Who Can You Talk To About Photography? Ten Good Ideas...

We all need to talk to someone. In my house they do it when I am in the john - no end of conversations seem to be vital to the other members of the family whilst one is sitting down. The only way I can think of breaking of this habit is to open the door but this involves some loss of dignity...

For photographers, talking to someone is essential. Around your birthday you talk to the family about how you really, really need the new 12-2500mm zoom lens that has just been announced at Photokina and how much better it will make their lives. Sometimes this works.

Of course there are different divisions of photography and it occurred to me that each one has a different form of conversation:

1. Family photographers talk to the family. Initially in soft sweet words and eventually in parade ground tones.

2. Good portrait photographers talk to their subjects. Bad portrait photographers talk to their assistants.

3. Landscape photographers talk to themselves.

4. Food photographers talk to themselves but in different voices. Sometimes the voices talk back.

5. Sports photographers talk to the St. John's Ambulance  attendants.

6. Fashion photographers talk to the models. Slowly, and with little words.

7. Leica photographers talk to the Almighty. Once, in the morning, to give orders for the day.

8. Camera collectors talk to their cameras.

9. Darkroom workers never talk.

10. Photography Art collectors talk to their brokers.

If you wish to add any to this list please pop it onto our comments section or onto the Facebook page attached to this blog.

Uncle Dick

Watch This Space - Bookshop On The Move

We don't normally advertise other people's business here at the shop, but here is an exception for our photographic customers:

Boffins Bookstore is in the process of shifting its premises in Perth. It has occupied a position on Hay Street for decades and has established itself as the premier technical bookstore in the state. Actually it has outlasted most of its competitors, but done so by dint of good stock and good service.

I believe it is going to open again in William Street in the central block opposite Wesley Church with larger floor space and more departments. As I pass the site on the bus in the morning I eagerly look to see when it will open. Hurry, guys, hurry...

All this being said, I would encourage all of the Camera Electronic clients to look down the back of our place at the book shelf near the back door. We will be stocking it with lots of odd secondhand titles that pertain to photography. You can get a lot of ideas - some of them good ones - from books, and you can learn far more than the limited attention-space of the internet will present.

Note: I must confess a personal interest in Boffins. My daughter spent years working with them when she was a student and I have spent hours and dollars in there. My bookshelves at home groan with the produce of this shopping. No book has ever been unprofitable...

Bite Me - The Wierd World Of Food Photography

We rarely get an opportunity to practise food photography here at the shop - you only get a half hour to eat lunch and it's just too tempting  - the subject disappears before the camera comes out. We don't play with our food.

But there are those who do . Sometimes for money, too, which is a pretty strange thought. But let us address the whole idea of picturing food. If you are new to it think along with me

The first thought that occurs to most is which camera to use. Unless your final product will be on  billboard in Roe Street, you don't need a big camera. Any of the DSLR's, most of the mirror-less, and some of the compact cameras will do it fine.

Lenses? Whatever works - standard focal length for overall views and a close-up lens for the detail shots.

Lighting? You could do it with speed lights if you had the Nikon or Canon wireless control systems in operation. You might be better to think of a small studio set like the Elinchrom D-lite's with the options that these provide for light shapers. You could think of Profoto too, but these would be a step up in price. Perhaps if you were photographing
a famous chef's* production...

Tripod? Good idea in many cases. Your hands may be busy pouring things into pots or onto plates - or swatting flies or putting out grease fires - so a steady place for your camera is a good idea.

Accessories? Remote release if you are going to be busy - filters for every lens to stop steam and grease splashes - diffuser for steamy shots. You can leave the warming filters off the lens as this is something you adjust in post-processing.

Assistant? Yes - someone who can pour and chop and cut and wipe as you shoot. And who does dishes.

Subjects? Well food sellers make use of images in their advertising and POS displays - you can sell images to magazines or lose images to magazines or just give up and sell magazines. Websites are hungry for food pictures. You can always set up a stand at the side of the road and sell pictures of freshly picked produce. Corn pictures in autumn go very well. You can charge more if the images are organic...

Competitors? Well you'll have a few, but remember that you can always thin them out. It's not a pretty process but you can't make an omlette without cracking eggs. Try to be discrete.

* ALL chefs are famous. Ask them.

Good News - The End Of Professional Photography

Whew, what a relief!. I thought that would never end. At last someone has freed us from the shackles of the past.

The CEO of Yahoo has stated that there are no more professional photographers. I can't tell you what a weight this has lifted off my shoulders. I'll bet there will be celebrating in studios and editorial offices all over Perth - not to mention in the Uni's and TAFE's. I feel like declaring a national holiday. They've flooded the Shoot Photography Workshops main studio with beer and we're all going to get our swimming suits.

No more having to ask for money from people, no more ABN numbers or keeping accounts. No more paying off leases on equipment or premises, and no more advertising in expensive wedding journals for jobs. The former fashion and food photographers no longer have to put up with the precious antics of their clients - they can kick the anorexic tarts out and throw the Tuscan casserole pots in the bin.

Most of all I hear a cheer from the former wedding workers - now they can turn up at the church dressed in tracky daks and thongs - or not turn up at all if there is something on tellie at the time. And aren't we all going to enjoy the first time we get to slap a flower girl with a wet fish...Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. "Whack".

I suppose it will be a little bit of wrench for the animal and baby photographers as they generally seemed to like their models, but I suppose there is nothing to stop them from opening their own kennel  and keeping a pack of babies.

As for me, I am going to go off and photograph hot rods and pretty girls just because I can. Won't be showing them on Flickr pro, but then, I never did. I preferred to have my images stolen from other websites...