Dilate

Whilst working at events I try to capture more than just the average crowd shots, looking for snippets of detail and portraits. Bellow I have compiled a few image from dilate, a night in Newcastle.

     For more work go to - hoggphotography.co.uk

On the road with SoulJam

I have been a photographer working with SoulJam for some time now, they promote nights in Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester. Last week had us in Manchester then Sheffield the next night, during our journeys I constantly take photos as documentary of the events. Whilst these images hold little value directly to the promotion of the events, they are a very candid view of the reality of events promotion within the music and clubbing industry. This unique inside opportunity has given me the chance to start to build a detailed set of documentary images around the events they promote. 

For more work go to - hoggphotography.co.uk

Sleepy Hollow & corset shoot with costume designer Racheal Fraser.

Rachel Fraser is a costume designer based in Edinburgh, she approached me to make a set of editorial / fashion images to show case her work. Rachel already had a clear idea of location, models and poses which made my life much easier! Below are some of the images from the day along with evaluation of the shoot.

http://www.rachaelfraser.com

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III.

IIII.

V.

VI.

We were aiming for relaxed images, with cool muted colours to reflect the beautiful hues of the turning autumn heather. To try and capture the images that Rachel needed, I realised I would have to use a combination of techniques, utilising wide apertures and off camera flash to create modern eye catching images. I tried to make good use of poses within these shots, the pose in image II. is meant to be very reflective as the model is looking out to a landscape we cannot see, implying perhaps she is looking on to things we cannot understand, to a future we cannot see. This is re-enforced by the direction she is looking, as in a western world when we see someone looking from left to right, the brain picks this out as progression due to the direction which we read and consider the movement of time to flow. However this feeling of progression is juxtaposed by the somewhat uneasy positioning of her arm, an attempt to show quite how daunting it can be to step into the unknown. I used a mixture of natural light, fill flash and off camera flash to create a diverse range of images that still flow as a set. In image V. I used a combination of off camera flash to light the model balanced with the ambient light of the scene to create a rim light on the hair, thus drawing the eye straight to the model.

skills development and achievement in relation to potential future careers

Over the last three years I have been honing my professional photography skill set, through many collage and personal projects as well as with friends and clients. I have increased my technical knowledge ten fold and use a camera with confidence. I regularly take pictures in night clubs, challenging my skills as a photographer in many ways. I have found this is a brilliant testing ground for new ideas and creative experiments.


The first three photographs are from a recent night I photographed "Lively Up Presents Iration Steppas" and reflect my current skill level in photography. The images are sharp but with a shallow depth of field to highlight the subject, they have strong colours and use natural light with well balanced contrast. the composition and crop of the images is strong and adheres to the compositional rules. This is a strong contrast to the earlier imagery I was capturing in clubs.

This image is from 2012, it was shot in the same DJ booth as the first image and illustrates well how much my photography has changed. The lighting in this shot is predominantly on camera flash, which flattens the image and takes away any cinematic qualities of the ambient lighting. The timing of the shot is also no where near the standard of my work today, clearly demonstrating the progression of my skills.

I am aiming to push my work towards editorial and magazine photography rather than clubs as I find I much prefer working on location with models, rather than in clubs. In order to advance my skills in this area I have been taking many more photographs with models, using natural and flash lighting. I have been trying to incorporate lifestyle, detail and portrait photography into my daily routine, combined with self driven projects to test my editorial skills. Below are a few portraits taken whilst at a restaurant.

job applications

I have been looking at and applying for various different photography based jobs. I am willing to travel and looking to broaden my horizons so the list of opportunities is wide. I am also looking at opportunities to go over sees once I finish collage, aiming to document the work of a charity called restless development. I would like to move into more steady employment as a photographer as currently things can be rather sporadic, I would like to progress into editorial, press and magazine photography.