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Will & Julie’s Pre-Wedding Shoot

Posted in Flash, Outdoors, Wedding on July 27, 2011| 4 Comments »

Back in mid February Will and Julie contacted me to photograph their wedding. We met up at the pre-wedding shoot to take some lovely images before their Big Day. Graham Law and I did a location scout the day before and picked our locations carefully. The pre-wedding shoot lasted nearly 3 hours.

If you’d like us (Graham Law and myself) to photograph your wedding, get in touch…

Enjoy the photos below…

The shoot started with Julie in the local town park.

Julie and Will in the same location.

Moved over about 30 meters to another location for this frame.

I directed Will and Julie to create this wonderful image.

Same location but a figure in the landscape type image.

A moment of closeness.

Same location...

Time for some drama! Yeah!!

A quick visit into town for a few frames. This was the first location.

Used a wall that was right next to the previous location.

Love is in the air...

Across the road was a lovely telephone box for us to use.

A private moment...

A change of location...

I love making these kinds of shots...

A simple but effective portrait.

A wider frame of where we were shooting in the previous frames.

I absolutely love this image!

A change of location again... out in the fields...

It started to rain... but we weren't phased at all 🙂

Finally arrived at our last location.

The last frame of the day...

The Lead Mines

Posted in Flash, Lightroom, Outdoors on June 13, 2011| 6 Comments »

A while back Graham and I did a photo shoot with Hannah down at the Lead Mines at Clywedog Dam in Powys, Wales. My goals for the shoot was to create something special with a bit of class about it. An evening gown in the middle of an ancient ruin seemed a good contrast to me…

This frame from the first location needed no post-production treatment and is straight off the camera.

I always take close-up and wide angle frames when on a photo shoot. I particularly like this frame in Black & White.

This shot could have been taken anywhere that has trees or a small woods.

I used a bit of flare from the sun to soften the look of this frame in the woods.

A change of location to the river...

Using the sun again to add a bit of interest into the frame.

I took several frames like this one and it works in colour, Black & White and a warmed up desaturated look (above).

A change of location to another part of the river with this frame from a high vantage point.

Blue's and green's... beautiful complementary colours.

Time for something different and dramatic.

This kind of frame can also work in Black & White.

Perhaps something more fairytale...

Change of location to the old Lead Mine buildings.

Exploring different angles...

I love Hannah's expression in this image.

Colour or Black & White... whatever take your fancy...

The sun was starting to set at this point in the shoot.

This establishing shot shows the Lead Mines and the dam wall in the background.

Time for a few close-up portraits.

I love this frame!

Add a bit of light for this simple photograph.

I then went for a much cooler look...

This image makes you wonder what Hannah is thinking about?

My last frame of the day...

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Into the Light

Posted in Flash, Lightroom, Outdoors on April 26, 2011| 5 Comments »

Here are my top 50 photographs from another workshop with Damien Lovegrove and Martin Hill. I’ve long had a desire to learn how to capture specific types of images and from this workshop, I learnt how these images are created. Enjoy…

I love how the lens flare softened this image of Katy McGee.

Photographed using natural light...

Exploring different angles...

I changed the colour palette slightly in this set of images.

Time to move location to the window.

Going high key.

Then Damien showed us how to create images like this! This was one of my goals of the workshop.

I love this image!

Same location and exploring different poses, looks and exposures.

A quick frame in the bathroom...

Out come the shutters of the window... photographed in natural light.

This is another of my favourite images of Katy McGee.

This frame always gives me a little smile...

It was time to use the Lupo lighting system... beautiful...

I love Katy's pose.

Going for a calmer picture of Katy.

Katy makes it so easy to create wonderful images...

Back to using the Lupo lighting system.

I need to purchase a lupo system soon 😉

It was time to change over to Martin Hill. My first frame outdoors using the Lovegrove Gemini bracket.

Exploring different post-production options.

Ri just looks beautiful in her bridal dress.

Martin Hill got the big guns out (the broncolor lighting system) for some amazing images.

Every time I look at this image, I see a bride in a war torn region of the world. Yet, it was photographed in Gloucestershire. The camera angle had to be perfect to get this look!

I absolutely love this image.

I just liked how this frame looked in Black & White.

Back in doors with Damien and the out came the lupo again...

Again... Katy McGee makes it so easy to create wonderful images...

Exploring different angles...

I love the colour in this frame as well as Katy's look!

Its the look!

And this is my favourite image out of this small set.

Back to window light...

It was a hard choice between Black & White and colour. In the end, I thought Black & White worked best.

Same location, different angle...

Katy is full of magical ideas for poses.

See... magical!! I love this image because its just so unusual.

I had a hard time working out the best look for this image (in post-production). I decided to go with something punchy...

Working with Katy is so much fun!

Damien allowed us to use his homemade filter to soften the photograph. I love it!

Just so many images to share...

The images work just as well in Black & White.

Straight off the camera!

Last frame of Katy McGee...

Time to get back out doors with Martin Hill and the lovely Ri.

Photographed with the Lovegrove Gemini bracket into an umbrella.

My favourite frame in this set of 3 images.

Martin Hill let us out with the broncolor kit again... yeah!! set us free!!

Magical....

... and there you have it.... the last of my top 50 images of the day!

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5 Minute Portrait

Posted in Flash, Outdoors on March 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Here are some images of Steven taken in just a few minutes for his facebook profile.

Taken with a single flash about 10 feet away.

Same location but using natural light.

Again, single flash rigged onto a stand.

Even an empty car park is a great place to take a portrait!

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A Model Wedding

Posted in Flash, Outdoors on March 1, 2011| 5 Comments »

My photography journey brings me to photographing weddings. Last year I attended another Damien Lovegrove workshop (3 days) covering all aspects of weddings and here are a few frames from the day.

First up was photographing the wedding rings.

Then the flowers...

Our model getting ready for the big day.

Sarah getting ready...

Then it was bridal portraits...

We got to explore many portrait opportunities.

I love how Sarah is framed within the window.

Then we moved onto a different area of the hotel shooting under very challenging lighting conditions.

Again... exploring different shots within the same lcoation.

Yip... its all fun! 🙂

It was time to get back to shooting portraits of the groom.

Exploring more angles for the various shots.

We had a lot of fun shooting in this spiral stairwell.

Then we moved to another location for this simple portrait.

... and swiftly moving on to the last groom portrait before a much need break.

Heading towards the final sessions of the day, we headed into the Church.

The lovely couple walking down the isle together...

Photographing the couple together using ambient light.

A tigher shot compared with the previous image.

A closeup of the lovely couple...

One final bridal portrait in the Church before finishing off the session.

On our way back to the main building... we had the opportunity to shoot outside.

It was very cold at this time...

Once back indoors, the final session was to try out the various continuous lighting gear!

I love the warm colours in this frame.

My last frame of the day...

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Guernsey

Posted in Flash, Outdoors on February 1, 2011| 2 Comments »

I recently popped over to Guernsey to see a very good friend of mine! The last time we had seen each other was sometime in 2004. We spent 3 wonderful days catching up on what’s been going on in our lives. Obviously photography came up during discussion and here are a few frames from my visit…

Christophe's son. Strong diagonals, horizontals and verticals help make this image work… not fogetting who the star of the show is!

Photographed using natural light.

When I noticed this little staircase and I knew instantly that it would work 🙂

Same location as the previous image.

Marie's daughter. You've got to catch the right moment to capture photographs like this.

Using the staircase to create verticals in the frame.

I love the cheeky smile 😉

A closeup photographed at F2.8.

My friend Christophe.

My friend's girlfriend, Marie.

Almost the last frame of my visit to Guernsey...

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Milano Manchester

Posted in General Ramblings, Outdoors on December 3, 2010| 6 Comments »

Earlier in November I had the great fortune of going on a Chris Hanley workshop. I’d been with him on a previous Cherish the Dress workshop and the opportunity to do something different screamed out at me! An added bonus was that the model for the day was Valentina Feula (link). Below are the pictures I took with a few comments…

We started the day near the meeting point and Chris encouraged us to 'see' the photographic opportunities around us.

Valentina was a joy to work with and I particularly liked this frame.

A few nice shots from the same location.

It was time to move on to the next location. I shot this at -0.7 stops metered against the ambient light (in manual mode).

A tighter shot...

...and a wider frame.

Has the bus arrived? I think this frame in Black and White works just brilliantly!

Okay... maybe the bus won't be here for a while... 😉

The following location was nearby against a wall that you might have walked passed.

A moment caught while Valentina was posing for another photographer.

I loved this location as there were so many different images to be had.

Next up was a portrait taken in New York! Or at least something that might look like it was in New York 😉

This frame was shot at 1/30 sec.

In the same location as the previous 2 frames.

This kind of frame works in Black & White and in colour.

An abandoned location makes for a wonderful portrait.

Simple textures make great locations!

A tighter frame still works great!

I love Valentina's pose in this frame.

A quick trip over to Cuba!

It sure is hot in Cuba in early November!

Shhh... don't tell anyone I'm here...

Nice window reflections are hard to resist!

It was time for lunch and an opportunity to make a few frames indoors with the Lowel-ID light.

Valentina just looks fabulous!

The Lowel-ID light is so versatile and helps create wonderful images.

I just couldn't stop snapping away at the camera's shutter release button...

The wonderful Valentina kept making it easy to grab shots like this...

The last frame indoors before we headed out into the pouring rain!!!

The rain was pouring and I placed my camera inside it's Storm Jacket. I originally shot this on a cool White Balance but ended up correcting it in post-production.

What a perfect location for a rainy day!! I got to see how Chris works when it rains and how he finds wonderful locations in such conditions. A true master!