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Amstreetdam

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A Street Photography Project in Amsterdam

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines landed me on a motorway bridge on the outskirts of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and with a short train ride to arrive at Centraal Station, taking in the track side views of rural, residential and industrial landscapes.

Paul Hands (2018).

Once settled in the hotel, I hit the streets ready to put my new Panasonic LX100 to the test.  Up to this point, i'd only used the LX100 a few times but not under any pressurised commercial situations.  It was only up on writing this blog that I discovered a fast AF setting within the menu's.  I'm kicking myself now because I spent the whole time in Amsterdam, anticipating photographs because I was worried about how slow the AF was.  I put it down to being spoilt using a dslr with almost instantaneous focusing and having owned a Fuji XPro 1 for a short part of its life.

Julie Hrudova (2015).

Julie Hrudova, a street photographer based in Amsterdam became a source of inspiration for me prior to my trip.

Julie Hrudova (2012).

Julie Hrudovae (2012).

When I first discovered the pictures by Julie, I was blown away by her presentation, modernity and classic style of street photography.  I recommend taking a look through her Flickr website.

Jonathan Higbee:

Jonathan lives in NYC and has recently collected the amazing recognition he fully deserves with his coincidental work around New York in what Jonathan describes as his love letter to New York.  I've included Jonathan here because his work is so cool that when I'm out on the streets looking and searching for scenes, backdrops, places and people to photograph, I always have some of his strongest images in the back of my mind but I never ever come across similar.  

I can only put that down to different minds and a different set of eyes.  Proof that it's the photographer that makes the pictures as opposed to the camera!

Don't take my word for it anyway, please head over to Jonathan's website and see how good he is for yourself... https://www.jonathanhigbee.com

Jonathan Higbee

Jonathan Higbee

Jonathan Higbee

I'm currently influenced by many photographers and with all good work, it's informed by others.  

 

So this is my Amsterdam project...

 

Amstreetdam:

I've created this work from a perspective full of influences from street photographers that I've discovered around the world.  Julie Hrudova, Jonathan Higbee from New York City and many of the artists showing their work with the Pure Street Photography collective.  These photographs are intended to show my view of the quirkiness of the streets in Amsterdam, day and night.  I've found myself being drawn to almost surreal, graphic and intimate stories at the side of the canals and narrow roadways.  Amsterdam really is a beautiful city and a giant habitat that just keeps on giving, which ever direction you walk in.  With a good eye for a a photograph, it's difficult not to find something you can make great photographs of.

So this is my visual story of Amsterdam.

Black and White Street Photography

I also made some in colour because Amsterdam is too colourful that I couldn't resist having a play with the beauty of the city.

Colour Street Photography 

I still feel like I've only skimmed the surface of Amsterdam.  There's so much to explore and I only had three days to look, learn, discover, feel the heart of the city and show that in my pictures.

As this was a test for me working with my new LX100, I feel compelled to tell you what I think of it.  Had I discovered the fast AF setting, I may have enjoyed this camera more.  I still enjoyed playing with it and am learning new ways to work the streets with it. I found the light meter to be accurate and I shot in RAW, knowing that I didn't fully trust the camera, I wanted that flexibility.  The manual controls are very intuitive and I found it easy adjusting the iso, shutter speed and aperture to suit each scene.  

The challenge as always with street photography is not so much the technical side, but more the story and visual impact.  You can't just make a good picture, a view of the world develops in your frame and if you're ready with your camera and become part of that moment in time.  It's an honour, especially if you can overcome the initial anxiety of pointing your camera at people on the street.  Breathe and feel the world living.

The photographs that appear in this blog can be made available as artwork and I've discovered new suppliers for my prints, who offer excellent quality.

Prints available poa.

Contact me.

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Professional Public Relations & Commercial Photographer, Leicestershire, Midlands

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Paul Hands is a qualified and experienced public relations and commercial photographer.  He has crafted his photographic techniques with a very wide variety of commercial high end clients like Coventry City Council, Mode Transport Planning in Birmingham, Worldwide PR agencies - Citizen Relations UK and Hill Knowlton Strategies, Hinckley Island Hotel, Cineworld - Hinckley, Lloyds Pharmacy, North Warwickshire & Hinckley College, Midland Studio College, Tyre Medics, Jury's Inn, and G. Seller & Co.

The list of prestigious clients grows as Paul delivers a quality of photography that is so good, his clients repeatedly re-hire him.

All businesses need to fashion themselves a professional image so that they can attract the right clients for them.  I can work creatively with your organisation to really show your clients why they should be using you.  Show them what you think of your business and don't settle for an image that isn't representative of what you offer.

If you need a professional photographer in the United Kingdom and specifically around Leicestershire, Warwickshire and the Midlands, follow this link to contact Paul with your enquiries.

Also you can view some examples of his work here...

Paul uses high end expensive Nikon equipment and has a delicate nature with regards to a post production service, that truly enhances the imagery for all commercial clients, giving them a solid and professional image.

Marco Pierre White, Hinckley Island Hotel, Jury's Inn PR Photography

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It was a pleasure to be commissioned for a commercial public relations photography shoot for Marco Pierre White and his visit to one of his prestigious restaurants based at Jury's Inn, Hinckley Island Hotel. 

If you're conversant with Whites personality, you'll understand that the shoot didn't go to plan and I worked with the staff from Black and White promotions (one of Whites companies) to get the best photography from the evenings dining and book signing event.  After showing the list of required photographs to the people running the event, they said to forget some of the photos because Marco does what Marco wants!

Knowing that's how he works, I worked him to the best photographic advantage.  As a professional public relations photographer, I knew to make the best of all situations that arose that evening and here's a selection of some of the photographs.

 

If you'd like to visit any of the websites for the companies involved with this event, please click on the logos below.

Commercial Photography for Local Businesses - Leicestershire / Warwickshire

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Tyre Medics Ltd. are a mobile tyre repair company who now have a new solid depot on Upper Bond Street in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

They hired me for professional commercial photography services because they are having a brand new website built for them and needed excellent quality photographs to help show off their expanding local business.

Their initial requirements would have required 4 days of work to create the images and put them through post production but this put them over their budget.  Tyre Medics knew they needed the images producing, so they worked with me to help reduce their costs.  We negotiated the assignment and managed to shorten their requirements to the core of what they actually needed.

Through helping them to achieve their goals professionally, I won the assignment and here's just a few examples of the results.