DWF – How did you become a photographer?

PETER -My career began around the motor circuit photographing high performance sports cars. It was exciting start as a young twenty year old to be attending most of the famed circuits in the UK and abroad, including SpaFrancorchamps in Belgium (the home of Aryton Senna) and The Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. Typically this type of event photography was quite boring and we added a creative twist, together with onsite printing with dye-sub printing with proofing via plasmas in the pit lane.Digital cameras had just reached decent quality and we took full advantageof the new platform to generate good instant sales.

RMA’s clientele were very up-market and we were soon requested to dopersonal assignments for events and weddings. Photographing high-speedcars in an array of weather conditions improved my technical photography ability enormously and taught me a lot about anticipation to get great images. As bookings multiplied through referrals I shifted the company to focus more on this area as it gave much better opportunity for creative work. Within a year we had stepped back from motorsport photography and established relationships with several prestigious 5 star wedding venues, including the Lanesborough, The Berkeley, The Mandarin Oriental and Cliveden House.

DWF- Who or what inspires you as an artist?

PETER – Cinematic motion picture film is my biggest inspiration. I take a lot of framing techniques to build atmosphere into my reportage work. Lighting is essential to any great film production and whilst I work without external camera lighting, to be as discreet as possible, it has given me great vision to use natural light in a more creative way. I also take inspiration from innovation in technology to bridge new levels of creativity. I am definitely an ‘early adopter’, which always brings with it excitement but also challenges. We’ve been using the 5DMK2 in film making for over a year now, which has been a perfect example of this, taking our image capture to another level with its incredible ability in low light. Post production certainly has been a learning curve but its taken what we do to another level.

DWF- If we needed a photographer today why would we book you? What makes you unique?

PETER -Since setting up my company I have held firm the ethos of breaking down the entire photography process into separate stages, performing each with expert personnel to achieve the highest possible quality. It also gives our clients a very high level of customer service as in addition to their photographer they get their own photo editor / touch-up artist to handle specific editing requests and also a dedicated album designer. Every booking is a team effort and I make sure every member inspects each album they have been involved with, not only for quality control but also to give them appreciation of the importance of their work.

In terms of image capture I have a strong focus on creativity and being completely discreet on the day. Clients often comment that they hardly noticed our presence, which is exactly what we aim for. We want the couple to have a great wedding and for us to capture it with great images, not for them to feel like they are on a photo shoot. We want the pictures to be memorable not us, trying to be everywhere but nowhere at the same time.

The other key difference is our delivery of what we have coined ‘Fimatography’ in combination with our photography, to add cinematic filmmaking to our coverage on the day.

DWF-Tell me more about “Filmatography”? How are you integrating video into your photography business?

PETER - As a studio we started exploring into video a few years ago, witnessing how lifeless and uncreative most offerings for weddings and events were alongside our bookings by other companies. On the other extreme productions were dominated by over the top effects making the film look tacky. We started filming using minimal effects and cinematic influenced framing, much akin to our style of photography. Whilst we saw it as an improvement we found the cameras limiting in achieving the creative look we were after and our operators much more obtrusive than our photographers, with their large cameras and much needed top lights as soon as light conditions became challenging.

Along came the 5DMK2 and matters changed. As a new product we began integrating it into our coverage as a second camera to add a dynamic level to the first operator, who was typically using a Sony EX1 or and EX3. Whilst the image quality from the Sony was still beautiful, the 5DMK2 clips just stood head and shoulders above, particularly in low light. The biggest difference though was the feature film look and feel we were able to achieve using very fast prime lenses. We soon took the plunge to shooting solely with 5DMK2s and haven’t looked back since.

The first concept of Filmatography, which we have coined, is simple – to shoot film with all the same framing and depth of field techniques used in photography. This gives the film a truly cinematic look, especially when using an array of photography lens. The next is to combine images aquired from the film with the photography to provide another level of coverage. Hires stills can be taken from the film footage through editing software and because the operator is shooting as if he is a photographer the images fit perfectly with the rest of the coverage. As the camera is recording 24 frames the concept of ‘The Perfect Photo’ is also conceived, where the best image from a long series over a few seconds can be chosen. In just ten minutes of footage a massive 14,000+ photos can be generated. The only limitation of the film stills is the resolution, which restricts large print sizes but this is destined to change.

A typical booking now goes out with one photographer and two cameramen shooting film with the 5DMK2. Where a second photographer is needed for full resolution shots one of the cameramen quickly switches to photo mode. I see the future of event and wedding coverage however not done by independent film and photography operators but as one. As soon as the resolution of film acquired stills increases, already seen in RED cameras, then I believe the photographers new place will be as a director of film, with a picture editor making photo selections back in the studio. The natural progression will be for face and scene recognition plugins to be integrated inside film editing software, creating a shortlist of images to select from the thousands generated every couple of minutes. Having started shooting film from being a photographer, I have been overwhelmed with excitement at the creative opportunities the moving image offers over still photography and best of all I’m still shooting photography.

DWF- If you had to pick a favorite “Tool of the Trade” what would it be? and why?

PETER - Certainly the Canon 5DMK2 for its incredible ability in low-light and filming capacity. Using fast prime lenses (f 1.2 / 1.4) you can get true feature film look at an absolute fraction of the budget. The equivalent lenses in the film industry cost £30k or more. Of course a 35mm adaptor can be used to fix to lesser video cameras but this makes them cumbersome and large.

I’ve just ordered a couple of 7Ds for its better frame rate control although I’m disappointed its not full frame. As an original Nikon user I was hoping they would catch up but the D3S has fallen short only offering 720p HD. Hopefully next year the D4 will bring what the Canon 1DS MK IV is now delivering and I might go back.

DWF – Care to share your favorite photographs?

PETER - This has to be of my good friends Darrin and Faye walking to the shore on Jumeirah Beach, Dubai. Darrin used to be on our team when he was in the UK but left to set up his own studio on the Palm Jumeirah, which has quickly become one of the most successful in the Emirates.

Darrin and I have always been good friends but he could have easily chosen one of his own team, which is full of great photographers. Without going into too much detail Dubai was very much a new start for Darrin and the image of him walking towards the horizon with his new wife captured everything perfectly for me. I love the soft fade in from the sand, the concept of them walking into the future together and the soft tones of the colours. I was late following them down to the beach so it was actually taken completely un-posed – I ran chasing them, saw the shot, divided down on to the sound and captured it with my 70-200 F2.8. I’ve taken more creative images but just love it for everything it means to them. Another one of my favorites followed soon after with panoramic shot on the shoreline.

Darrin was ecstatic over his images and having such an internationally accomplished photographer as himself give me so much gratitude has to be one of my career and life high points.

(see the gallery below for larger version)

DWF – How about some final words to live by?

PETER - One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.

Location – London, UK

Business Name – PR Photography

Websites - http://www.pr-photography.org/

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