Took Pictures, Drank Coffee

Me and Mr James Hodge headed out on Wednesday to take some pictures in town. We also drank coffee, revised (sorta) and I bought me some comics. All was good. 

And finally I present to you everything that is wrong with society...

Maven

Sticking with the whole music photography side of things; I've decided to do a blog-article on Maven including some pictures, lighting diagrams and a short interview. Hope you enjoy.  


Maven/George Cudby is a 17 year old House/Garage/Bass producer in his bedroom studio in Leeds. He has today released his first EP and it's FREE so make sure you give it a download! Click here to like his Facebook page, follow him on Twitter and check out his SoundCloud for all the information on where to download. 
So without further a do...

Who is your main influence when it comes to making music? 
"Annie Mac was originally the one who made me want to start making music, then as years progressed I just started to get into different genres, trying out different styles. 
At the moment there are a few, the most important is probably Gold Panda, I've been into his stuff for ages! Actress is also a strong influence too, you can probably hear that in my music. I probably wouldn't be making music if I didn't have any inspiration."

When is your most creative time to produce?

"Probably starting from around 10 o'clock at night till the early hours of the morning. I always seem to be most creative after a bottle of Pepsi Max, still not sure why though!"

What is the one piece of equipment you would give anything for?

"A Pioneer CDJ set with a vinyl deck too, I've always wanted decks since I was around 13 but never been able to afford them. I could do with some live equipment like a drum machine but decks would be fucking lovely!"

How would you describe your style?

"This is a hard one, I get influenced by so many different genres and styles that it's now become a mix of post-dubstep, garage, house and possibly techno. I really like my stuff to sound 'rough' and dark but I'm not depressed enough to make dark music haha"

Other than making music, what are your favorite pass times?

"Listening to music, wasting time on the internet and sleeping. I probably spend too much time on my computer though, ah well"

And this final question is brought to us by Simon Hartley...(excuse him)

If and when the world is dominated by China, will you change your style to a more oriental one, or will you let them feed you rice and dirt until you go pop?

"Well I really like rice so I'm not bothered about that. They can fill me with whatever they want. (as long as it's edible)"

Here's a couple of pictures with a full lighting diagram and all the exif nonsense for those that it interests.I think this first one is my favorite by far.

Hope you enjoyed reading looking at the pictures, as always give feedback, especially on this one, I want to know if this style of article is liked at all? Peace out.

Please go give my Flickr a quick browse and comment with any questions or advice!

Low-Key with Jack Howell

Seeing as I have finally got a working, none broken, strobist set-up now, one of the first things I wanted to do was a low-key portrait shoot. I've been wanting to do this ever since I saw Rick Nunn's 'How I Shoot' Article and finally I got my self a model and went and shot him in the face.


Me, Jack and Cubby headed down to Soldiers Field at around 8:30pm just as it was getting dark to do this because it's the widest open space I know so there was no chance of accidentally getting some trees and such in the background. After getting the camera exposed so there was no light coming in, I set up the flash and after diving to safe it from falling and smashing, we got on with taking some pictures. 


Here is the rough set-up diagram of what was going on, obviously in some the flash was on the other side/directly in front but you get the idea from this. 

I'm glad Cubby came along; firstly he helped by holding the flash and saving it from death by wind a few time and secondly because he reminded me that I should try some other styles of pictures instead of just shooting them all like the 3 above. So I shot some full face closer up ones and a couple portrait. 

So that's pretty much it really, this shoot I feel will be one of the most important to me because it's the first time I've been taking pictures of someone I don't know (haven't seen in 6 years) and it's really taught me a lot about communicating and all of that sort of stuff. As always, if you'd like to ask anything/give any feedback on the picture, this article or the blog in general please comment or check out my Flickr and comment on there! Thanks for reading. 


Follow Jack Howell and Me on Twitter too if you like! 

Please go give my Flickr a quick browse and comment with any questions or advice!

Party On Jupiter

Yesterday I did a shoot for a friends and their band, Party On Jupiter. They're a sort of indie/play very long intros, type of band and they've got a nice sorta style so go check out their Facebook Page and give it a like! (PS I also made the banner for their page) 


Right, photo wise we headed to an old abandoned building that Al from the band had told me about, which turned out to be a lot creepier than I imagined. Abandoned and half destroyed orphanages are not my idea of fun. There was rubble everywhere and a few cool spots for photos so when Al finally arrived 3 hours late we headed up to the roof a took some snaps. 

Oh yeah, there was also a very large hole in the roof so I got this shot from below. 

After we'd photographed the shit out of the roof we headed into the building so I could fire off a few frames using my flash. We tried out a few different spots and here's the results with the lighting diagram and setup as well so I don't have to explain it all. 

And then the last few pictures were taking in what seemed to be an old dining/living room...

 And finally to finish off here is my favorite image from the afternoon. It's Dylan, the guitarist and singer. I did one of these headshots for each member and you can see them all on the Facebook Page. 

Thanks for reading, I have a some more shoots planned for the next few weeks so keep checking back! 

Please go give my Flickr a quick browse and comment with       any questions or advice!