KMS Style competition

I was recently commissioned to photograph the entry for Defuzion Hair salons entry for this years KMS Art Team competition.

The concept was of a Goth and rockabilly inspired look, and we wanted to go for quite a minimal approach so that the make up, hair and clothes really came to the for.

I shot on a white background at the Salon using 2 Bowens Lights one with a softbox and the other with a honeycomb dish. A third continuous light was added for a little bit of extra ambient light.

Finally, we used a gold reflector to highlight a little bit of warmth into the face.

I'm happy to say that the client's were really happy with the finished image and look forward to seeing the image used in their entry, and also for their promotional campaigns.

I'd also like to thank Lewis for being a very helpful assistant.

Polaroids

 Recently came across my old Polaroid camera which has got me to thinking about doing a project with that.

So I started looking at the work of Walker Evans, and in particular his documentary polaroid series documenting his everyday life.

I'm currently thinking of doing a similar style of project, the snapshot as documentary .... so watch this space.

"Documentary photography has nothing whatsoever to do with art. But it is an art for all that." —Walker Evans

The Lure Series

Came across this series recently, again on the Behance network.

A lovely portrait set, by Toby Dixon, featuring the people and dogs that frequent the Wentworth Park dog races.


What lures me (no pun intended) to the series is the level of character portrayed in the faces, yet it is a very simple headshot style portrait series.


The use of lighting is minimal yet dramatic, and the image style is very reminiscent of Andrzej Drahgan, with a sharp almost over processed style. However, whereas Draghan deals with the macabre and surreal, the work in Lure show's a very human side.


Pictures of the dogs, trainer's, bookies and punters are all represented, some fit the archetypal mould of their respective position in the dog racing industry, others are more of a surprise. 


This is perhaps an area where I could expand upon the work I did in the national identity brief, the only problem is where do I find the subject?  

The full series can be viewed here: http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Lure-Series/798731

Hair Styling Competition.

I was asked recently to take do the photography for a hair salon chain called Defuzion, as they wished to enter a  regional competition for a men's hair styling product.

The brief was fairly straight forward, a front and profile head shot of each style that was to be entered. It was however, clearly stipulated that the shots must be in black and white and that no Photoshop "wizardry" (their term not mine) was to be used.

It was decided between the stylists and myself that a minimal approach would suit the brief better, and I pointed them toward shooting on a white background to keep the images crisp.

On the day of the shoot I decided to shoot with a 580 EXII with a softbox as the main light, and another with a honeycomb grid on the white wall behind the models for illumination, but also to add more of a fall off of light on the edges of the shot.

After a short period of test shooting it was decided that the use of shadow on the face's of the models would add more drama.

I really enjoyed this shoot, and felt happy with the end results. The shoot wasn't without it's problems, but it was nice to collaborate with the stylists and see how they wanted to promote their work, and also how passionate they were, which helped feed into getting them the best shots I could.

This shoot has lead to me now in consultation with them to do a promotional campaign for their chain and for use in magazines etc, which will hopefully be going ahead in late October/ early November, the scope of which will be much larger... if anybody fancies assisting me on any of the shoots it would be much appreciated?

My Commercial work

Here's some of the images from the commercial work I have been doing over the summer.

I am sub contracted to a website design company known as the Wida group and get recurring wok from them on quite a regular basis. The work is mainly for companies working in the industrial sector and it's quite a challenge to work out how to make products like exhaust pipe manufacturers and heat treatment specialist's have the wow factor, and also to cater for what the customer requires.Fortunately, for the projects I have worked on so far, the customers have been very happy with the photography I have done.

Below are some examples of my work as it will be used on the websites:

BJP article on Freeze motion photography.

A good article looking at the use of high speed freeze motion to create stunning advertising campaigns.

A technique I would like to use in my own work.

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/feature/2072014/velocity-freeze-motion-photography-advertising

Andrea Giacobbe

Recently I've been looking at the work of Italian photographer and film maker Andrea Giacobbe.

Residing in Los Angeles Giacobbe is known predominantly for his portrait and editorial work, as well as art installations and his work in film and video.

The main thing that strikes me about his work is his strong use of surreal imagery to make a social comment, an area that has begun to interest me a great deal recently.

In the images below, taken from an editorial piece for Dazed and Confused in 2000, Giacobbe uses a highly stylised concept to ask questions based on reality. 

The "God" figure has a plastic almost autonomous face, juxtaposed against the face of "Humanity" a tempestuous looking young girl with demonic horns. These images are shot in a very contemporary  style , I  particularly enjoy how he has the name tags in the style given out at a seminar.

This image, to me, is of God contemplating the start of of his "greatest" creation. Again the use of the ape costume mask is a deft touch adding a surreal yet satirical twist on the image.

Chess. The tactical struggle between god and humanity. Really love the use of the monkeys looking on as an audience in the television. Also having the young girl smoking a cigar is a very satirical touch, as obviously she shouldn't be doing this, and perhaps Giacobbe is using this to question mans own responsibility.

This Final image shows god and humanity on a long empty road, the look on the girls face perhaps comments that she's not entirely pleased with this situation?

Overall this is a style of work I would like to investigate further, whether it be in the same style or a different one I haven't quite decided as of yet and will need further research.

I look at this image...

and think it is quite possibly the future of Last of the Summer Wine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_PVysa7cIk&feature=related

Benoit Paillé

Lewis showed me a really good site called the Behance network, and in particular the work of Benoit Paillé, a French Canadian photographer.

I was looking for a different take on street portraiture for the summer book project as that was one of my original ideas for the book project.

The lighting that he uses to create vibrant yet very softly saturated colours for his portraits is a style I would quite like to emulate.

Also his use of composition creates a mood within the images using very sparse scenery.

One of his series Undernight does, in my opinion, clearly references the surreal imagery created by Gregory Crewdson, following the staged surrealist form. Much like Crewdson's work it ask's the viewer to consider a range of possible scenario's as to why the subjects find themselves in such seemingly bizzare or strange positions, yet does not necessarily give finite answers.

This is an area I am very keen to look at in my own work so as to push myself conceptually as opposed to just reacting to what is presented before me.

Most of Paillé's work can be viewed here.

http://www.behance.net/Benoitp

" I'm as angry as hell and I ain't gonna take this any more"

oookay, this isn't going to be TOO much of a rant.... Probably.

I'm going to talk about something that's really bugging me in my work.

Confrontation.

Everything that I've done so far has been a little too easy, a little too nice.

I want my imagery to have an edge... I want it to ask questions... I want it to take the comfort zone and throw it into a massive furnace labelled BALLS...

So how do I achieve this... I am after all, a pretty laid back reasonable human being...  perhaps, with a penchant for asking questions... aren't we all?

I'm old.. yes.. but I still have a fire in my belly... I still want to tell the world how it is.... or how I see it?

When I was younger I wanted to make an impact..I wanted to to be somebody...the dream?..... validation through what I do.

As I got older and had a little bit of the shit kicked out of me, I started to understand how things worked... you have to fight.. which is not to say necessarily go looking for trouble... but don't take everything that your told.

We work... or want to work in a visual and descriptive led world... is the pinnacle of what we can achieve the x factor? or Twilight or the only way is essex?... to my mind bland and very ordinary... possibly easy targets? but still relying on a very stagnant and repetitive commercial concept....

I should be looking much further afield... at the work of the risk takers.. the big thinkers... those that don't want to follow the mould... that want to ask questions...

I feel my imagery should be so much more than just a pretty picture of a flower... or possibly a beautiful location... or this years hot pop star/ actress, or god forbid, reality TV star, looking cool.... it should ask why that is the norm?... it should look at those not deemed worthy of so called adulation.. people... or at the very least challenge those that are, and what makes them seem so worthy of it....

anyway to finish.... we didn't get to be at the top of the food chain to be so bloody bland...

This post was brought to you today by me watching this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOWTM5R2DA

An interesting post from Flak Photo

Here's a link to a recent post by Flak photo regarding the future of Photobooks, which may be of interest as it's a project that we're all concerned with right now.

In it the writers ask the question of whether modern technology, and I get the feeling they aim a lot of that at the ipad, has and will change the way photographers present their work for viewing across multi platform media.

http://storify.com/flakphoto/looking-for-ipad-photo-publications

Okay

So I've not really hit the Blogging that hard over the summer as I've been doing other things and kind of let my Photography slide somewhat.

That changes now...