My Dads' Model Boats

My Dad, who sadly passed away a few months ago, used to build model boats as a hobby.  Each one took him 18-24 months or so to complete, built from the shed at the bottom of the garden.  That same shed is now my product photography studio, so what better project to launch (pun intended) it with than photographing his boats.  I only had a few minutes to set up the studio for the first of the boats, a trawler as it was being given away to someone who works with special needs adults.

Before photographing the rest of the boats (there are at least 10 more), I need to buy a roll of paper to use as the background.  As you can see from the last photo, A3 sheets just aren't working well.

Bournemouth Air Festival 2011

Leaving home a little too late, and awful traffic in the Bournemouth area caused us to miss the Red Arrows display shortly after which Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging was tragically killed.  My thoughts go out to his family and friends.  In my opinion it was right to continue with the air displays, but so very wrong not to announce the news of the accident and to keep the crowd updated over the tannoy system.

The highlight of my day at the Bournemouth Air Festival was having a chat with a woman who'd worked on the Lancaster Bomber during the Second World War.  It was the final plane of the day, and had been scheduled several hours earlier.  The look on her face, and excitement made the afternoon for me.

Whenever I photograph an event, whether I'm being paid to be there or not (in this case not), it's always my intention to cover as much as possible of what's going on, which for the Bournemouth Air Festival means photographing the ground events as well.  There was so much more happening that I missed.  Maybe next year I'll spend a couple of days there.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from the day...

Elise & Priyesh Wedding Photography in Southampton

Not quite a wedding as such, more a kind of last minute Indian celebration for a traditional wedding taking place in Northern Ireland next month.  With the bride and groom all decked out in traditional Indian outfits and make up (the bride!), they were a delight to photograph.  Here are a few of my favourites.  All the very best for your wedding in September Elise & Priyesh, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of your celebrations.  I only wish I was there to photograph it for you.

Lifestyle shoot at Calshot

A few of my favourite photos from a recent shoot around Calshot with one of my favourite models, Dagmara Kodja.

The best abandoned pig farm fitness shoot ever!

Picture the scene.  A Scottish summer, pissing with rain.  I was in Stonehaven (15 minutes or so down the road from Aberdeen), and I had an outdoor fitness shoot with Scott Baptie.  The rain was near torrential so we needed some shelter.  A little local knowledge and a couple of miles up the road and we'd arrived at a very abandoned, half wrecked pig farm / factory.  It wasn't the prettiest of places, but where the roof was still intact we did have just a little bit of shelter from the elements.

Some weeks earlier I'd suggested Stonehaven as a location because I wanted to photograph Dunnottar Castle later in the evening.  However with the rain easing off just a tad we went in search of a second location, only to find fog so thick it was impossible to see the castle from 200 metres away.  Bugger!  Stupid Scottish summers!

We finished the shoot in a nearby woods, before retiring to a pub at Stonehaven harbour for a well earned beer.

Thanks again Scott for the best damn abandoned pig farm shoot ever!

Rewind Scotland 2011

Having originally taken over 3000 photos, which were then whittled down to around 500, of 27 acts over 20 or so hours or performances, picking my favourite 12 photos for this blog post was tough.

Rewind Scotland was my first proper grown up festival, and I loved every minute of it.  Able to hang out in the VIP area, and photograph the first 3 songs of all the artists, this was a good gig!

The photos in order below are of, Billy Ocean, Clare Grogan (Altered Images), Doctor & the Medics, Go West, Imagination, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Kim Wilde, Nik Kershaw, Rick Astley, The Human League, Tony Hadley & Toyah.

To view more photos, and to purchase fine art prints, please visit my music photography website, Shoot The Music.