Paint It Black - NSFW

A few weeks ago I had the joy of working with a lovely new model Kristýna. I had been a follower and admirer of her work for the past year and was excited that we were getting an opportunity to be working together. 

We had a few communications before the shoot and bounced around a couple of ideas. She chose a couple of ideas similar to my previous boudoir photoshoots as well as a few more edgy art nude ideas,  and then to my surprise a concept that was unusual to anything I had tried before. 

Kristýna a native of the Czech Republic was like a breath of fresh air, someone who was willing to put commitment and her all into an idea. After we ticked off a few different styles, we got stuck into the unusual idea we had. Which was to be covered in black paint. We wanted to capture something different, that neither one of us hadn't done before and this was certainly it. 

If you've never experienced what a whole load of paint feels like on your exposed skin, then you won't know how weird it feels and how useless you become, when you can't move a great deal in fear of getting paint anywhere it shouldn't.

I tested the paint on myself the night before, for a couple of reasons. The first being to see if there were any reactions to the paint being in contact with the skin. Thankfully all was good on that front. The second was to see how much paint would be needed to get the shots we wanted. You'll be surprised at how far a little paint does go. 

The useless feeling comes over you soon after you have paint over your hands and body, and you can't do anything. You start feeling like you have to scratch every other part of your body that doesn't have paint on it. You get the urge to pee. §In my case, this all happened at the same time as my phone started to ring. Talk about Sod's law. 

Never the less Kristýna took this challenge and accepted it, without any hesitation. She embraced the messiness and owned it. Apart from the odd stray hair that got in her eyes, we didn't have too many problems in getting the images we wanted. 

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Kristýna, and couldnt have asked more of her on the day.  We are already planning  for the next shoot. Hopefully, this time, there won’t be any paint in sight. 

London never sleeps - A walk in the dark

I absolutely love London. This city is a big beautiful beast that never stops. I've been fascinated with London for as long as I can remember, but even more so ever since I picked up a camera. I try and travel up there on a regular basis, mainly for anything street photography related. It's one of the best places to go for street stuff, because absolutely nobody cares about a person with a camera. Most of the time you'll just be thought of as another tourist and people don't even batter an eyelid at you. Whenever I'm there, I spend countless hours just walking the streets, looking for photo opportunities, trying not to look too suspect, whilst also taking in the magnificent architecture and history that is everywhere you turn.  

I live in a quiet sleepy seaside town of Folkestone, Kent. Basically the complete opposite of London. If I didn't love living by the sea and how quiet life is here, I would move to the city in a heartbeat. But I really like living by the sea. Thankfully though it's only an hours train ride away, so I can live with just paying it random visits whenever I can. 

On one of my latest trips to the big smoke, I had a plan to go for the whole afternoon and evening and stay walking the streets right through until the following morning to do a whole host of street photography, with an emphasis on night time stuff. Central London comes to a whole new level of life after the sun goes down. The streets are filled with people, party goers, tourists, hustlers all trying to get somewhere or something. Bars and clubs are packed solid with people looking to let loose and have a good time. You have the street vendors trying to sell all sorts of foods and merchandise. All the while everything is being washed by a sea of neon signs. Everything from sex shops, strip clubs, casinos, and the occasional massage pallor. Because everyone needs a nice relaxing back massage at 3am in the morning. 

 

I spent the majority of my time, walking with no particular place to go, I covered the central area of London, like soho, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Covent Garden. After dodging about the 8th person being violently sick on the street, and being offered countless narcotics by some shady looking dudes. I thought a change of pace and scenery was in order. The embankments of the River Thames were a little less crowded and made for a pleasant yet still photo filled stroll. Seeing the many merry folks trying to walk in straight lines, woo potential partners, or people just trying to sober up before heading home made for an entertaining night. 

 

One thing I did stumble across that was a true little gem, was a dance meeting / competition in the very heart of the famous Borough market. Apparently most weekends there you can find this makeshift dance floor where people come to dance the salsa, tango, foxtrot and many other types of dance, I have no idea about. The energy of the place at such early hours of the morning was electrifying. These people where having the time of their life's, getting lost in the rhythm of the music and their dance partners body movements. It was really cool just spectating and being in that atmosphere. 

 

I think I ended up covering about 15 miles throughout my time up there. I just wish that by the time first light appeared at around 4am it wasn't a heavily overcast morning, catching some good shots of the sunrise over London would have made it even better. Never mind I'll have to save that for the next overnight trip. Overall it was a great trip to take. My feet were definitely aching by the time I sat down on the train to go home though. Not that would stop me from doing it again. 

 

Till the next time London. 

The Proof Sheet Episode 5

Episode 5 of the proof sheet - coming straight out of Compton, well the cosy corner of the studio. 
On this episode I revel some cool news about some future projects. I share my findings from a recent social media experiment, and things get emotional for me, when I reflect on a former mentor of mine.

The following link is for Team Mark Lee's fund raising page. If you can spare anything for these great causes it would go a long way to helping a lot of people. For the full story please listen to the episode. 
www.justgiving.com/teams/teammarklee