Face. Off.

February 26, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

“What makes a photograph of a person a portrait?” – a question I have been asked on more than three occasions… If the truth be known, I’ve never really fully understood the definition of ‘portrait photography’. Is a portrait a photograph of a person, or is it a photograph about a person? If it’s an image of a person, then is every single photograph that has a human in a portrait? I run photography workshops for beginners, one of the […]

Categories: fashion, Photography • Tags: 160nc, 6x6, 6x7, 80mm, art, black and white, camera, canada, colour, digital, Epson v700, film, film camera, film photography, fine art, france, fuji film, fuji instax 200, fuji pro 400H, fuji X-pro1, holga, I shoot film, instant film, inventive, isle of man, kodak, kodak portra 400, mamiya 645 pro tl, mamiya 7II, music, negative, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, Olympus mju II, Peak imaging, peel, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, VSCO, VSCO FILM, yellowknife

Mañana nunca muere …

February 14, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

“We are nonchalantly throwing all of our data into what could become an information black hole without realising it. We digitise things because we think we will preserve them, but what we don’t understand is that unless we take other steps, those digital versions may not be any better, and may even be worse, than the artefacts that we digitised…If there are photos you really care about, print them out.” – Vint Cerf, Google I’ve been saying the same thing to […]

Categories: Music, Photography, photojournalism • Tags: Agfa Vista 200, camera, digital dark age, Epson v700, film, film camera, film photography, fuji film, I shoot film, kodak portra 400, music, musician, negative, pentax lx, phil kneen, portrait, Simon Campbell

The things I saw #4

February 14, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

Here’s a few more snapshots from my visual notebook, all taken in Spain during January, in no particular order. All shots were made using an Olympus MjuII 35mm compact and Agfa Vista 200 film. I used to hate walking, even a short stroll with the dog along the beach would leave me sweaty and achy, if anyone could find an excuse not to walk somewhere, it would be me. But that was a year ago, since then I’ve lost 5 […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: Agfa Vista 200, bags, camera, colour, Epson v700, film, film camera, film photography, fine art, france, fuji pro 400H, grass, hotel, I shoot film, inventive, kodak, kodak portra 400, motorway, music, negative, Olympus mju II, Peak imaging, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, road, road trip, spain, street photography, valencia, wine

Hasta la Vista, baby!

February 12, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

I got a pile of negatives and discs back yesterday, the fruits of my 5 week project in Spain beautifully processed and scanned at Peak Imaging. As soon as I got the scans up on my iMac screen I slipped further back in love with film and became even more disillusioned with digital photography. On each disc I had 36 completely different images, because when I’m shooting film I don’t feel the need to shoot 20 or 30 almost identical […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 50mm 1.2, a pound a roll, Agfa Vista 200, £1, beard, camera, colour, Epson v700, face beard, film, film camera, film photography, fine art, music, musician, pentax lx, phil kneen, portrait, Simon Campbell, spain

This week…

October 8, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

I published the above image on my Facebook page a few weeks ago, I really love it, which is why I published it, but it received a few negative comments and was then removed for containing ‘sexually explicit content’, which I found a bit odd. Anyway, it put me off publishing the image again, but my good friend and PA, Ciara, has been nagging me to show it. So here it is, I still love it. This week I received […]

Categories: Music, Photography • Tags: album, art, black and white, blues, camera, colour, film camera, film photography, I shoot film, kodak, mono, music, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, nude, personal project, phil kneen, portrait, promo, Simon Campbell, the knife, valencia, vinyl

Never work with animals or children…

August 21, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

I’ve realised that I am actually a little bit scared of snakes. I’ve also accepted that photographing a snake and a beautiful naked lady, without it looking totally corny and cliché, is actually quite difficult. They say you should never work with animals or children, well this week I’m working with all of them – kids, horses, dogs and a 7 foot albino python. Also this week I’ve photographed musician, Helen Morrison, who was on the Island for a mysterious […]

Categories: Photography • Tags: black and white, music, naked, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, nude, peel, personal project, phil kneen, portrait, snake, VSCO, VSCO FILM

The Spirit in the Sky

May 28, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

People ask me, all the time, about my lighting technique – what lights do I use? How many? How do I position them? What about soft boxes and reflectors?…well I’ll tell you. I sold all my studio lights about three years ago, and even when I did have a full set of Bowens Gemini lights, I never really used them. I use one light, the big studio light in the sky. As for technique, it’s all quite simple – learn […]

Categories: Photography • Tags: art, black and white, camera, canon eos 5d mark 2, colour, digital, film, film camera, film photography, fuji film, fuji pro 400H, fuji X-pro1, I shoot film, kodak portra 400, music, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, peel, personal project, phil kneen, portrait, VSCO, VSCO FILM

“It’s all about the light…”

April 15, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

I arrived in Valencia, Spain, yesterday to start a week-long shoot with musician, Simon Campbell, I’m doing the shots for his album cover and artwork. I wasn’t planning on shooting last night, but we took Simon’s dogs out for a walk and the light was fantastic, totally different to what I’m used to. For all the outside locations we’re going to need to shoot around dawn and dusk, which suits me, because it means I’ll be getting paid to sit […]

Categories: Music, Photography • Tags: music, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, phil kneen, portrait, promo, Simon Campbell, spain, valencia

Helen Morrison

March 16, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

I was in Liverpool this week to photograph musician, Helen Morrison, a shoot that I’ve been meaning to do for months, a shoot that I thought wasn’t going to happen as we sat on the runway of Ronaldsway Airport for an hour, fog-bound. The fog had lifted by the time my taxi dropped me at Helen’s flat in Cornhill and the light was perfect for location shooting – bright but overcast. I had a particular image in mind, using the […]

Categories: Photography • Tags: 35mm, colour, Helen, helen morrison, isle of man, liverpool, music, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, personal project, phil kneen, portrait, Ronaldsway Airport, VSCO, VSCO FILM

Matt Creer

February 6, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

A while ago I read an article about how talent alone wasn’t enough to guarantee success in the music industry. To make it big, an artist also needs a whole bag of tricks which include charisma, drive, stage presence and the ability to be in the right place at the right time. Well, singer/songwriter, Matt Creer, has all of the above. I don’t do music reviews, I don’t know enough to sound even remotely knowledgeable, but I’ve heard Matt, seen him live, and he’s good, […]

Categories: Music, Photography • Tags: art, black and white, colour, film photography, fine art, fuji film, fuji pro 400H, fuji X-pro1, I shoot film, isle of man, Matt Creer, music, musicians, Peak imaging, personal project, phil kneen, portrait, singer, songwriter, VSCO, VSCO FILM