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.
Bak To Skool
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.
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.
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!!
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 :-
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.
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.
Eric Murphy Exhibition, Banana Studio, Newcastle
On Sunday I had a drive up to Newcastle to see the latest project of Banana Studio’s main man Eric Murphy. Despite the weather there was a good turn out and it was good to catch up with a few familiar faces. His latest project was a series of portraits of some “colourful” people from the area, shot in their natural habitat. The results were an eye catching range of images that were full of interest and character, there was lots to admire in the creativity and technical ability that had gone into the making of these images, the processing was really cool too. If you want to see more of the images from the day click here. All images copyright Eric Murphy.
Banana Studio Open Day
Earlier in the year I was fortunate enough to be invited along to the open day organised by Eric Murphy and his staff at Banana Studio in Newcastle. It was a really good day out all round, not only from the point of view of working with some great models but also being able to chat with lots of other photographers whose work I was familiar with from various modelling web sites. Had a really fun shoot with Natalie Overton who was lovely and very patient when I was trying to explain the images I was looking to achieve. The star of the day however had to be Demari Vi Sith who had travelled up from London for the weekend. Demari has a really unique style, influenced by her strong dance background, and was an absolute joy to shoot. Made my job really easy as all I really had to do was push the button!! Even though I only worked with her for a relatively short time I felt very happy with the images we created, in no small part due to her skill and professionalism. Definitely someone who I would like to work with again. Big thank you to Eric and his staff for making us feel so welcome.