Current work: ''A Journey''

'A Journey' 
Current photographic work.
A therapeutic photographic series documenting my interpretations of the during and aftermath of my mother's Radiotherapy.

Using a piece of clothing that previously belonged and was worn by my mother before her journey with cancer - exploring the struggle with identity and reality.

All Images:

Copyright © Katie Minchin 2013

All Rights Reserved

Self-Promotion: Facebook artist page.

I made a facebook page dedicated to my photography, about two months ago. I use it as my current means of promotion until I get a website up and running again (when it's financially easier to do) However i do think this method of promoting my photography can and will hopefully be effective; to broaden the audience of my work.

Photography Lecture Talks: Toby Glanville

Visiting Lecturer talks:

Today i went to a lecture talk on the Plymouth University campus, where a visiting lecturer/photographer was discussing his work.

Toby Glanville is predominately a portraiture photographer, but also enjoys photographing location, objects and documenting everyday situations. Most of his portraiture work is documenting strangers, he says that his images create the story or background of the person in the images, which is why he choices to photograph them in their natural environment, be it at home or in a workplace allowing the viewers to create the character. He also finds a lot of elements to his images after he has taken them, afterthoughts and perhaps to find a meaning in why he captured the subject matter.

He shoots his work mostly in film - 6x6 format.
Prefers to use natural light that is available at the point of shooting, rather than artificial lighting.

He finds inspiration for his work through other photographers and artists, such as painters Samuel Palmer and William Blake. He was influenced by Blake's painting 'The ghost of a Flea' to create portraiture's in a similar stylistic approach.

I think his portraiture work is visually interesting and the composition and the elements he chooses to include in his images really communicate with the viewer to allow them to interpret and create the characters of the images for themselves, without knowing any literal facts of the people.

Images: 

 © Toby Glanville - All Rights Reserved

Black + White Photography Magazine - Submission

Been neglecting this blog of late, so I'm back and hopefully will be updating this more often with recent photographic work and work of photographers that i'm inspired by.

Today I selected a series of images that I want to submit to Black + White Magazine for the their portfolio section. If my images get published, the prizes include either a £100 or £50 choice of photographic equipment from their warehouse and good publicity highlighting my work, a great way of getting future networks and reaching a wider audience to look at my photography.

I chose images of the four dresses from my narrative series I produced earlier this year for the submission - they wants high res tifs, and low res jpgs on a CD posted to the allocated address.

This was the short synopsis i sent with it - which could appear in the magazine if they choose to publish my photographs.

'The series of images are intended to create a sense of loss but capture a presence still existing, focusing on the clothing and how these items encapsulate memories and ideas. I wanted the camera to emphasis on how clothing share similar characteristics to people as time passes they become fragile, the material qualities change and eventually degrade however memories are left,  a small fragment of a person’s existence lives on in others'

Work Experience: Assisting a photographer.

Work Experience:
Assisting a photography: Tony Cobley

Today I assisted Tony Cobley on a shoot which involved observing and helping set up equipment. The client was Plumer Community houses and they wanted updated images of their staff, individual shots and also group photographs of the employers.
They required images that reflected the company's brand.
- Community - Togetherness
- Strength - Informality

Equipment Tony used over the course of the day:

Elinchrom lighting
2 x soft boxes ( 1 for key light, 1 for fill light)
2 x background lights with dishes (reflective) - with black boards attached by clips to light to stop light spilling onto subjects
White portable background attached to micro pole

I participated in the construction of the studio, set up equipment and informed about the lighting and intentions of the shoot.
I was informed in detail of what the company specialises and specifically what they want their images to be.
- Portraits of staff - not corporate. Friendly, non-formal, relaxed and to promote and represent the company's community
- Group photographs - atmospheric of supportive, togetherness - a team

Health and safety also discussed;
- Wires and cables tidied to the side (avoid hazards)
- Unused equipment put underneath table (neat looks professional - to make good impression on client)

Communication is key when working with a client/clients.
Tony has worked for the client before and has built a good reputation and relationship with the company. Good direction skills, and the client allows creative input while achieving what they require - not restricted or too demanding.

Time frame per each person/group shots you have to be able  to work quickly and efficiently - directing the model is key.
Variations of group shots - more people, less people. Different compositions
Changing angle of camera - straight on subject or above subject.

The day was really useful to observe and learn from; how to work professionally with clients, the technical aspects and communication skills.

First Photo book: Fragments of the Body

First photo book titled: Fragments of the Body

Today I  finished my photo book to uploaded to blurb to be printed for a final piece for our final major project. Having had full control of the design, creating the layout and placement of the images on indesign - the pages  layout, the series of images sequenced in order and then produced the cover - both then exported as a PDF and uploaded to the blurb website. I used 20 images to create the series and added a short synopsis of the purpose of the book within.

The book should be arriving between 8th-10th May 

I will update this blog with images of the final book shortly when it arrives!

WBL: Competition: Professional Photographer of the Year 2013

WBL: Competition: Professional Photographer of the Year 2013

About the competition:
There's a total of 13 categories to choose from these are:
Movie Short
Black and White
In the Studio
Medium Format 
Student of the Year
Weddings
50mm
Street Photography
News
Location Flash
Travel
Lifestyle
and Portfolio of Three

Link to competition:

http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/News-and-Reviews/2013/4/Professional-Photographer-Of-The-Year-2013-open-for-entries


Today I decided to enter one of my images into Professional photography of the year 2013 awards, under the student of the year category. This image was selected from recent project work; the series on fragmentation's of the body through generations. 

Image I entered:

Hugely influence by the self portraiture works of John Coplan to create this image. I love the tones and texture being created from the expansive and stretch of the flesh.

Katie Minchin © All Rights Reserved

WBL: Shoot for Contemporary Craft student at PCA

WBL: Shoot for Contemporary Craft student at PCA
22nd April 2013
The Cove Studio


Today I was in the Cove Studio at college photographing a contemporary craft students' work that they are entering into the 2013 Pewter competition. The client wanted images that showed of her final design (pewter hair clips) in alternative ways of styling it in the hair and she also wanted the lighting to be dark, contrast shadows to represent a Gothic aesthetic and most importantly to reflect the piece. I began the shoot experimenting with different lighting setups this began with using a main light situated on the right side of the subject, a snoot as hair light and a light with soft box on the left side of the subject, to tone down the shadows slightly and bring light back into the image. However the client and me both agreed that we found that the images were to much of a 'catalogue style' and she wanted the background a lot darker with more tone. This is when I experimented more with the light firstly taking away the light with soft box from the left side, but we saw that the white/grey background was still dominant. I decided to remove the main light and only use the hair light snoot from above the subject and this completely transformed the outcomes of the images - the background became darker, the lighting had a lot more definition and shadows within the frame and the client loved this approach and wanted to stick with this setup - I did however suggest that we add a white to bounce light back into left side to avoid blocked in shadows which she thought was appropriate. Overall the shoot went smoothly, didn't struggle technically and produce some successful images that the client is really happy with. I have given her the original images in TIFF format and a few edited images that were really strong again in TIFF and she said she would let me know if she wanted any edited in particular but wanted the originals for research and development.

Kit used:

Studio lights
Sky Port
Soft Box
Snoot
Nikon D800E
24-70mm lens
Reflector - White


Images with first lighting set up: (Main light, snoot, and light with soft box)

A few final outcomes:

All Images:

Katie Minchin Photography - All Rights Reserved

WBL: Observing and Assisting a Photographer

WBL: Observing and assisting a Photographer for my work based learning module.

Today I observed and assisted a fellow photographer on my foundation degree, Liam Mercer.  He had the small studio booked in college from 9-12am and again in the afternoon from 4-9pm where he photographed models wearing the garments his client wants photographed for the website, I went along to both shoots.
The 9-12am book slot I observed Liam being directed by the client's art director informing him of what images they are expecting to capture. Early in the morning he photographed a young baby wearing various garments. I decided to take notes on what kit Liam was using and his lighting set ups for his shoots to help me in the future. 

The set up for the first shoot, was for a young baby so Liam used a small Broncolour power pack, flash lighting, a Broncolour key light and soft box to diffuse the light and make sure the light isn't harmful to the child's eyes.

The set up for the second shoot involved two young children, therefore the lighting set up was changed slightly. Liam used a Broncolour A4 power pack, one key light with dish lighting directly upon the subjects to create subtle shadows and a broncolour ring flash, with honeycomb head attached to the camera (as seen below in the images)

The lighting set up was the same for his last morning shoot, again photographing different garments.

Although there wasn't much physical assisting with equipment I enjoyed observing, and I offered the client(art director) and models water to make them feel more comfortable and relaxed. I helped assist Liam with packing up the equipment and store in the Equipment Resource Centre (ERC) for our afternoon, late evening shoot.

The afternoon shoots involved photographing two male models and 3 female models. We set up with lights in the same set up as the two morning shoots - Broncolour A4 power pack, key light directly on the subject, Broncolour ring flash with honeycomb head attached to the camera. The models had to interchange their outfits quickly as there were short times allocated to each garment so Liam had to work hard to ensure they got a perfect shot for each garment quick. This was particularly an interesting insight in what to expect when dealing with a client or clients, they expect the shoot to run fast and smoothly and you need to be able to have good understanding of time management and to work under pressure in a professional manner, which is what Liam was able to do. There was good communication between director, photographer and the models, and it is clear  you have to be good at taking direction and be able to give direction to your subjects to really get the ideal shot.


My Images from the afternoon/evening shoots:

The images will likely appear on his website soon.

http://www.mercerphotography.co.uk/home

WBL: Photographs for Illustration Student

WBL: Photographs for Illustration Student

I was recently contacted by an illustration student from Plymouth University to take photographs that they want to use for an animation where he wants to draw over each frame or photograph digitally (this technique is called rotoscoping) 


Brief statement from Student:

My plan is to create a sequence of a giant coming out of the water by Plymouth Ho and animating it using a technique called rotoscoping( where i would draw over each frame/photograph digitally... leaving me with an entirely animated sequence. It took 2 shoots on separate days to collect all the images for the sequence, but it will take a lot lot longer to edit all if them into an animation. Once i have drawn over the photographs i would see the animation becoming my own, but the photographic sequence was entirely down to katie. She has been an invaluable part of my project.

Link to stock motion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1rzmo9chk8&feature=youtu.be