Assignment: Shoot pictures of Rodovre Concert Band’s Fall concert

So I was assigned to shoot pictures of a Symphony Orchestra playing. There were plenty of opportunities and I was pretty much given all the time in the world to get the job done.

Going in close with my 70-200mm is the obvious. It’ll show you somebody playing an instrument and it’ll be obvious what’s going on. There are so many musicians, it’s hard to single one out or get a clean shot.

There’s actually a bit of a story in this photo. The guy playing an “Obo” is only 17 and dropped out of school to study music at the Academy of Music which is not easy to get in to.

Anyway, creating a pattern would be an idea. but it’ll still turn out a mess because they sit in a half-circle thing and the pattern is not consistent enough to look good.

So I decided to step back.. WAY back. There were almost a complete row of empty seats all the way in the back of the room and decided to shoot some wide angle stuff instead.

There are a couple of reasons why I did this. One of them is that a Symphony Orchestra is big. It consists of quite a few musicians and I wanted to show the magnitude of the band instead of just singling a few out.

Yard sales are popular in Denmark. Throughout the summer months in Denmark there are several organized yard sales around the country.By organized I mean people pay for a spot on a field or huge parking lot or whatever and brings their stuff along.

I took this photo during the two weeks I worked for the paper during the Summer which later landed me a full time job.Not much to tell about the photo. The guy in the picture was interviewed for the story, so of course I wanted him in the picture along with some of the stuff he was selling. No flash was used (didn’t have one at the time).

It’s no secret.. I really enjoy shooting sports. People can argue how much sports photography is “photojournalism”. Still, it’s about documenting what happens.
I’ve spared you quite a bit and I’ve hardly posted any sports at all. So here’s a selection of some of the sports stuff I’ve shot.

This photo made the paper.

Didn’t make the paper. They never ran the story.. The guy in the picture is a rider from the local cycling team and participated in the National Track Championships.

Made the paper despite the puck didn’t go in the net. I like the shot a lot myself. For once I stepped away from ice level and shot some stuff from above.

This was actually a semi-scissorkick that resulted in a goal. Too bad the ball is not in the picture. Didn’t make the paper. They chose a jubilation photo instead.

I was sent to the game to shoot a picture of the guy in the yellow jersey. So of course this photo made the paper - full page spread (6 columns).

Didn’t make the paper and I knew it wouldn’t. It might be used as an archive photo in the future if the paper runs a story on the goaltender.

Ok … This might just be luck. But shooting sports has taught me one thing… Be ready.. Ready for anything..

I can’t remember how many shots I know I’ve missed because I had my camera about a foot away from my eyes, looking at the action with my eyes and not with my eyes through the lens..This one I didn’t miss.

I’m getting quite a few visits through Google. A great deal of those regarding info on how to become a photojournalist or about photojournalism as a whole.I greatly recommend buying Associated Press - Guide to Photojournalism.
It’s really insightful into the different categories and areas of photojournalism and talks about what makes a great picture and how to look for different ideas.I have it and still use it every now and then as inspiration to do some of the stories I cover.

I’ve purchased the M-Audio Microtrack digital sound recorder. It’s my intention to make slideshows with sound. I’ve also considered maybe making podcasts. But I’m not quite sure what the topics in the podcasts should be.

Anyway, the Slideshows should come soon.

Today I shot a dance show. It was the result of a week long workshop for potential dancers.

There really isn’t a whole lot to say about it, other than the light was… I wont say horrible, because it was actually pretty cool. I did have to pull out the good ole’ ISO 1250 on my camera to get 1/320 sec at f/2.8.

In lighting like this with a completely dark background and light coming from above, spot measuring might be the way to go, but I’m using the LCD on the back of my camera, using “highlight alert” to see when my photos are no longer overexposed.

In other words, I dial up the speed so the photo is not overexposed at all. And from there I just go one stop down in shutter speed, take a photo, check the LCD and repeat this until whites start flashing in the LCD. Depending on how much it is overexposed, I’ll go a stop faster and use that speed.

It’s easier to recover details in something slightly underexposed, than it is with something blown out due to overexposure.

Last week I shot pictures of the Prime Minister of Denmark - Anders Fogh Rasmussen. I have to admit I think that’s a pretty cool assignment. The reason was that a Danish insurance company had been running an immigration project to get immigrants in jobs and had doubled their number of employees with a different ethnic background.
The Prime Minister had been visiting companies all over the country on a 3 day bus trip.

I wanted to show the Prime Minister (far left) and some of the people who had been in the immigration project as well. Not much else to say about the photo.

Last week the local library had an event for young kids. They thought they were just there to hear about forensic work and how to gather traces. The police was there, a cop in uniform along with a criminal detective. During the presentation a scream came from a room in the back of the library and it turned out there had been a murder at the library. This was all part of the plan so the kids could try and solve a crime.

I arrived a bit late to the event and missed this part. When I showed up the library was locked so I had to knock on a window to get the attention from a librarian. Along with her came a bunch of kids who started interrogating me, wanting to see the bottom of my shoes. Quite a fun way to enter an assignment.

I wanted to include drama in the picture so of course the lines on the ground from where the body was found had to be in it. And of course including the kids. I was thinking either to do a shot from up high but I wanted the faces of the kids to be in the picture. So I got down on my knees to about the height of the kids and shot away. I think the kids and furniture create a nice frame for the chalk line (which in this case is just tape).

I used the flash (a Canon Speedlite 580ex) to bounce into the ceiling. The light source was horrible and a direct flash exposure would result in harsh light which given the circumstances might actually have worked well. The red stuff on the floor is good ole’ Heinz Ketchup.

So I’ve been talking about how I feel about portraits and what I want out of them. Here’s my experiences on approaching the people so far.

The first couple of times I shot portraits, I was kind of nervous. It may sound ridiculous, but I didn’t want to appear as somebody who had no freaking idea about what I was doing (even though I know what I’m doing.. I think so anyway), so I may have been rushing things a bit more than what good is. After a handful of portraits, I really started getting relaxed about it, having no issues telling people what to do.

The approach is very different, depending on who I’m shooting a picture of. Random politicians who have already posed for a camera like a million times before, they are already relaxed about the whole thing so those are actually pretty straight forward, but at the same time the most boring pictures.

The biggest challenge is shooting portraits of citizens or people who are not used to being in the spotlight.If time permits it I usually spend at least 5-10 minutes with the subject before I raise the camera to my eye. I’m not up to speed on most of the stories I shoot the pictures for. So a perfect approach for me is to first, introduce myself, telling the individual or group of people who I am, and what paper I’m working for. Usually the subjects already know that I’ll be showing up. Anyway, a hello I’m Brian blablabla… Then I’ll ask into the story. I’m usually just slightly briefed about the story, but I want the individual’s own words and view. They tell and I’ll ask questions about details. When I feel the individual (or group) is relaxed and has dropped the shyness, I’ll turn the conversation towards the picture (which is the reason I’m there. I’m not taking notes like it’s the first time they tell the story to anybody).

By now I’ve already scanned the area for potential backgrounds or interesting areas to shoot the pictures in. I may need a minute or so to make up my mind on what I want. While scanning the area ask a few more questions if you want to know more. If you appear interested in their case or story, the’ll most likely open up a lot more, which will also be visible in the results.

Here’s a good hint for those new to this or just the shy type. Keep in mind that you’re the one in control. You tell them what to do and not the other way around. Be confident in what you’re doing and they’ll automatically be more comfortable with you. Don’t worry about stalling people from whatever they were doing. If their story is interesting enough to be brought to the public, they’ll have time for a propper picture. They are usually also interested in looking good in the photos.

I’ll shoot until I know I have something useful, then I’ll try something different.
As a last tip. If you’re meeting somebody at a place where the picture will be taken and you’re there ahead of time or they are delayed for whatever reason, it’s a good idea to spend the time setting up the camera so you don’t need to do that right before taking the pictures. If you’re using a flash, set it up so the light is correct so you don’t need to take 5-10 test shots to get the exposure correct. It’ll smooth things out a lot and everybody will benefit.