Trash the dress Location search part 2

It wasn't the best weather in the world, but while Ross and I had a rare day off we thought why not check out some more locations for Trash The Dress.

Ross had seen a nice portrait shot of a model on some rocks by Jay Fuller - posted on Model Mayhem.

He messaged Jay and asked where it was taken. Thinking it would be somewhere exotic we were both surprised to hear back that it had been taken on a beach opposite jaywick martello tower in Clacton!

So we decided to drive off and have a nose around. When we got there the first thing we did was wrap up warm. It was awful :( The weather, as always in this country, was cold, wet and windy.

We walked over to the tower which in its self was interesting. A tall, round building with an interesting shape and history.

But it wasn’t the tower we'd come to see so we made our way over to the beach.

It didn’t take long for us to get to the rocks (and these were proper rocks). With the wind and rain biting into our faces Ross took some pictures of the rocks and the surrounding area.

Despite the weather we were both impressed by this location. This will be great on a nice day.

Ok, so that was one location done. We next started to make our way to Walton On the Naze.

On our way there we spotted a sign for a park called Holland Haven Country Park.

Not much there really, a beach, a few trees and a car park. We took a few quick snaps and then carried on our way to Walton on the Naze.

By the time we got there the weather had got a little better (well it had stopped raining at least but was still cold :( ).

Walton on the Naze had most of what we where looking for, but no rocks that we could see though.

We walked along the promenade and near the pier olong the front of the sea wall we spotted a colourful wall with some columns. Again Ross took some shots.

On the other side of the pier there were also some beach huts and the sea wall - and some long stairs going all the way back up to the main road. All these might make interesting locations for the shoot.

Both Ross and I agreed that the first and last locations would work for what we wanted to do.

We’ve also been talking about when to do the shoot. We had been thinking of doing the shoot in March/April. But with the weather being the way it has been we are now thinking of putting it back to the summer or very late spring - end of May or maybe June, July ... maybe even September.

It’s going to be a case of keeping an eye on the weather and also when our couple are free.

Watch this space ....

Photo Shoot with my favourite photographer

Not only do I enjoy taking photos, I also love having my photo taken.

And who better than Ross to take them!? Well I’m comfortable around him and I know he takes stunning pictures :-)

It also gave me the opportunity to know how it feels to be on the other side of things.

I must admit it did feel strange being the person being photographed and posed - I’m so used to being behind my camera and taking pictures
But, with that said, I did really enjoy having my photo taken. Ross, as always, was very professional, charming, relaxed and patient.

I would like to thank Mark the head gardener at bridge end gardens for granting us permission to shoot at the gardens. For the studio shots we went to the photo studio. We also took a few shots at home.

No make-up artist was on this shoot so I did my own. The clothes were also my own and I did the styling.

Below is just a small selection of some of the photo’s taken. To see more go to the Campbell Photographic Facebook page or go to our Myspace Page.

Published

We have had some of our work published. Most recencently an article we wrote about Pre-Wedding Shoots.

'The Month' - church newsletter

One of our couple's wedding was featured in Suffolk Bride and Groom Magazine.

Our article about Pre-Wedding Shoots was recently featured in Suffolk Bride and Groom Magazine.

Day trip to Southwold

Back in January Ross and I went to Southwold for a rare day trip away, as always we took our cameras. There’s a nice beach there with a pier, there’s plenty of opportunity to get some great landscape. This location would be great for our Trash the Dress Shoot, but it’s nearly a 2 hour car journey.

Below is a selection of picture’s I took.

TFCD

Q. what does TFCD stand for?

A. Time For C.D. Basically an existing or aspiring model will do a shoot with a photographer for free, giving her “Time” in exchange for images from the shoot on CD for them to use in their portfolio.


Q. What will a shoot like this cost me?

A. Nothing if you’re shooting on location (except perhaps entry fees or parking if you want the shoot somewhere specific).
If you want studio shots, the photographer may charge the model a small fee just to cover the cost of hiring the studio if they don’t have their own.

And we mean proper studio, not a small background in the photographer’s spare bedroom at home!

We like to use The Photo Studio in Saffron Walden http://www.photo-studio.co.uk
This is a great place. 2500 sq. feet of space, Sets & backgrounds (well over two dozen) from living rooms, bedrooms to offices, a barn, dungeon, workshop, etc, etc.
It comes complete with professional Bowens lights, Wind machine and accessories. They have a kitchen for drinks, etc, makeup area and even a wardrobe with loads of different outfits for you to use (although still bring some of your own).

The downside is that the studio costs. The upside is that for TFCD we split the cost with you 50/50. The studio costs £88 for four hours and the price includes use of all the equipment, all the different areas/sets, clothes and tea & coffee, etc.

We think for £44 (what it would cost you, we'll pay the other £44) this is an excellent place.

Most photographers these days tend to hire a studio rather than buy their own due to the massive overheads of running a studio. In this current economy this is a wise idea and also means the photographer is not tied down to one location.


Q. Who are TFCD Shoots for?

A. These shoots are only for models or aspiring models. (note: because these shoots are for models some implied nude or nude shots may be taken depending on the type of modelling you are trying to get into. Nudes/Implied nudes are tastefully done. Nothing "adult").


Q. How long will the shoot take?

A. Depends on the photographer. With Campbell Photographic our TFCD shoots usually take all day. We try to go through several outfit changes, make-up and hair changes and also several location changes (indoor shots, studio shots and outside locations) to give you the best choice of images and experience different styles of shoots.

But basically this will all depend on what the model has agreed with their chosen photographer.
Many photographers will only offer TFCD for an hour or two, do some quick boring studio shots and then start pushing the model for expensive photoshoots for “Proper” portfolio images.

We suggest avoiding photographers like that.


Below are a few photos taken at one of our recent TFCD shoots.

Q. Who owns the images?

A, The photographer owns copyright to the images as always. As these will come under “commercial” images, you may be asked to sign a model release by your photographer.

To see more pictures from this TFCD shoot go to our Face Book page or MySpace

Remember to check out our website at http://www.campbellphotographic.co.uk/

STUDIO MODEL SHOOT

Ross and I recently got the opportunity to photograph a model (Lauren) in a studio in a real “back-to-basics” experiment.
It was a great way to refresh our existing skills and to experiment with different simple lighting, backgrounds and posses.

Lauren chose 3 different outfits which you can see below.

As you can see we got Lauren to do some traditional poses but we also got some more “Fashion Magazine” poses.

To see more pictures from this shoot check out our Face Book Page

Trash The Dress - Location Search

Part 1 - Location Search

They say location is everything.

Ross and I have recently been playing with the idea of doing a “Trash the Dress” shoot with some of our wedding couples.
A “Trash the Dress” is not necessarily about destroying your dress as the name implies, but more about shooting the bride in a location you would not normally expect and/or posing them in a way you wouldn’t normally have them posed on their wedding day.
Unless you’re given hours you would not have time to drive to other locations and set up more creative shots with your bride. Plus, laying down on a beach with the waves crashing over you on your wedding day (!) is not really a practical idea.

A beach with just sand is nice and can be interesting, but I want somewhere that maybe has some rocks that are big enough to lay on or stand on in a nice dramatic pose.
Somewhere with a pier would be nice. Shots taken under piers can be very pretty and creative. Shots out in a forest can also be very pretty and haunting at the same time.


So The Search Begins
The first location we looked at was West Mersea.

Personally I didn’t think it was the most interesting of places for a shoot. Just a beach and not a pretty one at that. It was very muddy looking and plain, with sand that looked like builders sand! Too many badly painted huts crammed in to one location. Even with the sun out it didn’t look any better (sorry West Mersea L).

Further to the east of the island was our next location to check. Cudmore Grove Country Park.
As soon as we drove up, Ross and I thought it looked a lot better than the last location.
There was a lot of land. It had a beach with some big rocks, small cliff faces, some trees and grass areas, a big pond, even a refreshment stand and toilets (great for grabbing a nice hot drink and somewhere to change clothes).
We both agreed that the location had some real potential.

We took a long walk around the area discussing different shot ideas and Ross even took some quick shots as a reminder of the different areas.
Turns out the “Rocks” are actually big slabs of concrete. WWII gun emplacements that were one of our first defences during the war and had now collapsed into the sea!

We talked about the idea of having our bride laying down or standing on some of the “rocks”, or even hiding underneath some of them.
The cliff side of the beach was also interesting and very colourful and suggested several possibilities to each of us, assuming we could get access to certain areas.

Again, unfortunately, there was no pier. But having said that, this second location was certainly better than the first one we looked at. It was a lot more inspiring and there was even a Pillbox left over from WWII. Just picture it; a woman in her wedding dress standing, veil and train flowing in the wind, standing on top of it, with the sun streaming behind her.


After a quick very late lunch at a nearby pub (another bonus for the location!) we drove off to our third location.
Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve – what a great name! - but we didn’t let the name put us off J.
Unfortunately we’d spent far too much time at location 2. It had now gotten very late in the afternoon/early evening, so we decided not to get out of the car and simply drove around the area as much as we could.

From what we could see it had loads of woods and plenty land, some crumbling walls and in the distance there even appeared to be a body of water with a jetty/small pier.

This location will bear further investigation!

I think the last 2 locations are strong possible locations for a shoot. They’re not to far from each other either, so we could possibly use both locations in one day!

2 out 3 is not bad, but I think another day looking at other possible locations is needed.

More to come, so remember to check back.