Snow, the moon, and the usual ice...

One of the dominant topics in the UK for the last month has been the weather.  The arrival of snow seems to paralyse this nation - we're never ready for it, we can't cope with it, and we like to grumble about it as much as possible.  The cul-de-sac that we live on is located on a slope, so even the smallest hint of wintery weather can have a big impact on the residents.  Luckily, the residents in our cul-de-sac are pretty public-spirited when it comes to crappy weather, which is why I've now got many more hours of snow-shovelling experience under my belt!

Having the snow on the ground can present some great photo opportunities, but only if the weather plays ball.  We've all seen some beautiful snowscapes, with virgin snow shining brightly under a blue sky.  This doesn't happen in Stoke On Trent.  Overcast skies and dirty snow are the norm here when it comes to winter!  But there are a couple of residents who enjoy running around in the snow - Lucy and Lola, who seem to relish in exploring their winter wonderland.  Or at least they do until they get bored and trudge back inside to the warm!

Regular readers will know that I have a fascination with photographing the moon.  Before Christmas I picked up a Tamron 500mm f8 reflector mirror lens, something that I've had no experience of before, and I thought I'd try it out with a moonshot.  On the plus side, the 500mm lens gives a larger image of the moon, which is a definite bonus.  However, the notion that the lens needs an adaptor to fit onto my Nikon D90 means that no matter how sharply I set the manual focus, it'll never be as sharp as a dedicated Nikon lens.

I'm still pretty pleased with the results I can get from it, and maybe there's something in my method that I could adjust to get better results, but compare the above shot to this one that I took with a Nikon 70-300mm lens on the same camera:

One day I'll take the perfect moonshot, but until then....


The hockey season continues on throughout the winter months, what with it being a winter sport.  So as per usual I've been pointing my lens at the action and hoping to capture some moments worth capturing.  Yolanda, Lauren and myself are getting more coverage these days, with a new avenue having recently opened up - the Manchester Evening News are carrying match reports in their print edition, so we've managed to get our photos in print.  Which is nice!

Shooting the hockey is still as enjoyable as ever, and so long as it remains enjoyable then I'll carry on doing it!

Thanks for reading!

A shoot with Lauren, more Phoenixing, and the Rhumblerama Auditions

So far, January 2013 has been a busy time for my camera!  My shutterbuggery (it's a word) got off to an early start with a day in the studio with model and fellow photographer Lauren Freeman, where we were working on a test shoot for something a little different that we're planning to do with the Manchester Phoenix.  I can't give any details about that at the moment, so as not to spoil the surprise when it happens, but I can show some shots from the rest of the day's shooting - we shot several themes using Lauren's flash heads, including these shots of Lauren in my hockey kit:

I've shot under constant light in the studio before, and I've shot using flash heads, and there are pros and cons to both.  I guess in simplest terms, it depends on what kind of effect you're looking to get.  With these shots, it was important to me to get a substantial depth of field (or DOF), with all of the subject in focus.  To achieve this requires a mid to high f-stop (I think I was shooting around f7.1 to f8) and a shutter speed of 1/160th of a second, at ISO 200.  The flash heads weren't particularly far away, but were turned down low, so the coverage of light was nice and even - the dominant light was camera left, the fill light camera right.

In previous shoots where I've wanted a shallower DOF, sometimes the flash is too much, even with the flash heads moved further away.  The intensity of flash heads, even on a low setting, is much brighter than the constant light LEDs that I use, so sometimes constant light is the best option.  Shooting at f1.8 or f2.2 will give a shallower DOF, which gets shallower the closer you get to the subject, and this can give some great images.  But, for this shoot with Lauren, a deep DOF was needed, and so flash heads were the logical choice!

The set of photos from the shoot is still being added to, and it's viewable here: Lauren F. Shoot 2


We're just passing through the middle of the EPL ice hockey season at the moment, so the games are still coming thick and fast.   The response that Lauren, Yolanda and myself get to our photos is mostly positive (one or two trolls aside) and shooting the games is still fun.

At the last game, Lauren and myself had the opportunity to shoot the players as they come onto the ice, from a shooting position on the ice.  It's a shoot I've attempted a couple of times in the past, and the results are hit and miss, but when they hit, they hit!

As we go along, we also like to shoot some 'behind the scenes' shots - these tend to be shots not of the players, but the people around the games, as well as us setting up and working at the games.

More photos from the Phoenix matches can be seen on the Official Phoenix Flickr page here: Phoenix Flickr albums


This past Sunday, Lauren and myself were doing a different kind of portrait shooting for a good friend of mine, Andy Carson.  Andy is the director of a new independent film entitled Rhumblerama, a drama/comedy about a group of no-hopers who build a new career for themselves as professional wrestlers.  The film is at the casting stage, and so Lauren and myself were in attendance at the auditions, taking headshots and bodyshots of the auditionees to help with the selection process.

Essentially, our job was to take three shots of each auditionee.  One with them holding a clapperboard with their name written on it (for identification purposes), one headshot, and one bodyshot, which I then combined in photoshop to make one 'photosheet' per auditionee:

The whole experience was certainly an eye opening one!  We saw some incredibly talented actors and actresses giving performances that were worthy of casting.  We also saw, er, some other people....

A quick note here, if I may, to all budding actors and actresses out there:
Crying is not acting.  It's crying.
Doing an improvised monologue about one side of a relationship break up isn't acting.  It's still crying.
Yelling and shouting aren't acting.  They're yelling and shouting.
When you're auditioning for a drama-slash-comedy, doing a monologue about murder / rape / suicide / death / psychosis / torture is not really in-keeping with the theme of the film.
Acting involves adapting another personality to your own.  Being a chav and attempting to play a chav isn't acting, it's being a chav.
I hope this has been useful....

From a photography point of view, it was a relatively straightforward process.  Once we had set up and got the lights set correctly, we developed a system whereby I would photograph the taller candidates and Lauren would shoot the 'more normal heighted' auditionees.  Much of what we did that day was watching and waiting, we were sitting off to the side whilst the auditions took place, so we were in a good position not only to watch the actors but also the faces of Andy and his fellow panel members.  Watching them keep their faces straight for some of the auditions was also a good lesson in acting!

More info on Rhumblerama can be found on the official Rhumblerama facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/RhumbleRama

Thanks for reading!

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!