Strictly Lovegrove ~ pictures and ideas
March 1st, 2009
Joe and Lisa make a convincing partnership. They are resting actor friends of mine and were up for the test shoot.
It came to me in a flash. My mind was on a roll while we were brainstorming the next wave of picture opportunities for portrait photographers. Then I remembered back to 1998 when Julie and I shot a ballroom dancing competition at Osmington Bay holiday park. It was an inter university event with several teams from the USA taking part too. I had a blue background roll set up and 5 Bowens monoblock flash heads.
I used a mobil head pointing through coloured gel and a bit of dingle to light the back wall. The couple were lit from the left with a strip light softbox fitted to a Mobil head and a Fresnel fitted Mobil backlight from the right.
I shot couples in their feathers and sequins on 35mm film while a local minilab worked through each of the four nights to deliver the prints by breakfast that we had shot between 8pm and 12pm the evening before. It was tough and very few sales were being made. I couldn’t fathom out why at the time but then on the last day we had a rush on our prints and it became apparent that there was nothing else for the students to buy at Osmington Bay so our prints at £10 each were the perfect memento. All those students are now in their late 20s and early 30s and most have kept up some sort of dancing activities.
It is important to get the 'lines' sorted. Legs hands and hold all have to be spot on.
I contacted a friend of mine who teaches Latin American and Modern Ballroom dancing in Bristol to find out the lowdown on the leisure dance industry. He teaches dancing to over 1000 people a week and over half of the students come as couples. What’s more, they are A B C demographic with disposable income. This struck me as an opportunity.
My first step was to find a unique location for the project and to arrange a test shoot. The location took some time to find but is ideal for this kind of shoot. It is located within half an hours drive from the three major population centres of Bath, Bristol and Weston Super Mare. It is just a couple of hundred meters from a really good pub with fine food and accommodation, and just 15 minutes from Bristol Airport. Now, if this thing takes off I see no reason why couples can’t come for a shoot from just about anywhere.
Next it was time for a change of building and dress. I created the sunlight by firing a mobil fitted with an orange gel through the ivy clad window. The light from the left was my softbox fitted Mobil.
I ended up with the empty buildings of a disused coal mine – nice! Anyway they are dry, full of pigeon poo, have no mains but are ideally crusty for this kind of shoot. I photographed the wedding of the land owner a few years back and by now my networks are starting to work well for me on this project.
The shoot was a great success. It was bitterly cold and the models spent most of the time in the car while Martin and I rigged the Mobil kits. Martin is on my Evolve programme and I try to involve the Evolvers as much as I can in shoot sessions for the experience. We had just 2 hours at the mine before we set off to the pub for a hearty lunch.
Luke, our new picture editor and graphic designer edited these pictures using our 2 minute method. When I start shooting for real in April he will be adding textures and sketching to take this style of image to the next level.
I just had to take my light cube. It has a Mobil head fitted inside and was the only light source for this shot. I'm not sure if I will use it for the 'Strictly' project but I like this shot.
I’ve registered www.strictlyportraits.com and strictlylovegrove.com etc and now I await the warmer weather for phase two of the product launch.
Damien.
7 Comments Add your own
1. Chris | March 1st, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Nice to see this………to see this Nice.
2. Kevin Mullins | March 2nd, 2009 at 10:48 am
Great idea with the “Strictly” theme Damien – all the best of luck with that. Thanks for sharing some great photos and ideas too.
3. David Jones | March 4th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Guten Tag Damien – how goes it in Germany? These are fabulous, thanks as always for sharing. I love the lighting, particularly the sunlight through the window – beautiful stage set effect. Is it just a bare bulb on the mobil head in the cube?
On a boring subject, how do you view current health and safety/insurance etc? I’ve been searching for derelict buildings locally and have found a few, but can’t imagine that my public liability insurance would cover it.
4. Richard Roscoe | March 7th, 2009 at 11:02 am
The dramatic tango does make for some great poses. Excellent photos Damien and a fantastic idea.
5. Dave Packer | March 7th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Hi Damien hope your well, is there any chance of showing the flash set up in future shoots? the angle and distance of the flashes etc…
regards
Dave
6. damien | March 11th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Hi David,
Good question about health and safety. As you probably know H&S is 90% common sense and 10% legislation. I do a risk assessment and ensure I am adequately insured for public liability and professional indemnity.
The Strictly location has no electricity, it is not near water, there are no heights, the building structure is secure, there are no hazardous chemicals and we have good access and egress. There is no fire risk and therefore it gets the all clear from me.
Regards, Damien.
7. damien | March 11th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Hi Dave,
I will be running lighting workshops for dance photography once I have perfected the lighting styles. Another three shoots should see the project get fully underway. There will be generous discounts for those people who have bought Bron lighting kits from me and I expect there will be a DVD revealing all my secrets on various styles of dance photography in a year or two;-) In the meantime I will continue to post my formulas in word form for you guys to pick up on.
I hope this helps,
Damien.
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