Last Hot Shots Course of the year

Posted on 13th Nov 2009 by lomokev

The last Hot Shots Course of the year will be on the 21st and the 28th November in Hastings. It’s been a blast teaching them, 7 in total this year with the first in January. Each time I teach it, it slightly changes for the better, I think after running it twice back to back in San Fransisco I have really got it refined now. There are few spots left for the Hastings workshop but it is limited to 8 so if you are interested mail me lomokev@yahoo.co.uk.

Its been a great experience teaching it and I have already got three dates lined up at Grange Studios in Brighton for 2010. I am thinking about running Hot Shots in Manchester, London, New York, San Francisco, Madrid (or Barcelona) and Berlin. If you live in any of those places you can join my mailing list to find out when I am coming to your town lomokev@yahoo.co.uk, also if you e-mail me it will help me gauge potential interest.

The course has been drawing quite a lot of interest, as well as going international it also received a glowing 4 page review from Digital SLR user magazine!

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This is how Charlie Griffiths from DSLR User Summed up the course:
“I learned a hell of a lot from Lomokev and his Lomo LC-As. Wandering the streets of Brighton with a bunch of like-minded people, nattering about photography in-between taking pictures, was a fantastic way to spend a weekend – and my photography improved massively I think with Kev and the group’s help, I’ve finally got myself a pair of photographer’s eyes that see potential images everywhere. This is going to be fun.”

I have also been getting great feedback from attendees, check what these hot shooters have to say about the course:

“The Workshop was very well worth my 500 miles trip from Kassel to Brighton”
– topfloor

“Excellent course.  My photography improved a ton and I learned some new skills and techniques. I came away with some killer shots.  Would take this course again and wish you were coming back to the states sometime soon.”
– Wendy laurel

“I became aware of the photography of Kevin Meredith through his Hot Shots book and later, his flickr photo-stream. Kevin uses a photographer’s keen eye and a poet’s sensibility to create a wonderland of stunning imagery. Taking the Hot Shots workshop is the best thing I’ve done to improve my own photographic vision and creativity.”
– Rob LaRosa

“Hot Shots: The Photography Course was awesome, not only for the actual photography course, but for all the additional photoshop/lightroom help and flickr/file organization tips. As a photographer just starting out, this was the perfect course to help bring me up to speed. The money spent was well worth the knowledge and good times!”
– Joel Maxey

“The talk and the class have been a huge kick in the butt to both my inspiration and out put. I’ve been shooting like mad for no other apparent reason.”
– Lori Orson

“Hot Shots is a Fantstic course. I had loads of fun and learnt a lot too. The group was small and LomoKev ensured everyone got some individual attention.  The course has really helped me to think more creatively about my photography. Highly recommend.”
– Caroline Blake

If these testimonials have gone some way to convince you that the Hot Shots Course is worth doing you can out check future dates here of join my mailing list to be the first to find out when I am coming close to your town be e-mailing me on lomokev@yahoo.co.uk. It just leaves me to say a big thank you to everyone who has attended Hot Shots in 2009 and hope there will many more in 2010 and beyond!

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Olympus announces the Olympus Pen EP-2

Posted on 7th Nov 2009 by lomokev

This week Olympus announced the Pen E-P2 and it address a few features that where lacking from the E-P1. A welcome addition is the VF-2 viewfinder witch is very much like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1’s video view finder. Rather than the optional optical view finder that you could only use with the 17mm lens on the EP-1 this lets you see what the final image will actually be with the added bonus that you can angle it to 90°, grate for getting those low down shots. When recording video on the E-P1 the sound of the lens focusing could be picked up but now there is a microphone input and the optional EMA-1 microphone adapter that will solve this problem. There are 2 new art filters Diorama and Cross Processing I think the diorama is going to be a fake tilt shift although I can’t be to sure as Olympus have not released any images shot in this mode. I am also very intrigued to see how the cross processing pains out as I have been Known to dabble in some x pro my self. Its a shame that the pen is still lacking a built in flash witch is something the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 dose have.

olympus pen ep-2 with video view finder

The E-P2 will be out in early 2010 and will cost £850 and includes the new VF-2 viewfinder.

The Olympus Pen EP-1, E-P2 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 are micro 4/3rds cameras. Micro 4/3rds offer similar features to digital SLR cameras, like interchangeable lenses and having full control over shutter speed and aperture. The added bonus is that they are small enough to fit in your pocket. Other manufactures are planing there own 3/4 cameras so 2010 should be a interesting year for this format. You can read my full review of the The Olympus Pen EP-1 from earlier this year here.

olympus pen ep-2 and accessorizes

Images from Olympus UK. View more E-P2 images on the Olympus’s flickr stream.

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Phoot Camp – full story

Posted on 6th Nov 2009 by lomokev

As some might know I recently visited San Francisco, the reason I went on this trip was to attend something called Phoot Camp, which was a weekend camping with 20 super talented photographers. All the fruits of Phoot Camp are now online. If you want to know the full story, check out who attended or see the work that came out of it, just head over to http://phootcamp.com/

I shot lots of general lomo images of the whole event and a few digital but my mini project was shooting montage portraits of everyone:

phoot camp montages

jen giese montage on flickr mona brooks montage dan busta montage

 

phoot camp montages

steph goralnick montage derek wood montage nate bolt

Click on the images above to see the flickr version where they can be viewed larger or you can check out all of my portrait montage pictures on flickr here

Many good times where also had round the camp fire:

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A tail of two Pens (Olympus Pens)

Posted on 27th Oct 2009 by lomokev

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Last Mouth Olympus user magazine got legendary rock photographer Jill Furmanovsky and me to compare and contrast the new Olympus Pen E-P1 with a 40 year old Olympus Pen EE 2. We where let loose in London’s Borough Market to shot for an hour or so and then we compared notes. If you ever in the London Bridge area you must check out Borough Market I can’t recommend it enough as a grate place to shot in. I am defiantly going back there at some point with my lomo.

Jill’s conclusion was that the old pen was little limiting. One of the limiting factors is that you can’t focus because the focusing is fixed, you have to shot everything from a distance of 1.5 meters or more. It also had only one shutter speed and it was not obvious what it was but from the sound of the shutter Jill reckoned it was 1/60th. What most impressed me was that the aperture was automatic even though there is no batteries! Jill was shooting with a lot of limitations on the flip side of the coin I wish I had just stuck to one mode when shooting so that my shots had more constancy. I am used to the limiting factors of the Lomo LCA so using the Olymous Pen EP-1 is a bit like being like a kid in a candy shop! You can read my full review of the Olympus Pen EP-1 here.

There is a video of Jill and me in action on the olympus user web site. Olympus user magazine is subscription only magazine so unfortunately it will be a bit tricky to hold of a copy of the magazine with the article in it as it was out at the beginning of the mouth.

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Bye bye USA

Posted on 19th Oct 2009 by lomokev

Lomokev in the USA

Photo by Ryan Cunningham

About to leave the US currently waiting for my flight home. Had a blast at Phoot camp. I had grate fun running my Hot Shots photography courses in San Fransisco. Thanks to everyone who turned up to my book signings / talks.  Until next time keep it real.

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Phoot camp and the Booksmith

Posted on 13th Oct 2009 by lomokev
phootface

Photo by sgoralnick

Phoot Camp went really well, I met loads of really super talented photographers. Once I have a complete list of all their names and Urls, I will post them here. Still feel really jaded after only having 1 hour sleep before I left the UK and then having a 27 hour journey from my door to the camp site! The journey when tits up from the point I got to Heathrow. My plane’s takeoff was delayed by one and a half hours and then because of head winds and bad weather it got to Houston three and half hours late. I missed my connecting flight and then the flight after that because I was given someone else’s boarding pass. My original flight out of Houston was meant to leave at 2pm and I ended up getting out on the 7pm. I have managed to soldier though with four hours sleep a night, last night I got about five. This is why I look a little jaded in the above portrait.

Above photo by mona, eh

For some reason four of the Phoot campers including me thought it would be a good idea to stay one more night at the camp. This turned out not to be such a great idea as our camp was attacked by raccoons in the night, so not much sleep once again. I got back to San Fransisco at midday with only a few hours to get ready for my talk at the Booksmith. It went well apart from the when people asked complicated questions in the Q&A and I replied “I don’t know I’m tired”. Thanks to all who turned up and a big thanks to the Booksmith, Heather Champ and Derick Powsak for helping to organize the event.

If you missed the Booksmith signing and talk there is also going to be a 2nd book signing at Chronicle Books on Thursday the 15th of October at 6–8pm. There will be wine and nibbles too. It will be more of a meet the author low key type of affair.

Chronicle Books is at:
680 Second Street
San Fransisco
CA 94107

I am also running my photography course twice while I’m in town, once on Thursday 15th to Friday 16th of October and then Saturday 17th to Sunday 18th of October. The cost is $295 for 2 days. There is one place left on both, for more info on the course check the Hot Shots course page. If you think you might be interested email me info@lomokev.com or call me on my US cell phone: 832-818-6959

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Phoot Camp Invite

Posted on 9th Oct 2009 by lomokev

i have been invited to phoot camp!

I have been invited to phoot camp. Our 1st assignment for phoot camp was to shot a self portrait with this card and guess whose chin it is. I think mine is Amit Gupta. I have been rushed off my feet so I took this snap while i was getting my hair cut!

I am up to lots while in San Fransisco. I will be signing books teaching and talking to check out the details click here.

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San Francisco plans complete!

Posted on 5th Oct 2009 by lomokev

i’ll be in san fansisco next week

I leave for San Fransisco on Friday morning at stupid O’clock. First stop on my vist will be to Phoot Camp for the weekend. Phoot Camp is a gathering of 50 photographers from all over where we get together and get creative. Results of Phoot Camp will appear on the Phoot Camp website once its over.

On Monday the 12th at 7:30pm I will be given a short talk and signing copys of Hot Shots at the Book Smith. The talk is called “From casual snapper to published author, a tale of flickr, shoes and serendipity”. If you are worried that I am going to bore the paints off you Flickr has kindly offered to provide wine and nibbles for everyone, this should help ease yourself into my talk. I have set up a Facebook event page and Upcoming page for the Book Smith event.

The Booksmith is at:
1644 Haight St
San Francisco
CA 94117

There is also going to be a 2nd book signing at Chronicle Books on Thursday the 15th of October at 6–8pm. There will be wine and nibbles too, this time supplied by Chronicle books. It will be more of a meet the author low key type of affair.

Chronicle Books is at:
680 Second Street
San Fransisco
CA 94107

I am also running my photography course twice while am in town, once on Thursday 15th to Friday 16th of October and then Saturday 17th to Sunday 18th of October. The cost is $295 for 2 days. There are still a couple of places left on both, for more info on the course check the Hot Shots course page. Mag Cloud have kindly offered 25% off to all attendees on their first magazine purchase. Mag Cloud allows any one to design and publish their own magazine, to find out more about it read my latest blog post about the recent publication “Strange Light” on my here. If you are going to miss these dates or are nowhere near San Francisco I have some new dates for hot shots courses in the UK: 21st and 28th of November 2009 in Hastings 10th and 11th of April 2010 in Brighton 3rd and 10th of July 2010 in Brighton 18th and 19th of September 2010 in Brighton To make an inquiry about the my courses contact me on lomokev@yahoo.co.uk.

Whilst I’m San Francisco I am sure my wife will get loads of work done because I won’t be at home distracting her so check out her jewellery at rockcakes.com for all the new things that I am sure will appear quite soon! Hope to see you in San Fransisco!

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