Jan marks not only the start of a new year, but also the start of the monthly competitions with the SWPP. This year the SWPP has changed the judging and scoring of the monthly competition, for the better in my opinion. Scoring used to be Gold, Silver, Bronze, and U (no award basically). The difference between U and Bronze caused a lot of discussion and arguments so the societies decided it was time for a change. This year scoring is Gold, Highly Commended, and No Award. The judging has also been tightened up with the total number of Golds in Jan being only 46, which is extremely low given the total number of entries. I, unfortunately, didn’t get any Gold Awards this month but I did get 3 Highly Commended Awards which I am happy with. All three awards where from the same shoot, so let’s have a look at my Jan Photographer Awards.
Before we look at the images, since they were all from the same shoot, let’s talk about the shoot itself. I have been meaning to blog about this shoot and will still get to it sometime soon. I went down to Devon in December to do some promotional and publicity photos for a world champion powerlifter. We shot all of these in her Gym in Newton Abbot in Devon. It was a whole lot of fun and everyone involved was extremely happy with the resulting images. So, now, let’s have a look at the award winning images.
So there you have m three Highly Commended awards for the month of Jan. They won in the following categories. Portraiture Environmental, Portraiture Avant Garde, and Media and Publicity. Seems I always do very well in the publicity category, but that is after all what I specialise in so I would hope to do well in that particular category. :D I love doing publicity and promotional photography, and for athletes like this powerlifter it really gives me a chance to do things a little differently and to take some risk as well as letting my creativity come out. I have a few more from this shoot that I need to do a blog post for and enter into next months competition (the societies also reduced the number of categories). So, keep an eye out for some new posts soon. :D
This last weekend was the annual Societies Convention. Last year I didn’t enter any images into the 20×16 print competition. Don’t really have a reason as to why I didn’t, but I didn’t. For 2011 though, I did enter 3 images into the 20×16 print competition. Even though I had won numerous awards in 2011 with the societies, I wasn’t expecting much from my entries. Call me crazy, but I never think my photography is as good as others and always feel that I can improve….and that, in my opinion, is a good thing.
So, what is the 20×16 print competition? Well, you have to have your images printed and mounted and the images must be 20×16 when mounted. The images are then judged and scored. Images scoring over 80 are given a merit award and they are then judged again to determine finalists and then those finalists and then judged again for the overall winners in each category. Seeing images in print, especially at a size of 20×16 can really take an image to another level, or it can expose flaws in the images. This is why the 20×16 competition is one in which all award winning photographers aspire to do well in. I took 3 of what I considered to be my strongest images from 2011 and entered them into the competition. I wasn’t able to attend the judging at the convention as I arrived the following day so I had no idea on how they had done. I just knew that if I saw them hanging in the exhibition the following day that they had at least won a merit award. And…here are the two images that I was delighted to see hanging up with a lovely merit award ribbon hanging from them…..
Most of my regular readers will recognise both of these images. But, for those that may have never seen them before (or for those that found me as a result of seeing these images in the exhibition), let me tell you a little bit about them and what categories they were awarded merits.
The first image is of former Big Brother housemate Sam Pepper. This image is not only one of my favourite images from 2011, but has also been one of the favourites from judges and people that have seen my work. It won a Gold in the April 2011 competition and was my first award for 2011. I had entered this image into the contemporary portraiture category and was very excited when I saw that it was hanging up in the exhibition. I had always loved this image and will now have a nice 20×16 print of it hanging up in my house (with a lovely award winning ribbon still on it of course.)
The second image above is from one of the many bands that I photographed in 2011, Solidagoes. This image was a part of my best month in terms of winning awards and it won Gold in the month of August. It is an image that has caused a lot of interest, feelings, and conversation. My mother in law says that it scares her, and others have said that it is either beautiful or disturbing. Talking with people at the convention that had seen the judging, this image was apparently on the judging table for longer than any other images as the judges talked about it and debated it and it apparently caused quite a stir. As an artist, this is something I love. You want your images to provoke thoughts, emotions, and discussing….hopefully all in a good way though! :D
So there you have it, a couple of merit awards for me to finish off 2011. 2011 was such an amazing year for me and I am looking forward to an even better 2012. I have lots of amazing shoots coming up, and loads of really good ideas. This year I am focusing on only shooting in my style so I may be a bit more selective in the commissions that I take on. I am doing this to ensure that I provide people with my best possible images, something I wasn’t able to do by taking every commission that came my way. I sometimes took things that I either didn’t feel comfortable doing, or that I didn’t think I was very good at. This year though, every booking with me you can expect to get your images in my style…after all, you are booking me for what I do and this year I am making a conscious effort to ensure every shoot I do you are getting the images that I create as an award winning photographer.
If you would like to commission me for your next shoot, get in touch here. I am known as a band photographer and as an urban photographer. So if you need promotion as a musician, actor, artists and whatever we can help you out. We also do portraiture, but we offer creative, unique, and editorial styled portraiture that is ideal for couples, individuals, maternity, and model shoots.
Feel free to leave comments below! :D
So, unless you live in a cave, you know that the world is going to end this year.
So since the world is ending this year, we figured it would be best to help everyone go out with style. That is why we are having a couple of special offers and promotions on our fine art photographic prints. Who wants the world to end not only with our homes and offices not looking their best, but also not owning some limited edition fine art? It’s one of the things that people always say they want to do before they die, and since the world is going to end this year you don’t have a lot of time!!!! So, we are going to make it a little easier for you to own some fine art. We are going to give you 20% off any order just by using discount code 2012OMG at checkout. Yes, that is 2012OMG and you will get 20% off any purchase of fine art from the fine art site. We also offer free postage to anywhere in the world as well, so that’s a real bargain!!
But didn’t I say there were a couple of special offers? I did! The other is a money back guarantee. IF the world does in fact end in 2012, we will fully refund your purchase!!!! That’s right, if the world ends in 2012, we will refund all of our fine art sales in 2012. :D
So there you have it. A 20% discount on fine art with a money back guarantee if the world ends in 2012. All of our fine art prints are limited edition prints with each image being limited to 100 prints of each size. Most prints are only offered in three sizes, with panoramic prints only being offered in 2 sizes. So that means there will be, at most, 300 prints available for each image. That isn’t a lot, and we not only have great prices, but with the 20% and free shipping you can decorate your entire home and office in time for the world to end and go out with some style!!!
Recap: Enter discount code: 2012OMG at checkout for 20% off your order.
Full money back guarantee on all fine art print sales in 2012 if the world ends in 2012. :D
My week 2 image for my latest project 52 comes very early this week as I am going to be in London later this week through the weekend. After this week though, they will probably all be posted at the very end of each week. So, there will probably be a pretty big gap between week 2 and week 3, but hey ho. :D
So, this week I brought with me all of the little glass objects I am going to be using throughout this fine art series. I played around with some different combinations of things and then had this idea and ran with it. I must have taken about 12 or so images of this setup, and this was ultimately the shot I settled on. Here is the finished image….
This image was a lot of fun to take. The way the glass ball distorts and warps things is what made it a lot of fun. Moving an inch to one side would completely change the image and this is why I took so many different shots of this setup. In the end, I though this shot made for the best fine art image. You have the old poison bottle sitting behind a clear ball. What I like about it is that the ball doesn’t show the bottle in it at all, except for the bubble in the middle. The way that the ball has distorted everything kind of messes with your mind and it’s perception of what you should be seeing. But it has taken that and, literally, flipped it upside down. Some nice backlighting gives the bottle a slightly eerie glow as well making this my favourite so far (I know, this is only number 2).
I also decided on a vintage edit for this, and will probably edit this entire series in a vintage fashion as I just feel it fits the theme. I have added this image to the fine art site as well, so you can purchase it here.
Don’t forget that all fine art prints are limited edition with runs of only 100…so if you like something, don’t hesitate as supplies truly are limited!! :D
It’s the first week of 2012 and that means it’s time for the first image of this years project 52!!! Exciting, I know. The title for this series is Looking Glass, and there will probably wind up being some sub series out of this when it’s all said and done. But, the idea for this comes from a photographer named Andre Kertesz. There is a great book by Andre entitled The Polaroids. The majority of the images in this book focuses on a couple of glass objects that he placed into different places and situations. I absolutely love the images he has created in this book and it inspired me to put my own, modern twist on it.
So, throughout this series we will be looking at how different glass objects react when placed in different light situations and how the background they are placed in affects their look. Completely translucent glass is wildly affected by the environment in which they are placed, especially if the objects has some spherical qualities. Throughout this fine art series, we will be taking a few different glass objects and photographing them under different lighting conditions in a variety of environments and the results should be amazing. Here is the first image of this fine art series.
I have titled the first image in this fine art series Sunset Dancers. A pretty obvious title I know, but that is exactly what it is. I took a clear, glass sculpture of a pair of ballet dancers and took them out to see a sunset. I placed the sun behind them to backlight them allowing the environment to curve and sculpt their shape. The spherical qualities of this sculpture is what really makes it special. If this were a flat piece of glass, we would have a completely different image, and that is why this fine art series is going to be so interesting.
I have already added a category to the Fine Art Photography for Sale site for this series and you can view it here. Or you can view this image directly for purchase here. As with all of my fine art for sale, each image will be limited edition to a print run of 100 for each size. This fine art series will probably go rather quickly I would imagine, so don’t miss out on having some amazing fine art for your home!!
Again, you can purchase this image here.
Next week’s image for this fine art series will probably be a bit early in the week as I will be gone from Thursday on, so expect to see the next image by Wednesday.
Please feel free to leave comments below.
Today, more than ever, it is so important for bands of all stature to have good, high quality images. Have you often wondered why you haven’t had that big break, or gotten the recognition you deserve? Well, even though the music might be amazing and appealing to a wide audience, in today’s world of facebook, twitter, youtube, and streaming it’s probably because you don’t have an “image”. This may sound like something a photographer would say, but it’s very true. Today, everything is about visuals. Your average internet user will only listen to about 1:30 of a song if there is nothing visual to maintain their attention. This is also why bands need to be producing more music videos, but that is another page, and another topic.
Right about now, even though the post is still young, you might be saying “well, this is very true. I have a friend that knows how to use a camera” and I will tell you that with no disrespect to your friend, amateur photos not only will lack the impact, vision, and creativity of a professional but the images may in fact HARM your image. I have been an award winning professional photographer dealing with bands both big and small for years and have a reputation for delivering images that not only tell your audience a little bit about the band, but images that are compelling and will gran the attention of your audience (or potential audience). I also know, after working with a lot of unsigned bands, that affording a professional photographer is sometimes out of the question. That is why I have created this special!!
What is an unsigned band and an independently signed band you ask?
Unsigned bands is pretty self explanatory, but independently signed bands might take some explanation. What I mean by independently signed bands are bands that are signed to DIY labels, or small labels where the roster of bands is probably no more than 10 other bands and your overall exposure is probably limited to your region in the UK. In short, if you aren’t signed to a “major” label or your CD and EP runs are probably less than 2000 copies then you are eligible for this special. If you still aren’t sure, just give me a ring or an email and we will talk through it.
Sounds great!! What’s the skinny on this amazing deal then?
Well, it’s pretty simple. If you are an unsigned band or an independently signed band in the East Anglia region (we will get to that in a bit), I will give you a professional photoshoot and up to 5 images from the photoshoot with a commercial use license for £150!! Think about it, if you have 3 members in your band that’s only £50 ea. If you have 5 it’s only £30 ea.!! That’s it, there really isn’t much more to it. However, if you want a shoot where we have to pay the venue for it’s use then that fee will be on top of the £150. But, that honestly doesn’t happen all that often.
Awesome. But what would I possibly need these images for?
Ah yes, now here is where we talk a little bit more about the importance of having good photography. Not only can these images be used on your website, facebook, myspace, twitter, youtube, and whatever else you have out there on the internet. But, they are great for using on press releases, magazine articles and features, CD covers or inserts, flyers and posters, mailings to bigger labels. Basically anything you can think of that will be used to promote your band and your image. The first thing your audience is going to see these days is an IMAGE of your band, before they even hear your music. So, make that first impression one that impacts them and makes them want to listen to your music. Images can also be for a specific song or EP release as well. We have done shoots that have been themed to specific songs before and those are some of the shoots that are our favourites to do. We also work closely with a web designer that has packages designed for bands as well. They are the ones to create our awesome flyer and you should give them a look at retrophonic designs.
Wow. This all sounds to good to be true. But would you shoot my band’s genre?
In short, yes. We have shot bands and musicians from every possible genre you can imagine. Indie, Ska, Punk, Country, Grime, Rap, Hip Hop, Metal, Death Metal, even DJ’s and Classical musicians. We do like to listen to some of your music before the shoot to enable us to get a feel for what type of image would most accurately portray you. So don’t worry about it, this is what we do for a living and we will make sure you get images that best portray you and your music and that you will love.
OK, so where does this special apply?
The £150 shoot will apply for bands and musicians in the East Anglia region (and London). This includes anywhere in Cambridge, Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. Places like Norwich, London, Peterborough, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford, and Kings Lynn are most certainly places that will get there shoot for £150. Places a little further afield we can still shoot, but for £200 instead of £150 to cover travel costs. This would pretty much include anywhere else in the UK and England. We have traveled everywhere from Birmingham all the way down to Devon and Cornwall for shoots and we can travel as far as Liverpool and Manchester as well. So don’t worry about your location, get in touch and we will talk about your shoot.
So now is the time for your band to man up, get some photos done and show the world that you are SERIOUS about your career as a band or musician. Grab the bull by the horns and get a photoshoot with an award winning band photographer for an amazing price and get in touch today to organise your shoot. Don’t forget that we also do music video production and can combine it with a photoshoot as well. Here are a few examples of some of our band and musician work.
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