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Wednesday 21 October 2009

First Open Workshop

A montage of images of me at work, ranging from 1994 to 2009

I'll be having my first ever open workshop on November 28th, 2009. The general themes will be photojournalism and street photography. It's going to be most suited to intermediate and advanced photographers, both amateur and professional. Although having done many workshops, lectures and presentations in the UK and abroad, this is the first ever open one, meaning anyone can book and pop along.

Part of the workshop is also a portfolio review, so if you think your work might benefit from some one to one attention, you can also book this.
I'll be showing some work from my 20 year career as a press photographer, answering any questions you may have and then getting down to the actual workshop, so make sure your batteries are charged and your cameras ready!

The business and booking side of things is being dealt by Ghene Snowdon, so visit the Photosocialise site to make bookings.
As it's a first and there's a recession, we've decided to keep it mega cheap. These prices will definitely never be repeated again, so if you're interested, do make a booking sharpish - places are limited and are booking up already!

To see a report from the workshop, click HERE.

Friday 16 October 2009

Kew's Seed Bank Hits 24,200 Species

Kew Seed Bank 2009 - Images by Edmond Terakopian

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership celebrates banking its 24,200th species, a Yunnan banana seed - a pink wild banana from China which is an important staple for wild Asian elephants (Musa itinerans). Royal Botanical Gardens Kew is celebrating collecting, banking and conserving 10% of the world's wild plant species. Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, Wakehurst Place, East Sussex. The seed is banked inside the vault which is kept at minus twenty degrees centigrade.

Must admit, I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment. Its astonishing to see the size of the project and how much has been achieved already. It still leaves 90% to be collected though, so visit their web site and see if you can help out.

At work with my 5D MkIIs and Think Tank Photo bag and pouches

Photographically speaking, I took a couple of Canon 5D MkII bodies and mostly used the 15mm f2.8 Fisheye, 16-35mm f2.8L II, 35mm f1.4L, 50mm f2.5 Macro and the 85mm f1.2L II.
What really surprised me was how well the cameras and lenses behaved, but more so the batteries; I was going from minus 20 degrees centigrade (which reached minus 30 near the coolers because of the wind chill) to hot and humid greenhouses and then back again to the arctic temperatures. After having shot over 1000 RAWs, both cameras' batteries showed full power! Astonishing.

Friday 2 October 2009

Focus on the Rainforest by Daniel Beltra

Press preview and soft opening of photographer Daniel Beltra's exhibition Focus on the Rainforest with The Prince’s Rainforests Project and Sony exhibition, Nash Conservatory, Kew Gardens, London. September 30, 2009.

Daniel Beltra, Focus on the Rainforest from Edmond Terakopian on Vimeo.

Winner of this year's Prince's Rainforests Project via the Sony World Photography Awards, Daniel Beltra, has his new exhibition is opening to the public from October 3rd to December 6th, 2009 at Kew Gardens. The theme is the project shot for the PRP, Focus on the Rainforest.


The exhibition is a collection of very graphical and interesting images from the Amazon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia, depicting deforestation around the world, and showing some of its effects to our environment.


Beltra's list of awards is impressive. He has two World Press Photo awards, winning Best of Photojournalism and International Photography/Lucie contests and is a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He has also won the Global Vision Award from the Pictures of the Year International contest, to name but a few. His career began by being a photojournalist in his native Spain and he has shown the same journalistic approach to documenting the state of our environment, concentrating on man's effects on it.
His love of nature and the environment drove him to freelance for Greenpeace for the past 20 years. He is represented by the prestigious Reportage by Getty Images.


The standard of photography is stunning, and only outdone by the versatility shown by Beltra's approach. Images taken from the air showing natural beauty and toxicity of the human condition are only matched by the sensitivity and respect shown to the subjects of his photographs on the ground. He is equally at home in the air with his Canon 100-400mm lens, as he is on the ground with a 24-70mm on his Canon 5D MkII.


I can't recommend this exhibition highly enough; definitely put aside some time and go and see it.

If you'd like to be kept up to date with his projects, become a fan on Beltra's fan page on FaceBook or visit his website and follow the blog link there.