Yep.
Everything is good at a school workshop. © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
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Is everything all right back there?
Posted in Education, Patrick Baldwin's Photography, Photography, Workshops
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Sara Baras: Flamenco dancer
This is the first time I have photographed flamenco. So I started at the top! Sara Baras is one of the finest flamenco dancers in the world and appeared at The Royal Albert Hall. The energy that she and her entire company displayed was extraordinary. It was all quiet passion punctuated with moments of sheer violence in the dancing. The speed of her footwork is astonishing. I was told she was carrying an injury. I’m not at all surprised but you would never have guessed from watching her. My Spanish friend and fellow photographer Marian Alonso was furiously jealous of me photographing her.
Photography at the Albert Hall has its own challenges. There are a lot of places where I can get into a great position for an image but almost invariably it is during an actual performance. As far as I am concerned if people have paid money to be there then I have no right to compromise their enjoyment by distracting them with my camera. With this in mind I am always as discreet as possible…as discreet as its possible to be while wearing three cameras with long lenses attached! I have never had any complaints yet. Actually a lot of people are quite interested in what I’m doing so I usually have to answer a few questions during intervals which I’m quite happy to do. Any noise from my cameras shutters was completely buried by the amplified sound of the shoes on the stage. It was like machine gun fire at times.
The image below was taken from the front at one end of the stage area about twenty feet away. Between me and her was an immovable object in the shape of a Buddha like security guard so I had to shoot either side of him chasing her round the stage with my 300mm lens.
Hopefully I captured some of her amazing passion.
Sara Baras © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dance, Dancers, Patrick Baldwin's Photography, Photography
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Images Without Borders
To quote from their site that says it as succintly as possible:
“Images without Borders provides stunning images from world class photographers working around the globe offered to the public at a special price for this project. All profits go directly to Doctors without Borders, less only the cost of printing.”
This initiative is designed to raise money for Doctors Without Borders also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres.
It is possible to buy prints that have been donated by the photographers with all profits being given to Doctors Without Borders.
Below is a slideshow of donated images so far. Clicking on your image of choice will take you to where it can be purchased as a print or as an iPhone image.
If you are viewing this post on an iPhone unfortunately you cannot see the slideshow but click on the links to see the galleries.
IMAGES FROM HAITI TODAY – Images by Images Without Borders
Posted in Charity, Photography
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Gone to the Dogs
The Call of The Wild performed by Central Drama School students in an adaptation by Blind Summit Theatre. I am always entranced when I photograph puppetry. If it is well done which this production is I find it really easy to suspend my disbelief. I think my dog Buddy would have found this particular show very interesting!
A dog looking for a fight in Central School of Speech and Drama's production of The Call of The Wild. © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Train travel with clouds from Central School of Speech and Drama's production of The Call of The Wild. © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Its dark in here…again
The Orientations Trilogy (2009-2010). © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved
1/60th sec f1.4 @ 8000 ISO. Camera: D700
This image is from a shoot I did for Border Crossings Theatre Company.
Its dark in here!
A photograph from Arthur Pita’s production “God’s Garden” at the Linbury Studio.
Taken at 1/13th sec f2.8 @ 2500 ISO without a tripod this shot would have been impossible to take handheld as little as eight years ago. The advancement of digital imaging combined with vibration reducing lens technology and cameras that can see in the dark without adding noise to the image make this kind of image an everyday possibility.
Diana Payne-Myers and José Manuel Figueira in Arthur Pita's "God's Garden". © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dance, Dancers, Patrick Baldwin's Photography, Photography
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Photography of Sir Donald Sinden
I spent an afternoon at the Garrick Club in London’s west end photographing Sir Donald Sinden. He was making a short film for the Garrick talking about all the amazing portraits of the members that adorn the walls. One hilarious anecdote after another tripped off his tongue. His career spans such a long golden age of theatre that his knowledge and stories give the impression of stretching back over 100 years. He is in rude health and is as sharp as a pin with perfect comedic timing all still intact.
My job was to photograph him and also the students from Central School of Speech and Drama who made up the audience for the film. Some of the American students present had very little idea who some of the older actors being discussed were and Sir Donald rubbed it in by encouraging them to keep up with their English lessons!
Academic Martin Wylde, centre, and three students listen to Sir Donald Sinden. © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Sir Donald Sinden. © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Sir Donald Sinden. © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Posted in Patrick Baldwin's Photography, Photography, Theatre
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Ballroom blitz
I am delighted to say I carried out my first commission for the Royal Albert Hall recently. I have photographed a lot there in the past but I was always working for a different client.
I got to photograph something that I always find amazing which is ballroom dancing. This event was the International Ballroom Dancing Competition which is staged there every year. My brief was to capture the event in the Albert Hall rather than cover the winners and so on.
It is the most fun I’ve had in ages.
As a technical note the first image below was shot at ¹⁄₂₀th sec @ f2.8 at 6400 ISO. It was dark in there! And in case anybody is wondering I am on top of my digital colour management:-)
A contestant watches her peers. © 2009 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Ballroom dancing in full swing. © 2009 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Posted in Dance, Dancers, Patrick Baldwin's Photography, Photography
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Joss Ackland
I had the pleasure of photographing one of Britain’s great actors, Joss Ackland, the other day. My first memory of him is when I was about 15! watching a thing on TV called “The Cres”. To meet him after all that time was a great pleasure. He was in conversation with Geoff Colman of Central School of Speech and Drama. It was so entertaining to listen to that I had to really concentrate on taking the pictures and not just sit there laughing at his anecdotes and stories. Did you know that the first American actor to burst through a set of French windows and ask “Anyone for tennis?” was Humphrey Bogart?!
Joss Ackland in conversation with Geoff Colman of Central School of Speech and Drama. © 2009 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Looking at Art
The other day I went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Shamefully this is the first time I’ve been there since going digital which is what made the visit so interesting. I always say to people if you want to learn about lighting visit an art gallery because all our photographic lighting comes from painting. Photographers even refer to Rembrandt lighting.
I was there with my assistant and we were being silly and pixel peeping. In other words just looking at pure technique and skill. It is an occupational hazard with photographers probably born out of insecurity that we look at other photographs at the microscopic level in order to, most likely, find fault with something that has no bearing at all on the image or has any impact on a non photographic viewer. Looking in this way made me realise a few things. One is that painters don’t do shallow focus in the way that photographers and cinematographers do. Everything is sharp front to back mostly. if it is soft it seems to be as a result of emphasis rather than a deliberate device to render something out of focus meaning the dress is more important than the dog so the dog gets less work than the dress. What this means is we get a very “present” image that stands out but is not a function of shallow focus. Our eyes don’t see with shallow focus. It’s only when we scan a photograph taken with that technique that we see it. To see it in real life we would have to build blurred tables to put in front of the television we are watching!
The other thing I noticed was the painting equivalent of over sharpening. The eyes on one painting were given so much emphasis that if the same were done in a photograph it would be rejected and laughed at. It was fascinating to look at the art with a new viewpoint and gave me a much greater understanding of the various techniques and quality of painting that was on show.
I think I can actually thank Photoshop for making me see things differently. My retouching barely has to extend beyond basic cloning and colour correction but occasionally I have to draw things in or put drinks in a glass and you are forced to confront how real you can make something look. It is pretty easy to tell when you have got it right but can be impossible to get it right in the first place. So Photoshop has refined my ability to draw and also my ability to see.
Below are examples of an image that had a drink put in a formerly empty glass and an image with shallow focus.
© Patrick Baldwin 2009. All rights reserved. Anthony Dowson and Daria Klimentova in English National Ballet's production of Manon.
© Patrick Baldwin 2008. All rights reserved. Central School of Speech and Drama. The Women.
After thinking about all this while looking at very representational art I then turned round and saw a wall full of Turners which were entirely blurred! But what great art.
Posted in Photography, Technical
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