The confusions of a photographer

Future

2011-06-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

Over the next couple of weeks im over hauling everything i do. Ill be updating my websites , working on a new way of editing and upping my marketing game.

I need peoples help though. Ive created a new account on facebook where ill be posting my work for peoples opinions before releasing it elsewhere. If your interesting in helping me add

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100002520118902

Im not looking for a big critique but if you like something them like it. If your not sure just say "not sure or its shit" Im looking for honest opinions .

Cheers in advance

Paul

January

2011-02-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the year i was looking for new muses for 2011 and had a couple of girls reply to my ads that i found interesting . I organised shoots for them at the Buff Club.

The first girl i shot that day was Sarah. Sarah is a very beautiful girl but i didnt think i captured how beautiful she was. I also felt she was very similar in look to Mandy one of my other muses. Id love to work with Sarah again and highly recommend her.

The beautiful jewellery is by Louise McGinley of Wicked Wonderlands

WickedWonderlands

Punk Morvs

The second girl i shot that day was a girl called Punk Morvs. I had a great time with Morv doing some character work. She is great to work with and puts up with my pish. Glad to say she is one of the my new muses for 2011.

It was a real pleasure working with both Sarah and Morv.

The Wall 2011

2011-01-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

Did my first shoot of 2011 yesterday. For years ive been shooting in the Buff Club in Glasgow. This year im going to photograph every person i shoot in the Buff against this yellow wall. I dont shoot alot of models now adays , its mostly people i find interesting.

The first girl is Sarah who i spotted on the Club Noir website after she had been to the Christmas Club Noir

The second is Morv who is just back from South America after doing volunteer work at an orphanage.

This is George who is the proprietor of Lady Kentmore's Antiques

This is Michele who is the proprietor of the Buff Club

Club Noir

This is Thom Ferrie from Club Noir

Babette Corvette

Thomas

Katrina

Chelsea Dagger

The Great Aldo

Lou Hickey

Scarlet

Marisa

Deborah

Tina

Verity

Lauren

Andria

Anna

Artpunk & Tina

A couple of good friends

Frazer

Mandy

The Buff Staff

Louise

Rosie

George

A couple of recent shoots

Astrid

Carra

The mua that didnt like getting her pic taken

My old friend Gulliver

A few things

2010-12-13T04:45:00.000-08:00

I havent been shooting much lately but have a few shoots in the pipeline for 2011. Ive been asked by a company in the states to shoot some latex, lingerie and furniture for them. So been busy organising models for that. Ive got a shoot with Morgan Le Faye in the new year as long as i can find an art deco location. Also one with Vanity Kills and Lauren Lamar. Millie Dollar in February.

I did have a shoot with a band called the Asps the other month. They were really nice guys.

Ive also got some pictures coming out in a book next year.

I also did some you tube videos of my work

Heres a video i did with Chrissie just over a year ago

Not really had alot to say lately

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year x

Polmont

2010-09-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

Was over in Polmont last week , house sitting for Jill and Fozzie and looking after the 4 cats. Thught id pass some of the time with a couple of shoots. So on the Saturday Nicolette came over and we did these.

Then on Sunday Michelle came over and we did these

It was pleasure working with both of them. Id highly recommend them

The Muses

2010-08-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

In 2006 i started a series called the Muse project. Originally the plan was to work with one model over a year, shooting her once a month. This lasted for only 6 months though as i found it more difficult to come up with ideas as i was getting more in demand. I carried on working with Muses though as i found i also did my best work with them. They arent Muses in the true sense though , apart from one. That being Chrissie. I was in a relationship with her before i started workng with her.

There has been 5 Muses so far plus some other girls that ive done a few shoots with.

SouDesade was the model i started the project with.

I then worked with Kirsty and Britney

Last year I spent the year working with Chrissie

This year ive been workng with Mandy

The other girls have been Sooz, Chelsea Darling, and Marzy

At the moment im on the hunt for a new Muse. Someone that inspires me. Im still working with Mandy but usually i work with a few at a time. Each one offering something different. To see the amount of work i do with them check out www.artpunk.org

Its a great opportunity for someone as they get great pictures for their portfolio and promotion.

Anita DeBauch

2010-08-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

On Sunday there i had the pleasure of working with the lovely Anita DeBauch at the Buff Club. The clothes were supplied by Drac in a box

A quiet week before the storm

2010-08-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

Been a slow week this week with only one shoot for Kaeleigh Wallace. She was needing an Indian Wedding shot for the wedding show on Sunday. So it was wee trip up to Crossmyloof on Monday to shoot this. The shoot only took 30mins. It was good to get out the house and return a favour.

I also had an email from Joshua Karp saying i had a picture accepted for a new magazine he is producing called The Printed Blog . Its a magazine that prints the best blogs and content from the web and comes out in the States. www.theprintedblog.com

Ive a shoot with the lovely Anita DeBauch for Drac in the Box, tomorrow at the Buff Club. That should be good fun. Ive also hopefully a shoot with Kellie La Plegua for Amf Korsets next week before im off to cat sit at Castle Fozzies for a few days. While there im hoping to do a few shoots and find my new muse.

One of them is hopefully with the beautiful Michelle MacDonald.Ive really got to start working with agency standard models if thats really the direction i want to take my work.

Nicola

2010-08-13T03:58:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago the Buff Club asked me to shoot their calendar for them. This is when i first met Nicola. I got some beautiful photographs of her that day so asked her last year if she fancied another shoot. She declined but last week she commented on me looking for a new muse and i asked her again. So on Wednesday we had a shoot at the Buff Club.

Another person i met on the calendar shoot was Terri who had asked me about doing styling. Theres a real shortage of stylists up here. So i thought id give her an opportunity to see what she can do. I think if she can make the right contacts , she could do well. Terri did the styling for the shoot and think she did great with the limited resources.

It was fun working with Nicola, she is a beautiful girl and it was really easy to get a great picture. Ill hopefully work with her again in the future.

Model: Nicola

Stylist: Terri Higgens

Location: The Buff Club

Ive a shoot with Anita DeBauch a week on Sunday which im really looking forward to.

Anatomic Bomb

2010-08-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

Through shooting with Club Noir i got to know Madeline who owns Anatomic Bomb. She is a great designer of good quality latex clothes at very reasonable prices. Anyway one day i asked if she would be interested in me shooting some of her outfits.

Heres some of the results.

Anyway big thank you to Madeline for supplying the outfits and check out Anatomic Bomb

Lighting courses and style

2010-08-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

Was think of running lighting courses but then thought

"Artpunk lighting course : Stick the light there, switch it on, take picture. Does it look good? Nope. Move it"

Im not against lighting courses but why would i want to shoot in someone elses style. To me a photographers style is down to how something is lit and post processed. The post processing less so, if a retoucher is used.

I think photographers should experiment with lighting till they find a way of working that makes them happy. You can see instantly if something isnt working and can change it.

What bothers me though is magazines taking the safe option and pictures in magazines being very samey. I can understand why they do it, to please advertisers but they arent encouraging photographers to develop a style of their own. Its becoming very boring.

I thought id show you a development of my work. Starting from shooting with a Pentax MZ 5n in 2005. This is just my model photography though as i did start when i was 18 shooting live bands and landscapes. This was mostly for fun though and at the time i didnt class myself as a photographer.

In The winter of 2006 i switched to digital and shot with a Nikon D80 and a beauty dish with a 500w bulb. My work took a leap forward in quality. This was when i started my muse projects which has carried on till this day. It gave me the opportunity to experiment more with lighting.

It wasnt till last year i started working with studio lighting while i was working with Chrissie at Fozzie's studio at Polmont. Days were spent there just experimenting with lighting.

6 months ago i bought some illumen 8's and ive been working on my style using those lights. Its taken a wee while but its starting to head in the right direction.

Theres to many folk wanting to take a shortcut instead of putting the work in

Excuses

2010-08-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

One excuse i hear alot for bad composition and lighting is they dont use photoshop and prefer it straight from the camera. What a load of pish. Photoshop doesnt make a bad picture good. What it does do though is improve a good picture that is well composed and lit.

This picture was shot with a Pentax Mz-5n and lit with the pop up flash. Its a so called straight out the camera picture. Its also one of my most commented pictures on Model Mayhem.

Picture on Model Mayhem

The 2 pictures below are an example of an uneditted picture and one thats been worked on in photoshop.

Uneditted

Editted

This shot was taken on a grey day with poor lighting but with abit of work i created this.

To me when someone says they shoot straight from the camera it means that they are just to lazy to learn all the tools of photography. I also question their motives for taking the picture in the first place. If they cant compose and light a picture whats the point of taking it. You certainly dont turn round to a person who can and say they dont know what they are talking about.

It also makes me wonder if they have ever developed a picture in a darkroom or did they get them developed at Boots. Photoshop is no different from dodging and burning and other processes in the dark room. Youve just got far more tools.

The Buff Club

2010-07-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

Ive been shooting in the Buff Club since March 2006. The picture above is from the 2009 calendar I shot for them. Just got to say the staff there have been fantastic towards me and i dont think theres a corner i haven't shot. When other places have let me down or not bothered returning calls the Buff has always come to the rescue.

The nights they have on at the Buff are great and you should check out the food in the Butterfly and Pig. Its all locally sourced and tastes fantastic. All in all a great bunch of people.

A big thank you to Michele, Gianni, Tall Paul, Charlie, Mairi, George , Matt, Domenico, Amy , the rest of the staff at the Butterfly and the doormen.

The Buff Club

The Butterfly and Pig

Ps if you know who stole the pig get them to return it

The Butterfly and Pig

The Tea Rooms

lumen8

2010-07-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

Ive had these lights for about 5 months now and still getting to grips with them. They are murder on my back when carrying them as they are alot of heavier than my old beauty dish and bulb.

There has been a big improvment though in the focus of my pictures. Less camera shake shooting at 125 instead of 20.

The last picture was shot in two parts. The dancers were shot in the Buff Club while the background was shot the day before.

Its going to take a while to find my style working with them but ill get there with trial and error.

How i light things. With a light

2010-07-30T05:24:00.000-07:00

I just asked on facebook what people wanted to see on here and a few folk said my lighting setups. The thing is im not a technical photographer. Up till last year i was working with a beauty dish with a 500w bulb. The problem i had with that was i was working in low light situations in clubs which meant long shutter speeds and a steady hand. I wouldnt be bothered about setting the light a certain way. If the picture wasnt looking right then id just move the light till i got something i liked.

With this picture of Ivory Flame i was holding the light with my left hand so it was top left pointing towards the model. The distance the light was depended the shutter speed i could get a infocus picture with. It was quite hard , with a slow shutter speed shooting one handed with my weak hand.

Last year i started experimenting in the studio with strobe lighting. Well to start with it was just the modelling lamp i used.

This picture was done with a modelling lamp at the front left and day light from the back through curtains.

Something like this was shot on top of a shiny bar with the camera resting on it. It was lit with the lights above the bar and the wb set to daylight. The gold colour wasnt added later in post production.

I think people to get to caught up with thinking this is how you should light a subject instead of just experimenting till you get something your really happy with. Move the lights about and change the settings on them.

At the moment i work with 2 400w illumin 8's and my works in abit of a transition as i figure out shooting with a third dimension. Before i usually had a model against a wall but now i can attempt to light the scene instead of just the model. The person who's work i really admire at the moment is Stephen Kearney.

www.stephenkearney.co.uk

I really like how he lights a scene and his work with dramatic.