October

September was a dead month with the Open Studios and worky type stuff but Oct brought young KatieL back to Scotland, she was actually bringing her mum up for a long weekend stay in our cottage but a days shoot was a must for us both.
Half a day out in the wilds for portfolio and calendar images and the weather was .... well... 'extremely Scottish Autumn' .... damp, windy and cold, great for some truly atmospheric images. 

Back to the warmth and shelter of the studio for the afternoon, heaters on and time to do some arty figure stuff for another wee project using the body for some layered imagery plus a few portfolio portraits.

I have probably bored folk with this before but what I love about Katie is her energy and enthusiasm for experimentation, play and her dance.

For once the days shots were pretty much planned in more detail than normal as I had specific images in mind so there's no better way to end the session with letting her do her stuff, no script, no direction, just kick loose .. love it !

Thanks again Katie, lets hope we can arrange those sessions for next spring.... and it was great to meet Mum.

August Stuff

We are once more in a bit of a tissy getting ready for our Open Studio event which kicks of on Sat Sept 3rd and runs thru to the 11th. This year I will be exhibiting some recent black and white landscape and figure works alongside the Dancers work including a preview of what may be my next main project...
My Dancers in the Dark exhibition in Stirling is finally drawing to a close, whilst it's great having work out there earning a living it's been rather a long time and must now seem like being permanent decor, and having the work back will give me the opportunity to find new audiences, have some interest from a couple of Art Galleries so who knows.
Celebration time - Had an email yesterday announcing a winning result from the Black and White Spider awards, although these are published a while ago the email announcements have just gone out. My image "Male on Plinth" received an honorable mention in the Nude category so it will be featured in their annual publication - cool !! Results
The early entry deadline is already upon us so better think about entries for next years comp already.!!
The image was with professional dancer Tony at the end of a dance shoot session at Contrast Studio in Glasgow. This was not scripted, Tony just pulled this pose for fun whilst we were packing up. Sometimes the best shots are the ones that we are not expecting !

And to round off the month we have contributed even more work into a Photo only exhibition at Gordon McFarlanes Gallery in Alloa. Its been arranged by Tim Shaw and fellow photographers Amanda and John and runs untill the end of Sept. There is an impressive range of landscape and floral work definitely worth a visit. I seem to be the only photographer offering nude work, all very tasteful of course and the owner Neil seems to be a bit of a fan. I decided to add in a couple of old prints of Holly on a light table that have been kicking about in the workshop for far too long, sorry Holly. Unfortunately one got damaged so it's come back for new glass, not the first time but this happens.
These were shot during my second and last light table shoot back in about 2007/8 ?, couldn't think how to take this idea further at the time then my neighbor wanted her sheet of toughened glass back - the bugger !!

Stripped II

Recent work has been rather mundane with stuff that pays the bills - well, nearly :-0, and young Tim has not been up for a while so have had to arrange my own shoots - come back soon Tim !!

I had a wonderful day with a friend in the week capturing some relaxed naked portraits of her in her own home, I have done a number of personal naked portraits sessions over the past 12 months that will form a squeal to my wee book 'Stripped', this time it will be normal folk, no experienced models or regular nuddy posers, its intended as a study of folk that would not normally be photographed naked, either something on their bucket list or at the request of their partner. Its amazing how many folk want to do this but are either shy to ask or have problems finding a photographer that they either trust or whose style they like - this is not Boudoir photography, no makeover or wardrobe of dodgy french lingerie, just real, honest people - Stripped !.

The books are really portfolios of my work and a way to allow folk to see themselves in print without going public. There is no exchange of cash as I find as soon as the dreaded issue of payment comes in then it becomes too commercial and I have turned folk away that expect a sitting fee as they will be more interested in seeking financial gain, that's not what it is about.

A sample of the images for the first book are included in the Stripped portraits bit of my site as these are of models or friends that are fine about being published, but due to the nature of the work for the second book I am not able to show the images online, at least not yet, respecting customer confidentiality etc and holding work back until the book is published. Even then it will only be available to participants and close friends, neither were ever intend to be released for the general public. There will be some samples of Stripped II on my website but only at the express request of those concerned. Link to my bookshop....

So far have done a couple of guys in their late 20s, and a lady and gent in their fifties, plus I have a few willing volunteers keen but not been able to fix a date. The deal is I offer them sample pics on CD and a copy of the book when done. Am really pleased with the work so far but do need a few more participants to complete the book.

So, cannot have a blog without pics so here are a few shots from work done earlier in the year to decorate the post.

A new line in wall decoration :)
Emily, Plinth and Chair - studio session for FA Prints..
... and a day at the beach with Katie...

KatieL - take 2

Lucky old me - got to spend a day in my own studio with Katie from way down south, she was on a mini tour of Scotland and it worked out well as she stayed in our cottage for a few days whilst working with Tim and friends from Smethwick, the next chapter in Tim's concurring of the Scottish Highlands. This was only the second time working with her which is such a shame being at almost opposite ends of the country.

Plan was for some studio work for print sales which as expected produced some great images for a current project looking at figures and the torso, more on this later....
We then spent a lot of time on some test dance images for a possible future project, not even started selecting these yet, one rainy day.. !
Apart from her great looks, true professionalism and fun personality what I love about Katie is her rather wild stage dance background, a lot of the shoot was unplanned portfolio work so she just goes into performance mode ... just brilliant !
Also did some casual portrait portfolio shots, did I say casual, more like just kicking back and having some fun. Very often photo sessions can become rather serious as there are constraints on time and cash, other folk to consider, or we just take it all a tad too too serious and forget what its all about. Yeah, we need to be creative etc and focus on what we want to achieve but lets not forget to play a little, its when we do that we can get something that we are not expecting. Asking Katie to go mad and have fun is like asking a fish to swim, it can be harder to stop her but I blame me for enjoying myself too much - call this work ??
I asked Katie if she likes chocolate, "love it, especially Milky Bars' she replied. Problem was she thought I meant for her to eat !! That's no good, you have fair skin and it won't show I said. Just something for fun that I have wanted to do to match the saying...

'Chocolate in the answer, who cares what the problem was....!'

Oh, and no, she took absolutelly no persuation to do this, am still finding bits of chocolate in the studio ... finishing with a sweet tribute to the great Helmut Newton....

Finished the day with something for her, a portrait to a style chosen by her to gift a large scale print, my way of saying thanks for being such a pleasure to work with, something I always try and do if time allows, assuming of course that the models wants a personal shot, some must get inundated with prints from photographers, don't know what they do with them all !
This image was printed about 900cm high, still think she should have accepted the offer of a life size print.
Thanks Katie, until next time, later in the year ... :)

Dancers in the dark - Art nude photo exhibition.

When was asked by ArtSpace of Bridge of Allan if I would put on a solo art exhibition at Clive Ramsay cafe/bar in Stirling I must admit I was curious at first how these works would go down at the cafe/bar. The venue is in a relatively new sports center and I wondered how art nude photography would be accepted in such a public spacer rather than a more formal gallery where the images would be well received. When I saw the cafe and realised that there are dance studios on the same floor it seemed a great idea, and the owner Clive himself had already purchased a couple of the small prints so I could see the reason for being asked. I must confess that I held back on some of the more full frontal works and did offer a range of images to the organisers for approval just in case but so far its all seen as tasteful art, which it is.

So, a collection of my full sized prints from the Dancers in the Dark project along with a selection of smaller images have now been put up for public display for over 6 weeks, brilliant !.

The finished hanging looks fantastic and I am really pleased with how it all compliments the existing decor, that was deliberate of course :). We have a couple of meet the artists events planned so cannot wait to get some public feedback. More details on the works and the event are at... www.davehunt.eu/dancersinthedark/

Venue :
Clive Ramsay Cafe/Bar, 1st floor, The Peak, Stirling Sport Village, Stirling, FK8 1QZ
Open every day - 10am to 8pm

Exhibition now extended to end of June :)

Lynn's baby

A fellow photographer who's work I really admire is Bill Ballard in the US, formerly a blogspot guy now moved over to Wordpress. One thing in particular that I like about Bill's work is that his images are very natural, real people captured with sympathetic honesty, something I aspire to with my own portraits and character nudes.
His recent entry was sharing some of his Lensbaby work, like Bill I have fiddled about but not really spent the time to prefect using it that I should, I bought the Lensbaby 2 which has the manual bellows for focus and therefor produces very random results. I have used the Composer model which allows the focus to be fixed, technically better but without the 'wow, wasn't expecting that !!' effect, but it has to be said also without the 'oops, that shot's rubbish !!' results.
So, in response to Bill am sharing a few location shots taken last year with models Fredau and Raphaella, all shot in relatively low light using the lens wide open at f2 or f2.8 for rather extreme focus pulling effects and the minimum 'sweet spot'




This rather quirky device takes a bit of getting used to and is not to everyones taste. Seems many folk I know that have bought one only seem to use them a few times compared to their main lenses. Must confess that when it does come out of its bag I will may take a similar shot with a standard 50mm, oh me of little faith !
I do want to try shooting with it at a much smaller aperture and with studio flash for a less distorted effect, just never quite got round to it. Well, I am running a couple of fine art studio workshops over the coming months where we will have a life model for the second morning session, time to play properly !

Thanks Bill.

Model Profile - Fredau

Had the pleasure of day and a half last year with model Fredau last year, Dutch by origin presently living in Edinburgh. Simply one really lovely girl and living proof that you can have great looks, blonde hair, personality and a switched on brain all in one person.
We did a couple of hours mainly for my Dancers in the Dark project but as ever took the opportunity to get some portraits for the old portfolio.


Next day was a location shoot tagging along with Tim Pile and his 'ladies'. We found a rather interesting deserted building not too far away, dirty, damp, full of hazards but just a great place for us creative types.... Light was a bit challenging not least of all as the sun was in and out all day but the shots worked fine, well most did !!. A few were rushed or missed altogether but that's the way things are sometimes when the available time runs out before the inspiration.

And now something that is not uncommon, the shoot was planned as an art nude session but the one image that has done well for me is a grabbed portrait during a break, Fredau put some clothes on to warm up so never missing an opportunity took some window light portaits. This one is virtually as taken apart from a little dodging and burning and was accepted into the 2011 RPS members print exhibition now touring the country :-)
This shot has also been well received on ArtLimited.
Thanks Fredau