Tom Jackson Revisits

Tom jackson (sigh at those blue eyes) came to visit again, he was running a lighting studio workshop and basically gave us these great tips of what to work with when you have nothing to work with! 

1. For the first set up it was a basic one light set up, I held a white piece of polystyrene as a reflector to fill in the shadows showing that you can utilize the environment around you. 
2. We then chose an image by Terry Richardson and tried to get the same lighting effect as he achieved. The set up creates a harsh light as we used a light has no hood on, if you want to make it more subtle you can drop the stop by one or two points. 
3. We then recreated a lighting style by David Simms which is a far softer light, experimenting with the getting the background black and grey as well made for some interesting shots. For this we bounced the light off the ceiling, we exposed for f11 but dropped it down to 8.5 to create a softer light. 
4. Next we were aiming to create an image with a black background so we brought Georgia, our model for this image, further away from the backdrop so the light would natural drop away not lighting up the background making it darker. Another way to get a darker background is to semi close the umbrella. 
5. Our last lighting style was experimenting with fill light, we used a silver umbrella to create a soft filling light to the darker side of the face. 

Guest Lecture: Tom Jackson

Tom Jackson is an editorial portrait photographer. After studying Editorial Photography in Brighton, Jackson moved to London and assisted photographers such as Rankin, David Sims and Jane Hilton. During his time assisting, he realised that what he was interested in photographing were people’s faces and characterful people.

His first solo commission was the WWF wrestlers for Times Magazine. This led to him being a regular photographer for the magazine. He says that the supplements are a great way to get into the industry. You get your work published, gain access to high-profile people and it gives you links to advertising agencies.

Jackson does a lot of personal projects that are then used in newspapers and magazines and leads to further work. Jackson says that agencies love to see personal work. They want to see your published work but what they will book you on is usually based on your personal work.

Key pieces of advice:

• Assist -> supplements -> more published work
• You don't need a studio
• Published work leads to more work
• They like to see your PERSONAL work
• two studio lights, the background can be a reflector!
• Plan ahead- do reccy's
• Join a photography agency!

Guest Lecture: Carol Sachs

Carol Sachs is a Brazilian photographer best known for her editorial photography.

Whilst studying Graphic Design in Brazil she started photographing, mainly documentary. One of her first major series’ was on the Circus. She found these images reflected her emotional state at that point in time.

Sachs left education wanting to pursue a career in documentary photography. She moved to London and it was here that she read the book The Photograph as Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton, which opened her mind to the different styles of photography.

During this time she photographed portraits of her friends, which she continued when she moved to New York for six months. It was here that she started shooting in colour and didn’t look back.

She did an internship at a photographer’s agency.

• Emotional State reflects the work you produce
• "Dont think about 'career-ism' for a while"
• Develop your own style first then sell it
• "If something is really 'in' and you follow it, then you're easily 'out'"
• It take time- dont copy others- be unique
• DON'T compare yourself to others
• Lived as an immigrant; lots of hello's & goodbye's
• She pinpoints what is that works in her images; the SILENCE.
• The image and the concept need to work together
• Try to show something more than just the person
• You have to ALWAYS be doing personal work
• Bring the 'experience' to travel magazines
• She uses Canon 5D mark III and a 1.8 70mm-205mm lens
• No flashguns
• She doesn't keep in mind room for text

On Visual portfolios she had some great advice;

• Simple, clean website is essential
• All images to be the same size
• Don't show everything
• First page has to be a clear definition of what you do
• Only include stuff you're really proud of

Guest Lecture: Simon Buckley

Simon Buckley is a photographer working in many fields including studio portraiture, reportage and travel. He is currently running the website Road, Rail & Sea - a website aimed at selling holidays and experiences to people that do not want to fly. 

He gave lots of good tips during his lecture such as:

• Be self confident with your ideas and what you are asking for
• Observe EVERYTHING

• We all have a little bit of arrogance

• For editorial portraits you get limited time so keep lighting and ideas simple
• ASSIST
• "They don't know what they want until you don't give it to them"

• In regards to interviews, never interrupt the interview, always listen to the questions and answers, ask to take the portrait after the interview and photograph in a way that will be relevant to the interview
• Silence is usually a good sign
• Give yourself 5 minutes after the shoot to calm down
• Keep lighting simple (but experiment with different techniques)

• Always try and get your foot in the door through networking

• Build up personal project portfolios as this could get you jobs in other fields of photography that you are not currently working in

• Think about the type of job - if it is editorial, where are the words going to go? Where will the headline sit on the image?

Advice on portfolios:

• Good to have digital and print
• Keep it simple, fresh and updated
• Between 15 to 20 images