As many of you who visit this page frequently perhaps already know we now have a website that is devoted to our Fine Art Nude work @  http://www.yerburygallery.com Here you will find all the information about our work, images available to purchase, workshops, seminars and speaking engagements etc. In addition I will be talking about our Platinum/Palladium images which we are currently working on and much, much more. This site will continue for the time being however we are currently having a new website developed which will showcase our portrait work, seminars and workshops etc. This we hope will go live in time for Focus on Imaging in March where we are delighted to again be speaking on the BOWENS and SWPP stands.

Today’s image’s were made a week ago while we were being filmed by San Francisco film maker Anton Lorimer who jetted across the Atlantic for the session and flew straight back the following day. He has been filming Kevin Kubota in Bends Oregon, for the same project, this week. More on this exciting project later…….. Image made on my Hasselblad with a 150mm lens.

Mac McLaren a veteran who was injured while rescuing a colleague who had been shot while they were on patrol. Mac is now studying photography at college in Paisley.

The past few weeks have been hectic so apologies for the lack of posts. We are working flat out on the Poppy Scotland commission which will go on exhibition first @ Princes Mall – Princes Street – Edinburgh. Images are being printed onto Fotospeed Platinum WT paper. Tonight we have the First Minister to photograph followed  by many more sessions this week and into next. We did have a welcome break in this project with a weeks trip to Malta at the invitation of the MIPP who were celebrating their 15th Anniversary. We held several workshops, judged an number of qualification panels and finally a prints award all of which were announced at their gala dinner a week past Sunday. Back into the UK late last Tuesday with more Poppy Scotland the following day. Sunday we left for Belfast at the invitation of Loxley Colour to give a workshop on Monday at the Dunadry Hotel to 60 NI Photographers. Arrived back late last night after a ‘bumpy’ ride and straight into more sessions for the Charity. Today’s image of Private Paul Lambert is from the series. The information about Paul is taken directly from the Soldier’s Charity website. Image made on a 10×8 Canham with a 360mm lens onto FP4 film stock

Paul, 29, joined the army at 25. He was not given much chance of survival after being blown up by an IED in Afghanistan during an intelligence mission. Paul said he was “near death” and kept alive by his team and medics enroute to surgery. Proving his strength and determination, Paul is now recovering after three months in hospital and working hard to rehabilitate from losing both lower legs, one finger, tissue damage to one arm and severe shrapnel wounds to his internal organs.Paul now uses a wheelchair.  Paul is focusing on his rehabilitation and happily living with his fiancée in their new Edinburgh home.

From a recent test session. Styling, hat design and make-up by Faye.

Our schedule recently has been hectic so apologies for the lack of posts. We have been down to London to give a talk for the London Portrait Group which we thoroughly enjoyed. Then guests of honour for the 150th anniversary of the Edinburgh Photographic Society with an official reception at the Edinburgh City Chambers hosted by the Lord and Lady Provest. More of that later. The 90 Portraits project is gathering pace with some inspiring people photographed. This is a recent image of William Sutherland who served aboard HMS Plymouth in the Falklands Conflict. As with all the images in this project shot on FP4 10×8 film.

Faye and I are honoured to have been commissioned by Poppy Scotland to complete 90 Portraits in 90 Days for the 90^th Anniversary of the Poppy Appeal in Scotland.

This is indeed a monumental task and one which we are privileged to be involved in, not only will we be making portraits of those who have served their country with honour but also those who are directly associated with the appeal and those who offer support and help in a wide variety of ways.

We will be making these portraits using a large format, 10”x8”, film camera similar to the kind of equipment that my grandfather and great grandfather would have used in their work. In fact my early work was all done on a 5”x 4” studio plate camera and in the mid 80”s we began to make a series of portraits with a 10”x8” plate camera using one of my grandfathers lenses. These formed part of an exhibition that ran back in the late 80’s and included portraits of Gian Carlo Menotti and Cardinal Gray.

Now we are back to using a large format camera for our latest project and many have asked why in the age of digital are we using such a traditional technique. Shooting 8×10 is the aspect of it being a mini production. It requires planning, transportation, scouting, set up and then the actual composing and making of the image. This process can be both painful and rewarding and yet we seem to keep coming back to large format. From the subjects point of view there is a huge difference in being photographed by a modern 35mm digital camera and a 10”x8” plate camera on a large tripod. The large format camera makes the sitter aware that they are directly involved in the creation of something of importance and as such they treat the experience with considered reverence and respect that is not afforded to more modern techniques.

This image is the first in the series of 90 Portraits and is of Andy Corbett.You can follow our journey around Scotland on Facebook just look for 90 Portraits

http://www.poppyscotland.org.uk/index.php/homepage/show/home/poppyscotland

Faye and I spent last Thursday photographing some new images for our Contemporary Boudoir Collection in a stunning location situated on the cliffs of Fife overlooking the river Forth. While we were there C asked us if I would mind taking a photograph of  her grand daughter in a white dress that she had worn herself as a child. In fact I think she also said it was worn be her mother as well so a pretty old but beautiful  frock. During a break in shooting our model we set aside 15 minutes to create some images of C’s grand daughter. I already knew where I would take the image so while Faye did some creative hair work I set up the Hasselblad, my old 500CX with  150mm chrome lens and loaded with TMax100. The location was the long bedroom hallway which has the most wonderful light streaming through the floor to ceiling windows which are draped with heavy weight curtains with large tapestry’s on the facing wall. I shot 3 rolls of film here while she posed like a true professional model even managing to hold the pose for the 20th of a second exposures. These are my favourite images from this session but once we returned to the bedroom where C and our model were waiting Faye created a further series of images which she will be posting here and on Facebook. The exposure was 20th of a second @ f4. Processed in TMax developer.

Yesterday we created some images of Chloe one of our favourite models and soon to be teenager. Once again I used my Hasselblad and 150mm lens. TriX film (expired 2007) and TMax developer. A straight scan on the Epson V750 with some retouching and tone added. More film from the session currently drying so will get those scanned and selected later today.

Finally an image of Z our other model for the afternoon session. Once again, and if you were there you saw it for yourselves, one light, one softbox and one camera with a prime lens. Can a portrait be any more simple but effective.