Corfe Castle – Sunrise Photography in Dorset

December 29, 2011 by PaulReiffer | Leave a comment

Ashamed as I am to say it, given the amount of time I spend in and around Dorset, I’ve never once photographed Corfe Castle. It’s just down the road, and hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of photographers have captured it already, but for some reason, I’ve just never gone.

So, with the sunrise now starting at a reasonable hour in the middle of winter, I decided to give it a try. The only problem is, I decided to try it this morning, last night. Having never been there. For those on Facebook, you’ll now know why I was rummaging around for my head-torch. The good news is, the image above was taken this morning – so yes, I got a shot. The bad news? It’s not quite the shot I wanted, and it wasn’t exactly easy to get when planning started at 6:30pm last night in the dark.

A couple handy hints:

Use Ordnance Survey data to find where exactly you need to be standing
Read the maps properly (google won’t do) – you need gradients to work out heights
Try scouting locations in the daytime
Take a look at the Azimuth iPhone app – a most excellent tool I wish I had ages ago

Into the night, I drove – and got to Corfe Castle itself pretty quickly. The problem is, that’s no good for photographing the castle itself! So, having already looked around on google earth/OS data, I made my way on foot to “West Hill”. On a map – it looks simple: on the right hand image below, the blue dot is where I got to last night, the red dot is where I ended up this morning. The problem is, in reality, that’s a heck of a slippery, rocky, hill to climb up in pitch black (especially if you’ve never been there before) when all you can see is as the picture in the middle – yes, not a lot!:

Anyway, I got there. WOW it was windy up there last night, but the sky was clear. I could see corfe, and had an idea of where the sun would rise, but figured I may as well try for a night-time shot while I was up there. With frozen fingers (not helped by a metal tripod and a bottle of diet coke) I got my camera out, and set it for a 30 second exposure…

Surprisingly, the camera delivered. Naturally, the darkness surrounding the castle is distracting, but I was also experimenting with a new toy I’d just purchased – a screw-in, 77mm ND Grad filter. Normally, a 30 second exposure with the night sky against the bright lights of a town would be a problem, but flip that filter upside down and you get the above – result

The morning arrived, and 6:30 on my alarm clock meant I should be able to get there easily in time for the sunrise. Weather was forecast to be cloudy from 9, but clear beforehand – and I had my new “Azimuth” app : Not only can it forecast sunrise times from wherever you are, when you actually get there, the compass can give you exact locations and “time to sunrise/sunset” for accurate planning. Cool!

Unfortunately, what I hadn’t planned on until this morning is that the sun wasn’t going to rise where I thought it would using just my compass last night – it would be further to the south. Great, and I didn’t have much time. So, another “handy hint”: don’t run through brambles and thorny trees in the dark, in a hurry; yes, it hurts. Anyway, getting to the “little red dot” on the first set of maps, I set up and saw the sky slowly turn into the pre-sunrise red:

This cloud-show lasted for around 5 or 6 minutes, and I got snapping. Using that new screw-in ND grad filter, I managed to capture the sky’s detail while still grabbing enough light to illuminate the dark ground in front of me. I was pretty pleased, this was looking good – and then the worst happened. The fantastic red clouds quickly became nasty, dull, boring, grey ones – obscuring the sun

By the time the sun was up (and this was 5 minutes after), it was only flat light left. No atmosphere (no mist), no nothing.

On the positive side, however, I now know exactly where to go (and how to avoid pain – it turns out in daylight there’s a much easier route to where I was stood!) the next time I feel like getting up at stupid-o-clock. In the meantime, at least I got something out of this morning – my red sky in the morning…

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Posted in Creative, Landscape Tagged Castle, Clouds, Corfe Castle, Dorset, Landmark, Landscape, Photography, Sunrise, Winter |

Thailand in pictures and abstract – a few images from May 2011

December 27, 2011 by PaulReiffer | 1 Comment

I must have been promising to upload more pictures from our trip to Thailand for about 5 months now – well, I finally got around to it!

Since the first post I made about Maya Bay (on Koh Phi Phi Leh), I’ve been meaning to sort through the hundreds of images we took over the two weeks out there and it’s embarrassing to say that I have just managed to do that. That said, I did have a lot – our trip went from Bangkok to Koh Samui, to Phi Phi (via Krabi) and then on to Phuket. However, rather than turning this post into a vacation-slide-show of places I saw, I figure it’s best to simply give you a sample of a few of the images I remember most, with where they were taken. With that in mind, here we go…

That first picture – it’s the fantastic Tuk Tuks that bomb around in all different forms throughout Thailand (and a lot of the Far East beyond) – these ones being found just outside of “Wat Pho“, a famous temple in Bangkok where you can find the incredible reclining Buddha (yes, it’s 150ft long and about 50ft high!):

Within the temple grounds, naturally, there are many other amazing things to see, and to think of the amount of precious metals and gemstones used in creating these features is just awe-inspiring.

While I got a few of the “standard” views of the temples, I also played around with a couple of more abstract perspectives, too…

On from the temples and the fantastic hospitality we received from from Kit at Bangkok Food Tours, it was a quick ride from the bustle of Bangkok to get our plane to Koh Samui. (Although not before snapping another final image of those fantastic Tuk Tuks!)

To say Koh Samui is a contrast to Bangkok would be an understatement.It’s absolutely idyllic, and we were so lucky with the weather for the time of year as well, it made our stay there the most memorable of the entire trip. That image above is the view from the pool at dusk, where you can sip cocktails until the early hours, enjoy private dining on the hotel’s private beach. It’s also where we met one of the most amazing people in Thailand, Supit (the general manager of the hotel), who gave us a “to-do” list, starting with the “Big Buddha” on the island, as well as a visit to Wat Plai Laem with its temple, new (and massive) “laughing Buddha” and catfish lake, not far away:

It’s strange, having visited so many countries in my life, Thailand was one of the few where I have kept in touch with people I would now consider friends, that I met out there. The type of people I know if I needed help there any time in future, they would come. It’s hard to describe, as so few places and cultures have people so genuine any more – but this place really is special. The next place on “Supit’s list” was Ang Thong National Marine Park – a speedboat ride away. What an amazing place this was as you cruise around between the islands, stopping to snorkel in perfectly clear blue bays and even kayaking around some of the more obscure landscapes (yes, we kayaked around and under that big rock standing out from the water!)

Sadly, but luckily, we didn’t do this trip by Long-Tail boat – but this was the first place we got a glimpse of just how many of the islanders get around. Oh, and one of my favourite parts – we got shown around “King Kong Island” (can you see what it is yet…?!)

Sadly, after a few amazing days in Koh Samui, it was time to head out again, via a flight to Krabi – a taxi journey from hell, a ferry boat to Phi Phi Don’s port and then a long tail to our resort. In the interests of not repeating myself, Phi Phi is where you’ll find “Maya Bay” (the setting for the film “The Beach”) – more of which can be found in the post I made about Phi Phi Leh a while back.

Moving on from Phi Phi (we actually left a day earlier than planned as weather had started to set in and that left very little to do…!) we got the backpacker’s ferry-boat to Phuket, our final stop. Patong Beach is a hideous resort, and I’d advise anyone against going there if you want to see Phuket. That said, having learned this, it forced us to get on a scooter one day and explore a lot more of what Phuket has to offer, including some fantastic street food, crafts, and scenery.

By now, we’d realised that every big town in Thailand seems to have its own “Big Buddha” – but it’s fair to say this one seemed to be the most impressive, going so far as to call it Phuket’s “Giant Buddha”. Still under construction, at 150ft tall, it’s an amazing sight – and from the top of the mountain it’s built on, you can see the entire island as well as the unspoilt deep blue sky above. Well worth the £2 we spent renting a scooter for the day!

On the way back, on our last night in Thailand, a quick google revealed that we weren’t too far from Phrom Thep Cape – a destination for sunset worshippers across the island. (Stupidly) expecting a quiet lookout point, we were surprised to find coach-loads of tourists parked up along the entire length of the hillside, all waiting for the sun to drop. Sadly, it hit could before it made it to the horizon, but I’m still happy with the last photo I took in Thailand anyway…

So that was it – a sample of the shots I took in Thailand this year. And the cool thing? They were ALL shot with my tiny little Canon Powershot S90 – no DSLR in sight! Granted, they were shot in RAW, with some setting tweaks, but it just goes to show, sometimes you don’t need a rucksack full of lenses to capture the images you want Hopefully that’s at least given some of you a feel for what it’s like out there, although if you haven’t been, you really do have to go yourself to appreciate how great this place is. We’re certainly heading back soon…

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Posted in Creative, Landscape Tagged Bangkok, Big Buddha, Buddha, King Kong Island, Koh Samui, Long Tail Boat, Maya Bay, Phi Phi, Phuket, Prom Thep Cape, Temple, Thailand, Tuk Tuk, Wat Po |

Intimate Couples Photos – with Alex and Rebecca, Urban Boudoir Photography Series

December 11, 2011 by PaulReiffer | 3 Comments

Shooting a couple in a way that looks genuinely intimate can sometimes be a challenge. Those in a relationship can, at times, get “giggly” during the photo shoot and two models who are effectively strangers can be a little hit-and-miss, depending on their acting abilities.

That said, it does present an opportunity to deliver photographs with a lot more story and emotion than solo shots often can and every now and then I get a request to shoot a couple. Normally, it’s accompanied with either a few “Calvin Klein-esque” shots as a reference point or a request for standard “boudoir photography”, but last month I got a request that was a little different.

On a cold Sunday morning, I was photographing Alex Wilcox (an established model) in some product shots for a company in Greece – and a short while before the shoot itself got a request to extend the time and capture a series of “couple” images for his portfolio.

For a model, such images are really powerful in a portfolio as it shows not only acting ability but also clear proof that they can work well with others “on-set”.

Calling on a local model, Rebecca Bone, and after finishing the product photography we set up 5 different looks throughout the afternoon. Despite shooting a wide range including wet-look photos, classic underwear shots and some nice wintery-clothing commercial images, at the end of the day this series was by far the most convincing and unique.

Bearing in mind neither model had med before the shoot itself, you have to give them credit for working so well together – and they definitely ticked the box of not delivering a “standard” (cheesy!) couples or boudoir photography shoot.

Using the black wall as a background really worked along with the hard light making their skin “pop” on-screen. From the selection in this post, the idea was to present a storyboard of images which suggest the two are really intimate with each other. Hopefully that worked…

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Posted in Creative, Photo Shoots Tagged Alex Wilcox, Boudoir, Couple, Glamour, Model, Nude, Rebecca Bone, Sexy, Studio, Urban |

The Coloured Canyon – Sinai, Egypt with the Bedouins

November 29, 2011 by PaulReiffer | 1 Comment

For those of you who read about the trip I made in the summer to Antelope Canyon in Arizona, you’ll realise that I got a little bit fascinated with “Slot Canyons” as a result. So, with a rather frustrating start to a well-needed break in Sharm-El-Sheikh (without going into detail, I wouldn’t recommend the place, ever!) we took the opportunity for something a little different by getting int he back of a 4×4 and heading out to the “Coloured Canyon” in Sinai. I only had my Canon S95 point-and-shoot on me, but I figured that was better than nothing

First stop, was the place I got one of my favourite pictures of this whole trip. In order to enter the canyon, you take a Bedouin Guide with you, and you stop just outside the off-road trail to pick one up. The only thing is, you can’t just pick one up, you have to have tea with their family first! So, sat on the floor (and as someone who ONLY likes Diet Coke), I followed the ritual, but also snapped this of the father with his small child preparing the sweet tea for us all:

It’s one of the first “candid” tourism photos I’ve been genuinely happy with, and the fact I caught the child smiling was an added bonus. After the tea, of course they took the opportunity try selling a few things to us – sadly, none of them looked appealing enough to buy, but then I have to admit I got caught out…

The mother of the child ran over to me, asking me to take her child’s picture with her. Thinking I was doing her a favour, I snapped the shutter. THEN realised what it was in the child’s hand – that’s right, 10 Egyptian Pounds. Ahhh, that’s the “fee” for taking the child’s picture. For the sake of £1 back home, I wasn’t that fussed, but I do wonder how many people fall for that one…!

So, with tea and family photography out of the way, we collected our guide (who didn’t talk much, it has to be said!) and drove to the entrance of the canyon. Worryingly, he had a rope with him, but we thought not much of it. From the canyon entrance, it was a small climb up and a short walk across the plateau of rocks.

We were informed never to pass the guide, and that one of our other Egyptian guides should be between him and us. All very strange, but hey, we were out in the middle of the desert, having passed through around 10 armed check-points during our 2.5 hour journey, so there was no way any of us was going to argue!

Entering the canyon, you notice the differences between here and Antelope. Strangely, while it is a whole lot less accessible than the canyon we visited in Arizona, I have to say it was also a whole lot less exciting – quite cool though was the fact that random plants and trees literally grow out of the rocks in this place.

To get into the actual slot, and very unlike Antelope, you literally have to slide down between the rocks to long drops beneath you (NOW we got the need for the rope!). Yes, rather unprepared, we were canyoning between and under boulders, through narrow gaps created by water thousands and thousands of years ago which really made this quite unique.

Unfortunately, that’s where my excitement stopped. While the canyon is full of colourful rocks of many kinds, it just does have the same “cave” feeling as those in Arizona.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed as the place is billed as “one of the most magnificent rock formations in the world” – something I can’t honestly say is true.

I also found a limitation with my S95 – it really struggles with metering for high contrast exposures – such as that above (granted, I didn’t have any filters on it!). But I simply couldn’t get the right mix of sky and rock detail at the same time, something that I know my DSLRs wouldn’t have a problem with. It seems, even shooting in fully manual, something in there isn’t quite up to it.

For me, walking out of the canyon was, in some ways, more impressive – we had a sense of achievement from getting through the slots themselves, but also looking all around us, you could see more and more rock formations taking shape as wind and rain carved into the desert mountain side.

Worth getting away from the tourist-hell which is Sharm for the day? 100% yes.

Worth going to Egypt for, specifically? No – save your money and head to Arizona

Anyway, off to Cairo on Thursday (another way to get away from the Blackpool of the Red Sea for a day!) so hopefully I can grab a few more of those candid shots there – I hear things are a little exciting around the square at the moment!

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Posted in Creative, Landscape Tagged Bedouin, Coloured Canyon, Desert, Egypt, Rock, Sinai, Slot Canyon, Tourism |

Say Hello To Sam – Mr Gay UK from Cardiff

November 22, 2011 by PaulReiffer | 2 Comments

This is Sam Kneen – a current finalist in the overall “Mr Gay UK” competition which has seen its fair share of interesting publicity during the 20 or so years that it’s been around.

The first image I uploaded of him onto Facebook prompted quite a few comments, and as a relatively inexperienced model, he’s certainly got a strong enough look to go far in the industry. We actually shot this series after completing a commercial Christmas shoot (ads and promo material) for Lick, one evening last week and just used the clothing he had in his bag, given the number of shots already taken with Lick’s underwear – which you’ll no doubt see out there soon.

Sam is hoping to win the final of Mr Gay UK – a competition won by the general public voting for contestants from around the UK – and you can help him out by voting here.

You’ll notice that I’ve also been experimenting with using a simpler lighting setup in a lot of these shots. Just one hair light off to the top right (way up in the ceiling) and a single soft-box to the right of my camera. I’m quite enjoying the fact that I get a consistent style across an entire shoot this way, and love the cold feel that I can generate in the images this way.

Yes, I love shooting with the ring-flash, but to be fair to Sam, his eyes were already seeing lighting donuts after the Lick shoot, so subjecting him to any more of that just seemed unfair! That said, the images for the adverts are cool – but you’ll have to wait and see how they look for a little while longer as the adverts hit the shelves in December…

Want to see more of Sam before then? Well, you’ll have to start voting for him to win the final of Mr Gay UK if you want to see more! In the meantime though, it might be worth checking out his Facebook and Twitter

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Posted in Advertising, Magazines, Photo Shoots Tagged Cardiff, Fitness, Male, Male Model, Model, Mr Gay UK, Sam Kneen, Sammy Kneen, Samuel, Underwear |

Anna Smith – fine art nude model and dancer at the Southampton studio

November 21, 2011 by PaulReiffer | Leave a comment

It’s catch-up time again!

After sorting out the second studio in Southampton, I took the opportunity back in September to give it a try with a model I’d never worked with before – Anna Smith (or Anna Marguerite, as she goes by for her nude work).

Anna popped down from London for the afternoon, and after a little delay in getting things ready (it takes a bit of time to get comfortable with a new shooting space!) we were ready to go. Test shoots are always a bit more “fun” as we can experiment with different lighting setups and poses without the pressure of having to deliver exactly what a client wants at the end of the day. This was no exception, and the plan to shoot some “cool fashion” quickly disappeared as Anna wanted to try out different art nude poses in the hard lights I’d set up in the studio.

Obviously when it comes to “work safe” images, some of these show a little more flesh than I normally upload onto the blog, so sections of the images have been blurred out for obvious reasons. However, I’m sure you’ll see the full versions on Anna’s own portfolio soon

Of course, we did get a few cool fashion shots and poses, and Anna was a joy to work with. As a trained dancer, she was able to pull off (and more importantly, hold) some really striking shapes which made fantastic shadows throughout the shoot.

For me, it was a quick “check” that everything in the Southampton studio was OK. For Anna, the opportunity to try out a few different shapes and styles. I think we both got what we wanted

For those interested in more of Anna’s work, feel free to check out both of her “Model Mayhem” profiles – accessible by clicking here. Of course, some of these shots will also shortly make it to my girls portfolio too.

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Posted in Creative, Photo Shoots Tagged Anna Smith, Commercial, Fashion, Female, Model, Nude, Southampton, Studio |

Landscapes and Sunsets Update – National Parks & Morro Bay

November 19, 2011 by PaulReiffer | 1 Comment

It was only the other day that I realised I’d been updating my Facebook and twitter accounts with a lot more landscape images than I had been uploading on to here. Time to get that corrected!

This first shot was taken in August – at Devil’s Golf Course in Death Valley National Park. What had started out as a really grey day soon burned off to reveal a deep blue sky. What you’re looking at is actually salt and rock – from many years ago when this used to be underwater. With an outside temperature of 120 degrees, we didn’t hang around long (especially as the salt in the air really gets in your eyes when you get down low!). Obviously this has an ND filter in use (x8), but I also ended up having to pop a polariser over the top as well – as even my sunglasses gave up the ghost with the brightness in the park.

Next up, Grand Canyon National Park. There are two key places people visit – the “West Rim” (with its rip-off “Skywalk” glass walkway attraction where they refuse to allow you to take your camera onto it but are more than happy to sell you their photos!) and the “South Rim” – which is where some of the more recognisable views can be found. I tried shooting at sunset, and while the colours of the rocks looked fantastic, I really wasn’t happy with the result. The canyon is just so large, photographs really don’t do it any justice – everything just seems so flat. So in an effort to try and get some depth in what happens as the sun hits the horizon, I shot this at sunrise instead (in the freezing cold at around 4:50am!). While many would use filters and a long exposure, this was actually shot at f/13 for 1/60sec with nothing other than a UV filter on the lens. Pretty happy with that sky, too – as it didn’t look too promising when we first arrived!

Then on to Bryce Canyon in Utah. Apart from the distinctly watered down taste to beer, this was a great two days wandering around the “hoodoos” and trying to capture them in a way that shows how vast the place is. I put up a more detailed post – here – on Bryce Canyon a while back, but this is my favourite from the visit, taken just before the sun set on the horizon as unfortunately it dropped behind cloud before the deep reds and purples could appear. Still, I’m happy with the shot (it’s another f/13, at 1/80th and a polariser)

A few of you will recognise this shot, I’m sure. It’s the “mittens” in Monument Valley - and while not a “National Park” as such, it has the same feel about it while you’re there. These things are MASSIVE, and you can drive the dirt-tracks off-road all over the park, exploring around the huge rocks. When we got to the park, I have to admit, I was in a bit of a sulk – the sky was overcast and it looked like nothing good was going to come from it. Then at sunset, as it dropped behind me, the deep orange dirt (which now encapsulated our truck) just came to life bouncing warm colours all over the place. To put into context, this image has had its saturation boosted by only 5% from the raw file. While I’m sure there are better photographs of the mittens at sunset – I really love the colours that hit my lens. Yeah, it’s annoying that we turned back only 1/2 a mile from “that famous point with the road leading in to the Valley” (oops!) but nevertheless, I like the shot I got. Better still, it was hand-held at 1/20th, f/7.1 (the image stabiliser on my 24-105L really worked for its money that day!)

Last, but certainly not least, is a shot I took on the way up to San Francisco last month. Half-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco is a really cool cluster of little towns, centred around San Luis Obispo. Travel out to the coast from there, where we were staying, and you’ll hit Morro Bay – and unmistakably, Morro Rock (home to the peregrine falcon). Getting this shot was a challenge, as the number of people wanting to capture the sunset was surprising for such a small harbour-town, but I managed to persuade some very friendly visitors to let me grab the pier for (literally) 4 clicks! Luckily, given that I was using 1/4 second at f/16, we’d been there long enough to have the setup done and the camera set up on the tripod, so it was an easy enough shot to get in the 10 seconds of “empty pier” I was able to grab! (The only issue being, it took around 5 seconds for the rickety old pier to stop wobbling after they walked behind me!

On all of these, I’ve made the change to shooting landscapes at 2 x 1 instead of the camera’s native 3 x 2. While I love the fact that the full frame gives me room to capture more detail in the sky, or up close; looking at these alongside their un-cropped counterparts, I’m now certain that when it comes to shooting national parks or sunsets, less really is more.

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Posted in Creative, Landscape, Photo Shoots Tagged Byce Canyon, Death Valley, Devil's Golf Course, Grand Canyon, Mittens, Morro Bay, Morro Rock, National Park, NPS, Sunrise, Sunset |

Golden Gate Bridge Sunrise and San Francisco City Views

November 18, 2011 by PaulReiffer | Leave a comment

Knowing San Francisco relatively well, I knew that when I tried to get a sunrise shot of the Golden Gate Bridge back in August I was really setting myself up for failure. Waking up before 4am, we drove to one of the lookout points to find we couldn’t see even the front of the car – let alone the bridge and the city! Disappointed, we drove back and caught up with some much-needed sleep, but I was determined to try again this year.

So in October, I flew back over – and during the same trip as the Amboy shoot, we headed back up the coast, capturing images along the way with our final destination : The Golden Gate Bridge at dawn.

When you first approach the lookout area on the Marin Headlands, the first thing that normally hits you (if it’s not foggy!) is the wind – and wow, this morning was no exception. The sky was already full of colour though, so time was tight (sunrise was due at 7:31am and it was 7:15 already). Never having managed to see the sunrise from the headlands, I wasn’t entirely sure from where on the horizon it would appear, but took a bit of a gamble after consulting the compass and set up in place. The shot above is actually around 10 minutes before the sun appeared, and you can clearly see the stream of car headlights across the bridge – being a Saturday, we managed to avoid rush-hour, but sadly that meant less car headlights for my photo!

Right on schedule, at 7:31am, the sun popped out behind Oakland, across the bay:

I’ve decided to start experimenting with different aspect ratios for panoramic images. This is the first of a few images I’ve set as 3×1 (a lot of my panoramics are 2×1) and I think it really changes the feel of the photograph. Yes, when not quite so “letterboxed”, more colour is available in the sky above – but I really like the way this turned out.

Shifting my tripod a little further along the ridge, I wanted to get a shot that wasn’t of the bridge itself – but of the sunrise over the city. Obviously with such an iconic bridge, some reference to it should really be made, so I shot through the suspension cables toward the Bay Bridge, capturing that famous skyline as the sun brought it to life. This was my favourite from the morning.

So, did I get what I wanted? Well, yes and no. It’s a real pain, but I kind of wanted a little bit of fog! Attempt 1, too much fog. Attempt 2, clear skies all around. Maybe I’ll just have to go for a 3rd attempt to get that one shot of the bridge towers poking out from the fog, with the sunrise in the background. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m quite that lucky – so this may take some time…!

Back to the hotel, later that evening I took the chance to use the view from the room to capture Twin Peaks at sunset. Given this was shot from a hotel room window, I have to say I’m really happy with how it turned out!

And talking of views, later that evening we managed to spend some time with a friend who has an apartment on Portrero Hill. WOW – the view from the balcony is below. I love the fact this captures the “neighbourhood” feel of San Francisco, with the ball-practice going on down below; the whole time, the bustling city towering above everything else in lights and the (in)famous Bay Bridge heading out to the East. Thanks Tony!

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Posted in Creative, Landscape, Photo Shoots Tagged Bay Bridge, California, Golden Gate Bridge, Landscape, Marin Headlands, San Francisco, Sunrise, Sunset, Twin Peaks |

Roy’s Motel, Amboy – A road trip to a Route 66 landmark

October 25, 2011 by PaulReiffer | Leave a comment

“Welcome to Amboy” – a phrase which I’m sure was used many times in the past, but not any more. Apart from the (randomly) fully functioning post office, Amboy is now very much a ghost town, around half way between Palm Springs and Las Vegas.

Having checked it out before we headed there, I knew that “Roy’s Motel” is actually a bit of an iconic landmark, locally.

Postcards are sold with the famous sign and many films have used what’s left of the location as a set, with stars such as Harrison Ford setting up camp in the town while filming for Hollywood.

Amboy itself is actually one of the stops along the 2,448 miles that make up the famous “Route 66″ from Chicago to LA.

Obviously, since that route was established a lot of the roads/buildings (and even towns and cities) have moved, changed or become dilapidated but the essence of “The Mother Road” still very much exists.

What I didn’t quite expect was just how isolated and desolate the place actually was.

There’s a tiny cafe/gas station, an abandoned school, Roy’s and a (what appears to be half-collapsed) church far into the distance next to a very noisy rail track.

Once they’ve been shot, there really isn’t much more to see (as a lot of it is boarded up) so it was a good job we made notes of mile-markers where a few random photo opportunities existed along the way.

So, on the way there we passed through miles and miles of desert with no signs of life apart from the odd motor-home scattered among the tumbleweeds. Then all of a sudden, a cluster of mailboxes would appear – evidently for houses that we couldn’t even see! I guess it makes it easier for the mail man to deliver, not that I’d be keen to take on that route myself, regardless of how efficient the residents try to make it – this place is 100 degree heat, with nothing for miles between Twentynine Palms and (well, a deserted) Amboy…

After passing the confusing sight of a few speedboats left on the side of the road in the middle of the the desert (?!), we then came across this little gem. What seems to be an old British taxi, painted in yellow, on the side of the road with a number. I’m guessing they don’t get too much passing trade, as it’s been there for sale for quite some time! While maybe not such a successful sales job, it did make for a great picture, especially with that fantastic deep blue desert sky and the sun flares in the background.

Moving on, the last item I made a note to see was the chlorine fields just outside Amboy – and it seems I wasn’t alone in that thought as there was a full-scale fashion shoot happening at Bristol Dry Lake, just a few hundred feet from the chemical works. Now here’s where I made a schoolboy error. To get this shot (which I love, the colours, the richness, the depth and backdrop all work) I had to quickly pop down to the edge of the chemical lagoon…

Having seen, and photographed, “dry lakes” before in Death Valley I made two (incorrect) assumptions:

1) That the chemical lagoon was just salt, and
2) That flip-flops were suitable footwear for a quick exploration.

I won’t upload the picture of the bottom of my feet here, so don’t worry – you’re spared the gross image, but let’s just say my feet are well and truly paying the price for my failure to engage my brain before exploring with my camera! I’ve been struggling ever since – despite needing to walk around a lot to grab pictures of Santa Monica for the next few days – anyway, lesson learned the painful way!

On the way back to Palm Springs, we stopped by Joshua Tree National Park – I do love that place, and it was really weird (but cool at the same time!) to be handed the guide by the park ranger on the way in with one of my images on the cover. While it wasn’t a surprise, it was certainly a lot more “real” being able to hold it and seeing all of the other visitors with one than when you get the proofs by email.

So, while in there – what else could I do than try and get that better sun position on the edge of Arch Rock I was looking for last winter. My feet may be in agony, but hey – I got my missing Joshua Tree shot

(and no, I haven’t forgotten the Thailand images, I just have to make a few more decisions on which ones to cut!)

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Posted in Creative, Landscape Tagged Arch Rock, Cafe, California, Desert, Ghost Town, Joshua Tree, Landscape, Motel, National Park, National Park Service, Route 66, Salt Works |

Aaron Breckell – Studio Shots of a Male Fitness Model

October 17, 2011 by PaulReiffer | 3 Comments

Ring flashes have been around for years. They’ve been in and out of fashion more times than checked shirts, but they DO deliver a very specific “look”, which I love, which you can spot a mile off. I’ve used a Lencarta Safari ring flash on many occasions, but it was time to give a different flash head a go.

So, bringing Aaron (a relatively new model from Guildford) into the studio to shoot, we pulled out the Alien Bees ABR800 Ring Flash. I just love the look that this thing brings to my images. Smooth light, short shadows, rich colours, and the Alien Bees unit covers a considerably larger area than the Lencarta equivalent.

Aaron is looking to move into fitness/commercial modelling, so some body shots as well as the more “edgy”/fashion styled looks like the one above. Shooting with a range of backgrounds, I put the ring flash to work and got a few different shapes out of him to show off both his look/body as well as the very different feel to my images to that which is delivered by traditional lighting such as soft-boxes.

Of course, a studio shoot shouldn’t only be delivered with just one lighting setup – and much though I love shooting with the ring flashes, there are some looks that it simply can’t deliver. Here’s a quick “moody” one – more of which will be in my portfolio very soon…

So that’s Aaron. And I guess a decent try out of the ABR800 ring flash.

Often used on girls for glamour shots, but I think the ones at the top of this post prove that the “magazine feel” can be delivered just as well with male fitness models too.

Soon to the blog, Anna Smith – an art nude model who popped into the studio a few weeks back.

But next up? Well, it REALLY is about time I uploaded some of this pictures from Thailand in May…! :-)

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