Wednesday, 14 March 2018
Engagement Portraits | Berlin | Angelina & Andrew
Showing posts with label portraits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label portraits. Show all posts
Monday, 27 June 2016
Croatia Airlines Magazine | Lisbon | Portugal
Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Lisbon | Portugal
Friday, 10 October 2014
Wedding | Berlin | Germany: Gard & Bitte
These shots are from an intimate ceremony at the Nordic Embassy in Berlin, and locations nearby. Gard, from Norway, and Bitte, from Sweden, popped over to Berlin for a few days to marry (and shop for vinyl) before heading back to Oslo for a weekend party for friends and family.
It was a fun shoot and I wish them both health, happiness, and good tunes for their future together!
It was a fun shoot and I wish them both health, happiness, and good tunes for their future together!
Tuesday, 7 October 2014
Wedding | Bernau | Germany: Elliot & Simone
At the end of August I photographed the wedding of Elliot and Simone, a lovely couple from Canada and Deutschland. The ceremony was at the Rathaus Bernau, and the reception was at the Villa Biesenthal, a modern building with an old, stucco facade.
It was grand, and a privilege to be there to document their special day for them among their friends and family.
Monday, 22 September 2014
Location Scouting | Berlin
If there's anything my long, illustrious photography career has taught me, it's to be prepared if you have the chance. Although one of the many joys of the job is to parachute (or be parachuted) into a situation blind, with only your wits and eyes to save you, there's nowt wrong with saving yourself the sweat beads if you can.
A case in point: portrait sessions. It's always worth scouting locations to get an idea of backgrounds, foregrounds, aspect, texture, pattern, shape, direction, form, place and the like, to get inspiration for the shots you want to take. Then you feel calmer. You can sleep on your ideas and allow them to marinate. And you can begin to worry in a professional manner about the weather being different to when you scouted.
In any case, while out scouting, there are photos to take, too. And if that sounds obvious, it's because these are photos:
A case in point: portrait sessions. It's always worth scouting locations to get an idea of backgrounds, foregrounds, aspect, texture, pattern, shape, direction, form, place and the like, to get inspiration for the shots you want to take. Then you feel calmer. You can sleep on your ideas and allow them to marinate. And you can begin to worry in a professional manner about the weather being different to when you scouted.
In any case, while out scouting, there are photos to take, too. And if that sounds obvious, it's because these are photos:
Thursday, 8 May 2014
Berlin | Olympus Photo Playground
Some pictures I took at the Olympus Photo Playground in Mitte while location-scouting for an upcoming portrait shoot. Entry is free, and those without cameras can rent. It's nice there.
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Engagement Portraits | Patrick & Anita
Patrick and Anita chose an amazing location for their portraits - the Ballhaus Riviera in Grunau. We had to jump a fence to get in and tread lightly on the crumbling floors, but the risk was worth it for the pretty much limitless photographic possibilities inside.
So thanks to them for choosing such a great place and for the fun day out, to the fence for being climb-able, and to my excellent assistant for her help.
So thanks to them for choosing such a great place and for the fun day out, to the fence for being climb-able, and to my excellent assistant for her help.
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Portraits: Sridhar
Sridhar, a musician from India, asked me to take some portraits for him to send out with the promotional material for his soon-to-be-completed album. I thought it could be good to lightpaint him - which would be in keeping with the ambient quality of his music - and he liked the idea.
So we spent an evening with my camera and a few different kinds of light, drinking whiskey and listening to records (dankeschon Sridhar!), and here's a taste of the results:
So we spent an evening with my camera and a few different kinds of light, drinking whiskey and listening to records (dankeschon Sridhar!), and here's a taste of the results:
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Portraits
Here are some recent portraits:
Chef Hung -
Chef Hung -
Monday, 2 April 2012
Recent Tearsheets
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Portrait Reflections II
This is a follow-up to a portrait-based post I made back in April of last year. The things I wrote back then stand true today and there's no need to repeat them - seek them out if you will.
Some people are comfortable in front of a camera, some are not. I am not. When a lens is pointed at me I begin to quiver and gurn. It's unfortunate really but there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it. Some of my subjects quiver, thankfully none of them gurn. But my job as a photographer is to make those who don't particularly enjoy being photographed comfortable enough so that their personality, their character can shine through in the end result. I like to think I succeed most, if not all (or perhaps all) of the time. However, this post is not about any sublime human-soothing skills I may or may not have. It's not about the people who need to be calmed before they are shot. It's about the others.
Every now and again I photograph someone who makes my job ridiculously easy. Someone who is totally unfazed by the machine I'm brandishing, or who has simply made up their mind to enjoy the experience whatever it involves and however long it might take. And recently I've had the good fortune to meet several such people. To them I say - 'thank-you'. Here are three of them:
Hoang Hoi is the Head Monk at the Ky Quang Pagoda which runs counselling programmes, supported by UNICEF, for children infected by or with parents infected by HIV. Also housed in the pagoda are a natural health clinic, a shelter for physically and mentally disabled people, an acupuncture clinic, and facilities for blind people to be trained in and practice traditional massage.
Some people are comfortable in front of a camera, some are not. I am not. When a lens is pointed at me I begin to quiver and gurn. It's unfortunate really but there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it. Some of my subjects quiver, thankfully none of them gurn. But my job as a photographer is to make those who don't particularly enjoy being photographed comfortable enough so that their personality, their character can shine through in the end result. I like to think I succeed most, if not all (or perhaps all) of the time. However, this post is not about any sublime human-soothing skills I may or may not have. It's not about the people who need to be calmed before they are shot. It's about the others.
Every now and again I photograph someone who makes my job ridiculously easy. Someone who is totally unfazed by the machine I'm brandishing, or who has simply made up their mind to enjoy the experience whatever it involves and however long it might take. And recently I've had the good fortune to meet several such people. To them I say - 'thank-you'. Here are three of them:
Hoang Hoi is the Head Monk at the Ky Quang Pagoda which runs counselling programmes, supported by UNICEF, for children infected by or with parents infected by HIV. Also housed in the pagoda are a natural health clinic, a shelter for physically and mentally disabled people, an acupuncture clinic, and facilities for blind people to be trained in and practice traditional massage.
Sunday, 6 November 2011
The Last Blacksmith
On the corner of Lo Ren Street in Hanoi's Old Quarter is the workshop of Mr Nguyen Phuong Hung. Lo Ren, in Vietnamese, means 'blacksmith', and although many years ago this would have meant that the entire street was used for the trade, now Hung is the only one left. On a coal fire, his irons grow red hot. Once they are ready, Hung places them on an anvil and sets about them with a sledgehammer. His forearms are massive, coal-streaked hams.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Fixer of Songs
This is Binh. He repairs old reel-to-reel machines in his workshop/cafe on the shores of West Lake. Go there, sit by the water and let the old music wash over you in the rich tones that can only come from such a machine. Go on. A couple of the photos were taken with my Holga as I wanted to try out matching my material, i.e. film, with his, tape.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Portrait Reflections
As I mentioned in the previous post I've been doing a bit of work for my fried Dieu. Last week we went to visit her grandmother, Ba Nguyen Thi Nhung, at her home on the outskirts of Hanoi. Dieu's grandmother is an inspiration to her and she learnt to cook by watching her grandmother in the kitchen. She's 88 years old now, although she looks much younger, and I'm told that if you were to give her a whole cow, she could cook every last bit of it.
Monday, 28 February 2011
Tea's Timelessness
Last night on the outskirts of the city I met Mr Kieu Van Lu. He's 82 years young and he and his family own a small, traditional tea shop; a minute, timeless oasis of calm and a window to a quieter, more graceful past nestled in an area of the city rapidly growing outwards and upwards and which resembles nothing of the old town. Inside, he and his daughter-in-law served young men who'd come to chat and play guitar. The walls are hung with calligraphy, poems about tea written by his artist son, and on a blackboard patrons have written verse in coloured chalk. Every day they serve different tea; you can't have Tuesday's tea on Wednesday, or Fridays tea on Monday. Come back next week.
I took some photos of him inside which I was pleased with and then I put my camera away and we sat outside and chatted over cups of green tea. I then got my camera back out and took some more informal shots which I was even happier with. Now I can imagine him sitting there, happy in tea and company, with a head full of poems, forever.
I took some photos of him inside which I was pleased with and then I put my camera away and we sat outside and chatted over cups of green tea. I then got my camera back out and took some more informal shots which I was even happier with. Now I can imagine him sitting there, happy in tea and company, with a head full of poems, forever.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
A Tale Of Two Men / Four Portraits
Not a tale exactly, or at all. More like pictures. First up is Mr Takeji Yoshikawa, Director of the Japan Foundation in Hanoi, owner of 'the hottest office in the world', and speaker of Vietnamese and Chinese. He kindly allowed me to have a look around the foundation's library and agreed to tell me a Japanese joke while I was photographing him. Arigato!
Monday, 31 January 2011
Portraits
Towards the end of last year I went to take photos of young Roisin for my good friends Kieran and Huong.
Sunday, 26 December 2010
Marion & Camilla Engagement
