Always wanted to do a shoot in a junk yard. It offered loads of potential for interesting imagery. Maria Tanner and myself photographed the lovely models Elijah and Andreia as well as Elijah’s cousin who came to help. Thank you to Josine for doing a great job with the make up.

I had a fabulous time today with fellow photographer friends on the Embankment in Nottingham. Maria Tanner of Lace Market Photography organised the shoot with beautiful Olga. We could not have asked for a better day and location. Thank you to Olga as this was her first time modeling in front of the camera. You wouldn’t have known it as she was such a natural.

Yesterday myself and Brian joined fellow photographers Maria Tanner and Crash Taylor in Nottingham to do a model portfolio shoot around the Lace Market. The morning started off misty but the light was good. I shot mainly in Manual using Pocket Wizards and off camera flash. Whilst shooting, the model’s boyfriend joined us so we could not resist taking shots of him. To add to the collection we came across a guy who was practicing his ‘keepy uppy’ with a football. It made a good photo.

A good way to build up the portfolio is to ask a friend whether he/she would like to contribute to it. Angelo was a star, a born natural and photogenic. Myself and Maria Tanner from Lace Market Photography had a very productive afternoon taking images of him. I would like to thank Angelo for his time and Maria for letting me use her studio.

This cute little girl was unsure about the camera at first so I took a succession of shots whilst pulling faces from behind the camera with hope to get a smile from her. It worked. I thought it would be a good idea to merge them together as one image so you could see the different expressions. I usually do this at a portrait shoot but set out the images separately. A little bit of tweaking in photoshop et voila!

Mike is a Shakespearean actor so I thought it would be a great idea if we took a scene from the Shakespeare play ‘Hamlet’. To set the scene: As two clowns dig Opelia’s grave, they unearth the skull of Yorick, court jester to the former king. This king’s son, Prince Hamlet, just happens to be strolling through the graveyard with his friend Horatio, and he joins the first clown in a round of morbid jokes. Hamlet’s spirits, however, are dampened by the smelly skull, whose grim visage belies the prince’s vivid memories of the frolicsome rogue. The line I am portraying in the images is “Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy ……” This quote is more known as “Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well” although in the play Hamlet didn’t actually say that. By the way it isn’t a real skull, just a prop.  

Last Saturday myself and Brian were at Justine and Allan’s house photographing a lifestyle portrait shoot. Boy did we have fun … the football was out, they had running races as well as space hopper races. It was a chance for the family to get together and have their photos taken unobtrusively. They wanted to capture fun and laughter which came across very naturally to them. We had a very enjoyable time too. This is the style of photography I love doing, being able to capture people in their comfort zone, enjoying and being themselves.

I have just returned from a two day photographic workshop hosted by The Flash Centre at Studley Castle. It was such an inspirational time and I am still buzzing from the experience which was awsome. It was led by Mike Larson, an International Wedding Photographer from California, who demonstrated to us how natural light could be enhanced by using the California sunbounce in order to make images pop out. He exudes passion for what he does which came across by his enthusiasm to share it with us. As well as Mike there were other mini workshops and one that wowed me was led by Adam Duckworth who is a strobist genius.  I am always learning and the two days have definitely taken me to another level. Thank you to all involved.