Category Archives: ProFiles

Neil Emmerson, aka The Travelling Photographer, has photographed just about every major city in the world during his 30 year career.

He began in Australia, shooting yachts in the Whitsunday Islands (“It was the furthest place I could get to from here..”), before taking a job with Scandinavian Airlines, living in Oslo and photographing new routes and images for their Leisure Brand. A spell with Emirates followed – a similar role to Scandinavian, but covering the entire globe.

© Neil Emmerson

5 years ago Neil set up Art For Big Spaces (www.artforbigspaces.com) – a website offering, as the name suggests, large fine art prints, beautifully printed and mounted.  I caught up with Neil in his Mayfair studio recently as he reflected on his years of travelling.

Going back to your airline work, how did you approach these commissions? I imagine it can be quite daunting to arrive in a capital city with an open brief?

I would do my homework thoroughly and spend a lot of time looking at existing images that other photographers had shot, but I’d always try to be a bit different in my approach and the airlines seemed to like what I gave them. I would also get inspiration from paintings; for example, I would look at Canaletto’s work and shoot the scenes that he depicted in his works. I wasn’t trying to copy his paintings, but I figured if it was good enough for a grand master, it was good enough for the airlines!

© Neil Emmerson

You must have shot a lot of film on these assignments. Roughly how much stock would you take on a trip?

I would take around 200 rolls each time I flew, and I’d sometimes have to pick up fresh supplies while I was shooting. I’m a prolific shooter and I soon found that only around 5% of what was edited fulfilled the requirements from the airline and the rest wasn’t needed. So I edited this massive amount of work that I’d shot in all these locations, and filed it away in plastic boxes that I labelled with the place and year, and filed these boxes away in a dry cupboard where they grew and grew.

© Neil Emmerson

It sounds glamorous, jetting around the world to these exotic locations, but I imagine it lost its sparkle over time?

Yes and no. I still enjoyed what I was doing but the travelling was very tiring. I was averaging around 75 long haul flights a year over a ten year period, and in fact, I was chatting to a flight crew once and they couldn’t believe the amount of time I was spending in the air. Apparently the radiation levels I was exposing myself to were not that healthy! What ultimately made me decide to move on was as a result of a trip to Thailand. I was trying to get a flight from Bangkok to Ko Samui but there was a storm and I couldn’t get on a plane. I thought of getting a flight to Surat Thani and from there catch another flight to Ko Samui, but eventually I managed to get a direct flight from Bangkok that afternoon. When I arrived in Ko Samui, I got to the hotel and learned that the Surat Thani flight had crashed as it was trying to land. That was the turning point for me and I thought enough is enough.

© Neil Emmerson

That’s an understandable reaction and a pretty sobering thought. Did you have any ideas as to what you could do instead?

I’d already been speaking to MG Rover about the final Mini that was to be produced that year. I’d always had a soft spot for the Mini, and had fond memories of a family holiday driving to Italy in a Mini Traveller when I was a toddler. Rover wanted to celebrate the final year of production for the car but told me that had no budget for the project. I’d been used to airline company budgets for years and had absolutely no idea about budgets in the automobile industry, and as it turned out, ‘no budget’ was actually a lot of money! I worked for a year on the project and that then led to working with Land Rover and Harley Davidson.

© Neil Emmerson

So more travelling again?!

Yes, certainly with Harley Davidson. The assignments were not so much about the actual bikes, but more of the lifestyle and culture associated with the brand, so I spent a lot of time in Western USA, working in the desert. And of course, working in all these locations meant that I was still shooting way more stock than was required for the assignments, so I continued filling my plastic boxes with surplus images. At that time I still had a few travel related clients that were sending me round the world and that too helped fill the boxes.

© Neil Emmerson

Do you still shoot commissions or have you hung up your passport?

I suppose about 5 years ago I decided I’d had enough of all the travelling and the cupboard full of boxes was nagging away at the back of my mind, so I decided to see if I could really do something special with the thousands of images I’d collected over the years. Everything had been shot on film and I’d been careful to throw out anything that wasn’t up to scratch, so I had this idea to produce large prints and see if I could sell them.

© Neil Emmerson

That was the birth of ‘Art For Big Spaces’?

Yes. I sold a few initially and through word of mouth I began to sell more and more and I’m now at the point where it’s essentially taken over what I do. It’s funny that what began as an aside to the commissioned work I was shooting, has now become my main business.

I do still travel but it’s now for my pleasure and to shoot specifically for new artworks. When I was working for the airlines, I was fortunate to visit some truly incredible places, but I’d often have only a couple of hours to shoot before having to move on. I mentally bookmarked quite a few locations and I’m now in a position to re-visit and stay for a week at a time, really getting a feel for the places and having the luxury of shooting what I want, when I want.

© Neil Emmerson

© Neil Emmerson

© Neil Emmerson

© Neil Emmerson

To see more of Neil’s work, visit www.artforbigspaces.com and his personal website www.neilemmerson.com

From 5th January, the Café in Shepherd Market, Mayfair is holding an exhibition of Neil’s collection With The Elephants, shot in Zimbabwe & Zambia in 2017.

Neil was talking to Tim Stavrinou

Ingrid Abery is one of the finest marine sports photographers working today. For the last 20 years she has photographed the sailing world’s most famous boat races and her work has featured in major yachting magazines all over the globe. I caught up with Ingrid recently over a coffee to ask her about her work and to find out what keeps her motivated.

Thanks for taking the time to chat to us Ingrid. can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I did a degree in photography and sculpture at Bath Academy before moving to London. I used to sail yachts for pleasure in between my studio photography, and fellow sailors began asking me to photograph their boats. After a while I realised that I much preferred this to sitting in my studio in London so began photographing yachts full time.

© Ingrid Abery

I understand you’ve just returned from a big trip. How much planning is involved?

Yes, I’ve just returned from Bermuda, shooting the Americas Cup which is the biggest and most prestigious race in the yachting calendar. The logistics of planning and arranging the travel and accommodation can be time consuming, but I’ve been doing it for years so it’s like second nature. Most importantly I make sure my equipment is in top working order and everything is cleaned and checked thoroughly before going on assignment.

© Ingrid Abery

How do you take care of your kit when you’re shooting in such wet conditions? I’ve seen pictures of you with your cameras, surrounded by water and it makes me wince!

Sometimes I use the old Aquatech neoprene housings and in fact, I still use one bought from Fixation probably 18 years ago. Mostly though, I find the housings rather cumbersome so I tend to shoot with nothing around the cameras. I use filters on the lenses where possible and just try and keep the kit away from water as much as possible.

For part of the time, when you’re on a rigid inflatable, chasing a yacht at high speed, hanging on for dear life at speeds of up to 45mph, you go with the motion and can see if a wave is going to come and lift your equipment out of the way. Of course, there are those times you’re on your knees at the back of the boat, Peli case open while you change lenses, and a rogue wave will come over… a quicker reaction is required!

© Ingrid Abery

I imagine you’ve killed a few pieces of kit over the years?

(Laughing), Oh absolutely! Although I’d have to say that in 20 years of marine work I haven’t lost that much equipment. Saying that, recalling one occasion – Country Life had asked me to photograph a yacht race in Cowes. I arrived at the club and there was no driver for the chase boat, so they asked the club secretary (who’d served in the Navy and knew the ocean) to step in. We headed out to the start and tied up waiting for the race to start. I was getting a bit anxious as we were running short of time and the driver was enjoying his lunch with a couple of glasses of wine. Eventually we headed out to one particular mark and I managed to grab some shots as the yachts came round. We carried on to a second mark and after I’d photographed again, packed up my kit ready to head back. It was at this point he decided to accelerate and I was hanging on for dear life and then suddenly the boat flipped and I was thrown out! The only problem was that driver wasn’t aware of what had happened and he carried on full throttle towards the finish line about half a mile away. So there was me, given no lifejacket, treading water and holding on to my rucksack which I’d had my hand on when thrown out. My Peli case was still in the boat but I was desperately trying to save the rucksack and could see the fleet going past me at a distance but they were too far away to hear me shouting and at this point starting to think this might go terribly wrong. Luckily, a nearby boat eventually saw me and came over to see if I was okay. In the distance I could see the driver of my boat turn around, presumably to ask me something and realise I wasn’t there! He came pelting back and eventually picked me up. When I was safely back on the boat, unzipped my rucksack and the water just poured out. I’d had a bunch of lenses and a couple of bodies in there, including my brand new digital EOS. When finally back in London, I brought the kit to Fixation and as far as I can recall, everything was ruined apart from three of the lenses which you managed to save. In fact, one of those lenses I still use today. The memory card  – luckily – was okay and the pictures eventually made the cover of Country Life.

© Ingrid Abery

You must have to take quite a bit of kit with you. What’s in your kit bag?

I try to balance it, depending on where I’m going, but generally have 3 to 4 Canon bodies, plenty of lenses – 24-70mm ƒ/2.8, my trusted 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 which is my favourite, an old 300mm ƒ/2.8 which is very tatty and misshapen but still does the job. I must have bought it over 15 years ago from Fixation. My 500mm ƒ/4 which is a dream, I use a lot and also take an 8mm fisheye for the odd interesting shot.

I shoot everything handheld, and try to wedge myself against the side of the boat for stability. I used to shoot with an old 600mm, which was a very heavy beast, but find the 500mm is much lighter and use it with an EOS 7D. The benefits of the crop sensor make it perfect for when shooting something like the Olympics or the Americas Cup. It’s useful to have a number of bodies around me so as to quickly put down and grab something with a different lens on without having to think. It also helps having strong arms!

© Ingrid Abery

It sounds like quite a gruelling job at times?

It can be, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. To be a good sports photographer, you not only have to have a good eye for composition but speaking a few languages is useful and of course, a good level of fitness.

© Ingrid Abery

How do you keep the work interesting?

I would have to say it’s the drama, speed, action and intrigue that keeps it interesting for me and the boats are getting faster which makes it all the more thrilling. When you’re hanging out of a helicopter, chasing a yacht that’s going at 26 knots up Sydney Harbour, it’s an amazing feeling. I keep pushing myself and trying new techniques, new kit; as you may have guessed, I love speed so standing still is not an option.

© Ingrid Abery

Do you enjoy sailing when you’re not shooting?

I don’t sail as much as I used to because work takes up so much of my time. I used to try and race in between jobs, and always take a camera with me, but found I couldn’t focus on sailing as I’d always be seeing great missed opportunities because I was in the middle of something else.

Ingrid was talking to Tim Stavrinou. To see more of her work, visit her website: www.ingridabery.com

Hugo Burnand is an established portrait photographer with over 20 years of working continuously with Condé Nast and Tatler Magazine, as well as photographing the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles, and the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton.

Other commissions include HM The Queen, President Mickael Gorbachev, President Bill Clinton and Michael Jackson amongst many others.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, you must be a busy man. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you discovered photography?

My artist grandmother gave me my first camera for my seventh birthday, and pretty quickly i realised (without being able to articulate it) that the grown-ups in my life were reacting very differently (in a positive way) to my photographs than they’d react to almost anything else I did (eye-rolling at pebble throwing games, stealing eggs from the hens, chasing cows just for the hell of it, and climbing on the roofs). I then took a photograph of a horse that won the first competition I’d ever entered, and I think from that moment on I knew I’d do photography throughout my life – even though I did a slew of other jobs before I was eventually booted out of a city job aged 27, when my then chairman kindly and genuinely advised me to pick up a camera professionally.

Self portrait

You photograph a lot with the Royal Family. How did that association come about?

I can trace it back a long way, through a progression of steps which all led to the next opportunity and finally to where I am now – starting with an exchange of some party-photographs for some paintings by an Artist friend of mine. The success of those party-photographs enabled me to get a position within Conde Nast Magazine as Tatler’s Bystander Photographer. With that job I naturally met a lot of people, and one of these people asked me to photograph (portraits) the 10 most important people in his life, and one of those ten people made an introduction that led to me photographing the wedding of HRH Prince Charles to Camilla Parker-Bowles. Another wedding (William and Kate) and many portraits later (both private and official), I am extremely grateful (more than I can express) to everyone involved along the route to get here.

The Duchess Of Cornwall | © Hugo Burnand

You photographed William & Kate’s Royal wedding in 2011. Would you say that was the most high profile shoot you’ve worked on?

Absolutely – without doubt! Definitely the most high-profile, and whilst extremely important (and enormous fun), there have been other projects that are equally or more important to me personally.

Kate & William Royal Wedding | © Hugo Burnand

You’ve photographed a fair bit in Panama. Is that part of an ongoing project?

Over the last few years I have been taking portraits of Indigenous Tribes in Panama, and had an exhibition in March 2017 at The V&A Museum, with HRH Duchess of Cornwall as our Patron, when we launched the Panamanian Wildlife Conservation Charity (PWCC), which aims to highlight the destruction of the rainforests and the loss of animals, plants and indigenous tribes as a result. Funds raised from direct donations and the sale of portraits has immediately been directed to various scientific and conservation projects, namely the protection of the previously considered extinct Harlequin Frog, a surviving community of which a team member of PWCC discovered recently beside the Santa Fé National Park in central Panama. Also sustainable eco-tourism projects were initiated with a small branch of the Emberá tribe, living deep in the Darien Gap, close to the border with Colombia. It is incredibly exciting to be able to use my photography to raise awareness and fund these conservation projects that have a world-wide impact. In the pipeline is a similar exhibition in 2019, at The Natural History Museum, with photographic portraits of rainforest tribes from all the major countries in Central and South America. (www.panamawildlife.org)

Your mother, Ursy Burnand is a photographer in her own right. Was she a big influence on you starting photography?

Ursy has always encouraged me, although to be fair, she was unsure that it was wise to have two photographers in one family – it is a notoriously difficult field to make a living in, and she didn’t want us both to be hungry – but she couldn’t stop me, especially after I had spent many childhood years helping her convert our kitchen into a darkroom after supper most evenings, blacking-out the windows and putting the enlarger on the kitchen table which the dogs were sleeping under. She is enormously talented with a fantastically sympathetic and humorous eye. Now it is my turn to encourage her to keep at it. Occasionally we do commissions together, and she assisted at both the major Royal Weddings that I have been asked to photograph. It helps keep things down-to-earth with a family-feel on both sides of the camera.

The Burnand Family

You’ve previously shot eminent world leaders such as Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev. Do you have any recollections of those shoots?

Bill Clinton was very travel weary the first time I photographed him, and I was disappointed by the lack of the oh-so-famous charisma…..but thankfully I was asked back another time, and was rewarded with the blinding dazzle of full-wattage charm. When he’s on form he is a force to be reckoned with, no doubt about it.

Meeting Mikhail Gorbachev was interesting – he has a quick and intelligent sense of humour which is strong enough to withstand every word going through a translator – and I can assure you, nothing was lost in translation!

HRH The Prince of Wales | © Hugo Burnand

Do you have any interesting shoots in the pipeline?

As well as the above mentioned 2019 Exhibition of Indigenous Tribes, I am working at HMP Dartmoor, doing portraits of Prisoners (who must hide their faces/identity for obvious reasons) for the Charity Peaceful Solutions who work to help prisoners properly prepare to return to society. Despite each identity being hidden, each portrait reveals the prisoners individual story.

I have four children (eldest is 22, youngest is 17) and I always take a portrait of each one on their Birthdays, no matter where they are in the world, and what state they are in – this has created an interesting catalogue, from portraits with measles and bad haircuts, to portraits taken on jungle treks in Peru or skinny dipping in the Thames, and this is the longest and probably most important photographic commission of my life!

© Hugo Burnand

What’s in your kit bag?

I used to be emotionally attached to my Hasselblad cameras that came everywhere with me for years – but today, with the speed at which digital equipment updates, and because my photographic needs are constantly evolving, I find myself using top of the range Canon that gives me the flexibility and robustness I need in the jungle and in London, and it gets updated in a similar fashion to the way we update our mobile phone, without emotion!

How much do you rely on Fixation for your work?

I rely on Fixation heavily, and especially Keir, who I have followed my entire career – and I still pretend I know nothing and ask his advice (which I usually take, but not always!)

© Hugo Burnand

I recall reading an amusing story about the time you photographed Michael Jackson. Can you tell us anything about that?

Michael Jackson’s people telephoned my staff in London, and asked whether I would be available to photograph him. I had very recently photographed the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles and this was one of the rewards, getting commissions that had previously been out of reach.

Jackson’s staff wanted me to be in the Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, and they wanted me immediately; he had just arrived at Heathrow, and the shoot must happen straight away, they said.

A few hours later I was in the Dorchester, with my dreams of a beautiful, personal and insightful portrait – but the plans changed….

Read the full story here

To see more Hugo’s work, visit his website www.hugofoto.com

Hugo was talking to Tim Stavrinou

Since 1994, Aviv Yaron has been working commercially within the VFX industry. During his years at Cinesite, London – then, a wholly subsidiary company of Kodak – he has worked closely with different technical teams within Kodak USA and Europe.

As a 2D Technical Director, Aviv operated at the interface between the digital artists and the R&D efforts – mainly, in the realms of 2D digital compositing, colour grading, Image Based technologies and Computational Photography. As Head of VFX Photography, Aviv has set up and managed an in-house VFX photographic studio – working closely with supervisors and on film sets around the world.

Al Jammama #1 © Aviv Yaron

In 2013, Aviv formed his own company – providing VFX photography services to a variety of industries. His commercial photography provides the ‘building blocks’ to multiple disciplines within the post production CGI pipeline.
In parallel, Aviv has been pursuing artistic endeavours through his personal work as a contemporary photographer.

With such a diverse mix in his body of work we were eager to sit down with Aviv to try and understand what motivates him and how he juggles fitting in his very different styles of output.

How did you get into photography?

My father got me my first camera when I was 6 or 7. I have been photographing ever since.
When I reached the stage of academic studies I chose to formally further my understanding of Photography.
Initially, I was attracted to its technical aspects, but soon I became totally immersed in Photography as an art medium.

6 years later, I found myself at the forefront of the digital image revolution. This was soon followed by the introduction of commercial applications of computer vision and computational photography. Commercially, I have moved from being an analogue-based Still Life photographer to become part of the visual effect industry (mainly for films). Since 1994, I have had the privilege of experiencing and assimilating in-depth knowledge of both the analogue and the digital realms of image making. Ever since 2005 I have been providing digital Visual Effects Photography services to support Computer Generated Imagery.

Al Jammama #1.2 © Aviv Yaron

You mainly shoot in black & white. Do you think monochrome helps convey the emotion behind the photograph in a way colour never could?

As a Visual Effects Photographer, my commercial work is predominately colour digital photography. A lot of my early contemporary photography work is based around Black & White shot on film, and the craft of hand printing. However, in the last 7-10 years I have been exploring different ways of engaging with the physical aspects of the medium – mainly through photo-chemical processes and digital darkroom operations. This approach have produced some results which I do not regard as a Black & White photography. Colour tints play a role in the make-up of these images (stills shot on negative film).

Monochrome, to my mind, more readily conveys the surreal aspect of photography, and the fact it is more about ways of seeing than it is about reproducing reality. However, to me, conveying emotions is not limited by the use of either monochrome or colour.

Al Jammama #4 © Aviv Yaron

Do you solely shoot on digital or does film still play a part in your work?

Creatively, it does not matter to me whether I shoot on digital or film. With both, my post-capture approach is about getting closer to that ethereal matter of the photographic image, and ‘sculpt’ its transformative space. During capture time – I am more focused on the actual experience. At that initial stage, I am not creatively concerned with the technology or the apparatus – at least, not beyond the understanding of the constraints and freedom available. Capture time is, for me, about a state of being, and a way of seeing. It does not matter whether the result is imprinted on film or pixels.

Currently, the camera I use for my art projects is loaded with film.

al-Sheikh Bureik #3 © Aviv Yaron

Your work seems to deconstruct the ‘normal’. Is this a conscious approach to your photography?

My contemporary art photography is about contemplative ways of seeing. It is about responding to a state of presence – resonating inner and outer landscapes… a ‘visual poetry’.

At that moment, the camera is no longer separating the world from the photographer. To me, this is a ‘decisive observation’. It is both a psychological peak – a response to unconscious motivations – and a spiritual one, whereby the captured image contains both the subject and the photographer. The chemical treatment I use sculpts physical traces, thus introducing layers of depth into the photographic image. This physical manipulation of the photographic matter offers a notion of past time – invoking mind wondering, and acts of remembering. The uncanny experience underlying the illusive time-frame of the photographic image – its eternally frozen present-time of the ‘then-there’ – is alongside a real sense of an organic passage of time through the layers of the image and the blemishes to its surface. My attempt is to create a metaphor for a ‘memory landscape’.

Circus #1 © Aviv Yaron

Do you plan your shoots beforehand or do you prefer to see where the mood takes you?

I usually have a camera with me. Most of the time I simply react. Again, not so much to the subject matter as to my own state of mind. I may plan an excursion, but I never know in advance what I might shoot. My planning is never beyond the point of physically getting to a particular place.

Obviously, with my commercial work – it is mostly about planning and preparation.

Desert #1 © Aviv Yaron

What equipment do you use?

For my commercial work I use a variety of Canon 35mm DSLRs and a range of other fit-for- purpose equipment. Here, a fit-for-purpose technical fineness and image quality are the guiding force (and budget, of course).
For my art work – I mainly use old film cameras. These vary in type and format. Essentially, it is not about the equipment – it is about what one does with it. For example, for my Triptychs body of work (colour, digital) I chose an old Canon DLSR set to its noisiest ISO with a Canon lens set to ƒ/1.4, Adding to it was an old 1950’s piece of Topcon glass – converting 50mm to 35mm. That concocted optical and digital artefacts producing the tactility I was after.

Hard Mask © Aviv Yaron

Some photographers who work in similar styles will often speak of a bond with their cameras, almost an extension of their thought processes. Do you think this is true, or do you separate them as purely tools?

Yes, I would definitely agree with this notion.

Nostaglia © Aviv Yaron

With your VFX work, how much spillover from your contemporary art photography is there in your commercial work?

In my commercial work, image capture is done in the context of both creative and technical briefs, whilst accommodating the on-set production constraints. My images provide the essential ingredients required to transform computer generated (CG) assets into a synthesized, yet photo-realistic, image.

In that respect, I am required to photograph for a very particular purpose – at times catering for the needs of multiple disciplines within the post production pipeline who require a completely opposing photographic approaches. However, in both art and commercial arenas there is the required technical knowledge and the photographer’s ways of seeing, which, I suppose, are the common ground for the two to co-exist.

Olivia © Aviv Yaron

You’ve worked on some huge projects over the years. Are there any that stand out as particularly rewarding?

This is a very difficult question to answer. I cannot think of a single project where I did not learn something new, or found myself challenged beyond my comfort zone. Almost all of these projects took me to amazing locations, or provided access to sites that even local people hardly know of, or are allowed to experience. I guess a major part of all these adventures is meeting and working closely with different people, and getting to know them, their culture and the place they come from. There are always moments of real meetings – even with star actors and actresses.

I’m going to guess that your contemporary art photography is an escape for you – or is it the other way around?

I would not think of either as being an escape from the other. Although, I suppose, the difference is – my contemporary art photography has to always be there, regardless of circumstances.

On The Way to Gath © Aviv Yaron

You’ve been a friend and customer of Fixation’s for many years. How much do you rely on us for your work?

With my commercial work I regard Fixation as a hub of technical support. All my equipment is serviced by Mick and his team. Some of my past bespoke solutions were made by them, too. Fixation is my first point of contact when it comes to either maintenance or when upgrading my equipment. I would also regularly seek their advise when considering the development of a new approach. Keir will not only provide an excellent rental service when I am in need of the odd additional lens, but will generously share his wealth of experience and knowledge, and provide a sound advice.

More importantly, I have the confidence in knowing that, whilst photographing on set, I am a phone call away from having any technical issue resolved, or an alternative equipment shipped to me.

Aviv was speaking with Tim Stavrinou

See below for more information and to see more of Aviv’s work.

www.avivyaron.com
www.avivyaron.co.uk
Aviv Yaron | IMDB
Aviv Yaron | Instagram