Wherever I hang my bike... that's my home!

You can't fail to have seen the growing interest in cycling in recent years... indeed the Tour De Yorkshire has only just finished for another year... and that grew out of the amazing support the Tour De France gathered when it came to Yorkshire in 2014. However where you park your bike has become a little more challenging... if you want to find it there when you return from your coffee!

A recent phone call from Greg Villalobos reminded me that with imagination and some talent solutions to problems present themselves. A video producer, designer and BAFTA winner Greg was interested in a friend's problem of where to store her bike in a house without a garage... typical of many city dwellers. That his friend was a talented sportswoman and therefore rode a highly valuable bike made the problem a little more challenging then simply leaving the bike outside against the fence!

I'd first met Greg a couple of years ago.. it was easy to identify him as the rider of the Triumph motorbike which everybody was admiring from the windows... he was the only one in the room with a crash helmet!

Later he asked if I could help him create images for a website Gregory North, as his bike rack designs were gathering interest and sales enquiries from those who had seen his friend's example.

A clean, simple design, hand crafted in plywood we discussed the type of client this would appeal to.... and decided the white block walls of the studio would work well... so out came the drill and in a couple of minutes we had beautifully engineered bikes hanging from the studio walls... simple!

And the recent call from Greg... well that was about a technical issue he was having with a new project... unfortunately he's not just a nice guy but also one of those infuriatingly creative individuals who sees something that interests and inspires him and he jumps straight in... as was shown by the  recent award from The Motorcycle Film Festival for his short documentary film on The Coast to Coast Trail.

It's Bucket List time...

Happy New Year! 

Well  2016 has definitely arrived... and as I'm climbing the "email mountain" I'm reminded of all those holiday conversations about what we are all going to do next year... which is now this year!

I'm sure many people have a Bucket List... a list of those things they would like to do before...

High on many people's list would be a wish to travel, to see different cultures, and explore new worlds ( sorry I think that's Startrek! ) Certainly travel can definitely broaden the mind and provide a chance to explore and learn about many things... and all we have to endure is the misery of the airport departure lounge and possible joys of "queasy jet"!

But what if travel and exploration required just a little more effort... would we do it?

What if to travel required you to organise your own travel... not just the destination but to actually build your own boat... or at least pay for the boat to be built!

Katherine Maria Routledge was born in 1866, into a wealthy Quaker family in Darlington, northern England, the town where Claire and I have our studio. She graduated from Somerville Hall (now Somerville College, Oxford), with Honours in Modern History in 1895, and apparently for a while taught at Darlington Training College.

In 1910 attracted by the international mystery of giant stone statues and gripped by tales of the people and culture of Easter Island/Rapa Nui Katherine Routledge and her husband decided to organize their own expedition.

They had a state-of-the-art 90-foot (27 m) long Schooner built, named Mana. They recruited a suitable crew, apparently even managed to borrowed an officer from the Royal Navy, and set sail from Southampton in 1914.  

Fast forward to 2014 and I was contacted by Susie Stephen, born and brought up in Darlington and fascinated by Katherine Routledge's expedition since her time at university. Susie was keen to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the original expedition... by running from Darlington to Southampton... cycling across South America... and then running around Rapa Nui! Apparently "extreme travel" must be in the local water round here!

Susie was looking for some pictures for local, national and international media as she hoped to draw attention to Katherine Routledge's original expedition and to raise money through sponsorship to help the people of the island.

We agreed to meet at her former school, Hummersknott Academy, from where she would be starting her run... a marathon a day until she reached Southampton! Whilst we talked I had a real sense of the dedication and commitment she had for the adventure ahead. Susie also mentioned that there was a picture in Katherine Routledge's book of her home... Walworth Castle... now a local hotel... so we jumped in the car and drove there to recreate the picture. Easier said than done after one hundred years of tree planting and the building of a Ha Ha, just waiting to swallow a photographer... in case you wonder that's a deep ditch dug as a moat to prevent grazing animals getting to the castle's garden... edging backwards for the right composition had it's potential perils!

The next I heard from Susie she had completed her trip to Rapa Nui, the result of which was sponsorship of a local student in their university studies.

If you are interested in Katherine Routledge, or indeed the amazing efforts of Susie Stephen and her "Retracing Routledge" it's not too late to catch an exhibition about both their amazing journey's currently on in Darlington Crown Street Library.

And if you've got the travel bug and some far flung destination on your Bucket List there may be other ways to get there which don't involve running, cycling and running again... 

Times they are a changing...

I'm glad I'm a photographer and this blog is where I can talk about ideas, lighting, lenses and things like that... political this is not! 

But working as a photographer is punctuated with meetings and conversations... large and small... and they can be interesting and thought provoking discussions.

This image hangs on the office wall of an engineering company Managing Director. It was originally shot as part of a series exploring the Tees Cottage Pumping Station... one of the last remaining operational beam pumping engines and used to draw water from the local River Tees. It secured a reliable water supply for the town of Darlington and local area.

It's the case that the town in which we have a studio has been at the forefront of several ingenious engineering advances in the past... and indeed several social and financial ones as well. We are even now seeing a nearby return of the railway industry it so famously pioneered. But it will not have gone unnoticed that elsewhere in the Tees Valley industry on which the region has built it's history has been making the news for entirely other and more terrible reasons.

So what does an image of another time have to offer today's engineering new world... apparently it reminds my client "that nothing lasts forever... and just exactly how far we have come..."

You’re a pea brained, prat headed, talentless pillock headed….

Before you ask… no that’s not one of my more “educational comments” to an assistant or student…  

And no I’ve never, ever been tempted… because a friend and colleague told me of the day he was shooting a car on 10”x8” film (long time ago now!) from up a very tall ladder…at the end of which he realised the assistant had miss loaded all the film…time for a “Gordon Ramsey?” No... for as he said who’s was the bigger fault…the assistant for miss loading or him for not checking…and standing up a ladder swearing at yourself only convinces those watching that you really have lost it!

However before Gordon Ramsay made such outbursts "famous" the comedian Lenny Henry was doing it… just better and funnier! Indeed re-watching episodes from his “kitchen comedy” CHEF!, recently released on YouTube, still leave me doubled up… nearly ten years before Gordon made such outbursts on television "bollocking" Gareth Blackstock was doing it!

And what does this have to do with photography… you may well ask?

Some time ago now we were working in a new hotel and during a long day arrived in the Restaurant to see a selection of the chef’s signature dishes laid out ready for photography.

These included a bowl of Crayfish, looking fantastic on a bed of crushed ice. Needless to say we were under a little pressure to get the shots required before the re-opening of the Restaurant for evening service.

Things were going really well until I noticed that the Crayfish had moved between frames.., though I couldn’t remember moving the bowl and was sure I hadn’t asked my assistant, or so I thought… anyway... eye to camera I simply asked for the bowl to be moved and a hand appeared in frame to make the adjustment…

When the hand of my assistant touched the bowl the Crayfish reached out and oh so gently grasped a finger with it’s claw… my assistant froze! I had trouble seeing... as I was crying…with laughter…and the talented chef calmly and quietly commented that they actually weren’t cooked, simply kept “on-ice” until required... and clearly the photographer's lights were perhaps a little warm!

And how would Chef Blackstock have dealt with such an “escape attempt”… well just watch… when at 4.10 into the shortened video below he has first to deal with "runny mayonnaise" and is then told that all the Crayfish have escaped… "You’re a pea brained, prat headed, talentless, pillock headed... What are you…??"

To see the full episode CHEF1 Season 1 Episode 5 / BBC Worldwide

"National Chocolate Week"... Yeah right... as if I need any excuse!

It had been whilst recently working with Claire and a crew of young talent in Northumberland... but I'm sworn to secrecy...that I discovered we had been in the middle of "National Chocolate Week".

What fun was had...for as long as I could convince all the crew that actually it was a week for abstinence...National Chocolate Week meant no chocolate for a whole week!

Surrounded as we were by excellent catering and an abundance of coco bean products this probably wasn't the best idea...as I would be required to abstain myself! However this lasted for about as long as a chocolate bar can survive when surrounded by "chocolate deprived" females...they quickly decided I was being very cruel...normal consumption resumed and the whole world continued turning!

However it got me thinking... chocolate and photography have often gone together...or at least if I have a chance they do!

We had a client ask about creating images for a new chocolatiere they were opening...a particular speciality being chocolate dipped fresh strawberries...could we create images of the process? Could they bring a large supply of chocolate and strawberries to the studio...all in the interests of getting the shot right you understand!

I'm not sure if we'd got the shots in the bag after the first 12 chocolate dipped strawberries...or if the whole tray of fruit was actually needed...but if it's there we might as well use it! I do remember having absolutely nothing left in the studio to take home after the shoot... Oops!

The local French patisserie chef and his partner had obviously worked with photographers before...the look on my assistants face as she cut into the cake...after we'd finished the shoot...to discover the cake was made up of a polystyrene core with just an icing layer, was priceless! I really should have taken an image for the studio wall...but was laughing too hard!

Which reminds me of the assistant and the crayfish... but I think I'll leave that one for another post! 

Working with great chefs, in fantastic hotels, means we often come across the magic that results from the simple coco bean...but opening the bedside drawer to find a convenient supply of chocolate during a long shoot was a welcome respite...it might have been called "The Chocolate Room" but I'm sure it had been created just for passing photographers... or National Chocolate Week!

Let Johnny Do the Math…or the making of a television commercial

“I used to play the working men’s club round here…” not quite what you expect your childhood hero to say…particularly as I’d spent many afternoons lying on the living room floor after school watching Johnny Ball explain some amazing science… 

I’ve often said that commercial photography is a license to access all areas…particularly those which perhaps without a camera in hand you’d struggle to see…say behind the scenes of a location television commercial shot by Dene Films for HELP LINK and starring Johnny Ball… another one of the thousands (yes, that’s right…0000’s!!) they have produced.

So being asked to shoot a “stills package” for a commercial was an amazing opportunity to see exactly how a large crew works together...and I do mean a large crew, as unlike many photoshoots where “3’s a crowd” with even a small television commercial there’s quite a crowd!

It was only really clear just how many people are involved when they all managed to squeeze into our studio (and here’s a reminder of what the studio could look like) to shoot some “green screen” images for later compositing! As the fleet of vans the crew travelled in "occupied" the carpark behind the studio it was amusing to see the shocked look on our usually unflappable security!

Earlier in the day we had taken over a small quiet cul-de-sac in a housing estate, found by a location scout…with house exteriors dressed and prepared…which effectively “detained” the homeowners inside for the duration…though they could be seen peeking through upstairs windows all day!

My role had no requirement to direct events…unlike a commercial location photoshoot…so it was great to watch and record the whole process…the professionalism of the “talent” Johnny Ball, who was just as funny as I remembered…both on and off camera…and the combined efforts of the Director Mark Lediard and all the crew to make the shoot a creative and technically successful.

This despite the sun deciding to play “hide and seek” which made continuity between set-ups a little too exciting at times…and here it was interesting to see the use of large scrims (diffusion material stretched across frames used to soften the direct harsh light…I know, I know...but yes we had some...several of the crew and myself had the sunburn to prove it later in the day! ) to help balance later scenes shot under harsh cloudless sunshine with the earlier soft, cloudy light.

There was also a cheeky appearance from the Director's Canon 7D, apparently great for scouting shot angles before rigging the expensive Arri pro camera... easier and lighter to carry up ladders to check the viewpoint!

The day ended at our studio, where the crew used our “green screen” to shoot Johnny apparently interacting with the on screen graphics…and I shot some portraits for the web site. It was interesting to see how the Director of Photography, Si Bell and lighting grip Richard Haigh chose to light the shot…using KinoFlow and our own studio bounce boards to achieve “key light” and “fill” all from the same single source…you re-learn something everyday!

So to see what the final result looks like … and no you will not spot me… there are definitely no "close-ups" of me…anywhere…!

The Fastest Sign Maker in the North East...

I've lost count of the number of times I've been told that photography must be a great life... I'd be a very rich man if I'd kept collecting every time I heard that... but the one thing I do cherish is the opportunity it gives to meet some amazing people... talented people... very funny people... and people who you'd never think had an alter ego.

Forget Clarke Kent... I'm not talking about somebody who wears his pants over his clothes... but it's just reminded me I forgot to mention the "weird" people that I've also met through photography. That's an entirely different subject! No what I meant are those people you talk to, who you drink a coffee with... then they drop the bombshell and tell you their secret.

For a number of years I've chatted to Paul Moss, as he worked for a sign makers not far from the studio who we've occasionally used for projects... indeed we've even bumped into each other at north east karting circuits... whilst taking part in charity events, and laughed that we know each other. What I didn't realise was his alter ego... "The Fastest Sign Maker in Darlington!"

You see it was only when Paul decided to start his own company that he bought a van, as most businesses do, and using his obvious ability decided to create his own livery... and that's when I realised that Paul has been Northern Saloon Car Champion 3 of the last 4 years. He's just missed out on the title this year by 2 points, and wants it back next year!

Former NCSS Champion Paul combines his business with his alter ego as a professional race driver and display/stunt driver... and if you want to see what I mean check out this award winning Ad for Audi R8 convertible, where he and his colleagues from Paul Swift Stunts are millimetre perfect on slick concrete flooring, just inches from a very expensive new car...

My interest in cars is well know to all who know me, so my apologies to Paul for wasting so much of his time talking about something we both love... and which only one of us is good enough to get paid to enjoy... he's a luck so and so! To in some way recompense him for the time wasted, not to say have some fun I offered to take some images for the new website he is having built, which brought us to a windy cold Croft circuit...

After these shots were taken he suffered a serious engine failure... I still don't know the full costs, but I guess "if he wont say, then I don't want to know" is the way you approach it... which pretty much ended hopes of championship success this year... and no I didn't touch anything!

Halloween...

It's that time of year already, where our young girls thought's turn to... sweets, chocolate... oh and more sweets! It must be all of minutes since the subject was last mentioned by one or the other!

They have been planning their "trick or treating" for some time now... trying on the dresses they will wear and choosing which bucket (oh yes, you read that correctly) they will use to hold their stash of goodies!

Mum's choice of suitable gifts for their young friends, who may dare to call at our door, has also been under investigation... they tried to get a sample for testing purposes but Mum was wise to that "trick!"

Thankfully they have no intention of being anything other than charming and cute when they visit our neighbours... "tricks" just aren't in their mind... but make sure you have sweets to hand as the sound of a very small "Mad Midget" who doesn't get the same as her older sister ( it's just soooo not fair! ) could definitely be classed as a very nasty Halloween surprise !

Now to explain to the neighbours exactly what I was doing lying out on the front lawn...

Happy Halloween Erin and Freya

To "InterNorga" inity and beyond....

Ok, Ok... bad title... apologies to Buzz, Woody, Jessie and all who have to sit through / watch Toy Story at least once everyday as I do at present, but you get the principal I'm sure...

I wish I could blame the girls love of all things Toy Story for my addiction to cartoons... they are certainly wearing a grove in this set of disks... but I was raised on Tom and Jerry... the "full fat", flat iron in the face, hammer on the toes version... not the "skimmed milk" version of now... but that's another blog post for another day!

Anyway back to the world of photography...!

It's always great to be asked to contribute to the ideas which form a client's Brief and even better to be acknowledged as having something to contribute! Not always the case at present, particularly with those have come to believe that photographers are only "data capture technicians" without any artistic skills or creativity of there own... that's right you in the back row, with the purple shirt and glasses who believe that composition, lighting, perspective and colour are all just "drop down" menu's in a photo application, I mean you!

We were recently sent a really great idea, just an outline on paper but full of possibilities, for one of our more creative clients... and asked for our input. Really should have remembered to think carefully before I replied... but what the heck...

They wanted to run a teaser campaign in the run up to the launch of a new product range, timed for the largest trade fair of their year... to highlight the artistic, creative nature of a new range of... plates !

Never mentioned a sports car, supermodel or pop band did I... so why are you surprised about the brief being crockery?

Anyway we knocked a few ideas back and forward, about art galleries, abstract art (yes really, Picasso if you want to know!) and exhibitions... oh and the product will be with you tomorrow and we need this shot by the end of the week! Never said this was going to be a month in the Maldives did I...

The result was a Brief that I was really interested to shoot, that I felt I'd helped contribute to positively, and an agency and client who were really pleased with the result.

How you support all those plates and bowls, not to mention tomatoes and asparagus without visible supports... or the need for complex montage or retouching... well that's what makes us more than just data capture technician doesn't it! Wish I had a "behind the scenes" shot of the rig but lets just say that my "photographers Meccano set" came in useful, as did a couple of roles of gaffer tape! And it's fun to chase tomatoes rolling across the studio floor... certainly more fun than standing in the one that got away!

The sequence of images ran across 4 separate Ad's prior to INTERNORGA, in Hamburg Germany, the European market... and were then picked up and used again by the South African side of the business, for an event they were displaying at later in the year. I bet none of those that saw the images knows ( or cares! ) where Darlington is, or that it's in the UK but that's just the power of what we do... work with great people to create great ideas and make clients happy!

So many thanks to Louise and Ruth, at Wildfire, for the Brief and putting up with my  rambling suggestions, scribbled drawings and our "wonderful test shots" which were laid out across the studio floor... and to John at CARLISLE for letting us all go with the idea... Thanks Guys!

Set Building... Or some things are just best done in a studio...

Some wiser photographer than me once said "...photography is 95% preparation and 5% creativity..." We can all argue as to the correct percentage split, as it depends on what aspect of photography we are involved in, but the principal is correct. To be prepared leaves you free to concentrate on being creative with the subject you are shooting...

We get asked to tackle some complex projects at the studio and building room sets is pretty high on the list. In this case we did this job sometime ago but as part of preparations for a couple of new projects... shh don't ask, or this blog post will self destruct... we have produced a video which shows some of the basics behind the process. As you'll see preparation is the key.

We had a very specific idea of what we wanted the pictures to look like. It was agreed with the client building a set was the only way to ensure that vision would become a reality. Too often, the outcome of a photo shoot can be left to chance. Hoping the lights will fit in the room, or that the walls will be the colour you want, or that there won’t be an ugly picture on the wall.  

There are a million little things like this which have an effect on the outcome of the final image... something clients can often not appreciate when they suggest you shoot in the showroom or customers home! Do you cross your fingers and hope the location you are shooting happen to have colours and furniture that go with the concept you have in mind, or do you prepare all these details before hand? Guess which is less stressful...

With 12 large, heavy, expensive marble and stone fireplaces to shoot there was just no possibility of shooting these on location... either in the client's showroom which had limited space or in customer home's... which might have some very dodgy decor! The only solution was building, lighting and propping a sequence of room sets.... so out with the hammer, the screwdriver, the timber and the paint... not to mention the flooring...

Just call me Jonathon...

I must be honest, very rarely do commercial clients turn up at the studio “on spec”… indeed such a “well kept secret” are we that often clients require the services of our in-house “traffic controllers” just to find the car park!

So when sculptor Michael Kusz opened the door and walked in, carrying a large cardboard box, he was lucky not to get treated like the other parcel couriers… which we almost thought he was! That he’d driven down from his studio in The Dales on the off-chance that we’d be around… well he’s an artist!

I have to say that that the contents of the box were amazing… Michael creates dramatic, stylised but very animated sculptures of animals… real and imaginery… from metal… and somehow brings them to life. After that first visit we agreed that in the future we’d make arrangements to guarantee he didn’t waste a journey.

Which is what gets us to his later visit, another cardboard box… much larger this time…This was a beautiful sculpture, designed in The Dales, of what I called a sea monster. As we were just about to start another project this sculpture sat quietly in the studio for a few days, whilst I wondered how I’d light something which seemed to reflect the entire studio!

Needless to say I quickly christened it “Nessie”… you can take the boy out of Scotland, but not the ancestry out of the boy… which we thought was quite appropriate given the rising, curling swirls of it’s body… it appeared to be leaping out of the water…So when Michael returned to collect his beautiful work and review the images we’d created I had to mention the new name… but Michael had beaten us to it… apparently he’s called Johnothon... 3 "o's" for 3 humps!