As we head into a new year I thought I would post a few of my personal favourites from 2011. In no particular order.
A huge thanks to all clients, friends and collaborators. Here’s to an even better 2012!
I recently did a promotional shoot for Red Dragon IT Rally Team. This Blue Oval Beauty is a rebuilt ex works rally car.
Hopefully to be appearing as a feature in a Ford type magazine soon!
If you follow my ramblings here you will know that I like to take the road less traveled when I come up with an idea. Well when I decided to shoot something simply entitled ‘Spring’ the cog in my head started to turn, very slowly!
I wanted to create something that purposefully looked false. My initial thought was to do a number of different shoots and then comp them all together in Photoshop. However tru to form I really wanted to get as much right in camera, that and I had the urge to build a set.
I have found this great local space that I can use (http://www.dadonline.eu/content/studio-space-0 for larger studio shoots, its massive, heated and has 24 hour access) This would be perfect.
Don’t ask me how or what gave me the idea but I wanted to bury a model in soil upto her neck and make it look like she was ‘growing’ out of the ground!
A quick call to the very talented, and extremly busy Emily Rose about the make-up (http://www.emilyrosemakeupartist.co.uk/) I had this mad idea to make our models eyelashes look like shoots, the quick response from Emily was ‘sure no problem’ so that was decided then.
Obviously we wouldn’t be able to bury a model alive so I had to think of a way to make it look like it. I concocted a set that comprised of a tabletop with a hole cut out of the middle. We could then position the model and fill the soil around her.
Once I hit on the idea of the saw tables the only other thing to think about was the lighting. I wanted the final image to have a sunrise glowy feeling. This would mean that I needed a huge amount of ambient light that I could control. After a phone around I still didn’t have enough light (thanks to Alan over at Dover Design Photography for the loan of some studio heads).
This was going to need some lateral thinking. I was actually on another shoot using my Lasolite Hilite when it occured to me that I could use that as one huge diffused light source. I would then use a gelled and gridded strobe off to one side and low which I could dial up or down to give me less or more fake sunrise. I also opted to use a beauty dish directly above the model as my key.
The shot above shows the final set-up before we added our model. the boom stand on the left isn’t extended here the platform was to allow me to get above the table enough to give you a sense of standing over the ground.
This shot shows the setup with our model inplace and the beauty dish overhead as well.
I must say that Emily and her assistant Katie Searle did a truly outstanding job on the makeup.
Our model the beautiful Christina Timson also deserves a gigantic thanks not only for her patience but also for allowing me to pack soil and dead leaves around her and make to to sit still for nearly an hour until small creatures were spotted amongst the leaves!
My assistant for the day was the talented Gwen Mortimore, she also shot the BTS images above.
This shoot was always going to be a little different from my other shoots as there was just one image that I was aiming for, normally I like to have a few images that I want to get. So heres what actually came out of the camera. It was so close but didn’t have that fantasy look I was wanting
So after a little Photoshop work which included:
The final image looked like this:
Apologies for not posting anything for a while but I have kind of had my hands full, namely the arrival of our 2nd daughter nearly 3 weeks early. May I just take this opportunity to introduce you to Priya Joy Bristow. She seems to be comfy in front of the camera already and doesn’t even mind the strobes!
Normal service will be resumed next week. I will be working on a behind the scenes blog from when I buried a model in soil!
For ages now I have been wanting to do a water based shoot. A fairly easy plan, except for one thing where to actually shoot it.
I did a fashion shoot for a magazine towards the end of last year at a local hotel, I got to know the manager fairly well and I just asked him if I could take over their spa sometime to do some shots. ‘Yeah sure’ was the response it was that easy. A real lesson in ‘if you don’t ask you don’t get’. So I had my location sorted at Wallett’s Court Spa and Hotel (www.wallettscourthotelspa.com). Its a very nice boutique type hotel if your ever in White cliff country in Kent not far from Dover. I highly recommend it.
I wanted to split the shoot into two parts
I wanted to try out a new MUA as well in the guise of Gemma Parnell (www.makeupbygem.co.uk) who didn’t even make that wide eye gesture followed by the word ‘you want to what’ She immediately came up with a plan for water proof make-up.
The submerged part I decided I was going to use snoots and grids to keep the light tight and focused as I wanted to get as much right in camera as possible and I also wanted the impression that the model was a dark liquid.
I must admit most of my pre-shoot preparation went on the second splash part. I wanted to create a kind of water sculpture and use some gells to colour the splashes. I quickly decided that cross lighting was the best way to achieve what I was looking for.
The lighting diagram here show the simple setup I decided on the water was to be thrown from the same side as the gelled strobe and the beauty dish should just pick out the models features and any splashes that went forward of the model.
Even so I didn’t want to leave anything to chance so I managed to persuade my 4 year old daughter to ‘suit up’ in her wet weather gear and stand still for a little while in the garden so I could test the theory. Apart from her flinching when I actually threw the water as you can see it worked all that I changed from this test shot was to dial up the gelled flash to camera left and added the beauty dish to the right hand one
The first part of the shoot I decided to shoot in the jacuzzi here are a couple of my favorites. The first one is shot using just one strobe but its gridded and high above the camera
This second one is has been snooted and brought down to thew same height as the models head
There are a few other examples of all the shoot on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/RubberDuckDoesPhotography).
Next up was the water splash part of the shoot which meant a complete reset for the lights and model so using the setup I had previously planned this is what we had
To the left Gemma the MUA and my assistant Zoe are armed with beakers of water which they then unceremoniously hurl at Amy our model. OK its a little bit more directed than that. One was aiming at her head the other her waist. I did join in for a bit but to be honest i kind of messed things up! here are a couple of the results.
Finally this shot was if I am honest was what I was planning on getting over anything else. I shot it during the last burst, after I had chimped the burst and saw this one I called time
During the evening I ran a camera doing time lapse which I wanted to use for promotional purposes. I must say a huge thanks to my mate Rowland Deem aka Roland the Bastard as I sent out a panic message to him for a sound track, I sent him a very rough version and he sent me back something which basically fitted my edit nearly exactly, dude you are truly talented!
And finally I want to thank the team again Gemma Parnell for some truly awesome (and very waterproof) makeup, Amy Roberts for allowing me to hurl water at her! (Model Mayhem ID #1394768), Zoe Nash my intern/assistant who even when given shi awful jobs did them with enthusiasm and unquestionably and lastly for Wallett’s Court Hotel for allowing me to take over their lovely spa for the evening.
Its always nice to hear feedback and peoples opinions 
until next time dear reader when hopefully I will have something even more unusual to tell you about.
The Beginning
Way back in August I was invited to view the latest collection of couture fashion designer Pierre Garroudi (www.pierregarroudi.com). My initial reaction was Pierre who? High fashion is a long way away from portraiture, editorial, PR and advertising photography the world I am used to. However I very much believe in nothing ventured nothing gained.
So, I went and met Pierre at his gallery in London and saw his incredible garments. When I visited he was just finishing his new ‘Turquoise’ collection. After a couple of hours of chatting, him about fashion (Pierre’s enthusiasm is infectious) and me about photography.
I left having agreed to two test shoots with the plan that we would submit the final images to various magazines. The first shoot was to be at his gallery and one on location. However due to other work commitments, holidays and other general stuff the shoots weren’t going to happen until October.
The Team – or as somebody (not me I add) named us the ‘Dream Team’
The first thing I had to think about was my team. Now usually I work pretty much alone and with the minimal amount of gear so that I can get to an assignment get setup and having thought about what I am going to do, do it without having to relay any of my thoughts and ideas to anybody else, simple right? For a start I knew I was going to have to get a top class makeup artist and an equally brilliant hair stylist and even more shockingly I finally succumbed to the idea I was going to have to find an assistant, something I have actively resisted in the past.
I had had a particular makeup artist (MUA) on the radar for some of the portfolio work I do for a while. I just liked the style she worked in and as a bonus she lived close by in Canterbury. So I contacted Emily Rose (www.emilyrosemakeupartist.co.uk ) and after a meeting, where Emily didn’t glaze over while I rambled on about what we were going to do, she agreed to become my MUA for the project.
The next member of the team, rather surprisingly for me, was filled by my good mate and fellow photographer Alan Langley (www.doverdesign.co.uk) who lives just up the road from me in the same village. I haven’t really mentioned to Alan just how much the offer meant to me. Alan is in my opinion probably in the top 5% of wedding photographers in the South East. His work is truly amazing. With Alan on board I knew I would have another pair of eyes looking at things in detail a real safety net which would allow me to get on with shooting my ideas.
The last member of the team to sign up, and by no means the least, was the one and only Vicki Lord (www.vickilord.co.uk) hair specialist extraordinaire, based in Herne Bay. I already knew of Vicki by reputation as other models and Emily had sung her praises to me. The first time I met Vicki I knew if I couldn’t persuade her to be part of the project I wouldn’t be happy. I needn’t have worried as luckily for me after I told her about my ideas for both shoots she was completely on board.
It’s often quite difficult to convey ideas to other people but between the four of us the initial planning almost seemed to do itself. Now if your observant and have actually read what’s typed above you’ll have noticed something that at the time I didn’t pay any attention to. The fact that we all lived in pretty close proximity to each other in Kent and that none of us are London based. All too often London is the only consideration for fashion shoots I wanted to show that Kent has a wealth of talent.
Shoot One
Location: The Pierre Garroudi Gallery, London
Date: 10th October, 2010
Clothing: Pierre Garroudi
Lead Photographer: Matt Bristow
2nd Photographer: Alan Langley
Intern: Thomas Langley
MUA: Emily Rose
Hair: Vicki Lord
Models: Amy Roberts, Alisha Mckenna
OK this was always going to be a nerve-racking experience for two reasons. The first one was that the team although individually experienced and talented hadn’t worked together. The second was that we were marching into Pierre’s gallery to basically take it over for the day and I wasn’t sure how he would feel about it.
So my idea was that I wanted to create a passing nod to Surrealism and Dali. I wanted to create a set, not easy when we are not in a studio and we have to transport everything from Kent by car. So we took black and white floor tiles and laid a floor! I just felt it would add a nice contrast to the colours and texture in the garments.
The lighting was going to be a challenge as I wanted to create an Art house type feel to the images so lots of snoots and grids were used. The snoots to light a nice circle of light at the feet of the model(s) and grids to pick out detail in both the garments and the hair and makeup. For some of the shots we were using up to 6 different strobes to get the lighting effects I had in my head. The hardest thing was stopping any light spill, I knew we could just get rid of any unsightly in post but I wanted to get it as near as we could in camera.
After a lot of setup and testing we were ready I also wanted to create background interest in the form of another model seemingly ‘floating’ in the background. I quickly decided that we were only going to shoot Pierre’s Red collection as this is what looked best with the set and lighting.
After a long day we had the shots in the bag. Dark and moody showing the couture texture in Pierre’s designs. I was happy.
Shoot Two
Location: Drop Redoubt Fortress, Dover
Date: 19th October, 2010
Clothing: Pierre Garroudi
Lead Photographer: Matt Bristow
2nd Photographer: Alan Langley
Intern/Assistant: Thomas Langley, Holly Hawkins
MUA: Emily Rose
Hair: Vicki Lord
Models: Amy Roberts, Hayley White
The second shoot took a little more thinking about. I wanted to take Pierre’s designs to locations where they would never, ever normally be found, a real juxtaposition. Pierre also wanted me to shoot his latest ‘Turquoise’ collection as well. I really wanted to do something with decay as I thought the muted colours of rust would really contrast the colours of the garments perfectly. But location after location wasn’t suitable for one reason or another; one was actually dangerous as it had sheets of asbestos lying around the place!
I was just about to admit defeat when the thought occurred to me that the team was all local, even the models for this shoot. Surely I could do something with this, where locally would fit the bill? It took only a couple of moments for me to think of The Drop Redoubt fortress on Dover’s Western Heights.
I have been completely fascinated with the place ever since we moved down here 7 years ago. I was lucky enough to get access along with a few other photographers earlier in the year so I went and trawled through my catalogues for the pictures I had shot back then, yes absolutely perfect!
Now all I had to do was to get the access as it’s not open to the public! I so I sent Paul Wells from the Western Heights Preservation Society an email detailing what I wanted to do, I was expecting rounds of emails checking this and that but Paul’s answer was ‘I don’t see a problem with that’. So I arranged to meet Paul at The Drop Redoubt so I could have a proper look around and take some reference pictures to show the team.
I hadn’t been into any of the underground parts during my previous visit as between November and March you can’t enter them as they are protected because of the bats nesting in there. So as Paul took me around I started to get more and more excited about the location it was pure gold dust, I actually felt like jumping up and down while giggling and clapping my hands!
I the day of the shoot arrived and the weather was perfect, those lovely fluffy white clouds backed by perfect blue sky, the externals would be a breeze. However because of the good weather it meant that the temperature had dropped, Amy and Hayley did a fantastic job it was freezing and I was wearing 3 layers!
For this shoot I had decided that I was going to use a stripped back 2 lighting approach, but we wear shot at a number of locations around the fortress one of them I was shooting the models across the moat. The plan was that Thomas would set up the next location while Alan and I were shooting. This worked well and meant that the waiting around in the cold the models had to do was kept to a minimum.
I also wanted to use a smoke machine in some of the shots to give that ghostly effect and we planned to do this with the last few sets, I must admit that the final results were exactly what I was looking for.
A huge thanks to everyone involved without any of you none of these would have been the success they were. A particular thanks to Thomas Langley who took all the behind the scenes shots. Theres also a few shots over on Alans site http://doverdesign.co.uk/?p=1224 Thomas has also blogged about the shoots as well
Keep an eye out in various magazines as some of the images are to be published, I’ll put an update here when they do.
Its not some evil Star Wars hocus pokus. Its a lesser known method for dramatically lighting glass and liquids.
Have you ever tried to photograph something thats made of glass? If you have you’ll know the problems with reflections, it usually results in your mugshot in one of the reflections possibly grining, or the window with the nuber 7 bus driving by. Not wholly professional and certainly it wont be of a standard that a client is willing to pay for.
Your solution therefore is the dark field method, before I get flamed by those in the know, yes there is an opposite technique called, yes you’ve guessed it Light Field Photography. I’ll save that for another time.
This is an example that I took using the technique, what I aim to do is give you, dear reader enough knowledge for you to give it a go yourself should you wish.
Firstly and most surprisingly theres no direct light and only one strobe used here, you could use a second snooted strobe camera left or right to pick out any detail if you so felt like it.
So heres the set up and its really simple 
The glass subject sat on something black I used foam core with glass ontop for that shiney look. A further piece of foamcore just big enough to fill the frame.
The strobe is set below the table pointing directly at a white wall immediately behind all this. The room needs to be very dark to eliminate and reflections. In a small room you will have problems with reflections from the walls etc.
My product studio is small so to get round this I used my reflective umbrellas black side out to both left and right nice and close in any other black ‘flag type’ props will do the job.
That is all there is to it, give it a go. Experiment I flagged out the left side for the Grolsch bottle and slightly angled the strobe towards the right to give more illumination.
I would be interested in hearing how any of you get on.
I started the month with somewhat of a challange 3 month old twins! quite a challange but Little Tommy and Lilly were easy on me and seemed contented to lie back gargle a little and take it all in their stride.
Towards the end of the month I embarked on a portrait road trip to Devon. Mostly high key family portraits in peoples homes.
I’m experimenting with props at the moment. Balloons and the cheap kids bubble machine seem to be the favorites. (I cant believe that I have to bribe/pay my 4 year old daughter to let me use it! perhaps I ought to invest in a more professional one!)
With summer here I am also doing quite a few lifestyle shoots ourdoors which is great fun while in Devon I had a great shoot with the Randall family at the pictoresque Killerton chapel it seems to have everything from huge oak trees to exotic palms and perfectly manicured paths. A completely new location to me but certainly one I’ll return to if I am able to.
With some experimental studio work slotting in and around my other commitmants, trying to make water drops convey a mood or expression heres a setup shot and a couple of the final images.
They are straight out of camera with no post editing on them at all. If I get enough requests I’ll write a ‘how to’ so if your interested on how to get these kind of results drop me a line.
The month rounded itself off with an ad shoot on the gigantic cruise ship Eurodam (which I was told isn’t even their biggest vessel!) which is part of the Holland America Line. I was lucky enough to have an access all areas pass which took me quite literally from top (bridge) to bottom (engine room) and everything inbetween. I had no idea how much of a vessel like that is ‘off limits’ or hidden from the general passengers.
Until next time dear reader.
