ON STRANGER TIDES

There are many exciting things to capture at a canoe race. The action, the drama, the fierce competition but I was searching for a selection of images that captured the whole atmosphere of the event. I wanted to create some arty style images so I took along my 50mm lens to capture some equipment. Although you can never really encapsulate the buzz of excitement in the air or the faint aroma of bacon and fresh coffee in an image but I had a good go at it.

SUNSHINE COOL - WITH GEORGIA CLARKE

Here is part two of my shoot with Georgia Clarke. Its always fun working with new people especially on a project like this because you have to get on with them straight away as you will only be working with them for a few hours. Georgia as it turns out works as a part time a rapid responce paramedic and modelling was a sideline for her that she wanted to do more of. She was often modelled as FIT model for a friends clothing label in London or out in Ibiza. It's amazing what you can find out in such a short amount of time. My style has always been to try and be organised and professional but fun and friendly at the same time.

SUMMER STYLE - WITH GEORGIA CLARKE

Looking up at deep blue cloudless skies, with rays sunshine lighting up your face and a much warmer air temperature you could almost believe that this is summer in the UK. Cue the smell of freshly cut grass, meats slowly cooking on a BBQ and the sound people socialising in the distance and you are pretty much there. With this in mind I thought I'd blog about a photoshoot I did last summer during the sensational the heat wave. I'd arranged to work with Georgia, a local model, to meet me at Bramhall Hall Park to shoot some summer style fashion images and portrait work. 

Georgia was lovely to work with and we had a great time shooting several set ups across the day. This outfit was a flowery floaty summer pink patterned dress and belt accessories. In the grounds of Bramhall Park there is a small Italian garden which is where we shot the majority of these pictures.

THE ONLY WAY IS UP

Sometimes in life it's the little things that count. Just simply catching up with old friends is certainly one of them. Several of my friends from university are now outdoor activity instructors who often rock climb so when we all discussed getting together, naturally it involved some climbing. Rock climbing is something that looks really cool on camera if you are in the right places. As we worked our way round some of the routes in Hatherage the views were fantastic and the climbs challenging. Well worth taking a camera with me!!

AUTUMN COLOURS - WITH LUCI FISH

Another slightly overcast and grey day in Salford Quays was the location for the next shoot with Luci. With the wind blowing a gail giving the 80's music video style hair flicks we continued to shoot. Autumn chic with a splash of colour was the idea for this shoot, using the Quays great achitecture and waerways as an ideal backdrop. Luci is great fun to work with and was fantastic arriving with the two changes of outfit seen in the photos. Sadly she is leaving Manchester to follow her dreams of being an actress and moving to London. I wish her all the best as she was a fantastic model for the day dodging the rain clouds with me to capture some great images.

SNOW TIME - WITH CAT SLEIGH

 Twelve months or so ago I shot some winter images with model Cat Sleigh out in the snow. We had had 3 inches of powder over night and was the perfect opportunity to work on a winter clothing fashion look book. Taking a walk up and over the hills towards the canal and beyond we hunted for a nice area to shoot some images in. Borrowing some hats, scarves and gloves to use during the shoot we carried everything across to the field. It was a really fun shoot to do, experimenting with different clothes and having a laugh with the snow. We put some snow in Cat's hair and lay on the ground in snow to create the ulitmate winter effect. I've recently re-edited some of these images with the new presets I have within Lightroom 5 and discovered some nice styles.Boosting the blue colour hues and brightening the whites has helped to lift the photos in the edit.

LIGHT UP THE NIGHT - WITH LUCI FISH

It may be dark outside but you still want to look good and keep warm in the process. I teamed up with model Luci again to create some fantastic night time fashion inspiration. Warm fur coats and hats mixed with autumninal colours create a great fashion style for this time of year. Taking a short break in shooting we grabbed a cup of tea in the Lowry Theatre and waited for the light to fade so we could begin our night time shoot.

Night time photography is a tricky thing. The low level light is a problem for capturing images properly without blurring or you need an awful lot of external light sources to provide adiquate light. Flash guns are great to lighting up a situation but often leave the scene blown out and as an unflattering light source. This is where Front and Rear Curtain Sync flash come in.

Rear Curtain Sync makes your camera fire the flash at the end of the exposure. So when you press the shutter the lens open and starts collecting light and just before it closes the flash will fire to light up and freeze your main subject. Conversely Front Curtain Sync makes your camera fire the flash at the start of the exposure. For example when you press the shutter, the flash will fire immediately and the shutter will remain open afterwards capturing ambient light. Both of these methods are used in night club and action sports where the light levels are particularly low. We experimented with both of these settings and eventually having to stop due to a down pour of rain. The idea was to get the flash to highlight Luci and the ambient light of the traffic passing and city scape to create light streaks behind her.

GOING PRO - WITH THE GOPRO HERO 3

The worlds most versitile camera just got a whole lot better with the new updated GoPro Apps for smart phones and tablets. By connecting your smart phone to the Hero3 over a wireless connection gives you full control of cameras functions. The best function is by far the live preview so you can see exactly what the camera is capturing. This isn't the most in depth review you'll find on the web and I wont go in to detail about the camera features only the app itself. This is normally a very difficult thing to gauge as the GoPro cameras are too small to fit a digital screen to display the output so you are reduced to just guessing if the position/framing is correct for your shot. GoPro do manufacture a LCD backpack screen optional extra to tune of approx £80 if you wish to have a screen attached, however the new app does away with that necessity.

Another feature of the app is that you can control the camera remotely making changes to the settings now couldn't be easier. Every option is available from adjusting the frame rate, checking battery life or stop start recording. This is so much easier on a large touch screen phone than messing around with the buttons on the front of the camera.You can instantly review whatever you have just captured in the instant playback option so browsing your footage is nice and simple away from a computer. The app now gives you the option to copy or download content directly to your smart phone for instant sharing online. If you can't wait to show the world what you are up to it's very easy to download a GoPro snap shot to your phone and upload to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for example.

Aesthetically the app itself is simple, slick and easy to use just like everything made by the GoPro company. It comes with website enabled Photo/Video of the day features too or go to the online shop which are all standard features of apps these days.

I've experimented abit with the features on the app and I'm very happy with how it all works. The remote features and live preview are by far my favourite and will be so useful when rigging the camera to a kayak, climbing helmet or cars as you can check the shot straight away. There is around a 1 to 2 second time delay with the live preview because of the wireless connection from camera to phone but this really doesn't matter in the slightest.

WINTER FASHION LOOK BOOK - WITH LUCI FISH

Heading out to the Media City UK area of Salford Quays we shot the set on the dock side for an urban twist. The cold colours of the metal, concrete and water accentuated the clothes Luci was wearing, a blue metal studded denim jacket, blue leggings and beanie hat accessories. We were dodging the elements whilst shooting these as the wind was a big factor constantly blowing Luci's hair and a light sprinkling of rain threatened to stop us all together. In the end though I think the photos convey beautifully the colour tones of the area, clothes and style we wanted to achieve. Autumn/Winter chic at its best.