Frozen Motion December 23rd, 2009
I had been working with Ben Benson on the last few days of the Consensio job so it only made sense to stay on for a few days longer and shoot some stock for Getty, so we headed for Vallandry hoping for better weather. The next morning was grey, cold and misty, so I headed down to the river to shoot some running water with a 3 stop ND filter, this holds light back and allows for a longer exposures, which gives you that dreamy effect. When I got down to the water there were some outstanding ice formations on the roots and branches so I spent a few hours scrambling up and down the river bank. I managed to get quite a few nice shots, I really like the stillness of ice against the movement of the water. In the afternoon the weather broke a little so we went up to Vallandry and shot some portraits of Ben with some new Salomon and Bolle gear, and a few landscape pictures as there was a superb sunset cranking. Then we packed our bags again and headed south.
That evening we arrived in Alpe d Huez on only the second day of their season to find the mountain with a reasonable covering of snow. The next morning was beautiful so we headed up to try and get some ski photography done. Although it’s early and the snow can be dodgy I do love the light at this time of year, I call it “blade lighting” it gets really intense after 2pm and the other bonus is you don’t have to wait long for the sunset. When the snow isn’t the best I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve to make things look a little better, so the use of wide angles, flash, slow shutters speeds and tight detail was the order of the day. Considering what we had to work with we didn’t do too badly. The next morning we where on our way home…job done.
Somnio Advert. November 30th, 2009
Having seen the images that I shot for Profeet, the training shoe company Somnio decided that they wanted to use one for an advert, and here you have it, they are a revolutionary new design and they have this to say about it;
“Somnio is founded on the principle that running shoes should adapt to the individual runner and improve biomechanics. Every runner is different, and we believe that every pair of running shoes should be different too. Somnio needed an image to stand out for their advert in Running Fitness Magazine.”
Somnio Running are in stores nationwide, visit, www.somniorunning.co.uk for info.
Rain Rain Go Away. November 30th, 2009
What a crazy couple of months that’s been, it’s just flown past. I had made a few plans to shoot stock at some point, but they had to be shelved. October was spent mostly in the office or down in London, it’s a busy time of year with the Ski Show right in the middle of the month, I also had a wedding shoot from September to deliver and I had to edit 3 private shoots for Getty Images.
With October out of the way I started getting ready for a Mountain Warehouse shoot.
The brief was hiking & biking in the rolling hills of England, big landscapes, silhouettes and good fun. So we headed to the South Downs to try our luck, unfortunately our luck ran out, as did a Stella autumn that hadn’t seen any rain for nearly two months. Mother nature decided to make up for lost time with record rain falls and floods all over the South East, 100 mph winds in the Isle of Wight and “the storm of 20 years” ending a trying week. I will never again shoot on West Wittering beach either, not a very pleasant or friendly location!
So we rescheduled and moved to Shropshire to continue, I love shooting there, it’s like having our own private little Lake District, but without the lakes! Again we had some pretty mixed weather, but we did manage to shoot some nice images on and around the Long Mynd, Stipperstones and Carding Mill Valley.
The week I had in between the two shoots I managed to get a Getty Images submission out of the door and upload some fresh work to my Getty Assignment portfolio, and manage a trip to Scotland.
Busy, Busy, Busy!
Profeet. September 22nd, 2009
Profeet are opening a new concept store on the Fulham road, and it was up to me to furnish it with inspirational images. So they packed their staff into a minibus and picked me up on the way through to a jaunt around North Wales.We stayed at Betws y Coed in the heart of Snowdonia national park and spent a few days shooting running, hiking and biking around the hills and lakes with their crazy crew. We had a great time with a BBQ/bonfire in the hills one night and a quick visit to the Long Mynd in the Shropshire hills on the way back to London. We also shot a few pictures down in the smoke to mix it up a little. All in all it was a great shoot and everyone was pleased with the results. Many thanks to Shula and Hamish and all of the staff who helped to make this work out.
Beach Life August 29th, 2009
I’ve spent most of August on or around the beach with my family in Cornwall and Denmark. The kids have had a great time, flying kites, swimming, building sand castles, catching crabs and generally just being crazy. It’s been great fun, I took a few shots of them along the way, not too many though, it’s more about fun than work.
Water Water. July 30th, 2009
During the winter months I try and make loose plan’s for the summer months shoots, I create “wish lists” for images and locations, sometimes the ideas come to fruition, sometimes they get shelved for another year. I try and figure out the most cost effective way of getting the shots on my list, my philosophy being that you can sometimes find the exotic right on your door step. Here in the UK we are blessed with an exceptionally varied landscape to work with, but the weather can often let you down. So if the UK fails to deliver, then Europe is a pretty cost effective option, the Mediterranean is a top spot to work, and your chances of blue sky are much higher. Start crossing the Atlantic or Pacific and the price really starts to rocket.
With this in mind I hit North Cornwall to try and shoot some kite boarding with my friend Adam who has a cracking spot right by the beach. So I dusted off the old Ewa Marine water proof housing and cruised down the M5 a couple of times during July to try my luck. It’s a fairly frustrating business shooting sports that rely on the wind/weather and tide to be right, all at the same time, so patience is essential, I don’t get too stressed about any lack of progress, I just go fishing instead!
“All good things come to those who wait” and, as usual, it all came good in the end and I crawled out of the sea with a few shots to work with and a belly full of sea water, as they say in Cornwall …Proper Job!
School’s out. June 8th, 2009
School’s out and the kids are let loose for a week just as summer time gets into full swing. So what better time to shoot some pictures of children enjoying their surroundings! The Woodhall kids are really starting to turn into the best little models, even if they have started to ask for wages.
Canon advert. June 2nd, 2009
Back in August 2008 I was in the alps shooting some mountain biking stock for Cultura. It seems that Canon liked these pictures too, they have used one for their web advert for the new iP4600 printer. Happy days 
Duffers’ fortnight. May 30th, 2009
The Mayfly hatch was a little early this year in Shropshire and the weather was a bit unpredictable, never the less, I went out and had a cast during duffers’ fortnight. So called by my fishing mate Graham, because the trout gorge themselves on Mayfly with such gusto that even an idiot like me could catch one. We went on the Wye and Usk Foundation water somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and had a really nice couple of days fishing, catching wild Brown trout….. small but wily. This wasn’t a photoshoot, but I did pack a camera. There’s always the chance of a crafty stock shot at some point.
Wind power. May 15th, 2009
Summertime is here…at last, so I took advantage of some early blue sky and headed to a huge wind farm to shoot some stock for Cultura. I was aiming at shooting some pictures that involve wind turbines as well as some action of some description, so I plumbed for running and cycling as they are both quite ecologically friendly sports. I used the flashes for this shoot but it was pretty hard just to keep them upright, they put wind farms where they are for good reason! We ended up weighing down the tripods with bikes and camera bags and by the end of the shoot we where thoroughly shot blasted. It is a very erie place to spend any time, the noise of those big blades swinging round is constantly ringing in your ears.
