The Documentary Photographer

It’s a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland and I’ve taken the opportunity to spend time with my daughter pursuing shared interests. She loves painting and she’s developing an interest in podcasting, video and photography. I value creativity above all else, so I can’t encourage this enough. As a result, we spent some time messing around together and came up with the video I posted yesterday.

But why post any of this on a blog allegedly given over to the art and business of documentary photography?

A good question.

I hope I can give you a good enough answer.

I’ve stated before that I don’t see a future for video in my wedding business. But I can see a big future for it on the commercial side of things. I would love to be able to offer my corporate clients the option of video in addition to stills.

There is much to learn. Video photography is very different from stills photography – while at the same time being very similar. That’s the sort of paradox that’ll wreck your head.

To get anywhere near as good as I’d like to be as a film maker, I need practice.

That is what “The Cat Princess” was all about – at least on at technical level. On a human level, it allowed me to spend some time with my daughter and produce something together – a magical experience that leaves me quite emotional.

From a hard-nosed business perspective, it was all about the exercise, the training, the practice – the learning.

I can hold my own as a photographer. As a film maker, I have a lot to learn and a lot to experience before I can express my voice through moving pictures. Yesterday’s video is another step on that path. It helped me gain a better understanding of the tools available to me to produce a short film.

I’m already planning my next film, which will have a more documentary feel to it. Even then, it will only be the next step on the way to where I want to be.

Here’s a first for the blog. In fact, it’s a first for me – a video.

I’ve been interested in the video capabilities of the Canon 5D Mrk II since I got it over a year ago, but never got round to actually doing anything with it. Chiefly because I couldn’t see a way to fitting it into my wedding photography capture.

I still can’t.

But I can see a place for it in my corporate work. It’s still early days and I have a lot to learn.

An opportunity to expand my knowledge presented itself when I took some photographs for Dominick Cullinane of the recent Mallow Garden Festival. I decided to test the waters – literally.

This is what I produced.

Here’s a great example of how documentary photography (and a documentary photographer) can be incorporated into a business promotion:

Yes, I really am that plummy when I want to be.

Merry Chrismas Christmas, everyone.