Frightfest and on site portraits…

As I am covering the Frightfest Film festival for the second year, I knew that I would be able to grab a little time with some of the genres stars. I therefore decided that I would bring my “portable location studio” . The two small lights, softboxes and clamps can be setup almost anywhere to make an effective portrait. 

For Kane Hodder (stuntman and Jason in the original Friday the 13th films) we decided on the dark, rear fire escape. The lights were clamped either side to the railings and within 15 minutes of walking out we had 3 or 4 good moody portraits in various poses.


For directors Adam Green and Joe Lynch we moved to a lighter, less imposing location further up the stairs to produce this less moody portrait of the pair of them.



A further example is shown in the previous post; Gemma, Isabella and the Werewolf are lit by a single light held by my assistant. 


What is great about this set-up is I can transport it to almost any location, setup, shoot and finish in a matter of minutes with fine control over the lighting.

In todays world there really is no need for any corporation to use flat, boring portraits in their literature.

13 Hrs at Frightfest

Actually this is day 3 so closer to 48 hours. What a difference a week makes; 7 days ago I was standing in a damp field, today I am working with 2 lovely actresses (Isabella Calthorpe, Gemma Atkinson) and a werewolf for the launch of their new horror movie 13 Hrs. 

We managed a few set up shots inside before heading out in to leicester square for a few more. It was at this point I was reminded how rude some of the press photographers are.. I know we all have to get our shots but to barge into an what is obviously a set-up shoot, pushing the photographer (me) aside is just plain rude… especially when the culprit was a well known “veteran” in London. Manners cost nothing and he would have still got his shot…. oh well…

This is one of the set up ones. There are more in my frightfest event gallery which will be published later…

A Damp weekend…

At Shoreham Airport.


A real shame, the weather that is. All these sunny days and it had to rain most of the weekend with the cloud cover staying very low.

That said, I had a lovely time with a great bunch of people. My real hope is that a good amount of money was raised for the wings appeal.

As for the photography, most of my time was spent trying to show the atmosphere of the event, taking very few images of aircraft. That said, here is a Hurricaine flying very low to keep out of the clouds.




 More my style though are the Chelsea Pensioners, ex forces enjoying an event that really honours them…

Taylor Momson

Third shoot this week, 4th if you count Birdman on Sunday and It is interesting how each job has it’s own problems. 

Sunday – it was knowing when to take a break and transmit my images. When Holly Walsh was in the water; should I have changed lenses to try to get tighter?

Monday was quite smooth, it was just a case of trying to capture something different from the other photographers.

Wednesday was frustrating, it was obviously difficult to manage that number of young actors and getting the right shots, getting the actors for any amount of time, shooting them signing with the fans was nigh on impossible.

Tonight, it was light, or actually, the lack of light. Well, that coupled with the fact as an American act we were keen to send the images to the USA as soon as possible, a task thwarted by a change of stage time from 9pm to 9:30. Still I think the first images left my system at about 22:11. Not bad…

Angelina Jolie



Angelina attended last nights UK premiere of SALT. News images available for licensing here… 

For film premieres to be worthwhile, stars from the film are needed. Sometimes it is the director, producer and one or two. Sometimes it is the whole (major) cast.

In this case, as the guy from Sony said.. “When the star is Angelina Jolie, you only need one star…”

She looked great…



Holly Walsh, Birdmen and Vintage

The last few days have been busy – with far more to come in the next week. Its’s great to be busy.

My first event this weekend was “Vintage” – a great new festival featuring a mix of fashion, art and music. A wonderful event with a lovely atmosphere which could not be dampened despite the rain trying it’s level best. I had planed to cover all 3 days but due to a personal matter on Friday and the accident on Sunday (see below), I only made Saturday..

Goodwood Vintage Festival Day 2 : Hiding from the rain

I hope it succeeds and if so, I will be back camping there for the full 3 days next year…

So Sunday and the accident. No, not my accident but Holly Walsh from children’s BBC. She was jumping (defiantly not flying!) in the Worthing Birdman for charity. Unfortunately as she landed she suffered some injuries to her arm and had to be recovered by the lifeboat. News images available for licensing here…



This delayed the event so to ensure I had the whole story, I stayed. A good choice because the winning flight or 81M was the final flight of the day.


The full Birdman gallery (not including the Holly Walsh accident – contact me for license information) is here..

Shoreham Airshow

Today I attended the press day for the forthcoming Shoreham Airshow.

I must say – what a fantastic team of volunteers they are to put this charity event together.

This year is the 21st birthday of the event and it promises to be a stunning weekend. If you are in sussex, head over, enjoy the boys playing with their flying toys and see some wonderful displays…

This picture is of The Blades display team who performed on the press day. If you look carefully you will see the logo on the wing is that of the RAFA Wings Appeal for which both The Blades and the airshow are raising money for….

CARE International… The Concert for CARE 2

We get to the end of the first week of August and as always, it has been very quiet. With many of the UK population on holiday, the phone has been very quiet and the number of events to cover was just about zero.


The main activity of the week has been the announcement of the Concert for Care 2 on the 18th October and the charity screening of Psycho the day before. You will see on the Concert for Care website one of my images of The Empire. Why do I mention this? 


Most importantly it is a great cause and if you have any interest in cinema or film music then both of these events are not to be missed; you will have a wonderful time and be helping others. 


Think about it; how many of us has seen Psycho on a large screen? Many of my parents generation may have but my generation and younger? Not only is it being shown on a large screen it is being shown in one of the top cinemas in the world… Followed on the next day by a gala concert at The Royal Albert Hall featuring many of the composers that have written the music to many of the modern great films. Book Now! Screening Tickets Here, Concert Tickets Here.


I will be covering both of these events for the organisers and hope to produce a set of limited edition prints which will be put on sale following the events with all profit being passed to CARE International.


I always finish on a picture .. so from the last week of July, Jessica Biel from the UK premiere of The A-Team (News images available for licensing here)…