This week took me back to the home of the BIPP in Aylesbury. Since attaining Fellowship a few years ago, I have been actively involved in mentoring and training of photographers at all levels. This week, my one day workshop concentrated the delegates to environmental portraiture.
Turbulent weather and turbulent times are forcing photographers to address the way they work (no bad thing) – needing to marry great photographic skills, training the eye to not just creativity but also more importantly, creating images to the very best of their ability. This is fundamental to the success of a business – with all the marketing tools in your bag – if you do not have photographic skills then you are pushing an elephant upstairs. At the end of the day, your best marketing tool is your previous clients.

My teaching this week, very much focussed on this, urging delegates to position themselves for the light, compose and then to stop and think as to how they can then take that picture to another level – through composition, directional light (using the elements), movement, texture/graphic etc. Creating atmosphere when atmosphere is not obvious – and often taking something out of a shot rather than over complicating. We discussed methods of communication, especially with children and I explained how our own personalities will give our photography a feel that very much makes it our own. My photographs are often quiet, occasionally thought provoking, married with strong, some may say, occasionally obscure composition – the quietness comes from me. Compare my work to that of say Venture who are so good at animation and expressions in their own style – whether this is your bag or not, they have created a style that is their own and is been emulated in many smaller studios, because it has a market of its own and it works – it is completely different to mine, but this does establish the need to have a definitive and recognisable style. Composition is what can often set you apart – because it tends to come from you, it is your take on what you see.

The nine delegates on Tuesday were a mix of experiences and abilities, which sometimes in a class can hinder the learning, but I feel that we established a great group that understood that however great a photographer you are, that you can always take on board new techniques, must always look to be inspired from random sources not just within the industry, that being overly creative is not necessarily the ultimate to being a success – its the standard of your photography that resonates your success, so in fact, we were in many ways, all on the same level.

On a final note, I touched on other reasons how establishing a style, knowing your trade, being confident with your camera will give you the confidence to take your skills in new directions rather than sticking to a format – once you have those skills, you really can run with them..