Lifestyle Photoshoot, Walk Before Dinner

Lifestyle Photoshoot, Walk Before Dinner

About a month ago I published a blog post titled A Perfect Moment – Capturing A Lifestyle Photoshoot called Greek Summer In Grey November Link Here
Walk Before Dinner is another image from that same shoot captured in chilly November.
I captured this background for use as a Lifestyle shot well over a year but for one reason or another I never have.
The background is of St Pauls Bay below Lyndos village Rhodes Greece.
It was created from approx 27 individual frames mostly to allow me a more flattering perspective and to keep the Chapel below and the Temple above from getting lost completely in the image.

The technical aspects of capturing Nathan & Emma was much simpler than in The Perfect Moment image.
For starters the lighting in this image was soft rather than directional which previously required matching with the direction and quality of the background.
Creating images without the models feet showing that otherwise need realistic shadows created is also much simpler hence why many people based composites are 3/4 not full lengths.

I rarely time these things but the final composite not including the background creation took approx 6 to 8 hours to complete.

 

 

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End Of Season, Rhodes

End Of Season, Rhodes

It’s been a busy end to what has been a slightly unusual year with both new exciting opportunities as well as a few challenges too but life is never linear or dull as an image creative!

October saw me back in Rhodes for a third time in 3 years but this time I chose to spend my time filming rather than capturing stills which I seem to be doing more and more of these days.
I decided (for the most part) to keep the gear to an absolute minimum. Apart from the Video time lapse section which was shot with my Canon 5D Mk4 most of the remaining filming was captured on iPhone and my Sony RX100 pocket point and shoot albeit a high end one!
My biggest dilemma was wether to take my gimble but I decided it would be a great exercise in adaptability and creativity to do without it plus I simply couldn’t be arsed to carry it !

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Commercial Lifestyle Photographer, A Perfect Moment – Capturing A Greek Summer In Grey November

Commercial Lifestyle Photographer, A Perfect Moment

I’m going to state the obvious..winter is never an ideal time of year for a commercial lifestyle photographer to shoot summer lifestyle in the U.K!
Unfortunately, that was exactly what was required on one chilly November morning with two brave Welsh models Emma James and Nathan Scola.

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The backgrounds for this shoot were all captured in the warmer months of August in Greece and required my models to be dressed for the summer.
To make the composite work seamlessly I required many elements to work together including natural light even if it was the grey type!

Commercial lifestyle photography can be tough but Nathan and Emma were true professionals and used their vivid imaginations to bring the greek summer into the shots despite the biting November cold. I’ll be sharing more from this shoot in the next few weeks.

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Beach Front Living, Greece

Beach Front Living, Greece

Yep I’ve been back there again on a photography trip to one of my favourite places to shoot in Rhodes Greece.
Unlike the previous two visits this time I wanted to concentrate more on doing some filming that I had pre-planned rather than shooting stills and I’ll be publishing that finished video very soon.

Having said all that I still managed to capture plenty of still images like this location close to the beach at Faliraki.
The scene I found in front of me reminded me of one of those amazing large-format Peter Lavery landscapes found in the Marlborough adverts from back in the mid 80’s (Google em kids) captured in the wild deserts of the U.S.A.

I came across this and several other small caravans dotted close to the beach area and although this was obviously made into someones home at some point I’m unsure it or the others were still actually being lived in. Either way instead of seeing them as some kind of eyesore so close to the beautiful beachfront they actually made me smile because of it.

 

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Somerset Uncovered – Evening By The Isle

Somerset Uncovered – Evening By The Isle

Continuing my personal filming and video time lapse project “Somerset Uncovered” the latest location was not only the closest to my studio and home but also one I’d never heard about.
This was despite driving past it many times over the last 15 or so years.
It was while chatting to my sons friend on the way to a football match that he was telling us of a spot that some of his friends go to swim in the summer holidays.
I was intrigued to take a look even if the directions were a little vague !
The following day with the family and dog in tow the location was eventually found and it was not only stunning but less that a 10 mins from home!
I went to film here 3 times in total mainly due to weather and some rather inquisitive cows blocking my intended shooting location.

 

[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/k5uygcNd7sM”]

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Video Production At The Monks Yard Cafe Somerset

Video Production In Somerset. The Monks Yard Cafe 

Monks Yard at Horton Manor is the place I’m based for both studio work (when I need one) and for meetings.
Needless to say when they need Photography or video production services I’m there ready to shoot for them.
This is one of 3 or 4 videos planned to cover several parts of the business and was themed around Monks Yard’s incredibly popular Cafe.
I was given full reign over the whole shoot from story concept to pre & post-production.
I decided I wanted to show A Day in the life of the Cafe including people using it as a beautiful community base to meet for business and to celebrate with friends and family.
Unlike some corporate video production companies (and like in my stills work) I’m always looking to make the imagery engaging as possible and my film work is not different.
I combined traditional filming with video time-lapse photography to show the passing of time.

[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/oXFSei2vIps”]

 

Location Photography, Exploring Locations, The Fun Of Not Having A Plan

Location Photography, Exploring Locations, The Fun Of Not Having A Plan

As a location photographer, I love to plan and create images of places especially abroad.
Sometimes the planning is required to create complex composites from multiple images.

Sometimes the planning is simply a location scout, working out the time of day to shoot and checking the weather etc.
The final image can be a single frame like the one below with simple colour grading and tonal adjustments to help create emotion and direct the viewer’s eye through the image.

Sometimes however the best photographic fun is to be had by planning nothing and simply getting to a location and then to follow your nose.

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A favoured spot, creative travel photography Greece 2018

A favoured spot, creative travel photography Greece 2018

One of my favourite spots for creative travel photography that I captured in Greece in 2018.
It was while searching through my archive last week I came across some location photography film scans of almost the exact same area I shot 15 years ago which I had forgotten about.
Later this year I’m heading back there once again this time to shoot some motion work.

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White Washed Building Against Dawn Sky Rhodes Greece

 

Travels And The Honda Cub

As a keen Scooterist from way back in the 80’s Im always on the lookout during my travels for old Italian Vespas and Lambretta’s.
In Greece you can still come across older Vespa workhorses still being used but it stands to reason they are becoming less frequent these days.

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There does seem however a large amount of Honda Cub mopeds still on the road which is no surprise when you discover over 100 million have come off the production line so far and still going.
And my point is?… well I don’t have one except to introduce a couple of images with them in and inform you why you see the bloody things everywhere you go!

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Lifestyle Portrait Photography, Capturing Mr Butt.

Lifestyle Portrait Photography, Capturing Mr Butt.

Mr Butt window cleaner Captured in Burnham On Sea Somerset circa 1993.
I can’t remember the exact year I did this lifestyle portrait but I do remember running home in excitement like a big girl to grab a 5×4 camera to do the shot!.
I had wanted to create a lifestyle portrait of this lovely chap for a while and I finally seized the opportunity.
I set up the large format camera hastily (well as hastily as you can with a 5×4) in front of what I felt was a perfect backdrop for colours.

A large-format camera is not something you would use for most of my work as a lifestyle photographer but the quality of tone and detail is simply amazing.

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