Barcelona Photo Blog
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Refining the New Lighting Set-up
Refining the New Lighting Set-up I have been tinkering with the new lighting set-up when work allows it. I started by trying to use my giant soft box in my living room. This resulted in me having to position it left of the camera which just felt wrong to begin with. God knows why. I…
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New Headshots
New Headshots First job after a soporific summer break. August seemed to last forever. I needed to do something to wake myself. When I was contacted by an old client and heard the brief I thought ‘perfect.’ I have several basic go-to set-ups for headshots which I customise depending on the person, location and available…
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The Office
The Office This might well be the last proper job of the summer. Lugging my equipment out to the taxi I felt the heatwave had arrived. Everything was going to feel like a slog from now on. I was glad to know I would be in Greece within the week. The office was on Aribau.…
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La Zaida and Evonik
La Zaida and Evonik Ahhhh… La Zaida… Many years ago, on a train in Portugal, we passed a place without stopping and I quipped; “It was a one horse town… and then they ate the horse.” La Zaida has that feel; a place with a population of 500 that might easily be called nondescript… except…
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The Magaluf Job (pt3). The Day Trip to Ca’s Patro March
The Day Trip to Ca’s Patro March Will was looking a bit squeamish after the phone call from his editor. They suddenly came up with the idea of us going to visit some remote restaurant the following day. It’s the Sunday Times, so I guess they did not want their readers to think Mallorca was…
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The Magaluf Job (pt 2)
The Magaluf Job (pt 2) May is hardly high season for Magaluf, but by 2pm all the restaurants on the beach are full of people. Some of them are even eating. There are street vendors selling fake gold chains and captain hats. An odd combination. However I saw enough drunk captains, red necks festooned in…
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The Magaluf Job (pt1)
Anais and Oscar The Magaluf Job The evening did not start auspiciously. A lot of people working in the bars and clubs are suspicious of journalists. Magaluf has a certain reputation and that reputation is salacious enough to even get decent coverage in the serious press; some light relief for the chattering classes. Finally Will…
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Emerald Travel; almost a naturally lit photo shoot
Emerald Stay; almost a naturally lit photo shoot The brief: 2 headshots and a group shot, well, 2 guys. The location turned out to work quite well. I was even worried I would have no excuse to use all the lighting I had brought with me. I had even dug out the really…
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Gerard Piqué and the Kings League
Gerard Piqué and the Kings League Nope, that is not the name of another bloody Guy Riche film. I got a call late one night from The Sunday Times for a job the next day. It was a portrait session for Gerard Piqué at the offices of KOSMOS where he is Founder, CEO, &…
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The Olive Oil Heist
I did a job a while ago about an olive oil heist robbery in Castelló de Farfanya, the shop of OLICASTELLÓ ALSINA. The story was for The Times. The thief used dynamite to break open the doors. One got the impression visiting this little town that that might have been akin to a crime…
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Corporate Events 2: The Pre-Event Party
The Pre-Event Party The Job with JPI was a fairly standard conference gig. However they wanted me there the night before to capture the attendees arriving. An informal party where they could meet for the first time, in a long time, or perhaps just for the first time… I have done quite a few shoots…
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The Quirky World Corporate Events
Corporate Events: the Quirky World of In-Person Meetings Corporate events can mean many things, but if it lasts for 4 days there is a good chance most options will be covered. Well, actually I did not have to do 80 odd portraits with full lighting and backdrop this time… So, I was contacted by a…
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Storck Ibérica
Storck Ibérica Another pre-covid interiors shoot I have come across buried away in a folder. I remember this job in part because I was able to get there on the tram; pretty much to the end of the line (Sant Just Desvern). It’s a nice way to travel, a good half-hour of staring out…
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Rejuversen Revisited
Rejuversen Revisited I have done a few jobs for Rejuversen now. This is the second time I visited their research lab at Parc Scientific Barcelona. Things have improved a lot there! The last time I visited I ended up having to clean up the images because the lab looked like a bomb had hit a…
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Ivan The Mysterious
Ivan The Mysterious A couple of months ago I rejoined Soho House and fairly quickly met Ivan in the exercise classes they have. Soho House was always good for meeting new people and potentially new clients. Ivan became a Soho House friend and then a client. Result. He was keen to do shots…
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My Second Short Film
My Second Short Film. About 6 months after my first short film (La Puerta)I decided to do another one. By this time I had joined a new group and again became a little impatient. There was a lot of talk and precious little action. We met most weeks in bar and I find this very…
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Ariadne KIng Photo Shoot
Ariadne King Photo Shoot I have a client for whom I shoot interiors, his daughter Ariadne is a budding actress. He decided it was time she got some professional images for her book. We decided to start at sunrise… yippee… plus the clocks had just gone back so that was an hour less. I woke…
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My First Short Film Script
My First Short Film Script I wrote a short film script and then made a film in 2022 with a film group. It was called La Puerta. My interest is the the logical progression into cinematography from photography. The trouble is that after a couple of weeks I realised everyone was talking. And then…
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Home Studio With Siphokazi Oranuba
Home Studio Siphokazi Oranuba I got back from holiday and the day after had a home studio shoot. It has been a while and still being in holiday mode I was not looking forward to it as much as usual. Plus, these days I kind of prefer to find outdoor locations where I can fake…
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Short Film Contest
A Short Film Contest Several of us in The filmmakers Group decided to participate in a short film contest run by Sala Montjuic. I had an idea that seemed fairly simple but this is rarely the case. I should realise this by now having made a few short films. Also I wanted to use kids… …
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Jordi Cruyff, The Nice Guy
Jordi Cruyff, The Nice Guy Several UK papers contacted me to photograph him. .Basically, the journalists sat with him for nearly an hour and I had 2 choices either twiddle my thumbs or try and get some shots. I set up one light to sidelight him and also the background and flags as I…
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Home Studio Shoot – Hugo
Another home studio shoot. Photographing people in a home studio can be a rewarding and challenging endeavor, Hugo arrived and was nervous. This is very common, portraits shoots are as much about psychology as technique. It is good to have your technique refined so you don’t even think about it. Get to know your subject:…
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Kiera Walsh, Lioness and Barca Player
Kiera Walsh, Lioness and Barca Player The Sunday Times to the rescue… one of the Lionesses, Kiera Walsh, now plays for Barcelona FC and I got the chance to photograph her. The job took a lot more emailing and arranging than is normal. The deadline of a Christmas publication, and my first flight out of…
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Another Magic Fountains Shoot
Return to the Magic Fountain About a week after doing a corporate portrait shoot outside I got another inquiry. Murat Uslu wanted a mix of shots but doing indoors and outdoors in an hour is not so feasible. Apart from setting up the studio you are going to need at least half an hour jus…
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Looking to refine my Corporate Portraits
Corporate Portraits? I feel the need to experiment. A large amount of my work of late is corporate portraits and the vast majority of these are headshots against white backgrounds. Now studio style photography is fine and would be awesome if I had a proper full size studio. But given the choice I still prefer…
