Professional commercial, portrait photographer West Yorkshire, covering Wakefield, Barnsley, Huddersfield, Pontefract

Alt model photoshoot: Lincoln

February 4, 2017

Alt model photoshoot in Lincoln at shoot madness

I headed down to Linclon today to join in the big alt model photoshoot called ‘Shoot Madness’. Aptly named as it was total madness with a lot of models and photographers inside Home nightclub competeing for shooting space and models. The idea was for each photographer to work for 30 minutes with a model and then move on but it descended into chaos with photographers hogging models and models sticking with photographers they knew. I decided there were just three girls I really wanted to shoot and I made sure I got my name down with them on the booking sheet. As a bonus, I managed a fourth model while her photographer had gone astray :¬) Two of the models I’d really like to work with again on a proper model portfolio shoot and I suspect I’ll get them up to my studio at some point soon with a bit of luck!

by John

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Wakefield commercial photographer: Pivot PR

February 2, 2017

Wakefield commercial photographer: YAA case study for Pivot PR

Today’s shoot took me to Spenborough sports track to photography a case study for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The brief was to create some press shots of a lady who’d slipped on ice while leading her shire horse out to the fields. The sudden jerk on the reins caused the horse to startle and it accidentally stepped on it’s owner on ground resulting in severe head injuries. Luckily, she was found by some passing cyclists and due to her critical condition, the air ambulance was called in to get her to hospital. The good news is that she is on the mend and learning to walk again and getting fit by cycling in tandem a couple of times a week with the team from Streetbikes, a charity that recycles old bikes and helps people of all ages to learn to ride bikes. The weather wasn’t great but I managed to come up with some images and I made the most of the leaden skies by under exposing them and using a Profoto B1 as a key light on the subject.

by John

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Alt model portfolio shoot with Chelsea

January 30, 2017

Alt model portfolio shoot: Chelsea

Chelsea hit the studio today for her alt model portfolio shoot. We shot a few different looks but I particularly liked the fantasy style portraits using the feather neck collar which I heavily processed in post to create a kind of gothic artwork feel to the images.

by John

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Commercial headshots photographer: York NHS

January 25, 2017

Commercial headshots photographer: York NHS board of directors

York rush hour traffic was a nightmare to travel through as I headed to the hospital where I’d been booked to create some commercial headshots for the board of directors at York NHS. The directors were all assembled for a meeting in one of the baord rooms at the hospital and, while they were having coffee, I quickly set up two speedlights to give me an on the fly studio set using a pale wall in one corner of the room. I used light from a large window as fill and a single speedlight in a 20″ octa as the key and a second flash gave me the white background. I can usually set this up without really testing but a quick pop of flash and a check of the Sekonic confirmed I was good to go. It’s then just a case of connecting with the subject and making them feel at ease in front of the camera. It took less than an hour from start to finish to shoot all 15 or so directors plus a group shot on the stairs and I’ve posted a few below.

If your company needs headshots for the website or print, just give me a call on 01924 229800 to discuss or book me. A good headshot is worth it’s weight in gold!

by John

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Steam train photography: Oliver Cromwell on GCR

January 19, 2017

Steam train photography: Oliver Cromwell on GCR

I did a bit of personal photography today, steam train photography in Loughborough to be precise. I was down at the Great Central Railway with other railway enthusiasts to photograph a charter train in full steam, in this case the Oliver Cromwell. As with all photography, lighting is the key and it’s what makes or breaks an image, after all, the word photography means ‘to paint with light’. Today though, the light wasn’t to be and we had dull, overcast skies with drizzle for most of the day. This makes the photography very hard becuase it’s difficult to get light into the engine to open up the dark sections without burning out the dull grey-white skies. I did my best and maybe a wee bit more in post for these few images from the day :¬)

by John

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Wakefield commercial portrait photographer: Redrow Homes

January 17, 2017

Wakefield commercial portrait photographer: Headshots and PR for Redrow Homes Ltd

I am commissioned quite regularly by Active PR as a Wakefield commercial portrait photographer to shoot headshots and press and PR images for Redrow Homes Ltd. These shoots usually take place on one of the Redrow developments around West Yorkshire and the brief consists of photographing staff members on location with subtle branding, visible branding and some without branding for press purposes. I really enjoy these shoots, they make me think on my feet because oftem, I only have a very small amount of time with the Redrow executives and I need to arrive on site, visualise the shot, determine the lighting and get the client in position for the final image. They key to all these shoots though, is bonding with the subject. Most people are slightly fearful of having their photograph taklen so it’s critical to build a rapport straight away and get them as relaxed as possible. Here a couple of Redrow execs from this morning’s shoot.

corporate portrait photographer Wakefield and Leeds

by John

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