One of my favourite documentaries is 'The Impassioned Eye'. A film on the late, great Henri Cartier-Bresson. It's a bit like a bio-pic with HCB in his 90's looking back over his life and his images. Koudelka, Erwitt, and many others also feature in the documentary.

The film was shown on Sky Arts last year, and has always remained safely stored on my Sky+ box hard drive. Earlier this month I upgraded my box to a Sky HD+ box, and while I can now view the Manchester Derby in glorious high definition, the downside is that I lost one of my best loved films. So you can imagine my delight when Sky Arts showed the film again last night.

Watching it again (for what must be the tenth time!!) I am still mesmerised by Cartier-Bresson's images. The compositional skill that he possessed was extraordinary. Lines, geometry, 'patterns' as he called them, really underpin his work and are the reason why Cartier-Bresson, for me, was/is the greatest photographer to ever walk the planet.

In these days of uber-cameras - digital and technological marvels that can take pictures in virtually every situation put in front of them, here was Cartier-Bresson showing a body of work taken over many decades, shot with a small Leica camera and predominantly a single 50mm lens, which wasn't particularly fast in terms of aperture. It was quite a sobering thought. No autofocus, no evaluative metering, no picture modes, no image stabilization. Things that we take for granted these days. He utiilised the simplest and most efficient way of taking pictures. Just a man, his simple camera, and his eye. Compose, focus, press the shutter.

His thoughts on the images were humbling. He saw them as 'memories' from an earlier time, in much the same way as we look at our holiday snaps. Watching him look back at his pictures, you could sense the emotion he was feeling at the time. He handles the paper pictures like a pile of proof prints, and talks quite openly about the stories behind them, often with a tear in his eye. Nothing pretentious, and totally devoid of ego.

If you can get to see the documentary, then don't miss it. It is one of those masterpieces of film making, that will inspire you to take better pictures. Folks in the States can find it on Amazon. Unfortunately it isn't available in the UK.

Highly recommended.

 

Second hill walk in a week - and my legs are killing me :))

Yesterday I went out with my brother for walk on the Yorkshire moors. Most of the day was spent trying to navigate through the mist and fog. Picture opportunites were a little scarce, but I managed to get a couple of half-decent images.

These were shot on the incredible Canon 5DMKII camera.

 

My good friend Marcus Bell has a new blog. One of the things I love about Marcus and his work, is that he is so passionate about what he does. He is also one of the nicest, kindest, and most humble guys that I know. I'm honoured to call him a friend.

His blog is a real insight into his professional and personal life, with images that are to die for. It's worth checking out the archives, as even though the blog has just been published, Marcus has backdated a year of his life into the archives section.

And if that wasn't enough, there are some cool online seminars with Marcus under his sidebar section 'Photographers'.

http://www.studioimpressionsphotography.com/blog

 

 

I got the chance to go out walking with my brother yesterday. The weather was pretty damp and the light was pretty poor for photography. However I did persevere, and here are the results from the day.

My brother is an expert walker, and I wouldn't like to guess how many miles he's clocked up walking up and down the peaks of Britain. It's great for me to go with him, as I don't have to worry about the routes, or what we have to do and when we have to do it. He often tells me that if we were to get lost or get injured, we'd be able to survive for two days on the contents of his backpack!! Going with him allows me to just look for pictures.

 

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This is the scene as we started the walk. It must be tough being a sheep!!

 

 

This is Dave half way up a stream - which is where we seemed to have spent most of the day.

 

 

 

In this part of the world there is a lot of aircraft wreckage strewn across the hill tops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm thrilled to be featured on the Canon 'You Connect' website. There is a nice piece on my work and philosophy, and some tips for people looking to get into wedding photography. The article can be found here.

You may be required to register to view the whole article.

My favourite wedding images from my October 18th wedding at the magnificent Liverpool Town Hall. I love this time of year for weddings. The light is wonderful and low, and the atmosphere is totally different to summer weddings.

For the photographers, these were all shot with a pair of Canon 1DsMKIII cameras. I used just four lenses all day (16-35 f2.8LII, 50 f1.2L, 35 f1.2L, 85 f1.2LII) with the 50 and 35 being the most used. All images were taken with available light only.

 

"I just want to say thank you for our pictures they are amazing and Lee cried .. (bless him I knew he was a softy before I married him he he x) they are truly wonderful, they captured not only the atmosphere of the day but also mine and Lee's personality thank you so so much they will be treasure forever."  Marie Birchall

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"We have recived the album, its beautiful, we are both so happy with it, we haven't put it down yet!
You have given us what we wanted, a wonderful story book of the most special day of our lives. We re-live the day everytime we look at the album."  Sam Dawson

I got a chance to give the 5DMKII a workout at the weekend. I had a lovely candle light wedding at Lytham Hall, and then it was back to the Grand Hotel in St Annes for the reception.  As it is a beta camera, I decided to shoot some 'safe' parts of the day alongside my 1DsMK3 which dealt with most of the coverage.

Shooting the camera in a real working situation really is the only way of assessing how good it actually is. I'm not one for pixel peeping, or comparing it with this and that. All I want to know is whether it will allow me to do my job properly, and if the picture quality is of a professional standard.

So here are my thoughts after using it for my day job.

As I've said before, this is a very well built, professional feeling camera which inspires confidence. It isn't a 1 series though, and anyone expecting it to feel like a 1 series in terms of build quality are going to be disappointed. Having the two side by side really hit home how much more 'substantial' the 1 series is. For me, the 1DsMK3 is the better camera in terms of AF and build quality. However it is also twice the price!! 

The 5DII however, is lighter - much lighter - it's  also very compact, and very quiet in terms of shutter noise compared to the 1DSMK3. I was really surprised how unobtrusive the camera is with a prime lens attached, and how comfortable it is to hold for a small camera body. For a photojournalist, there are times when a 1 series camera is too 'in your face' and this is really where the 5DMKII shines.

The image quality is fabulous from the 5DMKII. Looking at my files I would say it's possibly a stop better in terms of noise than the 1DSMK3. 6400 iso is very useable, and pretty clean. In fact I used the 5DMKII for most of the drinks reception, as I was shooting in a dark hall with virtually no light. The typical exposure was 1/60th - 1/100th sec at f1.4 at 6400 iso - that's how dark it was!! I didn't use the H1 and H2 iso modes, as I didn't need to. 6400 with a 1.4 or 1.2 prime is possibly the top of the mountain as far as my photography is concerned. I can't see the need for anything higher, unless I decide to shoot with a 2.8 zoom all day. The problem with that of course, is that as the light levels drop, a slower lens makes it harder to see the subject through the viewfinder.

The AF handled pretty much everything I threw at it in low light, as long as I stayed with the centre focusing point. I still can't get used to the peripheral points on the 5D, and I much prefer those on the 1DSMK3. However, using the centre point and recomposing, the camera was accurate and very quick to focus. Using the peripheral points simply caused the camera to hunt in the very low light of the venue. The dancing shots at the end of the evening were great, and I would have to say it was as good if not slightly better than the 1DSMK3 in this situation.

If you don't intend on shooting video at a wedding, then make sure that the SET button doesn't start the video recording (this is a custom function option). Yes the SET button is the most logical place to put the start/stop REC button, but a couple of times on Saturday I found the button had been pressed accidentally and I was merrily recording a beautiful 1080 HD video of the floor, which in turn was eating my CF cards for breakfast!! 

Overall I was greatly impressed with the 5DMKII. I can see myself using both the 1DSMK3 and the 5DMKII side by side on future weddings. Actually, as I was walking back to my car on Saturday's wedding, I could see me just using two 5DMKII's....

Onto the pictures. I didn't use anything below 1600 iso with the 5DMKII. I alternated between 1600, 3200 and 6400 depending on the light. These have all been processed in Canon's DPP beta software, including the b/w. Normally I would add grain and increase the contrast slightly with the conversion to b/w, but I didn't want to give the pixel peepers and the worried Nikon evangelists something to crow about:-))

 

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This bridesmaid was quite sick on the morning of the wedding. She's just lying down watching the bride get made up. The camera nailed the focus first time, without any hunting even though the girl is small in the frame. 1600 iso.

 

 

Another bridesmaid in the mirror. Again 1600 iso, which is lovely.

 

 

Onto the ceremony. The quieter camera was a bonus here. This was shot at 3200 iso. I've converted to b/w in DPP.

 

 

Dark reception images. This shot was taken at 6400 iso. Compared to the Nkon D3 that I had earlier in the year, the colour fidelity is far superior with the Canon, especially in this awful mixed lighting.

 

And the 100% enlargement. The sharpness at 6400 is incredible - as are the flesh tones.

 

 

Outside at 6400. The camera nailed the focus on the bride. Absolutely nailed it in really tough conditions. Exposure here was 1/30th sec at f1.4.

 

 

And the enlargement.

 

 

At the reception. 6400 iso with mixed lighting.

 

 

All images are copyright Jeff Ascough. Unauthorised useage is prohibited.