Farewell Custard Factory

So..after 20 yrs 10 months and 6 days..I have served my time! My new home is the Telsen building in Aston B6 4TN. Twice as big and free on site parking. May 1st 2014 is a fresh start. Studio pics and shoots to follow as I settle in.

Birmingham Living Feature

Capturing movement

Richard Battye is gaining an increasing reputation as one of the city’s best photographers. His artistic work has won plaudits and international acclaim. We catch up with him at his studio in Digbeth to find out more

 Richard Battye has spent his whole working life in Birmingham, moving from Yorkshire to the Midlands as a student in the 1980s. After several years working for photographic agencies, he branched out on his own and moved into studios at the Custard Factory, Digbeth. He’s still there; now using it as a base for his commercial work, as well as his own personal artistic endeavours.
 ”I’m the longest serving resident at the Custard Factory. I first visited it in the early 90s before it had been converted into individual units. It had this really interesting feel to it. I have also always loved Birmingham, I have often thought of leaving but never have. There’s something about the place which keeps me here.” Throughout the 90s, Battye pursued commercial work to pay the bills, while also following his own vision.
 His first exhibition to really cause attention was ‘This England’. A series of uncompromising shots, bordering on the grotesque, of the UK’s underground scene at the turn of the century. “I have always been on the side of the underdog and I love to support these people” says Battye. “At the turn of the century people were just getting going with tattoos and body piercings, so it was still quite shocking then.”
 In order to create ‘This England’, Battye spent much of 1999 on the road finding people and handing out his card adorned with the words: “You look great, can I shoot you.” But it paid off. The exhibition toured for three and a half years across the country, and as far afield as Los Angeles. Favourable press coverage brought more work with the likes of Birmingham Royal Ballet, the BBC, the Arts Council, as well as commercial clients such as Harley Davidson. “I love doing arts stuff, but I am still a commercial photographer,” he says.
 Battye’s next portfolio was ‘Still Dancing’. Here, he found there was great potential in working with dancers and performers, something which he still regularly does. Crucially, he was able to capture their movements while they were in ‘mid-flight’, presenting us with images that would otherwise be lost in the blink of an eye. “I was working a lot with dancers and I just said ‘show me what you can do’ and we started to get some really strong images from this.” Battye’s current project is called ‘Body of Work’; an exploration of the human body, its movements, and potential as both model and canvas. He has released one untitled shot for us where he turns a female body into a landscape. “Artists have always been interested in nudes. I am just trying to do something interesting and artistic.”
 When asked about his future ambitions, Battye says it is a hard question to answer but says there is much more to come. “I just want to be recognised for the work which I am really good at,” he says.

Still Dancing Exhibition

My dance photography exhibition, Still Dancing opens today, Monday 22nd October at Kidderminster College in Worcestershire. It runs until Dec 21st and will be in the dance and media dept. Today (22/10/12) the college has an open evening from 6-8 pm and I will be there and will give a short talk about the work. How I began shooting dancers and how this work got commissions to shoot staff and principal dancers of Birmingham Royal Ballet.  The Birmingham Post will run a piece on the exhibition this week as well. All are welcome to view the exhibition at the college ; 9am-5pm Mon to Fri and also in the evenings, until 8.30 on Tues-Thurs.  For directions etc contact the college on 01562 512000.

The exhibition can be seen on line on my website       www.richardbattye.com

Jay Phelps Jazz Trumpeter

I love shooting people!  Even better when they are nice AND involved some way in the Creative and Performing arts.  Yesterday was a good day. I worked with Jay on some new portfolio images.
Here's a small selection of the shots we took. I can do this for you..you don't have to play the trumpet.

For more of what Jay does ; http://www.jayphelpsmusic.com/

WHO ?

Sometimes it just happens right in front of the camera..you couldn't make it up!

One of the best things about being a photographer is all the interesting people you meet along the way.

This is George a preacher, who has also just written a book and needed some publicity shots. A really impressive and great guy to meet.

BLP / BRB workshop

Last night I had the pleasure of running a workshop for Birmingham Loves Photographers at the request of Craig Bush who is doing great things in the city for the photography community. We worked in a shop unit in the Mailbox and had the company of Matt and Callie, dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet who danced for the workshop / tutorial.  I talked about my dance exhibition ; Still Dancing and generally about shooting "movement" and performance. Thanks to the 30 or so people who attended the event and put up with the paint fumes ( the unit was being decorated) The pictures here are a small sample of the 163 I took. I managed in the short time to do 2 lighting set ups and I am happy with the results. I could have lit better with more time and the background / floor etc lets some of the images down a little, but it was about the experience and the event, not so much the finished pictures. It was a nice opportunity for me to talk about my experience of shooting dance and to let people see first hand a "behind the scenes" aspect of a photography shoot of this nature. My thanks to Nigel Cotterill who took shots on the night and these can be seen here

http://gallery.me.com/ncotterill#100358&bgcolor=black&view=grid

Again, my thanks to all who attended and Craig, Jelena, Matt, Callie.