workshop – Gavtrain.com

Dark Potions Workshop – Wrap Up

Our Halloween workshop has been in the planning for the past few months. During that time Sam has been busy working hard to create spooky props and dark outfits.

We were joined by 12 photographers for each date and two amazing models, Sophie Daly and Charlotte Croucher. In order to keep the groups small and the shooting time high, I once again roped in the help of Tommy Reynolds as a group leader who did a brilliant job passing on his ideas and passion.

For the morning sessions Sophie took on the roll of a Alchemist. Sam created a table piled high with old bottles, books and other props she’d mostly found at boot sales. A bit of careful lighting, some coloured gels and plenty of smoke gave the final touch.

Charlotte took on the role of a Victorian vampire, complete with blood red contact lenses and her fangs she made herself. (Both Charlotte and Sophie are professional make-up artists as well as models)

After lunch it was all change as Sophie became a woodland witch. the weather varied across the two days so we made use of the inside locations when it was wet and used the grounds of Ravenswood when it was dry.

Charlottes second look was a “Miss Havisham” bride for which Tommy created a stunning lit scene on the stairs of the Baronial Hall at Ravenswood. He combined back light, smoke and an amazing optical snoot from Pixapro to create what was probably the best look of the workshop.

There’s nothing more frustrating to me than seeing a workshop organiser shooting photos for themselves at the expense of the attendees. As a result I took relatively few shots. Fortunately, the photographers who joined us took thousands of photos and below are just a few that I’ve been sent so far.

Creating props and outfits for shoots

Creativity is an essential part of Gavin’s photography. From deciding on the best angles and make up styling to venues and props we take a pride in creating and sourcing things to individualise our shoots and workshops.

I am always thrilled when someone takes the time to email or tell us how they appreciated the preparation and styling from a workshop, as this is something that happens way before the day and can make the difference between a good shoot and an amazing one.

Here’s just a few items we made our own for the ever popular Aviation Apocalypse workshop!

An old protective mask, before and after. Then in use attached to Kerry’s handmade post apocalypse costume.

Gavin printed this grenade on a 3D printer, it was a rather bright lime green so I gave it a paint treatment. It was added to Roger’s post apocalypse costume that we handmade.

On a recent commissioned rerun of this workshop by Olympus, we made 2 new outfits on a quick turn around. Here’s the clothes for Brian the ‘Feral Hunter’ before and then a test shoot giving them a trial run before the big day after an apocalyptic treatment.

Here’s a new look for Kerry, hoping to make it warmer as we were shooting outdoors in October, but it was actually really hot weather that day. This was made from our old sofa!!

It’s not just the models that get to try the outfits on for size!

The devil’s in the detail.

My 2018 talks at The Photography Show

There’s just one week to go until The Photography Show 2018 opens its doors at the N.E.C. in Birmingham, UK. Running from the 17th – 20th March, it’s the UK’s biggest and busiest photography show around 30,000 amateur and professional photographers attending and I’ll be there for all four days.

It’s a great mix of booths from photographic businesses big and small 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 giving various talks and demos on portrait lighting and photography, so if you’re coming along it would be great to meet you.

Saturday

10.30 am	PiXAPRO E91	Out of sight light (Demo)
1:00 pm	TPS Live Stage	Beyond beauty lighting (Demo)
2.30 pm	PiXAPRO E91	One light or two (Demo)

Sunday

10.30 am	PiXAPRO E91	Out of sight light (Demo)
12.15 pm	Olympus D91	Creative portraits from simple lighting (Talk)
1.30 pm	PiXAPRO E91	One light or two (Demo)
3.30 pm	PiXAPRO E91	Out of sight light (Demo)

Monday

11.30 am	PiXAPRO E91	Out of sight light (Demo)
2.00 pm	TPS Live Stage	Creative portraits in tight spaces (Demo)
3.30 pm	PiXAPRO E91	One light or two (Demo)

Tuesday

10.30 am	PiXAPRO E91	Out of sight light (Demo)
3.30 pm	PiXAPRO E91	One light or two (Demo)

All my demos are free and available on a first come first served basis.

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

Gloucester prison group shoot

Going to prison isn’t something I’d ever want to do. But going to a decommissioned prison and having exclusive access to all areas is my sort of event.

Gloucester prison is an incredible location to visit. Its last residents left 5 years ago but luckily Brian and P-J came along to play the part of prison inmates for the day. The cold, small cells with peeling paint may have looked grim but photographically they were perfect and both models really got into character.

Being a winter workshop and with small windows in the cells, we needed extra light to create mood and atmosphere in the photos. The photographers on the workshop got to work with some excellent continuous light courtesy of Rotolight Aeos LED panels and the small but powerful Pixapro Pika200 flashes.

Of course you need more then a great location, great models and great light to take great photos and luckily we also had a great group of photographers. I loved watching them take my original idea and turn it into something unique. It’s not often you get to take part in a shoot like this, so it was wonderful to see so many photographers making the most of the opportunity.

The whole thing was organised by Olympus UK and was open to users of any camera, not just Olympus users. For details of their upcoming workshops check out the Olympus Image Space events page.

Faded Circus 2017 Workshop – Wrap Up

Our big summer workshop is becoming something of an annual event. This years theme was “The Faded Circus” which we held at Square One Studio in Surrey on two dates in July and August. Steve, the studio owner, allowed us to take over both his studio areas and even gave us rare access to his barn for that authentic circus feel.

We were joined by 12 photographers for each date and two amazing models, Beth Smith and Brian Mansi. In order to keep the groups small and the shooting time high, I once again roped in the help of Tommy Reynolds as a group leader who did a brilliant job passing on his ideas and passion.

We’ll be running this workshop again in April 2018 (exact date TBA). Register your interest here

For the morning sessions Beth took on the roll of a show girl. We had the whole of the main studio to play with and set up various areas for Beth to sell popcorn, brave the knife throwing board and even had a little back stage area.

Brian became the circus ring master and carnival carnie. Being outside in the barn meant we could put straw on the floor and had room behind for some creative back lighting and LOTS of smoke.

After lunch it was all change. Beth was in the second studio which we’d set up as a fortune-teller’s tent. Ouija boards, crystal ball and even a little bit of fire added to the shoot. For the second shoot, we made time at the end to bring Beth and Brian together. It was a bit of a bun fight for the photographers but brilliant fun.

Who doesn’t love a clown? Well lots of us don’t and Brian played that hand to perfection. Miserable, angry and at times a little bit scary, it’s exactly what the faded circus theme was all about.

There’s nothing more frustrating to me than seeing a workshop organiser shooting photos for themselves at the expense of the attendees. As a result I only took a few shots. Fortunately, the photographers who joined us took thousands of photos and below are a few that I’ve been sent so far.

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

The Photography Show 2017 Lighting Demos

The Photography Show (TPS) is the UK’s biggest and busiest photo event and last week I was lucky enough to be there for all four days. But I wasn’t there to shop, network and learn. I was there to teach.

In all I did 17 talks, demos and live streams in four days, so TPS 2017 was a super busy event for me. Along the way I met with some wonderful photographers, so if you stopped and said hello then thank you.

Most of my demos were with PiXAPRO lighting and below are some of the photos from my “Beyond Beauty Lighting” demo. The photos below are straight out of camera and give you a fair idea of what I was showing.

My idea was to set up the “classic” clamshell or beauty lighting with a softbox above and a white reflector below. Once done I then added a background light to take the mid grey background up to a light grey and then pure white. Once there I added a prop or two to style it out.

Next I added various coloured gels to the background, added two speedlights behind to “thin the face” finally broke the golden rule of photography by asking the model to hold the speedlights and point them at the camera. The result was unpredictable, random and fantastic fun! OK here’s a few more of both models with just a light touch of editing.

I worked with two models supplied by PiXAPRO over the four days. Ayla and Rosa both worked incredibly hard to make not only demos work but also the other PiXAPRO photographers who also worked the stand.

If you were one of the lucky few photographers who saw my demo AND got a chance to test out the lights with Ayla or Rosa I’d love to see what you shot… leave a link in the comments below.

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.

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!