The Documentary Photographer

I’ve done quite a bit of food-related work in the past, and it’s something I enjoy. It’s also a business sector well suited to the documentary approach.

I’ve just added a gallery to the new website featuring photographs taken at a local bakery. It shows the kind of work we could only dream of when we were children. I mean, imagine how a seven-year-old would react if you told them that this was your day job:

The icing on the cake. A no nonsense approach at the Old Mill Confectionery bakery here in Cork. (c) Roger Overall 2008

Sometimes I feel like Homer Simpson.

Not just because I could stand to lose a few pounds, enjoy bacon and drink beer, but because I sometimes do silly things. Not intentionally. They just creep up on me in moments of mental fog.

Take this year’s entry for the Professional Photographer of the Year Awards here in Ireland. A lot of time and effort goes into qualifying photographs, from which a final panel of four pictures is chosen and entered into a particular category. It’s a process that takes six months. So you’d have to be some kind of numnutz to put in all the hard graft only to slip up on a basic mistake at the end. You’d have to be a real Homer.

That would be me.

Having pulled together a strong panel of commercial photographs, one I thought might just catch the judges’ eyes this year because it hung together so well, I discovered that one of the pictures had a big flaw. A super-sized honker of a fault, big enough for me to decide it would ruin the chances of the entire panel.

So what happened? How did a sub-standard image get entered into the preliminary qualifying judgings in the first place?

Long story short – the IPPA uses an online submission system (which, by the way, is terrific) and I uploaded the wrong version of the image. I should have realized sooner – like when the photograph received a much lower score than I anticipated during the judging. At the time, I put the score down to a lapse of sanity among the judges – something regularly commented upon by photographers. Now I can see they were right and my sloppiness has come home to roost.

Doh!

The final national judging doesn’t allow any room for error. When we get to this stage of the awards process, the stakes are high and only the best work will do. A minor imperfection in a photograph (or indeed a whopper) can undermine the chances of an entire panel, regardless of how good the other three are. So out went the commercial panel and a valuable lesson learned. Entering awards is an exacting process better undertaken by Lisa than Homer.

I’ll still go for the single image award in the commercial category, but that doesn’t have the same cachet. Portfolios is where it is at.

Mercifully, I didn’t have all my eggs in one basket. In fact, out of the three panels I intended to enter, the commercial one was the weakest. I also have panels lined up for the the pictorial/travel and the reportage wedding categories.  The latter is by far my strongest suit. The problem here was reducing a dozen very strong photographs down to a quartet. Artistically, I’ve had a great year, producing my best work yet. Anne and I spent a good bit of time this afternoon discussing various picture combinations for the final panel. We’ll know in February, when the winners are announced, whether we chose the right one.

A grab shot of the layouts we came up with for the 2010 IPPA/RSA Photographer of the Year Awards this afternoon. Only later in the day did I discover the flawed photograph in the Advertising/Commercial panel (c) Roger Overall 2009

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Ireland has had a rotten week.

It hosed down out of the heavens pretty much 24/7 every day this week. Monsoon-like. Or in the Cork vernacular: monsoon, like.

And there was that incident in Paris.

While the latter hurts, there is no doubt that it is the former that is going to hurt the country more. Businesses will suffer badly. And round our way, we most likely won’t have any fresh tap water for a while because the floods contaminated the water supply.

[As an aside. I do sympathize with the Irish regarding the football. Being half-English, I still feel the pain from the Hand of God. Come to think of it, the other half of me is Dutch. Football fans will know that Holland had its own Argentine nightmare in the World Cup. Similarly, both England and Holland have a thing about Germany. Both also have a rich naval tradition. And produce fine matured cheese ... Hang on ... Isn't it odd how you never see England and Holland in the same room together ...? ... Sorry, got sidetracked there]

By way of a miracle, today was a gorgeous autumnal day. Which was lucky for the couple whose wedding I was photographing. The rain is set to return tomorrow, they say.

Not everything went according to plan, though. I was supposed to start the day photographing the groom in Mallow. For those of you who don’t know, Mallow was built in a river, rather than beside it. A plump swan landing on the river is all it takes for it to burst its banks. Let alone a full-on, multi-day downpour.

So I abandoned that plan and headed straight to Fermoy, where the bride was getting ready. For those of you who don’t know Fermoy, let’s just say that it was built in the river Blackwater rather than beside it …

I arrived early and decided to take some scene-setting shots for my bride and groom.

The river Blackwater in Fermoy, Co. Cork after torrential rainfall over several days. (c) Roger Overall 2009

World's most pointless sign spotted in Fermoy, Co. Cork. (c) Roger Overall 2009

The darker side of all of this is that businesses are going to suffer badly from the flooding, especially as many local SMEs wouldn't have been able to get insurance cover following flooding in previous years. (c) Roger Overall 2009

At my Friday morning BNI meetings we spend a lot of time talking about dream referrals. The kind of referral that gets you excited, as well as swelling the bank account. For years, I couldn’t really tell you what that was for me.

That’s because I’m an idiot.

Well, not entirely, but the answer had been staring me in the face since mid-2004. That’s five years that it was right there in front of me and I didn’t see it.

Why the blindness?

It’s easy to say that life got in the way and I got distracted. Keeping a business afloat and paying a mortgage can easily divert you from your true course if you let it. I did.

That isn’t the real reason, though. The real reason is that it has taken until now for me to realize fully what it is I want to do with my photography. Without that direction, it’s impossible to say what a dream referral is. Even if you’ve already had one, done the work, and told everyone how great the assignment was.

But now I have my compass point, so it’s easy to recognize the assignment for what it was. A dream assignment.

It was a dream for a couple of reasons. Exotic travel (Suriname and Guyana), a frightening number of inoculations (breaks the ice at parties), an interesting and tricky subject (bauxite shipping through the jungle), a very appreciative client (JP Knight), a reasonable pay day, and total creative freedom. That last one is the key. Creative freedom allowed me to shoot in a very documentary way. I didn’t know it at the time, but documentary is my passion. I love photographing people living their lives – be it their working lives or their private lives. Now that I do know that, it’s easy to look back on the assignment and see it for what it really was.

All of which means that at BNI meetings I can now articulate what a dream referral is for me. That’s just as well. I haven’t chased work like it since, so I have some catching up to do.

I’ve posted some of the photographs from the shoot with JP Knight below, with some commentary on each one.

Bauxite in Suriname is mined in the coastal jungles and shipped to a refinery near Parimaribo. This photograph shows how narrow the Cottica river gets and the skill it takes to push empty and full barges to the mine and back. The ability of the master to get two huge barges and the tug pushing them around some tight bends was incredible. The wheelhouse is elevated high above the tree line to maximize visibility. Mind you, they don't stop at night, using powerful spotlights like the one on the left to see the trees (c) Roger Overall 2004

A barge pushing two empty barges passes one with full loads on either the Cottica or the Commewijne river in Suriname - I forget which as they merge at one point before joining the Suriname river. Like the previous photograph this is notable for me because it was one of the last I took for a commercial assignment on film. Fuji Astia 100, if you're interested. (c) Roger Overall 2004

Bauxite being loaded at the mine in Suriname. I liked the gesture of the hands, which is almost celebrating the delivery of the wet bauxite as if it were manna from heaven. (c) Roger Overall 2004

Dusk on the Commewijne river in Suriname. I had hoped for something more dramatic as the sun was setting. Again, another photograph shot on film. (c) Roger Overall 2004

And then the sun set - (c) Roger Overall 2004

In Guyana, the bauxite is shipped in a dry state to a loading station on the coast where it is transferred to a drybulk carrier that takes it to a refinery overseas. (c) Roger Overall 2004

A bauxite barge on the Berbice river in Guyana. Quite a story to this picture. It was taken the day after we were supposed to go up river to the mine by speedboat. However, the boat almost tipped over and I nearly lost all my camera gear. We did, in fact, lose JP Knight's local MD over the side. Consequently, we decided it was too dangerous to continue, so the next day we hitched a ride on a small plane that picked us up by the side of the road next to a sugar cane field near New Amsterdam. Seriously, I'm not kidding. As we flew south, we saw one of JP Knigtht's barges and I managed to get this shot that shows the expanse of the river as it approaches the sea. I'll never forget the plane ride. There were drafts coming from places in the fuselage that had nothing to do with the air conditioning, which wasn't working anyway. Just sayin'. (c) Roger Overall 2004

A geared drybulker loads bauxite into its holds from JP Knight barges moored alongside. The master of one of JP Knight's tugs looks on. People who know me know that I have a bit of an attraction to reflections. I'm just hard-wired that way. (c) Roger Overall 2004

I get asked a lot whether I shoot colour photographs. It’s a by-product of showing a lot of black and white stuff.

Actually, I really like colour. It’s just hard to incorporate it into a photograph properly. I’m no Jay Maisel, Ernst Haas or Steve McCurry, and if you’re not careful the colour can overwhelm the photograph and the story you’re trying to tell in it. Red in particular can be a pig. You can have your subject big in the picture, in one of the strong compositional locations but if there’s something in the photo that’s red, you’re stuffed. That’s where the eye will go.

Still, occasionally I get a colour picture that just works and would lose big time if it were converted to colour.

I’m working on my website at the moment, adding some galleries. In my back catalogue, I came across this picture, which will be appearing in one of the new galleries soon. It was taken in Suriname a few years ago while I was on the best corporate shoot I’ve ever done. In fact, it merits its own post. Check back next week for that.

The managing director of JP Knight was so excited about this shot that he made me enter it for a FujiFilm Professional Merit Award. It got one. Taken in Suriname, it shows a shipment of bauxite (the raw material for aluminium) being shipped down river from a mine in the jungle - (c) Roger Overall 2004

The weather was pretty shocking this year. Another suit ruined in the rain. Another imminent visit to the men’s wear department at M&S.

Not every day was wet, mind. Take Eileen and Eric’s wedding day, mid-September.

I’ve selected some of my favourites from the occasion and posted them below, along with some thoughts on what made me press the shutter in the first place.

Breakfast at the groom's house. It's the dog that makes the photograph. Separate from what's going on in so many ways. (c) Roger Overall 2009

I've photographed dozens of mass booklets and orders of service, mostly strewn about the place after the ceremony. This was a chance to do something different. The shadow gives the photograph a slightly surreal feel. In retrospect, I think there was a better picture there - (c) Roger Overall 2009

A bridesmaid tossing a soft toy about isn't something you see everyday. The bride waving adds an extra dimension to the picture, but to be honest I was more focused on the toy. It would have been a stronger picture if you could see whom she's waving at, though there is an element of mystery the way it is - (c) Roger Overall 2009

Stolen moments on wedding days are my favourite. Brides and grooms don't get much of a chance to talk on their big day, and communion is usually their first chance to talk as a married couple. An intimate moment amidst a congregation mostly oblivious to the couple's tender exchange - (c) Roger Overall 2009

This is all about light and isolation - (c) Roger Overall 2009

Looking back at me, though I didn't call them. They must have sensed me watching them. The framing makes the picture - (c) Roger Overall 2009

The ring. It's such a big deal, though over time we almost forget it's there on our finger - (c) Roger Overall 2009

One of my absolute favourites of the year. Two couples framed by windows (c) Roger Overall 2009

(c) Roger Overall 2009

At one stage in my life, for about five minutes, I wanted to be an architect. I liked the drawing tables that came with the job. For someone used to horizontal desks, the angled board of a draftsman’s table seemed exotic.

The table aside, there was also the respect. An architect was a person of stature, ability.

I also liked to draw.

In fact, when I was challenged about my ambition by an adult (the great party-poopers of a child’s universe) it turned out that the drawing was what attracted me most. Having been stripped of any sense that I had what it took to be an architect, I opted for an upgrade in career. I would be a cartoonist – a career that required a similar table and much more drawing fun.

That dream eventually gave way to ambitions of photography in my later teenage years. More exciting gear, better prospects of travel and adventure.

Life has a sense of humour, though. I was earning money as a cartoonist before I earned a penny as a photographer.

And, to come full circle, my client base today as a photographer includes a number of architects, engineering firms and construction companies. In a very small way, I’m living my childhood dream. One of them.

Photographed for Arup and showing one of its engineers on site at the new Cork County Hall Library in Cork City - (c) Roger Overall 2009

The last preliminary judging for the 2010 National Photographic Awards took place in Kilkenny on Monday. 800 photographs were judged on the evening during a marathon session. I entered 12 images and picked up 7 Gold distinctions, my best return ever. Now the hard work of compiling my final panels begins. I’ll be entering at least three categories at the national awards, possibly six, but most likely five. You can tell I’m in two minds. Possibly three minds.

Anyway, here are the photographs that picked up the golds, along with some commentary.

An alternative view of a bride getting ready. This provoked quite a bit of debate among the judges, not least because its documentary nature didn't sit well with some of them to begin with. They also disliked the horizontal format. However, once they started to analyze the picture more and the story started to flow from it, including the religious theme of the cross, they warmed to it more, eventually agreeing it merited a Gold. (c) Roger Overall 2009

This is my daughter dancing in the streets of Austin, Texas, in September. She loves music and she loves to dance. The temptation was too much. Some people thought she was part of the act. What always makes me laugh is that she thinks she has to pay buskers in order to dance to their music. A straightforward Gold on the night of the judging. (c) Roger Overall 2009

My daughter brushing her teeth. Houston, Texas. I loved the light and the way it made a commonplace daily event into something almost heroic. At the same time it is a very tender photograph. (c) Roger Overall 2009

This is the most personal photograph I've ever published. Another one from my recent visit to the USA, it shows dinner time at my Dad's house. My daughter had concocted something she called "ice cream" (all of her concoctions are called ice cream) and Dad is being fed a spoonful by his wife. I loved the way Emily is caught in the light and the joyous expression on her face. For once, the ice cream was palatable. (c) Roger Overall 2009

Kids. They're great at weddings. They get so incredibly bored that they have to make their own entertainment. I'd been watching this little girl for a while and her boredom culminated in this photograph. (c) Roger Overall 2009

Another child picture. As an adult, we forget what it was like to live life at 4 feet high. (c) Roger Overall 2009

On their wedding day, the bride and groom actually have very little time together on their own. This was taken just prior to their entrance to dinner and for me it is all about the two worlds existing next to each other, each without knowledge of the other. And there's me with a view of both sides. (c) Roger Overall 2009