It’s really not turning out to be a good Quadra week for me. Just managed to get through the airport in Dubai but only by a cat’s whisker.
When I travel I pack all my vital camera gear into a Peli case which is just the right size for carry-on. That way if my hold luggage goes missing I’m still in business the other end and able to shoot.

The Quadra is one of those items I consider essential (despite trying to toast one of my models yesterday) and as such I had it in my hand luggage. Well it turns out Dubai airport security (possibly hearing of yesterday’s escapades) really weren’t happy with that idea. I’d already been through security once but the second set insisted no Quadra in hand luggage (despite the label on it which says it’s fine) Damn. I had already checked in my hold baggage and technically left Dubai (passport stamped out etc).

So what happens then? Well that’s where it starts to get fun, and goes to show why you should arrive at the airport early. I got escorted back through security, however I couldn’t pass the passport people again with my passport. I’d been stamped as having left the country and as such if I tried to leave again they’d arrest me for entering illegally. Drat.

I ended up having to leave my passport with one of the immigration guys (a very scary thing to do) and be escorted back to check-in. There they continued to insist that I really had to check the battery and as such decided to reclaim my already checked bag. This is where I started to sweat. The only other time I’ve tried to reclaim a bag before flying it resulted in an awful headache of me trying to understand a Frenchman, jumping into a security restricted zone and ultimately almost losing the bag. I got escorted down again almost airside until being stopped at a barrier. “Wait here, it’ll only be 5 minutes,” reassured a security guy as he went to rummage for my bag, “Just give me your boarding pass.”

Okay so 30 minutes later I’m sitting in the bowels of the airport on my own. I’ve lost my passport to upstairs and now somebody has taken my boarding pass. I have no clue where anybody is and technically I’m not actually even meant to be in the country anymore. Hum. Another 10 minutes pass and yes I’ll admit I’m starting to get a little nervous. But finally, voila my bag appears. In goes the Quadra and back though security I get escorted. Luckily I managed to pick up my passport again (just hoping Mosad didn’t manage to clone it) and off I went through a few more sets of security.

After all that I was a touch dehydrated (yeah okay I admit it, I might have been sweating a little at the point they took my passport off me) so I went to Costa. Guess what? Seconds later I get the boarding call for my flight (which requires yet another set of security) and there they remove my nice, cold, airport bought beverage from me

Flying sucks! Well actually I’m lying, I love it really, here’s a few quick snaps a-la-iPhone of my journey. Really amazing what that thing can do. Recognise the view from the plane? It’s actually Iraq and Baghdad. Better hope those engines keep on running and the elections go well!

More adventures soon,
Alex

Wow what a day. Today I got set an assignment by Joe McNally to photograph the lovely Alessia – an up and coming musician. The goal was to get two photographs suitable for a magazine (one landscape and one portrait as a cover) in order to show Alessia as a very quirky but likeable person (think Biorke). How on earth do you do that? And more to the point, how on earth do you shoot and edit those in under 3 hours? Keep on reading to find out how and how this turned out to be one of my most expensive photos to date…

Story and more photos after the jump…
(Click here to see more…)

Well it’s been one hell of a week here in Dubai. Last Monday I took the (somewhat suicidal) decision to fly half way around the world and spend a week hanging out and shooting with some of the best modern photographers in the world. Coming up to the end of it, all I can say is “wow”.

I started the week by being the first unwitting subject of a certain Mr Joe McNally. For those of you that don’t know, Joe has been a pro for about 40 years, was the last Life staff photographer and has worked for more publications than I care to shake a very long stick at (think National Geographic, Sports Illustrated etc etc). Crazy being on the other side of his lens! Joe’s a really awesome guy: at 58 he still spends 95% of his life tearing around the world shooting. After he got done shooting me, I really enjoyed having him rip into my photos and tell me just how badly I’d got it all wrong (I guess whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!). As it turns out, most of the time I seem to be pretty good at ripping my images apart even before Joe starts

After a few days of that I decided to head down to the Burj Arab for some sunset photos. I caught the one below just as the sun was hitting the horizon.

Hit the read more link for some more photos and the rest of part 1…

(Click here to see more…)

Another quickie post from me I’m afraid. Tomorrow’s a fly day as I’m off to Dubai for some more photo fun (all being well and BA choosing not to strike…). This is a shot from last Sunday which really leapt out at me: I love the colours and saturation. It was awesome fun and we were so lucky with the weather – getting those nice fluffy clouds. I’m going to try and write up some techie posts on the plane to explain all the lighting and shenanigans going on to create this and the balloon shot but do let me know if there is anything in particular you want to know.

More adventures coming to a screen near you very soon!

Alex

Well after last weekend I was kinda bummed when I checked the BBC weather to see that it was meant to snow/rain heavily on Saturday. Not another e-session with horrible weather! Well thankfully Aunty got it wrong and in the end who could ask for better weather? Emily and John came down from Letchworth for their engagement shoot and since John is very much into his kayaking we decided to take a walk around the river and then into Cambridge.

Lots of fun was had along with some scones and clotted cream. Enjoy!

Hit the jump for more.
(Click here to see more…)

Phew long time no blog! It would appear that the more time I spend taking photos the less I blog. Damn and drat, must rectify that! Anyway here’s a few from last weekend’s engagement shoot with Sarah and David. I’m not sure we could have picked a worse day for the shoot as it spent the entire time drizzling. Yuk! Sarah and David were fab though; not being phased by the weather or by being kicked out of the Grand Arcade (apparently taking photographs without flash causes epilepsy – I’ve learned not to argue ) as we wandered around Cambridge’s old streets.

Lots of love going on and can’t wait for their wedding in a couple of months time!

More adventures soon,
Alex

So I spent this weekend out with one of my commercial customers on a big shoot. Can’t say that much about it yet or post many images but I did get permission to put this one up quickly. Rest assured more from this shoot (both trials and triumphs) will be coming in the following weeks, oh and sorry to all those whose emails I’ve been a touch slow answering!

More adventures soon,
Alex

So I seem to be having a bit of a time breaking things of late. A paramount 3.5mm flash jack decided to part company with itself, my main camera bag stitching is coming undone on me and then I turned around the other day to see a 3metre flash stand hit the floor as the wind caught it.
Luckily the softbox cushioned most of the fall and I thought everything was OK at the time. When I checked later though it tuned out softbox speedring had bitten the dust and my Elinchrom Quadra flash head had it’s locking leaver snapped in two. Doh!

Anyway I contacted the flash centre about the quadra fully expecting a hefty repair bill and to have to send it off for repair but no. After a bit of trouble getting through to start with they were most helpful and managed to dispatch the replacement part to me FOC. Very happy, was really worried I’d have to loose the flash for a couple of weeks but no, a simple self repair and now I’m back in business a very happy chappy. Mad props to the Flash Centre. Just need to figure out how to mend that speed ring and hotshoe cable now….

More adventures (hopefully involving less breakages) to come…

Alex

So I’ve been working on Alana and David’s wedding album and website recently. The good news is the website is now finished and I’ve just put together this little video slideshow for them as well. Enjoy!

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

More adventures soon,
Alex

So for those of you who regularly read the blog you might have been wondering where on earth I’ve dissapeared to in the last few weeks. Well I’ve been working on a Philip Pullman play, “Clockwork” which has just finished it’s run at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge.

Due to my normal crazy lighting for photographs, the director, Holly, asked if I would be the lighting designer on the show. Well I couldn’t say no and as such embarked on my first foray into the world of theatre. I have to confess I found it really quite interesting and it’s really made me appreciative of my photography lighting. Enter the theatre and suddenly I was banned from all softboxes, photoshop and flashes and instead had to contend with hot yellow continuous light which couldn’t interfere with audience vision and had to work across an entire stage. Quite a mission.

I think we succeeded though: had lots of good feedback and reviews. I did take one very quick photograph while on set, of all the major cast members. It actually made it into the Cambridge News along with the review and a photo by Hugo Vincent, a good photographer friend of mine. Hugo stepped up to take the photos of the performance since I was otherwise indisposed operating the lights. If people want, I might put a blog post up going into the photo in a bit more detail later.
Anyway my photo is the one at the top, Hugo’s is the one further down.

More adventures (and blog posts) to come!

Alex