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Portraiture Course: Only 2 places left

The second Garage Studios Portraiture course starts on 9th Feb and we can’t wait.

The first ever Portraiture course came into being last September as a response to the comments our Garage tutors have been hearing from students for years about the trails and tribulations of effectively photographing people. There is a strange dynamic between photographer and subject, which to most people can be more than a little intimidating at first. To begin with there’s the difficulty of how to become involved in a portrait, (already having strong ideas about how you want the image to look, and with preconceptions about your subject), and that’s even before you’ve started to consider the technical complexities of lighting and even how to capture the spirit and essence of your subject in a truthful and arresting way.

The course centers firmly on this difficult dynamic, learning ways to explore and quickly build a relationship between photographer and subject. In each session students study the work of a key photographer such as Richard Avedon or Nadav Kander, who utilise their distinctive style to make their mark on their images, exploring their style and the methods they employ to do this. This progresses to guided shooting sessions in the studio, where students re-create these studio lighting techniques and other typical lighting designs.

To see past students work on week two of the course click on this link The course has 2 places left and costs £155

If you would like more information about this course, or to book your place email, or call on

Latex Series #2 Lydia

Part 2 of the ongoing series of work in Latex by Kevin Mason. Cast of Lydia made by Mary Pryce and Zoe Baker, painstakingly applied in front of a gas heater. More to come in this series.

The left shows the layers built up, and the right image is the latex turned in on itself, a detail shot will appear as part of this series very soon.

IMPROVE YOUR LIGHTING

Have you ever looked through your photos and wondered why there is a strange black line running through what should be a perfectly lit scene? Do your subjects glow with an unearthly light and leave the rest of your image hiding in the dark? If this sounds like you then help is at hand…..

Flash: Improve Your Lighting is running as a full day course this weekend on Saturday 29th January, and there is still a space available.

This fantastic hands on course will help you understand how to light with flash in any situation, furnishing you with the skills to create beautifully lit images every time. Whether you want to learn more about correct exposure, working with off camera flash, how to balance artificial and ambient light, you’ll leave feeling confident with your equipment with a new found flare for lighting techniques.

For more information or to book your place email or call

Artwork Reproduction Day

If you are an illustrator, painter, Architecture student, or work in a media that requires flatshot files then we are offering a special offer on reproductions. On Tuesday 1st Feb, we will have a day dedicated to reproducing artwork for you. We can easily accommodate artwork up to A0 in size, and will shoot it, and produce hi-resolution files for you to take away- you can then make prints, upload to galleries with the files which will be fully licensed for you.

We have a repro process that allows us to shoot anything from fine lined Architectural drawings, to screen prints on reflective surface, to oil paintings. Your files will be hi-res, white balanced to represent the actual colours of your work, and will be ready to make prints from.

We normally charge a set-up cost for each batch, but on this day we will only charge per item and we offer a walk-in facility, no booking required, however if you are thinking of bringing in large work, or a large number of prints please get in touch with us first on

On a white background- item must be able to lay flat. Suitable for catalogue, online sales etc, easily cut out. Cost includes 1 file of each on CD, print and web ready.

Price per item- 1 Item in shot (no minimum order)
Price includes “all uses” License to Use.

1 item £30 Price per item
2-5 items £25 Price per item
6-10 items £20 Price per item
11-30 items £15 Price per item
31+ items £10 Price per item

All artwork must be dropped off at the same time for above prices, but you can group together your work with any other artist you know to keep your prices down, for instance if you have 5 pieces, get 5 pieces from another artist you know and if all work arrives together your rate will be in the 6-10 item bracket…

The prices quoted are for this day only, so please come and take advantage of this offer, if you book your work in with us in advance, and we get enough numbers of people we can then offer a further reduction in cost which we will mail to all of you directly.

If you know an artist, printmaker, painter etc then please pass this info on to them.

Tuesday 1st Feb

Product Project

Kevin has started a new Project, and this time its not people based but Product based. Hopefully you will see the series emerging over the next few weeks, and it should take some interesting twists and turns.

At the end of the project we intend to produce a guide that includes any sketches, lighting set-ups, making tips etc so you can adapt some of the techniques for your own product work.

This image was partly inspired by the fantastic Soft Shell crab that they serve at Sushi Garden in Preston St. Ideas can hit at the oddest of times.

So Latex#1-The Heel.

NOAH KALINA TALK DATES

Garage Studios are delighted (and very excited) to announce the upcoming visit of renowned US photographer and internet phenomenon NOAH KALINA

Propelled into notoriety by his youtube video “Noah K every day” ( a work in progress that began on January 11th 2000 so far spanning 11 years) which received an unprecedented amount of press and critical acclaim, Noah is also an agency represented photographer with an enviable commercial portfolio and a publication list that includes ID, Nylon, Surface, Blender, Rolling Stone, Adbusters and a client list that includes VH1, MTV, Motorola, Sony Records and more.

Making easy work of the complex realms of portrait photography, his effortless use of light and composition gives a depth and life to his images that makes you want to view them again and again.

Noah will be giving a talk on the evening of Friday 18th February and in the interest of keeping costs as low as possible to allow people to attend, will cost only £10

We are also in the process of finalising details for a series of workshops and one 2 one sessions to be held on the 19th & 20th February. Details will be released next week. Places on these workshops will be limited and allocated on a first come first served basis.

If you would like to book a place on the talk or if you would like more information about the workshops and one 2 one sessions email or call us on

James Withey talk at Add The Colour

Brighton has quite a booming photography scene and some very good minded people, photography fans, if thats the term (albeit very accomplished photographers themselves) who put on a lot of events to feed this enthusiasm. We’d just like to then bring to your attention the continuing series of FREE talks organised by Architectural photographer Jim Stephenson, or as you may know him ClickClickJim.

The next talk is tomorrow at AddTheColour in Brighton and showcases James Withey who will be talking about his work, and answering questions etc.

James is originally from Dorset but has spent the past 15 years living in Glasgow and is a new Brighton resident. His work, predominantly in black and white encourages the viewer to look at everyday objects and corners that are beautiful in unexpected ways. James will be talking about his current project which explores human emotions through light and shadow and will be looking back at his earlier work that informed the project. (words by Jim Stephenson).

There will also be a chance to buy him a beer for his dry throat in the Foundry pub after the talk.

Next up is Erika Szostak- who if the name is familiar we blogged about before as she started her studies on gender and role, after discussing her photographs of performers with Kevin and Matt, whilst a student on our Creative Photography Course. The image “Trapped” from the series shot as part of the Creative Course exercises, was selected as one of the winners of the European Women’s Lobby “My World: Visions of 21st-Century Feminism” Award. (The second award winning image that has been shot by a student as one of the Creative Course practises- the other student had her image exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery in London.)

So go check out the talks, and thank Jim for putting them on.

LookBook shoot for Sugarhill Boutique

We shot a LookBook this friday for SugarHill Boutique, a label that specialises in establishing ethical trading relationships with its suppliers, and has an interesting background formed by a brother and sister. They also ensure all suppliers work to a code of conduct based on the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code (www.ethicaltrade.co.uk). Its nice to know a little background behind who you are working for, and the clients were as nice as their bio sounded.

We had a brief meeting before the shoot, and booked Elin Amos, one of our favourite models to work with. You can see the images below, a nice simple set-up, easy poses and a relaxed but fresh feel. We worked shooting tethered using Capture One, with Natasha Alipour-Faridani as Digital Operator, with Kevin shooting and a new second assistant in Michael Gayton, who has not long returned from working and shooting in Sydney. It was a very smooth shoot, with the client leaving with retouched images by the end of the day, files ready to print for trade fairs and web galleries.

Please contact us if you have any queries, or need a quote on a lookbook.
Click on the pics for slightly larger size.

Creative Photography course is now fully booked

Due to an overwhelming amount of requests, all places on the Creative Photography course have now been snapped up.

For anyone that just missed out this time, we will be finalising dates for the next course over the following week, and mail anyone who has already expressed an interest before we release them on the website so you get the first chance to book!

The good news is that one place has become available on our You and your DSLR course on 23rd January which will be allocated on a first come first served basis. If you’d previously enquired about this course but weren’t quite in time to book a place, or if you’ve just been given a new camera and want to learn the skills to take fantastic images email or call Beth on before it’s gone!

The best Movies for Photographers to Watch from 2010.

Well we asked for your input and we sure got a bit overwhelmed with the response so here are the best films for photographers to watch from 2010.

Image from Dogtooth, see list below

Well actually, thats a lie, we had to stretch the criteria a little to react to the way we view films nowadays. Like it or not, downloading is still one of the most popular ways for those that responded to our initial post to watch films. Added to this USA consistently get the releases before the UK so this form will continue to dominate. However as we know, most Photographers have an inner, or even very much outer, geek. So, though I for instance have already seen Black Swan, I know, without a doubt, I will be going to see it again, this time at the Duke of Yorks, when it opens in Feb 2011.

Next time you watch a downloaded movie it may not be as the director intended, however it is a very viable means of seeing new ideas, getting inspired and being entertained a similar user experience to viewing an image from a credible photographer on Flickr, or seeing one of their actual prints exhibited as intended.

This list now includes some movies that have crept in from 2009, and some movies that are technically out in 2011, but are on torrents everywhere. We haven’t seen every film on this list, but we intend to, as this is kind of the point. But please add any comments, or films we have missed below. Lets think of this as a work in progress.

Also soon, but with much more research and points to watch for, we will have Films of the Decade (post 2000) for Photographers to watch.

Some of the films below have been picked for their ideas, innovative cinematography, outstanding direction, lighting techniques, use of digital technology (eg Black Swan being shot on 3 Canon Cameras), dialogue with the nature of photography or image making, or that often forgotten and neglected ability to tell a story with images.

Black Swan- Darren Aronofsky
Moon - Duncan Jones
Enter The Void- Gaspar Noe
Winters Bone- Debra Granik
The Killer Inside Me- Michael Winterbottom
The American- Aton Corbijn
MicMacs- Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Fish Tank- Andrea Arnold
Peeping Tom (reissue)- Micheal Powell
Dogtooth- Giorgos Lanthimos
A Prophet- Jacques Audiard
The White Ribbon- Michael Haneke
Inception- Christopher Nolan
I’m Still Here- Casey Affleck
Animal Kingdom - David Michod

and hot tip for films coming out soon,

True Grit (the remake).

My favourite of those above, I think has to be Dogtooth, its disturbing, its bold, its decidedly “european” in its response to and portrayal of ‘the body’, it tackles some very modern issues, and it is shot and lit in a way that fully understands the style of the movie, and as an added bonus for me it has a Gummo-esque dance routine that is disturbing and funny in equal measure. Hopefully you will find something new to inspire you in this list- and don’t forget to check IMDB or similar first, as some of these films have disturbing scenes or themes.

So what did we miss? What did we (and our polled readers) get wrong? Feel free to let us know below.