Earlier this week I met with Anthony Price, or Tony as he is known to his friends. Tony is a retired professional photographer. Tony has enjoyed over 40 years working with photography primarily shooting the Industrial North of England. When you think about it Tony has photographed one of the most dramatic periods of capitalist society; the rise and fall.
Tony spoke of his early equipment - plates, film and lamps. He also spoke in more familiar terms - exposure, light, colour and composition. In a sense, the basic components of great photography rarely change and this is why it was such a pleasure to chat with him. He was also a great bloke.
So what did I learn?
1. Nothing is impossible.
Over 20 years ago Tony was asked to shoot a truck travelling down the motorway. Not too difficult, except he was asked to shoot during the night. This was the advent of 24 hour delivery and a photograph of a truck travelling beneath the moon and stars would have conveyed this perfectly.
It was a big ask, because motorways had no lights in the 1970's. Tony relied on the head-lights of the truck. He also wanted to capture the motorway junction sign; this was lit and contributed to the story in the picture.
To get the shot, Tony and his equipment was leaning out the side window of Ford Zepher. The road was wet, traffic dangerous, but he got the shot!
Nothing is impossible.
2. It has always been competitive.
"Photography has always been competitive. When I started out there were enough photographers in Britain than were needed to serve the whole of Europe". Tony Price.
3. Cropping & Contrast.
Tony took time to look through my photo library. He was drawn to three pictures in particular, and suggested that a simple crop would significantly change the image. I think he was right.
The Lighthouse: Tony was drawn to the lines in the picture. He felt the water was a distraction to the eye and the lines at the top of the image were too distant from the other lines in the photo. We cropped the photo. We set to monochrome and upped the contrast. A whole new picture?
The Roof of St Pancras, London: Lines are evident again here, and Tony was keen to draw the eye to the curves of the roof. The original image had too much happening, and by pulling one corner of the image to the top of an iron curve and following this through to the bottom corner, do we get a better picture. Again, we set to monochrome and upped the contrast. A whole new image?
Shoes: Tony asked me what was interesting about this image. I said "the shoes". We highlighted the shoes and took away the distraction. A whole new image?
I'll be meeting Tony again next week. I will aim to share his teaching.
