Soccer Shots

The cheapest seats (actually they were freebies) to see the Australia Ghana football game meant an obstructed view of the football field with the players dots in the distance most of the time.

So how then did I persuade the National Library of Australia to purchase five images taken on the night for its permanent collection?

As the seats filled up around me, it became clear that I had a ringside seat to watch an amazing spectacle: the Ghanaian supporters who had clearly decided this was the night to celebrate being Ghanaian. This meant Ghanaian flags, trumpets, court jester outfits, dancing, curly yellow hair wigs, Ghanaian flags painted on fingernails and the Ghanaian national colours on every shirt.



All of this was begging to photographed but how to be unobtrusive? Having my nine year old son with me helped. So did the stadium lighting - its luminance coupled with my digital camera that can literally see in the dark meant there was no need for flash photography - I was able to shoot at 800 ASA, my aperture set to f3.3 and my shutter speed set to 1/180th second. As for focussing, I didn't use the viewfinder at all, simply aiming the camera from my waist and relying on the 'focus on nearest subject' mode.

The party began in earnest at kick off but as the night progressed, and it became clear that Ghana wasn't going to win, the mood turned to despair. So immersed were the Ghanaians in the tragedy that I was able to take beautifully poignant portraits.



More of these images may be seen at www.johnslaytor.com.au/img/flashsports/ghanasoccer/index.html.

The night taught me that my camera, despite its size, was able to be completely invisible and thus allowed me to be photographically in the moment. The night also taught me to seize the moment by appreciating my immediate surroundings, not those elsewhere I had intended to appreciate.

Party Clicks

A depressing venue - a dingy nightclub so I was concerned about how to photograph the event, a 21st birthday for a Nigerian born Australian, CJ. I didn't want a 'society' pages look to the images where the women pout at the camera, toes stretched, plastic smiles. Nor did I want the usual dim background caused by the flash having to work overtime in the darkness.


A concern about my personal safety. The email that got me the gig simply stated "a friend told me about you" and CJ wouldn't confirm who the friend was. I was supposed to turn up to the venue at 10pm and leave at 2am but CJ kept changing his mind about when he would appear. First it was 11pm, then midnight. And CJ said when he did turn up, I was supposed to meet him outside. I sent CJ an invoice and my bank details for the deposit in order to see how genuine he was. Giving my bank account details to a Nigerian seemed to break all the rules.....


When I turned up, the bouncers at the nightclub confirmed it was reserved for CJ to my relief.  I set up my portable photography studio which consisted of a white background seven feet high by 8 feet wide, one 42" flash umbrella on a light stand and my SB-800 Nikon flash set up for remote flash. The studio was located in a corridor on the way to the toilets but in sight of the dance floor: this location was as ideal as it was ever going to get being four feet wide which meant my light-stand and backdrop weren't going to get in the way of passing traffic and the flash umbrella was far enough away from the backdrop to evenly light it.


The studio was a huge hit, particularly with the women, who had arrived en masse way before the men because it gave them something to do whilst waiting and it was novel - no one had ever seen such a set up at a party before. So rather than me asking permission, the women asked if they could be photographed and I was happy because I had controlled the lighting and backdrop so I I knew the photos would be great. Before long, the men arrived, studied what I was doing and liked what they saw.

More of these images can be seen at http://www.johnslaytor.com.au/img/flashcj/index.html




Had I known what a terrific ice breaker the photography studio was, I would have brought another flash umbrella and also figured out a way to pre light the subjects because as it was, the venue was almost too dark so my camera struggled with auto-focussing; the subjects' clothing and skin colour didn't help.

Vicarious photography

That look of skepticism or resignation in portraits. I thought it was me, somehow my personality displeasing the subject but when I designed a wedding album for another photographer using his photos, I saw the same look in his subjects' eyes and it was a huge relief to realise it wasn't me that was at fault, just the subject disliking their projected self.

So I thought about what I could do to take portrait photos that make me smile rather than cringe and I went to India. In the West Bengali village where I photographed people, there is no equivalent expression for "say cheese". The villagers don't have cars, they don't have computers and they are not bombarded by advertising that makes them feel inadequate. Instead, they focus on living and somehow, this makes them enjoy being photographed. 

But India doesn't help me in my day to day professional life so in a recent portrait sitting, I decided to take advantage of the fact that the three children had known each other all their lives and it was this relationship, not mine with them, that would be worthy of photographing. 

So I set up my beast of camera on a tripod with a cable remote release, set up a flash umbrella and let the children photograph each other.  

What began as a simple portrait session turned into the making of brilliant photos. In the words of their grandmother:

"I am stunned and have been gazing and gazing at your photos …. Lots of them. The ones of K and co are so life like of them; it made me feel they were in the room here, or I was there…. And seeing them all at their best, most interesting, and most loveable…. I wonder how ever it can be done, to get so much depth of a person into a photo" 

The children became fascinated in the shadows caused by flash and not having any preconceived ideas about what constituted a portrait session, incorporated the shadows, eventually deciding the shadow made for a monster leaping from the window towards the terrified child on the bed!