Industry Interview with

ALISTAIR LANGHAM The Studio 17, Coalville

A bit about Alistair…Alistair studied Photojournalism at Stradbroke College in Sheffield and then went on to work for the Leicester Mercury as a Photographer for nearly 14 years. He described his job as a photographer at the Leicester Mercury as ‘an annoying pap (paparazzi) who doesn’t understand personal space’ but from that job he said that he had learnt ‘valuable lessons on how to act around people when they are having photographs taken of them’. After working at the Leicester Mercury he opened a photography studio in Coalville called The Studio 17 in 2007 and has been there ever since, offering professional photography for occasions including PR, press events, portraits, weddings, parties and schools. ‘I love my job because you never know who is going to walk through the door, and I also love traveling around the county, visiting new locations to shoot’

What is your favourite camera to shoot with?

‘My favourite camera is the Canon EOS 1DX due to its versatility because if I want to shoot something, for example a child on the rope swing in the studio then it has a very quick shutter speed so I can capture the perfect moment, you know what kids are like you can never get their attention for longer than 2 seconds!’

What is your favourite event to shoot?

‘By far my favourite event is a wedding! This is probably because it is a happy occasion and people always want photographs taken so you are never searching for people and persuading, they come to you! I always seem to produce my best work at a wedding, probably something to do with the setting, I have worked at some incredible weddings!’

For my front cover, I am hoping to photograph Old John in Bradgate Park with a woman doing a yoga pose, do you have any tips on how to

produce an eye catching image?

‘When I shot the eclipse this year up at Old John, my best images were when I did a light reading on the sky then silhouetted Old John and the trees in the background. It was really effective as the sky colour was an incredible blue and Old John was completely black, you could recreate that by putting your yoga model in the handle to the beer glass (the doorway!!) and creating a silhouette of Old John and her doing a really distinctive yoga pose. However, the model must be wearing skin tight clothing to make it look as effective as possible.’

I loved this idea he gave me for my front cover and I am definitely going to take it forward into the planning stages of my magazine.

Alistair showing me the image he took through the doorway of Old John on the morning of the eclipse. As you can see,

everything is silhouetted apart from the sky.

Do you have any tips on how to set out my double paged spread?

‘From my days working for the Leicester Mercury and also taking photographs for magazines, I have learnt that if you are the main article in the magazine, you need to make sure that your main image is on the right hand side of the page, and taking up most of it. This is because the right hand page is the first page people see, and if the picture is eye catching and interesting then they are more likely to read the article. You also need to make sure that your readers eyes are dragged into the middle of the pages, you don’t want a road leading off the page.’

Unfortunately, the interview had to be cut short as Alistair’s next client had arrived for their family portraits.

However, Alistair has given me a brilliant idea for the image on my front cover, and also very important tips to

take forward when it comes to designing my double-page spread.