Bruce Percy

Scottish photographer, Bruce Percy, gave a talk at the camera club last night and although his work is predominantly adventure photography, his portraiture was inspirational. His style reminds me of Steve McCurry, both photographers achieving a synergy with people and environment, their subjects appearing totally at ease with the camera. Both appear to prefer to shoot film, bringing an organic feel to pictures which burst to life with rich colours and texture. They both use prime lenses to create a very shallow depth of field, which make the subjects more prominent and arresting.

Bruce discussed the importance of 'an unobtrusive approach', blending into the background so people are comfortable, which helps him create posed but not forced portraits. The challenge for him is to have empathy with the environment, to capture the soul and essence of the culture.

The appeal for me is certainly that these photographs offer a glimspe of different people and cultures, worlds apart from my own. The rich colours, shapes and textures achieved by chance, or contrived by the photographer, strike accord with my sense of design and composition. As I start to think about the street photography exercises, I will try to take inspiration from the words and images of Bruce and Steve and try to find the colour and soul of Glasgow and its inhabitants.

Duffy, The Man Who Shot the 60s

It was interesting to learn more about one of the 'Black Trinity' -  Duffy, Bailey and Donovan, who were such an influence on 1960s fashion photography. In the BBC 4 program he came across as very cantankerous, arguing taking photographs was 'just a job' and as such, his work had little artistic merit. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during one of many lengthy discussions the trio had on photography.

I agreed with his comment that 'people change when being photographed' and find it facinating how some people become self-conscious statues in front of the camera, while others loose their inhibitions and reveal hidden aspects of their personality.

Watching him taking pictures again at the age of 76, I could see the care and attention in his face. Duffy is not 'just doing a job', but a true artist at work.

Ex5: Eye contact and expression

For this exercise I thought it would be fun to set up a studio session with my HNC Photography class. My brief to them was: I wanted to take very quick, fun portraits in which they had to pull a face while maintaining eye contact with me. The shot was organised for the week before Xmas as everyone was in good spirits and up for a bit of fun.

I decided to use an evenly lit, white studio to focus attention on their expressions. A colleague helped me set up four lights, angled at 45°towards the subject and background. Two were set to give a bright white background and two positioned in front and to either side of the subject. The lighting set up has proved slightly harsh on a couple of the shots and the power setting could probably have been dialed down slightly. Camera settings were manual, based on a meter reading ISO 200, F8. All shots were take at either 58mm or 70mm, good focal lengths for portraiture, as this range keeps faces looking natural.

Each student posed for a couple of shots, taken quickly to keep their expressions fresh and spontanious. Because the atmosphere was relaxed I felt comfortable directing the students. I am happy with the results, given that I have very little experience of studio portraiture and would feel confident to try and more formal, structured shoot next time.