A Year in Review 2017

I was about to start this post with the same sentence as my 'year in review 2016' post " 2017 wasn't as rich in epicness as 2016" but then I had to stop myself, 2017 has been awesome for me. 

I've only been active in short bursts due to other commitments like working my full time job, building a house, teaching myself woodworking and looking after my family and I'm a bit bummed to realise I made my last portrait on 6th August!

My studio is currently shut down while I am relocating but expect a great line-up of portraits in 2018, starting mid to late Feb in my brand-new studio space. 

2 things stand out for me this year:-

Being voted Australia/New Zealand Emerging Photographer 2017 - http://www.capturemag.com.au/latest/who-is-australasia-s-top-emerging-photographer-2017

Making my first photography book, 'Artefact', which I entered into the NZIPP Iris awards to win a top gold award - http://www.paulalsop.com/blog/2017/7/30/artefact-the-book

There was also a couple of articles in a few publications:-

- Bay of Plenty Times Back Page - a local newspaper, but probably the best interview I've had to date - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11867340

- Progear - Joining the NZ elite photographers with a feature in their 'Photographer of the Month' section -   https://www.progear.co.nz/about/photographer-of-the-month/paul-alsop/

I've also had the opportunity to meet some excellent people and makes some excellent portraits, here are only a few:-

Many thanks to everyone who has supported me and a special thanks to those that have sat for me in 2017, looking forwards to sharing my work with you all in 2018!

Kia ora rawa atu (Many Thanks) and Noho ora mai (all the best). 

Paul

Award winning photographer (part 1)

“Wow, you are an award winning photographer? you must be amazing?”

— Anonymous

What a year 2017 has been so far, I had planned to lie low, progress my medical career and get my head down and bum up to make more bodies of work. Over the past few years I've had some great success being featured by various media outlets for various reasons, this year was supposed to be a quiet one. 

As a self taught photographer, I am keen for critical feedback. Don't get me wrong, the social media 'likes' and comments mean a alot, they mean that my target audience have stopped, even if just for a millisecond, looked at my post/image and taken the trouble to press the like button, or spent a few seconds bashing out a quick comment. The worst thing that can happen to a creative soul is to produce work and there be no reaction. Is it self gratification? yes, to a certain extent it is, however, what means alot to me is when the social media comments have depth and thought behind them, for me this is a modern form of critical feedback, however, for a self taught artist without the benefit or the art school 'crit' sessions, finding their path on their own, it's not enough to just be 'liked' - I strive to realise where I sit in the quality of the other artists out there and always striving for self reflection and improvement. 

My 'quiet year' started to get a bit noisier in February/March when I was looking for ways to get constructive criticism of my work, I submitted a portfolio to Lens Culture with the promise of a critique of my work. It took a few months, but the return was very interesting and positive. The crit was written by one of their staff portfolio reviewers. 

Image 1

Image 3

Like a carrot dangling in front of a donkey, the Lens Culture reviewer emailed me a list of other outlets to submit my work to for further feedback, I spent an afternoon submitting my portfolio to various outfits, one of which was Capture Magazine. 

A few months passed by, and I started getting more frequent emails from the editor of Capture magazine asking for higher resolution images initially, then for a bit more info about myself. He told me I was in the top 10 finalists for Emerging Photographer 2017 award, you could have knocked me over with the proverbial feather. When the winner of the award was announced, and I found out that I had taken out both the Portrait category and Overall winner, my vision started to go fuzzy - I couldn't really make any sense of what it meant to be to have this 'award'. The self gratifying side of me was siting back in its comfortable chair having a beer and celebrating, while my self doubting conscious was still asking "what does this mean?". For quite a few days, I struggled with the award, I was stoked, confused, proud, shocked and many other emotions - more so when I saw the quality of other category entrants. The accolade of being the 'Top Emerging Photographer for Australia 2017' was great, the materialistic gesture of a cash prize and a new camera was also welcomed, however, the real 'reward' for me was when I read the list of judges and realised their caliber - I was blown away, to think my work has potentially passed by the noses of hugely respected international photographers - I was humbled to say the very least and to be brutally honest, if I had known the list of judges looked like it did, I wouldn't have entered.

Through the passage of time, the materialistic accolades, the awards, they will fade - however, for me, what lives on to inspire me, learn, self reflect and better myself and my photography are the critique of the judging panel (see below).

Fast forward a few months, I was looking forward to a low-pressure mid-winter 'holiday' in June to Wellington, New Zealand to the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP) annual conference called 'Infocus' - there were some international speakers that I have huge respect for and who have had a big impact on shaping my personal style. A few months prior to the conference, serendipitously, I was contacted by a book making company in Australia called Momento Pro who asked me if I was keen to make a photobook for the 2017 NZIPP Iris Awards. My initial gut reaction was to decline, although it had been one of my lifetime ambitions to make a photography book, I didn't feel ready. What did I have to say? what content did I have?  Why would anyone be interested in my photobook? I mulled over this for a few days, there was a looming deadline for the Iris awards, I had to collect my thoughts quickly. I had a reasonable body of personal work to show, I didn't really have any messages or story to tell other than the story of the individuals I have photographed - was that enough? I was coming around to the idea of making a photobook that would serve as my personal portfolio if nothing else, and if I could put it together in the time required to enter the Iris awards I would have the privilege (or dangling carrot) of some constructive feedback from a judging panel of 4-5 judges.

Cutting a long story short, I got my 'A into G' and worked solidly over a few weeks to design, curate, edit and re-edit a photobook that left this country to be manufactured in Australia and then sent back to New Zealand to be entered into the NZIPP Iris Awards 2017 - it got there 2 hours before the deadline closed.

The day of judgment came and I was fortunate enough to have been in the crowd for the judging. There were 15 entries into this new category for the Iris awards and my book came up last but not least. Having listened to the eloquent judging panel discuss other books in the category in detail, from the photographic content, through to typeset to paper stock, I was pretty nervous but enthusiastic to hear them pick apart my effort. When it actually came to the judges comments, I struggled to hear them over the noise of my pounding heartbeat in my head, here's an abridges transcript of the comments;

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“The 15 entry in the book category is entitled ‘ ARTEFACT - judges please enter your scores”

— Ollie (facilitator)

“This for me, out of all of the books, felt the most personal to this photographer, had a sentimentality that really appealed to me, it’s a book I would pick up over and over again. I don’t tend to go in for the overuse of the type of photography it is, that shouldn’t be the most compelling feature and often it is in this technique, but in this the photography and portraits are incredibly strong. Like a high-board diver, they are trying something quite hard here and the easy things don’t look like they have been struggled with, but I’m picking the photographer has worked incredibly hard here.”

— Simon (judge)

“I think the portraits are fabulous, but is using a process that hasn’t transferred very well into the form of a book. I was longing to see a the actual original medium and material of the collodion process, which is a very different thing to what we are seeing on the page. To me they look like reproductions from the 19th century rather than a re-use of the process to make contemporary portraiture. ”

— Anne (judge)

“I enjoyed the title, I felt it was appropriate to the paper stock and the presentation of the imagery, because as artefact, it shouldn’t have tried to modernise the process. I feel the photographer has made a very humble representation of these people. It’s sublime. I feel it’s complete. ”

— Johan (judge)

“The title really dissolves me in a really nice way, it’s about the photography and these portraits. In a photobook, what we are really asking and what a book maker is asking the viewer is “what happens next?” - we are turning pages, and if we are forced to ask what happens next, then it’s a success. For me I went though every page, so for me the book is a success. ”

— Simon (judge) - rebuttal

“OK judges, good conversation, please re-judge the book ..... we have a ‘90’ GOLD award - congratulations to the author ”

— Ollie (facilitator)

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Thankfully, the awards were live streamed and I was able to review the judges comments. Between the deafening heart beat and hearing the word 'GOLD AWARD' I didn't really know what to think - I had no basis to celebrate as I couldn't remember what was said. People asked me "how did your book entry go?" I replied sheepishly "it scored a gold". The replies were "WOW that's amazing, well done!", I replied with honest thanks, but I still didn't really know what it meant to have a book that has scored an award - was I an award winning author all of a sudden?

After I reviewed the judging comments later that night, it began to sink in that had actually done a pretty good job with my entry and I was able to reflect on the constructive criticism I had received, it was very helpful and I again, thank the panel for their excellent commentary.

I will continue the rest of this blog in a part 2 ............  

#carrot #donkey

A Year in Review 2016

2016 wasn't as rich in epicness as 2015 from a photographic perspective for me, however, that year will always be difficult to match. It was still a really prosperous year, I met alot of really great people and made alot of epic portraits.

Hamish. A portrait for Decembeard. Photo Credit Paul Alsop. 

The year started as 2015 left off, I was making portraits for 'DECEMBEARD' the hairy face of Bowel Cancer awareness in New Zealand. 

The plan for the beard project was to make a collection of portraits that would be exhibited in a gallery and also as a book at the end of  2016. It has certainly been a challenge getting support for this project and at the time of writing publishers suggested waiting for a few years before approaching them, so this will be an ongoing project over the next few years. Watch this space!

January saw the 6 hour round trip to Auckland and Kingsize Studios to continue making portraits for 'The Auckland Project' with Luke White.

Making portraits with Luke White for our ongoing portrait series 'The Auckland Project'. Photo Credit: Lee Howell. 

Making portraits with Luke White for our ongoing portrait series ' The Auckland Project'. Photo Credit: Lee Howell. 

A Wet Plate Collodion Tintype of Colin Hoy. Image Credit: Paul Alsop and Luke White

For the most part of 2016 I have been working away trying to hone my skills and perfect my craft of making portraits with the Wet Plate Colloion Process. 2016 was a great year for collaborative work, in particular, I have been working with Ani Fourie, an artist from the Bay of Plenty, Ani has been a number of things to me this year, from a technical assistant, to styling and wardrobe through to an enthusiastic encyclopedia of inspiration for a number of my portraits.

Ani was the only person to witness my 'tent cam' that I constructed in my garage, a prototype for a future mammoth size camera for making photographic images. Although I haven't made a mammoth sized plate from the camera yet, I did take the opportunity to make a 10 x 12 portrait of Ani with an antique wooden and brass camera I had recently acquired. 

'Tentcam'

A mammoth sized portrait from the tent cam

A 10 x 12 inch portrait of Ani I made the day we were checking out the tentcam. 

I've had the pleasure of being featured by a few publications this year;

Amateur Photographer - a photography magazine from the UK, published an article on my photography in their February edition. You can read the article here.

f11 - a New Zealand photography magazine. You can read the article here.  

PDN - an international photography magazine out of the USA did a piece on The Auckland Project, interviewing Luke and I. You can read the article here. 

Uno Magazine - a New Zealand Lifestyle magazine published a photo essay on my photography and some behind the scenes of a commercial shoot. You can read the article here. 

COOPH - an international online photography collective published an article on my portraits of children. You can read the article here.

As you will see from the Uno magazine article, this was a product of a collaboration / commercial shoot for BLUR Eyecare, who were keen to make unique bespoke portraits for their staff portraits and advertising, the results were 3 sets of 4 very different images, it was a great pleasure to work with these gyus who have an excellent ethic to their work and presentation. 

Blur Eyecare shoot BTS. Image Credit: Shawn Rolton.

Blur Eyecare shoot BTS. Image Credit: Shawn Rolton.

Blur Eyecare shoot BTS. Image Credit: Shawn Rolton.

Alot of this year has been dedicated to none-photographic ventures, like raising a family, building a house, furthering my career in skin cancer medicine and trying to make sense of how Donald Trump became the President elect for the USA!

Social media continues to grow, I've just been informed of my 9 best portraits of 2016, according to Instagram, it must have been a close call between these and more as I've made so many great portraits this year, but this here is what Instagram reckons .... 

Looking forward to 2017, I have absolutely nothing in the pipeline at the time of writing, so it's like I am staring at a blank canvass ..... head down, bum up, continue to work at my craft and keep eyes and ears open for opportunity knocking!

All the best guys, thanks for taking the time to follow my progress.

- Paul

A year in review

I started off this new site, blogging that "If you're not going to blog regular, then don't blog".

Well, I may have to rethink that in the new year. As always, life gets in the way and I have literally been too busy to keep up with the regular blogs and here's why.

2015 has been an epic year, for my life and for photography. You're not here to read about the life stuff, so here's a bit about what happened with photography.

I was a bit bummed out that I was selling my house and also my garage darkroom, the prospect for making wet plates in 2015 wasn't looking good. However, before packing all my gear away for who knew how long, I had one last thing to do, make a plate of my good friends A'sha and Dylan on their wedding day. I remember one of the comments on the image after making it and showing social media was "you shot wet plate at a wedding? man you have balls!"

Image courtesy of Danelle Bohane 

Around the time of moving from the Coromandel Penninsula to the Bay of Plenty, I contracted a pretty nasty dose of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease - lying on my 'deathbed' I received an email from Tracy Stamatakos of OneBlackSheep and NZIPP asking if I would be interested in being a keynote speaker at their annual Infocus photography conference in Queenstown. This made me feel heaps better!

An awesome line up, what on earth was I doing in there?

The photography stopped with the wedding plate being taken 7/2/2015. The next image wasn't made until 24/5/15, mainly because I had lost access to a dark room, which is essential to wet plate photography. Nevertheless, I had a plan.

After searching for a variety of different options, I settled on buying a retro caravan and set about turning it into a mobile darkroom, this meant, I didn't get our rental property stained with silver, but it also meant I could be mobile.

The mobile darkroom on the road

The story of the mobile darkroom caravan was picked up by the popular international photography blog Petapixel (click here to read) then subsequently a story was run by the Sydney Morning Herald (click here  to read ).

That's enough for the year already right? Turns out, no, there was still alot more in store! 

I had 3 exhibitions, one at the New Zealand Art show, one at The Wallace Gallery and another at Adrian Worsley Gallery.

Wallace Gallery exhibition

Exhibition and making plates at Adrian Worsley Gallery

In August, I was flown down to Queenstown to speak at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography annual conference, which was awesome for 3 reasons, a) here is a doctor talking to 200 professional photographers about photography for an hour b) I got to go to Queenstown in the snow c) I got to do it with my family.

After the 2015 NZIPP conference

Something that had been on my mind during the conference was the opportunity to make images with Luke White again at Kingsize Studios the largest and best studio in New Zealand, we made portraits for our collaboration 'The Auckland Project'. Again, I was lucky enough to be featured in the international photography blog Petapixel (to read more click here). 

The images were also featured in the international magazine BLUR which is dedicated to creative photography.

Making images at Kingsize Studios - Image courtesy of Lee Howell

A surprise email from TVNZ led an interview and segment on the NZ primetime TV show Seven Sharp. To watch it click here. 

Kristen Hall of TVNZ and Seven Sharp came for a visit

Finally I collaborated with a bunch of hairy fellas for Decembeard, making tintypes to raise awareness of bowel cancer in New Zealand.

An ongoing project for 2016

And that was pretty much it for 2015 photography-wise. In the 'background, I also moved house twice, moved job twice and had a baby!

I'm looking forward to 2016 with already a few things in the pipeline, however, it would be hard to beat 2015!