At Last A Hot And Sunny Shoot!

We have recently had the pleasure of a few hot and sunny days and I was determined to take some photos, and had been thinking up some ideas for a shoot with a difference. I even photographed some birds in my garden on one day and even snapped a photo of a woodpecker on my bird feeders.

 On the day of the shoot I had to do my weekly grocery shopping, and did this on my way to Swindon to pick up my model for the day S_Olivia.

 One idea was to take several images and merge them into a single photo. For the first photo idea, I set my camera up on a tripod with a wide angle 12 – 24mm Sigma zoom set at 24mm which took in the width of the garden. I then posed my model in various states of dress and in various places about the garden. This fulfilled the requirements for my main idea for an image.

 I followed up with several sets of images in different outfits making the most of the light and shade in the garden, unfortunately the light was very contrasty, and I should have got my reflectors out of storage, but I am afraid as usual I thought about it after the shoot was over.

The last few photos of the day were rather chilly of S_Olivia, as she soaked herself with cold water for a wet-shirt shot!

You can see more of my work on my Home Page or on my profile at Purple Port.

Dodging The April Monsoon!

For some time I had wanted to work with Bethany, and I finally managed to arrange a shoot with her at the end of April. On the day I was not hopeful of a good weather as there had been several days of poor weather and the forecast was not good, so it was more in hope that I set off for Oxford to meet with Bethany. As usual the traffic in Oxford was dire and I had to keep a sharp eye out for Traffic Wardens, as I was not going to pay to park for a few minutes as I waited in St. Giles, the agreed meeting place. Bethany finally arrived and we set off for Great Coxwell to start the shoot.

On arrival at Great Coxwell I made a beeline for the Tithe Barn, as this was my choice for the first location of the day. It was cold and windy and this was not going to be a good location to work from, so after a few shots I decided to move on and as it was so windy I decided that we would be more comfortable and warmer working from my home.

After a hot drink, we got down to doing more photos in my garden making the most of the variety of mini locations within it including a couple of garden seats and a nicely textured wall at the end of the outbuildings that house my original darkroom. The last few photos that I took were of Bethany’s tattoos before we set off back to Oxford. We did manage to avoid rain showers through the shoot, just a pity that the sun did not put in an appearance.

 

To see more of my work visit my Web Site or view my Purple Port portfolio.

Helen Diaz

Last week I had a shoot with Helen Diaz. Helen is someone I had wanted to work with for some time and took advantage of an offer to work with her in Bristol.

I set off just over an hour before the shoot and drove to 53 miles from my Faringdon to the outskirts of Bristol. Finding the shoot location was straight forward, and Helen and I chatted away for a while getting to know each other over a cup of coffee.

The shoot went well, and we worked in the conservatory of a bungalow using the natural daylight that was flooding in, between the occasional dull periods as the clouds obscured the sun. The time flew by and I must admit that I could have stayed and chatted with her for hours.

You can see more of my work on my home page or at PurplePort.

Sunny Sunday

I was recently approached by Sharon, aka Fire’s Secret, to take a slot on a studio day she was holding at Simon Walden’s new studio in Cheltenham. I decided that this was a good opportunity to work with a model that must be one of the hardest working in my area, and at an affordable rate, so I booked a time slot that would be suitable for my not too energetic lifestyle.

Before I set off I received a text message requesting a sandwich for lunch as she had forgotten to get one on her way to the studio, so I did a quick stop o the way and bought lunch for both of us, and arrived at the studio slightly ahead of schedule.

After a chat and lunch we set about doing a fairly simple set of images that revolved around using translucent fabrics, a chaise longue and some rather energetic images where Sharon was leaping across the studio space in an attempt to get some levitation style images.

To see more of my images visit my web site or go to my portfolio on Purple Port.