Tim Gander’s photography blog.

 by Tim Gander

Boo hiss!

It’s that time of year when I have to do my accounts. If I’m brutally honest, it was that time of year about three months ago, but preparing my accounts is a job so devoid of laughs that I tend to find myself pushing it further and further down my to do list… well if I wrote a to do list, I promise you it would be there, near the bottom.

Espresso coffee on New York Times

How many coffees can I take before I can no longer focus on my receipts?

It’s not that my accounts are especially complicated. Just getting my receipts into order, entering them in a spreadsheet and handing everything over to my accountant. Even he doesn’t think I need to trouble a bookkeeper. Once I get into it, the whole process is pretty quick, it’s just the thought of doing it fills me with dread and I push it on down my (imaginary) to do list.

If you’ve ever seen Black Books, you’ll understand the kind of sentiment I’m expressing here. I’d rather sort my sock drawer than do my accounts.

There was a time when there was at least some entertainment value in the task. When I worked for News of the World it used to tickle my accountant’s imagination when I claimed for things like underwear from Victoria’s Secret (sometimes a necessary purchase when photographing a young lady for a kiss-and-tell story – oh yes, I covered all the important world events). But I haven’t had the opportunity to buy anything vaguely dodgy or fun for a long time, which takes away what little fun there was in this task.

Even writing this blog article is a distraction technique because I was doing my accounts this morning, I just needed a break. And so, after successfully completing one month’s receipts analysis, I treated myself with a coffee break. After another month I felt it was time for lunch. Another month completed after lunch and coffee beckoned again. Then I realised I needed to write a blog for today and nothing was jumping into my head, and yet writing a blog seemed like an excellent way of not doing my accounts.

Only problem is I’m running out of things to say about not doing my accounts and you probably stopped reading about three paragraphs ago. Dammit… back to the accounts… lalalalalalalala…

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 by Tim Gander

No pixels were harmed…

I have an excellent friend on twitter, @lau_merritt, who has been very supportive of my photography work since I can’t remember when, but certainly since not that long after I joined twitter. I’m sure she was among my first followers.

We keep in touch, re-tweet each other’s posts and I especially appreciate it when she reposts my blog articles… which I have a funny feeling she’ll do today.

Now the other day the subject of photoshopping came up. Lau, a keen amateur photographer, was struggling with some photos she’d taken on a recent trip. She was frustrated that she’d only just got the camera she took with her, hadn’t had time to get to grips with the controls, and had shot in jpeg mode where she’d meant to shoot in RAW.

It was when Lau came to edit the images that the Photoshop fun really started. I received some messages of frustration and Lau felt she was butchering her images. We joked about the slaughter, the sounds of pixels screaming,  red pixels sprayed up the walls – this kind of weird humour appeals to me.

The culmination of our conversation was a rather excellent sketch which Lau drew and which, with her permission, I’m featuring here. After the sketch came the blog article, which you can view by clicking on the photo. I’m hoping for the movie and the musical to be announced soon. The Photoshop Butcher, queue deep, growly voiceover, “In a world where pixels have no meaning, welcome to the slaughter…”

Sketch of a woman butchering photos

Lau’s Photo Butcher – click the photo to see her full article

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 by Tim Gander

Out for the Count

I don’t know when Frome Amateur Boxing Club was built, but judging from its rickety exterior I’d say it was made from the spare timbers Noah didn’t need. The shed that until recently housed the pugilists’ punchbags, weights and general paraphernalia stands precariously behind The Old Church School, the building where my office is based, and when any of the Studio 5 team steps out onto the fire escape for a breath of fresh air, it fills most of the view. Soon, though, it will be knocked down to make way for an extra 20 office units at TOCS. I had hoped to take some shots of the last training sessions before the club vacated to new premises on a trading estate in Frome, but I missed the opportunity and one day found a note in the window explaining that the club had moved. A shame, but I did get to look inside the other week and took a few photos to record the passing of this upside-down ark of a building. And so this week’s article is a mini gallery of some of the images I took. I hope you enjoy them.

Old boxing poster in the former Frome ABC

Ali vs Inoki poster

David Evans of Ghost Limited tries a pair of boxing gloves in the former Frome Amateur Boxing club building

David Evans of Ghost Limited, Studio 5, tries a pair of gloves out

Blackboard with boxers' diet written up

Diet tips for boxers

Boxing club keys with novelty gloves keyring

Would the last person to leave the club building please lock up

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 by Tim Gander

Stock as Barometer

Though I’ve derided photographers for supplying the micro-payment stock sites like iStockphoto and Shutterstock, I do have a few stock images with Alamy.com on the basis that though sales might not be as frequent, I do at least get semi-respectable rates for my pictures when they do sell.

I do get some odd-looking sales though, like this one from August for a Spanish direct mail/brochure use in the banking and finance sector. Looking at the content of the photo, it makes you wonder what the client’s message is. A bonfire of capitalism?

scrap yard fire in Portsmouth

A vision of things to come?

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 by Tim Gander

Tear Sheet Tastic

This week I’m simply announcing the launch of a major new gallery on my website, this time featuring photographs as they can be seen within the context of their publication in magazines, books and websites.

Over the last 14 years since I went freelance I’ve had the privilege of working with some top-flight clients on really interesting projects and I thought it was time I used some of my cuttings to give my web visitors and potential clients more of an insight into how my work is used.

The images appear in no particular order, but are generally grouped by client or project so you should get a feel for the different styles of shoot as you go through and of course I’ll be updating it as new work becomes available.

I hope you like what you see, and as ever your comments are welcome.

Preview of the Tear Sheets gallery

Click the preview to be taken directly to the gallery

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 by Tim Gander

Tri-ing Weather

For the last two weeks everyone (almost) was going Olympic mad and while I was pretty cynical about the whole thing in the build-up, ten minutes into the opening ceremony I was completely won over.

Professionally-speaking, apart from covering the torch relay as it left University of Bath, I’ve had very little involvement in the Olympics. However, I did get to cover the “Triathlon Live” Give It A Tri event in Bristol’s Millennium Square last week, an event held at various locations around England and organised by Triathlon England to bring active sports to the public.

Teams and individuals visiting the event could try swimming, cycling and running, all on machines and in a high-tech swimming pool and against the clock. It was great fun, but the weather tended to keep the crowds away from the open-air seating where they could sit and watch live Olympic events on a giant screen.

It did make for some interesting shots, a couple of which I’ve featured here.

Swimmer in swimming pool with virtual current generated by water pumps.

When the sun came out, the water was lovely.

Man under large Union flag umbrella in deckchair at Millennium Square, Bristol.

It may have been thirsty work at Wimbledon, but in Bristol there was an abundance of water.

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 by Tim Gander

I like a challenge (couldn’t be bothered with a ‘try’ pun)

Last Tuesday I was asked to cover a photo-call on behalf of Premiership Rugby in the build-up to the Rugby 7s final taking place on the Friday.

This was going to be a quick-turnaround job, but the shots also needed to look polished, so I arrived in plenty of time to set up portable strobes on the rugby pitch at the Bath Rec (recreation ground, home to Bath Rugby Club) and have the trophy arranged so that when the team captains came down for the photo, I’d be good and ready.

The shoot list required pictures for the website, a shot for each of the captains’ home newspapers (consisting of a group shot each, with each captain taking it in turns to be nearest the cup and then individual captains with the cup), and a programme cover. I probably had less than half an hour to shoot the whole thing, including time for the photographer from The Bath Chronicle to get his shots too.

Having got all the shots I needed, I got the images onto my laptop, captioned, edited and sent off to the agency that was going to deal with the distribution of the images to all concerned. From starting the shoot to delivering the images was about 2 hours.

Premiership Rugby 7s Final web page

The website was updated with the new group photo of the team captains with the cup.

Despite the rain, the shots turned out fine and the Premiership Rugby website was updated with the new group photo and the regional papers all had the shots they needed. And on Friday when I arrived to cover the corporate hospitality aspect of the event, there was the programme with my cover shot on it. It’s challenges like that which get the adrenaline going and keep me keen. More please 🙂

Rugby 7s Final programme cover

I photographed the players, but you might detect some Photoshop work in the background…

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 by Tim Gander

The Only Constant is Change

Every now and then I review the way I shoot assignments. From the way I prepare for jobs, through shooting, to editing and delivery of the final images. The changes might be big or small, but they always have the goal of improving my client’s experience.

Sometimes the changes help me, and this also feeds through to the client experience. As an example, a couple of years ago I switched to using the Photoshelter system and away from sending CDs and DVDs of images to clients.

This was a big, scary change for me, but it paid off and clients find it incredibly useful to be able to view, choose and download the images they need directly from the service without having to get back to me to tell me their choices, then wait for me to do the post-production and send out the image disk. And if they ever lose the images, the can download them again.

That was a big change, and that was some time ago. More recent changes have included a move away from using zoom lenses to fixed lenses. The step up in quality is remarkable, and I’ve generally not missed the ability to zoom as I have legs which can take me closer to, or further away from my subject. I actually find it a quicker way of working because I’m not spending time zooming and recomposing my images like I used to do.

I haven’t dumped all my zooms. I keep a very wide zoom for when that’s really needed and a telephoto zoom because it’s useful for press events and it’s more telephoto than my longest fixed lens.

The strangest change of late is that I’ve started using a hand-held light meter more often. Yes, the thing that’s built into all cameras and tells you which aperture and shutter speed to set. You might think that with all the wizardry that’s built into a modern camera you could rely on the internal meter to set the right shutter speed/aperture combination, but I find the metering quite erratic, and there are many times when even the most sophisticated built-in metering system just seems flummoxed by the scene in front of me.

Instead, I find it easier to take a light reading using my Sekonic light meter, then I dial the settings into my camera. A slower way of working, perhaps, but it’s how I always work with studio flash anyway, so what’s the difference?

It might not be the most suitable way of working for faster-paced news events or where the light levels are constantly up and down, but for outside portraits and shots I’m setting up and have more control over it actually saves time and reduces the number of shots I have to take to get correct exposure.

I’m not sure what my next change will be. I’m probably already changing, and won’t even realise it’s a change until it’s complete.

Two portraits of women showing exposure contrast between subject and background

Wherever there is a strong contrast between subject’s skin tone, clothing and background, the built-in metering struggles to give an accurate reading.

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 by Tim Gander

Never one to gloat, but…

It’s hard to fight back the tears as I write this, but I’ll do my best. What has got me reaching for the handkerchief is the news that Stuart Kuttner, former managing editor of News of the World, is to be charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority. I’m not going to go into masses of detail now. There’s plenty of background to this story on the web and in my previous posts here and here.

Suffice to say this story isn’t over yet and I’m sure Kuttner has the funds for a top-flight lawyer, but wouldn’t it be nice to see a bit of karma for once? If convicted, Kuttner could face a prison sentence and certainly if the charges are proved in court, the flagrancy of his behaviour would increase the chances of a custodial sentence.

Does this news give me any great pleasure? Schadenfreude maybe? Kuttner forced me out of working for the News of the World about 12 years ago because I asked to be paid what I was owed. I’d rather he’d been a decent human being when I was there than have it come to criminal charges for phone hacking (not sure what’s happening with the allegations of signing off expenses for payments to police officers), but given I can’t control other peoples’ behaviour I’ll accept that this is as close to karma as I’ll get.

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 by Tim Gander

F/8 and be chic*

“PRIX is a photography lifestyle magazine for men. If you love to snap photos, chances are you’re into cars, naked women and guns.”

Ok, that’s not a real magazine, but here’s an introduction to a magazine which does exist. Or should that be ‘does sexist’? you decide. At the very least it strikes me as deeply patronizing, but here goes the intro from editor Jeanine Moutenot:

“PIX is a photography lifestyle magazine for women. If you love to snap photos, chances are you’re pretty creative and artsy about the rest of your world too. It’s important to you that your business is modern and cool, you’ve always got an eye out for hip clothing and accessories, and looking professional and shooting well are top priorities. If this sounds like you, PIX is here to help! In each issue you’ll find tips, ideas, products and trend reports for women in photography.” Shooting well? Whatever that means.

Fluffy and patronising? Am I the best judge?

The cover to the first edition features a photo of a young woman holding a camera awkwardly, Canon logo ham-fistedly edited out, cheap kit lens on, but at least her hair, nails and dress are pretty. That’s the main thing, right?

Never mind the intro and cover shot, we know there are some incredible photographers out there and many of them happen to be women who would give highly insightful interviews. So what does pix offer? “Photo gear designed for women,” “irresistible accessories,” and “smudge-proof makeup tips for long days behind the camera.”

Indeed, in the pages of PIX you’ll get advice on where to buy a striped skirt to go with your funky striped Lomo camera. Or perhaps you need some Summer pumps so your feet can stay “covered, comfortable and cute while you’re on photo shoots.” Cute?! The general tone of the magazine seems to be aimed at women more interested in cameras as accessories than tools of a trade.

There are maybe 12 pages of articles featuring working photographers buried within the 63 pages of puff, but references to their motivations, challenges, styles or paths to success are fleeting. Before you know it, you’re back to editorial featuring pretty things to buy.

Notably, an article on studio lighting isn’t about studio lighting at all, but about how to make lampshades from paper cupcake cases.

Maybe my being a man precludes me from passing judgement on a photography magazine aimed at women. Perhaps I’m missing the point and female photographers will relish the chance to read about flowery camera straps or an eyeliner that doesn’t smudge onto the viewfinder.

My gut feeling though is that PIX is incredibly patronizing, is aimed at aspiring photographers who are more interested in pretty things than the hard-nosed facts of photography and would have worked better if it had been aimed more at women simply by virtue of not featuring ads for glamour shoot workshops and men talking about the size of their kit.

PIX is really saying that if you’re a photographer and a woman, how you dress and the colour of your camera bag is at least as important as your ability and vision. In an industry with something of a male-dominated culture, is PIX redressing the balance or reinforcing stereotypes? I’d love to hear the views of photographers with fallopian tubes.

*The original quote “F/8 and be there” is attributed to New York photojournalist Arthur “Weegee” Fellig whenever he was asked how he got such striking images of news events during his career in the 1930s and 40s. Look him up, interesting guy. I don’t know if he ever worried about whether his camera matched his handbag.

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