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Thanks for all the … Red Fish

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20120414-D7K_3198_exportToday was an interesting day.  It started by getting up way too frigging early for some reason, just couldn’t sleep I suppose.  Just as well, I needed to get on the 0841 train from Waterbeach to King’s Lynn to join Tracey Robinson, from Red Fish photography, and one of her Models on Location Workshops.  I first heard about Tracey through a friend via FB.  Tracey runs these Models on Location Workshops in and around King’s Lynn, it’s the first time I’ve seen this sort of format.   The workshops run for 2 hours and vary in cost, but start around £20.  To quote a bit of her website:

All Model Location Workshops are intensive two hour courses set at different locations around Kings Lynn in Norfolk. The Workshops will be held where there are great textured walls, arches, open land or beaches depending on which Workshop you choose to attend.

These Workshops are aimed at anyone wanting to learn how to take a better portrait using a model and natural lighting on location or who just want to do something a little different within their photography hobby.

 

Click to continue reading and see some photos from the day…

Click to enlarge any of the photos in this story.  I’ve also posted the same images over in my portfolio on 500px.com (head on over and “like”  any photos that take your fancy)

20120414-D7K_3027_weiboThe plan was for everyone to arrive by 0945 to take care of some paperwork and meet each other.  In total there should have been 5 photographers, but one wasn’t able to make it, so it left us with 4, along with Natalie (the model), Tracey and Eric (Tracey’s husband / Sherpa Smile) .  We all had to sign a contract outlining what we may and may not do with the images we shoot today, these were all sensible and easy to understand.   I can only imagine what the locals must think seeing these groups of people with cameras wandering around the streets of their fair city.  King’s Lynn, like a lot of very old towns, is rich with history and loaded with old buildings, narrow streets and passages, and what can only be described as an endless supply of styles, colours and textures for buildings.  Every corner you turn and it’s something completely different.  Hell, the last location for the shoot today had at least a dozen different colours, building styles and wall textures just inside the 40’ x 30’ courtyard;  it was as though it was purpose built as an outdoor photography studio (but it wasn’t).

Natalie was a great model, natural beauty radiated from this talented young lady.  Natalie is not only an experienced model, but she’s also an accomplished MUA (Make-Up Artist).  She created the interesting makeup used in the spooky looking Prosthetic Make Up Photo Shoot

Our first shoot location today Common Staithe Quay (the map is centred on the dock with multi coloured buoys).  The image above was shot there, with the backdrop being the largest buoy on the location.   As mentioned before about the colours and textures, this location was no different.  There were dull greys and rust to freshly painted bright yellow posts and fixtures. 

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The next location was The Chapel of St. Nicholas.  This is a very old Chapel built back in 1146-1147.  Again, lots of  textures here to shoot.   There was a lovely green door with strong vertical lines along with the doorway framed with ivy.  The bokeh created, with the Church in the background by shooting wide open make for a nice soft textured backdrop.

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20120414-D7K_3274_exportThe final shoot location was just around the corner from The Globe Hotel, down a short passage way that opened up into a court yard around 30 foot x 40 foot or there about.  This area was a very rich in shooting area.  There were wood walls painted a couple of different colours, there were red brick walls, stone walls, a nice black wrought iron staircase that led up to a nice wooden door.  Sadly, we had the shortest shoot time in this location, we could have easily spent an hour in this area alone.   We also had some strong sun poking through at times.  You can see from the photo to the left, I think the lens flare kind of works in this one.  I’ve cropped off the bottom due to quite a large amount of lens flare that certainly wasn’t working in this image.

The last few shots of the day that I’ll share.  Below these is a bit of a summary of the day, so please read on (if I’ve not already lost you Smile)

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So, you can see from the shots I certainly had fun.  The two hour session went very well, I thought anyhow.  The way the session was organized and run was very good.  We more or less had a fixed time at each of the locations with Natalie changing clothes between the second and third locations.  This gave us all a few minutes to chill out, while we waited for her to change, and chat with each other as well as review the photos we’d taken.  Tracey looked over some of our photos and gave us some good feedback on them which was very helpful.

Throughout the session Tracey was quite vocal, in a good way – don’t worry Smile, and offering us all sorts of tips and suggestions and she was chimping with us as we shot to see how the pics were coming along and how we might improve them.  As King’s Lynn is her home turf she also had extensive knowledge of the locations we were using as she frequents these herself for her own shoots.  This was really good, in my opinion, as it helped me, personally.  Other than family pics out and about, this was my first proper “on location” shoot.  I was rather surprised at just how simple it was and how well a lot of the photos turned out.  Of the 328 photos I walked away with 270 have so far made the cut, there are more that will go, that’s for sure, but it’s a bit harder to pick those ones.

A quick survey:

Did I have fun today? 1206574733930851359Ryan_Taylor_Green_Tick.svg.med[1]

Would I do another one of these with Tracey / Red Fish? 1206574733930851359Ryan_Taylor_Green_Tick.svg.med[1]

Would I recommend others do this with Tracey / Red Fish? 1206574733930851359Ryan_Taylor_Green_Tick.svg.med[1]1206574733930851359Ryan_Taylor_Green_Tick.svg.med[1]1206574733930851359Ryan_Taylor_Green_Tick.svg.med[1]

Simply put what more fun could you have for 2 hours, with a camera, and only spend £20!!  The format of the session was great, Tracey was great and Natalie was great.  I will most definitely be doing more of these with Tracey.  Seriously, check out her page (CLICK HERE) and find when and where the next Model on Location workshop is.

Seriously, stop reading this page now and go click on it already!  Oh, and thanks for reading Smile

I’d love to hear your comments as well.