Specialist Location Unit 31

For My Specialist location task I choose an upcoming Holy Communion that I had been asked to photograph, this way I could get paid for doing my homework.

I started my planning by first doing some research.  I have never been to a Holy Communion before so research was a must.  I searched the Internet for information on how the day would go.  I asked friends and family then looked at photos and gathered some ideas.  Some of these images I have uploaded below.  I knew what gear I would be taking as I've photographed similar events but I had a look anyway.  The gear for weddings would do perfectly for this job since the ceremony would take place in a Church and then the after party would be in a club.


Gear
  • D5100
  • D3100 (Backup)
  • 50mm 1.8
  • 18-135mm 3.5-5.6
  • 18-55mm 3.5-5.6
  • 55-200mm 4-5.6
  • SD cards 24 Gigabytes Reliable branded In my case I used Sandisk as they are known for their reliability
  • 4 x Batteries
  • Lens Cleaning tools
  • Easy to access camera bags
  • Mobile phone

Below are 3 photos of Holy Communions taken by other photographers.







There are not a lot of professional or famous photographers that I could research, but shots like these three are very common and I will be taking a few similar shots, but mostly I'll try to do something different.  
These photos will help me in my actual work because I can now see some of the ceremony and have an idea of what to expect. 
Joe Buissink

I chose to do my main research on one of the best photographers in the world he captures the moment like nobody else.  I love his work because you can clearly see he loves it and that shows in his images.  
His name is Joe Buissink a photographer, author and he also teaches his work.  He lives in America and is so well known for his work that the stars often ask him to capture their special days.  The moment I saw his pictures I fell in love with his style.  In a lot of his images you will see that there is a lot of noise, this is not a mistake and looks to me like some or all of the noise is added in post production software.  I'm not totally sure about that, but thats what I think.  Most of his best work is captured on a film camera, again I think this I'm not totally sure since he doesn't say anywhere.  The noise for me makes the picture look beautiful especially when they are converted to black and white or a similar process, the reason I like them so much is that when you take pictures inside you're bound to get noise since there is not a lot of available light and in most cases in churches you can not use flash or control the lighting so a high ISO is often needed.  The client might not understand this so having all your pictures noisey and the client knowing this is your style probably makes life a bit easier, as you can see from the images below he has made noise his friend and has shown me I don't have to be embarrassed because I don't have enough light, sometimes that is out of your control but you still need to take the picture or it will be lost forever! I've learnt from him that noise can be used as a tool and I am not so scared of taking the photos inside the church now!
Joe buissink  

 "Becoming a professional photographer was not something I chose.  
Photography more or less chose me."

In 2009, Joe published his first book along with co-author Skip Cohen, entitled, Wedding Photography from the Heart. His images have been featured in several other wedding books including, The Wedding Box, which was published in 2000 and, Jessica Simpson: I Do, Achieving your Dream Wedding, published in 2003.

Although a wedding photographer at heart, Joe is also committed to several personal causes and utilizes his talent in the photographic field to help increase the awareness level for various events.  In 2007, with Joe's assistance, The Help Group published the book Autism Heroes, a wonderful collection of images and interviews of families who have been touched by autism.  Joe is very connected to and supportive of the Autism community and spent the better part of two years working on this book.

Awards
Joe Buissink has been the recipient of several admirable awards and accolades over the years including the International Leadership Award in Photography by the International Photographic Council at the United Nations in 2003.  In 2004 Joe was commissioned to photograph the international ad campaign for Kodak's Portra film line. In 2005, he was selected as Apple's spokesperson for their new software program Aperture which was designed to enhance the digital workflow for the professional photographer.  
In 2006, Joe was officially announced as the newest inductee to Canon's exclusive Explorers of Light.  In 2007, American Photo magazine nominated Joe Buissink as one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the world and in 2009, a BBC television special selected Joe as one of the Top 5 Wedding Photographers in the World. 
His images have received countless awards from the WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) annual print and album competitions including several Grand Awards.  In 2013 Joe received the Lifetime Achievement Award from WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International).

His work continues to grace the covers and inside pages of several news, entertainment and industry magazines including People, In Touch, Us Weekly, InStyle Weddings, Grace Ormonde's Wedding Style, Photo District News, American Photo, Popular Photography and Rangefinder.
Joe's photography is about capturing the moments, and the essence of the person in those moments.  
His work redefines wedding photography, and has been described as "Fine Art" by his most notable celebrity clients.  Joe has also been commissioned by a number of prominent celebrities to photograph family portraits and other important events in their lives, including: 
  • Christina Aguilera
  • David Hyde Pierce
  • Fran Drescher
  • Greg Kinnear
  • Joel Silver
  • Kelsey Grammer
  • LeAnn Rimes
  • Martin Lawrence
  • Martin Luther King III
  • Ozzy Osbourne
  • Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw
  • Stevie Nicks
  • Tom Arnold
 A father and daughter dance one of the proudest and saddest moments in a father's life, not a photo that you would want to miss.  There's a tiny bit of movement on the bride but that just shows she isn't static and is dancing.











I love this picture as it reminds me not to forget what I like doing and that is to document the day not just to take posed photos this photo tells a story that a pose photo could not.


Alicia Brook
Photo of Alicia brooks with her husband and child





Alicia brooks lives in the USA and is best known for her wedding photography, she tries to make each wedding unique but at the same time sticking with her own style, I like her work because she is great at finding the best place and composition for each shot, she does pose shots but a lot of her work is documenting the day in her own unique style.  
I will take a lot from her images and try to be as creative as her. 

 Here are just some of her achievements. 



  •   Featured in Kodak Ad in Times Square


  •   Grand Award for Photojournalism and First Place for Wedding Photojournalism from WPPI



My Final 10 Images

The day did not go totally as planned but it went as well as needed.  The biggest mistake was presuming that everything would go as I planned, when in reality that is only a nice thought.  When we got there we thought it was best to ask the Priest if we were permitted to use flash,  his reply was that we could not, that was fine but he also said he would prefer if we would wait until the end of the ceremony before we took any photos, this was because in the past they had lots of parents standing up taking photos and that had ruined the day for others.  
I totally understood this as this communion was not just for my clients child as I thought, but for lots of children from her class.  He did say prefer so we did take some photos during the ceremony but we did this discretely from the back or the side without getting in anyone's way without flash and we didn't take many.  Another hindrance was that the church was packed, we did get there early but we wanted some pictures before she went in sitting on the bench waiting for her big moment, so when we actually got in, it was hard or impossible to find a spot, never mind a good one.  We did what we could and decided we would take the other photos after the ceremony had finished, but even then as soon as it had all the parents stood up there was a big queue to take pictures around the Altar.  We waited our turn and got some really nice ones once the church started to empty.  As the ceremony was now over, the Priest allowed us to use flash which was really helpful as the church was dimly lit.  We also took photos at the party afterwards and the the client was more than happy with all the photos she received and we have been booked my another member of the family to cover a wedding in August.
f5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO 800 

f3.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 400 

f5.6, 1/25, ISO 3200 

f2.8, 1/250 sec,  ISO 100

f2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 800

f2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 800 

f2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 800 

f2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 800 

 f2, 1/100 sec, ISO 400

f2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 250

This is 1 that I forgot to add to my final 10 but I think its a good shot so I have to add this now.

My aim was to try and deliver what my client asked of me and that was to document the day and also some posed pictures of her children.  I succeeded in doing so, although I could have done better if I was allowed to take photos of the ceremony, but that was out of my control, so all in all I think my photos are good but my planning and assumptions were not spot on and a real learning curve. 

The client received a CD with lots of photos as this is what she had asked for.  If I was going to improve anything its what I always try to do and that is my workflow as I do so many photos that sometimes I get snowed under, things are going really well now we have two computers and workflow has improved.


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1 comment:

  1. Unknown20 May 2013 at 08:13

    You have a clear idea of what is needed, can you find some old images and comment on them to support your research.

    ReplyDelete

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