Sunday 13 December 2009

Raven Vandelle












A couple of weeks ago on a rainy and cold Tuesday night Val and I had the pleasure of visiting The Jam House in Birmingham for the Ben Drummond Acoustic Sessions.
The purpose of our visit was to see Raven Vandelle, local hero's striving for well deserved success, this is definitely one of the perks of being a photographer; having an excuse to go to midweek gigs and watching talent at close quarters.

Friday 4 December 2009

Old romantic at heart.


My about me page on my website is entitled " Bohemian at heart " which ain't a bad description, but another word that springs to mind lately is romantic, I quite like the sound of that " old romantic at heart ", this came to mind this week after a chance hearing of R Kelly' s classic "Bump and Grind". Yes I can hear the note of disdain from here dear reader, there's nothing romantic about bumping and grinding I hear you cry, but the suggested intimacy in this song does lead my mind to more romantics notions .

Australian based wedding photographer Yervant points to old European films as sources of inspiration, romance being a key player in many European classics .On our quiet Sundays Val and I occasionally take a stroll through Birmingham and check out the galleries, it maybe art imitating life, but the work of artists like, Rob Hefferan and Fabian Perez I find inspiring, even though these images may not all be obviously romantic in there subject mater. For example Fabian Perez paints the prostitutes from his fathers brothel (and yes we do appear to be back where we started ) not a typically romantic idea, but from his, at the time young view point " beautiful women who could seduce a man “simply by lighting a cigarette” must have seem very romantic indeed.
Romance then it seems is in the eye of the beholder/receiver, but as a photographer what can be more romantic than kissing a form with light and capturing the image in camera .

( Is that too cheesy? I can never tell ).