This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see more of my work.

I’ve been lucky enough to be commissioned to photograph on the Olympic Site a couple of times in the last few months, concentrating on Allies & Morrison’s Press Centre Buildings. This has been really interesting, to see how the site has developed over time and we’ve been able to have a bit of a look at the other buildings on site on the long, long walk back to the entrance / exit gates on the way out. Hopkin’s Velodrome is as elegant in real-life as it is in it’s photos, Populus’ Main Stadium is far more impressive than I expected from the vis work and Zaha Hadid’s Aquatic Centre looked stunning before those additional cheeseblock seats where wheeled in (which, we should all remember, are to be removed).

I went over there yesterday for the Diving World Cup and took my trusty Lumix GF1 with me so I could take a few snaps. It’s a bit odd to be photographing architecture on such a small camera, with no tilt-shift lenses or tripod, but quite liberating. Here’s a few examples…

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see more of my work.

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see more of my work.

Last week, Conran & Partners commissioned me to head over to the Design Museum to document the exhibition they have on at the moment marking the life and work of Terence Conran. From the Design Museum’s website… “The Design Museum marks Sir Terence Conran’s 80th birthday with a major exhibition that explores his unique impact on contemporary life in Britain. Through his own design work, and also through his entrepreneurial flair, Conran has transformed the British way of life. The Way We Live Now explores Conran’s impact and legacy, whilst also showing his design approach and inspirations. The exhibition traces his career from post-war austerity through to the new sensibility of the Festival of Britain in the 1950s, the birth of the Independent Group and the Pop Culture of the 1960s, to the design boom of the 1980s and on to the present day”

There’s still a bit of time left to see the exhibition as it runs through until 12th April. For all the info click here. Happy (slightly belated) birthday, Sir Conran!

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see more of my work.

The Process of Photographing Architecture, with Jim Stephenson of clickclickjim – how to better photograph Architecture and Interiors.

Saturday, 03rd March, 2012 10:30am ’till 5:30pm (ish). £88 for the day (tea and biscuits included…). For booking, please email me at jim@clickclickjim.com

A full day workshop on the how’s and why’s of photographing buildings, inside and out.

After some introductions, the day will start with a brief look at some of the most important architectural photographers throughout history and specifically how they approached their work and what techniques they used to make their images so special.

After this, we’ll go through some basic techniques as well as some handy hints, tips and tricks focusing both on exteriors and interiors. Bringing along your camera will be essential, whether it be a setup worth more than your house, or a simple point-and-shoot, we’ll go through how to get the best out of it as we head out to a location in town and try out some of what we’ve covered so far. If you have a favourite building in Brighton, let me know and I’ll choose one from the list to photograph. Again, we’ll do some interiors and exteriors practical work.

Somewhere around there, we’ll grab some lunch, and once we’ve done photographing it’s back to the venue (which will be in central Brighton) where we’ll go through some post-production trickery that will add the extra edge to your images and finish them off nicely. I’ll show you my typical workflow, and we’ll try and cover a range of common techniques in photoshop. There’ll be a chance now to look through everyone’s images and do some (friendly) critique, highlighting things to think about next time.

Finally, we’ll finish up with some question and answer time, followed by a round of backpatting and congratulating each other on the amazing photos we’ve all taken.

The day will will start at 10:30am and finish around 5:30pm. Please bring along a camera and a tripod (if you have one – if you don’t, let me know and I’ll try and organise a spare for you). A wide-angle lens will prove useful, but is by no means essential. We’ll be indoors for much of the day, but we will be heading out for a bit, so bring some warm and waterproof clothes, just in case. To allow me to help everyone as much as possible, class sizes will be limited to 10 people – I will add an extra date, if needed. If you have any questions at all, drop me a line on jim@clickclickjim.com and I’ll try and answer them. You can check out more of my architectural photography on my website, clickclickjim.

Please note; this course will not be covering the business side of being an architectural photographer (winning clients, running a business, etc etc), unless you ask some pretty specific questions in the Q&A. Jim Stephenson / clickclickjim can accept no responsibility for lost, damaged or stolen equipment before, during, or after the workshop.

Here’s what some previous attendees have said about the workshop…

“I just wanted to say what a fantastic time I had on your architectural photography workshop, it was just the right mix of classroom theory and practical application. I came away with an even greater appreciation for this area of photography and feel really inspired to shoot in a much more informed way in the future. Your workshop is as far as I know unique in the UK, so keep up the good work” Ian Rudgewick Brown

“I would like to thank Jim Stephenson for a well presented architectural photography workshop. The course has given me some useful techniques and new ideas I hope to utilise not only for future architecture shoots in my photography, but also in general going forwards. Thank you.” Ashley Burt

“It was a great day… and I certainly feel inspired to get out and shoot more buildings!” Steve Mileham

“Thanks for a great workshop – learnt loads and a good base from which to stretch my photographer legs!” David Callin

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see more of my work.

I recently posted some work I did in Tokyo at Roppongi Hills for Conran & Partners on my blog. Well, whilst there they also commissioned me to shoot their retail project at Futako Tamagawa (also in Tokyo). This project is the first phase of what will eventually become a very large mixed use scheme and by all accounts has proved to be very popular in the city with architects visiting it quite regularly to check it out. As soon as I arrived, the very polite security guard saw my tripod and camera bag and whisked me off into the depths of the complex to issue me with the press pass I needed for the day. I cannot possibly explain how cold I was when shooting this – Tokyo had gone from being pretty balmy (I shot the Roppongi project in just a t-shirt) to arctic in a few days. That said, cracking project to shoot.

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see more of my work.

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see more of my work.

Back in November I headed off to Japan (you may have seen me rattling on about it once or twice, or maybe three times). Whilst there I had a couple of shoots to do for Conran & Partners, who have worked quite extensively in and around Tokyo. One of their largest projects out there is at Roppongi Hills; a mixed use site incorporated housing, managed apartments, offices, retail and leisure facilities. C&P briefed me in the UK and put me in touch with Yohjiro Gotoh, from Design Index, who was to be my “fixer” out there. Gotoh-San helped me out with permissions and some of the equipment hire I had to do as C&P had asked me to shoot some video of the site whilst there to. I really enjoy working abroad. It’s full of new challenges, but is very exciting. Plus it’s almost like a holiday… Below are some of the images from the final edit of the Roppongi shoot, as well as the video I shot for them. Click here to see the other project I shot for C&P in Tokyo, at Futako Tamagawa.

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see my work.

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson, Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see my work. If you’re looking for info on the miniclick photography talks, please click here.

Whilst in Japan, between commissions and arranging camera hires, we did actually get time to have a nice holiday. Generally when I’m on holiday I don’t tend to photograph the traditional tourist spots and sights. I can just buy a postcard pack for that. I stick to photographing architecture, details and little bits and bobs that I know will remind me of the place I’m in. You can get an idea of this on this blog post, of my holiday snaps of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Anyways, it’s a good job I wasn’t looking to photograph the traditional sights as I soon realised I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near them – it seemed like everyone had a camera and everyone wanted their photo in front of this spot or that sight. So, I decided to roll with a small project called “People shooting People”. Here’s some of the results…

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see my work. If you’re looking for info on the miniclick photography talks, please click here.

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see my work. If you’re looking for info on the miniclick photography talks, please click here.

In November, I headed off to Japan for a couple of weeks, partly as a holiday but also incorporating a couple of nice commissions for Conran & Partners. Japan, for a long time now, has been a place I’ve been eager to visit. I can now say it’s a place I’m eager to return to (so if anyone wants to send me their on commission – give me a shout). Surprisingly to me, and I’m sure to those who knows me, I didn’t shoot that much architecture out there with the exception of the buildings I was sent to photograph. To be honest, I found that side of it a bit overwhelming and could easily have turned the entire trip into a grand architectural tour. I did try to get to Ando’s Church of the Light outside of Osaka, with photographic intentions, but it was closed the day I had free. Anyways, I concentrated on shooting handheld with my new Lumix GF1 and all the shots here were on that camera.

This post is all about the stills I shot, but I also did a lot of video work to. That’s to follow. In the meantime, this is what Japan looked like to me…

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see my work. If you’re looking for info on the miniclick photography talks, please click here.

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see my work.

Back in March I shot the new Small Batch Coffee Shop in Hove for Chalk Architecture. Since opening the shop has been a huge success, both in terms of the amount of people enjoying their coffee and for the design awards it’s been nominated for (including a WAN Interiors and Design Award). It’s also lead to another shop opening, this time in central Brighton underneath MyHotel in Jubliee Square. When I first moved to Brighton this area was a wasteland and it’s remarkable to see how it’s changed so much, largely due to the Stirling shortlisted new library.

Anyways, Chalk called and asked if I could head over and shoot the new shop. Big thanks to the staff who provided me with free coffee all day (I’m learning to like coffee) and to fellow photographer Harry Watts, Dan and Vic from Conran & Partners, Andrew White, and Kirstin Stride and Lynne Davies from Handmade Brighton for popping in to be my ‘part-time coffee models’.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, Small Batch has really become a modern Brighton institution – worth popping in if you’re in town.

This is the photography blog of clickclickjim, Jim Stephenson Architectural Photographer. Please head to my website at www.clickclickjim.com if you’d like to see my work.

Just a quick one to let you know there is now a facebook group for the miniclick photography talks and is probably the best way to keep up to date with everything we’re doing.

Click here to head to it.

Thanks! Over and out.

The miniclick talks (Brighton’s free, monthly photography talks) ended 2011 on Monday with a great talk by Luca Sage. To kick off 2012, we have an equally exciting speaker lined up for you in Ewen Spencer. Ewen was part of our September panel discussion and we had a load of emails and requests on twitter to get him back to do a talk on his own – obviously his work has captured a lot of people’s imagination and I’m really pleased to announce he’ll be speaking for us on January 10th (doors at 6:30pm, talk will start around 7:30pm)…

“Ewen studied under the tutorage of British Photographer Paul Reas and Mark Power and the School of Art and Design at the University of Brighton. He graduated in 1997 and quickly became known for his groundbreaking editorial during the late 90’s for The Face & Sleazenation magazine. He immediately spoke to an audience interested in subcultures, multiculturalism, music, graphic art, photography, fashion and primarily youth culture.

In 2001 Ewen embarked upon a project simply called Teenagers documenting British adolescents as they come to terms with socialising, dating and sex. His signature flash style became synonymous with a close aspect to his subjects. What separated him from other social-documentarians is the feeling you get from the occurs that he knows and likes his subjects, that they trust him enough to allow him entry and that he has an understanding of what’s going on without being embedded in the scenes himself.

The Teenagers project was shown at the Exposure photo festival in Hereford, UK in 2001, as part of “Jam London – Tokyo” showing at both the Barbican in London and the Tokyo Opera House Gallery and was also exhibited at the Rencontre d’Arles in 2004, curated by Martin Parr, where it was shortlisted for the project assistance award.

Not surprisingly, in 2002 Martin Parr tipped Ewen as the most promising newcomer of that year. Commercial clients started calling and he began working with bands, producing cover art and behind the scenes tour material for The Streets & The White Stripes. There’s many reasons why Ewen continues to be a sought after photographer for clients. He’s quick, precise, spontaneous, collaborative, with a great eye for what’s current, on trend and in line with brand objectives. Over the last 2 years he’s produced work for Puma, Sony, Nike, Addidas, Boxfresh, T mobile, Vodaphone and Lastminute.com.

Ewen has continued to pursue his interest in teen culture and in 2005 completed a series of images taking a look at a group of teenagers involved in London’s “Grime” Scene. The project has come to fruition through the publishing of a book and a touring exhibition called “Open Mic.” Works from Open Mic are now included in the Courtauld institute of Arts, Musee d’Elysee in Lausanne and many private collections throughout Europe. The book Open Mic was awarded a yellow pencil certificate by the D&AD in 2005 for Photographic publishing.

The book “Open Mic” remains one of the best examples of Ewen’s work to date and led to him being awarded a commission by Massive Attack in 2010 to produce a short film concerning ideas around cultural pluralism and gangs in Britain”.

You can see more of Ewen’s work on his website.

Tuesday, January 10th at The Old Market in Brighton & Hove (11a Upper Market St, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 1AS). It will kickoff at around 7:30pm (doors at 6:30pm). Get there early as the seats get snapped up quick (as anyone sitting on the floor at Luca’s talk will testify)! Entry is free, but there is a bar there that stays open before and after the talk, so bring some cash and support the venue by having a drink or two.

Hope to see you there!