This Week I are Mostly Been...

• Mucking around on HMS Duncan, for Golf Monthly (of all people) in collaboration with Galvin Green, Premium Golf and the Royal Navy Golf Team.  Highlights of the day included shooting from the Missile Silo, shooting from the bridge whilst waving to the passing tourist boats, and trying to avoid "Hatch Rash" whilst carting my gear round the cramped confines of a Type 45 Destroyer!
• Shooting a couple of features with Michael Page, who is basically a Ninja, and a thoroughly lovely chap to boot, at London Shootfighters in association with those nice people at Multipower.
• Spending Friday shooting a branding and marketing seminar run by Jon Lipsey.  Whilst it was aimed primarily at fitness professionals, the information was of such good quality, and it's such an overlooked area, that I think pretty much any self-employed person would benefit from a day like this one.
• Getting myself, and my camera gear very wet and muddy shooting the Dirty Weekend, for those Rat Race folks.  At one point I tiptoed out across a floating pontoon, slipped, and half fell into the lake up to my knees, at which point I thought, Sod It, went back to the bank, emptied my pockets, stripped off one camera, and went wading out into the lake with everyone else for about 15 minutes.  I know why they all looked shocked when they jumped in - the water in the lake was NOT heated.

The Dirty Weekend - some shots only available from within the lake!

And I'm off to bed fairly early, as I've got a VERY long week ahead of me!

Assistant Training Courses - Calumet Drummond Street

I took a break from them last year, but this summer I'm teaching another 3 Assistant training courses at Calumet Drummond St.  If you're just leaving college, considering a change in career, or just starting work as an assistant this course can give you a head start.

Each day covers the following topics:

• An overall description of the Assistant's job - as well as the different types of assistant
• Lots of basic do's and dont's as well as what could be considered "Assistant Etiquette"
• Key Assistant skills
• Stacks of hands on technical and equipment instruction.  We've got access to lots of hire equipment from Calumet, and I'll be showing you how to rig things safely, what things are called, how you can use magic arms to impress photographers, and how to not electrocute everyone on set.  All good stuff
• Current advice on shooting video and being a digital operator
• Suggestions on what to carry in your own assisting kit
• Advice on how to get work as an assistant, including the perfect CV
• And last, but definitely not least, some basic business studies stuff that will help you set up as self-employed, and ideally keep you in business for as long as possible!

You can book your place here, and the dates for the courses are the  17th June, the 29th June, and the 27th June, and they're all taking place at Calumet Drummond Street for the bargain price of £30 for the day.

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Photographer

It was twenty years ago today....

..yeah, I know I usually post this every year, but I couldn't resist this time round - 1st February 1993 was my first day at the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph on work experience, and in truth I've never really looked back since.

Hardest game in the world, man and boy/things aren't like they used to be/kids these days don't know they're born/all this was just fields when I was younger/I used to be able to buy 5 rolls of Tri-X, a lightmeter, a box of 10x8" multigrade, a Nikon FM and still have change from a fiver.  And so on.

I'm not about to give in to reminisces, as, to be honest, I haven't got the time!  Which brings me onto what I actually want to talk about briefly, which is how little I've been posting lately.  The reason for this is the usual one - I'm just so bloody busy shooting that writing about it/thinking about it outside of work isn't that appealing.  I did 150 shoots last year, and 19 last month alone.  Great, smashing, wonderful to be busy, and no right to complain, but the catch is that I really don't feel that inclined to get in off a shoot, do all the post processing, plan the next one, and then wax lyrical about various aspects of the job.  To be honest I'm happier just crashing out!

But - I do intend to change this.  I've got many, many posts half written, or written as drafts, and as soon as I get a little time to play with I'll polish them off and get them posted.  I've also got some more teaching ideas and courses up my sleeves, so watch this space.

And here's to 20 more years!  I would go out on the lash tonight, but I'm shooting tomorrow and Sunday, so it's not a terribly wise idea!

2012 Blackbox

So, it's that time of year again, when I can close the "Blackbox" for 2012, and look back on the year of photography.  I've talked about what they are before, so go back and read that post if none of this makes any sense.  Here's the collection, and some number crunching:

• 150 shoots in total.  Officially my busiest year ever, although from the state of my exhaustion by late Autumn I could have told you that without any sums.
• 8 Shoots that were almost all video, with only a handful of stills, and 34 shoots where I shot video alongside stills.
• Paris, French Alps, Berlin, Arizona, Barcelona (twice), Abu Dhabi, and of course, all over the UK
• 9 Members of Team GB
• 12 European Tour players
• 7 Personal shoots
• 21 Different clients

 Of course, none of these numbers tell any of the interesting stories - getting to play with dogs for 2 days on a book shoot, riding horses through the Arizona desert, shooting on beaches in Northumberland and Penthouses in London, meeting ultra marathon runners, premiership footballers, organisers of the Olympics, paralympians, and 3 2012 gold medallists, having a nearly personal fly past by the Red Arrows, going trail running in the French Alps, appearing in a reality TV show, shooting from the back of a very fast moving motorbike, and getting as muddy and as knackered as always at the annual Men's Health Survival Series.

Next year I reckon I'll be seeing even more video, possibly more Women's sport and fitness stuff, and of course, quite a bit more travel.  On a personal note, 150 shoots in a year is very nearly my physical limit, so perhaps a bit of "charge more, shoot less" might be called for.  Any of my clients want to volunteer to up my fees?

All the best for 2013, I promise I'll try and blog more next year, and there may even be another lecture tour or similar on the cards.

London 2012 - Team Photosmudger

So, I can't help but notice there's some big sports event just round the corner.  I also couldn't help but notice that I've photographed quite a large number of athletes from Team GB.  To mark both these occasions I thought I'd put together a little gallery post.  I've had a good look at the Team GB website to check exactly who's made the final team, but apologies if I've put someone in who didn't make it, or missed someone out.  And whilst I'm on the subject I reckon it's a pretty hard website to navigate, and the less said about some of the Athlete's headshots the better....

Mark Lewis-Francis.  Taken at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, back in 2004.  He was up against the current editor of Runner's World, and it was a bit of an unfair contest.

Steve Lewis, taken in 2007 at Loughborough for a feature for Runner's World called, neatly enough, "Stars of 2012".  I've bumped into Steve twice at Loughborough when I've been back for other shoots, but as anyone who's visited the place knows, it's crawling with Athletes, so that's no great coincidence!

 Lisa Dobriskey, taken at Loughborough, for the same feature about an hour after Steve, and just after a torrential rain shower, if memory serves me well.

 Richard Kruse, for a Men's Fitness feature way back in 2004, taken at the Lansdowne Club in Mayfair.  The sort of place where I feel a little underdressed!

 The marvellous Helen Jenkins, taken near her home in Wales on the beach.  This was back in 2008, and she went on to win the World Championships about a week later.  I must have said the right things.

The frankly quite awesome Brownlee Brothers, both shot in Leeds, and both times for Men's Fitness.  I watched the race in Hyde Park last summer, which took place on the same course as the Olympic Finals in a few weeks, and they romped home to 1st and 2nd place.  Very high hopes for medals here.

  Holly Bleasdale, taken at a media day in Manchester earlier this year.  I shot her again a few weeks ago at her old secondary school, and I'm still amazed at the balls it takes to throw yourself up in the air at the end of a long pole.

 Andy Turner.  The action shot was taken up at the Lea Valley athletics centre for Men's Fitness, and the lifestyle shot was taken during that reality TV show "The Exclusives" that I worked on briefly back in March.  He was a true pro on both occasions, and very happy in front of the camera.

  Dai Greene, taken at Bath University a couple of years ago for Men's Fitness.  An example of how just how fast your shutter speed needs to be to freeze action.  In this case, mine's not fast enough!

 Lawrence Okoye.  He really is that big!  Taken at the Lea Valley Centre for Men's Fitness last autumn.  Law student, Rugby player, and potentially Olympic discus champion, he's a pretty impressive figure.

 Ed Clancy, at Manchester Velodrome for Men's Fitness, taken whilst he was on rollers.  If he'd slipped he'd have hit me very quickly indeed, as he was pedalling at quite a rate.

 Fran Halsall, taken for a PR company on the beach near her school.  10 out of 10 for standing in a swimsuit in fairly cold weather, and 11 out of 10 for the swimming masterclass she'd just given to a group of children an hour earlier.

 Robbie Grabarz at Alexander Stadium a couple of months ago for a PR agency.  His coach demonstrated how high Robbie can jump, and it's about the height of me, and most of me again.  God knows how he does it.

 Andy Triggs Hodge, at Team GB's Rowing centre near Reading.  It's a cracking venue, the gym has nothing but weight stations and dozens of rowing machines, and there's a private lake (in shot) for them to train on.  Might help explain some of our recent medal success.  That and some very hard work on the part of the athletes of course!

 Nigel Levine, at Brunel University for Men's Fitness.  He's very fast, and seemed to really enjoy training, which is quite important, seeing as all these guys spend the majority of their time doing it.

 Mo Farah, taken for Lucozade at Brunel University last Spring.  In a repeat of the Dai Greene problem mentioned above I struggled to freeze his motion as he ran past.  The speed he can keep up over distance is quite intimidating, and like lots of people on this page, he's a pretty good medal hope for the Games.

 Jon-Allan Butterworth.  The only paralympic athlete I've photographed, which is a great shame.  Taken at Manchester Velodrome for Men's Fitness last month I was able to witness some of his training regime, and also saw some "secret stuff" in the gym, which obviously I won't be sharing!

 Philips Idowu, at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham for Men's Fitness.  I know he's big and gangly, but it's still quite hypnotic watching him jump - it's all arms and legs being thrown into the air.

 Liam Tancock, at Loughborough for Men's Fitness.  It was shooting him, and watching him in the pool, that made me realise just how bad my own swimming style was, and that I really should go and get some lessons.  And so I did, and thanks to my local pool, I can now swim much better!

 Nick Dempsey, down in Weymouth for Men's Fitness.  There was very little wind, but that didn't seem to stop him from building up a frightening amount of speed on his board.  I spent most of the day floating about in a RIB with a very long lens on, which, having done it before, is a shortcut to sea-sickness.

 Chris Tomlinson, seen here hurdling stuff rather than doing the Long Jump like he should be.  Shot at Lea Valley for Men's Fitness, and like Mr Idowu he's quite hypnotic to watch as he sails through the air.

 Jessica Ennis, who is just great, frankly.  Taken at the EIS in Sheffield for Runner's World, this was just after she'd "accidentally" chucked one of these medicine balls at her coach, in front of all the media.  His response can't be printed....

Pete Waterfield, in a gym in Southampton for Men's Fitness.  Having shot dozens, possibly hundreds of athletes and sporty types over the years, I can honestly say I've never seen anyone with more core strength than Pete. 

Stu Hayes, in Bradgate Park in Leicester.  A very pleasant afternoon, shooting in a park I used to visit with my Grandad when I was a lad!  No agent, no manager, just me, him, and my assistant wandering around the park and finding nice spots to shoot in.

Not a bad haul, and I can't find the pics of Ben Ainslie from 9 years ago, as my archive isn't that well organised!  I make it 26 (including the absent Ben), and so besides cheering fairly loudly for Team GB in general, I'll be cheering even louder for all of this lot!

Sports Photography Masterclass

On the 8th and 9th August I'll be teaching a Sports Photography Masterclass at the Getty Images Gallery in London's fashionable West End.  It's in conjunction with CNN, and also my old friends at Nikon.  Registration is free, and you can sign up here, although it sounds like places are filling up fast.


I'll be doing the same talk in each of the 5 sessions, and I'll be covering:

• Essential gear - obvious stuff like fast lenses, as well as less obvious but equally important gubbins.
• Technique - camera handling and optimum settings, as well as some basic but universally useful shooting techniques
• Lighting - more awareness based than pure technique, as action sports photography generally lends itself to situations where you can't control the light.
• Shooting Sports Events - lots of hard-won advice on how to shoot sporting events, big or small, 
• And in true Photosmudger style, I'll round it off with examples of my own work which illustrate the various points I've made, and take things beyond the basics.

I've had to pitch the talk to a very wide audience, as anyone can sign up, so there may be bits that are too basic for some, but I can guarantee there will also be bits that are challenging to others!  Hope to see you there.

 

The First Ton of Covers

Seems like I've been waiting ages to write this post.  I could have sworn that I'd shot my 100th cover way back in about November/December time, but it always takes a while for them to work their way through the editorial process.  Anyway, I finally got a PDF of the April issue of WPT Poker earlier, which means I've now got 100 covers to my name:

This time round I won't be doing any number crunching, as despite being a massive geek, I really can't be bothered to sit here and do all the sums.  By all means have a go yourself though, it might be a good cure for insomnia!

And here's to 100 more.....