Ellen Kooi

I saw an interview of Dutch photographer Ellen Kooi on TV a few days ago and thought it was interesting. Highly staged photography with a fairy tale atmosphere, just the stuff that I like. She's holding an exhibition in Paris until the 22nd of December, if anyone is interested: http://www.ellenkooi.nl/Ellenkooi.htm

My photo of the day:

Peek-a-Boo!

Hurray, I got to take my first baby pictures! Or my first proper baby pictures I should say, as the stuff I do for school photography with 30 seconds per family doesn't quite count.

I find photographing children is always a challenge and a laugh. It can be very frustrating but is always exciting as you never know what to expect. I just got a new assistant, who's been very useful so far:

I find that the best thing to do is always to try and keep calm. Young children often don't understand why their parents and everyone else are acting funny and it can make them a bit tense. How many times have I heard things like 'Come on, give us a smile' said in an agitated, almost angry way, creating the opposite reaction as what you're trying to achieve. If I've got time, I find that the best way to deal with non-cooperative children is just to ignore them and take photos of their parents or toys on their own. That usually bring them back. So, here's a few shots of what I did yesterday, using a low-key setting (black background), a soft box and a spill kill:

And for a little bit of inspiration, I would recommend having a look at the work of Sally Mann, that I find absolutely beautiful, as controversial as it is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2010/may/29/sally-mann-raw-material#/?picture=363062442&index=0

Now, here's something I don't quite understand. I've been told that the best way to get your business noticed these days is through the so-called social networks. So I've started this blog, I'm on linked-in, facebook, I've got 6 email addresses, two websites, and now I've just registered on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/annesophieolive). This is all very well, but how are you supposed to do any work??
I have to say I was a bit bemused by Twitter at first, but I've realised that I could use it to stay up-to-date with all the photography news. It's only been two days, but I've already made some exciting discoveries. The first one is this: http://www.burnmagazine.org/
Burn Magazine was founded by Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey, who did a wonderful book on Cuba, among other things. The main article on this page shows touching and beautiful documentary photographs of Greenland that I highly recommend.
And because I didn't post anything yesterday, here's my own photos of the day, taken a couple of week-ends ago:

Take Two business cards have arrived!

Starting a new business such as Take Two is very exciting, but there are many many things to think about. It took Jennifer and me a very long time to design our business cards, but finally we cracked it and they came in the post this morning. There is a minor issue with the trimming on some of them, but hey, what else have I got to do today than to trim 300 business cards? (I could just leave it but I like things to be perfect). So here's a preview of what they look like:

Family and Children Portraits: It's not too late for Christmas!

All grandparents love to have photos of their grandchildren. So why not treat yourself to a family portrait session, and use the opportunity for a great and easy Christmas present? Alternatively, gift vouchers are also available.
To recap, here's what I offer:
- A photo session in the location of your choice or in my portable studio (white or black background)
- An online viewing gallery where you can order your prints from
- One complementary 10'x8' print
- Print prices start at £12, with a selection of framing options.
You can also turn your photo session into a calendar for 2011.
Spread the word!

Website Dilemmas and Stones

All photographers know how difficult and sometimes painful the editing process can be. When it came to choosing photos for the websites, the most difficult part was my personal work section. I wanted to include such a gallery because I believe it is important to give a sense of what my photography is about outside a professional environment. At the same time, a lot of my personal work comes as part of a series, which creates a dilemma: do I pick and choose the best images from each series or do I include one or two complete sets? I opted for the first option, but I would like to use this blog to fill the gap.
I will start with a series that I took last summer in Brittany. It was a very grey and dull morning when I set out on the beach with my camera. The light was very flat and there was nothing much to be done with the horizon, so I decided to turn my attention to the wonderful stones that are found in that area. The result is quite abstract and organic, and partly inspired by the work of Jem Southam (http://www.jameshymangallery.com/pages/artistsingle/5571/all/jem_southam-normandy_rockfall_1.html).

New Era

Well, well, welcome! With two brand new websites and a new blog, it's exciting times indeed.
First, I am proud to announce the launch of Take Two Photography, the wedding photography partnership I have started with my friend Jennifer Cope. Have a look at our website, we're quite proud of it, and we've even got a favicon!: http://www.taketwo-photography.co.uk/
This exciting new venture has nudged me into redesigning my own website at http://www.olivephotography.co.uk/ Please have a look at it, I hope you will agree with me to say it looks better than the previous one.
With this blog I intend to keep you up to date with what's happening with business, but mostly I want to use this space to talk about photography. I will try to post photos regularly, as well as articles, links, anything that I find interesting on the internet or elsewhere. So stay posted!
PS: this is the first time that I use a blog, so it might take me a little while to get to grips to the technicality of it, but I'm sure I'll get there. How hard can it be?!