http://www.digitalcameraworld.comWatch yourself grow
with social media
Instagram played a big part in getting
Ben’s photography to a wider audience.
Having started out a decade ago with
a Nikon DSLR, Ben taught himself
photography – “There was a lot of
growing,” he laughs – and through
shooting behind-the-scenes images of
a music video, teamed up with a group
of make-up artists and models, “creating
art for the love of photography”.Harness the power of Instagram
Ben followed a period of shooting
“christenings, weddings... everything” by
building up a portfolio of architecture and
street images, and posting a shot every
day on Instagram. Things took off from
there, and Nikon started noticing the
images that Ben was tagging them in; he
signed up with Nikon Pro Services before
becoming one of the brand’s Z Creators.
“Social media is one of the most
important things you can do right now,”
says Ben. “If you’re trying to grow and
you’re not doing social media, I don’t
know what you’re doing. Social media
can become a business in its own right.”
Instagram: @bemorephotosone
to
one
You might as well be
wearing a high-viz jacket
with ‘Photographer’
on the back
Urban cityscape
photographers
need to know
their boundaries.pedestrian decks and walkways. And as Ben
demonstrates with a few quick frames, you
seldom have to wait long for a person to
walk into a promising scene to lend a
sense of scale, context and juxtaposition.
Ben doesn’t tend to hold the camera to his
face, putting his trust in the Z 7’s rear screen
instead. Shooting through a Z 14-24mm f/2.
S lens, he can fit a lot in the frame, and the
optic’s deep depth of field makes it all sharp.
As rain continues to hammer down, we
splosh on to Citypoint on Ropemaker Street.
Here, the curved glazed canopies above a
pedestrian thoroughfare form a pleasing
contrast with the flat-sided office blocks. Ben
carefully composes some shots, noting that
the interesting textures and shapes formedby the rain showers are helpfully masking the
streaks left on the glass from previous rainfall.
Our next locale is the shopping centre on
New Change, which offers pleasing ‘look up’
views from the bottom of its basement
staircase, plus an iconic shot of St Paul’s
Cathedral framed by glass shop windows with
lead-in lines provided by street guttering. It’s
a total contrast from the old-world Victorian
charms of Leadenhall Market, which we
walked on to afterwards. Sadly, no promising
photo opportunities present themselves here,
while workers from various shops are busy
putting up their Christmas decorations.
Having spent a great deal of time exploring
London with his camera, Ben is aware of
some of the smallest details. We walk past an
office reception area that looks like something
from a futuristic movie – it would be a great
shot without all the people in it, says Ben –
and soon arrive at another view that he likes.
Here, a white lift door goes red when the lift is
in use; seen through the vertical pillars of the
building’s exterior, and foregrounded by the
wet pavement, it’s a very pleasing view – even
if you may have to wait for a few minutes in
the rain to capture the change of colours.
Retracing our steps past the Gherkin on
St Mary’s Axe, Ben spies another scene that
he likes to shoot: office workers travelling
up and down an outdoor escalator. This is
an occasion for a longer lens, so he switches
to his Z 70-200mm f/2.8 S. Ben is mindful
of using this lens on urban architecture
shoots, as it makes him far more noticeable.
“Put this on and you might as well be
wearing a high-viz jacket with ‘Photographer’
on the back,” he shrugs, adding that it marks
you out as a pro and not a tourist.
Over coffee afterwards, Ben tells me that
being challenged by security workers is
a regular occurrence on his shoots,