Elite Magazine Photoshoot With Nikki Little

Recently I got a message from Fraser Mutch, one of the main men over at Elite magazine, asking about the possibility of shooting some images of model Nikki Little for the June edition.  Nikki is someone who I have been fortunate enough to work with a few times over the last couple of years and I was delighted to get the chance to do so again.  Nikki had entered a competition with the magazine to be their Model of the Month and polled the most votes from the readers.  This was no great suprise to me as she is such an accomplished model with a great look and the portfolio to match.  We got our heads together and came up with a few ideas that we would like to work on and met up at Banana Studio for the photoshoot to try and bring them to life.  We had three hours to get the images we needed for the publication which seems like a long time but in reality with make up and clothing changes the time just flies by.  During the course of the shoot we tried several different lighting patterns to go with the outfit changes to try and give some variety to the images and showcase Nikki’s versatility.  I think we pretty much achieved this goal although we did run out of time on the last idea we had which involved a really athletic pose from Nikki and a lighting set up which i couldn’t get just right, perhaps that is one for next time!!  Having said that there was one real stand out image on the day for me where Nikki nailed the strong, athletic pose and I managed to capture it in just the way I wanted.  It was an absolute pleasure working with Nikki again, such a friendly outgoing model but thoroughly professional with it.  Thanks also to Eric and his staff at Banana and also to Nikki’s Mum who was on hand at all times to help out which was very much appreciated.

 

Tripping The Light Fantastic

Sometimes in life things just seem to fall into place and just work, Tuesday this week was a prime example of this for me.  Siobhan (better known as Bob or Roberto!!) had been trying to organise a shoot with me for some time but as we wanted to do something location based we really wanted the weather to be right so we had several abortive attempts to make it happen.  The weather was so good this week that we just decided to go for it and despite a few spots of rain on the drive up to Tynemouth it turned out to be a gorgeous evening and the light was just fantastic.  Bob is such a creative soul,  she had a range of outfits prepared and a set of inspirational images to work from, so that despite the short notice we were pretty well prepared for what we wanted to achieve.  We did a recce up and down the beach at Tynemouth and planned a few different areas where we wanted to shoot, after that it was pretty full on making the most of the location, light and Roberto’s extensive wardrobe!!  We worked our way along the beach, climbed like mountain goats along the cliffs and used the old outdoor swimming pool that had some great backdrops.  Three hours later we were finished with a real sense of satisfaction of a job well done.  The only let down was  being kept going “please just one more set!!” by the promise of the best fish and chips in the area which were conveniently forgotten when we had finished 😛  To be fair her boyfriend did come to the rescue with a tasty burger which really hit the spot.  Lots of good images still to come from this shoot, please come back to this post as there will be further additions to the gallery.

Take Me To the Beach

Well wasn’t the weather in April fantastic!!  So much so that I felt the urge to get back out and do some work on the beach, weather was glorious though the water temperature was bloody freezing so we kept well clear of that!!  One of the techniques I was looking to perfect last year was the use of the Alien Bee’s Ringflash to provide fill at the times of the day when the sun was high and there were some pretty deep shadows.  The flash has an output of 400W so has plenty of juice and powered by the Vagabond II battery pack it is portable enough to have the pack slung over your shoulder and still keep relatively mobile and enough power to keep the flash charged up throughout the day.  My usual approach is to have the model with the sun behind her and use the flash to fill from the front.  Most of the images were shot at around f8 – f11 with the flash set anywhere between 1/4 and 3/4 power depending on the shooting distance

For the latest shoot I was lucky to have Charlene as the model who was looking to add some different elements to her modelling book.  The weather was lovely, if a little hazy at times, so we headed off to nearby Redcar on the north east coast of England.  Charlene has such a great look and an absolute pleasure to work with.  We spent about three hours just wandering up and down the beach looking for different places to shoot and things to shoot with.  The piece of driftwood we found presented a few challenges and was the cause of much laughter when it kept rolling over!!  We got there in the end though and despite the difficulties I thought Charlene really nailed that shot.  Fingers crossed for more days like that this summer.

Georgia On My Mind

Georgia was one of the models at  our  group shoot at Banana Studio back in January.  It was a cracking day but in all the rushing around we found that we only had literally 10 minutes at the end of the session to shoot.  In that short time I knew she was someone I would really like to work with again and the images we got in that time confirmed that and I promised I would make the time up in the near future.  So last week we finally got together for a shoot and I travelled up from Darlington to Banana Studio in Newcastle for something that would hopefully last a little longer and work through a few ideas that we had talked about in the build up to the day.  Georgia wanted some really natural images for her model portfolio and when I saw the new graffiti wall at Banana Studio I knew I wanted to incorporate that into the shoot.  The shot we got from that part of the session has quickly become one of my all time favourites.  We were going for a bit of a Marilyn Monroe look in the last shot (well at least I was!! lol).  Big thanks to Georgia for the shoot, lovely girl, very easy to work with, and I’m sure you will agree has a great look.   Good luck in Miss Newcastle Georgia, sure you will do great!!

 

 

Alex and Debbie

Recently had the pleasure of working with 2 models from Boho Model Agency that I had worked with before on a few occasions – Alex Pratt and Debbie Ingram.  We had the whole day (well I’m slowing down in my old age!! lol) and we decided to split the day between shooting some portraits, headshots and B&W images here in Darlington then making the short trip up the A1 to Newcastle and shoot something a little more expansive at Banana Studio.  Debbie was taking a break from her studies at Edinburgh Uni whilst Alex was fresh from a successful stint at London Fashion Week where she came second in the Top Model UK Grand Final – way to go Alex 🙂   As always the girls were absolute stars, fun, creative but also a joy to work with.  Something we had chatted about for a while was a collage of images of the 2 girls together styled around Cheryl Cole’s look in the video “Promise This” which presented a few challenges in post but the final result was worth all the pain!!

Kellyann Magill

Got together recently with Kellyann Magill to shoot some headshots for her portfolio.  Kellyann was the original face of Boho Models and her headshot is still used today as an integral part of their branding, so I felt a little under pressure to produce something of a similar standard.  Kellyann has a lovely look, great skin and is also an accomplished make up artist in her own right.  We wanted to shoot a few different looks, each with their own lighting and processing to give a very different feel, these ranged from some standard beauty shots through to a Twiggy inspired sixties B&W image.  The day went really well and was a really enjoyable experience, Kellyann was great to work with and I was really pleased with the outcome.

 

4 Go Mad in Newcastle

Well Sunday saw the latest get together of erstwhile photographers Marc Melling, Stu Glen, Grahame Jenkins and little old me.  Banana Studio in Newcastle was the venue and we were very lucky to have a strong line up of models, some of who travelled from as far afield as Sheffield to be with us on the day.  Patrycja Firmanty and Karolina Hejnar were also there and did a fantastic job with the girl’s make up throughout the shoot.  Following conversations with some of the models I had a reasonable idea of what I wanted to shoot on the day, though as always things didn’t go exactly to plan and I found myself running out of time towards the end (sorry Georgia we had such a short time to shoot, promise I will put that right).  There was a  great atmosphere  throughout the day, with the usual cameraderie and banter between the togs  and everyone just mucked in and got the most from the day.  Massive thanks to all the girls: Danielle, Georgia, Jordan, Lizzie and Misha who were all a pleasure to work with, to Karolina and Patrycja for their expertise, to Eric at Banana Studio and last but not least to Grahame, Stu and Marc for their support and good humour.  Watch this space for more images.  Fancy another next month?? lol

Group Shoot at Banana Studio

Casting for Banana Studio Shoot, January 30th, 2011

A big thank you to all the models who recently applied for our group shoot at the end of the month.  We had a fantastic response with over 40 models applying, the standard was really high and it made our task an enjoyable but difficult one.  We decided to go for 6 models who none of us had worked with before, so apologies to those who were looking to do another group shoot, and came up with a list which we think has a mixture of looks and styles.  The 6 models are :-

Jordan

Dani

Misha

Natalie

Liliana

Georgia

Thanks again to all who applied, I know I will be working with some of you in the very near future.  Watch this space for images from the day next month.

Goldigger

Recently, I was asked to take part in a shoot with Durham based MUA Ashleigh Reid by model Jenny Clewlow.  Ashleigh was in the middle of planning a series of images based around the 7 Deadly Sins.  The shoot was to take place at Penshaw Monument on what turned out to be an absolutely freezing day!!  The brief was trying to get an image of a WAG caught in the act of burying her ex!!  Ashleigh was great to work with, really well prepared and Jenny looked a bit too handy with that shovel for my liking!!  Great way to spend an afternoon, despite the cold.

Boho Calendar Shoot

I recently had the pleasure of shooting an image for the Boho Model Agency Calendar.  A total of 12 photographers and 12 models were there for the day in what turned out to be a very positive experience, there was a great sense of support and collaboration from all involved.  It was also good to meet up with people whose work I had seen on line and finally be able to put a face to the moniker. The theme for the whole calendar was white, I was teamed up with model Jenny Clewlow for the shoot which was great as we had already worked together and had a good rapport going.  The shot involved several different elements which would hopefully come together to make the final image, a dynamic pose, strong backlighting, smoke, wind and metres of flowing material!!  As you can imaging this wasn’t a one take deal and it took us a while to get the shot we wanted, but looking back I’m really happy with the result.  Big thank you to all at Banana, the models and togs involved who all contributed to what proved to be an excellent day.