You would swear it was water...

Just had a fun afternoon with Ollie making smoke signals in the studio. No right or wrong answers just a singed smell of battle and these images.

and on...

we're chokin' here

Faces in the dark

and in yellow

and in blue...

All good fun – who needs wall art??

I appreciate the kindness of the Academy for Contemporary Music for letting me shoot the band. Any future work with them will by subject to their copyright and not available here.

An acoustic opener set the scene

It is always important to have a cool bass player

Allegedly a band lineup - less backing vocals and drums!

...backing vocals and drums

The start of a great floorshow

energy, momentum and great music

can't stop the girl

or the boy

even in their quietest moments they were superb

This is a great band that is only just at the beginning of their cycle. Like a fine wine with good bottom and great potential – ready for drinking now but as for laying down for leter – that is not up to me!

Bridesmaids Lanterns

The Stunning Bouquet

Pretty as a Bridesmaid

A truly happy moment

Tradition

The Mandarin Oriental looked perfect

The Centrepieces were Divine

All on a Midsummer's Eve

Ardour a Deux

Huge thanks to the guys at the Mandarin Oriental. They were the most great people to work with. As photographers we expect little but they welcomed us into their team and considered us in the process of the day. This is such great customer service. NOT about us but about making sure that their customer – the bride – gets the best pictures she can get by helping the photographer. It makes sense because the only memories of the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park are great ones.

The joy I did not feel! But RESPECT - Oh yeah!

This big hairy ginger girl was a superb shooting challenge in just simple terms – get all the legs in, get the eyes in focus – they are the shiny glittering black lump like a cupola in the centre of a very frightening tank.

But I have been very fortunate to take pictures of animals in strange surrounding. I think one of the most fascinating was the snake pit in Harare – it could be occupied by far more venemous creatures today! But at the time – when there was laughter as well as tears, there were also fewer fun detectors as well.

Boomslangs are skinny and very dangerous

So when I turned up and asked if I could actually go down into the snake pit (on my own), there was general laughter and a ladder was provided. In the pit were various snakes in an assorted midday doze.

Puff Adders, like all vipers, are dangerous because they are idle

The occupants, like the Puff Adders and Night Vipers are really only a threat if you accidentally tread on them – an occurrence made more likely by their chronic idleness. Even though they see and feel you coming they don’t get out of the way.

The Cobra, however, was a little bit more alert. I suspect, but may not be right, that the proximity – day on day – of so many other snakes left very little room for the Cobra’s territorial instinct. Otherwise life could have been abit more of an adventure.

Tempted to perform by the swaying of my boot!

Not a scary experience to be honest as I was well clothed. But I had to be careful not to attract attention when I was more vulnerable on the ladder getting out. And then it was time for BIG RESPECT.

The Gaboon Viper is one of the most horrifically scary snakes in the world. Probably up in the Top 5 at least. It is also one of the most beautiful. It has a glorious pattern of gold and purple like the royalty of snakes. The Gaboon Viper is so dangerous because, for starters, it is a Viper which means that it is lazy, sunbathes all day, is beautifully camouflaged and very easy for a naked African foot to tread on – presenting a ripe and luscious ankle to sink the fangs into.

slowmoving-quickdeath

The Fangs are, in many cases, amongst the longest in the snake world at about 3-4 cms. These together with the broad flat head containing huge poison sacs mean that when this beauty bites you, it injects a colossal amount of cytotoxin into the tissue. In theory, this will cause massive necrosis and result in serious amputations at best. However,  even Joe 90 is not going to get to you fast enough. You have about 20 mins max. Just about enough time to clean up the mess you made when it bit you.

But there are other cold-blooded animals in Zimbabwe other than Mugabe. Crocs are farmed for their attractive natures – no, their hides actually!

Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Versace bask in the sun

They are bred like we breed chicken or cattle, from babies who look cute and bite hard on the hand that feeds them – mostly tourists.

A Croc is Just for Christmas

They are are then carefully slaughtered and skinned whilst the very edible meat is used in some cases by the fancy restaurants that sell exotic game foods – slight trade description issue really.

I came across this Lion doing what all male lions do best – which is largely bugger all. He just

Chiarscuro Panthera Leo

ignored us – quite rightly and fortunately, as we were in an open top landrover. We had just comeback from an 8 hour ride through the bush on horseback. White rhino at 30 yards are scary even if they are being docile, when you are on the back of a horse for the first time in ten years.

Anyway, I took this and most of these images on film stock acquired in odd parts of the planet. This was a roll (like the last piece of loo or cigarette paper), that I found on the top shelf in a store in Harare. It had been out of date for 5 years and lying in the sun – but needs must when the devil drives. I got the images. The colour was awful but I got the images and as you know – nothing else matters!

So twenty years later when I scanned them in and played with what I had, the quality or lack of it made me reduce it to simple litho type tones and all of a sudden I could see what you cannot see if you can see colour – did you follow that?  In other words this is what an animal sees – patterns of shade. Even in broad daylight, a branch can dapple an huge predator and the leaves on their moving branches mottle him in safety whilst he sleeps.

And whilst he sleeps the dung beetle rolls home his nursery and bar.

Start off as you mean to go on. Kids!

And just to show that fecundity will spring up as often as two are brought together – meet the Zedonk. This is a real Zedonk. It’s parents had open minds and animal drives. If you were ever curious – this is it.

Neither one thing nor another. Not good in Africa!

And just for final Southern African before moving to North and West. I have no idea what type of bird this is other than a purple one.

Purple Bird

Please do not feel the need to use part of your valuable time on this planet finding out for me as I just do not care.

The Ghost Crabs are a more attractive relative of the big blue land crabs that you get in Central America – you know – the stupid, stupid, stupid crabs that stand in the road about six inches high and think they are harder than a Chevrolet. They do not last  as long either but smell very bad on your tires as the sun warms up.

delicate crap eaters

Ghost crabs emerge at night to flood the beaches in the Gambia, leading many to believe, as one friend told me after his return, that he had bought much stronger cigarettes than he had planned. Happily they remain shy and quickly sense movement and return to their burrows.

The only really strong animal picture I have taken is this picture of a Pelican in Belize. It lacks detail and loads of other things but I waited for ages, I spotted my moment and I grabbed a perfectly planned symmetrical moment from the bird.

I should be shooting wildlife!

The sand-fly bites, the sunburn, the thirst and the rest of that stuff were all worth it. Finally to sign off – here are a couple of Shags. The first is from the Cayes in Belize as the sun set on my visit.

Dinner Time

The second is at the southern most tip of South Africa as the birds settle in their own guano on the last Hard Rock cafe before the ice sets in. The Cape of Good Hope ends here.

Shag Rock

I guess that is it for now. Thanks for coming on this little treck of animal pictures – it took me back a few decades – shall I echo Yerbury and lust after Film again – probably not. Ciao. TWH.

All you need is Love

We remain firmly on the outside of any form of political judgement, social comment or ’sympathetic’ pigeon-holing. We are human, we have a sense of humour, we value kindness and we share the joy. there is not much more to say other than – Come and talk to us about your celebrations either now on 01483 423209 or at the Gay Wedding Show in Brighton on the 15th of November.

In my humble opinion, this is, allegedy, the best quality wedding photography that you can get at this price anywhere in the world.

To support the gossip and feverish whispering that this extraordinary offer will create, we have taken an advert in WOW Weddings Forever Magazine. The magazine is exclusive to John Lewis, Peter Jones, WOW Wedding shows and all Registry Offices and in Supermarkets, Forever Magazine brings brides up to date immediately with everything that takes the stress from the big day. We are so well placed to save Bride’s money without them compromising on standards. You can go for it or you can have great pictures now on a disc and have an album made when you can affordthe perfect one for you. We believe, that by giving you this flexibility, you can have your cake and eat it!

Much more later….

Fran and a Kangaroo

He has been the owner and driving force behind Blue Dot Display for the last ten. They were based in Kingston and now are based next door to me in Hurtmore. The new owners, Zara and Adrian Decandole are very nice people and I recommend them to you. Greg, Ash and Dan all remain as ever!

Not a great picture but a great portrait

I will miss Fran and his family. Fran has been inspirational in believing in the photography and in driving me to get sales. He is a naughty, irreverant and charming man who tells tasteless jokes and always helps out a friend in need.

The Moneyspinner and Apprentice

I am looking forward to visiting them in NZ. In the meantime we found a last minute gap to shoot some family pics. I hope you like them and consider that they represent the great people they are. Skype Videocalls -  here we come…

I often drifted back towards the portrait where i know I make sense

I have been interested for many years in addressing some form ideas I have had for taking images of the naked female form. It was inspired by images I fell in love with 30 years ago by Edward Western of Sweet Peppers. The smooth contours and non-geometric shapes that contrast with everything that we humans bring to the world. To learn a bit about the trade I was lucky enough to be accepted on to a one day seminar with Trevor and Faye Yerbury – legends, heroes and all round nice people. If you did  not know – they are the most famous classic nude photographers functional in UK today.

Very un-Yerbury but very Wild Highlander. Enjoyed this.

Edinburgh-based, they have a meeting of minds that gives comfort where ever they go. Trevor is a multi-award winning, fourth generation photographer and Faye is a creative force who has won her own photographic credentials as well as lecturing on hair styling and make up. They have been shooting fine art editions of nudes for over 30 years and have their work in galleries and private collections around the world. So who better to introduce one to the …so not …very simple art of the classic female form.

Sometimes when the pack won't let you in, you thrive on a unique perspective

Female form is a part of all our visual heritage in the West. From middle european objects of strength to west european objects of beauty – who knows where it will develop next.

Photography has certainly led the vanguard in presenting  an equality in form as a social norm. Mapplethorpe might have been shocked yet delighted, to see how main stream he has become. But we are not setting out to shock here – just to share…

I can see this in Oil in the late 19th centuary

We met at the Travelodge on a cool and windy Tuesday and drove to Maunsel House, a popular location for the Yerbury Education programme. I have to say – a perfect venue – It feels at once homely and exotic. The house is like one large film set with character built into every nook and cranny. Even the courtyard with its tatty brickwork, old slumping coach house and myriad flittering white doves all screams ‘FILM SET’ at the top of quiet country lungs.

Scarf

We were a small group of strangers and to be honest, we largely stayed that way. Some beginners, some not so. One girl – whose name I forget as usual – had won her place in a national competition. Trevor did not tell us until the very end. He thought it would put her under pressure.

I have to say that she was modest and did not mention her win – but I also have to say that I was lucky enough to be in the same mini-group as her in the afternoon and I was very impressed. She just had a gentle knack of working with the girls that was focused and determined. She hardly wasted a shot and created some poses of note.

Just on Edge

I mention this as I have to confess I was struggling.

There is something of a suspension of disbelief required for this type of photography – not as a viewer but as a photographer. T

he girls were amazing and  are professional and fun – beyond embarrassment. It is just that this stupid thought kept popping into my mind – why?  It just does not compute (you can see that I am obviously I am an artist mired in logic!).  Why would a person stand naked against a tree or in an empty hallway?

An Ivy Corner

It is kind of counter intuitive to suggest that it is erotic as there is little erotic about it for any of the parties concerned either in the making or the wiewing.

It rarely acts as a frozen moment full of clues to some fascinating, erudite or saucy story. It is just what it is.

And that makes it slightly confusing. For many of us art is a triumph of our abilities to explain our belief and our talent over our self-belief.

Visual Form, of itself,  is often a tantalising race against understanding – a shape ,or part thereof, that reveals eventually (depending on your individual visual prowess), the underlying nature of the object. At its very best it manages this whilst removing obvious signposts. But this medium does not even do that…

More of a Yerbury - in my humble opinion

So I found myself without any of my common markers and none of the bricks and mortar I use to compose,  struggling with the bones of Nude FineArt : Tree, Girl, Camera – Shocked looking postman driving past – No idea of direction and a conundrum of purpose.

How many ways do I ask her to wrap herself around, over, under , around, through, around, up, beside, along this tree before we both get bored or submit to chatting and not shooting.

It is not that I don’t know what to ask her to do next. It is because I don’t know why I am asking at all!

Inspired by a great Kate Moss image

So ( and despite these unvoiced anxieties – is it possible that I think too much), we started shooting and no-one could have been more un-judgmental and kind than Trevor and Faye.

But some things remain the same. If you have been in a scrum of photographers on a course you will know that there is always some selfish twat who takes the obvious prime spot and sits there clicking away until all the poses have finished.  We had one of those but annoyingly he was not a twat. He was a charming Irish press guy who just naturally moved to prime every time. It was in his blood. So apart from a few snipes about road hogs I left well alone. It was not deliberate.

run me a bath...

We had great weather, shot inside and out and had a light but sufficient lunch before the afternoon challenge which brought all my personal issues to a head. Choose your own location for a shoot.

Now if you are remotely indecisive you will find Maunsel House a nightmare. Me – I could not make my mind up until doomsday so I was on the back foot here.

However, my take away from this session was keep it simple – so simple you don’t even know why.

I tried to make a little story, adding a smidgeon of sauce and a hint of derringdo by setting up the natural light bath shot. You know – the old stumbled across a willing chambermaid  and could not resist her wiles, type of fantasy. It worked ok but I was now straying from the path and it does not look like a fine art nude – it looks saucy and edwardian – more titillating and personal.

The Arbour

So we went outside for the second half of our ‘find  a location’ task and found myself in Hell.

What do I do now.I am in the Arbour and I can only see real life in my head. I cannot see the image at all.

I can see this as a great area for potting bulbs, of standing outside with a pal lucky enough to still smoke while he drags the rough edges away from his life and lets nicotine keep him from floating too close to reality. But why would a girl stand here nude?

So I finally realised by what a huge margin I had missed the point. This is not about life, it is about pure form.

Life loses its meaning and reduces to form.

The Fine Art Nude photography is simply taking one of the most atavistic examples of natural and desirable form. A form that contrasts comfort, succour and purpose with the randomness, angularity and hardness of structure and environment.

Probably my favourite

Ulorin Vex knows that. She put body and soul into creating this image. In this last shot I was just the recorder. She created the pose, she held the pose. I just pottered about until I could make sense of it.

If you are thinking about going on one of Trevor and Faye’s courses I recommend it. You will learn alot and their skill is letting you learn from yourself as much as from them. It is a fascinating way to learn and I am greateful for the experience.

Flower Biscuits by Planet Cake

So, unable to contain my excitement and needing to keep some promises about our launch date, we agreed to go live, knowing we had about 10% left to do. I emailed about twenty of my friends to check out the new site  at www.thewildhighlander.com asking for feedback. You  just do not expect a reply to that question… just the usual ‘jolly nice, off you go…’

I have been astonished with the care of your responses. From details on the site code, the site behaviour on different browsers, the layout, the bad english, the quality of the offering, you have really done me proud. I have allowed a week to get in control of the content management system from my end, to draft more of the details, take more product stock images and generally tighten things up but now that we have all your ideas and observations, it makes it much easier.

Obviously our most direct analyst has been my sales and marketing director who remains convinced that I shall be sectioned if I continue to unload the excess of truth I have obviously been sharing. I think by the second week of solid work and an all nighter,  I was a bit like Bill Murray in Stripes. As a good friend of mine says – dont publish until you have slept on it – what is sleep?  Expect a much more ‘approachable’ set of copy by the end of next week.

Our thanks to everyone who has given feedback and to anyone who still would like to contribute. All gratefully and now humbly accepted.

Keep in touch

Ross