Photographing a Hair Show

On Saturday I photographed my first ever hair show! It was such an amazing experience and one that I was preparing for for a little while now! After waking up at 6am and going to my usual job until 4pm in the afternoon, I had to rush home and get my things together and head down to the hair show. I arrived at 6 and the team were doing a final run through. So Caroline, the lady who owns the salon and who organised the whole show took me backstage where I was introduced to the hair salons regular photographer, Nick. He made me feel less nervous and we were having a laugh and a joke. He was telling me all about his 15 years spent in the photography business, with his own home studio and company, it was really inspiring listening to all the experiences he had during his photography career!

There was a lot of waiting around as the show didn't start until gone 7:30, but I was peeping out from behind the side stage curtains, out to where my mum and sister were sat, who were in the audience (they were trying to put me off!!) haha. The show began with a speech from Caroline, followed by a dance crew who were very good and started off the show perfectly! It then went into hair of different eras including 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and so on, one even dressed like the spice girls did back in the day! There was also a men's cut of the on-trend cut based on 'The Only Way is Essex'. Below are some images I took from the different decades of hair.

 

There was also another salon there which showcased their work during the second half of the show, the image above was one of my favourite images I took of 3 different hairstyles that were produced.

 

A live cut on stage: Long hair into a Bob

 

 

There was also live music during the evening which added something different to the evening, everyone in the crowd was signing along!

 

 

There was then a masquerade ball, which showcased big hair that would usually be sported back in the days when people 'went to the ball'. The hair was amazing and looked like it took hours to do! Complete with beautiful gowns and lovely make-up from a well known make-up artist it all came together brilliantly!

I took around 400 images, so it was very hard to just narrow it down to just a few, so I picked my favourite from the evening to put on my blog post today! I had an amazing time, I was there around 4 hours and it absolutely flew by I was having such a brilliant time! I am so so pleased with my images and it was such a different and amazing experience, one which I would do all over again!!

Laura xxx

Birthday Treat!

 

So on Saturday it was my 20th birthday! Beforehand I cheekily asked my parents for a new camera lens for my Nikon D3100, and I wasn't at all expecting to open up one of my presents and for a camera lens to appear! I was so excited! My parents bought me a Sigma 70 - 300mm lens, which is a telephoto/zoom/macro lens. After only having my 18 - 55mm kit lens for a long time, it was nice to add a new lens to my kit bag, especially this one, which has a lot of scope and variety to it which I haven't had before.
Below is an image of my Sigma lens on my camera body with it almost fully zoomed out. (I didn't realise it would be that big!) I also have a lens hood on the end of it. This came with the lens and is something I also wanted. As I do a lot of outdoor/ location shoots it will prevent the glare from stray light through the lens and also on my images which I am very happy about.

I also got a flower lens hood which was a separate present from my parents. I love the fact I have 2 lens hoods, so I can swap them about depending on what lens I'm using, as my flower lens hood is specifically used for my 18 - 55 mm lens. Again, this will prevent the light from reflecting into the lens and to prevent my images from looking washed out.

 

 

 

 

A short blog post today, but just a little insight to what's new in my camera kit bag, I cant wait to keep adding to it and to start shooting with my new Sigma lens!

Laura xxx

Creating my own website

After going back to University after a week off, we started on the subject of creating our own websites to really get our name and work out into the big wide world. I have always wanted to create my own website, I just wouldn't know the first thing about how to start one up! So I am really looking forward to getting one going in the next few weeks with the help of our tutor!

This week we started to look at what we wanted our website to look like, the layout and also what the most important aspects of photography web pages are, to consider within our own.

I immediately knew the sort of style I want mine to ultimately look like. I really love photographer Dan Kennedy, a fashion and celebrity photographer from London. He is definitely a photographer I look up to. Working in commercial, advertising and fashion photography, is definitely what I would love to do in the future. Although his images are stunning in their own right, its also his website that stands out from many others in the same business as him. Photography is a very hard and competitive business, and a good website is almost the first impression you can give to potential clients and other growing/amateur photographers wanting to work up the photography ladder. Below is one of my favourite layouts of a website, which is Dan Kennedys website.

Homepage: His homepage is very simple, yet so striking. I think its very brave of a photographer to just have one image on the homepage of their website. Because its not going to be of everyone's taste it is almost a gamble. But it shows that Kennedy is very confident and proud of his work, and so he should be, its a beautiful image to have as a first impression. It is also very clever as there are no captions to click on specific areas of his photography, you have to click on the image to enter his full website, I really like that idea.

 

 

I love the layout of his website, with his specific sets of images separated into different tabs at the top of his website for easy navigation, including, 'portraits', 'fashion', 'commercial', 'news', 'pdf' and 'contact'. The image you are clicked on is the main part of the page, and you can change the image you want to see by clicking on the washed out images below to enlarge them. The colour scheme is very simple and sophisticated, with a grey for the background which compliment his images, without drawing any attention away from them.

 

Above is his 'Contact' page. Including a small 'About' section and Job opportunities. The page also includes celebrities he has photographed and images he has used for publications. This page again is very plain but very neat and tidy, it doesn't need any colour or fancy layout to it.


Another favourite of mine is James Nader's website. A fashion, commercial and editorial photographer, again his work is just amazing and his website is really one of a kind, especially before you enter the full website. I just want to show you his homepage, as I find it very different to anyone else's website. Probably my most favourite homepage, the image used is incredible, with just the simplicity of his last name in capitals underneath with links below that. Set within the centre of the page, the 3 aspects of the model, his name and the little tabs, all link in as almost one image and aspect together. The pure beauty of the white background just completes the homepage and adds a feel of completeness to it.

 

 

I really enjoy looking at other photography websites, as inspiration and also the level and standard to what the top photographers of the genre I want to work in are doing at the moment. I cant wait to create my own website!!

Laura xx

 

Upcoming Events!

As I haven't blogged in a while I thought it was the perfect opportunity to tell you what is upcoming in my photography calendar and what I have lined up for the next few months.

So my most exciting project or event I have coming up during the end of this month is a Hair Show. Being asked to be photographer for an event like this was a privilege, as during my first year at University, our group worked a lot with MUA and their work on hair collections. Events such as catwalks and hair shows have always been something I am very interested in, which I guess relates to fashion and the world of fashion/editorial photography, which is my main ambition. I contacted a local salon during the summer, who kindly took a look at my work and took me on board. A lot of prep work is going into this hair show, with models, very well known makeup artists and hair stylists showcasing their work to family, friends and other businesses. I will be working with the salons regular photographer, which will enable me to build my portfolio, gain important skills, add to my experience and to show that I am versatile in different types of photography. I am very excited for this event, although I am nervous I cant wait to get there and start shooting a night as it happens. I hope to get some great results and I cant wait to share the images.

Another exciting event coming up is after Christmas, but again, I am also working with the salon to help them shoot a Portfolio for a hair stylist, in which the images will go towards the 'British Hairdressing Awards'. These awards are huge and the images need to look the part. Again, not much has been organised do to with this as the hair show is the main priority, but I am very excited for this event. I enjoy shooting in a studio environment, capturing beautiful portraits of hair which I have had a little bit of experience with. I will be using my portable studio which is very handy and very easy to set up. Again, these images will be a great group of images to add to my ever growing portfolio, which can showcase my photography for future clients or future job opportunities. Getting paid is always a bonus!!

Lastly, I may also be doing Music Photography, more specifically, shooting a portfolio of images for a band. For a local pop punk/ punk rock band I know who want to get their name and music out their. After recently completing their first EP, they want some images for their website/Facebook and Twitter pages. Again, the band and I are in the process of this shoot and I will hopefully be shooting with them in the upcoming months. This is something new and definitely a genre of photography that I am looking forward to trying out.

Until next time :)

Laura xxx

Bowood Part 2

So on my previous blog, I blogged about a recent photo-shoot I did at a beautiful waterfall in Bowood House and Gardens. Although I did shoot at other parts of Bowood during the same day, I just wanted to blog about those specific images because I thought they were a very powerful set of images just on their own. But as I just said, I did shoot at other places of the House and Gardens which I didn't want to leave out so I thought id show them in a separate blog post and show you what I did on the other half of my morning at Bowood House. Below, are some of my favourite images (before my model got wet!!).

 

The dress I picked out for my model to wear reminds me of the dress Marilyn Monroe wore in the famous image of her dress blowing up. Luckily on the day we went to shoot, it was quite windy which allowed the dress to flow in all directions creating a really nice effect.

 

I am really pleased with these images, the setting was beautiful, the weather was perfect and I will definitely be going back to shoot here again soon :)


Laura xxx

A hidden gem

 For my most recent shoot, a friend and I popped over to Bowood for the morning. Being only a 2 minute drive from where we both live is very handy - you don't always have to travel far to find beautiful locations to shoot at! Once we arrived my friend got changed in the house toilets and we started making our way down to the hidden gem - the waterfall! Being a long walk and right at the bottom of the lake, I was worn out before I even started shooting! The waterfall is beautiful, set back from the rest of Bowood, to get there your have to walk over little stepping stones over the river! The sun also made an appearance every now and again which looked lovely peeking through the trees surrounding it. We started to shoot straight away, we couldn't wait to get started! I felt bad that my friend was getting wet from the water so I decided to take my boots off and get in with her.. well only up to my knees! We had a lot of fun and it was a great experience, especially walking back to the car in the rain and thunder and no umbrella! I will definitely be returning for another shoot here in the future, but for now here are some of my most favourite images taken from Wednesday :)

 

 

 

I have used Photoshop Elements 11 on all these images, increasing the contrast slightly and also bringing down the saturation level. I didn't want the colours in the images to be bright and 'in your face'. By dimming down the saturation in the image allows the colours to still be there but to be a lot more subtle, giving it a very smooth look to the image - an effect that I love! I am so proud of these images and it is definitely the best shoot I have done so far!


Laura xx

My Favourite Photographers!

For this blog post I decided to talk about my favourite photographers and what inspires me as a photographer.

I look at a lot of other photographers work and a lot of their work really inspires me and the way I work. Obviously every photographer has their own style but it doesn't stop you from having a look at what's popular and what other photographers are doing to help gather ideas and to add to a board or folder for future shoots. Two photographers I really love the work of are Marco Grob and Chris Nicholls.

Both work as fashion, portraiture and advertisement photographers, but both with two different styles of shooting.

My first inspiration is Chris Nicholls, a fashion photographer but with a very different style to Marco Grob. One of my most favourite group of images is an editorial piece with model Herieth Paul for the September 2013 edition of Fashion Magazine. His work is absolutely beautiful and shot in the most amazing places with stunning models, again his work captivates the eye, but in a different way to that of Marco Grob's work. I would love to produce images like Chris does, you can tell his passion for photography leaks through his images, which is how every photographer should work. Chris makes sure his images are picture perfect, displaying elegance and beauty with definition and simplicity. I could honestly look at his work all day long and I believe his amazing images speak for themselves. I aspire to become what he has become during his career as a fashion photographer.

My second inspiration is Marco Grob, known as the master of faces, he produces captivating images of people using his well known lighting techniques, sculpting the light to suit the specific facial shape. He uses Elinchrom with the use of Monoheads to create the light, with this lighting being particularly powerful and one that gives off a light all in the right places! I absolutely love love love his work, especially as he works 90% in black and white, gives it a very pure feel about it, like its just Marco, the light and the person, without any colour or Photoshop interfering with the image, which it really doesn't need! Although his images are so simple to the eye, it is in hindsight work that once you see it, will stick in your mind, it is that powerful.

This image is just wow! It really does make me speechless looking at an image so perfectly lit which defines Leonardo Dicaprio in every single nook and crannie! This has to be one of my favourite black and white portrait images in a long time, it will be very hard to beat!!

I did try for myself, a go at the way Marco Grob works and I tried to position the lighting to make my image look as Grob like as I could! This is my outcome which I am very pleased with and proud of!!

Until next time!

Laura xxx