I had read about this camera a while ago and completely forgotten about it until i came across it via Huck’s blog on twitter.

Its both inspiring and beautiful to watch, as an enthusiastic photographer and someone who dreams to one day do something a percent as creative as this!

Enjoy!!

I recently worked on this video with Trails and Ben Pollard. Really happy with the result and glad to have gotten the chance to work with these guys!

I Helped Film and direct this video along with a bit of prop making thrown in.

A little while ago one of my new pals from a band called The Catharsis asked if i would be interested in doing a logo for his new record label. The record label is an extension of what Morgan (the Founder) believes in, only putting out music that he likes regardless of if it sells or is ‘pop’ enough to sell. I love this idea and love the name. The brief was fairly loose, just a few examples and a little bit about the owner and the label manifesto. A minimalist approach was in order, nothing too fancy, nothing too modern. Morgan is a big fan of Joy division and that minimalist look with the sketchy look came was inspired by their artworks.

A minimalist approach was in order, nothing too fancy, nothing too modern. Morgan is a big fan of Joy division and that minimalist look with the sketchy look came was inspired by their artworks.

The name gave me connotations of a small old town that has some sort of biblical connotations so etchings and old drawings or religious material and old buildings and outhouses were what i started with. Typeface wise I needed something that was sympathetic to the illustration and also gave a nod to the Joy Division reference.

Due to the nature of the logo it needed to work in both a stacked and linear layout. It would need to work on Business cards, T-shirts, Online and other printed material. Its a simple logo, but effective.

If you would like to learn more or are interested in getting on touch with Morgan at Sabbath Tow Records check them out over at http://www.facebook.com/sabbathtownrecords

Christmas time I was asked to help out a good friend of mine work on an idea for his Christmas Card for his friends and family. The concept was to recreate a 1990′s ‘laser’ portrait. I love working with Tom because A) He’s not shy of having his picture taken and B) He is one of the funniest people i’ve met.
He sent me a few examples of the kind of shots that he was looking for and left the rest to me. Using a small room as the studio space was tight but i managed to get a simple two light setup in there and a silver lastolite reflector wedged camera front left. Its always a bit like Photography gymnastics when your in a small room with kit everywhere and trying to get the shot.

The Outfit was Toms own clothing and the  stains on the jumper are God knows how old from some hotdog or something. the Tie and Washed out denim shit are perfect non-matchers! Rest assured He doesn’t normally look like this! and by the end of it felt so ill from going cross-eyed for so long

The background was generated in photoshop using grads and paths with glows and blurs on. The distressed scratches are from a dirty bit of paper scanned in and worked on top. All-in-All a very fun shoot! and exactly what he was after! Let me know what you think!!

SLATERS!!!

I’ve just seen this and loved the idea of it but it made me wonder if it’s a good innovation or if it goes against the whole point of these types of cameras…If you’re into cameras etc that is!

http://www.saikatbiswas.com/web/Projects/Holga_D.htm

With applications like Hipstamatic and Instagram such a huge hit on iPhones and other such generic smart phones, digital cameras are developing and closing the gap between colour information, 35mm film and medium format quality images. Just look at the quality you can get from a consumer level SLR like the 550D compared to an earlier “Professional” standard camera, it would make sense for someone to think up a Lomography or toy camera digital version of these much loved cult cameras.

Lomography explained: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomography

I would probably buy one of these because it’s a neat idea and a gimmick, but the whole fun and cult following of “toy” or “Lomography” cameras is that you really don’t know how the images are going to look until you get that film back from the lab. Common defects and aesthetic variables such as  light leaks on the film, out of focus, over/under exposed shots. Each camera seems to have its own personality and quality, but is the innovation of a Digital Holga camera a step towards a homogeneous kind of Lomographyesque photography where people know exactly how shots are going to come out – with a colour grade and film grain look  on it, nodding back to those early cameras and styles of photography? These cameras open up the market to everyone who wants to take quirky pictures at a better resolution than is currently available with smartphone Apps and without learning how to do it in photoshop/aperture and it also eliminates the expense of developing and printing your negatives.

It’s a bit of a rant and I guess the same things might have been said about everything that has gone from analogue to digital, but at least when digital cameras were invented it was a whole new world to photography. Is this just another gimmick for people to put bad photos on Facebook?

About a month ago now I rescued my old Canon FTb from a dusty draw and decided to look further in to why it had forsaken me by blowing out all the images I took the last time I had it out with me.

summit negative scanner

Looking at it I found that the aperture ring in the lens had broken and was not adjusting. Everything else seemed fine on the body such as shutter speed and control, dials and metering seemed fine. A couple of days later I had a bargain deal on a new second hand 50mm f1.8 S.C lens at a cost of about £20 inc. p&p.

Loaded with so ridiculously expired film (no point in wasting some good stuff if it’s still broken) I have been carrying this tank of a camera with me everywhere. Roll finished and £4.99 and 1 hour service later the negs came back. After seeing a mate able to scan using a flatbed scanner I wanted to see what I could do with mine… Not alot so Jessops got £50 of my money in exchange for a Summit SP2 Photofix negative/slide scanner.

When I was doing my reading up on scanners there wasn’t really alot out there. And alot of there brands I have never heard of and have identical looking boxes made by about 4 different brands. So I thought get one. What’s the worst that can happen. Getting it home I was impressed with the size and ease of set up. Software is clunky but straightforward enough. Plug it in, choose your slide settings and load the film begs in to the holder, insert and click capture. Simples. After a bit of use I found that it exposes slightly better if you leave it for a while to do its thing. The maximum resolution is 3600dpi so it’s not too bad I thought.

Once I had scanned in a bunch of negs as high quality tiffs and jpegs I obviously had to bring them in to photoshop and work in them. At 100% these files are noisy and grainy and have lines rubbing through them. This could partly be due to the expiration date of the film used (which also meant colours were inconsistent and faded) but the lines through the images were a result I was not expecting. Having gotten used to high res desktop scanners and practically noise free digital camera images I did not even take in to account this digital noise issue and obviously this is down to the quality of the scanner and resolution. It’s certainly too soft to work on retouching wise. I thought I would be able to get a shot in in film, get it developed and use it alongside my digital work. I think not.

I will have to test some more films first but I have a feeling it will be going back to jessops and I will be spending a bit more money in the new year on a better scanner.

As you can see the images are OK At a small size but blow them up and the result is soft, noisy and low quality. The expired film used as said before could add to the issues. Further tests will be carried out and I shall give 100% image samples. If I wanted a stylised low res image I might as well just use my iPhone and hipstmatic!

Who would have thought that I could be a Fanboy at 27!!!

Yeah its only a tweet but my favourite band ever! Pure win for me! thanks ETID!!

Over the last two and a bit months I’ve been photographing as many gigs as i can get in to!, which has been interesting with little money due to saving to move in to London. I cannot hack the commute anymore! This set is a few selects from the Barfly show in November with Trails opening the show in true style. Full of energy, fantastic sound and a rock vibe that makes you want to party your legs off! and nearly smashing my camera up in the process! 22 were second on and a set to remember! UV lights, strobes galore and amazing music mu only issue was that due to how packed the venue was I left my flash in my bag at the merch stand and thought i wouldn’t need it, after doing tests with the guys in trails the lighting was OK and thought i wouldn’t need it with a nice 2.8 lens on the camera. NOTE TO SELF: Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups!

As soon as 22 came on the lights were out and I got a whole bunch of UV smears on my screen! not great so it was a bit of quick thinking with the settings and also getting lucky with the other photographers flashing away like lunatics! at some points i felt bad for the bands due to one photographers complete disregard and blasting them in the face.

Arcane Roots came on and the crowd jammed right up close and locked me in a corner. A few of the shots came out well but from the same view point there was not a lot of variety. Lessons learned Take a flash if its allowed but use it sparingly or with the band in mind.

Have more confidence with the kit and I need to just get the shots! fuck everyone else, its my pictures that matter at that moment. Don’t get squashed in to a corner, its not going to get you the best shots! and finally Photographing gigs is hard work and a great test for seeing how well you know how to use your camera.

I hated photographing concerts because there is so much competition with other photographers and probably because I didn’t know my camera well enough so its a great way to learn under pressure and every gig i learn something new and normally come away with one photograph that I am happy with. And this is one of them!

so I might be taking more shots at gigs in the new year.

After a bit of a break from the “Admin” side of things and just keeping busy on the living day-by-day side of things The Stable London is now back to it! We’ve had some amazing projects come out way and ALOT more in the pipeline. Concentrating on improving my gig photography I have bee attending 2-4 shows a week in an attempt to get my skills up to scratch! Its so hard but totally worth it! and I have found that gig photography is a great way to get your name around quickly and show waht you can do!

Still having said that I much prefer the art of desining a shot and planning the shoot side of things so i know exactly how my images are going to come out, rather than the “Oh shit this venue has crap lighting” or “there is 5 photographers already here taking pictures” gig side of things.

So I’m updating the portfolio section and setting the foundation for the projects i have worked on recently so that when the site gets its tweaks and amends in the very near future i will be able to show you ALL of the work and selects in all their glory.

Keep inspired and keep looking at whats around you. Ive found that keeping your head above ground is the only way to be inspired. working away in a room on your own going over the 1 influence that you think makes you different…does not make you different at all… It just makes you seem lazy and niche.
adieux

I have have really busy as of late, I am trying to keep myself busy. Going through some tough times at the moment and writing anything on here just seems futile!

I dont know when i will get my thoughts in to some sort of cohesive logical state, but the reason i started writing this blog was to put my thoughts and journey as a designer in to the world. the books i’ve been reading, the influences i am taking from. It all seems pretty pointless at the moment. Normal service will resume I am sure. But writing words about things that no one will ever read seems pointless at the moment.

Yeah i’ve been taking pictures, yeah i’ve been buying art, yea i still live at home, yeah i work a day job, yeah its all pretty standard stuff.

Your missed only by the people who notice you.

Recently I took on a project with the Morellas, a 1940′s inspired vocal group. The shoot was to generate promo images to be used on Britain and Ireland’s next top model live show and also their own website and social networking sites. It was a seriously busy day, I arrived at 9am with a car full of kit and the 5 girls were already getting hair and make-up done. by 1.30 they were ready for me to start shooting. The girls wanted individual shots so i did a range of tight crops and bust shots. I also managed to get in a quick group shot.

Hair by Jo wells, Make-up by Amy-Lei. Photography and retouching by Alan Harford thestable-london.com. The images came out great. It was a fantastic project to have been involved in as i got to really play around with lighting within a limited space and try and get a nice even lighting and pick out the detail in the girls hair and make-up.

This weekend Has been Busy Photographed a band called The Catharsis in The Zenith bar in Angel friday night and had a blast with the band. Went to a Film production seminar in LDN Saturday and Sunday did a long old shoot with The Morellas a 1940′s styled group. The shoot was to arranged inorder to get a few shots of the girls individually and also last minute get a group shot.

 
The retouching was really fun to do, I learn’t alot from this one image. I am happy with the end result but there is a few things I wished i’d changed whilst shooting. Perhaps alter the pose and adjust the composition slightly. You live and learn.

Live performance video for Foley Artist, a 3 piece Surrey based band. www.foleyartistband.com
Directed, Filmed and Produced by Alan Harford – www.thestable-london.com

Video was shot using a Canon 550D using a Nikon 50mm 1.4 lens and a Nikon D300s with a 35mm 1.8 prime. Audio was recorded and mixed by Doug Grant @ Homeless music. Edited by Max Downey (www.maxdowney.com) and David Phelps. Graded by Matt Lee-Redman.

Assisted by Katy Sparkes (www.sparkesfx.com)and Stephen Poole.

This is what can be done with a Canon 7D video!

It just blows my mind. The story is touching and heartfelt, the shots are beautiful and the overall look and feel is just fantastic!

Directed/Edited: Eliot Rausch
Director of Photography: Luke Korver, Matt B. Taylor
Song: Big Red Machine / Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner

check out Phospictures http://www.phospictures.com/

If you see any videos that you like email them over to me and i’ll put them up online here for others to check out.

After I had backed up all the footage and had it converted from the native format on my Nikon D300s and the Canon 550D I had it converted all to ProRes HD. any footage that was not full 1080p was up-scaled and brought to a consistent format, to ensure that everything was the best it could be going in to the edit. Using the latest purchase to transport the data around the place my new 2TB WD MyBook. Once converted the rushes turned out to nearly 188GB!

Sitting down without a plan or knowledge of how to edit is a pretty daunting task, so i spent the best part of 3 hours on a monday evening attempting and failing to edit this video and get clips synced up…. MASSIVE error. one thing i have learn’t by now is stick to what your good at. Even though recently i did a post about being a jack of all trades I think that eveyone has their limits. and learning to cut video on a live music video was probably a bit more than i had bargained for. Cue Max Downey a friend and colleague from Hogarth Worldwide (my current daytime job employer). Max is certainly making some waves with his skills and offered to help me on this project and show me the ropes. Speaking to him and watching him work you can see straight away that he knows exactly what he is doing. Setting up the footage he quickly makes a rough edit using multi clip editing process it lays down the foundation for what is to be the video.

Creating a 3 camera cut and getting everything in time to the beat is the next stage in the process for this video. the video quickly takes shape and within the first evening we have the first cut with initial roaming shots and cutaways peppered in the mix to give the video its pace and intensity. Making notes on the train home I had to look for shots that I liked and shots that i could do with cutting out. Second session with Max the Edit was done to how we felt it should look, with loads of teh roaming shots used and details and nice tweaks to give the video a wide variety of shots and keep the video interesting. The audio take had to be re-recorded due to the over-spill from the live recording session being too much, luckily the audio engineer was top notch and sorted it all out perfectly and it slotted in exactly the same.

Its now waiting to be graded, to get the some of the shots more consistent and bring some of the detail out in the shots. Due to the lack of lighting and also trying to keep the location hidden so it doesn’t look like its in a school hall. I’ve adjusted some of the shots and got rid of the main centre on establishing shots as I was never happy with that shot and also with a bit of an open forum with some editors at work, I decided to get rid of it which now gives the final cut more intensity and doesn’t allow the audience to relax between the shots. I’m just really looking forwards to handing over the final file to the band. I’m now planning to arrange a release promotion and try and get it exposed as much as possible.

With the evolution of many DSLR’s featuring HD video capabilities, I have been itching for a reason to bust out the camera and film something. Going out for a beer a few months ago with Matt from Foley Artist (who i seem to be doing a lot of projects for at the moment) spoke about projects that I was keen to undertake or try out, somehow moved on to the mention of doing video work using DSLR camera kit that i have got and how I’ve been testing a few bits out. Keen for them to have a video to raise their profile as a band and also to accompany the recent release of their debut Gorgeous Dog E.P (recorded buy Doug Grant @ Homeless Music).

Discussing this further over a few lagers we decided to make a go of it and produce a video, as i had a promo project for another band fall through I was keen to use the time allocated and get some more work under my belt during the month of July. My creative partner and I have been working on a few ideas for future projects and I felt that Foley Artist was the perfect match for our live session concept. Speaking to the band I put forwards the treatment and took a bit more of a brief of what they wanted. Foley Artist didn’t want to use a pre-existing song as they felt that they had already done that and were giving them out for free at shows, they wanted some newer material to be recorded and publicised. Sitting in their kitchen discussing ideas, it was key for me at a first project to keep it simple and keep it organised. Getting the band to organise location and proposed props was first up as the budget did not allow me to spend my time buying/renting these things in. I spent the next 3 weeks getting camera kit in and making sure i had a good idea of how things needed to roll on the day of the shoot. Organising people to assist was a hard task at such short notice and on a weekend, but thankfully Katy Sparkes (www.sparkesfx.com) my got SFX make-up artist and Stephen Poole friend a friend of the band were there to help out. Because we wanted to give the video a live look and feel audio would have to be done on the day, so enlisting the talents of Doug Grant Co-Owner and engineer of Homeless Music a mobile HD Pro-Tools based recording solution that has worked with the many local bands offering a cost effective solution for audio all the way up to  the likes of Arcane Roots who are seeming to be a force to be reckoned with…Anyway… This solution meant that we could achieve a live performance that was top quality and sat well with eh video takes I would capture.

Arriving on the day to an empty school hall my first panic was how the hell am i going to light this and make it not look like a school hall!!! Tapeing binbags to the windows and shutters blacked out alot of the “schooly” type stuff and laying the old patterned rugs down gave the set a live-lounge feel that i was aiming for…Not quite Abbey Road or Maida Vale but you have to start somewhere!

Setting up took close to 4 hours with a quick break for lunch, we started filming the three locked off angles and Audio was completed in 5 takes, using the audio playback the various roaming shots, close ups and my first attempt at using my Hague DSLR Stabiliser rig… think I need a bit more practice with that thing!!! Being the Set designer, lighting op, Director and Camera man certainly meant that I did a lot of running around over the meagre 3 hours we had to shoot, before the breaking down of the equipment had to be done. Ingestion and backing up were a major priority then on to Editing. More to follow…

I seem to be working alot with the Foley Artist at the moment, having shot two promo shoots with them and also shooting a live performance video with them, they seem to be liking what i am doing (which is always a good thing). For any band gigs are the life blood, they get them out there and infront of crowds, the more you play the bigger the crowds (if your any good that is). I think these guys are a great bunch and really enjoy their music. As a client they are pretty easy which is always a nice change, they give me a fairly open brief and let me get on with it. I had seen a few of the examples they had put together which was a kind of DIY punk style with cut out images and a rough looking type style. With that in mind i really wanted to use images that i had taken from the promo session i had done previously.

In my opinion when doing a flyer for a fairly unknown band its important that the flyers are clean, clean and accessible. I see so many flyers for heavy metal bands or indie bands that play the London circuit and you can barely read them, they are certainly pretty to look at as a piece of “flyer art” as I call it, but for the 3 seconds people normally spend reading flyers its got to get the bite size bit of information to it’s audience quickly.

With a shot selected I took the supplied examples from the band and chose a very clean Gotham font and a selective colour pallet as the starting point. The type coming at angles frames the main body of text and works with the image subjects. Designing a flyer is not something that i would normally rave about or i would say i do lots of but when trying to get in to the music design scene, these small jobs and favours add up. A firstly successful execution i feel and would certainly work as a template for this bands future flyers. building up a brand identity is almost as important as writing great music to bring in the crowds.

For more information on this band check them and their FREE E.P out over at their Bandcamp Page

If you would like to see some of the shots i have done for these guys there are some older posts here

Folding techniques for designers..

I got it from magma books just off of leather lane, where I was helping out In the print studio at Greyworks. Now for £20 and a penny change I got the book and cd with all of the folding templates…now you who’d have thought that the name would have given it away for me but it basically shows you a bunch of origami stuff. Fanning and wet creasing… Not what I am after. The book looked great in the shop but once I got back to the studio I was a bit disappointed with my purchase. Needless to say I shall be taking it back to magma books in covent garden and changing it up for a more structure based paper engineering book.

Stand by for a better review tomorrow I hope.

Creative Agencies come and go, and its important to know who, what and were these companies are. Here are a list of agencies worth checking out, see what they do, how they do it, how big they are and what makes them different from the others.

If there is any that I have missed off, or think should be added to the list email me at:  hello@thestable-london.com and i will check them out and ad them to the list.

Mother
Fallon
Biblioteque
Superfad
tequila
agency.com
TBWA
unit9
McCann Erickson
JWT
Publicis
Sudler & Hennessey
Ogilvy
TAG Worldwide
Saatchi & Saatchi
Lowe
Fruition London
http://www.nexusproductions.com/
BD Network
Radley Yeldar
CDP Advertising
Iris
Sector light
Partners Andrews Aldridge
Elvis
Ideas Eurobrand
The Hub+
BBH – bartleboglehegarty
Krow
CHI
http://www.mycontagion.com/ – Euro
http://www.deep.co.uk/
http://www.spotlightideas.co.uk/?p=122
Joshua G2
Addiction
Adam and Eve
Karmarama
Krow
Souk
St. Lukes
Brothers and sister
AMVBBDO
Proximity
Freud Communication
DCH
albion
splash-london
Grey
RSCG
Watermill
CHI
CIA
www.krowcommunications

http://www.deadpixels.co.uk/

Naked
Albion
Glu
http://www.hi-res.net/
the red brick road
Mullen
Arnold
Amsterdam
Selmore
Droga 5
http://www.monorex.com
http://www.idexperiential.co.uk/
http://www.digitalanddirect.com
http://www.living-group.com
http://www.jory.co.uk/
http://www.dotcog.com/

Canon 550D with Nikon 1.4 lens with adapter ring from thestablelondon on Vimeo.

This is a very quick film test i did using the work 550D with an ebay adpter ring (£8.99) and my Nikon 1.4 lens.
I will follow up with a proper film test later, but it looks good and gives me food for thought to buy one very soon!!

I’ve just started work on my Girlfriends website http://www.elissafranceschi.com to help her promote and act as a landing site for her New album Into the Light. Of which the Artwork was designed by myself. It was a big style rush job and was Design and built in 2 evenings. The eCommerce shop was done by a friend Jan Leeks who is a genious and not just web development but anything Arsenal! the Man is a ledge!

The site needed to be clean and simple, Be straight forwards for me to build and use the existing look and feel for the new album. Using a shot that didn’t make the cut for the album artwork (Taken by Josh Jones) The image needed extending as did most of the images in this artwork. Something i will insist the Photographers to do next time i do artwork for a CD is tell them to SHOOT WIDE! its all very well making a nice looking image but its not good when you have 12 songs of lyrics to include along with the standard Please and Thank yous that Albums tend to include.

Its been really simple to do as most of the framework had already been set up previously, the Bio page and Store page and the Blog. It was just up to me to tie them up to an umbrella page and develop a Picture Gallery. In time additional pages will come such as gig pages but for now it was just important for us to get site up ready for the launch of the album, which appears to have been very well received!!

Also this weekend I’ve been using my Nikon D300s to use for video work recording video blogs for Elissa and I have to say i am not very happy with it. Really bad camera noise which is audioble when filming, even when using an off camera microphone. I think the Canon 550D will be bough and in my mitts in no time at this rate!!

If only i could afford the 5D!!!

I have just got back from a fantastic weekend away in Brighton. This was not just an excuse to get down to the coast but a weekend based around Portrait photography.

Last year i attended Garage Studios flash photography course taught by Mr Adam Bronkhorst, sitting in for the first part was a chap called lou o’bedlam who had taught a portrait course the previous night. Needless to say i have been waiting for his next visit to the studio again and have not been let down by what i took away from the weekend. Starting the Saturday with the intermediate course we touched on the basics of portrait photography and what makes us as photographers take better pictures, and what differentiates us from happy snappers who take pictures for memories rather than to show others and seek others approval.

We were given the chance to shoot with a couple of different models and then critique others work and have ours pulled apart with a view to seek out what works, what doesn’t and how to improve. The weekend was really interesting as it talked about deeper things than just taking pictures of pretty girls but also what it takes to get the “gold” from a model or the subject you are photographing. using devices and techniques to distract the model from their preset poses and physical structures. The importance of taking your time wherever possible to talk to the subject and to establish what it is that you find attactive about the subject that you can focus in on and capture in your one frame that tells a story and suggests a captured moment in front of the camera.

I found it interesting learning about the pose of a model and what makes a model more attractive and why. This was covered more on the second day that delved deeper in to the aspects of what makes a good image and why some body shapes, poses and crops should used. particularly in hands and limbs, which can look strange to the subconscious if cropped oddly… Something i would have never thought about before this weekend. the word Arbitrary was used a lot when talking about crops of an image. Things need to be done for a purpose.

I took some good shots and also some bad, but Lou said kept saying that even if its a bad shot its not the end of the world! Its just a bad photo. I learn’t that even if they are bad, I can still learn from the shots. I ended on a high with my favourite shot of the weekend! When I took this shot i had gotten the chance to develop some form of relationship with the model and got a bit of banter going. The models were really professional, really friendly and made it really relaxed. Lou kept saying that we didn’t need to worry because they were “just models” but i think that was just to make us not feel intimidated when photographing with them under such a false situation.

I had such a great time doing this course and would recommend it to anyone wanting to improve their photography technique. Lou was a funny guy and has given me a reason to get out there and shoot portraits more. It gives me a confidence for my more production based shoots in the future and has taught me that I need to break down the process of taking a picture in to micro details, concentrating on one thing at a time, until that one thing becomes second nature, then you move on to the next thing, then the next thing until the whole process is just a reflex. So i need to shoot more and shoot often! because It is fun, it is a rush and it is great getting good feedback from others regarding the work that I do. One thing i wish i had done is gotten the class members contact or flickr pages so i could have kept in the loop of what they do in the future.

I have put some others up on my Flickr and will post some more at some point.

Like Lou says on his website

“Photography is Love.
Love is God.
Photography is God.”

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing Sian Sanderson a talented singer songwriter. She approached me a few months ago and asked if I would like to work with her and get some shots she can use for her online presence. I instantly said yes and brought a good friend of mine Katy Sparkes onboard who was responsible for the awesome zombie shoot I did about 6 or so weeks ago. We had actually been discussing how badly we wanted to photograph a female with tattoos and a rock n roll look just before Sian approached me so it must have been a sign or something.

The brief was open as she had no real ideas as far as direction or styles went just as long as it wasn’t the whole long grass or forest set ups that seem to spam alot of the interweb. After a bit of thinking it and looking at some of the styles of my favourite photographers I had a concept of her taking high tea at a really posh location and surrounded by bright cakes and indulgence.

This for me seemed a great way to juxtaposition her alternative look and style with something that be taken as a fashion shoot as well as a promo for a singer. With this brief I sorted the location at originally the Oatlands Park Hotel but upon a recce thought it was not swish enough for what I needed. Roll on to a bit of a panic the week before the shoot. I have the model, all the props and dress sorted, the makeup artist was set just no location.

Thanks to the Nic and Karen at the Hand and Spear pub in Weybridge, Owners of the recently refurbished Youngs pub. The styling was just what i was  I had in mind and just an awesome location. Regarding the butler the wonderful Andy Jackson an old friend of mine seemed to just work so well with Sian, both looks and personality wise. A good laugh was had and just really glad it went so well!

The shoot was fast and went well. The retouching was minimal due to great makeup and a clear skinned model. Overall it was a great shoot, and really looking forwards to the next one! so if you have any ideas or suggestions get in contact!

Hi.

I have just bought from warehouse express Interfit Strobies i Sync Receiver
Interfit Strobies i Sync 4 Wireless and Optical Trigger/Receiver Set.

For my d300s powering my nikon sb800 and sb900.

Has anyone else used them before. I am going to give them a go this weekend and see how I get on with them. Ideally I would have liked the T2d’s but they are £200 for what I needed or the new pocket wizards which is more like £500 up till now the cls camera system on the D300s has been great because I can adjust the flashes on camera, but the infra red outside is just rubbish. It’s a nightmare unless right in line of sight.

I have no idea how the shots are going to be effected or enhanced with this new bit of kit but hopefully it won’t slow me down because things will have to be manually adjusted.

Let’s hope they are reliable on shoots and not too battery hungry otherwise they will be getting sent straight back!!

I guess review and feedback of shots to follow.

I recently won a place at Garage Studios in Brighton and these are my thoughts about the day and Lomo cameras!

Having never touched a Lomo or a Diana cameras before the course i was not sure what i would be able to get from the day. It was a quick learning curve for me as i had a bit of a background in 35mm photography before and understood the basics such as ISO, Aperture and Shutter speeds from my Digital SLR Photography experience. I had a great time and learnt a lot about the history and techniques behind Lomo photography and so that we all had a purpose and inspiration for shots, we each had a shot list which we had to complete within our two rolls of film. It’s a big step back from the Digital photography I know and am used to, but I found it very liberating at the same time because I had to think about what I was going to shoot more and not have a clue as to how it was going to turn out until i got it developed.

This i found most exciting about the whole experience, the unknown and organic nature that Lomography camera have, each one a style and personality of its own. Since the course i have received a Diana F cameras a gift and enjoy taking it out with me on trips. It’ a bit like a busman’s holiday from photography when i take a Lomo camera out with me instead of my Digital camera. The experience is a pleasure and each picture developed i learn or find something new…. I still need to practice my focusing though!!

Lomo Smart Car

Angle

Multiple Exposures

Street band in Brighton

Good Times!!

I have a Roll of Black and White film which i am still to scan and process in photoshop so i shall look forwards to sharing them in the future!

Cheers

The stable

The other week Geraint from paperchain said that his shop needed some new imagery and a storefront shot to go on the website. Obviously I said I would love to do it as a keen photographer and a good friend of the shop.

I have worked with Geraint previously on some new product shots for the website which came out really well. You can currently check them out on the paperchain website. www.paperchainproducts.com

After work in London doing my day job we headed over to the shop. I always shocked with the amount of kit I have bought and collected in the last couple of years! Assisted by another good friend and talented make up artist Katy Sparkes www.sparkesfx.com and of course supervised by paperchains director Geraint Smith we hot footed it in to Kingston and got set up!

The shop is much bigger than I could handle with even an 18-55mm kit lens so I had to set the D300s up on a tripod and shoot thR shop in sections and stitch it together in post. (something I hadn’t done until this project!) but I am really happy with the end result and think that it shows the shop in an interesting way.

I hope you enjoy it and come visit the shop soon!

For anything photography related you can contact me on hello@thestable-london.com

panorama of Paperchain stopre front

Cheers for now!

Shot using:
Nikon D300s
18-55mm nikon kit lens
SB900 with a 76cm softbox at one end
SB800 with reflected umbrella at the other

This weekend was a great weekend for the stable! Recently I have been in chats with a few buddies about cool projects to work on and we finally got started on one of them.

The project in question was a zombieland inspired photoshoot with special effects by the talented Katy Sparkes www.sparkesfx.com. This is a pre-production shoot for a bigger project. Used to get an idea of how my kit works, what is needed, how long things take and generally how thongs need to work.

Short on time and with only two models we certainly got alot done and in really happy with the shots. Some look a little but hammy and I think that’s down to me rushing or being rushed on to the next shots. This is something I need to work on. Only call a shot a wrap when your happy with it.

Taking all of my kit with me I hot cracking setting it all up. I found that the wide angle kit I had suited most of my needs but experimented with my nikon 50mm prime which is great! and disappointed by my sigma 28-70 f2.8 which I find soft and not great on the focusing side of things.

Using a couple of speedlites triggered by nikons fantastic yet at times frustrating CLS system (not to be confused with the crap boy band.) the lights were used with lastolite softbox on a handy pole ad some times reflected with 1.5m wex reflector held by some helpful assistant.

I haven’t retouched any of these images so they are not final images but I am just so excited bout them I wanted to share some with you.

We have alot of planning to do for the real thing. Lots of zombies, a brilliant band, bigger location and awesome makeup.

Enjoy.

Been a little bit quiet recently on the blog, design and photography front.

I’ve had a massive drop in confidence due to not having done enough photography this year. As a result i have turned down to f the biggest jobs to date! a Massive wedding which would have been really cool to do and a job at the Natural History museum in London. Both of which i now know that i could have done but at the time i just felt that i was not competent enough to undertake the gigs! STUPID BOY!!!

Its tough because i have been battling with am i good enough or not for some time and i tend to think that its best to say know and admit defeat rather than say YES and give things ago! but i guess it just comes down to not wanting to let anyone down.

As a result of these events and opportunity’s being given away i have undertaken several self initiated projects at once all of which i was very excited about until this happened!

Its been a real struggle because i am right handed and can’t even hold a pencil so working has been a real struggle…Just as things were starting to look rosy!!

Still when my hand is fully working and i can hold my camera and hopefully do some work again soon I will be sure to upload it!

Till then Standby!

I love the act that my friends and I go way back! because we have history together. People collect shit and hold on to stuff and create memories together. Another lifetime ago i used to play in a band… We definately were not the best but it was hella fun and rocked out rather than smoking crack rocks under the skate ramps at the local park!

I thought that this needed to be shared with my friends who might remember all these memories and to show to my new friends that i once created something. After all that is all i want to do as a “Designer/creative minded person”. Creative something and leave a memory, and say, I WAS ERE!

enjoy…or not!

thanks Doug for finding this Gem and thanks to the other guys involved for being a part of those memories!

System 2 was the Band and the song was Called Thirst. I played guitar!

CLICK HERE TO HEAR – Thirst – SYSTEM 2

Being full of ambition and having a passion for everything creative is all very well, and i am sure that it might put me in a good light with some people who might find it impressive or refreshing. It might even encourage others or give a kick up the arse to colleagues who have spent too many years sitting on their laurels doing just enough to get through. But. When is wanting to do too much counter productive? This is a question that i have to ask myself, am I someone who is like a dog playing with a toy that keeps getting bored with it and wanting to play with something else…

Not that my career follows this analogy, but certainly my private work and hobbies does, from playing music in a band to photography to illustration, to fine art, to video making to learning HTML/CSS to build websites for small companies.

All of which are in the same vein of design/creativity and all of which are in an attempt to make more money one day, but each require a lifetimes worth of learning to be the best of the bunch, as the old saying goes, “Jack of all trades master of none.” This is to some extent true and i am aware that I might not be the best at whatever creative outlets i am switching between, but I think its important to have tried and tested as much as possible before i say i want to do this for the rest of my life and put all my effort in to something. I guess it all boils down to wanting to create something, anything, whether it be a nice picture, a striking logo or a well designed and built website.

Some people are able to just straight away find out what they are best at, for my girlfriend its music, writing it, performing it and being involved in it. For Aaron Miller its straight up illustrations, this guys knows what he’s good at and so far he seems to be carving a very promising career for himself doing it. Another example is the talented Tom Skyrme, a good friend of mine who has been writing music since an early age and has developed his style over the years and now writes/produces music for adverts which takes creating music to an almost mechanical and methodical approach, yet he still learns to play Jazz guitar, does photography on an old Russian camera, Dj’s electronic music and never seems to be spreading himself too thinly so to speak… My question is this… Is this because a person has already carved themselves a career or already got a firm grasp of one discipline before moving on to learning another or just that they are better than me?!

Not that I am bad at whatever things i turn my hand too, and i spend a lot of energy and not to mention money but i think i just should spend more time on something before i move on to the next activity. But its hard to when you have a project you get hyped about like taking pictures of a band, then you think “Hang on i could do some filming for them too”… Then I get chatting to someone down the pub one evening who needs a website doing, and all of a sudden i’m doing that, then I get a booking for a Wedding at the end of the year. Now does this mean i am spread too thin or just a busy person who is working on a bunch of creative projects. and its not because i will do them all half arsed, just that i love the fact that i CAN work across a range of mediums and calling on skills that i have developed throughout my life.

More than anything spreading myself across a range of projects means that i get to meet a huge range of people, and am thought of as more than just someone that can design business cards and letterheads. Talking to people who sit neatly in a box tends to mean they find it hard to ink outside of the box, whereas i love to think how my skills might work in other areas of industry, photography for web designers or print work for web designers as a JV on business. Making short videos for people who have small businesses that might not have thought how that could increase brand awareness or coming up with a marketing strategy for the release of a new album for an artist, Thinking the whole process, from my print knowledge for Packaging and promotional materials, to shooting promo videos, making youtube virals, portrait shots, making flash web banners to go on Myspace. This is not something that is unheard of but i can’t imagine being anything other than this… working on a huge range of projects and improving a range of skills..

Because if this is being a “Jack of all trades and a master of none”, then thats alright with me! It might just take me longer to get there than everyone else.. But i know that I’ll get there!

Max, Josh and Adam Pose for DBNO shoot wearing new Designs

A little while ago i got a phone call from my girlfriends dad asking if i would be able to help out with some retouching for an urgent job they had to get done. Obviously i said yes, because it was for a friend but also because for me in my normal day ob retouching is about as exciting as it gets! the client was DownButnotout or DBNO for people in the Know (www.downbutnotoutproductions.com ), a new start up clothing company run by Josh Franceschi from you me at six, His good mate Adam and Josh’s Dad who also works incredibly hard on YM@6 Merch also.

Going along i got the brief which was to take existing shots of products and models and put the new designs on them. This was a cost saving exercise mainly but also because there was not enough time to organise models location and a shoot in time to get them over to Janleeks.com to get everything online in time for the launch of the new range of products. It was a great project to work on because i got the chance to really practice and use some techniques which i haven’t had much chance to use for a long time.

I started the project like i do with every job. Get the brief nailed down. I found out how many images i was being given, what designs were to go on what model, what colour the tee-shirts and hoods needed to be. Examples of colour ways. Checked the resolution of the images and flagged up with the client any issues so that they would know what to expect or to see if they could supply higher res images for some images for instance.

Josh and Elwood Pose together for DBNO original shoot

With that done I do also what i do with every new job/project which is to get my house in order, by that i mean, set up my workflow and organise my folders. Starting with making a supplied folder and expanding on to a Links folder containing my colour managed files, breaking down in to models or designs and then in to retouches (Cleaned t-shirts) and then to a “Comps” folder which had the cleaned images and the new designs blended on.

Going by what the client had supplied from the designers i used that as a scale of how big to put the images on the models and how to blend them in. Also having to feedback to the client what colours could be achieved with specific models.

Once an initial collection had been comped i fed that back to the client for amends and feedback, initially it was great, but they wanted a bigger range of models to spread the designs across, slight colour changes. With these amends done i resupplied and added some additional images with the new ranges on a polaroid effect as i though they might lend themselves nicely to the style and format of the website it was going on.

Elwood pose for DBNO whilst on Polaroid effect image

I knew this would be important to get right as it might (like any new job…lead to more work in the future) which it did, about a week or so later i was asked to do a quick shoot (Mentioned in my previous blog post..Here) for the Christmas range of DBNO merch…. That was a different story all together! Again a lot or retouching needed and cleaning up and removing unwanted objects such as doors, plants and working with everything against me! I think i have used up my shit talking for one night so that shall have to wait until another time. Still, Bottom line is… I got to work on some really cool stuff with some great people for a great little company and in the process picked up a couple of little jobs along the way. Its funny how you can be quiet on the private/freelance work front and then all of a sudden your stacked with work! lets hope it continues!

I’ve seen alot of people write cool blogs about photography and give great tutorials and interesting things to read and learn…..This ain’t one of them… just me talking about my life, my job, my progression to get to where i want to be career-wise. Fair?

Until next time…this is the Stable Blog…..And ive been typing to myself!!!

x

Due to my normal Day job (and forgetting passwords for blogs etc) I have been a bit quiet as of late, this is not to say that I have not been a busy bee!

I have been working as a Team Leader for a large project for Training material for a large courier company, overseeing that the artwork supplied by the creative agency, is prepared and sent for translation in to 18 languages, which is then returned to the project managers and fed back in to the studio for artworking, amends and further text control. This has meant that things have suffered, Blogs, the beloved Gym has seen very little of me the last few months but that is not to say that i have been all work and no play with regards to freelance work.

I have completed a website for a fantastic needlework artist called Nicola Jarvis (http://www.nicolajarvisstudio.com). The instructions from the client were very clear and this reflects in the simplicity of its design and build. The Gallery was to be minimal to begin with and over time either be expanded or kept to the original number of 3 items per section.

The site went live Mid November and the client has given good feedback, i shall wait and see how the stats come through early 2011 after they have sent out the URL to interested parties and sections.

Other things include a photo shoot part TWO with friends and band Foley Artist where over these past two shoots i have seen the band grow an extra person and complete a couple of different shooting styles both indoor and outdoor. Some of these shots are on my flickr but i shall follow up with a more detailed post later. Photography since getting my new D300s has become my main interest and hobby, a camera now goes everywhere with me. 2010 has seen me shoot band promos, a wedding, a couple of engagement parties and also some shots for a clothing label run by You Me At Six’s very own Josh Franceschi DBNO (http://www.downbutnotoutproductions.com).

a couple of the photos I took and retouched used for there seasonal homepage

That project required a quick and nasty shoot in the founders front room, whilst England where playing France going on in the background on the telly. I have also done a bit of retouching for these guys putting new artworks and designs on existing model shots so that a new shoot was not needed. These will be added as a expanded post later also.

For the future of 2011 who knows, but i have some exciting jobs in the pipeline. A trip to Sweden for a website i am building for bar reviews, Lots of nice location photography will be done by me, a shoot for a new company that specialises in High end mobile recording and production, based in Surrey, two friends have set up together to offer an all in one package for any size at affordable budgets, these guys should hopefully smash 2011, and i want to be there at the start. The jobs still to be outlined but it is certainly on the cards to get them some Promo shots and get their profile up and running!

Lets see how the new year goes!, First up i need to make sure i get the work I have done online!

Friday lunchtime I was doing my normal habitual twitter surfing when i noticed that my current favourite illustrator Aaron Miller and 9 others have worked together to help UNICEF’s Haiti Appeal over at The Renman Project… So for me this was not only a good way to get brownie points from ‘you-know-who’ but also get my hands on some awesome prints.

One thing that i liked was the playfulness of the images in the pack and that everyone was doing their part to help out. The printing was free, the illustrations are done off their own backs. So for £5 +P&P it was in my big cartel basket before i even got my card out! Next day they were on my front door.

Twitter has been a massive inspiration giver and has put me in touch with other designers and tutorials that have been really useful. As a result Aaron miller is now a staple of my ‘whats going on in the world of up and coming freelancers’ what i mean by this is, there are some people that talk about it and there are some people just do it because they HAVE to, and i certainly aspire to be in the latter.

Things seem to still be moving in the right directions for me. this weekend was a busy one for my ‘freelance’ work. Logos for a new TV production company based in Barcelona, Continuing work on a clients website and redesigning the gallery section…However i think i might have to restart the build and set about it in a cleaner way…This i think is the trouble with starting a build before finishing the design stage! (Schoolboy error). I put the finishing touches to some wedding photos i took for a good friend of mine and passed them over to him.

I still have lots to do and i blame the internet and alcohol for distracting me more than i should have allowed but this week i plan on clearing the decks before i go away on my hols at the end of the month. I still am working on a Logo for a new company called “Joyous Arrangements” a flower arrangement company. The wrapping up of the artist Nicola Jarvis website by the end of the month. Continuing to Blog for my new contributorship for Paperchain Products, a new start-up company that deals in High end art and design cards featuring some of the most up and coming ranges and classic cards and gifts. more to come on them another time. Finally Handing over my Final Edits for my first Wedding that i was the Official photographer for. Nervous yet exciting stuff. When its all done I think that I shall put in writing how this went for me and how my First wedding photography gig went for me.

Wrapping up… Arsenal played a luke warm match against liverpool yesterday and ended on a 1-1 draw. Lets hope that the new season brings all the best for Arsenal FC!

Please standby

Its been ages since i last wrote on this blog. Not that i have been not doing anything but rather doing to many different things, resulting in neglecting other duties. Recently i have been spending my time working on various different projects during my day job…. The question is Where to start?

Well a few months ago i was asked to Photograph a friends wedding at a local registry office. As photography is a hobby of mine i was keen to do it (albeit with some encouragement from my better half). This resulted in putting in some serious time, money and effort into improving my photography and increasing my kit bag considerably! The last few months has cost me a Nikon D300s, Lastolite Umbrella and Stand, Spare batteries, 22Gb worth of memory cards. And. A intensive Day training course at Brightons Garage Studios teaching me about Flash photography.

With this new gear and NEED to learn and improve for this wedding i am photographing i have been concentrating on this for the last few months. Gigs, Promotional Shoots for friends bands and organising shoots and jobs for the future to try and increase my profile and also eventually get my camera to pay for itself as a tool rather than a hobby.

You can see some of my photography on my Flickr Page

The Kits is Awesome and am so glad i made this jump in to doing it more as a semi pro than as a hobby.

Also with my creative mind working at hyper speed things in the illustration and design side have started to come a bit easier than they have seemed to in the past. Freelance work has started to pick up and I am now working on a project for Nicola jarvis, a Needlework artist and building a nice portfolio of illustrations that i have been asked to do at work…. Although they are private jobs for the bosses as favours things are starting to move forwards. from Logos to Get well soon cards to creating bunting and banners for the summer party.. little by little things are building for the better…

The one trouble i am having is getting the time to fit it all in my day,week or month and still go out and have a life!

There has been some cool things going on and some nice projects at work too I’m looking forwards to getting some more stuff on the go and showing it to the world! I shall definitely be posting more pictures and illustration i have been working on as soon as i get round to it!

Standby for action

I’m currently staying in a B&B with my lovely girlfriend who is really poorly with a sinus infection and a snot output that could equal an alien life form! With a hot tip off from Simon from Full time hobby, Tomo and I (minus Elissa) embarked on a few jars and discussed some of the finer things in life before heading to the Resident record store for an instore with Micah P Hinson…

Micah P Hinson

Having never heard about this chap until today I was interested to see what was going on. Walking past the store about 7.30ish it was empty, so we had a quick pint at the white rabbit pub just down the road. As we were sitting outside an unassuming guy wearing thick black rimmed glasses and sporting a “Hunter-S-Thompson-esque” cigarette holder in one hand and a black guitar case in the other, approached us. Simon introduced us to Micah who seemed genuinely pleased to meet us and proceeded to introduce his entourage including his wife; who is the model and muse of the cover art for his release “And the Pioneer Saboteurs”.

The venue was packed by the time we arrived, and this one-man-show was already underway. The music was simple, raw-  but it seemed to be captivating the room in a way I have never encountered before- the entire store hanging onto every melody and every strum.

Micha’s music is a sonic collision of folk meets  “johnny cash” and he has vocal moments of Willie Nelson and  biblical references of a young tormented “Johnny Cash” all in all a very interesting vocal.

The songs spoke of Loss, Heartbreak, Religion and sometimes with a hint black comedy. With this he appears wise beyond his 28 years. At points he seemed to choose song lyrics  ‘on the fly’, which i presume is because that particular lyric felt right to him at that particular moment.

Having just stepped of a flight from Gatwick I was amazed that this guy could perform so well, and with an endearing charm and flow, saying on a few occasions “This song is off my record but sounds nothing like what i am about to play“. Forty minutes seem to fly by and he ended with an elvis presley cover “only fools rush in”.

Afterwards he allowed me to quickly take a couple of pictures before he disappeared into London, to see a man about a dog.

I shall definately be checking out this guys stuff again. So should you.

You can check out Micah on http://www.myspace.com/micahphinson

Thank you.

Alan Harford. Woof.

Yo!

Cor its been a while!, Been busy doing bits and pieces. Had some really cool projects that i have been working on recently and some other not so cool projects! I had the Freud Communications archive book which i was a part of, collating and retouching assets for the designers to artwork and print. My first proper creative project for CBS Drama for the relaunch of footballers wives campaign http://www.cbsdrama.co.uk/

After much thought i decided to buy myself the Nikon D300s and also a Nikon SB-900 flashgun and up my game in terms of Photography. I have a couple of weddings coming up this summer and am pretty nervous so i wanted to make sure i bought the best kit. I got it all from Jessops and am paying for it over finance which is really great for me because i could get what i needed and have a manageable payment plan.

Since i have bought the camera i have been learning how to use it. and its ALOT different than the toy camera i used to use the Nikon D40. This thing is awesome! the speed of it is incredible! its a heavy bugger but amazing and am learning everything from scratch! The flash unit is MASSIVE but i recently went on a flash lighting course one Sunday in Brighton at Garage Studios, This taught me everything from Lighting analysis to practical usage and set lighting. really interesting and the teacher Adam Bronkhurst was really patient with us. We took it in turns to take shots and model. and if i say my photography was not as good as my modeling… but that’s another story! I am looking forwards to being famous with Adams Daily iPhone photo of me!

Anyways I have some other stuff on the cards but i don’t really wanna say too much about them until i get started. so i am off to the Mopar event at Brooklands Museum and then to my good friends BBQ.

Watch yourself!

x

Check out some of the photos from my trip to Keldy forest i york and from My night at brixton

The Stable London Flickr page!

Since i have not said anything on here for a while i keep forgetting my passwords! NOT A GOOD LOOK!

I do have LOADS to update this blog with. My day job seems to be going from strength to strength and freelance work is getting busier by the day! ALL GOD STUFF!!

with summer fast approaching and time for what seems like all of my friends to get married, I have been asked to shoot a wedding. THis is not really that much of an issue as I am sure it will be a lit of fun and the photos will come out just fine. but I don’t think that my little Nikon D40 is up to the job. sure it’s a great little camera and will serve me well as a day to day but I think it’s time to upgrade.

the problem is what to get. the D90 seems to be a great choice and on paper is very similar to the d300s but I have this nagging problem thy whilst I am upgrading I should buy the best I can afford and that way I will not wish that I had spent the extra. the only trouble is it comes at a time when I have other commitments that should really take priority.

the d300s looks like a strong choice as it’s robust, fast, quick and can work in a studio environment aswell as out and about. something which I think the d90 is not able to do. tethering and wireless remote for flash units, a better autofocus motor and better user ergonomics. I have spoken to alot of people and read alot of forums and reviews and the d300s seems to be the better choice. I thinks it’s going to be a case of stumping up the cash.

also I am thinking of going all out and getting a sb-900 flashgun at the same time. I have been wanting to get in the flash photography for ages and at least this way I can now go on the the flash course held at Brighton garage studio.

anyway I’ll post back when I get it. whatever that maybe…

ta

OK, So its the first day back at work!

Not done a single job today which is very very unusual! its been so quiet! I have a feeling the rest of the week shall be busy once everyone has blwn off the cob webs from thier keyboards since leaving them over Christmas!.

I have been busy moving to my new hosting company and migrating the old blog to the new wordpress I have installed. The Email has been transfered from my good friend over at http://www.janleeks.com. I have started working on the new site and have a couple of rough ideas which i am using as a starting point. The First is a typical site with Nav bars along the top, It looks OK but everything at this point its just better to get stuff down!

Dev Mock up 1

Next I worked on something a bit more minimalist and just used a single colour. and a nice typeface. I was looking at bands myspace pages and really liked the way that the the navigation worked with the main image. and was spaced across the screen with different weights of the font to break it up and allow the overall design to breathe.

This has No allowance for widgets or twitter feeds in it yet and all those bits of tech that seem to be popular to include in peoples sites at the moment.

Version 2 Mock up

They are not much at the moment, but it feels great to be doing someting for myself again after such a long time doing stuff for someone else! the only trouble is I don’t really know how to guage the work that i am doing/working on. But I figure its best to be learning little bits rather than nothing. I need to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks and just DO IT!!

Along with that I have been reminding myself of actually how I am going to build the site, how everything in HTML and CSS works again after such a long time!

With other news. The new Nikon 35mm 1.8G lens i bought from Jessops is awesome and I can’t recommend it highly enough! Its crisp and fast and does everything i need…Until i upgrade my Camera body Later in the year. January is going to be busy for my social life as I am going to York to stay in a Log Cabin, which is going to be awesome! going to take plenty of wildlife photos! Chill in a nice warm Hot Tub! Watch films and chill!

On the Note of my ever growing art collection I have got my limited edition Jordan Buckley Print framed in a lovely Gloss Black Metal Frame and have also managed to get my Grubby Hands on His “Cant Run Anymore” Print check it out at: http://www.jordanbuckleymadethis.com/print.php

It wasn’t very expensive but I am s glad i managed to get hold of one of the 150 Ltd Prints sold…Standing by for it to be delivered!
Ta!

I am just transferring and getting my self geared up for the new year, I haven not written anything for ages but this shall change with the new year, new site and hopefully new projects!. Lots of things which I need to catch up on. Camera wise, work wise, design wise and Book wise. Had a lovely chat with some great designers who offered me some great advise and shall be taking full advantage of it!

Standby whilst I transfer this call!….

The Stable