Sticky Wicket

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

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

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

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!)

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..

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

Rezillos Scottish Adventure

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bloc Hotel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!