World city panoramas transformed into 360-degree globes

These are pretty and amazing, so pretty amazing. I have an app, as we all do, but this one I have is called Small Planet and it creates worlds from pictures taken with my phone, impressive. Then again there are these images which go far beyond my clever little app.

As see on The Guardian Website The stereographic projection technique was used to convert aerial panoramas of cities including Paris, Sydney, Shanghai and Chicago into mini-globes. 

Paris, FranceThe Champs-Élysées
The 360-degree aerial panoramic photos were taken for AirPano, a Russian not-for-profit project created by a team of enthusiasts

St Petersburg, RussiaPeterhof palace

Sao Paolo, BrazilOctvio Frias de Oliveira Bridge

Sydney, AustraliaSydney Opera House
The original photograph was usually taken from a helicopter, although sometimes the team used a plane, hot air balloon or drone

Want to see the rest of these rather wonderful images go here

Here are some of mine using Small Planet, no helicopter, plane or drone required

Radcliffe Square, Oxford

Sydney Opera House

Launceston, Tasmania

Oriel Square, Oxford

20 Invaluable Tips for the Aspiring Wedding Photographer

You’ve heard there is big money in wedding photography and you want a piece of the action. After all, it sounds like a good gig, right? Five hours of work one evening on a weekend and a $1000+ payday! What could be simpler?

Before the dreams of grandeur and big pay checks start clouding your vision, here are 20 tips I hope will help steer your growth so you are an asset to the happy couple entrusting you with their fond memories.

20 Invaluable Tips for the Aspiring Wedding Photographer.

 

 

Michael Kenna: Traces of the Past

Michael Kenna is sort of local to Oxford, having taught in Banbury so not quite a home town boy but  one of the most experienced black and white photographers still active. This really illuminating interview is worth your time.

“Michael Kenna’s beautiful black-and-white images have been described as haunting, minimalist and ethereal. And by his admission, he chooses to examine one or two elements in a scene, “instead of describing everything that’s going on.” His unique approach to the environment results in simple but powerful photos of architecture, landscapes and the sea.”

Josef Koudelka – the great Czech photographer

Today I start an occasional series on the great photographers, those who are referred to as masters. This series will be to introduce you to photographers who you may have heard of but never investigated or perhaps you have never come across and so are completely new to you.

Today I introduce Josef Koudelka

Josef Koudelka

(1938-) Documentary, Landscape, Photojournalism

Biography: Born in a tiny village of Moravia, Koudelka began photographing his family and surroundings as a teenager with a 6 x 6 Bakelite camera.

He was trained at the Technical University in Prague and worked as an aeronautical engineer in Prague and Bratislava from 1961-67. He had been able to obtain an old Rolleiflex and in 1961, while working as a theater photographer in Prague, he also started a detailed study of the gypsies of Slovakia, who were then undergoing further attempts to “assimilate” them within the Czech state. His work was the subject of an exhibition in Prague in 1967.

In 1968 Koudelka extended his project to gypsy communities in Rumania and that same year recorded the invasion of Prague by Warsaw Pact armies. Smuggled out of the country with the help of Czech curator Anna Farova and published with the initials P.P. ( Prague photographer) to protect his family, the highly dramatic pictures showing Russian tanks rolling into Prague and the Czech resistance became international symbols and won him the prestigious Robert Capa Gold Medal………more

As a member of The Magnum Photo Agency he is already considered one of the greats alongside Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa etc. This link is a short film about his work of the Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 from the Magnum in Motion series

Further information can be found in this excellent Guardian interview with Koudelka in 2008

Koudelka is a photographer whose work is impossible to ignore because each image throws up so many stories, as you look at a picture and start to try to understand the reasons why the shutter was released at that moment a range of emotions, expectations and ideas come to you. His work is rarely decorative, it is always demanding and about difficult subjects. In some ways the early work of Oxford photographer Paddy Summerfield reminds me of Koudelka, Paddy’s early work is on permanent exhibition in the reception area of the Old Bank Hotel on the High Street in Oxford. Paddy is a reluctant interwebber so although he is often mentioned he no longer has his own site but this might give you some idea of his work

The hope is that with these occasional introductions you will find someone whose work you are absorbed by and undertake further investigations or maybe even go and buy a book

New website for Photographers Workshop

The origins of The Oxford School of Photography were in the training, tuition and courses run by The Photographers Workshop. Opened in 1982 as the UK’s first commercially run darkroom and studio hire centre with over 20 enlargers, black  and white and colour darkrooms, full finishing area and extensive studio, PW was a haven and home for many photographers and would be photographers. As well as providing access to essential equipment we also provided tuition to those just starting in photography. This connection still exists but we no longer have darkrooms and all our courses are scheduled as evening or weekend workshops. So is PW the mother ship of the Oxford School of Photography, well yes I think it is. The Photographers Workshop is now exclusively the commercial photography arm of the covering all areas of professional photography, the new website has been developed to reflect the continuing relationship between PW and OSP.

Have a look at our new site

Free Photography ebooks from Craft & Vision

We really do think that the Craft & Vision books are exceptional value, the best way to improve your photography is by learning more about the subject. You probably come on our courses but you might want more to fill the times when we are on holiday, maybe you just don’t live in Oxford (poor you) so our courses are not possible for you. If you want a taste of these really brilliant ebooks there are some which are free for you, go here to grab a couple Have a look at some of the other titles while you are there

 

Images from North & South

An Exhibition of Photographs by Ross Mackenzie @ The Jam Factory, 27 Park End Street, Oxford 12th November 2013 – 12th January 2014

The Jam Factory presents a series of landscape and wildlife photographs by Ross Mackenzie. Over the last seven years Ross has travelled to both the Arctic and Antarctic on numerous occasions. On these trips, Ross has developed an extensive portfolio of digital wildlife and landscape images.

The far North and far South have always been regarded as wilderness and can be considered the last places on earth to be explored. Though remote, climate change is a major threat to both the pristine cleanness of these places and to the wildlife that lives there. This portfolio captures the remoteness of the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and the Shetland Islands, in a series of images that depict the landscape and the iconic animals found in these places. Remote simultaneously captures the majesty of vast ice-bergs and glaciers whilst documenting the seemingly precarious existence of life in extreme environments.

Landscape II

I was sent some flyers about this and was drawn to the image of the person holding a dslr camera so badly, then I read a bit about it and thought the play sounded really interesting. I can’t make either date in Oxford for which I am disappointed, it is on October 1st and 2nd at the Burton Taylor Theatre.

Three women separated by a hundred years start a conversation across time. Their parallel experiences reveal shared imaginings of identity and escape, as menacing undercurrents steal into their solitary and reflective lives. Their letters, diaries, drawings and photographs expose a series of threatening episodes and unsettling occurrences. As the landscape presses in on them, they draw upon the threads that connect them to survive.

Landscape II is a compelling solo work by Melanie Wilson. This bold hybrid of performance, film and sound art creates a highly contemporary and minutely observed piece of new theatre.

“Wilson’s lyrical imagery is deeply affecting… this is powerful and rewarding theatre”
Irish Examiner on Autobiographer

“Wilson’s language is dazzling…and the crisp immersive sound design is astonishing.” Time Out on Autobiographer **** 

Full details and further information here

Keith Barnes photography podcast on Daily Information

Daily Information is a pretty unique part of Oxford; starting out as printed sheets of everything going on in Oxford and delivered to every college, cafe, library etc. it has morphed into a website and the only place to go to find anything of interest happening in Oxford. The massive amount of information is handled by the most dedicated bunch of individuals who populate the website with all sorts of information and goodies. They have been further promoting all things Oxford in a weekly podcast and we at OSP Towers were asked to go along and give a few tips on photography for inclusion in this week’s broadcast. Unfortunately our verbosity and all round excess of knowledge was just too much for their regular podcast so the created a special just for us.

You can catch this podcast and hear all the tips we brought with us on that day, of course we have more to share but we do that here on our own site. That is unless they ask us to go back for another session.

So to hear rather than read, The Daily Info Special Feature Podcast go here

 

and here to brighten up your weekend is a picture

Practical experience for photography students – Oxford Playhouse

We don’t usually promote people asking for photographers unless they are offering some pay, we all have to eat but a good cause requires some support and the Oxford Playhouse is a good place and a good cause so here goes

Oxford Playhouse is currently looking for a photographer who’d like some practical experience and build up their portfolio for one of our Playhouse Play’s Out Productions.

 From 3 – 12 May, we’re presenting an interactive family show for children ages 5- 8 and their families in a specially converted bicycle workshop on Osney Mill Marina. Full details on the production can be found by clicking here.

 The show will be rehearsing at The Story Museum on Pembroke Street and we’re looking for someone who can photograph the actors and creative team in rehearsal on Mon 22 April as well as photograph the dress rehearsal on the afternoon of Thurs 2 May.

 Unfortunately we don’t have the budget available to pay anyone, but we’re happy to cover reasonable expenses for travel and food, credit the photos to whoever takes them on the programme and wherever we use them on our website etc, as well as providing references.

 If you’re interested in this opportunity or require any further details, please contact Bethan James (Marketing & Press Officer): bethan.james@oxfordplayhouse.com or01865 305388.