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The Starving Artist

~ Still an artist but no longer starving!

The Starving Artist

Tag Archives: photography

Picture within a Picture

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Photography, Wildlife

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

be prepared, birds, Carrion Crow, DSLR, Fountain, Handhelds, Hipstamatic, iPhone, nature, opportunism, photography, portraiture, silhouette, Smartphone, Smartphones, Wildlife Photography

Morning.

Some of you will know I actually shoot a lot of wildlife photography as well as my bread and butter portraiture and bridal work. Wildlife photography is much harder than people think, you can’t ask the subject to “pose like this”, or “just move this way a little bit”, you have to take what you can get – usually.

Sometimes though an opportunity presents itself when you least expect it!

This image of the fountain – there is a lot going on, water splashing, sun poking from behind the centre pillar – but I wasn’t taking a picture of the fountain. Take a close look and you will see a Carrion Crow perching all fluffed up. He was in the middle bowl of the fountain bathing (heaven knows why it was near freezing where I was stood!) and I only had my iPhone on me at the time.

Straight away I saw in my mind this picture, but it had to be a silhouette, behind me were grey buildings so anything other than being backlit would not have worked. I positioned myself so the sun was just poking from behind the pillar to give added interest and waited for him to jump out.

I was lucky that he jumped out the right side AND fluffed his wings – I took several shots using the iPhone and the Hipstamatic App, there are several with him in full silhouette just perching, but I prefer this fluffed up one.

Carrion Crow - taken using Hipstamatic - using Foxy Lens & Kodak XGrizzled Film

Carrion Crow – taken using Hipstamatic – using Foxy Lens & Kodak XGrizzled Film

Sometimes pictures of wildlife can have greater impact on the viewer when they show the environment more than the subject, in this instance the picture only works because of the surroundings, a close up silhouette of the Crow (if I had my DSLR with me) would not have been so appealing.

Best – Colin

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Wedding Catwalk

03 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Bridal Photography, Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Arts and Entertainment, beauty, bridal, Bridal Fashion, business, catwalks, Design, Fashion, lovely models, Photographers, photography, style, unguarded moments

Morning

Occasionally I am asked to Video Catwalk events, Bridal, Fashion etc which I do alongside my photography. There is usually a lot going on, especially at Bridal Catwalks and it pays to keep your eyes peeled for any unguarded moments – such as these two lovely models, Helen D & Hannah W doing their thing!

Best – Colin

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Bridal Fashion Shoot

19 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Bridal Photography, Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Autumn, bridal, Bridal Fashion, Fashion, Filming location, Make Up Artist, models, Moody, photography, Summertime

Morning

My last few portrait shoots have been either children & families, or alternative, out of my comfort zone shoots, so it was really great to get back into my comfort zone yesterday with my favourite type of shoot – on location Bridal Fashion.

But it very nearly didn’t happen.

Most photo-shoots, especially those on location, do require a certain amount of planning. You need to research the location, decide on the look/style, source a suitable model, book a make up artist and hairstylist, decide on props, book the time and date and check the weather forecast!

Many of my shoots are planned weeks if not months in advance. The shoot yesterday was booked back in the Summer. I had a location I had researched, but Summertime was not ideal due to the light, it needed an autumnal feel, so November was chosen.

Everything was ready, model booked, MUA/stylist booked, weather forecast looking almost perfect and then……

What every photographer has to deal with at sometime or other, the model AND the MUA called three days before the shoot and cancelled. At least it was three days and not three hours as I have heard stories of!

So what to do – cancel the shoot entirely and with it all the hard work on styling and planning gone to waste – or try and find another team.

I am fortunate to have worked with a number of professional models and one of those, Lorena, I knew loved being shot in Bridal wear and if she was free I was pretty certain she would be happy to step in.

As it happened she was free and she was happy to be part of the shoot. We were unable to source a styling team – but Lorena, the consummate professional, did her own to fit the mood and styling we had in mind.

Yesterday was a typical autumnal day, crisp, cold clear blue skies, sun low on the horizon. These are just a few of the images we created on the shoot.

Bridal Fashion - Lorena F

Bridal Fashion – Lorena F

Bridal Fashion - Lorena F

Bridal Fashion – Lorena F

Bridal Fashion - Lorena F

Bridal Fashion – Lorena F

Thank you Lorena for stepping in and helping me create these images

Best – Colin

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What do you photograph when you have nothing to photograph?

12 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in General, Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

comfort zone, DSLR, ideas, photography, street photography, x100

Morning

Sometimes us photographers get the equivalent of writers block, there is just nothing there, no ideas, no inspiration – nothing.

So what do you do? Well, you could keep your cameras locked away in their bags and go and watch TV, you could sit by the phone waiting for it to ring with your next paying client, or you could pick up your camera and just go out and shoot.

But, I have nothing to shoot – I hear you cry.

Well this is the thing. There is plenty to shoot, in fact, there is so much you could shoot that if you shot every spare day in your life you would never shoot everything you could ever shoot.

Set yourself a goal – if you shoot people – go out and shoot flowers, if you shoot flowers already then go out and shoot people walking dogs, or if you shoot wildlife go and shoot as many different street signs as you can in an hour.

By doing this, not only will you be a little outside of your comfort zone, but you’ll also have to “look” a little harder for a picture, but once you start looking you will eventually see, and once you start seeing pictures, that creativity will start flowing back.

I did this just at the weekend.

I set myself a target of only shooting 10 pictures, just ten pictures using an X100, no DSLR, no fancy lenses, just ten pictures – but ten pictures of man made shapes and within 1 mile of my home.

So I take a walk and it’s hard, very hard, I’m used to shooting people, either on location or in a studio. But after a while I started to look a bit harder. This is a road bollard, at the end of my road, nice textures on the wood and I liked the contrast between the red/white.

Road Bollard

Crossing the road I walked down an alleyway, I go down this alleyway almost every day, but this time I saw the leading lines into the distance, focus on the fence and a bit of flare, could have done with a person in the shot, but this was all about shooting other things.

Alleyway

At the intersection of this alleyway and the road, there is a piece of corrugated iron, great textures, I just had to shoot a couple of frames.

Corrugated Iron Fence

 

Corrugated Iron Fence

Another man made object, a wooden fence door with a chain, great, another shot, by now I’m halfway towards my total of ten, and I’m not 15 minutes from my front door!

Wooden Door

I walked a little further and came across this pipe in the wall, it didn’t seem to go anywhere, but I liked the texture and colour.

Blue Pipes

Only four more to find now and then I stumbled upon these amazing garage doors. They are doors to a block of apartment buildings, pretty cool and never noticed them before, used up two of my ten just on these.

Garage Doors

Garage Doors

So only two images left to find and I was on the limit of my 1 mile from home rule, I then looked across the river and spotted these blue buildings with red windows. I walk by them 2-3 times a week, and never noticed them before!

Blue Facade

On my way back home I had one shot to find – this doorway was an interesting subject.

Blue Doorway

And that was my final picture.

I’m not going to give up my day job just yet 🙂 But it was certainly a different way to go about my photography, and you know what, I quite enjoyed it.

So next time you get lost for ideas, set a target or make a list, and just go and shoot

Best – Colin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cancer. The unplanned journey

10 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in General

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Breast cancer, Cancer, Cancer sufferer, Conditions and Diseases, family, happiness, Health, hope, life, love, photo shoot, photography

Cancer.

It touches all our lives. Be it friends, family, loved ones, or even ourselves. It touches us all. How we deal with that first realisation that Cancer is in our lives goes a long way to determining our journey with it.

But this is a photography blog, why am I writing about Cancer?

I run a Bump to Baby and a My First Year programme for parents with young children, this provides them with several shoots over a given timeframe.

Sue (not her real name) contacted me 18 months ago and said she would like BOTH the Bump to Baby & My First Year photo shoots. The Bump to Baby shoot consists of a maternity shoot at approx. 40 weeks, and a newborn shoot, at approx. 10 days. The My First Year comprises three shoots, newborn, 6 months and 1 year old.

During the course of the last 18 months I have met Sue & her family on a number of occasions, they had a son together, Julian (not his real name) who I have photographed in a Vintage suitcase at ten days old and under a yellow towel at six months old. Every time I have met or spoken with Sue & her family it has always been a rewarding experience. 

It was Julians first birthday yesterday.

About six weeks ago Sue contacted me for an appointment for Julians final 1 year shoot, we had the usual chit chat and exchanged pleasantries and then Sue said, “I may have to cancel at short notice though as I have Cancer”

An uneasy silence followed as I was at a loss for words, so many thoughts flying around in my head. I wanted to say something but knew that no words I could say would be of any comfort. Thankfully, Sue broke the silence and said some silly comment which I forget now, but it made me chuckle and we said our goodbyes.

As soon as I put the phone down the worry started to set in.

About her family. About Julian her son. About the photo shoot. About EVERYTHING.

Yesterday came.

It was raining. 

We were meeting at a local National Trust site to get some pictures of Julian outside in natural surroundings. I arrived a little early to gather my thoughts. Then I saw them, Sue’s father was driving and I could see that Sue was wearing a wooly hat. Was that because of the cold, or because she was losing her hair? All those images of a Cancer sufferer I had in my head were coming to the fore and I was hating myself for it. 

Sue got out of the car and she could obviously see my facial expression as she said, “Blimey Colin, I have Cancer, it’s not contagious you know!!” And that was that. All the worry and fear that had been building up the last six weeks was gone in an instant. And I knew, what ever the weather, we would get some good pictures today.

Throughout the whole shoot Sue was chirpy positive and he usual funny self. Walking back to the cars afterwards I asked her why she was so positive? Her answer bought tears to my eyes.

“If I’m going to die, I’m going to die, there is no point bringing everyone else in my life down by being sad and unhappy. I have always been a happy person, I’m going to continue being a happy person. I don’t want to die, but If I do, at least I’m going out knowing that my family and friends can remember me as someone who was smiling and happy right to the end. Life is full of challenges. This is one of those”

Looking back on yesterdays shoot and my chat with Sue afterwards I have a good feeling that everything will be ok.

If nothing else it has altered my outlook on life somewhat.

keep smiling, be happy

Best – Colin

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What do you do when your wedding dress is covered in fake blood !

08 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Bridal Photography, General

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Bride, China, cleaning, Ebay, Formal Wear, photography, wedding dress, Weddings

Morning

Following on from my recent, Bride with a difference post I thought I’d share a little “post shoot” information with you – but don’t try this at home if your wedding dress is worth £2000 🙂

The wedding gowns that I use for photo shoots are all imports from China, with Chinese prices to boot and so usually I’m not too bothered when one of my gowns is covered in muck and grime – I throw them away if they cannot be salvaged and import another.

The day after my shoot I received another enquiry for bridal wear shoot, the client to be was a size ten (UK) and to my horror the only dress I had in a size ten was one which was now sitting in a holdall under my desk, covered in fake blood, dirt, grass, concrete dust, you name it, it was covered in it.

What could I do? I could get another from Ebay, but deliveries are up to three weeks and this client wanted to shoot sooner than that.

Taking the dress out of the holdall I just knew that this should go straight in the bin, and I’d have to turn my client down. But then I thought, why don’t I ask the person that should know all about cleaning wedding gowns, Jill, from the local bridal boutique

Well, when I told her the story, her answer amazed me, “Just stick it in the washing machine on 30 degrees wash, it’ll be fine” she said. “Then hang it up for a couple of days to let the creases fall out”.

So that’s what I did, wedding gown, straight in the washing machine, 30 degrees wash, 1 hour later, looking as good as new 🙂

I can tell you I was pleased as punch, not only did this save my bacon this time, but it also means I can wash all my gowns instead of disposing of them when they are too dirty – but please – don’t put a gown in the wash if you plan to wear it for your wedding day – mine was a £50 gown!! A £2000 gown would have been professionally dry cleaned!!

Best – Colin

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Back to Basics – one light setup

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Business, Lighting, Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Adobe Photoshop, black and white, business, light, mono, mono conversion, one light, photography, Photoshop, single light

Morning

All photographers need light, be it daylight, sunlight, flashlight, or even moon light, we all need light, because without light there is only darkness.

I see photographers spending hours setting up 3, 4, 5, 6 or even more lights to light a single subject in a studio – fine if you are being commissioned to shoot a big brand commercial where you only have one opportunity to pull off the shot, but for normal paying clients it’s really NOT necessary.

Sometimes people over complicate things, you don’t really NEED to use multiple lights to get the best out of your subject. You might think that using a main light with a fill light and perhaps a hair light to separate them from the background is the way it should be done – and if you read most of the text books on studio lighting you will be right – but you don’t HAVE to do it that way.

If you know how to shape and modify light, and position the light correctly, you can create a stunningly simple image that your clients will love.

This image of Emily was taken with a single light, a single exposure and the only Photoshop work was to convert to mono, everything else is straight out of camera.

One Light

Have a think about how I shot this, with just a single light source.

With one light it is quite simple to add light modifiers to shape the light and add some drama to your image.

This picture of Holly was shot using a continuous light source off to my left and simply shot through a set of blinds strapped to a light stand. Careful positioning results in a pleasing composition, with the light striking the eyes and the mouth.

One light

So you see, it is quite easy to create beautiful and simple images that clients will love, with no more than a single light source and some light modifiers.

Best – Colin

 

 

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Bride with a difference

05 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Bridal Photography, Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Corpse Bride, Ebay, Make Up Artist, photography, Photoshop, SFX, SFX Make Up, wedding dress, Weddings

Afternoon

I don’t photograph weddings, but I do shoot a lot of women in wedding gowns. When I had my studio I was lucky enough to be on the same business park as Hazlewood Bridal Boutique our towns’ newest and best bridal boutique. It wasn’t long before I struck up a friendship with the owner, Jill, and we were soon collaborating on photo-shoots together.

We stopped shooting location based shoots when one of her best gowns became rather sodden during a shoot up at a stately home, you can read about that here

Since moving out of my studio I have been asked to shoot much more Bridal stuff, especially out on location and knowing Jill would baulk at the idea of loaning me a £2000 wedding gown for a shoot out on some disused building site of a location I decided to see what Ebay had to offer.

Ebay has a surprising amount of Bridal Wear stockists, mostly in the far east and China, but the good thing is they come with Chinese price tags too! So after stocking up on a number of these throw away bridal gowns I carried on taking booking for bridal shoots on location

The trouble is, there are only so many pictures of pretty girls in wedding gowns you can take, after a time they all blur into the same type and style of image. I did manage to shoot a lightly different shoot with a gown, see my previous post here, but what I really wanted was something that would be so different and so unusual as to be shocking.

So I came up with Corpse Bride, my own version not Tim Burtons – but there was a thought process behind this. I have access to a disused army base, it’s pretty run down, but it does have some pretty good shooting spaces. So my idea has this pretty girl in a wedding dress playing the violin in a derelict army base – but why is she there? She is actually a ghost and she is pining for her husband that was lost at war. He was stationed at the army base but on the eve of their wedding he was killed in action.

The bride, who (when she was alive) was a violinist and she has come back to the now derelict base to wait for her husband to return, but is destined to play the violin forever as a lost soul.

To turn that idea into reality I needed a fantastic model, a violin, and the skills of a SFX Make Up Artist (MUA).

After several months of planning and some set backs along the way, I secured one of my favourite models to work with, Lorena, a Spanish model who had the look, the hair and the confidence to pull this off. Our MUA for the day was Jodi, an excellent SFX MUA from Bristol.

Applying the SFX makeup to Lorena took more than four hours, four hours which she was sat on the second floor of an abandoned building, facing a hole in the wall (for light) and in the bitter cold

Lorena braving the cold to have her SFX make up applied by Jodi

As is usually the case with the English weather at this time of year, it started to rain and the skies got duller and greyer as the rain got harder. My carefully laid plans for the shoot were blown away as by the time the makeup had finished it was terribly dark outside and lashing down with rain.

Time to improvise.

Lorena towering menacingly over the photographer

Looking more menacing on the stairs

That’s not real blood in the background – honest!

 

Cowering in the corner

We had to curtail the shoot somewhat, it was deathly cold, the wind was blistering through the building and Lorena was covered in goosebumps. But we did one last shot, and with just a little bit of Photoshop magic it turned into this:-

Thunder & lightening, very very frightening !!

A little postscript to this story – Lorena decided to drive home still wearing the makeup, driving through Bristol city centre her car hit the red (on the petrol tank) and she did not have enough to get home – so she calmly drove to the nearest Shell Garage and filled up – still looking half dead!  🙂

best – Colin

 

 

 

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Why are some photographers so expensive?

02 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Business, Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

business, business model, photo shoot, photography, photography business, professional photographer, Studio, weekend warrior

Afternoon

It’s a question I hear quite regularly, a client rings up for a price on a family portrait session or maybe a pre-engagement shoot, and then after informing them of the cost, there is a sharp intake of breath and the words “why are you so expensive, xyz photographer can do it for £x”

There is more to being a “Professional Photographer” than just having a £600 DSLR and being able to take “nice pictures” the skill needs to be honed over many years. In fact, running a successful photography business these days requires more than just good photography skills, you need a sound business head, with good marketing and sales skills, and above all you need to be a “people person”

Coupled with this the fact that a “Professional Photographer” may also have a studio to run, with all those associated costs, not least the photographic accessories like backgrounds, props, lights, stands and all the other paraphernalia that makes up a photographers studio space. Even without the studio space, there are still computers with enough storage space for the ever increasing size of image files, software programmes for editing, a website to be managed and kept up to date, and don’t forget Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance.

Breaking this down even further, lets say I charge £250 for a 1 hour photo shoot. Many clients see that as me charging £250 per hour, more than the cost of their lawyer in some instances. But lets take a look at the work involved.

1hr Photo session (Studio Shoot)

  • Telephone/email discussions with client (30 minutes)
  • Studio Prep (30mins to 1 hour)
  • Photo Shoot (1 hour)
  • Load images onto computer (30 minutes)
  • Back up images to external media (30 minutes)
  • Catalogue, key word, and grade images 30-60 minutes)
  • Editing of images (2-3 hours depending on level of retouching)
  • Backing up of edited images (30 minutes)
  • Arrange viewing session with client (1 hour)

If the shoot is on location then there is additional prep time, load/unload vehicles, travel to/from location.

Clearly from this we can see that I am not charging £250 per hour!

But lets get back to the question, why can xyz photographer down the road shoot the session cheaper than me? Well, there are many reasons for this, they may be “weekend warriors” a slightly disparaging term for Photographers who during the week are at work in their chosen profession but at weekends they shoot weddings or portraits for money, either as a hobby or genuinely because they are just starting out in the business.

They may have a different business model than me, i.e. low price, high turnover or they may not offer any additional services i.e. they don’t do any retouching. Their overheads maybe considerably less too. And one very important thing to ask yourself is, do they have the proper insurance in place.

I often say this to my clients. Buying the services of a pro photographer is no different to buying the services of a lawyer, plumber, electrician or dentist. You wouldn’t hire a lawyer because he was the cheapest, so why hire a photographer because he is the cheapest?

Remember, in life, you get what you pay for.

Best – Colin

 

 

 

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Behind the scenes

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Bridal Photography, General, Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Behind the scenes, Bowood Estate, Bowood House, BTS, Make Up Artist, models, photo shoot, photography, Stately Home, Stylist, using models, Wedding Dresses, Wedding Gowns, Wedding Venues, Weddings

Afternoon

Pictures.

Our lives are consumed with them, every magazine, newspaper, billboard, side of bus or the Tube is covered in pictures. The Internet is awash with pictures, you cannot go through a single day of your life without looking at a picture of some description (unless you are a monk in Tibet, and even then there are no guarantees!).

But how many of us look at the picture and say, I wonder how he/she shot that, or, how many people were involved in that. I’m often amazed by clients that say to me, “I thought it would just be you with a camera and a flashgun!”

So I thought I’d share some BTS (Behind the Scenes) photographs taken for a local wedding gown supplier. The location was the local stately home, where we had free access to the library, bar and gardens.

On big location shoots such as this, the day is long and starts pretty early. Coffee and intros out of the way it’s straight into hair & makeup, this is Emily, one of the models being made up by Mary, our resident MUA.

Hair & Makeup

Starting off in the library we decided against using flash and opted for Lupolux HMI Continuos lighting instead (theatre lights). My trusty step ladder was called into action on more than one occasion, which caused some concern for our chaperone on the day!

Step Ladder Time

 

Moving into the bar area we shot some Bride & Groom images sat at the bar.

At The Bar

 

ooops, where has the photographer gone?

Where's he gone?

Different model, same bar,

 

After finishing up in the bar in was lunchtime, so after a quick bite to eat we moved onto the outside part of the shoot. Unfortunately as is the norm for the UK the weather had turned and it was dull grey and drizzly. Undeterred we set about setting up the shots for the next location.

Discussing the next shot

 

My ladder once again came in useful as the model was stood higher than me on the steps of the structure we were using.

The model was after her iPhone which was ringing right at this point ..grrrrrr

 

 

Another model this time (and another gown)

 

 

The rain was really coming down when we moved onto our final location, the model in this images was dripping wet, and an umbrella was being held over her head in between shots. It didn’t save the dress though.

And just to show some finished images from the shoot that relate directly to these BTS shots……..

Finished Image

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

Finished Image

 

So there we have it. A BTS look at a photo shoot. Lots of people involved, lots of time and planning involved but lots of fun too.

Best – Colin

 

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