I went down to London at the weekend to attend a workshop led by the photographer Craig Fleming who has had several entries in the Portrait Photographer of the Year Award in the past. It was a chance to watch his process, ask questions and spend some time in a studio environment which is rare for me. The model was Laurie Delaney who was fantastic to shoot and made it easy to make some portraits I was pleased with. Craig created a very relaxed and open atmosphere so no question felt too basic and it was easy to follow his lead.
Studio
Studio portraits - Robin
It was a pleasure to have my friend Robin come in for some portraits the other day. Covid put a stop to any such shoots of late so it was nice to be able to have someone sit for me again. I was inspired by a recent Phil Fisk shoot with Paul Weller to try some high key lighting with some gelled lights to give some colour as Phil had done in his shots. I love Phil’s portraits and his use of light is fantastic. Robins colouring struck me as suiting this style of shot so I invited him into my humble home studio. In the end the session was a little frustrating as using battery powered (possibly not charged recently :/ ) flash units made for inconsistent results. I suspect this was due to several factors present in a very DIY setup! I’d used a white cube used for product photography balanced on top of one speedlight to act as a high key backdrop. The only reliable element was my softbox as the front light. To the side I tried a gelled flash in slave mode to flash when the other units fired. From one shot to the next the lighting would give different results and so it was virtually impossible to work towards what I wanted! I was still pleased with the results that we achieved. We chatted Zappa and films and when there was a pause I took some shots and rolled with whatever results the lights decided to offer! Towards the end I went back to the classic one light style against a black background and had some lovely results but there is a reason why a well equipped studio is a powerful tool.
An unexpected joy was reading the messages Robin’s kids had sent to him when he showed them the results. This year has meant that many relationships have felt somewhat on hold despite the best abilities of technology to help us maintain connections with those that we don’t live close to. I think these shots made a nice change to a fuzzy image on Zoom. We underestimate the importance of seeing the faces of loved ones in real life and maybe the next best thing is a good picture.
Clare sent Today at 22:16
Omg DAD! These are AMAZING!!!! I absolutely love them!! And love that you did this!! I'm going to have one of them printed and framed. It captures your cheeky smile, always plotting a quick whip. Number 10 makes you look like a thug!
Paddy sent Today at 22:20
These are great dad. I love toms photos. Number 6 sums up a number of emotions. Great to see your smile but also just nice to see pics of you. X
Portraits - Big Dave
in Studio
I’ve known Dave for a while. We met on the beach a few years ago and got chatting and when I see his recognisable van parked up, I’ll go say hello and we’ll shoot the breeze for a good while. I’ve known since we met that he’d make a good subject for a portrait but it took a while to make it happen. The other day I found him fettling his van down the road and I suggested he was looking suitably rugged for a portrait and so he stopped by when he’d finished.
Studio portraits
After a little while of experimenting with taking portraits I’m now offering this as a service. Whether you would like a portrait taken simply for your own reasons or if you need images for professional use, get in touch and we can arrange a shoot. If you’ve felt uncomfortable in front of the camera in the past, be assured of an informal and relaxed atmosphere.
Since starting out with taking pictures of friends I’ve found portraiture to be a fascinating branch of photography. Unsurprising really as I suppose portraiture is at the heart of photography, the human form the original subject and so many faces having been recorded over the decades since the first images were made. Maybe rather grandiose words but there’s something magic about getting the light right and capturing a special image of a person. Anyway, here are some of my favourites…
Rosie Jacobs Designs
in Studio, Commercial, People
I did some studio work for Rosie Jacobs Designs recently. Rosie is a Pembrokeshire based designer producing handmade scarfs from selected tweeds. I own one of her pieces myself and they’re beautifully made, unique and super stylish. We had a great shoot with Lily, a Cardiff based model and Mat modelling the mens collection.
