At Madgex I have the opportunity to talk to people about photography, even though it isn't related to my day job.  I occasionally run training sessions or workshops to share my passion with others.  I enjoy doing this as it makes me think in a different way - I often find explaining needs a deeper understanding than just doing.  I'm not the most talented photographer in the company, but I want to learn more, and by teaching I do just that.  In November I ran the first of a new style of workshop - this was challenge based.  It consisted of 2 parts, the first setting the scene, and issuing a challenge (in this case taking photos where the main colour of the image was one of the Madgex colours - you can see Kevin's submissions here) and the second reviewing the submissions.  Amongst the feedback from the attendees of the session was that there was too large a gap between the people who had high end cameras, and those using their iPhones or low end digital cameras, and also that those who had an aptitude for photoshop had an advantage.  When I started thinking about my 2nd workshop, and what the challenge would be I took these into account. 

Today, I issued the new challenge, this was partially inspired by this blog post which I read some point last year.  I'd bought 2 identical disposable cameras (Kodak Fun Flash 27+12 for those who want the exact details) to be shared between the 8 attendees (somewhere between 9 and 10 shots each).  I then issued them with a list of 8 items to take photographs of (inspired by lomokev's hot shots course) and as they like an element of competition, some scoring element.  

So, the photos:

1. a number
2. something taken from ground level
3. a Brighton landmark
4. something red
5. a dog
6. shoes (this one is in tribute to lomokev and his fine collection of shoes and feet photographs)
7. street art
8. the person you're handing the camera over to

And the scoring:

Basics:

• 1 point per picture that matches the brief

Bonus Points:

• 1 bonus points for doing them all in order
• 2 bonus points if you can manage a theme that runs through all 8 of your images
• 1 bonus point if your picture is judged to be the best of that category by me
• 1 bonus point if you use only 8 exposures rather than the allowed 9

Penalty Points:

• Lose 1 point per day you're late handing your camera over to the next person
• Lose 1 point if the last photo of your set isn't the person you're handing over to
• Lose 1 point per extra exposure over your allotted 9 you use
• Lose 20 points if you break or lose the camera

The intention is to get everyone thinking more before they press the shutter, to really commit to the image they are attempting to capture.  Having been "playing with" film cameras for the past year I've begun to appreciate how much more focussed I am in what I take with film than when shooting digitally.  I also hope that this takes away the concern about equipment and allows them to focus on composition and colours rather than technicalities.  I'm really excited to see what they come up with and manage to produce, and despite the initial look of mild shock on their faces, I'm hoping that they really engage with it and enjoy this challenge.

As a fervent photographer of my dog, Skitters, I was interested to stumble across the article How to take amazing photos of your dog the other day.  It covers both recommended equipment, and a selection of shots to try.  Some of these I've got examples of amongst my 305 Skitters photos.  Others I have yet to try.  For my own reference I thought I'd list the recommended positions, and post example Skitters photos where I have them.  All of them are useful and good techniques for getting a more unusual shot of your 4 legged friend.

Position yourself low

Fill the frame by getting closer

Use a wide aperture

Take lots of shots

Forget standard camera-holding techniques

I need to work on this one!

As with my review of the eyemodule, this review was originally on the janeandrichard site and dates from early 2001.

The Review

During our trip to the Maldives, we used underwater disposable cameras to take photos of fishes. These came out reasonably well, but weren't of wonderful quality. So, we decided to invest in a proper underwater camera. We'd also been carrying a small panoramic camera around with us, which again didn't produce all that good quality images. So, an APS camera appeared to be the ideal solution. Ironically, we haven't had the opportunity to take it snorkelling since.

We bought the Weathermatic camera at Heathrow Airport as we left the UK for a long weekend in Iceland. It was the only waterproof APS camera we could find at the time. Although for the trip to Iceland we didn't need a waterproof camera, one that was weatherproof and didn't object to being dropped in the snow was a good idea.

The photos it produces are of a pretty high standard, and we've had no problems with it in the 2 years we've had the camera.

The specification claims that it can go underwater to a depth of around 10 metres (we've taken it down in swimming pools, and lakes and things to 3 or so metres and it has been okay).

The controls are designed to be easy to use underwater, and this also makes them quite easy to use with gloved hands. Of course, this makes the camera quite bulky (and also, being bright yellow it isn't subtle).

We're in no rush to replace this camera, and it is used as our main camera for all events.

Via the iPhone app

So, this tells me that I can't trust the date/time stamp on my images uploaded via the iPhone application to tell me when I really took the photo.  Mildly annoying, but better to know for sure than to be guessing that is the case.