So it was a weekend full of photographs for me. In total I pressed the shutter button 1608 times. Wow. It all started on Saturday in great style with the wedding of Louise and Mark at Trinity College. I actually shot it with another local wedding photographer, Jean-Luc Benazet. Check out his blog post on the wedding. Anyway, Trinity is an absolutely fantastic venue, it’s almost impossible to get a bad shot in the chapel. That said, it’s a bit of a cavern and there isn’t much light in there so you better have a modern camera with good high ISO performance!
So, it’s bitterly cold and you’re in an Anglo Saxon village filled with a bunch of Orcs. What do you do? Well I guess most people would run for the hills but this just happened to be the set of the new film, Born of Hope. Born of Hope is a Lord of the Rings inspired, non commercial film being directed by Kate Madison. It’s on a truly tiny budget but from what I’ve seen it looks amazing and I can’t wait to see the final film.
Anyway, back to the Orcs… While not needed on set I decided to shoot a few ‘alternative’ shots from the main feature. My idea was simple, what would an average Orc do in day to day life? Well firstly I reckon they would make pretty awesome poker players so with the help of some of the cast I set about creating an Orc poker game.
This was no easy feat. I chose to use one of the buildings on the set at West Stow Anglo Saxon Village (a recreation of a real village discovered during an archaeological dig). The first challenge was to create the scene. The building unfortunately didn’t contain a table so the table you see them playing on is actually the fireplace. I managed to firm down the ash just enough to make it look like a sensible playing surface. The chairs are two three legged stools and a clay jar, again we kind of had to improvise there…The rest was just props we could find, I scattered swords over the table thinking that any self respecting Orc engaging in a game of poker would likely want to have his weapon close at all times…
Lighting, well I wanted that to be dramatic with nice fall off into the shadows. As such I used an SB900 in a white shoot through umbrella high camera right as main. It was choked up to make the light slightly harsher. Camera left is a low silver umbrella about 3 stops below the main.
All in all I think it works quite well and I really love the final result.
More from the shoot after the jump…
So the days are finally starting to get longer, the birds are starting to sing and the trees are finally starting to bud. I guess that can mean only one thing. Spring is finally a coming. With it Cambridge turns from a cold gray city which feels far more suited to the 1600s into a nice warm playground full of tourists. Lots and lots of tourists. Time to charge those cattle prods I guess…
Anyway I decided to stop off quickly on the way to work and came across these wonderfully delicate crocuses at the back of Trinity College. They looked like the perfect subject for my attention so I got the camera out and started snapping. The light was actually really flat, the sky full of clouds, so I decided to light these with a single SB900 from camera right. The full CTO on the flash and the low level gives the effect of a very low sun in the sky and I think really makes the picture. What do you guys all think?
I decided to go back for a second photographic expedition at the weekend (well I needed a haircut as well). The city really has come alive in the past couple of weeks and now there is a constant stream of punts heading up and down the river.
So, Saturday brought with it the yearly wing dinners of Cambridge University Officers Training Corps. I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to photograph various wings every year since the inception of the dinners, and this time I had the (dubious) honour of photographing both the Royal Artillery and the Royal Armored Corps.
The guys are a really fun gang and if anybody out there is presently at university and not part of a UOTC I highly encourage you to check it out. Definitely beats working at Sainsburys to fund your degree!
Anyway, on to the photographs… Both actually presented some fairly major challenges, more after the jump.
So, a friend of a friend tipped us off earlier in the week about an old ruined house in the outskirts of Cambridge. Never being one to pass up an adventure we loaded up the car with cameras, lights and a few friends and went to explore. We really weren’t disappointed: the walk up alone was fantastic, 3/4 of a mile up a long overgrown track. Shrubs which had once lined a majestic driveway had now turned into tall, gangly trees, an old woodstack was completely engulfed by moss and at the end we came upon the shell of a once magnificent manor house. The imposing chimney breasts remain as do some of the walls, but the majority of the house is overgrown with trees.
You’re definitely going to see more pictures of this in the future when I get the chance to go back with some models but here’s one of an old cooker to keep you going.
Alex 
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