Birthday Candles and Bastille.

Just a leftover candle from yesterday's birthday cake.. I have suddenly re-fallen in love with tilt-shift photography, but as I don't have a tilt-shift lens I'm trying to make do with quirky angles and f1.8... I may do some freelensing with my old DSLR tomorrow...

Some of you may know I spent some time at Rankin at the end of last year, it was an amazing experience and now I can show you the outcome of one of the projects I assisted on, a Live acoustice performance of Pompeii by Bastille. It was great fun recording this video, the band were amazing to listen to and the set was simple but really cool. I haven't really got this song out of my head since the recording (November), so it is definitely one to watch.

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My final day at Rankin and my final photographs of the London Transport System. 9th/10th November.

Firstly, sorry this blog is up a day late! Didn't get home till pretty late last night, so I decided to give you a quality blog post today.. instead of a very sleepy blog post last night!!

Yesterday was my final day in London, so it was my final chance to photograph the London transport system.. something which I did throughout the whole of my time in the city.. mainly because some days it was the only subject I could really photograph!

Apart from London transport, yesterday was my last day at Rankin! We had an editorial shoot today with a really lovely actress, the set was very simple and we filled the studio with lights to create some very softly lit images... this included using the biggest Octagon softbox I have ever worked with! The shoot was a lot of fun, it was my last opportunity to work as a member of Rankin's tight team... and it was such a pleasure, now that I have got my head round all the equipment, systems and jobs.. I really felt like I could give the assisting role my all! 

After the shoot we had to create a small set for a video interview, this was also another opportunity for me to realise that I have started to understand the whole system at Rankin. I have always been interested in video/film, and I have been able to learn a lot about it whilst I was at Rankin, this has been great as I have gained some new skills that I can apply whenever I do shoot video!

(test shoot)

The day ended by everyone setting down the studio and getting ready for a small shoot that is happening today.

So I left the studio for the last time, clutching a bag filled with some fantastic photobooks by Rankin and I headed to the beautiful Kings Cross Station.. which I have to Instagram every time I'm there, as I love the architecture so much!! 

Many people may think assisting Rankin is going to be quite glamourous and fashionable, I can tell you most definitely that it isn't... you will get covered in paint, your arms will ache, and the days are long.... but you do get to work in a team of the most amazingly talented and motivated people, you get the pleasure of watching an amazing photographer at work, you get to learn brilliant photographic techniques, you get to work with and learn about equipment which is way beyond your budget, and it is an experience any emerging photographer should long for!  

The past two weeks went so quickly, they were packed with photography... from assisting to working on my own projects in central London.

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Ninth day at Rankin... and a few photos of Kentish Town.. and a dog! 8th November.

Took a few photos around Kentish Town today (well, between Kentish Town West station and the Studio!). It's a nice little walk as there are loads of quirky houses which hint towards the fact that you are in the borough of Camden!

It was a very busy day in the studio, we were preparing sets for a portrait shoot and video interview in the morning; so that included a lot of painting (from painting the floors to touching up on the large woorden flats), lighting candles, steaming creases from cloth/linen, and a whole menagerie of other things! Our portrait sitter and interviewer arrived and we all jumped into gear, working as a team to make the interview as effective as possible!! After the interview the portrait sitter went into styling for a few touch ups and everyone prepared for the first set by testing the lighting, finishing the set up, and tidying things up... this process repeated throughout all the sets we used. This shoot was probably one of my favourites, one of the reasons is because it was portraiture (I love a good portrait), another reason is because I've finally started to get my head around all the kit and how a shoot runs... so I think I was quite helpful in my assisting! And another reason is because the photographs from this shoot were AMAZING! 

It didn't just finish at the shoot today, we then had an opening for an Exhibition by Rankin called "Bear Faced". This series is where Rankin photographed women, who are seen by many as beautiful, without any makeup on.... except a small pawprint. This is to raise awareness of a campaign to raise money for children in need.. the campaign encourages women to go without makeup for a day, have a small pawprint on their face, and raise money for the charity through this. The exhibition was great, and there was a great vibe in the gallery as people arrived, viewed the work, and connected with each other.

(Met this dog called Twinkle Toes on the tube today, she was lovely and I had to take a quick snap!).

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Day 8 at Rankin! Graffiti, Canary Warf & a Hi-Vis man. 7th November.

Another super-busy day at the Studio; the morning started with helping to finish off the set for a live music performance - film, the set design was great and really effective (wish I could show you, but you'll have to wait and see when the next issue of HungerTV comes out). The band were amazing, loved listening and watching them perform (sadly you will have to wait again because I can't really tell you who they were). During the recording I watched the camera operators and it was great to see how they worked along with the music (the lighting also went with the music), I am so excited to see the edit.. but I will have to wait till the next issue of HungerTV, it's so long away.. so I am a little bit frustrated about that, haha!

A lot of today was spend in the gallery as the exhibition opens tomorrow evening, it now looks amazing and the photographs are pretty great.. so I'm looking forward to see it in all it's glory tomorrow.

7th day at Rankin, shooting and cleaning! 6th November.

Breaking the trend today as I didn't just take photos of the London transport system, I took a photo of a supermarket too, wahoo! 

Today at Rankin was very busy, we had a shoot in the morning-early afternoon, a shoot in the evening, and then we had to prep for an exhibition which opens on thursday. The morning shoot was amazing, we created a set which filled the whole of the studio, there were two great big backdrops with different coloured skies painted on and then a whole load of plants and props throughout the rest of the set (the props varied throughout the shoot depending on which type of scene we needed to create). It was one of my favourite shoots so far as the lighting set ups were very creative, and this meant that the photographs looked stunning. I was reunited with the reflector again, so I got the best seat in the house for watching Rankin and how he worked with the model and the camera. 

Rankin also has an exhibition that opens on thursday, so all hands were on deck today (well the walls actually), as we had to recover the walls from the last exhibition and then paint them... that may sound easy, but it really wasn't.. and my hands are a little bit sore! But weirdly enough I enjoyed it, I find it easy to enjoy things when I know they are going to create something amazing, having clean walls will create an amazing exhibition.

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Day 5 @ Rankin and London busses. 2nd November.

Hopped on the bus today instead of the DLR to get to the Studio, gave me a completely different perspective of east London to the one which I get from the DLR... might hop on/off the bus tomorrow and get some photos on the street as there were some interesting looking places!

Today was very busy in the Studio, Rankin had two shoots planned... both were female fashion-style shoots, one was in the morning/early afternoon and the other was early-evening. Both shoots required set building, so out came the paint tins (again!), and I became splattered in paint during and in between both shoots!  

The shoots were very different despite the similarity in genre (female fashion), it was interesting to see how Rankin approached each of the shoots in a very different way.. the way he approached the shoot was reflected in the style of the photographs he took. 

The two shoots made the studio an environment which was full of hustle and bustle, the team was really bought together throughout the day and every single member of staff had something to do! The vibe of the day was great!

(the simplest of lighting setups can be used to create amazing photos)

A quick little night photo of a London bus shelter (this photo made me miss my train!! I do like it though, so it's worth it!)

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Day 4 at Rankin & a few night shots! 1st November.

Started off today by being confronted with the rainbow of Colouramas in the cupboard as I had to chop off two pieces for an assistant making props. I then got my painting hands on and painted the large wooden walls which are part of a set for a shoot coming up... I find it amazing how some paint, wooden walls, and a few props can completely transform a white studio into a completely different place.

We had another evening shoot today so the day was spent on set design and preparation for shoots coming up. Late-afternoon was when the test-shoot started; for test shoots we experiment with different lighting situations and composition/poses so that everything is ready for when the shoot starts. 

(test shoot)

It was quite a small set for this evenings shoot, all the assistants/stylists/models packed in around Rankin.. this was a lot different to the other shoots I've been in where we have all been spread out... working so closely in the shoot made it easy to see how everyone has a different role to play and how each role is vital! Tonights shoot was great fun, and once again I was handed the reflector, which was great as I could really watch and listen to how Rankin went about composing the shots and the model. 

Can't believe my first week at Rankin ends tomorrow, it has flown by, I'm really loving it!

So I did go and re-shoot the Station which I snapped on my iPhone, much better now that I've used my Nikon, thinking about doing a short project incorporating these photos during my time in London/possible further.

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Rankin Day 3 & Skater / Stallholder portraits. 31st October.

Today started a lot slower than the previous few, I didn't have to get into the studio till the afternoon due to a shoot in the evening. I decided to utalise my spare time by going into central London. Originally my idea was to spend time at the Skate Park down SouthBank... but it was pretty empty, so I just shot a couple of portraits. I spent some time in Westminster, chatted to a couple of full-time protesters and took photos of stallholders.

I then decided to head towards Camden, it wasn't as vibrant as it can be, but I still got a few interesting shots of the market and town.

When I got into the studio I dived head-first into preparing for the evening's shoot. Out came the hoover to clear the floor, and then came the paint roller to paint the studio floor (It had become very dirty in the past 48 hours!), then we started to set up ready for the shoot. 

The Hunger sign was also completed today by Dom & Jack, two assistants who are currently very involved in the set building/hands on building things! The sign is amazing, and I feel a little bit proud of it as I helped create the sign a little bit.

The shoot in the evening was amazing, we were working with male models.. I rarely work with male models, so it was really interesting to listen to Rankin's directions towards them. I also got involved with the shoot by holding a reflector... I shall be amazing at using a reflector (and no doubt many other things) by the end of these two weeks. 

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Rankin day 2 & a few more shots. 30th October.

Today was day 2 of my time at Rankin.. it was a completely different day to yesterday, a rare chilled day before the storm which is going to hit tomorrow afternoon as we have shoots planned non-stop for the rest of my time at Rankin.

Today included creating some props; I have been working with a lot of lightbulbs for one interesting prop... I also did a tiny bit of plug re-wiring... felt like an electrician for a short while. I also helped paint a whole load of stuff white, the studio is white at the moment, but depending on the shoot the studio/equipment can be painted completely different colours... but today has been relatively easy as the studio is fine in white!! 

It is really great as I have been able to do so many different things in the space of just two days; it shows how working as a photographer or assistant is such a varied job where you need to use so many skills in a wide range of areas. Looking forward to see what the next few days bring.

My journey to the studio takes quite a while, so I have decided to pick up my camera on the way so that I can make the most of this time! I really enjoy my route as it is almost all overground, beats the dark tunnels in central London!

I also love the emptiness that night can bring:

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