The great outdoors
Celebrating everything that the great outdoors has to offer us as summer takes hold, we asked some of our favourite photographers to pick an outside shot that shines for them and tell us why…
Ju Kerswell wake boarding by Brighton pier, by Stef Kerswell (Pictured above)
Being married to a sports junkie I get plenty of opportunities to take action shots. I’ve watched the surf community get larger every year and now the breaks are packed with surfers battling over the same waves.
Things can get quite heated at times with the surfers “dropping in” on each other (stealing waves) and fighting over their turf. Surfing works when the waves are big, whereas wake boarding needs to be as flat as possible.
This suits me fine as I’m not the best on boats. Kite surfing is great fun to watch (and shoot) as it is continuous action; one kite surfer even jumped over Brighton Pier! Most of the kite surfing takes place at Lancing beach if you fancy checking it out. I love taking water sports shots which is just as well as I’m far too much of a wimp to get in the cold water myself.
www.stefkerswell.com
Overdressed, by Erika Szostak
I’ve always loved the Brighton Naked Bike Ride. Photographically, it’s so rich – the scene is set for images that are funny and quirky, and full of fantastic expressions, juxtapositions and narrative.
But here’s the thing. Photographers come out of the woodwork to shoot this event, and generally they all focus on the same – obvious – thing, which is the naked bike riders, of course. Because I wanted to do something a bit different, I came up with the idea of inverting that focus.
I thought, why not try to create a fashion image for which the focus would be on a fully dressed model among all of the undressed people, so that the nakedness became the context rather than the subject of the shot. So that’s what we did.
Creating this image did prove to be a logistical challenge, as it required navigating long distances through very crowded streets. In any case we had a great time doing it and this remains one of my favourite images ever. Model: Noelle Vaughn.
www.erikaszostak.com
Bougies at Ridgeview, by Julia Claxton
One of the traditional methods for keeping vines frost free through freezing nights is to light bougies – big candles – to stop the frost settling on the tender buds.
Ever since I’ve learned of this I’d wanted to photograph it. In April this year when there were several frosty nights in a row Mardi Roberts of Ridgeview Wine Estate kindly gave me permission to go out to their vineyard in Ditchling to capture it.
It was not only frosty but there was snow on the ground, and although it was totally enchanting for me to be out there I couldn’t forget that it was not only hard work for those keeping the candles lit but there was a very real danger that the vines could still be damaged. Happily the vines survived and we can look forward to a 2016 vintage of world class sparkling wine from Ridgeview!’
www.photography.juliaclaxton.net
A moment in time, by Rupert Cobb
Photography is about observation for me. This shot is a culmination of several different things coming together in a single moment. We were at Sywell Piston and Props covering the Hesketh 24 motorcycle, and this 70 year old motorcyclist with an incredibly quick start, demonstrating reactions that shouldn’t even be possible totally captivated me.
He out-performed riders a third of his age. So the moment unfolding. A wonderful painting of time. The rider talking to the designer and test rider of the Prototype Hesketh 24 motorcycle whilst Bruce Dickinson flies by in a First World War Triplane. So you find a place to sit and wait for the narrative to unfold… and when it happens it may only be for a split second.
www.gunhillstudios.com
Untitled, by Alexander Voodoo
This image speaks to me on many levels, both personally and aesthetically. Aesthetically I like having the subject very off-centre but yet with all the lines in the image leading your eye to them. The long shadows, the delicate footsteps and even the rocks and landscape. It has a real feel of reflection and time about it.
The subject’s shadow lying long behind her like a past she is trying to move away from, and the future uncertain ahead, cut off from view, but bright and enticing. I do not know if others see this too.
Perhaps the feelings I get from this image are amplified by the fact that the subject is a very important person to me, who I care about deeply and who changed my life in many ways, but who also I was in the process of losing at the time this was taken. So this photo speaks to me of that process of moving on and contemplation of change. It is just a moment caught in time but in context it takes on new meaning.
www.voodoocreationsphotography.co.uk
Summer to a photographer means taking an image in a way that anyone viewing the picture can feel the atmosphere and warmth at the time it was taken, and hopefully make people feel good for the few seconds as they view the scene. When not working it becomes a kind of busman’s holiday, because the first thing I do on a day off is reach for the camera.
On this summer’s day my wife Barbara and I, and granddaughter Lucy, drove out into the West Sussex countryside not looking for anything in particular, just a relaxing drive. We crossed Long Furlong near Findon where we came across a field with a beautiful show of poppies.
Grandchildren are ideal for photography; they can pose, appearing relaxed without any inhibitions as was the case in this photo. I asked Lucy to walk into the poppies; she soon became oblivious of the camera as I clicked away. She wondered through the blooms without posing at all. Her fee? A double whippy ice cream later that day!
www.grahamfrankspics.co.uk
If I had the time I’d do a lot more street photography. Of all styles that I dabble with, it takes the most patience but offers the greatest reward. If I come home with one decent shot from a day of standing on corners trying to be invisible I’m happy. This was my last shot on this day, I REALLY don’t like dogs (and they don’t seem to like me either) but when I spotted this hen and her beast I just knew that something was going to happen.
Asking if I could photograph her dog I crouched down, completely forgetting my fear, close and wide, then boom! It went for me. I got three images as it leapt up; two useless and then this one.
At first all I see is the dog, but then I’m drawn into the scene; the tiara seems at odds with its wearer, the bottle in her bag catches the light and the can of Red Bull appears huge, like the dog in her tiny hands. I find myself wondering about her, there’s a sadness in how separate she seems from the group, from the world perhaps.
Twitter: @threepinreset
