Mugshots-UK Photography

Midweek Shoot

2012-02-26T15:16:00.000Z

I had an opportunity to work with Laura, aka Summer30, on a weekday, and for a change she travelled to me instead of my usual trek to Gloucester and back twice in a day!

Laura arrived at Swindon station and we dully set off to my place for a short shoot that was mainly confined to my ‘Studio’, which is very compact and also better known as a bedroom! Later on we did take advantage of her warm coat and boots and did a few shots on my doorstep that also featured some of her lingerie.

We also took the opportunity to update her portfolio on Purple Port and fix one or two small problems that she had when setting up her account.

You can see more of my work on my web site as well as at Purple Port.

Milk and Honey

2012-02-02T18:06:00.000Z

I attended a group shoot at Eye For An Image Studio in Banbury where the model was Fire’s Secret and the theme for the evening was ‘Wet Messy and Sticky’, and it certainly did what it said on the tin as they say.

It was my first visit to the studio and as the model lives near to me, I offered to give her a lift, which she accepted, petrol prices are not exactly cheap these days.

There were five other photographers in attendance only one of whom I had met before, and the whole event was organised by Martyn Davis who was assisted by Stuart Thomson.

Each photographer was allocated a five minute slot with the model for each set-up, and the model would then re-set for each person in turn which did mean that a lot of time was spent getting cleaned up, but everyone did get some fairly original work.

So the sequence of shots went along the lines of first pouring milk over the model, followed with a whipped cream bikini then pouring double cream over her body. We then each had one chance of catching a shot of a mixture of milk and cream being thrown over Fire’s Secret and lastly she covered herself in baby oil and had honey poured over her oiled body.

That's Cold

Milk Is Good For You

With Or Without Cream

Splash

A Taste Of Honey

Warm Winter Coat

2012-01-24T19:28:00.000Z

I had a shoot with S_Olivia at the weekend, and when she arrived she was wearing her new winter coat, which she absolutely adores. I decided that this should be the main interest of the first part of our shoot.

Another item of new clothing that she brought also had to be used for some of the shots, a rather fetching denim waistcoat.

Other shots included some fetish items as well as some nudity.

Check out my web site and my Purple Port portfolio.

Artemis Fauna

2012-01-13T17:00:00.000Z

This week I had the opportunity of working with ArtemisFauna for the first time. She had posted a ‘Casting’ on Purple Port, which I replied to, and we arranged a two-hour shoot in her home studio.

I arrived with a few minutes to spare and started the long climb to the studio, which was three floors up on a Victorian house, not too easy for me with my arthritic joints! The studio was small but functional with good daylight and plenty of studio lights if required.

After a chat and a cup of coffee, we got down to work and started off with some nudes next to the widow to make the most of the available daylight that gave a really great quality to the resulting images. This was followed by some dance themed shots, which were initially nude with ballet shoes and followed with her wearing a long white skirt.

The next set was done under studio lighting conditions, more shots were taken with the skirt, the lighting coming via a long soft box, followed by a portrait set lit with a beauty dish fitted with a honeycomb grid.

All in all, a good shoot with plenty of images for me to work with, and I hope to work with Artemis again.

Body Paint

2012-01-10T22:35:00.000Z

My first shoot of 2012 was a first for me; it was a body-painting shoot, where a make-up artist, Jon Wilks, had made arrangements to do a body painting session with model S_Olivia and I would photograph the results.

I picked Jon up from Swindon rail station and brought him back to my place, collecting our model en-route, and after a round of introductory discussions, he got down to the task of doing his artwork on the models body. We were working to a theme of Wood Nymph, the artwork took on an insect form and utilised S_Olivia’s favourite colour.

By the time the artistry was completed, the light levels were getting quite low, and not wishing to use a flash to light the scene, I set the camera’s ISO to 3200 and accepted that the final images would look grainy. Part way through the photographic part we had to take a break when Harvey, next door’s Bearded Collie, took an interest in what we were doing and started to bark loudly and tried to get over the fence, which meant his owners had to come down and remove him from the scene. This meant that S_Olivia had to cover up to avoid any embarrassment, and brought her newly purchased dressing gown into use.

Final Shoot of 2011

2011-12-31T19:39:00.000Z

Well I had my last shoot of the year today with Laura, aka Summer30. The shoot was done at my compact and bijou home and utilised the only viable space in the house, the only bedroom in the place!

A fairly long day started with a drive to Gloucester to collect Laura and then drive home, a short shoot followed by downloading all of the images, for a quick editing session. I edited four of the shots that Laura liked, and put the lot onto a DVD for her use, and then drove her back to Gloucester in time to start her New Year revelries.

A Happy New Year to you all.

Maternity Shoot

2011-12-12T20:15:00.000Z

I have known and worked ERosanne for a few years now, and was really pleased for her when she told me that she was pregnant and expecting a baby in the new year. Last week I had an opportunity to do a quick shoot with her while she was in the area, having had a casting taken of her baby bump.

I cannot claim that any of the ideas are mine, as she had some definite ideas about what she wanted to do that were different, as she has always been really good at spotting an effective scenario for an image, and has done quite a few shoots recently, I was quite happy to work with the ideas that she had. Take a look at the images and see what you think.

Another Shoot With Two Models

2011-12-08T18:11:00.000Z

I seem to be making a habit of working with two models together on one shoot having just done a shoot with Fire’s Secret and S_Olivia at J&A Studios in Gloucester.

The shoot was very entertaining as the two models got on very well together and also worked well together with Sharon (Fire’s Secret) helping S_Olivia, who is a relative newcomer to modelling, with poses and both of them coming up with some excellent ideas.

The first set was with them both working nude, and making some very good images. This was followed by some clothed shots, and some to a Christmas theme.

The last set of images which also proved to be the most interesting were of them together on a black sofa, all lit with a single soft box.

Gymnastic Drama Queen

2011-11-22T21:28:00.000Z

I recently had a rare excursion to Cheltenham to work in FilmPhoto Studios with S_Olivia. I have worked with this model several times over the last year, and she has recently started to work to artistic nude levels. When I mentioned that she seemed to be very relaxed with nudity she stated, “well I am a Drama Queen, acting is what I do!” I also know that she had also been quite active in the gymnastic world when she was younger and is quite flexible, so with this in mind we set about working in a large studio space together for the first time.

I had intended to do some bodyscapes, creating landscapes with the human body, type of images to start with, followed by other images that would follow a colour theme and other well worn themes that I keep returning to. Unfortunately we were running slightly late when we arrived and had to set up on our own as the manager of the studio was away that day, so some of my best laid plans had to be modified to achieve what I wanted, the bodyscapes were done in the vertical as I could not locate a suitable table to use, I suppose we could have stretched out on the floor, but I am afraid crawling about on the studio floor is not something I can do easily these days, it has something to do with getting old I think.

All in all it was a productive shoot, and here is a sample set of images from the day.

There Is A First Time For Everything

2011-10-31T16:39:00.000Z

I have been doing shoots with S_Olivia for nearly a year now, and she recently decided that it was time to move on with her modelling and try out some new styles as she had recently celebrated her 18^th birthday.

To this end she has decided to add topless and nude to the modelling styles she is happy to work to and over the last week I have had two shoots with her and you can see some of the results below.

Photographic Societies / Clubs

2011-10-28T18:00:00.000+01:00

Over the years I have been an active member of several photographically orientated clubs and societies. I have found these groups very useful places to learn and develop my photography, but I do find myself frustrated with the comments that many competition judges make about all of the work they are judging, to the extent that I no longer go to competition judging events, although I do enter the competitions.

This wee at the Society that I currently attend, they had critique evening where we were all asked to bring along two images for projection in the format that the society uses for competitions, i.e. the finished image must be 1400 pixels wide by 1050 pixels high, if your image is in portrait format you are expected to increase the canvas width with a plain black in-fill.

Most of my studio work is photographed against a black background, so the first comment when my first photo was shown was “It’s a pity it’s in the middle of the frame”! So after it was explained that this was a portrait format presented as per competition rules there then came the comment that should put a white key line around the edge of the photo, fair point so I will take it on board, but to my surprise the original comment was stated at least once more!

As the general discussion about my image continued I was taken by the interpretation of the image as presented, one person queried why I had not shown the full length of the chair that the model, ERosanne, was sat on. I pointed out that the studio floor was heavily scuffed and it was easier for me to crop it out, then another jokers said you could have put down some black paper!!!!!!!!! The studio I was using for the shoot was huge, and as it was new year I there were no shops open for me to go and purchase said paper, as more comments were emerging from the assembled multitude it dawned on me that the members of the Society I belong to are all Camera Club Judges in the making.

The photo as presented

The photo as it was taken

Note to self; avoid these critique events if you want to retain your sanity!

A Weekend Away

2011-10-27T17:20:00.000+01:00

Having been made redundant, I had a weekend away from home and had a chance to meet up with old friends and to indulge in some photography. On the Saturday morning I packed the car with all of the kit I was going to need and some things that I thought might be required over the weekend, and set off for St. Athan in South Wales.

Two and a half hours later I pulled up in the driveway, rang the doorbell and waited and waited, after a while I phoned all the numbers that I had to hand to no avail, so I tried the door and it was open! I eventually found everyone luxuriating in the hot tub and after introductions I settled down for a chat with everyone.

On the Sunday a late start and breakfast, and the two girls I came to photograph started to get ready for the shoot, hair was done and basic makeup applied and we then all set off to the location for the shoot. At the location I unloaded my car and set up all of my portable studio kit and generally prepared myself for the shoot while the final makeup was completed and we were ready for the shoot.

Madi

My models for the day was Madi, the daughter of Lyndy who had modelled for me back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and Madi’s friend Shanice. Lyndy did all of the hair styling and makeup for the shoot, a task that she has done for me in the past, and Lyndy’s sister Liana helped out as well as providing accommodation and meals for the weekend.

Shanice

On the Monday morning I met another friend, Jackie and her sister Denise, at the Beach Café at Llantwit Major Beach, which was a very welcoming place on a cold and damp morning, and as all photographers, are supposed to, I always have a camera with me and took a quick snap of the sisters together.

Denise and Jackie

Autumn Nears

2011-10-09T20:19:00.000+01:00

As the autumn approaches, I managed to do a couple of shoots with Laura, who’s modelling name is Summer30, and managed to shoot on the one scorching weekend we seemed to have had this year!

The first shoot was mid September and I collected Laura from a very plush looking hotel near Westonbirt Arboretum, and travelled back to my place for the shoot. The weather wasn’t too bad and we did manage to get some different shots, which included some shots of Laura in her new boots, and some lingerie style shots. I am not a great fan of lingerie preferring so shoot nudes, but I did get some pleasing images, as well as another chance to do some shots with my new prop, the crystal ball!

The second shoot was the first weekend of October, which was incredibly warm with record temperatures. This time I collected Laura from Gloucester, this time with a courtesy car as my own car was at the garage for a servicing. On the way back to my place the garage called to say that my car would not be ready until Monday and would cost a small fortune as it needed new tyres all round and new front disks and break pads.

Once back at my place, we got down to work, starting with a cup of coffee, followed by set of Laura in jeans and shirt, which did not stay on for long, followed by some work with bondage tape. Laura then demonstrated her gymnastic ability by doing handstands on the lawn, while wearing just a loose fitting shirt; I might post some of those shots later!

All in all a couple of good shoots.

Mystic Lou

2011-09-03T17:43:00.000+01:00

Things have been a bit quiet lately with a couple of planned shoots not happening because of weather and illness.

I eventually managed to get a shoot organised for the recent Bank Holiday at the end of August, with Miss Lou Lou. Lou arrived for the shoot with plenty of outfits and after a cup of tea and a check of what she had brought with her a plan emerged for how the shoot would progress, including how we were going to use a new prop that I had bought.

A very productive day followed and some examples of what was achieved have been added to this Blog entry.

Mystic Lou and the new prop - ACrystal Ball

A couple of headshots

A couple of the other shots we did

And finally – a bit of trash the top!

A Busy Weekend - Part II

2011-07-09T19:02:00.001+01:00

My weekends are either very busy, or there is nothing happening at all! This particular weekend fell into the busy category as I had a shoot on the Saturday and another one on the Sunday afternoon, and I try very hard to have nothing happening on a Sunday, as I like to do absolutely nothing at least one day a week!

It was fortunate that the weather over the weekend had been relatively good, and on the Sunday it was excellent, with bright sunshine and clear skies, not normally the sort of weather that makes for good portraiture, as the shadows are usually very dark and lacking in detail, but I always look on these situations as a challenge.

Sasha called me at the due time for the shoot to let me know she would be a little bit late as she was still ironing her outfits for the shoot, but she eventually arrived a few minutes late and we collectively decided what she would wear for the first set and discussed a few other ideas.

Various sets were shot in my garden and at one point I received a call from Fire’s Secret asking how to get to a location we had shot at the previous week, and I asked her if she wanted to stop by on her way back and she agreed.

After several changes and sets around the garden I was utilising a table to bring Sasha up to my level for some shots of her lying down, when Fire’s Secret arrived after her shoot, and at this point all photography ceased as we all enjoyed telling a few anecdotes and tales of experiences of photo shoots.

I was contacted a day later for advice on how to take certain types of photo’s by Fire’s Secret as she has now got herself a camera and wants to try her hand at being on the other side of the lens, but that is another story.

A Busy Weekend - Part 1

2011-07-03T15:21:00.000+01:00

After a quiet week back at work after my holiday, I had an opportunity to work with a model who I have worked with many times. I travelled up to Gloucester to meet with Laura and then travelled back to my place where we were going to shoot in my garden. I am making the most of the fact that my garden has recently had a make-over and is now a useful place to use as a location for some of my photo shoots.

We started off doing a few nude images on a bench that is situated where there used to be a very large sycamore tree. The pile of stones hides what is left of the tree stump! After working by the bench we moved to do some shots next to the end wall of one of my outbuildings before going on to do some fashion style images.

The shoot was rounded off with some portraits before we set off back to Gloucester, via a well known fast food outlet famous for its clown.

Making The Most Of Texture

2011-06-30T10:36:00.000+01:00

The morning after the shoot with ERosanne and Fire’s Secret, I had hoped to do another shoot with ERosanne at Waylands Smithy, unfortunately the arthritis had got the better of me and I felt it would not be in my interest to do all the walking that would be involved as my joints were really aching from the short amount of walking that I had done the day before!

ERosanne arrived at my house just after 8 o’clock as planned and we had a quick discussion as to the direction the morning’s shoot would take. Ros indicated that she would like to make use of the textures on the walls of the outbuildings in my garden, and I wanted to make the most of the lawn that had been grown in recent weeks in the garden after it had been subjected to a long overdue makeover.

Due to restricted space, the first few images were taken with a very wide-angle zoom lens set at about 15 – 16mm, which unfortunately had some unusual effects on perspective, but I hope that the images that I have uploaded do not emphasise too much. The wall at the other end of the outbuilding proved to be a better prospect, but was overlooked by a neighbouring property.

Finally we did some shots on the new lawn, that had been re-seeded only a few weeks before the shoot, and again we had to be aware that the area was overlooked by the property next door.

June – It Must Be Holiday Time!

2011-06-18T11:49:00.000+01:00

I normally take my annual holiday at the beginning of June each year on the basis that as it is near mid summer the weather should be good and it is light for nearly 12 hours a day, and the schools have not yet closed for their summer holidays, so the places I like to visit are usually quiet.

This year I had a slight problem, I went down with a cold on the second day of my holiday and it left me virtually housebound for the majority of my break. I did arrange for a photo shoot at the end of my holiday and thankfully I was over the worst of the cold.

I had arranged for ERosanne to travel down to me for a shoot and Fire’s Secret, who had wanted to meet with ERosanne, was asked to join the shoot so that they could work together.

On the day of the shoot the weather was a bit suspect, but as time passed it improved and by the time ERosanne arrived it was quite pleasant, reasonably warm and the light was good. After a quick cup of tea and the application of make-up etc we started to get some images in my garden.

Later on Fire’s Secret joined us after she had finally found my place, she takes a different route every time she visits me. Introductions were made and after some comparing of notes etc with ERosanne we did some shots in my garden with one wearing a white dress and the other wearing a black beach dress, talk about giving yourself some contrast issues.

After a quick change, we all got into my car and went to a local wood that I knew would have some excellent evening sunlight to enhance the shots. When we arrived at the wood, there were hardly any other people there, but no sooner had we set off to where I wanted to take the photos and two cars with very loud sound systems turned up, at least while the music was playing we knew where they were!

The first woodland set was curtailed when a small group of curious onlookers arrived on the scene, but they left disappointed after while as the two models looked through the images on the back of the camera. At the suggestion of ERosanne, the models then went and set themselves up for some shots in a field of barley, but we had to wait for the sun to make an appearance from behind a cloud. The lighting worked well and I was glad I was using a stabilised lens at a relatively slow shutter speed for a lens at 200mm.

After few more shots in the woods we then set off back to my place for something to eat, but at the request of the models we stopped at a field that was full of poppies for the last set of images in the evening sunshine.

Hannah Ashlea

2011-04-29T23:06:00.001+01:00

The day after the Easter Bank Holiday I had a shoot with Hannah Ashlea, a hard working and versatile model who is London based. I met Hannah at Swindon railway station, and this gave me a chance to chat with her about the planned shoot as we drove to Cheltenham where the studio that we were using is located.

The studio is very large and as the owners had just re-painted the infinity cove, I decided to shoot on a white background, a big change for me as I usually shoot on a black background. My usual lighting worked well with the background, and later on I did experiment with the lighting to good effect.

The first couple of sets were fairly casual in style with Hannah wearing jeans and a vest top. Later she wore a see through top and a translucent blouse that was worn open followed this. At this point I made use of the studio’s wind machine, an overgrown ducted fan, which added another dimension to the images.

About half way through the shoot Hannah then modelled some dresses, two of which were very colourful, and we did some shots in a fashion style, as well as a topless set where she wore a wrap around skirt and beads.

Finally Hannah did some nude poses, and it was at this point that I modified the lighting, firstly creating a high key look, followed by some semi silhouettes. It was at this point that I did my usual trick and tripped the thermal cut outs on the flash heads, which brought us to a temporary halt until one of them re-set and I continued with yet another lighting set-up.

All in all I felt it was a successful shoot and I am looking forward to working with Hannah again.

If You Go Down To The Woods Today

2011-04-23T19:46:00.000+01:00

Near to where I live is bluebell wood that I have wanted to photograph for many years, and with the recent warm weather the bluebells are now out and it has coincided with the Easter break and I am able to get to see them at their best, and with not too many people spoiling the experience by getting in the way. I also took the opportunity to shoot with a model, as it seems to be a common theme in the current model and photographer world in the UK.

I took the opportunity to add a couple of days holiday to the long weekend that is Easter and arranged with Miss Lou Lou to model for me on the day. It was organised some time before the day, and I was hoping that the weather would be fine, as it usually is at this time of year. On this day I the weather forecast was excellent, but the reality at 7:00AM was not looking too good.

I met Lou at Swindon station at 8:00AM and we set off for the first location of the day, stopping briefly for the opportunity to grab a breakfast snack from a franchise with a clown called Ronald as an attraction to draw children in through the front door. Location number one was the bluebell wood, locally known as Badbury Clump, a beech wood on the site of an Iron Age hill fort, the main structure of which had been mostly destroyed by Victorian ‘Improvements’. The place is popular with dog walkers and at weekends is often used by people who enjoy running around in medieval costume wielding swords engaged in some form of re-enactment or play-acting.

On arrival I was somewhat despondent as there were a number of cars in the car park, but I need not have worried, as most of the people had gone deep into the surrounding woodland walking their dogs. Lou and I walked around the perimeter of the site and quickly got down to photographing the scenery and Lou, and at the appropriate place I persuaded Lou to go topless for a couple of shots. Continuing our walk around the perimeter of the site many photos were taken in the improving lighting conditions and after less that an hour we moved on back to my place to review the shoot so far and give Lou an opportunity to get changed for location number two.

Location number two was the site of a Monument to Lord Wantage that is on the Ridgeway overlooking the Vale of the White Horse. In an attempt to stop damage to the ancient path, it is closed to motor vehicles in places and this site was one of them, so I had to walk to the monument, which was not too far, but I had not reckoned on my arthritic joints taking umbrage and making walking very painful and requiring me to stop frequently. We finally got to the monument and did a series of shots at the site. There was a Red Kite flying in the area, but it did not get close enough to take a decent photo.

Location number three was at another place on the Ridgeway not far from Waylands Smithy, but on this occasion Lou did another quick change and I photographed her in a field of flowering Oil Seed Rape. As my legs were complaining too much, we did not spend that much time at location number three, and sped off to location number four, my garden.

At my place we downloaded the images and reviewed them, then did the final few more image in my garden. The sunlight was a bit too bright by now, but I still managed to get some images that I hope to do some Photoshop magic with, and I will post them onto my web site in the future.

Another New Model

2011-04-03T17:16:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I arranged a shoot with Laura, aka Summer30, who I have worked with many times. Occasionally Laura asks if I will shoot her with one of her many friends, and this time her friend Harriet wanted to have some shots done as well.

On the Saturday morning I drove up to Cheltenham to collect the girls for the shoot, I had hoped to hire a studio in the town but it is very popular and you need to book it well in advance of any shoot, so I then drove all the way back home to use a studio local to me.

Once at the studio the girls headed straight into the cafe next door to the studio, a spare room in a second hand car dealership, and bought coffee for them and myself. I then set about getting the compact studio set up, fortunately the heating was on in the studio, which helped to make the conditions more comfortable all round.

Once in the studio I noted how tall Harriet is, as she seemed to tower over Laura, who is quite tall at five foot eight inches tall. As the studio is small and has a limited ceiling height I could see I was going to have to be on my feet for most of the shoot so that Harriet’s head did not cut across the top of the background. The background that I use at this studio is black velvet, which suits my style o work.

Over the three hours of the shoot we took a wide variety of shots, and Harriet took to modelling with ease, and both were comfortable working together. Laura has had a new tattoo since I last worked with her and I did set up one image to emphasise it. In all a fairly successful shoot, and I hope to work with both girls again soon.

Harriet

Laura

Harriet and Laura

The Tattoo

A Sunday In Oxford

2011-04-03T16:37:00.000+01:00

I am a member of the Oxford Photographic Society, which is a very active organisation that has a very varied membership that covers all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

Some time ago I attempted to set up a Studio group, and organised a meeting, that unfortunately fell through at the last minute, and I must admit that I lost interest. More recently a new member, Thomas Schoenweitz, has brought the studio group back to life and has organised three meetings in recent months.

For these shoots I have helped by providing a portable background and a lighting set-up, and with the kit that Thomas brought along we have managed to have more than one ‘Studio’ in use. At the last meeting in March we actually had three sets of lights and backgrounds on the go, and it was fortunate that we all had radio triggers to fire the flash units as it would have been somewhat confusing if we had relied on Infra Red triggers as I have done for some time now.

For the last studio group meeting we decided to work with one light set-up, which was fortunate as one of my Elinchrom units decided it was time for the flash tube to fail. Initially we did use single light set-ups, but someone did bring in another light unit that we did uses as an accent hair light, which was used for some lighting sets that I have not used since the 1970’s.

I brought two models with me for the shoot, and Chloe was very much in demand with all those present, and Sasha was also in demand. I managed to photograph four people during the shoot, but I will have to get better organised as I did not take that many photos.

Agata

Sasha

Khalil

Chloe

As a footnote, it cost me over £100 to get a new flash tube!

Talisa Qi

2011-03-19T17:24:00.000Z

In February I book a shoot with a Chinese model who is based in Oxford. Talisa had re-organised her home so that it could be used as a fairly modest, but in places stylish, studio. On the day of the shoot I arrived early and was met by Talisa who was in the middle of putting on her make-up and dressed in her pyjamas, I was introduced to her rather large and boisterous pet dog, I think it might be an Alaskan Malamute, and a pet rabbit that took an interest in my portfolio.

Once Talisa had finished her make-up we then discussed what outfits she would wear, and it was than that I was introduced to a room full of dresses and costumes, it turns out that she is also a clothes designer as well as a very competent model. We decided on a set of outfits to use and I then went off to set up the lights while she got changed.

The initial set-up was in the front room with a seamless paper background, not an ideal choice of colour for me, but it was al that was available. The space was also limited and full-length images were going to be a problem, but with my 18-200mm zoom lens I did manage to get some full-length shots.

The first outfit was a Cosplay costume based on a Japanese Schoolgirl, an interesting outfit to say the least, this was followed by a Chinese style dress that Talisa told me was made from a Japanese style fabric. Next outfit was a European style wedding dress and that was followed by red Chinese dress that is traditionally worn as a Wedding dress in China.

After a short break, the lighting was moved to a bedroom that was decorated for use as a photographic setting, and a series of lingerie shots followed. The very last set of images were taken of Talisa in the pyjamas that she was wearing when I arrived as I thought that they were quite unusual and she did look good in them!

Another Introduction

2011-02-26T10:04:00.000Z

I have recently started working with a young model who is local to where I live, and someone who I have known for many years and who is the daughter of friends I have known since I moved to what I now know as my home town.

I first photographed Sasha five years ago when she was thirteen, so that I could give her family a photo of her as a present from me. Recently I wanted to photograph someone who is relatively shot with one of my replica swords, a Claymore that is nearly 5 foot long, and at 5 foot tall Sasha was an ideal candidate, so I arranged a shoot with her to get the image that I wanted.

I felt that Sasha was quite promising as a model and she enjoyed the process of the photo shoot, and so I have now done a couple of shoots with her. Recently she also modelled for a studio tuition day with the Oxford Photographic Society where she had an enjoyable day working with a wide variety of photographers of differing styles and abilities.

I hope to be doing more shoots with Sasha in the future, and she has also joined Net-Model where she has a portfolio under the name of S_Olivia.

A New Year Shoot.

2011-01-15T16:57:00.000Z

Last year on the 4^th January I had a shoot with ERosanne, and it was the same again this year. This time she travelled by train from Chesterfield and I met her at Cheltenham Spa station, and after we had gone around in circles trying to meet each other at the station we finally got into the car and headed off to the studio.

I was expecting the studio to be cold, but when we eventually got into the building we were surprised to find that it was quite warm as someone was already in the studio, and they were oblivious to the time, as it was 12:10 and we were due to start at 12:00. The other photographer and model left and we moved in and promptly set about preparing ourselves for the next four hours of hard work!

After discussing wardrobe options with ERosanne, I set about setting up the lighting and she got her hair and make-up sorted out and into her first outfit, a rather fetching lace number with a military cap. After a few tweaks to the camera settings so the exposures were correct, getting the white balance set and taking a reference photo of a set of colour patches to help with colour correction at a later stage we were all set to go, so that was the first half hour taken care of!

The shoot went very smoothly and unusually for me full nudity was quite limited on this occasion, but this does not mean that images did not include some form of nudity. The outfits were quite varied, and ranged from a lace body and dress, an Edwardian style nightdress, a costume made from bondage tape, some translucent fabrics and a leopard print cat suit with a black corset, oh and a few with ERosanne wearing a red basque.

At the end of the shoot I asked ERosanne to take a couple of photos of me so that I could update my Mugshot that I use on various sites and her skills as a photographer were excellent. Many thanks to ERosanne for a great shoot and for taking my photo.

Fire and Ice

2010-12-28T22:43:00.000Z

Just before Christmas Fire’s Secret posted a message on Net-Model that she was looking for a snow shoot on the following Sunday, this was posted on the Friday. I responded that I was available for a shoot and the booking was made.

Thee had been a good snowfall on the Friday, and even more on the Saturday as I discovered when I took my car into Grove for a service and MOT test. I managed to get back from Grove in one piece and hunkered down for the rest of the day and watched the snow get deeper in the garden. There was a danger on the Sunday that the roads would be impassable, but we were lucky and the roads in our locality were fairly reasonable to drive on, and Fire’s Secret happens to live 10 miles from my location.

There was a good covering of snow on the day of the shoot.

At 1:00pm I got a phone call asking which was the gate to my place, well my house is well hidden near the town centre, I confirmed that it was the right gate and went to my front door in time to welcome my model for the day. A quick cup of tea and a short discussion about how and what we were going to shoot was followed by the first set of photos. Now I must admit that Fire’s Secret does travel with quick changes in mind as all she was wearing was a coat, and a knitted dress that was all removed as quick as a flash and there she was stood naked at my open front door.

Because it was freezing and the fact it was a nude shoot, I kept shooting time to a minimum and the shoot consisted of nine separate sets that were shot in a period of two to three minutes each, followed by a return to the warmth of the house to review the images that had just been taken. One aspect of the shoot was the quality of the light, it was very flat and quite dull which did not help with lifting the images, though it was probably for the best as the snow would have been impossible to record if the light was too bright.

After the shoot we both got warmed up again and I burnt a disc of images for Fire’s Secret to use on her web site. This shoot was a first for me and I would certainly like to do another one, with some sunlight.

Shooting to a Christmas Theme

2010-12-26T22:54:00.000Z

In October I decided I had better get my ‘Christmas Photo’ organised, and so it was I set-up another shoot with Fire’s Secret at my local studio. A Saturday afternoon was the chosen day and the shoot was to take place after she had done an outdoor shoot with Ivory Flame in Oxford, now that is a shoot I would have liked to have done, two red-heads together.

Sharon duly arrived and once we had found somewhere for her to park, we set off to the studio which is just outside of town, in the unlikely setting of a second hand car sales office. Fortunately the studio operator had warmed the place up, as it was quite a chilly day.

After a quick discussion about costumes and other wardrobe essentials, we started shooting with the Christmas theme first, with Fire’s Secret wearing a red negligee that was trimmed in white, with red evening gloves and white stockings. I took over 100 photos in this outfit, before we mad a few small changes to what was being worn and reduced the outfit to just gloves and stockings.

Next outfit was a white slip that would pass as a dress, finished off with Ugg boots a really glamorous combination that actually worked quite well. This was quickly followed up by an outfit that consisted of a rather fancy thong assembly finished off with a pair of glamorous heels, now I am not a great fan of shoes when shooting nude or topless images but as we had added a pole dancing pole to the setting I think it worked on this occasion.

The next outfit was a long black negligee, which was worn in various ways, followed by a white lace poncho, which was worn, on its own to great effect. The final two sets were nude and a topless set in cut down denim shorts. All in all a very productive shoot crammed into a fairly short period of time in a compact and bijou studio space.

Introducing ………………..

2010-12-21T21:50:00.000Z

At the beginning of October I had a shoot with Laura and her friend Yasmin. I have photographed Laura many times, but I had never met Yasmin before, so I believe she is totally new to modelling.

On the day of the shoot I drove up to Gloucester to pick up my models, and then back again to a compact and bijou studio local to me that I had rented for a few hours. Laura was her usual relaxed self in front of the camera, and Yasmin settled into the routine of shooting very quickly.

Yasmin wanted the photos to be in Black & White, but I do think some of the colour ones work quite well, but I will just show the Black and White ones here.

Laura and Yasmin

Laura

Yasmin

A Busy Week!

2010-12-12T21:13:00.000Z

Two days after my shoot with ERosanne, I had another shoot with Miss Lou Lou, and once again the location was to be my garden. On this day the sum was shining quite brightly which is not the ideal lighting for portraiture and people photography, but being the optimist that I am I went about the shoot with relish.

I collected Lou from the station in Swindon and drove straight back to my place, and as we had a cup of coffee we discussed what outfits Lou had brought with her and what we could hopefully achieve in the time we had available. After the refreshments we set about the first set of images.

After the initial couple of image sets, we moved down the garden to do some work based shots with a hardhat and high visibility jacket. It was during this set that we posted one of the images of Lou in a wheelbarrow to Facebook to indicate what she would be wearing on a night out.

Later on Lou went into the next door garden so the we could do some over the fence shots, it was at this time that she caught a frog and we did a quick shot, I had thought about doing a kissing the frog to see if it was a prince type of shot, but it was a bit too lively for that.

After some fashion shots, we finished the shoot with some bondage style shots.

Phoenix From The Ashes or Recycling Again

2010-12-11T18:26:00.000Z

At the start of September I took some time off work and had the opportunity to work with ERosanne again. During the pre-shoot communications I mentioned that I would like to do a shoot based upon the Mythology of the Phoenix, with ERosanne rising from the ashes of a bonfire that the person who was doing a makeover on my garden had had a couple of days before the shoot.

On the day of the shoot I collected ERosanne from Oxford railway station, and on the drive to the shoot I mentioned that we might divert to the Ridgeway first for a short location shoot near to a monument that had some ‘Big Landscape’ views that I thought would make a good setting for some nude shots. At this point Ros started to get changed out of her travelling cloths, I think I can see a pattern developing here! Unfortunately the weather proved to be a bit too unreliable, so that idea got cancelled and we went on to the primary location, my garden!

The first set of images featured ERosanne topless and wearing a tool belt and in a labouring mode! The majority of the images she was pulling on a length of rope that was tied to a post just out of shot.

The next set of images were nude shots in the ashes of a bonfire, in places they were still warm from a fire that was burnt the day before. Ros covered herself in the ash that adhered to her skin as she still had the baby oil on her skin from the previous set of images. She started off kneeling in the ash and finished it standing and quite liberally covered in ash.

After a quick shower we progressed onto the next set which featured Ros in a green dress, that did not stay on for long, finishing with some more nude images next to the seat and garden wall.

Returning to the Phoenix theme, we tried to re-light the bonfire with some woody garden waste that was available. Sadly the fire did not really take hold, but we did do some more nude photos through the smoke and flames that we did manage to raise.

The next set of images featured a new and as yet unused wheelie bin that the council had recently delivered; I had mentioned this to Ros in the pre-shoot communications, as I knew she had also done shots in a wheelbarrow and a shopping trolley. The only additional prop that Ros used was a pair of shoes that she had recently bought. The sequence of shots was great fun and many different images were obtained.

Inside my home is a rather unusual staircase, that is top lit by a Velux skylight, and Ros wanted me to take some shots of her on the steps. It was quite a low light situation but I set the ISO to 3200 to get the images without any additional lighting.

The last set of the day featured Ros in a long skirt and one of my swords, which she was quite good at wielding for the camera. This was no mean feat as the sword is quite heavy. The set was finished off with some portrait shots in my neighbour’s garden which had a bit more greenery than my garden has at the moment.

A Summer Studio Shoot!

2010-12-10T20:09:00.000Z

Earlier in the year I was contacted by Katy T to see if I was interested in a shoot. Now Katy is a contemporary dancer who happens to model, she is originally from the UK but is now living and working in the USA and occasionally tours Europe. We had originally planned on shooting quite early in the year, but an unfortunate accident prevented Katy from travelling, so we re-scheduled our shoot for August.

The date in August finally arrived and I set off to Cheltenham to meet Katy at the railway station. At the appointed hour the train duly arrived and Katy emerged from the platform dragging an enormous suitcase behind her, as she was on tour she had her entire holiday wardrobe with her. We went to my compact and bijou car and having got everything loaded up we set off to the studio. At this point Katy started to get changed sat in the car next to me, I thought about joking that we had only just met, but I thought better of it, and concentrated on the short drive to the studio.

At the studio we were met by Simon Walden, who manages the facility, who showed me all the new lighting set-up that had been installed, and I was handed a radio trigger for the lighting, this was all new the triggers having been replaced after my last visit with ERosanne. Katy set about doing her make-up and I set about setting up the lights, and we had a short discussion about what we would be doing for the shoot.

The basis of the shoot would be basically a nude set, utilising some of the props in the studio, we would also do some dance themed shots, as well as some portraits. In the end we did do the agreed shots, and the props that we introduced included a hat, mask, rope, a couple of chairs, a dais and the studio wind machine! Towards the end of the shoot we also did some more dance based shots but this time Katy was clothed in her dance practice gear, and for a few shots one of her favoured dresses that she likes to wear to a shoot. In all we took 871 photos!

Summer Shoot!

2010-12-08T22:19:00.000Z

I only did the one shoot in July, and it was quite a short one. Fire’s Secret (Sharon) was doing a series of two-hour evening shoots with the objective of shooting in the glow of sunset. A great idea that was heavily dependent upon the weather, and of course concentrating on taking photos.

Sharon duly turned up at the appointed time, and I managed to find her somewhere to park her car. We quickly got set-up, and I determined the exposure required and set the white balance on the camera and we set to work taking photos, starting off fully clothed but quickly ending up totally nude!

Unfortunately I have a tendency to get side tracked from the task in hand, and this evening was no exception, and I spent so long reviewing the first images from this shoot and going over images from our previous shoot, that I missed the last rays of usable daylight, and the last few images were taken using the camera’s built in flash. The resulting photos were, I’m afraid to say, not exactly the quality images that I wanted!

Flaming June!

2010-12-07T22:05:00.000Z

Just after the summer solstice I arranged a shoot with Holly, who is probably better known as Ivory Flame. Holly has fiery red hair and a very pale complexion hence her modelling name, and she is an excellent model who pays a great deal of attention to detail. Holly had recently passed her driving test so made her own way to my place where we were going to do the shoot, but she had underestimated how long it was going to take to get here, and was slightly late for the shoot, but no worries I knew I would not be disappointed with the results.

During the pre-shoot e-mail exchange with Holly I discovered that she had a medieval style dress in her wardrobe so I decided to go for a costumed shoot with some artistic nude shots to add some variety. This was to be the sixth time we had worked together, but only the second time we had worked outside the studio. So with all of the arrangements made all I had to hope for was good weather.

On the day of the shoot, I wanted to start with some shots of Holly in her medieval style dress, and I had a cast iron garden chair that had the proportions to be used as a throne, so it was with this chair set against a Cotswold stone garden wall that we started. I introduced a couple of my swords into the setting as I felt that it would all fit together quite well. After the shots around the chair and garden wall, we did a few more shots in a Pre-Rafaelite style near to a tree in the next to my neighbour’s garden fence.

After a quick change more images were taken in another part of my garden, which was undergoing a makeover at the time, in fact it still is. A sequence of images were produced that involved some nudity, and after a while we decided to move to a nearby location to see if we could get a bit more variety into the shoot.

We moved to a local medieval barn in a nearby village, where Holly modelled nude for some artistic shots, one of which was awarded a ‘Daily Deviation’ on the Deviant Art web site. As the site is open to the public we had to be careful not to upset other visitors, and had a very short but successful shoot at that location. After this shoot I decided to do a few more outdoor sessions as I was getting a bit stale at studio work.

If you can see England it’s going to rain! (Part II)

2010-12-04T12:03:00.000Z

After my washed out, but reasonable successful shoot in South Wales in June, I was determined to go back and try again, this time with Miss Lou Lou. I arranged with Lou to do a shoot on a Saturday as I had now run out of annual holiday and would not be able to take time off work until September.

I collected Lou from Bristol Parkway railway station on my way to Wales, and we continued on our way and went to the beach at Aberthaw for the first location, it is a beach with no sand, and is made up of quite large pebbles and is awkward to walk on. Next to where we parked the car is a ruined building that offered some shelter from the wind and was quite a suitable place to start shooting, or so I thought. Being a Saturday there were quite a few people there taking a walk or exercising their dogs etc., so this was not going to be as relaxed as I had hoped, as you do have to be aware that there is an audience who are not familiar with the mechanics of a photo shoot!

Having set up the exposure etc. on the camera, we set to work doing some basic portraits, and I was also trying to capture the outfit Lou was wearing, as you may have noticed most of the images I have produced involve some level of nudity! It was at this point when we were joined by a woman of indeterminable age, who was walking her dog, who insisted on disturbing us by asking some of the most inane questions about the location and building, and then insisting on getting in the way while I was trying to take some more photos. Having come to the conclusion that she was not going to get out of the way Lou and I moved to the beach where I took some shots of her stood on top of a shingle bank with the Bristol Channel in the background. The wind was blowing quite strongly and so I got some quite good images and at one point Lou’s dress almost gave us a ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’ moment, but I am glad to say it just about stayed in place. After a few more minutes of trying to discourage the audience from getting in the way, I took a couple more shots of Lou showing the main reason why many people would not think of this place as a location for a modelling shoot, Aberthaw Power Station.

After a spot of lunch Lou and I headed for Dunraven Bay, also known as Southerndown Beach, but the place was absolutely heaving with visitors, and there was no chance of us being able to work in peace at this location so we diverted to Candleston Castle at Merthyr Mawr. The weather was great, the sun warm and the crowds were out in force, but fortunately at this location the castle is the last thing on most visitors minds, the sand dunes are what they had come for. It was here that I got some of the best shots of the day, and at one point we did encounter what I assume was another photographer/model couple emerging from the woods that surrounded part of the castle, while Lou and I were taking a break and having a chat about what to do next.

After Candleston Castle we went to another castle at Ogmore where I had arranged to meet up with an acquaintance from Deviant Art, I had lent my compact camera to Lou and she took some interesting photos at Ogmore, More photography of Lou was really out of the question as the place was overrun with visitors.

Photo by Miss Lou Lou

Moral of the story, don’t shoot in popular places on a weekend!

Don’t Panic!

2010-11-30T22:01:00.000Z

In June I discovered that Madame Bink, who I had photographed the previous year with Ivory Flame, was moving into the area where I live, and was offering a very good deal for a short while after her move, so it was that I arranged a shoot to take place towards the end of the month. Initially the shoot was arranged for a Saturday, but for reasons I do not need to go into here the shoot was finally set for the Sunday from about midday.

On the due date I set off from my home in a car that I had recently bought and was still getting used to. The inevitable happened and I managed to end up taking the wrong road, but I still managed to get to where I needed to be ahead of schedule. It was a scorching hot cloudless day and the prospect of working in a cool interior was quite appealing.

Having gone through the greetings and an enjoyed a welcome cool drink, a makeshift studio was set-up with a grey background roll and a couple of Bowens studio flash heads, and shooting got under way, with a lot of chat and general photographic and modelling talk. As usual when doing a shoot, I like to look through the images on the screen on the back of the camera, a practice sometimes known as ‘chimping’, and it was after about an hour that I noticed that there were some quite large ‘dust’ spots on the images. I put the camera through a sensor cleaning cycle several times but it made no difference, so I resigned myself to a lot of retouching in Photoshop.

Back home I uploaded the images from the shoot and spent an awful long time processing the images, thank heaven for the ‘healing brush’ otherwise I would still be processing them now. I attempted to clean the camera sensor with a blast of compressed air, but it made absolutely no difference, so I had to contemplate either sending the camera away to be professionally cleaned or do some research and do it myself.

After doing some research on photographic web sites I came to the conclusion that I would have to do a wet clean of the cameras sensor. I finally settled on purchasing a set of swabs and a bottle of ‘VDust™ Plus’ cleaning fluid at great expense. It took two attempts to get the sensor clean, but at last it had returned to its original pristine condition. One of the upshots is that no longer use the cameras built in sensor cleaning facility, as I believe that this is what caused the problem in the first place.

In the meantime I must book another shoot with Bink.

If you can see England it’s going to rain!

2010-11-27T22:31:00.001Z

At the beginning of June I had some time off work, so I organised a photo-shoot with Fire’s Secret in South Wales. I usually like to shoot on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast, and have a variety of locations that I like to use. The weather on the chosen day looked ok when we set off from Oxfordshire, but as we got closer to our destination the clouds started to get darker and my heart began to sink, the prospect of going all that way and not taking a photo was looming large.

When I got to the first we got to the first location, Candleston Castle at Merthyr Mawr, the conditions were just about acceptable although the light was fairly low. We set to work and got quite a few photos taken in and around the ruins of the old castle buildings. It was at this point Fire’s Secret realised that her hair was not as she wanted, so part of the set was re-shot with her hair down The red dress that she was wearing had a mind of its own so the term ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’ was the best description of some of the resulting images.

I had agreed to meet up with an old friend for lunch, so we set off for the beach café at Llantwit Major and enjoyed a much-needed hot drink along with the meal. Jackie was there waiting for us and we settled down to a good old fashioned chat and a catch up with news and talk of photography. I had suggested that our next location was going to be at Nash Point, a fantastic cliff top location complete with a lighthouse, and the stump of a redundant lighthouse, and I invited Jackie to join us. It was at this point that I mentioned the old joke that if you could see England across the Bristol Channel, it was going to rain, if you couldn’t see England, it was raining!

We set off to Nash Point after lunch and when we got there, we could not see England, in fact it was blowing a gale and the rain was really heavy. Being the optimist I waited for half an hour to see if the rain would ease off, but it was not going to happen. Jackie then suggested going to Coity Castle as it had a few sheltered spots where we could work despite the rain. The location was excellent, but it was literally in the middle of a small town and even had a footpath running through the middle of it. Fire’s Secret was keen to do some shots here and Jackie offered to keep a lookout while we did quite a few shots around the grounds.

About a month later I went back to South Wales with Miss Lou Lou, and you could see England, but that is another story.

Landscapes in a cold studio!

2010-11-27T22:22:00.001Z

At the end of May, during the weekend on the Spring Bank Holiday, I arranged another studio shoot with ERosanne, with main aim of shooting some bodyscapes, and trying out a new macro and portrait I had just bought. Having got into the studio and got everything set-up, I then discovered that the radio trigger for the studio lighting was missing, and had to contact the manager, who came back and lent me his own trigger, the person who had hired the place before me having walked off with the last unit that they had!

The day was quite pleasant, and so I was not quite prepared for the studio to be as cold as it was, but the effect was that there was an unexpected addition of textures to some of the images. Once again ERosanne was as creative as ever and we went on to do quite a variety of sets ranging from the planned bodyscapes to close-up portraits and using a tube of fabric, which she referred to as a bandage.

Unfortunately during the shoot, one of the main lights I was using failed, and I had to revise my lighting set-up. Unfortunately it did have an impact on the images that I managed to get.

Fire's Secret

2010-11-24T21:45:00.002Z

I do not work with new (to me) models very often, when I find a model I like working with I tend to work with them on a fairly regular basis. This year I met Sharon, aka Fire's Secret, and what a delight she is to work with, enthusiastic, hard working and always trying to make sure you get the image that you want. She is also a great organiser having got a very large group of photographers and models together for a networking day.

My first shoot with Sharon was in the cavernous space at Cheltenham Film Studios and I managed to do several sets of images, and you can see more of the images at Sharons page on my web site.

Sharon was a real trooper at this first shoot and did not flinch at getting wet or covered in Dutch Metal, a cheap alternative to Gold Leaf.

It turns out that Sharon is quite used to getting cold and wet having spent a lot of time in the river windrush at Minster Lovell.

It is about time I did this

2010-11-17T21:53:00.001Z

Well I have been lurking around the WWW for many years and have read with interest many Blogs by people who are much more proficient with words than I am.

I suppose that the main reason I am doing this is to show some of my photos and perhaps explain the thinking behind the images that I create, mainly with the help of some very talented models, as I mainly take photos of models that I have met on the Internet through sites dedicated to putting both photographers and models in touch with one another. In the time that I have been working with models, I have found that I have a tendency to photograph the same somewhat limited set of people, probably because once that I have found someone outstanding to work with, I am reluctant to go out on a limb and try working with someone I do not know.

Having said that I have worked with five models this year who I had not worked with before, in one case it was at a ‘Group Shoot’ organised by a local studio, and I found that the model worked to a style that was not really of interest to me. Another one was a well-known model who contacted me in the first instance, the shoot went well and I did get images that I was pleased with. I did make the first contact with another local model, and have had four shoots with her this year already, she is making a very good name for herself and is a genuinely hard working model who is full of ideas and really makes an effort to make a photo shoot successful. The other two were friends of a model I have worked many times, I got mixed results from both but I would be happy to work with them again.

My first shoot this year was with ERosanne, New Year celebrations were barely out of the way and I had yet to return to work after the Christmas break when I hired the massive Cheltenham Film Studios. The weather was cold, and so were the studios, but this did not prevent a successful shoot with a model for whom I have a great deal of respect. I will not say much more about the shoot but I will let a small selection of the images speak for themselves.