I had been wanting to do a woodland location shoot for quite sometime, with a real kind of Gothic style pin-up shoot that would allow me to turn day into night with the use of creative lighting effects and to utalize the “Bowen’s travel pak” that I have had for my studio lights to take them on location and try them out. I had scouted the chosen location over a year ago at the end of one summer and decided to shoot there as Autumn was well underway, I mainly wanted the orange leaves on the ground and that kind of ethereal quality that the change of seasons brings. I had also been watching quite a good bit of “True Blood” on TV and felt inspired by all the strange forest wanderings that took part in the show (especially at that twilight hour and wanted to try and emulate the lighting). I had a shoot booked in with Trisha Leslie who I met whilst photographing the burlesque and cabaret scene (she is a performer under the guise of “Chelsea Smiles”) She is also a tattoo model and would suit the Gothic woodland setting quite well so off we set with my assistant Brian and make-up artist Elise in tow for what was to be our very own “Blair Witch” style encounter……..
make-up and equipment set-up on location
Turning Day into night with creative lighting technique
Twilight was quite literally becoming nightfall in the last few shots light levels faded fast and we were resorting to using iphone torches to light Trisha and help find the focus and only then we realized we were in the middle of a forest, in the dark, with a great deal of equipment and a fairly difficult uphill trek back to the car’s! iphone torch time again!
I have been shooting a number of alternative / Tattoo Models and performers in the last couple of months in my latest long term project “Alt Models Ink”. I am shooting on the Hasselblad H3D II – 50mp Medium format digital camera system to achieve the highest possible quality and sharpness of image, in presenting online however the camera system may seem like “Overkill” as you can easily enlarge the full-res file to the size of a house! I do have long term plans with the shots so whilst I can shoot the highest possible res…… I will! The Suki shots are playing with themes of exploitation films and B-movies as well as Atl Model Pin-up for the 21st century!
Onto shoot number three with Matylda, sticking with a religious concept once again, but a little more “tongue in cheek” this time but still quite dark in context…… enjoy, “A Certain Sacrifice”.
This is the second concept of FIVE that I shot with Matylda Bajer over the last weekend, Tempest storm, utilizing both a beauty dish and a wind machine as well as some “fierce” posing from Matylda……. enjoy.
I recently shot alternative Tattoo Model Melissa Hayward for “Tattoo Vixens” magazine and to try out a couple of concepts including a set called “Tokyo Royale” & “Persian Princess”, we shot at De Look Studios in Dublin ( a really nice and friendly set-up) and had the place booked for the day. I really wanted to try out various lighting set-ups and background rolls, shooting on a white & Pink Candy background with high key, low-key and single light set-ups allowing me to push the concepts in a few different areas. With us on the day was make-up artist Sara Tonin, who also did a great job with some really nice looks to complement the styling, we created some interesting images using a singular spot light with honeycomb grid, barn door & silver reflectors.
After searching the length and breadth of the country Elite model Look Ireland found itself a representative for the world final to be held in China at the end of the Month, 16 year old Laura Harris from Dublin. Laura, who holds a striking resemblance to international model Lili Cole, was shocked and thrilled to win the final stage of the competition held in the wright venue last Friday night 3rd September.
She is now spending the next few weeks preparing for her trip to China to compete on a world stage and she stands a very good chance of achieving high at the show. I wish her the luck of the Irish, to bring the prize back home.
I first saw Laura at the Dundrum castings in Dublin and I for one recognized the potential for a striking model. When it came to creating the girls Portfolio’s Laura really shone through on the day and with a little direction her final images were the top of the group. It can be very difficult to find the whole package when it comes to high fashion modeling. You need the look, the attitude, confidence, personality and the camera has to love you! This may just be the case for our Laura………. time will tell.
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A selection of shots from my latest shoots
It has been a while since I last updated my blog, as I have been busy with various projects, such as the Elite Model Look Ireland photo castings that have brought me up and down the country visiting Cork, Limerick, Galway, Dublin and Belfast with the Elite Team.
I also just completed 12 shoots in the one week shooting various models, performers and events that have brought me to such locations as a forest in Wexford, a luxury Spa at the Royal Marine Hotel, an underground car park a derelict house , an Ice Bar, two nightclubs, the beach and up a tree!
I have been shooting with various stylists, make-up artists and 8 different models, working on editorial shots for such clients as Louis Copeland, Sinead Doyle, Pink boutique, Secret Chic, the Wright Venue and Sebrick Studios.
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My latest photo editorial has been three months of research, planning, prop sourcing , designing and organization. Based around the graphic novel “Tank Girl” the shoot features two very talented and creative models and performers Emily Aoibheann & Natalie Da Costa who are both fans of the cult comic book.
Tank Girl is a British comic created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin. Originally drawn by Jamie Hewlett.
As the name suggests, the titular character Tank Girl drives a tank, which is also her home. She undertakes a series of missions for a nebulous organization before making a serious mistake and being declared an outlaw for her sexual inclinations and her substance abuse. The comic centers on her misadventures with her boyfriend, Booga, a mutant kangaroo. The comic’s style was heavily influenced by punk visual art, and strips were frequently deeply disorganized, anarchic, absurdest, and psychedelic. The strip features various elements with origins in surrealist techniques, fanzines, collage, cut-up technique, stream of consciousness, and meta-fiction, with very little regard or interest for conventional plot or committed narrative.
So it was this eclectic, random and anarchic punk comic book feel that I wanted to interpret and to achieve visually. I thought about locations involving disused factory settings, forest elements and even got into contact with a military vehicle group who had a member that owned a Sherman WW2 tank (too expensive to hire!).
I eventually went with a studio option, Hi-Key combined lighting technique (flash, Tungsten and daylight) and created a comic book background using enlarged comic book illustration panels that I had blown up to A1 size to create a kind of “Living comic book” feel. Also subconscious inspiration came from the photo shoot that was done as promotion for the film Trainspotting this shoot has always stuck in my mind as a very strong , visually effective character driven shoot in stark black and white shot from a high angle.
The props used were a combination of different props we had sourced and accumulated over the past while such as my bullet belt (that I had to consider taking through customs but eventually oped for the postal service), the weaponry was kindly on loan to me from a good mate Garret. Emily and Natalie did a great job on their own styling and make-up also.
Here is a sneaky peak at a select few shots from the shoot.
Emily Aoibheann
The selected shots ar now available for viewing in my main Gallery
Access to which was gained through a tunnel running under the road. The older gravestones and memorials were of the most interest as they were intricate carvings of doves in ivy, marine style anchors, roses and some strange crests and symbols. We stumbled across the entrance to what I have since found out is a Victorian “Secret Garden”, long since derelict and abandoned, at the time we did not venture very far into it as it basically freaked the both of us out!
My Dad also told me that a woman’s body was found hanging above the entrance to the tunnel going between the old and new Cemetery ( the first photo of my set) just a few years ago……..just knowing that piece of information makes the first photo all the more unsettling……and adds to my own sense of morbid curiosity and creative self expression.
The full shoot can be found in my gallery
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The idea of a specific time reserved for leisure originated in the1930’s. Contemporary medical theories believing in the benefits of fresh air and sunlight encouraged the pursuit of open-air pursuits and led to the establishment of a number of outdoor pools with amenities. The more elaborate examples were called Lidos, a term borrowed from the famous bathing resort at Venice. The South Bay Pool at Scarborough was designed by Harry W. Smith, Borough Engineer (1893-1930). It was the largest outdoor pool in Europe, construction was begun in 1914 and completed the following year. The changing rooms with their pillars, tiles and circular windows, the pool fountains and various associated bungalows were added in the 1930’s.
The pool reached it’s heyday in the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s. School swimming Galas were still held there in the 1970’s.
The pool was finally closed in 1989. It lay derelict, festooned in barbed wire throughout the 1990’s, an obsolete reminder of a different way of life.
Hand developed black and white photographs taken during the summers of 1997-2000 show the pool and it’s surrounding buildings in the last throws of disintegration. Festooned with barbed wire and Keep Off notices the water is black and oily.
I took photographs at the Scarborough South Bay pool whilst it lay derelict in 1997, in fact they were amongst some of the first photographs I had ever taken with an SLR, which at the time was a Pentax K1000 and shot on Ilford HP5 black & white film, hand processed and printed, the photographs here have been created with digital scans from those negatives.
The site had been closed off to the public and upon my visit there was a large amount of graffiti and the roof of the old locker room had been partially ripped off exposing the lockers you see in my shots in the main gallery, also the old cafe door had been broken into by vandals and was left open for exploration.
I could also gain access to the changing room which led to a staircase going down to the entrance of the main pool, which is the photograph of the metal gate seen below. The place had a very eerie feel to it as it was yet another place that used to be full of life and laughter from my childhood and my parents childhood that now lay in ruin’s.
As a child I remember spending the best part of the summer swimming there, the water was always highly chlorine filled because of all the sea water that flooded the pool and I will always remember cutting my feet in the paddling pool from all the broken tiles at the bottom.
Listing for the South Bay Pool was turned down in the summer of 2002, and the pool filled with rubble and sand in the summer of 2003.
This is how the area looks Today.
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