How to shoot portraits outside your culture (featuring The Himba)
I put out a video recently (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSiZHcmflX4&t=241s) talking about how to start moving your photography career in a particular direction. I asked myself what sort of photography really spoke to me, and in my case it was pretty obvious.
It was people photography.
Portraits.
Especially portraits of people from different contexts and with different stories to my own.
My photography heroes are Steve McCurry, Sebastiao Salgado, Jimmy Nelson and Joey L for his work in Africa, India and Syria. I understand that it’s a different era now and that grabbing a job at National Geographic is not a realistic option. I also know that no one is coming to knock on my door to hire me for this sort of work just because I would love to do it. There are no favours in this industry.
If I ever manage to make this sort of work my full time job it will be because I have already proved that I could produce quality imagery in this area. So I packed my bags and gear and headed to a country which has always held a special interest for me; Namibia. I went to the tribal homelands of the Himba people and organised through a local guide (the wonderful Vanessa) to head into one of the villages for golden hour, for two evenings in a row, to shoot portraits with them.
For the portraits I shot using my Canon 5DmkII and a Sigma Art 50mm f1.4. On top of this I was using a Tiffen Variable ND filter to be able to cut the light and keep the depth of field where I wanted it without overexposing.
The first evening I went in I shot all natural light with a large white reflector.
On the second evening I went in and shot mixing strobe and natural light using my Alien Bee 800 with Vagabond Mini battery pack, shot through a 1.5m Photek Softlighter. This had the desired effect of darkening the background and shaping the light on the face for a slightly more dramatic look.
The overall experience was amazing. I intend this to be the first of many trips, but I will likely always remember this one as important because it helped prove to myself that I can do this; that all the work I have put in to build up my skill set over the years has resulted in images like this. On my ever evolving photographic journey it has been great to discover that this is a valid direction for me, which is exciting because it’s one which I would get a great deal of fulfillment from.
Here’s to the journey ahead.
Enjoy the video:
Here are a selection of the images I managed to capture:
Observe where you Gravitate
I follow too many blogs. I read too much techy info and lust after too much gear. Whilst the intention is to get as much info as I can to become a better photographer, I think it's possible get to the stage where all this is just noise. You have a mountain of facts and techniques to draw on, but zero direction. Somewhere along the way I believed that the more I found out, the more my specific 'photography trajectory' would just organically slide into focus.
Am I to be a headshot photographer, fashion photographer, event photographer, journo photographer, still life photographer? Reading blogs hasn't made that clearer to me. In fact, if anything, it keeps me interested in all of them.
I've felt this keenly in the recent, busy months. I've shot all of the above with models, and products, and street, and documentary, and shows, and weddings... but the problem is I don't have any clear direction for the future. Am I going to just shoot a bit of everything forever, being a photographic 'jack-of-all-trades'?
Then I got to thinking about who my photography heroes are. Let me visually introduce you to a few of them:
Gregory Heisler
Steve McCurry
www.stevemccurry.com
Don McCullin
www.contactpressimages.com/photographers/mccullin/mccullin_bio.html
Joey L (specifically his Africa and Varanasi Portraits)
www.joeyl.com
While I was thinking about these guys who are an inspiration to me, two things were immediately clear.
1. These photographers are known for a style, which includes subject matter, composition, editing etc etc. They don't 'also shoot weddings'. These guys do one thing very, very well.
At some point I have to choose what it is I shoot. I may feel right now that I need to shoot a bit of everything to keep the scant work flowing in, but the irony is that if I focused it down I would likely pick up more consistent work in the long run because I am the go-to guy for 'x'... if I'm good enough.
I suppose the old saying, "if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time" applies here.
I will consider myself a success when I have a smaller website, with less material on it, not more. I will have a defined idea of who I am as a photographer when I have ceased chasing the blogs for techniques, tricks, tips and tools, and have locked into something I love and put my head down to be the best at it I can be.
2. So the obvious question is what will I choose? What do I want to shoot? What resonates with me? it might be obvious to you because I laid it out in this post, but it dawned on me slowly. I looked at these images from my heroes and realised that the images which resonate with me are actually very specific.
It's people photography, and the sort of people photography where the individuals have stories etched into their features.
It's photography which gets in close. It's capturing subjects willing to be vulnerable enough to stare down the lens at you and offer you a bit of themselves to freeze in your frame.
These are the shots I want to be taking. If I could choose (and I must choose) what my photography will become, this would be it.
I know that this sort of photography isn't lucrative any more. I know that this sort of journalism is going through huge changes which leave less and less opportunities to make a career out of it, but I can't help it. This is the stuff which speaks to me.
So I need to try. I need to work out ways to overcome my shyness in shooting strangers. I need to find a style which I can own, and then keep it simple. I need to invest time and energy, because it's work the risk.
I suppose the challenge I want to leave with you, especially if, like me, you are struggling to find a direction for your work to focus on: look at your heroes. There is likely a clear thread there staring you in the face, which you just need to pick up and follow. Start to hone in on shooting the work which really resonates with you.
I still don't know the way forward, but having a direction to face, even without having taken the first step yet, feels like huge progress.
Wells Blog
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