Satellites: A Photographic Journey Through the Unknown Republics of Eastern Europe

June 24, 2009

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August 9, 2009

Norwiegan photographer Jonas Bendiksen explores regions of the former Soviet Union in this exhibition accompanying his new book of the same name. On display at the Sir John Soane-designed PM Gallery & House in Ealing, the images focus on former communist areas often overlooked by photo-journalism, such as Transdniester and Abkhazia. Bendiksen’s lens also captures spacecraft crash zones between Russia and Kazakhstan, the Jewish Autonomous Region of Far Eastern Russia and an unrecognised country on the Black Sea.

See directions to the gallery.

Tags: exhibitions, london, photography exhibition

Gerhard Richter Portraits Exhibition

February 26, 2009

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May 31, 2009

New exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.

Richter’s use of his own private photographs heralded, from the late 1970s, a body of portraits connected with his inner circle of family and close friends. Such intimate subjects and personal themes seem, at first, to stand in stark contrast to the impersonal nature of his early work but Richter’s recent portraits continue to explore the preoccupations that have been present from the outset, being both open to the viewer’s gaze, yet impenetrable. Though personal, there is a sense that these portraits remain, as Richter has observed, a ’semblance’.

Tags: exhibitions, gerhard richter portraits, london, photography exhibition

Root Ginger: A Study of red hair by Photographer Jenny Wicks

February 17, 2009

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March 8, 2009

Ridiculed, coveted, derided, loved; a study and celebration of red hair comes to the Idea Generation exhibition gallery in London.

Idea Generation Gallery is pleased to present selected works from the book Root Ginger: A Study of Red Hair by the photographer Jenny Wicks. An exhibition, book and film project, Root Ginger is a tribute to a trait that is most common in Scotland and Ireland but is scattered around the world.

Gallery Opening times are: Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm, Saturday & Sunday 12 - 5pm.

Idea Generation Gallery, 11 Chance St, London. E2 7JB.

Tags: exhibitions, london, photography exhibition, root ginger

An Evening with the Stars

As part of the International Year of Astronomy, spend an hour star-gazing with astronomers at the Royal Observatory using their 28-inch telescope – the largest of its kind in the UK. Tickets, costing £11, also permit exclusive evening access to the astronomy galleries and the planetarium from 17:30-21.30.

Advanced booking is essential. Visit the Museum’s website to book online.

Tags: astronomy, exhibitions, greenwich

What Digital SLR

What Digital SLR

Beginner Level

“What is this DSLR thing about then?”

DSLRs are a great way to be in control of your photography and to get involved more seriously. They offer interchangeable lenses (really a must if you mean business) and allow for full manual control over your shooting. To start with, I’d really recommed three brands here - Nikon, Canon and Olympus.

Nikon’s budget offering for the beginner is the D40 - an excellent low-cost 6-megapixel digital SLR that is compact yet quite capable. Still, if you’d like something newer with a few more megapixels then the Nikon D40X, or its recent replacement the D60, come into play. These two are great introductions to the world of Digital SLR Photography and will provide you with lots of features to play with. There isn’t much to choose between the D40X and the D60 as they’re both based on the same body and have the same 10-megapixel sensor - main improvements in the D60 are the introduction of a dust reduction system, an eye sensor to control display, and an AF-S silent motor kit lens.

Canon’s model range starts with the EOS 1000D, which is cheap as chips yet packed with features. It has everything you’d need of a Digital SLR including 10 megapixel sensor, 7-point AutoFocus system and even LiveView. One step up in the Canon range is the EOS 450D which has upgrades such as a couple of extra megapixels, larger screen, spot metering and better continuous shooting mode, all fitted in roughtly the same size body. Both of these are really excellent cameras that carry the Canon quality stamp and give you access to an excellent range of lenses.

Lastly I have to mention Olympus’ excellent E-420. This new E-System model boasts extreme user-friendliness in an amazingly light and compact take-anywhere form. It is really a great little camera that you need to pick up and play with to appreciate.

How to choose the perfect Digital SLR for you? Well there is no such thing as a perfect anything, but the models above do get pretty close. The choice between the top brands is really personal and down to what lenses you’re going to use as much as the look and feel of the camera.

Tags: camera buying guide, Digital Cameras, what digital camera, what digital slr

Nikon Coolpix P90

Buy Nikon P90

Outstanding 12.1 megapixel camera with super-zoom. Nikon P90’s 24x zoom lens with 26 mm wide-angle capability lets you capture impressive wide-angle and super-telephoto shots, and you can focus from infinity to as close as 1 cm in Macro mode.  The large 3-inch vari-angle LCD monitor on the Nikon Coolpix P90 can be tilted through 180 degrees to allow for easy viewing from the hip or from above. Advanced exposure modes offer greater control over your photography and you can enhance the vibrancy of images taken under difficult conditions with the powerful Quick Retouch function. The Nikon P90 – unbeatable compositional freedom.

Mark Pekelharing, Product Manager Consumer Products at Nikon Europe: “This camera demonstrates Nikon’s devotion to camera enthusiasts. The amazingly powerful 24x zoom, 3.0-inch LCD screen with vari-angle tilt function, vibration reduction, and high sensitivity make the Nikon Coolpix P90 a no-compromise bridge between a compact camera and a D-SLR.”

Nikon P90 with 3-inch vari-angle LCD monitor

The generous 3-inch vari-angle LCD monitor with anti-reflection coating can be tilted up by as much as 90 degrees, or down by as much as 45 degrees.

Nikon Coolpix P90 Key Features

• Nikkor wideangle 24x zoom lens with super-telephoto capability. (35mm equivalent: 26 - 624mm.)
• 12 megapixel resolution.
• Smart portrait system:  advanced automatic features for perfect portraits. Smile Mode takes the shot when your chosen subject smiles. Blink Warning alerts you when someone had their eyes closed.
• Advanced Face Priority AutoFocus with in-camera Red-eye Fix lets you quickly detect and focus accurately on up to 12 faces in the frame, and corrects red eye.
• 4x anti-blur automatically counters blurred images in four different ways. Sensor-shift Vibration Reduction reduces the effect of camera shake. High ISO (up to 6400) light sensitivity reduces the risk of blurred images with fast-moving subjects or in low-light. Motion detection compensates for camera and subject movement. Best Shot Selector automatically selects the sharpest of up to 10 sequential shots.
• Exposure Modes for greater creative control. Programmed Auto (P), Shutter-priority Auto (S), Aperture-priority Auto (A) and Manual (M).
• High-speed continuous shooting with pre-shooting cache: shoot up to 45 continuous shots at 15 fps. Nikon Coolpix P90 gives you the option to press the shutter halfway and record the moments that take place before you press the shutter fully, so that you never have to worry about being a second too late again.

Tags: camera, Digital Cameras, nikon, nikon p90

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2008

November 6, 2008

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February 15, 2009

UPDATE: 2009 EXHIBITION NOW ON

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2008 showcases the work of the most talented emerging young photographers, photography students and gifted amateurs alongside that of established professionals.

This year’s competition attracted over 2,500 photographers who together submitted more than 6,700 images. The resulting exhibition of sixty works, includes the four prize-winners and the winner of the Godfrey Argent Award, which this year goes to the photographer who submitted the best portrait in black and white.

Through editorial, advertising and fine art images, the mix of international entrants have explored a range of themes, styles and approaches to the contemporary photographic portrait, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate moments capturing friends and family.

Featuring many images previously unpublished, the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2008 represents a unique opportunity to see some of the most exciting contemporary portrait photographers working today.

Now on at the National Portrait Gallery.

Tags: exhibitions, london

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition

October 31, 2008

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April 26, 2009

See the winning images of this year’s competition in the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition online or at the Natural History Museum in London. The competition, run by the museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine, attracted more than 32,000 entries from 82 countries.

The picture above is by Yongkang Zhu: ‘To photograph the swans in their environment meant I had to endure the same conditions - snowstorms and high winds that roll the snow across the flat land in great waves. The storm was so bitter I wished I could have escaped along with the swans.’ Every winter, huge flocks of whooper swans migrate from the far north of Europe and Asia to warmer lowlands. The Rongcheng Swan Lake nature reserve in eastern China is a major overwintering sanctuary for whooper swans. But even here, when the fresh water freezes, the birds are forced to feed in the fields, digging through the snow for grass. Yongkangused Canon EOS 20D + Sigma 300-800mm f5.6 lens at 300mm; 1/1250 sec at f6.3; ISO 200; tripod.

Tags: exhibitions, london

Waterproof Digital Cameras

Choosing A Digital Camera For Underwater Photography

The underwater world is full of wonderful serene scenes making us wonder at nature and why species bothered evolving out of the sea. Seeing its beauty is one thing, but capturing it on camera can be tough. Well, not really. The pictures above, for example, are not fancy commercial photos, but rather amateur shots using budget Sealife gear. There are two routs really to shooting underwater - getting yourself a waterproof digital camera or waterproof casing for your current model. Pros and the unevitable cons of both are underlined below.

Waterproof Cameras

These are specifically built cameras for underwater photography. There are no fiddly casings to mess with, the camera is ready for the dive, but on the flip side it is not that great on land. The Sealife Reefmaster pictured below is a great little waterproof digital camera with a depth rating of 40m and is perfect for all those expeditions to the beach or sea.

Waterproof Camera Casings

Alternatively, if you have a digital camera that you prefer and love, you can buy a waterproof casing for it to take it diving with  you. This housing provides rubbery waterproofness typically down to 40 metres and easy to use big bright buttons. On the downside, you can always forget to pack your casing when going away, plus they’re not suited to more serious depths, but apart from that they should help you have all the fun a dedicated waterproof camera would.

Loss of Picture Quality Underwater And The Use Of Flash

A big problem that underwater photographers face, apart from unfriendly marine life and wild hairdos, is the extreme loss of colour and contrast at depth. This is due to colours such as red and orange being easily absorbed by water, which is why the sea appears so blue and green.

One way to solve this is to cut the distance to your subject, ideally to under one metre, as this will minimise the colour loss. You can even use wide angle lenses to get really close. Another way is to use flash, either your built-in one or a dedicated off-camera unit, which will fill-in the scene with a full spectrum of colour.

Tags: buying guide, camera, compact, digital, underwater, waterproof digital cameras

Soho Nights

December 6, 2008

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February 8, 2009

This project celebrates the energy and excitement of the Soho area in London after-dark. Bringing together two archives, the iconic British magazine Picture Post and the film maker Ken Russell’s series at the legendary Cat’s Whiskers coffee bar.

Soho frequently featured in Picture Post. With its theatre, cabaret, cafés and clubs it was an exciting centre for entertainment, art and youth culture. Stories such as The Making of a Glamour Girl by Tim Gidal and Kurt Hutton, Excitement in the Making by Thurston Hopkins and Blue Heaven in the Basement by Slim Hewitt caught the pace and excitement of Soho night-life.

The photographs of Ken Russell (UK, b.1927) captured the birth of the ‘hand jive’ at the Cat’s Whiskers coffee bar in 1956. This venue attracted such big crowds that there was no room to move and so hand gestures replaced conventional dancing. The atmospheric scenes these photographs portray give us a glimpse of night-time Soho as it once was.

Now on at the Photographers’ Gallery.

Tags: exhibitions, london