In preparation

In preparation for the coming year we should always remember:

"Culture is to Britian as sun is to Spain.

We are much better at culture

than we are at sport."

Andrew Graham-Dixon

New Blood - Burton and London

An exhibition panel of my recently commissioned work (Olympics and Eden) has been created. These panels have then been exhibited in Cooper's Square, Burton and at the New Blood exhibition at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London.



Cooper's Square, Burton

Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London

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New Blood

Getting quite excited about my work being exhibited at New Blood next week. New Blood showcases the best in graphic design, visual communication, advertising, digital media, illustration, photography and other commercial creative arts. There will be extraordinarily talented people showing their work to interested people who are looking to commission work. Very pleased to have the opportunity to talk to people about my portfolio and the future direction of my work.



The logo for the exhibition has a postively vampiric feel to it! Rapture.



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Business card redesign

I bit the bullet and ordered 200 new business cards. I have paid a premium for them as I would like them to arrive before I go down to London on Thursday next week. They should arrive on Tuesday.

After doing my research on what to put on the front of my cards I decided on this design:

The front

The back of the card will have one of 40 different images. I don't know who is going to pick up my business cards so address is just as important as twitter, facebook or website. The QR code takes you straight to my website.

All set for exhibition next week and portfolio review with Le Book and Making Pictures.

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New Blood - D&AD

I have been asked to exhibit at the New Blood show at the end of June. Very excited about this. I will be prepare these images from the Olympics brief:.

and these from the Eden Project brief: 

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Practice Shots

In preparation for the shoot tomorrow I have been thinking about what I want to achieve. I want a long exposure so there is movement - but I also want to freeze the action. I will therefore use a long exposure and use the flash. I will begin with the camera in Aperture Priority mode. I had a practise on my cat - but he did not move much!

My plan is to have the horse rolling in the indoor school, kicking up dust as he rolls and then capture him in his most vulenerable position as he gets up onto his feet. My intention is that this will be a dark image - a dark horse in a reasonably dark environment.



Tim Flach



I also want to capture some extreme close-up shots of him - inspired by the Equus images by Tim Flach. This will mean I need to make sure he is clean and tidy and relaxed after rolling in the dust. I have set aside the whole morning to see what I can achieve.

Tim Flach

Tim Flach



Tim Flach



I will be using Canon 5D, Speedlite 580EXII Flash, 24-105mm lens, 50mm macro lens and reflector. I will not be using a tripod or lighting kit, at this stage, as I feel flash and hand-held will achieve what I want. I also need to ensure horse and equipment will be safe. If I feel I need to use lighting I will borrow a kit and have provisionally booked a second visit for Friday afternoon - if it is required - if not we are going out for a ride.

I have a couple of ideas for the tag line at this stage but until I see the images I am not sure which to use.

Costings are coming along fine and tomorrow I will negotiate how much the session will cost.

I have a set of still life images in my head that I would like to take. These will be to support the main image (or replace it if it does not go as expected).

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Right up my Street

Whilst at Print Space Frede Spencer Photography Agent who runs Twenty Twenty called in to give talk through a brief. 

Frede Spencer

He requires an image for an advertising campaign for one of the Olympic Sponsors. This needs to be ready to show him when he comes up to Nottingham on 7th December. 

With this brief he wants us to appreciate the work an agent does for a photographer and to that end we need to cost up the shoot for the campaign. This is the sort of work I used to do so I am right on this.

I instantly got an idea having seen the list of sponsors, this coupled with inspiration from the 'From Back Home' exhibition yesterday. Whilst waiting for images to be printed I sent a text to someone who could help me. They agreed and I have arranged a photo shoot for Tuesday morning.  

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