Where is Here?

Saw a great big sign the other day with numbers 1-4 on it and then written slap bang in the middle was You Are Here. Unfortunately at the time I didn’t know where here was.  And the numbers didn’t help.  But then I never was great at maths.

New Web Site

Its only taken two years to put this one together, but eventually its finished.  I  think my web developer is glad to see the back of me.  he said about a year ago that web sites would be a thing of the past before we got this finished.  I think he could possibly right.

Cockles and a Photo assignment

Cockles the best photograph on Friday, last day of the week.  I have just got back from shooting food all day.  Just as the light was starting to fade the chef came through the door with a pan of cockles, “can we do just one more shot!” he asked. “Fine” was my reply, he put the pan down and went to get the rest of the dish.  This was the moment I saw my favourite shot of the day, the pan sat there with cool northern light  waiting for me.  Do I eat it or do I photograph it.  As you can I went for the latter, mainly because I think the chef may have killed me if he’d come back in the room  and seen an empty pan.  Once the pic’s been published I’ll put a picture of the finished dish up. 

Champagne Murder is finally here !

Okay so we took a little time finishing this one.  We had great fun making it, had a laugh editing it and then stuck it on the shelf.  It was only when Ronan asked us what we were going to do with it I thought maybe others would like to watch it.  So watch the top one first -no one got hurt, but Ben did find glass in his hair after the event,  then watch the second to see how it should be done.

As I said we had fun making it so I hope you enjoy watching it.

Wembley !!! with a 15mm

At Wembley for the League Cup Final the other day.  You really don’t appreciate the noise till you are stood in the bowl.  Its great when you see two teams of different colours You can see the division of  fans.

I was actually their for a shoot which had very little to do with the football and when you are on the outside  it drags you in.  It was good to have a 15mm lens with me as it was the only way in which you could get the feel for the whole stadium.

Maybe one day I’ll get a ticket to see my team at Wembley!!

Portraiture In Film

Enjoyed a really good exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill.  Moving portraits is on till the 27th of March.  And its FREE!  Its an interesting journey through the use of film and video to create portraits more related to photography.  In it you will see the work of Robert Maplethorpe, Sam Taylor-Wood (David Beckhams portrait, 67 min long, really liked this one) and Gillian Wearing.Always  worth a trip to Bexhill just to see the De La Warr pavilion, don’t forget to take your camera!!

A Blast in the East!!

A cold grey day in February and I was sent off to the east coast of Kent to do a portrait.  As I passed through  not so sunny Margate I saw the new Turner building.  A series if blocks sat behind a wooden barricade protruding out towards the sea. I thought I’d pull over and take a look.  See if I could get a good angle on it.  But I never got there, I had pulled in at the old Lido.  A tired  building that looked more like a themed restaurant than a swimming pool. Now this was interesting.  For a start I could access all areas and secondly I was looking at the past in the present.  When I eventually got pool side (or maybe in the pool) all I could see was sand, gravel and a few concrete memories barricading against the sea.  This really is an interesting location and one I’ll log for coming back and making some video.

The Champagne Murders

Just shot a great video with sommelier Ronan Sayburn.  Following on from  the opening a bottle of Port with a feather we have gone for opening a bottle of Champagne with a Saber.  Filmed it in a different style as there already loads on YouTube.  Ronans also made a poster out of it.  Hope to have the video up sometime next week.

So watch this space!!

Meanwhile if you haven’t seen how to open a the port with a feather take a look above.

Simon Hulstone Up Against The Best

This is Simon’s Menu cover for his entry in the Bocuse d’Or which is happening on the 24th and 25th.  We went down to his restaurant the other day and shot Simon wrapped in a flag.  Very patriotic I thought.  Anyway got a good cover out of it for Hospitality Media.  Had trouble finding a flag.  When I mentioned it in the pub a few nights beforehand someone said I’ve got one in my garage.  I thought it was going to be a five foot flag or something.  But this was serious.  He was a bit vague as to where he found it.

Take a look at the final pic that was supplied to a magazine on Hospitality Medias Blog

A Day at the Office

Have had a bit of a rush on recently with shoots for city based clients. And the really good thing is that they are willing to do some interesting photography at long last.  One that came together well recently was for  Boone Design, it was an interesting location and the client wanted to focus as much on the environment as the people in it.  It did help that the building was interesting!  The client was really good as well making sure we had the people ready for each shoot, as well as keeping us well supplied with coffee and tea.   The unfortunate side was the building management lot were really unhelpful and made every part of the shoot take longer than it should have done.  I don’t know, but this does seem to have become a bigger problem in the last few years, not the client but the building management lot they seem to have become progressively unhelpful to the point of rudeness.

Anyway enough about that gripe, what I have realised recently is the Canon 5D II has been a really big step up for me from my last digital camera.  The ability to shoot on a higher ISO has really affected the way I approach aspects of the shoot.  Although there is some noise in the higher speeds it really doesn’t show up as it used to.

Here are some of the pics I shot recently take a look , no flash all available light,  I think my assistant is starting to worry that he won’t have anything to do soon.

I also shot live view for the first time the other day, I know I am probably the last person to try this but still it was a revelation,  if a little heavy on the batteries.  I’ll put some pics up soon from my shoot with live view.