A quick portrait …..

…… for Grandma.

Two young ladies wanting an up to date portrait for their Grandma popped in Sunday afternoon. It would appear that Grandma hasn’t got a nice up to date one so time to fix that issue.

A whopping one (yes one) image was taken. Got them to sit evenly, got them to smile and click it was in the bag. I asked if they would like some individual ones or just a few more of them together but they, and I had to agree, felt that that initial laugh/smile moment would be hard to recapture.

I won’t mention the modern fashions that our youth of today wear. I must be getting old 🙂

On the business front I have been thinking about promoting the studio imagery and indeed looked about for a suitable sized commercial building. Sadly the costs don’t justify the current returns so I’ll remain within the home studio for now. I would like to upgrade at some point to a bespoke commercial setup where I can work from and also display my work professionally too.

A day of fashion

For the second time in 2 years I was booked by the rather talented Sian King who is attempting, like many others, to make her way in the fashion industry. A very talented young lady with high hopes, she certainly has the creative side for producing something new.

Like many other designers I have come across I sincerely hope she doesn’t just fade away. When you talk to these young designers it’s like many other industries including photography where big business is only interested in the established ‘Names’ for producing work. I recently had the metaphorical punch in the face when a major sports event promoter admitted my work was far superior to the contractor they were using. Sadly this photographer was booked through a London agency and amazingly comes from an alleged sports photography background. My daughter could capture better images but because they use London based businesses I can’t and won’t get a look in. I even called the London agency and guess what …….. Not being in London meant they couldn’t use me as most of their work is down there. Even though I have the van, the equipment, insurances and willingness to travel it remained a “Sorry”.

Incidentally a rock group, who I have links to, recently shot a video in Lincolnshire and had some promotion shots completed also. These were done by a company from Brighton!!!! Why? Because that’s who the record label use. I found out the cost charged and nearly feinted. I could have done it for half the price and taken a month off as it was so much.

Anyway I digress…..

The day was a continual parade of bespoke clothing which ranged from the practical and useful to the most extreme haute couture styling simply created to show off style, creativity and style of work.

Even with the careful planning of the shoot and agreeing what and how we would shoot each set of clothing I managed to rattle off just over 400 images.

Sian is returning on Wednesday to create a book of her images to show the world and hopefully a prospective employer or even better independent buyers.

Now for all the colour and pomp within her designs she loves the plain B&W image when it’s one of herself, so here she is.

NTL 1 Completed

One of, if not our biggest, series of the year started last weekend in Eastleigh Nr Southampton.

A weekend of competition involving 751 competitors over the 2 days. To say this is hard work is an understatement. You effectively hold 4.5kg to your face for 90% of the day shooting the competition and before you know it it’s day 2 and we are at it again. The hotel was superb and the cooked breakfast was one of the best I’ve had in a while whilst travelling.

A cool 10,000+ images were taken and the new triple image montage was superbly received and sold well. The single and twin images also remain popular but the new triple is making it easier for parents to select imagery from the two days of competition. Many select 5 or 6 images they would like and thus reducing this to 3 final images is far easier than down to 2 images.

The drive down was simple enough, though a very long 4.5hrs. The drive back was horrendous with constant rain and too many drivers who simply have no ability to drive in such conditions. We saw several HGV’s have close calls with idiots who either didn’t indicate or couldn’t see out of their vehicles owing to misting of windows. This is basic stuff yet causes chaos.

So 1 down and 4 to go with this series. Bring on Cardiff in June 🙂

The triple image below shows exactly what I mentioned above. The left and right images are from different days of the competition with the central ‘present’ pose simply selected for its nicety.