If you read any previous posts you already know my thoughts on providing work to commercial entities for free, and on submissions. I came across a beautiful example this week of how both these areas can collide in a car crash of exploitation.
Read MoreGolden Girl
"Self Publish Be Happy"
Just a nice, simple little test with Beth Leader from Industry & Elite. It's all about the glow at the moment, and Paula did an amazing job on working Beth's skin to a beautiful shine...
Read MoreRun Baby Run...
To accompany the previous post 'On Fashion Editorial Submissions' here's a 'self publish be happy' editorial set. It was shot in a few hours in cold studio in Manchester with a quick pull from American Apparel and some beautiful body glisten from Caroline.
Read MoreOn Fashion Editorial Submissions
It feels like I can't do a simple test today without somebody involved asking where it's going to be submitted. Or "Can we submit?". Or stating "I only test if it's for submission".
Yeah. We'll submit to 125. Or Purple. Maybe Vogue. Love. Wonderland. They're doing a feature on local designers shot in provincial towns this month. Perfect.
Read MoreBack to Front (NSFW)
It was Mark Twain who said (or didn't say, depending on which internet source Google takes you to) "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" - but, for the moment, Front magazine's current issue is sadly their last. After 16 years and 191 issues the alternative lads mag has ceased to be. It's not the first lad's mag to hit hard times recently. The original lad's mag - Loaded - has gone through two resurrections in the last year. Front itself has had six different owners/publishers over its lifetime. It may yet rise again. But probably not.
Read MoreRedken Symposium 2014
I recently had backstage access to Lisa Shepherd's team at the Redken Symposium 2014 at Olympia. It's a while since I've shot a show - or even been near one of that scale - so took the opportunity to grab some candid shots of Lisa and her team of stylists, colourists, makeup artists and models...
Read MoreOn Frames
The following post might be achingly obvious to anyone who's walked an 'artistic' road through life. I'm a little lacking in the Fine Art History stakes. I know Van Gogh hacked an ear off and that a Picasso is a French car for people that don't like driving. And that's about it
I'm rarely completely satisfied with my own images. Most photographers I know feel the same about their own shots. Other people's frames are infinitely more enjoyable than your own.
Read MoreOn Exposure
Originally posted in May 2011...but still just as relevant...
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Photographers are driven by different motives to shoot. But one driver is common across every photographer I've ever met - the desire to have their work seen
There's an extension from that, to having their work appreciated and acclaimed, but the first step in the chain is simply having it seen.
At its most basic, what's the first thing that you do in the pub once you've snapped your friend having his eyebrows shaved off? You show the picture on the phone's screen. "That's a good one". Debatable, but the social pattern is set. The only person who agrees it's actually shit is the bloke with one eyebrow. And even then he means it's a shit picture of him, not a shit picture per se. There you have the digital workflow in a nutshell - identify a scene, shoot it, display it and get instant feedback.
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