Why yes, I am the lead photographer in this brand ( a tale of a epic fail)

As much as I would like to be a photographer 24/7, like a lot of people I am not in wonderful position of being able to fulfil that dream ( as of yet but in the future who knows). So I do have to have a "day job" because lets face it, all that pretty camera equipment is rather expensive and no one is going to buy it for me.

Not that I would mind at all if someone were to do that or give me free stuff... hint, hint :-) (worth a try).

Now some people might remember where back in the dim mists of time when I first got a camera, okay, maybe not so far back but we're in the digital age now people, even a few months can be a long time to some, let alone trying to explain to some of my nieces and nephews that when I was at high school I didn't have a mobile phone. Which did prompt the response of " I had no idea you were that old".

But I digress.

Yes, when I first got a camera, a friend helped me with some shots to start my portfolio. Which thanks to that awesomely entertaining device which can be found in every workplace, school, or building that contains more then one person, yes the rumour mill,  quickly turned from something innocent to me taking nude photos of her in my secret underground photography studio.

Quite why I would have a secret underground photography studio that I would tell everyone about was never explained, and I thought like most rumours it had died a peaceful death and got to that quiet place in the sky where dead rumours and conspiracy theories go when people stop talking about them.

Or so I thought. As it turns out it hadn't died, more mutated into a totally different monster.

Cut to last week, when travelling on the bus from work to the car park at the end of a long shift, I was talking to one of my colleagues in the new department I joined a few months ago and happened to start talking about photography. At which point they asked a very earnest question

" So do you do anything else asides from the topless model glamour photography that you specialise in?"

What.............? Was my first thought. No, actually it was more like

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!

My response was to ask them" I'm sorry what?" They responded by saying that they had seen some of my "other pictures" but doing the topless model glamour photography, that's what I specialised in wasn't it?

What was originally funny mind you, rapidly turned depressing when I related the story to some other people the next morning as that was what everybody all seemed to think my photography was about.

Topless model glamour photography.

Okay, before anyone thinks I am particularly slamming this kind of photography, I am not. It is more just amazing that people were thinking that because it's about as far from the kind of photography that anyone who knows me as a person should expect me to do. 

So after asking a couple of questions, it rapidly became apparent that nothing else about my photography was really known or talked about. No rumours about steampunk, nothing about cosplay, zombies, family shoots, parties, general studio work, weddings or even landscapes ( okay last one is a little bit of stretch as landscapes are not my thing, but there are some in my portfolio, if you get the idea). 

Nope, my photography is apparently famous for the one kind of photography, I have not actually done.

Which is massively ironic.

And also shows that my "brand" might need some serious work.

But this does mean if you now put all of the rumours together, my kind of photography is one where I specialise in topless model glamour photography in my secret under photography studio that apparently I tell everyone about.

So it does make me sound like a bit of a super villain actually.

Which is cool.

Maybe I can get some minions and sharks with laser beams :-)

Later folks 

If a shutter button is pressed in the woods, does it still click?

Well I was reminded this week that just like plants if you don't work on your "brand" when it comes to photography, strange things can happen.

And by strange, I mean.... well I'll get to that in the next blog post

This is a slightly rambling way of saying that I have been shockingly bad at blogging.... and posting and even keeping my website up to date, let alone my facebook page.

But curiously enough I have no problem with twitter.

( yes I know I'm setting myself up for many, many jokes there)

So this is a quick post to basically say, yes I know I suck at keeping things up to date but things are going to change.

No really they are......

Please stop laughing ;-)

Looking for inspiration in all the wrong places

So with 2014 already in full swing I have been pondering where my photography adventures have taken me over the past year.

But looking back can only get you so far, what about moving forward?

Well my skills have been improving but there is still more to do and learn. Fortunately the studio nights at bright lights are continuing, my confidence is steadily improving and I'm even finding myself starting to give not just direction but detailed direction to some of the models who are very pretty and on my first night there were able to inspire such a sense of somewhere between awe/ and a sense of confusion that they were actually talking to me that I might as well have been talking caveman ..." ugg, me caveman press button now to take picture of pretty girly"

(Side note if any of you have a second please go and visit one of the models blogs that I have worked with, Jo Jo  but be warned, it;s not part of facebook so some images on her website and blog are to be considered "adult" so consider yourself warned!" )

So all this studio practise gave me some inspiration. I decided that I wanted to spend some more time in the studio for "me" on my own project as it were rather then a TFP night or a family shoot. I came up with a idea to work again with one of my friends, firstly to take some classy fashion style shots in a ballgown and secondly to take pictures of her dancing as she's a awesome dancer and helped me to produce one of the best images in my portfolio, "dancer in the dark".

Which seemed simple and she agreed but unfortunatly life as it tends to do sometimes interfered and this project is now on the indefinite back burner.

So simple right. I just need to find some more inspiration, come up with a rock solid idea and away we go.

However the only thing that has gone away right now is inspiration.

I have zero, zilch, nada, not a thing.

And it's driving me crazy.

Even looking in magazines and photography books right not isn't help. As it's driving me mad as nothing is firing my imagination and making me sad as I look at some of these shots and wonder if I'll ever be able to do that.

That I remind myself that this time last year I would never have anticipated what I have done in the studio to date so I need to stop worrying about that.

But that brings us back to the main point. Inspiration or the lack of.

Now some people would argue that by looking so hard for inspiration that I might be actually failing to see it. And that may be true.

But like most cliches it doesn't always help ;-)

The only thing that springs to mind is I want to do something that allows personality to shine through.

Hopefully something else will spring to mind soon. And I'm sure some people will argue that with the amount of space in my head, a idea will be in there somewhere.

Later folks

A sneak peak from the latest studio work

Steam Engines? no.. Steam Pipes? no...Steam what now???

Now at work, or my Day Job as I like to call it, it seems to be sinking in that my photography is not all about the stereotype of taking pictures of scantily dressed girls in studios that may or may not be secret and may or may not be underground ( still don't get that rumour) 

So one of the guys was asking what I have done recently and when I tried to explain about my recent steampunk shoot he got a rather confused look on his face. Or at least he had a confused look on his face until I mentioned it took place at a Victorian pumping station at which point is inner 9 year old boy took over/ he channelled the spirit of beavis and butthead and started to giggle as he only heard the words "pumping station".

Anyway it made me realise that my portfolio is now rather strong in steampunk images (again another wonderful example of how photography and take you to places you never thought of before)  and what is 2nd nature to me now might be confusing to others. Because lets face it when you say anything starting with steam most people immediately start to think of railways.

Which doe conjure a interesting image of stereotypical punks riding a steam train. ( ohh idea for a cartoon) 

But Just what is steam punk? The best and to be perfectly honest simplest definition I have heard ( and lets face it like a certain well known diy item we just want things that do exactly what they say on the tin)  is " Victorian Futurism" .

But lets be honest it I never keep things simple if I can waffle. ( it's my inner historian) 

To put it in a slightly more in depth or complicated way, Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery,especially in a settings that have been inspired by industrialised Western civilisation during the 19th century. Commonly Steampunk is often set in alternative histories of the 19th century's British Victorian era or American "Wild West. Or in a post-apocalyptic future during which steam power has regained mainstream use, or even in fantasy worlds that similarly employs steam power. And before you ask when they say "wild west" they do mean like in that Will smith film that everyone tends to forget about... other then the theme song.

Right where was I , steampunk features perhaps most recognisably features old technologies or futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them. So you want to fly, you'll need a pair of wings. Want a ray gun? You'll need a lot of wiring and some large tesla coils. Need to see something in the distance, you'll need a lot of lenses arrayed in front of each other, etc, etc, you get the idea.

the depiction of Steampunk is also rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. So if it is Victorian era, you can would see lots of corsets and long dresses etc. If it's wild west, then western frontier inspired clothing and if it's steampunk set in a fantasy world, well the only limits would be the creators imagination.

Other examples of steampunk contain alternative history-style presentations of technology such as airships, analog computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine.

Of course sometimes when I try to explain steampunk people look at me slightly weird and obviously imagine me getting dressed up ( although lets never say never though people :-) ) So I suppose the next best question is why do I like the photographing steampunk?

Well firstly the costumes are amazing, you can guarantee that all are very unique and allow the persons individuality and personality to shine through. Secondly the level of skill and imagination that goes into this costumes is outstanding as most costumes are hand crafted and can feature some surprising components which leaves me in awe.

And lastly but by no means least one of the main things I enjoy is the sheer welcoming and happy nature of the people who attend the conventions and events as they attend to have fun and have to put up with photographers they don't know sticking cameras in their faces. They are also so patient and kind and great fun to talk too.

Of course a handful of photographers can fail to realise this and forget there is a person behind the costume in the rush to get a photography and it's that attitude that will set a lot of photographers teeth grinding as it gives the rest of us a bad name.

But that's their loss as their are missing the chance of getting to know some of the most interesting and fascinating people you are ever likely to meet.

Because there aren't many places where you can get hugged by woman wearing body armour after all :-)

Rumours, secrets and lies

I've been reminded today of a story from way back when I got my first DSLR  , ( I say when back when but it was only two years ago but oh it seems longer) that I thought was too good not to share

Oh and no names have been changed to protect the innocent/guilty/ or passers by because I'm not going to say any :-)

Anyway, yes it was way back when I had my first DSLR, my kit could fit in only a small bag and studio work was still a distant dream, I was trying to decide on a direction for my portfolio and what kind of photography I wanted to get into.

There was a girl who worked at the same place I did who was into modelling and offered to do some photos with me so I could improve my portfolio, get some experience and she could get some shots too ( hopefully).

So we had two shoots, one outside at a ruined abbey and one inside. I was happy with the results and both shoots were perfectly innocent.

However I had forgotten how quickly things can change in the workplace rumour mill.

So I was surprised to hear that the shoots had turned into "artistic" shoots.

Which seemed strange to me, but then things got weirder.

They then changed into me taking nude pictures of her. Which I found astonishing but the rumour mill upped the ante.

The final complete rumour was that I had been taking nude pictures of her in my secret underground photography studio.

Of course what no one was ever able to explain to me when I pointed out the flaws in the scenario was

1. If I had a photography studio why would I be working at my current workplace?
2. If I had a photography studio why would it be secret?
3. If I had a secret photography studio why would I tell people I was doing work in a secret photography studio?
4. Why would I have a photography studio underground?

It was probably the one time I ever wished a rumour about me was true!

I would love to be doing regular work in a studio anyway, let alone own my own studio!

Maybe one day!

It sometimes only takes you being in the right place at the right time

As much as I would like to say that all of my pictures are perfectly planned and executed their not. In some way's that's the advantage of the digital age, you can just keep shooting and if you don't like something just delete. Unlike the old rolls of film.

Although some "old timers" might argue that this is also a disadvantage too.

Anyway, I have found that two of my favourite photos in my portfolio now were far from the planned. The 1st was catching the moment when somebody decided to propose to his girlfriend at a steam punk event.

The second was this one. At the time I hadn't even realised what I had captured as I was firing off a whole series of shots during a family photoshoot in a studio.

It was only later when I was editing I found what I had captured. A shot that probably said more about the relationship between a Father and daughter more then anything else I had captured that day.