jameslightbownphotography

Clic La Mode

2009-08-18T01:27:00.002+02:00

I've been working on a new site idea with Cat Watson... my friendly neighbourhood Styling Cat.

The site is www.cliclamode.com and is a resource and forum for all those involved in the production of fashion images.

Please check it out, sign up and get involved in the forum!

more white background images pt2

2009-05-14T21:53:00.006+02:00

Hair & Make-up: Claire Salter
Model: Rosie at Boss

more white background images

2009-05-14T21:44:00.004+02:00

It does seem like I love to shoot on a white background! There something very pure and clean about shooting on one, there's no hiding place for the model or the photographer's direction.

So I shot a couple of things recently and the results of the first are below:

Hair & Make-Up: Claire Salter
Model: Hannah @ Boss

New Illustrated Work

2009-05-08T13:04:00.006+02:00

Just received these back from Neil, the illustrator I collaborate with and am very excited!

I shot them last year but with going to LA and Neil's horrendous work load (he's always busy!) it's took a while to get them finished but here they are!

Model: Hollie - Boss
Make-Up & Hair - Claire Salter :: www.clairesalter.co.uk
Styling - Jess Stebbings
Illustrations - Neil Duerden :: www.neilduerden.com

B&W Hair Images

2009-04-21T19:10:00.014+02:00

I've been slowly working on some new images, getting round to retouching them when I can. They will form part of a series of black and white hair images. I'm building the series up over time. Whenever I'm in the studio, shooting something new with a model who has long blond hair I try and grab 10 minutes at the beginning of the shoot to rattle off a few of these images to build the set up. I think I've got another couple that need retouching and another couple of shoots planned.

Just retouched another one today (top image)

Model: Catriona - Boss

Hair & Make-up: Claire Salter

Model: Erica - Boss

Hair & Make-up: Claire Salter

You can see Claire's work at www.clairesalter.co.uk

New Card....

2009-04-20T19:46:00.003+02:00

ok, to update from yesterday, it looks like we've completely changed our minds about the images that should be on the front of the card, meaning I didn't need to spend all that time at the computer on a Sunday afternoon!

Oh well, not image looks great!

Have been ringing around a few of the printers to get a couple of new quotes for A5 postcards and just need to finalise the images for the back of the card now.

New front of card shot.

2009-04-19T20:26:00.007+02:00

Just spent the afternoon redoing the retouching on the shot that we think will be the main image on my new card. I've attached the finished image below...

Just basically spent about 5 hours listening to this afternoon's football whilst paying close attention to the blending of the image. I know that I rattled through them all at the beginning as they were being illustrated over so they didn't need a huge amount of attention. However they are lovely shots just on their own and so with it being front of card and going out to some pretty influential people I thought I'd better put a bit of effort in!! ;o)

Behind the scenes video from LA rooftop shoot

2009-04-18T16:30:00.004+02:00

I had wanted to drop the finished versions of the images into the video but a backlog of work has meant that I haven't been able to get the shots finished off. So whilst waiting to get the chance to finish I thought I'd get the video up for people to see.

Behind the scenes video from LA rooftop shoot

2009-04-18T16:30:00.001+02:00

Twitter

2009-04-03T19:10:00.003+02:00

You can follow me on twitter if you like...

Find me on the following link

www.twitter.com/jameslightbown

look books...

2009-04-03T18:26:00.007+02:00

Was sent a couple of really nice fashion look books through the post today. Beautiful quality printing and photography too, very nicely put together. It's really nice to see look books well presented with a bit of thought put into them. There's the odd occasion when clients are too eager to simply rattle through the shots and get a look book out there as they are too focused on their product (after they've spent 6 month producing it's a little understandable) But too often you see plain and boring images with no thought behind them... I think it's really refreshing when you see companies taking a really innovative approach to their look books and they're a joy to work on as well.

A couple of season's ago I shot a look book for Playful Promises Lingerie which needed a mirrored box building and shooting into... lots of headaches in the production but a really nice feel to the finished look book, especially as the mirrors meant that you could virtually see all of the product in one image, which Emma, (the client) was very happy with! (see below)

Client: Playful Promises, AW08 Look Book

MUA: Lucy Mckeown

Model: Rachel Sylvester

Been a busy week or so!

2009-04-02T20:12:00.002+02:00

Most of last week was spent editing and retouching the first story from LA, which was the roadtrip shoot which now has the working title of 'California Dreamin'. It's now finished but is being pitched out to a few magazines at the moment, so is being kept under wraps for a while, apart from showing it to a few ad agencies with whom I've been making a whole bundle of appointments for next week.

I went to see Mark at Dinosaur in Manchester on Wednesday which is always a pleasant trip as they have some pretty darn cool offices!!! I'm enjoying getting back out there and showing the book about especially with the chance to talk about the LA trip to anyone that will listen!!

I've also managed to retouch the shots that I did for Emma's book on the rooftop of the Bendix building. You can one of the images below... It was quite good fun as I don't normally get the models jumping around a lot, I normally shoot quite posed and still, however the huge amount of light meant I could play a little using faster speeds.

Plus I've finished choosing the pics from the shoot with Michelle, have started retouching those (the first one is to the left) Rather than in the bright sunlight I concentrated a bit more on the lovely light that was in the shade of the building which has come out with a really lovely soft feel to it. I'm really looking forward to finishing the series off.

I've also edited the 'behind the scenes' video which is just waiting for me to finish all the images so that I can drop them into the video. Will post it when it's finished.

Slow file transfers!!!

2009-03-23T23:26:00.001+01:00

After a whopping 22 hours, all the files are finally transferred onto the G5. Both the ipod and the external HD wanted USB2 and as I was absolutely shattered and just about to go to bed, I simply plugged them both into the nearest available USB ports.... hence the 22 hours!

So after a bit of file organising, I'm ready to edit! :o)

leaving on a jet plane...

2009-03-20T05:31:00.000+01:00

Just been for our last sushi dinner. It's just so much better in LA then England. Just copying the last of the files onto my 60 gig ipod, which I've wiped clean and am using as an external drive for extra back up and data storage. I suppose that's the only draw back of the 5d mk II, my 18 month old macbook pro only has a 40 gig hd and I've shot about 50 gig of files since I've been here. SO a mixture of hastily bought DVD's and now a master back-up on the ipod will hopefully sort me out for the trip home.

Much as I've really loved it over here, part of me is really looking forward to getting back into the office and getting onto the G5 to process all the images! Will post updates as I edit....

muscle cars!

2009-03-19T07:29:00.000+01:00

Just before coming out to LA I managed to queue jump from 38th to top of the queue to get hold of a Canon 5d mkII and it's been amazing! I'm blown away by it when I've shot with it. The functionality on it is pretty darned impressive. I'm kind of liking the personalised settings, on top of the lovely feel of it to shoot with. What I haven't had chance to really play with is the hi-def video that's bundled in with it. That is until today... we went out today to do a favour for my friend and got some footage of an old Chevelle and the 65 Chevy C-10 that I used for the editorial. They both have 350 V8's in and both will kick up huge clouds of burning rubber at the drop of a heavy right boot. Rather a nice way to spend the penultimate day in Cali, went to the beach, spent the afternoon playing in muscle cars and filming them in high def, then going for burgers & thick shakes in a '50's diner before going to watch a film in a retro cinema. Americana through and through!

One day left and then fly home to edit everything!

2009-03-18T01:48:00.000+01:00

After shooting 2 tests and 2 editorials in 4 days I'm pretty worn out so today I'm having a bit of a lazy day off and trying to enjoy some sun before returning to the UK on Friday.

Both shoots that I've done since the last update have been fantastic! Both are for EyeCandy magazine. Sunday was a swimwear story shot on a private beach in Malibu, Monday was a roadtrip story shot using a friend's 65 Chevy C-10 truck which is an amazing truck and pulled the whole story together very very nicely.

I'm actually quite looking foward to getting home so that I can edit everything I've shot and pull it all together into some really nice stories. I think I might end up with about 20 pages for the roadtrip shoot and maybe 12 for the swimwear story.

Friday was good!

2009-03-15T03:18:00.000+01:00

Yesterday went really well. Shot 4 things first with Emma for her book, which gave me the chance to try a few things out whilst Michelle went to a call back.

The shots with Emma are great and more importantly she's very very pleased. By the time Michelle was ready it was 3.30 pm and we managed to shoot 6 outfits in a little over an hour and a half. I shot with Emma in the direct sunlight and predominantly shot with Michelle in the shade which have come out really very nice and soft; perfect for the styling which was all long gowns and beautiful dresses.

What impresses me the most is crazy models that will do anything to get the shot and both Emma and Michelle are like that. So much so that both of them were virtually hanging off the roof of an 11 story building... makes me nervous but also gives me great satisfaction watching others work hard and give so much to do whatever it takes to make the shot.

I've had a quick review and know that there's some great stuff there but I'm going to have to be patient and wait until I get home before I can make final choices and edit and process them. So it'll be a while before I publish the results.

1st one!

2009-03-13T19:12:00.000+01:00

Feels like the culmination of a long time of prep to get to this point!

Everything's gone smoothly so far, there was no traffic on the freeway, we got here exactly when I wanted with no delays, everyone's here and Michelle is currently having her make-up done, dresses are chosen and we're underway! yeh! :o)

Weather's great, suns out and not a cloud in the sky... but then I suppose that's the difference between shooting in LA and not Lancashire.

We're shooting these fabulous dresses on the rooftop with the LA skyline in the background, I'm just itching to get the first one in the bag now.

LA rooftop shoot

2009-03-13T05:01:00.000+01:00

Today was a long day of prep, juggling four shoots and trying to get everyone in place for each day. Trying for different models, finding them not available, trying for other models and finding them not available. Moving models between shoots and checking different options, putting moodboards together etc etc. But everything is more in place now and really looking forward to it so fingers crossed everything goes smoothly.

So tomorrow we're shooting on an LA rooftop, got a great stylist, some amazing product and a model that I've been wanting to shoot with for quite a long time and now with a really exciting moodboard in place I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!!

LA so far

2009-03-12T10:13:00.000+01:00

OK... so it's been a while since I last updated and I need to get back into the habit. I'm sat here late at night trying to put the finishing touches to a number of LA shoots. We've been here a little over 2 weeks now, we've done 2500 miles and I've seen a lot of California hunting for locations!

Now it's all come down to trying to put everything in place. Got 4 shoots booked in and am now frantically trying to put everything in place to get each one to come off. Still short of models for a couple of days, hair stylists for a couple of days and it's getting pretty close to shoot time! Nothing like flying by the seat of your pants. :o)

_christmas set build - time lapse movies

2007-12-23T01:23:00.000+01:00

Jake found me an awesome little shareware program called gawker that enables your isight camera to record time lapse movies and so this was the first experiment with recording shoots and set builds.... it's two disjointed parts of the christmas set build. They're a bit quick but hey, it was my first attempt!

_playful promises aw08 shoot video

2007-12-20T03:07:00.001+01:00

Just finished shooting the playful promises autumn winter 08 campaign and am in the middle of all the retouching. Here's a little snippet from the shoot....

_studio...

2007-11-27T11:53:00.000+01:00

I managed to find some space in a mill, just literally round the corner from my old place in Lancashire... I've kept the space on as it's so useful when I'm back up North, not only for shooting small jobs for clients but also for testing and set building without havign to hire expensive studios for any long length of time.

_inspiration

2007-11-27T11:40:00.000+01:00

In the early nineties a fashion editorial by Stephanie Pfriender Stylander appeared in British GQ. One of the images from that shoot sits in a frame on my wall. Heavily inspired by the film “La Dolce Vita” it depicts a formally dressed couple sat, or rather slouched at a table outside a restaurant somewhere in Italy, eating ice cream with attitude (if that is possible!) As a young adult this image had a huge impact on me – it was my inspiration for wanting to travel, I aspired to live my life as portrayed in the picture and I did so for the six years that I lived abroad.

On returning home to look for a new challenge in fashion photography this image again has had a huge influence on my work. A single image inspired me to change my life by portraying a lifestyle I aspired to. A single image that had so many unanswered questions held within it, where had this couple been, where were they going, how long had they been together? My being on the receiving end of such a powerful image has made me realise how important images are in our life. Now I find that rather than emulating the photograph I want to emulate the photographer by producing images that hopefully inspire, impress and simply evoke emotion in the viewer.

My interest in photography started as a way of still being creative whilst traveling. The other creative outlets that I had enjoyed before going abroad, drawing, painting, fashion, writing dance music and dj’ing all suffered due to the limited amount of space in a suitcase.
Yet the camera was small enough to carry with me permanently, so as I traveled to different continents and cultures I learnt to record it all with the camera. However, and I admit this sounds terrible, it became quite boring, it wasn’t really a challenge to capture the image.

The weather was virtually always perfect, the landscapes and scenery was always picturesque, my eye was becoming more and more attuned to details and capturing the moment, all that remained was the patience for the crowds to part and the image to appear. It was around this time that another photographer saw my travel images and simply said “Your images are great but I would hire you as a location scout. All the images are incredible but seem to be missing the beautiful women in the amazing dress.” The penny dropped, a change in direction for my photography, the early fashion inspiration and the Italian ice cream; I needed a new challenge.

So I quit my career and returned home to pursue a life in fashion photography. Quite daunting when I hadn’t studied either photography or fashion and with the exception of Wayne Hemmingway, Blackburn isn’t exactly known for setting the world’s catwalks alight but the beauty of the internet means that there is a vast wealth of knowledge and networking at our disposal and I was able to make incredible contacts very early which proved invaluable.

A six week trip to Uruguay to shoot a swimsuit editorial in Jan/Feb 05 means that everything is slowly turning full circle, travelling with my cameras but this time in the name of fashion...  