Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice

Research of other photographers work (P1, M1, D1)

Photographer: Nathan Beddows

Photo 1/ Louis Robinson- Manchester Velodrome 20/06/2013 Trick; Barspin

Photo 2/ Sergio Layos- Madrid 22/03/2012 Trick Toboggan

Photo 3/ Harry Main- Simple Session 2013 trick; Flair In

Photo 4/ Harry Main Trick; 360 Tailwhip to Barspin

Photo 5/ Harry Main

Photo AnalysisAll of the above images were taken by Nathan Beddows, an extreme sports photographer. He specifies in BMX and goes all around the world taking pictures. I chose these 5 images and they vary from style, person featuring and location. The first photo is of Manchester BMX’er Louis Robinson. His local indoor skatepark is Bones in Stockport. This photo I have chosen of him is from the Manchester Velodrome centre. They have a full pipe type of ramp. It’s really cool. This photo is him doing a Barspin air in the full pipe. It’s taken with a fisheye lens and its quite close and personal which makes it better. That’s the good thing about using a fish eye when photographing extreme sports because you can get all close to the rider. This photo was taken around the evening as you can tell in the distance of the image it is getting dark. Nathan obviously used a camera flash to enhance the image. You can see the reflection of the flash in the other side of the pipe. It’s taken from a really good angle as well, underneath so you can see the whole of Louis and the surrounding areas. Like I mentioned about the distance It obviously shows good field of depth as you can see the Velodrome building within the background out side of the pipe. One thing I really like about this image is the reflection of Louis; this shows that there must have been a flash set up on the opposite side from where Nathan is stood. This obviously helps the image brighter. One improvement I feel may have gone well in Nathans favour is if it was darker than it is. Like if the sky was darker so literally all you could see would be the pipe and nothing else. It wouldn’t give it a good field of depth but I think it would look better.

Photo 3 is a different rider compared to photo 1, this one is Sergio Layos and the photo was taken in Madrid on the 22nd of March 2013. Like I mentioned about Nathan Beddows earlier travelling around the world taking pictures of numerous different professional riders. It’s crazy having a job like that! So this image is of Sergio doing a huge Toboggan air on a gorge. So this spot where the photo is taken isn’t actually a legitimate skatepark. It is if you like a street spot. The main thing that stood out to me within this image is the positioning of the sun. I really like how Sergio is directly in the middle of the sun. It shows Nathan took a lot into consideration when taking this photo. And again similar to the photo of Louis above, the image is taken from underneath with a fisheye lens so it looks great and makes it look like he went super high, even though he did actually go high. Even though it’s a good picture I do think that a weakness is the consideration from things in the photo. It would’ve looked so much better if there wasn’t people stood in the background and if the bag was moved from the side Sergio is on. It would look so much better.

So, in the next 3 photos they all feature the same professional rider, Harry Main. He is one of the biggest names in BMX and is sponsored by some of the biggest company’s like Nike, Vans and Monster Energy. The same as the photos above, they were taken by Nathan Beddows. This shows how god and big Nathan must be to be able to take pictures of pros at this standard. So the first picture was taken at Simple Session in Estonia. Simple Session is a festival that features at the Saku Suurhall every year for huge numbers of Skateboarders and BMXers to compete against each other. This particular year Harry Main Came 3rd in the BMX finals. So his picture is Harry starting off his run with a Bunny Hop Flair In. Such a crazy trick! This picture is shot at exactly the right time. He is directly upside down and you can see his body and bike twisting because of the 180 degree spin involved in the trick. It looks as though this photo may have a filter on it. The colours look sharper and enhanced. I do feel that this photo could have looked better. Maybe by using a fisheye or wide angle lens. Usually pictures like this where you can get close up and personal look really good with a fish eye on. One main thing I like about his photo is the fact you can read all the sponsors Cleary which are printed onto the ramps. Mainly the Simple Sessions name. Obviously they need to have the name in places which can be seen easily enough. To advertise maybe. Like I mentioned about lots of skaters and BMXers turn up to this event. Well they all have sponsors so they all have to represent them! That’s why you can see a lot of stickers in the background. Ad as Simple Session in held in an indoor arena it has around 7,000 seats so you see in the background the audience all sat poised waiting for what crazy tricks Harrys about to pull. It’s caught so into the moment this picture its great!

The next photo is Harry again, I’m not too sure on the exact location or the exact date of this photo but I do believe it is around 2013-2014. He is doing a 360 Tailwhip to Barspin over a clearing box. I love this photo as it is a sequence picture. It shows you exactly what trick it was that he did rather than just 1 snap of a part of the trick. With this you get the full picture. Nathan also put on a Fisheye Lens for this picture; probably so you can see the whole of the ramp and the whole of Harry riding up to the trick, doing the trick then riding away. It’s great because it genuinely feels like you have just watched him do the trick because it’s followed him. The positioning of it is good as well because it’s slightly underneath him. And the sun is in the best place just about behind the trees as its setting. So it gives off an orange kind of tint to the image. Nathan would have most likely have had is Shutter Speed quite fast to be able to get this picture right. He will have taken more than one picture. He’d of kept his finger on the button so it just took a sequence of picture. Then he has edited them together most likely with Adobe Photoshop. It’s weird because you would think that

because it is a load of different pictures in one that the overall image would look weird. But it completely doesn’t because he has done it really well! Everything looks normal except from the fact there is like 13 Harrys.

Then the last image is just a simple close up image of Harry. I thought I would use a photo like this because it shows that not only does Nathan take pictures of the sport in action but also daily post type pictures. It’s as though he does it to change it up slightly. So all the pictures don’t come across as the same style or the same thing. I’m not too sure where about this picture was taken. I can gather from the image that it must be on a sandy beach somewhere. I know that it isn’t in the UK, most likely in Spain as he travelled quite a lot there around this period. It just shows that he travels loads! It’s a close up image of Harrys face. It looks as though he wasn’t aware that this photo was being taken. I personally think images like this look so much better. Than when you know it’s being taken. As you can see from this image he is representing one of his die hard sponsors. Moster Energy. It’s one of the company’s at which he has been sponsored by for a number of years. He represents them at every event he attends. So maybe it was slightly staged maybe there is supposed to be an obvious focus onto the distinctive brand logo. Also the photo kind of focuses on Harrys tattoos. He is known for his tattoos so it’s good how it focuses on a lot more. Even though you would just think it is just a close up image of him.

Techniques usedWhen it comes to rule of thirds with Action Sports images. It’s hard when you’re getting the picture to take the little grid into consideration purely because everything happens so quickly. However, these photos after being taken would have been further edited so therefore when Nathan has looked at these again he may have considered rule of thirds more to adjust and get right. As these images are positioned really well I believe.

I do think in Photo 5 that there isn’t much colour in the background. It’s well focused on Harry as it is a close up image but the background looks a little over exposed. You generally can’t tell where it is. But due to the slight colouring you presume it is on a beach or somewhere sand related.

Usually with action sports photography you need to have a fast shutter speed so that you can definitely capture the image first time around.

Strengths & WeaknessesTo me, this style of photography is one of my favourites. As I am in to this scene of photography and filmography I can truly relate to these images. Because these images were professionally taken I feel there is quite a few strengths due to it being interesting and obviously appealing to me as a person. I like how there is a sequence photo. It shows that Nathans work can be varied out due to style and composition. The variation with the locations, it shows that Nathan Beddows is doing well for himself in the sense that je travels around the world just taking pictures and doing what he loves. It’s great! It generally inspires me, so that’s a strength to Nathans work also. As well as him varying his locations he also varies his riders featuring in his images. I know I chose 3 Harry Main Photos but that’s because all 3 were so different composition

wise.