Formal recognition.... :-)

Great personal news !!! the Royal Photographic Society as honored me with an Associate Distinction in the field of Visual Art.
What the heck does that mean ?, well, basically I have become an ARPS !
The work submitted was from a year long project using my life drawing background and fine art photography for a figure study looking at the form, balance and symmetry of the human form. I am really pleased to gain recognition with art nude photographic work as it so often gets put to one side as as being somewhat under appreciated as an 'accepted' subject. Also I had recently tried for a similar qualification with work from this project which was not quite so successful, but that's more about the RPS seeing this genre of photography in a different way. I was somewhat reserved about this submission for various reasons but thanks to Roy for persuading me to go ahead.Here is a selection from the full panel of 15 images, they all need to be created and presented to a very high standard and each stand up as a strong image on their own whilst all working together as a collection. The image selection and arrangement is essential for a successful panel which can mean that some of the best images from a session do not 'fit' in the panel so some personal faves were indeed left out - shame but that's the way it goes.

Finally a huge thanks to models Hannah, Holly, Joceline, Justin and John for their creative help ... and their patience !

Whats it all about eh ???

Think I am going thru a period of .. well ....'reflection' - that's another way of saying 'struggling for inspiration.
What makes a good image ?.. is it the subject ?, is it the light ?, the composition ? , or maybe its the emotions that the final image creates in the mind of the viewer ?. But how do we get inside the mind of the viewer, especially as one persons fave is another's pass by..

To give some idea about what the heck I am on about I have picked out 2 images from the past couple of years, both have what could be described as limited subject interest, lighting is ok but not exactly making the subject (what there is of it) leap of the paper, and the composition breaks all the rules .. so that leaves the emotion that is inspired in its audience - assuming they haven't already passed on by...

We have a lone bird flying low over the sea and some rather bland grass, or to put in another way ............. An image of a lone bird in flight symolising a wild and free spirit, and ... The warmth of an autumn afternoon encapsulated in the abstract shapes made in the grass by the setting sun.
But these are my personal impressions that will change depending on my own mood at he time of viewing, but then is not one reason to surround ourselves with images we like is to influence our mood ?. So as an 'artists' do we create images for ourselves or for others, well for me it has to be both, if I do not connect with my work how can I expect others to - and that's where the inspiration has to drive us forward rather than become another producer of 'what the public wants' work.
The inspiration is there somewhere, it just needs to find its way to surface sometimes...

Arty Studio Portraits

Had a great day in the week, spend the morning on a sunkissed beach on the east coast - yes, ok it's Scotland but it was still nice and warm. I was mainly there to shoot for my 'Driftwood' series but more on this later when I have worked on the images.
We finished the day with a play session in my studio with models Chrissie Red and her pal James Foreman aka Jaystar - what a great combination, both great models and such fun to be with. I had not worked with James before so it was good to finally meet up, tried a few times earlier in the year but circumstances (not least of all his car exhaust) just got in the way.
The session was just so much fun, we played with various lighting styles, firstly using 2 lights and then a single light and letting the background go dark, I love this style as the positioning is so critical which means a slight movement of the subject can create an effect that you may not be expecting - as they say, expect the unexpected !! - that way we can avoid following the safe path of formulaic photography.

Chrissie Red



James 'Jaystar' Foreman - now who does he look like ??

Later did some bodyscape work so watch this space for an update...

From the archives ....

It seems like not that long ago but thinking about it, it was !! We finally made it to the Torridon area of the Scottish Highlands one October. The weather was varied as you would expect, some suny days but also rather overcast at times, but this gave us some fantastic soft light. And with the late sunrise and early sunsets (well, getting light and dark times !) we were not having to spend long days out to catch low height sun.

Following pics are now a series of limited edition prints in the collection "Autumn Trees".


"Scots Pine and Rock"

"Scots Pine 1"

"Scots Pine 2"

Starting again...

Time to clear out the old and start again with this blog - the old one was just clogged up with dusty old prints that were in need of a good clean up.

My next few posts will be playing catchup by showing work from the past few months - maybe longer if I find good stuff to share ???