F2 freelance photographer profile

A nice article by David Land on my work and freelancing ...

Rain lashed night shooting Icebergs…

We have recently been shooting a job out in Iceland which I will be blogging about in the next couple of weeks when the shoot is out , as always on these trips I wanted to try to shoot a little personal work if time allows , so myself and Tom and our intrepid guide Ronnie set off one stormy night to one of the black beaches on the Southern tip of Iceland ,the plan was to try to light an Iceberg at night on the beach or preferably in the sea… it didn't work out to be as doable as I hoped! … when we arrived at the beach the night was pitch black and we had sheets of horizontal rain lashing straight into our faces , but we endeavoured to try to get a picture , Tom and I started off down to the sea shore through clumps of ice navigating with a head torch but none looked right, they were to small  ,we eventually found one that looked ok so we set up the camera and we then set about lighting it , within seconds the light had blown , it was just too wet,the rain was torrential and the wind was lashing it straight into the lens  , Tom had the Pro 7 light out and immediately the head started strobing madly , , that was it , the light was done for….. 

It was at this point I decided on a different approach , I got Ronnie to drive as near as he could to the water without getting stuck and shine the headlights out to sea illuminating some of the bigger Icebergs , Tom held a poncho over us to try to stop the rain covering the lens , keeping the Hassleblad dry and the lens clean was the hardest thing to achieve in these conditions , it really was a bloody thilthy night , we then shot these shots ,using 25 second exposures , the sea was pretty wild and moving the bergs around, we became so focused on the exposures we both failed to notice a wave coming up the beach and straight into our legs and tripod ,camera was hoisted straight up into the air out of the water ,They were a real pain to capture but I really like these shots , they capture something different from the usual shots of the Icebergs, to me they have feel slightly ethereal, and the process of getting them was extremely exhilarating ..

fb

Things crop up

Things crop up in the most unexpected places , I was in a bar in Tuffnell Park last night , after a couple of pints imagine my suprise whilst in the loo ,  staring at me was one of my shots plastered to the wall , this was one of the characters I had shot for Misha Glennys brilliant look at Eastern Europes organised crime underworld . It reminded me how much I like seeing exhibitions in unusual places ... Food for thought #fb....

Still life from Iraq Hospital

Here is a small series of environmental still life I shot in a hospital in Northern Iraq , a baby's crib sits empty in a corridor , an emergency trolley left in the doorway of an operating theatre and a lead covered chair ,I think  there is a strong feeling of isolation in these pictures , this was a fully functioning hospital as you can see if you go to my site to see the project on Iraq . but these have a very different feel . #fb

Audi Quattro

A Good Start to the New Year with this cover feature for Audi , many thanks to Tom Griffiths and Dan Ross for all there hard work motoring up and down the country with a car packed with rain soaked gear ,we shot moantain rescuers,Olympians,Horses,Michelin Chefs amongst others , some great stories .  @fb

Road trip shoot for Audi

This was the start of our road trip shooting portraits for Audi , me Dan Ross  who was assisting and Peter Adams our journalist set off for our first location Glencoe where we were shooting Ian McConnell , a local mountain rescuer , the storm clouds gathered as we got to our location and the rains and winds whipped up a storm ... Soaked to the bone we carried on and headed south , 5 hours later we arrived in Yorkshire .... Up early to our next shot , wind and rain again , it was at this point I began to regret using the Bron Sattelight .. It's like a sail in the wind ! Shooting a racehorse vet and car in a shot was a lot to think about at 9.am !then we were off again to RAF Scampton the home of the Dambusters Squadronand now to the Red Arrows , here we were shooting a portrait of  one of Engineers , it was brilliant to have a look at the planes up close , everyone was really helpful . 

It's looking like were off again on Wednesday ! 

Monte Carlo RWD Tour

 Ive Just come back from a 4 day shoot travelling from Epsom to Monte Carlo with the RWD Tour Team , I must be one of the few people to have travelled all the way from the UK to Monaco backwards ... It was a fun shoot shooting mostly car to car , with a 300mm and a 24 to 70mm , gorgeous cars and sumptuous food stops at great hotels . My personal highlights were being at the top of Mt Vantoux for sunrise and also being able to shoot this very rare jaguar Ctype , one of only around 50 left . This was a great trip and thanks so much to my assistant Tom Griffiths who worked seriously hard to keep everything in order ...