#17: At London Fashion Week

Two weeks I had the privilege to shoot at London Fashion Week for blow PR. They represent some of the new and fresh fashion designers who are making waves in the world of fashion.
Doing LFW was certainly an interesting adventure. They were quite a few other photographers there hired by various companies or fashion houses. Also since the camera companies decided to make SLR cameras accessible to everybody and their mothers, there were loads of people who weren't even photographers getting in the way.
I covered Jasper Garvidas collection 'Belle' which was inspired by 1950s Paris. He is a pint sized dude with amazing work. Some of his work below;

#16: I was bored so I decided to test ................ AGAIN

Two weekends ago I decided to get in the studio and do some testing with two models who I had wanted to test with for a while .............. both gorgeous girls. I decided to also try my hand at some simple styling for the shoot. What do you think?
Holly has a great look with blue eyes and short bleach blonde hair ................ and she's six feet tall, she 's a frigin amazon. Zoe is nearly six feet with short brunette hair and beautiful face of an angel.

#15: A test in Hyde Park

Ok I have to agree it is quite shameful that I haven’t updated my blog in yonks, so heres to turning over a new leaf and trying to get more posts in.

I went shooting with Michanou a few weeks back in Hyde Park, stunning girl from the Carribean. Michanou is looking to make a splash as a model in the fashion industry and she seems to be doing quite well for herself as she landed a gig at London fashion week through her agency Confidence models.

I decided to take a break from shooting magazine and commissioned work and do some testing with some new elinchrom lights I bought the previous week. I used to have some bowens spirit 750W kit lights ……………. powerful bugers but they were big, bulky and heavy. I was tired of getting a workout before every shoot so I decided to trade power and size for portability. My new elinchrom D-lite lights worked a treat and they are quite portable and easy to carry around ………………….. yes I am lazy.

  

Before shooting in parks or open spaces make sure you get a permit that allows you to do just that. Nearing the end of the shoot a lovely police lady informed me that I couldn't shoot there without a permit. A bit eye winking and flirting soon changed her mind ................... yea right!!!!!!! 

She so kicked us out, she was nice about it though ;)

#14 Updates

Last weekend myself and a bunch of Photographers (Jide Alakija, Trey Atarhe Mujakporue and Ade Adetayo) came together to raise some money and awareness for the children of Haiti. The event was put together by a talented make up artist Bolanle Okusanya Feyita. This was an entirely charitable event, with every artist volunteering their expertise to work together in creating beautiful images in order to raise funds for Haiti. 
It was a hell of a day of shooting, playing and hanging out. We managed to raise over £1000 (not sure about the exact amount) which was donated to the Compassion charity Compassionuk (charity registration no 1077216).
Hopefully some portraits will be allowed to go up. 


Zsofia Weber Shoot

Zsofia Weber shoot

Heres something different from portraits ............... FASHION .............well not completely different. I got to photograph clothes for a talented clothes designer Zsofia Weber. I worked with Phoenix Martins (Model), Anne Duncan (Make-up artist) and Segun Okelarin (stylist).

Phoenix is Fierce

Glamorous

Avatar: the last Airbender
Onto something else, if you are a big avatar fan like me (no not the James Cameron one, which was awesome by the way) you will love this. I loved the cartoon series when it aired a few years back, great story and characters. The Last Airbender comes out this summer.


The teaser





The kick ass trailer



Can't wait

#13: Pose for Purpose

Hey everyone,

If you combine Contemporary Photography + Superb Makeup Artistry = Amazing Images of you whilst supporting HAITI

Just wanted to let you know about a fantastic event that is taking place on February 6th 2010 from 9am-5pm in North West London called Pose for Purpose: Haiti. A group of creatives including makeup artists, photographers and hairstylists have all gotten together to offer their services for free allowing you to have a professional photo shoot with all donations going to support the children in Haiti.

I will be helping out on the day and it would be great if any of you could make it. Here are the details below as well as links to the websites of some of the creatives involved. If you have wanted to get any pictures taken of you now is the perfect time to do it, and the best bit is that what you donate will be going forward to save and help a child. Hope to see you there.

The Event: A pre-booked professional photo shoot with fabulous makeup and superb photography for individuals and families. Each session will last a maximum of 1 hour. This is an entirely charitable event, with every artist volunteering their expertise to work together in creating beautiful images in order to raise funds for Haiti.

ALL donations received will go directly to support the children in Haiti via Compassion - http://www.compassionuk.org/, (charity registration no 1077216).

Exceptional Photographers include Ade Okelarin (http://www.asiko.net/), Trey Mujakporue (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pr0file/) and Jide Alakija (http://www.jidealakija.com/).

Makeup Artistry and Headties from fabulous makeup artists including Becks Buki (http://www.becksbuki.com/), Bolanle Okusanya Feyita (http://makeupproonline.com/), Queen A, Gbemi Gee Balo, Juliet Esiri and Kemi Kings.

Your Donation: It's not about the money but about raising the awareness of the need to aid those in Haiti. Many of us can give a lot more than just money. We appreciate anything that you can give to show your support for this cause.

Your Images: A selection of your best images captured will be sent to you as electronic high resolution images that you can print and enlarge as you desire.

So whether you are updating your family records, putting together a special valentine’s day present or organising pre-wedding or post-baby albums, let us help you create gorgeous enduring memories whilst you help the children devastated by the tragedy resulting from the earthquake in Haiti.

Location: The Regency Banqueting Suite (http://www.regentbanqueting.co.uk/)

BOOK NOW! Contact 07870 668 238 or poseforhaiti@gmail.com

#12: Thank God its friday

Last weekend I put an emergency test shoot together, everything was so last minute that I didn’t know who my model was till about midnight before the day of the shoot.

Phoenix Martins is a star for helping us model on the day, you are amazing girl. My other team members were my ever lovely wife Segs and one of my regular talented make up artist Anne Duncan. I am so grateful for all your help.  We used Zsofia Webers collection for a black Phoenix idea (the models name was Phoenix ………….get it ……………. Oh forget it). The Black Phoenix is a code name for our model Assassin. These are rough retouches, more to come in the coming weeks.

something a bit arty

On to something different;

The new TV seasons are back and shows have started to creep back onto our TV. Thank the Lord for Sky plus, this weekend I will be catching up on a few shows; Eastwick (dammit they cancelled it so it’s the last episode), Dollhouse (another awesome show that has been cancelled, American networks are brutal), Heroes, Modern Family and Glee (yea that’s right, I’m becoming a Gleek, no thanks to my wife …………….what can I say the show is awesome).

The final season of Lost will be starting next month WOOP WOOP. Stargate Universe and Smallville are also coming back ………………………. Geez this is becoming too much TV. Sometimes I find my inspiration as a photographer comes from the kind of shows I feed my mind with. As you can see from my list of current shows, quite a few are fantasy and sci-fi based.

Lost is awesome and this is an amazingly well lit poster

A recurring theme is most of my work is that element of mystery and fantasy with touches of symbolism. We are all influenced by what we feed our minds, meaning I probably live in a trippy fantasy filled limbo or is that the drugs. For the next year I am hoping this element and feel in all my images to pull together a more consistent body of work. Oh well we’ll see………..

Have a nice weekend

#11: The new year

Happy new year everyone. I had a Fab holiday time, loads of eating and relaxing with the Missus. Loads of movie watching ……………. Saw Avatar 3D …………………. Frigin AMAZING, I thoroughly recommend.

So what does lady luck have for us this year? Made any resolutions yet? Bet you ain’t gonna keep ‘em………………. Cynical you say ………..  well I am cynical about new year resolutions……… they only last till February.

Speaking of lady luck, heres an interesting image I put together for a card theme character

I believe in planning out and creating my own destiny so lady luck has nothing on me ………….. but then I do believe in the divine intervention of the God. Lady luck and God aren’t the same thing in case you were wondering. I am praying this year is a more fruitful endeavour in terms of photography.

I plan to shoot more and improve my craft. I also plan to get my work published in editorials and more importantly get more commissioned work. I am so writing up a plan cos I am not sure how to go about these.

Another image from the same shoot

Big time credits for this shoot go to the Anne Duncan (make-up artist), Debbie Moxey (hairstylist) and the models Clare and Elena from Oxygen.