Mat + Fashion =

Well hello again everybody... It has been 2 weeks since my last post, but I have been very busy preparing this one alongside my actual work, learning a whole new genre of photography and staring out of my nice new high up windows that overlook everything (or just the carpark - but a lot goes on there!).

Two weeks ago I found out that I could be of use to a fashion student who needed some photos taking for their final project - obviously this was very exciting news so I got preparing straight away. It's quite amazing how much there is to think about, from lighting, to poses, to composition, to equipment, to technical bits and pieces...etc. The list is endless. So in what spare time I found/created I had a lot to get my head around in order to be prepared for this one.

First came some general research around the styles that I like - I already had quite a collection of favourited photos on my various online accounts to browse through, but a lot of researching had to go into the specific styles that were in mind for this shoot. On the day before the shoot I put a collection together, of just the basics, so that if anyone was stuck for ideas then we would at least have a reference point to start from regarding posing and composition...

Whatever Next?

Well, as you will probably all know, last week it snowed up here in the lovely north of England... which was just typical as I was spending a week in Essex at the time. However, I did manage to make it up whilst there was still some snow remaining on the hilltops of the North York Moors and Dales... so we rushed out as soon as we could to make the most of it. 

The bulk of the snow had fallen on Tuesday night, and I arrived on Thursday afternoon - so it was quickly decided that it would be a good idea to travel up the dale around sunset to make the most of the nice light and leftover cold stuff. 

 We set off from Richmond and carried on up Swaledale past Reeth, before stopping right before the road drops down into Langthwaite in Arkengarthdale. The following few pictures are what we found a few yards from the car.

First Class - Just the sort of chap I am.

Hello all my lovelies! Here is this weeks blog post... nothing as stunning as last week's Essexian sunset but this is something I got very excited about - travelling first class!

So here are a few snapshots of my journey...

Tea - not a bad start to any journey...

Staring At The Sun

It's been a while since my last post (over a week!) so I thought I'd put up some of my photos from Essex. These are all taken in the fields around Wix from a couple of evening walks. 

The best thing about going for walks down in these southern lands, is that you can walk randomly off across the fields and never get stuck as a result of crumbling dry stone walls, rivers or cliffs - the worst you ever have to struggle past is a slight ditch between fields... easy.

Whenever I fall at your feet

Okay... so this week I decided to have a good look at some feet... I'll be moving soon and will no longer have this nice looking wooden floor so I had to get around to this sooner, rather than later. I've had the thought in my head for many weeks/months now - so it was nice to finally get it out and see if I can make something that compares well to the image in my mind.

I thought a good starting point would be to practice with lighting on some inanimate object, such as these shoes. I was limited to an extent as the only room long enough to use a long focal length and shallow depth of field happens to have the main window behind where the subject would be placed - so my main starting thought was just to expose for the front of the shoes, and use my giant silver reflector camera left to get some light back onto them... and this is what I got:

However, in my ever so humble opinion, I still thought there was too much shadow on there... so time to get the flash out. The next one was never intended to work, but I thought I'd take it for the purposes of this blog post to show just how bad it was. This one just uses a bare speedlite (at 1/64) to the right with the reflector on the left. Not nice, not nice at all...

Close Encounters

Due to tidying, window cleaning, hairy legs, too much sleep, solving a problem to do with the slow roll parameters and The Simpsons - I didn't get out much this weekend. Fortunately for me, though, I did manage to have a very close encounter... meet Morris...

Lord's Seat and back to Mam Tor

Well, today we decided to get out of the ever-so scenic Sheffield and back into the lovelier parts down here in the 'south'. It should be made quite clear that this decision had been made regardless of the weather - it just so happens we always seem to pick the most perfect of days...

After getting the train to Edale (there and back for £5!!!) we got off and found our way along the road to Barber Booth... at which point this little trail starts us on our actual walk.

Looking back towards Grindslow Knoll - sitting just in front of the Kinder Plateau. Must make this my next hill!