UTOPIA.PHOTO

Author: Graham

  • Portrait Photography – Banbury (Nov 2020)

    NB DETAILS IN PREPARATION

    Short course in portrait photography which I was asked to run for Activate Learning in Banbury at very short notice.

    • Wk 1 – Single light source – candles/desklamps in the studio
    • Wk 2 – Flash/speedlights – in the studio
    • Wk 3 – Environmental portraits – in the pottery
    • Wk 4 – Studio strobes – with Tara and Amiya models – in the studio

    This five-week intermediate Digital Photography course is great for people who already have some knowledge of digital photography and who are already using their camera off auto.

    Discover the secrets of successful portraiture, or those special moments for the family album.

    Gain confidence in photographing people through practical work indoors and out, teaching you invaluable skills in lighting, composition and poses, to produce a beautiful portrait portfolio. 

    Our Digital Photography: Portrait course is for those wishing to learn how to take flattering portraits of friends and family using the full potential of camera and lenses in any lighting situation.

    Learn how to create beautiful portraits with the minimum of gear. We limit the course to a maximum of 8 students to enable the tutor to help everyone individually.

    To get the most out of our Digital Photography: Portrait course, it is recommended that you have some knowledge of depth of field, motion capture and ISO setting.

    What I’ll learn

    You will develop a better understanding of how light affects a portrait and how to make the most of any situation. You will be inspired to use the full potential of your camera and lenses.

    Learn how to create beautiful photos with the minimum of gear. We limit the course to a maximum of 8 students to enable the tutor to help everyone individually.

  • Trick and Fun Photography – Woodstock (Nov 2020)

    • Would you like to bring some fun into your photography?
    • Discover how to create pictures that wow your friends?
    • Expand your creativity and gain confidence with your kit?

    This one-day exploratorium will consist of twelve wicked stations where groups of two or three photographers will get to play with all kinds of props to take some really different images.  Earth, Air, Fire (don’t tell H&S), and Water will feature, along with some glass, steel, antiques, toys and big boots.  Help each other to take the kind of pictures that you never imagined you’d be shooting.  In the process, you will test your handling of the camera, maybe get just a little wet, and have a good laugh!  There will be a photography tutor in the background who will try to answer your questions throughout the day!
    All that you will need to provide is your own “advanced digital camera” (of which you should know the basic controls), clothes that allow you to roll about a little, lots of enthusiasm, and a mind to experiment…
    (*) By “advanced digital camera” we include DSLRs, mirrorless, and Bridge cameras, but not “point and shoot” ones.

    More details of the Marlborough School Community Education Photography Classes can be found here: https://www.marlborough.oxon.sch.uk/4788/photography

    The booking/enrolment details are here: https://www.marlborough.oxon.sch.uk/733/enrolment-and-booking

  • Street Photography – Woodstock (Oct 2020)

    Street Photography [S] [13+]
    Saturday 10 October 2020
    09:30-16:00, £45
    Tutor: Graham Wilson

    “Well planned and paced day.”

    Whether you want to document your own town or village, improve your travel photography, have new ideas for your family album, or you are a fan of the fast-growing art of street photography and want to try your hand at it, this whole day workshop will open your eyes to new possibilities all around you.

    Street photography ranges from its purest form of candid images of people in their environment, through more formal but ad hoc portraits, capturing the details of a place that make it more memorable, to some aspects of architectural and landscape photography.

    The group will spend most of the day walking around Woodstock (whatever the weather!), tackling a number of straightforward but informative tasks, reconvening for a chance to share experiences, short ‘tutorials’, and briefing for the next activity.  The tutor will help you refine your images over the day, but also be on hand to help answer more general technical questions.

    You will need to bring your own advanced digital camera (e.g. DSLRs, mirrorless, and Bridge cameras) and be reasonably familiar with using it as the emphasis will be on taking photos rather than instruction in camera controls. The workshop is not suitable for ‘point and shoot’ digital cameras or mobile devices.

    Please be aware that you will be walking around Woodstock, and that the workshop will go ahead whatever the weather, so please dress appropriately. You will also need to provide your own refreshments (or buy them locally) during the day.

    More details of the Marlborough School Community Education Photography Classes can be found here: https://www.marlborough.oxon.sch.uk/4788/photography

    The booking/enrolment details are here: https://www.marlborough.oxon.sch.uk/733/enrolment-and-booking

  • Digital Photography ‘Crash’ Course – Woodstock (Sept 2020)

    Marlborough School Community Education, Woodstock

    • Do you have an advanced digital camera* that sometimes baffles you?
    • Would you like to be more creative with your camera but don’t know where to begin?
    • Are your photography ambitions thwarted by the complicated controls and menus?

    This ten-week crash course, balancing a little theory with plenty of practice, will help you gain control over, and confidence handling, any advanced digital camera*.  You will understand the different knobs, buttons and menus; ways of getting sharper images; and the keys to an aesthetically better picture.  We will look at a variety of subjects (people, buildings, objects that are still, and some that are moving).  Whatever your particular interest, you will emerge as a better image maker.

    (*) By “advanced digital camera” we include DSLRs, mirrorless, and Bridge cameras, but not “point and shoot” ones.

    PLEASE NOTE: THE SCHOOL WEBSITE WILL BE UPDATED WITH DETAILS VERY SOON – CHECK BACK TO SEE THE LINK SHORTLY

    More details of the Marlborough School Community Education Photography Classes can be found here:

    The booking/enrolment details are here:

  • A kind of Photo-Roman…

    Flat Stanley on VE Day, 2020

    Flat Stanley was sent to Klint and Amanda from a primary school in Kansas. Unfortunately, he arrived a couple of days after they had left for the US to avoid travel restrictions due to Covid-19. The idea is that these coloured cut-outs are hosted by someone and returned by a certain date. So, I pulled together a few shots, added some captions, and produced a PDF “book” which was duly returned to the child responsible for sending him…

    The pictures weren’t my best, but the concept is now proven… I’m tempted to offer something like this for the Marlborough School Fun Day.

    Photo-Roman (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman-photo) – “A photo novel is a narrative genre close to comics, in which a succession of photographs, generally embellished with texts arranged or not in speech bubbles, leads the narration.”

    We saw the major exhibition of Photo-Roman in Marseille a couple of years ago and I was quite emotionally impressed by the impact of the idea. Had resolved to have a go one day, but hadn’t had the excuse or need.

    Ella’s Flat Stanley

    Incidentally, this is my second Lockdown Project completed.

  • 75th Anniversary of VE Day – Pt 2 – Celebrate?

    (to be completed)

    Celebrate /ˈsɛlɪbreɪt/ verb – to acknowledge a significant or happy, day or event, with a social gathering or enjoyable activity. “To celebrate their joint birthday, they had a big party and two cakes”.

    The 75th Anniversary

    Before the coronavirus crisis, the Government had moved the May Bank Holiday from Monday to Friday to allow a three-day commemoration consisting of a parade in London, speeches and broadcasts, a flypast by the Red Arrows, and a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.  Pubs across the country were due to remain open later, until 1am, on 8 and 9 May, while people were also encouraged to host their own street parties to get involved in what has been called the “VE Day spirit“. 

    While Armistice Day is usually commemorated, rather than celebrated, it has clearly been the intention for some time, that a celebration would be encouraged in 2020. The coronavirus crisis has, in part, thwarted this plan.

    With ‘lockdown’, all official events have been postponed until, at present, the weekend of VJ Day (August 15th and 16th).  The public are still being encouraged to take part in the ‘Nation’s Toast to the Heroes of WW2’ which takes place at 3pm on 8 May, and serves to thank those who gave their lives to ensure the freedom the country enjoys today, but to do so from the safety of their own home.

    Picnics on the front garden

    The Government department responsible for the events has now proposed that people should decorate their homes in red, white, and blue, and have a picnic “in their front garden”.

    Front gardens are a largely post-war phenomenon

    Former Manorial villages (which are typical of many rural settlements) have larger houses in the centre, often closer to the church (along with barns that have subsequently been converted), and progressively poorer accommodation further away from the Manor. The low-value properties almost always have their door directly onto the street. They have often been interspersed with, what is known as ‘regulated housing’ built between 1875 and the 1980s. The earlier of which usually also abutted the road, unless they were larger ‘villas’ which had a strip of front garden. Local authority housing, built after WW1, is virtually the only lower cost accommodation that has a front garden. A few private in-fills copied this style. However, by the 1980s, when council housing was being sold to private owners, much of this was being paved to provide standing for a vehicle, corresponding to a growth in private ownership of cars. The only examples of peripheral housing with a ‘front garden’ are private developments usually built in the 90s and 00s. Subsequent ones have smaller plots and developers again minimise the front space.

    The pattern was not dissimilar in towns, where most early development was by factory owners in close proximity to their works and mills. Until private developers began to create large estates on the edges, few had gardens let alone one in the front.

    City development is a more complex process, but again, the possession of a front garden was always, and largely remains, something that the wealthy may have, part of the middle class may aspire to, and for the majority is a pipe-dream.

    The government’s call could be, at best, a little misguided and naive, or at worst an appeal to the aspirational middle-class who they see as a pool of prospective voters.