Earlier in the year, for my foundation degree we managed to hire out a studio in the hipster central of London, Kingsland Rd, to show off the best of our work for a couple of weeks. On one of the nights we had a private night, but for the two weeks it was open for the public to come and see our work. It was an amazing feeling to just have your work up on show in London for everyone to see.
I chose to show of some of my favourite work i've done. The image which got shortlisted for the NatGeo competition was originally from a set of three i did, so i decided to show the other two close up portraits in the exhibition as they worked well with each other.
Now that the exhibition is down, i feels it's only right to share my images! So i have these two A2 mounted prints for sale. So if anyone is interested contact me at peterboothphotography@gmail.co.uk.
This isn't going to be a long post, sorry. Just a little one to tell you all about my film camera. I'm sure in a previous post i've shown a couple of pictures from a 35 black and white film, but i didn't talk much about the camera.
Most of the time i use my Nikon D90. Being the modern age as it is all photographers use digital. It's quicker, you can take loads of images quickly and quietly, check them straight away. Over all it's pretty much better. But years ago my dad got me a Canon A1 35mm. I didn't really use it much as i hadn't got a clue how to use it but now i know how i've always got it. Not so much for professional work but more for just if you spot something nice on a walk. The feel of winding the film on and hearing the shutter is just an amazing feeling (i'm not weird, trust me).
If you don't have a 35mm you should definitely get one. Decent ones can be more expensive, but if you want one for a more vintage feel then look in charity shops for old ones for a tenner. But i can't think of anything better than my Canon A1.
(the A stands for automatic as it was the first 35mm camera with a semi automatic setting so it was slightly easier to use than others.)
Me and my gorgeous girlfriend recently took our very first holiday away together to the Greek island of Rhodes this summer. It was absolutely stunning. Clear waters, clear skies, landscapes you wouldn't think were real. As a photographer i did take my Nikon for some nice landscape shots (which i will edit ASAP), but the easiest way to get some nice shots was obviously by using my phone… and Instagram.
I know, i know, Instagram is taboo to some photographers, it's the app which makes average person think they're professional. But i also know lots of photographers who use it just to quickly edit a snap and to let people know just what you're up to. In that sense it's a very good app! I have to say i do like Instagram for just doing quick edits of pictures you think would look nice to keep people interested in your work, but people shouldn't be called a photographer if they have an app.
So, while on holiday i used my Instagram to quickly show people what i was up to, and they came out pretty good. Nice vintage film effects which were really nice on the landscape shots. Here are just a couple of Instagram snaps before i edit the better ones and some panoramas. Enjoy!
Ok, this blog is a little bit late, but i've been too busy to talk about it. But as you might have guessed but the title, yes, i was published in a National Geographic magazine! WOOOO!
I might as well tell you the full story, as it was a fine line for me to even be in it. In mid 2013 i saw that National Geographic had a competition which was the Travel Photographer of there Year 2014. Knowing that thousands of people enter this competition every year, and as it's open to everyone professionals tend to win, i decided to enter anyway.
I was very proud of my portraits i did while i was travelling in Kenya, so i thought i might as well enter one of those (took me a good few days to choose which one). Months went past and i completely forgot about the whole thing. Then one day my girlfriend was helping me with online banking and she asked "Do you ever look at your junk mail?", to which i replied "course not!". Next thing i know she's calling me over to look at something. It was the email of my dreams! Congratulations. The best words to read.
Please send us a high res image by January 24th… 3 days away…
I rushed through and managed to find the high res image and sent it away just in time! Couple more months went past and there i was, published as a shortlister for a National Geographic competition. Unfortunately i didn't win, but i really don't even mind. All that mattered for me was that someone who works at National Geographic liked my work enough to publish it. This gave me a massive boost to get my work seen more by the people i admire.
Moral of the story really is to see what's in your junk folder now and again. Don't want to miss anything important!
Wow, it's been a while since i've written anything on here! But that will change now, as i've just finished my course and now have a foundation degree in photography! This means i'll have a lot more free time to talk about recent shoots and anything which might even remotely relate to photography.
Anyway, i'll talk a little bit about graduation and my past 2 years. The past few years have been really helpful for me, studying at Newcastle College. The course was designed to give you the skills and the knowledge to start your own photographic business up, and make sure you're able to go straight out and get work. Having people from the industry has helped loads too. Actually getting a professional outlook on how the industry works was really insightful.
Not only that but i've made a lot of close friends, and met a lot of very skilled photographers on my course who i will be keeping in contact with, no doubt! I've also met a lot of people from other art disciplines such as fashion design, graphics, and illustration, thanks to the course which made us work together during the years just as you would in the industry.
Anyway! Graduating with a foundation degree was a big step for me, and i have learned so much. There was one thing i wasn't expecting when i was graduating and that was getting a special mention for my work in the National Geographic Traveller magazine (My next blog will be on that). To summarise, the past two years has given me the skills and the drive to decide what area of photography i want to go into, and the knowledge that i can be successful. 1 more year of hard graft to get my BA Hons degree, then into the wide world.
