I haven’t posted a blog in over a year, and seeing as I don’t have a Purpleport anymore a lot of my stuff that is maybe unable to be posted on social media directly tend to go unseen, which is a bit of a shame I think.
So i’m going to do my best to get showing my stuff again, I mean what else are we doing this for? What is the point in creating if we are not going to show the results?
I’m going to start with this little force of nature, who at a time when I was really starting to question my ability and skills popped back into my life and actually reawakened my love of photographing people. I honestly felt like I had been treading water for ages, but shooting with someone who knows her stuff photographically, and also as a retoucher (not to mention her outstanding abilities as a model) has inspired me to rethink things, and has given me a bit of a push to attempt to up my game. So, Chiara Elisabetta, thank you, because I was getting to the point where I was thinking about walking away from it all, and now I just want to shoot and create again!
When I started shooting in about 2008 I was given some advice that I think is the most valuable advice I have been given as a photographer and that is this. The rapport you have with your subject is the most important element of a shoot, that and light. So while I am here I would like to repeat that to any photographers who are reading and who are not getting the results they want.
Rapport & Light. Find the light, understand how it changes, and interact with your subject with respect and kindness. Literally that is all you need.
Honestly everything else can be done on the cheapest 2nd hand bit of kit you can find lying around. You can do it on your phone and turn out incredible images! Do NOT believe you have to have ton of gear to do this. Sure its lovely to have it, that glass that lets that little bit more light in, those extra megapixels, that brand name, that long lens that makes you think you have a massive knob, (come on come on, you know its true) but honestly, without a good rapport, and without finding (or creating) some beautiful light, then you are not going to have a lot of results worth showing off.
Ok my camera for this shot (Nikon D750) was new two years ago, but my previous D700 was used for over 10 years, so i’m not buying new stuff often. The Nikon 70-200 is the oldest VR version, I bought it second hand in 2010 I think, its still going great, its a beautiful lens and I don’t need the latest version. All lighting was ambient, candles in this case. Top tip though, try not to set light to your models hair when using candles close to their head. ;)
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Anyway, for those that are interested, a brief history lesson so we can get up to date with how we got to these pictures.
We were friends, we fell out, we didn’t speak for nearly 8 years. Then one day we both found ourselves in a zoom photography social online, I didn’t know what to say, she was probably feeling the same to be honest)
Then came an olive branch. (suddenly not so awkward)
Then came a phone call (5 hours, 1 minute) one mother of a catchup!
Then came a request from a photographer friend for me to pick up a model from the station that he was going to shoot at my place that evening. So I went to the station and instead of some blonde model from Bristol there was a tall elegant woman from Angryminge with serpents in her hair and a massive suitcase. She was grinning - Gotcha!
Then came the knowledge that I didn’t have to go to work for a week because she had called my boss and arranged time off for me. Ohhh i’m on my holibobs in Twinklebury-On-Sea, with Medusa!
Then came the pub, a cocktail or two.
Then came a bottle of Red Leg spiced Rum.
Then came absolute drunkeness’
And then came our first photographs in 8 years in the middle of the night, pissed as you can get, me trying to not fall backwards (I think I had to lean against the fridge to stop this happening) and her trying to not look like she was full up of rum and look elegant instead.
And the reason they are so beautiful is because we have amazing rapport, and we had some beautiful light. its should actually be a criminal offence that we left it that long to take photos together again.
Anyway, its safe to say there are a LOT of images to follow, and there will be going forward. Creative heads are plotting and whirring.
Thanks for looking and I hope you like these.
By the way, photographers looking to shoot with Cheryl should take a look at her website while you are here! Photographers abroad, you can book her for remote shoots too!
