Going Solo: My first proper shoot!

I have just got back from two days of photography training in the Cotswolds with Damien Lovegrove and his picture editor Marko. Not only was this an amazing experience but it was also quite a big challenge going away on my own. Samuel and I have been together for nearly five years and for the last three of those years we have not spent a single night apart except the night before our wedding. However, Samuel and I decided that as soon as I got to the hotel we would go on Skype and spend the evening together cyber style! So as soon as I settled into my room and my room service arrived, Samuel and I sat down and had dinner together over Skype. If you're interested, I had the most delightful lamb shank with pea and potato mash and lovely thick gravy. Following this we watched the Masterchef Semi Final together tucked up in bed with our laptops.

This may sound a bit silly but I suppose over time I have grown very used to always having someone there with me when I get home from uni and it was most strange sleeping alone in bed and not waking up to someone. I realized while I was away how much I depend on my husband to look after me and keep things in order for me....he even texted me during the afternoon I was leaving to remind me to change trains and what time each train was, even though I knew all of this already!

The first day of the course was a camera skills workshop combined with a shoot with teenage models. We started off at Matara (a wedding venue); it was such a stunning place for a shoot with lots of open fields and gorgeous light. One of the main focuses of the shoot was learning how to find the best light for portraits. It's amazing what beautiful light does for a picture! The second day was a 1:1 with Marko to take me through the ins and outs of how to edit and archive my photos. I learned so much and I've included different variations of pictures which I edited so you can see different ways of processing them. 

It was definitely a challenge shooting models with other people around you; the model doesn't know where to look! But I am quite pleased with how they came out and feel that I am armed with new skills for future shoots! One things for sure, I LOVE LOVE taking pictures, and when I get everything right in camera, I feel very proud. 

All of the following photos were taken by me and you can click on them to enlarge, you get a much better view!!. 

I also learned on my course how the profile settings of your photo file effect the way the photos look on different computers. If you don't have a universal colour profile then different browsers degrade the colour. So I have now made the colours universal. Thus I have also re-uploaded the photos in my last three posts so they should look better if you have been viewing in a non-Mac internet broswer. You can have a peek if you fancy. If there's no difference, I did try!

There were two models, this is Emily. I loved her reflection in the glass doors and the light coming from behind her was so lovely. I also learned how to make my own black and whites starting from a simple conversion and then tweaking and hand crafting to get it right so I was quite proud to do this one all on my own! 

Damien opened these doors and showed us how to capture the light that was coming through them and lighting up the model's face. This is Henry and she has the most gorgeous lips!

I saw the wind catching in Henry's hair and was so glad I caught it! This is one of my favourites that I took on the day.

I love her expression in this one. 

Here is a black and white I made of one of the photos above.

Giving us that fierce look!

Henry stood between these two big trees and it made for some interesting pictures!

I love her expression in this one especially through the two trees. Another favourite.

The shapes and lines of the trees was fun for pictures!

Here it is in a moody black and white!

Feel free to leave a comment and I hope you like them. I'm hoping to do another course with Damien Lovegrove soon, one that involves shooting all day long! I thought I'd keep this post about the photos so a recipe will follow in my next post!

xxx