Lady Diamond in the Sky
70s Editorial Test
There are a few things I really really need to do...
Update my site...a years worth of great images to select from since I last had chance
Blog more...editorials languishing on my hard drive and thoughts burning my brain
Step away from the 70s...
Glam Slam
Fashion Editorial
I'm not going to compare fashion editorials to buses. That's too obvious. But here's another one shot in the last days of 2014 in Manchester's Northern Quarter...
Read More
Sports Luxe
The last few months of 2014 were fantastically busy - lots of new clients and great new work being built with existing clients. All of which meant little time for personal work and no time to blog. I guess you can't have everything...
Read More
Beauty Editorial
Athena Style
In my mind there's two types of beauty photographs. The first type is ubiquitous - when they're well done and perfectly retouched they look great - but you struggle to remember them. They all look the same, all blend into each other. Ultimately, they're the same shot taken over and over. The second type are basically any beauty shot you can actually remember. Beauty doesn't mean you can't have emotion and impact.
Read More
British Boxers
Underwear Shoot
A few weeks ago I had probably the busiest period of photography since I picked up a camera. Rattling up and down the M6 between London and Manchester I think I shot somewhere in the region of a dozen commercial shoots in just over a fortnight. This is the job that started the first week - working in Manchester with a great team for a proudly British brand, British Boxers (you can read their story here). A beautiful lifestyle shoot showing their new range of male stretch trunks and Double Dapper nightwear on the envy-inducing physique of Boss Model's Gavin Fawcett. Art direction came from the charming Josh Taylor, the lovely Hester Brodie made sure the garments looked perfect and grooming was expertly taken care of by Ms Paula Maxwell.
Read More
United States of Manchester
Fashion Editorial
Once in a blue moon I get to post my photography before anybody else. There's lots of reasons why this never usually happens. For commercial work it goes without saying that you wait for the images to be released, but for personal work it just slips out there. During the shoot the team will Instagram behind-the-scenes shots, previews or 'sneak peeks' get trailered onto Twitter and blogs, models want to use the images in their books for a 'last minute casting' and before you know it the shoot is old news, fragmented parts of the whole drifting around cyberspace in a digital fashion jigsaw.
Read More
Bridal Editorial
I just don't get enough time to do proper full blown bells-and-whistles tests. The exciting ones - full team of people, cool location & great styling. It's a good thing. As much as testing should always remain something every photographer should be doing, if it's the only thing you're doing you start to worry. Come to think of it, there's generally a lot of worry involved in being a freelancer.
Read More
Tag Me
Image credits on Social Media
It's 22ΛC outside. Sticky city hot. But no sun because this is, after all, Manchester. I have a coffee (always), a new table to work at and 30 minutes downtime to put some thoughts down.
As my blog posts often do, this relates to test shoots and is less relevant for commercial work. It's about the currency of credit rather than that of Her Majesty.
Basically, we all test for three main reasons. Creative itches, speculative pitches and maintaining social visibility. The first is easily satisfied. The latter is easily frustrated. So here's a handy cut-out-and-keep* guide to how to do the small things that keep everybody happy and feeling warm inside. Because believe me - nothing creates quietly festering resentment in somebody like giving a day to creating something beautiful and then being socially erased from the end result. Rarely will the person actually say anything incase they come across as a diva. They'll just remember it next time you ask themβ¦
Read More