FOCALPOINTThe Official MIPP Newsletter October 2012

in this issuefeaturing Trevor Sollars, The October Conventionand much more.....

www.mipp-malta.com Issue No. 23

Editor:Th erese Debono

Design:Th erese Debono

Articles:Various Contributers

Editorial Advice:Kevin Casha

Newsletter Team

I want to start my editorial with sev-eral ‘thank yous’! First of all to Rosalie Spiteri for her service as an editor for the past 2 years. To Duncan Cauchi, the previous newsletter designer for his in-put and belief in me. To the MIPP Ex-ecutive Committee who passed on the duty of Editor to me.

I am thrilled and excited about all this, however this is one month to be excited about mainly due to the MIPP October Convention. We have been working at it for the past year, so you can imagine how many preparations we have gone through to off er you the best 3 days in this photographic year!

So have you booked yet? Did you have a look at the lovely list of speakers? If not I urge you to visit our website (http://convention.mipp-malta.com) which we prepared especially for you to make things easier!

I am looking forward to all this and more! So see you all at the convention and good luck to all those sitting for a qualifi cation! I will be there to cheer you on!

t t t t dit i l ith

CONTENTS

pg 3 president’s viewpoint A note from the Presidentpg 5 october convention A few words about the upcoming conventionpg 7 sergio’s blog Th e Battle between Static & Dynamicpg 9 featured mipp photographer Trevor’s Utopiapg 13 member’s article Th e Highs & Lows of Event Photographypg 17 foreign photographer Atmospheric Dirk pg 22 mipp notices My Mentor Programmepg 23 sponsors iLab - From Capture to Print pg 25 vox pop Photojournalismpg 29 image critique Monthly Online Competitionpg 31 monthly event in pictures September Eventspg 33 sponsors DPP Seminar at Avantech pg 34 calendar & PTYA October Events & PTYA Standingspg 35 archives MIPP events images from the pastpg 36 members’ gallery Th e best images of the month

OCTOBER 2012

cover artist Charles Paul AzzopardiCharles Paul Azzopardi is a blood cancer doc-tor by profession and an insatiable craver for natural light the whole of the time, always seek-ing contrasts, tones and leading lines to paint in black & white, his photographic style of choice. He had his fi rst contact with photography in 1993 whilst travelling, but it was re-kindled in 2009 aft er he decided to pursue photography on a more constant and serious note, always seek-ing to improve his photographic eye for mono-chrome subject matter and exploring new av-enues whence to take his art.

He is passionate about architectural and land-scape photography, although no subject is im-mune from portrayal, as long as it is in black & white!

president’s viewpoint

3

Whilst most were trying to escape the heat of the past months by going to the beach or abroad, the committee was really busy with what has turned out to really be another year of events and initiatives by the MIPP.

Events have come thick and fast with the August seminar and exhibition, following hot on the heels of the March one done with the Societies, and now, this Septem-ber, with the reciprocal visit by members of the Sicilian Photography club, Le Gru.

Naturally the October seminar and Quali-fi cations are following right behind.

We have also embarked on a more directed marketing strategy, aimed primarily at in-creasing public awareness of the MIPP as well as again giving our members a better service. As always, these things take up a lot of time and eff ort and need the willing dedication and sacrifi ce not only of the Committee, but also of all those willing to give a helping hand in the running of the MIPP.

For this reason, I again would like to make an appeal for anyone who feels that he has passion and eff ort enough to help out to approach any member of the committee. Th ere is work for everyone, and the more we try to run things professionally, the more it gets harder and harder.

As you will notice in this edition of the newsletter, Th erese Debono has been ap-pointed as editor. She has now for quite some time been doing all our design work and her initiative on the newsletter is there for all to see.

Our sincere thanks go to previous edi-tor Rosalie Spiteri for her work and com-mitment as well as all the other members who are regularly giving a helping hand with the running and improvement of the MIPP. I would not like to mention anyone here as I do not want to inadvertently for-get someone, but those who regularly at-tend meetings and events will know who these people are.

Again, I would like to end with a further appeal to our members – and this is to at-tend and participate in our events. Your attendance can make it all worthwhile for those who are dedicating their time and ef-fort.

See you all during what promises to again be a fantastic October convention with our friends from Th e Societies.

Kevin Casha President

4

Ask about our“Try Before

You Buy ” Scheme

you can

For full details and conditions visit www.avantech.com.mt or call on 2148 8800

Canon Lens Rental ServiceLenses available for hire:

Avantech Building,

St Julian’s Road,

San Gwann SGN 2805

CanonMalta.com

OCTOBER 2012CONVENTION

19TH20TH21ST

Welcome to the 2012 MIPP International Convention. As with previous years, this year’s convention is being brought to you in collaboration with Th e Societies, who once again have brought to us some very interesting speakers. A full pro-gramme packed with excellent personalities, that will certainly hold your interest throughout these three days, has been meticulously prepared.

As always we try to improve and introduce some changes. One important change introduced this year is in the Saturday workshops. While in previous editions workshops were run by a team, this year only the respective lecturers will be di-recting them, better streamlining the workshops.

Sunday evening as usual sees us concluding the convention with the awards din-ner, during which, amongst others, we will be presenting certifi cates to our newly qualifi ed members, and announcing the Photographer of the Year. Th e dinner is far from all-formal though, and it is the ideal time for our members to socialise and meet our lecturers.

For a full detailed programme, bookings and general information kindly go to the following website which we set up especially for you to make things easier!

http;//convention.mipp-malta.com

5

Image by Duncan Cauchi

6

Friday 19 October

0800 Registration

0900 Introductions

0930 Christina Lee Lauder

1030 Dennis Orchard

1130 Coffee Break

1200 Phil Jones

1300 Buffet Lunch at Hotel

1415 Charles Mifsud

1515 Qualifications

sATurday 20 OCTOBER

0900 Joe Zammit Lucia

1000 Alan Carville

1115 Photocall

1130 Break (free time)

1145Christina Lee Lauder

1245 Sergio Muscat

1345 Buffet Lunch at Hotel

1500 Dennis Orchard

1600 FORUM

SUNDAY 21 OCTOBER

0830 Podge Kelly

0930 Hilary Spiteri

1045 Break (free time)

1100 Dennis Orchard

1300 Comfort Break

1430 SWPP Image Competition

1630 End

1930 Meet for Pre-dinner drinks

2000 Awards Night

The Battle between

Static and Dynamic

sergio’s blog

7

Th e dead and the living. Th e ever-the-same and the ever-changing. Th e static and the dynamic. Most battles are fought to fend off intruders, invaders into what is thought to be someone else’s space. It has always been so, and this battle is no diff erent. Th is time, it’s not man against man, but man against earth. Because this place is not ours. It belongs to itself, and mankind has used it and abused it since the day some bright spark lit the fi rst fi re. I will not go into the controversy of what we’ve done wrong or right - that is not my intention. My focus is on the fact that this confl ict does exist, and in which ways we can look at it.

Th e premise is this - it is a battle we’re never going to win. If we look at what man “creates”, we see the static, the dead. I see a building today - same building to-morrow. By comparison, I see a blade of grass today - it’s a fl ower tomorrow. Na-ture is alive, dynamic and ever-changing. It is self-sustaining and self-healing, and this is it’s greatest weapon. We might not realise it, but we are just a speck in the history of the universe. A little bit like a fl u or an itch we might have throughout our lifetime.

Th is thought fascinates me. From our

point of view, nature’s healing process is irritating. We build, it destroys, we create, it disinte-grates. If we look at it from the opposing point of view, how-ever, it very much resembles the actions of parasites and antibod-ies. We destroy, it heals. As they say, it’s all a matter of relativity. What we see and what we be-lieve depends entirely on our point of view. What we see as decomposition from our point of view is recomposition from nature’s point of view.

I have always felt close to nature, and decay has always fascinated me. It has a visceral attractive-ness - a stunning elegance un-der a veil of harshness. Since the day I grabbed a camera in hand I found myself photographing things that are falling apart. I fi nd it interesting to observe and beautiful to look at.

Th e “Recomposition” series is an ongoing eff ort to document and interpret the beauty of decay in all its shapes and forms. As with

6

all of my work, it is a collaborative eff ort - I will not stop at documentation, but rather use what I see as my starting point, building on it until I have uncovered the beauty I see in it for everyone else to enjoy.

Featured image (used as artwork) & image below in this article by Sergio Muscat(FMIPP FSWPP)Follow Sergio here: www.sergiomuscat.com

8

featured mipp photographer

9

Imagine you are away from theonly sound is coming from a strbest and tries to portray in hishappy!

TREVOR’SUTOPIAYou have all seen Trevor around and usually he is the organiser for the MIPP trips abroad. It’s no surprise that his favourite photographic genre is landscape photography. Whilst in-terviewing Trevor we took a trip down memory lane, way back when he was given his fi rst camera as a gift , a Kodak 110 fi lm camera. He smiled whilst re-calling himself snapping away at fam-ily events, and parties at the tender age of 10. Even way back then he had tried his hand out at landscape photogra-phy however as a teenager he took up painting as a special subject at school, and photography lost its appeal.

However life took a funny twist for Trevor, because soon aft er fi nishing his studies, even painting lost its glamour, and photography came back in his life, when he purchased another point and shoot camera. He found himself fas-cinated by the power of a moment in time. Th e thirst for knowledge in pho-tography grew stronger every year. In 2009, aft er several attempts to upgrade, he purchased his fi rst DSLR and since

then, photography became a very im-portant part of Trevor’s life!

He is mostly inspired by nature and landscapes, however he also enjoys sports and architecture. He loves to travel and likes to fi nd peaceful spots because his main aim is to represent that peace in his landscapes. Th e im-ages are distinctly rich in colour and he prefers to shoot them either at dusk or dawn when the light is most vivid.

“He found himself fasci-nated by the power of a moment in time...”

His best photographic achievement to date is winning the best photo award at the “Malta Ford Show Photo Com-petition” organized in May 2010 by the Valletta Waterfront and the MIPP. He has also won a number of awards both locally and internationally. He has been a member of the MIPP since

e island of Malta, on a trip surrounded by mountains, greenery and the ream nearby and a few chirping birds.....this is what Trevor Sollars loves s landscape images...read on to fi nd out what makes this photographer

2009 where he currently holds the post of Honorary Treasurer within the Executive Committee. He is also a member of the SWPP and the Institute of Maltese Journal-ists. Apart from all this he is also a freelance photojournalist and has been doing this for the past 2 years.

Trevor loves taking pictures and he considers himself lucky in that he can also get paid to do that. For him it is the best job he could have found. He would have loved to get paid to drink beer, but sadly that possibility has not presented itself as yet!Turn over for a selection of Trevor’s work

10

Below: Bastion Falls are part of the tallest falls in the state of New York, the Kaaterskill Falls. It is no wonder that these falls have inspired various artists including painters and poets.

12

Left : Taken from the shores of loch Lomond, this picture de-picts Ben Lomond, a 974 me-tres high mountain in the Scot-tish Highlands.

Left : Trevor says “I was spell-bound by this picturesque set-ting. A castle built on an islet on loch Laich setting against a backdrop of mountains in the north east part of Scotland”.

Left : Th e Obersee lake is a small lake which drains into lake Konigsee in Bavaria, Ger-many. Th ese lakes are part of Berchtesgaden national Park.

Photography starts out as one big fascination and continues to be so for as long as you want it to be. In my case it’s still ongoing, but if you are a freelancer there might be a punch lacking when it comes to events. I am not talking about the concerts or be-ing at MTV, the events I am talking about are the presentations, the drag-ging speeches, the endless award ceremonies, I guess you got my drift .

Now how do you get through them? For start-ers events are very inter-esting. You might think I am crazy to think this, but for the past 2 years I have worked during such events and have sometimes ques-tioned myself the reason why I accepted such work, however by the end of the night, I always retake back my thoughts because

it would have turned out to be a great evening. By great I do not mean party-all-night-free-drinks type of great but rather the net-working-learning-some-thing-new type of great.

I have been at pharmaceu-tical conventions. I have taken photos of award nights, waited whilst peo-ple fi nished their dinner till it’s time to dance so it’s my turn to photograph them. So how do I do it? What does it entail? And most importantly how do I go through the endless im-ages I end up with!?

It is tricky, but this is how I work and how I man-age my workfl ow during these dragging events. My job beings from the very start. You get the call or the email. Always make sure you get the facts cor-rect. Repeat emails if it’s necessary. Having it writ-

ten down in an email is bet-ter than sealing a deal on the phone. Th ere is a wider margin of error in phone conversations rather than emails, so always reconfi rm through email.

Let’s talk about these one by one.

Image:Being aware of where the event is going to be held is important because you have to dress accordingly. If you are at a hotel taking pho-tos of a presentation than more oft en than not you have to dress smart. Th ere is no need for a full suit for the gentlemen, nor for the ladies. However I fi nd that a pair of black trousers and a smart (but not too tight shirt) is just right. I some-times wear skirts or a dress during such events howev-er I never wear short skirts, nor do I wear anything too tight. We need to move and

member’s article

13

THE HIGHS & LOWS OF

EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY

So you want to try your hand out at event photography? Read on as Th erese Debono shares some tips about the highs and lows of this genre...and how to make it work to your advantage!

lift our hands, and you can’t waste time tucking in your shirt. It’s not only a waste of time, but it also looks to-tally off trying to tuck your shirt in whilst awards are being given. Keep colours mellow, not too bright and always discreet. Remem-ber photographers are not the highlight of the event. We are there to document the event’s highlights. Also hair; keep it tied back or on the side and preferably nev-er let it hang loose around your face. Smartness is im-portant. Stand tall and do not rest against walls even if the event is dragging and you are bored. Slouching or resting against a wall shows immediately that one is bored, which is surely not ideal to show to clients. If you are tired or your pho-tography is not required for a while, its best to walk a bit around or to fi nd a seat where you can sit and still see what’s happening. Try

not to wander off to other rooms away from the main events’ area; you never know when your services are needed.

Attitude:Th is is of utmost impor-tance. I do not need to re-mind you to be nice and not to be rude. Guess by now you all know the drill, however choice of words is important. When you have a group photo try to avoid saying ‘short people at the front’, alternatively try say-ing ‘the tallest people at the back’. Th is is just a change of wording which makes a diff erence, you won’t be undermining anyone and everyone is happy. Smiling gives you more smiles back. Th is is a tried and tested approach. Smile before asking to photograph oth-ers and they will smile and pose for you no problem. Do it nicely and they will oblige. I would never pose

14

for anyone who comes up to me with a camera minus a smile. Smiles make others feel good, so ultimately you get what you want, more photos for the client.

Editing:Th ere is simply no time for editing when you do these events. Th e clients would usually be leaving the next day so more oft en than not

Above: getting a little creative during an event

they would want to take the CD with images back with them personally. So knowing your camera and being confi dent with the use of fl ash and settings is of outmost importance. You can’t tell someone to take the pose for the award presentation again because the settings on your cam-era were wrong. You sim-ply have to take good shots immediately. You have to expose well and light up the image properly. Tak-ing multiple shots is also important due to blinking. I usually use Adobe Light-room to go through the images and fl ag the chosen ones, then simply tweak a bit some photos which might need lightening up or toning down (no fi lters, eff ects etc) and convert them to jpeg and burn on CD ready for clients.

Professionalism:Take a stand on this and keep at it. If you want to go far, you need to be profes-sional at all times, regard-less of unfairness, delays etc. If you want to be taken seriously as a photogra-pher and be engaged for other future events you have to show what you are made of. You have to speak

for yourself in a good and polite way, listen to the clients’ requests and ulti-mately deliver what they are paying you for. If you think you cannot deliver, then its best to take a step back and suggest other photographers or get help, rather than saying you will deliver but fall short. If there is something which you do not agree on, then speak up clearly but also calmly. Smiles and polite-ness will take you further, than anger and raising of voices.

Punctuality will also give you top points. No one wants to see a sweaty and panicky photographer ar-riving late for the event, so always arrive at the venue early. Look up the venue a day or two before if you have never been. Confi rm through email with the organisers so you have it in writing. Arrive there 20 minutes before, so you have ample time to access the area, do any test shots, and check out any signs and logos which the cli-ent wants in some images. Also taking general shots of the setups is also very important. Usually cli-ents, both foreign and lo-

cal would have spent time and money on making the venue look just as they had envisioned, so taking shots of the setups helps them for future events.

It is of utter importance to know the people in charge of the event since they are your point of reference throughout the whole event. Th ey will be the ones you need to ask ques-tions to, the ones having the schedule of the whole evening, and they are the people who can best guide you throughout the whole event, so that you do not interrupt the client while he is entertaining his guests and enjoying the evening. Th ere might be one person out of the 200 guests who absolutely wants no photos taken, or there might be a group of people within the group who are the VIPs, so they would be the people whom you have to concen-trate the most on. Whatev-er it is they request, you are the photographer, you are there to give a great ser-vice, so listening is more important that talking in this case. Listening and observing discreetly have to come hand in hand to deliver a good service.

15

Ultimately at the end of your service, do not just pack and leave. Take time to say bye to the people who commissioned you and also to the client. It shows respect and approachability.

Event photography is not about the photography only. It’s a package, which incorporates your image, your attitude, your professionalism and ultimately your photographic talent.

Above: some examples of setups which clients would surely want when shooting an event

16

featured foreign photographer

17

Dirk hasn’t been a photographer for a long time. He studied and got his mas-ters in Cultural Anthropology and his job was that of a Risk Manager, however 2 years ago he switched careers and now he is an artistic photographer. So basically he got into photography in 2005 when he bought a small digicam. Th at was the moment when taking pictures started to become a serious pastime for Dirk. Before that he was never really into photography much and used to take photos only when on holiday.

ATMOSPHERIC DIRK Th erese came across Dinterview with Dirk, wtextures to his images.

18

So it was at the time when photography became a serious aff air that he slowly be-gan post-processing his work, because the pictures he got never represented his impressions and feelings of the real situation. In early 2006 a friend introduced him to Flickr. He was deeply impressed by the quality and variety of photos and since then he has developed his photographic and post-processing skills further and further.

Dirk Wüstenhagen’s work from Flickr. Here is an exclusive where he tells us how he gets inspired and why he applies .....Read on!

When asked how he would describe his work he replied “hard question...” He has developed an identifi able style that became a characteristic of almost all his pic-tures. He loves diversity and he thinks this is something one can fi nd in his work. He adds that he is also a very curious person, so he is always trying out new things.“A lot of my pictures are moody and atmospheric. Sometimes I tend to romanticise, other times I like the surreal.”

When I fi rst came along Dirk’s work on Flickr I immediately realised that the use of textures was what he was mainly famous for. He began adding textures sometime in the middle of 2007. He noticed some other photographers on Flickr were add-ing them and he was fascinated and really liked what they came up with. It took

Dirk says “Textures should always support a good photo to make it better. Never take a bad shot and try to make it better by applying a texture. Try to avoid overpowering a photo with the texture (although that isn’t as easy as it seems...)”

him quite some time to get the technique right, because he hadn`t fi gured out work-ing with layers in Adobe Photoshop yet, but eventu-ally he mastered the obsta-cles. ”Th ere is a variety of things one can achieve with textures. You can add inter-est to certain areas of your photo, make parts look more natural, change the light, give your picture a vintage touch and a lot more things. I keep a blog where I write about my use of textures and also off er tutorials & tips”

Dirk is mainly inspired by nature in general. Th e changing light, weather condi-tions - such as fog, snow, a sunny morning - forests, landscapes, skies/clouds. Oft en it is the atmosphere of a location that grabs him. He says that he can soak it all up while taking photos and later at home – oft en weeks later - he tries to translate the whole mix of feelings and impressions into his picture(s).

you can follow Dirk here: Dirk Wüstenhagen Imagerywww.wuestenhagen-imagery.photoshelter.com 20

mipp notices

22

Primarily our objective at the MIPP is to promote professional photography. Th is aim can only be achieved by continuously tutoring and mentoring our members, thus giving them the assistance and support they require. To further sustain and maintain the quality and level of our members’ achievements, the MIPP will be embarking on a new initiative called ‘My Mentor’.

Th e aim of this project is to provide a new customised mentoring service to mem-bers. A member who enrols in this programme will be provided with a personal qualifi ed mentor of his/her choice for a period of 6 months. Members can enrol to several sessions repeatedly. Th e available mentors at this time are Kevin Casha and Sergio Muscat.

Each month the enrolled members will submit two emails with fi ve images each, to their chosen mentor; the latter will provide the necessary feedback on submitted photographs via email.

‘My Mentor’ is not a replacement of the mentoring service already provided to those members who submit a panel for the MIPP qualifi cations; the panel mentor-ing is still an ongoing service. Our aim is to have this project working alongside the existing monitoring service and consequently working hand in hand; this will sup-ply our members with an additional facility to further enhance their abilities. All members should benefi t from this project, especially those who are new to photog-raphy and all those who wish to start aspiring to acquire any of our qualifi cations.

Payment for this service will be €60, payable in advance.

MY MENTOR PROGRAMME

sponsors FROM CAPTURE TO PRINTPhotographic Respect for the artist and the craft by Ramon Sammut

A year has passed aft er re-branding one of the biggest photographic labs on the island with more than 40 years of passion and a complete dedication to the craft ; pushing into a diff erent era when photography started as technology, changed into a science and now it’s a lifestyle.

Th e Lab always printed..... now it’s time to move on ............

In a year ILab pushed its limits, from 1 hr printing into Fine - art, from album binding into artisan quality bespoke photographic books, fi ne-art exhibits, mural printing, contemporary artistic photographic illustrations and bespoke framing ; Helping photographers achieve goals and make money from the craft , earning re-spect through exhibitions and quality photographic panels, sponsoring events and the local photographic institutions showing how and teaching the trade through its professional personnel. Now it’s time to move on embracing digital through soft ware, ILab introduced free bookbinding soft ware on its website. Download the soft ware, register (completely free) and start using the amazing program; once completed, upload and pick it up in 48hrs (please phone for more information).

ILab also re introduced the legendary lighting company Bowens. Our aim is to push the business create more quality photographers, show the craft , not only by selling the product at a very good price but by helping photographers how to use it, make money from it and enjoying this beautiful passion that stops time, respects it by enhancing the moment and sharing it with others. ILab introduced a policy “we sell the product, we help the client using it, we push forward in seeing the client achieve goals. Sell the product, Teach for free! Respect photographers and the craft . ILab also introduced its 1st Bowens Free Sessions (free for Bowens customers).23

24

Classical Lighting

Learning the basics is a must, we all started crawling before we started walking! Observing the light, looking at the shadow. One can create a beau-tiful portrait by understanding the cli-ent/model.

A portrait photographer should un-derstand the face of the client, the mood, the feeling, the energy of the person and make it all happen.

Stopping time has its responsibility, one has to stop it and record it per-fectly!

Model: Rachel Cassar - Heads and Shoulders, Classical Loop Lighting.

Equipment:Bowens Gemini 1000 Pro (Key Light with Octobank 90), Bowens Gemini 500Prowith barn doors for background Light , Gemini 500 Pro with 200cm Bowens wafer as fi ll Light.

Settings:Time 125 - Aperture F11 - Lens 100 mm.

iLAB

VOX POPThis time round we asked a few selected members who work in photojournalism to give us some info about their work.Read on to get a taste of what it really is all about to work in this industry!

25

How long have you been in photojournalism & where do you work?I’ve been doing photojournalism for 3 years and I work for DOI

Do you agree with the media’s approach in photojournalism?It all depends on the situation. Sometimes when there isn’t the need to push yourself in hard to get the shot because it is not that important then it gets annoying for other surrounding journalists if too much pushing happens, On the other hand it can be quite tricky to get the right shot

when all you are given is just a few minutes. But that is the media and one has to go along with the fl ow and try to get the right shots!

Where in the world would you like to have the opportunity to cover (as photojournalists)?If I had to mention my dream list to cover it would be a never ending list but to mention a few: Serengeti (Africa) would be such an amazing place to cover as well as aboard an anti-whaling vessel would be exciting too.

Mention an assignment which you really enjoyed covering and say why?Recently I was assigned to join an AFM patrol boat on an irregular immigrants rescue mission. First of all when knowing you’re going to face such a thing in close proximity your adrenaline starts pumping and all you want to do is to get the right shots for the people out there to really show how sensitive such work is for our soldiers and what a dangerous situation it is for the irregular immigrants involved. One has to really be careful on similar assignment and you have to keep emotions in check so you try and get the expressions on the irregular immigrants faces which will ultimately say the whole story behind their experience.

If you had a choice....would you save a person’s life or shoot the scene to be recorded in history?If I’d have the time I would surely do them both but the honest truth is that I would never trade a person’s life with a shot. A person’s life comes before getting the right exposure and composi-tion and it’s natural for me to do so. I wouldn’t want to live the rest of my life with guilt for not saving a person’s life when I had the chance of doing so.

REUBEN PISCOPO

26

How long have you been in photojournalism & where do you work?Have been involved in diff erent manners in photo-journalism since November, 2006. In July 2012 I have completed 25 years of service in the Armed Forces of Malta, & on my retirement am right now employed as a Senior Executive TV-News Producer with an agency in Rome, Italy.

Do you agree with the media’s approach in photojournalism?Not always, as there are always two extremes in this business, with one extreme’s rotten apples casting a bad shadow on the rest. Th e industry is fast, cut-throat and near real-time with the several new technologies and their ongoing developments. Added to the traditional roles of photojournalists, today anybody can create User Generated Content (UGC) with their mobile handheld devices and catch the moment of the ideal topical shot at anytime, and anywhere. Its broadest dissemination is additionally guaranteed with wireless and internet connectivity.

Where in the world would you like to have the opportunity to cover (as photojournalist)?It was always my wish to cover a story or two in a zone of confl ict. Off ers ocasionally surfaced, but local employment contraints never were conducively understanding, given local audiences aren’t really bothered much on what there is beyond their parish boundaries, even visually speaking. Mention an assignment which you really enjoyed covering and say why?Last year, right aft er the Libyan Crisis down south (and its own set of related photocoverages locally!!), was invited to Milan to cover the Milan FC’s soccer-league win’s celebrations at their Piazza Del Duomo, and on the eve of their city’s Mayoral elections. Outside the army uniform, it was truly enjoyable with a steep learning curve as it was the fi rst time in a purely civilian capacity that I was rubbing shoulders and competing with several others from the top Italian mainland’s newsrooms.

If you had a choice,would you save a person’s life or shoot the scene to be recorded in his-tory?Both!! As I might even try to throw them my compact rig or spare DSLR, so they can snap the pics of themselves being rescued! Nothing that hasn’t been done before, believe me . . .

IVAN CONSIGLIO

How long have you been in photojournalism & where do you work?I have been involved in photojournalism for the last 10 years

Do you agree with the media’s approach in photojournalism?Th e media is very powerful so it is very important to be responsible in its approach

Where in the world would you like to have the opportunity to cover (as photojournalists)?I would like to have the opportunity to cover certain aspects of India.

Mention an assignment which you really enjoyed covering and say why?I really enjoyed covering Chogm in Uganda as I had the opportunity to come face to face with the hurdles these people have to overcome everyday such as poverty.

If you had a choice....would you save a person’s life or shoot the scene to be recorded in history?Defi nitely I would save the person I wouldn’t be able to cope with the guilt feelings of letting someone die for my selfi sh pride.

OMAR CAMILLERI

27

MARTIN AGIUS

How long have you been in photojournalism & where do you work?I have been in Photojournalism since 2009 and I work as Freelance Photog-rapher with Media Link Communications Ltd

Do you agree with the media’s approach in photojournalism?Here in Malta it is not too strong. I say it is moderate, could be better.

Where in the world would you like to have the opportunity to cover (as photojournalists)?Asia would be interesting to cover and in Africa there are a lot of opportunities too.

Mention an assignment which you really enjoyed covering and say why?Th e Arab Uprising was very interesting. I enjoyed it mostly because it was my fi rst big thing to cover. It was really hitting Malta and us Maltese with all the people fl eeing from Libya and especially how the Maltese Government and people handled all kind of situations.

If you had a choice....would you save a person’s life or shoot the scene to be recorded in history?If I get a chance to do both in the same time I would do both, but that is near impossible so if I had to choose I would save the person’s life. Aft erwards I will still have a lot to talk and docu-ment about.

Gold - Joseph Vassallo (left)

Fantastic image which mixes aspects of the classical with modern portraiture. Very interesting duality between the subject and the mural, reminding me of Michelangelo’s Sis-tine chapel. Some improvement could be achieved through cleaning of the major distracting items on the wall, while leaving the generic feel of abandonment. Also a slight in-

image critique

Sergio Muscat’s critique on the September Monthly Online Competition Photos!

MONTHLY ONLINE COMPETITION

Silver - Simon Attard (right)

A great image which could have benefi tted from better composi-tion. Th e space to the right doesn’t seem to be needed. A short of the entire image to the right, with more of the lower building show-ing and the higher building touch-ing the right edge would have cre-ated a much more dynamic and tense image. Failure to remove el-ements at the bottom of the image also dropped the score.

29

Unclassified

While the capture is good, the image is highly over-processed, showing an overall soft ness which one cannot be sure is due to misfocus or photoshop. Th e sharpening of the buggy is not precise and appears artifi cial, which detracts signifi cantly from the natural look of the image. Th ere are also some distracting items (particularly on the fl oor) which could easily be removed.

30

Bronze - Matthew Cutajar (above)

A lovely image which could have achieved much better if there was more sky at the top of the image. Th e exact crop at the top is claustrophobic and keeps the viewer wanting more space. Th ere are also some slight imprecisions in the symmetry (in the bottom section in particular) which indicate that the photographer needed to take one or two steps to the right. B&W conversion also lacks some punch and could have benefi tted from some more localized contrasts and brighter highlights.

SEPTEMBER EVENTS IN PICTURESSome images taken during the last PTYA Session!Winner will be announced during the Awards Dinner Night on 21st October, at the MIPP Octo-ber Convention

Judges taking a closer look

Alexei Sammut & Ian Sicluna taking po

The audience

30

Judges Joe Smith, Charles Calleja & John Ambrogio

oints

Judge Joe Smith giving his critique

Judges taking a closer look

33

sponsors DPP SEMINAR AT AVANTECH

On Wednesday, 19th of September, Avantech Ltd. held a seminar on Digital Photo Professional (DPP); the soft ware made by Canon for Canon EOS cam-eras and supplied free of charge with every EOS SLR purchased.

Th e seminar, hosting 50 attendees who had all applied online, was held at the Avantech Building in San Gwann and was led by Domenic Aquilina, the Can-on Photo Ambassador for Malta.

James Attard, Sales Executive specializ-ing on printing at Avantech presented a short insight to ‘Easy Photo Print Pro’, a program by Canon which is supplied free with every printer purchased. ‘Easy Photo Print Pro’ is a plugin for DPP, enabling users to print photos easily in various styles.

Domenic Aquilina ended the seminar by encouraging all Canon users to regis-ter their equipment on the CPN website. Whilst one has to own a specifi ed num-ber of professional equipment to qual-ify; each and every Canon EOS owner can nonetheless register his equipment and help support the Canon photo community in Malta. All registered us-ers will be prospective CPN members. Equipment can be registered on https://cps.canon-europe.com/.

Above: James Attard during his presentation

Above & Below: Dominic Aquilina during his presentation on DPP Soft ware

27th OctoberMIPP Tutors in Gozo

Charles CallejaDetails to be announced

19th, 20th & 21st OctoberMIPP International Convention (inc qualifi cations)Corinthia San Gorg

calendar SEPTEMBER 2012

34

ptyaRESULTS

Alan Falzon Dennis Cutajar Alan Grech Rosalie Spiteri

Winner will be announced during the annual Awards Dinner at the MIPP Octo-ber Convention on 21st October.

29

Featured here are some images highlighting past events and activities helping us to commemorate our eventful history.

LEFT:Yerbury strikes a pose during the November 2006 seminar

from the archives ARCHIVES

22222222222229999

L

2

LEFT:Trevor and Faye Yerbury styling Victoria during the November 2006 convention

LEFT:Trevor Yerbury during the November 2006 workshop at Selmun

images MEMBERS’ GALLERY

1. Alan Falzon (Silver Award)2. Armand Sciberras (Gold Award)3. Alexei Sammut (Silver Award)4. Anthony Cilia (Gold Award)

1 2 3

4

36