articles/Profiles/romanmelnyk-page2
by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2012
I attended various workshops but decided the Societies was the best option for training as it welcomed non full-time professionals and amateur photographers making the transition, which was exactly what I was considering. I joined the Societies in 2008 and enrolled on Damian McGillicuddy's MMOS in 2009 and also that year opened my studio.
The structured training on MMOS aligned well with the personal development plan that I had formulated. I think what the MMOS brings to a photographer is the opportunity to look and explore the skill sets required in a professional environment and more importantly learn how to use them in the presence of one of the best jobbing photographers around. It's a bit like gaining useful tools to fill your toolbox, learning how to use them properly and then going off with the confidence that you are doing things correctly. Not only that, but Damian being the person that he is, has always been on hand to offer help and advice, not only to myself, but countless other photographers; it must be a quite unique set-up in terms of training opportunities available out there.
I had done the training, I then spent a lot of time thinking about themes for my qualification panel. Having studied the work of many photographers and being mindful that rather than emulate other work the best way forward would be to create something original.
I eventually decided the theme of the project would be to create a series of images exploring the three spatial dimensions, produce relative depth within the image components and then additionally, to introduce pictorially an interpretation of the fourth dimension, time, by recording movement through this element.
The next challenge was working out how to do it!
I spent many weeks developing the technique I used to produce my panel.
I experimented with combining different light sources, learned how to control the individual components so that in the end I could place movement where I needed it within the frame and was eventually able to consistently create a complex image from a single exposure.
I was very lucky to be able to collaborate on this project with my model Raphaella McNamara who is also a trained dancer. She had the energy, patience and an understanding of the photographic process needed to pull this off. Each image exposure was individually choreographed and timed to be able to control and combine the various shapes.
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