Saturday 31 December 2011

2011 review of my year



2011 I decided to put effort into shooting more as its so easy to become distracted or disheartened. I have summed up what I got up to during 2011 by month. I like the idea of this as it gives me a quick over guide to my year so I can see what I have achieved and where I could have done better.

January-
Following on from my shoot for radia magazine late december I decided to use this month to think of ideas to shoot and noted down inspiration and decided to plan out when I would shoot what but as I learned sometimes this doesn't always go to plan.

February -
I approached people in boutiques, fashion designers, models, makeup artists, places/ locations and other creatives. Noted down which would work well with who according to my previous ideas.

March-
I started off contacting people and connecting on twitter- its a great place to interact and communicate with or creatives.
From this the lovely Jessica Fox who plays Nancy in Hollyoaks agreed to work with me on a photo shoot. We went to Great John st Hotel in Manchester which was lovely. We used the room setting for a shoot with the giant whimsical bed and the grandness of the room. Jessica was lovely to work with and Sian Louise Auld mua as always, as was Nic Cole styling & John C Taylor assisting.

I also worked with Rebecca Cordell for the first time that month, I had wanted to work with her for a while and as predicted I got some beautiful shots of her even though it was a quick test with no mua and I did the styling. It was a beautiful hot day to.


April -
This month was all about the holiday to Italy I had planned with mum and dad which was a great get away and a good inspiration for future shoots as I saw an exotic side to work on.

May -
Myself and John shot some beauty for the girls Sian and Robyn at So Coco Rouge, we had the pleasure of working with Katy and Felix from Boss model management.
The launch of So Coco Rouge was finally in the mix on this month, me and John covered the event with another photographer Matt. We met the models and were to work on future shoots with them.
I also had a small image printed in Vogue which for me was pretty amazing. Was really happy about this, it was from a past shoot with Carly Petitt Taylor as they featured her jewellery in the magazine.

June -
I bought myself an instant polaroid camera to take some vintage looking pics and behind scenes.
I also tried experimenting with film again on a shoot with Chloe Lloyd who I hadn't shot with since 2009.

I also worked with a client looking for a model portfolio in which I worked with Shona Murdoch aspiring model.


July-
This month I had shoots coming up but people could not come or had to cancel so was to reschedule shoots. Still was taking inspiration and writing down new ideas throughout the months.

August -
Myself and John C Taylor helped out assisting with Phil Scott at London studio http://www.hoxtonstreetstudios.co.uk/
Phil was photographing amber from Made in Chelsea the TV program and they filmed this. This was a very interesting experience and I enjoyed the buzz of creative London that day.


I then went on to using Miller Park in Preston as a backdrop for a summer exotic looking shoot with Italy inspiration in mind. I worked with a model who collaborated with So Coco Rouge as well as Sian mua. Using the Diana Dreamer instant cam as well was interesting to try out to.
I also tried video for the first time on my camera on this shoot.

I think it would be better editing in a better video editing software and video file converter as it is a little jumpy but waited till I was getting a Mac at the end of the year.

september -
it seems the weather got worse during this period as a few shoots got cancelled due to rain, I made use of contacting people on the who is testing website to, glad I got accepted onto the site as there are a lot of talented creatives listed.

I tried another shoot working with two models on a test with boss model management, I started out with a really imaginative idea, did some online research of the location. Nic rang and asked about the place. The online images of the location looked fine, we got there and realised we should have physically checked out the location but unfortunately hadn't had the time before hand. The park was bare, it had been pouring down but we mangled to get shooting when the rain had given us a break. The boats were in fact completely different looking to the images on the website and when we asked why apparently the images hadn't been updated in 30yrs.. so that was my lesson learned, in the end through after searching we managed to find some nice sections.
For this shoot we worked with Angela Ford fashion designer who made some beautiful pieces, really unusual and feminine.

October-
I was quite pleased I had got the front cover in a european jewellery trade magazine 'Edelmetaal magazine'. Again from the photo shoot with Carly Petitt Taylor's jewellery.

I also finaly got to work with Jayn from the steals, we went back to her recording studio to pick out clothing and makeup etc and headed to a place in Hebden Bridge to shoot some folky/ hippy shots for Jayn and some more whimsical ones for my portfolio which I couldn't help doing with how magic her hair looks.
I found a new technique I liked. Keeping the lens soft to make a more hazy feel in places.


November -
I arranged to work with fashion designer barksdale studio in 2012 and booked to go to New York to shoot this editorial of her designs for a magazine she is also involved in. Very excited to be working with her she is very talented I love her creativeness in her pieces and I am looking forward to working internationally.

I also met up with creatives props team 'Strange Case' in Liverpool to discuss shoots to come in 2012 they are lovely and look forward to collaborating with them.

December -

I had been arranging this shoot for a while also with rebecca again as she is a pleasure to work with. I have said I wanted to work with autumn leaves for the past 5 yrs but had not got round to it. I had to dry these leaves out for a week before shooting. Good job we did it in studio as it was rainy/ windy/ hail weather outside. This gave a much nicer relaxed atmosphere to the shots and nice studio lighting. For this I went to velocity studios in Coppull who were very welcoming and helpful.


Overall I set out to shoot more which I defiantly did. Though it feels like I did more than what is shown at the end. I think this is because I organised a lot and did a lot of research yet had to cancel a lot of shoots for one reason or another most of the time out of my hands. I only tend to have one day every weekend to shoot so it is difficult as well as having other arrangements. I aim to shoot more again next year and submit a lot more editorials to magazines etc and push myself with more people and places and experimentally technically and creatively.

There are shoots I will be working on in 2012 that had been cancelled in 2011, I am looking forward to the Lancashire Life magazine fashion editorial. Also fashion photography and blogging for Lancashire magazine.

Thanks all for following my work it is much appreciated.

Mandy
XX

Friday 30 December 2011

End of 2011

This year has gone really fast, I have met some really lovely people who I would love to work with again. I am also looking forward to collaborating with new people in various places in the near future.

This year has ended on a very sad note and thinking of everyone going through this difficult time. You will always be in our thoughts Liam. x

Sunday 11 December 2011

Rebecca Cordell autumn shoot






Rebecca is a lovely model from Industry people models Manchester, as is Collette also from the same agency, they did a great job and John C Taylor helped me out assisting, leaves were everywhere in the studio but had fun using them! We went to Velocity studio in Coppull Mill, everyone was really friendly and welcoming and very helpful to.