FOCALPOINTThe Official MIPP Newsletter November 2013

www.mipp-malta.comIssue No. 34

Editor:Th erese Debono

Design:Th erese Debono

Articles:Various contributors

Editorial Advice:Kevin Casha

Contact:newsletter@mipp-malta.com

Newsletter Team

The October convention has come and gone in a fl ash! I would like to congratulate once again all members who took the step in sitting for the qualifi ca-tions. Whether you passed or not is irrelevant, the most im-portant thing is that you have been brave! So those who made it I urge them to keep up the good work, and those who did not make it, I wish they would try again!

So here we are, the year is nearly over, and so is our calendar of events! However rest assured that the 2014 calendar is already all set and packed with events for you to fi ll up your year and keep your passion for photography going.

Going back to the qualifi cations, this time round I featured Kerstin Arnemann and Tomoko Goto for getting their Licentiate-ship, however keep tuned because next newsletter I will surely feature the guys who got their Associateships!

Meanwhile, enjoy this newsletter and Happy Belated Halloween!

EDITORIAL

CONTENTS

pg 3 president’s viewpoint Th e Humble Photograph - Part IIpg 9 sergio’s blog Why I think Macro four thirds...pg 15 mipp qualifi cations A case of perseverancepg 24 past event review October Convention Rounduppg 27 october convention Convention in picturespg 31 past event review Sports Photography with PZCpg 33 upcoming event A Passion for Lightpg 35 announcements Photographer of the yearpg 37 calendar Mark your diaries!pg 38 gallery A selection of Members’ work

NOVEMBER 2013

cover artist Therese Debono

2

Th erese says;“I shot this image in Rome this year whilst on one of my short trips. Th is is one of my images which plays with scale, and also the human subject in relation to architecture. I chose to crop this im-age in the 16x9 format to give a more dominant eff ect to further enhance the scale between the ‘tiny’ human and the ‘massive’ architecture”

If you want your photos featured on the newslet-ter’s front page just send the images to newsletter@mipp-malta.com. Your contribu-tions are always welcome!

president’s viewpoint

3

The Humble Photograph Part II

This brings us onto digital manipu-lation and retouching which has add-ed a new dimension to it all – is it real or not?

A few years back, there was nothing more real than a picture (better than paintings – it was generally thought that a picture could not lie) - but now there are problems such as where is the dividing line between an authentic picture and a manipulated one? Prob-lems are regularly being encountered by model agencies, security, theatre, passports etc where there is the evi-dent fact that today’s pictures are ca-pable of bending the truth. Although this is not the fi rst time these problems have appeared and it is not something that Digital photography has invented – physically manipulating pictures with any means for a specifi c purpose has also been with us for quite a long time.

As an example, one remembers the Victorian fairy or “ghost” pictures, the UFO hoaxes or the Lochness Monster picture which turned out to be just a cardboard cutout on a fl oating wood-en board!

It is even a problem for court to ac-cept pictures today. In fact, the only digital fi le that magistrates are accept-ing (with some reservation) today is a Raw fi le, which is currently being con-sidered as the digital “negative”. Lately we are now even hearing about the possibility that even this Raw fi le can be manipulated!

My main photographic activity is stu-dio portraiture and with the advent of digital editing the only limit to creativ-ity and manipulating an image is the photographer’s expertise and talents. I have always thought that when I had a sitter in my studio, my main goal was to gauge what were the good and bad points of my subject. Th en, through my experience, I was to endeavor to hide as many of the bad points as pos-sible and at the same time exalt the good features and put them more in evidence. So far, so good – nobody likes to look worse than he is and eve-rybody has a phobia about something in his physical appearance. If the pho-tographer is sensitive and skilful in hiding out this phobia, he is on to a winner, as his client will invariably be pleased.

4

Above: Nostalgic image of the now demolished chalet in Sliema

But today, with the vast capabilities that skilful digital manipulation and powerful editing soft ware can do, I am actually questioning myself where a photographer has to stop. On viewing the fi nished pictures I have had clients exclaiming excit-edly – “Wow, is that me?!!” or “You’ve done Miracles!!”

I really don’t know if I should take this as a compliment or if I have taken things too far with my computer editing!

Over-editing and manipulation should not be exaggerated. I have sincerely seen digitally manipulated portraits which have gone so far that even the sitter’s own mother would not recognize them!

Unfortunately, as in any other things created by mankind, photographs can also be used for the wrong purpose. Many cases of fraud have been substantiated with “trick” and manipulated pictures. One brings to mind various “alien” pictures which proved nothing but adultered pictures. A more recent example where the

5

supposedly “Torture” pictures depicting Iraqi prisoners being mistreated by British soldiers. Th ese turned out to have been actually staged and shot in the UK!

In fact, with today’s digital technology, it is now much easier for an expert digital editing “Guru” to pull the wool over even the most knowledgeable eye. Th e photo-graph has also made it possible to proliferate Pornography quickly and easily espe-cially on the internet. And, unfortunately, this is a thing we now have to live with.

Going also back in history, one recalls that Nazi propaganda wizard, Josef Goeb-bels, who really managed to help put an unknown Austrian corporal (a certain Adolf Hitler!) on the world map with skilful use of chosen images and fi lm footage of his beloved Fuhrer.

Above: Hoax photo during the Iraq war - actually found out to have been taken in the UK!

6

But then, let us not forget the impact that pictures have done to the world.

I am sure everyone has some unfor-gettable image printed in his mind – Photographs like the Vietnamese chil-dren aft er a napalm attack, the gory pictures that come from Palestine and Israel, the aft ermath of the attack on the Moscow Th eatre, or Frank Kappa’s picture of the dying soldier during the Spanish Civil war, Don McCullin’s haunting portrait of the Afghan girl or Mother Th eresa with the Indian chil-dren.

So many pictures are churned out each and every single day but it is a sign of something greater than the photographer when one of these pic-tures keeps doing the rounds of the world press and continues evoking feelings in whoever views it. Th ey may be feelings of disbelief, disgust, wonder, pleasure but many are the images which have managed to sway public opinion, make the world aware of a particular situation, and yes, even changed the way mankind thinks.

It must be the dream of every photog-rapher who believes in his work that at least one of his pictures comes close to a great Art painting – Paintings that have kept stirring emotions since their creation. Alas, a lot of us photog-raphers are denied this one picture in our lifetime – but it is a weak man who

gives up this dream. Every respectable photographer should keep striving to achieve this goal – it does not matter that the success rate is low – he owes it to himself to grab at least that one, unforgettable image for which he is remembered.

Unfortunately, due to the world we live in, where it seems that we are on a masochistic high searching for bad news (the saying that “no news is good news” must mean something, especially in our time!), most of these pictures turn out to be pictures of mis-ery, poverty, atrocities and the like. I am defi nitely not against pictures de-picting the actual state of things and attempting to shock by making the viewer aware of what mankind is ca-pable of infl icting to his fellow man. As long as the reason behind the pic-ture is to try and reduce hate, misery and war, one cannot but agree.

What I am against is the photojour-nalist who revels in fi nding pictures of this kind only to further his career or personal gain – if not also helping to increase the sensationalism of his pic-tures by “doctoring” his image! I think this is very low ebb to reach. Th ank-fully, for the record, this is totally banned by most serious publishers.

It is also benefi cial when heart-tearing images such as the famine pictures of Sudan or the pictures of the low

7

Castes in India manage to get dormant politicians or Governments (yes, I know this is rare, but sometimes it has occurred) to act and alleviate these problems. Th at should be the pinnacle of success for a dedicated, sensitive photographer – that his pictures have managed to better life for others.

In fact, I tend to believe that History has taken a much more signifi cant meaning because of the photograph. Because of photography, we are able to better grasp what was really going on years ago. Although books and the written word have been de-picting history since time immemorial, these only give us a guessing glimpse into what really went on during those periods - a perspective from the writer’s personal point of view. One can only suggest theories from the cave paintings or Egyptian hieroglyphics. Still, it is the invention of photography that has really given us as true an insight and feeling of the past – I keep feeling that the nearest I can get to traveling in time is by studying old pictures in depth and detail. Photographs have kept an invaluable record of the changes in our recent society and life.

Photography must surely rank as one of the inventions which, besides its obvious use for documentation, has truly altered and aff ected all of our lives as well as made it so much more exciting – so give the photograph the credit it deserves!

I think not even Fox Talbot or Daguerre could have anticipated and imagined the impact the invention has had on our lives.

Perhaps only the great Leonardo could have?

EOS 5D Mark llljoins the rental family!... now available for rent.

the

for full details and conditions visitwww.avantech.com.mt or call on 2148 88 00

Avantech BuildingSt Julian’s RoadSan Gwann SGN 2805

9

A few weeks ago I was in Paris. I love that place, and I’m not a big city guy. But Paris has got something special - it feels homely, accessible and doesn’t overwhelm (not in the big-city-atmos-phere way, at least). Paris is nonethe-less large, and as many have stated previously, best seen on foot. Th e point here is that for almost ten days, I left the apartment in the morning, caught a tube (ahem, Metro), and spent the rest of the day out and about on foot.

For good reason, when travelling (and not only), one of my main rules is to carry as little equipment as possible. For Paris, as for many trips before it, it was one camera and one lens, plus a compact for casual events and evening drinks. I was fi ne with this setup pho-tographically, but my back wasn’t, aft er lugging around a D700 (1Kg) with a 24-120 F4 (700g). Th at’s almost 2Kg on my shoulder (I use a sling-strap) most of the day for 10 days. By the end of it I didn’t want to grab a camera again for a while. Granted I’m not getting any younger, but I am pretty sure anyone would experience this in pretty much the same way. Fact is, DSLRs are huge and heavy.

To be fair, I’m a big fan of 35mm sen-sors. I ditched DX when the D700 was released and have had no regrets at all. Image quality is superb, ISO sensitivity is impressive. Still, it’s a 5 year old tech-nology, and a great deal has happened since then. Back in 2008, FX was the only way to achieve the kind of image quality needed for fi ne art photogra-phy, particularly if shot under not-so-favourable conditions such as indoor handheld, requiring some pushing of the ISO sensitivity. Th e D700 did (and still does) an amazing job at it, and I have printed images up to 24”x32” without any qualms. Th e camera was so good that Nikon didn’t replace it until last year - an unprecendented oc-currance in the previously high-speed-development world of digital photog-raphy - and in reality, it wasn’t even a replacement since the camera is still being produced.

While the photographic technology has advanced signifi cantly in the past years, DSLR development has been negligible, really and truly. Megapixel count has been increased consistently, an arguable benefi t in itself, but ISO sensitivities have remained quite sta-

WHY I THINK MICRO FOUR-THIRDS IS THE FUTURE

10

ble, and apart from the introduction and development of DSLR video (clearly a big step for fi lm-makers) nothing much has changed. What has happened mostly in the the past years is miniaturisation. Clearly manufacturers have realised that the ceiling has almost been reached in the development of DSLRs with current tech-nology, and have rightly started looking in the other direction, taking the current technology and making it smaller - and as oft en happens with new technologies and directions, everyone did it diff erently (and incompatibly).

As also oft en happens, the big manufacturers took their sweet time to get onto the bandwagon, and messed it up completely. As a Nikon guy I waited for a while un-

sergio’s blog

Aft er much nudging, Sergio is back with writing on his blog. Here is his latest article.

1100

11

til they decided to create their mirrorless lineup, and when they did, started looking else-where. Th e fact is that there is one key point in this shrinking race - the balance between size and image quality. It also de-pends very much on who is be-ing targeted, and how fl exible to platform should be in terms of producing both entry level and professional grade camer-as. Sony did an impressive job with fi tting a huge sensor in a tiny body, and Samsung also opted for a larger sensor. Th e main issue with this approach is that larger sensors require larger (and more expensive) lenses, apart from being more expensive to produce in their own right. Sensor production

cost is exponential to size, not linear. Nikon went the other way, opting for a very small sensor. Way too small in my view - too small to ever support a professional or art level standard. I can somewhat see their point - they wouldn’t want to can-nibalise on their other product lines, however I think that this is a very narrow and short-sighted point of view. Canon, on the other hand, just went nowhere but into a coma for a few years, then produced something that everyone hated. Geniuses.

Naturally, in the end it is the market that tends to dictate which formats will rule the world, and although it is still a little early to say for sure, my bet is on the two remaining ones: the Fuji X system and the Olympus/Panasonic Micro Four-Th irds. Fuji has developed a great system, and went about releasing it in the best possible way, launching the X100 fi xed lens camera fi rst, winning the hearts of everyone. Simple is beautiful (if you can aff ord it). Th ey followed up with a system which had the same sensor but an interchangeable lens. Th e main drawbacks being a limited lens lineup (which will improve with time) and a poor AF, which unfortunately

has not improved much yet. It’s targeted towards the nostalgic street photographer, focusing on a rangefi nder look and an array of mostly prime lenses. I am confi dent that this plat-form, given some more time and work, will become the standard for street photogra-phers and landscape artists, and with the next generation soon to be released, this might happen soon. From the little I’ve seen, the image quality is exceptional, although RAW support is still dodgy, and I’m not a big fan of the colour ren-dition (although the latter is purely a personal view, besides being something that can be adapted).My favourite of the bunch is

however the Micro Four Th irds system. It has a number of advantages which make it a clear front runner in the contest. Firstly it is based on the four-thirds system of SLR cameras, so in many ways it is an adaptation of an existing system rather than something totally new. Granted, I never thought much of the old Four Th irds system - if you’re building a tank, you don’t load it with a handgun. But this plat-form was born for mirrorless. When the fi rst PEN systems were released, true to my gadget-loving nature, I purchased one when I had to travel with very limited luggage. Th e great thing about it is that the entry level E-PL1 was a steal - practi-cally as expensive as a high end compact. Th is was a very young technology, and it had its drawbacks. It didn’t replace my SLR, but I knew that given a few years it would mature enough to compete. Even then, the image quality was superb - good enough for fi ne art printing, such as this photo taken in Rome, handheld at a very low shutter speed. Unsurprisingly, there were a few things I hated about it. For starters working without a viewfi nder is a pain in the back (and the external one was almost as expensive as the camera). It makes holding the camera steady much

12

13

more diffi cult, and the display is useless in strong sunlight. Secondly the autofocus was way too slow compared to the SLR and unusable in some street situations. Finally the controls were more like a compact than an SLR so changing anything was tedious. I knew however that these drawbacks would be addressed eventually as the technology matured. I think that a couple of years down the line, we might have fi nally gotten to that critical turning point.

Th e great thing about Micro Four-Th irds is that the sensor size is large enough to provide decent image quality (as long as they don’t try to cramp more pixels onto the sensor, which I think they’ve realised, freezing the count at 16MPix since a couple of generations) which should be good enough for any professional, and probably for any artist too (to be seen!), and small enough to be able to produce a full range of cameras based on the same platform, from entry-level to pro, meaning photographers can start from the lower levels and end up with the top-of-the-line without having to worry about making their lens investments redundant. And on the subject of lenses, M43 has several advantages. Foremost, it has the widest range

14

of lenses of any mirrorless system, especially since multiple producers are adhering to the platform. Th at on its own would be enough to sway many towards it rather than wait for others to catch up, and if played well, by the time they do, M43 will already be the dominant system. Secondly there is also a slew of older 4/3rd lenses which can be used on M43 with an adaptor, and with the latest OM-D EM-1, these can now also be used with phase detect AF, making the focusing much faster. On paper, I’m quite impressed, and that doesn’t happen oft en.

If I’m right, DSLRs will become the new medium formats, increasingly relegated to studio environments and high end work. My guess is DX might survive for a while but will soon take the mirrorless route too. Nikon and Canon will hopefully fi nally realise that their best option is to convert their DX users into mirrorless DX users, making the cameras smaller, cheaper and able to use the many DX lenses available with an adaptor until new ones are created specifi cally for the mirrorless format. Oh, right - that’s what Olympus just did with Four-Th irds! I’m betting that mir-rorless cameras will rule the future. Th e technology is maturing fast, and will very soon catch up with SLR performance. Indeed I believe it’s already nearly there. I’ve read of a myriad of pros switching to M43, and the main reason is size and weight. Of course there will be some compromise, but the gap is closing very fast, and I personally think that I can live with the compromises to save a kilogramme of weight on my next trip to Paris. Now, I just have to try it and see for myself.

All Images shot with the Olympus EM1. Editing is basic using the Olympus Raw convertor and Photoshop has not been used in none of the images.

www.sergiomuscat.com

15

A case of perseverance

Being one of the judges for this year’s qualifi cation panels was a good experience for me where it put me in the ‘bad’ guy’s (or good guy’s) shoes. I was impressed with the top notch work of the Licentiate panels which both passed.

Here Kevin gives his piece about mentoring both Kerstin Arnemann and Tomoko Goto who both passed their Licentiate....and for both of them the journey carries on....

Kevin says:

Tomoko Goto and Kerstin Arnemann are two friends who I have had the pleasure of guiding and mentoring from their early, shaky beginnings in photography right through to their recent, well deserved success in gaining the Licentiate of the MIPP. Th eir styles and concepts are extremely diff erent but they are similar in one thing – their will to work hard, listen to advice and not give up. I think that the most im-portant two factors in working towards a Qualifi cation are hard work and prepara-tion. Th e grueling mentoring process that Tomoko and Kerstin both underwent lasted around six months but their progress was constant, leading to the attainment of their Qualifi cation. It was a pleasure to guide both of them as their involvement was inspiring. I really look forward to seeing their work further evolve and mature, as it surely will.One challenge has been surmounted and many more to come......

16

“Aft er a year of working toward my Li-centiateship, it was gratifying to see my eff orts recognized with a unanimous pass by all 5 judges. Putting my panel out there for the qualifi cation was both exciting and frightening, and I felt grateful to display my work to MIPP members.

Kevin Casha mentored me to prepare for the panel. I still remember the mo-ment he planted the idea in my head during last year’s Convention. He said, “I think you have potential, so you should try. I can help you.” I was only half listening to him at the time, but I eventually decided to follow his advice and push my photographic skills to an-other level.

Despite the experienced guidance of my mentor, preparing for the qualifi cation was a serious challenge for me.

For the Travel panel, I was able to choose images from 7 diff erent trips that I took over the past 2 years, including one that was published on the cover of a Canadian travel magazine. My husband is a travel writer, so I’m fortunate to be able to tag along with him on assignments to build my portfolio. But of course, the photo se-lection for my panel continued until the very last minute. Two of my fi nal images actually came from a trip to Spain that I took 1 month before the deadline.

For the General panel, most of my images were taken here in Malta over an 8 month period. I went out as oft en as possible to shoot events, portrait and fashion, sports and cityscapes. I didn’t limit myself to what I was comfortable shooting. I photographed subjects I never would have imagined trying to do on my own, such as a water polo game at the National Stadium.

Tomoko says:

17

When I wasn’t shooting photos, I was seeking inspiration in the work of other photographers. I poured through books on composition, exposure and lighting to deepen my understanding of the basics. I studied the work of great masters and attended art exhibits. And I interacted with other members of the MIPP and par-ticipated in workshops and events.

I was oft en surprised by the feedback I received. Kevin sometimes praised images that I really didn’t like, and completely dismissed my favourites. It seemed like he could see layers of positive and negative elements that I wasn’t able to recognize in my own work.

18

For me, the whole point of doing the LMIPP was to learn the diff erence be-tween “snapshots” and carefully craft ed images that have depth of style, meaning, and visual impact. Undergoing the men-toring process with Kevin taught me how to interpret good images from bad, and how to produce high quality images in my own way.

One very valuable skill that I learned from all this was how to create a panel. Kevin and I went through so many images to make it all fi t, and the fi nal selection pro-cess depended on how my images could best be esthetically displayed as a whole, rather than just choosing great individual shots. Th is was a very important criteria in the qualifi cation assessment.

By taking on the challenge of the LMIPP, I also discovered what kind of photography I truly enjoy, and what I’d like to pursue in the future. I loved capturing the details of people’s lives, diverse cultures, and those special ordinary moments of our everyday lives that reveal something meaningful about the whole.

I plan to continue exploring travel/street photography, and to start working on a couple documentary-style projects. But I’m still open to any type of genre. My photographic journey is just beginning.”

Both images taken from Tomoko’s Licentiate panel.

Kerstin says:“Photography started off like a hobby for me, but I was keen to improve my photog-raphy skills so I decided to take advantage of the normal mentoring service MIPP is off ering. Th e mentoring service is very helpful, it brings your photography a step further and being a person who likes chal-lenges I decided to face the next one - the Licentiate qualifi cation. I felt I could do it..... but underestimated the time needed for the work behind such a qualifi cation process.

I started working for the LMIPP qualifi -cation in January 2013, I chose my main theme Fashion and Glamour, contacted the models and every weekend I went out for a model shoot. My portfolio in this kind of photography was more or less nonexistent at the beginning of 2013, so I spent all the time initially only shooting, shooting and shooting to learn the right lighting, posing skills, interaction with the models. I have chosen Kevin Casha as my mentor in this adventure and although oft en I came back quite discouraged from our meetings and

was very close to giving up, today I can confi rm that I do not regret any moment of my learning process. I would like to quote Kevin at this point: “pushing you that little bit extra has paid off ”.

Nevertheless I felt that I needed more training especially in reading the light, so I decided to go to the UK for a one on one session with John Denton last May to improve my photographic and posing skills and to get some new inputs. Apart from the fact that I had a great time, I really learnt exactly what I needed and put it immediately into practice during my next shooting sessions here in Malta.

19

Finally I started to get a better feedback from Kevin. My aim was to create images that were considered technically as well as artistically “great pictures” and I started to feel that I was on the right track.

Another diffi culty I encountered was how to arrange the panel, as especially in the LMIPP it seems to work on two diff erent panels – I was wrong again -all has to fi t and match in one panel. Th ere are so many criteria to take into consideration like colour, lines, directions....which really amazed me, but also this was an important learning process. Kevin’s guidance and critique helped me a lot throughout my development.

20

I can say this journey was a life experience for me. I understood which kind of photography I would like to pursue in the future, my weaknesses and my strengths in photography. I discovered for example that my architectural images got always a good feedback, although I have absolutely no mathematical understanding......and until now I would have never considered in starting off with some architectural photography.... but never say never.

I arrived at the qualifi cation day and honestly I started to feel a little nervous only when I saw the judges having a closer look at my pictures. Not depending on the fi nal verdict of the judges, I felt already personally satisfi ed about my achievements referring to photography and to my personal growth.

I felt honoured to share this experience with all the other participants and appli-cants. We shared moments of joy, sadness and insecurity, which is an explosive and emotional mix and I think, we all did a great job not depending from the outcome.I just can recommend to all amateur photographers to go for such a qualifi cation process. It improves your knowledge, your photographic skills, your confi dence and it is nice having your hard work offi cially recognised. It takes your photogra-phy a step further.

21

A big thanks goes to Kevin Casha, my mentor, all my patient models, to all those who supported me, as it defi nitely was not always easy......and last but not least to all the MIPP staff who always was there when I needed a good advice.”

Both images taken from Kerstin’s Licentiate panel.

22

Above Left : Kerstin Arnemann (L) and Tomoko Goto (R) receiving their Licentiate Certifi -cates from Charles CallejaImages courtesy of Martin Agius

Keep tuned for the next newsletter where we will feature the members who got their Associateship!

The Annual MIPP October Convention in Collaboration with Th e Socie-ties is over.....I always feel kind of sad when its all over, however us in the committee would already be working on the next one, so really now I am already excited about the upcoming one!!

Will leave you with Sergio’s few words about the past convention and hope you look forward to the next events we have planned for you till the end of this year and the upcoming one!

23

OCTOBER CONVENTION 2013ROUND UP

24

25

It is now a couple of weeks since this year’s convention, and I am sure that I am not the only one to feel the memo-ries resurfacing more than occasion-ally to brighten up my work-days. Th is year was unique, both in terms of the speaker lineup, and the convention structure in its own right. Th ere were so many changes it is hard to list them all. Some of these we know worked wonders, and some others need a tad refi ning. First of all, this was the fi rst convention held in our new “home” - the Le Meridien Hotel. We found the hotel to be excellent in most cases, with some things needing further dis-cussion and improvement. Th e major change in structure came on Friday, with an open-evening preceded by an outdoor workshop, instead of the usu-al full-day of lectures.

Th e evening featured what has be-come our annual discussion forum, hosted by Dr Joe Zammit-Lucia, who year aft er year makes his way to Malta to join us for this weekend, for which we cannot be more grateful. In terms of the new structure, while we found that this model worked better than previous years, it requires some revi-sion in terms of timing, possibly with the lectures to be moved to earlier in the aft ernoon, with more extended socialising time allocated. One thing we defi nitely feel worked out well was moving the qualifi cations to Saturday aft ernoon. It felt like a much more

natural time-slot, and the lobby area worked wonderfully!

Th is year the MIPP also brought a for-eign speaker on our own steam, to join the ever-favourite John Denton kindly brought to us by the SWPP. John inevi-tably delivered brilliantly, with the as-sistance of model Nikki Haft er. His stu-dio nude session and the subsequent Q&A were both well received, as was his outdoor fashion workshop on Fri-day. However, we must admit that we were all in awe of the work, passion and fortitude of front-line photojournalist Heidi Levine. A friend of Malta’s very own Darrin Zammit-Lupi, she man-aged to make some space in an incred-ibly busy schedule to visit us for a few days and inspire us with her work and character. Darrin provided very useful support to Heidi all along the way, for which we are very grateful, and thanks to all this, we all got to experience something unique.

Talking about unique, we cannot but remember our very Irish friend Podge Kelly who inspired us with a one-hour adrenaline rush throughout his career and work. Th ere couldn’t have been a better way to conclude our speaker lineup, leaving only the SWPP com-petition to conclude another fun and informative weekend. On this note, I would like to thank all the speakers, the committee who every year pours many months of work to make this event

26

Above: Members at the October Convention 2013

happen, and last but not least Th e Societies (a.k.a. SWPP) who year aft er year keep giving us their support in making this event a success. I also want to congratulate all those who have made the qualifi cations - this is the beginning of a beautiful journey that can only take you as far as your imagination and inspiration will go. Relish it, use it and do not abandon it.

To all those who attended this year’s convention, thank you for your support. We will keep striving to make things better every year. To everyone, next year is the 10th anniversary of our collaboration with Th e Societies. We have big plans! See you next year!

Sergio Muscat

CONVENTION WEEK

Above: Model Nikki Haft er posing for members during Friday’s Workshop

Above: Members at iLab’s stand at Le Meridien

Below: Members at Avantech’s stand at Le Meridien

Above: Joe Zammit Lucia who condupanel in the background

Below: Members during lunchtime at L

KEND HIGHLIGHTS

ucteed the Forum on Friday with the

Le Meridien

Above: Heidi Levine during one of the lectures

Above: John Denton during Friday’s workshop at Tal-Milorda Gardens, Floriana

Below: Podge Kelly giving his review for one of the panels on Saturday

CONVENTION RECEP

Above L-R: Swpp competition runner up Duncan Cauchi, Phil Jones & Juliet Jones

Above L-R: Juliet Jones, Phil Jones & Kevin Casha

Below L-R: Swpp competition runner up Simon Attard, Phil & Juliet Jones, Kevin Casha

Above L-R: John Denton, the lovely N

Below L-R: Swpp competition winnerKevin Casha

PTION HIGHLIGHTS

Nikki Halter & Kevin Casha

r Robert Mifsud Phil & Juliet Jones &

Above L-R: Qualifi cations, Darrin Zammit Lupi, Kerstin Arnemann, Tomoko Goto & Ramon Curmi

Above L-R: Filing crew Ivan Consiglio & Nicky with Kevin Casha

Below: Darrin Zammit Lupi with Heidi Levine

SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY with Paul Zammit Cutajar

What I like about Paul is his frankness and hu-mour....so even though I am not keen on sports photography I did not want to miss out on his talk earlier last month. You see, I believe that the best way to capture a crowd’s attention is not by talking non-stop but on the contrary by saying a few good punch lines and show the images, which always speak for themselves. And with Paul’s long career in this genre of photography, he surely had quite a few images which spoke for themselves.

He did get his gear with him, which surely made the gear geeks happy and got them excited and counting pennies for their next purchase. How-ever I simply enjoyed Paul chatting away as if though we were having a beer at a bar rather than being lectured at.

He surely pointed out some very important points about sports photography:

Shoot from a point of view lower than eye level to get a bombastic feeling to the image. Getting players on a football pitch for eg, looking bigger than they actu-ally are gives more dymanic to an image.

Position yourself at opposite ends of the other photographers at a stadium to ensure you get diff erent shots than the mass.

Do not be afraid to shoot in contre-jour!

Look behind you, yes at the crowd, who can also give you exceptional photos ideal for newspapers & fan site.

Do not give out your work for free if you want to be taken seriously!

31

by Th erese Debono

past event review

Main Image: PZC in silhouette against his images (courtesy of Th erese Debono)

Above: some of the members at Le Me-ridien present for the talk & Left : PZC and his gear on show (both images courtesy of Martin Agius)

33

A Passion for Light:

Th e digital age has opened up possibilities in photography like never before. Pthe result is that we sometimes tend to overlook the basics and get lost in tech

Sergio has been creating Fine Art Black and White photography for over fouoverworked or artifi cial. One would be surprised how much work goes into c

Th roughout this masterclass, Sergio will be taking a practical approach, demoA practical understanding of Photoshop, particularly layers, masks, curves an

Do not miss out on Sergio’s Lecture on 26th November at Le Meridien to fi nd out the work involved behind black and white post-processing.

Lecture starts at 19:30hrs.

Creating art in Black & White

upcoming event

Photographers now have access to a myriad of tools for post processing, however hnology.

ur years. His work has been acclaimed for being bold but simple, without being creating a natural look which is easy to read and pleasing to look at.

onstrating simple techniques which he uses to create his Black and White work. nd selections is essential to get the most out of this masterclass.

imag

e by s

ergi

o m

usca

t

34

35

THE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Above L-R: PTYA Co-ordinator Martin Agius, winner Chris Azzopardi & President Kevin Casha

Congratulations to Christopher Azzopardi for winning this year’s Photographer of the year award. Well done to all other participants and keep up the good work!

30

37

CALENDAR

10th NovemberPhotowalk - In Guardia (by booking)Cafe Riche, Birgu; 10:15hrs

6th DecemberMIPP Christmas Party!Venue and Time to be confi rmed

13th DecemberPhotowalk - Archery (by booking)

Castello dei Baroni Wardija; 9:30hrs

Keep tuned 2014 Calendar!HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

26th NovemberA Passion for light by Sergio Muscat

LeMeridien; 19:30hrs

38

GALLERY

Clockwise:Top Image: Silver Award Simon Attard, Gold Award Christopher Azzopardi, Bronze Award Simon Attard & Gold Award Kerstin Arnemann.