Hello 2018

January 07, 2018 in Blog

Had a super quiet New Year with friends in Otter Ferry and now it's back to Glasgow and back to work. Happily though, I have to say, as I always get a bit lost during the festive season - sitting on the couch, stuffing your face and doing nothing is fun for a day or two but after that, I start getting antsy. So here we are, another year over and below are some of my favourite images I took in 2017. Hope you like them too.

Chris Stout & Catriona McKay "Bare Knuckle" Album Cover, August 2017 — Chris Stout & Catriona McKay "Bare Knuckle" Album Cover, August 2017

Rosie Noon, Designer photographed for Nu Blvck, November 2017

And for my own future reference more than anything else,
my favourite music of 2017 (in no particular order):

ALBUMS:

Margo Price "All American Made"

Tove Lo "Blue Lips"

Dua Lipa "Dua Lipa"

Lorde "Melodrama"

Pink "Beautiful Trauma"

Betty Who "The Valley"

Madonna "Rebel Heart Tour Live"

Stout & McKay "Bare Knuckle"

Lana Del Rey "Lust For Life"

Drake "More Life"

SONGS

Sigrid "Strangers"

Tove Lo "Disco Tits"

Dua Lipa "IDGAF"

Lorde "Green Light"

Pink "Beautiful Trauma"

Taylor Swift "Don't Blame Me"

Selena Gomez "Bad Liar"

Charli XCX "Boys"

Lana Del Rey "Love"

Fergie "Tension"

Sean Kennedy

June 30, 2013 in Blog, Music, Portrait

Sean Kennedy is an up and coming Scottish singer-songwriter with whom I did a shoot last summer (you can read about it here). The results of that first session ended up on the cover of his debut EP "Love Don't Live Here" (as seen here) and I was looking forward to working with him again. This time it was an indoors shoot and we used Contrast Studio in Glasgow's city centre. Since the studio we used had plenty of natural light and it was a beautiful, late spring evening (something you don't get in Glasgow that often) we decided to split the shoot into 2 sections - one for shots with available light only and another using studio lighting. Huge thanks to Laurabelle, my light assistant supreme.

Stella Bartram

April 12, 2013 in Blog, Lifestyle, Fitness, Portrait

I've recently found myself being asked to do more and more fitness-oriented photoshoots. It's quite ironic, really, given my close-to-none interest in sport - I used to do yoga and pilates and now swim regularly but that's more to do with me turning 30 some time ago and desperately trying to rip my body from Mr. Gravity's persistent hands rather than any competitiveness or huge desire to be fit. Still, I found photographing athletes very interesting and quite different from the usual portraiture sessions. Apart from the technical aspects (lighting to emphasise the physique, etc) there's definitely more awareness of one's body and posture as well as confidence that come with a lifetime of training and making a living out of being fit. First fitness-oriented shoot I did was for the 2011 Ladies Handball Team Calendar but apart from the subject matter itself I wouldn't say these pictures could necessarily be classified as fitness ones. In terms of light and set up this was really a portraiture session which was meant to capture 13 beautiful girls who happened to be handball players. I wasn't trying to highlight how toned their bodies were or such. Things were different however, when the fantastic Neo Marketing send Stella Bartram my way. We had several meetings to discuss the concept and feel of the images she was looking for and after each of them I'd spend hours scratching my head, reading articles about fitness photography and considering cancellation (not necessarily in that order). Sometimes though, you just have to bite the bullet and that's what I did.

That first session with Stella Bartram happened a couple of years ago, we both enjoyed the experience, the images have been very well received and we have been talking about doing another photoshoot ever since. She's a very busy lady however (what with running her fitness empire, whipping celebrities into shape and promoting healthy lifestyle in general) and it wasn't until this February that both of us found the time to get some pictures taken. Rainbow Room International very kindly agreed to let us use their space as well as take care of Stella's hair for the 2 different looks we envisioned, I had my lighting assistant extraordinaire Laurabelle by my side and off we went.

We are already planning another session, something a bit more gritty perhaps. In the meantime though, I managed to catch Miss Bartram doing what she does best - training. I was asked to take some pictures of Stella's Metabolic Mayhem workout in aid of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research UK at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum in Glasgow. It was a beautiful albeit rather chilly early spring morning, people turned up in dozens and I got to witness firsthand why the Bartram brand is so successful:

I certainly know where to head once I start losing the battle with Mr. Gravity and some laps in the pool won't be enough to keep my butt from hitting the ground anymore!

The Great Outdoors

September 12, 2012 in Blog, Music, Portrait

I was recently asked to photograph a young, up and coming Scottish singer-songwriter Sean Kennedy. He's just about to release his first EP and we went to Mugdock Park to shoot the cover for it. Outdoors shoots in Scotland can be pretty tricky as the term "summer" should only be used very loosely here - even in July/August you can never, ever guarantee good weather. We had a back up plan in case it was pouring down on the day of the shoot but, luckily, after a gloomy morning we ended up having a beautiful, almost Indian summer-like afternoon.

The lovely Laurabelle was there to help with light and everything went pretty smoothly. Yes, we got shouted at by some territory-precious archers and spent a lot of the time jumping over cow dungs (I ended up on my knees in one - the sacrifice for art theme continues!) but overall we had a fun, productive afternoon which resulted in some cool images:

Sean Kennedy Photoshoot. Mugdock Park, August 2012.

You're more than welcome to leave a comment and let me know what you think. Till next instalment then!