Richard Battye Photographer BLOG

The Master !

2012-02-09T02:39:00.000-08:00

I did a talk the other day for the Fotofilia group who came to my studio..I got a rather nice write up on the Blog. Thanks David!! Here's a recent fashion shot I talked about.

http://fotofiliablog.com/2012/02/08/sitting-at-the-feet-of-the-master/

Jacob Kimmie Fashion Shoot

2012-02-08T05:59:00.000-08:00

I work for a couple of great fashion designers and shoot collections from time to time.

Just finished working on this collection. The model, Christina was probably the best model I have ever worked with. Effortless and never a bad pose. This collection will appear on the Vogue website in the near future.

Distortions

2012-01-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

Something that has always been interesting to me is distortions in photography. I remember my father having a book by Andre Kertesz with distorted human forms photographed in concave / convex mirrors. The sort of "hall of mirrors" you would see at a funfair. I photographed a play yesterday and there was a mirror onstage which I shot into to get this shot. I see another side project coming on here! Apart from cropping the shot there was no trickery involved here.

Talk on Still Dancing Exhibition.18th Jan

2012-01-12T02:33:00.000-08:00

Free talk on the dance photography exhibition

Still Dancing on Wed 18th Jan at 7pm.

Old Joint Stock Theatre Temple Row Birmingham. Richard Battye talks about his exhibition and photography life. A freelancer of 21 yrs Richard has a wealth of experience within the industry to draw upon and will give an interesting , informative and sometimes amusing look

at his life as a photographer.

Please arrive at 6.30 for a 7pm start. Work is on display upstairs in the Theatre

corridor and crush bar at The Old Joint Stock Pub by St Philip's cathedral B2 5NY.

After the talk a show of work ; dance and performance that has been shot since the

exhibition launched last year. For more details e mail info@riverstudio.co.uk

Sticky Wicket

2011-12-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

The best thing about being a photographer is the great people you meet.

I have just shot Sticky Wicket a jazz / swing drummer who has an amazing CV and

list of achievements to his name including playing with Chris Barber and Lonnie

Donegan...need I say more? A fantastic drummer and a smashing bloke!

Portfolio Shoot

2011-12-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

A couple of shots here of Chloe who worked on a portfolio shoot with me .

I must be going through my Bob Carlos Clarke phase. (Always liked his work)

Famous as he was he said he hardly made much from photography and made more

selling a house in London. In these austere times I don't think either of those is a sure

fire bet for making any money!!

Still Dancing Exhibition Nov-Jan

2011-11-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

The exhibition will be at the Old Joint Stock Theatre Gallery, Birmingham until

3rd Feb. I am also doing a talk on Jan 18th 2012 about the show and how it was photographed and came together. This is free, open to all and starts at 6.30.

Purslane Hand Made Soaps

2011-10-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

I used to shoot quite a bit of food..now this isn't food but is good enough to eat!

My first shoot for Purslane and it smells fantastic..really enjoyed shooting this.

Breakfast at Tiffany's? (Bar 78 more like!)

2011-10-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

This is Jenna who asked me to shoot a vintage Audrey Hepburn look.

Thanks to Bar 78 at The Custard Factory for the location.

My shoot with Birmingham Royal Ballet..follow link..

2011-09-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.balletinbirmingham.co.uk/

Rezillos Scottish Adventure

2011-09-21T08:04:00.001-07:00

After meeting and interviewing the Rezillos a few weeks ago (see earlier post) I went to Edinburgh to do a proper shoot. The story begins..... I exchanged a few e mails with Eugene Reynolds and it was all given the green light. I then heard nothing but got a mail from Chicago

saying "yes". However, no plans about hotels / meeting up had been sorted out..but I set off anyway! En route I got a mail with a phone number. I reached the outskirts of Edinburgh and called Eugene who was about to jump on a bus having dropped a car off..so I went and picked him up. We went back to his place and he showed me his amazing collection of Indian motorbikes..he is a leading authority on these and builds a 1600 4 cyl Indian Dakota in the UK. I was then checked into a nearby hotel (on the Rezillos card) and the following morning spent a pleasant few hours in Edinburgh as the band were rehearsing. Eugene called later and it was agreed to do a photoshoot in a warehouse..I went along first to set up and the band joined me mid afternoon.

We shot for around an hour and then they were off back to rehearsals..would I like to shoot them there? You bet! So, half an hour later I am in a small studio with one of my favourite bands playing about 2 feet away from my lens. I lit the room and photographed them in action.

It was a real blast. They finished and Ali the drummer said ; "one more..Richard needs to drum to Good Sculptures , as I am known to tub thump from time to time! (and I was photographed) If you are not familiar..check here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKly-dga3Nw

That really made my day..but it was not over..back to Eugenes with the band and we then shot with one of the Indian bikes and some surreal shots around the garden with Fay Fife on a trampoline. We wrapped around 8pm as it was getting dark. It was a brilliant day..my thanks to the band who were all fantastic. A 640 mile round trip and worth every drop of fuel!

WIRES vintage fashion

2011-09-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

When I took my dance show out into Shropshire I met Nicky and Chris from WIRES a dance company who use vintage dresses. Chris inherited the collection from her mother in law and there is some great stuff...we found some letters and a list of "deck games for ladies" one of which was "diving for spoons" This was from aboard a ship on the Blue Star Line (South America)..the Titanic was White Star Line.

This England

2011-09-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

My first and most successful exhibition This England toured the UK for over 3 years and got me lots of TV and press..here's the article Chris Arnot wrote for the Guardian..a long time ago!

http://www.chrisarnot.co.uk/?p=246

Rezillos

2011-09-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

The Rezillos interview I did can be see at the on line Radar here;

http://www.theradarmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/REZILLOS-RADAR-SEPT2011.pdf

Rezillos

2011-08-15T06:10:00.000-07:00

Last night I photographed and interviewed The Rezillos, a great band I first saw in 1979

I then took my daughter ..her first gig.. to see them in 2007 . They were great and I will be going to Edinburgh shortly to do a proper shoot with them.

Jodi Ann Bickley

2011-07-22T05:59:00.000-07:00

Check her out! I photographed the poet Jodi Ann Bickley the other day.

She's smashing!! Listen to her on You Tube.

Bloc Hotel

2011-06-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

Bloc is a new build hotel I photographed recently.

It is up in Hockley , Birmingham and this was taken

at dusk and lit to make it look even more beautiful.

It's not always people I shoot...

Shooting George

2011-06-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

I get lots of people coming to me for modelling advice and portfolio's.

This is George who I worked with today..a quick folio shoot. He's confident

and good under direction..I wish him all the best for his modelling career..

which started here..today!

Dance Dynamic Magazine

2011-05-27T07:56:00.001-07:00

When at The Dance Show I met Chris from Dance Dynamic Magazine.

They very kindly did a 4 page spread on Still Dancing.

Body Paint images

2011-05-17T03:05:00.000-07:00

After a few false starts I was finally able to do the body paint shoot

with Abbie that we'd been planning for some time. The artist being Victoria

Howard (eventsartists.com). We'd planned the shots you see here with colours

and textures, however a commissioned shoot came in utilising body painting

which tied in nicely and the theme was a hybrid of a famous Marilyn Monroe

image coupled with the iconic Goldfinger girl from James Bond.

Abbie was a superstar as we did the make up and shoots back to back meaning

she was in make up and shooting for about 5 hours and it became pretty uncomfortable.

Many thanks to graffiti4hire at The Custard Factory for use of their shower..!

New fashion images

2011-05-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

Done quite a bit of fashion work recently..the b/w is for Rehmali

and the other 2 shots are for my good friend Sulaimi. We used Gemma to model

who is a dancer and here is a location shot in Jay's wood carving studio..plus

me and the model. She was FROZEN and I am holding a fan heater to warm her hands.

Next post will be bodypainting....

Michael ; Dancer Shoot

2011-01-21T04:36:00.000-08:00

All quiet on the blogging front, then two , quite similar posts come at once.

Ok I admit it..as I shoot quite a lot of fashion these days as well as

dance..a lot of my subjects are FEMALE....more by default than design.

So it has been great this week to redress the balance and shoot a couple of guys .

Joel in my last post and here, Michael, a dancer I first worked with in 2006 in the very early

days of my then untitled Still Dancing exhibition.

So yesterday we caught up again and had a fantastic shoot, some of the shots

for your viewing pleasure here.

Body / Boxing shoot with Joel

2011-01-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

Today I worked with Joel for the first time..who is a great guy and we worked around a fitness and boxing theme. Many thanks to Frankie at Urban Village for supplying some great vintage boxing kit. We managed a lot in around 3 hrs ..Joel being really easy going and just having a "great look". Enjoy the shots!

Dance Show NEC

2010-12-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

Those nice people (Helena) at Haymarket publishing let me show my Still Dancing exhibition last weekend at The Dance Show (part of Clothes Show). I was there for 3 days and shot the event as well as getting my shots out there. Met some great people and some dancers and dance companies will be shooting with me in 2011. By the way.2 VERY famous people I missed from my list were Terry Waite and John McCarthy...how could I forget them!!! My mind was on the showbiz and music World.

The dance pic here is of Nemesis who were great!

Famous People

2010-11-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

I often get asked if I have photographed anyone famous..well yes I have.

You may or may not have heard of them..sometimes it is a direct commission..or

it is a part of another project. No doubt in the mists of time I will have missed loads

of people from this far from exhaustive list but here goes....

Music; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, previously with Simon Rattle and currently with Andris Nelsons (see b/w photo) Feeder, Blur, John Peel, Tony Iommi (for Peavey and Gibson) Lemar, Rod Stewart,

Rick Wakeman, Buzzcocks, Wire, U2, The Beat. Nick Cave, The Move (Trevor Burton,

Bev Bevan) plus many many more bands and singers. Theatre/TV ;Colin Buchanan,

Gok Wan, Suzi Perry + Gadget Show. Art ; Temper, Willard Wigan. Sport; Rory Underwood, David Lloyd. David Beckham (+ team with Sven) Royalty ; Princess Anne, Prince Philip

and Prince Edward on seperate occasions.

I will have missed many but I'll add them as I remember!

Custard Factory Renaissance

2010-10-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

I have been at The Custard Factory for 17 yrs..I made the big mistake the other day of roughly

working out how much I have spent on rent..it was 6 figures!! As I say..BIG mistake.

However I am here and it seems to be really moving up a gear just now. The newest phase

Zellig has recently opened and things are getting busy. I am shooting Supersonic Festival this weekend. Here's a shot of Deluge, a sculpture by Toin Adams which hangs in Zellig.

Anne Marie portrait

2010-08-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

I love lighting..it is my strength as a photographer. Been wanting to do this shot for a while.

2010-07-22T11:14:00.001-07:00

Post Still Dancing.

2010-07-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

Since shooting the exhibition and having had it at 2 venues to date

and one of the shots being accepted into an open art show..I haven't stopped

shooting dancers. I have had 4 commissioned shoots and have continued to

work with Rebecca one of the girls on some more experimental shots.

All the previous images were flash lit and crisp so now I am experimenting

with motion blur. A couple of shots here and some new dance images.

WITNESS

2010-07-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

Witness and his crew dropped by the studio today for a shoot.

I got dragged in at the end and found myself on the "wrong"

end of the camera!

2010-05-08T11:47:00.001-07:00

Still Dancing Images here ;

http://www.richardbattye.com/Galleries/Galleries.html

2010-05-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

Still Dancing has now finished the run at The Custard Factory but selected images will be on show at the International Dance Festival shop in the Pavilions from Sunday 9th May for 1 week

Still Dancing .Comments.

Custard Factory Show

Yet another fantastic body of work from Birmingham’s finest!

Great work as usual – never fail to be impressed.

Fantastic work, really inspiring. Brilliant. Amazing work, love it. Stunning.

As ever, amazing work. Beautiful. Uber cool. Really beautiful stuff.

Awesome exhibition, needs more publicity from the city!

I really liked it…loads of people need to know how good you are!!!!!

It is great to see dance and dance culture being promoted in such a positive way!

You have distilled the essence of dance in these images – they are beautiful.

Brilliant shots, just loved it! Very Inspiring.

Fabulous ! Fascinating! Fun!

Richard you are so talented, this is a real treat for the eyes. Simply stunning!!

2010-03-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

Click on the info below for details of Still Dancing

2010-03-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

2010-02-25T03:31:00.000-08:00

Still Dancing Update!!!

It is officially on ; Custard Factory Gallery April 19th

to May 8th. New pics up here shortly and shots from Jacob Kimmie at London Fashion Week.

Still; Dancing. Exhibition work in progress.

2009-08-21T07:22:00.001-07:00

All images copyright ; Richard Battye River Studio

For the past couple of years I have been photographing dancers.

This is a small selection of work in progress.

It's a follow up to This England which

toured for over 3 yrs to 14 venues and

took me out to LA.

I am hoping to tour the show, but no dates yet. Pictures above

are a small selection. Links here to online interest..

http://westmidlandsdance.com/tag/richard-battye/

http://blogs.walesonline.co.uk/poetryinmotion/2009/05/how-tojump.html

2009-08-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

2009-08-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

The pic below is a recent fashion pic for the designer Gavin Douglas. Two things I am very keen on just now are fashion and dance photography and the pics throughout this site will reflect that.

I am pleased that I currently have some shots for the designer Jacob Kimmie on the VOGUE website, see here...

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/show.aspx/full-length-photos/id,8051

The dance shot above of Melissa was taken on the roof of The Custard Factory where my studio is. Even as I took it to the printers (as I have published this as a postcard) I was asked about 'the clipping path'..well my friends..I am still shooting with one foot in the 'old school' camp where I believe in 'getting it right' in camera, but shooting digitally. This is a 'straight' picture, shot at sunset and lit. No layers or dropping in of backgrounds here..I've tried it with this type of shot..but it doesn't look the same! So, where I can ..I do it for real..even if it involves building a platform, taking a trampoline and a whole lighting rig onto a roof. I'll publish some behind the scenes on here at some point. Working like this can be hard but very rewarding.No wind helps!

2009-08-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

2009-08-21T06:51:00.001-07:00

Brake a leg; shake a leg

2009-08-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

So...as I am laid up with a broken leg ( a long story I will go into later) I thought I may as well use the time to my advantage and do something constructive. So ..my first BLOG. My initial thoughts were..why do this? Well, my working life as a photographer is pretty eclectic and I get up to all sorts of things that usually end up in a story, or two or three...so why not share them. So, I'll mainly talk about my work..people seem to want to know, as I get on average 2-4 letters/ emails/calls a week from people wanting to work with me or get involved..so if they can't all come in to the studio..they can find out along with clients and friends..what is going on here...along with photo's of the stuff I get up to.

I am not going to be able to shoot for a while, do may as well TALK about photography! So here goes my blog that will give you an insight into what I get up to at RIVER STUDIO the business I set up almost 20 years ago!

So a mini CV for people who don't know me or the full story; I graduated in 1986 with a degree in BA(Hons) Visual Communications, worked as an assistant full time at a busy commercial and advertising studio in Birmingham. After that was studio manager for a year at a different studio and finally went freelance in 1990 and set up River Studio. I didn't want the word 'photography' in the title, as I always wanted to do 'other things' and have along the way worked with video; music and corporate, run lighting workshops (which I still do) mentored young photographers,

been on The Gadget Show twice, hire the studio and kit to photographers and video companies, including BBC, Channel 4 and many independants. Plus several other bits and pieces. All photography based.

One BIG one of these was a photo exhibition THIS ENGLAND which toured the UK for over 3 years. It showed at 14 UK venues and half of it went out to LA where I showed the work to some galleries and Ad agencies. This England was a BIG thing for me..I'll write about it here a little later..but briefly I championed the underdog..the sub title to the show was 'Don't judge a book by its cover, or a man by the cut of his cloth' I spent a year shooting 'underground England' fetish clubs to Morris Dancers (never both at the same time ..sadly)

This exhibition was a turning point of sorts in that it got me more recognised as a 'people photographer' I do other things of course..food to Harley Davidson..but I do like shooting and meeting people. I now do quite a lot of work with the city council which is all people based and it can be people with learning difficulties to Royalty (sometimes at the same time!) My people work has led to shoots with very varied and interesting people and meeting/shooting the likes of Jermaine Jackson, Willard Wigan, Rick Wakeman, John Peel (bless him) Princess Anne, lots of rock/pop stars from Lemar to U2 and over the last couple of years..lots of DANCERS. Which will be my next exhibition, currently a work in progress entitled Still;Dancing. More details of which no doubt will be heavily featured here.