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Had a perfect time at Pro Solutions this year.

After dashing around on Monday morning, getting the last few bits together, I arrived at the Design Centre at about 4:00pm. the guys building the stage were not quite done, so I spent an hour catching up with a few old faces and meeting a few new ones.

The car was weighed down with my four massive Manfrotto wind-up stands, lights, backgrounds, wind machines and so on. It’s always a bit weird turning up at these shows, as I bring everything that I would normally take to a shoot, but without a camera! I always feel as though I have forgotten something even though I never intended taking it.

With Graham Smith from Canon Europe and Dave Newton, one of my co-presenters, it took a couple of hours to get set up. The lovely people from Canon UK then organised about a ton of pizza for everyone and we left the venue just after 10:00pm.

I booked into the hotel and dumped my bags, then joined Graham, Dave and top photojournalist Dan Chung in a bar around the corner. I sat down with a pint and there on the table in front of me was the new EOS 1 Dx!!

We played with the settings and marveled at the extreme iso range. With a 50mm f1.2 on the front, we could easily shoot in the near darkness of the pub. It did occur to me that we were surrounded by thousands of camera enthusiasts in London, many of whom would be queuing up in the morning just to catch a glimpse of this new wonder, and there we were with it on the table as though it was just any old camera. Dan and Dave seemed to instinctively know their way around it. I guess they were both pretty familiar with the 1D Mk IV. From my elderly 1Ds II, it’s a bit of a step up, but familiar nonetheless.

Next morning, at breakfast, I was introduced to Brent Stirton, another of the Canon Ambassadors (Brent Stirton CPN). Brent, a photojournalist, shoots for National Geographic and Getty. He had just got in from Vietnam and, after the show, was flying out to Thailand. As he told me of how he needs to go next, to cover an ongoing story in Libya, before heading out to the Congo to cover a story about Mountain Gorillas, my phone beeped with a message. Could I do half a day in London shooting a new range of Eco-friendly Barbers Towels?….. Bugger!

Over at the show things went really well. I wasn’t on until early afternoon, so I had plenty of time to look around and get myself ready. I ran into Ray Fitchett from Sigma and Paul and Phil from the SWPP. Plenty of coffee and catching up.

My first session was a basic introduction to studio lighting, followed later by something a little more advanced. Both workshops seemed to go down well. I managed to shoehorn in a few tales about one of my favorite early photographers, Oscar Rejlander. Between my bits, Dave Newton did a piece about Speedlights and another about Canon Workflow and the 1 Dx. Afterwards Jeff Ascough (wedding photographer and Canon ambassador) talked about techniques for shooting in natural light. Toward the end of the day we all got on stage and had a go together, which was great fun with insults about gear and technique fired from one end of the stage and back again. We had two very patient models, Donna and Charley and, of course, Graham was on hand to make sure everything worked as it should.

We shot with the 1 Dx and a 1D Mk IV. The Mk IV was set up to shoot with a Wft wireless transmitter and the Dx we used tethered by a LAN cable. I tried to listen to Dave’s explanation of how the video stuff worked on the Dx, but to be honest, not much of it went in!

I met Simon Leach, who shares the Midlands studio with me. He was in Town on AOP business and had popped in to see the show. All of a sudden it was 8:00pm. Beer O’Clock!

Simon and I found a pub round the corner and settled down with a pint. Dave Newton called and he and Brent joined us for more pints and then something to eat. Brent told us tales of having to hide from Al Qaeda and shared his thoughts on the pros and cons of the Leica M9 vs the Fuji X100. I waited for another message about Barbers Towels!!

We all parted company and I headed back to the hotel. I thought I’d have an early night once I’d said “Hi” to a couple of people in the bar… I got to bed at 3:00am…

Day two and off we go again. Same format, but I tried to mix it up a bit with a few different stories. That morning, I’d seen a post on one of my favorite sites (www.howtobearetronaut.com) about a Victorian phenomenon called “the invisible mother”. It seems that in the days of long exposure studio shots, mum would sit on a chair and be covered in a drape or curtain. The child would then sit on her lap and be gripped firmly by the, now invisible, mother while the shot was taken. I told my audience about this and a few minutes later one of the guys from Lastolite came over and showed me their catalogue. They manufacture and sell exactly the same thing to 21st century photographers!

I managed to see Brent’s seminar and we exchanged numbers before he headed off. Jeff, Dave and I did our stuff and it seemed as well received as the day before. I’m pleased to say that I did get a bit more of the video part of Dave’s quick tour of the 1 Dx on the second day.

A few people asked me if I ran lighting courses. It’s a subject I’m chatting with Profoto about. Hopefully we can do something in the new year.

The show closed at 5:00 pm. Everything was packed away and I headed home at about 7:00pm

19th October 2011

Chaos has ensued for the past couple of weeks.

Around everything that has to be done regarding funeral arrangements, I have had to get on with work that clients desperately need and we have had a slightly surreal birthday for my daughters.

On the work front, I have been approached by Tiffen Filters to review their new offering, the Tiffen DFx software package. I have downloaded it and look forward to giving it a work out.

I have also (just) been sent a copy of onOne’s Perfect Photo Suite Six. I want to use this on the Steampunk series. Very excited at the prospect of trying to work outside of Photoshop for a while.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will post my thoughts on both of these packages and maybe a tutorial or two.

Next up is the Canon Pro photo Solutions event at the Islington Design Centre. Less than a week away and I’m really looking forward to it. The rumour mill is running riot with talk of new cameras. I’m working on the main stage, running studio lighting workshops with Dave Newton and Canon Ambassador, Jeff Ascough. As it’s so close, my time is mostly taken up this week with dashing around sorting out lighting, backgrounds and thinking through my presentations.

Wednesday October 5th 2011

It’s strange the way that life has a habit of kicking you in the face when things seem to be going a little too well.

At 9:30 this morning, my wife’s mother (and my very dear friend) Pat, died unexpectedly.

3rd and 4th October 2011

Studio shoot for Michelle Griffin

Back in London again. Back at Pramdog studios again, where I shot the ‘Steampunk’ series with Chris Foster a month or so ago. This time we are shooting for two days with hair-extensions whizz, Michelle Griffin.

Sander and I travelled down at some ridiculous time in the morning and got to the studio at about 9:30. Set-builders were hard at it, and the first model had just arrived. We have two models on each of the two days. Our first Model, Milou (from Holland), I’d worked with before, as I had with our second, Katkin, so it was a bit of a family reunion. Our wardrobe stylist, Bernard Connolly, pulled out all the stops, turning up with a massive collection of clothes and accessories, which he managed to effortlessly mix and match to suit Michelle’s needs.

I’d hired in, from Calumet, a few extra bits of Profoto lighting including a Pro Giant 180 and a ringflash. As the set neared completion, Sander and I rigged the lights and we were ready to go for about 11:30. As ever, we managed to get through a lot of looks and variations including ‘before’ shots, step-by-steps and, of course, the finished shots. Over the course of two days we shot around 40Gb of images on a Canon 5D2 and 1Ds Mk 2.

This is the kind of shoot I like, really relaxed, everyone knows what they’re doing, and a great atmosphere.

I’d taken with me my “digital polaroid”. It’s a Canon Selphy, dye-sub printer that outputs 6×4 inch postcard size prints. On a job like this where it’s important not to miss anything, the Selphy allows me to print out a shot from each set and stick it to the wall. I can then easily keep track of continuity, lighting and shot order. I call it a digital polaroid as it takes about the same time to print as a polaroid takes to develop, costs about the same per print and (since the printer isn’t profiled) can’t be used to judge colour or exposure! It almost makes me feel as though I’m shooting film again!!

The set was made up of a series of sheets of vacuum formed, plastic ‘brick’ wall panels that had been painted white and covered with a graffiti version of Michelle’s logo. They were then mounted on boards and strapped in an upright position. it was a bit wobbly and I didn’t dare let the models lean against it, but it will look great in the final images.

On day two we had two new models, both (a little confusingly) called Emma. Again everything went really smoothly. We were delighted to find, when we arrived at the studio, that the set was still in it’s upright position. Bernard did sterling stuff again with his never ending clothes rails, make-up was spot on and all went according to plan. we even managed to finish on time at 5:30pm.

Sander and I stayed in Town as we had a little job to do in Selfridges on Wednesday morning.

23rd September 2011

Studio shoot With Chris Wright

Just a week after my casting in Putney, we are back at my studios in the Midlands to shoot for Chris Wright, a Leicester based Hairdresser.

Lino

We have three models from London Agencies, who have travelled up for the day. Lino, our male model arrived first, bright, cheery and all the way from Berlin. The shots of him are principally for a competition (American Crew), but will also be used in the Salon. The other models are to be used for shots that will grace the pages of a new website and possibly a brochure.

All of the models today arrived late (one having got stuck on the tube in London, I believe!).

Mental note 1: Bringing models out of London is not as straightforward as it might appear.

As a result of this late start, and also due to the exorbitant rates that the Agencies charged us for the privilege of taking their people ‘out-of-town’, I resolved to get as much work out of them as possible.

The day went well, we were joined by Kim (half Brazilian) and Lisa (another German model) and, following a dab of powder (I suspect there’s a bit more to it) from the rather brilliant Rachael Davies and much coiffing from Chris and his team, we did our best to fill my hard-drives with great images.

I had a new assistant for the day. Sander my regular assistant was working abroad, so at the last minute, Stuart Jeffries stepped in and proved himself to be more than up to the task. As usual, we shot into Capture One Pro on the Macbook which was hooked up to the Eizo. Once again I used my Aurasoft as the key light.

Budget constraints (seriously!) meant that we didn’t have a wardrobe stylist and Chris, the hairdresser, got round the problem by asking the girls if they were ok being shot topless. Of course they were pro’s and this wasn’t an issue, as long as it was done tastefully.

What I didn’t know, was that following the shoot, a decision had been made, by Chris’ sponsors to use the shots for posters in the shop window. On discovering that they were all topless, a short, but tense, discussion was had about the appropriateness of the shots!

Mental note 2: Make sure that I’m not only fully aware of the intended use, but of any possible change of use (!) before embarking on shoot.

After retouching (really not much to do on the models, which, all to often is not the case) the shots were converted to Black and White and as alternatives were also produced as Toned BW and with a Colour Treatment. The images reproduced here are my favorites from the set.

Lisa

Kim

19th September 2011

Back to London on yet another (very) early train. Shooting stills today for a video that is being shot to promote a new salon treatment. Today was a reminder of all the reasons I stopped shooting video a long time ago. I managed to make it to the Salon for around 8:30am. the call time for the shoot was 9:30. The producer arrived at 9:45, the client at 10:30 and the cameraman at 11:00! We then started a very simple opening sequence that consisted of the Salon owner walking around the corner and saying something along the lines of “Hello my name is XX, welcome to my Salon. Today we are going to be using the new XXXX”. That was it, honestly!

By 12:45 we had reached shot one, take sixty-five! I kid you not, by now the poor woman couldn’t even remember her name!! Only another four pages of script to go….

Fortunately, I had another appointment. A casting a few hundred yards down the road at Wella in Mortimer Street. I made my excuses and left. On the way I noticed a number of ‘Paps’ hanging around the offices of Radio One. I also noticed (though the ‘Paps’ seemed to fail to…?) Suggs (Radio presenter and Madness Frontman), sitting at a table, on the street outside a cafe.

The casting proved to be the second disappointment of the day.

Three models in three hours!!

To be fair, it was the first day proper, for London Fashion Week, and we were in a postcode somewhat removed from the action.

But THREE!!

Of course the three that did turn up all had the wrong type of hair too!

After drinking all of Wella’s coffee, I waved a cheery goodbye to the client, the stylist and the PR agent (that had booked the casting!) and headed back to the video shoot. On the way back I noticed that Suggs had gone and so too had the ‘Paps’. back at the video shoot, the crew had made it tho page two!

I left for the train at 6:30pm. I heard the next day that it had been “a late finish”.

16th Sept 2011.

Casting at Sean Hannah’s Salon in Putney

Lisa

Travelled down on (a very early) train and arrived in London at about 7:45am. Was first person at the Salon. The casting was for a Hairdresser from Leicester, Chris Wright. As I sat waiting, I saw an old familiar face. Chris, from another client’s salon in Birmingham, had moved down a week or so before and, of all the Salons in all the Towns….. We had a good chat and a catch up before the casting got under way. To be truthful I was a bit apprehensive about the casting, would anyone turn up? Today was the first day of London Fashion Week. I think, partly due to the fact that we were so close to the Kings Road, we were inundated. Sixty-five models in two and a half hours. we were looking for a boy and two girls. It was brilliant to see so many great models from some really top agencies.

All too often when budgets are constrained, the first thing to suffer is the standard of the models. I’ve lost count of the number of times that I have been shown the cover of Vogue and asked to shoot “something like that” with a client’s daughter or a friend or a staff member etc. There are reasons why Vogue et al, don’t use their secretaries as models. Why do so many clients think that they can do what Vogue clearly can’t?

Thankfully, in this instance, I had a client that understood, and had chosen some great agencies, which in turn had sent over some great people. One of the things I love about London castings is the variety of looks and ethnicities we get. Models from all over the world, that often bring other skills to the shoot (actors, dancers, etc).

Left for my train very happy.

On the way back I saw a girl, I guess about 16 or 17, dressed from head to toe in a black hijab. All that showed were her eyes and hands. Nothing unusual, I thought. Then I looked again and noticed her little gesture of teenage rebellion. On top of her head, a baseball cap….. worn backwards!

I love London!

13th Sept 2011.

Been shooting in my studio for a new product that was top secret until it’s launch (hence the delay in posting this).

An instant ponytail, I can now reveal.

Jemma - Unretouched file

Usual cast of thousands and a very productive day.

I managed to drag out of retirement an old favorite light of mine, an Aurosoft. I have an early version that my friend Simon Leach managed to convert to take Profoto heads. The Aurosoft gives a really unique effect, a soft, yet punchy, directional light that doesn’t seem to fall off in the same way as regular reflectors. As a beauty light it’s exceptional. I was told that, for a while, Madonna insisted that she should be lit with one in her music videos (they also appear in the Top Gear studio, though I’m not so sure that Jeremy Clarkson, or Madge, appreciate the connection between them).

The images were very simply lit. The Aurasoft acting as a key, a honeycombed hairlight and a reflector were all I needed on the front, plus a couple of heads to clean up the white background.

We managed to get through a lot of looks, shooting on an EOS 5D Mk II with a 70-200 2.8 lens and tethered to a Macbook Pro and Eizo Monitor. My next monitor has to be one that swivels to portrait format, it seems such a shame not to be using every inch of the available space.

C-J - Unretouched file

A shoot I did yesterday for a band I know, The Beautiful Deadly Children. We do a lot of work together and Paul is my unofficial advisor on all things strange! This was a bit of a thankyou shoot. Paul, the driving force and lead singer of the band, lent me some clothes for my recent shoot in London. To repay the favour, I spent a couple of hours in the studio with him yesterday, shooting his next album cover.

Fado is a genre of music I know little about. It’s the angst ridden songs of love, death and mourning from Portugal. Paul was there on holiday over the summer and became inspired by the music. Somehow, he has managed to blend this traditional sound with his own unique ‘Art-house’ Rock and Roll. The result is quite spectacular.

For the shoot he wanted a very Latin feel. Here’s what we got:

I shot with five profoto heads, my 1Ds Mk II, with a 70-200 lens and added a little photoshop work (which I managed to do with the trackpad on my macbook pro!). I’ll probably do something a bit more polished over the next few days, but as for a fast and simple shoot, I’m pretty pleased.

Last week I was invited to see a preview of the new Perfect Photo Suite 6 from onOne Software. Sworn to secrecy and bound by a non disclosure agreement (NDA), I’ve spent the last few days bursting at the seams. Yesterday at Photoshop World in Las Vegas, the cat was out of the bag (thank goodness) and I am now free to give an opinion.

At the outset, I have to say that onOne have not asked me to write this (or paid me!). The thoughts set out below are a genuine reaction to what I believe is a huge milestone in photoediting. I work with a number of manufacturers of both hardware and software. I am often asked to try out new products, give feedback or to get involved with product launches. The reason I am asked to do this, is because the partners I choose to work with value and respect my integrity and my independent voice. I don’t seek to to sell their products and I don’t work with companies whose products I haven’t paid cold, hard cash for. I just give an honest appraisal of the products I am asked to try, or simply explain the decisions I make when I choose the tools I use for my day to day work.

I’m a Partner of onOne and have, for a few years now, used their products, given seminars, tutorials and webinars for the company and supported them at events such as Focus on Imaging and the SWPP conference. I use Suite 5.5 as part of my everyday workflow and rely on it, as both a time saving piece of software and, more importantly, as a means of extending my creativity.

I always look forward to new releases of software and hardware products and I knew that the Suite was due for an upgrade. However, when I saw the private demonstration webinar given to a select group of World-Wide Partners by Brian Matiash the other day, I was completely taken aback. This, it’s fair to say, is not a simple  upgrade. Many of the component parts of the Suite have undergone a total rewrite, new features have been added by the bucketload and the look and feel is now slicker and much more modern. The new features and layout make for an incredibly powerful set of tools. So powerful in fact, that I found myself questioning the need for Photoshop at all.

Photoshop, is a toolkit built to service the needs of a wide community of users, be they from the graphics industry, photography, video, 3D design or areas that service the needs of the many other industry professionals and enthusiasts that have come to rely on it down the years. As such, it’s a beast of a programme that can do everything (and more) that one could ask, but that has a correspondingly huge learning curve (just take a look at how many 500+ page Photoshop manuals are available). I use Photoshop pretty well everyday and in all of my post production work, but how much of it’s enormous potential do I need to tap in to? I use quite a small proportion of it’s tools actually but, since I know those tools quite well, I can use them to their full potential and produce a huge and diverse range of effects, that serve my image making well.

The beauty of the onOne products is that they are, first and foremost, built with the photographer in mind. Sure, web-designers and animators will find things in there that enhance their work too, but principally, these are tools that are specifically designed to help photographers expand their creative vision. In it’s latest incarnation, Perfect Photo Suite 6 takes this to a new level.

A cool feature is the way in which Suite 6 can be accessed. Until now, in order to use tools such as those provided by onOne, Photoshop (or more recently Aperture or Lightroom) was needed as a platform that the third party software quite literally, plugs-in to. Although the new Suite can be used like that too, onOne have dramatically moved the goalposts and Suite 6 has the added benefit that it also can be used as a stand alone programme. This frees the photographer from the need to purchase (or find a dodgy copy of) Photoshop / Aperture / Lightroom and, better yet, frees the user from all of the superfluous tools that Photoshop contains (honestly, how many photographers really use the “Slice” Tools?).

What I particularly love about Suite 6 is that it has been designed in a modular fashion, allowing the photographer / retoucher to seamlessly move between the component parts, to create a mask, blend layers or maybe add effects, then perhaps alter the apparent depth of field, all within the Suite and without passing it back to another programme. This is surely a much more efficient way of working.

Very briefly, there are seven components to the Suite (Perfect Layers 2, Perfect Portrait, Perfect Effects 3, Perfect Mask 5, Perfect Resize 7, Focal point 2 and Photoframe 4.6). Those that know my work, will understand how excited I am, in particular, by Perfect Mask, Perfect Portrait and Perfect Effects. Hopefully I will be able to write more about the various parts of the suite once I get my hands on it, but, in the meantime,  I’d thoroughly recommend a visit to the onOne site to gain access to the full product information and the many great tutorials to be found there.

The Suite isn’t available until late October, but I am soon to get a BETA version to try out. I really want to give it a work out and to test it on my latest project (see my previous post).

I look forward to sharing the experience here in the not too distant future