Man Ceiriog

This ruggedly handsome chap kindly let me take his portrait as part of a seasonal series I am work on. He was pulling a large cart of wood up a steep lane when he kindly stopped for me. He looked great – straight out of Lord of the Rings I thought. I just need to get three other local folk to agree to seasonal environmental portraits for Winter, Spring and Summer and that’s my Four Seasons of the Ceiriog Valley exhibition entry sorted. It all sounds so straightforward in words. Oh, and I really need to find this chap again and ask him to sign a model release form. Easy.

The Norwegian dudes...

Standing In The Shower... thinking...

Try getting your nine year old buddy to stay still under a cold outdoor shower, open his eyes for the camera, oh, and hold his breath all the while...

Lost Cat

I stopped on a meditative wander around the midday sleepy backstreets of a Cretan village to take a few shots of the cats living wild on the edge of a building site and noticed I wasn't the only observant one...

TomBoy

I have a feeling this little man is going to be beating me up the hills on his own bike before long...

Photoshoot

This is really an outtake, taken between posed shots duing a semi-formal portrait session for a friend Cath, but I think this is the cute shot.

Hey!

The handsome Mr Cranwell

I wonder how transient such stylised photography is? It's so temping when looking at a straight rendition of a portrait shot next to something stylised like this, tweaked for high-contrast and de-saturated colour, to be drawn to the ‘sheer f**k off-ness’^* of the latter. Looking back in a year or two though, will this image scream 2008 styling and the handsome Mr Cranwell take second place? In funky 1970’s magazines I have found in charity shops, it almost looked like soft focus and star-effect filters were fashionable. Probably best to stop thinking about it and go take some pictures.

*Apologies for implying swear-words on a photography blog, in my defense though, it’s a quote from the rather good film Sexy Beast.

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A rest from Iceland pictures...

Taken at a rather bizarre medieval camp reenactment we accidently stumbled into. I am quite please we did now… Thanks for letting me take your picture, and Mom, get in touch for a copy!
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I thought this candid shot of a girl removing her make-up was quite sweet. Click image to enlarge.

A portrait in Cumbria

Patrick is our little mate who lives in Cumbria. His big brother just got a lovely old scooter. Here is Patrick wishing he was old enough to go for a ride. Click images to view larger.

Cheeky bugger.

I would like to do a lot more portrait shots, they are fun to do, and the results are probably more engaging to look at than pictures of old trees. I am a quite shy though, and asking strangers or indeed friends if I can photograph them, I find hard. So, if anyone wants to just walk on up and volunteer for a portrait session, feel free! Click images to enlarge.

16th April 2008

Lukas


Lukas's new tattoo, 'The Birds'

This is the first completely posed portrait shot I have done on this blog. It's shot outdoors in bright sunlight, modified (diffused) manually. I had ideas for juxtaposing these images together into a ‘double-page spread’ magazine style type shot, but really, they work better separately. Thanks Lucas.

9th April 2008

My little pal Cydney

6th April 2008

Tom and the talented Mr Owen

I remember reading somewhere that little dudes, like the talented Mr Owen here, have very dark doughy eyes when photographed. Lightening the 'catch-light', or reflection, in his eyes during post-processing just lifts that otherwise black hole feel to his eyes.

5th April 2008

Day of the outdoor clothing catalogue shots

We were the lucky ones today. With a hill forecast of heavy snow looming, we enjoyed sunny sledging sessions on survival bags, map cases, friend's heads.

3rd April 2008

Sue's new haircut, moody lighting

11th March

My pal Sue. Sorry Sue, I know you said I made you look like an 'ugly miffer', but I kinda like the retro lighting so you are getting published anyhow.

6th March 2008

Cool girl in front of the Kingsway estate. Thanks for letting me take your picture.

24th Febuary 2008

Riverside Taxidermy shop front, Llangollen


Riverside Taxidermy shop front, Llangollen

These photos were taken from the steet through glass using a wide aperture to ensure the dirty glass didn't register on these shots. The text and block colour was added later in Photoshop.

23rd Febuary 2008

Roman Catholic iconography with added red rags. St Lukes Catholic Church, Frodsham.


Roman Catholic iconography with added red rags. St Lukes Catholic Church, Frodsham.

These are the first photos I have taken that I feel are complete shots. Unless landscape and nature shots are really quite stunning, they convey little emotion, and it’s going to take me a fair old time to get that good at landscape photography. These shots though, are conceptual, and I think that having the idea (i.e. adding the red rags), knowing a location and waiting for the right light, seems to build a stronger image than simply reacting to the environment.