#Curryclub goes Burlesque...

well, almost! The latest meet of the #curryclub was back in December, the 19th, in Gareth Davies Studios, in Wokingham, UK. We had three great models, Bethany, Annie and Elan. The photographers were Brian, Gareth, Dave, John and myself. A few of our members could not make it so close to Christmas and were missed during the day! 

Caught!

What I love about these days is that you can experiment; let your imagination run wild. So I tried to let it do just that. My quote of the day would have to have been when setting up the Caught shot above, when I had to ask Annie if she could open her legs a bit more... The whole studio erupted in laughter and we had to set the shot up again. I didn't do it on purpose, honest.

Bethany

Annie

Tension

Annie + Elan

 A great day was had by all, and I enjoyed a curry with Gareth and Dave afterwards. A big thanks to John and Brian for inviting Annie and Bethany, to Elan, always a pleasure to shoot, to Gareth for the provision of the best studio in this spiral arm of the galaxy and to fellow #curryclub members! Here's to the next shoot!

And finally... photography may be always about pushing the boundaries and looking for the next great shot... but its important to always have a good laugh...

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my friends, here in the UK, back home in Ireland, new friends in the USA and friends who are even further afield! I hope that the new year brings you all the success that you wish for and all the happiness that goes with it.

This year has been an interesting year for me, with many new things happening. I want to thank my wife Catherine, (Mrs H), my son Cein and daughter Katy for supporting me in my photographic endeavours. They have put up with a lot of... 'can you just sit there... I want to try out a new lighting idea...' you get the picture. Thanks guys, I couldn't have done it without you! Here's to you!

And then there is the #curryclub! What can I say about the #curryclub? As one of the inaugural members, here's to hoping it goes from strength to strength this year with a lot of laughs, more shooting and the odd curry along the way. I hope we can get some of the American folk shooting with us this year, so if you are listening and you are over here, give us a call! We'd love to have you! But seriously, you guys; Brian, Dave, Glyn, David, John, Keith and Gareth have been great friends and a lifeline for me. Here's to you guys!

So, come Midnight, I shall raise a glass to you, my friends, and say Happy New Year,

All the best
Noel

Location:Happy New Year

'You!... you're one of us!'

Well, my good friend Dave, known to countless millions as Nappmember UK, please visit the website here... well he finally got me to join NAPP, The National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Its been a few weeks now and I can honestly say that I haven't looked back since. At the moment there a a number of deals to be had for joining. I took the one that gave me all the back issues of Photoshop User magazine for 2010. A great bargain, but there a other deals available, check out the website above for a number of them, Dave always keeps the website up to date.

The amount of learning that is on the NAPP website is phenomenal. There are instructional videos, walkthroughs, a forum for photoshop chat, and, as you would expect in the photography world, everyone is extremely friendly and wants to help. The NAPP home page is here; it is a Kelby Media Group enterprise, and again, when Scott Kelby gets involved gets involved you know it is going to be good.

Thanks to Dave Clayton for finally twisting my arm, I should have joined years ago! and to Glyn Dewis for al the photoshop help and encouragement. So if you use photoshop, are a photographer, then give NAPP a look, you will not be disappointed.

This year has been a joining year for me; the #curryclub is going from strength to strength, we are having a great laugh there! But one other place I have become hooked on is 500px. 500px is a website for photographers best photographs. As my good friend Glyn Dewis puts it; if flickr is a place for people to appreciate your photographs and give you a hug, then 500px is about your best photographs with other photographers best photographs, and then some, and feedback from each other. The photographs are all amazing.

You can have a free account, but I was lucky enough to upgrade to an 'awesome' account on Black Friday, where those lovely people at 500px gave a whopping 50% discount. Check their website out here. Do check out my portfolio, and have a browse at the amazing photos that are on the site, but be warned... Its addictive, you will find hours pass away.



That's it for now, enjoy the run up to the festivities, and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

All the best,

Noel

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present...

Vocalarity, the mad, zany and very eccentric, quintessentially British acting troupe!

And this is no word of a lie. Photographing them was a laugh a minute! Vocalarity is Philippa, Liz, Alex and Tristan, four of the nicest 'luvvies' you will ever meet, actually, they aren't really luvvies at all. just a bunch of really funny people.

They are known for their engagements at fringe festivals, after dinner events, they have even been known to set up a sofa, standard lamp, rug and begin acting in a park in Guildford! I would so loved to have seen that one!

This was their shoot...

We spent over three hours in the studio (GDS Wokingham - another great night Gareth!) Lots of laughs and even a glass of champagne! And my good friend Glyn Dewis popped in and took some of his infamous character head shots! A big thanks to Philippa, Liz, Alex and Tristan!
Vocalarity are currently putting together a new website with photographs from the shoot. I shall post a link when it is up and running. In the meantime if anyone has a message for the troupe, or you would like to book them for an engagement, please drop me a line and I shall pass it on!

   

All the best guys, and I look forward to our next shoot!

Kiss of The Spiderwoman

Its Halloween!.. beware of the Kiss of The Spiderwoman!

Happy Halloween!

Formal Portrait... quick and easy

Katy, first year in Secondary College

Recently I had a conversation with my good friend Paul, He has a son coming up for First Holy Communion and he wanted something a bit different than the standard shots of the day. So it started me thinking of how to do a quick and easy set up that I could replicate almost anywhere. And this is the shot I came up with; a derivation of my favourite two light set up. This is Katy and this is her first year at a new school. She has the obligatory school photos, but we decided to only opt for the big group shot. There was simply no character in the portrait shots.

Here is the set up shot; an SB800 in an Eazybox softbox to camera left and a gridded Vivitar 285 to camera right. I can't remember the exact settings, but they were about half power or so, I didn't particularly need a quick recycling time, so I could have gone lower, but I wanted a smaller aperture to ensure all of Katy was in focus. I shot at 1/200 and that ensured that the room ambient hardly registered.

Here you can see each light shot separately; first the softbox and then the Vivitar. That's it; quick and easy, and for my money a far more lasting formal portrait...

Here Come The Girls!!!

Yes, its that time again, the time of leaving primary school and going to secondary school. It's a big deal, and a great step forward in their lives.

To mark this occasion, Katy and the girls of St. Joseph's Class of 2011, made a trip to GDS Studios in Wokingham. Great fun was had by all; we had formal young ladies, we had pyjama fights and we had St Trinians! And before you ask, yes I was shattered afterwards! A big thanks to the girls for being such fun, the mothers who stayed to help keep order and to Gareth for keeping his sanity throughout the afternoon. A special thanks goes to Catherine, my wonderful wife, and Katy for organising the logistics of the day.

So, girls, good luck in your next school, and well done for all the great things you achieved in St. Josephs.

And to all the secondary schools that the girls are going to, all I can say is;

watch out! here come the girls!

It was also an opportunity for the girls to say a heartfelt thank you and goodbye to a teacher that had been with them throughout their stay at St. Josephs; Mrs Sparrow.