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Introducing… Brighton’s newest digital media space

Garage Studios are pleased to announce an exciting new venture, and a new direction. We have been fairly quiet online of late, and we can now finally reveal what we have been working so hard on for the past 4 months. But first;

…over the past 3 years of Garage, we have learnt a huge amount, not just about photography, but also the demands of running a business. We’ve developed and delivered top quality training courses, and built up a strong client list. In this time many hundreds of you have attended and completed our courses, and we have turned several of our students into successful full time freelance photographers. We have really loved watching your progress and dedication, not just to your own photography, but also in helping us run a successful business. We could not have got this far without you, and everything from our big set build productions, to our guest lecturers, USA photographer run workshops and courses has owed some success to the community involvement that has flourished here in Brighton.

We have distilled all of these elements into a brand new venture with an even stronger line up of in-house photographers, outside tutors, and a fully developed program of courses. After 3 years listening to your feedback, reading your testimonials and seeing your work, we like to think that we know what makes us unique, and have tried to keep that at the core of our exciting new studios. Despite numerous offers to take this business to London we just love being in the heart of Brighton.

SO WHAT HAVE WE BEEN WORKING ON?

Since the 4th July 2011, we have been building a bespoke studio and training space with our new business partner. We think you will be as excited as we are, as its been designed from the ground up with photographers, our students, and clients in mind. The build is near completion, and soon Brighton will be able to boast of the biggest combined photography Studio and Training centre in the UK. Having consulted with everyone from London based photographers, to stylists, MakeUp Artists, clients, models, and runners, we’ve created a space that works for all your needs, and are confident that this will be a great space for all Brighton creatives.


All work in progress images by Sam Hiscox

The studio space is located within sight of Brighton train station, in a fantastic building. Inside we have built 3 studios.

Studio1, 11m x 10m for set builds, for the client you need to impress, or if you just want to shoot in the best studio facilities outside of London. Studio 1 is also set up for filming, with 3 phase and a distribution board for film/audio/lights.

Studio 2 is approx 4.5m x 8m and is perfect for Lookbooks, full length portraiture, teaching and small set builds.

To ensure there is always somewhere to shoot for your budget we have added Studio 3, a 4.5m x 4m headshot, portrait and product studio.

In addition to this we have also built a dedicated Darkroom space so you can shoot, dev, and print all under one roof.

We have special rates for further education students as well as people who have are attending any of the soon-to-be-announced new courses. Our aim is to get you into the studio and to explore the unlimited possibilities that studio photography has to offer, and we have a pricing structure that makes our services accessible to all.

Those of you who have previously attended our courses in the Winter will be delighted to know that we will also have a dedicated teaching room. No more will you have to sit and shiver in our studio on uncomfortable plastic chairs! This space can also be hired for client meetings, workshops and comes equipped with a digital projector. If you get hungry or feel your photographers/models energy is flagging, we also have a nicely equipped, custom built kitchen.

If you still need more to tempt you in, we are pleased to announce a new relationship with both Profoto and Bowens for all your lighting needs, catering for every eventuality from studio to location, generators, battery packs and the latest models of remote controlled, or Mac controlled heads. The only limit in how you use them will be your imagination.

Taking on advice from the best tech crew we could find, we have installed a lightning fast network with the option to back up and archive your shoot on our servers, and we will also be expanding our system of Macs, Monitors and retouching booths for hire.

We will also be making a few exciting announcements about new tutors and some fantastic photographers that we have signed who will be shooting for us. But that’s quite enough for now…… thanks for sticking with us, continuing to support our business and work with our photographers. Hopefully we can show this in giving Brighton the media space that it fully deserves.

Digital Photographer issue 113

Of all the magazines with Photographer and Digital in the title, (there really are quite a few now) we are in issue 113 of Digital Photographer which arrived in shops today.

We have been blown away by being given the double page image feature for the article, which includes work and interviews with Magnum photographer Steve McCurry, ANTM judge and photographer Nigel Barker and L’Iris D’or winner Alejandro Chaskielberg, and Garage Studios’ Kevin Mason.

The article is about making images that launched a career or caused a change of thinking with each photographer. Kevin chose to talk about his set builds which was a phase he went through around 2 years ago, and looks set to return to soon with the promise of a new state of the art studio which he has designed and is currently being built in Brighton. (More news on that very soon- but Brighton its nearly ready…) We’d love it if you go and buy a copy, as its a good read also there are a whole stack of people credited in the magazine without whom these shoots wouldn’t have been possible such as M.Halls, Natasha Alipour-Faridani and many more.

If that wasn’t enough of a reason then there is also a Portfolio article on man-of-the-moment Perou of Dirty Sexy Things ‘fame’ but also more importantly to us a pivotal UK photographer, and he dishes out some excellent advice on getting into the industry and how he has managed to make his work in demand for so many years. The man is a legend, and if you are keen to understand how to combine commercial work, iconic images and clients demands, you won’t go far wrong by reading what he has to say.

Thanks DP, for including us in this issue. It was fun to look at old work again and try and remember what on earth we were thinking at the time.

To see Kevin’s current work go to Kevin Mason.

Model Test

Kevin has been shooting some new faces from Profile. Here is Lizzie and Billie who likes to come and hang out at our studio a lot. All studios need a cute little dog to come in and break hearts occasionally.

Shot on Neopan 400- no idea why its quite grainy, but we like it this way…..

Studio Lighting part 2 in July

Do you need to up your lighting game? Stuck in a rut with the same set-ups over and over again… but find yourself looking at work around you and want your shots to have the same impact.

Then maybe you should consider our Studio Lighting Part 2. This is for serious studio lighting photographers only, if you consider yourself confident in ability but lacking some technical knowledge or some ideas then have a look at this course.

It runs next on the 16th/17th July and will be taught by Kevin Mason and a lighting technician (also a full time photographer). Kevin’s work has recently appeared in a Lighting Guide alongside the work of Miles Aldridge, Rankin and Perou.

This 2 day course will be a chance to explore a new approach to lighting, working hands-on with a small number of students, if you want an intensive course to step up your lighting game then we can guarantee you won’t be disappointed in this, it will stretch your and fire your imagination.

A place on this course costs £450 (this will rise soon when we move studios) to find out more details go here.

Some examples of Kevins work…




Zines

As you may know we are all about supporting emerging photographers here, we sponsored a Brighton Uni student in her 3rd year, we put out Matt Martin’s first solo show (which got picked up and put on in London) and we just recently created the emerging photographers Bursary which gathered even more momentum when Photoworks and Spectrum became partners, and have paid for the first edition print run of a new book created by We Are Lucky.

If you don’t put the good karma in somewhere then this industry will bite you in the arse, and emerging talent also keeps us all on our toes. So with that in mind, we’d like you to check out, and maybe even buy this zine by brighton photographer Milo Belgrove. Click the link.

He just dropped one of at the studio and its well worth the almost appallingly low price of £3.50. Zines make photography both interesting and collectable, and you can quickly build up a library of fresh talent, and you never know you may buy something that one day is worth the kind of cash that Dash Snow zines fetch… just maybe….

If you want to learn more about zines then Matt Martin will be running a course here, after Kevin and him return from their USA coast-to-coast road trip.

Expos/Gallery Shows

A couple of weeks back we took a little culture trip to London and visited some exhibitions which will be well worth your time, and as an added bonus all of the shows are free.

The first one, a retrospective on British photographer Paul Graham at the Whitechapel Gallery closes on the 19th June, which is this Sunday. It is a huge collection of his work and as this photographer has played a incredibly influential role in shaping photography in Britain we really recommend you make it along before it closes.

Paul’s work takes a unflinching look at life with subjects as diverse as dole offices in the 80′s from the work “Beyond Caring” and the ‘great’ route of the A1. This is the first major retrospective of his work, and also includes his more recent images made in America for “A Shimmer of Possibility”. The standard of printing alone is worth a visit, as is the reproduction of the sheer poverty and desperation of 80′s England, and the troubles in Northern Ireland, before the beauty of some of his later work. The overexposed series American Night definitely take on a very different meaning in a gallery, where as in a book they just don’t translate at all- somehow on this scale they do appear to hurt the eye in the way the sun in the Southern states can, and not, as in the book, just give the impression of bad printing.

Paul Graham, New Orleans (Cajun corner), from the series Shimmer of Possibility

Paul Graham Texas, 2005, (Pepsi Walkers), from the series A Shimmer of Possibility

Guardian Interview with Paul Graham. and this Guardian link is worth it just for the comments alone.
As always the fantastic site American Suburb X has a wealth of good content on Paul Graham’s work, here

Also currently on show at Tate Modern is a room dedicated to the prints of Diane Arbus. The 2005 Revelations at the V+A, was undoubtedly the most inspiring expo that we have been to see and although the Tate Modern expo is much smaller in scale it still shows some of Arbus’ finest work as well as a chance again to see her prints up close, they really have a different depth and resonance to them as opposed to when viewed in a book or onscreen. Photography should after all be about prints, and take this chance to go and see some brilliant work.

Diane Arbus Teenage couple on Hudson Street, NYC, 1963

Arbus essays and further reading on American SuburbX

Finally, but by no means lesser than the other two, is Roid at Spruth Magers an exhibition of over 100 previously unseen Polaroids by Philip-Lorca Dicorcia read Press release here again please note this closes for the final time on Sat 18th June.

Dicorcia is one of the masters of turning the built environment into his studio, in his hands the streets become theatre and with his lighting flourishes he heightens drama and converts ‘real people’ into momentary actors whose narrative we can only guess at.

Further reading on Dicorcia on American SuburbX

So there’s a quick round up, we haven’t reviewed the work, but theres a wealth of information in the links included, and 3 very different exhibitions of work on an extremely varied scale and subject matter, presented in three contrasting ways. If this doesn’t leave you walking away inspired about photography after at least one of the three then we suggest putting down the camera for a long long time. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Oh and a word of caution Do Not Enter the bookshop (it will leave you with a very empty wallet) and we can heartily recommend some well deserved Beer and BBQ afterwards, you can, after all, have too much culture in one day….

GS

Richard Nicholson

We are really liking this project by Richard Nicholson.

Here is Richard’s text about the project;

Ali Barber
Portraits from Ali’s Barber Shop, 258 Bethnal Green Road, London.

Ali’s barber shop is the most popular asian barber shop in London’s East End, with queues often running out onto the street. Ali, Mohsin, Vicky and Shehz, the four Pakistani barbers, work late into the night fashioning mohicans, shape-ups, and v-cuts for their predominantly Bengali clientele. In spring 2010 I set up a pop-up studio in the basement of Ali’s shop and spent 6 weeks documenting a cross-section of his customers.
This project was recently exhibited as a slideshow and book at Four Corners Gallery, 121 Roman Road, London.

Very simple and effective images but also a nicely considered project, follow the link to see more.

Kev

SugarHill Boutique Lookbook

We shot a new collection yesterday for SugarHill Boutique who we previously worked with back in January, you can see that shoot here.

They needed a very simple style to keep inline with the Shop/Gallery thats already up on their site (which is currently having a bandwidth issue but should be back later today).

The models are Molly and Aleko, who both came down to the Open Casting Day we held, you can see images of that day here which just shows if you turn up at one of our castings you may just get some paid work out of it, as well as some great test shots.

This was lit by Kevin and Dave Imms, a fairly simple 3 light set-up to keep a fresh but soft look to the images and we managed to get through the 23 changes in one day, with all the images picked by the client and edited out by Dave ready for collection the next day.

If you need a lookbook or promo images for your fashion label or designs then please get in touch, we can price at both day rates and per item, depending on the style of shoot you need. We can also source and supply model as well as Hair and Make-Up artists.

Lou O’Bedlam Sessions

If you haven’t come across LA photographer Lou O’ Bedlam’s work before you really need to take a look. This man has a way with light and the lens rarely achieved in such an effortless and beautiful way. What is so extraordinary about his work, is his disarming ability to capture something of the soul of his subjects, showing an element of truth not often found in an era where people are increasingly in control and aware of the way they are represented.

Lou will be giving a talk and a series of workshops at the studio from 24th- 27th June

Talk: Friday 24th June 7.30 pm £6

With time for a question and answer session at the end, Lou’s talk will not only include some of his favourite work and influences, but will also touch on the way in which he arrived at the style of imagery that makes each photograph so uniquely his.

Portrait Masterclass: Saturday 25th June 10- 2pm £60

This 4 hour workshops will focus on:

Perfecting Your Vision:- How to hone in and identify your visual language, learning how to craft an individualized style.

How the Tools Shape the Shots: Looking at how different cameras lead to very different results, and how much of an influence they can have on your work.

Interacting with Models:- Investigating the ways you can interact with the people you are shooting, whether they are seasoned professionals, or complete stranger whose face you just “have” to shoot.

Advanced Portrait Session: Sunday 26th June £85

The advanced course will delve deeper into the psychology of portraiture, the relationship between artist and subject, and the ideas and thoughts that help to form successful portraiture. You will also cover the finer points of achieving personal artistic goals relating to improving your photography. Moving beyond the purely technical aspects of creating imagery, there will be a focus on the motivation behind your work, and ways in which it can help to support the implementation of your artistic vision.

Both workshops will allow time for guided shooting with a model….

One to One sessions: Saturday 25th – Monday 27th June £65/hour

There are a limited amount of one to one sessions available over the weekend. They could be either portfolio based if you would like feedback on your work, concentrate on the methods Lou uses to produce his work, or focus on a specific technique you would like to master. Sessions can be booked by the hour.

Lou’s work can be found on:

His site

His Flickr

For more information or to book a place on any of the sessions, email or call

Places on the sessions are filling up fast, so if you are interested in booking on any of the sessions, get in touch before they’re gone.

Northbrook Fashion Graduate shoot

We have been shooting the final collections of Northbrook Fashion students, organised by Heather Falconer of Spindle Magazine. You may have seen the post with the instax outtakes earlier in the week, and above are the final shots, on location around Brighton.

Models Molly and Becca- shot for Spindle Magazine Graduate Fashion issue.

Asst Sam Wilson.
Styling Heather Falconer/Shane Hawkins.
Hair Kalvyn at Essensuals.
MU Ellie Gill.