Friday 15 March 2013

2012 in review

As we get very close to the end of 2012 I thought I would give a update on how 2012 has gone for myself with regards to the photography.

At the start of the year my intention was to try and get my photography seen by more people and generally make a better job of marketing myself. Marketing has never been one of my talents so it has been a struggle, but with the help and support of my beautiful wife and some dear friends I am starting to get there.

First thing I did was to get my website up and running, after a complete revamp and included a blog which I update religiously on every shoot that I do, as well as keeping the images up-to-date and fresh.

Delta Photography Website

I emailed a few websites and magazines with a selection of my work and was delighted when some of them responded very positively and wanted to use my images in their publications.
So far this year I have had two of my images printed in a book, which is available through various websites including Amazon, details below:

Book Nudes in Dereliction

Skin Two Magazine is the world’s leading international glossy magazine for the fetish fashion, style and nightlife market and I was delighted when they ran a feature about me on their website.

Skin Two Website

Jade Magazine an international Erotic Art and Literature Magazine ran a feature on me in March and since then they have also published further features on me in September and November editions. Also they have asked me for an image for the front cover of next Year’s August edition of the magazine.

Jade Magazine

I have also had a lot of my images used for promotional material for a new UK website that started this year for people into the Erotic Lifestyle

Erolife Website

I have now created a Facebook Page for all things Delta Photography so why not come and Like. I post regular updates on my shoots, publications and such as well as posting images from the past and present I have taken, Facebook friendly of course.

Facebook Page

You can also follow me on Twitter @Delta-14

Delta Photography on Twitter

I have had my images in an Exhibition in Germany twice now Galerie am Bruseller Platz, Cologne.

I attended London Fetish Weekend on 6th October 2012 to exhibit my work as well as have images for sale, and was surprised with the very positive reaction to my work as well as the sale of a few prints.

I was named Jade Erotic Artist of the Year 2012 in October and presented with my award at the London Fetish Weekend, and I can’t put into words how much this award means to me. For more details on the award please take a look at my blog entry regarding this:

Jade Erotic Artist Of 2012

I was approached in November by W4B (Watch4Beauty) Magazine who wanted to run a feature on me in their magazine. W4B are not just another erotic website - recently they won the Best Erotic Art Magazine Award and have already published many articles about famous photographers, models, painters, adult websites, lifestyle, hi-end technologies etc. So I am delighted to see myself featured in their magazine:

Watch 4 Beauty Magazine

I was also approached by PH Magazine who wanted to feature me in their next issue and I was delighted as they are a much more mainstream magazine and they wanted to run a feature around my Art Nude work. I look forward to seeing this available for viewing in early 2013.

PH Magazine

A long term ambition of mine was to see my photography in a book and this was one of my main objectives at the start of the year to get a book together of my work and get it published. I decided to use Blurb for this, while they are the most expensive, the quality of the final book and prints is the best I could find and I believe worth the extra cost.

I didn’t just want a book which was a portfolio of my work, but one that had a constant theme running through it and I came up with ‘Beauty & Fetish in Dereliction’ as this is mostly what I have been shooting all year and I believe earned me the recognition I have received.

My book is available via the following link to preview and purchase:

Book Beauty & Fetish in Dereliction

As a lot of you will know Photography is a hobby for me it is not my full time job and has been a major investment of my spare time and money since I first purchased a SLR camera back in 2006, so the pleasure I receive to see any of my images in print or people taking the time to comment on my work is a major boost.

Challenges going forward are to exhibit my work more as well as find private commissions for shoots and I am also looking into running training courses into photography and lighting as it is something people have asked me about this year.

Happy New Year to all my readers and all the best for 2013.

Photoshoot with Sapphire_Blue - 1st December 2012

 
I had my first shoot with Sapphire Blue a few weeks ago and it won’t be my last that’s for sure. Sapphire was a complete star on the day. We both wanted to do a location shoot but in early December it is never the warmest weather, and in fact was down to only a few degrees’ centigrade. I gave Sapphire the opportunity to switch the shoot to my studio but she was determined to shoot out on location, which I was very happy about to be honest as I dislike this time of year because most of the models want to be wrapped up warm in the studio while I still want to be out on location, as I believe that is where I create my best work.

Sapphire turned up for the shoot very well prepared with a flask of Hot Chocolate and a blanket to wrap herself in between shots. The plan was to do some fetish images in this old building and started off with some of her kneeling on the very cold concrete floor with her hands tied behind her. I had Sapphire keep her knickers on for this set, but just pulled down as I thought it would add to the story, but in retrospect I am not convinced that this was a good idea, so will put this set on the list to reshoot at another time minus the knickers.

We then moved onto a set with Sapphire standing but with hands tied above her head, the results of which I was very pleased with. I should say at this point I was using my normal location setup of one strobe off camera with an umbrella with the background being underexposed by a few stops.

Then we moved to Sapphire kneeling and her hands tied in front of her, this turned out to be my favourite image of the shoot and have included it below. I just love how the light catches her bum cheeks & back. I would add with all my photography I move around the model a lot and try images from all different angles as well as some shots from low down as well as high up, and this particular shot is a result of that as I was shooting from Sapphire’s left, but wanted to see what the difference would be from the right and shooting into the light and in my opinion it produced the best shot of the day. This was a lesson I learnt very early on with my photography, to not be afraid to move around and explore the angles. I generally come home as dirty as the models due to laying down on filthy floors trying these different angles and views.

By this time in the shoot Sapphire was freezing and you can’t tell from the images, but she was shivering, so we took a break so she could warm up and have a hot drink, before moving onto a set outside the building where I thought it might be a bit warmer as these old brick buildings always seem damp and colder than out in the fresh air. This time we used a tree to tie Sapphire to and put on a Tongue Clamp.

I was very concerned my how cold Sapphire was getting but like the absolute trooper she is she wanted to do one more set before we left, which was her sitting in the building handcuffed and looking desolate. Once this set was complete we finished up and I got Sapphire back to my house for a warm shower and a hot drink before she drove home.

Sapphire was a joy to work with and gives 150% to the shoot and I can’t wait to work with her again in the New Year, though we may wait for spring when it is a bit warmer as we both want to work on location again.

Book Beauty & Fetish in Dereliction published


Since starting photography back in 2005 I have always wanted to share my work through a book and at last I felt I had a body of work worth sharing in this media. I did not want to just publish a book which was a portfolio of my work but for it to have a constant theme running throughout. I came up with the Dereliction theme, as shooting in derelict buildings is now my preferred environment for photoshoots.

I am delighted to say the book is now available for you all to buy by clicking on the following link where a preview is also available.

Beauty & Fetish In Dereliction Book

I am delighted that Mark Marsay The Editor of ‘Jade the International Erotic Art and Literature Magazine’ has been kind enough to right the foreword for the book and can’t thank him enough for his support of my photographic endeavours.

I would like to thank my wife for her constant support and help regarding my photography as well as all the models I have worked with since I started. Everyone of them has helped me develop my artistic, creative and photographic skills, enabling me to produce a body of work I personally feel proud of.

I would also like to give special thanks to China Hamilton who I met back in 2009 whilst doing an interview with him for my degree course. Since then he became my mentor and has given me his unwavering time, support and advice. His sometimes harsh, but very constructive critism of my work, has made me view my images in a new light and enabled me to improve my photographic style to where it is today.

I hope you all buy and enjoy the book.

Photoshoot with TansyBlue & Cage 29th October 2012

TansyBlue and I had been discussing doing a shoot together for a little while and one of her ideas was to involve a male model in the shoot, with the male model being the dominant in various fetish scenes we discussed.

TansyBlue did ask me if I knew any male models who would fit the part, but my list of male models is very small and I thought it was important that TansyBlue picked the model as she would need to be comfortable working with them as I felt this would be critical for the success of the shoot.
TansyBlue found Cage through one of the modelling sites, who had a great look and fitted the part/role we had in mind for him. Now all we had to do was book a date which we quickly did and planned for the shoot to be out on location as an old building I knew would really help with the story. The date we booked the shoot for was maybe not a good one in hindsight.

TansyBlue and Cage planned to travel up to me after TansyBlue finished college that morning, which once they got here turned out to be after 2 o’clock in the afternoon and as we were going out on location I was worried about the light as it was a very overcast day and the clocks had gone forward that weekend so I feared we didn’t have many daylight hours left to shoot in.

I think by the time we got to the location it was 3 o’clock and the building I wanted to use was very dark inside, so we decided to start doing some images on the outside of the building having TansyBlue tied to tree’s etc. With Cage pulling on ropes, holding TansyBlue by the neck and generally not being very nice. I was very impressed with the latex outfits Cage brought with him which it turns out he also made for himself. I should say I used my normal lighting setup of one strobe off camera with an umbrella for the whole of the shoot. When shooting with more than one model together though you have to be very careful on the placement of the light to ensure one of the models is not throwing ugly shadows over the other etc. This can also be avoided by watching the light and getting the models to move an arm, head or other body part as required.

After the first set we moved into another building and had TansyBlue lay down while giving Cage two pinwheels to use on her. By now the light was really fading quickly so we went back to the other building to try an idea we had talked about of TansyBlue with Ballgag and on a chain with Cage dressed holding the chain and a whip. The first few images worked ok but suddenly I could not even see TansyBlue and Cage through the viewfinder of the camera as we had no ambient light at all so my composition and focusing was becoming a bit hit and miss so we had to call a halt to the shoot. The image shown below was the last image taken on the day and was a lucky shot really as to be honest I could not see anything when I took it and just guessed roughly on the correct position of the subjects.


While I love the challenge of working outside at night, you do have to have some sort of light such as Moonlight, streetlights etc. The problem we had was we were in the middle of nowhere with no sources of light at all.

I do hope I get to work with both TansyBlue & Cage together again when we have more time as they work together really well and are both bring so much creativity to the shoot.

Photoshoot with Clover 28th October 2012

I had my third shoot of the year with Clover last weekend and can’t believe how little we have shot together this year. Looking back at my previous shoots I worked out we had shot on average 9 times a year since our first shoot together back in March 2009.

We chatted about this on our shoot and it’s all down to both our lives just getting busier and not being able to schedule our diary’s to match at a months’ notice. So we have a plan! In the next few months we will book up at least 8 dates in the 2013 diary to ensure we get back to our normal amount of shoots and also try and schedule in a few of those shoot being full weekends. Anyway I am digressing and should get back to the topic of the actual shoot.

I had no real plans for this shoot other than a School Mistress & Schoolgirl theme with my wife Kazperella playing the School Mistress as she has the sternest School Mistress expressions I have even seen, in fact they are damn right scary? My wife then came up with a puppet idea while we were watching a music video on the morning of the shoot featuring puppets, so we had all our ideas sorted.
Due to the weather we used the studio for the shoot and I went with a very simple light setup of just the main light with large softbox and grid, occasionally incorporating a hair light on to gain some separation from the background.

It was so much fun shooting my Kazperella and Clover together and we had all forgotten how much fun we had doing these shoots, so more of them will be planned in next year’s diary for sure. Also they are very easy for me to shoot as when they work together the ideas just seem to evolve on their own with some great and very different results.

Once we had completed the school theme we moved onto the puppet set, which took a while to setup as in having the ropes connect to the ceiling and still allowing movement so my wife could play the puppeteer standing on a chair beside clover and pull on the ropes. This started off with Clover looking doll like with ribbons in her hair, but then developed into a Kinky Puppet theme with nipple clamps and dental gag. One of the shots from this set can be seen below.

We then finished of the shoot with an idea of Clovers, where Kazperella dribbled red wax onto her tongue which was clamped between two bits of bamboo.

This image can be seen on my Facebook group. You will need to be signed into Facebook to view it and while you are there why not leave me a like on my Delta Photography Facebook Page

Photoshoot with Jools - 26th October 2012

Jools and I had arranged another shoot a year since we last shot together out on location doing a Beauty and the beast idea of Jools that worked so well due to her brilliant make up skills. This time though due to the weather we arranged to shoot in my warm studio. Which was just as well as it was freezing on the day and very wet.

Neither of us had any real ideas for the shoot beforehand and just went with the flow so to speak. We came up with this idea of her boyfriend Nick wearing a mask and terrorising her as a starting concept and to see where it lead. I used only one light in the studio from camera right, with a large softbox with grid to ensure the light only went where I wanted it to, as with this set it was important not to get light leaking onto the black background.

 We experimented with the theme and it developed from Jools being terrorised to almost worshiping the mask giving an interesting twist.


All in all it was a very different pace of shoot due to being in the studio, which is a major rarity for me these days. Though I think I will be in the studio a lot more over the coming winter months, which I can’t say I am totally happy about as I always believe my best work is out on location.

Photoshoot with Sami-C - 20th October 2012

Surprisingly it has been 18 months since I last did a shoot with Sami-C, somehow I don’t think it will be as long before the next shoot with her as on both occasions now we have a very enjoyable shoot together and created some great results.
We had been discussing this shoot for a long time and were hoping that we would able to schedule the shoot earlier in the year as we both wanted to shoot at the same location we had used before, but for whatever reason we could not find a date where our diaries matched until last weekend. So even though the temperature was dropping we still wanted to go ahead with our location plans.

Even though we both wanted to use the same location, I didn’t want to use the same building as before and wanted to use a building where there is an old brick archway inside. I have shot a few times in this room before and had always wanted to capture an art nude within the archway, but for whatever reason I have not got the shot before I really had in my mind. So I decided to use this particular building with my main aim being to capture that particular image that had been in my head for a long time now.

It was a cold damp day but like the gentleman I am, I packed a fluffy pink dressing gown in my bag for Sami-C to wear betweens sessions. I have to say though as the day’s shoot progressed the sun was constantly trying to come out but failing miserably so I have to commend Sami-C for coping with the cold and not letting it show in any of the images.
We drove to the location and walked to the building I planned to use for the shoot. On arriving and looking around the location in general I was surprised by the state of some of building and the decline in them in the short time since my last visit to the location. I am starting to think that the location may become practically unusable next year just on safety reasons. Most of the buildings are wooden and every visit see’s more and more roofs collapsing etc.

The first thing we had to do was clear the brambles growing on top of the arch and hanging down into the actual archway I wanted Sami-C to be in. I have to thank Sami-C’s husband who was a trooper and climbed up the arch and cleared it all.
Once we had generally cleared the area I set the lighting up for the shot which in my mind had always been backlit. So I set up a strobe behind the arch at about 45 degrees to the opening with an umbrella. For this type of set-up it is essential to have Wireless triggers that will work even though you do not have line of site from the camera to the actual strobe, I use Pocket Wizards and would highly recommend them.
After some minor position changes with the strobe and camera settings I got Sami-C to pose in the archway and just loved how the light just instantly gave me the look I had envisaged within my mind. Now we just had to work on the pose which came very quickly and this final image can be seen below.


We continued with this set-up for a while, trying different poses before getting Sami-C to put on a leather jacket, gloves and boots and trying this in the archway and then changing the jacket for a scarf. I always think nude shots can look great if the model is wearing something, even if it is just one item of clothing, my influence for this comes from Dahmane’s book ‘Dressed Nudes’ which is well worth trying to find a copy of.
By then I was thinking we had exhausted the use of the actual arch and so took some more images in the same building, but using different walls as the backdrop, trying to show the rough textures of the walls against the smooth skin of Sami-C.
We then moved to the building next door, which was in a real bad state as in collapsed roof and walls that looked like they had seen better days. So we were very careful in this building to not disturb anything and finished the shoot with some more art nude shots against this general dereliction and also a few mild fetish one’s with Sami-C manacled to the walls etc. Again for all these images I used just the one Strobe with an umbrella generally to Model left.

This was a very successful shoot from my perspective and I will be working with Sami-C again in the near future.