Blog

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. More images from Kevin’s recent trip to USA, this time when he stumbled across a Street Car and Hot Rod Cruise in the strip/drag that is Pigeon Forge.

The streets were lined with Americans in festival chairs, watching the amazing cars cruise by, 6 lanes of traffic and most of it was a vintage muscle car or Hot Rod. Unfortunately for the spectators the sky let rip the most intense thunderstorm, with forked lighting and torrential rain- which cleared the sidewalks in minutes. However when the rain cleared up around 2am it made for perfect conditions to push some 400 film to 1600, and get some punchy, high contrast rain reflection and chrome based shots. Shot on a handheld Mamiya 7 with some guessed metering the exposures are a bit hit and miss but the feel of the images seems to be right.


Then came the rain…….






Lower Ninth Ward- New Orelans

It has been five years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. One of the most severely damaged areas was the Lower Ninth Ward a traditionally poor and disadvantaged part of the city. Much of New Orleans has been rebuilt, and the tourists have returned in force, the Lower Ninth Ward though still shows only pockets of re-development and investment, and less than a quarter of the community have returned.

Kevin visited this neighbourhood last week and we will be showing some of the images here in the blog. For the minute, here are some scans of the prints just to give you an idea of what he documented. What remains now is a very strange mix of empty plots, abandoned houses for sale, churches and new developments often all within the same single block. There is also a link below the images to some BBC footage filmed this August, almost 5 years to the day that the Hurricane hit.






There will be more to follow when the negatives have been scanned.
BBC short report

Only two spaces left on the Portraiture Course

We are really excited about this course which starts next Wednesday evening and runs for three consecutive weeks. What’s important to us is that we keep the groups really small so you get a lot of individual help and attention, so you get the most you can out of your time with us. For full details of the course check out our recent blog or go to our ‘courses’ page.

For more information email us now.

One Creative Photography Course place has become available

Due to a last minute cancellation, we now have a space for one more lucky person on the previously sold out Creative Photography Course. This is deservedly one of our most popular and long running courses aimed at giving inspiration and a good foundation of knowledge to all those who want to find their individual voice and style as a photographer.

Each week you will look at the work of key photographers, learning how to use their work to inform and develop your own style and ideas. You will also look at the fundamental practical elements of creating a good photograph including aperture,shutter speed,metering,and composition & subject. Every other week projects are also set to complete between sessions, that will be discussed in group critiques.

The course is taught by Garage Studios two founders and inspirational in house photographers Kevin Mason and Matthew Halls. It runs for 8 consecutive Thursday evenings beginning this Thursday (23rd September) and costs £285

If you have previously enquired about a place but missed the last spot, or if you have just discovered us and would like to book on, then call or email us now. before someone else snaps it up!

Portraiture Course

Have you ever stood in front of an image at a gallery or opened up a magazine and spent minutes (or hours) just staring at the face of someone you have never met. Something about the expression, the light, the mood that catches you completely off guard and fascinates you….. How can we go about creating a portrait like this that has the power to hold the viewer and stop them in their tracks?

Richard Avedon

Starting on 29th September and running for 3 consecutive Wednesday evenings, our Portraiture course will examine the key principles involved in portraiture, looking at the work of key photographers such as Richard Avedon and Nadav Kander, whose unique styles are used to create captivating and arresting images. The course not only covers the style and methods of well known photographers such as these, but progresses to guided shooting sessions in the studio where you will learn how to recreate these and other typical lighting techniques.
Importantly, you will also learn how to engage and interact with your subject discovering ways to get the most out of them and your image.

The course is taught by Kevin Mason who has a wealth of experience in shoot portraits for the fashion and magazine industries, and Natasha Alipour-Faridani our expert in lighting, who has shot for many band promotional images and headshots.

This is a very hands on course, with an emphasis on your individual progression and development. There will be focus not only on helping you understand your individual camera, but also in cultivating your style and voice as a photographer.

The cost of the course is only £155 for the three weeks, including all models and equipment. All you need to bring is your eagerness to learn and your camera.

If you would like more information, or if you would like to book on the course , call us at the studio or email us now.

Creative Course is nearly full…

The ever popular creative photography course has only one space left!

This is an eight week course starting on Thursday 23rd September and running each consecutive Thursday from 7.30-9.30pm. The cost of the course is £285

The course is aimed at giving inspiration and a good foundation of knowledge to all those who want to find their individual voice and style as a photographer.

Each week you will look at the work of key photographers, learning how to use their work to inform and develop your own style and ideas. You will also look at the fundamental practical elements of creating a good photograph including aperture,shutter speed,metering,and composition & subject. Every other week projects are also set to complete between sessions, that will be discussed in group critiques.

This is a fantastic course, taught by Garage Studios fabulous founders and photographers Kevin Mason and Matthew Halls.

If you are interested in booking on to this course call us at the studio on 01273609669 or email us now.

New Date For Photographers' Assistant Course

The next course dates for the Photographers’ Assistant course will be 16th October. Bookings are now being taken so please give us a call or email us now.

Single day course
£35

Are you a recent graduate? Or currently on a photography degree course? Do you need more studio experience or are you looking to get assisting work but don’t know how to set up a 2 point light set-up? Maybe its time you took the Garage Studios Assisting course. This course is strictly for college/university students or very recent graduates.

This is a one-day course split into two parts: Part one will focus on the role of being a photographer’s assistant and introduce you to studio equipment and everything you will find yourself needing when working on a shoot; while part two focuses on how to use studio lighting and a basic introduction to setting up lights and light metering.

The course will be taught by Kevin Mason’s lighting assistant Natasha Alipour-Faridani. Natasha graduated in 2006 with a degree in photography from Brighton University and since then has been assisting and working as a commercial photographer. She has been an assistant at Garage Studios since the studio was founded in 2008 and prior to that has assisted on a variety of photo shoots, as well as on film sets and music videos, with some of the best cinematographers and photographers in the industry.

We have aimed to keep the course low cost but informative; preparing you for everything you will need to enter the world of assisting.

Part One:

- Introduction to Natasha’s experience as an assistant
- What a photographer seeks in an assistant
- Introduction to studio equipment
- A break down on studio lights and modifiers

Part Two:

- Setting up a studio light
- Light metering
- In depth explanation of the different qualities of the lights and the modifiers used for each
- A break down of lighting jargon
- Conclude with a basic lighting set up for a portrait
- Image storage

You don’t need to have any experience of studio lights to do this course although it is for recent graduates and college leavers only.

We can have a maximum of 15 people on each session and the full cost will be £35

To book your place or to find out more information click here to get in contact with us.

New Date For Photographers’ Assistant Course

The next course dates for the Photographers’ Assistant course will be 16th October. Bookings are now being taken so please give us a call or email us now.

Single day course
£35

Are you a recent graduate? Or currently on a photography degree course? Do you need more studio experience or are you looking to get assisting work but don’t know how to set up a 2 point light set-up? Maybe its time you took the Garage Studios Assisting course. This course is strictly for college/university students or very recent graduates.

This is a one-day course split into two parts: Part one will focus on the role of being a photographer’s assistant and introduce you to studio equipment and everything you will find yourself needing when working on a shoot; while part two focuses on how to use studio lighting and a basic introduction to setting up lights and light metering.

The course will be taught by Kevin Mason’s lighting assistant Natasha Alipour-Faridani. Natasha graduated in 2006 with a degree in photography from Brighton University and since then has been assisting and working as a commercial photographer. She has been an assistant at Garage Studios since the studio was founded in 2008 and prior to that has assisted on a variety of photo shoots, as well as on film sets and music videos, with some of the best cinematographers and photographers in the industry.

We have aimed to keep the course low cost but informative; preparing you for everything you will need to enter the world of assisting.

Part One:

- Introduction to Natasha’s experience as an assistant
- What a photographer seeks in an assistant
- Introduction to studio equipment
- A break down on studio lights and modifiers

Part Two:

- Setting up a studio light
- Light metering
- In depth explanation of the different qualities of the lights and the modifiers used for each
- A break down of lighting jargon
- Conclude with a basic lighting set up for a portrait
- Image storage

You don’t need to have any experience of studio lights to do this course although it is for recent graduates and college leavers only.

We can have a maximum of 15 people on each session and the full cost will be £35

To book your place or to find out more information click here to get in contact with us.

Matt and Kev are on annual leave…the girls are in charge

Kevin and Matt are taking their annual leave, and after August being the busiest month we have ever had its much needed. We have completed some fantastic jobs in the past month, from corporate work to advertising and some great Fashion shoots as well- we unfortunately can’t show you any of these images yet- but you will see them around in the next few months.

So as a break Kevin is off to Virginia and Kentucky to cruise around in a convertible and shoot some portraits, he will be returning on 22nd September, in time to teach the new Creative Course on the 23rd Sept- we still have 2 places left.

Matt will be returning on the Monday the 20th

In the meantime we have Beth, Natasha and our intern from Germany Markus in the studio, so don’t fear business will continue as normal, and as these three all have more photography qualifications then the founders of Garage you’ll be in safe hands. So whatever your photography requirement please get in touch either at or

We’ll see you when we return….

Oh and our two year anniversary kind of passed us by, we had planned some kind of celebration but a huge amount of work got in the way- but a big big thanks to everyone that has worked with us, or used our facilities, attended any of our courses, talks or exhibitions.

Garage Studios do wedding photography…..

We get asked a lot to shoot Weddings, but as you’ll see from our site we don’t shoot weddings, we can recommend a few Brighton Photographers but its not really something we do…. unless of course you have a really special idea, or fantastic service in mind. So last weekend we found ourselves sleeping in a Teepee on a boutique campsite in the heart of the Sussex countryside. The bride and groom Danny and Kim are a fantastic couple. They wanted us to shoot film and large format Polaroids, and as they had a beautiful setting, with an amazing amount of care and dedication going into their day we just couldn’t say no to them on this occasion. You can see a few of the images below- two truly unique people, who made us incredibly proud to be their with them. You may also notice that Danny is the owner and author for PulpPress who Natasha and Kevin shot promo pictures for some months ago. A truly brilliant day was had by all…..