Making of... Sprayway Autumn/Winter 2013 Location Shoots

Sprayway Autumn/Winter 2013: Photo: Tommy Martin

This season was similar to previous shoots for Sprayway that I've written about here, setting out to create lifestyle images featuring next season's range of clothes and equipment. The finished images get used right across Sprayway's marketing materials.

The big difference for this season addition of Sprayway's new Marketing Manager, Thomas Coxon. The plan for this season was use some new faces in front of the camera as well, with one couple featuring in all of the shoots (except the family/kids lines). I had a few models in mind who had been contenders on previous castings. Happily, Thomas and I both picked Nicky Yates and Neil Ovenell as number one choices from the short list. Even better, they both turned out to be be available when we needed them.

The Fear

There's always a lingering fear in the back of my mind when I start on jobs like this; it's the fear that the weather is going be so awful that we just can't any shots. The dread that I'll spend three long days dragging two poor models and one client through a succession of mud baths and hail storms and have absolutely nothing to show. The fear that this season's product launch is going to feature a catalogue that looks like an illustrated Dostoevsky novel. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a bit of bad weather (which is a prerequisite to living in Cumbria), we are shooting winter clothing after all. Bad weather is fine, as long as it brings a bit of drama along with it. Stormy skies make for better pictures than clear blue ones. The nightmare scenario for me is that we get nothing but a flat grey dirge and constant drizzle for the entire shoot. 

Which is exactly how our first day started. I end up taking shots just I've got evidence that light really was that hopeless. And then the skies broke open. At sunset we got exactly the light that I had been seen on a recce two days before the shoot. Which was why I had made a plan to put the models at that spot, at that time. And suddenly I feel like I know what I'm doing again and I'm filled with confidence that this going to be the best shoot so far…

All of which is pretty typical of my relationship with the Cumbrian landscape.

Sun starting to break through above Haweswater

The best of the day; sunset above Haweswater

Thomas Coxon, head Sherpa for the
Sprayway Expedition

Logistics:

This was the first time any of us had worked together, which adds an interesting aspect to any shoot. Thomas hadn't commissioned this kind of shoot before. But he provided a fantastic brief for the shoot, along with very detailed shot lists, so we knew exactly what we needed to get in the can.


He also took on the role of chief Sherpa, hauling the clothing samples.

We used The Haweswater Hotel as a base for the three days shooting planned with Nicky and Neil. It has a fantastic array of scenery right on the doorstep, and somewhere that I've been shooting landscapes for years. I had a plan for each day, based on blind optimism that the weather would be perfectly well behaved, with a fall-back plan for when it wasn't.

In the three days available we got lucky with the weather an unreasonable number of times. But that tends to happen and I'm starting to suspect that maybe all that experience, planning and scouting plays a bigger part than I give it credit for...

Making the Summit; coming out onto High Street, above Haweswater

Thomas locates the only patch of
cell phone reception for 20 miles

Shoot First, Edit Later:

As always, these shots are essentially landscape images, so all of these shots happen with available light. There's a constant trade-off between putting your models a position to make the most of the light falling on them, and getting the right angle on background. It is a hit and miss affair.


In this digital age we don't have to worry about how much film I can carry (or we can afford to process), and I love the freedom we have to try ideas. Some of my favourite shots come from defying convention (and occasionally logic) and experimenting. A process which also results in some of my least favourite shots, but we delete those. As long as no one sees them, they didn't happen.

I've always believed that knowing which shots to deliver and which to bin is a least half of a photographer's job. More so now than ever. 

School's Out..

As ever, we were back to the Sprayway Family for the shots with the kids. These guys are so much fun to work with. I don't know what I'm going to do when they grow out of Sprayway's children's sizes.

This season we had some new ideas for them, including a series of Back to School shots, to tie in with a promo campaign.

Giving the autofocus a run for its' money

Equipment:

Barry the Slug

My kit list doesn't really change very fast and is always pretty minimal. My main camera is still a Nikon D7000. I've had this camera for around a year now and it's showing 30,000 shutter actuations. Still hasn't missed a beat, still hasn't let me down, failed or done anything unexpected. Where you're lugging gear up and down mountains size and weight become a big issue, and the D7000 is pretty much perfect from my point of view. I also love the interface on this camera, the ability to store and recall complete sets of user settings has been a godsend when shooting candid shots on the fly.

My lenses haven't changed in a while either. The 17-55mm f2.8 Nikkor is responsible for 99% of the finished shots. My very old 80-200mm f2.8 is there when I need more reach. I will replace it one day, but only when find something that does the job as well without weighing quite so much. 

On a sad note, this shoot saw the death of my favourite camera bag. My Lowe Pro AW toploader finally let me down. It was actually only the zip that failed, and may well end up getting resurrected. I think twelve years of continuous professional use is pretty good going for a bag. 

Very New Faces.. 

We had some infant gear to shoot this year. Rather conveniently, I happen to have a very photogenic little model to hand... This is my son's first proper days' work in the family business.

You can find more of my Outdoor Lifestlye photography, along side my landscape work, on my portfolio here: tommymartinphotography.com/outdoors/

Rizzle Kicks

Last night I had a chance to see a friend I haven't seen in far too long. He happens to one half of Rizzle Kicks, who were passing through town on tour, so as well as catching up with Jordan, we got to see their fantastic show. It's been a very long time since I last shot a gig, and not why I was there, but I had a camera, the light rig was very cool.. what was I going to do..?

Rose Tremain Book Cover

rose tremain cover, a photo by tommy martin on Flickr.

I've just discovered that Trigger Image have licensed one of my images for use on the cover of Rose Tremain's 'La Casa Della Seta'...

The Explorer's Study

The still life of the Explorer's Study (above) is the first image I've shot for the series that is in the very earliest of stages. It brings together a set of found and inherited props that have been accumulating in my studio over the last couple of years. They all seem to sit remarkably well together, and they seem to suggest an intriguing story... More on this very soon...

The Space Between Rain

When people ask me how I get the kinds of landscape shot that have become my trademark, I always tell them two things; Firstly, you have to enjoying being out there for it own sake, if you get a good shot it's a bonus. Secondly, you always have to carry a camera. Bad weather days often make for the best shooting days.

Last week, in a slight lull between the storms that have been battering us, I was able to get out for a whole days' walking in the mountains. I set out in drizzle, heading up hill into heavier rain, drifting blankets of fog and near zero visibility. I shot nothing for most of the day, struggled to find the path in places and thoroughly enjoyed getting very wet and muddy. It's what the Lake District is all about. And when the clouds broke apart for a few minutes, I was right there, in the middle of it all, with my camera. I ended up with a few fairly interested shots, but just two that really stood out. I probably more excited about these two than any landscapes I've shot in a while. Definitely both contenders for big prints in this years' New Work Show in September.

"Fleeting II" Fleetwith Pike, Buttermere  ©Tommy Martin

"Fleeting I" Fleetwith Pike, Buttermere  ©Tommy Martin

New Workshop Dates

Finally, I've got around to booking some days to teach more workshops... And the first of those dates are Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of May.

Tiny Things

You'll have to excuse the lack of new posts here in recent weeks... Just over a week ago my wife, Katharine, gave birth to our first baby. His name is Edward Charles.

It turns out that babies are actually quite time-consuming little things.. Who knew..?

Normal service will be resumed as soon as we have worked out normal is.

Karl Bowman Runway Show 2012

I was asked to shoot Karl Bowman's 2012 runway show at the weekend. Karl's passion and enthusiasm for his art is infectious and shooting with him is always great fun and it was a shoot that I've been looking forward to.

Karl and his team put a staggering amount of work into the show, not just in creating a collection of more than 57 truly outstanding couture dresses, but also in the whole production and organisation of the night. With so much time and energy going into a single, one-night-only event, there's a lot of pressure on the people documenting it to do a good job. Which is as it should be, and I do get a massive kick from playing some small part in this kind of event.

Fell Day

Last week was the first time I've been able to get out onto the fell for a proper walk in quite a while. No clients, no models, no brief. Just me me and the dogs. And a camera, obviously.

We had fantastic views over Ullswater and some amazing skies over the Helvellyn Range that I spent a happy hour shooting.

Making of.. Sprayway Autumn/Winter 2012 location shoots

I do regular commissioned shoots for outdoor clothing manufacturer Sprayway. Most of what I do for them is pretty simple; we take some models, dressed in the waterproofs, fleeces and baselayers that they'll be selling next year, we take them out into the Lake District and we shoot some pictures of them having some fun. Almost all of which is easier than it sounds.

Photo: ©Tommy Martin 2012  all rights reserved