June Flower Updates

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Got some lovely flowers last month from our friends at the florist, as well as providing me with the rolls of wrapping paper to build the paper dress for the Maryna Sedin Shoot. There is an arum lily which is part of the onion family which has this unusual flower. In most cases the flower is round and looks like a purple daisy, but this is different. It also comes with a really interesting 'kink' in its stem that sets it apart this month. Notice also the white images for the black and white section are a greenish colour? I thought I might try something else out this month, because my new computer still does not have some of the old Photoshop presets on it, I have experimented with one of the pre=loaded ones and got this greenish result. I quite like it, so here for this month is an off white black and whites.

Thanks then to our friends Chris and the ladies at the Brambles Florist and Flowers To Yours. For all their help this month with everything and a mention also to Amy for her assistance.

So that’s it for this month, be sure to tune back at the end of July for another update.

Take care of yourselves.

x

May (and Aprils) Updates, So what happened to the April blog ???

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A very warm welcome back to my little piece on the web

So what happened to Aprils blog spot? Put simply my computer went up the shit creak without a paddle..After many years of service it got old, ill and It forced my hand and instead of throwing good money at it, it was best just to buy a new one. So that is what I did/

With a great help from my good friend Mark, I purchased a PC with Amazon all for a good price. Trouble was when it arrived it was fitted with Windows 10 rather than Windows 11 as advertised. It also said that it could not be upgraded to Windows 11 as it did not reach the spec. So I sent it back and got a replacement. This all took time and it crept across the month stopping me from doing last months blog. But we are up and running now with a thanks to Mark for guidance.Health wise took me on a visit to my local A&E department with sore that has been festering on the back of my right leg. I get blisters that erupt due to my blood sugars and when they pop they often are a magnate for infection. This nasty one looked on the mend when it was treated and scabbed over, but somehow the scab broke and the wound was left open to the elements again. Needless to say it went green and smelled ripe. It still does, so the Doctors have put me on antibiotics. There is always the fear that they might have to amputate my leg at the worst if I get Poisson blood, but it has not come to that yet so enough with the mellow dramatics.

I have also been diagnosed with Narcolepsy because I keep falling to sleep everywhere I go and drop off sometimes in the middle of a conversation. I already have sleep apnea, so this does not worry me or surprise me too much. I no longer drive, so it won’t affect me that much. Apart from that I am all fine. God is in heaven and all is well with the world as they say.

It is our thirty sixth wedding anniversary on June 4th. So Amy and I might throw caution to the wind this year and live wild like …. call out for a pizza or kebab this year ? Its tough at the top you know ! But joking aside, I would wish to thank Amy for putting up with me all these years and quite literally kept me alive all these years. Love you.

So enjoy the blog and come back at the end of June for the next update.

X

Still Life – Update

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There is a bit of a rusty feel to this months and Aprils Still life images. I purchased some rust forks and keys from Ebay to photograph. And I think they turned out okay. Amy also suggested we snap some of the old twigs we have that are now bare of fruit and leaves, but have interesting shapes. So here they are. I do hope you enjoy them ?

Digital Art – Update

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These four digital art images are of Munira Model taken at our second shoot with her (more below). The original versions were blurred because I screwed up and used the wrong lens on the camera. Still not the end of the world when you can do some digital manage on them and make them look reasonable again. I know I am giving the game away here, but you only learn by your mistakes.

Munira Model on her second shoot with us

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We were more than happy to get back in the studio the amazing Indian beauty Munira for a second shoot. In this shoot she was asked to wear a pair of the ballet boots. These boots are great to photograph as they add style and lift to the model, but impossible to walk in. Why anyone would want to wear them out for a night is beyond me ? But they do look great.

Munira is such a great model to work with. She is always both punctual and polite and throws herself into the project. I am planning on getting her back for a third shoot in August and to do the Christmas slot with Mercybongo. Thanks then to all there at the shoot, to Shadrine at Kavour Beauty. Phil Lynam at The Boardroom in Derby. A thanks also to Amy for her help and food.

There are also some behind the scenes shots from this shoot featuring Munira, Shadrine and Amy.


Model Marie Jean Saxton Shoot

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It is always good to work with Marie Jean Saxton when she rides into town. She has such a great face and knows how to pose that I just let her get on with it. I did some more blurred images this shoot. Some with a Batman mask on for effect. It was a quick two hour affair shoot so not as abundant in images as the normal four hours would produce, but then its quality rather than quantity that we are after here.

Amy's stuff for the streets of your town site

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She has been at it again !!!

Amy has been out and about, snapping away at people and places and doing a brilliant job at it. I especially like the man with his two dogs in a shop and another picture with a large young man playing with his mobile phone outside a shop door. She is brave because she goes up to people and just asks them if she can take their picture. Sometimes they say no, but most times they agree and she gives them a business card with the web site address on it. So thank you Amy.

If you want to see more of her work please visit the Streets of your town web site. x

May and April Flower Updates

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So because of the April blog not being done last month, we are left with a double helping for your viewing pleasure. Thanks as always to Chris and the ladies at the Brambles Florist and Flowers To Yours. For all their help. A special thanks also to them for providing the paper that was used to make a paper dress with model Maryna Sedin. Shoot to be published in next months blog update.

So that's it for this month. Please come back for more at the end of June.

Bye X

March Updates, Three shoots in the bag this month and would it have been so hard to have shown a little bit more respect when it was needed?

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A very warm welcome back to my little piece on the web

It has been a busy month this last month with not one, but three photo shoots and a cremation thrown it in the mix as well.

We finally got to do our shoot with singer Alexis Victoria Hall that was originally planned for January. That shoot was postponed because of both Amy and I being down with the flu. So I am glad it happened because it was a shoot twenty years in the making. It was that long ago and more that Alexis first contacted me for a shoot. For whatever reason we never got around to it, so made up for it with this short but sweet shoot. It was a month when Mercybongo came back for her sixth shoot and the promise of more shoots to come later in the year. I also got to go on location with male model Lee Henshaw at a local (ish) Art Gallery. What a brilliant place to shoot. We even had good weather, so did some stuff outside the gallery. And to top it all off it was also fun !

On a more down beat note I attended the cremation of Patricia my friend whose daughter I used to work with many moons ago. It was a decent send off for her, if a little chaotic and unorganised. I felt a deep sorrow, not just for the passing of Patricia but of what I thought was the rudeness of some of the mourners. At lesst three times some peoples mobile phones went of, with no urgency to turn them off. Sadly there were others who turned up late and were still filling through the doors right up until the end of the service. I know its wrong to compare cremations and maybe it is just me, but it would have been nice if everyone showed a bit more respect and for starters turned off their cell phones. But it must be said, that at the end of the day Patricia did get a good turn out of people to pay their respects. And I suppose that is really all that mattered,

This April will be a bit quieter with only one photo shoot planned featuring the lovely Indian model Munira come back for her second shoot with us. We are going to do some edgy fashion shots with fluffy pick jackets, pencil skirts, ballet boots and toilet roll middles.

We do not have anything else planned, so a bit of an easy month compared to March. Hope to see you all again next month and enjoy the offerings we have for you here today.

X



Still Life – Update

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We have been doing a few still life jobs this month, all in different styles of finish.

Many of them are bulbs with a lot of root search out for water and a home. Others are dried flowers and odd things like past it sell by date vegetables, gone to seed/ Fresh fruit for rotting veg as the punk band The Dead Kennedys once sang about it, but it would be nice to see one day, one of these images hanging from a gallery wall … I would be happy to make do with an outdoor privy … its a start.

Model Mercybongo Sixth Shoot, 1920's Vibe

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ts Mercy time again.!!!!

This lovely model is now on her sixth shoot with us, with still more to come

She is a great model and so enjoyable to be around. Permanently positive and happy she makes working with her so easy. So on this shoot we have a bit of a 1920s 'flapper' look going on/ Black and golden dress on a yellow background to highlight the gold. Mercy looks the part. We also have some sporty type pictures with a hula-hoop. Those images have a Leni Riefenstahl feel to them I am not saying I agree with her politics (far from it), or the unpleasant company she kept. Rather her strong images of statuesque German Olympic sports personnel/ She was and still is, a controversial photographer, but she was good at what work she produced. That said it was not my intention to produce that kind of image, rather it just happened and turned out that way.

We also created some dreamy effect pictures using a Vaseline smeared UV filter on the lens and Mercy wrapped in a white mesh material.. I am happy with the results we obtained, even with the more tongue in cheek 'Cowgirl' styled pictures, just for the fun of it. So thank you Mercybongo for being a true star. Thanks also to Shadrine at Kavour Beauty. Phil Lynam at The Boardroom Studio in Derby and to Carl and Amy for their help on the day

We shall see you again soon Mercy x

Singer and Model Alexis Victoria Hall

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Here was a shoot twenty years in the making.

Singer and model from Manchester Alexis Victoria Hall and I always said we would like to work with each other, but never got around to it. Twenty years passed and we finally got to get the job done. Alexis came down to Derby where we got the gang in to do the hair and makeup. Sadly on the day both model and makeup artist were not feeling their best with body pains all over. But we all crammed everything into an hour and a half shoot to get something out of the day. And it worked. Alexis is a true professional and a joy to work with. She even got her record company to give me a tune I could use on the slide show. So thank you then to all involved Alexis Victoria Hall and her record publisher 'Soul n' Pepa'. Thanks also to Shadrine at Kavour Beauty. Phil Lynam at The Boardroom Studio in Derby and my dear wife Amy for all their hard work. you also to Amy and Retoucher Sophia for their help as well.

Model Gallery Lee Henshaw at the Art Gallery

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Male model and studio owner Lee Henshaw asked me to do a shoot for him recently. So I agreed and scratched my head a bit thinking of interesting places to go. After some deliberation I called a local Art Gallery with huge ca vinous walls and ceiling if we could shoot in their place. Thankfully they said yes and the shoot went ahead. I think we got some decent stuff. There was no up close portraits you would find from a studio setting, but we made use of the minimalist surroundings in the gallery and outside the building as well. I hope you enjoy the images?

(Mostly) Amy's stuff for the streets of your town site

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She wants my job !!!!

Every time she goes out she sneaks out the camera and indulges in a spot of street photography and she is very good at it. I did photograph the ladies working in the burger van outside the plastics factory, but Amy did everything else. One of my favourites as a simple, but effective image of a man's shadow on the pebbled floor. Great work Amy. See more at the Streets of your town web site. x.

Project – 'Landscapes'

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Just a few from a location that always caught my eye on which ever journey I took by car to the City. Its just outside the City limits and a blink and you miss it. It is a copse of trees on top of a mound and it reminds me of a similar view on the A38 just outside of Bristol on the way to Cornwall. You can not stop on that road, but you can this. So thanks then to my driver from my local taxi firm, James for taking me there.