At part 7 already and I've only done one shoot.... what's that all about?
Okay, last week I heard back from Creattive Scotland and got a knockback on my funding application. I also got a knockback on getting any feedback which was what I was really hoping for if I didn't get the funding, so now I'm in the position of not knowing what was wrong with my application and no way of finding out either. Pretty frustrating to be honest and it knocked the stuffing out of me for a few days. However.... life goes on.
I was sitting thinking about the nature of the project, and what I'm trying to achieve by it, and to be honest, getting the rejection email is no different from what many of the subjects I'm hoping to include will have dealt with. They've had to struggle to overcome difficulties to get where they are, they've had to work with very limited funds, they've had to deal with rejection, crushed optimism and bamboozlement too (if such a word actually exists)
So that's what I'm going to do. I've been working out that it could take me two to three years to deliver this project to my own satisfaction, but realistically it's something I could work on my whole life because there will always be people who are an inspiration to others. This project is all about highlighting them and showing that to those who are in need of a touch of that inspiration themselves. A little like me over the last week.
Full steam ahead then, on a road of my own choosing, at my own pace. Let's hope that I keep being inspired as I go and can produce something inspirational from it.
Craig
Craig, Crutches & Camera
The ramblings, musings, rants, learnings and images of someone with too much time to think
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
July - What's Happening?
After June's busy diary, July was shaping up to be the same, but as usual nothing goes according to plan.
Unfortunately my father suffered a heart attack about ten days ago, and has been in hospital ever since, and has now been diagnosed and requires a triple-heart bypass. Now conisdered a routine operation, it's still scary stuff, and because he's been so ill the family have been really worried. From a photography perspective I postponed my shoots because I didn't want to be fifty or a hundred miles away in the event I had to get back quickly.
However, his condition appears to be a bit more stable now and they're letting him out for a week or two before the surgery, so I'm getting back on with things. Starting tomorrow.
First up is another two of the artists getting featured in the REVEAL magazine coming out in August. Alison Peebles is an actress/director from Glasgow who has been in everything from Rab C Nesbitt to Taggart to Lip Service, and has won a whole bundle of awards. While I didn't recognise her name at first, a quick google brought up a picture and I had one of those 'I know who that is!' moments.
The other artist is Claire Cunningham, a dancer, and I strongly suggest that you check out some of her performances on youtube. Claire used crutches to get around, but she gets around like no-one I've ever seen and has an unbelievable amount of agility and grace as a dancer. Really excited about working with both of them, and I'm looking forward to catching up with Jamie too. I think I owe him a coffee after his write up on the REVEAL website blog about our shoots thus far.
Aside from that there's some exciting news in the pipeline for July that I can't quite talk about yet but may involve a trip for a day or two. This month I'll find out about my bid to Creative Scotland for Project Inspiration and if I've been successful or not. (I'm guessing not, but that could be the whole 'manage expectations to avoid disappointment' part of my brain getting me ready for a knock-back)
*EDIT - Just got the email through and like a prophecy, I didn't get the funding :(
There's a couple of painters who have asked me to photograph their work this month too for their websites, maybe another REVEAL shoot, an article to get written, possibly another review, and a couple of family portrait session bookings that I've had to postpone. I've also been working on a re-build of my website, adding a lot more content to the image galleries, and I'll also be getting the Dougie MacLean shoot rescheduled too, and then the rest of the month is going to depend on what mischief I can get up to!
I'm sure there'll be calamities along the way. There always is. I know my photography is an escape from all that, and that's one of the reasons why I love it so much, but still, it comes down to people's reactions when they see the images.
It's a good thing, making people happy.
Craig
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Old Images, New Edits Part 3
Haven't done this since April, but I'm rebuilding all the galleries on my website at present so I'm re-editing tons of images. Expect a few more posts like this in the coming weeks.
Today is coincidentally Brit's birthday, so I thought I'd post the images I've edited from the one shoot I did with her. Anyway, without further ado....
If you're a photographer in Scotland, then you'll have heard of Brit, or seen her work. If you haven't then drop her a line through her site. http://www.brittabenedetto.com/
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Shoot: Josie Gibson
So at the weekend I was helping out at my mums charity event, An Evening With Josie Gibson. For those of you who don't know who Josie is, she won Big Brother 11 last year, and since then has been doing various presenting jobs on TV, and writes a column in OK magazine. She's pretty high profile and has been for the last year, and I had been asked to do a shoot while she was up for her official website, www.josiegibsonofficial.com
I had looked online at the shoots Josie has had done, and between Big Brother and the various magazines she's been in, she's had a LOT of shoots. I didn't see anything low-key though, and I didn't see any headshots that I liked.
Now, I'm a sucker for headshots. If I could only shoot one type of image for the rest of my life, headshots is what I'd choose and its inevitably the first thing I look at when I browse a photographer or models portfolio. As a result it was a bit of a no-brainer for me as to what I wanted to shoot and what style. Low-key headshots, portraits, and then some natural light shots too, if time permitted.
Anyway, Saturday morning went by at a hectic pace, getting things ready for the event and I got ten minutes to set up the lights in the function suite a little before noon. I opted for a beauty dish, set quite high up, with all the other lights in the suite off to create a black background. Josie arrived and I have to admit she's a very nice person. Very sweet, very open and happy to be in Edinburgh. She was also very exhausted.
Seeing how tired she was I opted to keep the shoot as short as possible and positioned her in front of the light and began chatting with her. I explained that I was looking to take a mixture of serious and smiley images to which she laughed, saying she'd only ever been asked for 'cheesy'.
Anyway, I shot 17 images in the room in only a few minutes, and then we popped out to the hotel lobby where I turned one of their armchairs side on to the window, and took another five images. Total time for the shoot, less than ten minutes.
Josie is pretty pleased with the images and so are the people who run her website. The response from Twitter has been phenomenal!! Bottom line - Happy customers, Happy Craig.
I had looked online at the shoots Josie has had done, and between Big Brother and the various magazines she's been in, she's had a LOT of shoots. I didn't see anything low-key though, and I didn't see any headshots that I liked.
Now, I'm a sucker for headshots. If I could only shoot one type of image for the rest of my life, headshots is what I'd choose and its inevitably the first thing I look at when I browse a photographer or models portfolio. As a result it was a bit of a no-brainer for me as to what I wanted to shoot and what style. Low-key headshots, portraits, and then some natural light shots too, if time permitted.
Anyway, Saturday morning went by at a hectic pace, getting things ready for the event and I got ten minutes to set up the lights in the function suite a little before noon. I opted for a beauty dish, set quite high up, with all the other lights in the suite off to create a black background. Josie arrived and I have to admit she's a very nice person. Very sweet, very open and happy to be in Edinburgh. She was also very exhausted.
Seeing how tired she was I opted to keep the shoot as short as possible and positioned her in front of the light and began chatting with her. I explained that I was looking to take a mixture of serious and smiley images to which she laughed, saying she'd only ever been asked for 'cheesy'.
Anyway, I shot 17 images in the room in only a few minutes, and then we popped out to the hotel lobby where I turned one of their armchairs side on to the window, and took another five images. Total time for the shoot, less than ten minutes.
Josie is pretty pleased with the images and so are the people who run her website. The response from Twitter has been phenomenal!! Bottom line - Happy customers, Happy Craig.
Friday, June 24, 2011
General Update
The last seven days have been a bit of a nightmare.
After I did the review of Ednburgh Zoo I was absolutely shattered and in a lot of pain. I expected to be although I was surprised by the sheer amount of pain. Over the following days it never eased which became a bit of a worry, and it in fact increased a bit.
I had shoots booked in on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday was the second Project Inspiration shoot, this time with Dougie MacLean. Anyway, by the sunday morning I knew that I wouldn't be able to shoot, so better to postpone Mon-Wed shoots in the hope I'll be okay for Thursday.
I kept going with the heat treatment, with lots of painkillers and all the little tricks you pick up with a history of back pain, but nothing seemed to be helping, and then on Tuesday, Dougie MacLean postponed our shoot on the same day that I was going to have to do the same.
So I went to the doctors. As I suspected I've got another slipped disc, along with a muscle in spasm and I've got nerve pain down my leg again. Thankfully the doctor prescribed me much stronger painkillers and I can tell the difference already, mostly because I'm able to sit upright again. I haven't been able to do that for the last three days.
Anyway, I'm going to try a wee shoot at the weekend for my mum's charity event. No pressure or anything, but its with Big Brother Winner Josie Gibson, so as usual I'm hoping the shots will turn out rather spectacular.
I'm hoping that I can manage even a wee shoot, because I don't want to write off another six months of my life with yet another slipped disc. I've got too much to do, and too much momentum built up to stop now.
I guess it's 'Watch this space'!
Craig
After I did the review of Ednburgh Zoo I was absolutely shattered and in a lot of pain. I expected to be although I was surprised by the sheer amount of pain. Over the following days it never eased which became a bit of a worry, and it in fact increased a bit.
I had shoots booked in on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday was the second Project Inspiration shoot, this time with Dougie MacLean. Anyway, by the sunday morning I knew that I wouldn't be able to shoot, so better to postpone Mon-Wed shoots in the hope I'll be okay for Thursday.
I kept going with the heat treatment, with lots of painkillers and all the little tricks you pick up with a history of back pain, but nothing seemed to be helping, and then on Tuesday, Dougie MacLean postponed our shoot on the same day that I was going to have to do the same.
So I went to the doctors. As I suspected I've got another slipped disc, along with a muscle in spasm and I've got nerve pain down my leg again. Thankfully the doctor prescribed me much stronger painkillers and I can tell the difference already, mostly because I'm able to sit upright again. I haven't been able to do that for the last three days.
Anyway, I'm going to try a wee shoot at the weekend for my mum's charity event. No pressure or anything, but its with Big Brother Winner Josie Gibson, so as usual I'm hoping the shots will turn out rather spectacular.
I'm hoping that I can manage even a wee shoot, because I don't want to write off another six months of my life with yet another slipped disc. I've got too much to do, and too much momentum built up to stop now.
I guess it's 'Watch this space'!
Craig
Project Inspiration: Ian Rankin
The end product for Project Inspiration is to to produce images of people who've achieved amazing things alongside quotes encouraging or inspiring others.
Here's the first one:
Here's the first one:
Digital Photographer Magazine
A month ago I'd posted this big rambly post on the digital photographer magazine forums in a thread about photo retouching. The editor got in touch a few days later and asked me for a headshot so that they could quote some of my words alongside my picture in one of their features.Oooh, exciting!
Have to say, they definitely picked the lamest line out of the entire post to use.
I'd ranted about how the Oil of Olay advert with twiggy or lulu (whichever one it was) that was photoshopped to a ridiculous level was tantamount to false advertising, and I spoken about how photo manipulation has been around as long as photography has because a black and white image is manipulation itself. Then I'd made a point about how people need to learn to where to draw the line.
Some strongly argued points, well supported and reasoned arguments, and some good examples listed. Turns out that the only sentence they selected from the entire post was, "Removing spots, blemishes, scars and stray hairs is what the technology was invented for, and that's a good thing in my book."
Lame...... but it's always nice to see yourself in print!
Craig
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