This is my cousin Will and his girlfriend Liz. They’re both currently obsessed with tattoos and show no sign of stopping getting inked anytime soon. They were both booked in for new sessions, a week after I took this.
With one Elinchrom Quadra Ranger batt pack and a 70 deep Octa, with diffuser, I wanted to keep a formal and classic approach, as this particular event called for that anyway. I wanted though, to at least create a slight juxtaposition in the notion of ‘classic’ and ‘formal’, by emaphasising the care free attitude towards permanent and highly visible, bodily markings.
Running Out Of Space
I shot a similar posed image of my brother and his best man (see blow posts), based on an old portrait of Lennon and McCartney, made by David Bailey in the 60’s. This is a much tighter crop with pairs heads closer together and with being square in orientation, helps to get rid of the wasted space around the sides of my images. Baileys crop and composition is more comfortable to look at, I feel. Noted.
Had a bit of a bad back over the last month and have spent some time horizontal, in different rooms of the flat. I was struck by the light-shades in each room and the light they distribute and the shadows they create. I’m gonna borrow some bodies and shoot some weird portraits. Soon come…
So, finally managed to get to Estonia in summer, as opposed to the usual winter break. Spent a few days in Tallinn and Laulasmaa.
Couldn’t resist some of the token postcard type shots, as the view and the weather were stunning. Of course though, I shot a few of the preferred portraits of Lina and her family while there, using my now ancient 5D mkI and my 580ex speedlite. Trying to save for the MkII, or perhaps the MkIII once available!
The Future In-Laws
Rock Pile
The Skipper
Light Shafts
Kite Boarding
The Medieval Old Town, Tallinn.
Evening View From The Top of The Radisson Hotel (great spot for a cocktail!)
Back to the weddings I’d mentioned previously. I’d never fancied shooting one up to now, perhaps for fear of ruining the brides expectations. Perhaps as I’m not too keen on churches. Perhaps as the statutory procedures and standard rituals and attire that are often the case at these events, sometimes bore me. Probably not the wisest thing to say, if I ever want to shoot weddings in the future but my opinion doesn’t matter. I still enjoy enjoy shooting…
However, when asked to shoot a vintage themed event and was told the plans for the overall look of the day, I jumped at the opportunity. The bride – Katie-Jane, herself a talent shoe designer for Kurt Geiger, would be looking after the overall styling; the decoration, the outfits and shoes, the music. Everything to small details of particular drinking ware – handmade champagne glasses for the girls and steel tankards for the boys. Amazing detail and a pleasure to shoot.
With the particular details in mind, I had to shoot it, light it and finish it as I saw fit and compliment the overall theme and style. Now the bride has seen them and explained to me her happiness at the outcome (pressure over), I’m happy to publish them here. Below are a few key images from the day. The rest of my fav’s can be seen on my Flickr site, just click on the animated link to the bottom right of this page. Thanks for looking!
Phil and KJ
China Cups Hang From the Chandelier In The Tee Pee
Vintage Lamps Hang From The Trees
Table Decoration
Flowers In Her Hair
Three Kurt Geiger's And The Bride's Mui Mui (second from left)
So… been a while again so thought I’d better update.
I’ve been assisting here and there. Various editorial and TV unit work with Ray B, as part of Ricky Gervais’ new show for the Beeb, “Life’s Too Short’. Also a commercial shoot with On Request Images (US).
Opened London’s Time Out last week. Found one of my images from last year, covering the Lock Tavern in Caaaamden Town. Nice to see work published.
Lock Tavern Image (Top) in last weeks Time Out London.
I’ve also done a few weddings for friends recently. I’ll be publishing the images as soon as the brides have received and OK’d the shots (squeaky bum time?) They were the first weddings I’ve ever done. At first crack you can certainly feel the pressure. I’ve always swerved them in fear of messing up the brides expectations. However, I’m really pleased with what I have and look forward to publishing them very soon…
I’ve got some personal work lined up to shoot very soon, with stylist Sy-Anne Holden (stylebysy). Looking forward to those. I’m itching to shoot something of worth but budget constraints keep holding me back…
However, I’ve been slightly un professional. It’s Lina’s new, preferred birthday next week (her real b’day is the first of Jan). Shit day for a b’day. I told her we’d have a second one to make up for it. She picked the 17th of May out the hat. Thats next week.
She’s a fan of The Ricky Gervias Show and An Idiot Abroad (me too for that matter). Predominantly because she loves Karl Pilkington’s, moaning, inquisitive, slightly moronic sounding at times, english man abroad type banter. She seems to look at me with knowing gestures when we’re watching. Not sure why.
I’m not in a habit of getting snaps with people on a shoot, nor anywhere for that matter but Ray was kind enough to help me get a portrait with the round headed one himself. I could then give it to Lina on her said new b’day. It was good of karl to oblige and Lina loved it. I was going to wait until next week but I couldn’t resist. Never tell me a secret.
So, its been a while since I updated here but since the last post, I’ve been shooting a variety of images from interiors, to product shots but more interestingly I’ve started a couple of people based projects.
The first one, I’m looking into Britain’s binge drinking culture and producing a set of portraits of self confessed binge drinkers. The image below is one of four that I’ve shot so far, with several more to shoot in the coming weeks.
31 years old, 60 units, 2 days.
The second project is my ongoing collaboration with Paul Normansell. As before I will produce several photographs which he will then paint in his signature figurative style. This time we’ve used Roland Barthes’ ‘A Lovers Discourse’ as a base and shot images to reflect some of his thoughts on the language of love. More to follow on that in the coming few days, once we’ve confirmed our final edit.
I’m off to shoot some more interiors this avo, as much as I love to work with people, there’s something soothing about shooting nice looking spaces in your own time. I better charge the Ipod!
No ID is Ian Davies, a Birmingham and London-based photographer specialising in music, social events, portrait, fashion, commercial and experiential marketing photography.
