ADRIFT Shortlisted For British Journal of Photography Open Shutter Award

A while ago myself and Paul Joy decided to enter our short film Adrift into the British Journal of Photography, Open Shutter Awards. Thinking nothing would come of it , I sent off the dvd and completely forgot about it. On friday I received a call from the organizers saying that it had been shortlisted in the top ten films of the festival!

A Sneak Peak At My Latest Short Film Project

Just over a month ago I decided to sit down and start planning my next short film, once again, I wanted to involve some  of the students from the college I work at so that they could see the whole process that I would go through to create a short.

We sat down and started to write-up our ideas of which I had a rough idea and location in mind, but wanted the students to work out the main story and work out how we would go about it all. I took control as director and executive producer and I’m currently editing the film, but Justin Smith, Rachael Carter  and Josh Walker, all played important roles in writing the script, casting and production on the day and they all did a great job.

Once again I called Paul Joy who I worked with on my last film Adrift, to see if he would be interested in D.P.ing again on this short, which he did. This piece was entirely shot on the Canon 5DMkII and we used 50mm 1.2, 70-200mm 2.8, 24-70 2.8, 24mm 1.4 all L-Series Lenses. Yet again i am absolutely stunned by the images this camera produces and how quickly shots can be set up. It really is a fun, rewarding way to work.

We put out an audition on Talent Circle and once again the site delivered a great selection of actors who applied for the two roles. Out of it we cast Nick Croucher and Lilly, who’s surname escapes me. They both were excellent and a big thank you must go to both of them. Also Joe from Coast and Country Home who provided our beautiful vintage pond boat.

As the film is now, im nearly at the end of the first cut but there is still a lot to do, including coming up with a title, but I’m very pleased with how it’s looking and I feel it’s definitely the next step after Adrift.

I will keep you posted on up-dates, but for now take a look at a few of the screen grabs from the film.

Kim & Peter’s Wedding

Just a few images from an excellent wedding I was asked to provide photography and video for a couple of weeks ago. Kim & Peter put on a brilliant day and a fantastic opportunity for me to photograph a wedding without a church in sight in such a beautiful setting. A really great experience all over and lots of photos to for the couple to treasure.

An Evening At The Skatepark

I decided to get my bike out for the first time in ages and head out with some mates to a skatepark In Norwich. Needless to say tha i dint get that much riding done as I spent most of the evening photographing some local skateboarding rippers and my mates.

A 16th Birthday Shoot

The other day I was hired for a shoot for Connie who would be turning 16 in a couple of weeks. I had been asked to give the shoot a fairy-tale style, so I decided to use a local river and woodland for the location, as I felt that these types of environment would suggest a world where the imagination could run free and all sorts of fairy-tale creatures could be seen.

The shoot was a lot of fun and iv walked away with a great selection of images that I now have to work on so stay tuned as the final selection will be going onto my site in about a weeks time.

Steve & Lisa’s Wedding Teaser

Two weeks ago I was the photographer for Lisa and Steve’s special day. The couple wanted full coverage from them both getting ready, to the first dance and cake being cut. I had asked a friend of mine, James De Ara, to be the second photographer on this shoot and we both found it a really great day, with plenty to be learnt as neither of us shoot that many weddings.

What was really great about this particular wedding was that the couple wanted some location portraiture doing, something I love to do and have plenty of experience of from the child portraiture I do.

I’ve just sat down and started editing the colossal 3600 odd images that came from the days photography and I could not help, but go straight to some of the photos I consider as favorites, that I’ve noticed so far that is. So here is a sneak peek of some of those.

ADRIFT – New Short Film

After nearly three months it’s finally done.

The short film that myself and Paul Joy set out and shot in late May that I talked about here in this previous blog post. Like I said, it unfortunately has taken much longer to finish than planed, but little could be helped as Paul has been out of the country lots recently and m y time has been taken up with sorting the end of year show out at the college for the students. But none of that matters now as we are both really pleased with the outcome and in the last stages I was working with my good friend Joe Yates, who done a fantastic job composing and recording the foley audio for the film.

Please feed back on the film  we would love to know what you think. It was never set out to be the most intricate of storylines, more of something that was beautiful to shoot and view and in that we feel that we succeeded.

Paul and I really enjoyed working together on this and we made a great team with me directing and Paul as D.O.P. We are now putting the final plans for another short film that is due to be filmed next week and is being seen as our next progression in to narrative filmmaking.

A big thank you to everyone that has been involved in the film and we will now be looking to enter it into some festivals.

I will be adding some more behind the scenes stills shortly so be sure to check them out.

Below Is the DVD cover I have designed for the film.

Into The Wilderness

I got a great call yesterday from a friend of mine wanting to book me for a photo-shoot last night. My friend Darren Frohawk is a wilderness survival expert and from time to time holds workshops on bushcraft skills. He wanted to know if I could pop over to where he was and get some coverage of the group he had with him and the skills he was teaching. Of course with him being a good friend and the unusual nature of the shoot I said yes.

The drive to the location was unlike any I had experienced before as from turning off the road I had to firstly drive down a very long and very bumpy dirt track which seemed like it went on forever. When I finally did get to the end of that, I had to turn off and drive down the edge of an even bumpier field to an isolated woodland where Darren was waiting for me. Imediatly I was loving to setting for this shoot as it was really tucked away and full of visually interesting areas, in which I could photograph.

Thinking about the style of the photos, I wanted to shoot in a w ay that maintained a feel of isolation and the wilderness atmosphere. I also wanted to focus on the techniques Darren was teaching and any shots that would work well for a branding purpose, as the main use for these images will be to create content for his new website which I am also making.

I told everybody to ignore me and I started snapping away at everything around me. I was using my new Canon 5DMkii and also new to me that day, a Canon 24mm-70mm f2.8 L series lens.This lens handled really well and as the light faded I could carry on shooting at 2.8 and upping the ISO on the 5D. I also used my other new lens, the SIGMA 50mm f1.4, which I am in love with, as the images this lens produces are really great and the build quality really enhances the user experience. I would really recommend this lens. I also used a Canon f4 70mm-200mm L series, which was great for getting that involved look.

Overall the shoot went really well and I even got to have a go of making fire by friction, which in case you’re wondering, is damn difficult, but I got there in the end. I will be uploading all of the images to the corporate section of my website soon, but now, here a re a few of my favorites.

Addicted To Primes

Recently I was asked what lens I use to shoot my portraits with and if I could recommend any. Well This feels like a blog subject I thought, so here it is.

Firstly I am a photographer who shoots with Nikon cameras, not that it really matters what what company your loyalty lies with, as the lens’s I will be on about are around for most manufactures. Probably like most people who have been obsessed with photography for a few years, I have acquired a pretty good selection of kit, particularly lens’s. With out a doubt I believe that lenses are the most important aspect to get right in terms of your shooting kit, as good, sharp glass will always be just that where as camera bodies, particularly digital ones loose money and are constantly updated and improved each year. If your going to invest, then put it into your glass.

So to the question “what lens do I shoot my portrait photography with and can I recommend one?”

Well I can say that in most cases I shoot with only two. The main being a f1.4 50mm prime, this gives me lots of flexibility with various light conditions, but most of all it allows me to shoot with a very large apeture, which in tern gives me a really nich shallow depth of field. This excentuates the subject and allows any distractions in the backgrounds to be blurred out due to the amount of bokeh.

These lens’s are fixed focal lengths which mean they have no zoom at all, so if i need to create distance between me and the subject then I have to physically move. I really like this aspect as I feel it gives me more of a relationship between subject and the camera, rather than having a zoom where if I want I can just stay still and interact less, its a case of some lenses are just better for different aplications.

The other reason I love to use this lens is because, traditionally on a 35mm film camera an 70-120mm lenses are said to be the optimum focal lengths for portraiture, as the most flattering and has no distortion. So with using a digital body and a non specific DX lens, the crop factor takes it from 50mm to around 75mm. This give you a great portrait style crop in your camera with out getting too close to your subject.

The other lens i use is a f4 100-300mm Sigma DX telephoto lens. I use this for establishing the subject within their environment. The longer focal length, especially when working with children, allows for a very distant approach and give the impression that I am not a distraction, allowing them to carry on and its these natural shots that im after.

So in respects to is there a lens I would recommend, yes there is (for the Nikon owners only im afraid). Its a Nikon 50mm f1.8 AF Nikkor. A really great lens for the money, it was the first prime I bought and very sharp and fast enough to cope with most lighting condition. The very top image was taken with it last year and I have had many great results with it. A must for those interested in portraiture.

Like I said this is a really cheap lens in terms of the other options and you can pick it up on ebay for around £70.00, I think thats how much I paid or just type it into Google and you will find it everywhere like here at Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-50mm-F1-8D-Nikkor-Lens/dp/B00005LEN4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1271335118&sr=8-3

Well I hope that this comes in handy for some and I will try and put up posts to other questions I get asked in the future.