Inside and Out

I often hear about people losing their holiday snaps due to not backing up their data – and I always insist on sneering haughtily at their naivety and amateur ways. It’s usually due to the loss of a phone, or when they wipe a memory card clean, or something equally as pathetic. It will never happen to me – never.
Until now that is.

One of the few pictures of our holiday – taken on a very reliable iPhone 6 – at Blackpool Pleasure Beach
I recently took the kids on a five day holiday to Lancashire. My wife was unavoidably held back due to a work emergency, so we decided that it was best if I make my way there with them. It was a four day “glamping” experience, followed by a day in Blackpool, before returning home. The campsite was frankly fabulous, with big static tents containing wood-burning stoves, full beds, cooking utensils, coolbox, running water, toilets, and paraffin lamps for evening light. There was an on-site honesty shop, pizza oven, huge play barn for the kids, and all sorts of…

It’s always good to hear of success that you’ve been involved with – I seem to be involved with many success stories, but never get the plaudits and press that others receive – maybe I like to stay in the trenches.
I’ve shot many people, businesses, and premises that have gone on to be big winners – Jude is one of them. Judith Alexander (her stage name) is a local girl, who has never stood still, and moved from role to role in a bid to be more successful, keep life interesting, and earn more money as a result. She has earned her keep as a Police Officer, run a beauty consultancy, modelled, and is now trying to conquer the world of acting.
I first met Jude, when I was asked to provide a model portfolio of lifestyle shots a few years ago. She had registered with Tyne Tees Model Agency, and needed to boost her body of imagery. We borrowed a huge pad in the Northumberland countryside – owned by the owner of the Fergusons haulage empire. The owners vacated for the day, and I set up a full pr…

Look at these shots. This is why a top-notch fashion stylist is paid £300+ a day. These types of images (which aren’t in vogue at the minute) take a huge amount of skill and time to set up. Shooting a range of clothes with all the different colourways can be done in different ways – this is one of them – shooting all garments together.
The other methods involve shooting all garments separately, either flat, on models, or shooting one garment, and producing duplicates using a range of colours in post-production. The latter is probably the most cost effective

The image above was captured in an old meeting room, with a low suspended ceiling. A nightmare, considering the garments stretch to about six feet wide. I was pressed against the ceiling with a lens wider than  I would usually employ for fashion product shots. A 24mm PC-E in this instance. the stack of jumpers below isn’t Photoshopped at all. It would be easy to photograph the garments separately, then stack them on top of each other…

Sometimes, a job comes along which re-invigorates your love of the creative side of the industry. A job which, in this case, was done voluntarily for the benefit of a local community venture – Nelson’s of Swarland. It’s a cafe, created to fill gap in a big coffee-sized hole nearby to where I live. The 3 girls that run the place had no idea what they wanted in terms of imagery, so I decided to shoot a good portfolio of images encompassing the ethos of the business – quality produce, friendliness, comfortable & stylish decor, family accessibility, and neighbourhood values.

I’d been working on a residential house shoot in the Tyne Valley until late afternoon, so picked the kids up from school on my way back, and headed along to the park. Bringing 2 small kids to a shoot isn’t usually a good idea, but Nelson’s is the sort of place where children blend in to the environment. Lynn, Debbie, & Kelly are all parents, & ex-staff of the pre-school group in the village, so they know al…