The Ninja Groundskeeper

The Ninja Groundskeeper


The Saturday before last I had my third shoot with the fantastic stylist Christianne  along with the beautiful Annabel @ PRM and the super talented make-up artist Nazmeen both of who this was my first shoot with.

Our original plan was to meet at the station by the park we were going to shoot in, and for the most part that all went fine. I met up with the rest of the team at outside the tube and we went to the nearest cafe to get started with the make-up and sort out the first outfit. While the prep was going on there was the odd spot of rain and the forecast suggested that it would tip down all day.

The rain carried on for about 15 more minutes while we walked to the location. But, as you know... shoots I arrange seem to usually have some little thing wrong with them, whether it be the police being called to tell us off or a model not turning up, things happened and you just have to roll with it usually. 

The problem with this shoot was that just about the second I put my camera bag down to get my equipment out a ninja like grounds keeper appeared as if from nowhere. This was apt as we were in a Japanese garden at the time, however what spilled from his mouth was a steam of rather annoying words. He was incredibly kind and helpful but as it turned out we needed to have signed insurance wavers to shoot there and we were asked to leave. The grounds keeper did give me a number to ring to see if we could get permission at the last minute but we got no answer and decided to move on.

As we were shooting in central London we had plenty of choices when it came to back-ups. We hopped back on the tube and made for Kensington Palace. And in hindsight the location change was for the best! Although I don't think any of us would have chosen the extra exercise given a choice, the location we ended up with was perfect!

The first and second locations were just outside Kensington Palace and the third and final was in the Italian Garden both of which we used on our last shoot but the images are totally different. It just goes to show how versatile a location can be, especially if you're running out of time. As the day went on the weather slowly improved and by the time we were on the last look the sun was shining again and it felt like summer had clung on, let's just hope it lasts a while longer! I don't think I'm up for cold weather location shoots quite yet.

Here are a few behind the scenes photos of the day!

Photo by Christianne

Photo by Christianne

And a couple of back of camera previews too!

Credits for the shoot:

Model: Annabel @ PRM
Styling: Christianne Lucianne
Make-up: Nazmeen Ak
Boutique: Gladrags Boutique
Photography: Thomas Cole Simmonds

Chessie's Pool

Chessie's Pool

Last week I got a message from the wonderful Chessie who I had shot with way back in April of last year (see that blog post here). She wanted to know if I was up for shooting again and I of course said yes! 

I was invited to her home in Kent and in the morning of Tuesday last week I made my way to the station and the long train ride there. During the train journey I saw some wonderful possible future shoot locations, as is always the way on a train journey. Every few minutes something interesting flies by and it's both inspiring and kind of irritating too, because trains go through interesting places and you can just jump off whenever you like... well you would but you probably shouldn't. :P

When I arrived at the station Chessie met me there and we drove back to her house, as we arrived I saw the most amazing house, surrounded by large gardens a forest, and just past the house in the background was a huge lake. It was a beautiful place, and I was honored to have been invited there.

As the weather was still in summer mode we decided to make use of the recently refurbished pool that sat in view of the lake. This was my first time shooting a model in a pool and it was a great experience! It was my first time trying a little underwater photography too! I have had this little analogue camera with an underwater casting for years now and it finally got some use. The photos are currently being developed... or thrown in the bin haha. I'm very curious to see how they turned out, or if they even turned out at all. Fingers crossed!

Here are a few of behind the scenes photos from the day courtesy of Chessie's sister Brontë who helped us out with the shoot. :)

And here are a couple of previews!

Credits:

Model/make-up: Chessie King

Assistant: Brontë King

Photography: Thomas Cole Simmonds

Czech-ing out Prague

Czech-ing out Prague

It doesn't seem like more than 5 minutes ago that me and my friends were talking about where we could travel too this summer over a drink in one of the local pubs. Time just goes it seems, especially when you're looking back. 

Well now I've been back in England a few weeks and already it feels like I had never even left, I'm back to the usual routines but my desire to travel more has only grown stronger. And although that's an exciting thought I know it will be a a while before I can afford to do it again. So I guess it's time to kick some money saving arse and get back on a plane as soon as possible! 

Prague is a truly beautiful city and definitely rated highly among my favourite places! The architecture alone is worth visiting for not to mention the wonderful welcoming people and all the other sights to see. I had thought that possibly shooting abroad would be a fantastic experience but my lack of knowledge of good locations would be somewhat of a hindrance in arranging such a thing, having experienced Prague for a time and discovered so many amazing places that would be perfect to photograph along with a model I know now that it is something I not only can do but MUST do! And not just in Prague either, all over the world!

I wanted to travel as light as possible so I didn't take my main camera with me on the trip, however I took my Canon AE-1 along for the ride and although it wasn't with me every day (my stupid fault) I did manage to get a few photos of my journey.

This was the view from my hotel window, and as it happens one of the places I would love to shoot in most, my room had high ceilings and huge old wooden double doors. I can just imagine the kind of shoot I would do there, but for now I will just enjoy the view.

Another location I will definitely have to go back to is the National Museum, one of the most beautiful buildings I saw in Prague, possibly anywhere!

We also visited Prague Zoo, it took us 7 hours to walk around it and I still don't think we saw all the animals that were there. This wasn't so much of a location scouting day but I find zoo's fascinating.

While on the bus back to our hotel we spotted what might be one of the most fairy tale like buildings I have ever seen, situated in the trees at the bottom of a cliff side was this yellow house with a bright red roof, It was as though it was torn from the pages of a Grimm book or something. I managed to get a snap just as it disappeared from view.

On our last day we took a 2 and a half hour trip to the town of Kutná Hora to visit the Sedlec Ossuary, a church that contains the bones of between 40-70 thousand people. Some of the bones have been arranged into strange sculptures, some have been turned into giant goblets or chandeliers. Strings of skulls hang from the ceilings and in the transepts there are huge piles of skulls.

It's both beautiful and disturbing at the same time, and by far one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. 

And to round it all off, here are a few images from the window of the plane. Prague, you were amazing and I hope to be back again soon! Hopefully with a model and wardrobe in tow.

Shoot Two with Beauxoxo

Shoot Two with Beauxoxo

It's been a little while (well it feels longer than is) since I last had anything to blog about but here finally are some new images! Last month I had my 2nd shoot with the wonderful Georgie of Beauxoxo along with the beautiful blogger Dunya of Dearest Deer who modelled for us. You can see the behind the scenes blog post here:

These are a selection of the final images!

 And here are a couple of little animations to go with the image set too! :)

Model/make-up: Dunya - Dearest Deer

Accessories: Georgie - Beauxoxo

Clothing: Miss Patina