Bob Carlos Clarke retrospective.

Still my favourite photographer hands down. The Guardian have put a nine photo preview of the exhibition that will show at The Little Black Gallery (from 8th May through to the 3rd July). The Little Black Gallery was put together by Ghislain Pascal, Lindsey Carlos Clarke and Tamara Beckwith. There's also a permenant exhibition at Marco Pierre White's restaurant, Luciano's.

The exhibition coincides with the release of Exposure: The Unusual Life and Violent Death of Bob Carlos Clarke by Simon Garfield.

Links:
Bob Carlos Clarke
The Little Black Gallery
Link to Amazon for the book.

One of the best shoots I've ever had.

The last twelve months seem to have blessed me with some of the best shoots I've done. Yesterday was excellent though everyone's first though for a wedding: "what's the weather like?".

Now the Met office don't always get it right no matter how many "it's supposed to clear up by 1pm" sentences I heard the rain didn't let up all day. From the moment I started shooting at 11am until I stopped at 10pm. Always have a "plan B" is my motto, so we rolled out plan B with immediate effect.

Off camera flash was the order of the day, the formals and bride/groom portraits were all done in the church after the service. Once the larger formals were done I spent 30 minutes with the couple, "can you hold this high please" I asked and a semi bemused Groom held my SB-600 as high as he could. Hey presto, simulated daylight coming through the window of the church, with a bounce card the light spread nicely. Same again but with me shooting from the balcony and Nikon's CLS kicked in no problems at all (I'm sure glad Fuji kept CLS in the S5 Pro).

I'll post some pictures up soon but I want the bride and groom to see everything first.

Wedding Shoot pre flight checks....

I tend to lock myself in my office with everything I need before a wedding shoot. Then the pre flight checks begin.

1. Charge every battery you have for cameras.
2. Fresh batteries in both flashguns.
3. Fong Lightsphere ALWAYS goes on the Sigma, no exceptions.
4. Clean all lenses.
5. Make sure the camera bodies are clean as well.
6. Revise the list of shots I have to do.
7. Double check my timing plan. Church to formals to Bride & Groom shots to Reception. Played out in my head many times over.
8. Shirt ironed and suit ready.
9. Business cards in pocket.
10. Check the weather for tomorrow.
11. Make sure there's enough petrol in the car.