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Music and Magic Workshop – Wrap Up

Music and magic may not sound like two photo subjects which fit seamlessly together but a few weeks back they joined harmoniously on my Music and Magic workshop.

Based at the excellent Square 1 Studios, our subjects for the day were magician Anton Binder and grime artist IF-E, both of whom I’ve worked with before, so was sure the 10 photographers on the workshop were in for a great day.

Split into two groups of five, the day started with Anton in the studio shooting theatrical style images and IF-E outside shooting lifestyle images for a fictional album cover.

The afternoon was a little different. Anton got to magic up some fire and sparks thanks to something called Flash Paper, he did some close-up magic in the studio’s home set. IF-E on the other hand was laying down some lyrics in our fantasy recording studio and he finished the session posing for silhouette shots with smoke and lasers as the background and lights.

We had a great day and I’d like to thank the models, my assistants and the photographers who made the whole thing possible.

Details of my next workshop (Faded Circus) can be found here www.gavtrain.com/?page_id=5286

Film Noir in a small studio

How do you sum up the film noir style? For me words like dark, moody and sinister would be fitting but there’s a lot more to it then that. There’s the style both in lighting and subject matter to consider too.

I always think of Film Noir as being high contrast, black and white scenes lit with hard light resulting in strong shadows. Rightly or not I also think 50’s style crime drama and that’s what I set out to produce in my small home studio.
[youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9o1Pc6uDRU[/youtube]

The trick here was to set my main light low and hard (No softboxes or umbrellas) That gave great shadows from the Venetian blinds and the up light gave a sense of menace, as well as the subtle feeling our hero was on a higher floor looking down.

The rest was down to Styling. So asking Brian (the model) to have a bit of stubble, giving him a bottle of whiskey (or cold tea in this case) and of course, having him hold a vintage kids cap gun all helped set the scene and tell the story.

My 2017 UK Photography Show Schedule

There’s just one week to go until The Photography Show opens its doors at the N.E.C. in Birmingham and this year my free demos are back and better then ever. Running from the 18th – 21st March, it’s the UK’s biggest and busiest photography show around 30,000 amateur and professional photographers attending. It’s packed with a great mix of stands from the major photographic suppliers to the small independent retailers.

But this isn’t just another trade show, there’s also loads of things to see and do. There’s a constant stream of free demos and talks on various live stages and that’s on top of all the smaller demos on many of the booths dotted around the show.

I’ll be there for the whole four days giving various talks and demos on Photoshop, portrait lighting and photography. I’ll be dashing from demo to demo (see below) but if you’re coming along it would be great to meet you.

Saturday

10.30 am	PiXAPRO E91	Creative portrait lighting (Demo)
12.30 pm	Adobe Theatre	Photoshop CC For Photographers (Demo)
1.30 pm	Olympus D91	Action Stations (Talk)
2.30pm	PiXAPRO E91	Creative portrait lighting (Demo)

Sunday

10.30 am	PiXAPRO E91	Creative portrait lighting (Demo)
12.30 pm	Adobe Theatre	Photoshop CC For Photographers (Demo)
1.30 pm	PiXAPRO E91	Creative portrait lighting (Demo)
3.00 pm	Olympus D91	Action Stations (Talk)
4.00 pm	TPS Live Stage	Lighten Up (Demo)

Monday

10.30 am	PiXAPRO E91	Creative portrait lighting (Demo)
12.30 pm	Adobe Theatre	Photoshop CC For Photographers (Demo)
2.30 pm	PiXAPRO E91	Creative portrait lighting (Demo)

Tuesday

10.30 am	PiXAPRO E91	Creative portrait lighting (Demo)
12.30 pm	Adobe Theatre	Photoshop CC For Photographers (Demo)
2.00 pm	PiXAPRO E91	Creative portrait lighting (Demo)

All my demos are free and available on a first come first served basis. There’s no need to book but as the Adobe theatre in particular has limited seating I’d recommend getting there early!

Show tickets are free for professional photographers and the trade (if booked in advance) and £13.95 for enthusiasts (£18.00 on the door)

Making An Exhibition Of Myself

Earlier this year I got an email from Olympus asking if I’d like to hold an exhibition in their London “Project Space” gallery and to be honest my first thought was… thanks but no thanks. Now I know that will surprise a lot of people but I’ve always felt like my photos look OK but they’re not exactly “art” packed with deep hidden meaning. So I didn’t really commit either way to the offer and it sort of got lost over time.

Jump forward a few months and I get another email from Olympus saying that if I want to do the exhibition they needed my final photos in just three days. The exhibition starts in just 7 days time!

As my wife pointed out, this is probably a once in a lifetime chance that I couldn’t refuse, so I spent a day sorting through my photos, coming up with a theme and selecting the best 30-40 images for printing. Luckily Olympus were happy to handle the printing side of things and the gallery had the frames, so by the next morning my first and probably last exhibition was ready.

I’ve never hung an exhibition before but Serenella, the Art Bermondey Project Space gallery manager, was amazingly helpful. We spent a few hours at the gallery looking at blank walls trying to figure out what to hang where but by the end of day the layout was done, all we needed were the big prints.

Letting someone else organise the printing was a major worry and sure enough things didn’t quite go to plan with the first set. But a massive thank you has to go to Claire Voyle from Olympus who personally took charge of the printing of the final photos and made sure they reached the gallery on time.

The theme for my exhibition was that all the photos were taken as part of training or education events and that none of the photos had ever been printed before (I know, I know) so to walk into the gallery and see nearly 40 large prints of my work all in one place was really overwhelming for me.

I’d like to thank the many people who came along to the exhibition and the VIP preview night. I hope you enjoyed the work as much as I did.

The whole exhibition was planned, printed and put together in a little over a week, which as anyone who’s done an exhibition will tell you, is an incredibly short time frame.

Would I do one again? Yes if I got the chance I would.

Would I do things differently? Without question. Putting the exhibition together was filled with huge highs and some lows but I learned so many things from it.

Would I recommend other photographers to hold an exhibition? I’ve learned exhibitions are not just for painters, sculptors and photographers who need to explain what you’re looking at before you can appreciate what you’re looking at. If you have a body of work that you love then why not share it.

Three Must Have Portrait Props In My Studio

With the colder, darker weather very much with us here in the UK it’s not surprising that I’m finding the studio a much nicer place to work in then being on location. However the four walls of my small home studio can start to feel very limiting after a while so to avoid cabin fever setting in I have a selection of props to liven up my shoots.

The video below covers my three main types of prop and a few ideas on how I like to use them.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4aPx8mbBAY[/youtube]

Sunglasses
Winter might sound like the wrong time of year to be on the hunt for novelty sunglasses but I find having a selection on hand can really help. On a very simple level it gives something for your subject to interact with but sunglasses can also become part of the styling of the shoot. With a bit of craft skills you can also transform a pair of dull, basic sunglasses into a fashion item in it’s own right!

Hats
Just like sunglasses a hat can be worn or held once again giving your model something to work with. Hats can add character, hats can add mood, hats can be fun. Hats with brims can cast shadows which can cause problems as the model moves but with a bit of careful lighting that can be used to your advantage.

Fabric
Random bits of fabric are the perfect thing to have in the studio. They can be pegged up as backgrounds or wrapped around your model as a an outfit. Sheer fabric can be placed over your subject to add mystery or moved around for a floaty feel

There are endless ways to add ideas to your shoots, props can really help at this is just a few ideas to get you started.

Water Workshop Timelapse

A few weeks ago I ran a slimmed down version of my water workshop at the Jessops store in London’s Oxford Street. This was an Olympus UK sponsored event but was open to any photographer whatever make of camera they owned. It was also free for the 20 photographers who were lucky enough to get a space in one of the two sessions

I love this workshop for many reasons but mostly because it’s a real “hands on” event and as you’ll see in the time-lapse below, everyone gets involved.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9YrutvJN0s[/youtube]

Here’s a little info about the time-lapse. It was recorded on an Olympus TG Tracker action cam by Clare Harvey-May from Olympus UK. The TG Tracker has time-lapse recording built in and Clare recorded the two sessions (morning and afternoon) from two different angles, both in 4K.

I used Adobe Premiere Pro CC2015 to edit the two videos and add some of my stills from the workshop. As the final video was to be at 1080p HD, I was able to pan and zoom around the much larger 4K footage to create the motion you see in the final video.

I have to thank to Jessops and Olympus for hosting me and not complaining about the wet floor. Sam, for dragging crazy heavy bags of gear all over London. But mostly I can’t thank enough all the photographers who came along to both days and get so involved and slightly wet… you were warned!

Ambient vs Flash for location portraits

When it comes to shooting portraits on location I know many photographers who love to make best use of the ambient light. I also know lots of photographers who wouldn’t dream of shooting on location without flash. Although I prefer flash, I’m very happy to work with ambient light if it does what I need. If you’re undecided about moving to flash or perfecting your ambient shooting techniques then this video should answer a few questions.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXA-vsOm-mk[/youtube]

I must thank the Gatwick Aviation Museum for the use of their location and the loan of the pilots outfit. Part of the reason for the look and location in these shots was to test out the venue and one of the outfits for my big Aviation Apocalypse workshop. Judging by what we learned on this shoot, the workshops are shaping up to be very exciting!

Flash

Ambient

Aviation Apocalypse Workshop

What happens if you combine a visit to a newly built aviation museum and a love of all things broken and old? Welcome to the Aviation Apocalypse!

This summer I’m running two all day photo shoots at the Gatwick Aviation Museum in Surrey and bookings are now open if you fancy joining me. Full details are on the event page here or if you just can’t wait, you can use the book now buttons below. Places are strictly limited and must be booked in advance.

This workshop is subject to our Terms and Conditions

Building on the success of last year’s woodland workshops, once again I’ll be joined by two models who will each have two looks. Half the day they’ll be aviators and the rest of the day they’ll be survivors in a post apocalypse world.

You’ll be working in small groups with plenty of time to get great photos of both models in their different looks. This is a great opportunity to capture some unique portraits whatever skill level you’re at.

The photos above are from my test session at the actual location we’ll be using. Despite the rather gloomy weather that day I had a brilliant time and I’m really excited to see what suggestions, ideas and images the photographers on the day create.

My 2016 UK Photography Show Schedule

There’s just one week to go until The Photography Show opens its doors at the N.E.C. in Birmingham and this year my free demos are bigger and better then ever. Running from the 19th – 22nd March, it’s easily the UK’s biggest and busiest photography show with 30,000 amateur and professional photographers attending. It’s packed with a great mix of stands from the major photographic suppliers to the small independent retailers.

Saturday

11.15 am	PiXAPRO E91	Small Space, Big Impact Lighting
12.30 pm	Adobe Theatre	Photoshop CC Hidden Gems
3.15 pm	PiXAPRO E91	One Flash Lighting
4.30pm	Olympus E31	Losing A Mirror But Finding Focus

Sunday

11.30 am	TPS Live Stage	Fearless Flash Photography
12.45 pm	PiXAPRO E91	Small Space, Big Impact Lighting
2.00 pm	Adobe Theatre	Photoshop CC Hidden Gems
3.15 pm	PiXAPRO E91	One Flash Lighting
5.00 pm	TPS Behind the lens	Snap Happiness (Talk)

Monday

11.00 am	Adobe Theatre	Photoshop CC Hidden Gems
12.15 pm	PiXAPRO E91	Small Space, Big Impact Lighting
2.15 pm	PiXAPRO E91	One Flash Lighting
3.30 pm	Adobe Theatre	Photoshop CC for Photographers
5.30 pm	TPS Networking Event	Mega Mess Ups! (Talk)

Tuesday

11:00 am	Adobe theatre	Photoshop CC Hidden Gems
12.15 pm	PiXAPRO E91	Small Space, Big Impact Lighting
2.15 pm	PiXAPRO E91	One Flash Lighting
3.30 pm	Adobe Theatre	Photoshop CC for Photographers

All my demos are free and available on a first come first served basis. There’s no need to book but as the Adobe theatre in particular has limited seating I’d recommend getting there early!

Show tickets are free for professional photographers and the trade (if booked in advance) and £13.95 for enthusiasts (£18.00 on the door)

Make a simple LED Background

All sorts of random things can be turned into an amazing portrait background but last year I was shown something called the Pixel Stick which looked amazing. It was a Kickstarter backed project that combined LED’s and long exposures in a way I’ve never seen before. Although the pixelstick was out of my budget the basic idea wasn’t.

My low tech LED stick took just a few minutes to make and worked amazingly. Take a look at the Adorama TV video I made with the spectacular Mark Wallace to see for yourself.

I’ve had loads questions all asking the same thing… How do you make my LED stick?

eBay proved to be the perfect place to start my search. There are loads of low cost LED’s on the market and I found a 2 meter roll of multi-coloured LED’s complete with battery box and controller for about £17.00.

Each LED is actually several coloured LED’s clustered together which turn on or adjust their brightness to change the colour. The controller is very basic but allows you to set the colour, brightness and any effects such as flashing or fading through the spectrum.

The LED strip is very flexible and sealed inside clear silicone (or something like it), so I found a spare bit of 1.8m timber and attached the LED strip to that. There’s adhesive on the back of the strip but I just used a few rubber bands to hold it place. Just make sure the bands don’t cover the LED’s!

Then it’s just a matter of attaching the batteries and choosing a mode. Some colours worked better then others as did some modes. The key as always is to experiment and have some fun!