Holly Whaling – First Shoot

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Its always good to work with new people from time to time and Holly Whaling is a fresh new face on the block. Elegant and sophisticated for someone so young, she looked great in front of the camera. We shot again at Zavod Studio in Sheffield, as Holly and her Mum Emma had to travel down from further north. So it was like meet in the middle. Holly was lovely and brilliant to work with. I got some pleasing results and dearly hope to work with her again in the new year. Thank you goes out to Holly and Emma as well as my team, Shadrine from Kavour Beauty on makeup and Amy for assistance. A shout out also to Xenia Model for her studio and lighting.

November Flower Updates

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Its getting mighty close to Christmas season, the season when Mariah Carey comes out of her cave to warble at us again. But not before we have just had Halloween and Fireworks night. And that is represented in the Brambles flower shop who have once again provided us with some really great flowers to work with. I am especially fond of the three football shaped plants on sticks that I have photographed before on their own and singulary, but never as a set of three. I even added them to the ever growing carousel pictures on the landing page of this web site (its the third picture in!). So a big thanks then goes out to our friends at Brambles Florist and Flowers to yours, Chris and the team for all of their input. Thanks also to Amy for helping with the shoot and organising the preparations to the shoot as she often does.

See you all next month for a festive season offering. X

October Updates, and adventures with Parcel Farce as well as a brand new website to look at !

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Welcome back to this months updated blog for October.

The season has defiantly changed, not that we had much of a Summer in the first place, but it is obviously autumnal now. So what has been going on this October? Well medically speaking I have been quite good this last month with only a few off days. Although I did have my thumb nail fall off. I had caught it in a Taxi door I was exiting a while back and bruised it. It did not hurt, just throbbed. But this month the whole thing just gave up and dropped off. Oh well, I never liked that nail anyway I keep telling myself.

I have been engaged with an ongoing battle with Parcel Farce this last month, trying to point out that I no longer have proof (from 2010) that I purchased the camera went missing. I attempted to point out that when I took out the extra insurance on the camera for its safe delivery, they never asked me if I could prove ownership. They only asked what is in the box and its cost. I then learn that the insurance the post office counters sold me was not in fact insurance, but instead a 'compensation scheme.' This is all semantics I pointed out as that is different from the policy I was told and sold by the Post Office. So on that grounds they offered to pay me a whopping ten pounds more for my troubles. So the amount went up from forty pounds (camera + P&P = $450.00) to a staggering fifty pounds! Well their generosity knows no bounds and I am left feeling completely shafted by them. They sent a cheque to my door even though I rejected the pittance they offered me – just to prove a point that their customer care was not worth the paper it was written on and that the great British public should watch out as they are being misled and lied to by Parcel Farce and its agents.

But on a more positive note, I have a brand new website for you all to see. Its called ‘Streets of your town' (www.streetsofyourtown.co.uk) and it features the street photography I have been doing for a while. There is a blog with the site, but it will only get updated when something new is added or I have an observation to tell you all about. Certainly not religiously at the end of every month as this blog is. Most of the images were taken locally to me and its still a work in progress. It also gets me out of the house more and getting some fresh air for a change. I thought about starting a new project page for it here on this website, but decided that to give the subject its own web space was better, as this website is almost full to capacity. Please go and have a look, I hope you enjoy it.

So more shoots coming up in November with two happening on the same day and in two different cities. I shall tell you more when they happen, and after it has wore me down for the week. A thank you then this month to the usual suspects. To Amy for her help. To Chris and the staff at Brambles Florist and Flowers To Yours. To model Marie Jean Saxton and studio owner Phil Lynam. A special thanks also to James from ACEABC taxi firm for getting us safely to the shoots every month. .

Keep smiling and enjoy the rest of this Halloween blog. Thanks x

Project – 'Architectural Metaphor' Update

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Do you ever look above eye level when your going about your business in town centres? You should try it some time. I found the architecture of our local library quite interesting and a surprise to me. Its something I had never noticed before and although a bit Brutalist in design, it does take a good picture. Featured here are also so images of local beauty spots (?) like the Bus Station, the Probation Office and the back of an old inn of renowned destitution opposite the probation office hang out for naughty boys and girls in the area. I hope you enjoy them.

Project – 'Abstract' Update

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Here are a few little abstract pictures of sausages in a jar and the tap running I took actually a few months ago and forgot about. I am always on the look out for things that might make for a descent abstract photo, so if you have any suggestions then please do let me know


Marie Jean Saxton Halloween Special (for the 'Digital Art' section)

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Personally I am not a believer in celebrating Halloween and I certainly do not open my front door to the hordes of little brats that come trick or treating. It beats me how that American tradition was picked up in this country? I do remember fondly as a teenager on the estate I used to live on when one sole kid was trick or treating going door to door. I had told him not to bother knocking at my fathers house as he will get nothing for his troubles but a flee in his ear. Sure enough the kid knocked and ended up explaining trick or treat to my Dad for twenty minutes. And when he asked if he would get any sweets or money he was given a stern 'No' and had the door slammed in his face.. Well I did warn him !

So here is the lovely Marie Jean Saxton with Devil horns I purchased from Amazon and a pink suit on. I have had to shift the colour in Photoshop to make it red, but I just love the pointed shoulders the jacket has. It adds a certain style to the pictures. The laptop images are copied from a front cover of a magazine I picked up from the train station that featured a cartoon of the Devil offering bad things on the internet. The image stuck in my head and I wanted to bring it to life. I think it worked out quite well. So thank you to model Marie Jean Saxton and Phil Lynam at the Boardroom Studio in Derby.


Marie Jean Saxton Fourth Fashion and Woodland Nymph Shoot

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So I do hope its clear why I split this two hour session with Marie Jean Saxton in to two halves. I could have gone for three if I needed, but then that would have been stretching it a bit. So in this section Marie is doing a simple fashion shoot with blue denims and floral jacket on, all taken in natural light at the Boardroom Studio. And another weird set of images with model as a woodland nymph. Now this is the only place you will see these pictures as they do not fit in with any section of the website. Here they are in full for your enjoyment.

October Flower Updates

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I do not know if its seasonal and perhaps because of Halloween, but our friends at the Brambles Florist pull out all the stops to get us some very different flowers this month. We always get top quality flowers to photograph from them, but there are some strange ones here today. One of my favourites is the dark red gerbera that looks as though its been through a shredder with spiky petals. One of the flowers that resembles buds on the end of two slender spikes is still opening. So I hope to get a second shoot out of them soon. So its a huge thanks to Chris and the ladies at the Brambles Florist and Flowers To Yours. You never cease to amaze me! And of course a big thanks to my assistant and wife Amy for her long sufferance and help.

So that is it for this month,. Thank you for tuning and and seeing just what we have to offer this month and hopefully see you all safely again in November.

Bye for now x

September Updates and a special mention to 'Parcel-farce'

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Welcome back to my little corner of the web.

September was a placid month again, I had wanted to go to the City and capture some architecture pictures as well as street photography. But every time it came to the weekend it was either bad weather, or we had something else to do. Maybe this October we can get down there and photograph something of interest? We did however manage to do a three model shoot at the Boardroom Studio, featuring the makeup of Shadrine at Kavour Beauty and the loveliness of Mercybongo, Munira Model and Yoo Yoo. And it was great fun with some good results … in-fact too many for publication.

Cast your mind back a few months ago when I sent a parcel containing a Camera to Romania so it could be chipped to do Infrared photography with it. The camera that was stolen somewhere on its journey back to me and I only got an empty box back for my troubles? Well we filled in a claims form that was given to us over the counter at the local post office and mailed it to the shipping company's address. After a month or so I contacted the shipping company to see how it was claim was progressing The shipping company I shall simply refer to as 'Parcel - Farce,' told me that it was with the claims department and that I should wait for them to contact me. So it was to my surprise when I contacted them again a week ago to say I have not heard a sound from them, that they tell me they never received it in the first place. So someone in Parcel - Farce lied or is lying to me I wish I could say I am surprised, but I am not. When you look at other people dealings with Parcel - Farce, its easy to come to the conclusion that they are as useful as a tampon in a swimming pool. In fairness when you read about any shipping company on liner its like reading a horror story, with very few printing the times they have done a great job. Such is the way things go, but I for one will try to avoid using Parcel - Farce any more. And fingers crossed for the smooth journey through the department concerned of my resubmitted claim. I shall keep you all informed.

I am in the studio again tomorrow, so should have something new to show you all at the end of October. Until then take care of yourselves and enjoy this months blog.

x

Still life Update

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There is only one Still Life to show this month and its the rotted corpse of last months Sunflower. We often leave the flowers to go over to see if we can get something interesting in there decay, as was the case with this flower. I wish I had got to it sooner as there were more petals on it when Amy first showed it to me. My fault I left it a little too long. It smelled to high heaven as well as did the water it was in. So here it is then, the decay of the Sunflower picture, just before it went on the compost heap!

Three Model Fashion Shoot.

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Now this was something different and took a bit of organising.

Originally the idea of my makeup artist Shadrine from Kavour Beauty, it was based on a Royalty theme. We looked into getting a throne for hire to use, but that worked out very expensive for what amounted to four hours use. So we got three models in, Mercybongo, Yoo Yoo and new model to us Munira Model. All of the models wearing and representing their ethnic backgrounds in clothing and jewellery worked well and the models were a dream to work with. Shadrine provided all of the makeup and the hospitality and cups of tea were provided by Phil Lynam at his amazing Boardroom Studio in Derby have not published all of the images here on the blog as there are simply too many to show, so here are the edited highlights that you can see in the slide-show above. Thanks them to all involved .

Project – 'Lujon Fressonique' Update

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Here are some images I actually made several months ago and never got around to editing for one reason or another. They are of model Marie Jean Saxton and again the Sunflower from last months batch of flowers. The fressonique style of editing is quite intense, so lucky for me I made a point of writing it all down and follow the instructions each time for consistency. All images taken using the plastic fantastic cheap lens Amy made. As crude and as simple as it can be, but still look reasonable quality. I hope you enjoy them?

September Flower Updates

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Something a little different for this months flower pictures, in that there are no flowers. I thought that might be a problem when I realised this fact after visiting the Brambles Florist, but actually it turned out good. So there are no gerberas or roses this month, more shapes and textures like oak leaves and poppy heads. Thank then to Chris and the ladies at The Brambles Florist and Flowers To Yours. A thanks also to Amy for all her help.

Well that is it for this month. I hope to see you back here at the end of October …. so see you soon x

Augusts Updates and 'Well he would say that, wouldn't he? '

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Welcome back to my blog and little piece of the web that is mine. Good to have you back and hope you enjoy this months offerings?

It was going to be a quite month as opposed to July, with no model shoots at all Yet back in July I was contacted about shooting with a new model Lydia Clifford and I just jumped at the opportunity. We also squeezed another new shoot in with favourite Monalisa Moyo, back again in-front of the lens. So aside from them its been an peaceful, uneventful month. I would like to add a thank you to all those who like and watch my blog. With a special mention to my father who wrote a really lovely email to me saying how he enjoyed the pictures. I do not often get a lot of comments and often met with indifference because I think people have an expectation of a certain quality of work so don't mention when they get it. I put images up on Instagram and the such which sometimes go on to get two likes- WORLDWIDE!! Now I am not fishing for compliments, applause or feeling sorry for myself, but it is always good to get feedback (good or bad). So at least you know where your going wrong or getting something right? Now I know what you might be thinking, so his father said something encouraging to him and to use the Mandy Rice - Davies quote 'Well he would say that, wouldn't he? ' But it took me back a bit in a pleasant way and it felt good. Feedback, suggestion, requests and even constructive criticism, is better than silent indifference people. Nuff said ….…...

September is shaping up to be a busy month with a three model shoot at the Boardroom Studio in Derby, organised Shadrine my makeup artist at Kavour Beauty. Get well Shadrine, we need you fit and active on the day.

Please enjoy this months blog

x


So please enjoy this months blog

Project – 'Architectural Metaphor' Update

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We only managed one project update this month, but we made it a good one. Getting up early one Sunday morning we took a lift to a local college to snap away at its new facia and architectural delight. The building there used to be quite drab in its 1979s style of building, but since the face lift I personally think it is a whole lot better. There was nobody around … not a soul … not even a student, so we had the place to ourselves. I strongly hope we captured its design beauty, to show it at its best? With thanks to Amy.

Lydia Clifford – Girl On Fire RED Shoot

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Like I mentioned earlier I was not intending to do any shoots in August, but then this lovely fashion model and redhead Lydia Clifford (Girl On Fire) contacted me and I could not say no. Amy and I worked with Lydia down at the Boardroom Studio in Derby for two hours with the theme being RED.

And She was amazing ! She does dropped into posses with little need for direction, all natural and I think we got some great images of her. I would definitely like to do another shoot at a later date with Lydia again sometime, so thank her for her input. Thanks also to Phil Lynam at the Boardroom Studio and birthday girl on that day, my wife Amy.