Recently Released Fashion Sets and Radio 1 Interview

Over the last year I have been enjoying shooting more and more fashion work for clients, and the above images are examples fo work I have shot over summer that the clients have now released from embargo. I'm currently working on a fun and technically difficult fashion set, which should be released early September, so keep your eyes open !

Also, a while ago Radio 1 interviewed me for a programme about tattoos and spoke to me about my role as a photographer, and the show goes live tonight at 9pm.
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Cerebral Ballzy in Terrorizer and Hevy Festival Coverage

Sometimes it is difficult to decide which shoot to pick to write a blog about, this time it is too hard to pick just one so I am going to write about two.

First off is how pleased I am with the results of the Cerebral Ballzy shoot, which was shot for Terrrorizer. The band, Cerebral Ballzy, are getting a lot of attention at the moment and play a fast, loud and hard style that reflects a lot of the early 1980's hardcore and punk. Sticking with that kind of feel we went for a fairly bleak and in-your-face shoot, with a little bit of post-processing to add some drama to the shot. i'm really happy with how the layout worked across two pages, it was initally comissioned as a single page image.

Hevy Festival is held in a zoo on the coast, and has a reputation for being good fun while showcasing a lot of new acts. The Ghost of a Thousand have played the festival before, and I've shot this band numerous times live. However, this was their final show and I wanted to document this rather poignant event. I'm glad to say the guys delivered the goods, making it easy for me to give Rock Sound a strong set of images for the magazine feature. The last photo in this blog update is the final photos of the guys as 'the band' taken, and as you can in the image, it was a fun send off.... the singer described it, "like the wake after a funeral... a bit of a party after the tears". Such a good band, RIP.

You can also see a gallery of the shots from this show here

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Tattoo Revolution Magazine Cover Revealed

You may recognise the lady on the front cover of this magazine from a previous blog blog post. If you are the tpye of person who is interested in 'behind the scenes' of a photo shoot, the previous blog post links to the magazine feature that Practical Photography did on this very shoot so you get to see everything from start to the finished product above.

The magazine feature is now out and can be found in all the usual places (WHSmiths, supermarkets, etc.) as well as direct from the magazine publisher.

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My desk in 'Photo Professional' and Slam Dunk in 'Rock Sound' Magazines.

This post is a mixture of fun, work and working fun. First off, today the latest issue of 'Photo Professional' hits the shelves. They do a light-hearted section called 'office space' where they ask a pro photographer to take a snap of their working environment and to write a brief bit about five things on the desk. It seemed like a bit of fun so I agreed. If you want to know more about what the weird looking ornament on my desk is , you'll have to buy the magazine.

Whoever said,  "Work can't be fun", was in the wrong job. 'Rock Sound' magazine sent me to Slam dunk festival to shoot a variety of the performers. The images were spread over two pages (some form slam Dunk South , and some form Slam Dunk North, where a fellow photographer shoot the other acts). It was nice to see my image of 'Reel Big fish' getting a full page! As you can probably guess from the crowd in the shot, this was taken from behind the stage, and not in the photo pit. It is becoming harder and harder these days to get good access to a band at a show, which is a shame, as this full-page shot shows exactly why getting a different angle can benefit everyone from the band and the PR to the photographer and the publication.

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Interviewed for Tattoo.tv

 

Shortly after I was lucky enough to win the UK Tattoo Industry 'Best Photographer' award for the second year in a row, Tattoo.tv contacted me and asked if I'd be happy to do an interview for their site. Since I love tattoos and the adventures my tattoo related comissions have sent me on, I agreed. Thanks to Alex for taking the time to come up with a list of interesting questions for me, it's certainly not a cut-and-paste tpye interview. If you fancy a five minute read, then click the link below. If you are a budding photographer, or have an interest in what makes my mind tick and my approach to my work, then you will hopefully find it interesting.

The full interview can be found here .

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Anatomy of a Cover Shoot : Feature in Practical Photography

Last month Practical Photography Magazine asked if they could follow me on a shoot and do a "day in the life" feature.

If you ever wanted to know what gear I use on a shoot, or how I run a shoot, then pick up the July 2011 issue to find out! I wondered if I would find it stressful having a photographer following me and a writer ready to turn the shoot into a story. Afterall, I'm usually the one shooting and not the one being photographed! It turns out I didn't have anything to worry about, it didn't feel any different to a shoot where I have an art director, client or creative director and their team on set with me. The shoot itself went well, although typically the one time a piece of gear dies it would be when we are shooting a behind the scenes feature, fortunately a quick swap to my second lighting trigger meant the shoot wasn't slowed down. A good example of why it is important to make sure you bring back-up gear on shoots. The magazine that the cover shot was taken for will be gracing the shelves of WHSmiths in just over a month. Practical Photography also put up a sneak peak behind the scenes gallery too, click through to see more.


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Hyro Da Hero - Press Shots

Last week I was invited to the Rock Sound magazine office to shoot up coming hip-hop artist Hyro Da Hero for an interview. After we finished the 'safe shots' Texas born, California resident Hyro was happy to come outside and shoot some extra frames to get something a little different.

He is playing two sets at Download festival 2011, and I recommend you take the time to check him out. for the music geeks out there, you might be interested to know his live band comprises members of Blood Brothers and At the Drive-in.


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UK Tattoo Industry 'Best Photographer' Award 2011

This weekend I was away shooting in Brighton for the 'Great Escape' music industry expo. Meanwhile, in Liverpool they were holding a huge tattoo convention and the 'UK Tattoo Industry Award' ceremony.
I'm honoured to say that I was awarded 'Best Photographer' for the second year running, and would like to thank everyone who has supported me.

Best yet, the trophy is apparently a skull with an eagle holding a tattoo machine. Which sounds amazing, beats the oscars hands down!

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