Geneva Lane: Photos

So these photos have been a long time coming and even though I gave you some behind the scenes pics in a previous blogpost, thought i'd give you all a little video as well as!

They were shot back in April and I have only just caught word today that it's all good for me to release them. Just a little photo session I had with Geneva in the first half of this year, we played around with concepts a lot to begin with as it was important that we got the right image for her seen as this would be her first solo shoot but as this would just be promos and we were working without a stylist we kept it simple and treated it more as a good experience on Geneva's behalf to be infront of the lens on her own.

It hadn't been too long that she'd been out of the limelight after her appearance on the 2010 Xfactor as part of Belle Amie. Which meant 4 or 5 months after last appearing in my front room on the tv screen, she was back there in person. As the first recognisable face i've shot, it felt quite surreal.

I worked with make up artist Lucy on this shoot to create two different looks, one i'd wanted to do for a while with feathers in the hair and the second simply red lips & eyeliner. Realising I had some nerdy frames in my bag I handed her those too and think it really suited her character a lot more so the second look had a lot more personality to it.

Myself and Lucy both wore a feather in our hair too as we'd joked that we didn't want it to look like Gen had been the victim of a violent duck attack to passers by. Whilst at the second location we also sat and watched the ferry's coming into Dover port, observing one that appeared to be doing the slowest handbrake turn ever known to man (tryin' to impress the ladies! ;) )
Finally, aside from the photos, if there was one productive outcome from that day back in April it was that we forged an unbreakable bond from our shared admiration of one Spongebob Squarepants. To which I leave a tribute at the end of this post.

Jade & Zatessa

Click to enlarge

A couple of weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of meeting and photographing Jade and her lovely mare Zatessa (Tess).
It was a lovely warm day and courtesy of Tess's charming but adventerous personality compelling her to go forth and explore new patches of road, grass, tree, sky, fence, leaves, gate and all other inanimate objects worthy of her attention, I was boiling hot and probably managed to burn 2 days worth of food keeping up with her. I have to say thank you to Jade for her infinite patience riding back and forth up the road for the perpetual lens changes.

I adore shoots where I have the chance to photograph both portrait and ridden images as you spend most of the day getting to know the owner and the horse as individuals within a co-existence. A relationship that you then have the responsibility of doing justice in the photos, setting up moments that represent that as well as sneaking shots of the spontaneous incidents where that just naturally happens.

Ridden and working shots, on the other hand, tend to leave me on the sidelines. Aside from giving tips as to where exactly to ride or circle around me to catch the best light, this is a chance for me to take a step back and watch the pair transform into one perfectly attuned team.
This is why I love shooting for horse owners and taking on private clients, it gives me that opportunity to witness and document the I, You and We of equestrianism and the challenge of making sure each shoot depicts the unique form of each one of those.

Jade Power:
www.drewdana.com
info@drewdana.com

Happy Halloween!

Seen as last year I did a halloween self portrait as I wasn't out celebrating on the actual day, I thought i'd make it an annual sort of shindig. Here is 2011's little set. They're just simple little things as i've been really busy with retouching work and clearing a backlog of horse photos from the past four months or so.

I vamped it up this year, not wearing fangs in this set but I did have them for the night. They're AMAZING and looked like this:

(sorry for bad quality, it's a phone snap of my laptop as I was editing the actual photo)

Beautiful all year round

If you're the sort of horse owner who deems spring/summer the only seasons you can get good photos of your horse then you're certainly missing out. No, you wont get the shiny, sleek looking coat during autumn and winter but you do get a wonderful snap of their character shining through and the potential for photos that create a lot of drama.

Whilst I can appreciate the seasonal quality to equine photography, throughout the winter months I have clients book shoots for spring/summer when "the weather's a little better" or their "horse doesn't look so scruffy" Embrace the scruffy, fuzzy look! That's their appearance for half the year and they look just as beautiful as they do in summer, it's a variation to the normal horse images. The windswept look and grey stormy clouds can be incredibly dynamic and show your horse in a different light.

Also, don't worry about aspects of shooting in various weather conditions that are of the photographers concern. It's our job to do all the clever logistical thinking and planning and if we're not worried about it, you shouldn't be either. We have experience and equipment that can cope with all sorts of issues raised when shooting on location, infact, there's one photographer who posted a set of photos of a man herding his horses up when they escaped after the volcanic eruption in Iceland. His photos are striking and he was in a situation where there can't have possibly been much light due to ash cloud coverage and the weather conditions were volatile.

Furthermore, the concern of any stuck in dirt is nothing a good groom wont take off OR you can get some great action shots of them stampeding round in the mud, if you have access to a stable that has atleast one natural light source there's always the opportunity for simple yet effective portraits and finally there's the ability to use lighting equipment. Admittedly that last point is horse dependent, if they're easily spooked it's not necessarily going to be the best option for them.

I really hope i've managed to sway atleast one or two peoples opinions that horse photos don't have to be seasonal and the change in weather and your horses appearance can be used to your advantage.

With the wind

Some images from a recent client shoot. She's actually an old school friend, we went to secondary school together so was a great chance to catch up! Her friends were bugging her to try modelling so she decided to book a little taster session with me, I think she did amazingly well considering it was the first time she'd plonked herself infront of the camera. Well done Aster!

These types of shoots are available to anyone who is maybe thinking about modelling, just want to have some fun infront of the camera or are looking for some pretty pictures of themselves!!
Any questions, queries, worries, troubles, issues, you need only to email me for an answer or some advice :)
lottesimonsphotos@gmail.com

Alex

Alex @ Bookings

Image

I publish all forms of my work from client shoots, personal work and then personal work. This is because I don't see the point in producing something that is going to sit and fester on my laptop. I like what I do and I like sharing what I do but I never really thought there was too much interest in my personal work until someone said this:

"I like the more vulnerable self portraits of you theres alot of truth in them, but likewise your other ones are super strong and yeah they're cool!"

I think that's awesome! My self portraits tend to be a self indulgent need for expression and simply use photography as an emotional outlet so the fact that atleast one person actually enjoys looking at them is a complete bonus. It also got me thinking about what people see reflected in your photos. I made the comment that I simply shoot how I feel at the time so would have to make sure I catch myself at a particularly vulnerable moment but after scrolling through my self portraits to try and find examples to include in this post, I couldn't find one where I feel I look particularly vulnerable and I don't remember feeling that way when taking any of them. The closest I can probably come to it is a mini series I did last year called Midnight and even then I only see that aspect in it because i'm pretty much naked.

It also highlighted an importance of being able to create something or shoot someone in a way that represents either what you want to show or how they want to be portrayed and perhaps how difficult that can really be, a particularly relevant point for client work. I do sometimes wonder if photographers really don't get the credit they deserve with how difficult a job and responsibility that truly is. A good example of this would be when I was prepping for Geneva's shoot and the absolute importance to get her image right became apparent as a key point to the beginning of her career as a new face to the music industry.

The point of this post was simply to state that I think it's awesome that someone likes my self portraits, but as I started writing my thoughts branched out a little further to several other topics of consideration. Perhaps i'll explore them some other time.
Anticlimactic conclusion, my sincere apologies. I'll have to make up for it with some intelligent discussions soon.

Lottie

Model: Lottie @ Bookings

Shoestring photography workshop

One thing I didn't initially anticipate when I started freelancing is the heavy interlink between my career and my personal life. Now it sounds like an obvious and key point of self employment that I should've anticipated, what with being your own boss, but what i'm more referring to is the extent to which it's started challenging me on a personal and deeply emotional level.

The opportunities and jobs i've had over the last year or so have definitely done my confidence a world of good whilst at the same time bringing to the surface a constant mental battle with anxiety.

Earlier this year Kate Vanhinsbergh, photographer and editor of Shoestring magazine, approached me to host one of several workshops being run by the publication. This being a perfect example of one of the opportunities I just mentioned. It's an awesome proposal and something I think a lot of people would have loved the chance to do and whilst on one hand I was really looking forward to the challenge and getting some public speaking/workshop experience under my belt, the idea and reality of travelling to Manchester and talking to a group of people was scary as hell.

With this in mind I took a lot of time debating with Kate what the workshop should focus on and concluded it would be easiest to focus on my strong points as a photographer, so we decided that 'the editorial' and bringing your vision to life was a good start. The talk focused on different elements of a shoot and how to get what you want from it, making sure that as the person in charge of the overall look, you have the confidence and capabilities to step in with all the creative aspects. This led into the shoot itself giving each workshopee a little one on one time with the model to develop their directing skills to help them get over those pesky nerves that held them back from achieving the shots they wanted.

The irony wasn't lost on me of lecturing a group about the importance of confidence when for the previous six hours i'd been travelling I was a nervous wreck. I think it almost added to the message though as nerves are often unavoidable but so long as you chase your vision and don't let them hold you back then you're going to progress in leaps and bounds.

I received really positive feedback at the end of the day and was glad each person had a good experience with some useful advise they could take away and build on with practise. They were also either amateurs or new to fashion photography so I was really pleased with the shots they got and the way they directed our model considering I put each in the spotlight to direct the shoot for even just a few minutes.

You can find some behind the scenes photos taken by Kate on the
Shoestring facebook page along with her images from the day and here are a few quick examples of what the group shot!

Dave Morrison:

Shay Rowan:

Anitha Narayan:

Melanie Smith:

Huge thank you to Kate and the creative team!

Model: Helen Holt
MUA: Dan Wood
Hair: Ashley Lambe

Stud UK Euro

At the end of last month I paid a visit to Stud Uk Euro, top class horse breeders & suppliers, to take some photos of their young stock to be used on the website. This included their 3-4 year old stallions & geldings as well as getting to spend time with the mares and foals.

I find the toughest part about photographing horses in their field is mastering the art of getting them to leave you alone first! Their inquisitive nature to say hi and get right up in your personal space, although endearing at times, is far from helpful for getting shots of them when you're using a telephoto lens.

After I spent a good few hours in their field and double checked I had photos of everyone in there I decide to head back as I still had to pop and see the foals. In true annoying horse fashion, just as I decide to leave a couple of them start fighting and then gallop off down the field with the rest of the herd hot on their heels and whilst I did manage to get a couple photos of them rearing I was no where near close enough for an incredible shot. I hate horses.

2 hours and hundreds of shots of grazing.... they really do pick their moments to liven up. Sulky Lotte is sulky. So in my animal related grudge I head back to the yard to rendez vous with Katie, my very lovely stable guide for the day, to walk over to the field that has all the mares and foals in...oh...and one stallion. What a stud ;) Literally, that is his job so there's never been a more appropriate moment for the phrase.

The foals were all incredibly sweet, my favourites being the two you can see in the photo as both are very pretty and move beautifully. All were very sociable coming over to give Katie a sniff which I thought was very forgiving of them seen as moments before she'd just chased them around jingling my car keys to get them all to move for some action shots! Made some lovely photos though and in my mind it made up for the fact that I missed the boys playing around a couple hours earlier.

You can see a small selection of my photos on the Stud Uk Euro website where they have been used in the galleries of some of their stock www.studukeuro.com
I will also be publishing more images from my visit to my website and facebook page shortly.

Zoe & Prince

As you may remember, back in March I ran a competition for fans on my Facebook page to win a photo shoot.

Zoe Hart won with a photo of herself and her horse, Prince, and last month I road tripped with Becky to go and shoot with her. Here are some of the results: