Cathal McNaughton: 1978
Cathal McNaughton is an award winning photojournalist with over ten years experience. His work spans a variety of disciplines and styles from gritty shots of conflicts, to colourful images that capture a sense of irony and fun.
His images have featured in high profile advertising campaigns and has won many accolades, including UK Press Photographer of the Year, Royal Photographer of the Year, and Nature and Environment Photographer of the year. The breadth of these awards gives you a sense of the diverse nature of his work.
I chose to review Cathal's work after reading an article in the magazine Digital Camera - because I found the variety of his images inspiring - it was good to see that you photograph across such a broad range of subjects.
The images that I have chosen to review were also published in a series of features run by Amateur Photographer over the past year - in each of the photo insight features Cathal explained the inspiration behind the image, and gave an insight into how he composed the image and the equipment he used providing an excellent set of tutorials.
Cathal advocates always shooting in manual - having total control of your camera. He also talks about passion - which is why I have selected the image below - this close up draws you in because its colourful and the vivid colours of the painted face help to highlight the raw passion of the person coming through the eyes and the mouth.
In his tutorials, and the magazine article Cathal talks about being bold and getting over any shyness you might have. If you are going to take a close up of a person be prepared to be challenged, engage with the subject - and learn to judge wether the person is happy for you to take their picture.
The image below is in total contrast to the other images I have chosen as its from his work as a photojournalist. I picked it following my second session in Birmingham where I was taking images of the captialist demonstrators and the EDL demonstrations so it was interesting to read how Cathal would approach this subject.
The key to this style of photography he said is to remain calm, don't hang around and keep yourself safe by not remaining static. You need to be aware of the events that are evolving around you.
Another article that I suggested the key success to good street photography is always having your camera to hand ready to capture a shot. This is echoed in the image below - Cathal saw the diver whilst driving along, he then saw the fishermen - and thought - 'there is an image there'. Even though the elements of the image were random - capturing the final image did take planning, Cathal had to guesstimate the timing of the jump and shoot to capture the exact moment that he would pass over the heads of the fishermen, and ensure a sufficient depth of field to keep all of the people in focus. The final image works well with the contrast in the subjects, and the total lack of connection between them.
Cathal talks about the learning to read the scene and your subjects - for example if you look at the image of the gentleman sunbathing, and the picture of the funeral. One of the images is bright, comical and fun, the other a very sombre and private affair - both needed equal consideration around the sensitivity of capturing the image.
Research:
Digital Camera Magazine - October Edition 2011
www.cathalmcnaughton.com
news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/in_pictures_cathal_mcnaughton0s_award_winning_year/html/1.stm
www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/features/Photo_Insight__Cathal_McNaughton_features_305940.html
I chose to review Cathal's work after reading an article in the magazine Digital Camera - because I found the variety of his images inspiring - it was good to see that you photograph across such a broad range of subjects.
The images that I have chosen to review were also published in a series of features run by Amateur Photographer over the past year - in each of the photo insight features Cathal explained the inspiration behind the image, and gave an insight into how he composed the image and the equipment he used providing an excellent set of tutorials.
Cathal advocates always shooting in manual - having total control of your camera. He also talks about passion - which is why I have selected the image below - this close up draws you in because its colourful and the vivid colours of the painted face help to highlight the raw passion of the person coming through the eyes and the mouth.
In his tutorials, and the magazine article Cathal talks about being bold and getting over any shyness you might have. If you are going to take a close up of a person be prepared to be challenged, engage with the subject - and learn to judge wether the person is happy for you to take their picture.
The image below is in total contrast to the other images I have chosen as its from his work as a photojournalist. I picked it following my second session in Birmingham where I was taking images of the captialist demonstrators and the EDL demonstrations so it was interesting to read how Cathal would approach this subject.
The key to this style of photography he said is to remain calm, don't hang around and keep yourself safe by not remaining static. You need to be aware of the events that are evolving around you.
Another article that I suggested the key success to good street photography is always having your camera to hand ready to capture a shot. This is echoed in the image below - Cathal saw the diver whilst driving along, he then saw the fishermen - and thought - 'there is an image there'. Even though the elements of the image were random - capturing the final image did take planning, Cathal had to guesstimate the timing of the jump and shoot to capture the exact moment that he would pass over the heads of the fishermen, and ensure a sufficient depth of field to keep all of the people in focus. The final image works well with the contrast in the subjects, and the total lack of connection between them.
Cathal talks about the learning to read the scene and your subjects - for example if you look at the image of the gentleman sunbathing, and the picture of the funeral. One of the images is bright, comical and fun, the other a very sombre and private affair - both needed equal consideration around the sensitivity of capturing the image.
Research:
Digital Camera Magazine - October Edition 2011
www.cathalmcnaughton.com
news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/in_pictures_cathal_mcnaughton0s_award_winning_year/html/1.stm
www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/features/Photo_Insight__Cathal_McNaughton_features_305940.html
Hi
ReplyDeleteLook closely at this work as it will truly inspire and drive you on to produce better street photography, never accept your best images always strive to achieve better all the time, analyse this work very closely and you will become really refined at this area of photography.
Steve