PatrickPhotos

A personal photography project

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© 2013 – 2026
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  • Mr Paparazzo

    Harry Potter film premiere

    Standing on top of a ladder with other photographers in a very small section of central London pavement is always an interesting experience. I’m glad to say that it is not something I have to do on a regular basis.

    Cherie Lunghi 2003Cherie Lunghi

    So why are these images in this post? Well, the first thing is that if you are lucky at one of these events and the organisers have set up lighting for the television cameras you can take advantage of some of the creative lighting in place.

    In an assignment such as this, on a cold, wet street there is no way in which you can have the same control of your lighting as you could in a studio type shoot. Balancing on top of your purchase from the DIY store you don’t really have the time to think about the composition. Focus. Exposure. Eyes open. That is your primary concern before the moment is gone.

    Helen Mirren 2003Helen Mirren

    And my second point? It is youth obsession in western culture. I came across this blog Mature models go home! in which I was surprised to read that there are photographers out there who are anti older models nearly to the point of it being a prejudice.

    What is my opinion? You’ll have to look out for my next post to read that.

    P.S. Never ever call a press photographer a paparazzo. A press photographer may have to sometimes cover celebrity events but they also do risk their lives covering stories the world needs to see. I would not lose any sleep if there were no longer any outlets publishing images taken from afar of well known people carrying out mundane day to day tasks.

  • More from the archive

    WARNING Last image contains partial nudity

    London cycle raceCyclists

    Here are some more images from my archive catalogue.

    Police officer at Farnborough Air ShowPolice officer

    If you ask me if I miss working with film, the answer has to be no. The hassle of getting film processed and then finding that a speck of dust has scratched the good frames was a nightmare.

    Alternative London Fashion Week 2003Alternative London Fashion Week 2003

    Now the reliance is on camera manufacturers to provide a decent sensor. No longer do you have the option to switch film brands if one just isn’t doing it for you. Instead you have to swap over your whole camera system that has taken you years to acquire. Still one thing stays the same – dust. Dust on the sensor spoiling all the good frames.

  • Old Kit – New Kit

    Metz 45 CL-4 Flash

    When I started this project I had a look at the equipment I had and what I would need to make it work. I was surprised at the amount of equipment that was gathering dust or had a better, newer model. A lot of stuff I owned cost a fortune to buy back in its day but you couldn’t give it away today.

    The challenge was to see if some of the kit I had could be adapted so that it would have a new lease of life.

    Pocket Wizard remote triggers were the first thing on my shopping list to transform old flash guns into extra lights. The key to good photography is good lighting. These little devices would allow me to control the flashes in positions I did not have the opportunity to do before.

    Another light transforming device I have not owned in the past is a reflector. My choice was a Lastolite TriGrip. To go with it I added a TriGrip Bracket which allows you to attach the reflector to a stand.

    These two items are a bit disappointing to me. The handle of the reflector is the key selling point as it has a strap that you fasten so that it attaches to your hand. Only thing is that the strap is fixed by a metal pin which is hot glued into place. As soon as the blobs of hot glue come loose, so does the metal pin holding the strap in place leaving you with it flapping in the wind.

    Credit to the company, after emailing them for an estimate to fix this problem they replied that they would send me a new handle free of charge.

    As for the bracket, the key component that holds the reflector has a problem when you attach it to a stand or spigot, in that the hole is just too small, meaning that it is not a tight fit.

    I could contact the company as they were very helpful with the previous problem but as I’m using it for hobby use rather than professional use it isn’t such a big problem that I want to waste time in following it up.

    It has put a bit of a dent in my faith with their products but then I could have just been unlucky.