Neverworld : The Unicorn - Camden - 30th March 2017

The Unicorn - Camden

30th March 2017

Frontal Lobotomy

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Ok, just come out at Stockwell tube station. Out with the phone, start up Google maps and locate the Cavendish Arms. Aha.. ok now find the nearest fish and chip shop.. aha it's two roads away from the CA. Fantastic! 

And that is how I usually start my evening when attending a shoot. I nearly always arrive far to early and decided to get something to eat first.

When asked to shoot somewhere new I always check out the venue before arrival to gauge which lens I need to bring with me. This was the case when I was asked to take shots for Jeu Jeu La Foille in the Cavendish Arms for her one woman show, Frontal Lobotomy. 

I had never shot at the Cavendish Arms before so I ran a quick Google search. When asked to shoot somewhere new I always check out the venue before arrival to gauge which lens I need to bring with me. This was the case when I was asked to take shots for Jeu Jeu La Foille in the Cavendish Arms for her one woman show, Frontal Lobotomy.  

The back room did seem quite large so to be sure I took along Sigmas 24-104mm and 70-200mm. Once I got there it dawned on me that I would not need the 70-200mm as the room was quite small. The shot I saw must have been taken with a wide angle lens. I met Miss LaFoille and had a quick chat about the show, if there were to beany audience interaction and where or where not I was allowed to roam.

I ran a quick test with the two lenses, direct in front and from both sides of the room suggested that the 24-105mm would be perfect. If I used the 70-200mm most of the shots would have been too close. The show wasn't called Frontal Photography!

During the show I noticed that the lighting was consistant from the back to the front of the stage. So taking note of the settings from the previous shots I went full manual control for one of those rare times that I can to ensure consistency across the shots. This means less time in post having to balance one shot from another.

The show was entertaining and at one audience member had the opportunity to be lobotomized.

Please visit Jue Jue La Foille website at: http://www.jeujeulafoille.com/ and Twitter at: https://twitter.com/JeuJeulaFoille

When in London

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Living and working in London affords me a lot of time to walk around and photograph all it has to offer, from old to modern architecture to hidden streets and places you would not normally visit. I have been to some of the highest and lowest points of London on my travels.

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Underland and older Cams...

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Evening,

I was asked to shoot at the Looking Glass Cocktail Club in Shoreditch for the Burlesque in Underland show 'Twisted Fairy Tale Burlesque'. I had shot there a few weeks previously and one thing I had noticed. The lack of light. I nearly didn't notice the lack of light due to it being so dark in there.

My problem was that they only two lenses f2,8 and below and my Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 and my canon 50mm f1.8. My Canon 70d is a crop sensor lens so 70mm is actually 112mm. I was sitting in the front row so my shots would have been of nostrils... if I had zoomed to 200mm (320mm) I could have told you what the performer had for lunch.

So I settled on taking my Canon 24-105mm f4 L on the 70d and also bring the 550d out of retirement to use the Sigma 10-20mm f3.5. This would give me a much broader range from where I knew I would be sitting.

Canon 70d 65mm f4 24-70 L 1/100 sec

The shot above was taken with the 70d. I waited till the compare, Mercury, was standing in the sweet spot of light so my shutter speed jumped to 1/100sec.

Canon 550d f3.5 1/30sec

Shooting with the 10-20mm f3.5 was easier. Even though the lens does not have Image Stabilisation, I just had to make sure the shutter speed was 1/30 or more to ensure a sharp shot. The shot above was actually two shots taken with the wide angle and stitched in Lightroom.

Who am I kidding... if I can shoot in the Shadow Lounge I can shoot anywhere!!

 

The Rubyyy Jones Awards

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When I first started photography I watched a lot of YouTube videos from other photographers and one piece of advice stuck in my mind. If you would like offer your services to shoot at an event, just ask. So when I saw an event for the Rubyyy Jones Awards I sent a message introducing myself with a link to my website to show off my work. As luck would have it the show needed a photographer! Yay me!

The show was hosted at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern where I had shot many times before with Cabaret Roulette so this would be the first time without the familiar faces. I didn't have to worry though, I met Rubyyy and we talked for a while about the show, where I had shot before and got on well.

I had my usual spot in the middle of the room and I managed to move back and fourth around the room for when the singers were static on stage. 

Hope to shoot for you again Rubyyy!

Burlesque in Underland - London Horror Festival

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I was invited to shoot for Burlesque in Underland for the London Horror Festival at the Old Red Lion Theater for a couple of nights. The room was upstairs at the back of the pub, small dark but the lighting was great!

I settled on the middle row so I had a clear view of the floor and performers. I was using my 70d with the 24-105mm f4 again as this seems to be my go to combination these days. I had brought along my 10-20mm f3.5 in case I was positioned near the front but with that I would have got most of the audience and my ears in the shot too.

Both events kicked of with each starting performer dying. The compare arrived for the first one and was instrumental in killing off the second opening performer the next night. You can see that happening in the Psycho homage below.

The stage management were the three bears. There job was to clean up and annoy the compare. There were dancers, an opera singer, a mime, witches, a grinning cat and a very scary rabbit. Something you don't normally find in a pub...

Cheers!

Shooting Bambi in the woods

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I contacted Bambi Bang Bang, a burlesque performer who I had taken shots of at a House of Burlesque performance at the Rolling Stock bar. We had met later at Cabaret Roulette a few months later and got chatting about collaborating on a shoot. We met at a park in North London and walked towards a bank of trees. We started off simple with a few poses leaning back against one of the trees. I found that during shoots I tend to ramble on and makes jokes to hopefully make the talent relaxed and comfortable. It worked really well this time as there were many outtakes available!

Moving from the trees we wandered over to a small rise covered in leaves. They were free for the taking, so we used a couple of them for the shot below. Love the eyes in this shot and I must use props more often. Funny thing was we both remarked that they didn't feel like leaves at all.

We moved on from the 'Matrix-glitch' leaves and walked towards the center of the field. I wanted a shot of Bambi lying down looking towards the camera. The shot worked but looking at the shot from the back of the camera which I didn't figure out until post production. When you notice Bambi is not looking directly at the camera then the shot takes on a more sinister tone...ahem..

Bambi is fine really!

Bambi is fine really!

Moving into the center of the a grove of trees I wanted to try out the Brenizer effect. By zooming in to 105mm I focused on Bambi and took many shots around here to make a panoramic. Zooming in like this compressing the background and provides a short depth of field. The shot came out as I wanted and as I was looking at it an idea came to mind. There always seems to be one shot that stands out from each shoot I do that warrants a bit more attention and work. You can see the result below.

Seriously, even God thinks you're a dick..

Seriously, even God thinks you're a dick..

It remains to say that this was a fun shoot, full of laughter, jokes and avoiding the odd squashed apple or two.

Thanks Bambi!

Full Gallery - Click or Tap to enlarge

A Ness in Wonderland

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Click/Tap to enlarge

Not having done a shoot in a while I contacted Ness Gracious. I had previously worked with Ness nearly a year ago walking around her local area. This time I wanted to do a set of photos that would tell a story. After confirmation from Ness that she had a selection of summer dresses I thought of trying a 'Alice in Wonderland' style shoot.

We headed towards Stave Hill Ecological Park in Rotherhithe. My backpack was straining as it was carrying the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8. I hadn't used the lens in a while and forgot two things about it. One, the focus speed is sooo fast and Two, it is sooo heavy!

However it did help with compressing the background in the long shot of Ness in the first photo. This was near the base Boot Camp hill a few yards from the Ecological Park. The top of the hill show a fantastic panoramic view. I will be going back to take shots of that view another time.

We moved on, into the Ecological Park and started taking shots of Ness walking around the park. I had ideas of before the shoot of having Ness holding branches back and looking at flowers which worked out well and I was thinking ahead with regards to effects and techniques I could use is post production.

We stopped at a bench next to a pond where Ness took out a book as a prop. From behind us we heared noises that sounded very suspicious. Making a comparativly suspicious comment about the noises made Ness laugh out loud so I quickly snapped off a shot as a memory of the moment. Seconds later a small dog burst from the bushes, he had been playing in a nearby pond. I was still suspicious.

Click/Tap to enlarge

Finally we found a clearing with a large number of purple flowers. While Ness sat down in the grass I moved around finding shots, some directly in front and some with the grass in front to create depth.

Back home and with all the shots in Lightroom I started the culling process. For each 'scene' I had taken a number of shots so I had Lightroom show the group of photos and then remove one at a time until I had the best one left.

The best were moved to a pick folder for further editing.

I enjoyed this shoot, Ness is fun to work with and with a theme to work to meant that I had to think quickly to visualize shots to match the theme. (OK Ness helped with a few).

 Thanks to Ness for being available that day!

Full Gallery - Click or tap to enlarge

Gotta catch them all

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While attending the Royal Vauxhall Tavern to shoot the live performances of Cabaret Roulette - Evolution, I fired off a number of shots of a performer called Ruby Wednesday.

Her take on Evolution was of a Pokémon character Eevee who would evolve from one state to another with lip-synced music for each one. It was a great performance and I immediately thought this would make a great composition piece to work on later.

Below are the eight pictures I choose from the set that I thought would work well. I looked for expression and the stance of each to work out the composition. I wanted them to be close together to create the illusion they were all on stage at the same time.

All the shots were loaded into Photoshop as layers. The canvas was extended to create a large wide screen format. Each layers opacity was reduced to 50% so I could where arms and legs would overlap. Once in place the opacity was raised again and the task of masking each one together began. At this point I switch on my music play list and just get on with it. After an hour of brushing, cloning, swearing and two cups of tea I had my result below.

The resolution of the photo was around 13k on the long side but was perfect for a Facebook banner ratio once I added the bars at the top and bottom.

I like doing compositions of live acts, they are a challenge.

JME

Hazy Autumn

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Original - Click/Tap to enlarge

Once in a while I go back to older photos and apply newly learned techniques. It is a great way to see how far you have come.

I tend to go through the old photos and think 'What was I thinking??' at the time, I was probably thinking how great it looked.

With the photo to the right, taken at Morden Hall Park in Merton. The bridge you can see is very old and probably dates from when the park was constructed. Morden Hall itself was built around 1770's.

At first glance, I still like how the original looks. But.. it lacked something. Colour for one thing! OK green is nice and the white behind the bridge looks good but to my eyes now it looks flat and bland. Also I wanted the bridge to stand out. From memory this was taken with probably my Canon 18-55 lens which wouldn't have had the depth of field I wanted in this shot.

So I threw the shot into Photoshop and attempted to create a mask to blur out the back portion of the shot, behind the bridge but keep the trees to the left and right of the bridge on the same plane. This was fiddly.. and take a long time. Fortunately I knew that some of the extra work I was planning would mask some of the fiddly bits as I was going for a 'painterly' look. Once the mask was completed, I then used Gaussian Blur to soften the back ground part. If this was done to much then it looked odd and out of place.

The shadows had to be pushed up a little on the left hand side to balance the composition. I used a colour mask to change a lot of the leaves to red and yellow to reduce the large amount of green in the shot. The whites were pumped up to add more light to the background. Finally a layer was added with a white ball to the left hand upper corner, blurred heavily and opacity brought down to around to 20% to create a haze of light.

Hazy Autumn - Click/Tap to enlarge

I am often asked 'Which is you favourite photo?', this is one of the closest one so far.

A look back in Lego

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I had almost forgotten I had taken these shots. They are of Star Wars Lego sets carefully selected and posed on my kitchen counter. Taken with either the Panasonic Lumix FZ45 or the Canon 550d with the 50mm f1.8 lens.

They were taken close to when I first started photography.

(Click on the first picture then use the arrow keys to move on)

Andy Van der Graaf

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Head Shot!

I was contacted by Andy Van der Graaf who was requesting some simple head shots to be taken. I suggested we meet at Canary Wharf station. I had walked around there a few years back and had found it to be very quiet. Multitudes of tourists in the background do not make a good head shot.

I was looking for a neutral background for our head shot and settled on a marble pillar down by the water front.

Some of them were in shadow so I asked Andy to stand in the light rather than the shade. This was a not to hot March afternoon, the sun was past its zenith but was still very strong. After a few shots the sun was was causing Andy to blink a lot! The shot seen here was taken at 1/4000th of a second!

We took a number of shots then retreated from the sun to a nearby pub where Andy (using Adobe Lightroom on my laptop) chose his favourites for processing and delivery.

Good luck with the head shots Andy!

While we were wandering around Canary Wharf we walked through a corridor connecting one street to another. I immediately saw an opportunity for a photo right there, lots of lines receding into the distance! I asked Andy to pose as near to the centre as possible as I knew which type of editing I would be going for.

Cabaret Roulette

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I am very glad to say that I have a long standing relationship with the company of Cabaret Roulette lead by the exquisite Miss Vivacity Bliss.

I first shot for Cabaret Roulette as a guest for the Sci-Fi show at Madam Jo Jo's and for their 1st Birthday Review. This was the show I unleashed the Sigma 70-200mm and it was well worth the expense!

After the closure of Madam Jo Jo's the company has moved to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern where they have recently completed their third years performances.

The gallery below is fairly extensive and will continue to grow but I believe that it shows the best aspects of this fantastic show.

I have shot or guested at the following shows:

Addiction, Bill Murray, Corruption, First Birthday Revue, Ghost Stories, Le Chien Noir 2016, Metamorphosis, Myths and Legends, Nightmare, Power, Sci Fi, Super Heroes, Books, Dear Diary, Evolution, Revenge.

 

The Fire School

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A long while back I attended a talk with Benjamin von Wong whom, during this talk suggested photographing a mix of what you like. His suggestion was babies and explosions. I got to photograph one of them when I attended the Fire School in East Ham. Not an exploding baby as some of you would have expected of me but more like the combustible type. Balls of fire.

I total get where the von Wong is coming from when he said he liked photographing fire because now I too am hooked. Arriving at the fire school I met up with Red Sarah, the headmistress. I had previously met and photographed her performances at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern at Cabaret Roulette and was invited down to take shots of her students.

The Fire School is located in a warehouse with seating at one end and the large stage area in front. I positioned myself at the back seating so I was looking down from behind the audience. Using my 24-104 f4 this gave me clear view of the area with enough zoom to get in close to the performers where needed. As this was my first time here I also brought along the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 strapped to my Canon 550d. Using that lens meant I was very close at 70mm and practically up the performers nose at 200mm. For the majority I stuck with the 24-105.

My experience shooting cabaret and burlesque paid off here as I immediately went back to way of keeping both eyes open, one through the viewfinder the other on the movement's of the performer. This way I could look out at the periphery and watch and anticipate when action shots would occur.

The evening was to showcase the creative work of the Fire School, some of them for the very first time, and some from the professional group. A great mix of fire, dance, burlesque, comedy and special effects.

I enjoyed this event immensely, not only to shoot live performers but to also watch massive fireballs exploding in front of you too! Really glad I caught a number of them.

I now officially state I like photographing fire! Thanks to Red Sarah for inviting me down and please check out The Fire School at http://www.thefireschool.co.uk/

Le Chien Noir: 2016

21 January 2016 at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern I was shooting for Le Chien Noir, in aid of Rethink Mental Illness (www.rethink.org). I have shot many times now in the RVT so after a three month absence there I settled in.

The performers from that evening are: Goodtime Mama JoJo, Ragina, Lou Safire, Kiki Lovechild, Lena Mae, RedSarah, WildVixen and Sadie Sinner. Stage Manager was Pearl Grey and was hosted by Miss Jones.

Miss Odelias Opium Den

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I shot Miss Odelias Opium Den very early on in my photography work. This was at The Distillers pub in Hammersmith.

I remember it was a very snowy February evening and I was worried about the state of the local transport managing to get me home.

At this stage I was using my Canon 550d and Canon 55-250mm lens. Despite it being considered a kit lens I didn't know any better at the time.

That evening was the first time I met Violet Blaze, and my ribs will not let me forget it!

House of Burlesque

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I was first introduced to shooting Burlesque and Cabaret when I was invited to Madam Jo Jo's by the beautiful Miss Tempest Rose.

It was the first time at Madam Jo Jo's as well, I had noidea what to expect! That night taught me a lot about the perils of shooting in low light conditions.

I was shooting a heat of Burlesque Idol and was invited back to to shoot the Final in 2012.

Since then I have shot for Miss Rose and the House of Burlesque at the Century Club, the Electric Carousel and the Rolling Stock bar.

The Original Street Dancers

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Th Effra Social Club in Brixton played host to the Original Street Dancers.

The stage lighting showed me that in some cases Iwould have to wait for a performer to be in a certain place to get a balanced shot. Otherwise they would be half in shadow and half in light.

This was the last time I would use the Canon 55-250mm lens as soon after I purchased the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8.

Adding Fuel to the fire...

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OK the odds of this happening are very small but I wonder if anyone in 7th century China, after watching a firework explode over head, had any idea that centuries later I would be photographing a performer call Red Sarah on stage at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London? Probably not.

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