'The Descendants' LATEST!

I must admit keeping all of my many personal projects going as well as the the day job (commercial photography) is a bit of a challenge right now.

Very recently I shot the latest set of images in 'The Descendants' series

It was a first for me as it included Helen Pankhurst, the direct descendant of Emeline Pankhurst, the founder of the Suffragettes movement.

Helen is the first woman in the series.

This is not ideal at all.

I want to feature MANY more women but they seem to be very difficult to find

If anyone has any suggestions I would be most grateful.

When a descendant walks into the room I always hold my breath, as you never know just how much of a resemblance there will be.

When I saw Helen, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

She looked very, very similar indeed.

As you can see.



I shot the image in a daylight studio without flash

1/15th sec at F4,120mm macro on my Phase One P45+

I try to use similar photographic techniques as in the original

It is real fun reflecting and blocking light with polyboards

Additive and subtractive fill

Opening and closing blinds so the light hits just the right parts of Helen and the set

Here is a short video of the shoot




Hope you find it interesting

I'm cramming my life in a bag right now, heading to Austria for a shoot which I will tell you about in a little while.....

Watch this space

Perfect ending to the week

Ok,the sun is shinning in the UK but what has put an even bigger smile on face in this delightful gallery in the New York Times

On tuesday they ran a story about how a group of enthusiasts are trying to resurrect the Polaroid factory, they requested readers send in their own Polaroids.

The result is fantastic

Here are 3 which leaped off the page at me, go and choose your own from the site?



Exciting news as though I love digital I did mourn the loss of THE instant photographic medium which was with us through the second half of the 20th century

It was finicky mad stuff, faded but oh so BEAUTIFUL

I dearly hope the guys trying to bring instant film back to life do succeed

I have one request fro them though.

Please restart production of type 55, a unique Polaroid which gives you a print AND a beautiful black and white negative

Beauty in heritage go hand in hand with type 55, it was developed with the help of Ansell Adams

My good friend Lucinda Marland has shot two series on it, including the 'Lebensborn' project



A stunning powerful image which I don't think would have had the same resonance if it were shot in any other way.

'Quite Possibly The Best Two Days of Photography and Learning Ever'

Well I'm not quite sure about that guys! But you get the picture, it does sound VERY interesting!

The Flash Centre are having a two day course of Photo Festivities at Studely Castle near Birmingham
(UK!)

An interesting line up of experts including Bjorn Thomassen whom has taught me SO much.Big name in wedding photography Mike Larson....all this and surfing too. Peter Geller owner of California Sunbounce, winner of the World Press Photo, a man with a burning passion for photography (great bloke too!). Hopefully Jim Marks and Richard Jobson, movie director too.

Others too just check out the Flash Centre link

I would be going to this show even if I had not been invited.(I'm set to be there on the 3rd and for a little time on the morning of the 4th)

As it represents significantly GREAT value in these challenging times

One of the best things about events like this is to just hang out with other photographers at the bar, sharing ideas and techniques

Check it out

Personal work-Worth it

Last week was another busy week

I had the pleasure of photographing the talented and very lovely Kate Humble, presenter of the BBC TV 'Spring Watch' for the cover of the BBC 'Radio Times'





This was a commission of course, but how did it come about?

It was all down to 'The Forest' series which as some of you maybe aware is a personal project that I have been working on for the last couple of years.

I have shot this series for the love of it, nothing more.

As I have followed my heart though, people HAVE noticed

I had a near miss in Spain for a major advertising job, based on 'The Forest' and now of course the BBC.

It is easy to think when one is in the middle of an ambitious project to wonder 'is it all worth it?'

The answer is an empathic YES of course but those demons do surface from time to time

The BBC asked me to shoot Kate in a bluebell wood in Wales, and instead of much grinding of teeth I knew just how to do it, as I had done it before.

The Owl was flying to kate, the fox was there but the owl hated it so we had to shoot it in separate frames and comp the fox in afterwards, keeping the same lighting set up

One Elinchrom Ranger in a medium Chimera soft box for Kate, One Ranger(with a honeycomb) for Kate/fox/owl as a backlight, the smoke machine in the background lit with a Ranger and the sun of course.

A very similar set up to the waterbuffalo

It was shot on my Phase One P45+ 400th sec at F5 on a 50mm lens

This 'following your heart' thing does seem to pay off......

Descendants

5 years ago I embarked on an interesting project

'The Descendants'

Where I recreate paintings or photographs of the famous historical figures using their direct descendant

Starting with the direct descendants of William Wordsworth (poet), Charles Dickens( Author), Isambard Kingdom Brunel (engineer),Robert Falcon Scott (Arctic explorer)

The first series of portraits were going to be a one off, but it has blossomed into a project which has a life of its own.

I shot another 4 last week, which brings the total to 20.

This month my recreation of the famous Geronimo Portrait was used in 'National Geographic'. A lifetimes ambition achieved


I shot the image last year in New Mexico. Sourcing clothing and props from LA, a rifle of the type that Geronimo used(we did quite well but ended up with the cavalry edition which has a shorter barrel)

All that I needed to do was drive in a convertible Ford Mustang Shelby (Hertz do hire them!) from LA to New Mexico, I mention this as its all part of the adventure and one of the reasons why I became a photographer.

It was the trip of a lifetime, and it will be a longtime before the memory fades of a snow dusted New Mexico desert with the soundtrack of a tuned V8 playing, sitting in my London studio I can still feel the icy desert wind in my face. Life is beautiful

When we were close to the location we started to look for a barrel cactus, I thought would be easy but we had to visit several garden centers before we found one big enough.

We then met the charming Robert Geronimo and shot the image outside his parents house which provided the perfect backdrop.

Shot on a Phase One P45 + with a 120mm lens, using available light.

Just over one year on and it appeared in National Geographic, along with two other recreations of Oliver Cromwell and Charles Dickens.

You can see a short video of the Oliver Cromwell photo shoot here






To say I'm pleased is an understatement

None of this would be possible without my BRILLIANT producer Clare.

The descendants project is totally self funded, following your heart carries great risks but can reap considerable rewards

* My blogging has been a sparse of late, I have been SO busy, normal service has been resumed

Blowing Smoke........

You may or may not have noticed that I use smoke extensively in my 'forest' series

In fact I do get quite a number of questions about what machine I use etc

I use it to create an 'other worldly' look to the images.

And if lit correctly, it can add a great three dimensionality to ones images.

So, just go out and get one, and soon you will have the look you are after, right?

Well not quite

As Joe McNally said to me at GPP2009 in Dubai last week 'using smoke machines on location is like herding cats'

This is for one of a number of reasons but main one is wind

It will just go where the wind does, literally

This means you are at the mercy of the weather

Lets just say there is only a gentle breeze, and you have managed to 'herd your cats' in the right direction....

I have found that the key is to put the smoke 'screen' between the back light and the subject

Here is a plan of how I used it on the buffalo shoot



The idea is to use the back light, be the sun or artificial to light the smoke without it drifting between the subject and the camera

Now for the next problem.

Not to set the forest or the environment on fire!

That is why I use a vapor smoke machine which actually uses heated glycerin in a canister, so no real fire...nothing to burn.

This is my smoke machine a 'Concept Colt 4 Turbo'



It is really well built.

VERY Robust

Used by everyone from the BBC, to the Royal Navy for training

It is marketed by a company called 'peasouper'

Quite frankly what they do not know about smoke machines is not worth knowing

Real pro's

And now for the biggest challenge

Power

The image at the top of the posting is of a handheld smoke machine, of Chinese origin I believe, which I used in Thailand.

The real advantage of this was it did not require mains power

It was OK, but really lacked the ooomph of my Colt machine, which meant I could not 'fire' my smoke high into the trees

The Colt machine DOES need mains power really.

I have tried generators but never found an easily transportable, stable (non 'spikey') or powerful enough to make it work, it really needs 2500 w.

Its saving grace is that once it is up to full operating temperature it can be used, unplugged, for 30 mins

And finally......

Making the smoke thin enough, if it is too thick, it blocks too much of the background out, or the flash hits it and it is like using your headlamps on full beam on a foggy day........

Wafting the smoke is the key

You can use anything but I use a California Sunbounce reflector, it works brilliantly

Dubai-Gulf Photo Plus 2009

The view from the Virgin Flight to Dubai.......

Gulf Photo Plus is the biggest, not to say best photographic gathering in the Middle East.

This year there has been a very impressive line up of some of the biggest names in the industry, including Chase Jarvis, David Hobby, Joe McNally, David Nightingale, Chris Hurtt, Bobby Lane, Zack Arias, Asim Rafiqui, Robin Nichols, Cliff Moutner, Carol Dragon to name but a few.

Truly THE place to learn and share knowledge

You never know exactly how it is going to work out at a Workshop, and GPP 2009 was no exception

I need not have worried.

The two classes I have worked with have been lots of fun, willing and eager to learn, and enthusiastic too

A good job too as it rained big time on the first day

Here is a picture that one of the attendees Mark Kunz shot of Natalie when it rained and rained and rained

I would upload a video too but the internet is sooooooooooooooo slow.

He shot it on a Canon 5D 200th sec, F6.3, using 2 Profoto 7b's

One with a beauty dish at full power, the other with a kill spill, buried waaaaaaaaaay in the background sheltered under a overhang, keeping it nice and dry

I will post more material from this great event on my return to the UK