I'm not dead!

Still working my legs into the ground at the moment.
Spent my first day off in months with Dani today at West Midlands Safari Park. Armed with my lens, Dani acted as the stunt driver and me as .... quite obviously... the photographer.
Also the hottest day we've had all year - so got pretty lucky to have my day off today. The day included getting mobbed by zebras and getting so close to tigers that you can hear them lick the remains of whatever it was eating.
In terms of work - I've had a lot of shoots to edit and shoot over the last week, been shooting everyday which is fun. ALOT of agency work coming up soon which is great, including my first agency portfolio shoot tomorrow which starts at 12.
Spent Friday evening at the office trying to sort out bits and bobs for the shoot, I basically came up with ideas then poor old xenia had to make it happen by arranging the location for us. Working to a crazy schedule tomorrow which will involve alot of transporting, travelling fast paced work flow. I love a challenge and can't wait to see the final results.
Anyway, going to go and make me some food.
Chris

Alwight Allbright?

Allbright (formally Frontline) were one of the first bands I ever shot. Back when I was at college, I was filming another band and shot alittle bit from Frontlines set in Stourbridge on a college HD camera on HDV tapes. How times change!?
Gone is the HD video camera, infact - gone is film all together, I find myself stood with the guys about year and half - 2 years on outside Sams house with a coffee (Thanks for the coffee, really needed it that morning) waiting for the models to show up for todays shoot with the band.
Due to meet at 10:30 - I text our male model, "Dan" to ask where he is (It's about 10:35 if your interested)....The reply.... "not good, been at police station all night".
Imagine our faces? Then times it by about 9 or 10. But it's ok! Yes really... they were giving away McFly albums in the Daily Mail! Sams house was carpeted with pages from the paper to say the least.
Anyway, after some frantic calling around - we got hold of a model, Jake. (THANKS JAKE!) Phew. We set off to Kinver, set up a little rope swing whilst the kids got ready for their shot. The kids are also part of the CD cover, got some amazing shots of these as they did a literally perfect job of modeling for us, big well done, your both gonna be little stars.

After a few tricky angles for the grown up versions of the photos, and an ice cream - we moved onto going to this house Liam and Jay had been raving about since they contact me two weeks ago. And Rightly so... Wow. Amazing home, right in the middle of no-where, it's exactly where I want to picture living when I've made my first trillion (haha! council flat in blackheath... not that there's anything wrong with council flats or Blackheath...)

Really had to rush around the house getting shots as we were really pushing time, which was a shame because the lights needed abit of time to be perfected but I think I'm happy with how the shots came out. We finished at about 6:30pm which was actually one of the longest shoots I've ever done and the first time I've nearly ran my memory card dry. Not quite though ;)
So now I have the mission of getting through all the pictures, and ofcourse finishing off Ricky's shoot from the other day :)
Back to work!

Update

I've been quite busy working on a few shoots over the last few days.
Wednesday was my first agency photoshoot which I was little nervous about. The guys that run the agency are great and have made me feel really welcome since I first started, did 4 test shoots for the applicants. Had a few troubles with lighting (using continuous lighting instead of strobes?) but other than that it went well. I need to buy myself a laptop now as I seem to be doing alot of travelling and working away from home and need to keep on top of my work load whilst im out on my travels or shooting at the agencies studio.
Got a call Thursday morning from the agency, just to sort out a few bits and bobs with my new contract and for my opinions on the models. Just got to sort out a few issues regarding copyright etc and then I'll official be the agencies "in-house/resident" photographer which is great. I'll be shooting all the portfolios for the models already on the books over the coming weeks - so even more work! Can't wait!
Everyone I work with (under Chris Barber Media) will now have a direct link towards a modeling agency and can really start a career in modeling if they so choose.
Start work on my home studio this weekend and have the builders coming in over the next few weeks, really excited about that- will post a few demolishion photos over the coming weeks. Chris

Taking it Steady

Perhaps a little too steady. Feeling fairly relaxed today, I have a lot to do and I don't really feel on top of it all at the moment. We've had a few problems with booking shoots, everyones availability is going abit crazy with holidays which is messing me about a little, tad frustrating.
But anyway, that didn't stop me getting my hands dirty on Sunday and Monday, firstly for a second shoot with Shola who's trying to build a portfolio for agencies he's applying for. Monday was Jasons turn, I had been speaking to him for the last couple of months over the internet but this was the first time we'd met face to face. Had a great shoot, and although the horrible white clouds wouldn't shift all day - we still managed to get some great shots.
On a personal note - I really am starting to think that I'm finally getting to grips with studio lighting, I've been working with studio lights since I first started but have always had problems and complications - often thinking it was because of my lights (wrong!) - Infact all I need now is a little more space as my studio is tiny and could do with a bit more space for certain poses and more technically complicated shots.
Currently in the process of refurbishing the studio to give us abit more space and to make it more presentable. Should be completed by the end of next month depending on our builders availability :( We're knocking out parts of walls/ceilings, adding doors, new backdrop systems, new lighting kit, not to mention all the new props and extra bits and bobs to make it more presentable. Can't wait!

Marvelous!!

Great day yesterday!
I had my interview with the agency who totally loved what I do and i'm now part of their team of photographers which i'm really chuffed about. This means that when I'm not shooting something as "Chris Barber Media" (I do get the rare day off at the moment) then i'll be working at the agency. So officially - I don't get days off anymore, but it's a great opportunity and I never -ever-ever expected to be so busy in my first 6 months of starting in business.
Busy week next week, shoot with Shola again tomorrow, Monday is Jason (Long time friend which i've never met), Kirsty and Ricky during the rest of the week - and finally - sunday is FRONTLINE. Which i'm looking forward to! Been trying to shoot these guys since Summer 2007 so it's been a long time coming. Oh and Wednesday I'll have my first test shoot with a girl at the agencies studio, which i'll probably be dead nervous about...
Last night was also a laugh - decided to have a little private celebration with myself so I doubled my drinking budget for the evening as a "tap on the back" gift to myself. Was lovely catching up with everyone again.

I have a massive addiction to Flight Of The Conchords, I know all the words :)

Lets Get Nervous!

I am sooo excited about tomorrow for alot of reasons.
I'm dead excited to see a few pals from college days which I haven't seen properly since around last year sometime. But first of all - I have a bit of a hurdle to jump before I chill out and sit back in my local with old pals.

Unfortunately this hurdle is more of a small moutain. Or atleast a hill. I hate interviews, I hate them even more when they call them "meetings" or a "chat" or even worse - "casual chats".
I'm meeting with a Birmingham/London based modelling agency which already work with some AMAZING photographers, it would be brilliant to get a chance to work with them and even better to be part of the agency.

Anyway - I'll keep you posted on how it all goes.
NERRRVVEEESS

:)

Alice has been shot

We shot her :)
Alice popped down to my studio yesterday armed with armfulls of exciting props and clothing - thinking back to all the things she brought - we never got to use half of it which is so disappointing, needless to say - the shoot was still crammed with LOADS of great shots, and for the first time in weeks - a new location which we stumbled across whilst out hunting for a place. Alice came with Nathan who was a massive help throughout the shoot and I really look forward to him popping down again for a shoot with his girlfriend.


But today was Alices turn - we started off at the studio getting a few headshots once Emily had worked her magic. We're currently in the process of re-building/designing our studio, so we were working in total chaos for most of it, regardless- we still got some nice headshots, including a few classic smiley ones :D

After I pratted around pointing at charcoal in tesco - We soon got out on location at a local park which was lovely jubbly - we then moved down the road to a small quarry where me and Nath stumbled upon a great location which included open manholes down to the sewage system - which I want to go back and check out sometime if I feel brave enough.
We returned the car where emily was applying hair and make up - we were both shocked to say the least - so were people driving past haha. Following some of my favourite make up shots ever at the location, we decided to call it a day as the sun set over the trees that surrounded the place. However, I decided it would be great to get a shot of Alice in a puddle with the sun creating a great reflection towards the camera. BIG MISTAKE! I detached me 70-200 to use my standard lens and my lubricated sausage fingers managed to drop the 70-200mm lens. Now it wont attach to the camera, so my dad is now sat next to me trying to fix the problem himself before we risk blowing my life savings on getting it repaired by canon.
Wish me luck! Thanks to alice, Nath and ofcourse emily for a great, and totally exhausting and rewarding shoot!

Home!

Back home from mine and Dani's week away in Spain, which was great.
Unbearably hot though, we got off the plain at 1am, in the rain, everyone was running to get inside but for me it was just such a relief to be back in cold, fresh air under the gloomy skies of England.
During the week away, I've tried to just keep work as far out of my mind as possible, I arrived home at about 3am and I was straight back at my desk for 8am. I'm so eager to get back to work, lots of new ideas, tonne of things to catch up on and alot of shoot plans to be conjured up.
Including tomorrows shoot with Alice which promises to be full of great photos. It's great when a client comes to you knowing exactly what they want but leaving you room to be creative and make it your own, people like that are great to work with.
Anyway, just letting you know all is well, probably write here tomorrow!
Chris