Photographer turns speaker for London showcase
A TOP Caithness photographer is returning to London as a platform speaker at an international convention being staged by The Societies – the UK’s largest photographic organisation.
John Baikie, who runs Captiv8 Photography, is taking part in the 10th year of the week-long event, which has become the biggest in Europe and attracts speakers and delegates from all over the world.
He is speaking for the fourth time in five years alongside many big names from the photography world and has been invited to be a judge in the prestigious print competition.
John specialises in wedding and portrait photography, and has won many national awards for his work. He will deliver three 90-minute lectures at the event – one on running a business in the Highlands, one on specialised lighting techniques, and one on using run-down locations to create dramatic images.
“It’s an honour to be invited to speak again at the convention,” he told the John O’Groat Journal this week.
“I had taken a year off last year after three years of speaking, but was invited to come back this year – and also to be part of the judging panel, which is a great ?privilege, although very daunting.”
The event runs from January 10 to 16 and is held at the Hammersmith Novotel. There is also a huge trade show with over 150 exhibitors from all over the world, including many of the industry’s biggest names such as Canon and Nikon.
John’s talks are on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The first one will be on using less than pristine locations for backdrops for wedding and fashion portraits.
John has a reputation for using old run-down buildings in his work, and will be showing delegates how he finds locations, what he is looking for, and how to turn this into a stunning image.
The second talk will be a slightly tongue-in-cheek look at life in a remote area, and the difficulties of running a business in a sparsely populated area.
The third will show how John uses different styles of lighting to create variety in his work, and he will demonstrate using natural light, flash and video light.
He will be shooting with a model for all three talks, giving a live demonstration of how he works.