Mr Mark Handley

Mark and I did a shoot at Charborough Studios recently as part of his recording/video/photography package.
He's usually a very animated type of person, but I managed to capture what I think is the real Mark, in quiet contemplation with his 'small axe'
We did many shots of him pulling different facial expressions against a white background for a CD cover idea showing different emotions.

As for the technical side, I lit a white backdrop to slightly overexpose then lit mark with a smallish softbox and another light from back camera left (see highlight on hat and left arm). I also had a large silver reflector by his feet to reflect some light back up to lighten the shadows under Marks' chin

Check out Mr Mark Handley here...http://www.markhandley.co.uk/

Martyrs and Kings

 

Martyrs and Kings came second in the Jagz Band Competition so one of their prizes was a days shoot with me.

We started out at the fantastic Alma Pub in Windsor which has a fantastic interior for shoots, see below.....

 

Then we moved to Windsor town centre where we utilised a bright yellow shutter, then onto the location you see below, basically it is a very large metal container behind an office in a business park just outside Reading.

 

 

As you may see from the image, I changed the colour balance of the camera to Tungsten to get some cool blues in the ambient light, then put a CTB (Colour Temperature Orange) gel over the main flash facing the band and kept the flash that is rear right un-gelled to give a cool blue rim light to the band, while the gelled light brings the band back to normal colour temperature.

 

I got the band to do some different relaxed poses for me looking to and away from camera, after, we went into Reading to a location that had a fantastic mural painted on the wall.

After about seven hours of shooting we called it a day and headed home.

 

To hear more about Martyrs and Kings, click here

Alexander at the Troubadour

Below is the fantastic Alexander McKay at the Troubadour Club in London

The Troubadour Club has a long heritage of quality music and iconic performers stretching back many years, it also has a fantastic charm about it, i'd often wanted to go there so when I heard Alex was playing there I went along to get some images of him on stage and afterwards.

 

At the back of the venue are some very small alcoves with red walls and dark green benches, I asked Alex to sit on one side while I put a single flash in an umbrella in the walkway outside, we did a few different shots, looking at the camera and away, to produce the ones you see below, a nice touch was the fact that the table had some engraved images of guitars in them which you can hopefully see in the images, one camera, one subject, one flash and a cool location, a very simple set up.....

 

To find out more about Alex, click here

 

 

Hal Cruttenden at SHP

Above is the brilliantly funny Hal Cruttenden, photographed at the South Hill Park Comedy Cellar bar.

He was top of the bill and didn't disappoint, especially as he had come straight to the club after doing Pantomime in Woking earlier in the evening.

 

I photographed a few different comedians that night in between laughing,

Below are... MC Tom Webb, Michael Fabbri and TJ McDonald 

All the Comedians were great to photograph as they are all mostly very expressionate so I can capture the looks they have as they perform.

Alexander & Alexandra

A great night for quality music at Jagz recently, first up was Alexander McKay who had a fantastic voice and stage presence, here are just a couple of images from his performance..... 

 

 
______________________________________________________________________________

 

The main act on the night was Alexandra Legouix and the Sunflowers, a fantastic band that plays a fusion of Latin Jazz, Reggae and pop.

Here are some images from the night......

 

 

 

 

 

President Obonjo

I recently photographed 'President Obonjo' (Benjamin) at a comedy gig in Windsor a few months ago, he contacted me to see if I could produce some promo images for his comedy character.

We went up to London.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to Marble Arch where there was the Flags of all Nations so we did a few images there, shame there was no breeze as I hoped the flags would be fluttering horizontally.

Next stop was the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, we stopped on a Pedestrian crossing  to get some images of the President with Big Ben in the background. after that we went across Westminster Bridge to the London Eye for the images you see above, I took some little Union Jack flags with me as a prop so Benjamin could wave them, I managed to capture a bit of blur in the flags to indicate movement.

All the shots were lit with just one flash, held by my trusty sidekick John who also kept an eye on the equipment.

Here is a little bit about the President.........

The name is  President Obonjo of Lafta Republic and I have been performing stand-up comedy since late 2010.
My set combines story political and personal story lines, my influences as a British Nigerian , the impact of Social media on my life. Also included in my acts are political, topical and observational comedy .

President Obonjo is a creative thinker. 

Awards

Luton Comedian of the Year 2013 , Beat the Frog in Manchester 2013 , Bath Comedy Gladiators 2013 and Hastings Comedian of the Month 2013

Quotes

Some reviews of my performance can be found below:

“Obonjo’s future is bright in the Comedy World it is blinding “

“ Extremely talented comic and has a bright future in the comedy scene”

"Judging by the opening performance of the first Lafta Republic comedy show, this is one head of state who delivers what he promises "- Herts Advertiser

"A newcomer to the scene the St Albans scene,  funny man gave an assured performance for a new comer and will certainly be a permanent fixture on the comedy circuit "

"Relative newcomer PO came on in loud, coloured African attire, I thoroughly enjoyed his performance.

Obonjo is an experienced MC and has done numerous Corporate gigs.

 

So, some great images for a very talented comedian....'Vote Obonjo'!!!

Ella Martini

Below are a small selection of images from a recent shoot with singer/songwriter Ella Martini
The first three images were taken at the 'Bel and the Dragon' restaurant in Reading which has a great interior, ideal for music promo shots. We spent a couple of hours there setting up lighting in different parts of the restaurant to create some images that Ella can use for promotional purposes.
To hear and learn more about the very talented Miss Martini, click here

 

The last image was taken outside by a lake to get just Ella and the sky in the frame as this could be used as a CD cover if cropped square, for this image, I underexposed the already moody grey sky and lit Ella with one flash, camera right.

As we were shooting the late afternoon sun came out on the left side to put some light on the left side of Ella's face which filled in the shadow really nicely.

All the images here where shot just using one flash with various lightshapers, such as an umbrella or a smallish softbox.

 

 

Alex Cofield

 

Alex recently contacted me about some headshots he needed as he was getting to the end of his course at Rose Bruford College
We spent a couple of hours in the studio going through some different variations of looks with a few changes of clothes along the way for variety.
After choosing his 6 final images, I went through his choices and delivered them in a variety of formats and sizes that can be used for Spotlight, printed as 10''x8'' copies in colour and black and white, and email-able copies as well.
Alex was really please with his images and I wish him well for the future.

Baby Howl

Just finished a shoot with 'Baby Howl'.

They won the Battle of the Bands at Jagz music venue recently, first prize was a days shoot with me to produce images that can be used for Press and Promo requirements.

We started by an old corrugated barn then went onto a flyover that had some fantastic murals by Cosmo Sarcon  painted on it, we utilised the mural in a few of the images.

One of the final locations was a bridge/underpass that I know of in Windsor-it has some great lead in lines and textures with just enough darkness to enable me to light the band back up to exposure again with just one flash placed in front of them, i'm kneeling down by the light stand with a wide lens to make them more prominent in the image.

This image has been slightly processed, a bit of de-saturation and general slight changes.

Below is a mock up version of a CD cover, which shows what you can do with an image after editing and re-sizing/cropping etc

 

Jasmine......

 

Above is Jasmine, a Singer/Songwriter based near Reading, Berks
We met up recently to create some images for her that she could use for CD artwork etc.
The location was the Bel & The Dragon restaurant in Reading, a beautiful setting with lots of location possibilities inside and out.

This image was very simply lit, just one flash with a grid to create a fall off into darkness.
The deep blue of the seat contrast with the red patterned cushion and Jasmine's pale skin.
Ideal image for a cover.
You can find out more about her here

JAGZ Band competition final

Below are the entries for the Jagz band competition final, from the top are the winners-Baby Howl, followed by 'Martyrs and Kings', 'The Midnight Rambler' and finally 'Big Daddy'

 

 

I've covered most of the heats for this competition and have been impressed by all of the bands, so well done to everyone who took part.

 

My involvement with the competition is that I am one of the prizes, the winner (Baby Howl) gets a free days shoot with me to create images for promotional and artwork use.

 

Sha La La's CD cover shoot

 

 

Above are a few image that I produced for a new CD cover for the Sha La La's.

We all met up one evening at a disused garage near Ascot and spent about two hours creating images in and around the garage buildings.

 

I used one light for the second image, but in most cases used three to produce some rear/side lighting, the third image from top has three lights in use, one as a key light straight onto the band, one inside the building to light the side of John in the blue shirt standing and one from the rear right to rim light Darron in the red shirt.

In the top image I put a keylight onto the front of the band with another behind them to put some rim light onto them otherwise they would have blended into the darkness behind them.

I've mentioned before on this blog that I feel lighting makes the image, especially so as without lights on this shoot you would be looking at four black squares.............

 

____________________________________

 

Below is a behind the scenes shot of the band being lit by one light, i've pulled back to show the band and light together as we were trying to get the white arrow that was painted on the floor into the shoot (see second image from top)

The blurriness around the band is a little trick I know, basically take the picture with a slow shutter and twist the camera at the same time, the ambient light blurs and anything hit by flash is 'frozen', simple but very effective......

We wrapped up about ten o'clock that night with lots of good varied images for a potential CD artwork, an enjoyable evening with a great bunch of blokes, see them live-you won't regret it!

 

 
 

PS.... I went back to the studio to do another shot of the band before their rehearsal, I had the idea in my mind for a while, just needed a dark room, 3 flashes and some card!

Basically I shone 2 flashes through a slit in a v large piece of card on camera right with a flash camera left behind and to one side of the band, see below for the final image...maybe one for the next album or a poster/flyer.