"French Kiss" Peter Turnley's new book

There's a new book out that looks very interesting.

Peter Turnley's "French Kiss, a Love Letter to Paris". The book contains Peter's work on the streets of Paris over the past 40 years.

Peter was my mentor last term as I worked on my Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Maine School of Media and Design. Through Peter I started my documentary on Kenilworth Avenue in Hamilton that I'm still plugging away on.

With Peter's new book there are a number of great interviews and on-line stores about his work, after all he is one of the top photojournalists working and spent 17 years shooting around the world for Newsweek Magazine.

Peter also runs a series of workshops on photojournalism and street photography in various cities around the world. I know that he helped me a great deal in my work with the course I took. Maybe you could benefit from a week with a great photographer as well.

If you want to see some of the work from the book, then check out the New York Times piece here.

There's also a nice video on Peter that Leica did, here.

You can learn a great deal from the two part series done by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) here and here.

The book is easy to order. You can order it directly from Peter right here. I know I'll be ordering one.

-Rob Skeoch 

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Art Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

The Marshal of Kenilworth

Mitch is one of the more interesting people I've met on Kenilworth. Mitch thinks he's the Marshal of the street. He dresses like Wyatt Earp with the long black coat and hat and lives in a one room apartment filled with smoke. He talks with everyone, doesn't really work and walks up ad down the street most of the days.

He wanted to be photographed by an old tree, which we did, but the light was uneven to we headed over the bars at the Hasty Mart near Hope Street.

-Rob Skeoch 

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Art Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Cig Harvey is one of my mentors and the project I'm working on is a documentary on north Hamilton.

Hasty shot with the 4x10 field camera

The Hasty Store at the corner of Hope and Kenilworth has been closed since I started this project. Just a bunch of junk locked behind an ironwork fence. While shooting in front of the store last week, Dashti came over and opened the gate. He was doing some cleaning in the very back. Although he didn't speak much English, he did have time for a photo before heading into the back.

-Rob Skeoch 

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Cig Harvey is one of my mentors and the project I'm working on is a documentary on north Hamilton.

Large Format Street Photography

Doris sits most days at the doorway of her SAKS Thrift Store on Kenilworth Ave. She teams with her husband to buy out old storage units or closing warehouses but it's gotten tougher with the Target and Walmart opening in the area. Most of the items are used, and children's clothes make up most of the sales.

-Rob Skeoch Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Art Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Cig Harvey is one of my mentors and the project I'm working on is a documentary on north Hamilton.

Drive by shooting with the large format

Still using my setup and wait technique with the 4x10 camera. 

I'm pretty quick with the set up part although I still spend a lot of time waiting. I thought this collectibles shot looked great on the side of the street I was working. Plus I could park my car right in front. On the last shoot my car alarm kept going off and the car was just around the corner but hard to keep an eye on it. Parking right on the street worked better and I was out shooting before work and before the businesses started to open for the day.

Naseer was driving cab in the area and when he saw my setup he pulled over for a chat. He's lived 12 years in this part of town and felt he should be included in the project. He was very casual until in front of the camera, then his background came out. Photographs were serious business to him and he wanted to look formal in his shot.

-Rob Skeoch

More street work

This is Carl, not Woody. Carl was hoping to meetup with Woody the morning I happen to be in the area and set up. It seems Woody buys and sells collectibles and Carl had an old plate he was hoping to move. Woody hadn't arrived yet for the day and Carl had time to shoot while waiting for the store to open.

-Rob Skeoch

Always a good idea to kick the tripod before shooting.

I have no idea how I framed this photo so poorly. Way to loose on the top and then cutting the girls foot off on the bottom. I must have kicked the tripod or something. Of the four frames, only this one was sharp. The child moved in the other images.

Chun was in the area with his two-year old granddaughter.

-Rob Skeoch

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Art Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Cig Harvey is one of my mentors and the project I'm working on is a documentary on north Hamilton. 

My retail store for rangefinder gear and Zeiss lenses is www.rangefinderstore.com 

My retail store for large format photo supplies is www.bigcameraworkshops.com

Street Portraits

Cynthia reminds me of a little mouse the way she is standing in these portraits. She looks so timid. She watched me set up and take a couple photos, then agreed to a shoot just before she headed out to work at the Metro.

I'm still shooting on the same street in Hamilton, and still trying to show the life people have in this area.

-Rob Skeoch

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Cig Harvey is one of my mentors and the project I'm working on is a documentary on north Hamilton.

My retail store for rangefinder gear and Zeiss lenses is www.rangefinderstore.com 

My retail store for large format photo supplies is www.bigcameraworkshops.com

Large format portraits

Shooting on a Sunday morning worked out better than I expected. I haven't shot on Sunday morning since the winter and was surprised how many people were out. I don't think they were just heading home from Saturday night either.

Manual Miranda has been living in the Kenilworth Street area of Hamilton for over 10 years. He had to pick up a few things from the store and I was set up and waiting in the area. He had time to chat and a shoot.

-Rob Skeoch

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Cig Harvey is one of my mentors and the project I'm working on is a documentary on north Hamilton. 

My retail store for rangefinder gear and Zeiss lenses is www.rangefinderstore.com 

My retail store for large format photo supplies is www.bigcameraworkshops.com

Portrait of Daniel in the street

When I set up for the days shooting it was completely overcast. This let me set up in the open instead of hiding in the shade. Daniel Adams rode past on his bike and made a comment about the old camera.

When people make a comment I take it as an invitation to start a conversation. None of these portraits happen without starting with a conversation, then explaining to them what I'm trying to do, and then finally asking if they would like to be in the project. It's a bit of a process each time but I've had some great talks with the people living in the area. About a quarter will agree to a photo although those that decline are one step closer to saying yes when I see them next time.

Daniel is working in the area cleaning houses. With two young sons and a third on the way, cleaning pays the bills for now.

-Rob Skeoch

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Cig Harvey is one of my mentors and the project I'm working on is a documentary on north Hamilton. 

My retail store for rangefinder gear and Zeiss lenses is www.rangefinderstore.com 

My retail store for large format photo supplies is www.bigcameraworkshops.com

All that Jazz

If you're going to the Beaches Jazz Festival in Toronto Wednesday night, be sure and say hello. I went Tuesday as well, it's great music and fun to shoot. I got these two nice frames of Son Roberts with the Sony A99 and 70-400GII lens.

-Rob Skeoch

Trying to get a little 3-D look to the photos

I'm trying to show more depth in my photographs. A more 3-D quality. I'm not sure that I'm getting there but going to the rodeo seems to be a good place to practice since you can get up close and try things.

-Rob Skeoch 

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Stella Johnson is one of my mentors as I'm trying to improve my street photography work.

Street Photography at Mel Lastman's Square

I went to Mel Lastman's Square to see what I could find to photograph. I took a number of shots but the only one that seemed interesting is this shot looking down onto the lower deck while a women with her hair wrapped strolled by.

Street photography is easy if you're alright with poor photos. Much harder if you're looking for something a step up.

-Rob Skeoch 

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Stella Johnson is one of my mentors as I'm trying to improve my street photography work.

Old storefront in Hamilton

I've driven past this shop a number of times. 

Once and a while I'm get a good shot of the old store. Today I thought the light was very nice and stopped and took a couple frames.

You have to time your exposure between red lights if you want no cars. Plus I was trying to get a person just in the white space under the word Shoe, which was hard to do while timing the red lights.

I still have a couple frames to process so hopefully I nailed one of them.

-Rob Skeoch 

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Cig Harvey is one of my mentors and the project I'm working on is a documentary on north Hamilton. 

Set up and wait

This was from the first day using my setup and wait technique on my documentary project. 

At first I was setup in the open area between the fence on the left and the baseball backstop. After a while I realized that if I put a person in this shot they would just be standing there, floating.

I moved to this better location with the fence going across which gave John Rennison something to lean on and seemed to connect him with the location in a better fashion.

I wish I had a filter that would provide that sky every time I wanted it.

This was the same day as the kids with skateboards, it just too a while to process/contact the negs.

-Rob Skeoch 

Although I've worked as a photographer all my life, I'm currently back at school trying to finish my Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Maine Media Workshops and College. 

Cig Harvey is one of my mentors and the project I'm working on is a documentary on north Hamilton.