Shoots | Imago Imagery

Country House Shoot

May 12, 2012 by John 2 Comments

Recently I had a great opportunity to shoot at nearby Middleton Lodge, a private country mansion set in 250 acres of grounds near Middleton Tyas in North Yorkshire. The venue is much sought after for weddings, corporate events etc but also incresingly so as a backdrop for photoshoots. There were some great rooms to shoot in, tastefully decorated with period furniture, and also a really interesting cellar area. The grounds are beautiful too, unfortunately we were unable to venture outside due to the “Great British Summer”!! Model for the day was the lovely Lucy Baty who travelled down from Newcastle with make up artist Alex Pretswell making up the creative team. We worked right through the day trying to fit in as many outfits / rooms as we could and I was delighted with the images that we created, below is a selection of just a few of them. Big thanks to the staff at Middleton Lodge, Eric Murphy and of course to Lucy and Alex who were great fun to work with.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Alex Pretswell, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Location, Lucy Baty, Make up artist, Middleton Lodge, wedding, wedding dress

Just Dance

February 6, 2012 by John 2 Comments

Recently had an enquiry from Jade who is currently in her final year of dance training at Bird College in London. Jade wanted some images that she could use for upcoming auditions with a few fun ones thrown in for herself. The shoot took place at Banana Studio in Newcastle with Alex Pretswell on hand to do hair and make up. I really enjoyed working with her, although she was a little nervous at the start she quickly settled into the pace of the shoot and produced some really elegant, powerful poses that showed her athleticism and grace. Shooting these images has inspired me to do some more dance related stuff and that has been put on my to do list for 2012.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Darlington, fashion, Imago Imagery, Make up artist, Newcastle, portfolio, Portfolio Shoot, portrait, Portraits

The Positives of Negatives

December 29, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

Did a few product shots for the Omega Power website recently. The company sells wristbands that emit negative ions that are said to improve balance, strength and flexibility and stimulate levels of the feel good hormone Seratonin. You can find out more about these benefits on their website or on their Facebook page. The some of the images were shot using the flash modelling lights with the remainder using a five flash set up.

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Filed Under: Shoots

From Raphaella With Love

September 18, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

As you look the work of other photographers and model’s work there are always those who stand out head and shoulders from the crowd. One such person for me was Raphaella whose images I had been an admirer of for some time. She has a stunning portfolio of work and always seems to bring such a sense of style and grace to her images. This put her very high on my list of people to work with. When the opportunity came up to shoot with her at Banana Studio in Newcastle I naturally jumped at the chance and was looking forward to the day immensely. Raphaella certainly didn’t disappoint and was an absolute joy to work with, looking through the images after the shoot there were so many that I liked that I was hard pressed to choose, below are just a small sample from the day, no doubt more will make it here over the coming months. Great day all round with a very classy lady.

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Filed Under: Shoots

Bak To Skool

August 29, 2011 by John 4 Comments

One of the things I really love about photography is that there is always something new to learn and even though I feel I have come quite a long way in the last few years I’m very aware that there is still a long way to go. With that in mind I signed up for a workshop with Leeds based commercial photographer Jay Mawson held at Banana Studio in Newcastle. I had been an admirer of his work for quite a while now and was really looking forward to the experience. It turned out to be a really interesting day during which Jay shared his philosophy on lighting techniques and getting the best from the people you are shooting. Perhaps the most refreshing aspect were the stripped back set ups, utilising single strobe and reflector, natural light and on camera flash, allowing the photographer to concentrate wholly on the image and the models expression / pose. During a series of demonstrations and discussions Jay outlined his workflow, supplemented with the odd pearl of wisdom from Steve Robertson, this was followed up with ample opportunity to put this into practice with the five models on call using different sets around the studio. It was also good sharing your thoughts and ideas with the other photographers on the course who were great company throughout the day. At the end I came away feeling really enthused about the whole thing and with lots of food for thought. Big thank you to Jay and Steve for a stimulating day, Eric and all his staff at the studio who rolled out the red carpet as usual, models Kirsty, Louise, Shonagh, Abbey and Sarah and last but not least to the other photographers who took part on the day.

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Filed Under: Shoots, Uncategorized Tagged With: Banana Studios, commercial, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Jay Mawson, Newcastle, Photographer, photoshoot, Steve Robertson

Rae of Sunshine

July 23, 2011 by John 4 Comments

Well this was a shoot that was almost cancelled because of the weather, the forecast was pretty poor and it looked like we were not going to get any good light. On the morning of the shoot I got up early to chek out the webcam that overlooks the location and it didn’t look too bad so we decided to give it a go. I made the short trip up the A1 /A19 and through the Tyne Tunnel to Tynemouth to meet Charlene who you will probably recognise from previous shoots on the blog. Tynemouth is a popular area well known to the people of the north east because of the beach but also draws its fair share of surfers and scuba divers. The plan was to shoot a couple of outfit changes in and around the beach area, including an old outdoor swimming pool which had been thoughtfully re painted before the shoot :), before the weather closed in. As it turned out the weather was lovely, sunny and perfectly still which made for great shooting condition, this gave me the option of using my new silver lined 59″ parabolic umbrella ella ella from Hobo Lighting. The quality of the umbrella is good and it is built a little more strongly than a standard brolly making think it would be a better option for location work. Using a 500w Bowens Gemini strobe running off a Travelpak it gave out a good amount of light which was quite focused and contrasty. I have read that they are considering making a front diffuser panel for this which will be interesting to see the effect it has on softness. It needed careful setting up but when you get in the right place I really liked the effect it gave, certainly something I will be looking to use a lot more in the future. As usual Charlene looked stunning and we worked through the different sets quickly before she had to rush off home and feed her new Dalmatian pup Spot!! A thoroughly enjoyable shoot with a great model, hope you enjoy the images.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Beach, Charlene Rae, Darlington, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Location, model portfolio, photoshoot, Portfolio Shoot, portrait, Portraits

Taylor Made

July 17, 2011 by John 2 Comments

During the course of the summer I’m looking to do a few different fashion based shoots on location to freshen up my portfolio. Once I started to look for models who would suit the type of look I wanted Bex Taylor was someone who I felt had the look and style needed. I had seen some images of her on Facebook but also through some really good shots taken by local photographer John Picton which really convinced me she was right. Fortunately she was keen to be involved so we set about planning a day which would be part studio and part location based. Bex travelled down to Darlington from Sunderland and we just seemed to get on right from the start. During the morning we worked on a few different looks, including some natural light images which I was really pleased with. After a rather rushed lunch (there just never seems to be enough time!!) we drove out to the coast to do some shots on a local beach, weather was great although the light was really contrasty so a good deal of fill light was needed using the Bowens Travelpak and a 400W flash head. This was also a first try for a brolly box I had recently bought from Ebay which worked out pretty well though I’m now considering buying a suitable octobox to replace this in the near future. We had another location picked out to finish off with but unfortunately ran out of time, though that is a great excuse to work with this talented model again!! For some of the images I was trying out a new processing technique (for me) which involved the use of localised curve adjustment layers, gradient maps and some shadow / highlight work. Not sure I’m 100% there yet with this but it definitely has potential to create the look I’m trying to achieve. Great day, lovely model, hope you enjoy the images.

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ps Watch this space as a couple of these images will be appearing in the first printed edition of Elite magazine next month 🙂

Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Beach, Bex Taylor, Darlington, Imago Imagery, Location, model portfolio, photoshoot, Portfolio Shoot, portrait, Portraits

Sunshine On A Rainy Day (Well A Little!!)

June 18, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

This week I took delivery of a new piece of kit that I had been scouting around for for quite some time, a Bowen’s Gemini strobe together with a Travelpak. I’d been keeping an eye on several of these over the past few months but they always seemed to attract a high price on EBay. They say patience is a virtue and it certainly was in this case as I managed to pick up a set in great condition for a really good price so I was a very happy chappy 🙂 . As a guy with a new toy I was dying to try them out and was lucky enough to have a shoot with Eve set up for the following weekend. I have worked with Eve several times now (link to last shoot) and I’m always delighted with the images we produce and this time proved to be no exception. We headed for the coast on what proved to be a rather dull and overcast day and quickly abandoned the bikini shots we had in mind (this is the NE coast of England!!) and Plan B was to shoot something a little more commercial / fashion style. During the course of the morning we shot at 3 different locations, interspersed with get warm and bacon sandwich stops. There was a bit of a breeze blowing in from the sea so I was extra careful to make sure that the light stand was well weighted down with some strategically placed rocks to prevent the whole thing blowing over. With a 1m 10cm Brollybox attached I was able to shoot at about f5.6 to f8 with the 400W strobe on about 3/4 power. Recycling time was pretty good at about 2 seconds and the power meter had hardly moved after shooting a couple of hundred shots, so all round I was really happy with the way it performed and the quality of light it produced. As always Eve was an absolute pleasure to work with, great fun but also totally professional. I really like the feel of these images and look forward to using the kit again on future projects I have planned for the summer, considering adding a second strobe too for some ideas I have.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Beach, Eve Lemmon, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Location, Photographer, photoshoot, Portraits

Elite Magazine Photoshoot With Nikki Little

June 14, 2011 by John 2 Comments

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.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Banana Studios, Darlington, fashion model, Imago Imagery, model portfolio, Newcastle, Nikki Little, photoshoot, portrait, Swimwear

Tripping The Light Fantastic

June 2, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

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.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Darlington, fashion model, Imago Imagery, model portfolio, Photographer, photoshoot, Portfolio Shoot, portrait, Siobhan Walker, Swimwear, Tynemouth