Denver Elite

Denver Elite , a photo by David at Redshift Photography on Flickr.

Here's another quick video update. This time it's another Kinnarps job - this one filmed at two schools in Manchester.As always the video is filmed on my Canon EOS 5D MK2.

I've just had my annual week off and we headed off for a few days camping in the Cotswolds where we camped at The Cotswold Farm Park owned by the bloke off Countryfile. We did the same last year and although it's not exactly a glamorous break we did have a good time. I took my old Canon FD cameras along and shots a few rolls of colour film which I picked up from Morrisons in Bletchley for £1.99 per roll as it was a year out of date!!.

Club Helsinki

Now it's back to work and I did a BUPA shoot on Monday in Enfield, a shoot for Collingwood Lighting at Club Helsinki in Leicester where there was some cool blue LED products installed (see picture) and a shoot at the new Museum of Liverpool yesterday. This is a really stunning new building and I've attached a picture of the exterior in the blog. The spotlights were supplied by a very innovative British lighting company called Precision Lighting. Their products are made to a very high quality and the design of the fittings is superb.I met Andy Molyneux (Precision Lighting Design Manager) up on site and we spent a very enjoyable day photographing the building. The museum has just opened and in the first couple of weeks they've had 120,000 visitors!. The exhibits are all things made in Liverpool (including a Ford Anglia!) or things to do with Liverpool. The sheer number of visitors made it very hard to photograph the interior and I was only allowed a short time to use a tripod, the rest of the shoot was taken hand held. Luckily the Canon EOS 5D MK2 is superb at high ISO settings so grain wasn't an issue in the final shots. I used Lightroom and Neat Image to reduce any grain that was visible but it wasn't a problem. After the shoot we took a walk around the Tate Liverpool and the waterfront. The waterfront area and docks are just superb and I'd recommend a visit if you ever get the chance.

I was supposed to be on a shoot for BUPA today up in Derby but the rain has beaten us so we've had to re arrange but that has given me a chance to catch up with myself and tomorrow I'm shooting some portraits at DW Windsor lighting over in Ware.

Museum of Liverpool

Inverse Square Media has really taken off and here's a link to a lamp demo which Pete has created from a series of 16 product shots http://www.inversesquaremedia.com/lampdemo/ . To make it spin around just hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse left or right. We're looking to enhance this idea further with a moving background image too and maybe the option  of changing the product colour etc at the click of a button as it spins around.We think these VR product video clips are a great way to show off products on a website and because they count as video content they're great for optimising a website too.

A few weeks ago I popped down to Alexandra Bastido's animal sanctuary (Alexandra starred in The Champions back in the 1970's and has been in lots of other production too) in West Sussex and took some still photographs and a few video clips as a favour as the BBC where going to show a few seconds of the video I took on the local news to promote the annual open day at the sanctuary. Pete my partner at Inverse Square Media has edited the clips into a short video that the guys at the sanctuary can upload to their website. It's only 30 seconds long and very basic and here it is:-

Here's the teeth whitening video that I mentioned in the previous blog entry. This was shot entirely on my Canon EOS 5D MK2 and was directed by my colleague Pete Rimington with sound recorded by a specialist sound guy!. This was produced by my new company Inverse Square Media which is a joint venture between Redshift Photography and Goldmoor TV. Our new blog for Inverse Square is www.inverse-square-media.blogspot.com so please take a look if you get a chance!.

Without wishing to tempt fate I'm still mega busy and this summer could well be my best yet since I set up Redshift Photography 9 years ago!.The past two weeks since the last blog post have been flat out although last week I had a touch of man flu again so I did struggle to keep going but I got through it thanks to Lemsip Max!.

Philips Bright Idea Garden Hampton Court Flower Show

I've been photographing more care homes for BUPA, photographed (and video'd) a very cool concept garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show which was sponsored by Philips Lighting and also photographed a newly refurbished building in Henrietta Street (Covent Garden - London) for Zumtobel Lighting.

Philips Bright Idea Garden Hampton Court Flower Show

The diary is looking pretty full for the next couple of months too so at the moment it's a case of making hay while the sun shines.
I'm still doing the odd show on BBC Three Counties Radio too and last Saturday I did a two hour phone in on photography on BBC 3CR which went really well.It's great fun taking calls and emails from the listeners on all aspects of photography and it really keeps you on your toes as you never know what you're likely to be asked. It's usually questions about red eye and flash as flash photography is pretty tricky until you get used to it and every month I give the same advice so it would be good to get some new questions next time around. The best call I've had so far was from a guy wanting advice on how to photograph his wife in the nude!.
I have to prepare a fact sheet for each show now which is pretty time consuming but I still like doing it as I'm hoping that one day I'll get snapped up by a TV company to produce a TV show on photography but it hasn't happened yet after 5 years on the radio!.

Alexandra Bastido

I mentioned a shoot that I did in the last blog entry with an actress called Alexandra Bastido who owns and runs a lovely animal shelter down in West Sussex. She used to be in a 1970's TV series called The Champions and has made various film and TV appearances since then.I took some pictures of her for the sanctuary website and as promised here's a picture of her from the shoot. We're also producing a short video for YouTube for the sanctuary and I'll post a link here once it's uploaded.
Our new venture Inverse Square Media is going very well too with a couple of video commissions coming up soon. Last month we finished the Teeth Whitening video for Dioxiwhite that I've mentioned before and here's a link to the video on our ISM website http://inversesquaremedia.com/mainmenu.html

I've got another two weeks to go until our annual family camping holiday to the Cotswolds and although I'm loving the workload and I'm chuffed to be so busy I am really looking forward to taking a break.
When I do go on holiday I always take my old Canon T90 and A1 and take loads of pictures on black and white film. It's great to take pictures and not have to sit here at the computer working with Photoshop etc. Much as I love digital SLR's I do miss shooting film and working away in a darkroom and it's great to load up the old Canon FD kit with film.

The past two weeks have been both very busy and very exciting as we've moved into our new office in Winslow and launched a new company called Inverse Square Media which is a company aimed at producing high quality video content for lighting companies and architects. I've been shooting video for a couple of years now and it seemed like the right time to finally launch this new venture. Inverse Square Media is now fully operating and registered and I'm now about to start a new blog and Twitter feed etc so watch this space.
Speaking of video Pete (my partner in the video company) and I shot the teeth whitening advert last week at a salon in Milton Keynes. It was tough but great fun and we shot 25Gb of video footage on the 5D MK2 in a 6 hour shoot. Pete is now editing it all together and I'll post the video here in the blog when it's done.
I've also been very busy with stills photography too and I've been to North Wales, Newbury, London, Leeds and Manchester in the past week or so. The guys at BUPA are keeping me busy (they are a great client and fabulous to work for!) and I've also been doing quite a few location shoots for Holophane Lighting including one late last night in Stratford (East London) at the Orient Way railway sidings which was good fun as I love trains!. I also have a big soft spot for Holophane products as I worked for them for 9 years after I left school.
I know I've mentioned this before and nothing happened but I have decided to buy an iMac and this time I'm definitely going to take the plunge as my fast Photoshop PC has crashed. The main hard drive with all the programs on has corrupted and it's going to be a real hassle to re-install everything so now is my chance to make the change. I've been getting more and more frustrated with the office PC's as one of them always seems to have an issue be it a virus or something else. I guess iMacs go wrong too but I've heard great things about them from other photographers and video editors so my mind is made up. I'll have to lease one as cash flow is a bit tight (as usual!) and I'll post my progress with it once it arrives.
I've posted a video clip in today's blog that I shot last year for Kinnarps which is basically a user guide for operating their superb range of office chairs. It's all made from still pictures that I took in the studio and Pete edited them into this short movie clip.