greg's blog

The following article is written by fellow photographer Graham Jarvis, please leave your comments below:

When a wise old photographer on a TV documentary I once saw said that there are just two variables in photography that decide what the image looks like; where to point the camera and when to press the shutter.

I guess most of the time, like you, I focus on where to point my camera. I tend to take photos of people so the choice is who to point my camera at and what environment they should be in when I point it at them. I spend an awful lot of time thinking about both of these things when planning a shoot. (Those who know me should get back up off the floor now; yes I do sometimes plan my shoots.) Who am I making images of or for? Should the camera be higher than my subjects, or lower? How close should I be to them? How much background do I want in the frame? Endless choices and questions. Landscape photographers, product photographers, hey, all kinds of photographers must go through the same cyclical thought processes with their subject matter.

When to press the shutter is not something I’ve given a lot of conscious thought to until more recently. Unconsciously though maybe I’ve been making decisions about when all of the time without being aware that I was making them. Photography has a lot of parallels with hunting (I’m sure I’m not the first person to think or say so). Psychologically we have retained the minds of our hunter/gatherer ancestors. Although where you look for your prey is important, knowing when to strike makes the difference between dinner and going hungry. Sometimes when is just a fleeting moment that will never happen again. Maybe we just instinctively pick the right moment in time? A brief glance at the photographs made by Henri Cartier-Bresson who regularly captured ‘the decisive moment’ will demonstrate that some people either have this ability in truck loads innately or they were able to sharpen their skills to an extraordinary degree by practice.

For those of us for whom photography is a passion and not a profession we are amators; the latin word for lovers. Lovers of the process of making images. Not necessarily the bumbling incompetent idiots that the word amateur now describes but certainly not reliant on our photographic hunting skills to put food on the table. At the same time neither are we blessed with an infinite amount of time to spend waiting for the perfect moment to press the shutter. The day job comes first so we can pay the bills. But despite the obvious time limitations there is still a whole universe of choice about when.

Seasons come and go. Winter not only strips the world of colour and back to it’s bare bones but the light is changed too. There are only a few hours of daylight and it’s quality is different because the sun is so low on the horizon. Shadows are long. Urban areas are artificially lit for longer. Summer brings with it vibrancy, colour, and vitality. Days are long then but sunrises and sunsets are at unsociable hours if you want to catch them at this time of year. The same scene is going to register a different quality dependent upon what time of year you shoot it. Think about your garden or local park and how many moods it goes through in a year.

There are weekly rhythms that may dictate when. I often shoot fashion and portraits in urban London. I don’t attempt that on a weekday. An early morning at the weekend can render a crowded thoroughfare an empty ghost town perfect for that shot you were planning with all your lights set up that would other wise be knocked over or ‘borrowed’ (though on the downside security do also find you a lot quicker on CCTV too).

The daily 24 hour cycle contains a spectrum of moods and opportunities. Day and night are completely different environments in their own right when it comes to making images. That big ball of flame moves around the sky pretty quickly when you desperately want the light to be coming from that particular direction that you need. Weather patterns can change within 24 hours to create unforeseen opportunities or to soak a meticulously planned outdoor shoot and ruin expensive equipment.

At the micro level most of our cameras are capable of capturing frozen slices of time of an eight thousandth of a second or even smaller. The concept is familiar to most of us but think about it; if your camera had an infinitely fast shutter movement and a phenomenally fast memory card of large capacity you could in theory capture eight thousand moments in chronological sequence in just one second. Which one of those moments would be the ‘best’ image for your purposes? (And you thought you had post-production editing and selection issues with the technology you have at the present…) You don’t have that camera yet but every second those 8000 potential images flicker by and you still have the opportunity to catch one or two and make them live forever.

Which one will it be?

Graham Jarvis is a Sony award winning photographer based in Chelmsford, Essex who shoots wedding, portrait and editorial images. When time allows. www.permanentdaylight.biz

Ok - so this isn't quite photography - in fact some people might say it's video - but it gives you an idea of what is possible with HD video with a dSLR (thanks to saeed for helping out with the editing and syncing up the sound and multiple camera angles.. etc.)

So if this is something you're interested in why not discuss it with me before your wedding?

Here's the finished product!

Steve and Katie Wedding - Ceremony from TP Photography on Vimeo.

You might have heard about Boudoir photography in the past, maybe from a friend, or from the press. What is it?

It's a great way to get some sensual and sexy images for either yourself or your partner and have a lasting memory of you how you are!
It's become more popular for brides-to-be to have a boudoir session before their wedding so they can give an album to their husband as a special gift! What better way to celebrate a lifetime commitment to each other than a gift that shows it with some beautiful photography!

So why not get in touch and book your Boudoir photography session now?

Here's a few samples to show you what is possible!

Here's a quick sneak peek from todays wedding photography with Pam and Mark at the Langton arms in Dorset.

This is such a great fun wedding photo - and I had a blast photographing the whole day - can't wait till I can process the rest of the wedding photographs and for Pam and Marc to see them when they get back from the honeymoon! See you soon!

I like photographing weddings - even when I've not got wedding to photograph of my own I like to second shoot with another photographer - in this instance it was the phonky Rob Dunning of Solent Studios,

Now it may seem a strange thing helping another wedding photographer who in some ways can be competition for me. But we don't see it like that! Second shooting is good - it lets you relax a little bit - you can try things out that you wouldn't want to try as the main shooter, and of course the bride and groom get the bonus of an extra photographer for their day!

So thanks Rob for having me - and it was awesome to be your Wingman for the day! (no references to tom cruise please!) :)

Here's a selection of my favourites from the day - be sure to check out Solent Studios site for some of Robs from the day - and don't forget to ask him about how accomodating the vicar was ;)

So here we go - feel free to comment at the bottom! :)

I've finally finished processing the images from this wedding photography at highcliffe castle near bournemouth and christchurch- and what a great wedding it was! we had great weather, Steve and Katie were both fantastic (and look out for something exciting and awesome coming soon that you won't have been expecting) - and I had a great time with Steve and Katie on their wedding day.

I'm glad you could both go on honeymoon and that the volcano played ball in the end!

I do love highcliffe castle - so if you're getting married then in the future and like what you see about my wedding photgraphy then feel free to contact me!

Here's a small selection of photos from the day!

I've recently started offering maternity, Pregnancy and baby photography - this came about as part of my service to my clients - it didn't make sense to me to stop at just covering a couple's wedding - after all once we've got to know each other and you (hopefully) fall in love with my style and photography then why not let me do family portraits, newborn photography and any other photography you need.

So if you're a past client of mine and are pregnant get in touch and I'll waive the normal portrait fee for your session. I want you to be a client for life and not just for your wedding! Look forward to hearing from clients both new and old!

I was recently asked by fellow photographer and all round good egg Rosie parsons if I'd like to be interviewed for her new website - The Photography Parlour - I agreed. The website is aimed at aspiring professional photographers and fellow professionals alike. So if you're interested in photography go and take a look it's well worth a look! and feel free to comment on my interview or any of the other great articles there!

I met up with Martin and Sophie again ahead of their wedding at the White Horse in Romsey. They are getting married early next month so this was a good time to go through some final details before the wedding day. After going through the wedding photography we decided to head to the river - alas the weather was against us. It was *freezing* so rather than go and freeze we decided to shoot inside the nice and warm hotel!

Leaving the river shoot for the wedding day :)

I like shooting in hotels - especially such great ones as this! And to finish we did a most fun shot ever! So thanks to Martin and Sophie for being such great sports and See you on your wedding day!

Here's a selection of my favourites from the day!

This bank holiday there was a Georgian fayre in blandford forum - so I went along with just a camera and single 50mm prime lens to capture a few images. I like setting myself little projects like this as I think it helps benefit my wedding photography - let me explain.

One thing that comes in very useful on a wedding day is being able to see things unfolding and getting into the right place to capture what's going on - practicing on the streets is a great way to do this - in fact I've organised a photowalk in Poole on election thursday ( hope to see you there! ) - anyway back to how street photography can help a wedding photographer. I believe that to get good photographs full stop you need to be at one with your camera - so you're not thinking about settings / etc. then you can concentrate on getting the shot. Street photography is a great way to practice the other part of reading what people are going to do and getting it on film (or memory card).

Hope that makes some sense on some level - if not - ask me in the comments section - or talk to me on twitter or facebook

Lets see some images!

I am really loving these engagement photography shoots at the moment - maybe it's the great spell of weather we're having (or were having!)

I went back to one of my favourite spots in dorset - tarrant rushton - near blandford - where I shot another engagement shoot recently - this time we went for the last hour of sun. This is the classic "golden" time for photography - and boy it didn't disappoint.

This time I met up with Lydia and John who are getting married at the Crown Hotel in Blandford Forum, Dorset later this year. I love working with new couples especially ones as great as Lydia and John - it makes me excited about shooting their wedding photography later this year - and most of all is some good fun and a great chance to get to chat a little bit more.

Well lets see some of the portrait photographs I took at this engagement photography shoot.

What a wonderful day to get married - not only a great venue (highcliffe castle) but great weather.

So after the wedding photography of the ceremony we got chance to go to the beach and take some more photographs! I love being a wedding photographer! Beach! Sun! Great couple! What more can you ask for!

Best of all Steve and Katie were flying off on honeymoon and now the flights are allowed to take off again then everything is looking great!

Here's a sneak peek from on of the photos on the beach! Have a great honeymoon and see you when you get back!

I recently met up with Laura and James not too far from me up near Witchampton - this is in between Blandford Forum and Verwood and is a lovely village (where Laura and James will be tying the know later this year and I can't wait!).

This was a great chance for us all to get to know each other a little bit and take that fear out of the wedding photography for Laura and John. Not even nearly losing a camera in the field stopped us getting some awesome photos.

I know this may sound odd at first - "fear"? Let me elabortate; most people aren't used to being photographed at all - add in the fact that it's on the biggest day of their lives and emotions are running high then it can be another "worry" (one i'm keen to dispell by the way!).
So this e-shoot helps take the wedding photography worry away and means that everyone is more relaxed and we end up with even more awesome wedding photographs from the wedding photography itself! We can even dare I say it have fun? I think this is something that wedding photographers can forget as after all we're used to photographing people and not used to being the other side of the lens (more of that in another post I think :)).

So after all that waffle let me show you some of the photos from the engagement photography e-shoot - and Laura and James - See you soon!

I love all the wedding photography blogs around the web - there are lots to choose from and I find them a great inspiration. A more recent type of blog is one aimed at brides - especially when it comes round to helping you with your wedding here's another great one that i've just been featured in Plans and Presents - well worth a visit!

Back to the editing!

You may recognise the girl in this Family portrait shoot (the mother) from another portrait photography shoot I did. This time is was the Mother and daughter's turn to step in front of the camera.

I love photographing families - especially ones with young children - it's always so much fun and having a couple of young ones myself I know how quickly they grow and change to getting a professional photoshoot with your children/babies/siblings is a great way to get photos together, and just like my wedding and portrait sessions then this is a relaxed and fun way to get those treasured memories - anyway enough plugging and on with the photographs from the session.