Emma Taylor London

Thoughts For Photographers

2012-02-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

Please I implore you . . .

DO NOT BE APOLOGETIC!

Of course when you're late to your own shoot or you sneeze coffee out ya nose and into the face of your client, then perhaps you ought to be.

But for the love of all things creative, can we stop with the shuffling, head bowing

"er yeah, I don't know why that's in the folio either" or the

"it's not my favourite shot but this one person once told me it was ok"

Seriously?

Trust the Boss as my old tutor used to tell me, whilst jabbing me in the stomach.

You know deep down that you're doing yourself a disservice.

A happy portfolio makes for a happy photographer!

Inspiration

2012-02-17T08:33:00.000-08:00

My mate Bertie Bollans did these!

Recently rediscovered illustration work from Bertie Bollans.
He made these for his daughter when she was a baby. Cool!

It's the beautiful immediacy . . .

2012-02-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

Guinevere with cigarette - Paolo Roversi

Currently showing as part of the Paolo Roversi retrospective at The Wapping Project Bankside.
Beautiful write up by Wayne Ford here.

A blog within a blog

2012-02-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

As anyone who has ever met me will know, I LOVE TWITTER! It inspires me daily with it's wonderful pool of creative minds and random chatter.
And remarkably I've made some actual friendships through it's delightful communication platform of 140 characters. Notably Mr Elliot Harris.

Elliot used to be a name on my database at Vue, and 'that chap who wrote rather good blog posts' that I subscribed to. Now he's a proper mate to myself & V excellent photographer Jonathan Minster. All because we started to share creative musings on Twitter.
A commission came in the shape of a Marston's campaign, which we all throughly enjoyed working together on and we quickly started to seek out another opportunity to have a bit of a creative play and produce something beautiful.

What came next is rather eloquently put in Jonathan's blog post here. And on Elliot's blog here. And Vue's blog here. Joining our merry band this time round were Stanley's Post and top Retoucher Sophie Lawes. We were lucky enough to work with wonderful models The Famou5 Harris girls and hopefully you'll agree the results are quite beautiful . . .

Inspiration - Dance

2012-01-28T06:53:00.000-08:00

Many moons ago I was in a Contemporary youth dance company.

We used to tour the country performing at wonderful places like Laban (the old venue), and workshopping with greats like Wayne McGregor.

It was the utter joy of my life for such a long time, but eventually had to be forcibly replaced due to prolonged knee damage; So in walked photography.

I don't lament this for a moment (well not too much of a moment anyway). Photography has and continues to be the great love of my life but I thought it was about time I paid respects to my first love, Dance.

Ballet Emma, checking her own foot placement

I've been to hundreds of dance performances over the years. Flamenco, Raqs Sharqi, Tap, Street, Lindy Hop et al. Some styles I love, some I loathe.

Classical Ballet leaves me cold; watching a dull series of technical exercises painfully strung to a loose narrative is no way to lose 4hrs of your life, in my opinion.

Contemporary Dance and Contemporary Ballet however are bliss; all exuberant passion, exquisite lines & powerful extensions.

My favourite choreographed piece of all time is Russell Maliphant's 'Two', part of the PUSH programme debuted at Sadler's Wells in 2005. I think I saw it when it returned in 2008.

There's a rather wonderful atmospherically written account of it here. And thanks to the wonder that is YouTube you can see it as well.

Brace yourselves though, you're about to see the phenomenal Sylvie Guillem in action. Enjoy!

Inspiration - George Hoyningen-Huene

2012-01-25T06:15:00.000-08:00

Two of my most favourite photographs in the whole world to share with you. Enjoy!

Lee Miller in Yraide Sailcloth Overalls, 1930

The Divers, Paris 1930

More about George Hoyningen-Huene here.

The A-Z of Advertising

2012-01-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

OK so perhaps it's been more than the week I promised this would appear in . . .

B is for Ballpark.
Ballpark a very sweeping non-committing sort of a word.

It's the rough financial figure clients ask you to put to a shoot estimate. Very often used when they don't have references for all the shots in a campaign, or any idea where they want to set the shoot, or which models to have in it or how many etc.
It can be their nod to let you off the hook at an early stage of costing when not all the info is readily available, so you don't have to spend days estimating in too much detail.

You'll hear Ballpark sometimes used in sentences like "Can you give us a ballpark figure for the production of this really large and overly elaborate shoot we want to do for this really poor client of ours". Well not quite but you might as well hear it that way. Because very often it's a clients way of sounding out the price bracket you fit in. Cheeky sods :)

B is also for BBH .
But then you should know that already. If you don't, look on their website here and then berate yourself for not knowing enough and tune in next week because ...
C is for Campaign (possibly).

By Royal Appt - Dylan Collard

2012-01-13T07:52:00.000-08:00

Currently on show as part of Taylor Wessing

As many people will know I used to rep Dylan Collard at Vue, I knew him yrs before this though in that delightful Blackpool Mafia way, so I'm sure some will think me biased in this praise piece.
I shan't let that stop me though, because he's a bit great and with each new personal project I seem to love his work all the more.

'Up My Street' is one of his most recent series.
All shot around North London's Junction Road, Dylan has captured a dying breed, 'the local independent shop keeper'. The appeal for him being very much the appeal for us, that glimpse into anothers world.

I find the images a real treat for the eyes and imagination. We're given the portrait of the shopkeeper to enjoy, the occasional customer to wonder about and, particularly in the case of the Blue Carbuncle below, a feast of beautiful objects to discover.
There's another shot in the series that you can find on Dylan's website that particularly pleased me because there's a box of Ilford B&W paper hidden on a shelf :)

So have a look through yourself & enjoy . . .

The Blue Carbuncle

Prices for print sales are available on request from Mr Collard.

Thank You & Farewell 2011!

2011-12-21T09:36:00.000-08:00

2011 has been an epic year for me to say the least!

Starting up on my own has been an exciting leap and I've met some throughly inspiring people over the last 8mths. I'd love to name check them all but I don't want this post to look like a register.

This year was tinged with a lot of sadness too, losing 4 friends to Chron's & Cancer. All far too young, all painfully suddenly. And capping things off my Gran had a horrendous fall. Wonderfully though she's on a slow but steady road to recovery.

I've been overwhelmed with the support of friends both new and old, who've stepped up and just been there.

For a number of reasons I'd like to thank . . .

Wayne Ford - for being my champion & a constant source of inspiration.

Luca Sage, Simon Winnall, Chris King & Ben Gold for being the best bunch of Twitter chums/photographers and sources of great debate.

Elliot Harris & Jonathan Minster - for reminding me why being creative is just so much fun.

Emily Peacock - for just being delightful.

Marc Jason - accountant extraordinaire & very understanding individual.

Tom Watkins - OMG!!! I forgot to thank Goose! Sorry Watters. - forever my gin o'clock wingman & a good source of advice & fun.

THANK YOU X

I'm Back from the USofA

2011-11-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Tequila, the perfect start to any holiday

So holidays huh!
Forgotten what those were like.
Especially the sort where you're so far in another timezone you get to turn off your IPhone. Bliss!

I've just spent the last 10days in Kansas & Oklahoma enjoying fun times with my Aunt, Uncle, Cousins, Cousins-in-Law and 2nd Cousins. Oh and an awesome half 2nd Cousin too.
Each one of them made me feel so welcome, and given that we all grew up thousands of miles from each other I've been amazed by how quickly we all clicked. I miss them all already :(

Here's a little photo snippet of some of the things I got up to. . .

Zamboni

Wichita Thunders

Sculpture at Cowboy Hall of Fame

Buffalo in a hat

Santa!

American boozes

Street!

Shop!

Cousin Julie & Connor

Mmmm&Mmm's

Take a Breath & Enjoy

2011-11-17T06:27:00.000-08:00

Beautiful shots from Tom Need.

Some days I find them calming, other days goosebump enducing.

What do you feel?

The A-Z of Advertising

2011-11-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered what a Honey Wagon was? Or whether to be flattered or appalled when invited to a 'Tissue Meeting'?
Well wonder no more because in this new feature I will strive to explain some of the lingo* used by advertising folk. Be it phrases used agency side or things you're likely to hear on set, this A-Z of Advertising is here to help make sense of it all.

So without further ado, A is for . . . AdLand.

AdLand is an animation everyone needs to have seen. It's also the best description of the sprawling global work place advertising people reside in.

It can correctly be used in sentences thus "Dave Trott is the Aesop of Ad Land".

*please note 'lingo' has not been used regularly since the 1980's.

A is also for . . . AdLand Suit.

He's a sweary genius called Dan, who tweets more than he blogs now, and is a partner at Creature London. Do go back through and read his entire blog archive, for there is much to be learnt from it. And you really should find him on Twitter. He's most likely on a list somewhere of the top ten AdLand bods to follow. He must be, he's been in Campaign enough times.

Next week B is for Ballpark.

By Royal Appt - Sarah Dunn

2011-11-08T03:27:00.000-08:00

My second By Royal Appt goes to the rather fabulous Sarah Dunn.

Sarah and I found each other through a mutual friend and met up for a rather good natter. I fell in love with her work instantly, how could you not?

Thing is I'm not normally knocked over by 'celebrity' portraiture. For me I find it either falling into the 'little bit too editorial' or 'little bit too glossy' territory.
Two things you could never accuse Sarah of though; because inside the cover of her portfolio you'll find a softness, a warmth and genuinely relaxed captured moment with each and every one of her sitters.

But then Sarah was once Harry Borden's assistant and she had the good sense to marry a chap from Blackpool College. (Can't go wrong in my books) So the pedigree is there and in my opinion she's surpassed it.

You can see more of Sarah's work on her website here. You'll find her extensive Potter Portfolio, goosebump inducing Potter video , a few Hobbits and a lot more besides. Enjoy!

Inspiration - Spoon River Anthology

2011-10-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

Chatting in a coffee shop recently with a good friend prompted me to dig out this book.

Edgar Lee Masters' 'Spoon River Anthology' was given to me at Sixth Form and it's a book I visit time and again. It's a beautiful collection of free-verse monologues (I got that gem from the jacket) that heart-breakingly charts the loves and loses of a small town in America.

Each character is introduced to us by way of their beyond the grave confessions and sorrows. You end up feeling as though you've been brought into each of their trusts, and as you read on through the book links between the characters are revealed.

You can read extracts here but personally I think this is a must for your bookcase.

By Royal Appt - Chris King

2011-10-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Before I start this new blog feature I just want to explain the "By Royal Appt" part.
For some time now I've held the nickname 'Queenie' on Twitter. It was handed to me by photographer Luca Sage after a portfolio crit and extended online friendship between us and a few other like minded creative types. It all became a bit Blackadder with them all offering me the pressies of new work and ideas for their folios.
I am by no means a fool with delusions of grandeur (well not to much anyway).

So without further ado my first By Royal Appt, a title never to be abbreviated, goes to Chris King and a selection of his images from the Hove Town Hall series.

I proudly own this print

I'm such a fan of gazing into empty spaces like these and I fell in love with the series as soon as Chris showed it to me.
It's the absence of people and the endless stories your brain attaches to the locations in a split second. That chance to imagine what's been discussed there, what decisions made.
I also think the colour palette is exquisite, it's almost jewel like, all golden wood and jade carpets. The perfect complement to this gem of architecture.

I know Chris is currently working on a new personal project, a combination of portraits and locations, I for one can't wait to see the results. I'll cut the waffle here and just let you absorb the work. Enjoy!

And if you fancy buying a print click here.

Just about to start reading . . .

2011-10-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Fred & Edie by Jill Dawson. And I am not at all ashamed to say I was initially attracted to this book by its cover. Beautifully drawn by Alice Tait.

Inspiration

2011-09-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Drawing in my B'day card from wonderful Andrew W

My new IPhone wallpaper courtesy of Oli Frape

My daily walk over The Thames

A piece I am finishing for a friend

The Worlds Laziest Blogger?

2011-08-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

I probably am, I know. And I'm sorry I really am.
I have all these wonderful ideas for posts but what feels like no time. Damn busy wonderful freelance life!

Birthday me & a merry mate.

But I will get back on the case soon, now that I've got over the wibbly feeling of turning 30.

In fact the next content piece I'm writing is set to question the judging processes our photography industry awards go through. Any thoughts you'd like to share?
Are they fair? Too expensive? Are the Judges given enough room for opinion? or are they boxed into average decision making?

Email me emmataylorlondon@gmail.com

The Great CR Tate-Up

2011-08-01T03:58:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know a couple of Thursdays back I was bouncing round Tate Britain after hours, brandishing pens at people and shouting things like "FEET! I need someone to draw me feet". All in the name of the inspiring fun that is a Creative Review Tweet-Up, or Tate-up on this occasion.

Tweeps getting their draw on.

In a nutshell; 150 of CR's twitter followers headed to a private view of the fantastic Vorticists exhibition and were invited to get networking through the wonderfully random artistic fun that is Consequences aka Exquisite Corpse. There was a digital version run by Specialmoves and then the original, ink on your fingers, version run by me.
On hand to corral one half of the group was PR lovely Jenny Ellery and photographing the weird and wacky creations was the rather talented Jonathan Minster.

We had an amazing time and I'm really pleased Neil asked me to get involved. I'm proud to have been part of a really inspiring night that is testament to the striving force within Creative Review determined to give their readership More. (it deserves the capital M, they work bloody hard)

Alex Macro (glasses) brought some mates along.

Wonderful talents @GrossmaryK & @graphicdrip

My Life As A Freelancer

2011-07-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

Nearly 3mths as a 'freelancer' now, and a heady whirl it's been!
A steady routine is finally forming and it feels like exciting times ahead. So for all you lovely folk who've asked what my new life consists of; here goes . . .

I've 3 main client groups at the moment.

1 - Companies within AdLand that I consult with, shake up a bit and work to bring in more business for. These tend to be long term arrangements where I come by a day or so a week.
At the moment I have the great pleasure of working with my chums at Retouching House Stanley's Post & Photo Agent/Producer/Top Bloke Jamie Stephen.

2 - One to One consulting sessions for un-repped photographers. We chat about portfolio direction, website structure, client groups to focus on, personal projects. It's a bit like creative therapy with a kick up the bum for good measure.

3 - Random helping hand projects. These can involve anything from putting together an exhibition, launching a book, lecturing at Art Colleges. Or in the case of a current project, lending a hand to the team at Creative Review to add an interesting creative dimension to the #crtateup (you'll have to come to the event tomorrow at Tate Britain to find out what this is, or wait till I blog about it)

So there you have it. I still think Creative Multi-tasker covers it best :)

Email me at emmataylorlondon@gmail.com if you have need of my services.

CAMARAderie

2011-07-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Camaraderie; one of the things I'm loving most about my new freelance existence.

At present I'm working with a retouching company, an agent, a gaggle of photographers and a magazine. I've been careful to avoid conflict amongst my clients, in fact I'm keen to find links between them all and seek out ways they can help each other. Because, you know what, I think this creative industry of ours is at its most inspiring when it pulls together.

Partnership across disciplines isn't anything new. We're used to the Photographer/Stylist/Casting Agent dynamic, Film Directors working with Composers and of course where would a Copywriter be without their Art Director?

But what I sometimes think we forget is how exciting it can be to challenge the usual collaborations and how important it is to even view them as collaborations in the first place. We label Colleagues as Suppliers, we get used to working with them in a certain way and I think we could all do with throwing ourselves a few curve balls.

Emily & Robs beautiful piece

Take Emily Peacock and Rob Ryan. Emily, a wonderfully talented tapestry artist, contacted Rob after falling in love with his work. They worked together to produce this beautiful cushion kit, Rob on the case with the design and Emily supplying the technical wooly magic.

I asked Emily how she found working with the Ryantown gang . . . "They always have time for you and are very upbeat... and sort of loving! I was so in awe of the whole set and it was fun to be there and act weird around them"

Sounds good doesn't it?

So your homework, if you choose to accept it, look through your database/list of mates on twitter/facebook chums etc. and randomly invite a couple of them for coffee in a couple of weeks time.
While you wait for the day to creep up, tear out inspiring newspaper articles, photograph something that makes you smile or makes you stop & think. It could be a bit of brickwork you love the texture of, a conversation you hear on a train, ANYTHING!
Suggest your meet-up mate does the same & hey presto! You've the start of a random project, hopefully a fun one, hopefully one that will fire up your imagination and at the very least gets you discussing creative loveliness.

Heck you could even make your meet-up place Tate Britain next Thursday as part of Creative Reviews TWEET UP. I'll be running a bit of creative fun on the night, so sign up & come say hello.

Judging books by their covers

2011-06-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

Illustration by Jimmy Tierney

I love books, I mean I seriously love books. I own hundreds.
Novels, novellas, poetry anthologies, biographies and Photography books of course.
I adore the smell of them, the emotional rollercoaster they can send you on, the treats they have for your eyes to feast on. I love stroking the spines of them whilst I read. And I know it would save me money to buy them all online, but part of the joy, for me, is the pawing over them in a shop. It feels like a treat.

So naturally, along with gin and puppies, good cover design is something that's guaranteed to set my heart a flutter.

Take the cover above for example. As soon as I saw Vintage had released a set of 3D covers, complete with glasses, I rushed out to get them. What a seriously inspired idea! And one that got me thinking.

There seems to have been a recent push to make printed books more tactile and collectible. Penguin asked us to design our own cover, Faber gave us the beautiful Faber Firsts. Is this a reaction to the new kid in the publishing industry, the Ebook?
I asked Granta's Artistic Director Michael Salu what he thought . . .

"Visual culture is evolving as is the design of books. I think book design will largely become a branding exercise as in music. Hence us using our content to create imagery that will travel."

A place for everything then, I can live with that. I can't quite see me rushing out to buy a Kindle as I did an IPod. But then I guess I was never much of a vinyl collector.
So I shall continue to relish attaching the exact cover to my Good Reads lists, collecting far too many points on my Waterstones card and hiding in the corners of Hatchard's.

Some recent favourite finds

Paul Graham

2011-06-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

There is a certain delicious pleasure to be had slopping about in your flipflops on a rainy day in London. Of course the key lies in knowing you're not far from home, dry clothes and somewhere to soak your feet; like I was on Sunday.
I'd just come back from The Whitechapel Gallery taking in the sublime Paul Graham exhibition, which very much brought back to me the importance of the small things, simple pleasures and taking the time to observe them.
Work like Paul Graham's always has this effect on me, then again so does gin.

If you've not been to the exhibition yet you have until June 19th to get down there. It's so worth the trip, and it's free. Leave now, go immediately. . .

Screen grab from Whitechapel website

. . . You're still here? Ok then let me explain why you should go.

Paul Graham emerged onto the photography scene in the early '80's having received his lightbulb moment amongst his college library's photobook shelves. Please keep in mind he was not at Art College, he was one of the those Science block types looking to take up some extra curricular.
It was here looking through the pages that it suddenly dawned on him, photography can be used to tell a story.
And that's what he's gone on to do. Graham picks up his camera and tells us stories. Whether it's the one about Thatcher's Britain or the one about Belfast, they're there, recorded and ready for us to read.

Like with so much Art, Paul Graham's pieces are very much of their time and retrospectively looking at them you can't help but notice the layers in each shot.
Take the portrait above, although shot in the early 90's, the polite hidden giggle and whitened face seem to hark back to a much older era. Is he trying to point out lingering cultural repressions?
There's no denying that there's a nod to this in the shot but as Graham himself is keen to admit, in the video chat that plays across from the cafe, he's somewhat the inadvertent Historian, often just looking for a good shot and himself reading into it's messages after that initial moment is captured.

It's his honesty and complete lack of pretension in the video that actually made the exhibition for me. So please, when you go allow yourself a 40min window to sit down and enjoy it. His response to being asked about the importance of "The Journey" across his work will have Photographers and their Agents chuckling heartily :)

How I Got Here (creatively speaking)

2011-05-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

So there was this epiphany moment, 10 years old stood in the Tate Gallery, as it was then, being introduced to Picasso’s Weeping Woman and suddenly I just got it, I understood art!
I was beyond the finger painting years but I suppose at 10 you’re still just drawing and painting things because you like them or because teacher wants you to engage with the Tudors, but at that very moment looking at that painting, I became incredibly aware of what you can do when you’re creating. You can tell any story, convey any emotion and heck did I feel the pain on that canvas. If you’ve never seen it, I urge you to head to Pimlico immediately. Even without knowledge of the bombing of Guernica you won’t leave unaffected.

It’s remembering moments like this and realising as I get older not many of the other kids I went to school with in Portsmouth got these sorts of day trips, that I feel lucky to have been brought up in a family of writers, dancers, musicians & artists. All be it a slightly muddled
one (two sets of parents etc.) It seemed a natural thing for me to keep up the family tradition and go into the creative industry myself; I’d probably been disowned if I hadn’t.
It was Contemporary Dance that initially had my heart but alas after 8 years in youth dance companies and too many performances across the country my knees gave out and a new path had to be hobbled down. Hello Photography!

At this stage I should tell you I am part of the notorious ‘Blackpool Mafia’. To be honest I think every fourth creative in London is as well!
Although an incredibly random place to live for 3 years, Blackpool set me up with a great understanding of the ‘industry’; what to expect, the graft needed and the keep going attitude that often marks B’pool graduates out against others. We appreciate that no job is too small, no client too big and frankly you only get as much out of something as you put into it.This is probably why Cathy looked to B’pool when she had a job opening at Vue and I got the chance to interview as a recent graduate.

From the start Vue seemed like a good fit, a small boutique photographer’s agents full of talented and award winning photographers. I mean what an inspiring place to start you career.
My 7yrs at Vue taught me so much. I loved helping shape and expand the business with Cathy and it was great to organise such diverse, interesting global photoshoots, with fantastic ad agencies, design groups and publishing companies.

I'm a chatty soul so I enjoyed going out on appointments to show-off the folio work. This part of the job was a constant rollercoaster of interesting chat and lovely people to catch up with. And I suppose has a lot to do with me turning into the marketing & social media monster I am today.

A V young covered in paint me

But we all know where this is leading . . .
2mths ago I decided it was time to spread my wings, become my own boss, take on the freelance world and handed in my notice. Eekkk!
So far it's been truly wonderful. I've been running 1hr consulting sessions for un-repped photographers helping put them on the right track with their work. And have had some very exciting client meetings (more on those later).
I'm feeling very lucky and busy!

I guess it's like Graham Fink says "Leap and the net will appear".