Paul Pickard's Blog

BATHTIME

2009-08-01T03:29:00.000-07:00

This week it was a trip to Lancashire to shoot some Public Relations pictures for tap and shower manufacturers Deva.

The company were looking for some updated images to use in the trade press and on their websites. As I had not visited the location before I decided to take my portable studio lights http://www.bowens.co.uk/ in case the lighting need a lift.

I shot using my Canon 5d and varied between my 24-70mm zoom and the 85mm f1.2 trying to blance the available light with the flashlight

After getting the required shots I also managed a less formal picture of the Managing Director who was more than happy to add some personality to the occassion.

It always helps when the client has their own ideas about pictures but when they also allow for some fun shots it helps the whole process run smoothly.

I also did a little product photography, something I do not usually do, and later worked on the images in specialsit software to give the overall result a graphic feel.

The Private and the Public

2009-07-26T23:58:00.000-07:00

What do you do when a client calls up for a last minute job, it's the weekend and it's an exterior shot of a building and the weather is lousy?

This was my dilema this weekend when I was asked to shoot some pictures for a cover shot for a glossy magazine. My brief was to get a picture of the new Public building http://www.thepublic.com/index.php in the West Midlands and the shots by first thing Monday morning. As I was not shooting a wedding this weekend I thought that sounds OK, until I checked out the weather forcast. http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/

A blanket of rain right across the UK - it must be summer!

I had hoped to shoot first light, the light is softer at 5 in the morning and there are not usually too many people or vehicles around to get in the way of the picture, unfortunately all I saw was a wall of rain.

I had another assignment booked in at the National Memorial Arboretum http://www.thenma.org.uk/ for later in the morning and this too took place under a blanket of rain. The Care of Police Survivors http://www.ukcops.org/ day is a moving ceremony to commemorate police officers who have died whilst on duty. The service is attended by the Chief Constables from around Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as the Home Office Minister .

After I had finished working at the Arboretum I did another weather check and realised that I may have a window of a few minutes before the second deluge appeared and washed away my cover shot for good. I got to the Public and the sky was thunderous and overcast but the rain was just holiding off so I shot as rapidly as I could using my canon 5d http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/cameras/digital_slr/eos_5d/index.asp and my 24-70mm and 80-200mm zoom lenses. I was lucky, I managed to circle the building and get a selection of pictures just before the rains returned for the rest of the day. I had the shots but they were taken in low lighting conditions so when I returned to my studio I new I was in for some extra work in post processing. The shots you see here are a couple from the final selection - the 'sun' was added in later and the colour temperature was lifted to warm up the final image.

A happy result on a weekend when it may have been preferable to draw the curtains and take a hot bath

Archive slides

2009-07-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

I have added a new section to my website http://www.paulpickard.co.uk/ to show off a few oldies

The archive section runs as a slideshow and highlights a complete mix of pictures from my earlier days

It includes some old black and white shots taken on Ilford http://www.ilford.com/en/ film and printed on multigrade Ilford paper

It also shows a couple of shots taken on Fuji http://www.fujifilm.com/ transpareny film from around the same period

It is easy to forget that digital has only really been around en masse for one decade and the effects on the old industry of film manufacturers has been immense.

Latest work - advertising shoot on location in Cheshire

2009-07-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

An advertising shoot for me http://www.paulpickard.co.uk with an American company this week

The shoot took place on location in Cheshire using 4 models of differing ages

I used the Canon 5d http://www.canon.co.uk/ for all shots and favoured the 24-70mm f2.8 lens for its flexibilty and speed coupled with a few shots on the 85mm f 1.2 when the lighting got low

We wanted to make the shots look natural and use available light only so that the images did not look too staged. Shooting in an uncontrolled environment can be problematic especially when the space is a high street on a busy Wednesday

I was working with an agency http://www.iasb2b.com/ based in Bollington in Cheshire and our client was https://www.recyclebank.com/ who are based in New York

We set out to produce a storyboard set of images that can be used across a wide range of platforms, from websites to billboards as well as flyers.

I shot in Raw and large fine jpg mode and then processed the images back at my studio

The results will be seen throughout the UK over the coming months as the project is rolled out