Well it’s the start of a new year, so happy New Year!
I hope you all had a good xmas and new year, not too many bad heads. When I was looking through my choices for the shot of the month for January, I was asked to supply an image for a nice little project for someone, cant say any more, it’ll spoil the surprise! This gave me a chance to look back at some images I took in the 1980′s.
I know we all live in the now and we sometimes forget what it was like 20-30 years ago(am I really that old), but photography is such a detailed recorder of the visual it was a stark reminder of some things I had forgotton. With the cut backs, job losses and unpopular taxes or fees of the present, they were all there in the 80′s as well, sometimes I think the only thing that changes is technology, everything else stays the same. I remember when I shot these images I was not doing it with some political slant, the posters and graffiti were everywhere, I just liked the look of them.
Sorry if I have depressed you all I just couldn’t resist in posting the images. Normal service will be resumed next month and if you need to give me any abuse you know where to find me.
Well it’s back, Xmas, twelve months have flown by and yes it’s another short film. Well this ones not as short as the others, but stay with it their are some job’s in there that you’ll say “ooh you did that job!” Well ok you’ll maybe say it once. This year has flown by, it’s amazing, where does all the time go? This year has seen a big change in the way I have worked in the photography business, as I have used the short film’s to promote taking still images (October 2010,was the first short film.) This was an idea to make the viewing of work on the web a different experience. I cannot measure how successful from a commercial stand point this has been (about 700 views have been counted) but I did not do this for that reason. I think some things in life/business have to be done just for the reason they have to be done. Yes I am fortunate to work in a creative profession that can allow this. I have had the opportunity this year to shoot some short commercial films and have a couple of others in the pipeline for next year. I am enjoying the process of creating films, it really interests me but I will always love still photography – it’s been a passion since I was twelve years old. I know their will be friends out there saying how come he’s been doing it that long and he’s still no better, John and Graeme!
As I write this, it’s started to snow outside (quick put the Bing Crosby film on.) I hope everyone has a good christmas – if you’ve been good Santa might bring you all the things on your list.
Hope you enjoy the short film, posting it has caused my grey hair to turn white, and hopefully see you next year.
Sorry, did not upload anything to the blog last month as I was really busy, thanks for all your emails I received asking where I was – I wish! I have been on my travels, I thought my jet-set days had gone but no, I did just over 1000 miles in one week, from one end of the country to the other, shooting some varied stuff from furniture to interiors, it’s been fun working with good clients, having a laugh and driving the wrong way down a one way street.
The images on the blog this month are some shots I took for myself on some down time (remember the 3f’s, come on keep up that was in a previous upload). Hope you like them as you can see it includes angry building and mad monkey, also the shot of the month for this month was another shot I took on the way to a job, had to stop the car and take the shot, it’s at Loch Fyne, not a kipper in sight but i videoed me shooting for another project and I slipped over – maybe I slipped on a kipper, I don’t think it’s a £250 clip for Harry Hill. If you read the blog but don’t receive the shot of the month, please send me your email info and I will put you on the mailing list.
As for work this month, I have been working on a short corporate film which will be uploaded when the editing process has finished (I will put a link on the blog when it’s ready to view). With all the talk of convergence in the world of digital imaging it is something that I have decided to look at, as a service to provide. Years ago as photographer who mainly shot large format film, I thought that this digital thing would not catch on in the line of work I did (how foolish I was back when the dinosaurs had just died off – I have friends who still remind me of these words – thanks Graeme).
I am in two minds about next month. I usually send out a Xmas shot of the month, but I have another idea, it will be my biggest upload to date, it’s a bit ambitious but I hope to end the year with something
I hope you enjoy!
September’s been a busy time, had a bit of a 007 moment with one job, can’t post it this month but don’t worry I’ll include it in a future post.
In between jobs I still carry a camera and shoot things that catch my eye sometimes it’s for visual note taking, so I can return another time of day and re shoot, or sometimes it’s because the small camera or iPod have the feel that the image requires. I mentioned this in a previous blog upload, the preset types of retouch that are included in the app or scene setting on a camera are quite remarkable, they sometimes transform the most mundane shot into something reasonable, is that a road in which we all just press the button and wait for automated magic.
I think that there’s more to photography than the magic button (then again I would say that wouldn’t I!)We are in the communication game and photographer’s can’t rely on the magic button, we must be aware of the clients needs and more importantly the needs of the commission (in some cases these are totally two different things??) You have to shoot what the client requires and then try to move the work forward by developing the idea further, then hopefully everyone has a smile!
Anyway have a look at my magic button shots for this month – any abuse can be forwarded via the usual channels.
Also I hope you’re not sick of the short films, there’s another one in the pipeline, maybe the end of the year!
It’s amazing what I can get up to from one month to the next, organising large machinary in a forest to meeting up with channel swimmer Damien for a bit of the three f’s (fotography for fun) this time I tried an underwater housing for an action shot but I also couldn’t resist a couple more portraits, Dan gave me a hand with this one so thanks Dan, also see if you can spot the trendy head wear that everyone will be after at 29 seconds into the film – you saw it here first!
In the second week in August Damien travelled down to Dover to swim the channel, he had a 4pm start time and stayed in the water for six hours, until the crossing had to be abandoned because ten foot high swells and waves made it unsafe. In his words he was “gutted” in not completing the swim but I know from the type of chap Damien is he would have given his all. Damien still managed to raise over £3000 thats -the count at the moment for Mencap – well done mate!
music by SilverFox
I have also been playing with a small format digital camera for small grab shots of shapes, details etc. In a world of the all singing digital camera I sometimes miss the use or misuse that you could have with film cameras. Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, I was one of those photographers who used a 5×4 to shoot buildings and products. Occassionally when a job required 35mm I would shoot it on 5×4 or 10×8 to get a different feel to the image. This is now becoming more of a post process and not in the actual performance of the act of taking the shot, but people say thats progress! (I still shoot 5×4 and 10×8 mainly for the 3f’s).
Hope you enjoyed this one and I’ll see you next month mb.
Here we go again with another upload that I hinted at in a previous blog.
I was commissioned by EGGER to produce shots of forest machinery, product and iconic landscapes
which showed various aspects of their business. The weather was a help and a hindrance on this one,
I had travelled to Kielder when the weather forecast was good, got there and you couldn’t see anything
for fog, then went up three days later when the forecast was not so good and got sunburnt, there’s
nothing like the British weather!
The machinery was very impressive and I tried to include the forest in with the harvester or loader so you can get the feeling of how the machine looks in it’s working environment and I knew this also meant that
the shots could be used as double page spreads or exhibition panels, the files had to be quite large 260 meg files to cover all uses in the future. Also the chaps who work in the forest were very accommodating
even when I asked them to start work at 4am so we could get the night shot and this shot was my idea not the clients!
The landscape shots had to include specific parts of the forest, so this meant a bit of map reading, a recce and the good old sun compass to plan the shot and as I mentioned earlier a bit of luck with the weather.
(you make your own luck)
I was really happy with the results and the client was too, so gold stars all around.
Lately I’ve been shooting more portraits than usual, so maybe next months upload will be a still life, no only joking, I could even threaten you with another short film but that could be film overload!!
You can contact me through the email and mobile number in the contact section on this website, I haven’t
had any abuse yet, so either no ones reading this(I am not stopping ,this saves me £20 at the therapist’s) or everyone likes it.
It’s the blog upload for June and as promised for the last few months it’s finally here the next summer blockbuster-at just over one and a half minutes I am not going to give up my day job!!
As you can see from the film it’s a colaboration between Gav, Tom and myself. The creative idea was Gav’s, we discussed how we could develop the visual idea into photography based ad, I scouted out locations and the kind people at Ryhope RCA (Owen in particular) let us use their ground, the props were sourced so everything looked authentic to the feel of the visual, but the most important point was it had to carry the message of the ad.
The photography was relatively straight forward, it was the retouching that I had to compensate for whilst shooting and also controlling the footballers (thanks Adam and Dan).
Tom was involved in the creative process from the start, but his job tied everything together when supplying the copy to the finished ad.
I hope you enjoy the film as much as we did when we made it, roll on next month’s upload as i have quite a few jobs I would like to use, in fact I am loosing sleep over it-I wish!
Big thanks go to-
Gav at-http://creativewerk.co.uk
Tom at-http://plumeinc.co.uk
It’s been a busy time lately, still working on the edit to the next blockbuster short film (70% done,can’t rush perfection-I wish) so should be in all good theaters next month.
This month I met Damien Baglee at a media event for the Great North Swim, who is swimming the Channel for charity (he has a facebook page so have a look) and I had an idea to shoot some editorial style shot’s for a bit of fun, if Damien was game. Sure enough Damien being just as daft as me was up for it, we both entered the water, as you can see, (the behind the scene shots were supplied be Damien’s mate Graham White, thanks Graham!) the shot’s turned out as I had expected (gold star to me) the only problem occurred when I tried to leave the water, Greenpeace showed up started to pushed me back in and spray me with water! (had to get the joke in first, so you can keep your emails!)
It’s good to create something interesting off the back off other work which also gives me the opportunity to meet interesting people and to produce nice work, I have kept in touch with Damien and I have arranged to photograph him again next month (could be another blog upload-if I keep this up I’ll run out of months and I’ll have to post two a month-oh joy!)
Anyway Summer’s nearly hear so see you next month, hang on, is that rain on the window?
Here’s my ramblings for this month, my next short behind the scene production is running late, i wish i could say it was due to Hollywood star contractual problems, multi million dollar budget running over but no, me and Gav just want to get it right! so you’ll have to wait till next month, fingers crossed.
I had the pleasure of spending some time with Rolf Harris over a three day period which i really enjoyed,
the commission was to shoot groups of people with Rolf, but after we had completed the job i could not help myself and i asked if i could take his portrait, he very kindly agreed but i only had thirty seconds, so have a look at this months mailer for the result! (if you are not on the mailing list send me you’re emai and i’ll add you on.)
I have been busy shooting a project in the forest’s but cant talk about it at the minute, that’s another one for the future! But over the last week i have joined in with the rest of the world with an app for my iPod which shoots pictures just like i used to on film (i think it was when dinosaurs ruled the earth, i cant be that old, i haven’t had a mid life crisis yet, or is this it!).Is it me, or has the craft element gone from creating images this way, this can be said of anything that makes production easier whatever the process, but on the other hand Polariod film disappeared, so it’s better to have than to have not!
Anyway, here’s some shots i took last week, hope you like them and i’ll be back with another blog post soon!
Eggs are just around the corner, I sometimes keep one until later in the year, just to annoy the kids – sorry i digress. I have been back to an old favorite part of the coastline again as a bit of r&r in between jobs and other projects [one of them will be another short film, I can here the cries of joy already!]
When shooting landscapes I find returning to a familiar location a good experience, the weather/elements are the only external factor that can change. I have to react to the landscape to put something into the shot, which is a rewarding challenge. (Note this does not include getting wet up to the knee’s, falling down on ones bottom on a slippy rock, then checking no one has seen my fall and trying to time the incoming wave’s watching nervously as the wave’s go higher up the tripod than was anticipated!!) I have included a few shots which are two to three years old, I hope you like them and as usual comments are gladly accepted via the usual channels.
