Category Archives: Photography Books

Portrait Inspiration – Natural Fashion

Paris, February 4, 2013

Hey have you ever wondered if loving fashion is a weakness?

Well, you just need to look at these spectacular photos of photographer Hans Silvester and the people of the Omo Valley to know that adorning and making ourselves beautiful is a part of the human race.

I posted these images in 2008 and still love them all these years later. German photographer Hans Silvester spent five years travelling to the Omo Valley to capture these amazing images and they are celebrated in his book Natural Fashion: Tribal decoration from Africa.

Copyright of Hans Silvester from Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa.

Better than some of the fashion on the runways of Paris, the people of the Omo Valley celebrate the beauty of their natural surroundings by adorning themselves with flowers and seed pods, paint and feathers, grass and branches in a way that would have Jean Paul Gaultier or Karl Lagerfeld running for their sketchpads.

So next time you are stuck for some amazing clothes and have no budget see what nature is offering.. You probably will be surprised!

Hans Silvester’s other book C’etait Ailleurs still remains one of my favourite books on black and white photography in Europe. This is the guy that road a moped from Paris to Istanbul, what a world he captured on the way. Exquisite..

Makes you want to get on the road.

“There is nothing that makes its way more directly to the soul than beauty.” Joseph Addisson

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A Photographer’s Life – Dorothea Lange + Joe McNally

Paris, September 19, 2012

Copyright Dorothea Lange

“I slid down in the seat and began to weep. I wept for her, for me, but mostly because the siren call of my first big story with a yellow border around it was more powerful than the call of fatherhood.”

Joe McNally, The Moment It Clicks: Photography Secrets from One of the World’s Top Shooters

I bought Joe McNally’s book four years ago whilst I was looking to further my lighting techniques. When the book arrived I quickly flicked through it to see if the light in his images was the kind of light i was expecting it and hoping it would be – there were many pictures of Joe’s work and without a doubt this guy has done his fair share of ‘photography kilometers’.

That night I curled up in bed and opened the book and read the above quote that referred to Joe leaving in a taxi to go off for his first National Geographic assignment and leaving his daughter and family behind. I had instant tears in my eyes.

What honesty and there it was in print for the whole world to see. I had a new admiration for a photographer I didn’t know simply because he had the courage to own up to something so painful and distressing as choosing a magazine assignment over fatherhood. And on that day he chose photography.

I am currently reading Dorothea Lange’s A Life Beyond Limits and for those of you who don’t know her name you may know her work, she is the photographer who took many of the American depression’s most memorable photos (see above) and she too like Joe McNally was torn betweeen photography and in her case motherhood.

I am finding her story fascinating, a photographer in the 1920′s when women rarely had a career but choosing an artistic path was not encouraged. She decided to be a photographer but was told by her parents to do something she could ‘fall back onto’. Dorothea was smart enough to know even at a young age that all her youthful energy would be eaten up learning something she didn’t care about and adamantly pursued photography.

What a life and what hard decisions she had to make. She married, supported an artist husband, had children, ran a studio, cooked cleaned and provided financial and emotional support for them all. The writer describes Lange in today’s language as a ‘superwoman’, reading her story I was shaking my head knowing how much energy it takes for me to do what I do and asking myself ‘ I don’t know how she did it’.

Lange’s photographic journey leads her to documentary photography in the depression and a new husband. Her love for photography asks her to make heart breaking decisions about leaving her family months at a time, a little like Joe McNally.

I often wonder how photographers ‘have it all’? I know as the years pass heading to the airport to leave my husband and my darling kitty becomes harder and harder. What if I had a child or children? What decision would I make?

For those of you who interested in photography and the journey of a photographer’s life I think you will find A Life Beyond Limits a fascinating read.

Any photographers out there that are torn?

Love to hear your thoughts.

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Portrait Inspiration – Arthur Elgort

Paris, September 10, 2012

All photos copyright Arthur Elgort

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Paris was exceptional, I am frightened even to say that as I know with a whip of his wand the Parisian weather god will bring on the grey skies and low cloud.

So starting the week with a beautiful day in Paris I thought I would share more beauty in the work of the fabulous Arthur Elgort.

Those of you that follow my blog regularly know by now that I love beauty. I am attracted to photographers who also love beauty and even though I also look at the raw work of The Terry Richardson’s and The Juergen Teller’s of the photography world I always find myself skipping back to images where a woman’s beauty, emotions and connection are present. It’s a language I love.

So for those of you who have never met the fabulous Arthur Elgort’s work, here is a little Monday morning snack. Arthur is in his 70′s and still shoots for the world’s most fabulous magazines and is the master of the ‘snapshot’, images that feel like they happened naturally.

What an inspiration, I hope I am still making the pics I want to make when I am in my 70′s.

He is also the photographer of Camera Crazy, a fabulous book where he shoots people shooting!

Royal Ballet Bow to Arthur!!

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Richard Avedon – The White Background

Paris, July 17, 2012

All images copyright Richard Avedon from In The American West

Avedon is a big name in our house right now!

Not only because Richard Avedon has been one of the photographers I have always and still admire but it is the name of our little kitten. I named him Avedon because I loved the sound of Richard’s name and I am hoping some of his talent will rub off each time I call my kitten.. Kind of a like a million mantra’s a day.

I loved Avedon (the photographers) early fashion work in Paris and adore his portraits on a simple white background. His white background became his trademark. Avedon photographed everybody on it from politicians to actresses, dancers to farmworkers and I particularly adored his series called In The American West.

Avedon spent numerous summers driving around the West of America shooting real people and devoted as he was to capturing great pics he took his famous white background with him.

He placed the background in the shade and captured the workers and locals as they were in that moment on his large format camera. I had the great fortune to see this exhibition at the Jeu de Paume and have since purchased In The American West and adore his powerful portraits of ‘real’ Americans.

I often ponder whether these portraits would have been as strong if he had photographed them in their environment? The black and white combo with the white background allows the subject to speak to you.

What are you thoughts on a simple background? Years ago I was frightened by a white background but now I love it..

Keep it simple

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Week 4 Taking Better Pictures – Light

Paris, July 6, 2012

Shot using a giant window light with a reflector copyright Carla Coulson

To all of you who have been along for the ride in my little ‘smirkshop‘ a big thank-you. This is the last week of Taking Better Pictures and my favourite subject, light.

Photography is truly about mastering, understanding, feeling light and if you can do that you are well on the way to making beautiful pictures.

I am light obsessed, I watch light wherever I am, always looking at it’s nuances, what if I move my subject a little bit to the left, or a little to the right? What happens to the light on my subject.

There are many different kinds of natural light and they all have their own unique properties. The softest light is in the morning or the afternoon if you want to use direct light on your subject and it has wonderful long shadows. Open shade gives a nice even effect, mixed light is a mixture of different types of light (could be shade and direct sun) and can be hard to manage, backlight makes for great pictures and wonderful halo’s around your subject. And of course window light, my favourite.

Morning light Noto Sicily Copyright Carla Coulson

Window light is like a soft box, it creates nice even tones or can be drammatic depending on how you use it. Light can be changed by diffusing and reflecting so you can add or subtract light depending on what you need.

Window light with direct sun hitting subject and black backdrop

Fashion pic shot using large window as only light source copyright Carla Coulson

Open Shade Copyright Carla Coulson

Here are some tips to understanding and playing with light:

1. When placing your subject look closely where the light is falling, are there any shadows, is the light flat, too strong or even?

2. Before shooting try moving them slightly to see what changes. Is the light better or worse?

3. Watch areas around where you live or work to see what happens to the light at a particular time of day, note the time when it is spectacular.

4. Always move your subject even if you are happy with your shot, change light, create variety.

5. Don’t be afraid to play, ask someone to be your model and shoot them in as many different lighting situations as possible and get a feel for what lighting situations you like.

6. Watch the light no matter where you are, see what causes the light to be better in some places than others? Reflections, light bouncing off white walls etc.

7. Have fun!!

Some great books for beginners in photography:

Understanding Exposure

Better Photos Basic

The Photographers Eye

Light the Way

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