Portrait Photography – Everybody’s gotta learn sometime
Location Portraits – Models, Makeovers, Fashion and a stunning Venue
I used the title of the 80′s pop song by The Korgi’s as a summary for this post because essentially its very true.
No matter if we call ourselves professional portrait photographers, the professional part can mean many things. It could be the main source of our income, our profession, or it could mean we have photographic qualifications. Whatever the reason, to stay a professional photographer we all need to continue to learn new things, gain more experience and ‘raise the bar’ as they say in management circles.
This week I spent a day in the company of Damien Lovegrove, and Martin Hill at Kingscote House in Gloucestershire. With models Sarah and Iskra we raised the bar on portrait photography, learning new techniques for lighting, posing, and using studio and portable lighting to really give results you generally wouldn’t associate with amateur photography.
The portrait gallery shows some of my favourite photographs of Iskra. I can’t say why these particularly took my eye, probably a combination of the expression and the lighting. I’m still not sure about the black and white portraits below and if I prefer the softer look or the more film-like look. What do you think ?
Venture Photography Cambridge – Closed
Venture Photography Cambridge
I happened to walk through Cambridge this week and was saddened to find that Venture Portrait Photography is closed and empty. Their entry on the main ‘This is Venture’ website has also been removed.
This Venture certainly tells a story, I can only make assumptions about the final chapter, but its a shame.
You could argue that they were a competitor and that I shouldn’t really care, but recent comments I had with a group of other professional portrait photographers brought only praise for Venture Portrait Photography. Venture were the lead in bringing photography to the masses, and promoted good photography as a valued item in the context of families. The group of photographers all commented that they were still getting requests to mimic the Venture style of shots on a white background. In a recent marketing survey of my own, they are still one of the main sources of family and individual photography. Their website does show that their franchise has achieved superbrand status which is a significant achievement within the photography industry.