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Taking Care During Lockdown for Professional Photographers in Edinburgh and Scotland
Hi All
During this lockdown, as professional photographers we have all had to find ways to keep ourselves occupied. As a corporate, event and fine art photographer working in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland, I also think it is important to keep your creative side flowing. Of course the lockdown also means that you are limited to photographing outwith your own area. Now the advantage of this is that you can perfect photographing in your local area under different weather conditions and with different gear, experimenting all the time, while at the same time keeping creative. The disadvantage is that you may start taking risks as you try out new things. This was the case last weekend when I went out on an infrared photoshoot in my home town of Dunbar in East Lothian. I went to the harbour and decided to climb on to an embankment which was full of abandoned materials and fences etc. Through this vantage point I was able to get a good view of the birds nesting in the rocks, however I wasn't looking carefully and I walked into a metal fence lying on the ground and severely damaged my leg. This caused a trip to the minor injuries clinic and if an infection occurs I may have to visit the hospital. So the moral of the story is, take care and whilst you want to get the best possible photos, adhere to safety regulations. I will probably have to slow down, as I am not 21 anymore. So after having provided you with this advice, will it change the way I behave in these situations, time will tell. In the meantime, I will leave you with a photo taken on that fateful day.
Until next time.
Colin
www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk
www.edinburghphotographer.com
Storm over Dunbar
Wave Photography Dunbar East LothianWave photography by professional corporate, event and fine art photographer Colin Wright, Edinburgh, Scotland
storm at Dunbar by landscape and corporate photographer Edinburgh, Colin Wright
Junior football Midlothian
Midlothian Advertiser, Newtongrange Star v Camelon, junior footballMidlothian Advertiser, Newtongrange Star v Camelon, junior football
Midlothian Advertiser, Newtongrange Star v Camelon, junior football by professional corporate and event photographer Colin Wright
Coming out of lockdown for professional corporate and event photographers in Scotland
Hi Everyone
As a professional photographer working in corporate and event photography mostly in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland and the North of England, I have I have been severely affected by the Covid 19 situation, given that corporate conference events have all been cancelled and there is little hope new events will be organised this year. However, what can we do as photographers, especially as there are now signs that we are coming out of the lockdown and there will be some movement. Here are the things we can do in the meantime:
1. Try and get some part time work if possible but make sure it is only part-time and short term, it is important to keep your focus
2. Keep up with Social Media and website updates, this is important, as you need your site to be noticed as soon as work is available
3. Pursue any projects you have always wanted to do, especially if they involve photographing things locally, I have been taking a lot of infrared photos recently and intend to continue with my aim of publishing a book on infrared photography in Scotland.
4. Keep in touch with other photographers, to keep creative
5. Keep an eye out for training online, particularly free training if you are a photoshop user
6. Try to prepare for areas of photography that could be re-introduced. I am also a sports photographer and some events may be re-introduced soon
7. Try and branch out into new areas where there could be income potential, ie online sales, or new areas of photography that may be more possible in the early stages of coming out of lockdown
8. Try and keep motivated, photography is a great way to help avoid depression, it has certainly helped me through dark times
9. Get to know your gear more more, read the boring manual and watch videos online. We all only use a small percentage of our camera's potential
10. Keep taking photos, no matter how bad things get
Hope that helps,
Kind Regards
Colin
www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk
www.edinburghphotographer.com
The Editing Dilemma For Professional Photographers in Scotland
Hi Everyone
As a professional fine art, corporate and conference photographer in Edinburgh and around Scotland I am accustomed to all the wonderful innovative software that is available for photographers nowadays, however I think there is a line that needs to drawn. So for this blog, I have decided to have a discussion about editing, both its uses and the future of manipulation in general. All photographers have faced this dilemma before and we have all discussed it with each other. When expressing some reservations about over manipulation, a photographer once said to me “but you are an infrared photographer, which is a surreal photographic genre”. My answer was that infrared light is already present and it is only the naked eye that is unable to detect it. Also, I tend only to swap the colour channels, spending very little time on editing the images. Still on the subject of landscape photography in Scotland, I personally feel that swapping skies, or backgrounds is a step too far. The scene in front of you simply hasn’t ever existed and is just digital graphic at best. Part of landscape photography is capturing the moment and the atmosphere, so creating a non existent image is far removed from that description. There are also some portrait photography software companies that over-manipulate the photos. I won’t mention any names, changing the shape and look of a human being to excess is not a photograph, let’s keep it moderate, without overly digitising the image. If you are spending ages on one photo, you probably haven’t taken a good one. Don’t get me wrong, I use photoshop and particularly like the On One software and Nik filters but I also feel we have to protect the profession and keep it real.
We can discuss his in more detail later, so until next time, take care and stay safe.
Kind Regards
Colin
www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk
www.edinburghphotographer.com