Portraits | Imago Imagery

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

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

Georgia On My Mind

April 20, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

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!!

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Banana Studios, Darlington, fashion model, Georgia Hawksfield, Imago Imagery, model portfolio, Newcastle, Portraits

Alex and Debbie

April 10, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

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!!

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Alex Pratt, Banana Studios, Beauty Shots, Darlington, Deborah Ingram, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Newcastle, Next Top Model, photoshoot, Portraits

Kellyann Magill

March 12, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

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.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Beauty Shots, Darlington, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Kellyann Magill, model portfolio, photoshoot, Portfolio Shoot, portrait, Portraits

Eric Murphy Exhibition, Banana Studio, Newcastle

December 2, 2010 by John 1 Comment

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.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Banana Studios, Eric Murphy, Exhibition, Newcastle, Photographer, Portraits

Invaders From The North!!

November 7, 2010 by John Leave a Comment

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Had a great day on Saturday shooting with model Jenny Clewlow at various locations around the Darlington area. I first saw Jenny after she shot with some friends of mine Marc Melling and Stu Glen. She is very much in demand as a model and combines a full time job with grid work, promotions and modelling, travelling long distances to do so. This doesn’t seem to dampen her enthusiasm at all and when we got the chance to shoot eventually she arrived full of enthusiasm and raring to go having driven down from Inverness that morning. We had exchanged several ideas about what we would like to shoot and I picked out a few places which i thought might provide a good backdrop. As it turned out the light beat us and we didn’t get to use them all, always other shoots though I guess. Jenny brought her boyfriend Stu with her, a lovely guy who was a real bonus to have around on the shoot, he needs to be careful he will be giving chaperones a good name!! When we got back we did a couple of studio sets before tucking in to a well earned curry!! All in all it was a really fun day, here are some of the early edits, more will appear during the week.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Darlington, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Jenny Clewlow, model portfolio, photoshoot, portrait, Portraits

Charlene

October 31, 2010 by John Leave a Comment

mg_7289web I first worked with Charlene back in August at a group shoot with other photographers Stu Glen, Marc Melling and Grahame Jenkins held at Banana Studio up in Newcastle’s Ouseburn. She has a great look but is also a lovely girl with it and we grabbed some time on the day to talk about future collaboration, as it turned out we had to wait until this week to finally get together. We were hoping to make a day of it and combine a location shoot with a further session back at Banana, unfortunately the weather was against us so we just headed for the studio. During the three hours we had we shot a range of styles from lifestyle, fashion through to lingerie with Charlene making the transition between each with ease.
The time went really quickly, but looking back through the images I was more than happy with the shots we got. Thanks to Charlene for a really enjoyable and productive afternoon and to the revamped Banana Studio for their good humour and professionalism throughout the day.