Road Trip, An Afternoon with Harry, and a Trip to the Beeb

My camera has been pretty busy since the last posting!  First up was a pre-Christmas road trip weekend, to watch the Phoenix play in Slough and Peterborough.  Following the Phoenix means that we get to go to all the glamorous locations!

The staff at Slough were just as welcoming this time as my last visit a couple of seasons back, we were greeted at the door with a smile, and I was given permission to shoot from the penalty box between the two team benches.  It's a great vantage point, very close to the action - much closer than at other rinks I've shot in.  The sight lines are pretty good, and the aroma... well, the less said about that the better... close proximity to hockey players is never a fragrant treat....

Peterborough the following night was a more conventional affair, shooting from the back row of the away block.  Again the sight lines were good, and the staff were welcoming, especially the guys from Phantoms TV who were more than happy to take part in Ben Knight's Phoenix Podcast before the game.  The game itself was a cracking end to end affair, with the Phoenix making it a four point weekend!

However, the photographic highlight of the weekend had to be our trip to the Warner Brothers Studios at Leavesden to take the 'Making Of Harry Potter' Tour.  I'm 40 years old and don't mind admitting that I was like a kid in a candy store, the whole thing was an amazing experience.  As both a film-maker and a Harry Potter fan, I got a double whammy of fun!

Not only were there props and sets on display for the public to look around, but there were plenty of  behind the scenes exhibits including an animatronic Hagrid head, which was a tad creepy but still fascinating!

The main exhibit, a truly breathtaking piece, was the scale model of Hogwarts that was used for the exterior shots in the films.  It was massive, and the detail was just stunning.  Yol and I were lucky enough to encounter a rather nice man who took our picture standing in front of it!

The full set of photos from our visit to the tour can be seen here: Harry Potter Tour


Last Friday evening, fellow Phoenix snapper Lauren Freeman and myself were invited to appear on BBC Radio Manchester during Ian Cheeseman's sports show, to discuss minority sports in the Manchester area.  Accompanied by two representatives of cycling and two from the world of local basketball, Lauren and I were given the opportunity to promote our sport and give a plug or three for the Phoenix as well.

After the show, we were given a quick tour of the building as well, which included a visit to the set of BBC Breakfast which is surprisingly smaller than you'd think.  We not only got to sit on the sofa but we also had the chance to mess about in front of the weather map!

The full set of photos from our visit to the Beeb can be seen here: Lauren and Richard at the BBC

Cheers for reading!

Unveiling Jen, a Trip to the Airport, and more Phoenixing

A couple of entries back, I teased a couple of shots from the recent shoots with my friend, model and fellow photographer Jen Latham.  Since then I have been gradually releasing more and more shots from the two shoots that we did, one under constant light and one under flash heads, and I am very pleased with not only the results but how the shots have been received.

The first shoot was done under constant light, with a smoke machine, and focussed around us exploring some themes that Jen and I had developed together.  The shoot was initially set up as a test shoot for concepts that we were planning to use in a shoot at a later date (and probably still will), and centred on two characters, 'Innocence' and 'Justice':

We'd done a lot of research before the shoot into the kind of looks that we wanted to achieve, and we also spent some considerable time researching the right props to use as well, and how best to handle them.  Jen is pretty fearless when it comes to modelling (in fact she's pretty fearless full stop) and so I knew that she would be able to deliver on the concepts, and deliver she did!

We also shots some more conventional portraits in the first shoot as well:

But we also did some 'component shots' for a photoshop idea that I'd had, which resulted in a shot called 'Self Control':

It's my first attempt at a photoshop job on this scale, and although it's not perfect by any standard, I'm pretty pleased with it!

As mentioned in a previous blog entry, the second shoot with Jen was more of an impromptu one, taking advantage of an opportunity.  My fellow Phoenix photographer Lauren Freeman had generously lent me her flash heads, and so the evening before Jen jetted off to Zimbabwe to film a documentary we found ourselves with a couple of hours to shoot in.  Jen was going to kickboxing that evening, and so a sporting shoot was on the cards!

We also found time to do some more experimentation with our concepts from the first shoot, this time using a black cloth:

The full set of photos from the two shoots can be seen on Flickr here: Shoots with Jen

Back at the start of the month I found myself in Manchester on business, and after business was concluded I checked the SatNav to find that I was a mere 0.8 miles away from the airport viewing area.  So naturally, with the sun starting to set, I headed over to the Runway Visitors Centre and got my long lens out!

I always find shooting at the airport to be very relaxing, a nice way to unwind and forget the world for a few moments.

The full set from the visit can be seen on Flickr here:  Airport at Sunset

As per usual, I've been shooting the Phoenix home games throughout the hockey season so far, and some of the shots I've been able to get have been very pleasing.  This is the first season where I've shot with a Nikon D90 in my hands, and the difference in quality is quite marked:

It's still an enjoyable activity, experiencing the highs and lows of supporting my team and watching every game through the lens, and even with the D90 it's still a challenge that I relish!

Thanks for reading!

Shooting inside a Church, Painting with Light, and the Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla

It's been a busy time since the last blog entry!  Several shoots, one of which I can't divulge any shots from just yet (oh the intrigue) but three main ones that I can, so here goes!

A couple of weeks back, Yol and I went to visit Saint Giles Church in Cheadle with the Willfield Camera Club to try our hand at shooting at night inside a church.  We'd generously been given access to the church for our shooting for an hour and a half, and so with a little coordination to make sure that we didn't venture into each other's shots, a hearty band of around twelve photographers set up tripods and cranked up the ISO settings!

The inside of the church is beautiful, and very calming even though there were so many of us in a relatively small space.  It also made for a nice setting for an interesting portrait of Yol!:

The full set of photos from the church can be seen on Flickr here: Saint Giles Church photo set.


Experimentation in photography is always a fun and educational experience, and with that in mind, Yol and I teamed up with Glyn, Claire and Yvonne and headed up Sneyd Hill one evening to experiment with light painting.  Armed with a head torch, a pack of sparklers, some lighting wire, a can of deodorant and Yvonne's not-so-trusty ciggie lighter, we tried out several different long exposure ideas with the backdrop of Stoke at night behind us.

The most successful shots came from the ingenuity of Yvonne to house some wire wool inside an egg whisk on the end of a dog chain; once the wire wool was ignited and spun around it created some stunning images!

The set of shots can be seen here: Painting With Light.


Today was a rather special day at work! This evening I had the pleasure of handing out the awards at the Level 4 screening of the Keswick documentaries, which was a very enjoyable experience.  But in terms of photography, the highlight today came this morning when I had the opportunity to shoot some behind-the-scenes stills on the Media Centre News Set.  Student journalist Will Piper was recording an interview segment for Staffs Live, and the interviewee was none other than Chris Jericho, the frontman of the band Fozzy and former WWE wrestler!

Chris was an excellent interviewee, giving a very entertaining and insightful interview to Will, and I had the opportunity to shoot before and during the recording:

After the interview, we had the chance to get some photos with Chris, so we took it in turns to get our photos taken!  This one of me was taken by Rich Mortimer, and I'm pretty chuffed with it!

The set can be seen on Flickr here: Chris Jericho at Staffs Live.

Thanks for reading!

Shooting Jen - Twice, Stoke Vintage Fair, and Lest We Forget...

In the last blog entry I mentioned that I had an upcoming shoot with the excellent Jen Latham, where we were going to test some themes that we've been working on.  Well, good things come in pairs, and thanks to the generosity of my fellow snapper Lauren Freeman in lending me her flash head kit, Jen and I have done two shoots!    The shots from both shoots are yet to be properly published, but I can give you a sneak peek of both shoots here - I'm immensely proud of both shoots, and yet again I was left in awe at Jen's talent in front of the camera.

The first shoot took place on Halloween night, so when the rest of the country were out trick or treating we were set up in the Media Centre's Shoot Studio using a combination of tungsten and LED constant lights, and armed with a smoke machine.  We shot a variety of different themes, costumes and ideas, and soon I will be publishing the results.  But in the meantime, here's a couple of shots from the photoshoot:

The second of our shoots came about through luck and timing!   On Phoenix match days in recent weeks, Lauren, Yolanda and myself have been shooting portraits of the players for use in the match programmes and for the upcoming Phoenix calendar;  a couple of weeks back Lauren offered to let me take her flash head lighting kit home with me to practice with, as I've been thinking about getting one.  So it transpired that I had the kit, and Jen had a spare couple of hours before heading to kickboxing one evening, so we set up the lights, got the smoke machine out again, and had an impromptu shoot!  Again, the results haven't been published yet, but here's a quick look:

The full sets from boths shoots will be published soon - watch this space!


Yesterday was a busy day for me with my camera.  Yolanda has an interest in vintage and retro fashion and style, and so when we learned that there was going to be a Vintage Fair in town, it was a no-brainer!  So we set off for the King's Hall in Stoke On Trent, Yolanda with the intention of getting a 50s-style make-over, and me with the intention of getting some shots of the people and styles on show, and to create a photoset that gave a flavour of the event.

The venue itself is quite photogenic, and as the doors to the balcony were left unlocked, I went for a bit of a wander whilst Yol had her make-over done:

I also decided to get some photos of the people in attendance, both the visitors and the stallholders, and I found that everyone I asked was happy to have their photo taken!

The highlight of the show for me though had to be Yol's transformation.  At the skilled hands of Sarah Russell from SGR Vintage Hair & Make Up, Yol was given a new hairstyle and make-over in a retro 1950s style, to match her cherry dress:

The full set of photos from the Vintage Fair can be seen on Flickr here: Stoke Vintage Fair photoset


Yesterday was also Remembrance Sunday,  and whilst we were down in Stoke we were able to watch the Remembrance Parade which ended at the Stoke Cenotaph, right outside the King's Hall:

Remembrance Sunday is always a significant event in the calendar,  a moving tribute to the fallen.  I lost my grandfather when I was five years old, I only have vague memories of how lovely a man he was, but I know from my mother that he served in Palestine in WW2, and so every Remembrance Sunday he's at the forefront of my thoughts.  Lest we forget.

The set of photos from the Parade can be seen here: Remembrance Parade

Thanks for reading, all.