I’ve just returned from South Africa, and it was a fantastic trip, thanks for asking! Of course in the cut throat “you snooze you loose” world of freelancers that I’m working in and around at the moment something rather special happened…. I snoozed and I won! Out of the country and having a jolly old time I sold two images for around $1000. Not bad considering I just stuck the images online and forgot about them:

Day 1- Cape Town

Our first few days have been spent in Cape Town, exploring the city and looking around. Number one on the list of priorities was a trip up table mountain, but we’ve been battered by high winds for three days solid, and the cable car which runs to the top showed no signs of opening up.

I expected the real Africa to open up to me in Cape Town, but I was disappointed. This is very much a modern new world city, much like those seen in Australia. It’s setting is stunning though, sprawling around the harbour and rising above the city are the fabulous peaks of table mountain.

Our first trip took us around the V&A waterfront, newly redeveloped, to the point of almost sterile we walked around stocking on essentials such as underwear and toothpaste as, thanks to KLM, our bags we’re of circumnavigating South Africa. Due to the repair of the swing bridge we were offered a ride in the courtesy transport – a souped-up oversized golf buggy – laid on by the port and driven by Rudy. Who took us screeching round cars, pedestrians, and through the heart of the road works to the gate way to Robben Island,

It’s always interesting travelling with a wheelchair, and Karoline is very adventurous in where she will try and get to. This did, however, push her sense of adventure to the limit. Hoisted by five of us into the air and over the side of the boat, she put on brave face as crossed over on to the deck of the ferry, not baring to look down at the waters that lay between the boat and the dock. Safely on we crossed the choppy waters to Robben Island.

To get a real sense of the political past of Africa Robben Island is a must. It’s where Nelson Mandela and many other black political prisoners were held at the pleasure of the Nationalist government as they pushed ahead with their racist, often farcical, but horrific policy of Apartheid. It bemuses me as to how something like this came about especially straight after Europe had experienced the horrors of the Nazis and WWII. But then South Africa became a haven for Nazis and sympathizers and so for near enough 50 years the ruling whites oppressed anyone whose skin tone wasn’t purely white. Robben Island 12km of the coast of Cape Town had been the place of banishment for criminals lepers and finally political dissidents for hundreds of years. I found it ironic that now that predominantly white visitors are taken to and escorted around the island by black tour operators and guides.

Our guide around the prison was Sobe, who was former political prisoner who was detained there for 4 years. The prison was a cold, oppressive place specifically designed to limit stimulation for it’s prisoners. It shows you the strength of character of those who fought, kept fighting and eventually won their battle for freedom and equality. But as a start to a trip it offered a fascinating insight into this young country which has come so far in so short a space of time.

A slow but steady start. The journey from Manchester last night was relatively smooth. I treated myself to the delights of first class and was able to catch up on work the way down.

My packing list consists of more camera equipment than clothes! But when you embark on a journey like this, you want to leave little to chance. Being a predominantly driving holiday weight isn’t a major issue. Where as when I trekked through Nepal I limited the gear I took this time I’m loaded with my trusty 17-50, 80-200 f2.8 and as a treat for the various safaris I’ll be going on, I’ve hired a 120-300 f2.8 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter and a 2x teleconverter just for good measure. I’ve also brought along a 500gb hard drive, netbook, and flash…
Ok, possibly overstocked? We’ll see but its not everyday you get to do a trip like this.

Travelling with someone in a wheelchair always lead to some interesting experiences, however getting out the country looked almost like a non-starter. No-one at Heathrow seemed ready to assist my sister onto the plane, so we had to stand and simply watch all the commuters heading to Amsterdam board before us, as we received regular updates telling us help was on its way. Finally it did arrive albeit 5 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Once boarded I finally slept for the first time in 22 hours. I’d like to say I dreamt of taking wandering the magnificent plains of Africa, taking stunning photos of wildlife and landscapes. But I was dead to the world.

We arrived in Cape Town several hours later, I managed to fit in a few movies and several chapters on Nelson Mandela’s autobiography. Having been finally collected from the plane and ready to head to our hotel, we discovered that our luggage hadn’t made the trip as smoothly as us. For the first time in my travels my suitcase has been lost by an airline. So I’ve got the same clothes to live in for the next 3 days. Thankfully, I followed the advice of several photographers, and kept my gear on me, including chargers and power supplies. So I may be in old clothes and not able to brush my teeth… but I can still take pictures!

For the last few days I’ve been working in Machester with Audi promoting the new A6. Rather than returning to my hotel room every night to watch hours of crap TV and enjoy the delights of hotel food I’ve been wandering the streets of Manchester picking up images.

Manchester is a beautiful city which has undergone serious regeneration and now boasts a youthful, vibrant centre, filled with beautiful red brick buildings giving a a glimpse to it’s historic industrial past. As with much of the North West these beautiful red brick buildings which lay at the heart of Britain’s industrial revolution are peppered all over the city. However, where in many cities they been left to decay and ruin, these former warehouses, mills and factories have been embraced reformed and turned into every thing from hotels to multi-storey entertainment complexes.

My interest in taking these photos stemmed back to a visit here in 2006 when, with a couple of hours to spare between getting off the train and watching a friends play, I went for a wander with my camera around town. One picture I took that day of the GMEX center, now Manchester Central Convention Complex, has become one of my best selling stock images. So I was keen to get some more shots which would relate to that.:

For this portfolio I’ve concentrated on the Printworks, Manchester cathedral, The Arndale Centre and the Manchester Central Convention Complex.

So what would you wear in a headshot shoot?

It’s trickier than you think. What to wear when getting your headshots taken. Your favourite top? The cardi your girlfriend gave you? Or your best suit you pull out once a year for weddings and and other occasions. The answer is all of them if you want, as long as they follow a few simple rules. Essentially an actors headshot is there to sell you and anything that starts to distract from your head will do you a disservice.

The dark top creates a natural vignette for the face

What not to wear

Stripes, fussy collars, patterns and patterned collars all make for really distracting elements when it comes to headshots. The eye’s journey around a headshot travels from the centre of the picture to the eyes of the sitter, taking in everything that it needs to. Wear a strongly patterned top, gives something else for the eyes to focus on and detracts from you. A casting director will only give an actors headshot up to a second of their time. The last thing you need is that casting directors focus being pulled away and diverted from selling you the actor.

Again, the dark top compliments the dark hair creating a striking frame around the face for this actors headshot

IMHO…

Having taken my fair share of headshots, and edited, cropped and sifted thousands of pictures I’ve come to the conclusion that darker colours work best. They create a natural vignette around the bottom of the picture for the face, allowing the viewers eye to travel automatically to the face. Artists have for years understood that the viewer is automatically drawn to the lightest or most interesting part of the picture. Therefore as a photographer taking actor headshots, I need to make sure that the most interesting part is the eyes and the face.

This month I made a little trip up the M1 to the Focus on Imaging trade show in Birmingham. It’s one big playground where manufacturers, photographers and consumers all get to see whats coming up, pick up some amazing deals, see the work of inspirational top-photographers and get to catch up with photographic fellows.

The biggest talking point, and the one that overshadowed the show, was the FTA of Canon. Dropping out a week before was a massive blow and totally unexpected. However, as a marketing ploy it was rather a genius move as, guess what, who was everyone talking about? Nevertheless, they weren’t there, and what do I care, I’m a Nikon user so I’m not getting involved in that debate… wait a minute.
 
Anyway, the boys from Kingston (Nikon’s HQ) put on a good show with loads of informative lectures and a great stand where you get to run your mitts over their offerings. I also got to see the inimitable Andy Rouse who once again impressed with a great collection of images. His annual top ten was rather poignant as he spoke about some favourite images which this year had been influenced by personal tragedy. It’s always great to see someone with such a refreshing approach to photography, and someone so passionate about his work… even if he is a West Ham supporter.

Another favourite and friend of mine Uzair Kharawala, who has been helping me develop my business model and has taught me a thing or two about taking portraits. Really great to catch up with a talk to him.

In these austere times, it was interesting walking around a show so dedicated to consumerism. I saw many lenses and cameras I would love to have walked away with, but what dawned on me is how little difference all this gadgetry makes. My kit bag is complete for 99% of my work, with a good solid and robust camera body, shooting through a lenses which even though it may be over 10 years old is unrivalled in terms of sharpness and speed (Nikon 85mm f1.8). No bit of kit is going to significantly change the quality of my images. As a professional portrait and headshot photographer I believe the best results are achieved by stepping away from the gear, the paraphernalia, the megapixels and the HD video, and actually interacting with the client. All these things can put up barriers between you and those you are photographing. I want to get a strong personal image that captures a persons essence, not show off the capabilities of the latest offering from a camera manufacturer.
 

A walk in the park

February gave me the opportunity to revisit a favourite spot of mine for an actor headshot session in North London. Alexandra Palace, is a fantastic spot to carry out a headshot shoot, with so many different locations within a great park setting it offers plenty of opportunities to provide a wide variety of backgrounds for actors.
Most recently I had the chance to work with Benjamin Way who opted to have his headshots on what turned out to be a rather cold February. Hats off to him, he bravely dealt with the conditions as he had his headshots taken in a range of tops from t-shirts to shirt and tie.

The weather is a factor that always has to be considered when working outside; you are subject to the elements and the natural lighting conditions. Here in London the weather can present all sorts of problems when running a photographic shoot. Having the option to use off camera flash offers me a backup and lets me create natural lighting effects in the headshots I shoot when the light is just too flat and overcast. I used off camera flash on Benjamin’s actor headshots as I found the light was just a little too flat. It’s a favourite technique of mine as effect you get give the feel and look of an outdoor photograph with excellent lighting similar to what you get in a studio.

Backgrounds

As I said the range of backgrounds in Alexandra Palace is great. From more gritty urban settings to a large pond within a short walk of each other, it really helps give a little more character to your headshots especially if you are trying to sell a certain or several ‘looks’. As I like to take up to 2 hours on a headshot session it does give plenty of time to explore and look at all these backgrounds and take a few headshots. Whilst they may not always be used having the choice and a good range of headshots from which to choose the final pictures, it means that we can produce a wide ranging portfolio of looks that can be available to help sell you as an actor to a wider variety of roles.

Time to Update your Spotlight Book Headshot

“The time has come” the Walrus said “to talk of many things”,
“Like headshot renewals, spotlight books and agent offerings”

Ok so there’s a grave in Oxford currently spinning around at several hundred rpm. My apologies. But the point is as an actor that time of year arrives when it’s necessary to renew your membership to the Spotlight casting directory. It’s not cheap either but it’s one of the absolute musts of being an actor. So March begins to see pink forms landing on actresses doormats asking them to confirm and pay their renewals for the following year. And in case you’re wondering, it’s pink for girls and yellow for boys. The spotlight directory is huge, with an amazon’s worth of paper. It’s questionable as to whether the print version is at all useful these days but the online database is one of the most important tools you have available to your acting career. To have any chance of working consitantly as an actor you you need to be in Spotlight.

Spring Cleaning your Career

As it’s time to update your membership, it’s also a great time to go through your CV and clean up and update any information you have on there. It’s also the perfect time to review your headshot. Maybe you’ve changed your hairstyle? Maybe you picture’s looking a little tired? Maybe your no longer happy with the way it ‘sells’ you. Acting is an expensive profession, there’s no getting away from that, and it’s also not the best paid job in the world. As actors it’s not always about how much you get paid. That’s something I understand and that’s why my headshot prices as designed to be fair and appropriate to actors. Starting at £50 pounds for a simple top-up session it’s an easy low-cost way to update your profile without the expense of a full blown headshot session.
Of course I also offer a full headshot session which can be at a location of your choice in and around London. From living rooms to local parks, I’m trying offer actors a little something extra and make their headshot session a less formal more personal experience.

Stage, Theatre and Film Photography – Why?

Taking production photos or stills seems like an idea almost juxtaposed to theatre, stage and film. Trying to capture defining image of a living or moving production in non-moving silent format seems like a fools undertaking. And yet that is what is so exciting and so fascinating. Trying to create a concise point of reference to sell the show, is what engages me with theatre photography.

Capturing the essence in Theatre Photography, A little girl stares out of her window on the Night Before Christmas. Working with Will Evans' lighting design I've created an image which has become regularly used in all the publicity for the show.

As a theatre or production photographer I’m just another part of the chain involving directors, designers, actors and the entire team behind the production. In fact my role is the simplest, to arrive take some images that capture the show and provide pictures which the marketing team can then use and forward on to whoever needs them. It’s almost too simple and with that comes the biggest challenge.  Photographing the show in around 5 defining images. You are a discerning audience member and photograph those scenes which are most memorable and best sell the show. From a marketing point-of-view there also has to be an acceptance of what not to photo. Surprises should be left as surprises for the audience, after all, theatre and film are spectacles and the mystique comes from not always knowing everything they have to offer.

I recently found this great blog from Andrew Haydon of the Guardian about “The sorry state of stage photography”.

Scene from The Way Back Home - Theatre Photography

Above is one of my favourite pictures from a recent shoot for Big Wooden Horse’s production of The Way Back Home.  A beautiful, charming and very original piece of childrens’ theatre, featuring brilliant songs from almost every ever modern genre.  Seriously, when you see an alien getting down to a funky dance you’ve possibly seen it all! I love this picture as it shows the power of digital cameras (and a bit of photo-post production) in modern theatre photography.  The dynamic range is huge, from the dark blues from the tungesten lights (the white balance simply controlled incamera by a flick of a switch) to the bright, bright moon. The camera (Nikon D300) capture the details in the highlights and shadows beautifully.  I used a bit of lightroom and photoshop to clean the floor of the stage, and also bring out more detail in the blacks and shadows and pull in the highlights.  In the days of film this would have been difficult but digital cameras and modern post-production techniques and are ideally suited for low-light theatre photography.

A theatre publicity still from Pigeon Party, possibly my most widely distributed picture

I was asked to help basketball player Philip Ip produce photograph some headshots and sports modelling images for his portfolio. My plan was first to create a studio space using a backdrop and my 2 trusty Nikon speedlights making good use of the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS). The photography shoot was to take place in a local gym, it was in the late afternoon so about halfway through the shoot the light began to fade.

I love using Nikon speedlights and the CLS as it’s so quick, easy to use and versatile. Whether I’m using it for actor headshot photography or on a sports photography shoot I can rig multiple lighting set-ups in seconds. Having worked in theatre and as an actor and theatre photographer I’m well aware of the use of gels to add mood and drama to an image. I’ve also picked up a few scraps of gel over the years. The size of the speedlight compared to a parcan means there plenty of useable scraps left over for me.

With model headshots as opposed to actor headshot photography colour is an important element. To add some drama to the picture I decided to use one off camera flash as a rim light but added a blue gel to it. The other key light used a shoot through umbrella to diffuse the intensity of the light.

The real fun began when we broke out of the studio and into the court. The light was fading but just bright enough to light the back of the court. The big bay windows gave an overall sense of space to the image itself and added impact to the sports photos we were about to take.

But just a few simple clicks on the back of my Nikon I could control the lights and constantly make changes and adjustments as the conditions changed.
That day we produced some excellent examples of sports photography. Philip is now receiving plenty of bookings as a basketball model and is represented by Chris Snode’s Sports Promotions and Modelling Agency