Stuff + The Skeleton Project - Weeks 09 and 10

Hi there everyone!


I missed posting a skeleton project photo last week so this post includes two photos! The first is a black and white from the animation I am working on (but not actually working on at the moment, other things to do lol) and the other is another shot from my 'Hanging' series.


Week 09:

Week 10:

In other semi-related news I am having a tour of the photography department of the University I am applying to next week so that should be interesting! The MA course I applied for isn't available, I am going for a BA instead so fingers crossed! :D

Also if you missed it here is a little video I put together from my shoot with the wonderful Katie Eleanor. Photos from that shoot soon too! You can see my other videos here: www.tomsimmonds.com/film

I should have something new to post soonish, got some more shoots coming up so keep your eye on my Facebook page as I update it most regularly. Hope you enjoyed this and last weeks photos, see you next time! :)

Flowers in her hair + Week 8 of The Skeleton Project!

On Thursday I met up with model Alexandra Leigh Eyears, hairstylist Emma Hellier and make-up artist Rebecca Rojas for a little 'flower child' inspired shoot at Highgate wood in London. It was a bit on the cold side as you would expect for the time of year but thankfully it didn't rain!


Here is a preview:

And here are some behind the scenes photos:

And now for week 8 of the Skeleton Project! This weeks photo has a skull in a jar, naturally! :D

Week 08:

Meeting the wonderful mind of Katie Eleanor!

I have been following the work of Katie Eleanor for a long time now, her imagination and creativity along with her immense talent as well as her obvious pleasant nature had her straight on the list in my head of people I would love to work with some time.


Back around the middle of January I got in touch with Katie in the hopes of setting up a little shoot in the coming months. We threw a few ideas around and settled on a bit of a theme and a location in central London to meet up. Here is a quick sketch I did before the shoot of the sort of thing I was aiming to get, I think we pretty much got it too! :)

As usual with a lot shoots I arrange rain seemed to be involved and it decided to tag along with us almost all the time we were shooting. But we didn't let water spoil things so we pitched the tent made of sheets, hoisted the bunting, lit the candles (which blew out immediately) and pulled the creepy doll out of the bag!

I am still working on the photos and waiting for the film to be developed but here is a bit of a preview of what we managed to get before having to give in to the rain, cold and dark. :P

After we were done shooting we went to dry out and warm up in a nearby cafe and while enjoying a beer I got to talk to Katie about all things photography! What could be better? :D It was pleasure to work with her, and I hope we can collaborate in some way again in the future!


Be sure to follow, like and look at all the places Katie calls home on the internet: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Blog

Assisting on Lucia's shoot

Yesterday I had the pleasure of assisting photographer Lucia O'Connor-McCarthy on her photoshoot in Brighton for Ballad Of Magazine. The shoots theme was candy pop for their next issue so there was lots of colour and crazy clothes.

We met up around 9am and didn't finish until 6pm so it was a long day but it was great fun! I met a whole bunch of lovely people and from what I have seen on the back of the camera the photos are going to be fantastic! Be sure to keep an eye on Ballad Of's website for the issue.

Here are some behind the scenes photos from the day:

And on the walk back from the pier to the hotel there was a jolly good sunset to end the day!

The Skeleton Project - Week 07

Ok so for week 7 I thought I would have a go at a bit of photo-manipulation, it isn't really my thing but it's good to try new things...isn't it? :P Well you can decide on on the level of awful when scrolling down haha.


Week 07:

Thanks for looking! See you next week! :)

Daydream

So August last year I had a photoshoot with the wonderful Wioleta Michas, you can see the the blog entry for that shoot here. 

We managed to get lots of great photos, but I also filmed a little bit of the shoot too and only now have I gotten round to putting the clips together and trying to get them into something worth watching. Unfortunately the filming was a bit of an afterthought so there wasn't much footage to work with but I think what I got was pretty good!

Here is the video:

Test with Stephanie

Here is a quick update with a few of the finished photos from my test shoot with Stephanie the other week. :)

Stargazing

The past few days have been really clear so I though I would try to get a few photos of the nights sky, they aren't the best photos but not too bad either. :P I you plan on trying your hand at these I recommend waiting for warmer weather, it was bloody freezing taking these lol.

The Skeleton Project - Week 06

Week six is here! Struggling through haha, need an injection of ideas soon I think, but we will see how it goes. Here is the photo for this week, I hope you like it! Who knew you could make such a sturdy crucifix with garden canes.


Week 06:

Thanks for having a look! See you next week! :)

Black Lace And The Skeleton Project - Week 05

It had been about 10 weeks since I had last done a photoshoot, that being the Chattri shoot last year (saying it like that makes it sound longer haha). So I was extremely happy to arrange to meet up with a new model for an afternoon of shooting in central London.


On Thursday I met up with the beautiful Stephanie for a test shoot, the first of hopefully many more to come! We didn't have anything too particular planned, just an outfit and a few general location in mind. I had an idea to use strips of lace wrapped around the models neck and wrists to compliment then dress and add a little bit of something to the photos, here is a drawing from my sketch book that I did the night before:

Just as I was leaving for London it started hailing and it rained a couple of times when we were shooting but luckily we caught some rays of sun and managed to get some great photos, here are a few previews:

One of the photos was also accepted to be added on my PhotoVogue portfolio! :D You can see it here, any votes would be hugely appreciated! :)

I will be posting more stuff from this shoot once I have finished editing them, be sure to 'Like' my Facebook page for regular updates! :)


And now for week 5 of the Skeleton Project! this weeks photo is a bit strange but oh well. :D


Week 05:

Thanks for reading if you did! :P See you next week! :)

The Skeleton Project - Week 04

Hi everyone!


Already a month into the project, I think the chances of reaching the end are getting slightly higher hehe.


For this weeks photos I thought I would use the skeletons again! You might have seen them used in a few photos of mine before, like this one for example. This time instead of all standing around in a neat fashion they have been hired as dentists.




Week 04:

Thanks for looking again! See you next week! :)

The Skeleton Project - Week 03

Hello, hello, hi and hello!


Week three is upon us and it's time for a hangin'. Gather the townsfolk for this photo!


Week 03:

I took this weeks photo is the relative discomfort of not my own garden so inevitably I got lots of strange looks for performing a hanging in the local park. As you would expect, dog walkers and women with small children cant see the enjoyable side to hanging. Not to mention the ironic waste of time hanging an already dead person would be! They looked at me as though I had killed their very own children, bugger them in the face I say!


I took this photo using a Praktica TL 5B. First time I had used it too, so I was a bit nervous about whether it would even work. The film was also already in the camera when I got it, it looked like it was quite an old roll. But despite taking those two risks everything came out ok! I took quite a lot of different photos on this shoot so they might crop up in later weeks because I like quite most of them. :D


Thanks for looking! See you next week! :)

The Skeleton Project - Week 02

Hi everyone, here we are again! Week 2 of my 52 week project and the skeleton is in bed reading! Everyone likes to do that, even the undead.


Week 02:

Thanks for looking, see you next week for number 3.

The Skeleton Project - Week 01

So its a new year, of course. If you didn't know then... Surprise! If you did then... Happy New Year! Anyway, the new year marks the first week of my 52 week project. I am basing it on the skeleton I got (more info here), not necessarily because I think I will be able to come up with 52 interesting photos with it, but because I couldn't think of anything else lol.


Anyway, here it is! Week 01:

This photo was taken in a bush in my back garden, I used the last of my plumbers smoke bombs on this one... it really did smell horrid. Although that might imply I am a plumber, I am not lol.




There you go, week 1 done, only 51 left *nervous laugh*...




See you next week!

The Chattri Shoot - Update

Hello everyone! Here are a few of the photos from my shoot a few weeks ago. :) The first was taken with my Bronica ETR-Si, and the others with the 5DMkII. Just a little selection, but we managed to get a ton of photos on the day.

And one of them got onto my Vogue.it PhotoVogue portfolio thing too!

Model, Marta Wolniak - @m

Make-up by Rebecca Rojas - www.rebeccarojas.com

Styling by Hugo Harris - @Hugo_Harris

Hair by Emma Hellier - www.emmahellier.com

Photography by... well me lol. - www.tomsimmonds.com

Dresses by - Renaissance Couture and Former Glory

Yo-ho-ho-da!

Merry Christmas everyone!




Thanks to everyone who has commented, liked, added a favourite or just looked at my photos over the past year! Here are a couple of shots to get you in the mood for today. :D

The Yoda and the tree were days 23 and 24 in my Lego Star Wars calendar. :D

The Chattri Shoot

Today I had a fantastic shoot at a great albeit remote location! For several weeks I have been planning to shoot with Marta (a model who I have previously shot with) and it finally came together! Along with stylist Hugo Harris, make-up artist Rebecca Rojas and hairdresser Emma Hellier we drove out to the countryside and trekked up a huge hill through sheep, cows, thorns and 'mud' with a fortunes worth of dresses in tow. The shoot was for a bridal magazine and to showcase some Renaissance Couture designs as well as a bit of a portfolio update for everyone involved.


The location for the shoot was The Chattri, a First World War memorial to the Indian soldiers who sacrificed themselves during the fighting. As memorial sites go it is quite out of the way, we were wondering how people would easily get to it! ...it turns out you can't easily get to it lol.


Last night I did a sketch of what I was hoping the scene to look like, and it turned out about right, save the low quality of my drawing skills. :P

Here are some behind the scenes photos from the day! Can you tell we are half dead from cold?

Photo: Rebecca Rojas

Photo: Rebecca Rojas

Photo: Rebecca Rojas

Photo: Hugo Harris

And here is a preview of the shot I am editing first!

This was by far the biggest shoot I have done, in terms of people working on it. I couldn't have wished for a better bunch of people to work with! Thanks everyone! Off to my editing cave for a while now...


Model, Marta Wolniak - @m
Make-up by Rebecca Rojas - www.rebeccarojas.com
Styling by Hugo Harris - @Hugo_Harris
Hair by Emma Hellier - www.emmahellier.com
Photography by... well me lol. - www.tomsimmonds.com
Dresses by - Renaissance Couture and Former Glory