Just Popping to the Blog.

Animals and small children seem to have crossed my bows rather alot recently. We had 12 'professional' cats in on a shoot last week, and let me tell you, they were no more professional than your average moggie, and probably got paid more than me. Having seen a promo poster on the tube yesterday, I was reminded of a book cover done for the lovely Barking Blondes girls. The brief had lots of controlled ideas, but I found that eventually, we had to just go with the flow and improvise a picture.

The Who: First of two sequential morning shoots at Big Sky Studios a couple of months ago. The shoots are forever frantic-and this one was no different. The pressure is on for shoots like these, with the need to produce a large variety of imagery in a fixed small amount of time. You are given a time slot to shoot in, which is fixed even if they are late. We therefore draw up a wish list of shots needed, given that this could be the only access this season. I plan the lighting positions and set ups rather like a dance, with Assistants rehearsing moving equipment and files seamlessly so that we go straight on from one shot to the next. Everything is written on sheets pinned to a polyboard and crossed off as we complete them. Jena & Matt are both good at the whole performance bit, although the shot on the floor (done in the last few mins), was more tricky than it looks: Standing on a ladder, you need their chins to be raised a bit and their shoulders down as if they are s...

Two days of my repartee was the trial that Matt & Jenna braved through for two Who shoots the other week. One for Radio Times and one for the Times Magazine. You can imagine the confusion with all conversation involving the word 'Times'. Suffice to say that these were two pressured short shoots, but with a bit of sweat and tears, all elements shot and completed. Radio Times wanted shots for a variety of uses including composites (and very much in character), whilst the Times wanted a more 60's fashion feel along with an Augmented Reality film. The great thing about these two actors is that I explained the shot list once, and they just 'got it'. I can't tell you how unusual this is. To understand how cover shoots work you need a real sense of artificial closeness as required by layout, along with a varied of positions and presentation in sympathy with the lighting. Matt & Jenna are great and delivered all the right expressions and passion for the co...

Lovely boys these Ant & Dec fellas. Up for anything, which makes a change in the world of PR controlled shoots, where alot of stroking chins goes on at the slightest suggestion of anything different. So asking them to be squashed in a box built to resemble the inside of a TV set seemed straightforward. But, on, the state of those suits after..

Sometimes when a shoot goes well, the temptation is to put the whole damn edit on your website. Now as a well known Art Director once told me, 'I'd rather see only one great shot in your book than one great and 20 average' (I took note). So here is an extra shot from a recent PR shoot with Jacob Plant, musician & DJ. I took note of his request to keep it 'moody' and shot this with just the one light. The final edit can be seen on my website.

It's a Brian Cox month at the Radio Times currently, with a host of my shots being used in print and online. Lovely bloke, who was game on once we dragged him off the new Leica camera system that the studio had in stock.