Itty bitty screens and photo composition

Black Mountains near Abergavenny, Wales. Photo: Les Haines/CC/flickr
Black Mountains near Abergavenny, Wales. Photo: Les Haines/CC/flickr

 

Is mobile photography really photojournalism? Yes. And here’s why.

Continue reading “Itty bitty screens and photo composition”

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MoPho portfolio exercises

Happy, Sydney Opera House. Photo © Verity Chambers

A list of our weekly exercises, which you’ll need to post as a portfolio of work in a gallery on your WordPress sites for assessment. Feel free to interpret each in any way you want to, though the theme of each photograph should be clear to a viewer.

You can also do more than one photo for each theme. The more we shoot, the better we get 🙂

#silhouette
#emotion
#reflection
#portrait by a window
#heat
#lines
#high key (not the musical kind!)
#low key (^ Ditto)
#autumn
#love
#rule of thirds

 

Intro to MoPho & first apps

Basketball, late Monday afternoon. Photo ©Verity Chambers

In his video, iPhone photographer Emil Pakarklis explains seven really simple techniques you can use to make your mobile photography good. As with DSLR and larger format photography, the key ingredients are light, composition, and perspective or point of view.

Continue reading “Intro to MoPho & first apps”

Great Insta accounts to follow

After the party. iPhone photo ©Verity Chambers

As with any creative pursuit, it’s hard to become a great practitioner unless you look at other people’s work. By far the best way to learn to write well is to read a lot (and then write a lot). It’s exactly the same with singing, dancing, painting and … photography.

Here are some awesome (mostly Australian) Instagram accounts to spend some time with. have a look through their work, and follow the ones that inspire you. A few of my absolute favourites: Leigh Henningham, Simone De Peak, Andrew Quilty, and Christine Pearl.

I’d love you to add your favourites in the comments.

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Adam Taylor, The Daily Telegraph @adamtaylorphoto

Alex Ellingshausen, The Sydney Morning Herald @alexellingshausen

Andrew Meares, The Sydney Morning Herald @mearesy

Andrew Quilty, freelancer (Afghanistan) @andrewquilty

Brian Cassey, freelancer @brian_cassey

Christine Pearl, US-based doco photographer @cyanpepper

Dallas Kilponen, Fairfax sports photographer @dallas_kilponen

David Guttenfelder, AP photojournalist @dguttenfelder

Dean Sewell, freelancer @dean_sewell

Ed Wray, freelancer @ed_wray

Everyday Australia, curated account @everydayaustralia

Glenn Campbell, freelancer (northern Australia) @glenn_campbell

Graham Crouch, freelancer (India) @delhigraz

Gregg Porteous, sports photographer @skipper_aust

Head On Photo Festival @headonphotofestival

James Brickwood, Fairfax @jamesbrickwood

Janie Barrett, Fairfax @janiebarrettphotos

Jon Reid, freelancer (Newcastle) @sharperstill

Leigh Hennigham, Fairfax @leighhenningham

Life, magazine archive @life

Grant Turner, freelancer (Sydney) @mediakoo

Mark Evans, Daily Telegraph @evohood

Markus Andersen, freelancer (Sydney) @markusxandersen

Nick Moir, Fairfax @nampix

Noor Images, agency @noorimages

Oculi, agency @oculi

Phil Hillyard, The Daily Telegraph @philhillyard

Simone De Peak, Fairfax @simonedepeak

Tamara Dean, freelancer @tamaradean

Wolter Peeters, Fairfax @shooterwol

Photojournalism: the power of photography

Ritualism 9, from a series by Tamara Dean (http://oculi.com.au/photographers/tamara-dean/)

TOPIC: Telling a story with photographs

LINKS:

World Press Photo: 2015 winners

Yuri Kozyrev, Dispatch from Libya

Magnum photographer Larry Towell’s film projects – combinations of still and moving photography

Ritualism, a project by Australian photographer Tamara Dean

Oculi, a cooperative of creative Australian photographers

Magnum photo archive

GOOD READING:

The NYT Lens Blog

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Taking good photographs is a lot like learning to write: if you’re ever going to be any good at either skill, you must consider other people’s work first. It’s ok when you’re starting out to find a photographer (or writer) you really admire, and try to emulate his or her work. Once you reach proficiency you’ll begin to use your own voice or style.

The links above are to the work of many, many extraordinarily talented photographers and photographic artists, and most of us can only dream of ever being so good. But as the great cliche goes, every journey begins with a first step.

As you explore the sites, consider why a photo or series of photographs affects you. How does the photographer tie a collection of pictures together? Can images tell a story more effectively than words? Why, or why not?

FOR NEXT WEEK: Take a photo of something – anything – which makes you feel some sort of emotion. Try to follow the advice we considered today about including a subject in your photo, and include a caption, or photo description (be as creative as you like!) Post your photo to Instagram using the hashtag #TAFEmopho