Test With Eleanor and The Skeleton Project Week 31

Shoot With Eleanor


Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of photographing the beautiful Eleanor Froud! We decided to go to St Jame's park in London, we braved hot weather, Olympic crowds and unfortunately placed stinging nettles!


We got five different looks in the various locations around the park. As we were shooting the 2nd to last look in a patch of daises some crazy old woman called the police on us, apparently were weren't allowed past the little fence thing... luckily we managed to get the shots before we were moved so she didn't spoil things too much. :D


Here are a couple of previews!

Keep your eyes peeled in an upcoming blog post for the finished photos! :)

The Skeleton Project

So for week 31 I decided to give the skeleton a lovely milk bath! Good for it's bones I am sure! The daises stuck on it's head and in it's eyes are picked from my granny's garden and they all shrivelled up on the drive home, luckily they add to the whole dead vibe. :P 

Don't forget you can follow the project here.

EBTG Bride and The Skeleton Project Week 30

EBTG Bride Shoot

A few weeks ago I had another shoot with M (you can see that entry here) for a bridal boutique called EBTG Bride, I just finished editing the photos and here are a few of them! :D

Credits for this shoot are:

Model/Stylist: M

Make-up Courtney Scarlett Boyd

Accessories: Everything But The Girl Bridal Boutique

Photography: Thomas Cole Simmonds

I have also finished the photos from the shoot before that one but I am waiting to hear back to see if they will be published so I have to keep them hidden for a little bit longer... not too much longer though I hope as I can't wait to release them!

Making a Studio... update!

Over the past week I have been slowly converting my room into a usable work space, and now I have a place to do studio shoots if need be! Here is a little sketch I did before hand and this is what it turned out like, not too far off as it turns out. :P 

Hopefully I will have some shoots to show you in the near future shot here!

The Skeleton Project

Week 30!! Still a little surprised I got this far! This weeks photo shows a little bit of a mutation, two heads are better than one, although I imagine these two would argue a lot. You can follow the project here.

Making a Studio and The Skeleton Project Week 29

Making a Studio!

So this week I decided I would give myself one month to properly set up my business, albeit on a very small scale! I am currently emptying my room out and setting up my backdrop, lights etc so I can start offering portrait sessions as well as having somewhere a bit more permanent to experiment. :D

I did a little sketch of what it will look like when it's finished and it is actually turning out quite well, I put the stuff up for a quick test and it looks ok, now it's time to repaint though!

The Skeleton Project

It's week 29! Not a huge amount to say about this one, I was experimenting with making an image that looked like an x-ray and this is what I ended up with. I will probably have another go at the x-ray another week, it was quite fun. :D You can follow the project here.

Last Shoot And The Skeleton Project Week 28

Last Shoot

As I mentioned in a the last post my good friend and the ever so talented and beautiful M is leaving England to pursue her career back in Poland, we had planned for our previous shoot to be our last but as it turned out we had time to fit one more in before she left!

Marta arrived along with Courtney (who would be doing the make-up) and we set off to start shooting. For this shoot we went to Stanmer Park, after doing the make-up at a pub in the Brighton Marina we drove to the park and searched for a good location. While the make-up was being done the weather was amazing, perfectly clear and warm but as soon as we arrived it began to get cloudy and cold again, typical but we still got some great shots and the sun did creep out every now and then so it wasn't too bad. :D

M had bought along a huge bag of wedding accessories for us to shoot with lent to us by the wonderful Natalie of bridal shop Everything But The Girl Bridal Boutique. Here are some more behind the scenes photos from the shoot:

Here are a couple of previews from the shoot too! :D

Credits for the shoot are:

Model/Stylist: M

Make-up Courtney Scarlett Boyd

Accessories: Everything But The Girl Bridal Boutique

Photography: Thomas Cole Simmonds

The Skeleton Project

Week 28 is here! Here it lies on the old shed steps, my dad ripped them out the other day to replace them, they have been there for as long as I have been alive... ahh shed steps lol. You can follow the project here.

Features

And lastly here are a couple of features that I have had by some lovely websites!

My shoot for SomethingIndie.com is being put up on their site over the next few weeks, here is a shot of one of the looks on their site now, and here one of the lookbooks on there that I shot too! :)

And here are a couple more, one on the amazing Nonsense Society!

And great new site The Fates Design!

Shooting With M, Times Square and The Skeleton Project Week 27

Shooting With M

Last week I had another amazing shoot the beautiful M. We had been planning this shoot for quite a while, M is leaving England to start her career as a stylist in Poland so we wanted to do something special before she left!

We picked the date for the shoot quite a few weeks before hand and by some miracle it was (I think) the best day of the year so far! The weather was PERFECT and everything came together! The day started out for me by being picked up and driven to the location along with the rest of the team. We drove along the coast to Newhaven Fort where we found an excellent almost deserted beach. 

Although it wasn't without dangers...

...so obviously this is where we set up the wardrobe! :D

The location allowed us to get 5 different looks which took 7 glorious hours! M's flare for styling was obvious, as I hauled the giant case along the beach I had no idea of the delights that would spill from it.

During the shoot I got thoroughly sunburnt and it was great. :D Thanks to the wonderful Caroline who assisted us we had snacks a-plenty to tuck into between looks and as we drew to the end of the shoot she pulled out a splendid bottle of cold red wine of which a glass went down very well indeed.

Here are some more behind the scenes photos from the day showing Angela and Caroline working their make-up and hair related magic!

And here are a couple of previews, a LOT more to come from this shoot but I haven't got quite that far into the editing yet.

Credits for the shoot are:

Model/Stylist: M | M
Make-up/Hair: Angela Wilkinson
Assistant: Caroline Flynn
Photography: Me! Thomas Cole Simmonds Photography
And huge thanks to Jon who drove us to the location, getting a bus there would have been a nightmare haha.

Keep an eye on my Facebook page for more updates on this and other shoots too, a lot more stuff to come! :)

We will all miss you Marta!!


Art Takes Times Square

On the 18th the ArtistWanted - Art Takes Times Square event happened and my photo was on display! :D I am not sure if it was just this one image or how long it was on display for but it's still really exciting to have had my work seen over there! 

Photo taken by Viktoriya - THANK YOU :D

The Skeleton Project

And here is this weeks Skeleton Project photo! Week 27 is here, over half way! Don't forget to follow the project here!

And one last thing! I recently joined Instagram! If you wish to follow me you can! My username is @tomsimmonds You can also view my photos online here. I have been using it on my last two shoots, it's so fun for quick behind the scenes stuff and previews! :D

SomethingIndie Shoot and The Skeleton Project Week 26

A couple of months ago I was approached by the wonderful Wendy, the brains behind online clothing boutique SomethingIndie.com to take photos for their next wave of branding. I of course said yes! The weeks passed and everything was planned out and the shoot took place last Sunday. Wendy had arranged for us to use a pub in Wandsworth called Grand Union, the garden and interior of this place is amazing and the perfect place to shoot. 

They also did amazing pizza, could it get any better? :D


Here are some behind the scenes photos from the day!

Photo: Lara Crudgington

And some more during the shoot! 

Photo: Karyn Rehbock

Here are a couple of previews and wips from the shoot too, got a huge pile of editing to do now. :D

I had a fantastic time shooting on Sunday with such a great team, beautiful models and wonderful clothing!

Credits for the shoot are:

Models: Darya Khus / Naomi Sharpe

Stylist: Wendy Irene

Clothing: SomethingIndie

Make-up: Lara Crudgington

Assistant: Karyn Rehbock

Photographer: Thomas Cole Simmonds

Huge thanks to Grand Union for letting us shoot there!

Keep your eyes peeled for the final images on SomethingIndie soon(ish)! :D

QUICK UPDATE!! 


Just as I posted this blog one of the photos got accepted on PhotoVogue! :D You can see it properly by clicking the image below!

And now for this weeks photo for the Skeleton Project! The skeleton is enjoying the noonday sun while chilling out on it's crucifix in this one!

Don't forget you can follow the project here! :)


And lastly the winner of my print giveaway was the ever so talented photographer Ella Ruth Cowperthwaite! The print is on it's way! :D

Random Stuff and The Skeleton Project Week 25

Lots of bits in this blog post! Here goes! :D


I forgot to put it in a previous post but a few weeks ago the amazing people at Anormalmag.com put together a wonderful little feature of my work on their website titled Subtle Emotions, if you would like to have a look at what they wrote and the images they picked just click the image below and it will take you right there. :)

The print giveaway is over and the winner is...is...IS!! .... 

Ella Ruth Cowperthwaite, congratulations to you Ella! Your print is on it's way! :D


The following bit is all about voting for me in things, you might want to skip ahead. :P


I have entered the competition ELLE are holding to find people to their upcoming internships. I of course entered the competition for the chance to be their fashion photographer intern! If you think I deserve a vote you can do so here. :) http://www.elleuk.com/internship-2012/fashion-photographer/(intern)/902728 Voting ends this Sunday... so tomorrow... so if you want to vote make it snappy. :P


And I have also entered the TigerCamer, Shoot Share And Win competition for a chance to have my photo printed in their upcoming photobook! If you would like to vote click the image below and it will take you where you need to go. :)

AND! Earlier this week one of my photos from my latest shoot with Stephanie was accepted on my PhotoVogue profile! If you like it make sure to click the "I Vogue It" button! :D

And for this weeks Skeleton Project photo I entered the world of instant photographic gratification.... Instagram! I actually had to pinch my dads phone in order to take this photo but I will have my own phone capable of using the app next week so you can expect more from me then! You can follow me there if you like! @tomsimmonds


Before that though here is a little bit of skeletal inspiration from Walt Disney in 1929! The Skeleton Dance!

And this weeks photo! Pales into insignificance after that video but still... :P