on why. Anyway, that's a slight aside we'd last week we had a couple of students work placement students that are. Uh, 15 year old and a 17 year old. Two brilliant. Uh, young students who had approached us to come and spend. A few days with us in the studio.

[00:08:36] Uh, they came with us to the hearing dogs for shoot. And then we did, um, a shoot here, uh, with, um, a guy in military uniform. Um, it's one of those, the shots. Uh, this was the perfect sheet for me. Um, a guy said, I want to do something. Really sort of vintage modern cameras, modern lighting, all the rest of it. But he sent me a couple of pictures that must've been taken.

[00:08:57] I'm going to guess in the 1940s at, I don't know the exact date, but I'm guessing around there from the style, my grandfather. Both my grandfathers had pictures like these in their military uniform. There's something about the way it's lit. Something about the way it's styled something about the way it's posed and finished.

[00:09:13] And of course it's on film, black, white film. And he said, I want to, we create these, but you know, he's a, he's a soldier. He's at the very top of what you can be if you're a noncommissioned officer. Um, and he wanted to celebrate that moment. And so we photographed these incredible images and there was a moment in the shoot, where literally the hair stood up on the back of my neck and I realized what I was looking at with the same pictures that I would have seen of my grandfather's the same styling, the same vibe, same feel.

[00:09:47] And it's a sort of, it's an almost indescribable styling that makes all of that hang together. Anyway, it was absolutely wonderful. And I would love to share them. But I can't because he works for one of the top secret, um, units in the military. So I've got these beautiful pictures. It's of a guy that I can never tell you about and never show the pictures. I can tell you I did the shoot because it's of course nobody knows. Uh, but it's a real shame, but I really, really, really enjoyed it.

[00:10:14] So now looking around for anyone with a military uniform of the similar style, That we could do something that we could do something with I can share. So if there's any of you out there who have, uh, retired from the military, but still have your number two uniform. I'd love to. Uh, love to take some pictures just for the sheer joy of doing exactly the same thing, but then I can share them. Uh, I think the students really enjoyed it too.

[00:10:38] And then the day after that, a brilliant magician . I've worked with Sam strange. Probably for 12 years, I think now. Um, incredible magician. Part of the Champions Of Magic him. Uh, Young and Strange, he works as part of a duo with Richard Young. Uh, but this was a shoot just for him. Sam Strange, wonderful guy just playing. I'm so lucky in the studio that the human beings that come in here. Uh, I think some of the nicest people in the world, I mean, I have only met a tiny proportion of the people in the world.

[00:11:08] I'm sure there are other nice people. But my client base is genuinely. Uh, just a never ending stream of people who I love to spend time with a, Sam Strange. Is right up there. So he spent ages taking pictures of him. And as, as a kind of, we wanted to get some shots where he was genuine, genuinely performing.

[00:11:25] So the two work placement students became instantaneously his audience, uh, some card tricks. He did these card tricks. One of the students looked quite confused. I'm not entirely certain that she understood what had just happened while she was holding the card with her name on it and a knife hole in it. Anyway.

[00:11:43] It was very funny and absolutely. Uh, wonderful. We've done a load of portrait shoots. The weather has been kind for a couple of weeks. Which is a pleasure. Uh, so we've been out in the sunshine, um, And just. It's just, it's. What I came into photography to do was to laugh in the sunshine, taking beautiful pictures. Uh, so that's really, really, really lovely. Um, we've been judging the monthly's the BIPP. The BIPP the British Institute of Professional Photography.

[00:12:11] Monthly's over the past couple of months. I think we've done two. Monthly since I last spoke with you, sorry. That's my bad, just busy. That's all it is. We're just busy. Um, I love doing, I love chairing the judging.

[00:12:23] And then on top of that, Um, I was asked to chair the print judging for the click expo.

[00:12:28] That was up in the Midlands a couple of weeks ago, some big names there, Lindsay Adler, and a few others. Uh, with some of the photographers presenting, it was. Um, it wasn't the biggest expo in the world, but we had a really good entry into the foot print competition. And the standard is out of this. World.

[00:12:45] And when you see a panel of judges, we had judges on rotation. So five judges at any one time and me chairing it. And when you see the excitement, you see the judge's eyes just light up. When they are appreciating the very best of the craft of photography, I think, you know, there's, I don't know how to explain some of this stuff.

[00:13:05] Why that, you know, that feeling when you take a picture right. And you hit the button and you just know, you just know you can feel it. That's the same sensation that I think we still get when we're assessing images at the highest standard, there's something really exhilarating about it in explicable. Uh, but exhilarating.

[00:13:26] I see on the flip side of that, I was laughing with our two work placement students of the other side of the line, which is when you see somebody else take a beautiful photo and they're in the same session as you. Sometimes when I'm training people, this happens to me. And, you know, with talking through staff were doing ideas and then somebody hit the button and they'll create a picture. That I wish. I'd taken and then I have to suppress. I have to suppress that kind of. I'm really jealous about that.

[00:13:54] Why didn't I take that picture? I cause you call and of course you have to celebrate. The absolute, the excitement. I still get the same excitement from the picture. I just wish I'd taken it. Um, Which is quite a weird sensation. I'm getting used to that sensation because if I'm doing my job well in a workshop, I won't do. My job well in a masterclass, if I'm genuinely. Um, passing on ideas and information, then. Really people in those workshops should be creating beautiful images that I'm jealous of. It is still quite hard though.

[00:14:26] Anyway, we were judging it. Click. Um, and I'm going to come back, uh, to, to that in a moment as the topic of this particular podcast. Uh, but a few bits and pieces. Uh, one of the things that occurred to me this morning, and I'm going to drop this into this podcast because it's a useful thing to remember. Um, is always remember to pack your bag so that at a single glance, you know, what's. In it. And will more importantly, what isn't. I was driving along and I do this thing.

[00:14:56] If you. I don't know if you're the same as me. I'll get halfway down the road and I'll be like, did I pack my passport? And I literally, I don't know how many times I've done it. I've pulled into a lay-by and gone and checked. I still do the same with my camera kit. But this morning I was driving away and I did that thing. Have I, I packed everything I need.

[00:15:14] And then actually I remembered I'd looked over the top of my bag. Um, while it was open and I know everything was there because I pack it in a way that if something is missing, I can see the gap. And it's like, oh, okay. So, um, you could do it with checklists. Of course you can be much more methodical than that, but just as a simple trick, pack your bag in a way where you can visibly see if something is missing. Right.

[00:15:39] So where are we in our warm bath water? I still think that's a great review. Thank you, skinny latte. That's just like the skinny lattes. They use it named by the way. That's not just me being random. Uh, that is like the best review. I'm going to put that on a, if I ever have a poster. You know, Paul Wilkinson appearing somewhere. , it's like sitting in a bath of warm water. I don't know what to do with it, but it's, uh, please feel free everybody. To write us poetic reviews like this, and I promise you they will get read out because it's absolute genius.

[00:16:10] Um, I just love that I'm going to have that printed as a poster. I'm loving this podcast is like sitting in a bath of warm water. Anyway. Um, I thought I do these regularly, um, quick updates on things that I heard or saw during um, the judging. Um, So, let me just go over some incidentally as an aside one of the reasons we use, sorry, there's lots of asides with me. You get used to that or you don't. That was funny. The night I met someone for the first time and she laughed at me and said, you're always after the punchline aren't you. And I was like, yeah, that was really. Is very astute, but it did somewhat stop me in my tracks. Um, I don't mean to be like that. I just am a.

[00:16:54] One of the reasons we use a panel of judges are more than one judge. Is so that we get a more reliable score, but I was judging in the monthly's this month round. I. So I wouldn't say who the judge was, but they were very worried that their score was out of kilter with the other judge. And they had no reason to be.

[00:17:14] I, I can export the judges scores and I can see exactly what's going on. Um, I'm a big data, nut, I love data. I love the data behind scoring. So I've had a look at the data and their scoring is exactly where I would hope it would be, but you don't always agree. And that's really important. If every judge for every image gave the same score, we'd only ever need one judge. That's not how it works. That is so not how it works.

[00:17:43] It's not supposed to work like that. A panel of judges are all supposed to bring different experiences. Different backgrounds, different hotspots that they look for different passions, different prejudices, different biases by using a panel of judges. You will always get a different score or you should always get a different score from every judge or you haven't picked your panel of judges very well.

[00:18:09] And we pick up panels of judges incredibly carefully so that they are different. They bring different ideas to the table. We pick the panel of judges so that they're going to get on, they're going to work as a team. So if there's a challenge, if there's a discussion or they're not going to get into an argument, they're going to develop. Uh, thought process, and come to a considered view.

[00:18:28] That's why we use a panel of judges. It's important that the judges are reliable and they are experienced and they're top of their game. Of course. But they will give different scores. Anyway in the, from a Click. At this time and a little bit from the monthly's I thought I very quickly go through one or two things I heard.

[00:18:45] It's just useful stuff. You know, there's nothing major in that.

[00:18:48] Um, so paper choice. Paper choice comes up in every single printer competition I am involved in. Just does. Um, the big one, this time was be careful, where. Um, If you've got a textured paper and you print something like a baby on it with smooth skin, it can look like the baby's skin is wrinkled, particularly when the baby or the face of the baby is quite small in the frame, newborns.

[00:19:12] This was typically a criticism. What's your paper choice. If you're going to. Print things that would have a smooth texture in the real world, smooth skin, that kind of thing. Use a smooth. Paper. Uh, that said if you're using fine art matte, papers, go and figure out how to get your blacks to map correctly because typically fine art matte papers.

[00:19:33] Don't give you much. Uh, changed between the grades of black. It suddenly goes, it goes. Sort of dark. So you get blocked up areas that aren't quite black and then suddenly when it gets to a slightly lighter. Like a lighter tone. You'll start to see texture again. There are ways of printing for that. Go look them up. Uh, Sanjay Jogia, I'm going to give Sanjay quick shout is a brilliant printer. Brilliant technician. Uh, he does, uh, workshops and seminars on printing. You can do a lot worse and go talk to Sanjay. And he's a super lovely guy, too.

[00:20:06] Uh, stray hairs. We had one assay. This was in a digital file, um, in the competition. Uh, this month there's a stray hair in the print in a file. And that's clearly on the sensor. With print and competition judging. The judges are gonna zoom these things in. They're going to look at them under a light on a light box. If it's a print, they're going to zoom it to a hundred percent on a big Eizo monitor if it's a digital competition. If there's a stray hair or a dust spot, they are going to see it. So go find your files, go, go over them and over them and over them.

[00:20:35] If you want to do one in competitions, get the little details, right. Uh, because that score that dropped, I mean, so many points. It was a great image. Great idea, creatively. Brilliant. But if you're letting things like dust spots and stray hairs go through, that's not going to be regarded as competition standard.

[00:20:53] Mounts. We saw some incredible mounts.

[00:20:55] We saw circular mounts and oval mounts and, uh, one photographer. I don't know if it's the same author, but I've seen this technique a couple of times where they cut out the edges of the mounts of the landscape picture goes all the way across and breaks out the sides of the frame.

[00:21:09] Um, they're brilliant. Um, you remember that with a print competition?

[00:21:12] Typically the mount is part of the puzzle. So make sure your mounts are complimentary. Make sure they are adding to the image. They're not distracting from the image. Um, make sure that your everything is super accurate, super, just square. It needs to be lined up. We had one. Uh, image where the horizon wasn't horizontal. Uh, it was a seascape. And it wasn't horizontal and it may have slipped in the mound or maybe that the author just didn't notice.

[00:21:40] I don't know which of those two things is true, but of course it's not going to do that. Well, So mounting is really, really important and we do zoom in to make sure the quality. Um, is there.

[00:21:50] Uh, a few dead come up with banding issues, JPEG issues. In this day and age where computers are pretty powerful and you know, the sensors and cameras are at least 14 bit these days. Um, if not 16, Um, then please do just get your techniques down.

[00:22:06] So if you got a big blue sky, make sure it's a big blue sky without banding in it. Um, it's just one of those things.

[00:22:12] Uh, titling. I don't. This comes up every single time. I don't like titling. I don't think it should be necessarily part of an image competition. Um, but I'm out there as I'm in the minority. I think. Um, but I just don't like it. I think we should judge what we see in front of us. But, uh, if the competition asks for a title, enter one, create one, invent one, stick your image in an AI generator and get a title. I don't care how you do it, but put a title in on average. Now I've only heard this anecdotally and I've no idea what the research was, but anecdotally, a couple of judges told me that titles typically give you one additional mark on average, if it's a sensible title. It certainly can add poetry to it. It can add a meaning to it. So if you put a picture. I have no idea. Uh, of, uh, a sad looking child. I don't know, making this up a sad looking child with no title. Well, it's a sad looking child. Put up a sad looking child and give it the title, Daddy's Gone Again. Suddenly, you've got a very different tone to how the view is and the judges. Our assessing an image.

[00:23:23] Now this is why I don't agree with it because I don't think that's how it should work. I think we should judge the image. But given it's an opportunity to get a mark or two. And given you're entering a competition, which is a game. Then play the game. And put titles in.

[00:23:37] Uh, where are we? Um, a couple of images came up this time round, which I wrote down all details and reading this and we notebook. I carry a note book almost all of the time.

[00:23:46] It's a throwback to my PhD days. I think always had a notebook. Uh, title, sorry. All details. Some so EEG cushions, this was a, an image that came in where the hole that the room had been styled to perfection. But when you looked at the sofa, It looks like. Somebody had just sat on it. So the cushions were fine. Like the back cushions, the throws and all of those, but the actual seated part of the sofa. Had been left as if somebody just sat on it, perhaps sat on it to plump up the cushions. I don't know, but it just, it drew our eye to X. Everything else in the image was so pristine. What's your details, particularly with architectural and commercial.

[00:24:25] Uh, confusion.

[00:24:26] This came up. Where we weren't certain or the judges, weren't certain what to make of an image. I've talked about this a few times. It's not the judges, job to decode your story.

[00:24:40] It's your job as the author to tell your story in a way that the judges can get it. It's got to be approachable. Um, you can be as clever as you, like, you can be as subtle as you like, but in the end, if you're not telling the story in a way that the judges can understand decode it, that's not the judge's fault. Um, so just, you know, make sure, maybe test it on other people and see what they think at image before submitting it.

[00:25:04] Uh, we saw a few of these. Uh, what have I written down? Uh, They've written down. Uh, the only image here. Okay. I wrote down if only if only is one of those things. Have you ever done that with your images where you look at an image in Lightroom and you're just like, oh, if only. If only the background was clean. If only I hadn't blown a highlight, if only the eyes were sharp. You know what I mean?

[00:25:29] You have these if only moments where the image you'd done everything. Right. But then you've missed a bit. Well, don't enter those into a competition for a star. Um, There was one image that came up and. It felt to me like. It felt like a grab shot. It was a beautiful shot, but a grab shot. Now the construction of the image was one we see all the time dog in a basket, nothing particularly clever about that. Um, or, you know, rare in that, I suppose.

[00:25:56] But the particular angle, the way it was framed, felt like they grabbed the shot. Now, if you said to a fine oil artist or pencil artist, or a cartoonist or a commercial air brusher, create me a picture of a dog in a basket. They would have a real angle on it. There'd be something about the way they place the objects relative to each other and relative to the frame. There'll be a way of doing it. That would have a certain aesthetic, a style, a cleanliness for me, my particular thing is I love when the lens is absolutely horizontal. Low down in the frame, preferably on the floor. If it's a subject that is on the floor so that everything for me, I feel like it climbs into that world.

[00:26:42] That's just my particular aesthetic. It doesn't have to be anybody else's. I mean, please. Everybody. I'm a Muppet. I don't know what I might have out, but I liked the idea that I've done something that has a, it has a statement to it. It has a shape to it. I love the work of E.H. Shephard who drew A.A. Milne's books, um, Winnie the Pooh and house at Pooh. The corner and when we were young and all of these beautiful Christopher Robin stuff. The drawings always feel like you're in the small characters world. You're not an adult looking down at it.

[00:27:13] And I think that's the point I'm trying to make is have a view. Think about it. Think as if you're drawing it, don't think of it as a photograph thing. Okay. Take a step back. If you've got time. Sometimes you don't right. If you're a news photographer, you haven't got time, but step back from your image in your head. Say, okay, these are all of the bits of the puzzle. This is, I've got one of those, two of them, three of them. I've got these colors and this shape, this light. If I was drawing this, if I slowed down and somebody said, draw those on a piece of paper. So that made sense. How would I do it? Uh, you know, there's an, there's another picture.

[00:27:49] It was a picture. Um, it was a newborn picture. And there were objects in the foreground. So it was, it made it feel like the baby was amongst objects and then objects behind the baby. But what's happened is they've. Thought that because we mutter a lot, and I'll come on to this one later. don't crop things at the edges of a frame. They pulled the objects.

[00:28:11] That baby is surrounded by, away from the edge of the frame, but that meant, it felt like there was only a few objects. In this instance, using the objects and cutting them at the edge of the frame as if there was millions of them receding into the distance that would have made sense. And visually it would have had an expansive feel to it, rather than I only have four of those objects, so I've placed them where I have. And it's that sense of thinking about your layer? And if you look at the very best of these types of images, The guys really do know their way round it.

[00:28:41] Uh, comping compositing. Combining images. It must be invisible. We actually, as photographers, don't have a problem on the whole, unless the category says you can't use composite images. We don't have a problem with it. Judges don't worry about it.

[00:28:55] We just don't want to see it. So the compositing, the bringing different images and elements together has to be invisible. Uh, there are skills to this. Practice them. Because if you, the minute a judge spots that it's a composite, it's failed in its job. I mean, obviously there are obvious composites, you know, if you're doing a. King Kong thing of a gorilla climbing, a skyscraper. Fair enough. We're going to know straight away. That's not real. But it still has to look real, has to be believable. Uh, okay. What else have we got?

[00:29:26] Um, baby skin. This has come up a few times. Be careful of. Using blue and dark green style filters, filter effects in your monochrome conversions. Uh, blue filter typically turns the lips dark, which is fine. If you have, um, You've got a model and smooth skin like ultra smooth skin and makeup that's flawless because you've got red lipstick and you punch them on a Chrome with a bluish or green filter. It drops the lips to a very dark color and that could look incredible. But with babies would it also does. If there's any red in the cheeks, it makes those go blotchy too. So you have dark lips and bruised looking cheeks, and that's not really, how probably you want to have. A baby photograph, by the way, if you can hear stuff going on in the background, I've got all the windows open because it's a really warm day. Um, and I'm sitting just recording. Uh, where are we?

[00:30:23] On the converse side of that. So we've got blue filters, making skin look kind of grungy and textured and blotchy. Equally, we are still seeing way too much over smoothing. Um, on the skin work. Um, it just. It doesn't look, if it doesn't look quite right, you know, and it's really subtle. I don't know how to describe it, but we know as judges, when we look at I I'm a big one for, when someone applies makeup to a face really well, really beautifully. It smooths out the lumps and bumps, but what it doesn't do is remove the texture.

[00:30:59] There's still pores, there's still skin pores there're still fine hairs. There are still little tiny ripples created by blemishes underneath the makeup. So, if you want to make it look real, when you're doing digital makeup or digital smoothing. You have to remember to leave details in that show reality, even when you're doing really fine art kind of work.

[00:31:21] So just what's that. Um, incidentally, a shout again to EVOTO.AI. Um, I've just had a new release of that this week. Um, incredible bit of software. Uh, in that you can control how much you do. So it's not, it's not all the bells and whistles that make these things good. What make these things good is when you can turn it down, so it's imperceptible. Uh, EVOTO.AI is actually very, very good. Please do go and have a play with that. I will drop a link down in. Uh, further down in the show notes.

[00:31:54] Over sharpening. Uh, this came up as a bit of a debate actually, me and Sanjay don't entirely agree on this. I don't think. My view is that you don't need to sharpen images anymore. Um, I've never heard, not once have I heard. Uh, judge say this image needed more sharpening. Not once I've heard images get critiqued, cause they're soft by the which, I mean they're blurred. And the minute you try to rescue a blurred image using, um, Topaz or, you know, any one of the sharpening tools. Unless you're really on top of it and really, really, really careful, it looks like it's sharpened. However, I've heard many times. That an image looks over sharpened over, over you see halos, you see this kind of slightly, really weird edge effect. Um, I took the decision a couple of years ago to stop sharpening my images, because it removes one or two problems when you. Because for us, we don't, uh, we produce the same file to be printed at different sizes.

[00:32:49] I don't worry too much. Um, about, uh, scaling at 300 DPI for A4, 300 DPI for seven by five, three to DPI. I just give the guys one file. Um, and our sensors now is so sharp that they reproduce and they give a, for me, they give a slightly smoother finish. Um, And I've only ever been pulled upon over sharpening when I did it.

[00:33:11] No one's ever pulled me up on under sharpening. So I would say don't sharpen Sanjay. Doesn't say that he says you should do sharpening, but know exactly at which point in the workflow to do it. And that's fine. Um, Sanjay is a master at this stuff. So he does sharpen. Uh, I'm using Sanjay as an example because he's one of my judges, uh, this time round. Uh, so is there an interesting thing. My, if you're not absolutely a hundred percent certain of what sharpening to do, don't do any, you'll be fine.

[00:33:40] Uh, where are we?

[00:33:42] Um, oh yeah, one of the things. It has come up this come up in conversation a little bit is why we as judges get so picky about which images get over the line to be a merit or a bronze. So typically with all of the associations all slightly different. But around about the 80 mark for most associations is the break point for bronze or merit. Now. The thing about a bronze or a merit is that is something that's likely to end up being used on a website or being used in social media for the association. Um, maybe with the societies, it's going to end up on their display boards at the convention.

[00:34:23] And that's why we're picky. That break point between professional standard is a lot, the associations call it and a merit or bronze. That break point defines what will be displayed to the public and to the rest of the photography industry. And as such the message we're sending is that this image is what you should be trying to attain. So when I go round, if I'm, uh, if I've entered a competition, I go round and look at all of the things that have. Uh, they're being displayed in the convention or they're in the magazine or in a book.

[00:34:55] I look at those images from bronze to gold. As the things I should be aiming for. And that's why as judges, we're very careful what goes over that line. And if we find a defect that we think, do you know what the photographer should have spotted that. You're going to dump marks really quickly because the judges don't want to have that out there as something that becomes an exemplar for what a successful image should be.

[00:35:16] That's why. That's why that break point is so tough. Uh, so just what you, it was quite funny, this in the competition this time round. Uh, and the monthly's is, uh, one of the images looked like the horizon. Wasn't quite level, it's a digital file. So it clearly wasn't anything to do the mounting. And by the way, it was a degree or two out, which is. I don't know. I don't know why people do that. Why would you do that? Given you just put into Lightroom or Photoshop and align with the ruler to it anyway, my two judges, I'm watching both of them on, uh, our Squadcast screen. So we record these sessions. Um, One of the judges went to his EITZO monitor took the file, put it into Photoshop and checked the horizontal alignment.

[00:35:57] My other judge went to a cupboard. I watched them do it, went to a cupboard behind them, opened the cupboard door, got a ruler. And started measuring her screen, which is quite weird when you're watching it on the webcam that's on her screen. She's measuring the screen. It was quite old school, but it did make me laugh.

[00:36:13] Anyway, things like horizons, check them.

[00:36:16] Uh, Great. Well, so if we got, oh yeah, when you're, there's a lot of actions around and even I've written a few where you're going to soften or blur the edges. Um, So there was a particular file. Where I think a baby skin had been softened. You could see that it had been, and it was fine.

[00:36:36] It looked very good actually it looked like they got a good technique on it. But what they hadn't done is lift all of the skin onto a new layer, just cut it out and drag it onto a new layer and softened it there, what they done is soften it on the original layer with all of the. Um, blankets and clothing around it. And what that did is, it dragged color from the blankets into the soften skin. So you could see a slight coloration around the edges where the softening had been done. And you expect that if you're using a blur. It blurs across the boundary. So what you have to do is cut out the skin onto a new layer. So it's transparent all the way around except for the skin, soften it there, and then you can drop it back in and you'll get no color contamination. Um, but we spotted it and of course it's a real shame.

[00:37:19] Uh, With babies and with faces, the light, the light source should always be above the nose.

[00:37:25] I heard this said a few times by different, uh, I think I was working with Elli Cassidy who is just like one of the best judges to work with, she's lovely. Super lovely, super nice person. Um, great newborn photographer and she raised the same point as did lots of others. The light source should be above the nose, nine times out of 10. It's very rare. Do you want the light coming up from underneath?

[00:37:44] Um, I love this quote. This is one of my judges. He just, he liked a particular image because it was a bit more different. If ever I have another podcast in this industry, I'm going to call it The Bit More Different Podcast because I know it's a great title.

[00:37:57] It's not English, but it's a great title.

[00:37:59] Um, final bit on this bit. Is cropping at the edges. We can't, I kind of talked about it a minute ago with the baby and the objects. Just look around the edges of the frame. There's an amazing news image, this time round. Loved it. I'm not going to say what it was cause I'm not gonna draw attention for the author. But there was a scene in the middle of his action in the middle.

[00:38:23] And on the right-hand side of the frame, there was nothing contaminating. Everything was kind of contained, but on the left. They were knuckles and elbows poking in onto the edge of the file when just moving the crop edge in by. I dunno, a couple of hundred pixels on a six megapixel file would have removed all of that, and focused, directly on the story in the middle. And it's such a silly thing.

[00:38:47] We see it all the time. Is we get sidetracked by what's going on in the middle of our picture, the bit we want people to look at it and we forget to look. All the way around the edges of the frame. I look around the edges of your frame carefully. And if there's anything there that's distracting and pulling your eye away. Just change your crop or clone them out, whichever is easy for you.

[00:39:08] Um, So that's it. Those are the notes. I mean, there's loads, of course there's loads of things. I carry copious notes, but I thought those are the most interesting. Um, to talk about, uh, particularly as we're, heading towards, uh, at this time of year, when people start to hive images away ready for the competitions, uh, for the BIPP print competition. Um, and eventually, you know, the doors will open for the society's convention as well.

[00:39:30] So I thought there'd be useful. Um, The other thing, a couple of updates. Where are we with things that I've been asked? Uh, to look at. Uh, where are we? DXE DXE. CXO asked me to play with. DXA labs. Uh, the DXA labs for, I think it is an, a DX oh, film pack seven. Now the XO labs. It's not really the photo lab is not really for me because it, Lightroom is at the heart of my workflow. Um, we used the XO pure raw anyway, which is brilliant, pure, or for, by the way. Brilliant.

[00:40:03] Absolutely love it. Uh, so don't, for me, that's not necessarily something I'm going to put into my workflow. I'm sure it's very good. I've used it a little bit, but however, the DSO film pack, film pack seven. It's an absolute blast. Loving it just for the moment.

[00:40:17] I use effects quite a lot, but I like it if I can for it not to look effected. If you see what I mean that of course, the minute you really easily apply a film preset, of course he looks effected, I'm not an idiot. Um, but I love those kinds of tones. They feel very analog to me. Uh, it's really, uh, really, really, really good.

[00:40:34] So, uh, highly recommends if you get a chance to have a play with that. I'm sure they do a trial. I haven't looked. Uh, DXO Filmpack 7. And the other thing I thought I'd give a quick shout about today. Um, his ACDSee, which I've continued to use again, they approached me and asked me to have a look at it and say what I thought it's really, really good.

[00:40:55] Um, it's not good at high volumes of face recognition. I discovered that as it. just crashed my computer basically. Um, but that not withstanding. It's blindingly quick is great to have it there . Lightroom for us is our management tool for all of our raw files. Um, but the RAW files get archived away, and we then have all of the JPEGs that I've generated for print. Hi res. Uh, low compression JPEGs.

[00:41:21] So having ACDSee that looks over all of my Dropbox folders and keeps that as an active catalog. Is great because I can get to any image. I like, in a heartbeat. Absolutely brilliant. So I absolutely, I would highly recommend that. Um, again, I will put a link to, um, I'll put a link to ACDSee in the show notes. And then finally just a more pop-up it's our beer festival on Saturday.

[00:41:45] Now. I know none of you are local, but nonetheless, um, I will be at the beer festival if anyone fancies a beer and a chat we're in, but it had them in Buckingham share. Uh, I'd love to catch up if there is anybody around, because it's, I'm hoping that there's going to be good. Um, it's like the best place to listen to music.

[00:42:02] Have a nice beer. And have a great conversation. And on that happy note, I'm going to go home now and we're going to open. I hope a bottle of champagne to celebrate Jake's success and Harriet's success in her new job. Uh, the sun is shining. And then we're going to try and stay up and see the results. Of this particular, general election.

[00:42:21] Again, to all our American friends have a wonderful . Uh, July 4th.

[00:42:25] And I'm going to go away and be more like sitting in a bath of warm water. I remember whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care.

Before all that, though, I head up the episode with a quick chat with Colin Jones, CEO of The Societies Of Photographers. This is one more in my series of interviews-from-the-photography-show (I need a snappier title) and it's interesting that once more, training and education are at the forefront of his thoughts.

Also, I mention a brilliant app called EVOTO.AI in this episode.  At some point I'll do a deep-dive into it but rest-assured, this is well worth exploring if, like me, you create portraits for a living.  The guys have kindly given me a link you can use that gives you thirty free credits when you register: https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson One great thing about this app is that you only burn a credit up when export a finished image - you can test it out on as many as you like.  This means those thirty credits could be enough for you to play around with as many images as you want until you're happy and then go ahead and run an entire portrait session through!  

Let me know what you think!

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] I'm Colin Jones. I'm the CEO for the Society of Photographers. Excellent. It's lovely to see you as always, Colin.

[00:00:06] Tell me why you come to the photography show. Oh, the photography show is a great show. It's great to meet up with all the trade, seeing all the latest products and services in the industry and getting to network with other photographers.

[00:00:17] It's a great show to come to.

[00:00:18] So, tell me why you love this industry so much.

[00:00:21] Oh, I love the industry. I've always been part of the photography industry. It's been part of my family since my granddad and my dad, and it's an industry full of amazing people, creative people, uh, and, you know, so much passion for, for, for photography and for the craft of it.

[00:00:35] And I love seeing people excel in the industry as well.

[00:00:37] So that's all of the positives.

[00:00:38] But if, like everything, there was always things we could do better as an industry. If there's one thing, just one thing that you could change in this glorious passion of ours, what would it be?

[00:00:48] I think I'd like to see photographers get more training, invest more time in training and more, more money in training. Uh, you know, I see, when we see people take that step and really invest in training to push not only their photography but their business, we see so much success. Uh, so I'd love to see training be more, , forefront of the industry.

[00:01:04] When you're talking about training, what aspects do you think, photographers in the industry, certainly the industry we spend most of our time with, which is the UK industry, what do you think is the weak spot? Which direction do you think the development would be most applicable.

[00:01:19] I think, uh, quite a lot of photographers, if they're in business, uh, that's where we see a lot of photographers really struggle getting clients through the door, marketing their services, uh, so that's, that's always been a big passion of mine, is getting photographers more training in the business side, but, you know, I, I genuinely think training of any kind, whether it's lighting and posing, or even just networking with your peers, uh, and getting training that way, just by talking to other photographers, uh, is a, is a real bonus.

[00:01:43] Excellent.

[00:01:43] Perfect answers, as always, from one of the nicest guys in the industry. Thank you, Colin.

[00:01:47] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, so that is one more of those little interviews I did at the photography show earlier this year. That was Colin Jones, the CEO of the Societies Of, Photographers. It's always interesting talking to people like Colin. I mean, not just because he's a really lovely guy. But he hears from hundreds, possibly thousands of photographers, uh, on a scale that most of us can only imagine.

[00:02:11] And yet the themes still seem to be consistent.

[00:02:15] It's all about education.

[00:02:17] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: And learning I'm Paul and this is the masteringportraitphotography.com podcast.

[00:02:22]

[00:02:36] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well, it's been three weeks since the last episode and yesterday, yesterday.

[00:02:45] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: It was mine and Sarah's 21st wedding anniversary. She sent me a card and it simply said, imagine how boring life would be without me. Literally in quotes. Imagine how boring life would be without me. Well, this morning, She bit my toe, I was fast asleep. She bit my toe now I sleep with my feet. Out of the bottom of the duvet.

[00:03:09] I've always done it. And I've no idea why, but I do. This morning. She bit my toe. And this isn't really a unique event. I think she probably does it a few times. A year I am asleep, then rudely I'm awakened. With pain. There is nothing in between those two moments except a searing sensation that someone has sunk their teeth. Into my big toe. I don't really know which bit hurts the most, the initial bite or the moments I react and pull away leaving tooth marks. This morning. She bit my toe.

[00:03:46] It's true. Sarah is right. Imagine how life would be without her. Imagine how boring. It would be, frankly, I can't imagine it. I can't picture. How things would be without every morning. They're being the risk that she's going to sink her teeth into my toe. But Sarah is the person who makes me laugh the most.

[00:04:07] She is the person who allows the extrovert in me out. She's the person who props me up when I'm down. And she's the person who keeps a lid on me. When I'm up. That sounds really weird, but you get the gist of it. Um, you know, I can be quite full on, I think, and it, Sarah, that just keeps things nice and steady.

[00:04:28] And so thank you Sarah, for 21 years of marriage, 33 years of hilarity between the two of us. So, yes, life would be really boring without her.

[00:04:41] Anyway, in the past three weeks, what has happened in our diary.

[00:04:46] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well there have been 22 different portrait sessions, which is lovely, including one, uh, just this morning, beautiful family. Uh, so a mom with her two children and her two grandchildren. Um, just lovely out in the sunshine, a quick drive over to their house. Shot in the garden.

[00:05:05] What was funny about it was every single shot. She wanted her front door in the images. Which, uh, I've had sort of, you know, big Manor houses and different things about to be part of a shoot, but I've never had one where the front door has to be prominent, but it was a joyous shoot, beautiful people.

[00:05:23] They made me very welcome.

[00:05:24] Cannot wait to show them their pictures. And one of the two little girls -she's three years old -was wearing a Liverpool FC football strip. Now on two levels that just filled my heart, with joy. On the one level. It's Liverpool, which happens to be the team that I also have always supported all my life I've supported.

[00:05:46] And when I say supported, what I mean is occasionally I've looked at their headlines and seen the score. Or occasionally, you know, a key match comes up and I might watch the first 20 minutes of it, before it gets way too stressful for me, and I leave the room. I'm not really a supporter in the supporter sense of the word. But if I'm ever, if ever I'm asked, and this is since I've been about five years old, it's been Liverpool. And she was wearing a kit this morning and the kit was almost identical to a kit I was bought for Christmas when I think I was about eight. There's something about the styling of the current, the current kit, the red with the white collar. The cut of it, the styling of it, that's almost exactly the same as it was all of those years ago when it was Kevin Keegan and the boys playing. And so that made me happy.

[00:06:36] The main reason, it made me really happy. Is isn't it amazing. Oh, is it amazing or isn't it about time?

[00:06:43] Maybe it's about time. Maybe we're just getting there. That a girl turned up at the door. She's three years old and she's a football fanatic. And I know now the way it will be for her is so very different, than for instance, if my sister, when she was that age wanted to play football. Now my, my sister, cause I was a drummer, my sister wanted to play drums, but the girl's school, she went to said that wasn't lady like. How heartbreaking is that? I know we're going back quite a long time, but how heartbreaking. Is that, that you can't do something. Because it's not lady like. You can't do something because because of your gender, it doesn't fit in. It's just ridiculous.

[00:07:25] And so it is so heartwarming this morning. To see this little girl in bright red, bright red Liverpool football strip, kicking a ball around the garden and loving every single second of it. And unlike my sister, where I think life in that particular time. In the late eighties, early nineties. You know, Society's, it was sort of prevented things like that. I know this little kid that won't be the case. For her, at least. I trust it won't be the case for her.

[00:07:57] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So wonderful shoot this morning, 22 portraits shoots over the past three weeks, we'd done five Hearing Dogs shoots. Uh, two of those have been out on a location and they've been so joyous, so profoundly joyous. Um, the one yesterday was of one of our recipients whose Hearing Dog has essentially. Been a lifesaver.

[00:08:18] I mean, I, I hear this quite a lot, but I really do think, uh, the lady I photographed with her dog yesterday, she's in her mid twenties. Um, Is just, was just an inspiration, really the relationship with the dog, the way they were, the joy that dog has brought, um, And it was just a magical shoot. And one of the things about these all, I mean, all portrait shoots, I think, but in particular with shoots like the Hearing Dogs is as much as I'm providing a service, as much as I'm providing images that they can use for fundraising and publicity and PR and marketing and all of these things. Is, they provide me with a sense of, what's the right word, they energize me. They give me energy and positivity. I come away from these shoots so much more full of life than I do when I arrive at them. I just think. It's just incredible. The joy that a photography can bring, not just to the people I'm photographing, but also, uh, to me.

[00:09:22] Uh, we've had five cleanse that was a bit abrupt, sorry about that. I don't know. I maybe I just couldn't think of a good point to wind up on, but being a portrait photographer is a thing of joy.

[00:09:33] It is a thing of life is a thing of positivity and energy. Um, and I suppose that's what I'm trying to get to. It really is something, but it's not a one way street. I get as much energy and joy out of these shoots as my client's do.

[00:09:48] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, we've also had five client reveals. Uh, just wonderful. I love it when the clients come to see that images, we never quite certain what we're going to sell. But, uh, it's just a lovely thing to see the reaction to people when they see their pictures sometimes surprise. In fact, nearly, always surprise at how beautiful the pictures can be, I don't know why they're surprised they've come to us. They've come to us because they've seen what I can do for others. Um, and yet still the surprise very often it's clients who've been to us before, and they're still surprised. Maybe I should work harder at explaining what we, what we do, but that element of surprise. It's a lovely thing when it's done in the, in the reveal room and tomorrow we've got a little wedding, it was just a two person wedding uh, who are coming to see their pictures. And again, massively looking forward to that. Uh, we've run one one-on-one masterclass.

[00:10:37] I love the one-on-one masterclasses. Because of course, every topic, every topic can be on the table. We don't need to worry about. Uh, suiting or fulfilling the requirements of four or five people. It's just one person and we can play, we can talk, uh, we can jump between different topics. We can try different things out depending on their needs.

[00:10:57] Anything from business all the way through to how to prep your files for Photoshop. It doesn't really make any difference to us. And so for that, it's just a wonderful thing to do.

[00:11:07] We've also done a, an off-camera flash workshop. Now the off-camera flash workshops are by far the hardest. Even this morning, a little shoot. Um, when I met bumped into the little girl, Uh, in her Liverpool outfit, Liverpool kit. I decided one of the shots we would do would be, uh, like a FIFA or UEFA. Uh, footballer's pose because all footballers are contracted to do these things so that when, uh, the, the, the TV companies roll out or, or show the team list or whatever, or feature a player, there's footage of every player walking into shot and standing a very particular way, they lit a very particular way. Um, and you can do that quite happily out in the garden with some off-camera flash.

[00:11:50] So even this morning I was using. Off camera flash, and you have to sort of pause a little bit and think, okay. And you, you have to build the shot setting by setting. Then it's not as straightforward as it is just using TTL. You could just use TTL on your flash guns. Uh, but you get sort of slightly erratic results if you do that. You have to understand how, uh, the shutter speed, the aperture, the ISO, they all interact to give you the output you're looking for. And this morning absolutely nailed it. But when you're trying to teach it, trying to get those principles across in a way that is clear, a way that is concise and a way that is repeatable so that you will delegates can leave. And use that, those techniques themselves. Isn't trivial.

[00:12:41] It's the, of all the things we teach here at the studio, I think. It's the hardest. And I know it's the hardest because when I'm suddenly faced with having to get the settings right for myself on a shoot, invariably I'll change the wrong thing at the wrong moment. And it's like, oh, bugger. bugger Having to go back. And figure it out. Uh, so it was, it was lovely to do a brilliant day, lots of laughter and one that Sarah was away for.

[00:13:07] So thank you to Katie and James who stepped in. And Katie stepped into the role of, of Sarah, because she had to go and look after my in-laws new puppy for eight days, honestly, she's come back exhausted that, that Sarah, that is not the puppy. Uh, she's come back. Absolutely exhausted. The puppy goes to sleep at midnight. The puppy wakes up at six and there's very little in between. It's on and off. Uh, and it's on from 6:00 AM to midnight and it's off from midnight til six. She was absolutely shattered. So, uh, she was away the week when we running the workshop, unfortunately. And it couldn't be helped, not a lot of sidestepping, but Katie, thank you very much for stepping in. And being sort of a surrogate, Sarah and helping me make sure that everything ran. Uh, smoothly.

[00:13:53] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, also this last week we have done a full day of qualifications judging for the BIPP, the British Institute of Professional Photography. Um, It's a wonderful thing. Qualifications are such an amazing thing to be a part of. And I mean, that from both sides of the line.

[00:14:12] I kind of draw inspiration from the candidates, the people putting their images in for assessment and I draw inspiration from the judges, but in very different ways.

[00:14:24] The candidates, of course. It takes quite a lot of bravery, I think, to submit your images. I mean, we've all been through it, but it still is quite a thing to do. To submit your images in for assessment as qualification, because you don't know, you don't truly know, even the mentors don't truly know, whether a panel is going to be successful or not.

[00:14:45] , we did eight panels in a day. I'm chairing it.

[00:14:48] So I'm not really a judge in that sense anymore. I chair it and make sure it's run smoothly And the process is meticulous in the way we do it, so that it's fair and equitable for every single candidate.

[00:15:03] Firstly, the candidate sets up their panel and the judges, get to assess the images. At the end of that first assessment , we take a vote. Then have a discussion and then we take a second vote. And the reason we do it like that is so that the judges get to make up their minds independently with no influence. They're just assessing the images on their own. And on an individual basis. Then we vote. And then as a discussion and in that discussion, It's about the judging team, the panel of judges arriving at a decision that is, a combination of their own independent view and the views of the other four judges. And it's important that it's done like that because every judge has a different experience, different influences and skills for how they assess the images.

[00:15:53] And so when the judges talk, each judge gets the opportunity to address the panel, and talk about why they think their decision is the right one. But they're also listening to the other four judges and taking into account, maybe things they haven't noticed or maybe things that they just don't prioritize quite the same way.

[00:16:17] And listening to these six judges or five at a time, but the six judges in discourse, listening, giving their views, knowing when to be brave and when to stand their ground, but also know when to flex, and acknowledge that may be another photographer, another judge has more experience in an area or a spotted, something that they haven't, that that was exhilarating in the extreme, because the panel of judges each time there was a discussion , they came to decision and the whole panel doesn't have to be unanimous, but the whole panel of judges respects and understands the outcome of the process.

[00:16:56] Now, of course the delegate might not. That is other candidate rather than might not. That is true. And it wasn't a hundred percent pass, uh, in terms of each of the panels. And it's always heartbreaking. I wish the candidates could see behind the curtain while we come to the decision. That's not part of the process that we've opened up just yet. Um, that may come in the future as we get our arms around a way of doing that, that is. Uh, fair. But genuinely when a panel was unsuccessful, you could almost hear everybody in the room, you can almost hear their hearts. Breaking.

[00:17:37] When we say, we're sorry. We mean it. Because we would love every single panel to be a successful panel. We would love that. But in the end. It's a, it's a balancing act between making sure that we reward the endeavor, we reward the work. But the standards have to be high. They have to be. Consistent. They have to be something that when people look at the letters you put on the wall. They mean something and sadly they can only mean something.

[00:18:12] If we hold our ground, on, uh, the standards, the process, and the reasons why certain panels will succeed where other panels may not make it this particular time, but what an absolute what an absolute privilege to be in the room with those judges, looking at those panels, the panels were stunning. Even the ones that were unsuccessful this time round, the panels were stunning.

[00:18:34] So a huge, thank you. To the six judges who came and provided their skills, their eyes, their experience to, assess each of the candidates work

[00:18:47] And what a beautiful thing to be a part of.

[00:18:50] Um, what else? What have I written in my notes?

[00:18:52] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So, yeah, I've drank a little too much this week and exercised a little too little. That's something I'm now feeling very guilty about. And this afternoon, it's Saturday afternoon. And I sat and thought. Shall I go home and get on the exercise, bike or shall I record a podcast.

[00:19:06] And I thought, oh, I better record this podcast, but trust me when this is recorded. I'm going to go home and do a little bit more exercise than I have this week. This week I've barely slept. I've been working in London. I've been working in Essex. I've been working here locally. This stuff has got to go out.

[00:19:23] I've written an article for professional photo magazine, big shout out to those guys, by the way, the online magazine looks fantastic that's Professional. Uh, Photo Magazine. Uh, but what, uh, what a week it has been,

[00:19:36] uh, final note, . Final note this week. Um, it's been a real run of it just at the moment in that.

[00:19:43] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Lots of photographic suppliers have been approaching us to feature their product on either the podcast or masteringportraitphotography.com, or just getting it into our hands so that we can talk about it. And I have a really strict policy here, um, that I'll only talk about things and promote things that I use that are part of our business, part of our workflow, because if they are worth talking about, then trust me. I've already had a look I'm already using it.

[00:20:11] So this one has, this came in yesterday. Um, and I'll put the link in the show notes. We use a bit of software, or we've been exploring a bit of software called EVOTO - E V O T O, which is it's an AI retouching package.

[00:20:27] Now I know I can feel a few of you are hackles going up and bloomin' AI. retouching automated and all of those things. Why do I like it? Well, I like it because you have total control. So in the same way that we use actions in Photoshop, we put up, um, check layers. And do dodging and burning. This takes some of that drudgery out.

[00:20:50] I say, drudgery that, sorry, that sounds dreadful. I don't mean it to sound like that because actually I love retouching.

[00:20:56] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: I love it when I've got an hour. And a beautiful picture that I can just work up, but my business model, doesn't allow me to do that for 22 portrait shoots in three weeks. It just doesn't.

[00:21:08] Now I could outsource it, I suppose. But I've never been really that happy with the results when I've done that. I find, I find things, come back, just looking a little bit plastic. Um, of course I could pay really high-end retouches, but I work in social photography, not commercial retouching. Obviously, if it's going to be the cover of Vogue, I can spend thousands on a single image being retouched, but that's not my world.

[00:21:31] My world is a very solid, very dynamic, very successful social photography. Uh, outfit and. Although I like the images to have a really high fashion look for an awful lot of my work, trying to find techniques to do that quickly is not straightforward.

[00:21:48] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Um, so when EVOTO suddenly emerged a few months ago, it's still sort of in beta, at least a lot of the functions are. Um, it's E V O T O you can go download it.

[00:21:59] Um, this particular piece of software allows you a huge amount of control and there are two. Uh, bits of Photoshopping that I really don't enjoy. I don't mind. I love I say. I don't mind. I love skin retouching. I love working at the colors. I love all of that side of it. I really don't like fixing crosshairs, and I don't like fixing creased clothes.

[00:22:21] So there's a two things there, there are others, but those are two things I really just find irritating for whatever reason.

[00:22:28] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well, EVOTO on its own, it would be worth the effort of just fixing those, um, it does crosshairs brilliantly and it will take the majority of creases out of pretty much any type of clothing.

[00:22:41] And even if that was all it did, that would be worth the money, but it does so much more. It helps me in so many ways. It's helping us automate and create a higher finish. But it's still looking natural, still looking like they, the images haven't been retouched, I'll do a deep dive into it at some point. Uh, but the guys have been in touch, and I do have a promo code. Uh, if you fancy it again. Uh, put that in the notes, but it's https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson capital P capital w all one word, Paul Wilkinson. And if you go there and sign up. Uh, you will get 30 free credits, which allow you to have a play.

[00:23:28] So you'll get 30 free credits. The other thing about the software, which I really like is that you pay to finish the image so you can load it up with as many images as you like and run your, your settings on it and run. Basically all of that, the whole of the software. But you only get charged when you export the finished images out.

[00:23:50] Now it's not perfect yet. Uh, only works on certain types of files. It won't work on PSD files. It works on TIFs or RAW files. Uh, or JPEGs, but trust me, it's an absolute godsend. Uh, particularly if you don't overuse it, if you just keep on the right side of the line. The images look natural, they look polished. They look finished. That you've got no crosshairs and even the clothes can get a little bit of an iron. So I'll put that link in the show notes. And if you follow the link, you will get, uh, 30 free credits. By the way, I get no kickback on this. I'm getting nothing out of it. It's just, I talked to the guys. Because I use the software. And I said I would happily, uh, promote it because I think it's, it's absolutely. Uh, brilliant.

[00:24:37] And then anybody, the whole point of this podcast is to make life a little bit easier for anybody, uh, doing portrait. Uh, photography.

[00:24:44] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So anyway, on to what is, I suppose, as much as it ever is the topic of a podcast, these are just, you know, It's the diary of a working pro in stuff that occurs to me as we, as I get all my life. Um, but here's the primary topic of this particular. Uh, podcast and in a sense. It's a little bit of a moan. I just, I don't like to moan.

[00:25:07] It's not my style, but this is just a little bit of a protest protest. Sounds better than moan. Maybe. A little bit of a protest.

[00:25:15] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Which is the sheer number of adverts I get in all of my social feeds with people telling me they have the answer. They can make my photography business successful. They can find me thousands of clients.

[00:25:29] They have a six-figure photographic business. They can tell me how they did it. No one, no one has the answer. It's all lots of small parts. And when I'm looking for help, I look basically for three. Three things more or less. And these. These are three things that it would have to have if I'm going to use someone for some help.

[00:25:48] Firstly, do I admire their pictures? Do I admire their pictures? Do I want or understand why they create what they do? Is it something. That's in tune. With me and what I want.

[00:26:01] A couple of people have come into our studio and said, well, you could do it like this, you could turn the whole space into two working studios, have two photographers in each run, eight shoots. Uh, in each, uh, part of your space per day, that's 16 shoots. Per day, you need to get a sales team onto the calls, do cold calling to lead generation, and you could run a multi-million pound business. Well, I could. But I don't want to. Because those photos are not the photos that I want to take. Um, and besides I want to take them, I love creating pictures. That's part of why we do this. The idea of not creating pictures anymore is not part of my business plan. What I've got to always figure out is how to make this business as profitable as I can, given the caveat, I left a very well-paid job in the city to do it. I left a career and a life of money and shares and shareholder value, and watching stock markets and being a partner in a firm.

[00:26:56] I left all of that behind me because it wasn't, what I wanted. What I wanted to do was create beautiful images and make life just a little bit better for people myself included. Um, so that the idea of doing that, so. I will only ever look for someone who's creating pictures. I truly admire.

[00:27:12] Secondly, , does that business, the business they're describing, does it look like my business vision?

[00:27:18] So whatever it is, they're trying to sell me. Is that part of my vision.

[00:27:23] And thirdly, do I like the person who purports to give me that information.

[00:27:29] If those three things are true, there may be, I'll dig into it a little bit further, but if any, one of those isn't true. I'm not going there. And I get so many ads with people, waving their camera around, telling me some number or rather. You know, I don't know.

[00:27:43] I've created a six figure business in three weeks. Um, I did it all from the comfort of my own home. I mean, there's even ads. Now I get the, tell me they don't need a photographer. You can set up. A headshot business without ever using a photographer. And if I get one more of those ads from someone who clearly doesn't understand. What. Personal branding really is it's the clue is in the title, personal. It's not AI generated.

[00:28:09] I know you can change hairdos and suits. And I use AI everywhere. Trust me. But there's a big difference in the, if you think about the one word you have to have in personal branding, authenticity is at the heart of it. An AI can't give you that. I mean, you can't synthesize authenticity. There's no such thing. Synthetic authenticity is an oxymoron, it is not a thing it's either authentic or ain't. So, uh, I'm sort of very. They're very cynical about those things and they, and these people are always waving a camera around at me, sometimes with the lens cup still on. I assume that it's because the Metta or social media algorithms reward, people waving a camera around.

[00:28:53] So it gets it higher up in my feed and it definitely works as long as it's aimed at me. So I've got hundreds of these things. And they're always, there was a very particular type of person. They're always very bouncy and extrovert and energetic. And I like that. I'm bouncy and energetic and extrovert. Um, but I'd like to know, that their business has been running for 10 years or 15 years.

[00:29:17] I'd like to know. That they consistently do these pictures with real clients, the kind of clients that we find, the kind of clients that are in tune with our business. Um, Now of course, when I dig into them and actually have a hunt around. 99% of them are paper thin. There's nothing underneath there's no, it's not substantiated by any real world. Business acumen or business experience. Some of them will have been successful, but you can feel that they are now going into training because the success of the business has probably beginning to wane.

[00:29:51] I'm looking for a long-term sustained business. If what I want to run is a longterm sustained business. I'm looking for somebody who can do what I want to do. Um, Now it is true. It is true that you can be a great coach without being a sporting star on your own or vocal coach to rockstars. They're not quite the same thing, being good at something and being able to coach in it. Not quite the same thing as being a star in it.

[00:30:18] I understand that. But I really do want to know that the war stories I'm going to learn from are real, that someone's been out there, someone's done it. That they've walked the walk and ideally are still walking the walk I'd much rather learn from a business than from a trainer. If you get what I mean. I want to go to a consultant . Who's still running up business. They're still learning. They're still evolving. I mean, goodness knows. In the UK, we're about to go into a general election. The dates of that have just been released, and if there's one thing I know about elections and anything sort of like, um, referenda, anything like that. Is the phones, just go that little bit quieter. So no matter what happens up until July the fourth, which is the election date, I know that the market will be ever so slightly suppressed because people don't wake up during election campaigning and think first as they wake up, I need to get some photos. That's just not what happens.

[00:31:16] People wake up and thinks, you know, What's Rishi Sunak said today, or where are we headed with the election or any one of a million other things, but photography just gets down the list a little bit, further. So I know we're about to go into a quiet period and what I want is someone who's been through that knows that's what's coming knows that the little intricacies of running a business over a long period of time are far more than you can do something like this in 42 days, or in just three weeks, you can have this success or with just one camera and one lens and working from home, you can telemarket to a thousand people.

[00:31:49] I don't care about any of that. What I want to know is do they run a business that looks a little bit like mine? And I know that they've been there, seen it, done it and are still doing it. Um, now.

[00:32:00] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: A couple of episodes ago, I talked about four things, four things, I think are consistent to successful. Photographers that's energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence.

[00:32:12] I stand by that. They're very much there, but they're not all of it. And I did say that in a podcast, they're just the foundation stones. That, not the whole building there. The bit. They're the bedrock or the foundation, everything can be built on, but they are not. The whole building, maybe I'll get over the coming months to talk about each of the different areas that I think you probably need to get to map it out.

[00:32:35] Maybe that'd be a good idea. if I draw it all out. Uh, maybe actually create a little bit, maybe I should stand in front of a camera and wave my camera around with my lens cap on and say, I've got the answer for you. I don't, I don't have the answer. I've just spotted some things that are consistent with people who are successful, energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. But you'll also need some other stuff.

[00:32:58] And one of them is just hard work over a period of time. Call it, practice. Call it graft, call it wherever you want. It's doing it over a long period of time so that you have your chops down. You graft at it. You'll get some breaks. You'll miss some breaks. You'll have a bit of good luck, you know, have a little bit of bad luck. That's life. There isn't a silver bullet for this, and you really do need to plow through it. So these little ads that come up and say, I've got the answer for you in the next three weeks, you can do this. Um, then just, I'm just doubtful.

[00:33:32] I certainly don't buy into them. And every time I have sort of investigated, they've come up short now we all have superpowers. We do. But we don't all have the same superpowers and there's no one superpower you need, you need a suite of them. But you can't have everything. It's just not possible to be good at everything. Um, my superpowers, I suppose, are I am a grafter I work hard. I can read light. I love, I love technology. I know it's slightly ironic that I'm muttering about some of the AI stuff given I've got a PhD in AI. I adore technology. And I get on with people. Well, mostly I get on with people. But I am not for instance, an avant-garde creative photographer. I'm not edgy. I'm not a visionary. I'm certainly not a master, of marketing or a sales.

[00:34:22] I'm non of those things, but I work hard. At it, I love doing it. And so I do a lot of it. And I particularly love being amongst people. And I love being amongst people when I've got a camera. And if I'm, I suppose I, if I think about it, I can create a portrait. In almost any light. If I can see it. Well, probably I can use it. Those are my superpowers, but everyone will have different superpowers. Some of you will be amazing at business. Some of us will be amazing at marketing and sales. Some of us will be amazing photo shoppers. And fine artists things that I'm not. Um, but that's my superpower. Those are my superpowers. Uh, I'm a grafter can read light love tech and I get on well with people.

[00:35:07] But even then in and of itself. that's not enough. It's a damn good start, but it's not enough. I've got to learn and I have learned as much as I can about everything else. I'm still learning. I'm still on that journey. We're still running. Uh, business that I've learned how to do it alongside Sarah. Sarah. and myself, we've worked out how to do it.

[00:35:27] We've had a corporate background. So we were exposed to the fundamental principles of running businesses, which is really useful. But I've learnt how to run our little business, how to sell. We've learned how to sell stuff. We've learned how to market, we've learnt how to do those things. Using what I would consider to be natural tools. Um, so using the S the superpowers that we have, the ability to get on well with people, the ability to create a picture, actually, after that, you don't need to do too much on the sales side, a couple of little bits and pieces.

[00:35:55] There are techniques. But for us, we've just lent into our natural talents. Um, of really liking our clients and really enjoying being there with them and really enjoying, creating images of them. Uh, and so that's how we've learned how to run a business and we're still learning.

[00:36:12] But I do wish I could stop receiving ads from people, waving a camera at me telling me that they all 25 years old of them. Are the answer. Well, they may be the answer, but they're not the answer. that I would look for. They can't change my business only I can change my business and I'm very, very picky. About who I take advice from.

[00:36:37] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Anyway, thank you for listening.

[00:36:39] If you have enjoyed this, please do let us know. Please do leave us a rating on iTunes or wherever it is, you get your podcasts and also please do subscribe. So the minute we publish the next one. Bang. There is. In your in-tray or in your list, on your library, on your latest or on your alerts or wherever it is. That it pings up when you listen to your podcasts, please also head over to mastering portrait photography.com, which is. the spiritual home of this podcast. But also of course includes a ton of stuff all about the love. The passion, the creativity in the business of mastering. Portrait photography. If you're curious about any of the workshops and one-on-one masterclasses that we run, um, where there's a whole suite of them. I go back to the thing I said earlier, though. If you think we're the kind of thing you'd like to do.

[00:37:23] If we creating pictures that you'd like to learn how to do, and if you think actually you'd like to learn it from us. And then please do head over to, uh, paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. And there you will find the, um, Coaching section, but just Google paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk workshops and you will find us.

[00:37:41] So on that happy note, I'm going to go, I think. And have a beer in the sunshine with my wife. And lament the fact that I've got one very sore, big toe. Whatever else you do. Be kind to yourself. Take care.

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!)

This episode also features a quick catchup with Andy Blake from Kaleidoscope Framing (https://www.kaleidoscope-framing.co.uk/) who have been our supplier for nearly twenty years.  Why?  Because their products and their customer service are second to none!

The PMI Smoke Ninja Photographic Competition is now in full swing - deadline is 5th May so what's stopping you?  Head over to  https://pmigear.com/pages/smokeninja-portrait-contest to read all about it.  The Smoke Ninja is genius! Actually, it should be called the Smoke Genius...

I also mention Datacolor's excellent products in the podcast, in particular the Spyder Cube, the Spyder Checkr Photo and the Spyder Checkr Video - they can be found at  https://www.datacolor.com/spyder/products/ We have used these products for years and years and I would never go on location without them!

If you're interested in any of our workshops or masterclasses, you can find them 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.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Andy I'm the general manager at Kaleidoscope.

[00:00:02] Tell me a little bit about Kaleidoscope. Kaleidoscope. Okay, so we're coming up to our 26th year in business. We are a bespoke picture framer, mainly for the photographic industry, so we basically can make anything you want. So, as long as we can actually build it, we'll do it, it's as simple as that.

[00:00:18] Tell me why you come to the photography show. So we come to Photography Show, uh, mainly to obviously try and drum up more business, new customers, but also see our existing customers and show off our products, ideas, what we can achieve, what we can do, and try and inspire photographers into what they can tell and display their work like.

[00:00:36] Why do you love the photography industry so much? I've always had a passion for photography. I know we've spoke before on your podcast, uh, from a young, young age. Um, don't do as much of it myself anymore. Uh, unfortunately, uh, more involved in this side. But I love photography in terms of what that moment can capture.

[00:00:54] What you can hold that freeze frame, that image for time. Um, and look back at it. And just, you know, it's memories, isn't it? You're capturing memories, you're capturing happy moments, sad moments, uh, important moments, lots of different memories from people's lives at different times, so.

[00:01:09] Uh, if you could change one small thing, or one big thing for that matter about this glorious industry, what would it be?

[00:01:17] That's a tough one. I don't know. I don't know what I'd change. Um, obviously for us, for us as a company, I'd change in terms of trying to encourage people to sell more products. That was what, that's what we would change, uh, in terms of helping us as a business.

[00:01:31] But it's, in terms of the industry? Sorry, on that note, I'll stop you and we'll just drill into that a little bit.

[00:01:38] Do you think that photographers understand the importance and the role that finished artworks, whether it's in albums, which you don't do, or whether it's in a frame, as opposed to the fleeting pixel base like phones, iPads, TV screens, do you think they understand the difference and the importance of it?

[00:01:57] Not everyone, no. I think there's an element where in a day Very digital driven world. Social media and images being on screens, and I think a lot of people don't realize how different an image can look when you put it up on the wall, when you print it big, when you put a mount around it, put a frame around it, put it onto a canvas, laminate it.

[00:02:15] There's so many different options or ways to display that image. I think when you see an image framed up, we. Customers where we print their images and display them here, uh, as you've seen yours, and I'm amazed actually how often people, the first thing they say is, I didn't think it would look that good.

[00:02:30] I never thought it could look that good. And, and it goes to show that actually displaying it large, printing it and putting it onto some paper can make such a difference to seeing it on screen, seeing it on the back of the camera, whatever it may be. So, and by extension, I've got a few clients that say they put their, these frames like in a.

[00:02:44] Position of prominence, not necessarily visibility, but somewhere they'll see it every day, like the top of the stairs, or somewhere they, you know, walk through a hallway or something, and they enjoy that moment, they relive those memories every single time they look at a frame, and that's something I think digital products don't do, they're much more fleeting.

[00:03:02] No, I'd completely agree with that. We moved into our new house in December, and I'm still trying to get frames on the wall, and it's the one thing I'm missing. In our old house, we had lots of frames. Of lots of small frames with lots of captured memories and, and I used to love it walking past the stairs and you'd see 25 frames on the wall, lots of different things.

[00:03:17] And now it, we don't at the moment. So that's, I'm driving for that because it does, it, it, it brings back that, that memory, that spark, that emotion from that moment.

[00:03:25] Thank you very much, Andy. I'll talk to you soon. Thank you.

[00:03:28] Honestly, it's one of the greatest things about being a part of this industry is the people I've met along the way. And Andy. He's definitely one of them.

[00:03:35] I'm Paul, and this is the mastering portrait photography podcast.

[00:03:40] So I've been in London this afternoon, we've had such a chaotic few weeks. It's nine o'clock at night. Actually it's half past nine at night. And I'm sitting on my own in the studio with just the whirring of the heating. And a couple of disc drives, chattering weight in the background. And if I'm honest, I've just found myself asleep at my desk because finally I've managed to get myself back into the habit of doing some exercise.

[00:04:19] And so when we got back from London tonight, I hopped onto the Peleton and did an hour, but all it's actually happened is I'm just exhausted because it really has been a few weeks and it must have been because I haven't recorded any podcasts and that's in spite of me, not just promising. I suppose all of my listeners, but promising myself. I would do more and I do them shorter, but actually the reality is finding the space, not just the time I suppose, but the headspace to sit and do a podcast. Well, it's just alluded me a little bit.

[00:04:55] So it's me. I'm on my own. A little bit of peace and quiet and I think at the moment, Things are a little bit like playing Mario carts. I love Mario karts. Cause once you get to know the course, you get to know where you're headed, what's coming up, what you've got to do. But in spite of that, well, usually my family, uh, throwing stuff at me, banana skins Inc.

[00:05:18] Shrink me. You name it?

[00:05:20] Um, but then there's also those boosts where you get that little bit of extra energy and off you go, and I think running a photography studio. Is a little bit light that. It's kind of crazy. It's full on. You're running at a hundred miles an hour. Things are thrown at you that in spite of the fact you think, you know where you're going and what's coming up next. Well, life doesn't work that way.

[00:05:41] So what's happened over the past. What's it been? Three and a half weeks, I think since I released a podcast. Uh, in that time we've done nine client reveals, which has been a really nice, hugely successful, which is lovely. Uh, we've done 15 portrait sessions, which means there's a whole load of reveals coming up. Um, we've judged the monthly for the BIPP, which is something I absolutely adore doing. Um, I'm chair of the judges. Uh, chair of awards and qualifications for the BIPP.

[00:06:10] So I'm not strictly speaking. Judging. So I get to be a part of the process and I really enjoy that. Uh, cause it takes a little bit the pressure off Sarah and I coordinate it. And bring it all together and make sure everything's running smoothly and keep an eye on the scores. But in the end, the pressure's not on me to analyze all of these images.

[00:06:28] Having said that though. Uh, over the past couple of days, I've been judging for the Photographic Society of America. Uh, which is a blast as he seeing some work from around the world. Uh, the BIPP though it is an international organization is predominantly a UK photographers, but the photographic society of America is exactly the opposite of that.

[00:06:47] In fact, I'm not sure how many UK guys. are in it. And so to see work from all over the world. And he's just a real pleasure. Um, Don two shoots for the Hearing Dogs, including photographing, uh, Chris Packham. TV presenter and natural history sort of buff. I suppose it was a wonderful thing, actually.

[00:07:09] I didn't know quite how I'd find him, cause it's never, you're never certain when you meet people, who've been on TV. Uh, quite what they're going to be like. And he's quite outspoken about various things, but he could not have been a nicer guy. And at the end of all of the shooting, we sat in a park and had a quick, it was a Coke. I say it was, it was a pub, but we had a diet Coke at a hot chocolate.

[00:07:31] And do you know what. There was a window. There was a window in exactly the way I describe how to set up light in the studio is it was, it could not have been more like a one meter square softbox and so I persuaded him to sit and we had a chat about photography and production and all sorts of things. Uh, and I took a couple of portraits of him using window light in a pub.

[00:07:55] Exactly as I describe how I learned today. So that was lovely.

[00:07:59] Uh, we've done five wedding pitches so far I've lost one, but one, all of the others, which I think is pretty good going. What's that 80% I'll live with 80%. The one that I lost was one that. You know, when you get a pitch. And your instinct is always to want to win.

[00:08:16] That's just inbuilt. But it was a job I couldn't figure out. Whether it was going to be tricky. And I'm not going to say more about it than that because I don't, I, you know, I don't want those prospective clients, if they happen to listen, to the podcast. You know, obviously they've decided to use somebody else or to go somewhere cheaper.

[00:08:36] Actually, I was too expensive. The price we put in was too much. Um, and they were lovely people. Absolutely brilliant. And I would have loved working with them. But the job was such that it would have meant cancelling, some other bits to do it. A couple of, um, Extended stays and a few of the bits and pieces.

[00:08:53] And I think in the end, I though I lost it. And of course you never, ever, ever. I want to lose work, my suspicion is the time that it would have taken. We'll drop a couple of portraits shoots in there. We'll stand, you know, we'll, we'll learn about the same kind of revenue for probably a lot less work in the end.

[00:09:11] So hello, 80%. So I've lost one, one for. Uh, I'm going to live with that. That's pretty good.

[00:09:17] Ah, I've almost, almost completely finished, ripping out. I say a ripping out. It makes it sound like a gutted, the place. Uh, reorganizing the studio. Uh, for the Elinchrom kit that we now have, because of course, I've got to take out all of the existing adapters. Change out all of the, um, any of the sort of third party kits.

[00:09:38] So we've sold all of the Profoto equipment back to, uh, the Pro Center in London. Got a good price rate. So that's makes me very happy. Sarah drove that into London and deliver that safely to those guys. So thank you to them. Ashley for having a brilliant service. They took it in on a Friday morning, checked it all over. Uh, and paid us on Friday afternoon. Um, which was really useful.

[00:09:57] I sold it as a job lot in the end. Because it was easier rather than trying to split it up. A few people had shown interest in bits and pieces. But, you know, it's just, sometimes it's just easy. I took a slightly lower price. And offset that against the fact it was an awful lot less. Uh, an awful lot less worry and effort on our part.

[00:10:18] So Sarah drove that in, but of course I've got a ton of adapters. Softboxes kit that is sort of, I dunno, got ox or aperture, different manufacturers that were all based around Profoto in of course now I've got to change all of that over, put new adapters on. So that, um, I can use the as the light source.

[00:10:38] And on top of that, all of the charges are very different. All USB C, and they're great. I wasn't certain how I was going to react to having. USB C charges everywhere. Uh, but I bought a couple of very long cables. for them and, they're 60watt. I mean, they're pretty meaty these things. I'm going to have to remember not to leave them plugged in.

[00:10:56] Cause I don't know quite, I got to get a measurement on them because I don't know if they're left, plugged in whether they're still generating or absorbing that kind of power because they're digital transformers. So they must be absorbing some power. But they're great. And you can run the lights off them continuously, or you can unplug them.

[00:11:13] And of course their batteries. Uh, but more on the, on the telecom side in a bit. Uh, another thing that happened is that a friend of ours, who's a wine collector. Everyone should have a wine collector as a friend. I delivered on, uh, where was it? Beginning of the week. Must have been Saturday. He delivered six more. Of the wine crates, the wooden wine boxes that he gets his really valuable, very beautiful wine delivered in, and they are amazing for storage, but also great as props. So, um, that was really, really nice. To see him and also to get these crates.

[00:11:47] So it's helped me organize. Uh, stuff in the studio. Uh, also, I, I saw some video there's some behind the scenes footage of one of our workshops. And there's a pan around and it's brilliant. It's vibrant and it's fun. But I looked at just the ount of stuff we've got in the studio. And made the decision there and then that we needed to get some of it out of there.

[00:12:08] So I've been redistributing things that don't get used quite so often as other things that then are scattered around the studio, probably never to be found again, I'll be scratching my head one day thinking now where's that particular softbox well, that particular modifier where's the beauty dish con the things that I don't use very much. Where are they? Uh, and I've got to go on a hunt in the attic. Uh, to find them. Uh, what else?

[00:12:31] We've written three or I've written three magazine articles, one for NPhoto magazine. One for Digital Photographer, magazine, Digital Photography. Uh, magazine and one for Professional Photo magazine says three in one week. I had to turn. That was quite lively. A lot of writing, a lot of scratching my head about the different things. Eh, love writing.

[00:12:52] I'm loving, writing more and more and more. I've surprised myself. I think I've certainly, I would surprise, surprise my English teacher. If only he knew the effect that ultimately many, many years. Uh, down the line, he had had a lot of fun that, so please do look those guys up that's NPhoto, which is the unofficial Nick on magazine. Uh, that's also assay, technically I've written four. I'm just thinking I've also written a piece on print and its place in this ever. Digital and file based industry and why actually a lot of us still use it. Uh, that article. Is part of a whole debate in the BIPP magazine, in The Photographer. Uh, magazine, but look up Professional Photo it's online look, up NPHoto, and also an article isn't out yet, which is about the bit I've looked after is about switching digital backgrounds. Uh, in Digital Photography magazine.

[00:13:46] We've had two one-on-one coaching sessions or master classes, which is always a blast because you get to spend the entire day just figuring out stuff with one person, a couple of models on each different things, whether it's off-camera flash or whether it's dedicated to daylight or both.

[00:14:03] Of course, when it's only one person. You can do whatever you want.

[00:14:06] Uh, we ran one of our workshops in Oxford, which is the, uh, walking around the streets, looking for interesting places to photograph workshop. I said a name for it. Uh, streets. It's not really, I don't like calling it street photography because street photography is a thing.

[00:14:21] And it's not that it's finding places, finding light, figuring out how to create imagery and how to invent shots when all you've got is the space you're in the face in front of you and the camera in your hands. And I love working like that. In fact, today I sit to sound away in, so on the way in for the shoot I'm doing that, I was doing some headshots for a Harley Street, um, clinician.

[00:14:43] She's a psychologist in London. And I was doing some headshots in Harley street. And so Sarah and I packed up. Uh, the two, two of the Elinchrom lights into the rucksacks, couple of, uh, small, soft boxes. Camera gear. A couple of stands in case he wanted a white background and plowed our way into London.

[00:15:02] And I was laughing with Sarah as we hold this stuff. Through the station and into a cab. Is I lay you a bet. We don't use any of it. I'm just going to use one camera and a big grin. And that is it. And sure enough that's exactly what happened. So in spite of me taking all of this kit in all we did was just have an absolute blast with one person laughing our way through it. Taking pictures I'm using daylight is in the light for the windows in her Harley street, uh, consulting room. Out in the street itself. Uh, on the steps and things like that.

[00:15:36] And it was just brilliant. And that's exactly what the, the workshop in Oxford was about. It's about where, when you find yourself and who you find yourself there with, what do you do?

[00:15:45] Uh, another thing I've done this past couple of weeks is had a presentation to the Village. Uh, Society.

[00:15:51] Yes, Hunnam has a Village Society. You couldn't make this stuff up. It's like Midsummer murders is brilliant. A room full of, uh, retirees, mostly one or two of my clients as well. That's quite a few of my clients were in there. Uh, all sorts of people came. A busy room in our local library. And on top of that, my mum came now, my mum is a legend. Uh, she's an absolute power of nature is my mother. Uh, but it's the first time I've done one of these presentations or with my mum in the room.

[00:16:21] I'm not going to tell you the whole story, but there is one bit of it where I show a photograph of my mom and dad actually. And it's a photograph that Dorling Kindersley wanted to use and they wanted to use it on a book called Sex And The Older Couple. Uh, of course I never, ever, ever. Let them. That, that image was never going anywhere near, uh, the cover of a book.

[00:16:43] Uh, but it's the first time I think my mum has ever seen me do that routine. And it's, it's really, uh, it's just me laughing about photography and imagery in telling stories. And it's just one of those stories. And of course, it's my mum and dad who I think the world of, and they're the people that gave me. Well, they gave me everything. And so much of the confidence, I guess. And the drive to do something. Whatever it is in life to do it and do it well. Comes to my mum and dad's having a moment.

[00:17:09] The audience was a real privilege. Uh, because she now lives here in the village with us, but it is a little bit weird. I'm doing a presentation that I've done over and over and over it though, at least that particular story over and over and over. Uh, my mom's in the audience. She didn't look too surprised. Uh, I don't know.

[00:17:26] I don't know how she felt about that. Particularly. It's a shot of course of my dad who died 10 years ago. Um, this year. Uh, we've also, uh, we're working with a couple of people. We filmed a new video.

[00:17:37] So we're working hard on creating new content for mastering portrait photography, not just the podcast. But the training materials and the videos. And so we've spiked that we've gotten, we're getting some more people involved. We filmed one new video. We had to took two filming days to do it. Absolutely exhausted. I was so tired at the end of it.

[00:17:57] Maybe that's why I've just found myself asleep at the desk. Um, and we started to work on our social media and all sorts of other bits and pieces. Just trying to get on to get things out there. Uh, it's hard when your primary objective, you know, if you've ever seen Little Shop Of Horrors and there's the, there's the, what's the, I dunno what it's called, but it's the, it's the monster plant. And he says, feed me, Seymour, feed me now. And they were running a photography business is exactly like that.

[00:18:29] We have one client. And that's the bank account because you have to keep running. It doesn't matter how many other things you have in the pipeline. Or things you want to do or ideas you'd like to explore or portfolio images you'd like to retouch in the end is a huge, great plant. Just going feed me Seymour, feed me now. I was laughing with Sarah today. Everything we do in, you know, all we have to have is one phone call that says, can I get five days of paid work from you?

[00:18:56] And you drop everything and go do it because you have to. And that's the reality of this kind of business. You don't turn down work or at least, I mean, maybe that maybe some of you who are listening are in a privileged position. Where you can and you do. I'm not in that position. When work comes in, we take it.

[00:19:13] We do a good job of it. And we get it back out to the client and then we sit and go, right? Where was I? Here I am recording that podcast. Uh, what's the Dune Part II actually with our daughter. I don't know if anyone's seen it is brilliant. I've no idea what was going on. It was excellent. He was. An absolute mystery to me.

[00:19:33] Um, over the past week, couple of weeks I'd spent watching. Uh, Dune part one. Uh, trying to understand, because of course I never watch a film properly. I sit with a film on my second or third monitor on my iPad while I'm retouching or writing for a magazine or something. It's in the background. It burbles in a background.

[00:19:52] So usually I can't watch anything with too much of a plot. Uh, but Dune part one, well, I kind of passed by, it was really pretty. I think I understood some of it. There appear to be some telekinesis kind of stuff and some mind reading, he kind of stuff. Lots of sand. Uh, and then I went to the cinema to watch Dune part two.

[00:20:12] Now, what I will say is it's worth the watch. Brilliant. Big screen. Theater 7.1, Lucas, whatever THX, whatever it is, sound. Huge bucket of popcorn. A large thing of diet Pepsi and on top of everything else. Uh, class a beer. And then I realize after about two hours, That I've got another three quarters of an hour to go because it's a long film and I've got the bladder. Of a 55 year old bloke because that's how old I am. This, all of this came to a bit of a head. Now I stayed put in my seat, but honestly, by the time we got to the end of the movie, I was sweating. I was sweating beyond sweating as the first pixel of the first credit. Appeared at the bottom of the screen. I made a run for it.

[00:20:59] Well, I'll tell you what I was still peeing. When pretty much the cinema was closing. People came and went. I think people got married, had children celebrated anniversaries in the time. I was like that scene. I've Austin Powers. I've never been so pleased to get inside the gents. So I'm sorry if that's a bit lewd, but you know what I mean? Uh, when you're in that sort of, oh my God, I've got to go now. Uh, but it was brilliant. The film, at least the first three quarters of it. I paid a lot of attention to, I think I was getting a little bit distracted by the end. There's a lesson, a beautiful people. If, if you're going to watch a really long film, Don't drink too much. Anyway, it was great. Uh, now what I need to do is watch Dune part one again. In the context of having seen what happens now, I'm that guy anyway, a very often, if a film is or a series or. Uh, you know, a box set or something is stressful. Drama. You know, tension, those kinds of things. I will hop onto, uh, something like, uh, I MDB or Wiki and do a plot spoiler because I don't need to stress.

[00:22:01] I do the same with books. If I'm watching, if I'm reading a book that I think is a bit stressy. Then I'll go to the back couple of pages and read them, just went out what happens and then I can enjoy the plot knowing what's coming. Don't ask. I just don't like the stress. I don't need it in my life.

[00:22:14] I have enough stress in my life. I'm a photographer. Life is stressful enough. Without me adding extra stress by watching something that, uh, I don't know what the ending is going to be.

[00:22:26] All right.

[00:22:26] Uh, in the middle of all of this, this is a message from our sponsors. Well, not really sponsors. I'm not paid, by anybody, but I have had a few things sent my way to review and have some fun with, uh, and the first of those is the Smoke Ninja.

[00:22:41] So this has come from PMI company called PMI. I will put the links to all of this in the show notes, but PMI very kindly sent me a piece of kit I'd already bought from them on the CA. On the Kickstarter. Campaign it's the Smoke Ninja, which is a tiny EDBD. You can't believe how much stuff comes out of it. Fogger.

[00:23:00] It's absolutely incredible. So this thing we've had this for a while, talked about it before, but I've, uh, I now have two of them. Excellent. Great fun. But it's all to do with a competition they're running and I'll give you the URL now. So it's, if you go to PMI smokeninja dash portrait dash contest.

[00:23:22] So. HTTPS colon slash slash usual stuff. P M I gear all one word.com/pages/smoke. Ninja will one word. Hyphen portrait hyphen contest. Now they have a contest and I'm just bringing it up now on my screens. And there's $10,000. They say total prize pool. There's a prize for the best solar portrait. There's a prize for the best wedding portrait.

[00:23:47] There's a prize for the best family portrait. There's a most creative award and there's the most viral award. Everything has to be done. Uh, or rather everything, everything you do for the competition has to use either the Smoke Ninja or its bigger brother. The Smoke Genie. Uh, you have to do some behind the scenes footage of it.

[00:24:06] Send up your final picture and the behind the scenes footage to prove you were actually using their equipment to do it. I think as well as it giving some social media content, you have to put, you have to upload it to there. Their portal, as well as putting it on your own social media feeds. So it's a great competition and the prize is absolutely stunning.

[00:24:26] Uh, each prize has $500, $500 us dollars. Um, The cash, uh, but also has, uh, some stuff from, I don't know how to pronounce this is Yoon. Um, some stuff from Small rig and you also get the smoke genie pro kit. If you're a prize winner.

[00:24:45] And the smoke genie. Uh, is like, oh, I miss the Smoke Ninja, but on steroids. Now we've been having a blast with the Smoke Ninja recently.

[00:24:54] It's a really good bit of kit. The only thing we've had to learn how to do here is to disable all of the smoke sensors. So that's actually been a little bit of a head scratch. Is figuring out how to turn off the smoke detectors in the studio before we use it. Because the last thing I need is the fire brigade turning up to find me sort of with a family or a teenager, flinging smoke around and laughing my head off.

[00:25:15] Uh, I'm not sure that we'll go down that well. Uh, but that's the, the competition and I in return for them sending me, uh, the Smoke Ninja. I've also got to enter the competition as well, but if you fancy it, so it's PMI gear.com/pages/smoke, ninja portrait contest. And I'll put that. Uh, in the show notes that, so it's worth a worth a look.

[00:25:37] And I can honestly hand on heart say that the PMI. Uh, Smoke Ninja is well, it's just, I would call it the smoke Genius, not the smoke Genie or the Smoke Ninja

[00:25:47] . I think the thing is absolutely fab. And even the other day, when we were filming the video we've created is actually I ran the fogger as a hazer.

[00:25:56] So just so I had a little bit of haze in the air so that when we put the lighting across the studio for all of the pieces to camera, it just adds atmosphere. Uh, it picks out little bits of light and it just softens those backgrounds. It's. It's it's only when you start watching how a film. Directors and directors of photography and lighting engineers use this stuff.

[00:26:16] You kind of think, oh, okay. That's something that's entirely applicable. In our world to photographic stills, photographic world too. So. Head over to them. Have a look at that competition. If you're interested. Uh, you might just, you might just find some inspiration for some angles on photography. Maybe you haven't thought about.

[00:26:32] Uh, the next one is Datacolor also is it's been a couple of weeks of stuff arriving.

[00:26:38] I think I mentioned this in the previous podcast, but Datacolor sent us the Spyder Checkr, the spider, sorry, the Spyder Checkr Photo, the Spyder Checkr Video and also. Uh, thing of genius, the Spyder Cube. Now this is one of those gadgets. So. The color check is I've used a Datacolor. Spyder Checkr Photo or the older version of that. For probably, I don't know, six years, seven years, maybe even longer at the beginning of every one of the shoots off site, because obviously once you've set it up for your studio, I don't need to recalibrate this.

[00:27:10] I've changed the lens or a camera on my lighting, which of course I'm doing right now. I don't need to recalibrate, but every time I go out into location, We take a safe shot with the Spyder Checkr Photo as it is now called. And I'd be doing that for a very long time, so that I've always got a reference point for my white balance and for my color. So the color spectrum under the lighting that we're using. well the Spyder cube is sort of the next level genius.

[00:27:36] It gives you not just your white point and black point. There's a hole in it. What. Uh, brilliant idea. There's a hole in it with no lights you get. So that should be exactly the same darkness is the nostrils. It's just dark. Uh, but it's also got white and gray and a mirroball on the top or a little Chrome. Uh, marble, it looks like a little Chrome sphere. And that, of course, if you were lighting, it gives you your white point because it shows you your specular highlight.

[00:28:00] The thing is great. It's absolutely brilliant. And of course, as we've just done right now, we are, re-engineering all of our lighting. So I now have from Elinchrom, four Fives and two Threes, and I am loving it, but not just because the light that these, these bad boys are giving is stunning. But on top of that, we've used the Datacolor Spyder Checkr Photo to calibrate all of the new gear in our studio.

[00:28:27] So have profiles in Light Room for the new Allyn crumbs. And although it gives you a very flat finish, which is not my look. It gives you a very, very accurate starting point. So I just thought I'd put that in there. So thanks to Datacolor for sending me that kit. Um, if you have the opportunity head over to that Datacolor with no 'u', by the way, it's a American English, or I suppose these days international English. Uh, as opposed to the British or English, English, C O L O U R.

[00:28:54] It's not that it's da as you, but I'm sure you know, it C O L O R a Datacolor. It's worth going to have a look. The thing's not that expensive. It's less than a hundred pounds. It's only about 40 quid for the spider cube. Uh, and then the spider checker photo inspire the checker video. We're all in that sort of 90 quit. Mark, I think anyway, it's very kind to them to send it over and, uh, I will put out some, uh, befores and afters on some of our feeds as to just how good it is.

[00:29:20] And of course, having had. All of the new Elinchrom lighting and the Elinchrom theme is going to run for weeks. So we'll leave that. I won't talk any more about that on this particular episode, but rest assured the four Fives and two Threes. I am having a blast. It's so nice. To have stunning light back in the studio.

[00:29:40] Absolutely loving it

[00:29:42]

[00:29:42] anyway, onto today's little, sort of the actual bit, the rest of it. I'll tell you what the diary of a working pro is getting bigger. Uh, um, I need to fix that. I need to do something about that, but at the moment, it's just because the episodes are so far apart, a lot has happened since the last one. So this, the theme of this particular episode, and I was puzzling over this. Uh, or rather what triggered it was a series of conversations and the reviews from our Oxford. Workshop and I kinda been chewing on what is it that makes a successful. Photography business.

[00:30:23] What is it? What really is it I'm still working on? I don't have an answer. I doubt there is an answer. But what I have observed is there are building blocks. You need. And sort of you stack them up. I think. And on the top of it is you as a S as a successful photographer or a successful. Photography business, but you build it on certain pillars. And the four I've kind of identified, and this is based on S on feedback and it's based on observations. That I've made as well. You need, I think the following four things. At the very least you need the following four things.

[00:31:04] Anyway, you need energy. Optimism enthusiasm. And confidence. Now you'll notice in there. I haven't said camera craft or. And I for an image or I dunno, technical knowledge, or I, I've not said any of those things, you do need those things. By the way, it's not that you don't. But underneath that. To learn to be able to absorb ideas, to be able to push through. The fear and doubt that is inevitably part of this world.

[00:31:35] You need energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. And these are things. That I'm very blessed. To have I'm lucky in that my parents gave me those things and on the whole I've normally got, I'm going to say I've normally got three of the four. It's any one moment. There are days when I have no energy, but I'll be optimistic that I'm going to get it, get it there the other day.

[00:31:56] There'll be other days whenever turn of energy, but it's being in channeled entirely in pessimism. Um, there are days when I'm not enthusiastic, but it doesn't stop me thinking tomorrow will be better. And there are days when I'm, I have no confidence at all. But I'm still energetic and optimistic and enthusiastic about I, what about what I do now?

[00:32:16] I could probably do a podcast on each of those things. And maybe in the future, I will maybe I'll interview. Some photographers and talk about these various aspects, but why, why have I brought those out when I could have said. You need to understand cropping. You need to understand your color wheel.

[00:32:34] You need to understand how to process digital images. You need to understand how to use your camera when all of these things are undoubtedly. True. But if you don't have the energy and if you don't have the opt or more importantly than enthusiasm, I think you'll never get around to learning those skills.

[00:32:52] They just will never arrive.

[00:32:54] Before you even start. You have to have energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. They are the building blocks. They're the attitudes. Maybe that's what I should have called to maybe attitudes there, what you need. I think. And I've never met. Uh, top flight photographer, successful photographer. Now by top flight, I don't necessarily mean award-winning images.

[00:33:16] I mean, people who've been successful in the industry. Some photographers are successful because their business just. Fly. Some people are successful because they are amazing on stage. Some people are successful because they images. Or well, simply glorious. There are lots of reasons why a photographer may or may not. Be successful.

[00:33:37] So when I say a top flight photographer, I mean, someone who's known for some aspects, some skill, some quality. In industry and every single one of them that I've ever met. Shows energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence.

[00:33:53] So let's have a think about what each of these. Uh, attitudes sort of are. So energy and having energy doesn't mean you're bolshy or pushy, or like a bull in a China shop. It doesn't mean that it just means. That, when it comes down to it, when you pick up the camera, there's something about what you're doing. That drives you, that keeps you going because there are going to be days when you really aren't feeling it. And it's your energy. That you need to draw on.

[00:34:22] Now for me, I'm kind of lucky. In the, when the client walks into the room, they give me the energy that I need. Somehow, no matter how flat I am, how tired I am, how fed up. I am sometimes. When the client appears, they give me energy. That energy drives everything. Sometimes I'll be honest.

[00:34:43] My own insecurity gives me. Energy when I'm having one of those days and I'm not feeling it. I don't often get to the point where I'm like, you know what, I'm done it, it does happen. People have to talk me out of it.

[00:34:56] But sometimes my own insecurity is all of the energy I need. But always when a client walks in, that triggers something in me and off I go.

[00:35:06] Optimism. Optimism is I suppose an odd one. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone else write down optimism. Um, certainly in the reviews, no one's ever said optimism is not a word.

[00:35:16] I think the associate. With any of these conversations normally, but here's why. Here's why I use the word and I don't mean in optimism. I don't mean unrealistic. So I don't mean that you late. I don't know. You think you're going to always make a silk purse out of a sow's ear? To use the expression. I just mean. It's that thing of, well, let's give it a go.

[00:35:42] What's the worst that can happen. You know, I'm a photographer, not a brain surgeon. So the worst damage I can do is to take a crappy picture. That's essentially it. Now, if you're doing a wedding, okay. That's a little bit more pressure, but if I go, if I get it wrong, I'm going to make someone look fatter or older. Or thinner or. I don't know, less attractive than they think they should be. Those basically are the limits of the damage I can do with a camera.

[00:36:10] Let's say drop it on someone. I suppose I could drop the camera from a great height and it would cause damage. Um, so having optimism is almost baked in why wouldn't I have optimism? Let's take a picture and see what it looks like. But I have met a lot of photographers who don't exhibit that they're nervous of trying things that. They think might fail and I think it will make. They think it will diminish. They're standing in front of their client, whereas I'm, I think the other way round. Is that I think the client loves it when we try things.

[00:36:42] And I'm very open about stuff I will say to the client, look, I don't know if this is going to work, but you know, let's give it a go. And if it does work, I'm going to show you, I'm going to. Claim credit for it, and I'm going to enter it into awards. If it doesn't work, you're never ever going to see the image.

[00:36:58] And that's basically it. Um, optimism is about the idea that you can. And that today, what do you know what I will. Uh, enthusiasm, enthusiasm runs through me most of the time. And it's a, it's a derivative of energy. Rarely, I suppose I could have fused. Those two words, but I think you can be enthusiastic without being energetic and vice versa. He can be energetic in your pessimism if you want to be.

[00:37:24] So enthusiasm has a real place for me and enthusiasm. I found when I'm in, in the company of a photographer who is enthusiastic about what they do, who is full of positivity about what they do. It's it's captivating and you kind of get drawn along on that ride. Now I don't mean naivety. I don't mean. That. You're enthusiastic to the degree that we can know what could happen.

[00:37:51] I'm not saying that. Similarly with optimism, you know? I'm just saying that if you're enthusiastic about what you're, what you do it carries now, does that mean all of your pictures have to be happy, bubbly pictures, new, not at all. But it's much easier to take enigmatic, gentle, moody pictures. When you're being enthusiastic about it than when you're not trust me on that. Uh, so enthusiasm is what it is.

[00:38:16] And I think I've every successful photographer I've ever met is enthusiastic about what they do now. Occasionally you time it and you talk to them and they're like, they're not being very enthusiastic or optimistic for that matter. But on the whole, you feel that they would be the rest of the time.

[00:38:32] And then there's confidence. And now confidence does not mean. Arrogance.

[00:38:37] And it certainly doesn't mean. That I don't have, or the photographers I've met don't have insecurities or imposter syndrome or all of those words they do. They really do. But something in them. Says that it's going to be all right again. Allied to optimism, having the confidence to say, I know what I'm doing. To ground yourself with the camera in front of your client and say, it's fine.

[00:39:04] I know what I'm doing. And I know I can do this. Or having the confidence to take. Feedback critical or otherwise to take. feedback from your peer group or from your client. It takes confidence and it takes. To an extent, a thick skin. I think I might've missed an attribute. I think sensitivity might be an attribute that I should add to this.

[00:39:26] Let me think about that. I'll come back to you on that. one, but having the confidence. To say, yeah, I can learn that. Or having the confidence to take. Feedback in a way. That you turn it into a forward facing energy. Oh on the Peleton tonight. Honestly, I have done an hours exercise. That's like nearly a thousand calories burned, which is why. He likes snoring.

[00:39:48] I've lit. Honestly, I'm not kidding. I woke up at my desk. Uh, with the microphone over my head. Uh, waiting to record. Um, and that's because I've done an hour and it's been a long week. I submitted an article last night, or this morning at three o'clock in the morning. I submitted one of the articles much as I love writing.

[00:40:04] Uh, sometimes the inspiration doesn't come until the wee small hours. As my Scott's friends. Uh, I would say, um, anyway, during the exercise class. That was on tonight.

[00:40:16] One of the instructors said, there's this thing called? Yes. And now I've never heard of this as a thing before. Yes. And not. Yes, but, or no, but, or no. Yes. And. And that's having a confidence to take feedback in a positive way and move forwards with it. There's a scale in and of itself giving everyone knows that giving feedback in a positive way. Is a skill, but I don't know how many people think that. Taking feedback is a skill.

[00:40:49] It's a practiced. Skill to know how to take feedback and. Extract or distill what's useful. Actually is a lot of confidence. And I come back to the same thing. Don't get me wrong. Of course there are days when I'm absolutely terrified. There are days. When I can't feel it, there are days when my confidence is not for whatever reason, you know, it, I'm not at all saying you disassociate. From your normal character.

[00:41:20] And my normal character is I'm very, very confident in what I do. And I'm confident in my ability to learn stuff. I'm a quick learn. I can certainly do that. And I'm very good at the yes. And. But it doesn't change the insecurity. When you show an image and somebody doesn't like it, there's still that burning sensation. That you get when somebody points out something

[00:41:44] , if you go to any art gallery, any and have a look at people, enjoying the pictures. Isn't it curious how some people will head towards one artist and others will head towards another artist. But they don't always like the same artists. And that's similar to photographers and feedback. So having the confidence to give feedback and take feedback is a thing.

[00:42:06] Having the confidence to stand in front of a client and say, Genoa, I can take this picture. Don't worry. You're fine. Giving confidence to your client through those actions. Well, that's the thing I think. So these are your building blocks.

[00:42:20] You've got energy. Optimism, enthusiasm and confidence. And I also think. You have sensitivity in there. You're going to have to leave that one with me. I thought of that while I was talking. Why does that happen? Why is it just as I think I've got my podcast nailed. I've got my things I want to talk about. During the actual recording.

[00:42:38] I think of one item thought about. I think sensitivity might well be in there. If it is, I'll bring that up in another. Another podcast because having empathy and sympathy, when you're a portrait photographer, I don't know if that matters when you're out there doing landscaping, but this is the mastering portrait photography podcast.

[00:42:56] And so I guess that's, pertinent.

[00:43:00] So you need those things

[00:43:02] . Of course, you also need practice. You need perseverance and hard work. You need creativity and your craft. They don't go away. But in my experience, Those things are built. . On your energy, your optimism, your enthusiasm, and your confidence without those. You'll do no work. You won't have what it takes to pick up your camera and develop and push forwards and change and evolve. And that's another thing, , having those four things.

[00:43:31] I'm going to go back to the four. I think. Having those four things gives you what you need to be adaptable and pliable. It gives you what you need to develop and change. And trust me in this world. Particularly now AI has arrived on the scene. You're going to have to adapt and evolve to be competitive in this market.

[00:43:51] Not just as a business. But visually too, because what's out there in terms of the visual arts is changing at a pace. We have never experienced. It's changing at a pace. When I did my PhD in AI 25 years ago, nearly 30 years ago. That could not have envisaged where we were going to end up. We talked about this stuff back then as a fantasy and here it is. You know, type a few key words into half a dozen of the different image generators. And just see what comes back,

[00:44:22] but on that happy note, On that happiness.

[00:44:24] I hope that's. I. I'm quite curious about this episode. I hope that's useful. I might write this one up as a, an actual article kind of thing. Uh, thank you for listening. To the end. Um, please do go across to PMI Gear. To Datacolor and to Elinchrom, all excellence suppliers of the stuff we use here at our studio. Uh, we stuff I use with enthusiasm, energy, optimism, and confidence. Now, it just sounds really corny.

[00:44:50] I'm so sorry. Uh, but please do go ahead and look up the competition. Uh, it's a really cool one. I will be entering mostly because it gives me a chance. We've got someone coming in on Sunday. Uh, to, uh, create some, uh, very fogged work. Can't wait for that, but thank you for listening to the end of this podcast.

[00:45:09] If you've enjoyed it, please do subscribe wherever it is. That, uh, you consume your podcasts. Thank you to the people that left us reviews last week. That's been quite a few. It's been really rather lovely. Um, if you do feel like leaving us a review, please, do we read them all wherever we can find them?

[00:45:24] The most obvious place of course is iTunes. I represents about 60% of the world listening to podcasts at the moment. I believe anyway. Uh, so please leave us a review and a rating up there. If it's a review where you think I should change things, uh, then please do email me. Don't write that in a review.

[00:45:42] Nobody wants to read that. No matter how confident I am, it stops me being optimistic. Uh, so please do email me. It's Paul at paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk dot co.uk. That's Paul. Uh, Paul Wilkinson photography.co.uk. Uh, also head across to the spiritual home of this podcast and mastering portrait photography podcast.

[00:46:02] And of course that home is mastering portrait photography.com, where there's a whole heap of articles and ideas, all dedicated to the business, the craft, the art, the creativity, and well. Frankly, the enjoyment of portrait photography. We're about to hit that with some reorg. I talk about that in the coming weeks.

[00:46:22] Um, and some new content, uh, we changed in the way that's all working while I'm in the process of putting together thoughts on how we're going to change that. Uh, hence the fact we're now filming videos, uh, on a more regular basis. It's all quite exciting. There's a ton of stuff going on. Hopefully I won't be asleep at my desk with too much of it because frankly that's a big waste of time. But until next time stay awake and whatever else. Be kind to yourself.

[00:46:48] Take care.

But before that, a quick catchup with Charlie Kaufman of Click Group at The Photography Show - head to https://www.clickliveexpo.co.uk/ to see details of one of the most exciting events in years!

There is also news of the PMI Smoke Genie / Smoke Ninja competition - a fantastic opportunity to get creative and win some hefty prizes.  The details for this brilliant competition can be found here: https://pmigear.com/pages/smokeninja-portrait-contest 

Good luck!

If you're interested in any of our workshops or masterclasses, you can find them at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops-and-training/ 

Enjoy (and sign your work!)

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] OK there are one or two fruity words in this episode. If you're offended by swearing then I do apologise!

[00:00:05] So I'm here at the photography show up in the NEC in Birmingham, have just bumped in to one of the big characters in the industry. So tell me a little bit about who you are. So, Charlie Kaufman, Honorary Fellow of the Societies, uh, been in the business for 35 years, professional, and I've run the Click Group for 30 years.

[00:00:27] Started in 1994. And you've got several other letters after your name. I thought it was KFA, but you said it was No, it wasn't KFA. FKA, as my mum always says, fucking know all, uh, excuse my language, but no, a fellow of the societies, I was the youngest, uh, BIPP licensorship and MPA, uh, licentiate when I was just 17 years old, so two years into the industry, I'm also the CEO of Click Backdrops and Click Live, a new expo launching at Stoney Park, Coventry, this June. Tell me why you've come to the photography show. So it's all about brand awareness. Clip Backdrops, uh, exhibits at all of the major trade shows in the, in the world.

[00:01:04] We do about 100, 000 miles with my partner in crime, Gary Hill. He's got more letters after his name than the alphabet, and Gary and I love doing the trade shows because it gets our British made, award winning product in the hands of creative photographers, so they can see the difference of why they're investing in a quality product.

[00:01:23] Why do you love this photography industry of ours so much? I love it because it's changing. I love being in an industry where we make money from giving people creative memories for people, creating art. I love the fact that being the owner of a company, I'm in control and I can pivot in a heartbeat in which direction I want to take my company.

[00:01:44] And that's one of the problems that a lot of British photographers don't do is pivot enough and change quickly enough. But being a small company, we're very quick at changing. We can actually have an idea to marketplace sometimes within a week.

[00:01:57] And if there's one thing you could change about the photography industry that we know so well, what would it be?

[00:02:03] Well, I'm going to hone in on the British photography industry, and what we need to change is we need to get British photographers getting more educated. Uh, as Big Dog Damien once said, the better, the easiest way to make more money as a photographer is to be a better photographer. I completely agree with that. Visiting ten U. S. expos a year, these expos sometimes start at 7am and these photographers are in classes and learning till midnight every single day. And that's one of the reasons that my team and I have launched Click Live, a brand new, uh, educational expo launching Stony Park, Coventry this June, where we've brought in the biggest educators from around the world. I mean, we've got Lindsay Adler, we've got Chris Knight, but we've also got other educators that have never even taught before in Europe, like Kimberly Smith, one of the world's best digital artists. So we want to give British photographers and European photographers, the opportunity to learn, hone in their craft and get better. Because the better you are, the more money you should make out of photography. It's as simple as that.

[00:03:04] Brilliant. And I have to say, it's an honour and a privilege to be a very small part of that operation. I'm very...

[00:03:09] ...an important part of that. Not a small part, an important Don't sell yourself short, Paul. You're an important part as we launch Clickmasters, a digital and print competition. And the nice thing about our print competition? Our educators at the show are not allowed to enter. So they're there to mentor and help and, and train, but they can't enter this year's competition.

[00:03:33] Excellent. Well, I'll tell you what, I'm beyond excited about it.

[00:03:36] Thanks for talking to me, Charlie. See you I'm Paul. And this is the mastering portrait photography podcast.

[00:03:43] Can you believe it? 150. Episodes honestly. I never really thought about it when I set this thing going about six years ago and here we are. 150 episodes later. I thought, I think I thought it would just be somewhere where I could get things off my chest -a sort of passive therapist, I suppose, and let's face it, we all need one of those mine, well, mine, just happens to be a microphone.

[00:04:29] Since then I've muttered about, oh, so many things, have interviewed all sorts of people and received well, many and varied emails. I've also been told I do have a face for radio, and that even happened again, today.

[00:04:46] But I'll take those little wins when people tell me they find the podcast either interesting or at the very least, something that passes time on a journey. Anyway, that interview was with the wonderful Charlie Koufman, who not only is the owner of Click Backdrops, which are brilliant and British. I will put the link in the show notes, but it's also the inspiration behind the upcoming Click Live convention, Which you will all be hearing about. In the coming months and I cannot wait to see you there.

[00:05:16] So here we are, it's April. And how are you? Did you have a good weekend? I hope you did. Sarah and I went down to Plymouth in Devon, Southern England. As well more almost as far south as you can get. In the UK with Harriet, our daughter and had a wonderful weekend with my in-laws.

[00:05:36] We drank a little beer. We ate a little chocolate, actually, we ate a lot of chocolates. We bought some Devon fudge and we painted some pottery. Yep. You heard that right. We went pottery painting. It was Sarah's idea. She wanted to do something that was a little different, maybe a little creative pass a couple of hours.

[00:05:55] The weather wasn't predictable. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good. It was just well crazy. And so we headed inside to do a little pottery painting. And apart from a very slight mismatch in how things were explained to us,- it turns out, I guess I've got a face that looks like a primary school child, as the explanations were to put it mildly a little basic, but I guess in the end, the heart and soul were very much where they should be.

[00:06:26] And we had a blast.

[00:06:29] Well, at least we did, as long as we dab-dab-dabbed, and we didn't wipe-wipe-wipe because if we were caught wipe-wipe-wiping There would be ter-ouble. We would be shown the error of our ways and instructed to get back to that dab-dab-dabbing. Anyway, it turns out I'm pretty good at dab-dab-dabbidy-dab-dabbing.

[00:06:48] And I spent nearly two hours, literally dubbing black glaze onto a pot, on which I could then paint a wintery woods, kinda scene.

[00:06:58] Harriet and Sarah. Well, they're a little more subtle with their craft with gentle blues and teals, little tiny flowers and spots of detail. Subtle understated, gloriously sophisticated. While mine was anything but that, but Hey, I need a new pen pot. As I have knocked my tin mug off the desk, yet again, today. And I really do need something that is seriously heavy, preferably black and well, it'd be nice if it was something that was a little unique. I'll get no points for subtlety, but I'll get plenty for the drama.

[00:07:32] And since it's been a long, long bank holiday weekend, there isn't too much to report on the diary of a working pro front, at least not in terms of shoots because we took the weekend away, took the time off. And so we haven't been shooting that much.

[00:07:48] We have had a couple of portrait sessions Hearing Dogs, just Hearing Dogs, brilliant, fun as always. And a one-to-one workshop here at our studio. And I love. Workshops. And I love this one in particular. A guy called Dave came down. And we spent the day creating, I think, well, I think. I think some magic, two of my clients now for models, we always use our clients. We don't usually use professional models because at the end of the day training photographers with models sets the sets an expectation that it's always going to be that easy.

[00:08:24] And of course it's never that easy. So Charlene and Katie came in as our models for the day. And while they may not be professional models , they are both just splendidly, photogenic, and more importantly, incredible people to spend time, laughing with working with and playing with light around.

[00:08:42] And I love, I do genuinely love these one to ones. Because they are entirely bespoke, they're entirely creative. We have the time to sit and answer any questions. We can explore ideas and let, well, let the client just guide us, which is exactly what we did. And the images that we finished up with well, everything I ever set out to do. Had such a blast. Dave was brilliant and I hope he went away with the same amount of energy that I've come away with. Just that idea that tomorrow, well tomorrow, we're going to create some magic. And as low, we haven't shot that much in the studio this week, well, next week is a whole different story. And there is going to be well busy, but while we haven't shot much this week, there is still a ton going on.

[00:09:32] Today in particular had my kitlist through from Elinchrom, which is really exciting. I'm still sort of working out what we really need, but it looks like we have it almost nailed down. The big decision is around the Elinchrom Threes. Now I've sorted out the Fives, we're going to get four of those and they will be almost permanently in studio I think. But the Threes are really quite exciting though. There, there are about 250 Watt seconds, so about half that just a little over half that of the fives. But I think they'll be massively useful when I'm out on location. They are big enough to do some serious work and small enough that I can pop them in a bag and have them with me.

[00:10:15] So.

[00:10:15] I'll let you know, as soon as that kicks in, I'm sure there will be videos, a little bits and pieces going on and I can't wait to do it.

[00:10:21] Another email that came in this morning. And it's one. I reacted to really quickly. Practical Magic and Innovations emailed in. Now you'll probably know them is P M I. And they're the guys who make the incredible Smoke Ninja and Smoke Genie smoke machines. The fog machines they've been in touch. And wanted us to help them get the word out about a competition they're running and I'll put the links to the competition in the show notes again. But basically it's an international competition, a photographic competition, but it must feature the use of either the Smoke Ninja. Oh, the Smoke Genie.

[00:10:59] Now I'm already a fan, of course of the Smoke Ninja is the one that I bought as part of the Kickstarter agreement, so I'm already a big fan and I've spoken about this on the podcast before. I love the thing, I think it's genius. It should be called the Smoke Genius, but it's great. And I know one or two of you have already bought one of these based on my recommendation. It's great fun to play with.

[00:11:21] It's not that expensive. The fog that it gives out is hugely controllable and incredibly photogenic. So given there's a few of you with these things, of course, I have agreed, to put the word out about the competition. Once again, show notes will be the place to go, but I'm going to even, I'm going to enter it this time.

[00:11:38] You have to create some images and also show some behind the scenes. I'm guessing it's a great opportunity, for them to get both the finished pictures and pictures of their Smoke Genie or Smoked Ninja in use price is pretty big. There's about $10,000 of them and some big names involved. So why not head to them?

[00:11:57] I'll put the link up why not head to them and have a look?

[00:12:00] Not only that, but I got an email this morning. From data color, who've shipped some kit for me to review. That'll come up in some future episodes, our to use the Datacolor photo Checkr, which is brilliant.

[00:12:12] It's part of our workflow anyway, but they're going to send me the updated version as well as the cube, which looks like to me, I haven't used this thing yet. I'll let you know once I actually use it properly, but it looks to me like it allows for backlight to be measured to white balance of backlight to be measured as well. Which looks like good, fun. Because we use a lot of mixed lighting. But not only that they are going to send me the video checker as well. Which allows us to color calibrate as part of our video workflow.

[00:12:39] Now I'm not big in video yet, but we are having to learn how to do it, and one of the things that constantly frustrates me is I can't seem to get the colors, as I want them a lot of homework to do. I need to understand video color spaces air slog, and the like, but I'll have the video color checker from Datacolor in the toolkit, and that hopefully will be a small part of the puzzle. I've not only understanding but controlling it. The color. These, I think these products will appear properly in a future podcast once I've had a chance to play with them and understand, I understand quite what I'm talking about. Cause I'm not a video guy. I need to go and ask some video guys about the best way of using it. A quick update on ACDSee, just again, a reminder. I am not paid by any of these people ACDSee sent me a license to have a play with and I've kept my word.

[00:13:32] I've used it. I still use it. I love it. I absolutely love it. I guess I'm not paid, but they have given me a license for. I think the license for the Apple. For the Mac, that is about 60, 70, quid. The speed of ACDSee is absolutely blistering and I love working with it. Haven't quite worked out how to get the very best out of it.

[00:13:50] As it turns out 300,000 images with the facial recognition turned on, maybe pushing the upper limits of our network and my machine. But I still love having it there alongside everything else I do in Lightroom. It's so quick. It's so handy. I love the way it just works or interacts in with the file system, which means I can always have, I've always got access to files, to drag and drop, throw them up onto Facebook, throw them up onto Instagram, put them into designs.

[00:14:18] It's just really useful. It's the kind of software you feel almost. Should be built into the operating system, but isn't, it's just so natural to use. Absolutely love it again. As I get my head around that I'll give you more, more updates.

[00:14:31] Right. So where are we? Let's have a think about my thought for today. Now this one. Is about signing your work or singeing your work. As it was the first three times I wrote it down, signing, not singeing.

[00:14:47] Don't singe your work. That is no good to anybody signing your work. I heard someone say a while ago this couple of years ago. That signing your work is pretentious.

[00:15:00] And all I can say is what utter, utter, bullshit.

[00:15:06] Sorry. I'm sorry. I know, I know. I shouldn't be emphatic in such a way. Everyone's got their own way of doing things and each to their own. But just occasionally something pops up that is purely, and simply, bullshit. This is one of them.

[00:15:24] Sign your work.

[00:15:26] If I could write a song called cite your work. It sounded a bit like Sunscreen. Maybe I should figure that out. Sign your work.

[00:15:34] My dad taught me many years ago. That you should sign everything. Now my Dad was a wise guy is so many ways an idiot. It's so many others, but a wonderful human being. And this was one where I think he was absolutely right. He said, sign it. And when I said, why well he said, firstly, well, why not? But he also said you do it because you never quite know who might see it, in the future. Isn't that the truth.

[00:16:03] So I was working at British Steel, in my early twenties as a work placement, my dad was working there. As well, he ran all of the competing and I got a work placement in their design office. And as part of that, they asked me to create some huge 3d visuals of the galvanizing plants that shot and steelworks British steel.

[00:16:24] And there's this, they have these coatings lines where they take a coil of steel and they'd run it through the line and coat it with either a plastic coat or some paint coat, but the line I was really interested in coated it. With zinc. It was the hot dip galvanizing line. And this line was around about three quarters of a mile long.

[00:16:43] It was huge.

[00:16:45] And they wanted me to create some 3d drawings of it. Now this is going back before we would simply have done all of it in 3d CAD and rendered it. They wanted 3d drawings. But they were then going to go off to an airbrusher to go into British Steel's brochures. So my job was to create the line work, the art, the sort of the technical drawing work.

[00:17:08] But the best way of doing that was is it happened to create a 3d model of it. But back then, we're talking about really early versions of AutoCAD and the output of AutoCAD. Wasn't very controllable and it certainly didn't create appealing visuals. What it did do though, is give me these huge, A0 printouts that I could then place a piece of tracing paper over the top and much the same way as a comic artist inks in over the pencil. From the original illustrator I then inked it. And that created these really beautiful.

[00:17:40] I thought they were beautiful anyway - these really beautiful. Inked drawings of these vast lines that could be annotated and airbrushed by a graphic design team. And I signed them. And I signed him just in case somebody else saw them. Somebody did, and I got more work from it. I've got a lot of plaudits for my work as well, all because they saw my signature and asked who Paul was.

[00:18:07] Now it doesn't work for everybody, I guess. But here at the studio we sign every frame and every album that goes out, it's got our brand on it. That signature. Is our brand just like Apple or Jaguar or Pepsi, Tiffany, Nikon or even the guys I worked with a little bit more regularly, like Elinchrom, or even PMI who've emailed today. It's their logo and that represents their brand.

[00:18:38] Now, if you're putting work out there without your logo or your signature on it, not only are you missing an important opportunity, an important opportunity that might just lead to more work might just lead to a brand recognition, like we've built . But I also think you're quietly saying you're not really proud of what you do. The signature we put on our work says I am proud of it. Really proud of it. Every time. Every time we create something here. We ask ourselves the question. Are we happy to put the Paul Wilkinson photography signature -my signature. On it. And if the answer to that is not clear.

[00:19:21] Cut. Yes, of course. Then that piece of work never goes near a client. Ever. The brand custodian side of our business is all about that signature and being proud. To put it on our work, being proud to say, yep, I've seen that. But at work. I think that warrants a signature and I'm very happy for other people to see it too.

[00:19:42] Now is that pretentious? Well, I suppose you could argue it is, but I don't think it is. I think what it's saying is I'm really proud of what we've done. I'm really proud of the effort we've put into it. And I don't think that's pretentious. Pretentions come from almost the opposite from trying to be something you're not, that's not what your signature is, your signature or your logo represent you and they represent your values and they represent your brand. They're everything you stand by and you stand for. Now, if you think your logo screams pretentions, then, well, maybe you need to adjust quite what you believe in and what your brand stands for, but from where I'm sat. I think you should sign every single bit of your work.

[00:20:32] Anyway, I'll get down off my soap box. Sorry about that just sometimes, you know, just sometimes there are things I think we have to just get off our chest. And when it comes to your signature sign, your work, people sign your work.

[00:20:45] Don't listen to what anybody else says. Get that signature on there. You never know who might be watching. Anyway. 150 episodes. One or two of you have listened to all of them. One or two of you have listened to all of them in the past 60 days. I did have an email from someone this week. And it said they've been working their way through them at a rate of a little over two episodes a day. And they are 50 something days in and heading towards catching up.

[00:21:15] I think that's absolutely, hilarious. Flattering and lovely, but well, slightly hilarious. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening to the end of this particular episode. I hope as always there's something of use or if nothing else. It's got you to work in your car and you can now switch the radio off and go face the day knowing there are other people out there feeling and thinking the same things as you. Uh, if you'd like to hear more of these episodes, please do subscribe wherever it is that you get your podcasts.

[00:21:49] Please hit that subscribe button. And then every time I hit publish, you get to hear it, which I think is a marvelous thing. Please do also. If you would like to leave us a review. And a five-star rating somewhere, wherever it is. You consume your podcasts, please. Do we love it when you do? And of course it helps get the word out there.

[00:22:07] It helps get the podcast out there. It helps make some of this stuff possible. Also if you have any questions, please do email paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk, that's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk If you're interested in our workshops or indeed one of our, one to one masterclasses, then please do head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the coaching section of the website.

[00:22:33] Alternatively, just stick paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk workshops into your Google-y Browsery thing and you will find us.

[00:22:41] And if you fancy more content, that's all about the joy, the brands, the business, the creativity, of portrait photography, then why not head over to masteringportraitphotography.com, which is not only a vast resource of portrait photography stuff, but is also the spiritual home of this 'ere podcast.

[00:23:01] But whatever else. whatever else. Until next time. Be kind to yourself. and stick yer signature on things. Take care.

[00:23:14]

As well as the short chat, the episode is primarily a response to an email I received from 'Steve' asking what first strobe he should choose.  Having sat and pieced together an answer, I thought it would be useful to make a podcast out of the answer.  I guess you can be the judge of that!

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] My name is Lewis Wall, and I'm the CEO of Wexphoto Video. Okay. So maybe this needs just a little explanation at the photography show last week, which was a blast. I took my little handheld recorder and just grabbed a few people as I wanted ran the show. And I had a vision of creating one big podcast episode where multiple photographers could answer the same question.

[00:00:25] Just questions about the industry, how they felt and why they were, where they're at the show. But when I played them back for a couple of reasons, I didn't think that that was going to work mostly. And you'll hear this in this little snippet. I get quite excited and an hour of that. Well, nobody needs that in their life.

[00:00:42] So instead I'm going to sprinkle these little clips. Through some upcoming podcasts just for interest. And so you can hear the views. I have some really interesting people in our industry.

[00:00:53] And I started with this guy. Now I bumped into him. And by accident. I was buying a memory card for the recorder. Actually. I needed additional memory card. And so I went and queued at warehouse express, WEX photo and video. Standing there quietly in the queue and the next chapter at the till waved his arm at me, I went over and while I was there, I noticed that it was Louis. It said on his badge CEO. Of WEX photo video. And do you know what I thought I chance, my arm and see if he would be willing to do a short interview. Well, you couldn't have met a nicer guy. And he was very willing to give me a few, a little bit of a viewpoint. And so we grabbed just five minutes and this is that interview.

[00:01:33] And I start the conversation with why. Do you come to the photography show? This is where our customers are, uh, and they expect to get the service that we provide to them all the time in the stores, and we provide to them online, as well as our institutional customers, a lot of our professional customers, so, yeah, I mean, this has got to be the place to be.

[00:01:52] Where else wouldn't you be at a time like this? This is a brilliant place for us to meet our customers. And, of course, I have to ask you, well, I guess it's an obvious question, but you're a supplier to this incredible industry. Why do you love the photography industry so much? Well, the one thing is that I don't come from a photographic background myself.

[00:02:10] I actually come from a kind of a radio television production background. But it's all about the intrinsic desire that our customers have to accomplish something. There's an artistic need, so We've got a mission, which is to help our customers get the perfect shot every time and anytime. People come to us not to buy a black box with a camera in it.

[00:02:31] They come to us because they've got a problem, and that's brilliant. So they've got a project, they've got a creative spark, they want to achieve something. And all of the people who work with us, they're all photographers as well. So they've all started with some kind of imaging or background, a creative background.

[00:02:46] My last question, this is just a very short set of snippets, but my last question is if you could change just one thing about this beautiful industry of ours, what would it be? That's a tough one. I wouldn't necessarily say it was a perfect industry. I wouldn't say it was problematic.

[00:03:02] It's, what would I change? I'd probably make it a bit easier for us to understand how people work. Product is flowing through from the developers, the people who are originally designing it all the way through the end user. 'cause that's often a very translucent, it's almost opaque, so you don't quite understand what's happening there.

[00:03:21] Sometimes the big brands will tell you a little bit more about where their thinking is, how they want to develop their technology. But I think what happens is you get a lot of customers who they want to see that they actually wanna see that where, where the technology's going. Because again, they've got these objectives and often it.

[00:03:37] You know, it's kind of cased in a little bit of secrecy. I kind of understand that. If you're developing technology, you want to protect it. You want to protect your intellectual property. But that's probably the only thing I would say that's a little bit problematic, yeah? I mean, we went through such a long period of difficulty in terms of production supply.

[00:03:56] People were very difficult to find stuff. Um, we're kind of through that now. We can get pretty much what we need. Um, but, uh, you kind of feel this, probably me as not a terribly, um, technologically, uh, kind of genius sort of person. You kind of, well, where does it go next? And I think a lot of people kind of think in that way too.

[00:04:15] They want to compete, they want to, they want to grow, they want to develop. So, yeah, I'd say that's probably one area. It's like, what does it look like? You know, what does the future look like? That's probably one question everybody's got. What does the future look like? It's funny, in the last episode I did, one of my laments was, I wish more of the kit was designed with the photographers that are going to use it in mind, as opposed to the guys developing it with their, you know, various bits of interfaces and the way the software, it's all software driven now, everything is software.

[00:04:44] Um, and I wish there were more people who are photographers involved in the design phase. But listen, what an absolute pleasure, thank you both for your good service, I've just bought, A very small memory card from you, but over the years, I've spent many thousands with you, but thank you for it. It's my pleasure.

[00:04:59] Thank you so much. So, like I said, you can hear me getting very excited, but what a thoroughly decent guy and of course, warehouse express WEX photo video. Is one of those bastions of the industry. It's huge. And it's ultra reliable. I've bought a ton of kit. From them over the years and I'm sure I will continue to do so.

[00:05:19] And it was a real pleasure to meet Louis a genuinely nice guy. At least he was in the few minutes I got to chat to him. And hopefully I did leave with a seed that I'll go over and maybe get a chance to record a full length interview with him. Cause I think the insights. From some of our trade suppliers. Would be fascinating for all of us because they've seen the trends and they've got the data on it.

[00:05:41] Whereas each of us. Our, in our little silos. So one after the other, I will introduce these little interviews into each of the upcoming podcasts. I'm Paul. And this is the mastering portrait photography podcast.

[00:05:56] So hello. One and all, I hope you well on this, I see quite bright and sunny Sunday evening. It's not particularly warm, but at least for a moment, it isn't. raining yesterday, dance the showers quite a bit. It was a good day yesterday. I've had a good week, lots and lots going on. As you can imagine, we had a training workshop here on Monday, which was an absolute blast.

[00:06:33] It was so much fun. We called it a mastering extraordinary to sorry, mastery can't even get my own titles right. Mastering Ordinary To Extraordinary Studio Photography, which is basically about shooting in reasonably confined spaces.

[00:06:47] And the guys that came in the workshop with just brilliant. We laughed all day the models big shout out to Kinga and to Libby who were brilliant. The two guys who modeled for us and the whole thing about having a good time, enjoying being creative learning as we go Was just the whole, the whole workshop the whole day. It was fantastic.

[00:07:09] So thank you to everyone who came. Also this week. I had two shoots yesterday. You forgive me for telling this story. It was that. It was a good day. Lovely clients, but I did that thing that I do so often, which is to get people's names muddled. And this is yet another one of those extreme examples. Sophie and Matt were the couple and Bertie was their dog. So as we're heading out into the garden to take some pictures in daylight, I'm just double checking their names.

[00:07:38] I've got, my phone it's got the appointment on it. I'm just very quickly scanning it to make sure I've got everything I need. It's Sophie and Matt, Sophie and Matt, Sophie and Matt. I've literally, as I put my phone in my pocket. I turned to them and say, right, so Alice and Sam, what are we going to do? And the two of them just look at me. Are you absolutely out of your mind? And the minute they looked at me, I knew I'd got it wrong.

[00:08:05] How, how, how can your brain ditch what you've just been reading. I mean, literally, as I said, it. It was seconds after I'd read it. The only name I remembered it was Bertie the dog. It was just, oh, come on. Anyway. Saturday was interesting in as much as, although we've had the alien crumb kit in now for a week or so, saturday was the first day when I've had two full shoots going at my normal pace.

[00:08:34] But with all of this new equipment on the upside, let's talk about the upside. The light that they give off is beautiful. And I remember now why I originally chose Elinchrom and why, even when I was using Profoto kit, I would still put Elinchrom modifiers back in to the mix. The light we're getting is just beautiful.

[00:08:55] And it, it seems to play really well in our studio. Now, every studio is different. Every photographer's tastes and color profiles, are different. For me, for what I do in the space. I do it, there was a proper magic in the studio and it was, it's hard to describe, but I actually felt quite emotional. That said none of the kids did what I expected to when I expected it. One light turned itself off, eventually found the off timer.

[00:09:27] There's a little timer in the settings. So I turned the two backlights off cause I needed to turn the two back lights off, which is fine. But when I powdered them back up again, they wouldn't register on the controller. The controller would trigger them. But it wouldn't read them.

[00:09:40] So I had no idea. I. I've got literally thousands of pounds worth of kit in the studio and I'm doing what I used to do, which is to walk up to them and turn the dials on the back. Talk about old school. Maybe just, maybe I need to spend the day with the manual because I'm sure none of this is to do with the kit.

[00:10:00] It's all to do with the operator. Again, thank you for putting up with the sound quality on that interview. I've got a load of those coming. It was a lot of fun. To do it and a huge amount of fun, lots of questions, or the same questions to lots of people. And there are some really quite interesting insights in there, but today's podcast.

[00:10:19] I was going to talk about something different, but I had this email. That came in during the week and it just simply says the following.

[00:10:26] Hi, Paul. I have just listened to the latest podcast. Congratulations on becoming an Elinchrom ambassador. I enjoyed hearing the story of you buying your first strobe and how it has led to you becoming a brand ambassador all these years later. I am probably in a very similar situation to where you were in 2003 i.e. Just thinking of buying my first strobe and I wondered which light you would recommend now. I've been looking at the Godox AD200 as I'm on a limited budget, but we'd love to hear your thoughts.

[00:10:57] So there you go. Nice email from Steve and in the process of sitting and tapping a pencil on my teeth as I do. I have actually emailed him back and so this is in some senses a transcript of that email, but I thought it'd be an interesting podcast too. Chew on why you choose the kit. You do. So obviously when I'm going back to someone who asks a question like that, and we get these kinds of questions all the time, what camera, what lighting, what software. In the end. You have to make these decisions and they're all arbitrary, but you live with them for quite a long time.

[00:11:33] So how would I go about today, choosing my first strobe? So I have to caveat all of this conversation, as you now know. With the fact that as a brand ambassador for it puts me in an interesting position. Of course, I want to recommend nothing but 'Chroms. Why would I do anything else? But of course, That doesn't suit everybody.

[00:11:57] The budgets don't suit everybody. And even in my bag, my camera bag right now. I have a Nikon SB800. I have two Godox V1's. And coincidentally, two Godox AD200's. Because they're small, they do their job. The SB800 is then there because occasionally I want to have on-camera flash. Nikon, well, it plays better with Nikon the than it does with Godox.

[00:12:21] So I've got that in there. Um, permanently with it's AA batteries, for those moments when I want to do an on-camera flash very often a direct flash, old school photo journalist style. Whether I'm doing a wedding or without doing something a little bit more commercial either way, but it's a very versatile rig.

[00:12:38] And I, at the moment, I don't have an answer to how I'm going to change that. To step a little bit more into line with the Elinchroms. Now don't get me wrong at all. It was a proper emotional moment when I fired up the 'Chroms. Uh, for the first time in an, in anger, I suppose, as the expression, for two paying clients, as opposed to doing junior workshop. We're in a workshop, you have time to think.

[00:13:01] So I have time to reset. I have time, to adapt when I'm working with a client, of course, it's quick fire. I had a two year old and a four year old in in the afternoon. And I had a dog in the morning, the knee, none of these are patient. You don't have time. So actually working them was app was brilliant, even if I'll be honest, I haven't quite got my arms around it.

[00:13:24] So to answer the question, the AD200 is a really good light. So instead of saying, here's what, here's the right answer. Here's the kit you want? I posed some questions and here's the question list I went back to Steve with for him to answer.

[00:13:41] Firstly, and most importantly, what is your budget? And then add 25%, possibly 50%. cause no matter what you think you needed, you're going to need more, whether it's spare batteries, whether it's modifiers to put on the front, whether it's a bracket, that'll put it onto a normal light stand, whatever it may be. You're going to need to add that on the AD200's very good, they're a little bit fiddly. But they are exceptionally. Good for what they do.

[00:14:04] And even if, and even, sorry, not with, when I'm out there using my Elinchroms, I am sure that the AD200's will never be far away for little bits of fill light or effects lighting, when I need it.

[00:14:16] Do the triggers. This is an important one about studio lighting in particular off-camera flashlight ING. Do the triggers for that system feel right to you? All too often, the bit that is missing from any money fractures lineup is the trigger. They're, they're made, they do their job, but they're not user-friendly.

[00:14:34] And I have to say, even after however many years I was using the Profoto. synchro Air TTL. It was never my favorite trigger. I get frustrated with Godox as well is nine times out of 10 when I'm using a strobe, I'm using it in the dark. So what's the one thing I want to be lit up.

[00:14:51] It's the buttons on the triggers. I. I know what I'm doing is really, I don't get how for a device that by definition, I'm going to use when the light levels are low. It really is difficult to use in low light levels. I just, yeah, just one of those things and it comes back a little bit. To what Lewis was saying about having the designers of these systems a little bit more transparent.

[00:15:14] I'd love to have more designers, more designer input. Sorry, more photographers input into the design processes of some of this kit. Because actually we use it. We know where its weaknesses are. We know what is frustrating when we're down there in the dirt. Trying to get things sorted.

[00:15:30] Next question.

[00:15:31] What adapters will you need to get a modifier onto the light or will you always use a bare head flash? I asked this because if you're using an AD200 nothing fits it until he put a modifier, a bracket on it that will take. Whether it's Elinchrom, whether it's Profoto, whether it's Godox themselves. Any S- type for instance, an S- type modifier on to the front, but you are going to have to buy some additional brackets. To make that possible.

[00:15:59] Are you going to expand the system?

[00:16:01] So Steve's email asked. W I'm buying or stated I'm buying my first strobe. What would you recommend? And part of the puzzle is what are you going to do in the future? Is this just one strobe, in which case an AD200 is perfectly fine. Is it going to be part of a set and will it all be the same style? They're big for speed lights, but they're little for strobes AD200's of, I don't know if you've seen them. They sort of look. Sort of rectangular, like, I dunno. Couple of bars of chocolate. taped together. They're not very big. They're very rectangular and they're very good.

[00:16:37] But will you always stay with this manufacturer? Are you going to buy into their system? Will you have a Godox controller? And then you'll add Godox studio lights Godox led lights Godox, more Speedlights what are you going to do? Because if you're going to stick with a system. Start with the system that ultimately you want to use.

[00:16:57] What modifiers ultimately do you want to use?

[00:17:00] Will it be umbrellas or boxes? Are they readily available and affordable. Of course, anything that clips onto an S type adapter, that's the old Bowens adapter, is really relatively speaking available and it's going to be not too expensive, because the manufacturers like good docs and picks was it picks a pro and a few of the others.

[00:17:20] They're all adult. Adapting and adopting the S type. And it means you get access to really good quality budget kit. To bolt onto the front. Or, you know, like me, are you fascinated with really beautiful light? And it's not that those modifies don't create beautiful light, but for me, just using a kit, I want to feel good about it. So I've stayed. I've had, I've stayed pretty much with Elinchrom, um, throughout, even though. I was using pro photo strobes.

[00:17:47] I was still using my old Elinchrom modifiers because they just lovely. Um, Is it. An additional question who inspires you? Maybe that's an obtuse question. But it's not a bad shout to have a look around. Photographers whose work you really like. And then it doesn't take long to go through their social feeds and figure out what they use.

[00:18:10] Because if there's a look you're trying to create, there's a lighting quality it's going to try and create. I mean, in the end, you'll form your own lighting, your own designs, your own style. And that's absolutely right. But more often than not, when you're starting out you're using ideas from other people, you're looking at social feeds, you're looking at websites, you're looking in magazines as much as magazines. It's still a thing.

[00:18:35] And you, you, the curiosity is peaked when you see a picture, you really like, and you're thinking, okay, how did they do that? It's never a bad idea to have a look at the kit they've used. And for us here in the studio, for instance, I will constantly look at images and try and figure out what lighting they've used.

[00:18:52] But of course then actually our studio isn't that big, so I have to figure out a way round that. The good news is if you can figure out a way around it, you can use pretty much any kit. The bad news is there are some things I can't do. There's some lighting patterns. I simply don't have the space typically overhead to be able to do. But either way go and have a look at the people you really, really admire and are inspired by and have a look at their kit and see if that's something that might feed in to the conversation.

[00:19:21] This is one of those techie dweeby things, but what is the battery life? And are you going to exceed it? And by battery life, I don't mean it, the total lifespan of the battery, I mean, is it going to go flat at the moment you really want to take a photograph and as such. How much are the spare batteries.

[00:19:38] Some of these manufacturers that, you know, in additional batteries, 500, 600, 700 quid. And it's fine if you've got the money. But. You know, maybe that's just too much. Or would you, for instance, if you're only going to work in a studio, will mains power do you? Now here at the studio, I've taken a view to move away from mains, but for no, not because I want to take the strobes out on location necessarily, but because we have children running around, we have dogs running around and having mains cables is not ideal.

[00:20:10] My Profoto B1's We're brilliant for that could keep them out of the way the kids, the tripods are all weighted down. There's no cables. The only downside is if I use the modeling lights, batteries are going to go flat pretty quickly. So have a look at the batteries and what strategy you're going to have for keeping things charged up during a day of shooting.

[00:20:29] And then the final one I think was do you need modeling lights? If you're like me a photographer that uses modeling lights as your guide, how are you going to do that with something like the AD200 and although the manufacturer Godox do claim that it has a modeling light on it, it's really small.

[00:20:45] It's not going to do you an all flood a good it's. Okay. If you're in a really dark space. And you just need to see what you're doing. It does. Okay. But it's not great. In my opinion from that, but if you don't need it, then that's absolutely, brilliant. So it's instead of answering really for Steve.

[00:21:03] I don't know what he was expecting: buy that one. that'll be fine. What could go wrong?

[00:21:07] I've opposed yet more questions. But I think this is how you choose your kit. And this goes across all types of kit. These are the types of questions. You need to ask yourself. And for me, I think the really important ones, the fundamental one. Is what is your budget?

[00:21:23] Because in the end, particularly if like me, you, when you're living from it, You have to show a return on that investment for every bit of kit you buy over its lifespan. What is your budget?

[00:21:36] The next thing you have to ask yourself is going to, is it going to do the job? I need it to do. Because as always, there's a thousand ways of doing everything. And every manufacturer will tell you their way is the right way.

[00:21:50] And every manufacturer is absolutely right. But what do you do? You got to pick one in the end.

[00:21:56] And that's the final question.

[00:22:00] Do you want to pick it up and do you want to use it? And that's the most important question of all when it comes to being creative. Because if you don't utterly love using the kit, it land. In a box and that is a proper waste of money. You have to buy the kit that you love and that makes you want to create images. That, that there's no getting around that because if you don't buy something that makes you smile and makes you want to pick up your camera and create a picture, then you'll never use it.

[00:22:31] And that really is, a waste of money.

[00:22:35] So on that happy note, this is a shorter episode. I'm hoping to go back to my weekly recordings, but we'll see how we go. So far so good. I hope the little interview snippet with Louis at the beginning, was interesting is only short, but I thought he had a really nice way about him and a really intriguing Viewpoint on the industry and it's always interesting to talk to these guys.

[00:22:55] As a thank you for him being recorded. I'm giving warehouse express a free plug. There's no arrangement here at all. I buy stuff from them. Much as I buy it from other suppliers too, but I really, I really rate warehouse expresses customer service. I have had. I'm sure if you troll around, you'll find people with different stories. But the story I have is they've always been exceptional. They've always delivered on time. They've always been good value. They are one of those companies where their customer service is rock solid and their stock levels also a pretty high. So if you want it, you can get it and you're going to get it when they say it will arrive.

[00:23:33] So you can't say much better than that. So on that happy note, thank you for listening. Thank you for getting into the end of this particular episode and as always, please do subscribe to the podcast, wherever it is that you get your podcasts. Please also leave us a review. Oh, I'm one of the main platforms.

[00:23:50] We love it when we see ratings and reviews on iTunes, because of course it is the biggest platform for podcasts of them all but wherever it is that you listen to your podcasts, please do leave us a review. Of course, if you ever have any questions, just like Steve did, please drop me a line.

[00:24:06] It's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. That's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. Um, I did mention the workshops we're running. We're ramping those up just at the moment, having a blast. It's so much fun. We've had the nicest models and more importantly, the nicest attendees on our workshops, they're very friendly.

[00:24:28] They're very funny. We have a really, just a good time laughing and taking or laughing and creating beautiful images. If you fancy one of our workshops, please head over to Paul Wilkinson photography and look for the coaching section or just Google paul Wilkinson photography workshops and you will land on them. Without a shadow of a doubt and head over to masteringportraitphotography.com, the spiritual home of this podcast. Which has a ton of resources for portrait photographers, whether it's about the creativity. The artistry, the enjoyment or the business of this wonderful art.

[00:25:02] And until next time when I should be presenting yet another snippet from the photography show. , thank you for listening and be kind to yourself. Take care.

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:

[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.

There are one or two other things to bear in mind and I step through them in the 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:

[00:00:00] I'm really sorry, it's just been one of those weeks. I have spent three days, three whole days at home feeling ill and mostly grumpy. Sorry, I don't take to being poorly particularly well. Whatever Michelle and Sarah had last week. Of course, I inherited it this week. It turns out that the word viral is not a joke.

[00:00:25] It's just a cold, really, but it's been quite a horrible one. It hit my chest straight away, and I just felt awful, and if I'm honest, after three days off work this evening is the first time I've really felt sort of compos mentis. I've spent three days sitting in the lounge with the fire on. It's been cozy enough, but I've, I hate being unproductive.

[00:00:46] I hate not getting through the lists that I've got to do. I hate the idea that I've wasted three days, but in the end, that had to be done. So as I sit here next to the fire watching back to back episodes of Law Order, I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.

[00:01:07]

[00:01:20] So I hope you're all feeling a little bit better than me, and in terms of the catch up of the week, well, I can't really say that I've done that much out of the seven days or so. Three of them have been spent laid up doing very little. Obviously, I'm still doing some coding, writing emails, and an awful lot of judging has been flowing through my world. Not this time, not just as a judge or as a chair of judges but also as a contestant. It's been an interesting time.

[00:01:47] So, I judged for the FEP this week, the first of the final rounds of their annual image competition. I'm one of the judges on the portrait category.

[00:01:58] 647 images, I think, were there to judge. And if you think about that as a volume of judging and all of our, all of the judges. Whether it's for the BIP that I chair for, whether it's for the SWPP, the Societies, whether it's for the Guild, whether it's for the FEP, the World Cup, it doesn't really matter what the judging is.

[00:02:19] It takes time and we do it for nothing. Well, I say nothing. We don't do it for nothing, but we do it for free. And so, if you think about all of that, 647 images. If I went at it hell for leather and judged one image per minute with no breaks, that's still basically 11 hours of judging, which is an awful lot when you think about it.

[00:02:45] And yet, we put ourselves through it. And I do it because I really enjoy it. I really love the process, I love seeing the images, though there is some disappointment when we're judging and the images haven't come up to standard. But, nonetheless, it's cathartic, it's inspiring, it's very therapeutic, it's quite a rhythmical sort of thing to do.

[00:03:04] And I really love it.

[00:03:06] On top of that, if that wasn't enough, the results to the BIPP monthlies came out the first BIPP monthly round. So this is a new competition for us. We've set it up to run parallel to the print competition, which opens up in sort of June time and it's judged in September. And they run side by side and they are different beasts.

[00:03:27] So the print competition, exactly what it says on the tin. Submit your prints in the category. Best print wins each category. That's it. Very simple to do. The monthlies are not that. The monthlies have been designed.

[00:03:41] to reward consistency as much as really high quality inspirational work. With a print competition, you only need to shoot one image, and depending on what everybody else shoots, you could end up with the title of the print image of the year, the portrait print of the year, the wedding print of the year, whatever it is.

[00:04:00] With the monthlies, it's been designed not to be quite like that. The monthlies It's about consistency more than it is about that one high scoring image. That's not to say that a high scoring image isn't a thing to be treasured and will get its accolades, but what we've done is design a competition at the BIPP, which is Sorry, the BIPP is the B I P P, the British Institute of Professional Photographers.

[00:04:27] So we've designed a competition that runs for 10 months of the year. And we take, for every photographer, the top scoring image of theirs in each category. So it doesn't matter how many images you, you enter, that's irrelevant. Each month, we're going to take, for that photographer and each category they've entered, their top scoring image.

[00:04:47] And over seven of the ten months, we're going to accumulate those scores. So you have the opportunity, if you wish, to take three months off. So you have ten months, take three months off if you wish, seven months. So your top seven scores for each category will be accumulated. So your top seven scores in portraits per month.

[00:05:09] So in January Portrait. You enter five, we take the top one. February. You enter five in Portraits again, we still take the top one. And that's, that's two of your scores sorted. And the reason we're doing it that way is that each photographer in the BIPP gets one free entry every month.

[00:05:28] So you have for free the ability to enter and win the monthly's competition for the year without laying out a single cent. All you have to do is find the time at the end of every month to pop in a high quality competition level image, upload it, put your name in, Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt, off you go, you're done.

[00:05:47] And you could win it.

[00:05:48] So what amazes me, and there's a point to this story, not only is this how it works, but the point is, why don't more people enter? We had lots of entries, but it's not everybody, and I can never quite get my head around why, if it's free, and you have the opportunity to create some great PR, I'm looking at the PR on Facebook this week, and on various websites and Instagram, and people are really celebrating their success in all of the monthlies, not just the BIPs, and it's brilliant, and that's what it's designed for. It's designed to give photographers the opportunity to have something to celebrate and to share with their clients. This is, in the end, about clients. I think too often in the industry we think about it as being about, it's about photographers, and it's not really.

[00:06:31] It's about our clients. And the monthlies create every 30 days or so, the opportunity to share success with your clients and you can do it for free. So why, with the thousands of members do we have, do we not have every photographer entering?

[00:06:48] Still can't get my head around that and if you think I don't put my money where my mouth is.

[00:06:54] This month, I did enter as I have done for the past year, I entered the Guild Monthlies competition. Obviously, I can't enter the BIPP competition, because I'm chairing the judging. So I entered the Guild, and this month, for the first time since I've been entering it, I got a gold bar, which is nearly the top standard.

[00:07:12] It's not the top standard. The top standard is Platinum. But nobody's won a Platinum yet, so I'm happy with that. I got a gold and won an image of the month. Now, that's not the point of this story. It's not really to brag. Though I am really pleased with myself because it's an image I took of I think it's the bass player from the band The Sweet.

[00:07:31] He was very cool. He was in our studio. It was just a normal session shot I took for him. all for the band. And I decided to try it, enter it as a competition, and see how we go. I think the point is that I entered. I gave it a go. Now, people get really nervous about entering competitions, and I don't really understand why.

[00:07:51] Now, you know my views on this. Competitions are not the best way to hone your skills, because you get no feedback, and even if you produce the best image of your life If your competitor has produced the best image of their life, they may just win. and give you nothing really, no, certainly no winning image to celebrate.

[00:08:13] Also, you know, with the judging process, you don't know how you're going to do. Every photographer enters an image thinking they stand a chance. But judging is what it is. We've got to rank all of the images and who knows? Maybe it doesn't do as well as you'd expect. And people take that really personally.

[00:08:30] I take it really personally. But the difference is I still do it. I just don't tell anybody I'm doing it. I do it quietly. And the images that succeed, well, I celebrate those and we publish them. And Sarah in particular loves it because it gives her an opportunity to talk to our clients and put out some PR.

[00:08:47] And she's been doing that all day since the result came out yesterday, which is fantastic. So, I give it a go, I do it. I don't always do that well, if I'm honest, and judges typically, they, there is a correlation between the judges and success in competitions, but it's nowhere near as marked as you'd think it is.

[00:09:08] And you can see this while we're judging. So if I'm chairing a panel of judges, you'll see marks from each judge fluctuate quite widely. So a challenge is triggered when one judge's mark is 10 away from the average decision. So whatever the judges came up with, we take the average, and if one or more of those judges is 10 marks different, we have a challenge.

[00:09:29] And we have plenty of challenges, which tells you quite a lot about the fact that every judge has things that they are looking for, and if the image that is in front of them doesn't have it, they won't score it as highly. Equally, if it does have those things, they will score it highly. There is volatility in scoring.

[00:09:46] You cannot use print or image competitions. as a measure of you as a person, or you as a business, you as a creative, but when you do win, celebrate it. When you don't win, well, you have to figure out what to do with that. The great thing about a monthly competition is that there is the opportunity for at least a little bit of learning.

[00:10:10] because you don't have to wait for a year to try again, you can just wait four weeks. Re enter some more images, keep an eye on what comes back, what gets into the bronze, silver or gold. If you haven't quite made it across the line, what makes it into the the commended, which is what we have at the BIP. I don't know what the other societies do for those things, but everybody has a sort of way of doing it.

[00:10:31] So the trick is, celebrate your wins, keep your losses to yourself, and then there's a whole load of pressure removed for you. So It is slightly different in in the monthlies. So, back on, I'm gonna bang on this drum. If you haven't entered into one of the monthlies, into any association you're part of, why not?

[00:10:52] What's stopping you? Think about it. What is actually stopping you? It's almost certain, almost certainly rather, a fear of not doing well. Well, I enter them every month, I tell you when I've done well, and I keep it very quiet when I haven't. And I'm still amazed at how few people do it. And with the BIPP, every entry is £5, but you get one entry for free.

[00:11:15] And with the BIP, every image is £5 a go. But you get one for free. So that's a value of £5. So if you had entered 10 months of the year, that's £50 worth of free entries.

[00:11:27] Who's going to turn down 50 quid over the year? And the value of the opportunity to talk to your clients is priceless. Now you can argue you might not win, and that's true. I don't. But when I do do well, I will share it. When I don't do well, quiet. I just keep it nice and quiet.

[00:11:45] So the results came out for the Guild yesterday, so they're on the 21st, and the closing date for the Guild is at the end of the month, so it's a leap year, so it's the 29th of Feb. So I've got about somewhere between 8, 9, 10 days every month between the results to the previous month coming out and the new round to choose what I'm going to put in.

[00:12:06] I know I'll keep entering and I know I'll keep learning and I will keep being surprised at what does well and what doesn't even though as a judge and as a chair of judges very often I'm in the position of determining that and even having just judged the portrait group for the FEP, the Federation of European Photographers, I can tell you now when the second round comes back to me in a couple of weeks I lay a bet. The images that come back will not be in the same order as I pick them out. That's life. I'm working with judges from all over Europe, I'm working with people of different tastes, different influences, different things they value in an image. So you can never be certain, but what you can be certain of is if you don't enter it, you ain't gonna win anything.

[00:12:48] That's a dead cert. So why would I choose absolute certain failure over anything else? Sorry, you never use the word failure. It's not a failure. Nobody fails. Except when you don't enter. Yes, you do. You fail. You've failed to enter, you've failed to compete, in which case, failure is the only word I have for it.

[00:13:07] If you enter and your image isn't successful this time around, there's a million factors to that. You can learn from some, you might not learn as much as you'd like, you can take those images because you have them. And you can show your mentor, or show a friend, or show another photographer, or show someone get a critique.

[00:13:21]

[00:13:21] So there's just a few things I have spotted over the past week to ten days. with competition images. This is accumulated from what I've seen on the judging side with the BIPP, or the BIPP Monthlies, and what I've seen from the competitor side, so as a judge rather than as a chair, on the FEP.

[00:13:41] One, don't over sharpen, particularly when it's an online entry. The screens tend to be quite sharp. They tend to make things look a little bit sharper than perhaps they could be, in my opinion, anyway, maybe it's the screens I've got. So don't over sharpen. No one on any competition I have ever been involved in the judging has ever said they've under sharpened this image.

[00:14:06] But every round I will hear someone say, that image is over sharpened. Don't overdo it. Alongside that There's a huge temptation, particularly with the users of Lightroom to use clarity and or detail enhancement. These are still, so there's no such thing as sharpening, it's just localized contrast.

[00:14:24] Equally, clarity and detail are variations of the same thing. If you're quite keen on the clarity slider You can see it in the image. It starts to look like it's been heavily processed. For some categories, that's great. For some categories, that will get hugely rewarded. For others, it won't. So have a look at what's done well previously and tune your effects and your clarity and detail to suit that.

[00:14:51] Don't blow out your highlights or block up your shadows. What do I mean by that? I don't want ever to see pure white, and that's tricky if you've got, let's say, a grey flat sky, and you've lit someone against what light there is. So get it under control, make sure there's detail in the highlights, and there is detail in the blacks.

[00:15:09] And don't think you can cheat by raising up the blacks to be grey. Thinking, well that's right, nothing in the image is now black. If there's no detail in it, we're still going to see that the blacks were blocked up, they've now just become very dark grey, and still blocked up. If there's no detail in there, I would suggest you find an alternative image.

[00:15:32] Colour grading. A lot of colour grading knocking around, and there are a thousand colour panels out there at the moment. Be careful, that the colour you're using is part of the story you're trying to tell. Don't just make it desaturated because it's desaturated, or make the shadows a bluey green because you've seen it on a Netflix film.

[00:15:50] Tell the story with your colour. If you're going to use colour, tell the story through it. Be careful that you don't just process for processing's sake. It must be part of the storytelling.

[00:16:00] If this podcast makes you feel uncomfortable because I'm sounding ill, trust me it's worse for me. I'm sounding ill. Where are we? Next one, number five, look for emotion, and then number six, impact. These two are intertwined. When you look at an image as a judge, we have to react to it.

[00:16:20] Judging as a process gets criticised a lot as to why don't we prioritise creativity, emotion, impact, these words. Sort of soft, the soft skills, I suppose, of photography. The truth is, we do. That is the top scoring band. Impact. Bam! Get it in front of us. Work out what it is about the image.

[00:16:43] Whether it's the way you've cropped and formed the story, where you've laid out the parts of the puzzle, where you've used colour, the way an expression just connects with you as a viewer, whatever it is. Make it about impact, because as judges, we want to feel something. We want to know that you felt it, too.

[00:17:02] Number seven, do not enter the same images everywhere. I kid you not, there's an image I've judged I won't say exactly where, but I've judged it this week that I've seen now four times. Four different competitions, I've seen the same image. I wasn't always the judge. I was a fellow contestant in one.

[00:17:22] I was Chair of Judges for two, and Judge for the fourth. I've seen it four times. Well, imagine the lack of impact by seeing it that many times. Now I know, as a contestant, you may not think the same judge is gonna see it every time. But, the truth is, there aren't actually that many judges. Not really.

[00:17:45] So there's a lot of cross talk. So you get to see the same images quite a bit, if you're entering them into different competitions. As an extension of that, and this is So the first one's not that easy to avoid if you enter lots of competitions. It would be great if you could, prep a different image from the shoot for each competition, but I know it takes time and it's expensive if you're doing print, but I would still recommend it.

[00:18:11] This next one, though, is slightly different. If you shoot images in series, what do I mean by that? If you shoot dogs running and jumping, one dog running and jumping, or you shoot a certain style of child portraiture, or a certain style of I'm talking portraiture in particular, a certain style of female portraiture, I don't know.

[00:18:31] Don't put more than one of that style into any round of a competition at one time. Don't put them all in January. The idea that we're going to pick out the highest scoring image, the image we think is best out of your series of five, simply not true, because we judge them in a randomised order, but sequentially.

[00:18:51] We get an image, we judge it, we move on to the next image, we move on to the next image. So you have no control over what order we see them in. We have no control over what order we see them in. And the idea that we're going to go to the last image of a set of five, and could you know I've seen all of these?

[00:19:05] I think image one was the strongest, I should have given that more, more higher score. That's not how this works. We evaluate each image based on its own merits at that point in time. But if we then see four more of the same image, trust me, the impact on the last image isn't going to be as great, even though they are technically different images.

[00:19:26] So what you're doing is you're sacrificing four incredible images to get one through. You have to make a decision over which one to put in. And then, guess what? February? Put another one in. March? Another one. There's no way, it's not a, it's not a thing where we can pick images out, because we have to judge them one after the other, so that every single image stands the same chance of getting the same score. That's why we do it.

[00:19:51] And number nine, so another point on the judging, is don't forget to finish your images, each and every one of them, fully. So there's an image during the recent judging I did, stunning. I looked at it on the screen, small, beautiful. Hit the 100 percent button, zoomed into the pixels, moved around the image, because when you're doing online judging, this is how it works, and you could see that the photographer, it looked like, I don't know, their nan had called round midway through them doing the retouch.

[00:20:23] And they just never went back to that image. They submitted it with holes in the background and gaps where They'd dropped a background in over the top of the subject, and you could see the overlaps so clearly. They were just hard, like they'd hit it with the pencil tool, not the brush tool. And it clearly, all they'd done is not gone back over the image with a fine tooth comb.

[00:20:43] It really, it felt like, they're sitting there doing this beautiful retouch. It's a beautiful lady, she's got flowing hair, the background's nailed. She's resting on a bench, or whatever it was. And then bing bong. Mom's here. Mom. It's your mom, Paul. It's your mom. Come down. Alright, I'll be down. I'll be down in a minute.

[00:21:00] No, now. All right, I'll come down now. And that was the end of it. It's as if I went back to the image and just never picked it up again. I must have hit send or something. This is not my image, by the way. I really felt for the creator of it, because it was a stunning image. And I even put, it's one of the rare times I've put in the comments field when I'm judging.

[00:21:18] If the judge is surprised at why I've classed this as not competition standard, when clearly it's stunning. Clearly the photographer knows their craft. Please get them to look at it like I did and see the holes they've left in the retouch. So finish them properly.

[00:21:37] So don't do that. So those are the things I've noticed this time round.

[00:21:42] And the great thing about entering a competition is it gives you an opportunity to experiment. Experiment in January. If it doesn't work, change the experiment. Or, no, you never change the experiment.

[00:21:51] You experiment. That's not how it works. Experiment in January. Change what you try. in February. It's the same experiment. And then March. And then, who knows, by June, you might have got the swing of it. Who knows? What I will say, though, is that this ability every month to have a go, see how you do, celebrate your successes, learn from those that aren't quite so successful, is hugely, hugely powerful.

[00:22:16] I still, still don't think competitions are mentoring. They are different beasts. You know my views on that. But there is still something to be learned from. Entering a competition monthly.

[00:22:30] And the best way of entering monthlies, or any competition really, is if you are organized.

[00:22:35] Then spend time with your images. Print them, hang them up, look at them over time, keep an eye on them. Because if you do that You'll get to see those little niggles, you'll get to appreciate where things could be fine tuned.

[00:22:49] On the other hand, if you're like me, and it's all a little bit last second, then just make sure when you do the prep for your client, you're always producing images at sort of competition level.

[00:23:01] There is a difference between competition imagery, what we would choose, how we'd finish them, and there is with what we produce for our clients. But for me, that gap isn't that great. I think if you're a fashion photographer, there's almost no gap. If you're, one of the Fearless Wedding Photographers, there's almost no gap.

[00:23:19] I think there is for many sectors in the industry though. So just make sure you're prepping your images essentially to competition standard. If that image that I talked about earlier had gone out to a client, the client would have sent it back to me laughing. I'd have had to sort it out. And it did happen to me once.

[00:23:33] It wasn't my retouch, but I did see it. It was my image someone on at the time, an assistant had retouched it, and I knew the minute I saw it go out, it's like, that's coming back to me. And I knew because she'd over whitened the floor, and it looked like the object was floating. I don't do that kind of photography very much, but when I do, it has to be right, and it wasn't right, and it's really frustrating.

[00:23:57] Do it to the best that you can. Get it to competition standard, or as close as you can, with only just a little additional finishing where required, because that way, I don't need to worry about having tons of time to get it into a competition. The image I entered and got my gold bar was not the one I thought would do well.

[00:24:13] I just didn't think necessarily of the set that I entered, it was the strongest image. Turned out the judges felt differently. But it was certainly finished to that level because the band could have been using it on a poster.

[00:24:23] So, the same criteria is still applied.

[00:24:26] There's no jeopardy in entering. The worst that can happen is that you don't do as well as you'd hope. And that happens to all of us. The gold bar this month? It's the first one I've attained with the guild, and it's just a regular image. It's now out, of course, on social media.

[00:24:43] Sarah's celebrating it everywhere. I'm a little slower to get it onto social media. But it gives me an interesting topic to talk about on here. And so the question I suppose you're asking is, how many other images did I enter? I don't know how the other images did, I've only won one gold bar and got it one image of the month. But I can't argue that you can do this anonymously and then, for me, not be anonymous. So I'm not going to tell you how many other images I entered, but it's definitely more than one. And so why not make this, this year, the year you'll give it a shot. If you're part of the BIPP, you've only missed one month, you still have plenty of months ahead of you, there's nine more to go, deadline always at the end of the month, images, image results come out on the 15th, to give you time to reassess and figure out what you're going to enter for the next month.

[00:25:31] And you never know what might happen. And if you can do it for free, and this is particularly to the BIPP, if you can do it for free, Then we really, and I mean this, this isn't a figurative thing, you have nothing to lose. It's free. The clue is in the title. And on that happy note, I'm going to dose up on some Lemsip, some Benelin, some Nurofen, and I'm going to call it a night.

[00:25:56] Thank you for listening as I sit here in my cosy little lounge to this podcast. As always, head over to masteringportraitphotography.com for lots of articles and stuff, and also it's the spiritual home of this podcast. On top of that Please do leave us a review, tell another photographer or someone you might think would be interested in it about the podcast, leave us some comments wherever you can, and hit subscribe on whatever podcast player you use.

[00:26:21] That way, as soon as I get round to releasing an episode, there it is right in your ears before you even know it. Whatever else, as I sip my Lemsip, keep warm and be kind to yourself. Take care.

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:

[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] 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] 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] 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] 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] 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.

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:

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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.

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] ​

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.

This episode is a blend of a summary of 2023 and some ideas for 2024.  If anyone is curious, the lighting I mention is the Aputure LS60x and LS60d (tunable, focussable LED spotlights), the Aputure Accent B7c and the Phottix TR200R RGB Tube Lights.  All brilliant.

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] I wasn't intending to do too many more podcasts on the Land Rover. Um, however, However a nice guy called Craig from New Zealand emailed me over the Christmas period to say how much he enjoyed the podcast, how much he enjoyed Mastering Portrait Photography the website, and most importantly, at least from the perspective of this particular episode. How much he liked the ones from the Land Rover. To use his words, they feel a little bit more raw, and I don't know what that means. Whether it means unscripted, or whether the sounds of a rattling Land Rover as I travel from point A to point B is somehow an interesting soundbed. I've no idea, he doesn't elaborate. However, thanks Craig partly because it's always nice to know that what you're doing doesn't just disappear into the ether, and I think as photographers we would All appreciate that sensation but also that even when I'm recording things literally in the last few minutes I have between jobs, because that's all the [00:01:00] time I'm managing to find, then even those episodes have their value. So one way or another. A very happy new year. Please forgive the sound quality. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.  Do you know one of the things you're meant to do as a sound engineer if you're recording for either, I guess, a podcast or radio or for video, is to record a sound bed, to record the ambient noise. So, forgive me while I record little bits like this. Yes, just, I suppose in theory it should be silence, but in a Land Rover nothing is silent. But I'm going to need lots of little bits of the audio if I have to do any corrections. I'm off to another shoot. I'm working with the Hearing Dogs [00:02:00] today, just a few miles down the road, in the UK, a typically average journey, I suppose, half an hour or so. Uh, half an hour out, half an hour back. If you live in the US, that's literally like tripping over your own doorstep because it's a journey under two hours. But here in the UK, we're used to slightly shorter journeys. The year has already got off to a ridiculous start. Uh, I actually thought, and every year I think this, that December will quieten down, I'll have a great break over Christmas, January will be quiet until it ramps up. And actually all that happens is I tear through the whole of the holiday period at a hundred miles an hour, hoping I can get a breather. December was really busy, which was good. 2023 however wasn't the year that I'd like to relive. It hasn't been a bad year, but we've had to fight every inch of the way. Nothing has ever landed in our lap. Both Sarah and I and Michelle. are grafters, [00:03:00] all of us work, and work hard for our living. But, last year really was a little bit of a brutal year. Um, just felt like the atmosphere out there in the marketplace wasn't everything it could have been. Um, we've got very, or have had, very high inflation in the UK, certainly for this country. Now, if you're listening to us in Venezuela or somewhere, possibly not quite the same thing. But with inflation rates kicking up, uh, touching out somewhere near 10 percent and then obviously hikes in interest rates by the Bank of England to bring that back down, essentially what you've got is the perfect storm for people like us who work in the service sector, because our costs of production have gone up in line with inflation. At the same time, the costs of living for our clients have gone up by the same amount, and so the battle for us to be one of their priority spends is that little bit more tricky. However, we've [00:04:00] done it, we had a really good year in the end, but like I said, we have fought tooth and nail, uh, to do it, and I think that's the making of a business. I've said over the years, and I think it's probably out there on a podcast, I'd be surprised if it wasn't, that being a successful business when things are going well is actually really easy. There's not an awful lot to it. You do your job, you create what you create, you sell it, you move on to the next one. Don't get me wrong, I know it's much more nuanced than that, I live this world. But broadly speaking, when things are going right, this job isn't that hard. It's when things are tough, that they show your real character. So, I've spoken about customer service, it's when it goes wrong, really, that you show the true Skillset, the true worth in everything that you do. When things are a little bit tougher, that's when you have to dig deep. It's when you have to show what you are made of. And we've done that over the past 12 months, and we ended December with some beautiful shoots, some lovely clients, [00:05:00] one or two unexpected sales that came in from jobs that I guess there was at least one that I had mothballed, to the point of it being in the archive when the orders eventually came in. Didn't expect to hear from them, hadn't heard from them in 18 months. So for a business like ours, where we are very much about a personal service, it's in person sales, it's an in-person experience, it's about memories, it's about laughter, it's about feeling valued. Wherever possible, we do not do remote sales. I don't do remote sales for precisely the reason that it's taken 18 months for one of our clients to come back and order their pictures. And that's in spite of us doing all the usual stuff, we've emailed them, we've called them. Not to be, not to hassle them. Just to see if there's anything we can do to help. But the problem with non in person sales, online sales is of course. You have very few levers you can pull, and there's not a lot you can do. You can [00:06:00] say you're going to take the album down, which we did. In fact, the album was dormant for probably two thirds of that time. We'd just changed the password so that no one could log in. But of course, when they emailed and said, Oh, I've just noticed I can't log in, we opened it back up. So it's not a real lever, it's just A way of us knowing that they're looking at the album again. And the order came through, and it was a beautiful order. So it's great. It's a proper Christmas bonus. Unexpected. Out of the blue. Beautiful album. Beautiful Graphistudio album. Beautiful frames. Big frames. And the whole thing, in the end, closed out at a really nice value sale.  So there's a lesson in there somewhere, which is, you know, don't ever write anything off. And we don't write anything off. I didn't know what the title of this podcast would be. Maybe that's what it should be. It's, you know, don't write any job off. But actually, this is one of those unscripted podcasts where I haven't really got a clue exactly what it was I was going to talk about. So I have this kind of list of things in my head, but who knows whether I'll get to the bottom of [00:07:00] it. Uh, on this year, on the title or on the topic of it being a New Year, of course everybody sits down and makes their list of New Year's resolutions, which actually I don't. I've never been a believer, and I think, I thought that's what the title of this podcast was going to be. I've never been a believer in New Year's resolutions. I don't know why, I just think if you want to do something, do it. Make, make every day the opportunity for a resolution. That's not to say that I'm really good at doing that. That's not to say that every time I've thought, you know what, I'm going to make that happen this year. I'm going to lose three stone and get fit, for instance. You know, doesn't happen. I'm going to stop drinking, doesn't happen. I'm going to become a vegetarian like my daughter, doesn't happen. There are plenty of things that I'd like to do that just Do you know what? They haven't happened. But Equally, I don't wait till New Year to change the big stuff. But, and there is a but, is that New Year does mark a [00:08:00] natural transition, certainly when it comes to reporting your successes as a photography business. We actually don't report our profits December to December. our accounting period is September to September. But we do Internally, track it in standard calendar years. Why? Well, actually because for social photographers there is a natural hiatus around about the end of December. People will have rollover jobs, we will very often have jobs in the diary. In the gap between Christmas and New Year simply because they book in for those. So it's not a perfectly clean break where , it stops, it starts. But there's definitely a feeling in the marketplace that, oh, let's wait till next year. If somebody rings us and says, I want to do a shoot for my family, and if it's any time around November, the chances are they're gonna say, oh, do you know what, let's push that into next year. Let's see what next year brings. There's a lot of that. And so it's [00:09:00] good for us to have a data point that I can compare year on year, decade, on decade these days, . And of course, covid sort of flung that up in the air, uh, three or two and a bit years of not really being able to rely on anything.  Our data is absolutely shot: the trajectories, the averages, our historical patterns have somewhat collapsed. We are getting back, I'll be honest about that, things are beginning to look a little bit more familiar, the end of last year, or the bulk of last year, it was definitely starting to feel that way. However, things that we are looking forward to doing, so some of this stuff kicked off last year, and some of it is things we're gonna do this year. So last year was a big sort of step up in us building our workshops and our workshop community. Lots to do on that front, we're not by any means in the position we are with our photography. Photography was a solid vision [00:10:00] for us. We can take a picture, we've worked out that the quality was good, we have fab suppliers, we have solid workflows, efficient practices, we knew our way around the marketing. Over a few years we built the business reasonably sure footedly. Obviously, we've tripped over some things like all businesses do. Not gonna say for a minute we got it all perfect. But it was something we could get our arms around and could understand. And the minute I knew we had a good product then I knew we could build a business around it. And I knew we had a good product because I've been taking pictures since I was a kid. I've been creating images and portraits since I was 10 years old, so I knew I could take a picture in the end, ignoring the whole kind of self confidence or insecurity bits and the imposter syndromes and all of the rest of the stuff we talk about all the time. I knew I could take a picture.  Training courses and workshops are slightly different. I still know I can take a picture, but whether or not we could run good workshops, whether or not we could supply great materials, [00:11:00] these were questions that we still had in our heads.   So, for instance, one of the things I was curious about was whether it would be a good idea to set the context of each workshop with a little presentation. I'm, I'm not a fan. When I go on a training course, I really, really, really want to see or want to understand how the person giving a workshop does what they do. Whatever it's in, whether it's marketing, sales, Photoshopping 3D, visuals. Customer relationships, I don't know, many, many different aspects to this business. But if I want to go and learn from someone, I want them to hit the road sorry, hit, yeah, no, hit the road quick and get into the nitty gritty. I'm not a big fan of spending hours in a preamble. However, one of the things I did pick up on is that you do need to be organized in your approach. And whether I like it or not, and whether I'm comfortable with it or not, I'm not that guy. I'm not the guy that thinks in a linear fashion. I can [00:12:00] when I have to. You know, I spent 10 years working as a manager in IT. Trust me, I can when I have to. But that's not my natural skill set. I'm not linear. And I can, if I could see Sarah's face when she listens to this podcast, she'd be like, yeah, no shit, Sherlock. You are not linear. Because Sarah's very organized, very drilled, very Put together, and I'm so not those things. I wish I was, sometimes, but out of the same chaos comes the imagery and the ideas that we have. So, I can't turn it off. I don't want to turn it off. If anything, being slightly chaotic is my superpower, because it brings ideas, and it brings energy, and it brings drive. But, equally, it brings inconsistency. It brings me being really easily distracted. Distracted by breathing, you know? It's just ridiculous. So, some of the things we did last year were to [00:13:00] try and see if there are ways in which I can help myself and help the delegates on our workshops not suffer at the hands of my own chaos. And one of them is we do a quick presentation, half an hour, forty minutes. If I get that right, of course that becomes a piece of collateral that we can send out to you if you come on one of our workshops. It becomes a series of ideas and diagrams that maybe I can use for training videos. It becomes some words that maybe I can re craft into maybe a podcast or for when I'm writing with NPhoto magazine or whether I'm writing for Professional Photographer. So these are just parts of the puzzle. And we got that together last year and the feedback we're getting from our workshops is just phenomenal. It's absolutely brilliant that people have come on it. They seem to enjoy it. They come back. So to all of those people who are multiple offenders, thank you. It's so lovely to see you all. It feels [00:14:00] like we're beginning to build a little community. So now I know I've got the product right or we're in the, we're going in the right direction with the product. Now we can really start to focus on it. Forgive the pun. We can really start to drive that home just like we did with the core photography business. And that's the target of this year. Mostly is to drive the training. Drive The platforms, the videos, all of the stuff that goes around that. The podcast is a big part of that. But finding the time when I'm on my own To sit and record is or has proven tricky over the past month or two. So, Christmas and New Year were lovely. I digress here a little bit, but there's a slight point to it. Christmas and New Year were lovely. So, we stopped, we shut the studio down. Day before or two days before Christmas Eve I went shopping with my boy to do some mop up. Spent a really, just had a really lovely day the day before Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve onwards up until, really up [00:15:00] until New Year's Day was spent with family and friends. And I really do mean pretty much every waking minute was with people I love. And now I'm an extrovert. In theory, as an extrovert, every one of those moments with family and friends is a moment to recharge. It's a moment for me to really feel energised. Yeah, that's, that's an extravert I love being around people. But I tell you what, when I got to New Year's Day, all I really wanted to do was just find myself in a dark room. And switch the social side of my brain off and do something much less much less social I suppose is the only word I can think of. I've had a couple of days of that and I'm beginning to get myself back together. And then, uh, last or two nights ago straight back out photographing the Christmas party for the Le Manoir chefs. And the staff, [00:16:00] which is riotous. Now those guys, Le Manoir is two Michelin starred hotel and restaurant, or restaurant with rooms, I think is how they like to call it. It's an amazing place, beautiful food, voted one of the top hotels in the world. It's in the top 50 every year, I think it was in the top 10 this year. Absolutely phenomenal place, and they work hours that make mine look kind of shabby, I think. They work long hours, it's hard graft, they love it, they're brilliant. But when you're thrown into their Christmas party, they don't half let off a little bit of steam, and it is great. So it was really nice to have a couple of quieter days, and then the Christmas party at La Manoire with my friends who are chefs, front of house gardeners, housekeeping you name it, the management team, marketing, sales, the HR team who asked me to do it. They're just brilliant, and I've come away from it buzzing and energized all over again. So I cannot wait for the year. [00:17:00] And on that, we are building the workshops up.  On that note, we have a couple actually, I'm going to be at the convention, the Societies of Photographers convention in January, I'm hoping there's some structure to this podcast by the way I'm gonna have to finish in about 5 to 10 minutes because I'll arrive at my client and I'll pick it up again, but I'll let you bet I'll repeat a bit because I won't remember where I got to, and I don't want to have to spend hours in edit, I don't have time to spend hours in the edit, so this is gonna be one of those podcasts That is pretty raw, it's gonna come out of the recording unit as it is, and it's gonna go straight out. As you're hearing it, I don't think there'll have been very much editing except to stick in some music underneath it, and just to check the sound quality's alright. So, forgive me for that. But it's gonna be well I'm at the convention, 17th, I'm at the whole of the convention, but I'm doing two workshops, I'm doing a super class on the 17th. And a Masterclass on the 18th. The Superclass you have to book in advance. I think there's one place left. That's all. If anybody fancies [00:18:00] it, head over to the Society's Convention and look for the Superclasses. We're gonna spend the whole of that three, three and a half hours. Creating headshots and personal branding images. I've never met the couple who are my models. I'm looking forward to meeting them. They sound really cool. But we're going to explore lighting, how you interact. We're going to talk about whatever people want to talk about. Whether it's the marketing side of it, whether it's the business side of it. Whether it's how you tell a story through the photos. It's whether, how you weave the story of the shoot. Because I think that's an underrepresented part of social photography is how you thread your way in a meaningful fashion through the shoots. That's the superclass. That's on the 17th.  On the 18th, I'm doing a masterclass, you don't need to book for that, but I'd love to see you. It's free if you have a ticket to the event. Come along and we're going to be talking about specifically ten lighting patterns. I'm going to put together ten easy lighting patterns that you can replicate. One of the things I'm acutely aware of is, [00:19:00] I find much of taking a portrait second nature to me. I do it Automatically, I can see light, I can feel it, I can almost smell it out. anD I, I don't know why or how that should be, but it is. So when I'm positioning lights, I know exactly what I'm doing, because I'm simply looking at what's in front of me. But, I've had to critique a few images some people have been on a workshop, some people have simply have asked me for some mentoring, and reading light, it turns out, is not the most natural thing in the world, and I, I assumed it was. So I've clearly misunderstood some aspects of what, how we can teach this, so part of the Masterclass really, or part of the idea behind the Masterclass really, is to see if we can nail down ten lighting patterns with two lights, so we use one light, we'll use two lights, we'll create some drama, we'll create some theatre, we'll create some very basic stuff, [00:20:00] But the idea is we're going to hand over some real examples done live in front of the audience as to how you can do this with basic equipment. We're going to do it in a normal room. It's just one of the meeting rooms in a hotel. We're going to do it with normal kit. I will have two lights I will, I think, have a pop up backdrop, which I'll bring in, just so I've got a plain backdrop, because I can't guarantee it. And we're going to go through some of the ideas. And that's kind of where we're taking all of our workshops now, is to give our delegates things they can take away with them. Proper, right, okay, if you do this, that will work. One of the things I've always fought against, the reason we haven't really gone down that road up until now, is I've Rebelled a lot against people telling me how I should do it. And I never ever, still don't, want to be the guy that says this is how you should do it. And I try really hard to remember at the beginning of every workshop, every presentation I [00:21:00] ever do. I did one the other day, we did a webinar, and I started by telling everybody on it. It's very personal to me. My eyes, my clients, my lights, my camera, my style. All of it is about me and what I like. It might not work for everybody. So I can give you insights into the thought process and this is what I thought we would do. We'll give insights, we'll give ideas, we'll give inspiration, we'll energize. And all of that works. But the problem is if you don't understand the fundamentals or can't read it like some photographers can, then it becomes slightly trickier. So the masterclass, the second of the two classes, the masterclass at the convention on the 18th of January, it's gonna be much to do with that. So if you're round the convention, you're a loose end. I think it's 11 till one 30 on the 18th. So it's a mid-morning slot. You'll finish your breakfast, you'll have had a couple of cups of coffee. You'll be thinking, what the hell am I gonna do today? Why not stick your head in and come and have a play?[00:22:00]  So that's what we're going to do. And at that stage, I'm going to break off here now, because as I turn this left hand bend on a very wet road. Here we go. I'm just going to arrive at my client, which is great. I'm photographing for the Hearing Dogs this afternoon. I'm photographing a re a recipient, so a partnership, a hearing dog and a a deaf person whose story is both heartbreaking and inspirational in equal measure. So I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be a lovely shoot. I will pick up again when I've broken off and let you know how that went. and finish off this podcast. Once again. Craig, thank you very much for telling me that I can, if I wish to record podcasts in the car,  So just to pick up where I left off, just come to the end of a lovely shoot. Sorry, also weaving, or trying to weave through traffic in a very small Buckinghamshire town. Wilmslow, it turns out, is full of tiny little [00:23:00] streets. Many of which I'm navigating a large Land Rover through. It's not easy and speaking at the same time. Apparently, it turns out, I can just about walk and chew gum at the same time, but cannot talk and drive a Land Rover at the same time. too: must be two different bits of my brain. Okay. And a nice person's let me out, and another person has refused to let me out. And there's a motorbike, and I've just landed into school traffic. In Bucks, which means that no one's paying attention at all to anyone except their own journey home and trying to get back for our, I'm assuming, a cup of tea and to get the kids a sandwich. Where are we? So yes, I just finished a really beautiful shoot with a really lovely person who she lost her hearing. Well, she had an illness, went into a coma, came out of the coma, and discovered that she had lost her hearing, one heck of a shock. And so she now has a Hearing Dog, but she's profoundly [00:24:00] deaf, has absolutely no hearing at all. And the hearing dog provides all of the support that she needs. So if the doorbell goes, the phone goes. Smoke alarms, obviously. Every minutiae of life that we take for granted, the hearing dog supports them. A hearing dog. A beautiful spaniel. I'm not going to give any names away, because that's not my place to. But an absolutely wonderful shoot. And I read in the notes that she wasn't particularly keen on being photographed. Not someone who's used to being photographed, not someone who enjoys being photographed. And you read these notes and I would say 80 percent of my clients sit in that bracket. Um, there are days, there are days when I wake up and wished everybody I photographed really, really, really wanted to be photographed. Models and the like. Because man, wouldn't that be just glorious? Really easy too. It'd be wonderful that every person in [00:25:00] front of the camera wanted to show off, and they just loved it, and they were confident, and knew how beautiful they were. But that's just not my world. So the lady, really super smart lawyer didn't really want to be, well my note said that she didn't really feel comfortable being photographed, but it turns out, uh, She could not have been lovelier. Did I just say that right? Lovelier, lovelier. She could not have I'm concentrating on driving. Lovelier. And the shoot has just been absolutely beautiful. The dog was stunning. The light has been really nice. We're under a rain warning at the moment. We're about to get some really heavy rain, but it held off long enough that we've done the whole shoot in the dry. Well, in the dry, but not on the dry. Everywhere. I don't know what it's like where you are around the world, but in Britain, just at the moment, we've had back to back rainstorms of one sort or another. Some of them big enough to be given names. And we've got another tranche of it coming in in about an hour. Oh, half an hour, about half an hour. [00:26:00] I don't know why that matters. I'm one of those people that have to suddenly get to detail. I don't know why. I apologize. Anyway, it's been a brilliant afternoon, and it's these kinds of shoots that remind me why I do what I do. Because just having people like the lady I've just photographed in front of the camera who full of energy, and smart, and laughter. She can hear nothing. Everything is being done through lip reading, which is, for me, is not I mean, I'm used to working around the deaf community, but I'm one of those people that spends a lot of time looking to the sides to see where the next shot's coming from. So, mid sentence, I'll suddenly find myself looking away. And, until working with the Hearing Dogs For Deaf People, I didn't even know I did it. And, of course, it becomes a profound challenge that I need to concentrate and I've spent the afternoon concentrating on making sure no matter who I'm talking to or what I'm thinking for the next shot I must always [00:27:00] have eye contact with the person, the hearing dog recipient because They're relying on seeing my lip movements to be able to understand what's going on. And it, you become acutely aware of it. but equally, she said, it's really bad when people try to talk slowly because that changes her understanding of the words. Because she's lip, because she's lip reading, if you speak slowly, actually that makes it harder to understand the wording. So all in all something I need to continue to work on and get better at. At least I'm aware of it, and I try, I try pretty hard, but the photos we've got are absolutely beautiful. So where were we, where were we? Oh, I think we'd come to a bit, some of that training, I've no idea, I told you I'd lose track. podcast part two, I'm Paul, and this is still the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. As I wind my way through the lanes. Other things that are happening in the studio. Obviously we're working on the setup of our training and our workshops. I'm about to re [00:28:00] platform all of our websites onto a new platform. Not quite sure which one it's going to be just yet.  But one of the challenges I guess all of us have is our web presence is really important, and so I built all my own websites built it all on WordPress. So all hosted it's all currently hosted on Siteground but over the years, a combination of price walking, which simply means every year it's got more and more expensive. You can get a good deal to start with, but gradually, I mean, we pay now. For two, the two main of our websites, I think the basic hosting is about 1200 quid a year for the two. And on top of that are all the little plug ins that we've had to buy and put in to run things like the shop, to run things like the automated side of it, the emails, to do certain things like display the images the way I want them. All of these bits of software are licensed. [00:29:00] Which is fine, but if you added all of that in to get in as well, rather, I think you get up into the region of sort of 1, 500 quid a year, 1, 600 pounds a year, somewhere around there for the two websites. Now that's fine, we're a big business. We work really hard at what we do, and we can justify paying properly, and paying, well pay our licenses anyway, but we can justify all of the expense of the website simply because it's a part of our turnover.  However, what irks me is firstly how difficult it is to keep on top of all of the updates of all of the component bits of software and also just how expensive it is when it doesn't need to be. It's not about the fact that I have to invest in it, it's about the fact that I don't think I need to do, I need to invest the time and the finances to the level we are. So I'm hunting around at the moment. I think I know what we're gonna do, and I think I know how I'm gonna do it. It'll take time, which is [00:30:00] something I don't have a lot of, but it's still got to be done. But if I can get all of the websites into one place, simplify them down, they don't need to be as comp, I'm really proud of our websites, but they do not need to be as complicated as they have evolved to be. And it's not that I set out to make them complicated, or I set out to do stuff that's particularly difficult. It's just that, year on year on year, as you add functionality, as you try to do new things, as you get on top of SEO, and structuring, and then keeping a track of 301s and 404s, and then you've got to have, like, an SEO tool to help you make sure your SEO's alright. And then you've got albums and portfolio bits of kit. You've got sliders. Oh man, there's so many bits of software. All of which is necessary to do what I have in my head. So what I've got to do first is figure out what's the bare minimum I can get away with. And then secondly, re platform all of that. So the websites will still be [00:31:00] beautiful. But if I can get it all under one roof, it'll be much easier to manage. And I don't have the time, to manage everything anymore, I simply don't. So that's, that's on the list for this year. And the other thing we're gonna do this year, or I've already started doing, is gradually pushing more into continuous lighting and away from strobes. Now, this is one which I don't yet know quite where the journey's gonna take me, but the foray that we've had into it so far has been incredibly rewarding. LED technology now with high CRI LEDs is at the standard where the quality is nearly as good as strobes. It's not, I still love the light you get off a Zenon strobe. There's something really beautiful about the quality of light, and of course, massively punchy. You get a huge amount of light, [00:32:00] a huge amount of kick. out of pretty much any strobe compared to an LED. If you had LEDs as bright as the strobe, as bright as the instantaneous flash of a strobe, people wouldn't be able to see. It's, you know, so bright, there's so much energy in that tiny fraction of a second, that, I don't know, thousandths of a second of light burst. But working with LED makes it easier to do video and you really can see What you're gonna get. And my logic is a very simple one. If it's good enough for the film industry, and the TV industry, Netflix and the like, then it's good enough for photography. Yes, alright, there are some things I'm gonna have to learn how to do differently. But I love doing that anyway. I'm a quick learner on most things. And so, I'm really excited about it. We've started I bought I've got a couple of Aputure Lightstorm Focusable, so these have got focusing lenses on the front focusable spots, and [00:33:00] they've got the old Bowens S type mounts on them, so we can mount pretty much anything. I use Profoto strobes in the studio but I've got these Aperture Lightstorm tunable lights, which are absolutely phenomenal. Really bright when you want them to be. If you turn them right down, they'll last for hours on a single charge. Also I've got a couple of, they were just cheap. I was working in the flash centre doing judging for the BIPP. And it was the flash centre in Birmingham were hosting us. And they had these light strips, just light rods. LED, Phottix. I think they were 40 quid each. I mean, they're really pennies. You know, a tank of fuel in this Land Rover is about 80 quid, so for the price of a tank of fuel, I can get two highly tunable, full spectrum lights that will do any color on the color wheel. As well as doing normal presets. They also do some clever things with, you can make, turn them into police lights and all the rest of it. They're quite cool. [00:34:00] So I got those working in the studio, but one of the challenges when you're working with Available light is the camera is going to capture everything it sees. With strobes, I don't worry about the lighting in the studio because the strobe overpowers it. Doesn't really matter. But with LED, you have to get the lighting, the whole lighting, exactly as you want it. And it caught us out a little bit when we were recording a video recently, and the video is simply too dark because I've lit my subject perfectly. But I haven't lit the rest of the studio because it never really occurred to me, and I need to do it, and it's fine. Everything's okay, and certainly the subject looks incredible, but when you look at the footage of me talking to camera, for instance, I'm in the gloom somewhere. And although we tried to sort it out a little bit, we haven't quite got there. So I've now retrofitted all of the lighting in the studio, so all of our normal overheads, office lighting if you like, in the studio, with, again, made by Aputure. They are, I can't, I think they're called [00:35:00] B7Cs or BL7Cs, which are, they look like a fat light bulb with an Edison screw thread, so they'll fit pretty much any light fitting from 100 volts up to about 250 volts. You screw them into a light fitting, and in normal mode, they just behave like normal light bulbs, except that you can hook them up to the same app I use for the Aputure Lightstorms, and you can control them completely from the phone. So I can control how strong they are. I can also control, again, like the Phottix, light sticks, I can control exactly what color they are. So these things, they're only about 50 quid each, but they are fully tunable. Any color I like and some special effects, if ever I did video that needed to feature, I don't know, police, car or fireworks or firelight, , it does all of those, that's of almost no interest to me. It's quite a cool thing to do, but. Not really for what I do. But I can control their light to be any colour [00:36:00] temperature and any power. On top of that, if you unscrew the light, it becomes a battery powered light. It simply can sit in someone's hand, or you can put it into any light fitting, even if it's not plugged in, and it will work exactly the same. It doesn't really make any difference. It'll last for about seven hours off the battery. These are really cool. So, we've started to experiment. A little way to go. I need some slightly, some LED panels. I've got a couple of bits. I do have some LED panels, but they're slightly older and the high CRI on the newer LEDs, you can really see the difference when you're illuminating skin. But it's a whole new adventure and it does change the way you shoot. So at the moment when I'm shooting, particularly when I'm doing headshots, I'll use, I'll do some with strobes because you get that glorious, clean light. With really deep depths of field. And obviously, ProPhoto units that modifies everything is absolutely stunning. So that's not something I'm gonna [00:37:00] completely get rid of anytime soon because I'm addicted to the quality of the light. But in the second half of the shoot, or maybe for certain shots, I'll bring out some LED lighting, maybe with a soft box or maybe LED, the strips and. You then get this beautiful thing where you can have much shallower depths of field. So, and total control, you can see exactly how the light's going to play. You can change the colours of the lights as if I was gelling the strobes, but it's so much easier. Literally, I can just dial it in to the app and change the colour of the lights. It's opening up new avenues to explore where we can play with colour because it's quicker. We can play with really shallow depths of field. I'm unlikely to ever be able to light, a family easily, because the power you'd need to get the depth of field you need, at least with the ISOs that we're still using at the moment, is possibly a bit too bright. But, [00:38:00] ISOs are becoming normal. The party I shot for the hotel I shot nearly all of it. Our ISO 10,000, ISO 10 K. That's just ridiculous in terms of sensitivity. But I wanted to capture the colors of the party. I wanted to capture the candlelight. I wanted to capture the sort of fairy lights and effects lights that the events company had put on. I wanted all of that, and I didn't wanna bounce, flash in and kill it. I did, obviously, when they're doing their awards. I used a flash gun. I used a, a speedlight on the camera because. Me being creative with the lighting is really not part of that puzzle. They need to be well lit, they need to be clear, they want to be able to celebrate the awards they've won. But, when it comes to the event side of it, the party side of it, I shot nearly all of it at ISO 10, 000 and then simply ran it through, for this particular run, I ran it through Adobe Lightroom, the AI noise reducer. I didn't turn the noise [00:39:00] reduction up very much, 20%? Tiny. But it has a really profound quality to it now. So you can run at ISO 10, 000 and still get pretty clean images. You lose a little bit of detail, it can get a little bit mushy. But it's a 50 megapixel camera, the Z9. And these pictures are not going to be used anywhere bigger, I'm going to guess, than 7x5. That's it. They're not hero pictures, they're not going out as posters. So, I've got a huge amount of latitude. And to be fair, I probably didn't even need to put the noise reducer on it, but I did just because, it's like somebody's going to zoom in and go, that's a bit grainy. Why do you need high ISOs, or clean high ISOs with LED? Well, think about it. Let's say I want to get to f8, right? Let's say I want to photograph a group of four or five people, and I'm going to need f8. To get the front to back bite in the image. So that the person at the front of the shot is nice and sharp, the person at the back of the shot is nice and sharp. Now, with a strobe, [00:40:00] that's really easy. With a strobe, I can turn the power wherever I like it, it won't make an awful lot of difference to the people in the shot, it's just a bright flash, and it's done. And I can set the camera at ISO 100, F8, F11, F16, whatever. Doesn't matter. It'll override all the light in the room, and I've got plenty of depth of field. Really easy. Now. If I turned my LEDs, and I'd need a few more than I own, up to get ISO 100, 100th of a second, f11, that is bright sunlight. That's effectively daylight, but on a sunny day. So, that's not really practical in a studio if I don't want people to be squinting. I could turn the power of the lights down, and use less power on the lights, but then of course I'm going to need to use slower shutter speeds, wider apertures, or higher ISOs. And now, with the ability to clean up even high ISO, [00:41:00] I'm starting to teeter on the edge of being able to do practically what you can do with strobes, with LEDs instead. Not there yet, but we're heading In the right direction. So that's on my list. That's part of this year. I'm gonna re-platform, the websites we're gonna switch over to LED. And we're gonna just see whether, for instance, we can create better videos, more videos, so it in, in the end. This year, it is all about making the changes we need to the business that we are looking forwards to. More about training, more about workshops, more about creating videos, about creating educational materials. Who knows, who knows, one day I might even get around to writing a second book to go with the very successful Mastering Portrait Photography. Mastering Portrait Photography Part 2, the sequel. This time it's personal. Mastering Portrait Photography Armageddon. I don't know, maybe I'll do it like Fast and Furious. We'll just do two, then three, then four, then [00:42:00] five, and then twenty eight. Who knows. But at the moment I haven't got that in me. The problem is always, of course, like all of us, our real clients, the clients that pay our everyday bills, the portrait clients, the wedding clients, the commercial clients I'm gonna have to service those guys first. And that's always the kicker, is how do I manage to keep the revenue coming in just as we need it, while still effectively building an entire add on or new business. It's a new business. So that's the puzzle. I will get to the bottom of it. I will figure it out. I'm enjoying the process very much. And so that, for us, is the year ahead. As I drive through, the rain has just arrived. It's dark and gloomy. My windscreen wipers are now squeaking in the background. I'm sure you can hear that on the recording. I'm driving through a very beautiful bit of the country. I'm running along one of the ridges in the Ridgeway. That's the Chiltern Hills. Just driving along and in spite of it being gloomy and dramatic, there's [00:43:00] fields full of sheep, there's just past an old farm, it's actually one of my clients here, and it's beautiful I'm guessing that is a medieval farmhouse, that is well old, that's got to be, and you're looking at the roof line, it's all sagged and these tiny little bricks and the road dips and drives around into the distance, it's Quite beautiful in spite of the rain. So there you have it. Please do head over to Mastering Portrait Photography. Also have a look if you're interested in the workshops that we're running this year. They're all out all up. The first six, at least, are up. The first few sold out literally within a day or so. Which is really flattering, but then gives me the problem of having to immediately schedule in new ones. There are a few spaces on some of the others though, so if you fancy coming and having an absolute blast about portrait photography in particular, whether it's you want to talk about the business side, the photoshopping side, or camera craft [00:44:00] or studio lighting, then please do head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the section on workshops. You can just google Paul Wilkinson Photography workshops. And you'll find them pretty quick. Whatever else happens, I hope your holiday season was peaceful. I hope you had a lovely, restful one. If not, I hope you're having an absolute party. And so, here's to 2024. Let's hope that it's Well, let's hope that it's a nicer year than it seems to have been in the first few days. There's nothing in the news that fills me with very much joy. So I'm just ignoring the news. I'm not paying any attention to it. I'm not getting involved. It just upsets me. I'm going to continue to do what I do and enjoy spending time with my clients, enjoy spending time with other photographers. Basically, I'm just going to make the most of my time on the planet. Here's to 2024 and whatever else, remember, be kind to yourself. Take care. [00:45:00]