If you had to sum yourself up in one sentence, what would it say?
If other people were to sum you up in one sentence, what would it say?
How different are those sentences likely to be?
This isn't one of those empathy tests to see if we can understand that other people see the world in a different way to ourselves, rather it's a thought that's followed on from a couple of recent conversations with people regarding mortality.
A friend recently had an accident where her van swerved off the road and down an 8 metre drop into a small river. By the most unlikely of unlikely ways the vehicle twisted, bounced, overturned and landed, she suffered nothing more than pulled muscles and bruises. Nobody in the emergency services could believe she could possibly just walk away from what had happened.
The experience has caused her to reflect and change her priorities in life. "Stuff" seems so much less important. Making sure your loved ones know how much you love them seems so much more important.
As the conversation weaved and developed, one thread that tied in with a recent discussion I'd had with Maggie, was about how much people know about us – and about how the more distant we are, the less can be said.
I could tell you a fair bit about my mother, although there will be an awful lot I never really knew about her. I saw her from an offspring's perspective, never fully appreciating her in her own right probably until after she died.
My grandfather I can tell you a lot less about. I have a few stories of what it was like as a kid going to stay with him, and a few more stories my mother told me about, but it is very limited.
In the last year or so of his life he recorded his memoirs onto cassette, which my mother intended to type up, but didn't get round to immediately. Somehow a few years later, having moved house a couple of times in the interim, the cassettes were lost. Hunting high and low they were never found.
All those stories, lost forever.
And once we go further back beyond the grandparents, we are into one sentence descriptions.
Apparently I had a distant relative who had been on some great exploration of somewhere and had a diamond that went missing after he died and it caused family rifts. Now if you want me to expand on that last sentence, I can't: what I have written there is literally all I know.
On the other side of the family sometime around the late Victorian era down near London, I think I had ancestors that were fabulously wealthy who had built up a major business dealing in sawdust, but the sons gambled and drank away the fortune, leaving their sister – I think my great grandmother – quite a bitter old woman.
So that's all I know about my great grandmother – she was quite a bitter old woman.
For those who do genealogical research into their family histories, they might find a name, an address, an occupation and how many children they had, but it is still a one sentence description – and one that tells you nothing about who that person really was.
Sooner or later we all become just a one sentence description, until that too is lost.
So what do you want that one sentence to be?
Once I'm gone, I do wonder how might others describe me in a few words. I suppose it will depend in what way they knew me.
"Kim had a beard, wasn't very tall, was overweight, and balding, however much he tried to deny it."
"Kim was a photographer, blogger and played the bouzouki" (perhaps words like good, good enough, passable, or not as good as he thought he was, might get thrown in to expand the sentence a bit).
Or perhaps the description would be about my familial connections: "Kim was a middle child, a second son, a father of two, a stepfather of three, a grandfather of four, a husband of one" (again, these might be peppered with words like loving, selfish, adoring, reliable, or unreliable, depending on the personal experience).
Or maybe I might be described by bits of my personality, such as "Kim could talk for hours, barely seeming to pause for breath", or "he was a good listener and friend", or "he was a bit up himself to be honest and if I saw him walking down the street I'd quickly dart into a shop to avoid him".
Or possibly it might come down to one observation a friend made on Facebook recently, which was "Essentially your whole life revolves around ice cream or chocolate in some way."
But all these are external descriptions – what I might appear to be like on the outside – they are not necessarily how I would describe myself.
From the inside, the descriptions are far more to do with fears, doubts and insecurities. My weaknesses dominate my thoughts much more than my strengths. For every one thing I have achieved there have been dozens of things I haven't.
However, others don't see these sides of us, unless we tell them – but that runs the risk of being labelled as someone who moans, or is ill, or insecure – and is that how I would like to be remembered in a one sentence description?
For me, the ultimate one sentence description, the very best I ever heard, was emailed to me to read out at my mother's funeral by an old friend of hers. She said, "Ann was the kind of woman who always made you feel better about yourself."
I cannot think of a more wonderful description of a person.
Perhaps then, this becomes something of a goal. If I want to be remembered not as a bitter old man, but with a certain level of fondness, then I have to work at that
Of course after writing this, it's not impossible I could end up only being remembered as a man who was obsessed with how people were going to remember him...
Friday, December 28, 2018
Monday, December 24, 2018
Festive Wishes
I was supposed to pick up Rogan in Dumfries yesterday at 4.45pm from his 3 hour bus journey down from Edinburgh.
Unfortunately I got a call just after lunch saying he had missed the bus and the next one wouldn't arrive in Dumfries until a quarter to midnight. Then it's another half hour's drive home.
Still better than trekking up to Edinburgh to collect him though.
Despite the late night, it's wonderful to see him after being several months away at university, where he's in his final year studying mechanical engineering.
Maggie has been busy preparing enough wonderful food to keep a small city content, with her bramble ice cream (made from the ones Meg and I picked back in September) being a particular favourite.
Our grandson, Alfie, is 18 months old now – still too young to have any idea what's going on, but old enough to get caught up in all the excitement of boxes and wrapping paper.
As each year passes, I think I become ever more aware of how extraordinarily fortunate we are to have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and a loving family around us. So many lack one or all of these things.
Whatever your social, cultural and religious beliefs and circumstances, I truly wish you and your loved ones all the very best over the festive season and for the year ahead.
Unfortunately I got a call just after lunch saying he had missed the bus and the next one wouldn't arrive in Dumfries until a quarter to midnight. Then it's another half hour's drive home.
Still better than trekking up to Edinburgh to collect him though.
Despite the late night, it's wonderful to see him after being several months away at university, where he's in his final year studying mechanical engineering.
Maggie has been busy preparing enough wonderful food to keep a small city content, with her bramble ice cream (made from the ones Meg and I picked back in September) being a particular favourite.
Our grandson, Alfie, is 18 months old now – still too young to have any idea what's going on, but old enough to get caught up in all the excitement of boxes and wrapping paper.
As each year passes, I think I become ever more aware of how extraordinarily fortunate we are to have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and a loving family around us. So many lack one or all of these things.
Whatever your social, cultural and religious beliefs and circumstances, I truly wish you and your loved ones all the very best over the festive season and for the year ahead.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Artists at The Nail Factory
"I lit the woodburner to warm the place up," said Peter as we headed up to the Nail Factory.
He opened the door and smoke began pouring out. I couldn't see the back wall for it. "Aw, not again..." he muttered, disappearing into the thick cloud to open all the windows.
The Nail Factory in Dalbeattie is a very small building that has been turned into a gallery and art space. The intimacy of the place, the pleasant surrounds and the warmth and friendliness of owners Rupinder and Peter, make it a favourite venue for many local, and even not so local, artists.
It was the last day of November: with the closing of the exhibition season, and several of the artists arriving to collect their work, Rupinder was putting on a spread of food, turning it into a social gathering.
Wanting to make the most of a rare moment when so many artists would be in the one place at the same time, Rupinder and I had met up the previous month to discuss how we might create a photo to reflect that sense of artistic camaraderie.
Bouncing ideas about, we settled on the notion of having them gathered around a table, with some art and tools of the trade, in conversation with each other, perhaps with some light food – fruit, bread and cheese: hinting at a feel of a Dutch "Old Master" painting.
Key to this was going to be getting the light right.
Looking at the classic paintings of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals, I realised most of them tended to be lit by single window and/or a central candle. The challenge would be how I could replicate something similar in a small space with white walls (that would reflect the light and make shadows more difficult to create), on a winter's evening when it would be dark outside.
Warning: the next couple of paragraphs contain lighting set up descriptions that might be of little interest to non-photographers so feel free to skip ahead to just past the next image.
I set up an octagonal softbox above and to one side, which gave me a soft overall light, as though coming from a skylight window. A grid on the front prevented too much light spilling onto the upper parts of the walls, but a few places at the table were still too much in shadow. I set up another, smaller softbox just to my right, with a lower light setting, which brought just enough extra light onto the scene without interfering with the shadows I wanted.
Finally, I placed another off-camera flash with an orange gel, just behind the fruit bowl, under the candlestick, to give the look of candlelight illumination on the faces.
Here's an early test shot, before we moved the large softbox further back so as to be out of the photo, and changed the picture on the back wall on the right, which was catching a reflection of the 2nd softbox.
The lighting set up
In a lovely bit of serendipity, I happened to know all the artists who turned up for the shoot – in fact a couple of them I had photographed before (see Fitch and McAndrew - Slipware Potters for Douglas and Hannah, and Baskets on a Beach for Geoff Forrest)
On one level it was a little intimidating trying to be creative in front of a group of creatives, but this was counteracted by the fact they were all really warm and friendly, and happy to get into the spirit of things.
When I say warm, I am talking emotionally. Physically, we were all wrapped up in several layers because opening the windows earlier to clear the smoke, had also dispersed any remaining heat: it was only 4 degrees Celsius outside.
The final image - click on it for a larger version
Rupinder did a wonderful job dressing the table, which has several details I love. The open pomegranate and peel coming off the orange were ideas we lifted from the Lost Chronicles of Gallovidia shoot I did last year; the pheasant-feather quill in a glass inkpot represent the fact a writer's group often use the space; and just next to the cheese and chestnuts is a small note which says, "may contain nuts".
If you would like to know more about the artists involved, left to right we have:
Caro Barlow who works with glass
Erwin van t'Hoff – a silversmith
Hannah and Doug Fitch (and baby Fred) – slipware potters
Phil Crennell – painter and furniture maker
Rupinder Dulay and Peter Dowden of The Nail Factory
and Geoff Forrest – willow weaver
When the shoot was over and I was packing away, the table was carried back into Rupinder's kitchen and an amazing spread of food was laid out for us to tuck in to.
One of the things I love about working in this corner of Scotland is it's not uncommon to be fed, watered and treated like one of the family when I'm out on a shoot.
It's never taken for granted, and it's always appreciated.
He opened the door and smoke began pouring out. I couldn't see the back wall for it. "Aw, not again..." he muttered, disappearing into the thick cloud to open all the windows.
The Nail Factory in Dalbeattie is a very small building that has been turned into a gallery and art space. The intimacy of the place, the pleasant surrounds and the warmth and friendliness of owners Rupinder and Peter, make it a favourite venue for many local, and even not so local, artists.
It was the last day of November: with the closing of the exhibition season, and several of the artists arriving to collect their work, Rupinder was putting on a spread of food, turning it into a social gathering.
Wanting to make the most of a rare moment when so many artists would be in the one place at the same time, Rupinder and I had met up the previous month to discuss how we might create a photo to reflect that sense of artistic camaraderie.
Bouncing ideas about, we settled on the notion of having them gathered around a table, with some art and tools of the trade, in conversation with each other, perhaps with some light food – fruit, bread and cheese: hinting at a feel of a Dutch "Old Master" painting.
Key to this was going to be getting the light right.
Looking at the classic paintings of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals, I realised most of them tended to be lit by single window and/or a central candle. The challenge would be how I could replicate something similar in a small space with white walls (that would reflect the light and make shadows more difficult to create), on a winter's evening when it would be dark outside.
Warning: the next couple of paragraphs contain lighting set up descriptions that might be of little interest to non-photographers so feel free to skip ahead to just past the next image.
I set up an octagonal softbox above and to one side, which gave me a soft overall light, as though coming from a skylight window. A grid on the front prevented too much light spilling onto the upper parts of the walls, but a few places at the table were still too much in shadow. I set up another, smaller softbox just to my right, with a lower light setting, which brought just enough extra light onto the scene without interfering with the shadows I wanted.
Finally, I placed another off-camera flash with an orange gel, just behind the fruit bowl, under the candlestick, to give the look of candlelight illumination on the faces.
Here's an early test shot, before we moved the large softbox further back so as to be out of the photo, and changed the picture on the back wall on the right, which was catching a reflection of the 2nd softbox.
The lighting set up
In a lovely bit of serendipity, I happened to know all the artists who turned up for the shoot – in fact a couple of them I had photographed before (see Fitch and McAndrew - Slipware Potters for Douglas and Hannah, and Baskets on a Beach for Geoff Forrest)
On one level it was a little intimidating trying to be creative in front of a group of creatives, but this was counteracted by the fact they were all really warm and friendly, and happy to get into the spirit of things.
When I say warm, I am talking emotionally. Physically, we were all wrapped up in several layers because opening the windows earlier to clear the smoke, had also dispersed any remaining heat: it was only 4 degrees Celsius outside.
The final image - click on it for a larger version
Rupinder did a wonderful job dressing the table, which has several details I love. The open pomegranate and peel coming off the orange were ideas we lifted from the Lost Chronicles of Gallovidia shoot I did last year; the pheasant-feather quill in a glass inkpot represent the fact a writer's group often use the space; and just next to the cheese and chestnuts is a small note which says, "may contain nuts".
If you would like to know more about the artists involved, left to right we have:
Caro Barlow who works with glass
Erwin van t'Hoff – a silversmith
Hannah and Doug Fitch (and baby Fred) – slipware potters
Phil Crennell – painter and furniture maker
Rupinder Dulay and Peter Dowden of The Nail Factory
and Geoff Forrest – willow weaver
When the shoot was over and I was packing away, the table was carried back into Rupinder's kitchen and an amazing spread of food was laid out for us to tuck in to.
One of the things I love about working in this corner of Scotland is it's not uncommon to be fed, watered and treated like one of the family when I'm out on a shoot.
It's never taken for granted, and it's always appreciated.
Thursday, November 29, 2018
David Mark Williams – Papaya Fantasia
My good friend, the poet David Mark Williams, has a new book – Papaya Fantasia - which he is launching in Castle Douglas this Saturday (December 1st).
Regular readers of this blog with long memories might recall I created a few short videos of him performing his poetry, which I put up back in November 2015 (follow this link if you missed it https://kimayres.blogspot.com/2015/11/), to tie in with the launch of his first book, The Lost Sock Exchange
An idea we had but didn't have time to pursue back then was one of playing with the perception of time, so we decided we'd give it a shot to coincide with the release of Papaya Fantasia.
Using Mark's poem "Death Numbers" we recorded him speaking it, then slowed it to ¼ speed and downloaded it onto his phone.
We then went out onto the streets of Castle Douglas and, using headphones attached to his phone, Mark spoke the poem in time with the slowed down version of the poem while I filmed him.
We did this in several locations around the town and got a few strange looks, but no one stopped to ask what we were up to.
Back at my computer I then sped up the footage I had by 4 times and edited it together, overlaying the original recording and background noises from the street.
The result is an unsettling performance where everything around him is moving much faster while he delivers the poem.
It was a challenging and fun wee project. It's less than a minute long so take a look and feel free to scribble any thoughts or reactions in the comments.
Meanwhile, if you can make it along to the Papaya Fantasia book launch, it's at the Gordon Memorial Hall, St Ninians, Whitepark Road Castle Douglas, DG7 1EX (Doors open 1.45pm)
Alternatively he has another launch down in London on December 17th at the Poetry Society’s poetry Cafe in Covent Garden at 7.30pm
Both events are free and drinks and nibbles are available.
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Peaky Blinders at Rosefield Mills
I was meeting up with Tracy for a hot chocolate to discuss the photo shoot she had won in the raffle, in which I'd offered a prize for a fundraiser for Rosefield Mills – an incredible old Victorian building on the River Nith in Dumfries, which has been falling into ruin for decades and was hoping to be bought by the Dumfries Historic Buildings Trust.
I've offered photo shoots in charity auctions before now, and what's great about them is the people are bidding for it because they genuinely want it. Raffles, on the other hand, can be a real hit-or-miss affair. Winners might not be that interested, not know what to do with it, or demand I photograph their pets.
Tracy was apologetic. She didn't really know what kind of photography to ask for and feared what she had won was maybe too big a prize – perhaps it should be given to someone else. I reassured her she had won the shoot fair and square, and said it was a chance to really have some fun. We didn't just have to do a portrait – we could do something spectacular. She could dress up, get friends and family involved, find a great location, and create something really memorable.
As the conversation developed, it transpired that she and her husband were Peaky Blinders fans – a 1920s period drama about gangsters in Birmingham. It's a fantastic series – beautifully shot and brilliantly acted (and very violent). It also turned out that a friend of theirs was having a Peaky Blinders themed birthday party the following month, so they were already getting outfits sorted out for it.
I'd just found out that the purchase of Rosefield Mills was successful, and in a conversation with Mark Zygadlo from the Dumfries Historic Buildings Trust, he said we could use it for the shoot if we wanted, and attached to the main building was an old, empty warehouse.
It all seemed like a wonderful opportunity to create something cinematic. Soon we were discussing friends she could rope in, and the fact she had a horse too (horses feature strongly in Peaky Blinders), while I was thinking about creative lighting and possibly smoke bombs to add atmosphere.
In the end it was one of most fun shoots I've ever done. 10 enthusiastic people in costume, with a horse, and a couple of hours of time to play with lighting and posing. Here's a selection of my favourites, although for the full set, click here for the Facebook album:
The Guys
The Gals
The Fight
On horseback
Knowing I would really want a record of this, I managed to drag a couple of photographer friends - Allan Wright and Andy Jardine - along to shoot some behind-the-scenes video footage for me, which I edited together with the Peaky Blinders theme tune (see below - it's less than 2 minutes long).
I've been itching to show all this off for a few months now, but we've been holding back to tie it in with an appearance in the latest edition of Dumfries & Galloway Life magazine. Mark Zygadlo wrote an article about the shoot and the story behind getting the building, and I was delighted to see they'd used several of my images, including a full double-page spread of the big group shot.
Huge thanks to Mark for getting us the space to use, and being my smoke bomb operator, and to Tracy, Chris, Peter, Hannah, Katie, Andrew, Robbie, Linzi, Gail, Mhari and not forgetting Wallace the pony, for getting completely into their roles, which allowed for such epic shots.
Make sure you pick up your copy of the December/Christmas issue of Dumfries & Galloway Life - out in the shops now!
Monday, October 29, 2018
Fitch & McAndrew - Slipware Potters
Douglas Fitch and Hannah McAndrew are internationally acclaimed potters using traditional techniques to create contemporary slipware pottery.
Last year Doug and I were at the Dumfries & Galloway Life Awards, having both been nominated for Visual Artist of The Year, enjoying each other's company as another artist walked off with the award (see my blog post: The Jekyll and Hyde transformation of being an award finalist).
Although in reality we have only met a handful of times, whenever I am in the company of Doug and Hannah, it's like they are old friends: conversation flows easily and the mood is always one of relaxed warmth.
I was delighted, therefore, when they approached me to do some photography for them.
For their annual Autumn Exhibition, they create a brochure which usually has one of Douglas's jugs and Hannah's plates on the cover. This year, they decided they wanted to be in the picture themselves as well.
The trickiest thing was getting the light right. Although they are in the process of expanding their workspace, at the time I did the shoot they were in a portacabin, which wasn't really big enough to create interesting lighting. If all the light came from the front, then the background just fell into dull shadow, but there wasn't enough room to put a light to the side of them, and any light behind them would be in camera shot.
Fortunately they had a small window at the far end. It wasn't facing in the right direction to bring in much daylight, but it did allow me to stick an off-camera flash, with an orange gel in front of it, outside the window pointing inwards. This gave the feel of a soft evening sunlight coming in behind them, and really lifted the whole mood of the photos.
With the main photo under our belts, I then set about doing shots of Doug and Hannah at work, creating a vase and painting a plate respectively. Here are some of my favourite images from the session, but I have a full set up on my Photography Facebook Page (you don't have to me a member of FB to view them).
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2301173563230668&type=1&l=f4ad9d4927
Here's a link to their Autumn Exhibition.
Everything is sold on a first-come-first-served-basis, although if you see something you love that has gone, I'm sure they are open to commissions - just ask!
https://issuu.com/dougfitch/docs/fitch_and_mcandrew_online_iii
Last year Doug and I were at the Dumfries & Galloway Life Awards, having both been nominated for Visual Artist of The Year, enjoying each other's company as another artist walked off with the award (see my blog post: The Jekyll and Hyde transformation of being an award finalist).
Although in reality we have only met a handful of times, whenever I am in the company of Doug and Hannah, it's like they are old friends: conversation flows easily and the mood is always one of relaxed warmth.
I was delighted, therefore, when they approached me to do some photography for them.
For their annual Autumn Exhibition, they create a brochure which usually has one of Douglas's jugs and Hannah's plates on the cover. This year, they decided they wanted to be in the picture themselves as well.
The trickiest thing was getting the light right. Although they are in the process of expanding their workspace, at the time I did the shoot they were in a portacabin, which wasn't really big enough to create interesting lighting. If all the light came from the front, then the background just fell into dull shadow, but there wasn't enough room to put a light to the side of them, and any light behind them would be in camera shot.
Fortunately they had a small window at the far end. It wasn't facing in the right direction to bring in much daylight, but it did allow me to stick an off-camera flash, with an orange gel in front of it, outside the window pointing inwards. This gave the feel of a soft evening sunlight coming in behind them, and really lifted the whole mood of the photos.
With the main photo under our belts, I then set about doing shots of Doug and Hannah at work, creating a vase and painting a plate respectively. Here are some of my favourite images from the session, but I have a full set up on my Photography Facebook Page (you don't have to me a member of FB to view them).
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2301173563230668&type=1&l=f4ad9d4927
Here's a link to their Autumn Exhibition.
Everything is sold on a first-come-first-served-basis, although if you see something you love that has gone, I'm sure they are open to commissions - just ask!
https://issuu.com/dougfitch/docs/fitch_and_mcandrew_online_iii
Friday, October 26, 2018
52
My 52nd birthday was in many ways very similar to my 51st – a day spent with a mocha at In House Chocolates; a picnic out at Carrick Beach; an ice cream at Cream o' Galloway, and Maggie making me a wonderful chocolate & peanut butter cheesecake type of thing.
It's not that dissimilar to what we've done on Maggie's birthdays the past few years either, come to think of it.
There might be some years where we do something really different – like the big gathering of my 50th or my 42nd, but in the absence of that, this is a wonderful sort of default with an emphasis on family and chocolate.
It really doesn't get much better.
And I have to say, for all the criticism of selfies, I really do love the ability of the camera phones for the immediacy of the snapshot.
I could never do a photo like this with my big professional DSLR – for one, it would be difficult to be in the shot as well as taking it, but more than that, I would feel the need for it to be well lit and properly composed. Despite being an almost impossible task, it would also lose that real sense of the moment.
It doesn't matter that the light is poor, that it's not really in focus, and that the compositional balance is a mess – this photo captures the mood of a bloke at home with his family on his birthday about to enjoy a slice of cake.
It won't win any prizes, but it becomes a treasured gateway to the memories of the day
It's not that dissimilar to what we've done on Maggie's birthdays the past few years either, come to think of it.
There might be some years where we do something really different – like the big gathering of my 50th or my 42nd, but in the absence of that, this is a wonderful sort of default with an emphasis on family and chocolate.
It really doesn't get much better.
And I have to say, for all the criticism of selfies, I really do love the ability of the camera phones for the immediacy of the snapshot.
I could never do a photo like this with my big professional DSLR – for one, it would be difficult to be in the shot as well as taking it, but more than that, I would feel the need for it to be well lit and properly composed. Despite being an almost impossible task, it would also lose that real sense of the moment.
It doesn't matter that the light is poor, that it's not really in focus, and that the compositional balance is a mess – this photo captures the mood of a bloke at home with his family on his birthday about to enjoy a slice of cake.
It won't win any prizes, but it becomes a treasured gateway to the memories of the day
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
The Great Moniaive Comic Con Con
Moniaive Comic Festival in early June has become a regular feature in my photography calendar. This year was my 3rd time collaborating at the event with Ralph Yates-Lee from Basement 20 Hair Salon in Dumfries - photographing models created to look like they could have stepped out of the pages of a comic-book or graphic novel (see Moniaive Manga and Moniaive Comic Festival's New Model Army).
This year, however, everything moved up a level, when legendary comic-book writer, Alan Grant, wrote a 16-page comic-book based on the characters Ralph and his team created.
Ralph's idea was to have futuristic androids with fancy hairstyles involved in the festival, and Alan wrote a script where they come to the Moniaive and start kidnapping guest writers and authors to take them to a rival comic festival, only to be stopped at the last moment by "them pesky kids."
The idea was to then have different pages and panels drawn by different artists. Some were created by well known names in the comic industry, some by local primary school children, and some by visitors to the festival who could chose a panel to illustrate. And 4 panels and the cover image were to be created by me with the camera. This mass of different artwork and styles were then edited, had speech bubbles added and compiled into “The Great Moniaive Comic Con Con” by festival organiser, Sue Grant (whose husband is Alan).
Cover image
Unlike the previous couple of years where I just turned up on the day to do the photography, this time we had to do a fair amount in advance. 6 weeks earlier we gathered at Basement 20 where Ralph and stylist Trae Corbett, set about creating the hairstyles on our 4 models – Grace, Conor, Holly and Jess (who was also the make-up artist). Trae also styled the clothing for them all, and I did a set of reference photos that were then sent out to some of the comic-book artists in advance, so they would know what to base their drawings on.
Reference photos
During the festival, Ralph, Trae and Jess set up early to do the hair and makeup and by late morning the models were ready for me to start photographing them for the comic-book panels.
In the section of the story I was covering, the 4 androids head for the Craigdarroch Hotel to find "Big" Jim Stewart. When they invite him to step outside, he stands up and towers over them. At that point they are so intimidated they decide to leave him and find other artists and writers instead.
We did the indoor shots first, but it took a fair bit of trial and error to get the compositions I wanted. The bar wasn't that big, so I needed a wide-angle lens to be able to fit everyone into the shots. However, that meant I ran the risk of my lights creeping into the images too.
Once I felt happy I'd got the photos I needed, we shifted outside to do external shot of the androids heading for the pub. To add an extra layer of fun, we staged Ralph getting thrown out of the side door by the landlord, Tim.
Over the following week when I was editing the images, I had to work out how to create an effect so they had more of an illustrative look to them, while still obviously being photographs – and I had to figure out how to lay them all out across the page so the story flowed, with enough room for Sue to add the speech bubbles
Double-page spread for the comic
The final task was to create a cover image. In an earlier part of the story, a couple of the androids arrive on a motorbike, so Sue had managed to arrange one for us, while Ralph had his 2nd cameo role, but this time with a sack over his head.
The ambient light was pretty dull as it was just a grey, overcast day. So I set up an off-camera flash with an orange gel behind the models – which is what is casting the shadows - and later on Photoshopped in the sunset sky behind them.
With all the photos done, we were about to head to the pub for a bite to eat when Sue asked if we could add Dr Who and a Dalek into the image for a possible publicity photo for next year's festival.
Nigel does a really good David Tennant era Dr Who impersonation, and he has a remote control Dalek, which he would send up to groups of children, calling out "Exterminate! Exterminate!"
Photographing 4 androids, a motorbike, a guy in a sack, Dr Who and a Dalek all together in the centre of a small village located in the Galloway Hills in SW Scotland – seemed an ideal way to end a Sunday afternoon.
Dr Who and The Androids
As in previous years I dragged my friend Allan Wright along to get some footage of the photo sessions and have put together a wee (lm 35s) behind-the-scenes video for you, which gives quite a good flavour of the day:
For the next few weeks Basement 20 are displaying are displaying some of the photos in the window of the salon, and some of the original artwork for the comic inside. If you're in Dumfries and get the chance, do pop by and take a look.
They also have a handful of the comic for sale for a mere £4, so get your copy before they're all gone.
Some of the team - left to right:
Ralph, Trae, Jess, Grace, me
This year, however, everything moved up a level, when legendary comic-book writer, Alan Grant, wrote a 16-page comic-book based on the characters Ralph and his team created.
Ralph's idea was to have futuristic androids with fancy hairstyles involved in the festival, and Alan wrote a script where they come to the Moniaive and start kidnapping guest writers and authors to take them to a rival comic festival, only to be stopped at the last moment by "them pesky kids."
The idea was to then have different pages and panels drawn by different artists. Some were created by well known names in the comic industry, some by local primary school children, and some by visitors to the festival who could chose a panel to illustrate. And 4 panels and the cover image were to be created by me with the camera. This mass of different artwork and styles were then edited, had speech bubbles added and compiled into “The Great Moniaive Comic Con Con” by festival organiser, Sue Grant (whose husband is Alan).
Cover image
Unlike the previous couple of years where I just turned up on the day to do the photography, this time we had to do a fair amount in advance. 6 weeks earlier we gathered at Basement 20 where Ralph and stylist Trae Corbett, set about creating the hairstyles on our 4 models – Grace, Conor, Holly and Jess (who was also the make-up artist). Trae also styled the clothing for them all, and I did a set of reference photos that were then sent out to some of the comic-book artists in advance, so they would know what to base their drawings on.
Reference photos
During the festival, Ralph, Trae and Jess set up early to do the hair and makeup and by late morning the models were ready for me to start photographing them for the comic-book panels.
In the section of the story I was covering, the 4 androids head for the Craigdarroch Hotel to find "Big" Jim Stewart. When they invite him to step outside, he stands up and towers over them. At that point they are so intimidated they decide to leave him and find other artists and writers instead.
We did the indoor shots first, but it took a fair bit of trial and error to get the compositions I wanted. The bar wasn't that big, so I needed a wide-angle lens to be able to fit everyone into the shots. However, that meant I ran the risk of my lights creeping into the images too.
Once I felt happy I'd got the photos I needed, we shifted outside to do external shot of the androids heading for the pub. To add an extra layer of fun, we staged Ralph getting thrown out of the side door by the landlord, Tim.
Over the following week when I was editing the images, I had to work out how to create an effect so they had more of an illustrative look to them, while still obviously being photographs – and I had to figure out how to lay them all out across the page so the story flowed, with enough room for Sue to add the speech bubbles
Double-page spread for the comic
The final task was to create a cover image. In an earlier part of the story, a couple of the androids arrive on a motorbike, so Sue had managed to arrange one for us, while Ralph had his 2nd cameo role, but this time with a sack over his head.
The ambient light was pretty dull as it was just a grey, overcast day. So I set up an off-camera flash with an orange gel behind the models – which is what is casting the shadows - and later on Photoshopped in the sunset sky behind them.
With all the photos done, we were about to head to the pub for a bite to eat when Sue asked if we could add Dr Who and a Dalek into the image for a possible publicity photo for next year's festival.
Nigel does a really good David Tennant era Dr Who impersonation, and he has a remote control Dalek, which he would send up to groups of children, calling out "Exterminate! Exterminate!"
Photographing 4 androids, a motorbike, a guy in a sack, Dr Who and a Dalek all together in the centre of a small village located in the Galloway Hills in SW Scotland – seemed an ideal way to end a Sunday afternoon.
Dr Who and The Androids
As in previous years I dragged my friend Allan Wright along to get some footage of the photo sessions and have put together a wee (lm 35s) behind-the-scenes video for you, which gives quite a good flavour of the day:
For the next few weeks Basement 20 are displaying are displaying some of the photos in the window of the salon, and some of the original artwork for the comic inside. If you're in Dumfries and get the chance, do pop by and take a look.
They also have a handful of the comic for sale for a mere £4, so get your copy before they're all gone.
Some of the team - left to right:
Ralph, Trae, Jess, Grace, me
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Bald, Bold and Covered in Paint
"How about a nude model, covered in paint, sitting among the cushions or fabrics?"
Nearly 3 years ago I did my first photo shoot with textile designer, Morag MacPherson (see Kimonos, Boudoir and Breakfast for Lunch...), when I photographed two models wearing kimonos on a bed with cushions where the patterns of the clothes and cushions had been designed by Morag.
The following year, Morag was involved in painting a large, abstract mural on the side of a barn, so we decided to do a photo shoot of a couple of models wearing outfits with her designs with the mural as a backdrop (see Photo shoot at the Rural Mural)
Last year we were looking for a new idea.
When Morag was involved in the 'Rural Mural project', she went on a workshop with artist, Annie Peel. Not only did it help her to create on a scale much larger than anything she had done to date, but it initiated a fundamental change in her approach to design.
Previously Morag's designs were based around small, repeated patterns. But now she found herself exploring bold streaks and dripping paint. It wasn't long before the previous photo shoots we'd done no longer properly reflected her style. Hence the desire for a new shoot. However, we didn't just want to repeat what we'd done before.
The first time, we photographed models wearing her designs. Then we photographed models against a painted wall she had designed. So what if this time she painted the actual model?
The idea floated about for a few weeks, then one day in my Facebook feed I noticed Zoe – a photography student I knew – had shaved her head to raise money and awareness for Macmillan Cancer Support.
I contacted Morag. "What about a bald model?"
I contacted Zoe. "How would you feel about being painted, nude, by a textile designer, and photographed?"
Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.
Of course no matter how interesting the idea there are then all the practical considerations, like where we were going to do the shoot, keeping the place warm enough for a nude model in October, what kind of paint we could use, and how Zoe was to get clean afterwards.
Most of this was solved when Morag got back in touch with Annie Peel. The 2 of us went out to see her, explained our idea, and Annie very kindly offered us the use of one of her work spaces attached to the side of her house. She said she was going to be repainting it quite soon, so she didn't mind if it got a bit splattered. She also supplied us with a portable gas heater, and just across the courtyard she had a shower room Zoe could use too.
For paint we eventually settled on the idea of using poster paint, like you get in school. It was cheap, plentiful, and relatively easy to wash off. A couple of weeks before the shoot, Zoe painted some on her arm and left it for a few hours to check she wouldn't get any kind of allergic reaction to it.
On the day of the shoot, Zoe's partner, Hannah, came along for support, and Kelly, a fellow photography student from the college videoed it for us (see end of post).
I photographed the process of Zoe being painted – from first tentative splashes, through the building up of layers, through until she was coated head to foot. Here are a selection of my favourites:
We then moved her into another corner of the workspace where we set up Morag's cushions on chairs and a stepladder, and I photographed Zoe standing among them.
Throughout the whole shoot there was a real buzz and energy flowing, and Zoe was just fantastic at giving off an aura of unapologetic power and attitude.
There are some artists I know who like to be the only creative person in the room, but for me, working with other creatives is one of the most exciting things you can do. If you can park your ego outside the door, then through collaborations you get to go to places you would never experience on your own.
For those of you who have read all the way to the end of this blog post, here's a behind-the-scenes video as a reward!
Links:
https://www.moragmacphersontextiles.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ZoeLPhotographyDumfries/
https://anniepeel.com/
Nearly 3 years ago I did my first photo shoot with textile designer, Morag MacPherson (see Kimonos, Boudoir and Breakfast for Lunch...), when I photographed two models wearing kimonos on a bed with cushions where the patterns of the clothes and cushions had been designed by Morag.
The following year, Morag was involved in painting a large, abstract mural on the side of a barn, so we decided to do a photo shoot of a couple of models wearing outfits with her designs with the mural as a backdrop (see Photo shoot at the Rural Mural)
Last year we were looking for a new idea.
When Morag was involved in the 'Rural Mural project', she went on a workshop with artist, Annie Peel. Not only did it help her to create on a scale much larger than anything she had done to date, but it initiated a fundamental change in her approach to design.
Previously Morag's designs were based around small, repeated patterns. But now she found herself exploring bold streaks and dripping paint. It wasn't long before the previous photo shoots we'd done no longer properly reflected her style. Hence the desire for a new shoot. However, we didn't just want to repeat what we'd done before.
The first time, we photographed models wearing her designs. Then we photographed models against a painted wall she had designed. So what if this time she painted the actual model?
The idea floated about for a few weeks, then one day in my Facebook feed I noticed Zoe – a photography student I knew – had shaved her head to raise money and awareness for Macmillan Cancer Support.
I contacted Morag. "What about a bald model?"
I contacted Zoe. "How would you feel about being painted, nude, by a textile designer, and photographed?"
Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.
Of course no matter how interesting the idea there are then all the practical considerations, like where we were going to do the shoot, keeping the place warm enough for a nude model in October, what kind of paint we could use, and how Zoe was to get clean afterwards.
Most of this was solved when Morag got back in touch with Annie Peel. The 2 of us went out to see her, explained our idea, and Annie very kindly offered us the use of one of her work spaces attached to the side of her house. She said she was going to be repainting it quite soon, so she didn't mind if it got a bit splattered. She also supplied us with a portable gas heater, and just across the courtyard she had a shower room Zoe could use too.
For paint we eventually settled on the idea of using poster paint, like you get in school. It was cheap, plentiful, and relatively easy to wash off. A couple of weeks before the shoot, Zoe painted some on her arm and left it for a few hours to check she wouldn't get any kind of allergic reaction to it.
On the day of the shoot, Zoe's partner, Hannah, came along for support, and Kelly, a fellow photography student from the college videoed it for us (see end of post).
I photographed the process of Zoe being painted – from first tentative splashes, through the building up of layers, through until she was coated head to foot. Here are a selection of my favourites:
We then moved her into another corner of the workspace where we set up Morag's cushions on chairs and a stepladder, and I photographed Zoe standing among them.
Throughout the whole shoot there was a real buzz and energy flowing, and Zoe was just fantastic at giving off an aura of unapologetic power and attitude.
There are some artists I know who like to be the only creative person in the room, but for me, working with other creatives is one of the most exciting things you can do. If you can park your ego outside the door, then through collaborations you get to go to places you would never experience on your own.
For those of you who have read all the way to the end of this blog post, here's a behind-the-scenes video as a reward!
Links:
https://www.moragmacphersontextiles.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ZoeLPhotographyDumfries/
https://anniepeel.com/
Monday, September 10, 2018
Blood Bikes, Cakes, and a Cherry Picker
"So what we’re talking about is a hospital bed on the side of a long road, with a kid in it, a doctor and nurse by the side, a Blood Bikes courier with a helmet under one arm and a case of blood samples in the other, a Blood Bikes car behind them, half a dozen Blood Bikes in full livery, and as many volunteer bikers as we can find stretching off into the distance behind them."
"That sound about right. But to fit everything into the one shot, I think I’m going to need a bit of height. Any chance you can get hold of a cherry picker...?"
And so I found myself one (thankfully dry) evening, several feet above the ground, wearing a high-visibility vest, a safety helmet and my camera, shouting instructions to people who could then relay them to the assembled cast and crew of what was probably the largest photo shoot I’ve done to date.
Dumfries & Galloway Blood Bikes is a charitable organisation set up by local volunteers to deliver essential blood and urgent medical supplies, in and out of hours, between hospitals and healthcare sites in South West Scotland and sometimes beyond.
I met Vice Chair, Judith, a couple of years ago at the regional final of the Young Enterprise groups, when Castle Douglas High School won several of the awards. I’d helped them with their promotional photography (regular readers might remember the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party shoot – see It’s Not Just The Hatter That’s Mad), and one of their chosen charities was Dumfries & Galloway Blood Bikes.
At this point, the organisation had 2 or 3 official bikes decked out in the livery, and a couple of dozen volunteers, so any ideas I might have had for a promotional photo shoot for them would have been much smaller.
Time seemed to disappear and when we finally organised a meeting with the full committee over a year later, the charity had since won awards and grown in size considerably - now with half a dozen bikes, a couple of cars and many more volunteers.
Which allowed for a more ambitious project.
A lot of organisation was required, but when you have a team of focused, enthusiastic participants it means you can achieve so much more. Trips out to find a stretch of road we could use that wouldn’t be blocking public use eventually lead us to the long driveway leading up to Drumlanrig Castle, while in order to keep all the volunteers on the shoot happy, several members of DGBB made sure there was plenty of tea and cake available.
Never underestimate the power of cake to keep people happy
And they found me a cherry picker and someone to operate it.
Reversing the hardhat was the only way I could operate the camera, which kept hitting it every time I tried to compose a shot.
Friend, and fellow photographer, Allan Wright, helped me out once again by taking some behind-the-scenes photos and video footage, while Jessica Lee - a model from previous shoots I've done - acted as an assistant and also grabbed a few video shots from her phone. Finally, Drew from Jst Roll Media brought his drone along to get some amazing aerial video scenes of the shoot.
These have now been edited together to create a short behind-the-scenes video, which I hope you enjoy.
On Saturday, Dumfries & Galloway Blood Bikes received the Queens Award for Voluntary Service - one of the highest awards a charity can get - which was presented to them by the Lord Lieutenant for Dumfries, Fiona Armstrong, at the new Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary. They also used this occasion to unveil a large banner using the photo to promote the organisation. I was delighted how well the image worked.
Sharing a space with the Lord Lieutenant for Dumfries, my photo, and Blood Bikes - Photo: Paul Dixon
Many thanks to everyone involved in making this photo happen.
Links
Dumfries & Galloway Blood Bikes
Jst Roll Media
Allan Wright Photographic,
Drumlanrig Castle,
Monday, August 27, 2018
Orchard - an Exhibition by Maggie Ayres
This Saturday, 1st September at 2pm, is the launch of my wife, Maggie Ayres, solo exhibition at Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries.
Over a year in the making, Maggie has poured her heart and soul into this astonishing collection of abstract wall pieces and boxes, using the ancient art of encaustic, with layers of melted beeswax and tree resin, fused with a blowtorch, and incorporating oil paints, rust printed paper, found objects and constructed materials.
Entitled “Orchard,” it explores memories, hopes and imagination – recalling everything from a childhood playing among the apple trees in the Lake District, through the joys and trials of motherhood, to struggles with anxiety and depression.
It's a deeply personal journey, but has universal themes of desire, struggle and hope, which everyone can connect to.
To say I'm proud of her would be the understatement of the year. I am in awe of what she has created.
Earlier this year I took a series of photos of Maggie in her studio, and some of these have now appeared in September issue of Dumfries and Galloway Life magazine (out now), along with a wonderful interview written by Carol Hogarth
If you can make it along to the exhibition launch on Saturday at 2pm, you will be more than welcome. If you can't make it on that day, but will be in Dumfries over the next month or so, it runs until 6th October.
If you can't make it along at all, it is well worth getting hold of a copy of D&G Life to read the article.
Over the next few days, on the run up to the exhibition, I'll be putting up the full set of photos from that session on my Instagram account, if you're interested:
https://www.instagram.com/kimayresphotography/
Over a year in the making, Maggie has poured her heart and soul into this astonishing collection of abstract wall pieces and boxes, using the ancient art of encaustic, with layers of melted beeswax and tree resin, fused with a blowtorch, and incorporating oil paints, rust printed paper, found objects and constructed materials.
Entitled “Orchard,” it explores memories, hopes and imagination – recalling everything from a childhood playing among the apple trees in the Lake District, through the joys and trials of motherhood, to struggles with anxiety and depression.
It's a deeply personal journey, but has universal themes of desire, struggle and hope, which everyone can connect to.
To say I'm proud of her would be the understatement of the year. I am in awe of what she has created.
Earlier this year I took a series of photos of Maggie in her studio, and some of these have now appeared in September issue of Dumfries and Galloway Life magazine (out now), along with a wonderful interview written by Carol Hogarth
If you can make it along to the exhibition launch on Saturday at 2pm, you will be more than welcome. If you can't make it on that day, but will be in Dumfries over the next month or so, it runs until 6th October.
If you can't make it along at all, it is well worth getting hold of a copy of D&G Life to read the article.
Over the next few days, on the run up to the exhibition, I'll be putting up the full set of photos from that session on my Instagram account, if you're interested:
https://www.instagram.com/kimayresphotography/
Thursday, August 23, 2018
When The Rehearsal is Better Than The Performance
With portrait photography, you control the lighting, the background and the camera angles, and work with the subject to create the desired expressions and postures.
You are the director creating a story that conforms to your vision, for the viewer to consume.
With performance photography, you have no control over any of these things. You have to make do with the existing background and lighting, and usually only have one or 2 possible places you can take a photograph from, while having no interaction with the subjects.
You are the observer, capturing images to document and reflect the experience of being there.
I've done both these styles of photography on many occasions, but when capturing images of the Fedorova Ensemble for Absolute Classics I was also given the opportunity to photograph the rehearsals, which is a strange in-between world.
For an hour or so before the doors opened to the public, this quintet of world class classical musicians rehearsed on stage at the Theatre Royal in Dumfries.
While I couldn't start posing them or ask them to adopt particular expressions, so long as I didn't get in their way I could set up my own lights and move among them with my camera.
I created a 3-light set up, so pretty much whatever angle I was at there was light on the musicians, and a backlight behind them. This allowed for more dramatic shadows and light than the standard stage lighting.
But the real fun was that I could place myself only a few feet away from them and create photos that give an embedded sense of intimacy, where you can almost feel what it would be like to be up there in among them rather than watching from the stalls.
And of course, throughout it all I was treated to the most astonishing quality of musicianship, as though it were my own private concert.
Don't get me wrong, the actual performance was amazing, but as a photographer, the rehearsal was a much more enjoyable experience.
Links:
Absolute Classics http://www.absoluteclassics.co.uk/
Piano - Anna Fedorova - http://annafedorova.com
Double bass - Nicholas Schwartz - http://www.nicholassantangeloschwartz.com
Viola - Georgy Kovalev - https://www.georgykovalev.com/
Violin - Eldbjørg Hemsing - https://eldbjorghemsing.info/
Cello - Benedict Kloeckner - http://www.benedictkloeckner.de/
You are the director creating a story that conforms to your vision, for the viewer to consume.
With performance photography, you have no control over any of these things. You have to make do with the existing background and lighting, and usually only have one or 2 possible places you can take a photograph from, while having no interaction with the subjects.
You are the observer, capturing images to document and reflect the experience of being there.
I've done both these styles of photography on many occasions, but when capturing images of the Fedorova Ensemble for Absolute Classics I was also given the opportunity to photograph the rehearsals, which is a strange in-between world.
For an hour or so before the doors opened to the public, this quintet of world class classical musicians rehearsed on stage at the Theatre Royal in Dumfries.
While I couldn't start posing them or ask them to adopt particular expressions, so long as I didn't get in their way I could set up my own lights and move among them with my camera.
I created a 3-light set up, so pretty much whatever angle I was at there was light on the musicians, and a backlight behind them. This allowed for more dramatic shadows and light than the standard stage lighting.
But the real fun was that I could place myself only a few feet away from them and create photos that give an embedded sense of intimacy, where you can almost feel what it would be like to be up there in among them rather than watching from the stalls.
And of course, throughout it all I was treated to the most astonishing quality of musicianship, as though it were my own private concert.
Don't get me wrong, the actual performance was amazing, but as a photographer, the rehearsal was a much more enjoyable experience.
Links:
Absolute Classics http://www.absoluteclassics.co.uk/
Piano - Anna Fedorova - http://annafedorova.com
Double bass - Nicholas Schwartz - http://www.nicholassantangeloschwartz.com
Viola - Georgy Kovalev - https://www.georgykovalev.com/
Violin - Eldbjørg Hemsing - https://eldbjorghemsing.info/
Cello - Benedict Kloeckner - http://www.benedictkloeckner.de/