Brian Harte the photographer

This has to be the funniest thing I have seen this week.

I love adverts like this one as they are short and sweet but make me laugh hard and loud. I hope you enjoy it too…

The Yorkshire British Institute of Professional Photographers held their annual competition this week and I was awarded Environmental (i.e not studio) portrait photographer of the year.

Here is the winning image…

I was also awarded a merit for Avant-Garde Wedding and Fashion and here are those two winning images…

I would like to thank all of you who have given me support over the last year and helped make this happen.

Roll on next year!!

A few weeks ago I was asked to go to Runswick Bay for an engagement shoot. Being one of my favourite areas of England I jumped at the chance.

Pulling in to the bay the weather was good, in fact it was great! So in an upbeat mood I went for a little walk along the beach looking for locations where I could take Peter and Helen. I decided to challenge myself and look for locations that you might easily walk past without a glance. Having had a look around I was quietly confident that I had my locations in the bag and decided a nice cup of tea was in order.

It was then that the nice tea-shop lady informed me that the weather was about to turn quite nasty. I found it hard to believe looking outside on a glorious day however I’ve experienced this scenario in the past and my gut feeling said to go with the tea-shop lady. So I ambled up the quaint narrow passages towards Peter and Helen’s cottage. In fact I got lost and had to ring Helen to come down and find me, but hey that doesn’t sound as good!

We quickly had a look over the clothes and selected a few tops and jackets to wear and hit the beach where the weather had turned to what I can only describe as “driving rain”. Hmmm….nice.

Keeping a big smile on my face I jollied them both along and managed to get some smiles from them in the rain. Helen’s prediction that “it would pass” was fast being proved wrong so we ran to one of my locations which would provide shelter. Here I shot them on their own and together getting some cracking shots but I wanted something more….

…I wanted them to get wet. No really I had some ideas but I also wanted to know if they trusted me, which they did, and I got each of them standing in the rain while I used a flash off camera (also in the rain which is not advisable if any photographer is reading) to get a fashion look for the photos. This turned out to be Peter’s favourite photograph and for me was evidence to them that whatever the weather I will take photographs and they will be great.

We moved back to their cottage where I took some window lit photographs as we dried out.

Helen was a bridesmaid at a wedding I photographed two years ago and I love it when people come back to me as I know I must have made a good impression first time around. I’m looking forward to their wedding and I hope to make it even more fun than their engagement shoot.

Peter and Helen have two romantic cottages they rent out. One at Runswick Bay and the other at Robin Hood Bay on the North Yorkshire coast and if you would like to find out more you can visit their website here.

…and no they are not like stripper-grams!

Some of you may know I once planned to become an optician…well I decided it wasn’t for me but thats not to say I am not still interested in perception, vision and optical illusions.

One of these perception tricks is 3D. Here are a few photos that show a funky type of stereoscopic vision.

Traditionally stereograms are photographs taken slightly apart from one another at exactly the same time, as our eyes would do. Then the left photograph would be presented to the left eye and the right photograph presented to the right image with each eye occluded from seeing the other eyes image. Our brains see the two images and merge them together to see a three dimensional image using different visual clues within the images and differences between the two.

One of the ways our brains do it is that objects viewed far away in each eye don’t appear to have much movement when you swap between them however objects close to you move a lot more. You can see what I mean if you hold your finger up in front of your nose and focus in to the distance now close one eye at a time your finger will jump a lot when you change eyes. Extend your arm and repeat still focusing in the distance…it will jump around a lot less.

The stereograms above are examples of a different type of stereogram called Wiggle-grams which flips between the two images rapidly. What interests me is that the stereo images are not separated in space as normally would be but in these type of stereograms are separated in time. The brain still reads three dimensional information from this.

Even if you don’t appreciate the science behind it you have to agree they look pretty cool.

Here is a website that tell you how to make them yourself and here is a website with more examples.

There are a few old stereogram cameras and examples to see at The National Media Museum (formally the National Museum of Photography Film and Television) in Bradford, Yorkshire.

I’d like to share a few of the photos with you and talk about what went in to them and what they mean to me.

Last autumn I was asked to travel down to Buckingham for a family shoot. The family consisted of Mom, Dad and 3 girls (6 years to 14 years old). Mom had asked if it was possible to have photos at The National Trust Stowe Gardens. I had made a few phone calls, upped my insurance to £5million!!! (thats what they required) and arranged a permit for photography.

Here is a family shot taken about lunchtime (about a third of the way through the day). I arranged each member of the family in to a nice looking group but by this time I had got a feel for who each of them were and tried to help them express that in the photo. I don’t like my family group photos to look rigid but I also don’t want them to look a mess. You tell me but I think they have structure with room for everyone to move and express themselves within it.

Apparently some tourists were walking past while I was taking the photo and I shouted “Everybody. This is Lord and Lady Stowe!” which got them all to laugh and I captured a real warm moment.

Here are some photos of each of the girls.

When I am shooting photos I’ll only take photos where I deem the light to be good. There is not much point otherwise or you wont be able to see peoples eyes and expression. That usually means not in direct sunlight. There are always exceptions and this girls strong features and her fashion look made me feel that I could take this photo using the harshest of direct sunlight.

I don’t tend to do this with young children (although I also never say never) as the harsh light can be too dramatic on a child, I’ll save this for the teenagers and the funky adults.

Near the end of the day I took the family to an industrial estate where I wanted to have some photos that would be a departure from what we had done in the morning, I also had the feeling that the eldest girl wanted some fashion shots so I got my outdoor flash equipment and worked a few photographs there.

We ended up the day having a bit of fun back home when I persuaded the girls to sing and dance for me on the karaoke machine. It was a long day we had all enjoyed it so much it didn’t feel like it.

Here are a few more of my favorites from the day….

There are more but I’ll save them for another day. I hoped you liked them and feel free to leave a comment below.

I’d like to thank all of the family for such a fun day. I had a great time.

For all you couples out there who want to be a bit different, or just think you are super cool, take inspiration from these guys.

Getting on down to Thriller by Michael Jackson with the whole bridal party involved is the most original first dance I have seen. If any of you are planning to do something like this remember to tell me so I can make sure I am ready with the camera!

It looks like one or two of them had a little less practice (or more alcohol) than the rest.

I recently had some fun taking photos of Rosie & Jason for their engagement photoshoot.

The day was a clear sky, low full on sunny day. With no foliage on the trees I was going to have to be inventive to get some relaxed fun shots without all the strong dramatic shadows that come with strong sunlight. They are very much in love and it seemed easy for them to get intimate in front of the camera.

I can’t wait for the wedding day…apparently they have booked the sun!

Well here are the portrait photographs as promised. I have given the girls aliases because of their age.

The weather forecast for the day was good…intermittent sun and dry all day. The previous day it had snowed quite a bit and the temperature had not risen above -1c (with wind chill about -4c). I got up early for a recce and decided the best place for some photos was on top of a hill with a large rocky outcrop. At this time of year there is not much foliage and the snow had covered a large part of the rocks making them fairly abstract.

The morning started well, and I managed to convince Nikki (the younger) to wear a sleeveless T-shirt (to be fair I had asked for a long sleeve but she didn’t have any in colour that would match the places). It was a great sign of trust from her and I knew the day was going to be great!

We began with the coldest location, on the top of the hill open to the full chill of the wind.

After about 20 minutes I could feel that the girls need to warm up so we jumped in the car, put the heaters on and drove to another location that had more shelter.

Here is a photo of Nikki with my fleece and leather jacket on while we are getting the shot ready. I just had to take it and I am glad I did as it is one of my favorite images so far this year.

We played around taking photos until our bellies started to tell us that we needed some warm soup and a crusty roll. So we headed back home. Just as we were finishing lunch it started to rain. It wasn’t forecast but it didn’t matter I had already scouted around the house and found a few places that provided perfect lighting and a simple background.

Becky had been a little reserved in the morning (probably because she was trying to forget being cold) but she really flowered later on and we got some great fashion style photos.

And thats where we stayed taking photos until the memory cards were full and the girls flagging.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts or which ones are your favorites by clicking add your comments below.

From time to time I do PR photography usually for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Haroon a young film producer from Yorkshire. His film “Life without you” is due for a private screening at the National Media Museum in Bradford, England and he asked me if we could get some fun shots which he could use to get some PR with.

We started the photoshoot in the famous Pictureville cinema.

During the film festivals they project cinerama films on to a curved widescreen which is an experience. A few years ago I managed to get tickets for one of my favorite films Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey and I was blown away. It was on 70mm twice as big as standard 35mm, not only is the resolution much greater but you get 10mm of sound instead of the regular 5mm….it’s like having a full orchestra in the cinema with you. Trust me, if you get the chance to experience it, take it.

After doing a few shots in the cinema using the red curtains, the rows of seats, spot lights and shooting up in to the house lights we moved out in to the main part of the museum. It has changed a lot recently for the better and provided a wealth of opportunities for Haroon’s photos.

You can see the trailer for Life Without You on youtube and if you like the look of it can register you interest in the film on Finisher Productions website www.finisherfilms.com

I must have made an impression with him as he asked if we could meet up to talk about me photographing his up-coming wedding!

I found a funny video on the internet today which shows destiny at work. Its about 2 streakers who are destined to meet and fall in love. The video is censored (no bits showing) so don’t be shy have a look for yourself. I’m pretty sure its a viral advert but even so it almost brought a tear to my eye. It’s only 2 days before valentines day!

www.lovestory07.com