Xposure International Photography Festival 2016

Off to Sharjah for the Xposure 2016 International Photography Festival 12-15th October to run some workshops on Product Photography & also about Shooting for Stock.

Looking forward to traveling in that part of the world & sharing some photography tips & techniques.
My Workshops are aimed at beginners & those starting out in the industry or looking to learn a bit more. Workshops run Wed 12th October, Thu 13th October, Fri 14th October, Sat 15th October see website for links & times about the various events & workshops…seems there’s lots to see, do & get involved in.

 

New Website

Finally got around to updating my website. I’m always amazed at how long the whole process takes.

Please let me know if you spot any glaring mistakes!

Have a look & let me know what you think.

www.colinhawkins.co.uk

Cornwall to London – action, adventure & gritty urban.

Just finished the final edit from a 3 day shoot in Cornwall for Tamar Trails leadership course. Thanks to all the staff & students who showed unbelievable resilience considering the conditions.
First day spent in the glorious winter sun shooting the students practice capsizing & generally getting very wet & cold. I was glad to be on the bank not in the water.

Towards the end of the day I noticed that the Nikon 28-70mm lens wasn’t auto focusing which made action shots quite difficult.

Recovery from Capsize

Capsize

Warming up as the sun goes down

The next day on the beach at Polzeath it was interesting seeing the capsizing techniques put into practice as the students struggled in the surf. I realised, despite the lack of wetsuit, I needed to get in to the sea to get some close up action shots but somehow keep the camera out the waves whilst not being pulled over by the under tow .   I didn’t appreciate how cold it was until I got out of the sea over an hour later & couldn’t feel much from the waist down.
Paul, one of the instructors  was incredible & showed plenty of tricks in the surf. I think the most impressive was flipping into an upright position.

Instructor Paul demonstrates his tricks

Paul in the surf

Final day was spent on Dartmoor on the top of a rock face. This is when I really struggled having to manually focus the broken lens as I hung over the edge of the cliff shooting the climbers. Wonderful views across the tree tops then heading back down the hill  to shoot orienteering in near darkness.

Successful climb!

Leadership instruction

Orienteering in the dark

That night I headed straight from Tavistock, via Bath ( where luckily Laurie loaned me his lens ) to Brixton to start shooting a series on “the internet of things” for another client. Two days days traversing across London in commuter traffic to various interior & exterior locations before ending up on Oxford Street on a Friday afternoon…… such a far cry from the peace & tranquility of a hillside in Cornwall …from action & adventure to technology & gritty urban!

Wessex Water Portraits

For the past 6 months I’ve been working on a commissioned series of portraits of Wessex Water employees.

We’ve been all over the South West of England in water treatment works , reservoirs, building projects & laboratories shooting the staff on location & then again with two variations in the studio, often in some improvised space that has been a challenge to shoot in.

Laurie my assistant in one of the improvised studios…this one in a garage space somewhere in Dorset.

 

The series is drawing to a close & it has been an  enjoyable & eye-opening experience seeing the vast array of specialism that goes into such a complex industry. All the staff have been fantastic to work with & incredibly amenable considering what was required.
The concept was to shoot a variety of employees in a real & authentic way with their actual equipment & their everyday work clothes & to capture the characters of all the people who do every conceivable job, from customer services to meter readers through to managing the construction of reservoirs. I think we’ve shot well over 50 people so far & a few more to go.
I’ve also learned a lot about water but especially sewage & it’s impact on the environment & nature…… I really won’t bore you here with the details but I was really impressed by the amount of effort that goes into making the whole water system safe over such a vast area. The scale of the projects that Wessex Water is involved in is epic… I’ll never take turning on a tap for granted ever again.

Thanks to everyone involved in making the project a success!

The Forest of Imagination

For the last few years I’ve been doing some personal work with two other artists under the name of T(h)ree . We collaborate to produce photographic artworks through documenting process-based performances that focus on the interactions between nature and humanity. From the first collaboration “One Midsummer’s  Day”  We produced a book from the images http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/3606397-one-midsummers-day

We  hope these projects will expand as the collaboration evolves.

This collaboration combines a breadth of skills and yet brings together a similarity of interests between three artists who come from very different practises. A sculptor, Anna Gillespie, a  performer Niki Jewett and a myself as a photographer.
We have finally managed to get the web site live http://www.t-h-ree.co.uk & although it still needs a lot of tweaking but it allows us to start to show a small selection from the body of work that we have been creating.

T(h)ree “RED CLAY WHITE SHOWER”

We are also pleased to be showing some of the work T(h)ere have produced at:

The Forest of Imagination: 11 – 14 July  10am – 6pm
at the Bath School of Art & Design, Bath Spa University, Sion Hill, Bath BA1 5SF.
http://www.forestofimagination.com/location

Forest of Imagination interior space

This is an immersive multidisciplinary & contemporary arts event  in the heart of Bath. An outdoor space with a variety of artworks embedded within the landscape. Within the immersive Forest of Imagination artists will hold creative interventions, workshops, discussions and experiments
The team behind the Forest of Imagination event would love to invite everyone to see and showcase Bath’s often hidden creativity.

This pop-up event seeks to build on the growing support for Bath to have its own large-scale creative & tech hub, combining creativity, technology, film/digital media, making and business. For Bath this would be good for creatives, for jobs, for education and for our young people.

Event and workshops are FREE.

for more info:
http://www.forestofimagination.com

T(h)ree “TISSUE”

Shooting 50 people from height

Just finishing off the edits for a quite complex medical advertising shoot involving 50 extras , a large production crew in a monster studio with a complex lighting rig.

Scissor lift with camera rig and makeshift work station

Shot using two cameras mounted at 8 meters from a scissor lift. We were shooting stills & stop frame animation at the same time. Laurie & I had spent days figuring out the logistics & production method.
The studio complex was Malcom Ryan Studio in Wimbledon London who provided all the production facilities & lighting. They also did us an amazing job at catering too. I think I’d get quite fat if I did many of these!

Laurie & my client Martin in the scissor lift

The lighting/gaffa crew were incredibly efficient and I’m so glad we got a tight team to work together to bring this in on schedule. It made a real difference having a crew to do everything, rather than myself & Laurie  busting a gut. This really was beyond our capability to light a 8000 square foot studio from 31 feet in the air!

Gaffas & sparks keeping busy as usual?

Day One was pre-light , camera rig & figuring out the choreography for 50 people. Laurie even got time to play the largest  game of tetras beaming the screen image across the studio onto the back wall  making it about 15 meters wide whilst he was marooned & bored on the scissor lift during lunch.

Laurie playing Tetris at lunchtime

Day Two saw the very early morning arrival of the 50 strong cast of extras who were all styled & dressed within the first couple of hours by Nat & Abi . Rosie my production assistant kept everyone in check & made the whole day get off to a prompt start & kept me hydrated throughout the day.

View across the studio early morning

The lights were set the cast dressed ….now it was just a matter of arranging them from 8 meters in the air into various exact shapes . We figured the best way was to give everyone a unique number. There was no way I was going to remember all 50 names & rather than shouting “you in the green nurse outfit” of which their might be 2 or 3 people, we could just say “24 move to the right”…all went quite smoothly & I hope no one was offended. The cast were fantastic considering the amount of time stood around doing very little & it was great when they understood what I was trying to achieve. It took an enormous amount of effort for everyone to stay focused & positive under the intense brightness & heat . I wondered why all the gaffas wore shorts… I soon found out when the lights had been on for a couple of hours.

Arranging the cast by number

10 industrious hours later we had the job in the bag…more than the job I hope?

Laurie was frantic on the laptops arranging files & checking focus whilst making sure we had backups etc. it was a weird sensation getting down from the scissor lift after hours baking in the cramped enclosure that constantly swayed around. It felt like we’d been at sea for a week in a very small boat.

View from the scissor lift….it seemed a long way down

The last shot of the day!

Back to Bath late in the evening after battling or way through Friday night London traffic…… totally exhausted but very very pleased.

New Music Videos

Towards the end of last year I directed and shot a couple of videos for a band called Adam & Eve . It’s been a few years since I last did any video work and it is something that I’ve been looking to do again…. I was just waiting for the right project to come along and as soon as I met with the band and heard the beautiful songs this seemed to be the perfect project. It was a steep learning curve for both myself and Laurie (my assistant) but we are really happy with the results. We managed to shoot two songs during the day and there are plans to shoot more in 2014. Both videos were shot with live sound ( which was possibly the hardest thing to get right) & on Nikon D800’s.

“Bernadette, So You Know” by Adam & Eve

“Fool (To Be Your Lover)” by Adam & Eve

 

If you like the videos/songs or for more info on Adam & Eve please see:

www.facebook.com/listentoadamandeve

Dracula

Finally, months after shooting, I get to release some images that I shot for the new Mark Bruce production of Dracula that is now on tour.
http://www.markbrucecompany.com/current/

Dracula Flyer front

I did a couple of shoots with the company as they prepared the shoot & the last shoot was a rehearsal at the Egg Theatre where I was lucky, for the first time, to direct the use of  a full theatre house lighting rig. It was quite an experience pointing at the vast array of lights in the roof, trying to identify the right one & getting the colour or balance adjusted by a man a long way away on a very very tall ladder. Quite a different way of working than I’m used to.

Mark Bruce Dracula production

I’ve only seen excepts of the production but the lead dancer, Jonathan Goddard, who plays the infamous Vampire Count,  was amazing & trying to capture the grace & movement  of his sinister flying dances  was a lot more fun & more difficult than I imagined. This one of is my favourite of Jonathan Goddard flying through the air & really captured the darkness of production. Can’t wait to see the whole th

Jonathan Goddard as Dracula

Jonathan Goddard as Dracula

Here’s the flyer for full info….It’s getting great reviews…. it’s not on for long & I highly recommend going to see it from what I’ve seen.

Dracula Flyer back

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/sep/29/dracula-mark-bruce-company-review

Mark Bruce Dracula production

Mark Bruce Dracula production

Mark Bruce Dracula production

“Best In Show”- A Couple Of Days At A Dog Show

Finally got around to editing a personal project that I started a while back, where I spent a couple of days at a championship dog show that was on just down the road from my studio. It really was an eye opener into the world of dogs shows, the characters that attend & all the preparation that goes in to try & win…..the good , the odd & the not so good… but also the love & affection that many owners show for their dogs .

For more images visit www.colinhawkins.co.uk/personal-projects.htm

Best In Show 1

 

Best In Show 2

 

Best In Show 3

 

Best In Show 3

 

Best In Show 5

 

Best In Show 6

 

Best In Show 7

 

Best In Show 8

 

Best In Show 9

 

Best In Show 10

 

Best In Show 11

 

Best In Show 12

 

Scotland location trip

Just back from a location hunting trip to Scotland on Jura & Islay.  Stunning landscape & blessed with some fine weather……. can’t wait to go back & shoot some ideas.

Islay

Islay

Islay

Islay

Paps of Jura

Jura

Jura

Jura

Islay