New Client Recce Service

Given that times are tough and resources for most fashion houses, music promoters, and associated businesses such as accessories, hair, jewellery providers and the like are limited, getting the location right for a shoot first time, every time has become an imperative.

Hence the growing influence and importance of the Recce Service.

A Recce, or reconnaissance, is a pre-shooting visit to a location to establish suitability for shooting – including access to facilities, as well as an assessment of potential lighting or sound issues. Recce’s are commonly used in the photography and film industries, and can save clients a considerable amount of time and money.

With the economic situation still bearing down hard upon the fashion and music industries, I thought it would be useful to offer a Recce Service as a stand-alone offering, so that clients may utilise our scouting expertise on a no-obligation basis.

It is usual in the industry for reconnaissance services to be rolled into an overall shoot costing, but I have seen a number of clients gaining real value from having a Recce Service delivered on an ad hoc basis with them, then deciding to go ahead on a full shoot at a later point.

Providing the Recce as a stand-alone also offers added-value for them, and gives potential new clients a feel for the way we work within the fashion and music industries across the UK, North America and Europe.

Our studio has recently completed high-profile shoots with U2 on tour in North America, as well as working with rock legends Slash from Guns N’ Roses and blues guitar supremo Joe Bonamassa on his latest UK Tour. We’ve also delivered specialist fashion work for fashion houses including Boutique Ethique.

If a client needs to find a location for their next shoot, we can take care of it for them. With strong industry contacts and years of knowledge, we’re confident of being able to source the perfect location for a series of fashion or music shots.

The Recce Service involves a quick client chat, taking a Brief, discussing the client requirements, needs, budget and deadline. Then we’ll get to work on time and in budget, providing the client with the perfect location, having scouted on their behalf.

Testing, testing, testing

It’s a little-known fact that good professional photographers do something called testing.

But what is it, and why is it important in your selection of a top-class professional photographer?

It’s an opportunity for a creative photographer to try out an idea, flex their creative muscles, and demonstrate their range of work. It’s also a great time to stretch the talents of a make-up artist, stylist and model.

Testing is collaboration between the photographer and the creative team, and depending on the shoot, it can actually involve quite a few people involved in the creative process.

Here are a few reasons for testing:
• To try out a newly-signed model to a model agency
• You have an idea for a shoot and need to try out a certain look
• A new make-up artist or stylist is in town and they have a particular style
• You want to test-drive a concept before presenting it to the client.

Testing is a like a personal project, where you pull together a team, develop the idea and a brief, and then plan the shoot - which will involve a mood board or style sheet.

The shoot will usually be art-directed by the photographer, with the team contributing ideas to the look of the make-up/hair/clothes style.

Although it is usual for the photographer to produce and direct a shoot, it is undoubtedly the team effort where everyone involved comes away with a stunning piece of work for their portfolio.

This type of work can be incredibly creative and also push the boundaries of a professional photographer without enforced limits of deadline or client briefing.

Working this way gets you noticed, and will sometimes inspire existing clients to book you on the strength of this work as well as your regular photographic jobs.

It’s the creative stuff that people value increasingly these days - this also helps creative, professional photographers to get more interesting work. Why not push your own creative boundaries as a professional photographer and get testing, testing, testing?

Moda Hairdressing – Or how a photographer can enhance your marketing

The best kind of business always comes from word-of-mouth, and this was the case with Moda Hairdressing recently. It also gives me a great opportunity to highlight how a professional photographer can benefit your marketing.

Mike, who I had met a few years earlier, runs his own website design company Whype, and on his recommendation guided Moda to me.

Commissioning a photographer was something completely new to Tina and Franco, who had recently set up the Moda salon. What I was able to deliver for them, on initial inspection, included:

· A collection of new hairstyle shots for the salon and website graphics

Here’s what I did:

• Gave them ideas on how to prepare and formulate ideas for the shoot itself:
• Provided a theme and look for the shoot
• Advised on the kind of styles they wanted as well as, colours, dramatic cuts.
• Did they want to cover men’s hair, as well as women’s?
• How many styles? This steers how much time I had with them.
• I asked them to buy a pile of magazines they like and to put together a look book/mood board. This helped them to create their own Brief.
• On my suggestion, we started with the finish date/deadline for images and worked backwards for dates for the casting and shoot.
• Prep days to prepare the models, which needed a colour or cut. On the shoot day, this means they only have to style the hair - this makes full use of the time available for the shoot itself.
• Asked them to think about make-up looks, and discussed a make-up artist we both liked, who we’d like to use for the job.
• From the mood board, we developed a style for the clothes and accessories. This helped with styling and shopping
• Suggest on a casting:
• This involves an online casting, looking at suitable models for their look and appropriate styles for the hair.
• An actual casting in the salon. This involved a simple lighting set-up and shooting the model to see what they could do and they were like in front of the camera. This was also a good chance for them to shine, as well as showing their portfolio.
• A web gallery of the shots was made. This allowed them to view the images and make a considered decision, whilst we also had an ongoing discussion during the shoot. A web gallery is added value service I offer to my clients. Particularly if clients do not want to make on-the-spot decisions.
• Tina and Franco were happy to follow my lead with regard to appropriate models.
• The shoot took place in the salon, as they had all the backwash facilities and tools to hand.
• To give them added reassurance, I shot all the images straight to the computer so they could see the detail in the hair. This is imperative when shooting hair, so you can correct stray hairs and get the style ‘camera ready’.
• From the web gallery a short list of images were chosen after a brief discussion, which was edited down to a shorter list.
• These were then processed, re-touched and made print-ready.
• These images were made into large print ready versions for the salon walls, press releases and features, and web-ready versions for the website and relevant social media sites.

So, as you can see, a photo shoot delivered far more than a series of shots – it gave the Moda Hairdressing management team the basis on which to plan and deliver a full marketing programme for 2010. Now that’s the kind of value I’d like to see a photographer delivering to me if I was a client. Wouldn’t you?

How I shot a Blues-master in London: Joe Bonamassa

After all these years of shooting rock stars, it never surprises me when I get a few flutters of pre-shoot nerves. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t get star struck or flap, but it’s nice to know the excitement is there no matter who I photograph.

This was the case with Joe Bonamassa. As you may or may not know, Joe is a very talented blues guitarist, hailed as the new King of Blues - his mind-blowing guitar wizardry and electrifying stage presence has helped sell to out his tour and the recent gig at The Albert Hall.

It’s good to know when I’m booked for a job, the client trusts me to do a great job and get the right shots. So without exception, before every shoot I always check my gear, charge up the batteries, and clean my lenses. Sounds obvious - but important, nonetheless. Another important point is to plan the journey and to factor in the time. Even with a sat nav, London traffic is a challenge.

Technical challenges aside, Time is always the biggest issue. How long do you need for a shoot…well, how long have you got? This is one of my first questions. Sometimes, I only have a few minutes to do the shoot: adrenaline and years of experience kick in, helping to create the right mood, set the lights and get the images in the bag. I have to get the shot as they will leave, whether I’ve met the Brief or not.

I love working for Guitarist Magazine, they’re great bunch and know their stuff. For this issue Guitarist is running a meet-and-greet for some lucky readers with the guitarist Joe Bonamassa. Why not check it out – the shoot was fantastic.
Issue 328 on sale 13th April