a photojournalistic journey

PHASE ONE I INTERVIEW I ALLAN POLLOK-MORRIS I A PHOTOJOURNALISTIC JOURNEY
© Allan Pollok-Moris
Figure 1 – Pool Jardin Plume France – Digital back: P65+
A PHOTOJOURNALISTIC JOURNEY
# PHOTOGRAPHER
Allan Pollok-Morris has been a passionate photographer for 30
years. His professional work is best known for his large format,
exclusive photography of landscape, land-art and design. He
has worked internationally for a wide variety of high quality
media and private commissions, as well as recent solo, public and
private gallery exhibitions in some of the most visited institutions
in the world.
From October 9th 2013 to March 12th 2014 the New York
Botanical Garden will exhibit a solo exhibition of photography
by Allan, celebrating the work of artists and designers in the
landscape.
We caught up with Allan to get an insight into his work:
The work of a photojournalist
- As a specialist photographer its incredible the variety of subjects and
media there are to work with. This means never knowing what I’ll find
and having to be prepared for a very wide range of photography, but
the variety is one of the most enjoyable aspects of photographing the
creative works by people in the landscape. I’d particularly highlight
places where new art and design are being made amongst different
layers dating back over history as the complexity of the photography
takes on a whole new level.
WHAT THE WORLD’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY IS MADE OF
ALLAN
POLLOK-MORRIS
FACTS:
PHOTOGRAPHER: ALLAN POLLOK-MORRIS
CAMERA: PHASE ONE 645DF+
DIGITAL BACK: IQ180, P65+
PARTNER OF CHOICE: DTEK SYSTEMS: WWW.DTEK.CO.UK
I’m lucky to work with a particular group of artists, designers and
architects well known in this field and I have the privilege of visiting
some of the most stunning examples of their work.
The pleasures and challenges of capturing the night
I really enjoy the results from photographing trees at night in winter,
partly for the atmosphere, but also to single out their stunning form
CAMERA SYSTEM 645DF+ I WORLD CLASS QUALITY
PHASE ONE I INTERVIEW I ALLAN POLLOK-MORRIS I A PHOTOJOURNALISTIC JOURNEY
© Allan Pollok-Moris
Figure 2 - From the New York Botanical Garden exhibition. Digital back P65+
against the simplified surroundings. The sublime feel of night-light can
be quite surreal so to help with the authenticity of the scene it’s best to
make most of the photograph in-camera. This is quite a challenge given
the lack of light in the winter countryside at night. In part I paint light
on-site with very large light-balanced flashlights, but I also like to work
with ambient moonlight with very long exposures, drawing in more
subtle details over a scale of space impossible to light artificially.
Add to those technical difficulties my compulsion to make night
photographs on the lowest possible ISO to maintain the highest quality
capture and it’s hard to contemplate successful results. In the past I have
to admit I have shared the fine art world prejudices that shooting on film
is the best way to achieve quality. So I would make these photographs
on ISO 50 slide, possibly ISO 100 negative, but with all the issues of
reciprocity failings of film on long exposure in limited light, even with
high ISOs, it meant that the Phase One P45+ back was an absolute gift.
With its unique 1-hour exposure without digital noise on ISO 50, it made
film and other digital capture look like a very blunt tool.
range of lenses, which made it possible to shoot a wider range of subjects
without too much extra gear. These are a couple of pictures from 2011 at
Helmingham Hall for a feature in the highly respected British magazine
Country Life. Helmingham Hall, is a stunning moated house in Suffolk,
which has been home to the Tollemache family since the 1400s. The
landscape around the house has many centuries of visual, man-made
layers dating to different periods as far back as the 1100s. Additionally
it has one of the finest gardens in Europe by the acclaimed resident
designer v Tollemache, which we have photographed as it has been reworked over the last decade.
Moving on from the Phase One P45
Working with subjects that evolve over many years means you have to
play the long game in all your working practices and while I enjoyed the
P45+ I continued to look for the highest quality capture in the rapidly
progressing digital arena. I wasn’t purposefully loyal to one maker, but
after researching what was available I kept coming back to Phase One.
In 2009 I moved to the P65+, which was the first full frame medium
format digital back. This gave me more of the landscape format I
wanted to work with at the time, moving further away from the more
traditional square shape of medium format. At the same time I changed
my©Mamiya
cameras and lenses for Phase One models. I expanded my
Jeffery Salter
WHAT THE WORLD’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY IS MADE OF
© Allan Pollok-Moris
Figure 3 – An avenue of lime trees in a private garden in England
– Digital back IQ180
CAMERA SYSTEM 645DF+ I WORLD CLASS QUALITY
PHASE ONE I DECEMBER 2013 I ALLAN POLLOK-MORRIS
Bringing medium format on the road
I never stop being amazed at how I can get my medium format camera,
the digital back, 5 lenses, endless batteries, cables, cards, documents, a
17” laptop in a solid flight case with quite a lot of room to spare in the
hand luggage allowance of even the most budget of airlines. When I
get to my destination I have to work on a wide range of shots, macro,
landscape, interiors, people, even animals, underwater, aerial shots
“
A WANDERLUST AND
OPEN MIND ARE
PROBABLY THE MOST
IMPORTANT TOOLS
FOR THIS KIND OF
PHOTOGRAPHY
“
and working tethered to a computer. The dead of a harsh winter or
up a cherry picker in the hot mid summer sun, I may have to hike in
mountains, go to the water, perch on a high cliff, work with acclaimed
artists, meet with royalty or work at the home of an A list celeb more
often than not in remote plces where they have a secluded private
property. The contents of that case tend to see me through without any
difficulty, but whenever I’ve had problems in remote places, Phase One
and Dtek in the UK have done their best to get a quick resolution for me
on-site.
Brining photographs to the top level
The argument that the largest format, highest definition photographic
original is to be achieved with 10x8 film was finally put to bed when the
Phase One IQ180 digital back arrived, with its enormous capture, high
definition and ISO 35. The way images can be previewed and controlled
from a laptop or iPad using the IQ backs gives a similar working practice
to traditional large format. I moved to the IQ180 in mid-2012 and it has
worked very well as a simple add-on to my existing equipment.
Back in the studio the workstations are fed by a central RAID library of
large digital originals, which can be worked on by secure access from
anywhere in the world. I try to recruit assistants with experience of
working in Capture One Pro as I find this is the only post-production
software I need now, but when someone comes new to the software, its
not long before they are up to speed. This is probably common practice
for most serious professionals these days. For anyone contemplating
this move, the concern that Phase One RAW files are so big is not to be
seen as an obstacle in terms of workflow as it’s just a question of scale.
Budget is always an issue, but with the large,
inexpensive disk storage we have now and with
most graphic studio workstations being geared
to larger scale of HD video files these concerns
are less and less of an issue.
The photographs in this article have been used
across the whole spectrum of media scale.
From large format museum exhibition prints to
gallery shop postcard. I don’t submit to stock
libraries, but the growing range of medias I
collaborate with never fails to surprise me. It’s
often the beginning of a little adventure when
a new request pops up in my inbox. My work
puts me in touch with a very wide variety of
commissionaires and art directors from around
the world. I have worked with some of the
best book publishers, magazine & newspaper
editors, art directors and private collectors. The
budgets, working practices and experiences of
the clients range dramatically, which means a
vast variety of expectations to manage.
© Allan Pollok-Moris
Figure 5 - Helmingham, digital back P65+
FIND OUT MORE...
ALLAN POLLOK-MORRIS:
www.allanpollokmorris.com
BEHIND THE SCENES FROM THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN:
http://bit.ly/1bO3kBb
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE IQ2 DIGITAL BACK SERIES:
www.phaseone.com/IQ2
DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THE PHASE ONE CAMERA SYSTEM::
www.phaseone.com/camerasystem
TEST DRIVE A PHASE ONE CAMERA SYSTEM:
http://bit.ly/1bO3TLf
CAMERA SYSTEM 645DF+ I WORLD CLASS QUALITY
Put simply my aim, as a photo-journalist in a
specialist area, is to show people something
of interest that hasn’t been brought to their
attention before. A wanderlust and open mind
are probably the most important tools for this
kind of photography however, at the end of
the day the answer to constant advancements
in technology and the unpredictable, full
range of clients, commissions, medias and
locations has to be to capture the best quality
original possible in the most portable way. I’m
yet to find a client who doesn’t appreciate a
photographer who goes the extra mile, even
those working with Internet publishing with
low-resolution displays.
It’s hard to say what the future will bring, but at
the very least I’m confident the work captured
on the Phase One will continue to give long
term consistency in working with the highest
quality picture sets.
WHAT THE WORLD’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY IS MADE OF