The Casting Blog!

Last year I had alot of shoots which were planned individually for outfits, looks etc but not many that were planned for specific themes, and in most cases my digital editing was based on looking at the images once they were on my pc and then seeing what they inspired me to add. With the numbers of shoots I did I ended up with a huge backlog of editing, which meant that I was constantly trying to play catch up. Trying to hurry each set of images from each shoot - not really the ideal situation.

So this year I'm looking to work differently. If I want to get what I'm after I need to shoot less but increase the quality through structured planning and themes, and alot less arranging shoots where I dont seem to get much out of it. Its too much work unless you are going to throw money and gifts at me.

I know that I've already said to people that I will work with them this year once my editing backlog is cleared, but I have to take the more selfish stance of shooting with people that fit in with my themes/visions etc. that doesnt mean you cant get in touch anyway, sometimes a models unique look can be the inspiration for a theme.

So without further ado here are a few ideas ....

1. The Apocalypse - from the book of Revelations in the Bible. If you are not familar with it, its basically a vision of the end of the world, but if you saw something two thousand years into the future how would you describe it, e.g. how would someone two thousand years ago describe a fleet of modern day jet fighters...

'...The locusts looked like horses ready for battle, on their heads they had what seemed to be crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces. Their hair was like womens hair , their teeth were like lions teeth. Their chests were covered with what looked like iron breastplates, and the sound made by their wings was like the noise of many horse drawn chariots rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like those of a scorpion....'

There is lots of amazing imagery like that......oh and where do I get four horses  for the four horsemen!

2. While we are on the subject of ancient and modern technology, wouldnt  there be alot of potential in trying to create images based on the 'ancient visitors ' that seem to appear in all ancient cultures, Egyptian, Inca, Aztec, Maya etc.

3. I've been a fan of Norse mythology ever since I read my first Thor comic back when I was about 8 years old, straight down the local library and got all the books I could find. Yes its basically a bunch of Vikings with abit extra thrown in, or is it? Norse Gods a thousand years later, would they still be Viking barbarians or would they have progressed technologically. Wouldnt Thor now have a nuclear powered plasma Hammer and wouldnt they all be wearing a mixture of ancient and new.....abit like steampunk but with an extremely wide timeline gap, vikings with state of the art technology. I did put a forum about this up on NetModel about a year ago, but nobody got it, everyone replied with 'I got a helmet' 'I got an axe' I got a drinking horn' 'doooh can we rape and pillage'

4. Fetish - Ok cool always into lots of shiny fetish wear in strange locations, but actual fetish I rarely see anything that works for me. Ropes and shibari and rigging.....sorry I'd rather shoot bellybutton fluff, just does nothing for me, yes I've done suspension but only as a means to an end not as the end in itself. and as for self mutilation? do me a favour! Anyway mustn't delve too much here, only to say that there has to be a way of doing something thats got more to it.

5. Terrible beauty - you know, that balance between the scary sorceress that makes you want to run away, but you want to stay as shes just too hot.

As Lady Galadriel said when Frodo offered her the ring

'...beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!   

6. Fire, Fire! I want more fire and smoke and sparks, but real fire. Check out Rob Mackellars pics using a secret formula that lets you set yourself on fire.

Its all fun until you burn your head off!

7. Alien beauty - I'm a fan of HR Giger, I love the way he can produce something incredibly strange and alien yet there is still something of beauty there. Sometimes its the violent juxtapostion of bodies and faces with machinery, and sometimes there is an incredible serenity....google images 'Giger Brain Salad surgery' that should explain it better.

8. Vampires - groan you say as its been done to death! There are aspects that I've wanted to do. The style brought in by Anne Rice and also in Underworld, the idea that vampires that have been around for hundreds of years know each other and every now and again get together for the banquet of vampires, decadent, opulent, sensual, pyschotic? bored? Or maybe the more animalistic side...remember the part in Bram Stokers Dracula where the female vampire that is caught in her coffin sprays blood from her mouth at everyone. Or what about  Lestat thats had enough of it all 'Why cant I die!'

9. Think of the film 300...no not rippling muscles and shouting Spartans...the scene in Xerxes court, isnt that an amazing fetish fest

What you're still reading! Well thats enough ideas, although I still have lots more - post apocalyptic, space troopers, Lady Gaga-ish oTT fashion.

Anyway let me know if anything there sparks your interest, some of the above will need a cast of thousands (well maybe a handful).

2010 my year in Photography

So 2010 has been and gone, and it was definitely my most full and hectic year....but was that a good thing?

I had a lot more shoots this year than in previous years, a lot of that was due to my new strategy - if you want to have 10 shoots you have to start discussions with 20 models as half of them will mysteriously disappear. That worked but it did mean that at times I was shooting quite a few times a week when the disappearances didn't always happen....but I still find it very disappointing that the 41 disappearances this year happened in the first place.

The number of shoots isn't a problem, its the sort of images I want to produce and in the quantities that I want to produce that causes a massive backlog.

There are two things that I seem to do that many photographers don't. One is that with studio photography I never feel an image is finished unless its placed into some sort of context. I've seen so many images where a model looks fantastic, great pose, great makeup, styling, outfit, lighting....and then its left unfinished, a blank wall. So I'm constantly going through my own images after a shoot and trying to find some way of 'completing' the image. I know that for many models any distraction in the background is a distraction from themselves or from a photographers point of view a distraction from the main subject...but that doesnt work for me, anyway thats just me, its what feels right for me, although having said that I do like black backgrounds with the model half hidden in shadows.  The other thing is that I treat models as partners so if they want X images they get X images, all edited. I dont do you can only have 5 edited images, and by edited I mean abit more than touching up etc.....but both are a rod for my own back, as they both mean alot of time.

 The first few months of this year were very hectic. At the end of 2009 I had a few covers published for the LateXtra magazine from Skin Two, and was the photographer for their cover competition. The editor asked me to provide a disk full of images for wall projection at the Skin Two North ball in Leeds in the spring of 2010, so I decided to use existing images, but also alot of new ones. I had my 'Mad Fetish' week in February. Roze Thorn came down and stayed the week and brought with her a mobile dungeon and hundreds of devices, half of which I still havent a clue what they are for. I had a week of shooting different models using all the equipment. The following week a mini-group fetish shoot up at Karenzas place and eventually finishing a very hectic period by Easter.

In comparison the rest of Spring and most of the Summer was much quieter. We had the first Wild West group shoot at Laredo in Kent, an authentic wild west town built by wild west enthusiasts who more or less live there in authentic fashion. Authentic is what the place is all about, its like stepping back in time to the wild west frontier. The shoot was a brilliant success both on the day and also with the resulting images and feedback.  Due to popular demand we had a second one at the end of the summer which again was a great success. No nuke bunker shoots this year. I think both John (John Henry/GothX)and myself needed a break from them as they have always been running, one finishes and the next one is being planned. I also think we've both had a bellyfull of some of the twats we've had to deal with. We've provided what are without doubt the most creative quality groupshoots in the UK, we've proved that groupshoots can be used as a viable alternative to obtain great and unique photos rather than just fun and networking. This has all been non-profit , the money paid has been for the hire of locations nothing else, not for our work, not for our running the events, not for providing everything to make the day run smoothly...yet the attitude of some twats is that they have paid therefore they demand a service!  

Mini-groupshoots may now be the way forward. I had two shoots this year arranged with Karenza, a fantasy fetish at her home studio and a Sin City inspired shoot at a Northants studio. Then in December there was the shoot at Murdermile studios with four togs and 5 models. These all worked so well without all the hassle of the big shoots. A couple of great Urbex expeditions with John Henry and Peter Sawyer have opened up a few more possibilities.

 In September I had the Texan model Dora Miller fly over from Texas and stay in a London hotel all paid for by herself just for a TF shoot with me! So models, no excuses that you couldn't make the train or get out of bed. I have to admit I didnt think it was going to happen up until I phoned her in her London hotel!

September, October and November were again very hectic, lots of shoots and this meant lots of editing. In the end by December 5th I had to put down my camera and stop shooting just so that I could make some progress with my editing. Then all that snow happened, then xmas happened, then lurgy happened.....so I'm still editing.

I still have images to complete for Lucie (PrettyPink) and Dora Miller, and also have whole shoots to start on for, Laura Marquick, Alexiel, and the MurderMile mini-groupshoot. Thats a much smaller list than in my last blog, but no picking up my camera until they are done.

I shot with many great models this year. I could list them and go on about what was special about each shoot, but its best to just go through the albums on facebook and see the results for yourselves.

Modelmayhem and facebook have continued to provide me with most of my shoots. Modelmayhem for new models and facebook for the ones that I already know or for new models that I meet via people I already know. Modelmayhem is a great site for the selection of models available it has over half a million members worldwide, but full of ignorant and arrogant twats in the forums, so its purely a model sourcing site for me. I gave Fetlife a try this year, I'd been a member for sometime mainly because models had directed me that way to see other images, but this year I tried to use the site. Its not a photographer/modelling site, thats only one side of it, but a side that for me just hasn't worked at all. Lots of timewasters and lots of awful images that people rave about. 'Oh what a wonderful image' why because they've used a camera phone to snap a hoover attachment shoved up their arse? I also finally gave up on NetModel and cancelled my subscription, how that site has fallen! I still pop in out of habit and find such banal topics, petty squabbles, and fawning over models and togs that seem so unimaginative, visionless and repetitive. It seems nothing more than a social site for a clique that dares not admit to itself how blinkered and boring it has become.

I already did a blog earlier about what were the disappointments of last year, and a few have crept into this one. Although I didnt mention a few models that I've already shot with that have become great disappointments.

 I think the whole way I work has got problems simply because I love to shoot as much as possible but the sort of images I want  to produce doesn't go with quantity. I have never had the opportunity to shoot and then start work on the images when they are still fresh. Usually I get to send out the unedited cd's for models to choose from, but actually working on them I've been many shoots behind, which then makes me want to rush the images I'm working on and that doesn't do anyone justice.

So 2011 I have to do things differently, to get the quality I want I have to cut down on quantity. To cut down on quantity I will have to say NO to many requests (unless you want to lavish gifts and money upon me). Basically I have to take a much more selfish attitude. Decide what projects I want to do and decide who fits the bill to get those projects completed.

In the next episode!......will he reveal what he wants to shoot? Will we actually get to see a few projects that have been sat there chained in the depths for years? Will he become an awkward fucker and turn models away? Will he set them on fire and drown them and hurl them off mountainsides and strand them in space while their brains are sucked out by aliens?....stay tuned!