Tuscany Day 4

Day 4 was spent in the company of the amazing duo of Trevor and Faye Yerbury. Amazing for many reasons but for me because of their generosity in helping us mere mortals improve our photography.

We spent the day in and around the beautiful Castello di Tornano with our beautiful model LauraAnna. This was to be my most challenging day for many reasons not less the fact that I have never photographed a nude model. I think that statement was true for quite a few of us But LauraAnna was so patient; especially as this was by far the coldest day of the week. It is very different photographing a nude model as all you have to work with is shape and although we were having our hands very firmly held this was a challenging day for me and I learnt so much about posing the body and seeing the clothes that most of my clients are wearing as just accessories. Here are a few of my favourites from the day.

Tuscany Day 3

Day 3 was a rest day for the feet but a tiring day for the brain. We spent the day in the company of Marko Nurminen, Damien Lovegrove's picture editor. We were asked to bring 5 of our images from the previous day's shoots so he could show us his tried and tested enhancement techniques.

Marko showed us how to do basic enhancements, I use the word enhancements because, as he quite rightly said, if the image is exposed and framed correctly that is all that should be required. Working with Damien he obviously has very little to do to each image other than make them "pop". This workshop was not really for beginners as he concentrated on improving our technique and speeding up the way we did things. Here are the images he "enhanced" for me. The first images are straight from camera, the second is with Marko's enhancements.

Tuscany Day 2

Day 2 was spent in the company of Chris Hanley. Chris is an exceptional photographer and founder of 'Cherish the Dress'. We were very lucky to have a beautiful italian model called Valentina Feula and and to spend the day in and around the Castello di Tornano which was our base for the 4 days.

This shoot is designed as a chance for the bride to put on her dress again after the wedding day and take part in a shoot that celebrates the the dress and the time that was taken to choose it. On the wedding day there is only limited time to photograph the bride in her dress. This session is like a fashion shoot to show the beauty of the bride and her dress in a relaxed style in beautiful surroundings. Here are a few of my favourites.

Tuscany Day 1

Day 1 of my Tuscany photography experience was spent with Damien Lovegrove and my fellow photographers in the lovely city if Siena. The challenge for the day was to capture the beauty of the city and the connection and sexiness of our models, Lisa-Marie and Shawn (aka Mr D Beckham).

The weather was glorious as we walked the allyways of Siena dodging scooters and street cleaners. We had a fantastic day and although very tiring (Siena is very hilly) captured some fantastic images and learnt to find light in the darkest of places.

Here are a few favourites.

Professional Development

In September I started a continuing professional development programme (CPD) with Damien Mc Gillicuddy the original post can be viewed here.

I along with the other photographers present were set some homework ready for critique at our next meeting in December. The homework was to edit the images taken at our meeting and to produce a "perfect" beauty image using a model of our own and edit both to presentation standard.

The images below are my presentation ready images of Lozie from our meeting, and of my model; my lovely wife Louanne. The final image is of the (very portable) set-up I used to produce my images. I hope you like them.

Hampshire Photographers4Charity Wedding

If you have been following my ramblings for any amount of time you will know that I am one of a group of photographers that have come together as Photographers4Charity to raise as much money as we can for Cancer Research UK. The plan is that we give our time for free to deserving couples in exchange for them raising a minimum of £300 for Cancer Research UK.
I was privelaged to help fellow photographer Paul Shergold of Sheer-Gold Photography with a wedding he had arranged for this very worthwhile charity.
Here are some of the images I captured on the day. The couple were Jo and Chris and I would like to thank them for their money raising efforts on the day. The amount raised to date from Jo and Chris' wedding is £530.