With Darkdaze set to create the new promo image for Heels Catch Fire, we decided to tie in the Source cover shot to accompany the interview the band had just given to The Source.

The set built for the band had been painted grey completely, carpets, walls, lights, flowers and with the bands promo image finished it was time to turn onto the Source image. The Source needed some strong colour a new direction and different feel.

With the work of Emma Sandham King and M.Halls, taking the already reduced grey set they built on top of this using yellow insulation tape and some creative yellow painting. The idea was to take the uniform grey flatness of the set and ‘draw’ on top of it creating a graphic aesthetic with hints of architecture.

Lighting put in place by Kev and Tash, struck hard edged shadows to fit with the graphic quality, picking out, highlighting and adding to the tonal shading of the set. They also added the soft glow from the “as close as you can get soft box” gelled up with blue that lights the band and hopefully gives them some focus.

Final shot taken by M.Halls, lighting Kev and Tash with additional set work as well as styling by Emma Sandham King and Stevi Jelbart of Ophelia Fancy, throughout the day make up and hair was kept in check by Janeen Cove at Square Roots and Gary at Square Roots (assistants Myrtle Lambert and Bryony Long)

Catch The James Kendall’s interview with the band in the latest edition of The Source in most outlets in Brighton, or read more of it here www.brightonsource.co.uk, as they prepare to play this years Loop festival.

We’re taking bookings for the next one day course being run on Sunday July 19th. If your interested in this course, drop us a mail to info@garage-studios.co.uk

(Many thanks to the past students who have contributed their work to this blog post.)

The next one day FLASH: Improve your lighting techniques course being run, will take place on Sunday July 19th. If your interested in this course, drop us a mail to info@garage-studios.co.uk

With a large open studio and the accumulation of many different props on the mezzanine, it was easy to embark on a personal investigation concerned with the manipulation of real space and the space that eventually ends up on the picture plane.

Having studied architecture I (M.Halls) am accustomed to using the principles of technical drawing for both construction and for the communication of ideas about space. Using some of this knowledge and technique I was interested as to how could be applied to my photography.

 As with any discipline, personal working processes are built up and developed so that one has an approach that may be applied to different subjects and projects. As far back as I am able to remember I have tended to approach any brief or idea, photographic or otherwise in the same way; that is with drawing.

 When studying or practicing architectural design, this sketching is developed further into quantifiable drawings. Each drawing convention dictates something about how we read the drawing and tells us something further. They are frameworks in which the designer can move, make changes and inform the viewer of something.

 With this photograph I wished to apply some of the same rules and laws. Equipped with an empty studio and a 50mm lens, I looked to use the space through the viewfinder as the sheet of daler rowney ice white paper pinned to the drawing board.

 Again I looked to the conventions of technical drawing as inspiration, we understand images in these drawings as being whatever they depict, lines build up planes which are read as walls and these walls in turn create believable spaces. I wanted to build up the idea of a specific place, a room, which can immediately be read or understood, but at the same time is limited in the information used to describe or define it.

 By setting the camera, up pointing it at the infinity wall a clean white frame is viewable through the viewfinder, the infinity cove disguising the immediate spatial construction of floor and wall. I selected a group of objects that I knew would start to suggest the space I had been thinking of, placing them in the frame immediately starts to define more about the space. With this in mind I continued to add and subtract from the frame, ordering and reordering them and considering the difference each change made. The frame became workable as a drawing, alterations made and then re-shot (rubbed out and redrawn). As with any picture there are specifics about the final image you are trying to create that you continue to strive for, this process of working allowed a certain focus that allowed me to continue until I was sure of the space, the reading and mood of the space.

 Lighting the shot, at first for me was all about highlighting and emphasizing barriers, divisions and the spatial rules I had hoped to build in. I then wanted to add to the believability of the space by creating lighting which brought the image back to the more normal idea of a domestic space.

  At Garage Studios we aim to take your ideas and personal projects seriously and to develop and expand them as far as you want to. Our courses are aimed at furthering your technical skills in anything from studio lighting to specific camera use, but they also have a strong emphasis on a personal position in photography, creative thinking, and the development of ideas. If you are interested in seeing what we can do please contact the studio. As well as our courses we also offer 1:1 tuition, or if you have a idea you need to shoot we have a large studio and all the equipment you need to make it happen. 

Sunday sees the return of “Frock Me!” the famous vintage fashion fair held monthly throughout the year at Chelsea Town Hall in London. 

With over 50 dealers bringing their stock from not only all over the country but also from as far afield as Paris and Berlin it would be nice to paint an atmospheric picture of  Chelsea early on a Sunday morning. However in reailty a crazy scene unfolds as the queue stretches out onto the Kings road.  At this point there is always the anticipation of who will come through the door , and what outfits will be worn and bought. 

This month there will also be the addition of the Garage Studios element, M.Halls has been asked to document the day and more importantly it’s visitors. We will have a backdrop and some simple lights, and shall be trying to grab people with style and build up a picture of regulars, first timers, buyers, designers and all that visit the fair.

If you are coming along stop and get your style shot, have a chat about Garage Studios and the work we are doing or pick up any of our information. We are never sure who will turn up or who will be happy in front of the camera …other wise wait and see the results on the blog next week.

We had a great response from people who came to the show; a fantastic review from a local paper, as well as many new faces though the door.

One unexpected result of the show was that people came and took their own photos in the installation. So we thought that we’d show you other people’s photos from an exhibition of photos of Adam.

Adam (being on a roll) will also be having a show of his fantastic 365 days project; where he took a different self-portrait a day for a year. This will take place at the Eagle Pub around the corner form the Studio during July.

Many thanks, to all who have contributed images to this email.

DD wanted to work on an idea that wasnt a traditional promo, something that was more in line with what he was regularly shooting. The band already look great, both on and off stage and we needed something that was show their prescence and style, but also hopefully encourage people to go check them out… We had a brief meeting where we were pretty much given free reign to work some magic, which is great for us, and the band were very willing to really work with our ideas.

2 days before the shoot, option number 1 was abandoned due to some potential set-build nightmares, and after a lot of rambling at Emma Sandham-King, one of the shoot stylists, DD decided on an all grey set, all grey styling… to kinda play on that horrific selective colouring that still plagues screens all over the world, and combine that with a fashion shoot aesthetic.

DD threw the idea over to M.Halls with a list of things that would look good painted grey, such as Flowers and sofa and carpet etc. Using our easy-erect-set©GS09 the night before, we got a living room in place, a very simple set- with hopefully enough attention to the details to pull it off. Matt had tracked down a Bureau, a Fireplace, picture frame etc, gave them a quick dust over with the paint gun and we were already for the next day.

Stevi and Emma of www.opheliafancy.com had been given the task of styling the band, sourcing as many grey variations as possible on what the band would normally wear - we can provide stylists for any promo shoot- its an extra cost but well worth it in our opinion, hopefully a good promo will be around for at least 6 months, but normally longer. But a skillful stylist will build on your own image, we dont do ‘make-over’ approaches to this kind of thing…

Tash and DD set about getting the lighting right for this, ideally we wanted a fairly natural soft, directionless and underexposed light into the room, so we sat the softbox on a boom, dropping it over where the ceiling would be. To even this out we had a smaller softbox pointing straight onto the set, slightly left of camera to even this overhead light. On camera left we bounced a wide-angle refelctor into a white board back into the set. (you should be able to see this in the second image below.)

Heels Catch Fire Promo

We then worked on adding some highlight to each band member to bring them out of the flat set- we used a technique that we normally use on our fashion shoots and used a mixture of snoots and barndoors to bring lines of light. We spent ages killing every shadow in the set- but it somehow looked too artificial so we dropped the height on some of the heads and ended up with some fairly deliberate cross lighting again….

There was a lot that went into this shot, from the initial ideas, sketches, set design and styling, to the lighting and shoot day itself….. if you would like to book or discuss a promo with us then please just drop us a line at info@garage-studios.co.uk we can work to most budgets and as you can see you’ll end up with a promo that can grab a lot of attention and help your band identity.

We still have a couple of places left on the Sat 20th & 27th June. The next course will be run over a weekend on Sat 15th & Sun 16th August. If you would like to find out more info have a look at the web page here.

Or if you’d like to book a place send us an email to info@garage-studios.co.uk

Many thanks to Maddie & Pete for letting us use their shots from the last course on this page.

Or if you’d like to book a place send us an email to info@garage-studios.co.uk

The challenge in shooting the same model a lot of times is trying to get something different out of the pictures- we didnt have an editorial in mind, and thought about using some Ophelia Fancy items from their new collection but we wouldnt be able to show you them until the collection hits the streets/shops in August. In the end Elin just bought a few pairs of socks with her and some underwear from home- we decided to keep it simple and had her do her own hair and make-up and just keep it very clean and normal.

Adam was away shooting a great wedding and had pocket wizards and a few of the Bowens heads so DD was left with the old cable/sync lead issues- also as the lights he used where ’snooted’ and turned down very low there was some issues of the lights ’seeing’ each other and syncing properly. This little problem led to some very direct and simple lighting by necessity. All the images below were shot within 2 1/2 hrs and are very simple but effective set ups.

Elin at Garage Studios

This is the simple lighting test (digital) for the final shot on Polaroid- DD’s a strange one sometimes and shot the digital tests so as not to waste the Polaroid film- how times have changed….

This shot is on a black sofa- but is a few feet from a white wall, in a white studio, you can see the the Light, which has a honeycomb modifier in it, is very direct and allows for a great amount of control over any spill light. (the three dots on the side are just on the film). Shooting down low allows the subject to ‘take charge’ of the image and this is heightened by the drama of an all black background.

Elin at Garage Studios with direct lighting

In this image with Elin leaning forward a very harsh, direct light hits her face. The light wasnt softened with a diffuser, umbrella etc and so is very high contrast from the honeycomb modifier. The focus is slightly soft as the 340 Polaroid is a Rangefinder that doesnt focus particularly close without use of close-up lens, but the image just holds. The small spill onto the white hold-ups helps keep the viewer in the frame.

The polaroid is shot on a 1200 and is a simple on camera flash aimed into a softbox (the white behind Elins head), note the heavy shadow under the chin, and flash catchlights in the eyes.

The final shot here is on a 50mm lens, shooting straight into a softbox (which is giving the diffused light around the hands and sides of Elins head). DD then pushed more light into her face, a high contrast very direct light. This gives a fairly direct comparison with the qualities of the polaroid. Shooting the light down onto Elins face gives a great shine to her hair, which really helps hold the form of her face, the heavy shadow works in this instance by bringing the face forward and allowing you to focus on the models eyes and mouth.

These are just a few very simple set-ups than can provide effective shots. The only thing we changed through the shoot was smoothing elins hair down in the final shots- but each image has a different ‘feel’ to it.

If you would like to learn more we offer both Studio Lighting and Flash lighting courses on a group or 1:1 basis. Go Here… we also offer model shoots for portfolio. If you need any headshots, bodyshots etc then please mail us at info@garage-studios.co.uk. Prices start at £75.

Hopefully you like these shots- never say we dont use our time wisely at GS….

Shortlisted finalists will be exhibited at the YOU GOT PAPPED Anniversary Exhibition at Garage Studios on 8th & 9th of August at which time the winner of the competition will be announced.

The winning photograph and photographer will be profiled in YOU GOT PAPPED; as well as winning that fantastic trip of a lifetime prize.

So what are you waiting for? Just send your image to fringephoto@yougotpapped.com. Your photo should be of something that fits with the theme ‘Brighton Festival Fringe 2009’.

For more info and details about the Prize and competition CLICK HERE.

We’ve been thinking about company head shots a lot; probably more so than we should think about them. Following on from the shots we did for Leapfrogg we wanted to experiment with some more interesting ideas for head shots. There is so much more that can be done than the usual dull shots that are out there.

There wasn’t a client for this, it was just shot to see if the idea worked. We had in mind a cool marketing / design agency. The kind of company that is brimming with creativity and needs to make themselves stand out from the crowd and not look old fashioned and dated.

So we started to think about how colour can convey this, and what we could do with the light to make interesting portraits, but still hold a feel of creativity and be suitable for a business.

We have lots more ideas for innovative head shots. If you require a something special to make you or your business stand out from the crowd, maybe you want a cool buddy icon for flickr, facebook, twitter, myspace, bebo etc. Or need something for your own website, a new brochure or are just sick of the existing head shots your company has.

Why not just drop us an email at info@garage-studios.co.uk; you’d be surprised how affordable it can be.