May

Burton Pynsent Monument

Continuing on with my video production somerset project titled Somerset Uncovered Time Lapse Video project I took a trip to a location close to my home.
As is often the case we can travel hundreds of miles yet don’t get around to those places that are closest to home.
The Burton Pynsent Monument is one such place I’ve meant to visit for a long time.
Located at Curry Rivel it was built in 1767 and is a grade 1 listed building.
As spectacular as the tower itself are the amazing views across the South Somerset landscape.

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/335884509″ width=”1600″ height=”720″]

May

Whitelackington Trees Time Lapse Video, Somerset Uncovered

A short Time Lapse Video part of a series called Somerset Uncovered.
These trees can be found sandwiched between the A303 and B1368 at Whitelackington.
Due to the location, I’ve passed them often admiring their transformation over the seasons.
It was for this rather simple reason that I decided to create a short Time Lapse Video here.

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/334062741″ width=”1600″ height=”720″]

May

Creative Video Production, Parallax Video Lilianna The Palace

Lilianna The Palace Of The Grand Masters Rhodes.
This is an image I applied some creative post-production upon and is created from several photographs.

It was also an image I thought would work with some creative video production applied and created using 2.4D motion as a Parallax image.

Keep an eye out for some subtle motion work.

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/333857762″ width=”1600″ height=”720″]

Nov

Somerset Photographer Capturing Summer On The Moor

Sometimes I have an idea and before I know it I’ve captured all the images required and I’m sat in front of the computer bringing it to life.
Others, however, can sometimes sit around in my head for months or at best sketched out in Photoshop, this image is a little of both those.
As a Somerset Photographer over the years, I have been capturing people and animals for a personal project “Life In A Somerset Landscape“.
It had been a while since I had added to the work and I really wanted to capture Burrow Hill which is a situated close to Hambridge in South Somerset for part of the project.
I remember seeing Burrow Hill for the first time one summer’s day, a quaint small hill with a single tree on top complete with an idyllic rustic swing attached to one of its branches.
It felt slightly surreal like I had stepped into a Jack & Jill Ladybird book!

Sep

September

September is probably one of my favourite months especially with a camera in my hand.rnAfter the long days and often harsh light that summer (sometimes) gives us together with a blanket of green September comes along and brings back a little colour contrast to the landscape with better lower angled light.rnThe other reason I love September is the fields full Maize which for some reason I just have to capture every year.

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Oct

Bluegrass Inspired Banjo Shoot

Inspiration to create images comes in many forms at least for me. While retouching some work the other week I decided to randomly listen to something completely different from my normal playlists on Spotify and put on some Bluegrass music. One track, in particular, hit a chord (pardon the pun) which as you may expect from the Bluegrass genre contained the Banjo.

Apr

Boris Takes Tea At The Yard

We had an unexpected visitor to our studio base at The Monks Yard today and I was asked if I could grab some promotion images.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson popped into the Yard for afternoon tea (but no cake ! ) and gave a quick speech.
He’s not the first former politician or celebrity to pop in and I’m sure not the last.

Apr

The 1943 Harley & D-Day Despatch Rider

Inspired by some very old musty prints and tales from my Mum and Dad about living and working through WW2 I set out to shoot some images that represented that era.
Through some research I managed to find a guy called Manny who had collection of WW2 memorbillia (and that’s a huge understatement !) who was also located not far from me.
I also thought Manny would be a great addition to my Life In A Somerset Landscape Project so I gave him a call.

As expected Manny was very passionate about the era and travelled to many of the re-enactments both here and abroad during the summer months.
During our telephone chat he mentioned the authentic 750cc 1943 Harley Davidson he had and a U.S infantryman’s uniform as worn in the D-Day invasion.

At that point the image came together at least in my head
We decided that we create a story where a U.S Army Despatch Rider from headquarters company is delivering messages to and from various units.
The setting would be a forest in northern France and so my next job was to find the location and arrange the logistics of getting Manny and his bike there.

A week later the pre production was finalised and the shoot day arranged.
Manny was a dream to work with bringing authentic maps,rifles,etc giving us plenty of options for many variations I may want to try.

As my work is about quiet moments I worked around the narrative of the rider taking a rest from riding on his dangerous assignment.

USA Army Dispatch Rider With 1943 Harley Davidson Taking A Break.

USA Army 1943 Harley Davidson Leather Pannier

USA Army Dispatch Rider With 1943 Harley Davidson.

Oct

A Place To Remember

This week I met up with some of my family to scatter my mothers ashes and visit a place both she and I visited almost weekly to watch the wildlife and loved to spend a little time together.

The location on the Somerset Levels sits in view of the iconic Glastonbury Tor and the River called South Drain (yeah not the most romantic name !) flows across the moors helping to ease excess water during winter months.

I’ve photographed here many times over the last 25 years and to me it is iconic Somerset combining the Glastonbury Tor,river,moor and it’s wonderful wildlife.

It’s now not only a place to photograph but also a place to go to remember happy times with my Mum.

Glastonbury-tor-and-south-drain-river-somerset

20 Plus Years Previously, Note Lack Of Withy Trees On Right Bank Next To Gate Compared To Image Above

May

Image Retouching The Fine Details, Surveying The Moor

Photo Retouching The Fine Details, Surveying The Moor

I was asked recently to help out a neighbour with some images for a new business venture she was setting up.
The main image needed to be a portrait of her with her dog Barney and I had the perfect location in mind that I had found only a week previously.
As with most shoots containing more than one person composition is key especially here where we have a person and a smallish animal that need equal attention in the frame. To do this I used a very large fallen tree that provided a great prop and worked perfectly for the main image required but also provided another unplanned opportunity when Barney decided to climb onto the very top of the trunk.

I very quickly spotted the potential of the scene unfolding and fired off half a dozen frames before he climbed down and the moment was gone.
I knew right there before previewing any images that I had a strong image that could be developed further in post.
I can’t explain what it is that that makes a potential image appear in front of me (when many people do not see it ) except to say it’s an unconscious thing perhaps developed (pardon the pun) over the 26 + years of looking through a camera.
The final photo retouching composite required a lot of retouching to remove the harness that Barney was wearing and to retain all the very fine details I’m obsessed with keeping and seamlessly blending with the background.
Retaining fine details like these takes a lot of work but knowing the image will stand up to the closest of scrutiny is important.

Next, I decided to scan through my archives to find the perfect background to compliment the image.
The image I decided to use is one of Exmoor that I had shot a couple of years ago but had never used and provided a perfect fit for the mood I wanted to create. The final image titled “Surveying The Moor” together with a close up of Barney is shown below.

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