World Skills Event
About a month ago I was selected to go to London with the dancers from my college to photograph them perform as well backstage hair and makeup. I actually thought it would be quite easy but boy I was wrong! After a seven hour journey all the way to London on a coach, We arrived at Excel London for the rehearsals late evening.
This was my chance to figure out their dance routine and get into the best position to photograph them and also get used to the lighting. I had a standard lens for wide angle shots, and my zoom in case I couldn’t get to the front of the stage! That’s something I advice to everyone, always be prepared because you don’t actually know the circumstances you will be under until you get to the place. I had packed my 16GB Card, 2 camera batteries, battery charger, Flash gun and extra Duracell batteries. These are the essentials one will need when on a job. At the rehearsals I realized that the lights always changed to different colours, this made it very hard to determine what settings I needed to put my camera on and where to point the flashgun or how to conclude the strength of the flash, however I had practiced and of course some were just complete fails and some turned out well, therefore I was quite confident for the next day when the dancers would perform live, but I had only one chance to capture the perfect few shots as they would only perform once. As a photographer we need to be organized and ready to go, if not imagine trying to screw on a different lens or change the settings constantly, we would miss the whole performance and before we know it it’s over and time to go home. It was critical for me to capture the action and only click at certain points rather than click continuously hoping to get a good shot as that normally results in having 100’s of photos and only a few that are worth keeping.
This was my chance to figure out their dance routine and get into the best position to photograph them and also get used to the lighting. I had a standard lens for wide angle shots, and my zoom in case I couldn’t get to the front of the stage! That’s something I advice to everyone, always be prepared because you don’t actually know the circumstances you will be under until you get to the place. I had packed my 16GB Card, 2 camera batteries, battery charger, Flash gun and extra Duracell batteries. These are the essentials one will need when on a job. At the rehearsals I realized that the lights always changed to different colours, this made it very hard to determine what settings I needed to put my camera on and where to point the flashgun or how to conclude the strength of the flash, however I had practiced and of course some were just complete fails and some turned out well, therefore I was quite confident for the next day when the dancers would perform live, but I had only one chance to capture the perfect few shots as they would only perform once. As a photographer we need to be organized and ready to go, if not imagine trying to screw on a different lens or change the settings constantly, we would miss the whole performance and before we know it it’s over and time to go home. It was critical for me to capture the action and only click at certain points rather than click continuously hoping to get a good shot as that normally results in having 100’s of photos and only a few that are worth keeping.
The trip was tiring but I have to admit it was a great experience and I met some wonderful people, I also learnt that being a “photographer” means having back ache constantly because camera equipment is just way to heavy! No matter what you do or where you go always be prepared, because you never know whats going to happen or circumstances may change.
Some of you saw the previous Video of the photo shoot we did with Holly. These are the final photos, I wanted the atmosphere to be quite cold and airy in the photos and i hope i have portrayed that, i didn't feel the need to edit them allot as i liked it quite natural.
I hope you liked them, See you Next Friday !
Frozen Vanity xox
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I think the last three photos are amazing , like always great job :D
ReplyDeleteI really like this post :D
ReplyDeleteyou'er creative..
I loved all the shots especially 7,8,11,16
keep going sis