Rhubarb Rhubarb

I recently attended some photographic seminars organised by a company called ‘Rhubarb Rhubarb’. They promote emerging photographers by means of seminars, portfolio reviews and other events. The event took place at the London College of Communication in Elephant and Castle in London. Rhubarb Rhubarb’s Creative Director Rhonda Wilson began the seminars by looking at how to put together a photographic portfolio. A key point was that understanding, believing in and communicating what you wish to say with your images is as important as the images themselves. Other tips included researching your reviewer before you meet them and bringing cards /CDs to leave with them. I got some ‘Moo’ business cards printed with my portraits of Sipson residents. The great thing is that you can have a different image on each card and therefore let people choose which image they prefer.

The second session addressed the thorny subject of copyright. The gulf between web users and anyone wishing to earn a living from photography soon became apparent. Gwen Thomas from the Association of Photographers eloquently described how UK copyright law applies to photographs. Most alarming of all was the description of software that can interpolate high resolution images from low res ones. I won’t be repeating its name here.

Richard Wills from PhotoFusion talked about the ‘Mysteries of Digital Output’. Despite swearing that he wasn’t on commission from a certain manufacturer, he was obviously a fan of their monitors. The importance of using colour profiling and working in a ‘colour-neutral’ environment was explained. Absence of coloured objects and a dark room allow your eyes/brain to perceive the coloured images on your monitor more objectively. The digital printing services of his employer were promoted.

In a fit enthusiasm I had double-booked myself that day. I missed out on the afternoon talks but instead attended a half-day course on Colour Management at the City Lit. The tutor managed to explain colour spaces, profiling and management in a down to earth way. I can highly recommend this course if this subject is new to you. With a better understanding of colour profiles, the ‘1970s’ colour cast (as described by Simon Roberts during a folio review at one of his workshops) in some of my prints is now a thing of the past.

Two weeks later I returned to ’Elephant’ for 3 portfolio review sessions. A group of mildly apprehensive photographers waiting on the 10th floor of the LCC tower block. Every 20 minutes some of were called to go and meet our reviewers. All had something to offer but some were definitely more informative than others. My questions were about how I can go about exhibiting images from my Sipson and the third Heathrow runway project. One of the reviewers had some particularly useful ideas so watch this space…

'Adopt a Resident' event

Last Monday I went to Harmondsworth to photograph the 'Adopt a Resident' event organised by the No Third Runway Action Group (www.notrag.org). There were appearances from John McDonnell MP and Leila Deen of the Peter Mandelson ‘green soup’ incident. Lottery tickets were drawn to match up climate activists from around the Country up with long-standing residents of Sipson and Harmondsworth. Both vilages are threatened by the proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport. The jovial atmosphere in the village hall was propelled by jokes at the expense of politicians (including Jacky Smith obviously) and a fine selection of cup cakes.


You can see some of the video footage I filmed at the event here.

Redesigned website

I have redesigned my website to make it clearer and easier to use. The images are shown using Flash slide shows.

I have added more photographs from my Sipson project and removed some of the older galleries.

Sipson portraits

The Middlesex village of Sipson is under threat of demolition due to the proposed third runway at Heathrow airport. The formal announcement about the new runway is due this month. As part of my project to document Sipson, I have recently completed portraits of some of the long-standing residents. You can see these images in a slide show on my website at www.peterspurgeon.com

Landscape Photography talk

On the 4th November I gave a talk on landscape photography to Kings College Photographic Society. I was invited back after giving a talk last year on photographic series. I began by mentioning some photographers whose work has influenced me: -

I visited an exhibition of Ansel Adams' work in Oxford this year. This image stood out for me. I like the simplicity and the symmetry.

•Edward Weston conveyed the essence of his subjects using simple graphic compositions: -

•Andreas Gursky's large format prints convey patterns of groups of people in landscapes and artificial settings: -

•Simon Norfolk uses conventional landscape photography techniques to produce seductive images of war-torn locations: -

Former tea house in a park in Afghanistan. Balloons were illegal under the Taliban.

•Edgar Martins makes large format images of places that appear to be 'in-between' other places. His photographs often lack normal visual reference points and can have an 'other-wordly' quality.


I then spoke about basic techniques such as composition, exposure and focus. I used some of my medium format images Iceland as examples.

Whilst more commercial landscape photography often makes use of the rule of thirds e.g. placing the horizon at the top horizontal third, a more contemporary approach is to place the horizon at the centre. See image below.

This approach creates an image which is more about the subject, and less about making an 'impressive' or 'dynamic' photograph by using exaggerated perspective. In the following image, the horizontal thirds are used but the subject is centred rather than placed on the left or right third: -
I particularly like to represent the essence of something by isolating it and by not including anything that shows scale: -
Here use of a standard lens gives a perspective similar to human vision and conveys the sense of space and emptiness of the location: -

London Independent Photography annual exhibition

The London Independent Photography annual exhibition is currently on at Cotton's Atrium on the riverside close to London Bridge, SE1 2QE. It is open daily 7.00am-9.00pm with Free Admission. The exhibition was curated by Clare Grafik (curator at The Photographers' Gallery) and Paul Hill FRPS MBE (photographer, journalist, author and teacher).

http://www.londonphotography.org.uk/exhibitions/LIP20Annual/

I saw most of the pictures at the hanging and there are some excellent images. 2 photographs from my current project to document Sipson, a village threatened by the proposed third runway at Heathrow airport, were selected.

You can purchase the exhibition catalogue here:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/390144

Iceland film clip

Here is a short preview of some of the high definition footage I shot in Iceland: