ImageBrief Photographer Spotlight: Jeff Berting

Today’s featured photographer on the ImageBrief blog is Jeff Berting ……

How long have you been shooting?  

As a sole focus just a few years.  However as an artist the camera has always been a part of my tool kit.

Have you always been a photographer? If not, what did you do before?

Keeping it real … By John Slater

How do trends in imagery get popular?  Who sets the bar and actually who is dictating it all?  I think it’s interesting to watch different styles emerge and having trawled through a few photographers folios recently as research I have seen some truly amazing work out there, but more and more I see an ever increasing ‘style’ being copied right across the board, in food photography, portraiture and various other disciplines…

Maybe it’s the way they are lit, the general ‘feel’ but it’s very apparent.

It must make it difficult for art buyers to choose photographers if their work is so similar, and I suppose those that shoot with a certain edge will actually get the job, because it’s original.  Increasingly we see clients veering towards the ‘keep it real’ idea, not too fussy we hear, no people that look like models, ‘natural’ is a word that creeps in quite a few times…it’s a good concept, and sometimes a challenging one! 

 Quite obviously, like me they are fed up and bored with the old school ‘stocky’ cheesy image that we see every day!…and I don’t blame them, it makes my skin crawl sometimes when I come across yet another picture of a man in a suit on his mobile phone pointing at something and checking the time on his wrist all at the same time!!..

It’s not just the concept that is copied, sometimes it’s a style…who remembers cross-processing?!..now there are apps for it, it’s gone retro…however back in the day it was a ‘must’ to have a few in your folio!  I remember when motion blur was ‘so cool’…crazy really!

Now it’s all about ‘keeping it real’…

 Unfortunately ‘stock’ photography has much to blame for the originally ‘staged’ image, perhaps not so much now but I think the damage has been done, and we all imagine stock images to have a style, even though in fact there is no style at all, there are a great deal of stock images that are far more well considered than images we see on billboards with the same content!…but it is true that art buyers always mention-

“We don’t  want the images to look like they are

from a stock library, we want them to look natural.”

So keeping it real seems to be the order of the day, certainly in the UK it’s become the buzz-word over the last few years, what does it mean in the real sense? – let’s suppose we are to shoot for a wrist watch company, a branded high-end name…or it could be a series of shots for a new cookery book etc…the same applies these days, it’s a feel we are looking for, a lifestyle target, a sense of reality, locations we can identify with, people we can imagine we might know in the way they dress, their behaviour and  look, the product is there, but it’s subliminal….the man is wearing his watch but he’s not overtly showing it of below his cuff clinging onto some boat rigging, and likewise the cookery book images show someone actually cooking!..with some natural light streaming in and steam and flames etc…anyway you get the picture.   

All this said, the images are still well shot, carefully lit and well considered, real-life doesn’t mean ‘sub standard’ photography, it means a professional image capturing a moment as if it actually was a ‘snap-shot’, actually more difficult than it sounds!…

Obviously for certain images this is not an option, say for instance many still-life commissions, or perhaps a more corporate assignment, and in fact it is often the case that the client will need a nudge towards the ‘real-life’ idea, sometimes I think they get nervous about it, and prefer to be a little more conservative…oh well they can always buy the image everyone else has got!….

It’s up to photographers to buck the trend, use their initiative, and shoot with a ‘style’….Many do, but many don’t.

What do you think?

Awarded Brief: A hand holding an i-phone

Cudo’s to you Alex Maxim on that awarded shot ….. the guys at M& C Satchi are very impressed with you :)

http://www.imagebrief.com/briefs/a-hand-holding-an-iphone-4

ImageBrief Photographer Spotlight: Angie Lazaro

Today’s featured photographer on the ImageBrief blog is Angie Lazaro …. 

How long have you been shooting?

Over 20 years

Have you always been a photographer?

If not, what did you do before? I was a Fashion designer ….. oh la la 

Are you self-taught?

I studied Photojournalism at Rhodes University, graduated with a Masters.

What would you list as your number one genre - the thing you’re great at?

Fashion Photography

Which other photographers inspire you?

The traditional big names, such as Cecil Beaton, Helmut Newton, David LaChapelle and Patrick Demarchelier however the internet is a perfect showcase for so much talent, and endless inspiration .

If you could have 1 day, all expenses paid and access to top-of-the-range equipment, producers, models, assistants, locations and anything else, what would you create?

A fashion shoot with selection of gorgeously brave models with extravagant edgy fashion on acrobatic planes while in flight.  Known as air walkers/ wing-riders. I would be in a similar plane shooting from a distance.

What’s your idea of success as a photographer? Have you reached it? When would you do an air-punch and say ‘Ok, now I’ve really made it’? Or have you already?

Each time I reach a particular pinnacle in my career, a new threshold emerges. 

What is your impression of Imagebrief and it’s impact on the South African photographic industry?

A new concept, freeing up the way in which photographers can sell their photographs, without being being subject to stock agency constraints.

Can you attach your all-time favourite photograph taken by you?

Check out them lashes ! oh lala

Any one seen these lashes fluttering around Shop Till You Drop magazine lately ?? 

Sebastian Lurving you work !

Awarded Brief: Young girl, 6-12 years old with intellectual ability

Check out this little munchkin we found in Sunday Magazine on the weekend … 

Nice work Mr. Justin Paget keep it coming ! 

To see more of justin’s work click on his profile here.

Awarded Brief: Camping Family - Shop Smart Cover

You are on fire Mr. Calia ……… Gold Star for you!

Brief:

I’m after a cover image for the Shop Smart cover in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper. Ideally Kids/families in a campground, in a tent having fun. A summery scene would fit best.

The awarded shot!

Shot by ImageBrief Photographer Ross Calia, view Ross’s profile here.

Spot the cover ! …… anyone catch this shot over the weekend, nice work Mr. Calia 

ImageBrief Photographer Spotlight: Diana Proemm

Today’s featured photographer on the ImageBrief blog is Diana Proemm ……

How long have you been shooting?

Since I could get my hands on a camera!

Have you always been a photographer? If not, what did you do before?

I consider myself a recreation therapist with a photography problem. I have been in and out of the photo industry most of my life but always fall back to working in the outdoors, which also where I shoot 90% of my photographs. Currently I am an Adaptive Sports Director with a disabled sports company. Photography is my side job/love. Are you self-taught? Yes and no, I try to attend online seminars and conferences when I can.

What would you list as your number one genre - the thing you’re great at?

Outdoor nature with some adventure thrown in.

Which other photographers inspire you?

Every photographer out there - each person lends their eye a little differently and I think you can learn from each. Galen Rowell, and Erik Almas.

If you could have 1 day, all expenses paid and access to top-of-the-range equipment, producers, models, assistants, locations and anything else, what would you create?

Radical outdoor adventure shoot of someone dropping a big waterfall or some beautiful woman decked out in lavish full length flowy dress in an artistically designed flower garden.

What’s your idea of success as a photographer? Have you reached it? When would you do an air-punch and say ‘Ok, now I’ve really made it’? Or have you already?

I have my health, family, dog, boyfriend and just wonderful fulling life. I have made it to where I need to be today. Tomorrow - who knows!!

Checkout Diana’s ImageBrief portfolio