Not quite what it seems…

Posted by Paul

What can possibly go wrong…

I had been invited along to a group shoot at the nearby Heart of England Conference Centre. A very strange location in that geographically it is pretty much as far from any sea that it is possible to get in the UK but boasts its very own beach!

Now I have to admit that I always have mixed feelings about Group Shoots, you know the scenario 300 photographers paying , 5 models attending for free, however this one was different and intrigued me. It was a real TF shoot, no one was paying and everyone was being treated equally.  This had to a good thing and it had a beach! Oh and an 8am start……(luckily just before the actual day the venue advised it would need to be a 9am start – so an extra hour in bed!)

Unusually for a group shoot the drop out rate was very low with only two of the models failing to make the event (a good opportunity missed). Arriving at the event we had a small room laid aside for us to use with a large table full of make up, accessories, a rack of clothing – this was looking ever better!

There had been a few themes mooted around, faeries, weddings and the like, and I had bought along an amazing wolf head mask that I had from Ghoulias Peculiars who are a truly amazing prop makers and well worth a look.

So did anything go wrong? Well, yes of course it did……….. It rained (this is England) and we had maybe a whole 15 minutes where it was slightly damper than we anticipated. My very trusty pocket wizards decided they didn’t want to play properly ( a search on google tells me that me trying to be creative wasn’t going to work and I should have left the metering in evaluative and dialled the flashes down rather that spot metering!).

Pictures, you want pictures?
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Amber Foxx – the tractor files

Posted by Paul

After discovering that Pocket Wizards made location shooting so much fun, it seemed only fair to subject Amber to even more location work!
In order to minimise the discomfort I chose the windiest day of the year, on the premise that we would be inside for the shoot….totally forgetting the fact that most barns are not that windproof, doors have a habit of being blown open and that using a 5ft umbrella on your main light source also makes an impressive kite…
However the images turned out nice, the umbrella…well that is no longer as round as it once was….but seeing as it only cost £7 I am not too upset at that.

Amber Foxx – the Birmingham Files……

Posted by Paul

After a successful shoot at the Curzon St car park earlier in the year, I did a follow up shoot with Amber around the Custard Factory in Digbeth and then we ventured into the city centre.
The Custard Factory is as its name suggests an old custard factory (I believe Birds?) that has been reinvented as a creative and arts centre. It is home to a diverse range of creatives from Graffiti to Wedding Dress designers to vintage and retro shops. It is well worth a look round and often has exhibitions for you to see.
We used one of the empty gallery areas for some shoots and it was a chance for me to try my new pocket wizards out.

As we had spoken to the reception staff there we were fortunate enough to be given free rein to shoot where we liked as long as we didnt disrupt or get in anyones way.

We also met the owners of Graffiti4Hire who graciously gave us permission to take some shots inside their design space, these guys are very creative and if you need some work done then please give them a look