Flowers!!!

Ive been asked this week to take some shots of flowers for a client. Specifically they were looking for some stock style images of single interesting flowers. I'm assuming perhaps for use on cards or something of that nature. Having never done anything like this I thought I'd have a trial run before committing and saying I'll do the job. So I set up a mini studio on my dining table and gave it a whirl.


Here are a few  shots followed by the behind the scenes images! All shot with my Canon 1ds MkIII with my 70-200 2.8 and 2 x Bowens 500 Watt heads. A small soft box camera left and a wide angle reflector camera right for highlight detail. After playing with the flowers for a little while I fancied shooting the vase and seeing what I could do with that!

Pretty pleased with the results, not bad considering I used black towels and an old sheet as my black scoop!! I'm definitely going to give some other still life objects ago!

This shot below illustrates the basic setup, for this group shot I placed the reflect glass behind to try and capture a nice reflection, The saucepan was just used to prop it up a little higher ;-) The white piece of paper was used to bounce light back up underneath the flowers.

I didn't seem to take many behind the scenes shots of the flowers but the images of the vase's were shot with almost identical light setup!

Tyler & Esme's Wedding

Whilst i'm busy updating the blog I thought I would include some shots of my first ever solo wedding shot last year in November. Not the ideal weather conditions for a wedding, very wet cold and dark by the time it all got underway, but hey I guess what can you expect for that time of year.

An incredibly tiring day ensued but I think that the bride and groom were happy with the shots. I'm really pleased I managed to convince Esme to brave the cold and wet and indulge me with one shot outside on the lawn. Poised under a brolly to the last very second!

Looking forward to shooting more weddings, although a long day the results are well worth it.

Anyway here are a few shots.......

Birmingham Burlesque

Also this week I have been frantically trying to get the shots from my burlesques shoot processed and back with Jo the designer from rawhide corsets. Jo makes bespoke one off corsets made to measure. Her work is simply stunning, the corsets are amazing so girls check out her site http://www.rawhidecorsets.co.uk which will hopefully soon has some of my imagery on as well!

The shoot was quite a few months in the planning and for one reason or another had been put back and back. Originally planned to be a joint venture with me and my good buddy Tom Whitehouse the shoot looked in jeopardy of being canceled again due to the rather ill timed volcanic eruptions. Unfortunately Toms flight got canceled and the shoot went ahead without him! Thanks to Andy for stepping in last minute and being  my assistant for the day!
 
Here are a few from the shoot. More to come when they are all done.

London Graduate Fashion Week

Another crazy week at Hall towers! Been back and forth to London 2 times with shoot in between making for a very tiring few days. This week I have had the pleasure of shooting at Earls Court at the London graduate fashion week. The client Bournemouth University were showing their 3rd year graduate fashion garments.

Ive never had the pleasure of fighting for a place in the press pit before ;-) Lesson learnt! Take no prisoners but also take a step ladder and gaffa tape to mark out your territory! Literally!

Had a great day though despite feeling a little out of place amongst the hardcore fashionista's!  

The catwalk images shot using my canon 1ds MKIII with my 70-200 2.8 and my trusty monopod and no flash!

Gadgets with Otis and Suzi

Wow what an incredibly hectic few weeks, I plan to update the blog over the next week or so with a load of stuff thats been going on.

First off was a weekend spent with the guys from the gadget show, filming their summer special. Chris the series producer approached me about coming along taking some press shots for the show and basically documenting the whole weekend as it was quite a big budget end of season special.

Needless to say I had a fantastic couple of days getting to know some of the guys and girls who produce and film the Gadget show. It was really interesting to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into TV production,  as well as get a chance to get my hands on some cool gadgets!!

The summer special aired on 13th of May and alot of my shots made it into the final cut!

Heres a few pics from the weekend!

Day out in Brum,

A very last minute shoot was arranged yesterday out in sunny Birmingham! A good friend of mine Alex said he needed a hand doing a location shoot! Did I fancy coming along and bringing some gear and my camera.

Ive been wanting to do something with him for a while so I jumped at the chance. The plan was to hit the streets of Brum and see what we can see, take along one head a battery pack and a soft box, gorilla style!

Had a great day, if a little tiring being a human tripod for a couple for hours. Managed to get a couple of great shots of the lovely Georgina Price our model for the day.

The shot below taken on my trusty canon 1ds MkIII, a bowens 750 head and travel pack at f5 1/320th

Another Day another Gig....

Totally to forgot to add this one! Last week had the pleasure of shooting Frank Turner! Great guys, dropped a massive Bass Cab off for Tarrant the errr Bass player ;-) earlier in the day for sound check.

Fantastic gig in general! I dont usualy stay till the end but have to admit Frank just has a fantastic presecene and comes across as hugley likeable! Keeping me glued to the spot right till the very end! Highlight of the show was getting a girl from the audience up on stage to adlib a solo on a harmonica mid way through a song! She seemed to look totally confident on stage and the impromptu tune went down a storm!

Difficult lighting shooting way up to 1600 and sometimes beyond something that the 1d's struggles with in all honesty! May be time to invest in a 5d MkII for its incredibly low light ability!

I was technically there shooting for Laney so Bass and Lead Guitar however I like this shot best of Frank so there!! Enjoy.....

My Dream Job......

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a Photographic course fronted by Tim Wallace, a true genius in all things concerning the automotive image! His website can be found here.  It was a  two day course based in Solihul at the land rover testing track, first day setting up a ccouple of shots and taking images, second day a mixture of editing techniques, work flow and info and seminars from various manufacturers of photographic equipment.

It was a truly fantastic and inspirational couple of days, it has well and truly cemented my desire above all things to be a car photographer. Next step is to get practicing! a lot! 

The shot below was taken on my Canon 1ds Mk III although on the day I also had the pleasure of using a Hassleblad H4D which is next on the wish list. A simply mind blowing piece of kit.

Image below used 5 profoto heads the new acute b2's and again when money becomes somewhat more fluid I shall be investing in a set of these. They took an unbelievable amount of punishment working flawlessly over the two days!

Quick Update

Cant believe its been nearly a month since my last post! Been hit with a nasty chest infection which has knocked me off my feet and my new commitment to keeping a blog fell somewhat by the way side!

Aside from the the illness it has actually been a pretty busy month! A few pics of what i've been up to to follow!

Last week on Monday the 19th of April I had the pleasure of shooting Trash Talk and Rollo Tomasi at the Flapper and Firkin! A venue I usually avoid but due to the high concentration of endorsements in both bands it made sense to head on down!

It had to have been one of the most intense photographic shoots of my career! No barrier between me and the crowd of angry fist in the air hardcore fans! I tried my best to wrestle through the circle pit and shoot what i could, one shot here from the Trash Talk set.

A really tiring night, and an elbow in the face all made for a somewhat unique experience! Clients happy with the pics which makes me happy, job done!

First Night At The New O2 Academy Birmingham

Well, it has been re-open quite a few months now but all my gigs seem to have been shot elsewhere! Anyway,  tonight was my first trip back in probably well over 10 years to what will be always remembered as The Dome to people of my generation ;-) Needless to say, it's no longer a hideout of the under 16's desperately trying to pass themselves off as old enough to be drinking and clubbing the night away to Wigfield!!

Friday night however,  I was there shooting HIM, in particular Linde Lindstrom the guitarist. Laney provides Linde with an endorsement.
So apologies for all you HIM fans no picks of Ville Valo, the task in hand was to get get nice shots of Linde and his amp setup.

The gig went well, really bad lighting for the first two songs, almost entirely backlit, a nightmare for gig photography when flash isn't allowed as was the case here.  Here are a couple of pics from the evening. Shot on my Canon 1ds Mk III 24-70mm wide open at 2.8.