Tree

Highlight: January is a quiet month of me so it's nose to the grindstone with accounts, redesigning website, sorting portfolio, archiving pictures, etc. OR…HAVE A GREAT TIME WORKING ON SOMETHING CREATIVE!!!!
Lowlight: Not enough time to work on some more - BUT I'LL BE BACK!
Fill in: I shot Tree in November as part of a band shoot and loved her style - A tribal Fusion Belly Dancer. She had bones in her hair, could juggle swords, glittered with rubies, wore skulls for a bra - what's not to love! What's more she looked like a model from Vogue knew how to pose. I took quite a few of her in the narrow changing room against a white backdrop worth a view to styling it up.


Tech Spec: The shot was taken against a white Hi-lite lit by a brolly. I also took lots of details shots of Tree's hair, jewellery and costume. The trees were images from stock I had shot myself and the birds were from
cgtextures.com. I ended up with over 50 layers but I think it works okay. Still trying to face the accounts...

For more about Tree visit:

http://www.spiraltribedancecompany.co.uk/

For free image samples: http://cgtextures.com/

PYTHIA

Highlight: So it's the start of the year. I have been hibernating, but who better to wake me from my slumber but the lovely Ms Ovendon.

Lowlight: She needs pictures - like …Yesterday! And kicks my arse on Facebook.
Fill in: I had promised finished artwork to Pythia last month but I needed my sleep. However now it was getting serious. Japan and Metalhammer were calling and it was time to actually process the pictures into something fantastic - or at least publishable - in two days!
Tech Spec: I had shot the band members individually against a white background with a view of comping them together. I had this great idea of putting them at the mouth of a cave which was a serpents mouth cave thingy but I didn't have time for that now - I did a mountain range Skyrim style - but it was rejected and in the end we settled on a crystal ball thingy which I added a serpent to - all in the space of two days - the power of email.
 The Japan cover was much easier -I had already done the background but just needed to swap in a better head and tweak the layers a bit. Lesson: Always keep your PSD file with all the layers - it makes any changes so much quicker and I have even made apparantly new backgrounds by just tweaking layer opacities.

For further info: www.pythiamusic.com

Gillman and Soame

Highlight: School dinners! Have they changed since I was at school when salad was lumpy mashed potato slopped onto a limp lettuce leaf with a runny tomato on the side. Now it's bowls of crispy green leaves, crunchy crudités, fresh fruit and nuts with baked potatoes and warm baguettes.

Lowlight: Getting up at 5.30am for half the month to get to school!!!

Fill in: So, one month, 15 schools, and over 5000 children from terrible toddlers to terrifying teenagers. There were tears, tantrums, hard stares and grimaces - and that was just me getting the kit up. The work, seemingly so straight forward in training suddenly became a mammoth task when confronted by the reality of giggling girls refusing to look up, boisterous boys refusing to smile, shirt collars refusing to lie down and receptions kids refusing to sit up. Each job threw up a new challenge, more frustrating than the last from concrete mixers blocking the school entrance, to mothers trying to turn a simple group shot into a creative family photo session, to getting lost in one particular school whose corridors and stairs would have given Hogwarts a run for its money. Am I coming back next year? You bet I am..To successfully get hundreds of children, from the awkward to the shy to the aggressive to the precocious, to smile nicely for the camera in a couple of hours is actually quite rewarding and as a mother - I know how just important that school photo is.

Tech Spec:

here is my shoot checklist

BEFORE

Location: power point 15’l x 10’w x 8’ h
Entrance exit
Windows position of cables

Set up: Background F8-F11 (half way up backdrop)
Front F8 (5’ 6” high)
Bench (five foot steps)
Shoot WB Shoot grey card
Tape down all cables.

Clipbag with marker, cards, batteries and tissues
Name cards and box.


DURING: Check class (board shot in-between each one)
Fill out Identiboard (class or comp)
Check tidiness (parents photograph them before school to prove they were tidy when they went in)
Check bench (kids kick it)
Check lights (kids kick them)
Check backdrop (kids knock it over)
Check name card (kids lose them - younger ones eat them)


AFTER: Re-Booking form
Download images – burn CD
Pack down


POST: CDs
Re-booking form
Yellow job sheet
Names to faces cards



Enquiries: http://www.gillmanandsoame.co.uk/

Mark Stone

Highlight: Seeing Mark Stone again - he has a way of making you feel cultured and intelligent just basking in his presence.



Lowlight: After a few minutes more in his aura I realise I am not cultured or intelligent at all
Fill in: The shoot was portraits for Mark's noes project which included pianist Sholto, Violinist Johnny and Singer Michelle - all classically trained so felt more uncultured by the minute. Luckily Mark had brought along his 9year old son Tom so at least someone in the room was on my level. However it turned out he was an excellent musician and knew his way round an iPad so once again I was the philistine in the room.



Tech Spec: Used the Lastolite Hi-lite (see Gillman and Soame) plus a back light and one front light to give a white backdrop set up. Then threw grey strawberry netting from B&Q over the Hi-lite. It is translucent and the effect is great for post-production shading for atmospheric images. Finally I made the use of the room's natural light - we were at Birkbeck College and the room had a whole wall of windows facing North so it was just like a daylight studio.

For editorial enquiries: www.gettyimages.com

Gillman and Soame Training

Highlight: Landing a contract with the most exclusive schools photography company in the business

Lowlight: Finding out my photography has become appallingly sloppy.
Fill in: Work was looking slow for September so a quick hunt on the internet showed a need for schools photographers in my area. How hard can it be I thought as I merrily sent off my CV. It was then that I remembered the moans from my kid's' friends' mums (that does make sense even if it is bad English) about untidy hair, cheesy smiles and scruffy school uniform in the 'terrible' school photos and realised that if I even got the work I was going to have to take whole schools of kids of all ages of a quality that would please a doting mother.. .and quickly! I got an interview but had cold feet. Amazingly I got a contract, and was relieved to find out we had two days training and was sent with a trainer to our first few commissions.


Tech Spec: We were shown the set up for the standard white back drop portrait, the reams of paperwork that aided the smooth running of the process (this is factory photography and the long list of pc do's and don'ts. I was disappointed to find out we could not threaten the kids, call them names or swear at them to get the shot (always works for bands…) and dismayed to find we had to get the pic in ten second or less, preferably in one take. But the biggest embarrassment was not knowing how to use my expensive light metre (actually no-one could work it out) and revealing my extremely sloppy habits which had developed over the past 15 years. It was good to get back to basics and churn out a decent pic in record speed.

For enquiries: www.gillmanandsoame.co.uk

Pythia

Highlight: A chance for another Emily Ovendon shot to see the light of day and to get creative.
Lowlight: Digging the images out of the archive - my system is under constant review to make it better so I can never find anything.

Fill in: Brian Froud had done the artwork for the British version of the Band's new album, but Japan like to get Emily on their covers and who can blame them.




Tech Spec: I used the graphics supplied by Brian and the Pythia 'The Serpent's Curse' website for the colour scheme and just added layers of textures to frame Emily. Her hair was given a quick perm and lift and make up was accentuated.

For more info www.mediaevalbaebes.co.uk

Pythia

Highlight: A chance for another Emily Ovendon shot to see the light of day and to get creative.
Lowlight: Digging the images out of the archive - my system is under constant review to make it better so I can never find anything.

Fill in: Brian Froud had done the artwork for the British version of the Band's new album, but Japan like to get Emily on their covers and who can blame them.




Tech Spec: I used the graphics supplied by Brian and the Pythia 'The Serpent's Curse' website for the colour scheme and just added layers of textures to frame Emily. Her hair was given a quick perm and lift and make up was accentuated.

For more info www.mediaevalbaebes.co.uk

Mediaeval Babe!

Highlight: Seeing Emily Ovenden and her 5 day old new born babe!
Lowlight: The delights that a nappyless bottom brings to the proceedings

Fill in: Emily Ovenden has managed to get through her pregnancy without the rest of the world knowing, but when the baby was actually out she felt it was time to tell the world at large! So naturally a picture was required and I was more than up for having a go at my first new born shoot (apart from Kyle of course but he doesn't count..). The baby was fab and woke up at just the right time and didn't cry - a superstar in the making. He was a natural in front of the camera and had no inhibitions about his body (or his body functions come to that).




Tech Spec: Emily's flat had beautiful natural light form a north facing window. Saxon has inherited his mother's lovely pale complexion and raven locks so the soft light was perfect. I used a white duvet cover to reflect light back into the subjects, we scattered some rose petals and the rest was easy (well Emily got a stiff neck, aching arms and a handful of Saxon's finest but it was pretty easy for me anyway). A photoshopped rose petal frame was added afterwards.

For more info www.mediaevalbaebes.co.uk

Hayley & Curtis

Highlight: A private rendition of the theme tune from Top Cat..played by a 7 year old!

Lowlight: Trying to set up a shoot in a room stuffed to the brim with black grand pianos!
Fill in: The portrait was for Yamaha of a Child whizz-kid. A seven year old who is already a grade 8 piano player.This shoot for Yamaha was at the famous Chappells of Bond Street.

Curtis, the child whizz-kid, managed to last the shoot without getting bored longer than most musicians I know and his mum Hayley knew exactly what she wanted which was also pleasantly unusual for a musician, as they are obviously not usually visually oriented people.


Tech Spec: Shot with natural light, at 1600 ISO on D3 at F5.6, 1/125 second on 28-70mm zoom. Although I had brought lights, the room had huge windows all along one side making a great daylight studio. Also the logistics of setting up lights crammed to the brim with big, black, highly polished, expensive and reflective pianos did not appeal, especially as the shop was open and people were browsing. I used two pianos to act as a dark frame and to keep people from wandering into shot, and a silver Yamaha keyboard to break up the darkness (Hayley and Curtis were both dressed in black). There was a sale on and I managed to take down most of the posters, but a few tags on the stools and pianos had to be cloned out in Photoshop after. Ideally I would have put a hairlight behind the subjects, but room did not permit.

Kevin Greenlaw

Highlight: What better way to spend the day - A dashing, photogenic opera singer, me and a camera....

Lowlight: ....and location lights, a 6ft reflector, tripod, spare camera body, three lenses, three changes of clothes and a laptop to hump around!
Fill in: Thank God for loving partners (and strong ones). My long suffering partner came to lug the gear up hill (Primrose) and down dale (Soho).

Sometimes you just have to thank your lucky stars. I mean I'm not getting any younger, but here I am with a talented, good looking opera singer staring deep and meaningfully into my eyes....okay, okay into my lens but a girl can dream can't she? Kevin was polite, professional, enthusiastic, cheerful and stripped down to his smalls in the middle of the street and he was paying me...AND he can surf (as I said, I'm not getting any younger but I am getting shallower)! One couldn't fail to get a great shot of this guy. He's single girls so form a queue...

Okay to business - the brief: get some casual shots for Kevin's official headshots and website. One shot had to be chosen immediately and sent to a client for use in a programme that day so after the shoot we went to a coffee shop to look at the whole shoot unedited. This always makes me nervous as I hate people seeing my naked work as it were, but since Kevin had done a strip in Soho in broad daylight it seemed a bit churlish to say he couldn't see the pix straight away.




Tech Spec: All done with natural light and a Californian Sunbounce - the best reflector on the market and great for location work as it doesn't collapse in the slightest breeze like the usual reflectors. Used 70-200mm wide open for those lovely blurred backgrounds and the 24mm-70mm for full length.

Beady Eye

Highlight: A session with Beady Eye - basically Oasis with out Christmas.


Lowlight: I have 10 minutes to get a cover shot, and pictures for inside for a full feature!
Fill in: Just two days after this shoot, The Tsunami swept over Japan. I felt a bit churlish the week after sending an email with my commiserations followed by a request for a PO number....

Over the years i have done a few sessions for the Japanese Media - they are really into their indie British music so they often used pictures from NME stock. It had been a while though so I was surprised to get a call from a journalist I used to know asking whether I'd be interested in shooting Liam Gallagher's band Beady Eye for a cover story. The main shot had to be against a clean white background.




We only had ten minutes for photos to get a full feature but 2 hours to set up. There was no knowing where we would be able to shoot and I had never been to the venue before so I took everything and the kitchen sink - backdrop, location lights, speedlights, reflectors, softboxes, brollies, sunbounces. I fully anticipated having to squeeze in somewhere tiny but we ended up in the foyer with loads of room. After getting everything perfectly set up we had to take it down again as the queue had already formed outside and people were looking in. We found another private corner to shoot but the space was limited.

We finally got it together just as the band arrived. I got a minute against the white backdrop and then a couple with them sat on the bar before Liam was shaking my hand and thanking me.

Tech spec:

White shot - White paper backdrop with band about a foot in front. A rectangular 150cm x 120cm softbox directly behind me, about 6' in height and about 6' from band. A 6' x 4' sunbounce balanced on floor angled 45 degrees up at band to fill in. Camera: F8 at 125sec. Lens: 28mm-85mm F2.8.

Bar shot: Band on bar, I stood about 8' away. Using on camera flash to light band and opened up shutter to fill in the blue ambient light.

Dotty Yoga

Highlight: Getting a silver award from SWPP for one of the Gold images!- maybe I should try a silver image....

Lowlight: Feeling extremely unfit as Dotty arranged her body into the most amazing of contortions.
Fill in: I wanted smoke for a backdrop and photographed samples of smoke from a joss stick to use in Photoshop (jasmine - house smelt like a hippie boudior for days).

Dotty is an actress who also teaches yoga. These pictures were for her promotional flyer. However Dotty is extremely creative and the normal yoga images were not going to cut it. So we decided to paint her completely gold. Poor Dotty did get terrible goosebumps but the results were brilliant - literally!



Tech Spec:
A grey backdrop with a 150mm octagonal softbox to right of subject about waist height. Fill in spotlight from back left. Large white reflector on left. Grey backdrop was erased in photoshop and circle drawn in. The smoke was made with brushes I had created from samples of smoke from a joss stick.

Bev Lee Harling

Highlight: Working on the images taken for the lovely Bev Lee Harling for her new album Urban Gypsy

Lowlight: Cutting out in Photoshop. No matter how I take the photos, this part is always tedious
Fill in: Bev and myself really into the art of Gil Elvgren and are paying homage to his work.

Using the material from the shoot last year, Bev and myself hope to get a set of cards out as well as the images for her album so I started trying out some ideas.