evolution

a short film I made with contemporary dancer Marie Gabrielle Rotie after taking some stills on sunset.

As soon as I shot the stills I knew I wanted to shoot moving film and I think it’s hard, if not impossible, to do both in the same space of time. When I’m shooting stills I see the motion and want to capture it and when I’m shooting motion I see the still frames that flicker past my eye and are committed to the moving image format.
It’s a fascinating conflict of interests to be caught up in.

Just like me, Marie is inspired by light, energy and movement and our photo shoot led to an artistic collaboration of motion that was all shot in one totally improvised afternoon.
I know the importance of pre productuon and planning in making a short film and I’m all up for it but when you get the chance don’t let your instincts down – just go for your shots and set your creativity free.

suspended in motion

I’m obsessed with movement and I just LOVE the way things fall through the sky and seem to hang there – suspended in motion. It’s my take on the ‘decisive moment’ and it doesn’t get much better than this Vincent Haycock Music Video for Mellowdrone

It reminds me of some shots I took one twilight of local kids playing on the trampoline in their backyard.
There’s something fearless and uninhibited and spontaneous about kids that we totally take for granted and never quite recapture as adults

Rafa Botello – twilight portraits shot on flash

shooting professional athlete Rafa Botello for my ‘Twilight Portraits’ series of images, I had the shot set up perfectly and was all prepped and ready for that all too short window of twilight that comes and goes in a flash.
Here you see the light and the balance is perfect but I had wanted to make this a moving image and just as Rafa set off his tyre blew out and he had to do a quick change…Fast as he was the light fell faster into the night to make this much of a differnce but while, to me at least, the top shot is more technically well balanced I still prefer the moving one below.

california is a place

California Is A Place is a cool sounding name for a talented collective of inspired and inspirational film makers. I love the idea of collaborative groups and sometimes wish that competition and the market place didn’t drive a wedge of insecurity between us all. If we all worked together more often maybe we could all produce something like this….

From Cannonball about a group of skaters who seek out empty pools to ride in the abandoned landscapes of the American dream gone broke to Scrapertown’s urban hero Baby Champ who gives identity, self esteem and a sense of purpose to the youth of Oakland through the highly specialised customisation of their push bikes.