Mike Langford - Images for publication, Images that tell stories

The great thing about hearing Mike Langford give a presentation isn't the fact that you are listening to an award winning photographer. It isn't that he is the president of the NZIPP. It isn't that he has been published an astounding number of times. It is that his words and images convery a genuine sense of wonder for the world we live in.

While it would be simple for the above approach and standing to lend Mike to being aloof or out of touch with photographers around him the opposite is the case. Despite his achievement and standing within the NZIPP he is alarmingly down to earth. Either through his leadership or through some shared belief this attitude to photographers is reflected in the NZIPP itself. It is an institution designed to lift all photographers up to a professional standard and it is one that aims to be all inclusive. It is about sharing knowledge, not about guarding it.

Indeed Mike's lecture itself was geared towards sharing knowledge. While the content was reasonably diverse - photographing for travel books, cook books, kids books, the Australian Geographic, and more - the message that Mike wanted to share was presented as an underlying theme: Photographs are about presenting ideas.

While this concept is unlikely to be new to many people what was interesting was the way in which he suggested ideas can be portrayed. While he did include elements related to composition he really focussed on understanding how images would eventually be used and the importance of making images say what you want, or need, them to say.

Composition is a key element of any photograph.. While Mike covered ideas that you would have heard elsewhere he stayed away from mentioning things like the rules of thirds or the golden spiral. Instead he chose to focus on the role of colour (warm colours project, cool colours recede), his preference for including items in the foreground when using a wide angle lens, and the way that a sentence can be used to structure a photograph.

The idea of a sentence providing structure to compositions reflects the idea that a photograph is intended to convey some sort of meaning or idea. In terms of visual communication things that are in the foreground tend to be seen first. As such the equivalent sentence would typically start with the foreground item before moving back into the picture. For example a sentence structured as "A fisherman and his lobster boat in Costa Rica" would have a fisherman in the foreground with something in the midground showing that his boat is a lobster boat. Preferably this shot would also have Costa Rica in the background.

Good compositions must also consider how the final image will be presented. If it is a magazine or book cover it needs to provide space for the title. If there  is a gutter that will cut the image this needs to be considered. If it will wrap around the book, filling the front and back covers this should also be considered, perhaps through the inclusion of a surprising element on the back cover. Importantly though it is not simply the page on which the image will appear that should be considered. It's position relative to the rest of the images in the book should also be considered. If a rhythm is formed it should be followed.

Yet while these subcomponents are important they are pointless if the image itself has nothing to say. Great images, equated to award winning images by Mike, are those that show people something different. They are images that make the viewer stop and ask questions of the image, the subject, or something larger. Great images tell a story that comes from the photographer. Critically great images may not ever occur without the intervention of a photographer.

At this point those of a more photojournalistic bent may recoil from this definition of great imagery. How can an image be great if it is dishonest? Simple. Photographs illustrate ideas. In many cases, once you know what the idea is, it becomes clear that the image will tell a better, more accurate story if you as the photographer intervene. This intervention may be in the form of directing light to points of interest or it may be in the form of moving objects in, out, or around the frame. Such intervention can help tell the intended story more directly to the viewer. One could even argue that the intervention makes the image MORE honest rather than less through providing a clearer illustration of the truth of the idea. An example Mike gave was a shot where a harvester was working in a wheat field. In order to clearly show what the harvester was working on Mike gaffer taped some of the wheat to his tripod, lifting it above the rest of the crop and clearly showing the grains. This dishonest lifted wheat made the story in the photograph come through more clearly, in essence making the image speak the truth about what was happening with a louder voice.

Overall the talk was well worth the trip to Parnell. Not only were great tips about photography shared, the notion of what it means to be an NZIPP member was brought into focus. For those that are still reading I don't mind you knowing that, as a result of attending this talk, I intend to join in the near future.