Pictures Of The Decade

I'm pleased to share the news that the Press Association (PA) have named one of my pictures from the London bombings as one of the ten news pictures of the decade. My thanks go to one of our industry's top picture editors Martin Keene at PA for including my image in his selection. I'd also like to extend my thanks to Phil Coomes for featuring this on the BBC's excellent blog on photography, Viewfinder.

What Would You Do If You Won The Lottery?

It's a question often asked by people. Sometimes the answers are more predictable but occasionally they are completely unique and full of character. To mark the 15th anniversary of the National Lottery, I had the pleasure of photographing 15 lottery winners who have spent some of their winnings on the quirky to the life-changing. Its been a fascinating journey that has taken me all over England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and all the way to Canada. The shooting of the project took around five months, sometimes spending days getting to location. Its been an absolute joy to do, and I'd just like to send a big thanks to all who helped from the Camelot press office, and the kindness and patience shown by all my photographic subjects.

Meredith Davies from Carmarthenshire won £2,069,730 in October 2004. He set up a stud farm with around 25 Welsh Cobb ponies for £100,000. Photographed with his partner Kate Chester.

The project will be exhibited at the Fulham Palace Gallery from November 14 to 22 (check the gallery's opening hours, on their web site). The exhibition is spread across two huge rooms with some of the images being printed by Metro Imaging to over 2 meters across. Its going to be well worth seeing.

Technically speaking, I decided to carry identical kit to all the shoots. This would help keep the same flavour across the shots. I packed everything into a ThinkTank Photo Airport International, including a Change-Up and Skins pouches to use when on location. Camera kit consisted of two Canon 5D MkII bodies (5D for the first shoot as I didn't have the Mark II yet!). Lenses were the Canon 15mm f2.8, 16-35mm f2.8L II, 35mm f1.4L, 85mm f1.2L II and the 70-200mm f4L IS. Looking through the images, it looks like my favoured lenses were the 16-35mm and 85mm.

Sue & Peter Busby from East Yorkshire won £1,660,769 as part of the Tesco syndicate who scooped £18,268,465 in July 2005. They purchased a luxury, top of the range Lunar caravan for £14,500. With their dog Jasper by the shore of Derwentwater, Northern Lake District. Keswick Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Keswick, Cumbria.

The many thousands of RAW images, occupying many gigabytes of storage were backed up across several drives, including the brilliant Sonnet Fusion D800 and in the 'cloud', giving me peace of mind. All the editing, captioning, colour corrections, raw conversions and output were done on Apple's Aperture and finishing touches added on Nik Software's Viveza and Sharpner Pro 3.0. The ultimate compliment came from master printer John Cleur at Metro Imaging when he said that the files looked great and needed very little work done to them before printing!

Thea Bristow, who won £15 million in July 2004, features in this landmark exhibition and is pictured flying over her 13-acres of woodland – a purchase which meant the land was saved from housing development. Over 300 new trees have been planted and a walkway built through the woodland before it is opened up for the public to enjoy.

So, don't forget to check out the exhibition from November 14 to 22 at Fulham Palace Gallery, Fulham Palace, Bishop’s Avenue, London, SW6 6EA.

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.

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.

Conflict Photography

How does one cover a conflict? The conventional way is to show either frontline action with soldiers or the effects it has on human life by photographing death and suffering of people caught up in the conflict. Both, very powerful ways of documenting our inhumanity.

I came across a third way, which had I not seen it, but only been described the method, I would have automatically have suggested that it would not work. It was of the remains of war and specifically the places, or spaces which are abandoned as war settles in and destroys.

Furniture is seen in the living room of a house that was damaged during the Hezbollah-Israel summer war 2006, in Bint Jbeil, south of Lebanon.

The project is called Abandoned Spaces by photographer Dalia Khamissy. I first saw the project at her presentation at Photo Forum in London. It was a unique and surprisingly emotional look at the Lebanon war of 2006. The reason I say emotional is because there isn't a single person in the photographs, but the spaces which they have left abandoned, destroyed by bombs and gunfire, speak so much about who they were and how they lived during happier and more sedate times.

You can see the project HERE and there is an interesting article on her work HERE.

Miss England 2009

Miss England 2009
Originally uploaded by edopix

Here's a quick post to let you know that I have posted a selection of images from the Miss England 2009 contest. You can find a small edit on my Flickr page and also a much larger edit with opportunities to buy prints and downloads for publishing on my Photoshelter page.

It was an interesting job lasting two days; a day of rehearsals followed by another morning of rehearsals and the evening's competition. Surprisingly tiring though. I shot the rehearsals with a couple of Canon 5D MkII bodies, 16-35mm f2.8L II, 35mm f1.4L, 85mm f1.2L II, 135mm f2. When the contest began I added a Canon 1D MkIII and a 70-200mm f2.8L lens. All the spare lenses were carried in a ThinkTank Photo Skins pouch set attached to a Belly Dancer harness. Made the job so much easier!

The hardest thing was to get natural shots of the contestants when they were off stage. They have been taught to be so aware of the camera that they would immediately pose. After a while though, as they became bored, it became easier and I managed a few nice candid moments.

The 5D MkII surprised again; the light backstage was so dim, that I thought even with my f1.2 and f1.4 lenses I was going to struggle; as you can see, the camera helped me make some rather nice images. Amazing.

From the Upper Deck

253 to Euston

Every once in a while I come across a project or a set of pictures that stops me in my tracks. This is one of those instances. I first became aware of Przemek Wajerowicz images through Twitter; he started following me and after looking through his posts, I followed him back. He has a great blog with new pictures every day.

9 to Aldwych

Its a genius idea, and as with all genius ideas, its so simple. He photographs from the upper deck of the buses in London. Its such a great idea, and even more so, a great set of photographs. His eye is for the obscure and quirky; I definitely recommend you have a look through his work; do pay close attention though as there's usually something very subtle going on within the frame too.

36 to New Cross

When I asked him to send me a short biography, all he had to say was "I am just an ordinary guy who takes photos". Well, they are superb! In the 'about' section of his web site he describes this work as "Only a sketch pad of ongoing photography project. All photos were taken with 50mm lens".

If the Mayor of London's office had any sense, they would approach him immediately to exhibit his work and also start using his beautiful imagery to promote the bus service (Come on Boris!).

I'd go even as far as saying that Przemek is like a modern day Henri Cartier-Bresson on the busses.

The Press Photographer's Year Winners Announced

PPY (Press Photographer's Year) have announced this years winners.

View the PPY Winning & Selected Images Slideshow

A big congratulation to all the authors of the chosen works and specially to the author of the Photograph of the Year, the biggest accolade given in the competition, Rosie Hallam.

I'm happy to say that one of my images, a shot of Barack Obama, has made it into the "Selected" photographs (its number 108 in the slideshow).

A big congratulations also to the winner of the Multimedia section, Abbie Trayler-Smith, who's audio slideshow can be viewed below:

Still Human Still Here; Refused asylum seekers in the UK. from Anna Stevens on Vimeo.

The exhibition opens at the National Theatre's Lyttleton Foyer on July 4 and will continue until August 31st.

Its Fashion Darling!

Its Fashion Darling! from Edmond Terakopian on Vimeo.

Photo slideshow of several years of work from London Fashion Week.

Technical Notes:
Photos were edited and processed using Aperture. Audio was put together using Soundtrack Pro and the slideshow was done on Final Cut Pro.

You can see all of the photographs used in this Flickr set.

Images On Flickr

Just a quick note to let you all know that I'm now also posting my images onto Flickr.

For professional purposes and ordering prints, my Photoshelter site is still the one to use, but for browsing pictures and leaving comments, do check out my Flickr page.

New FaceBook Fan Page

FaceBook & Twitter are a great way of keeping in touch and networking, both in a professional and a social sense.

I've just set up a FaceBook page HERE for anyone who's interested in my work. There are already seven projects on-line to look at and I'll be updating it with more photographs as time goes on.

Please feel free to pass on the link to anyone who is interested in photography, journalism and technology. So, swing by and click the "Become a Fan" button. From time to time I'll be sending out updates on my work and also any news which will be interesting. Cheers :-)

Beltra Wins Prince's Rainforests Project Award

Fires burn the Amazon rainforest to clear the ground for cattle or crop farming in Sao Felix Do Xingu municipality in Para State, Brazil, August 13, 2008. Photo: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace

Congratulations to Daniel Beltra for winning the Prince's Rainforests Project Award. I've had the pleasure of knowing Daniel for over three years now and a nicer and more dedicated photographer you could not find.

Daniel Beltrá, is announced as the winner of The Prince’s Rainforests Project (PRP) Award at this year’s Sony World Photography Awards Gala ceremony in Cannes, France on Thursday 16 April 2009. 

 

The Spanish photographer, now based in Seattle, beat off stiff competition from some of the world’s finest environmental photographers to win a fully-funded assignment to document three rainforest regions of the world. On behalf of The Prince’s Rainforests Project and Sony Eco, he will travel through the rainforest nations over the course of three months.  

Daniel Beltra on a recent assignment in the Amazon.

The Prince’s Rainforests Project (PRP), founded by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, recognises the global role played by rainforests in climate change and aims to achieve consensus about how the rate of deforestation might be slowed and stopped. There is a growing awareness of the need to urgently protect the world’s rainforests, their people and their resources. The project is working alongside other governmental and non-governmental initiatives to find a solution to deforestation for the rainforests nations, with the aim of making the trees worth more live than they are 

dead. The project is also working to inform and engage public interest on this subject, collecting mass support to make rainforests central to any future climate change strategy.  

In a video message at the awards night, HRH The Prince of Wales, said: “Photographic imagery can tell a compelling story about the truth of the situation and, the truth is, if we lose the fight against tropical deforestation, then we lose the fight against climate change.” 

 

Daniel Beltrá, on the announcement of his award, commented: ”Winning The Prince's Rainforests Project category at the Sony World Photography Awards is a tremendous honour. It is an incredible opportunity to work as part of a team of the most qualified professionals that are focused in protecting the world's tropical rainforests. Tackling their destruction is one of the most effective ways to combat carbon emissions and global warming. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales’ leadership in this matter is an example to all of us. I hope the photos I produce will make a strongly persuasive argument for the urgent preservation of the world's tropical rainforests.” 

 

Well known for his environmental and conservational photography, for the last twenty years, Daniel Beltrá’s images of the rapidly changing planet have appeared in many of the world’s most prestigious magazines and newspapers. His photographic career began with the Spanish news agency, EFE, after which he became Gamma Agency’s correspondent in Spain. In 2001 he moved to the United States where his work is now represented by Reportage by Getty Images. Beltra has also freelanced with Greenpeace since 1990. 

 

Tom Stoddart, Chair of the PRP Award Judging Committee said: “For over two decades Daniel’s cameras have highlighted man’s devastating impact on the planet by depicting the destruction of ancient forests, peoples, oceans, species and the ozone layer.  His passion and talent to inform in tandem with his artistic eye, makes him the perfect recipient of this most prestigious and important award.” 

NG Infinite Photograph

National Geographic's infinite photograph which was made from over 300,000 pictures. Neat!

Norwegian "Pictures of the Year"

Some great photographs in the Norwegian Press Photographers' Club 2008 pictures of the year; definitely worth checking out.

Lights Almost On For Darkrooms?

Just saw a nice set of pictures by Richard Nicholson (via Ben Curtis' blog) on darkrooms, called "Last One Out, Please Turn On The Light". 

As I looked through the pictures, I found that my eyes were slightly teary and that I was thinking of a more magical time in photography. When I started out in local papers, I was shooting Tri-X, using D-76 and making my own hand prints. In fact I can still remember how amazing it was to see my first print coming up in the dev tray, in the darkroom at my art school....you just don't forget these things. Somehow, the sight of a print coming out of an inkjet printer just doesn't leave one with such fond memories or emotions.

I remember how I'd lock myself into the darkroom at around 9pm and eventually surface at around 4am having finally made the perfect print on Ilford Gallery paper. It was a place where magic was made, gossip was spoken, a place of refuge for journalists trying to hide from the news editor and a place where romances bloomed. A magical place indeed.

1000 Portraits

Thousand Portraits from Carlo Nicora on Vimeo.

Thousand Portraits

two photographers - one camera

one weekend - a thousand people

A neat project by Carlo Nicora and Eamon Lane, looks at 1000 faces of London.

Chase Jarvis Interview

Chase Jarvis' 5 Secrets for Exceptional Photographs from SilberStudios.Tv on Vimeo.

Commercial and editorial photographer, friend, diamond geezer and generally top man Chase Jarvis has an interesting interview on Photoshow (above).

There are also a few more interviews on his blog post. Do check them out folks.

One In Eight Million

The New York Times has a superb collection of multimedia stories called One in Eight Million by photographer Todd Heisler. 

The subjects of the stories are the unique and interesting characters of New York; its a weekly feature and one story is added every week.

Its very nicely done and well worth a look.

Palestinian Gaza Demo, London. January 10, 2009

Yesterday's Gaza Demo-Police Stupidity?

The crowd are herded towards the underpass tunnel

I covered the Palestinian Gaza demo yesterday and was astonished by the route chosen by the Police for the march. After the rally at Trafalgar Square, the march made its way to the Israeli embassy on High Street Kensington. I've been covering demos for over 19 years now and have never once seen a march involving many thousands of people taken into a tunnel (the underpass at Hyde Park Corner). As we were herded by the Police into the tunnel I knew it was a seriously bad idea. To make matters worst, nobody was allowed to use another route, so women and children, some in prams, were all pushed through the tunnel.

A distressed woman rushed away from the violence at the front

The problem was that there was a Police line at the front and surely enough when we were in the middle section, it all kicked off. Sadly I was several meters back so didn't see what happened. The protesters naturally said that for no reason the Police started to strike the floor with their batons and then began to hit people in the front of the march. I would think that there must have been a provocation as I saw wooden sticks being thrown over my head towards Police lines. I heard one fleeing woman shout that stones were being thrown at the Police.Whatever the reason, this resulted in a mild stampede and the crowd in front of me suddenly turned around and began to run. Screaming and panic ensued. Alas, by the time I reached the front all the commotion had stopped.
To cram thousands of people through a tunnel without any escape exits is utter stupidity. I think everyone was fortunate that there weren't any injuries suffered apart from those hit by batons.
If anyone knows anyone who is placed high in the Metropolitan Police, please be kind enough to pass this post onto them.

The crowd are jubilant as they approach the tunnel's exit