Karl Taylor- Photographer

 

Karl Taylor has been a professional photographer for over 20 years and

has travelled the globe on assignments for some of the world’s most

successful companies. He started his career in photojournalism but from

taking up new challenges he now does photography for advertising and

has his own workshops to teach people his love for photography. He does

all the lighting, camera work, set design and editing for his photos.  He is

also a professional in high-end retouching services using Photoshop.

 

Now an expert in the industry, Karl began lecturing on photography and

teaching other photographers the techniques of the “digital photography era”.

In 2009 Karl was short-listed for a Hasselblad Masters Award, now Karl

continues to share his passion and knowledge for photography through his

series of DVDs, courses and workshops. Testament to his intrinsic knowledge

and knack for explaining complex subjects Karl also works as a consultant

instructor to Hasselblad and Broncolor, two of the industries most respected

brands and is also a recognised Adobe Community Professional. Not letting

go of his passion for shooting great images, Karl continues to shoot regularly

for some of the world’s leading businesses and advertising agencies.

 

For my film I want a particular look that I can only get from colour grading. To

find out how to colour grade properly, I contacted Karl Taylor. He was very kind

and allowed me to spend three days working for him and his video editor.  He

taught me about colour scales and which editing tools to uses when colour

grading. The main tool to use is RGB Curves where you can adjust the red, blue

and green tones and also brighten and contrast. In the short time I spent there I

learnt a lot and now feel more confident when it comes to colour grading my film.

 

Here is a link to his portfolio to find out more-

http://karltaylorportfolio.com/karl-taylor/

 

 

 

 

Farmer Report

 

I spoke to a farmer who has lived and worked on a farm his whole life on

Guernsey. However due to the controversial subject he wanted to remain

anonymous as he didn't want his farm to be perceived negatively, but he

still was happy to answer my questions.

 

I spoke to him first hand and ask about the milking process. I wanted to ask

him about the cruelty that goes on to give a second opinion and a chance to

see why it is done in such cruel ways. He told me about the calves being

separated from their mothers when they’re born so that they don’t use their

mother’s milk up. However he didn’t have much of an answer to how this

makes the cows feel, especially if the calf is a male it gets shot straight after

it’s born. He said that it’s best the calves are taken away straight away so

they forget and the reason the males get shot when they are born is because

they are useless to them as they don’t make any milk so would be a waste of

money to look after. This was a typical response to many of my questions,

the answers where mostly how it benefits him and not the cows. A mother

whatever animal it may be doesn't just forget about their babies.

 

He told me about the horns being painfully removed and burned using

chemicals so they don’t grow back. If they had horns this would mean they

would get their heads stuck in trees and other places and that’s the way

they do it, there is no other way. I never new about dehorning, so afterwards

I looked it up and there are other ways, they could use aesthetic but of

course the reason they don’t use the other methods is because it would cost

more money.

 

He has sixty cows and he knows the names of them all. He says he is happy

with eating and drinking his cow's products as he knows its come from a

good place and that the cows have a good life. But when I asked if the

cows are friendly and if they would come over to you like a dog would be

happy to see his owner. He said the calves do but after being dehorned

and experiencing other distressing practices they lose trust so it is very

rare.  I felt I was starting to hit a nerve when I said that it was contradicting

to say they have a good life but then to say after that they have had to go

through such horrible experiences they don’t trust humans anymore.

 

After that I felt I had to bring the conversation to an end as I had all the answers

I needed and if I had asked more questions and continue to question the milking

industry, the conversation would have got too heated and not ended well.