I wanted to explain a little about these type of images you may have seen scattered about my portfolio. Back in May 2006, I chanced upon an image which made me look at photography in a different way (alas it is no longer online to show you). The pic I found on Flickr, was a square format shot of a dump truck - nothing special there but the way that this dump truck was shot, really appealed to me. It looked old but new, it had a charm about it in the way the blurry edges somehow made it look romantic. This was a technique I needed to get involved with.

(left - Tabatha, Gwydir Street Party, Oxford 2006)
(Right - Self Portrait, 2006) all images copyright Stuart Parker Photography

The guy who took that picture, Paul Pennell, Originally from Wales but moved to Oz sometime ago, had set up a fledgling group dedicated to this “Through The Viewfinder” technique. After some investigation, the technique “clicked” for me and a new obsession was born. You can find out more about the technique here (Russ Morris’s TTV tutorial) . Delving further into the scene, I realised that one photographer in particular had taken the TTV bull by the horns and was producing some startling work. Known only as Mr.E, this photographer had laid the path for myself and Paul to experiment with the technique and before too long, we were all TTV loopy, discussing our techniques and of course gaining a lot of interest from the photography world. Since then, the TTV technique has become amazingly popular with more and more photographers, both amateur and pro, falling for it’s charm. There’s even a book published and plans for a second one in the pipeline. The technique is not groundbreaking, other photographers had stumbles on the technique over the years, but Mr E really harnessed the technique and I consider him the Pioneer of the modern TTV technique.
As always, if we only had more time, then i’d spend that time doing more TTV photography, I hope that more of my clients see the beauty of the technique and express an interest in working with me to create some unique, modern (yet retro!) imagery!