Nick Clegg

One of my clients Chirton Engineering contacted me to ask if I could pop in today and take some images of a very important visitor today. When I asked who it was they said they could not tell me for security reasons and that they were not sure themselves. I turned up this morning and was told by Chirton and the security team present that it was as I suspected the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who was visiting. The image below is a candid shot that I took before the corporate images that I produced for the company.

I have been struggling recently to find a balance between my day job and my commercial photography. Whilst I have been so busy that I have lost 2 stone in weight in the last 3 months I have failed to create imagery that makes me happy and reminds me why i picked up a camera in the first place. This is on reason for the lack of blog posts recently. I do however have some really interesting shoots lined up which should get me back on track

www.anthonydorman.com

The Eyes Have It

In a pretty awful week I did see this and it made me smile. I love it when you see a little piece of stupidity in an unexpected place.

www.anthonydorman.com

http://twitter.com/#!/AnthonyDorman

New York the City of Dreams

The date 9/11 will be remembered for generations to come as a pivotal moment that changed the shape of modern history for many reasons. The tragic events of that day will be remembered by people across the world, everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing that day. I can't imagine the fear and panic that must have swept America and in particular the greatest city on Earth New York. I first visited NYC in January 2008 and then again in 2009, to this day it is still the most memorable and fantastic place I have visited. I am saddened that I never saw the World Trade Center, to me they symbolised the sheer magnificence and vision of a city and country built on the dreams of pioneers where greatness is possible to anyone.

For me New York is a city for dreamers and visionaries, its beautiful and bold and a melting pot of people from across the globe. On a day when many Americans will be mourning I would like to share some images that I hope show the magnificence and scale of the city. These are not great images, they are images that every tourist and visitor to the city have taken.







My heart goes out to the people who lost their lives and the loved ones left behind. If my brief time spent in New York showed me anything it is that its good to dream and believe the impossible is possible. I hope that many people directly affected by the tragedy will remember the past and at the same time look to the future. People and places are never forgotten as long as you pass on their history and celebrate their achievements. I hope that someday in the future I will be taking photos from the top of The Freedom Tower.

For the the 2996 people who lost their lives on 9/11    R.I.P

The Kindness of Strangers (Helsinki Bus Station Theory)

Every now and then I am amazed by the kindness of strangers, when someone helps you or takes the time to give you great advice for no other reason than basic human decency. Although generally happy with my photographic progress I do have the occasional wobble. This week was a wobble week! I mentioned this in my flickr posting of the image below.

See this image on flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16059306@N08/6098242806/in/photostream

Within hours of posting this image on flickr it became an Explore image which means flickr deem it worthy of mention. This like my other Explore images is not what I think is representative of my better images but what others think. Naturally I am happy to have some Explore images but I was happier to recieve some great comments and advice from some flickr contacts and non-contacts alike. One of my flickr contacts James Drury kindly sent me this great post Helsinki Bus Station Theory that all photographers should read especially those having wobbles like me. I have many great contacts on flickr who always pop up with helpful comments and emails, this link was probably one of the best.

www.anthonydorman.com

http://twitter.com/#!/anthonydorman

The Waiting Room

Do you sometimes feel that you are just waiting for something in your life to happen? I think most people feel like that. We spend so much time trying to get to where we want to be that we fail to see what is happening around us. I have been waiting for someone to notice my photos and give me the break I need to make a career out of something I truly love.

See this image on my flickr stream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16059306@N08/

Recently I was contacted by a company who found my photos on my flickr page and they commissioned me to take some images. This image is not one of those images but for some reason I felt it summed up how I have been feeling - a solitary faceless figure waiting for for something to happen.

www.anthonydorman.com

http://twitter.com/#!/anthonydorman

Big River Films

A Few months ago I spent two days shooting images whilst local company Big River Films were filming a music video. My role was to shoot some candid and posed images that could be used for the launch and PR behind the video. The second day of filming was on location at Marsden Bay in South Shields and in typical British summer style it rained nearly all day! This did not stop Alastair and Richard of Big River Films shoot a video that has been massively popular and has attracted the attention of the local TV news and press. One of the things that impressed me about Alastair and Richard was how they adapted to the conditions and requirements of the shoot.

It was great to meet two other Northumbria University graduates who were not only great guys but also passionate about what they do. I am pretty sure that even further success and acclaim await them and their company in the not too distant future.

I was commissioned last week to take some naturally lit portraits of the a selection of people with business's in my area. Although I had a certain group of people to capture I phoned the guys who's editing suite is only 5 minutes away from my home and the area in question. I felt that their business was so different and interesting that they would be ideal to change up the mix and maybe spread the word also about what they do. The couple of beers and the chat about all things cameras and movies was a great way to end a busy and stressful day.

Check out the Big River Films website here;

http://bigriverfilms.co.uk/

www.anthonydorman.com

I Tweet! http://twitter.com/#!/AnthonyDorman



Into Vintage

I have been massively busy over the last few weeks and have neglected my blog which makes me feel awful. So here I am back again and posting about one of my recent shoots for Into Vintage a retro/vintage clothing company based in Dalbeattie, Scotland. My brief was to shoot a selection of images for the company's new website and social networking pages.

The shoot was to take place outside on location in Dalbeattie and in true British form it chucked it down with rain and heavy drizzle all day. This was however not going to prevent a Geordie and four Scottish lasses from getting the images needed.

To bring more colour into a very drab day I warmed up the colour temperature of the images before cross processing them with a more vintage feel. I also shot at f2.8 with just a touch of high speed fill flash to reduce the depth of field and eradicate any rain or at least freeze it and remove it in the edit.

After being so busy with non photography based things recently it was lovely to shoot some fantastic models in some great clothing. Although I profess to know nothing about fashion I do feel more comfortable photographing people than any other subject. I think sometimes it's both interesting and informative to shoot something you feel comfortable (people) in a style out of your comfort zone (fashion).

For more information about Into Vintage please check out these links below;

https://marketplace.asos.com/boutique/into-vintage

http://intovintage.blogspot.com/2011/08/this-weekend.html

https://www.facebook.com/#!/intovintage?sk=wall

http://twitter.com/#!/Into_Vintage

I will be posting on a more regular basis now that my life seems to be more settled and time is on my side. I will be posting about my experiences with some recent press photos, issues with photo credits and why you should never work for free unless you get a credit or link that benefits your business as a working photographer.

I also tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/AnthonyDorman





The Colour And The Shape

I love cinematic photographs and I have been searching for a very specific type of image processing to use on some of my low light night portraits. After a fantastic email from one of my flickr contacts detailing a process which he uses I decided to use it on some images I took a few months ago. I'm really happy with the results.

View this image here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

View this image here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

View this image here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

I am going to embark on a number of portraits taken at night in Newcastle using this processing technique, watch this space.

www.anthonydorman.com

http://twitter.com/#!/AnthonyDorman

Once Upon A Time In The West.......Midlands!

I have not posted for the last week as I have been on a little holiday break to Shropshire with my girlfriend Rachael. We were visiting Rachael's Nan Betty as it was her annual garden party, this year with a wild west theme. I knew that I wanted to take some quite specific images using external flash. I wanted to use as much flash as possible to create a strong contrast and large depth of field to the photos. This is something quite different for me as I usually shoot with a large aperture f1.8 to f2.8 to achieve a very shallow depth of field.

View this image here on my flickr page © Anthony Dorman

I was keen to re-create the old wild west images created with massive powder flash so I set up one of my studio heads with a shoot through umbrella on full power to the camera left. I did all this thinking that I would convert the colour RAW files to sepia tones. I did however like the colour images once tweaked in photoshop and was in two minds about which to use. I made the slide show video below for a laugh and as a way of saying thanks to everyone who had their photo taken.

Here is a selection of some of the sepia images featuring a variety of the misfits, outlaws, vagabonds and harlots ha ha.

The last image is of me (yup I know I look stupid) and my girlfriend Rachael who made my weekend/ year by agreeing to marry me this time next year as part of Betty's 2012 family party celebrations. Now that we are saving for the wedding I am available to shoot party's, family get togethers (no matter how silly) and all sorts of other events. I can be contacted via my website below.

www.anthonydorman.com

http://twitter.com/#!/AnthonyDorman

More 100 Strangers (The Art of Persuassion?)

Due to a mixture of circumstances I have been unable to update my blog and indeed shoot as much as I would like to. When I don't post I feel guilty and when I don't shoot I feel sad. I had a chance last week to get out with my camera with the specific intention to continue my 100 Strangers Project which I started over a year ago. After an initial flurry of shots (a number of them I'm not too happy with) I have really slowed down.

59/100 '100 Strangers' see it here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

The shot above was taken on the Metro which is train/underground system which connects most of the more populated areas of North Tyneside. I had been sitting opposite this guy watching him looking out of the window. The light was illuminating his reflection in the window and I knew I wanted him in my project. With only about 30 seconds to spare before my stop I plucked up the courage to ask him if I could take his portrait. Although slightly bemused by the request he agreed to be in my project. I realised that I had persuaded a complete stranger to not only take part in the project but also take direction all in the space of 10/15 seconds. I showed him the image on my camera to which he said 'let me know if I'm going to be famous' It is bizarre but I have heard this before.

My stranger featured below caused a bit of a spike in my flickr photostream stats, as she featured on Explore. I was on the lookout for strangers when I saw her sitting with a friend near Monument. She really stood out form the crowd with her fantastic vibrant colours and fantastic smile. It took me a while to pluck up the courage to ask her which is weird considering I took 1000 street portraits in 1 day back in March.

60/100 '100 Strangers' see it here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

I asked her if I could take her photograph, which she agreed to and I cheekily walked her and her friend into a more shaded area as the light was very severe that day. Like my metro stranger I was amazed who accommodating people can be once they have agreed to have their portrait taken. I was once told there is a famous quote about how being a photographer is the only profession where you are universally obeyed! I'm not too sure about that, I think there is some truth in it but I also think I managed to find two nice people. I am amazed that I get very few rejections for my 100 strangers project. I find the project helps me see good in people, I have been of late becoming very jaded and cynical about the general public. Having spent the last few years selling my soul doing something I hated as a job I have wanted to distance myself form the general public. Perhaps I have somehow manage to sell myself as someone without an agenda. I'm not selling anything, there is no money required just 2 minutes of your time - sometimes only a few seconds. I always try and capture the best or at least something interesting about the people I choose to photograph. I won't include someone I really don't like, perhaps I am subconsciously choosing people I think I would like.

I posted my 60/100 on my flickr pages and was contacted by my mate and photographer Chris Harrison whom I have posted about earlier in this blog. He had taken this lady's portrait in Northside Tattooz as she is a customer of Low who I have also featured on this blog. Talk about small world!!!!! Here is Chris Harrison's portrait for his Elvis Baby series: http://grimeandglamour.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/margo/

www.anthonydorman.com

now tweeting: http://twitter.com/#!/AnthonyDorman