The Boat House

Yesterday afternoon I was over at the U.T.R.C. (Upper Thames Rowing Club) in Henley to take some portrait photos but whilst setting up I couldn't resist taking a shot of a friend of mine Johnny Woodiss-Field in front of the club's Boat House.


As is the norm' at the moment it was a little on the chilly side and light was fading fast, so working quickly was definitely order of the day ... especially when it came to taking the portrait photos of 'Pilates' Instructor and International rower, Antonia Van Deventer Taylor, wearing black tracksuit bottoms and a vest, on the banks of the Thames!!! Now that's dedication !!!

Oxygen Hair & Beauty Model Shoot

Having been invited by the owner Angelo, last night I was over at Oxygen Hair & Beauty Salon in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire doing a 'hair up' promotional photo shoot with a few models. Head stylist Phil was demonstrating a number of styles that are to be used in their new Wedding Hair / Beauty Package that will be launching early 2009.

At the moment we're all working together on a number of projects aimed at promoting both our businesses and one of which is a model shoot at the luxurious Luton Hoo Hotel, Bedfordshire in January ... so watch this space for more details coming soon.

In the meantime here's a couple of shots taken last night of one of the models, Francesca. I'll post more here once I've added a few finishing touches.

Enjoy :o)

More 'Shots' of Heathrow's Armed Response

Hi All,
Following on from my last post I thought you might like to see a couple more shots of the ARV (Armed Response Vehicle) Officers that I've taken this week whilst down at Heathrow Airport.

Again, a rather chilly day to be taking photos in 'shirts' but all credit to the guys ... not one mention of being cold ... well, not that I heard anyway :o)

Enjoy

Heathrow's Armed Response

Here's a shot that I took today whilst over at Heathrow Airport of a guy by the name of Steve Law.

Steve is one of the Armed Response Vehicle Police Officers (ARV) that now work out of Heathrow and have gone through an advanced firearms course which equips them for dealing with all manner of firearms / terrorist incidents.


I must thank Steve for his patience standing there for me on a day that could certainly be described as 'chilly' ... but you didn't want to wear your fleece anyway Steve did you ? ... did you ?

Enjoy :o)

Salt of the earth :o)

As we go through life all manner of people cross our paths and become friends, but every now and again you meet someone that you would classify as a 'best mate' ... someone you trust implicitly, have the same sense of humour and so on ...


The photograph I've attached to this 'blog' entry is one I took of a guy by the name of Dave Gurnhill ... someone I would call my 'best mate'. Dave's a thoroughly decent 'bloke' and to use an old Cockney phrase (I think) ... 'Salt of the earth'. I can honestly say that every day I've worked with Dave, I've 'belly laughed' at least once, and having fun is certainly a priority!!!

Earlier this year I was completely bowled over when Dave asked me to be God Father to his gorgeous little boy Jamie ... doesn't get any better than that huh :o)

>ps ... The 'moody' look was intentional :o)

The Cape Cookery Book

For the past couple of days I've been at a South African Delicatessan / Cafe in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire called 'The Cape' photographing what seemed like an endless supply of delicious authentic South African food. The owner and resident 'magician' in the kitchen is Jo Seeby and the reason for the all the photographs is that she's now in the process of writing her first cookery book.

Photographs were taken at the Deli which had a constant stream of customers through the door making work just a little bit challenging at times; however I'd be a liar to say I didn't sneak the odd mouthful of food during all the hustle and bustle.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted as to when the book is published cos going by what I saw, it's definitely gonna be one worth having.

Bye for now ;o)

Ferrari 430 Spider

One of the 'shoots' I had arranged for this weekend was down in Henley at the UTRC (Upper Thames Rowing Club), but despite the location it wasn't to take photos of some of the world class rowers that the club has produced (I'll be taking those at a later date). It was however to take some shots of a Ferrari 430 Spider owned by one of the club members with the intention of using the results in the Commercial section of my new site which will be launching early 2009.

Whilst I was setting up my lighting rig, the owner of the Ferrari, Dave and a good friend of mine Johnny Woodiss-Field gave the car a quick rub down. (Note to self: don't use river water when washing your £130,000 supercar :o)

Enjoy :o)

On yer bike!

Well, three wrecked shoot thru umbrella's later and these are some of the shots that I took of a friend of mine Kirsty the other day. We'd planned to meet early afternoon to take some portrait photos as the good ole' weather men said it was just going to be slightly overcast; well, add to that the near freezing temperature and the hurricane winds (ok, slight exaggeration there) you get the picture. Let's just say that a pair of ruby slippers and the occasional shout of 'Toto, Toto' wouldn't have gone amiss :o)

Playing around ...

As often as I can I like to have a bit of a 'play' with my camera and lights and experiment with different set ups. The attached photos are from two such times ... one when I was playing with casting shadows on a wall to create a 'menacing' feel to the photo, and the other when I was trying out a new 'Ring Flash'.

Hey I know what you're thinking but this kind of stuff keeps me out of trouble. LOL

ps> Just incase you're reading this Barry, thanks for helping out again, and when I said 'menacing' it wasn't the photo of you I was referring to ... honest ;o)

James & Fiona's Wedding

Well it's now two days since James & Fiona's Wedding Day at the Luton Hoo Hotel, Bedfordshire - and what a day it was :o)

We started the day off photographing Fiona getting ready, along with some detail shots and then finally once she'd got into her Wedding dress ... which was absolutely stunning!



With a ceremony at midday the time seemed to literally fly by, but with careful planning (me being a typical virgo and a big thankyou to Mark :o) everything ran smoothly and we managed to get some cracking 'shots' during the day and then on into the evening when they revealed a surprise laser shoot and casino for their guests.


James & Fiona will be leaving for their honeymoon to Thailand in mid December so I've now got a couple of weeks to edit their photos and then get together for a viewing. Afterwards I'll be sure to post up a few more images for you to see, but for now check out the attached photos along with the short video giving a 'sneak preview' of their day .... enjoy :o)