My Favourite Photographers 01: Lara Jade

So I have a few favourite photographers, naturally, and so have decided that I am going to share these with you in the hope that you take from it perhaps what sort of standard of images and ideas I hope to one day achieve rather than disowning me after seeing how epic I could never become for any want of trying...

(I lay in corners sobbing to myself regularly after checking up on what these guys have been working on lately).

I've chosen three favourites to show you for now, each already pretty well-known in their own right. In these posts you will find some of my favourite images from each and, as always, a fair few words.

I'm starting with a very talented young(er than me and it kills me) lady by the name of Lara Jade.

Lara Jade
Lara Jade is particularly influential. I'll tell you why in a moment...

The image that 'introduced' me to Lara Jade, was this one:

Many people have since tried to 'rip it off' but I remember this one as 'the girl in a birdcage' as it is known, I believe. Also a favourite of fellow photographer, Matthew Stainer.

Lara Jade was interested in photography as of the age of about 15 and started her photography company in West Midlands, England when she was just 17 working to provide images of portraits and for book publishers, etc. but moved to London to expand her knowledge. experience and opportunities I know, I know, it makes it sound so easy, it makes me sick. XD

(One of my absolutely favourite images ever and if you like this, you will love the next photographer...)

She too has a blog which, though incredibly sparse, is infinitely better than this one. I mean really. Why are you still here? Honestly. I mean, I'm so grateful but, you just need to stop wasting your time. Nothing to see here folks, show's over...

This is where you should be:

Lara Jade's Blog

If you don't read it... despite having clearly carried on reading my blog... you'll read from about the beginning of 2010 where Lara Jade decides she's starting a fresh and working on her personal work a little more, plus arranging a few trips to New York to work on some exciting projects. At this point she doesn't realise how much of a journey it will take her on I think as she clearly falls in love with it enough to move out there in 2011!

(Another massive favourite. I ADORE this use of lighting).

She talks of the importance of social media to an artist and makes some valued points on quite how networking is one of the best mediums to get people eye-balling your work. Which is completely and utterly true.

And she is also known from the project in which she went 'head-to-head' with another young and rising photography name, Canadian 'Joey L' in a Photographer 'Shoot-Off' which, frankly, went a bit viral and resulted in an educational DVD!

Lara Jade vs Joey L

The two of them go through the different ways in which they both operate and put together their images under the pretence of travelling the world with several challenges to one-up each other on.

Since then, she has pretty much become world famous as a fashion and beauty photographer and now lives over in New York as of 2011 travelling all over the world working for clients such as Elle, Goldsmiths and Harper Collins and teaching photography workshops for the undeserving lesser humans, such as myself...

N.B. Would accept very expensive Lara Jade photography workshop as future birthday gift. Just sayin'.

Basically, she fah-king amazing.

AND, to boot, she looks like this:

Some people just don't even give the rest of us a chance, do they?

www.larajade.co.uk

The 'Big Day'

As of the day that I have received my very first digital SLR camera. Ordered on Thursday 30th June 2011. Arrived at 10:45am on Saturday 2nd July 2011. Canon 7d. Beautiful. This is when everything gets a million times better for me.

Whilst the 350D was a great camera to learn with, I found the restrictions closing around me rather quickly when I started getting a bit more adventurous and wanted to do more with my camera. The more I got smothered, the more I lost my 'keen' for photos. I decided I was going to save up for a while and buy a better model before trying to do any more with it.

So I shelled out £1200 on a Canon 7D. My first digital SLR camera! Chosen for it's prettiness and it's 8fps shooting (I've missed out on a lot of epic action shots in the past two years... realised it was something I really wanted to dabble in more). I could not contain my excitement when it came. I might have welled up a little bit when I first saw it laying there in it's box. Totally new.

There it is. Straight out of the box. Body only. It's beautiful, isn't it? Makes you me want to cry.

I then preceeded to look at it for approximately 45 minutes before actually getting a lens on it and playing. Though, once that bridge was crossed, I then forced my other half's brother outside to play 'keepy-ups' with his football out in the garden while I took photos of him and played with the settings.

I couldn't believe how the camera just purred away taking pictures when I got it onto high-speed continuous shooting... I thought Adam was going to cry by the time I let him finish kicking that ball but he held himself together rather well. XD

I've still got a lot to play with on this camera though at the point of writing this blog entry I have already done 4 photoshoots, been on a film set and have another couple of shoots set up for tomorrow.

Want to see some images from it? Next blog for you then!