Lecture from Steve Howdell

In the middle of class yesterday we were given the opportunity to go to Dewsbury campus for a talk by Steve Howdell a renowned hair photographer in the fashion industry.

I was quite happy about this as I finally felt like we may be able to gain some more hands on experience. This is something that I was hoping for in the second year of the course, as I thought it was missing from the previous two semesters.
Furthermore I am a firm believer in that everyone practices photography in different ways and thought that I may be able to learn some new and different techniques.

Unlike most of the group before starting college I have already had a lot of studio experience but was interested to see how Steve lights his sets as they are specifically for hair and beauty shots. This is an area that I have no experience in, but felt quietly confidant that if asked to do something similar, I would be able to cope and produce good quality images.

The afternoon started off with a brief background about how he was introduced to photography and it seems that he happened to be in the right place at the right time. This is something that I have found happens a lot in this industry and it is all about contacts.

Something that I did find interesting is that when he signed his first contract with Babyliss he insisted that his name was wo be printed on all of his photographs to gain exposure within the intdustry. This is something that I will push for when looking for clients not matter how big or small the contract.

After the first half an hour of being introduce and looking at a powerpoint presentation of his collection of work, we then went into the main studio for a technical demonstration. It had a very 'student' feel as there was an informal and relaxed atmosphere. It was also a hands on demonstration where people were allowed to take part, which I really enjoyed.

It is the first week back at college and I am in need of updating my blog with work I have completed over the summer. Although there was no brief set over the holidays we were asked to try and do some photography.

When college is not running my full time occupation is as a photographer and so I am lucky in that everyday for the past three months I have been using one of 4 different cameras. These are a Canon mk2 ds, Nikon d300, hassleblad v and hassleblad h2.
Working full time has been a double edged sword for me as although I have been practicing with a camera I unfortunately have not had a lot of free time to concentrate on shooting what I am passionate about, trying new styles and experimenting with different lenses for example.

I have however spent a couple of weekends in the studio to produce a number of shots. Everything in the image has been selected, cropped and styled by myself with no influence from anyone else. This is something that I have not been used to doing, as normally in my day to day job I am given a brief from a client to fulfil with certain requirements.