 How's it going guys? Today we're in for a rare treat because we're going to be looking at the work of Alex Webb taking the lessons that are there hidden in plain sight in these images and seeing how we can apply them to our own photographs so that we can elevate them into something that's a little bit more than just in the case of a street photography, sometimes just kind of random snapshots of people. So the first image is this of the young ladies through the window of a car and this kind of illustrates a technique that Alex Webb is a master of and that is framing or splitting the image up into different parts. In this case you have the young lady on the left who's kind of looking off camera, you know she's kind of, there's some pensive going on and then you have the couple on the right hand side who are a bit more animated, a bit more engaged and the A pillar of the car has split the two day, right? So if it was just a single image of these three girls without that A pillar in there, it wouldn't be particularly interesting, certainly I wouldn't think it would be particularly interesting, but with the addition of the A pillar it is like a visual kind of echo of something that's going on in our minds. It's like are these people friends? Are they enemies for want of a better word? And it really is a technique that if you start employing it in your own images can make your photographs feel a lot more interesting, certainly on the surface because you are compartmentalising different ideas within the picture which can then work together. And you see that play as well again in this picture of the a coal national where in the middle of the frame you have this orange pillar that is certainly dividing the image into left and to right and on the left hand side you have the man looking at the camera, you know sort of a knot but quite sure. And then there's this lady who's framed once again by the you know by that doorway. So you've got an image going on the left hand side which is kind of interesting. And then if you think on the right hand side you have a similar image but that image on the right hand side has a lot more energy to it because you've got the kids running around got this little girl who's just a blur of teeth at the side of the thing. And what could have been a sort of an interesting image of you know this kind of dilapidated school becomes something more because you've got two parts going on that the viewer can jump between and enjoy. Now I hope you're seeing how powerful this can be as a device in your own photography. Shadows are like kind of one of the the absolutely just underappreciated things in photography. Obviously we get to oh no don't put in the shadows but when you employ them properly oh man because they can really just take something and just like make it just amazing. And this example here of voice says once again on the yellow the guys over here look at this this terrible glare off this thing anyway it doesn't matter. But this yellow silhouette blacks a bit rather of this figure and I think it's actually a statue now I'm looking at it. But take a moment to look at this image. Now we've got some primary colours obviously the yellow is there and I want you to think about why that yellow is so powerful. Why is it so dominant and strong and and what primary and that's because it is surrounded by shadow almost entirely. And what happens is when you contrast a colour against a dark thing in this case a shadow it makes an especially case in primary colours. Then far more punchy far more powerful and this is working you know great I think that you know the silhouette stuff that's kind of that's interesting why have you but this this example really is of just you know how shadows can be used to make colour punch and to be an integral part of a photograph. And create a photograph where most of us would probably just stand there and go well there's nothing here and the other examples I've been putting up on screen. Right now sort of illustrate that point beautifully so the next time you're out don't worry about this idea about having to have shadow detail the whole time. When you look through Alex Webb's photography when you see a great number of his images they work so well because there is inky shadow in there. So explore what happens to your own images when you let that inkiness just come you know and come and just smear itself all over the image. There is a fantastically chaotic photograph here from Havana where there is these you know adolescents playing on this jungle gym kind of arrangement. And on the face of it you know people will be looking this and go oh wow you know so many rules so many rules broken look the guy the front is just his waist and his legs you know what's all this about. And when you do something like this when you include trunk to wait is cut off and I probably mispronounced that but hey whatever. You know limbs and torsos and things like that as far as I'm concerned it lends a little bit of depth to the image. It's the same as when you have you know figures in the foreground very out of focus almost completely indistinct. It's somehow in the first I feel makes you feel like you're part of this makes you feel like you're involved in intimate with what you're seeing at the time. So something that you can employ in your own images when you do this kind of thing is rather than you know like at the kids birthday party or some sort of event is rather than you know sitting and going while I'm going to wait for the perfect thing with the framing and stuff like that. Is to allow these random haphazard things to come into your frame. Now Alex Webb has talked you know in his in his discussions about his images that often the photographs are complete failures because there's so much going on in these images because there's so much that is actually kind of random chance that often these the stars don't align. So you can't be afraid to be essentially a failure. You know most of his 99% I think he said of his images of failures but the ones that do come off. Wow then they are like just oh my god these are so so great and I remember being so excited when I first saw Alex Webb's work because it just it it felt very different at the time from anything that I'd seen and I was really just drawn to it. You know like this photograph here we have as a bit of a weird chop there because I said some words about this picture here that I think will flag this this video to get it kind of restrictive which we don't want. Of course we don't want this but anybody who was around at this time knows where this is and it's New York and you know and I find with this photograph that juxtaposition. You know the baby and then the city in the background and the events are going on because obviously we know now but think about. The mind of a photographer who when confronted with those events. Still had to wear with all. To be out of the corners like wow what an interesting image that this lady is there's nothing has changed she's still looking after her little baby. I think that is a hallmark of somebody that you know when you want to be a an exceptional photographer is to not always be focused on the big event. But seeing what's going on around in the peripherals so much of Alex Webb's photography is about what's going on on the edges. The not the the crazy loud thing but like this photograph here you know the people standing. Again again I've got to stick it up on the screen for you guys right the people standing here. Mimicking like the heads on the wall and then there's and then it's only later that you notice there's a there's a woman walking within this issue is a real woman. So it's like toying with you because what's this picture all about and and if there's a lesson you you kind of get from being these kind of images is that when there's more going on in your photographs. When you are using these layers when you are using framing when you are using people at the front out of focus that there's more to discover little delights that the viewer sits and goes up. I'm so clever and look at what I saw that's amazing fantastic is that you can do this by not photographing just the obvious going to try some other things as well. You know be slightly different in creating a frame this this photograph here look at the guy with the feet you know in the face and stuff it's it's not a world amazing mind blowing photograph. But it's fun it's amusing you get the echo of the young guy in the water I'm assuming it's a guy in the water you know it's having fun he's like in on the joke that you know there's just a pair of feet above him. It's what happens when you are kind of open to making mistakes as it were when you are open to you know trying different things out and just you know the beauty of having books like this at your disposal to work through to checking out and seeing the lessons in there. You know we talk about framing we talk about you know the depth in the images bring that take your make notes don't just kind of go oh I just said they're really kind of cool and I like them and stuff. Think about why you like them think about that how you are interpreting these images right and once you understand these little things that you know a lot of this is not difficult. It's so easy to put these into practice sure you're going to have to hone and develop these skills you know because that's what we all do. But when you have a photograph like this that you look at and you can't prior to watching this video of course right put your finger on why you liked it so much why it works. Now you have a better idea of how these things work and when you have this a better idea you are going to be able to employ it in greater effect in your images. It's like falling off a bicycle or fall you know when you've learned to ride a bike once you've learned how to ride a bike you don't fall off. But when you are learning that you don't cut some grazes and smashed teeth in the case of some people here right then it clicks it comes together and it starts to become effortless as part of your imagery. So what I want you to do is next time you look at a photographer think about the techniques that they're employing and how you can put that into your own work. So a lot of these concepts are difficult to learn in a book or what have you and I've always found that the best way to really get to grips with them is of course to have talks one on one to discuss ideas long into the night right. And fortunately there is an opportunity for us to do this next May because the photographic eye is going to Italy. Yes that's right that survey that we put out recently well it's been decided by the Vox Populite a popular term on Twitter right now that we're going to go to Italy in May. And I would love for you to join me there. We're going to not talk about cameras we're not going to sit down and discuss f-stops and stuff. We're going to discuss the hows and the whys in a lovely informal environment exchanging ideas being open to learning new things. I'd love to learn new things from you to find out more about this trip and there are some early bird spots still available. He says sounding like it's a very late Black Friday kind of thing. Click on the link below because I would love to spend a week with you talking photography without any sort of you know sort of agenda just learning from each other being inspired by the beautiful scenes and of course taking some photographs. But you know mostly just being in that environment with other like-minded photographers talking about the thing that we absolutely love. I would love to see you there I would I'm so looking forward to finally meeting you guys in person. As I said before if you're interested in finding out more and getting one of those early bird spots for you click on the link below and I will see you in Italy. Earlier I was talking about color in Alex Webb's photography and this color here is another yellow you know wow isn't that beautiful. What a lovely lovely color and often color itself can be a real emotional pull. I mean that's okay look obviously hello you know we know this kind of stuff we're not silly you know we know. But I want you to while you're looking at these photographs think about you know we talked about the use of shadows think about the feeling that the colors emote in you. That's in this case here just this blue one it's very haunting with the rundown man and what have you and obviously that's a kind of an example of color being a little bit more on the nose about things. But in a lot of these photographs I get a feeling and anybody I think who's who's been to you know the Caribbean or places that are more tropical if you want to call it that gets a feeling from looking at these images of the environment. Now I'm not entirely sure that's probably the best way to you to explain it but. You feel sweaty you feel hot you feel this clammy embrace it feels like you just walked outside your underpants have melted it's that kind of feeling you know that kind of really that just oppressive humidity and it comes across. Because of the use of the colors because of those shades because of all of the way that you know Alex Webb is sympathetic to what he's photographing. And the title of the book is the suffering of light and if you look at somebody else who's very let's say precise about their light who treats light like a you know like it needs to be perfect. You often just remove all of that feeling from there and that's what we want to get from the photographs you know that there is there's nothing let's say perfect about these photographs. But they are perfectly so much as they make us instantly in the place and the time. All of these things come together they work in harmony to make these photographs feel alive. That's why so often that we see photographs out of people just doing things where they've followed the rule books they've gone oh it needs to be this needs to be that and it lacks soul. It lacks any sort of life. Don't be that photographer take these lessons from Alex Webb and other people who you love and put them into your own images. Going out there onto the edges and experimenting with things putting visceral feelings into your images can feel a little bit uncomfortable. But be brave and if you need to discover how to be brave in your creative efforts check out this video over here. Thank you ever so much once again for watching and I will see you again soon.