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Brighton Fashion Week is approaching…

From the 9th to the 12th of June we will be overrun by beautiful people for Brighton Fashion Week 2010 and, as the official photographers of the event, Garage Studios will be there to document it all.

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No doubt you have already see the press pictures taken by Kevin Mason of the lovely Georgina Bevan from fellow sponsors of BFW Storm. We have just got hold of all of the fliers and promo material which should be in your hands very soon.

BFW is going to have lots of events going on including the ultra chic VIP launch party and Couture Show which will combine outstanding theatrical performance with magnificent fashion to create a cutting-edge show. In contrast to this don’t miss the intriguing Trashion Show by Jez Eaton which will feature garments created out of everyday household items and packaging for a visual treat! All tickets are available to purchase here.

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But if you miss something don’t worry! Garage will be sending out photographers to cover the whole thing including shots of all the events as well as exclusive backstage access so you will be able to see everything that is going on. We will be taking our pop-up studio to some of the events to take pictures of all you lovely people for free! Check back later for full information on when and where these will be.

We will also have a competition where you will have the chance to win two full weekend passes to BFW - we will be releasing the info of how you can get your hands on these very shortly.

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We are very proud to be partnering with this exciting event so get down to the events to see it for yourself! Also keep looking at the BFW website because it will be updated regularly with news, views and details of their Warehouse shopping Spree and blogger competitions.

- Jonjo

New Summer Workshops and Teaching Opportunites

We will be introducing a wide range of Summer Courses very soon, with a number of guest tutors as well as Kevin, Matt and Tash. We will cover a range of subjects and the courses will be a little shorter and cheaper allowing you to sample a diverse number of themes from portraiture to street shots to lomo cameras.

We are also planning a number of workshops for School and College students with a chance to be taught new skills as well as have images reviewed and critiqued by working professionals. These courses will be heavily discounted with proof of School/College attendance.

If you have any specific areas you would like to learn about then just drop us a line at info@garage-studios.co.uk and we will get back to you, or let you know the best course for you.

From the Coney Island series by http://www.nguan.tv/

From the Coney Island series by http://www.nguan.tv/

We are also looking for talented and enthusiastic individuals that are willing to teach or talk on their photography passion. You will need to fit into the ethos of Garage Studios and have excellent abilities to engage with students and inspire people on to make really good work.

If you feel you have a particular skill that we dont at present cover, for instance do you love Holgas, can you get amazing results from a pinhole camera using only a biscuit tin, then this may be a chance to reach a wider audience. We can help you write a tailor made course and will encourage you to keep producing excellent personal projects.

We do of course pay external tutors and like to use only very dedicated individuals so please apply letting us know your area of expertise or passion to info@garage-studios.co.uk

We will be posting further details after the weekend thanks all, Kev.

Vanity Exhibition Details

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Hit the fullscreen link below to see it large and download for your own needs.

Ophelia Fancy

Our lovely friends, stylists and workshop lecturers Ophelia Fancy have released their new collection which we shot for them some time ago. They are a brilliant example of a local business who put everything they have into something that they love doing, so support them if you can.

They are both graduates of Brighton University and as well as making amazing lingerie create some of the most fantastic bespoke tailoring and outfits, and of course they teach on our Fashion Editorial course as well. We love these ladies, and if you ever met them for a beer or three you would love them too. Go see their site, kev.

Ophelia Fancy- New Collection shot by Kevin Mason at Garage...

Ophelia Fancy- New Collection shot by Kevin Mason at Garage...

Last chance to see Your Life is My Vanity Project at Garage Studios

Here at Garage Studios we really believe in pushing the work of our photographers and Kevin Mason’s upcoming exhibition, Your Life is My Vanity Project, is no exception.

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Previously displayed during the Brighton Fringe Festival to much critical acclaim the exhibition will now be shown again over the weekend 29th - 31st May to give everybody a chance to see the transformation of both photographer and model, Georgie Hobday, during their hour-long weekly meet ups spread over eight months.

The exhibition has been selected from over a thousand photos taken only on film and caused Kevin to make a complete U-turn in his photography, dropping his alter ego DarkDaze to embrace a more relaxed view of his art. This change has met been met with an overwhelmingly positive response from reviewers:

“The variations of size, print, colour and expression in each photo effectively help the story come through: you see how the relationship has grown, how trust has been garnered, and how the subject’s confidence in front of the camera has increased. Each photo can be appreciated alone, as a single piece of art, but each is also enhanced when seen as one part of this wider exhibition. A short but captivating experience.”

- ThreeWeeks Brighton

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“From the outside looking in it seemed very much like a back-to-basics metamorphosis. Almost like a photographic Rick Rubin had stepped in and stripped his work bare. But DarkDaze didn’t need a Rick Rubin, he did it by himself – and this exhibition is a fascinating record of that journey.

Walking around the exhibition the overwhelming impression is of fun. From Bunny Ears to Ballet Leaps, as we get to the later weeks rarely do we get the impression that Georgie is modelling for Kevin, more that Kevin is photographing Georgie. Maybe that’s part of his talent?”

- Andy Wilson

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“For at times, the relationship between photographer and subject can become extremely uncomfortable: Mason’s new style here is extremely close and personal, seeming a far stretch from his fashion editorial work, and can be very unforgiving to the subject. But this is purposeful, and if it is uncomfortable for the viewer to observe, as mentioned earlier, it is apparent that such an intimate approach, whilst undoubtedly embraced, was uncomfortable for the photographer too. Similarly, the repetitiveness of the same face never becomes boring, Georgie is an engaging character, and it is a mark of the exhibition’s success that upon leaving, its narrative makes you believe that you have not only met Georgie, you also feel you know her extremely well.

[The Photographs] are jaw-dropping in one form or another and really let you appreciate Mason’s visual eye for capturing a moment with appropriate framing and delicacy.”

- Approaching Velocity

Make sure you don’t miss out on this ambitious project that has proved to be a defining moment in Kevin’s photographic career. Read the blogs and check out the website and vimeo but more importantly come down to the studios to see the exhibition for yourself from 29th to 31st May between 10:30 am and 8:00 pm.

Thanks to Southcoasting for the pictures.

- Jonjo

Your Life is My Vanity Project- by Kevin Mason. Curated by M.Halls at Garage Studios. The expo is open again for the last weekend in May including the Bank Holiday Monday.

Lou O'Bedlam Workshop review.

As Lou O’Bedlam tries to leave the country plane permitting, there is an odd feeling that he could still be grabbing another train back to Brighton for one last workshop and to once again show us his clear, concise thinking process, whether on photography or the rest of life.

In the last week Lou’s teaching and personality has spread with wild fire tenacity as each student taking something from his talks and workshops, posts a version of their work with a new way of shooting or with a more critical eye for  the details that they love.

So again we introduce a guest blogger, someone else to express their opinion and tell us how Lou affected them and their photography. So go on tell us Pete what did you think ?

Pete Repka - aka www.flickr.com/pedrokid

“I’ve followed Lou O’Bedlams work on flickr for flinkin ages.
When Kev asked about interest in people seeing a talk or attending a workshop at Garage Studios, I immediately thought “Yeah, that’d be Awesome !!”

However, as the weekend drew closer I realised that due to a birthday double-whammy I wouldn’t be able to come down from London to Brighton and attend the talk or workshops. I was gutted, but chalked it up as one of those things.

So I’m stupidly hungover on Sunday and browsing the interweb, and all these photos of Sally Reynolds and Rosie Cherrington from Saturdays workshops are being displayed and i’m thinking to myself “Dammit, stupid friends and their stupid birthdays” *huff*
(well not quite, but you get the idea)

I drop an e-mail to Kev and ask what the chances are I could get onto the Monday evening course last minute & he only bloody said “Yes”

So I charged up my battery, and got myself ready. Went to work on Monday, then hopped on a train to Brighton and high-tailed it down to the studio. I’d spoken to The Kendall who said he’d loved the workshop and that Lou says Awesome a lot and is a seriously chilled dude. I expected nothing less, I’ve been to California.

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I arrived a little early, and Lou was already there chatting to one of the models Tess. I introduced myself then hung back and watched as Lou shot Tess on a polaroid. He then gave me the first rule. “Always put film in the camera” well we all forget now and then, but it was nice to see he’s as human as the rest of us.

A few more people started arriving and once everyone had arrived and was seated and ready, Lou got started.

Lou explained a little about himself, how long he’s been shooting and what he likes to shoot. He spoke at length about how a good way to learn & improve is find what you like about a picture you’ve shot, then try and re-create it, and repeat, and repeat. If there’s a mistake, or something bothering you, be aware of it, and to remember that when shooting.

Something that really stuck with me was Lou’s philosophy of shoot SLOW. I mean slower than a pack of turtles stampeding through peanut butter. Don’t rattle off shots. Shoot a picture, review, assess, and then shoot another picture. You can understand now why he shoots on digi or polaroids.

The other key think Lou talked about was his interaction with his models. He’ll often take a model he’s shooting for a walk for maybe 20-30 mins and just shoot the breeze with her. get to know her, find out what she’s about, only then will he shoot.

Obviously we didn’t have the luxury of a 20 min chat, but we were encouraged to engage with the models, talk to them, and like the act of shooting, it’s all about the repetition. The more you talk the better you’ll get at it.
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So we dispersed and headed outside to shoot the 2 models, Tess & Georgie. I introduced myself to them, and struck up conversations. I tried to get them to relax, and tried to engage with them and get natural expression (I learnt from Georgie that she’d missed her and Kev’s regular thursday shoot after 30 weeks, so last Thursday she went to the studio and took him out for a cup of tea and that she’d also had a cheese sandwich with her tea). I was conscious to not over do it as there were 15 of us, and everyone wanted to have a go at shooting and talking to the models, but it was enjoyable to be able to chat to them.

After quite a while and once everyone had shot some photos, we all trooped back inside for Lou’s critique. The interesting thing was to hear how Lou always had a positive spin in his critique. He would often talk about how a slight crop one way or the other might change it. or a step back to allow more in to the photo, or how a slight change to the light or angle of the face could alter the picture, to be aware of lines in the background that might be off-kilter with the model in the foreground. All really useful stuff.

Overall the evening was a nice relaxed way to learn some tips on portrait photography and how interacting with models and talking to them won’t kill you. It was also really great to meet the man with a 1000 polaroids on his wall, and who thinks every photo of himself is either “awesome” or “solid”. Lastly, always remember that when Bruce Lee was learning to punch, he broke it down. He repeated each punch slowly, and built it up from there. Lou O’Bedlam is the Kung Fu Photographer.”

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www.flickr.com/pedrokid

Brighton Fashion Week

Garage Studios have teamed up with Brighton Fashion Week and Storm to help sponsor this years event. As you may know we shot all the Press images this year, with Georgina Bevan from Storm agency. The BFW website is live and has some good stuff on it, also we will be going backstage this year to shoot some great behind-the scenes images. We may even take a pop-up studio down if there is space. If you’d like to help us in this respect then get in touch quickly as were are forming our crew soon.

Georgina Bevan at Storm Models

Georgina Bevan at Storm Models

here is an image we shot for the campaign, but we will add some shots of the posters soon as we are out to search for them now…. Should be a great event this year… and they even have a blogger competition up on the site, so go check them out now.

Studio Lighting part 2, book a place

We have a few spaces left on our Studio Lighting Part2 course on the 5th and 6th June. This course is designed as a follow up to Part1, or for those who are already confident with Studio Flash techniques. If you are a former student at Garage Studios then you’ll receive a discount off of the regular price of £450, and if you book two places you will also get a discount if they are paid for at the same time.

The course itself is run by Kevin Mason and Natasha Alipour-Faridani, and takes you step by step through a very thorough approach to lighting- and we teach you how to solve lighting problems as well as the best light for each subject, and how different lighting may affect both your subject in the photograph but also the viewer or potential audience. We will also work on the idea of shooting to a brief, a client brief or shooting for commissioned work, and you can read further details at the bottom of the page linked here.


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`Hobday Lighting 2

This is a very hands-on practical course, and will really take your skills to the next level if you are a keen amateur or a working professional, Kevin and Natasha have a wealth of experience, lighting not just there own work but shoots for major client, music promos, film and for other Photographers.

We will also be announcing a competition to win a place on this course very soon.

Dont forget the dates 5/6th June, at Garage Studios Brighton.

Creative Photography

As you may know we run a Creative Photography course at Garage Studios, and I am always looking for new projects or bodies of work to talk to the students about. So this week we looked in a fairly in depth way at Robert Franks The Americans looking at the idea of both the journey itself, the process and the edit, and how that can inform your work. Anyway in the search for new work, and photographers that may reference the Visual Language of other photographers I came across the work of Roswell Angier who is represented by the Gitterman Gallery and thought that some of you might like to see the work, if like me you werent aware of him before. Most of these images were shot in the mid to late 70′s and early 80′s. They have really gripped me due to both their narrative nature and the world that they speak off, I hope you enjoy the work, Kev.

Coty Lee, Mousetrap Cabaret, 1975

Coty Lee, Mousetrap Cabaret, 1975

Gallup New Mexico, 1982

Gallup New Mexico, 1982

Sonny, Washington Street, 1974

Sonny, Washington Street, 1974

Pilgrim Theater 1973

Pilgrim Theater 1973

Lukachukai, Arizona

Lukachukai, Arizona

Melanie, outside the Two O'clock Club,  Boston

Melanie, outside the Two O'clock Club, Boston

Indian head Bar, Holbrook, Arizona

Indian head Bar, Holbrook, Arizona

More from Lou's workshop

I just found this blog post by Katariina, follow the link leap…