Facing the Mirror

I've used this project as an opportunity to try my hand the other side of the camera. Apart from problems relating to focus and composition there's also the issue of having to face what you look like. Although I'm working on my six pack with my new year's resolution to get fitter I know full well that I'm not classically handsome and I don't find it easy looking at pictures of myself in much the same way as I find it difficult hearing my voice on answer phones.

Last week I worked on a nude self portrait and sent it into a competition. I've submitted nudes before to various photography competitions, but that's fine, they're not me, I can look at and relate to the picture with a certain amount of distance as it's not my body on display. Now there's one of me - a middle aged, slightly over weight and out of shape man confronting himself and coming to accept his imperfections about to be considered in a competition. A frightening thought, though strangely liberating.

I feel it's good for me to attempt self portraits from time to time as it means I have to lower my guard a little and not take myself too seriously. Maybe, at this rate, you might even catch me on a dance floor and not giving two hoots about what people think of my dancing! Who knows?

Storytelling

A lot of my commercial pictures end up being used on book covers around the world. I'm not always working to a brief so I have to guess a final use for the picture and consider how it might suit different genres of writing, whether it be adult fiction, teenage fiction, crime, non fiction etc...

Although the photograph I take represents a single moment in time it's my job to create enough information to let the viewer complete the story - this may or may not be how I personally would have continued the scene but it is always interesting to see your work applied to somebody else's imagination.

It doesn't matter what subject we choose to photograph, be it weddings, fine art, sport, the yearly school photo... as photographers we are often immersed in telling stories.




Once upon a time...

Copyright: Clayton Bastiani

Chameleons and Corinthians

The news of David Bowie's death hangs heavy in the air today and I find myself in a rather solemn mood.

I discovered Bowie's music in my teens and instantly felt a connection with his music, the likes of which I don't think I have felt since. A true artist. Listening to his music from the early work to the latest you get a sense of a man who could adopt a character and style and give it his all, creating amazing work and when you thought that would be it, no more, he would re-invent himself and come back to you as a new character with new styles and creations, equally as brilliant as the last.

Rest well Bowie. You were a huge inspiration to myself and many others.



I never really knew where I belonged in the world of photography. I have this habit of approaching it from a sideways perspective. I'm conscious of the fact that this can make me a bit 'different' or appear strange and eclectic. Not a big fan of typecasting I'm happy to be pigeon holed for a brief time and then off I go again in a new direction with only the link to photography and photographic techniques remaining constant.

In an effort to find where I fit in I started looking for artists (of all disciplines) that helped me come to grips with this feeling that I was working in an environment to which maybe I didn't belong. When you start looking at the work of Man Ray or Duane Michals or Jerry Uelsmann you realise that you're not as alone as you initially thought. In fact you're in rather good company.

Much like Bowie, Ray, Michals et al it may be hard trying to find an individual approach in a world where it's hard to be original, but it's definitely worth the effort.

 

Stormy seas and big adventures

A Happy New Year to you all.

I always get excited by the turning of the years - new beginnings and all that. I never expected 2015 to be quite as productive as it was, but in all the years I've been doing this full time I have to admit that was my busiest year yet and I hope next year will continue this trend.

Here's to 2016 and all its new adventures...