The Trader
Hi folks, I’m hopefully not too late this week’s post, only a week and 2 days :-P. Anyway, better late than never!
Once again absolutely fantastic news to share with you all! In my last post I told you that I had entered a couple of photography competitions – The Taylor Wessing and Take a View, well I’ve been told by the guys over at Take a View that the photo at the end of this link has been shortlisted for the final.
The Take a View competition is for the UK Landscape photographer of the year, and the first prize is a staggering £10k! I’m not getting too carried away as the final judgement isn’t until the end of October, testimony to the number of images that have made it to the final, but the fact that this is a national competition and I’ve been shortlisted is still an achievement I’m chuffed to bits with!
Before we all get giddy on the joys of landscape photography, I think now would be an appropriate time to ground everyone with another nice portrait!
It really makes me laugh sometimes, I often find myself in a situation where I feel desperate to get out with my camera and shoot some stuff. On the day I took the shot below, I was planning to drive 40 miles to Bristol in order to shoot street portraits, on the premise that due to Bristol being a big city, there would be loads of potential material.
In the end I thought such an expedition wasn’t the best use of petrol and instead decided to walk 2 minutes out of my flat and wander around my little home town of Tewkesbury. In fact, I narrowed down my search area to a small open market, upon where I stumbled upon this chap called Ray, who was working on a stall.
I think I’ve said before that I’ve never been a fan of candid photography. Whilst I appreciate that such an approach can capture timeless spontaneity, this is not what I want to achieve. When I shoot portraits I want all the gritty details, and the best way of achieving this for me at least, is to walk straight up to a person and ask them to pose and so I dived in and asked Ray to look at the camera.
One trick I have learned is to ask the subject not to smile. It makes for a lot more dramatic shot. Just my personal preference!
This shot needs to be viewed big HERE
As with all my portraits, the above shot was subject to extennsive post processing, to add detail and impact and I’m really pleased with the results.
Unfortunately for some reason I am exploring, the View Big settings have been playing up, but rest assured I’m looking into resolving this issue, as pictures like the one above really need to be seen up close!
Untill next time, happy snapping!
Image Spike 
Hi Matt, stumbled across your blog by accident, really impressed with your shots and quality of writing, keep up the good work!
Congratulations on the short listing for Take a View competition, was unsuccesful myself but will look out for your image, good luck.
Adam
another great shot , your post processing techniques are second to none i really enjoy viewing your work hopefully one day i will gain some of your knowledge .
the detial you achieve is amazing you can almost feel the skin texture.
Did you mean the portrait was shortlisted for Take a View? Bust of luck with both competitions. I have entered the Taylor Wessing as well.
Hi guys,
thanks for all the comments, much appreciated.
@Adam, unlucky with Take a View, fingers crossed for next year!
@simon, I’m glad you like the shot, and yes the detail is pretty crazy!
@paulo, the image which has been shortlisted was for the Take a View competition. I haven’t hearc anything on the Taylor Wessing front, but I believe they aren’t notifying people until the end of august. regardless, good luck!!
This may be more than you are ready to answer but… what kind of post-processing have you done with this image?
I was unsuccessful, with Taylor Wessing, I hope you had more luck