Well shit, it's been way too long since I blogged. There are good reasons but I won't write about them. Personal family stuff. Suffice it to say, my head has been elsewhere. But it's time that changed.

I've been doing some portrait sessions at the studio recently. This is Maddy Brodrick Brooks, a very talented local singer. She came over for a couple of hours and we had fun shoot. I wanted to experiment using a small hotshoe flash inside a big modifier intended for a much larger light. Mainly just to see if the small unit had enough kick to fill a octabox and still give a nice quality of light on the subject. Short answer: Yes. As long as the working distance is close enough, no problem. Recycle time became a bit of an issue after a while but nothing that couldn't be overcome. Overall, I'm really happy. There are times when it's easier to work with small battery powered speedlights and it's good to know they will do the job if that is all that might be available.

FUJI XT1, XF56 F1.2, CACTUS RF60, ELINCHROM 100CM DEEP OCTA

I was recently asked to produce some publicity photographs for an interesting project in the works from these guys.. Meet Charlie and Kristian. Musical production collaborators and innovators.

After years of working in the field as employees of different companies servicing the independent record industry, both were becoming increasingly frustrated with the standard MO and status quo of this working landscape. They told me how things are routinely fragmented and inefficient in terms of the various aspects of production. A & R? Speak to this company. Distribution? Talk to that department. Photography? Maybe this, that or the other guy. Publicity? This company vs That department.. You get the picture. Kind of all over the place, with a lot of time and energy wasted in unnecessary meetings, negotiations and complications. They both took a deep breath... and quit their jobs.

Enter monoKrome music.

Their vision of a streamlined new blueprint for a refreshing way to work. Everything in-house, all aspects of the industry serviced from one place with an emphasis on efficiency and freedom from constraints. Sounds good to me, and I'm not even a musician.

The project is still in the early stages of development, but the guys wanted some images of themselves both together and individually to get the ball rolling.

I look forward to the evolution of this exciting new company and to a continued working relationship going forward.

We had great fun working in the studio. Here are some of my favourites..

FUJI X-T1, XF56mm f/1.2R

MADDY

MONOKROME MUTINEERS