Miss Scarlett... Celebrating Cluedo's 60th Anniversary

Cluedo has been around for 60 years! The game has inspired many a 'whodunnit' on the big and small screen throughout those sixty years. I remember many a day spent chasing the murderer from the library to the kitchen and through the secret passage ways!

D200, Tamron 17-50 f2.8, SB80 in shoot thro' camera left,

Vivitar 285 gridded camera right

At  recent shoot in Ashton Court, the theme was loosely based around the great board game. I had been shooting with the Nikon CLS system and decided to switch back to manual triggers, I set up my two light linear system and waited. I turned around and there was Miss Scarlett, or I should say Jess.

.

D200, Tamron 17-50 f2.8, SB80 in shoot thro' camera left,

Vivitar 285 gridded camera right

.
We had about five minutes to complete a handful of shots ( I think Jess was looking for Colonel Mustard in the library...)
.

D200, Tamron 17-50 f2.8, SB80 in shoot thro' camera left,
Vivitar 285 gridded camera right

.
The lighting set up was a simple linear one; the two lights in a line and Jess in the middle and then I just varied the lights to give the effect I wanted. I was shooting at around 1/200th at ISO 100 at f5.6 or so. Jess was a great model to work with and just got it right first time! Thanks Jess and thank you Cluedo!
 
Oh, and Hanleyman did it, in the Music Room, with a D200!

Brighton Rock

D200, Tamron 17-50 f2.8, ISO 100, 1/50 @ f11

.

There are certain things that come to mind when Brighton is mentioned; Brighton Rock (the sweet and the Queen song), Mods, Rockers, the London to Brighton Bike Ride (all 52 hard miles of it!), the Grand Hotel and of course the West Pier. I have wanted to photograph the West Pier for sometime now and only managed to get down to Brighton last Thursday! Shame on me!

.

D200, Tamron 17-50 f2.8, ISO 100, 1/100 @ f14

.

The magic of the seaside is something that has always stayed with me as I have grown up. Living near Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire in Ireland, the seaside was part of my life, from swimming to fishing to just strolling along enjoying the sea air.

.

D200, Tamron 17-50 f2.8, ISO 100 1/320 @ f5.6

.

The Victorians knew how to capitalise on the seaside. Their grand majestic promenades and piers sweeping us out into the sea to gaze back on the land with a sense of awe; rides to delight and terrify and of course the ever sticky candifloss and stick of rock. The West Pier in Brighton was built in 1866 by Eugenius Birch and is a Grade I listed structure, whats left of it, after the now famous fire of 2003 which all but destroyed it. Prior to that it had been closed since the 70's. gazing on its structure, all that is left is a steel skeleton that once brought happiness to so many. How long it will last is anyone's guess.

Project 52 ... 41

Meet Alan...
.

D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, SB800 shoot thro' camera left,

Vivitar 285 gridded camera right

.
I have known Alan for a couple of years now; a plumber by trade, he is a partner in Kings Brother Building Contractor's, at least he was until recently. He is emmigrating with his wife to Australia in December to be with their daughter. What a life changing adventure! We had a great time taking this shot in the arches in Windsor early one October morning. The set up was my usual linear setup with Alan in the middle. The camera was set to manual , 1/200th and a stop or so below ambient. I triggered the flashes using the ebay CTR 301P triggers - they have not let me down yet!

My thanks to Martin for setting this shoot up - he did all the hard work of arranging and making sure that everyone was there. He also bought the coffee's! (but no bacon sandwiches...)

These shots were taken to celebrate Alan as part of King Brothers. So we took a few shots for posterity...

.

The King Brothers... Graham, Mark and Alan

.

Good luck to you and your family in your new life Alan, but watch out for the spiders and kangaroos and snakes and sharks and the climate and ... did I mention spiders and sharks...?

See more of the shoot after the jump...

Hannah

This is Hannah.
.

D200, Tamron 17 - 50, f2.8, SB900 camera left bare flash, zoomed,

SB800 camera right in shoot thro'

I shot Hannah with two other photographers, Pat and Adam at a recent 'Bristol Strobist' shoot in the magnificent Ashton Court Mansion in Bristol. We had a great day's shooting. Hannah was no stranger to modelling! She was fantastic throughout the day. We only had a short time shooting her but it was great fun. Thanks again, Hannah.

This shot was taken using the Nikon CLS system for controlling the flashguns. Both Pat and Adam had used it in the past, and as we were all Nikon users, that was how we started. Being used to manually controlling the flashguns at source - not the menus back of camera, I could not get to grips with it and found it taxing. But we got some good shots - I was, however, glad we switched to manual triggers later on

This was the best shot I took of Hannah, here are some more...
.

Project 52 ... 40

David wears shirts... lots of 'em and not just ordinary ones at that!
.

D200, Tamron 17 - 50, f2.8, SB80 bare flash camera right, 1/2 power

.

They are all patterned and flash and sometimes loud, but very 'on trend' as my ten year old daughter would say. David came to work with us for a few weeks; stayed for a few months and is a valued member of the team, but is sadly going to a more permanent position in the near future. When I approached him to take his portrait, it struck me that getting him to wear one of his famous shirts was the way to go. Well he didn't just bring one, he brought half a dozen!

David is lit by a single SB800 at half power or so to camera right just out of picture. I dropped the ambient light by about a stop, set the camera to manual at 1/200th at f8 and started shooting.

Thanks David for being such a good sport and I wish you well for the future, (and you might notice, David, that the brick coursing doesn't align with your shirts either! - you had to be there)

Ashton Court Bristol Strobist Meet

More shoes... rather a lot of them actually...

I recently had the good fortune to be part of an incredible meet at Ashton Court in Bristol with a group of about 40 like-minded photographers, 20 amazing models and a handful of very talented make up artists.
.

Sherie's Shoes

D200, SB900 1/2 power camera right,

SB900 1/4 power camera left

I am at present editing the selection but I will be posting the best shots here over the next few weeks. Keep watching.

Lest we forget...

That's what my Dad used to say to us. Lest we forget. Never forget.
.

.
My Grandfather and Father were both in the army over here. My Grandfather was in the Battle of the Somme. He got shot in the hip and was evacuated back home. He was one of the lucky ones. Dad, fortunately, never saw action. He was in the army during peacetime.

But we should never forget all those who were called up or joined up and fought and gave and their lives for us and weren't as lucky.

We must never forget, not just today, on Remembrance Sunday, but everyday.

Project 52 ... 39

This is Ben. Ben joined us as a Year Out student in Architecture this summer.
.

D200, Tamron 17 - 50mm f2.8, Sb800 shoot thro' umbrella camera left,

Vivitar 285 gridded behind Ben

.
We take in students most years during their studies. Ben has spent a lot of the summer doing door and window schedules and drawing up plans on the computer.

Thanks Ben for being a good sport!

To learn more about brick sizes...