Sharing the Wealth; Kevin Meredith

While shopping in Urban Outfitters about a month ago, I came across a pretty amazing book written by a pretty amazing photographer. Kevin Meredith (or lomokev as he is also known) is a Brighton based photographer who specialises in lomography and film cameras and is an expert in using any type of camera, whether it be an expensive DLSR or an old toy camera to its absolute best. He has worked for a large range of clients which include Dr Martens, Dell, The Times and The Commonwealth Games among others.

Hot Shots - Book and photograph by Kevin Meredith

His first book, Hot Shots (which is the book I stumbled across) was released in 2008 and sold out its print runs in the UK and US in under a year. This is a fantastic book and is a must for any amateur photographer, as well was professionals who want to broaden their creativity. It is a guide creating any type of photograph you could possibly imagine, from night shots, low lighting, long depth of field, long range shots, cross processing, silhouettes, portraits and self portraits, and twilight portraits to name but a few. Next to each image is a description of the camera it was shot on, the lens, focal length, film type used, shutter speed, aperture, accessories and the type of lighting, which means you can essentially re-create any of the images featured in this book. I find this extraordinary as a large majority of photographers keep their secrets closely guarded in fear of their images being copied or re-created, which is a great shame. I greatly admire photographers who are willing to share what they know in order to teach others. Being gifted in anything at all, whether it be photography, art, design or anything else is worth nothing unless you can share it, and Kevin is all about sharing what he knows.

This book also features explanations of the "photography fundamentals" i.e shutter speed, aperture, exposure and depth of field, as well types of cameras, film, processing, and Photoshop essentials. This is one of my favourite books and will forever be referred to! I paid £12.99 in Urban Outfitters for Hot Shots, which is an absolute bargain considering you are getting a book of 200 or so amazing photographs and the secrets to how they were created, as well as explanations of need-to-know essentials for any aspiring photographer. 

A large selection of images featured in Hot Shots, By Kevin Meredith

He also runs a Hot Shots photography course (which I will be taking in June) which aims to expand photographic creativity and explains various techniques using practical excercises. Anyone is welcome to the course, whether they be beginners, amateur photographers or professionals who want to try something new. You can sign up to the course by clicking the link for his WEBSITE below.

You can view some of Kevin's excellent work on various sites including:

Flikr

Tumblr

Twitter

You can also buy business cards with his designs on at Moo.com or you can view his WEBSITE

Here are a few examples of some of his work which I got from google, but are all copywrited to Kevin Meredith:

 

I would highly reccomend Kevin's website which has details of Hot Shots as well as his other books, Photo Op/52 Photographic Projects and Fantastic Toy Cameras/Toy Cameras, as well as his blog which has all the information on upcoming talks, books and a few tips and tutorials as well.

Kevin Meredith is an amazing photographer. Not only does he take outstanding photographs using pretty much any type of equipment, but he is willing to share all that he knows in order to teach others how to produce better photographs. He is a complete inspiration to me and shows that even film cameras have a place in a world where digital is taking over.

New lens!

I got a Tamron 17-50mm lens last week and I went out a few days ago to take some pictures with it. Me and Will went to Southport as he wanted to use his new Canon 17-55mm lens and his Samyang fisheye. We got there just before sunset and it had been a clear and sunny day so the sunset was amazing!

Here are a few of the photos I took;

These were all taken with my Canon 450D and my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. To see some of the photographs Will took, CLICK HERE for his Flikr photostream. You can also view my photos on Flikr by clicking here.

I absolutely love this lens! It's great for low light situations as it has a low aperture and still produces really sharp images. Below is a few examples of how great this lens is at performing in low light situations

This was taken at f/2.8, 1/15s, and ISO 1600 so it is quite grainy. the TV was really blown out on the original image (see below)

so I took a seperate shot of the TV and pasted it on to the original image and blurred it out to fit in with the background. I love how narrow the depth of field is and the background blur. 

This is a great lens and was only £228 from THIS Ebay seller. It came with a lens hood and UV filter to filter out any unwanted rays such as reflections on shiny surfaces (water, glass etc). There was a shipping cost of £17.51 which I wasn't told about (and wasn't happy about!) until the lens was delivered to my house, but overall it is great value, considering the Canon equivalent is around £600 to £700. Highly recommended!