Mark Hillary Interview

Here's the video of when I had the opportunity to interview Mark Hillary, who writes for The Huffinton Post.

Excuse my facial expressions at the beginning, this was completely improvised and unprepared for but hey, it still ended up a good interview. 

Famous Photography

I will be be comparing the work of two photographers by looking at the techniques and equipment used in order to achieve their final images. The photographers are Annie Leibovitz and Yousuf Karsh who are both equally well known within the photography sector.

When looking at Annie Leibovitz I was able to research into her career as a photographer and look at the work that she produces today. Leibovitz has become increasingly famous from her use of bold colours and poses from working with magazines such as Rolling Stones and Vogue. She’s known for a her work in fashion, portraiture and in magazines.

An example of the equipment that she uses is the Leica S2. The leica has a large 37.5 megapixel 30x45 mm sensor which is apparently 55% larger than normal full frame sensor. The camera itself is designed to be weather sealed so that shooting in the elements is easier. This camera is also waterproof which is even better for shoots that might be outside or near water.

The camera offers a dual memory card slot which allows the user to shoot like a CF card or SD card both at the same time which is particularly good for backup.

The menu itself it quite simple and easy to use as reviewed by many users. The camera itself is said to have a great ergonomic design as it has a smaller body with better controls than competitors like Nikon D3 and Canon 1D.

Another camera that Leibovitz uses is a Maiya RZ67 camera. This specific camera is film format and is fully manual and very heavy. This specific camera actually allows users to adjust the back on it to support the desires frame size yet it has its drawbacks. This camera is huge and weighs 2.5 kilograms  which doesn't make it as portable as today's conventional DSLR’s. Yet due to its weight, it would usually be used from a tripod. Using a tripod for a camera like this will enable its user to be able to plan the shoot in their head ie. where the light is hitting, where the main focus is etc in order to get that one off picture. This type of medium format camera has a waist-level finder which instead of looking through the view finders in a DSLR you get to look through a much larger window that makes what you’re taking a little confusing as everything is switched around (left is right and right is left as it is a mirror reflection due to there being no pentaprism to reverse light back again) but apparently makes the planning of the image more special. Using the manual camera allows for more preparation into the thought behind the composition and the details within the frames as you have to adjust the camera yourself.

When looking at Leibovitz use of camera technology, I can say that when the quality of the image can be sacrificed she goes for the more portable camera but when the quality is most necessary, she uses a less portable camera with a bigger format. Leibovitz uses a Nikon D3 Digital SLR camera in order to get them more portable shots.

From looking at videos of behind the scenes at shoots that Leibovitz does, there is no mention of a tripod which suggests that she as a photographer prefers to be able to move freely. I have noticed that in some shoots, she prefers to sit down in order to get a lower camera angle which makes her move involved with the capturing of the image. When looking at her shoots, I get the impression that from her experience she is able to concentrate on the lighting as well as holding her camera steady enough to capture the perfect image.

The skills that would be necessary for Leibovitz to succeed in today's competitive photography sector would be flexibility. A good photographer like Leibovitz would need to be able to experiment and develop her work in order to produce innovative photos. Practice is also the key here as being as successful as Leibovitz has been, there would have to be lots of passion in order to produce an image that reflects exactly how you want to be presented as an artist. The ability to be able to capture a wide variety of images depending on the receiving audience is a hard task which only an experienced photographer would be able to grasp.      

An example of Leibovitz work is a shoot that she did for Louis Vuitton. As you can see, the key focus of the picture is of the luggage that is in the right hand corner as the luggage is more sharp than the group of men playing foosball. In my opinion I feel like the whole concept of the shoot was to place the objects in a more natural environment to highlight that they are not as exclusive nor high profile as people may believe.

To find examples of Leibovitz work, looking into a high end magazine such as Vanity Fair and Vogue would be an ideal place to start.

   

As shown, these are examples of Leibovitz front cover images. From the covers we can see that her trademark of bold colours and poses is in use. The first image with singer Rihanna, captures the vibrant tones of her hair which at that time, Rihanna was famous for. Yet the way the hair has been photographed does not allow for the whole of the attention to be taken away, as her figure in the dress is still just as key in the cover as the hair.

In my research I was able to find out more about Leibovitz final images and how she creates such good quality pictures at the end. Leibovitz uses composite images a lot which allows her to take her images and drop the models or items into a new background and in some cases it is noticeable with her work in Disney for example but in others its very hard to see if it has been digitally manipulated.  

This technique is particularly popular for work in magazines like Vogue as they are not interested in the reality of images. What I mean by reality is what is “Vogue worthy”. Just from looking at the images above, the models have that ideal body shape, perfect skin and very little or no imperfections yet this all was edited before becoming the front cover. Photoshop is one of the software's that is more than likely used in order to achieve such sophisticated prints and using the clone tool as well as the spot healing brush and normal healing tool to achieve that smooth finish.  

In comparison, a photographer that wasn't around to use today's latest camera technology is Yousif Karsh. Yousif Karsh is probably one of the most famous portrait photographers of all time. Karsh was most famous for his use of photography in his portraiture work. He photographed some of the most influential people in the world in the 20th century. It was down to growing up with cameras and his use of contacts that we was able

to gain his first international recognition in which he photographed Winston Churchill.

When researching into Karsh, there are many photographs in which capture almost the personality of the person. Just looking at the portrait of Churchill for example, Karsh captured his famous imperturbable personality.  It is mentioned that Karsh did prefer to meet the subjects before hand in order to understand and then capture the subjects personality.

The story of the picture with Winston Churchill is that Churchill wasn't aware that he was going to be apart of a photo shoot so only allowed Karsh to take one picture. This one picture seems so well planned that the use of lighting here is almost perfect. The light is placed slightly to the right in order to highlight the right hand side of Churchill's face. This is where the key focus of the picture is too.


Looking at another of his subjects, Helen Keller was known to be blind as well as deaf and so communicated using her hands to which Karsh found exciting to be apart of. The image below is of Helen Keller and Polly Thompson and the initial plan for the image was to capture equally her face and her hands in order to grasp the exclusivity of Keller. The use of lighting here is only really noticeable when it hits the left hand side of Thompsons hair which makes it a little harsh. Yet the light enables Karsh to capture the expression on both subjects faces and highlight the emotions they are showing. There is also a key light used in order to light the back of Keller’s next. This was probably done to make sure Keller’s body to get lost in the black background and makes her appear to be the more important subject in the image.





Looking at the equipment that Karsh used large format camera like the Calumet C-1 8X10 field camera. The type of camera was able to be moved. For portraiture work, this camera was perfect for the job. It uses rear bed rail that all fold up in order to be stored better. Once the beds are all folded down and locked in position (metal lock knobs which enable its users to adjust the camera's position and rise it tilt it and shift it) the rear screen is moved to focus the image leaving the front screen firmly in place.

The skills that Karsh would of had would have been the ability to work with larger and less portable equipment. This meant that he would have to pre-plan his shoots in order to get one or a few good shots instead of taking hundreds as due to the technology built in the camera, there wasn't an option to view the image after capturing it- it had to be developed first.  When working from a large format camera, the images that were captured would have been a much higher quality than today's pictures and they were much larger in size so were easily re-sized without losing any quality from  the image.

Karsh would also have the ability to be able to visualise how his image would be captured. He was a photographer that worked with lights in order to achieve such fine prints. Karsh would have planned how his image would be composed in order to beautifully enhance the lighting without creating harsh light on the subjects face.

In conclusion, both photographers Leibovitz and Karsh were equally as good at photography as far as technology allowed/ allows them to be. As Karsh was not able to re-edit his images like Leibovitz is able to now, his images would have to be perfect first time and capturing the natural beauty of his subjects. Yet in terms of Leibovitz, she in comparison has a lot more ability to correct her images to conform to society's ideas of beauty in order for it to feature in magazines such as Vogue.

The differences between the photographers is that Karsh captured the personality of its subjects; highlighted every flaw in the face and showed each wrinkle that was enhanced by the lighting used. Whereas Leibovitz captures an image and is able to edit it in such away that the natural flaws are not to be seen and in some cases digitally manipulate it to be far from the original image.

James Veck-Gilodi Bush Hall, London 21/01/15

So the other night I went and saw James Veck-Gilodi and Max Britton performing under the name James Veck-Gilodi at Bush Hall, London. It was a great evening seeing one of my favorite band members venture out and perform solo.  Shepherds Bush isn't the nicest of areas but Bush Hall was ideal for the performance, beautiful detailed molds of ancient scenes on the walls giving the performance an almost regal feel to it. 

The solo path that Veck-Gilodi has decided to try has definitely been a risk worth taking. As he says himself he is 'not good at anything else'. Opening their set with a newly to be released track Home, it didn't take long for the audience to catch on and sing back the lyrics. 

One of the songs that appeared on the set list was Holes which encouraged the audience to become the 3rd member of the newly formed band. As per, James cracked a few jokes one being choosing London to improvise musically whilst performing, putting off band mate Max. Then poor Max disappearing off to find a tambourine which left James to introduce himself and a empty mic stand as Max (one of those you had to be there moments)...Maybe stand up comedy might be the next career path for James, who knows. 

During their set, the boys played a variety of tracks off their new SoundCloud Channel as well as playing some Deaf Havana songs which James at the time wanted to keep for himself but didn't want to be that 'guy' so shared it with his fellow band mates at the time. Whiskey in particular was one of those songs, even from when it was first released on the 22 EP, you could tell it wasn't a true Deaf Havana song. It's hard to explain but if you listen to the Old Souls album and then listen to 22 you can hear a difference. The lyrics feel more personal and James seems more attached to the lyrics then when he sings typical Deaf Havana songs. There's also just a change musically in that specific song as you here only one guitar and James' voice, no sense of a band in the background. 

Throughout the night, James was thanking the audience for actually turning up to the show which sadly shows his lack of faith in his talent. Sad to be seen from a man whose talent touches so many people. He mentioned before his song Holes that at one point in his life he wanted to be a teacher (this is referenced in the song itself too) but claims he's only good at making music which sadly doesn't make him nor the band much money. 

One of the new tracks we were luckily to hear that night was Wasted a song about a relationship he had when he was 15 or so, where his insecurities which he discovered then, to this day have never left him. Another new track which he shared with the audience is about the night he met and fell in love with his latest girlfriend Maria, Safe House which he claims she changed his life for the better. 

Next up was Coffee, the most shared on their SoundCloud account with lyrics 'I found a note that a old friend had left me saying that I hope this music works, I blame he last 8 years of my life on the fact I put that first' summing up his musical career. He's lost friends because of his musical priorities but it appears that he needs his music to survive, hence the band Deaf Havana and this solo path that James has taken a chance on. From that, he has let us as fans into his world of thoughts and feelings allowing us to get that little bit closer to the man that many of us adore. 

More new tracks by the names of Brother, Sleep and a finale with Seattle, another highlight of the evening as yet again, James has written meaning lyrics that touch his fans in a way that most music can't.  Hearing that Seattle was the last song of evening was met with groans but as per James' humor makes light of the situation letting everyone know they can stay but he'd be off to 'Brewdog' a new beer/ bar which his Instagram is practically promoting. 

Overall it was a fantastic evening and I am excited for what's yet to come of the boys. Hopefully an EP release soon or even just more uploads on their SoundCloud as I'm hungry for new music! 

Check out their SoundCloud

Interrogation...

http://www.stanmore.ac.uk/news/1567-nick-boles-mp-interrogated-by-stanmore-students 

Here's a link to an article that I was mentioned in for interviewing local MP's. 

Perfect politics

On Thursday afternoon, I was given the opportunity to interview politicians, Nick Boles and Bob Blackman as they were coming to Stanmore College in order to see for themselves, education at its finest and too speak to students. 

After some research I discovered that Nick Boles is the Joint Minister of Apprentiships and Innovation so of course I was going to question him on how apprentiships and even vocational subjects aren't highly perceived in comparison to the dying out A Level qualification.  

Luckily for me as I live in the borough of Harrow (East Harrow) which Bob Blackman is the Conservation MP for, I received a birthday card on my 18th from him so I had some idea of who exactly he was prior interview. 

Below are the outlines of the questions I asked....

The interview went smoothly and I was also joined by members of the student parliament who also asked some questions in relation to the Joint Minsters educational route. 

I recorded the interview to be put onto the colleges radio station once I have edited it and I will upload a link as soon as it is finished. 

Ps: look out for the story in Harrow's local paper 

Tropical tea....?

After a long shift a work I decided to do some retail therapy just to end an evening off. I am a general fan of green tea (only the lemon flavour!) but not so much regular tea or flavoured teas in general. I'm strange I know. 

But whilst shopping I came across this little gem and I thought I'd be courageous and try something different as it is 2015 and all.  As soon as I got home I boiled the kettle and threw a tea bag in. 

As said on the box the flavour is tropical and that's really what it tastes like....Watered down tropical juice. It's surprisingly pleasing and enjoyable to drink. 

The benefits to drinking the flavour is that it helps with your immune system and is rich in vitamin c. I bought it from ASDA for £1 and to be honest, it was a great bargain buy. 

There's 3 others flavours that Tetley has released that are vitamin c and other healthy positives that look fantastic and might end up being bought! 

Mmmm tropical green tea. 

High hopes.

So this evening I sat down with my best friend who've I've known for nearly 12 years now and thought about what on earth we're going to do to make us look fantastic to universities and employers. Our plan is to basically team up and approach bands that are local to us and help promote them either by filming and editing a music video for them, interviewing them (which will then be posted on social media) or even simply putting up posters around our college in order for them to attract new fans. 

It's quite a big job to take on but if it's something that I want to do possibly in the future, then it's the jump I have to do. The media industry is so large and competitive that you have to stand out. 

If you want it, you have to go and get it. 

January blues

It's become that time of the year where I have genuinely given up with the majority of things in my life. From being on time to work to attending college, I have no motivation. 

This 'phase' or whatever you'd like to call it tends to be a yearly thing that lasts for a good few months. (At this current moment I feel like I'm the voice over on a documentary channel haha) Maybe this feeling is common throughout teen years, who knows it could just be me. 

I only have a few months left of college now but weirdly enough, time is going fast but at the same time, it seems to be dragging. It's a strange feeling and a even stranger feeling to try to put into words. 

The thought of spending a minimum of 3 years studying something an university seriously scares me. At the moment I'm just getting by but at university there's a lot more pressure than college or even 6th form.... But I'm keeping my options open and I'm going to look into other fields just so that I have a back up plan come August when university is a matter of weeks away. 

My entry might seem a little disfigured but these are my thoughts at 2am on a now Tuesday morning. I'm tired and my mind won't let me sleep. Apologies.