Bit nippy innit
First of all let me apologize for my lateness. Freelancing towards the end of the year is either dead quiet or criminally busy and fortunately it's been the latter and that's good news for you because it means lots of pictures for you to feast your eyes on.
Over the past few years I've come across fight photographers such as Esther Lin and Brandon Magnus and I've been blown away by the stories they can tell through the means of combat sports. It had always been something I wanted to try but I never knew how to get my hands on that opportunity, until October.
After finding myself out of Courage Boxing due to injury, I found I had nothing to do on the 10th of October. So I put myself down as a photographer for the event.
Dare I say I fell in love with it there and then.
Shooting the courage event was a peculiar one because I'd spent months training with everyone fighting that night and It was hard to both do my job and stop myself from getting a little too into the fights. Something about watching my friends get punched in the head gets me a little jumpy I guess.
So it only felt right that a month later I put myself down to photograph their Fight4Grenfell event.
This time I didn't know anybody competing and I felt like that would calm me down a little and let me focus on the shot...nope.
When the coach/cornerman Jon Durrant starts punching the side of the ring and hurling instructions at his fighter, I can't help but get into it.
And I guess that's why I love it. Sports is a showcase of human theatre and in no place is this truer than in boxing. In Courage I saw people from the LGBT+ community fight to shatter a stigma that they were weak and raise money for members of their community who have found themselves homeless. In Fight4Grenfell I saw people fight to raise money to help those struck by one of the most horrifying tragedies in the history of London. Both times, those competing brought their absolute best to the ring and both times it was absolutely beautiful. I cannot stress how excited I am to shoot the next event.
Enough of all that wholesome violence
Last month I was commissioned by the team behind The Wind of Heaven to create the promo imagery for their play. The play is set in the 1850s in Wales shortly after the Crimean War. With a small budget and only fleeting daylight to work with, I decided to do individual portraits of the cast in the style of a recolored Daguerreotype (a method of steel plate photography from the 1850s)
The bulk of the work was done in Lightroom replicating the tones and scratches of the old recolorings I was using for reference while keeping the image moody enough to suit the tone of the play.
I'd also like to add that I shot this with one arm in a sling so HUGE thanks to my pal Jasper for helping me out with all the heavy lifting (you absolute beefcake)
Later in the month I visited the cast and crew of The Wind of Heaven to take some rehearsal shots on the opening night.
It must be said WHAT . A . SET!
This was some of the trickiest light I have worked with in theatre photography but when it worked it worked phenomenally.
I'd hate to overshare as the play is still in its run but it's picked up some phenomenal reviews so you should probably go see it.
Here's where you can find the tickets
Tired of hearing me talk about theater? No you're not
Those of you who've stayed tuned to this mighty blog will recognise Get Out Of My Space Productions. They are a hilarious theatre group out of Tunbridge Wells and I shot the rehearsals of their version of The 39 Steps back on the hottest day of the summer. Well we swapped those shades for some mittens because this time it's cold as hell and we're in a tent. Very appropriate for their rehearsal of A Christmas Carol.
Here are some of my favorites from the day.
A Christmas Carol had it's run and it was an absolute winner. Audiences were treated to a Christmas Dinner DURING THE PLAY. If that doesn't scream "check these guys out" Then maybe you don't deserve fun.
Almost done! You've almost made it to the end!
Here are my favorite portraits from the month
Alrighty lets wrap this up with what I've been listening to this month.
NUMBER 1: Sam Fender | Hypersonic Missiles
The lovechild of Bruce Springsteen and Jeff Buckley. This album lived up to ridiculous amount of hype I gave it and then exceeded that. This was one of those albums that I listened to on release at midnight and I giggled through the entire thing. It's just that goddamn good. There isn't a skipped track on the album. Sam and his Jazzmaster are a force to be reckoned with and I cannot wait to see what he does next. Also! best saxophone on a rock album this year.
See ya next month (that's next year! holy shit!)