The Big Little Ale Company

Last weekend i was asked to take some pictures for a small start up firm, The Little Big Ale Company.

They were doing a festival at Ironbridge, Shropshire. The mobile bar is run by Alex and Sam Love, and judging by the amount of people buying the beer, they look like they are going to make a great success of their new venture.

I can recommend the Duck Blonde beer, very nice on a warm sunny day, I was not alone, it was the first beer to sell out.

Taking the photos proved to be a bit tricky, the light was very bright and the trees in the park were casting some long shadows , giving very bright areas and dark areas next to each other. I found that by using my feet and moving around, this could be eliminated.

Also getting in close proved to be effective as well.

Here’s to the next event.

Good luck Sam and Alex.

September 21, 2016 0

A dress rehearsal shoot

Back in July I was given the chance to cover the dress rehearsal for a local amateur theatre group at the Price of Wales Theatre in Cannock, Staffordshire. The brief was to get as many images as I could. A tall challenge.

I did not want to use flash as this would have not been effective due to the distance from the stage and the performers, plus, if I was close enough to use any flash, it would have cancelled out the stage lighting and not really captured the colour of the evening.

So i opted for a high ISO, ranging from 800 to 3200 and used my feet to move around rather than stay static.

The evening was a great success, and i think that i got some good images. The performers were great and from what i am told, the actual show was very well received.

I have put just a few of the many images that i took on the night and hope you enjoy the, I thoroughly enjoyed attending the rehearsal, and finger crossed i get the chance to do it again next year.

I must pay a big thank you to Emily Walt for giving me the opportunity to attend, plus to all of the performers who didn’t seem to mind me too much, thank you all and best wishes for the future.

September 11, 2016 0

A change from the normal

Its been a while since my last blog, somewhere along the way, life got in the way and i have not found the time to do any blogs, and i have got quote a few to do. But lets get this one on there onto the wild wild web.

A few month ago i was asked by a good friend if i could take a few photo’s of his step-daughters wedding. After a short time to ponder it over ( 5 seconds) the answer was a responding yes. Now i was well out of my comfort zone. I am used to working in a studio with one/two models, not a baying mob of wedding guests. What could go wrong…….

As it turned out, nothing. It was a great day, mind you the bride and groom helped, Sophie and Josh were great and really cooperative. For my first wedding shot, they certainty made it very easy. OK, the image below is not the bride and groom,but the bride and step-dad.

The venue was just right and the weather, well considering this was June in England……is was perfect, bright blue skies, no rain….makes a change for an English summer.

So below are just a few of images from the day

So thanks to Sophie and Josh for allowing me to record their special day.

September 5, 2016 0

A morning at Church……

Last weekend I was part of a small group who carried out a location shoot with a local model. The setting was an old church near Enville in Staffordshire.

Late C18. Roughcast brick; plain tile roofs. Gothic revival building in the form of a church with cylindrical west tower and 2-bay ‘nave’. Tower has 3 pointed windows with cast iron frames, each side of the nave has a panelled and nail studded door with 4-centred arch, and amural cupboard with acutely pointed arch and boarded door; full-height
pointed eastern entrance with double door, nail studded and formerly half-glazed.

Interior. Pointed arch to apsidal chamber within the tower.
Erected in memory of William Shenstone who worked on the landscaping of the
grounds during the 1750’s and 60’s.

It is a very atmospheric location and the model played her part well, dressing up a ‘little red ridding hood’. Images from the shot to follow in a separate post.

So for now just a few images of the building, well just some of the small details.

The building is well off the beaten track, and is one of those hidden gems, that needs to stay hidden. It is a testament to the craftsmen of the the 18th Century that it is still standing. When you consider where it is and the fact that it has been there for over 200 years, well worth a visit….if you can find it…happy hunting.

July 11, 2016 0

A morning at…..Himley Hall

It’s been a while since my last blog, very busy at home and work and did not seem to be able to find the time to spare 30 minutes to do a blog. So here it is..

A few weeks ago I had a spare 30 minutes one morning and was driving past Himley Hall just outside Dudley. The only camera’s I had with me was my phone and my Konstructor camera. So, with only having used the Konstructor only once ( one film) and having already loaded it with Ilford FP4 i decided to give it another workout. So a quick walk around and the images were in the bag… or the roll depending upon your point of view.

Himley Hall was once the seat of the Earl of Dudley and the gardens laid out by one Capability Brown ( you might have heard of him).Well worth a visit if you are in the area, the house is not always open but the grounds are worth the walk.

June 22, 2016 1

Woman in chains

A while ago, the photo club that I am a member of decided to produce a photo book. There was no theme to the book, we were requested to submit up to 6 images, preferably on a theme of their own.

After mulling a few ideas over, I decided to go with one theme, the title from one of my favourite songs, Woman in Chains by Tears for Fears. I remember hearing it quite a few years ago and was struck by soulful voices and the message contained in it. So now I had my theme, I had to work out mu six images, out with the sketch book and pen and doddling began.

So after a while I had whittled my original ideas down to six. Now to take the concept out of the sketchbook and bring it to life, so to speak.

I collected a few props, most of them was in the house, a few I had to purchase, the chain and a new white backdrop.

And here they are, I kept them all black and white and in a portrait mode.

The first image is of the chains themselves.

The second image represents sex.

The third in the series, Childcare.

Look carefully on the chains, there is a babies dummy

The fourth image is for Cleaning.

The fifth, Cooking.

And the sixth and final image is Ironing.

All images were processed using Silver Efex Pro, a really great piece of software.

Thanks to my model for the afternoon, the chains were quite heavy and she put up with a lot from me, hopefully her efforts were worth it.

I took away a few ideas from doing this, and am now in the planning stages for more projects based on the titles of songs from my playlist.

Watch this space.

May 15, 2016 0

A new camera in the bag

During my recent visit to the Photography Show in March 2016 i decided to splash out on a brand new camera……sod the expense I had earnt it, so with no holding back i took the plunge and brought a new Konstructor camera from the nice people on the Lomography stand. Also visited the Ilford stand to splash out on few rolls of Ilford FP4 35mm film, well no good having the camera if I haven’t got a film to use in it.

So on a rainy weekend, out it came and I started to put it together. The manual reckons between 1 hour to 2 hours to build, 2 hours is closer to the mark, if you tried to do it in 1 hour, there is a chance that you could miss some important steps and screw it up.

Camera now built and loaded with film, time to find something to take picture off. I knew of a landmark just outside Warwick, and old windmill with easy access.

I enjoyed walking around and using the camera, did take some used to, there are only a few setting, either times at 1/60th or bulb mode, and a basic focusing ring. Fixed aperture at f10. It made a nice change from having a multitude of settings. Fixed lens was not an issue as I tend to use a 50mm or 90mm lens on my Canon.

Film exposed, and with developing tanks long since departed, it was off to the local lab to have the film developed and scanned onto CD, and then the wait to see if I had captured anything at all…..and surprise, i had.

So with CD in hand off to the computer and edit in Silver Efex, using the Antique Plate II setting. Kept quite simple really, no cropping no other edits.

Not all good and not all bad. Very much a learning curve.

So with another film already in the camera, time to head off again and keep on learning.

April 21, 2016 0

A Long Weekend in Bath

Though it was about time that we had a long weekend a way, so after much debate and thought, we choose to go to Bath. It had been quite a while since we last visited, at least 15 years.

So only armed with the two camera off we trotted around Bath.

The weather was not on our side, but still we trooped on. Got some decent shots on the phone and used Snapseed to enhance these. I have included them in the blog.

However, got a an issue with the Olympus, the card it uses is an xD card, and guess what, all of my card readers do to take that format, and the USB socket is not a standard size, so a bit of research to do to get the images off. Looking at them on the LCD display on the back of the camera they look OK, so maybe for another blog.

Had a walk around the abbey at night, even though no tripod, i think the night time shot came out OK. Used one of the drama settings in Snapseed to bring it out and lift it.

Inside the Abbey there was display of glass baubles with messages on, so had been smashed on the floor to add to the display.

So the next day the weather was better so we headed of to Prior Park, about a 30 minute walk outside of the city centre. This is a National Trust property, no house to go in but the parkland is open for visitors. Well worth the visit, and the final few images for this blog, until i get the images of the Olympus.

Enjoy.

April 17, 2016 1

A day out at the Photography Show 2016

So that time of year again, a day out at the Photography Show 2016. Comparing it to last year, there seemed a better vibe to the day, and first impressions was that it was a better show. As I wandered around, my first thoughts turned out to be right. The layout was better, and the sessions that I attended were full, there was a lot of people there, however, as in previous years, the technical gremlins were out, in full force. This is a constant issue whenever I go to the show, and one year, they might get it right and produce an tech error free zone…..might be asking for too much.

There where also to be a few more demonstrations taking place on the stand, particularly on the studio lighting displays. I watched a few of these, and picked up some useful techniques for the future, just need to put them into practice.

I was impressed with the catwalk show put on by the Photoshoot Magazine. The make up on the models was superb, my favourite was the ‘Steam Punk’. He really played his role well, a few images are below.

The ‘walking dead’ character was also very impressive…..

All in all, a very good show, much improved from last year. They have set the bar high, this one will take some beating, looking forward to my visit in 2017.

March 27, 2016 0

A very early morning

I must be mad. Set the alarm for 03:45 this morning to take part in an event organised by the Photography Show 2016 with the help of Steve Walton.

Did seem strange driving along the M6 with no traffic, with a choice of lanes to use, first time for everything..

The event was to take photos of the dawn sun as it rose over the ‘beach’ at Pendigo Lake in the grounds of the National Exhibition Centre just outside Birmingham, the venue of the Photography Show.

So there i was was, with about 20 other souls who had got up waiting for the sun, only to be disappointed as the cloud cover failed in a very English way, hung on.So all we managed were a few shots of the new Resorts World. Fortunately the weather stayed calm and teh reflection on the lake slight rippled.

I have put in a couple of images from the shot, no off to bed to catch up on the ‘missing hours’.

Off to the show on Monday, so will have some images and thoughts on eh day in my next blog…enjoy.

March 20, 2016 0