I love hearing about the human element of portrait photography. How you build rapport, what direction you give, how you vary your approach on a long shoot vs a five minute one, what you talk about, what you avoid.
Thanks again for the comment. We hopefully have a video coming out soon where I assisted Harry on a shoot and we get to see him in action which could cover some of this. But will defo make a separate video as well. 😁
So much credibility here! So generous to share your hard won experience at the very highest level of the profession so freely and clearly for everyone to benefit. Thank you.
Love the content. The advice about backups is crucial, and is by no means limited to digital images. Your hard drives WILL fail in one way or another. Always follow the 3-2-1 rule, have 3 copies on at least 2 different media and 1 offsite.
All this is REALLY GOOD advice. Building a database is essential. Often either you need to put your fingers n a shot while you are working on a project or someone might ask you if you have anything. You need to locate the image witin a reasonable time without having to turn your huse over to find it. - Loving your videos. keeping me on my toes again.
With a library of over 600,000 images, I deal with archiving quite a bit. My advice is don't rely on a couple of hard-drives! They are mechanical devices. One of the problems with digital, compared to film, is that while film can be scratched and still be usable, the slightest change in a digital file can make it unreadable. Don't rely on a hard-drive sitting unused on a shelf - you may very well find that a) it no longer works because the bearings have seized up through lack of use, or b) a bit here and there has flipped and an image is no longer readable or has been seriously compromised. Pen-drives and other solid-state storage should be avoided for long-term storage. They are less resilient than hard-drives over time. My advice is: a) Back up and as Harry suggests, have the hard-drives in different locations. b) Back up everything on to new hard drives every few years. You may even want to run a comparison at the bit level to ensure copies on different drives are the same before copying to your new hard drive. c) Back up on to cloud storage. I suggest Amazon S3 Glacier. Cheap to store, very expensive to get them out - but you should never have to if your hard drives are working properly. d) Remember the rule: when you have N copies you actually have N-1. i.e.: if you have only one copy of your photos you effectively have none - one accident and it's game over. e) Don't use solid-state storage. Use magnetic storage (hard drives). If you are serious, you can get archival hard-drives - they have sealed bearings. f) Lastly, store your RAW images as well as Jpegs. It never hurts to have the two formats. RAWs are effectively your negatives while Jpegs are the prints. If you lose one (in the unlikely case all your backups are failing) you still have the other. This sounds like its expensive and a pain. Yes, it is. But remember how much time and effort you put into making the photos in the first place. While you may be able to replicate some, others will be of the moment and irreplaceable. That's the downside of digital - easy and cheap to make the photos but expensive and a lot of work to ensure you keep them.
Useful reminders - thank you. I do have a concern that my digital stuff will be lost. As a travel photographer the images I got were from a world that, in some places, is barely recognisable now.
THANK YOU for mentioning not blowing out highlights! I also go back to film days, and it seems like all the expose-to-the-right advice ignores the facts of digital photography. Sensors and film do not have the same exposure characteristics. Today’s sensors can easily tolerate lifting shadows a couple stops, but there is no way to “recover” white pixels.
Another great video. Especially appreciate the tip about "graphic simplicity" in the Robin Williams image. I find sometimes with shoots that the complicated idea falls apart. Keep the vids coming, they're a fantastic dose of inspiration
That's a really literal take on the Robert Cappa Quote. I believe he meant to really know your subjects, and understand why you are there making the images. Have some skin in the game.
Thanks a lot! Glad you enjoyed - we tried to cover things we haven't seen from other photographers on youtube, as well as being less reliant on fancy gear.
Another great video, I’m really enjoying the channel. Fred, any chance you could ask Harry what binders he uses to store those negatives. I’ve yet to find one that fits perfectly in a Kallax unit like that. Ha.
Harry begun using A4 binders but it didn't make sense since it didn't fit all his negatives' sizes. The ones featured in the video are cheap knock-off "kenro ring binder negative holders"!
I really think that great photographers like great artists are born with a certain gift, an eye for detail, and being able to see things that others fail to notice, me I just take snaps, and I reckon that in 30 years there are only one or two that I really treasure, and they were because I was there when something happened I pressed the trigger and captured a moment in time, of course Ropert Capas pictures from the D Day beaches were ruined when the person developing them overheated the film, and only a small handful survived, but the damage to the film made those pictures even more classic and vibrant
I wish I had catalogued my negatives earlier. I used to be able to remember everything about each frame so I never bothered writing anything down. Now, a few decades later, most of those details are gone.
@@ChrisWhittenMusic I will have to ask Harry how he navigated this. He mentions in our Martin Scorsese video that he often refuses to sign anything that hands over the copyright to his photos so maybe this was the case?
I haven't heard anyone complain about a thin negative for so long. Thanks for evoking the memories.
I love hearing about the human element of portrait photography. How you build rapport, what direction you give, how you vary your approach on a long shoot vs a five minute one, what you talk about, what you avoid.
Thanks again for the comment.
We hopefully have a video coming out soon where I assisted Harry on a shoot and we get to see him in action which could cover some of this. But will defo make a separate video as well. 😁
@@fredandharrybordenlook forward to that!
If you only have 5 minutes, do not start shooting for about 2 minutes.
Great advice...your channel is a hidden gem...destined for a much wider audience!
Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed. We hope so!
So much credibility here! So generous to share your hard won experience at the very highest level of the profession so freely and clearly for everyone to benefit. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed, thank you so much! Plenty more videos on the way 😁
Love the content. The advice about backups is crucial, and is by no means limited to digital images. Your hard drives WILL fail in one way or another. Always follow the 3-2-1 rule, have 3 copies on at least 2 different media and 1 offsite.
In a fast paced industry and a strong focus on gear and output I really liked these macro-level advices
Thank you! glad you enjoyed - enough people talk about gear so we dont delve deep into that
All this is REALLY GOOD advice. Building a database is essential. Often either you need to put your fingers n a shot while you are working on a project or someone might ask you if you have anything. You need to locate the image witin a reasonable time without having to turn your huse over to find it. - Loving your videos. keeping me on my toes again.
Definitely. Get started early with it and it makes it a whole lot easier
With a library of over 600,000 images, I deal with archiving quite a bit. My advice is don't rely on a couple of hard-drives! They are mechanical devices. One of the problems with digital, compared to film, is that while film can be scratched and still be usable, the slightest change in a digital file can make it unreadable. Don't rely on a hard-drive sitting unused on a shelf - you may very well find that a) it no longer works because the bearings have seized up through lack of use, or b) a bit here and there has flipped and an image is no longer readable or has been seriously compromised. Pen-drives and other solid-state storage should be avoided for long-term storage. They are less resilient than hard-drives over time. My advice is:
a) Back up and as Harry suggests, have the hard-drives in different locations.
b) Back up everything on to new hard drives every few years. You may even want to run a comparison at the bit level to ensure copies on different drives are the same before copying to your new hard drive.
c) Back up on to cloud storage. I suggest Amazon S3 Glacier. Cheap to store, very expensive to get them out - but you should never have to if your hard drives are working properly.
d) Remember the rule: when you have N copies you actually have N-1. i.e.: if you have only one copy of your photos you effectively have none - one accident and it's game over.
e) Don't use solid-state storage. Use magnetic storage (hard drives). If you are serious, you can get archival hard-drives - they have sealed bearings.
f) Lastly, store your RAW images as well as Jpegs. It never hurts to have the two formats. RAWs are effectively your negatives while Jpegs are the prints. If you lose one (in the unlikely case all your backups are failing) you still have the other.
This sounds like its expensive and a pain. Yes, it is. But remember how much time and effort you put into making the photos in the first place. While you may be able to replicate some, others will be of the moment and irreplaceable. That's the downside of digital - easy and cheap to make the photos but expensive and a lot of work to ensure you keep them.
Finally a photographer who knows how its done........painting with light....not a computer! Perfect Video!
Useful reminders - thank you.
I do have a concern that my digital stuff will be lost. As a travel photographer the images I got were from a world that, in some places, is barely recognisable now.
THANK YOU for mentioning not blowing out highlights! I also go back to film days, and it seems like all the expose-to-the-right advice ignores the facts of digital photography. Sensors and film do not have the same exposure characteristics. Today’s sensors can easily tolerate lifting shadows a couple stops, but there is no way to “recover” white pixels.
Totally! Thanks for watching and appreciate the comment :)
Another great video. Especially appreciate the tip about "graphic simplicity" in the Robin Williams image. I find sometimes with shoots that the complicated idea falls apart. Keep the vids coming, they're a fantastic dose of inspiration
Thanks a lot! We have plenty of videos in the works. Trying a few different styles as well in the coming weeks!
Very much appreciated Harry for sharing your precious tips with the world! very helpful for me! God bless and good luck!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you! Great to hear you talk about this content so personally and on spot ❤
Thank you! Glad you found value and enjoyed:)
I love your channel. I’ve never been good at photographing people. This makes me feel like I can do it
Give it a go! Thanks for the kind comment
Good photography is as much about what you leave out/avoid as what ends up in the frame. Sage advice as usual from you Harry. Thanks.
Thank you so much for making these videos, they are so incredibly helpful. Also that’s one of my favourite pieces of music, so thank you for that too.
You're so welcome! Thanks a lot for the comment and support 😁
That's a really literal take on the Robert Cappa Quote. I believe he meant to really know your subjects, and understand why you are there making the images. Have some skin in the game.
Yep I agree with all of those.
It is preposterous that your vids have so few views.
Keep it up, and the world will catch up.
Means a lot thank you! Glad you enjoy the vids...
Thanks for sharing.... keep them coming 🖐
Thanks! Plenty more on the way!
😊Another perfect video. Good music choice, too. Thank you! Most valuable channel I watch on UA-cam.
Wow, thank you!
This is very useful. Thanks for doing this. More like this would be great. Best wishes, Peter.
Very useful observations, thank you!
This is really good. THere is a lot of information in a short video.
Thanks a lot! Glad you enjoyed - we tried to cover things we haven't seen from other photographers on youtube, as well as being less reliant on fancy gear.
Another great video, I’m really enjoying the channel. Fred, any chance you could ask Harry what binders he uses to store those negatives. I’ve yet to find one that fits perfectly in a Kallax unit like that. Ha.
Harry begun using A4 binders but it didn't make sense since it didn't fit all his negatives' sizes. The ones featured in the video are cheap knock-off "kenro ring binder negative holders"!
Great ideas, thanks for sharing
I really think that great photographers like great artists are born with a certain gift, an eye for detail, and being able to see things that others fail to notice, me I just take snaps, and I reckon that in 30 years there are only one or two that I really treasure, and they were because I was there when something happened I pressed the trigger and captured a moment in time, of course Ropert Capas pictures from the D Day beaches were ruined when the person developing them overheated the film, and only a small handful survived, but the damage to the film made those pictures even more classic and vibrant
Good work Harry. I'm enjoying the videos.
Glad you like them! Thanks :)
Hi Stuart, great to see your comment. Would be lovely to catch-up at some point? Such wonderful memories from our NME days! & loving your work too, X
I wish I had catalogued my negatives earlier. I used to be able to remember everything about each frame so I never bothered writing anything down. Now, a few decades later, most of those details are gone.
We are glad we have such a comprehensive catalogue. We probably wouldn't be able to do this channel without it!
Great advice. It would be good to also see examples of 'how not to' to illustrate your points. Cheers.
Great suggestion! We may come back to this topic at some point will make sure to include.
Thank you
Very helpful, thank you 😊❤✨
Great stuff, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for this video.
Flow state has become one of those buzz phrases. Flow state requires mastery.
Yes, something seemingly so simple and something that everyone experiences from time to time is actually hard to implement when you actually want it.
thanks
Im new here. Such a great advice, thank you
Great
Inviting Erik Satie for this chat, we heard from a mind with wit, was the perfect varnish atop a very clever and smart discourse.
love it!
Thanks! 😁
Great. Yes, useful 👍🏻
@@ChrisWhittenMusic thanks Chris. Thought of your channel when I put the McCartney pic in 👍
@@fredandharryborden rare as Paul usually demands all the images belong to him, not the photographer.
@@ChrisWhittenMusic I will have to ask Harry how he navigated this. He mentions in our Martin Scorsese video that he often refuses to sign anything that hands over the copyright to his photos so maybe this was the case?
How to be present when it feels the camera separates me from the moment?
Wow, you've taken some iconic shots. Also, half of your head was missing for most of the first part of the video...
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
zoom-in.. zoom-out.. zoom-in.. zoom-out.. very distracting
Our newer videos are less like this haha - took some dodgy advice