Ignite Photos

February 2008

Foreman Homes

29 February '08

I was asked to shoot a show house in Marchwood for Foreman Homes.

Royal Navy Swordfish Charity Dinner

27 February '08

An interesting day out in London. I agreed to work with a friend who is in the Royal Navy Reserves shooting a charity dinner at HMS President in London. HMS President is a Royal Navy training base a stones throw away from Tower Bridge on the Thames. Lots of top navy people turned out for the dinner and even the old Beatles manager George Martin.

However while taking photographs of the reception I was fortunate enough to meet a gentleman by the name of Les Sayer who in my opinion was the real star of the evening. At 93, Les is one of the few remaining survivors who flew the Fairey Swordfish Torpedo Bombers with 825 Squadron from HMS Ark Royal and took part in the successful attack on the Bismarck. It is a fascinating story that I've done a bit more research into since meeting Les. Les is pictured below, top row on the far right.

The Property Styling Company and Upton Coombe House

23 February '08

This was an interesting days shooting. The property is up for sale at around �900k but the house owners were not happy with the photography provided by their estate agents, so they bought in a house stylist to dress the property and myself to shoot it. It was the first time I've done this kind of shoot but it was easy to adapt to. Both the house owners and Helen at the Property Styling Company were really happy with the results from the day.

4Networking Launch Meeting in Weymouth

19 February '08

I'd stayed overnight in Weymouth after spending the day shooting the 4N team so I could visit their launch event in Weymouth this morning. You'll be hard pushed to find a nicer venue to have a breakfast meeting as the Moonfleet Manor Hotel has views across the beach out to the ocean.

4Networking

18 February '08

A couple of weeks before I was having a bad day. Brad Burton (one of the 4Networking directors) telephoned me that day and asked how I was. My answer... "do you want the polite or honest answer?". He wanted the honest answer, so I told him. On the spot he offered me the job of shooting the 4N directors and a man called Johnny Apples for the first cover of their new 4Community magazine. The day of the shoot started off well below freezing, but rapidly warmed up and by lunchtime we were outside shooting.

Amy & Nick Sharp Wedding

16 February '08

I've gone from never shooting a wedding to doing two wedding shoots in as many days. I met Rowan Watts, an established wedding photographer at the Southampton Guildhall Wedding Fair a few weeks earlier. We for coffee the day after the fair and he asked if I wanted to come along to Amy & Nicks wedding as a second shooter. Having never attended a wedding in a nice venue (the last wedding I went to was at a registry office with the reception in the bride and grooms back garden in the form of a bbq!) it seemed like a great opportunity to learn the basics without the pressure of being the main photographer.

Warbrook House and Grange was the wedding venue. The weather was perfect - a beautiful winters day. Rowan had established a great working relationship with the couple and the day went very smoothly. Both Rowan and myself were very happy with the resulting images and he'll be using quite a few of mine in his wedding album for the couple.

Balmer Lawn Hotel Wedding Shoot

15 February '08

This event had been several weeks in the making, and with the added help of On the Pulse PR (thank you Claire and Emily) it came together perfectly on the day. My idea had been to stage a mock wedding photoshoot working with as many local wedding related businesses as I could in the process.

The venue, The Balmer Lawn Hotel were superb. Jess Barron needs a special thank you for all her work on the day to set up the rooms. Amazing!

The day was a hard day at the office, longer than a normal wedding would have been, but without the pressure. It still gave me a good feel for things, and I was extremely happy with the results - better than I could have ever hoped.

Thank you to everyone involved:
Balmer Lawn Hotel (Brockenhurst) -
Josephine's Bridal Collection (Southampton) -
Cars of Distinction (Lyndhurst) -
Make-Up Magic (Southampton) -
Grooms (Southampton) -
Cordicella String Trio (Southampton) -
Jo Hicks Floristry (Hythe) -
The Priory Rooms Hairdressing (Southampton) - 023 8033 0477
On the Pulse PR (Southampton) - www.pulsepr.co.uk

Credit also needs to go to the brides and grooms on the day:
Couple 1 - Gemz & Al Howard
Couple 2 - Chloe Farnworth & Simon Augustesen
Couple 3 - Gemma Wilks & Thomas Ashley

Laura Veirs at The Joiners Arms (Southampton)

13 February '08

Being a fan of Laura's music I made sure I had a ticket for her gig at The Joiners. Her music was great - very stripped down from the album versions as it was just her alone on stage. My photography wasn't so great that evening. I arrived early at the venue and found Laura and her support act (a woman called Clyde) sitting in the bar. Laura had said to me at the start of the evening that she'd prefer it if I only took photos during the first 3-4 songs. With that, the bad lighting and being stuck at the back of a small but very crowded room it made getting a good picture very challenging.

4Networking Launch Meeting in Ringwood

6 February '08

I was invited along to this 4Networking launch meeting by group leader Sarah Nicholls (The Passionate PA). It was a great event with over 40 business people around the table ranging from a bank manager to a pole dance instructor!

Sally Miller

2 February '08

Sally had replied to an advertisement I'd placed on the Starnow website a couple of months before. She joined me in Birmingham while I was shooting there for several days. I've worked with hundreds of models over the years, but Sally stood out from all of them (except maybe ex Olympic gymnast Vanda who I had the pleasure of working with in Montreal a few years ago). Her talent with handstands and contortion was a joy to watch. Seemingly effortlessly she moved from impossible position to even more impossible position. I was very pleased with the results and I hope to work together much more with Sally over the year.

Other Blog Entries:
April 2008 | March 2008 | February 2008 | January 2008

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