Visit Two - On location

Had a fab visit this week with the PT4U team in Stockport.

Day 1

We were based at Hallam Mill Photographic Studio, a fabulous daylight studio with so much space and  a wonderful range of eclectic props.  We started the day going through our homework which was videoed by the team.  Then Duncan Cooper from Calumet demonstrated the brand new Leaf Credo 60  Back on the Mamiya Medium Format Camera.  The camera is amazing and surprisingly simple to use.  I was blown away by the fast shutter speed with lighting, ordinarily I can set my Canon to a maximum of 250th of a second before the rear curtain banding is noticeable within the image.  As the Mamiya is a leaf shutter it does not have this problem at all.  I shot a couple of images at 200th of a second with a window behind the model then Mark suggested I increase it to 800th of a second and WOW the sky really popped, amazing!!  I can see that the medium format would be perfect for my dance work and the fashion and beauty work I take for the colleges and universities.  I am officially in LOVE!!

After the demonstration we began shooting with the beautiful Portia, she has an amazing look and is super talented with her makeup and styling too.  She was really easy to work with as she moves and poses so well.  We concentrated on natural light which in a sense was great as we had identified it during the first visit as a weak point for me in particular.  My commissions for my business are based on flash photography so I have done very little with natural light other than a few seminars with Kevin Wilson.  I found this particularly difficult and restrictive as I have not fully grasped natural light and reflectors as yet.

Towards the end of the day we went outside the mill to take some daylight and flash images.  Mark showed us a neat trick with the camera setting it to 320th second and turning the camera upside down to create a natural vignette which should be featured on one of the films, the images he showed us on the back of the camera were awesome!

Day 2

Mark let us know the previous day that we would be shooting four vintage period dresses and the outcome of the shoot would potentially be featured in Photo Professional Magazine. We were introduced to the beautiful and serene model Cassie Jade McDowell, she is fabulous to work with as she looks so innocent with a real english rose quality but is a self confessed rule breaker.  I started the first shoot with Cassie in a beautiful black lace vintage dress.  The shoot took place in a cluttered corridor, I really struggled with the natural light and the limitations of the location and got a severe roasting from Mark as I was pretty hopeless.  I took onboard all the comments that he had made and tried much harder when shooting the next dresses. By the time we got to the last dress we were at out time limit so I had to rush the shoot.  Next time it may be better to work out the time divide it between us and allow changeover time etc.  This is how I have to work with the college students and it works really effectively so we don't run over time.

Having reviewed the images I took they are pretty bad, I am certainly not proud of any of the images but I do have the capacity to learn and I do have a plan.  We are in the process of purchasing a beautiful old but tired mill, so before we start sand blasting and partitioning I am going to work on natural lighting techniques until I master it.

Mark set Rankin as the iconic photographer for our homework which I am really excited about, Rankin is awesome and his work is stunning.

I am grateful to the PT4U team for this amazing opportunity and although I currently feel out of my depth with the natural light photography it will certainly be a great skill to have when I do eventually master it.