Events Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Richard Spurdens Photography

Madame Bink 2017 shoot (NSFW)

I have worked with Madame Bink a number of times over the years that I have been shooting models and I have always come away with some great images.

When working with Ivory Flame in January of this year she mentioned that Madame Bink (Bink) was working again, so I took the oppoutunity to set up another shoot with her.

Now the last time we shot together was at the first Walters Warbrode event which was a fashion theme shoot. It was therefore good to get to work with her again specifically in the art nude genre, although we did do some edgy fashion images too.

The sets I wanted to shoot were simple in terms of lighting. These sets were lit with a single studio strobe fitted with a rectanglar soft box. The softbox was also fitted with an egg crate grid to control the light spill, which gives good light and shadow areas on the body.

I chose to use some simple props – two wooden garden chairs and a small wooden table stool. There is a simple white hat with a black band that we added for a few of these shots. So really simple but make strong images I feel.

All that was then needed was the model to make strong Artistic Nude shapes and work into the light.

The results can be seem in the images below. Binky’s strong poses in this light setup stand out and this is one of the reasons I have always liked working with her.

Artistic Nude Images

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - single light monchrome image of model make shapes and angles on the edge of a wooden chair the light is playing along to edges of her legs and arms to make strong highlights on those areas and deep shadows in on the rest of her figure — Richard Spurdens Photography – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Lens: EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - single light monchrome image of model make shapes and angles on the edge of wooden chairs the light is playing along to edges of her legs and arms to make strong highlights on those areas and deep shadows in on the rest of her figure — Richard Spurdend Photography – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Lens: EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - single light monchrome image of model make shapes and angles on the edge of two wooden chairs the light is playing along to edges of her legs and arms to make strong highlights on those areas and deep shadows in on the rest of her figure — Richard Spurdens Photography – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Lens: EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

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Events, General

First Studio shoot of 2017

So here are a few images from my first studio shoot of 2017, featuring the model Ivory Flame. Now I have worked with Holly many times over the last few years and alway enjoy working with her as we alway seem to make great images. So when she contacted my in December of last year to say she was going to be in the Lakes, I decided it was about time that I worked with her again. I had some new ideas to work with and had a new jacket to shoot, so this seemed to de a good opportunity to try working with the ideas and the new jacket too. So following a few mails we agreed a convient date for working together which gave me my first studio shoot of 2017.

Here are a few of the images from our first set just using studio window light:

Portrait Photography - Portrait Photographer - colour portait head shot image of a red hair model — Richard Spurdens Photography – red haired beauty

Fashion Photography - Fashion Photographer - holly in the natural light — Richard Spurdens Photography – Holly in the natural light

Moving on to the new Military style jacket:

fashion photographer - fashion photography - monochrome image of model wearing a white military style jacket and black pants — Richard Spurdens Photography – White Jacket I

fashion photographer - fashion photography - model wearing a white jacket and black pants — Richard Spurdens Photography – Red hair whtie jacket

Followed by some natural light Artistic Nude images:

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - monochrome image of artistic nude model stood be a window which is giving soft even tones across her figure — Richard Spurdens Photography – Soft light nude

Another set was using Holly lovely Corset to do a tribute to Horst and his great black and white image of a designer Corset.

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - monochrome image of model seated on a tall seat she is wearing a laced corset and is holding the laces out to the side to make a pleasing shape with the laces — Richard Spurdens Photography – corset laces shapes

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - monochrome image using a single side light to illuminate the model fiqure and the corset she is wearing — Richard Spurdens Photography – corset series

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography monochrome image of models back and the corset lacing of the corset she is wearing — Richard Spurdens Photography – Lacing details

The final set form this first studio session of 2017 was using the edge of a sofa and some good patterned tights, with Holly making some great shapes in the light.

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - monochrome image of a model wearing black patterned tights leaning agains the arm of a settee and pushing up on her arms to give straight legs and a strong figure shape — Richard Spurdens Photography – Arching shapes

So thanks to Holly of a good start to 2017

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Events, Fashion, FIAP, General, News

2016 a year in review

I can’t really believe that we are at the end of another year, and again I have had a good year photographically so here is some of the highlights from my 2016.

Having a studio has been a real boon and I have worked with a number of new models there this year. We’ve created some great images, and also had good fun playing with different light approaches.

New models have included Amber M, Em Theresa, Katie Green and finally Nicky Philips. Also Marmalade – but not at my studio as we worked on location in the Pit in Nottingham. The other creative I had the pleasure to work with during the year was the Make Up Artist (MUA) Monica Montalvo. We created some pleasing beauty images working with the model Amber Tutton.

New Models images:

portrait photography - portrait photographer - colour portrait image of model with blue coloured hair — Richard Spurdens Photography -Blue Haired Beauty

fashion photogarphy - fashion photographer - fashion with shadows — Katie Green – shadow patterns

dance photographer - dance photography - colour image of the model wearing a red leotard jumping and making a runing shape holding the rugby ball. — Richard Spurdens Photography – The sprint

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - model crouching in the window light on balls of her feet and holding her head in her hands exposed for the window light so models figure is in shadow — Richard Spurdens Photography – Crouching in the window light

Portrait Photography - Portrait Photographer - colour portait image of model topless looking across her shoulder back into the camera — Richard Spurdens Photography – model Nicky Philips

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - artistic nude model balanceing on a box with a panel to the left hand side making look she is on an L shape — Richard Spurdens Photography – Balancing on the L

I also worked again with Anita De Bauch, Elle Beth, Fredau H, Carla Monoco, and Amber Tutton. it is always good to work with models that you have worked with before, its a bit more relaxing as you know what they can do.

More models:

Portrait Photography - Portrait Photographer - colour image of the model reflected in a the mirror with her red nails and hair shining brightly — Richard Spurdens Photography – Red nails blue eyes

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - colour image of the model with the patterns of the material creating shadows on her figure — Richard Spurdens Photography – Mischkan shadow patterns

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - colour image of model wearing a white textured top light by natural window light — Richard Spurdens Photography – Elle beth in natural light

Portrait Photography - Portrait Photographer - colour image of the model wearign white tights seated on the floor with legs half crossed looking directly into the camera — Richard Spurdens Photography – Simple Fredua H

Portrait Photography - Portrait Photographer - colour portait head shot image of a subject wearing a white hat with a black rim and is looking directly into the lens — Richard Spurdens Photography carla m – white hat elegance – Fuji X-T1 – XF 56mm F1.2 R 1/ 125 sec @ F / 2.5

I have also supported Walters Wardrobe (Jen Brook) and her couture themed shoots at some great locations. These have included Allerton Castle and the vast stately home at Wentworth Woodhouse plus some other great locations too. The Wardrobe team included the MUAs Olivia Morewood and Abigail Pulleyn, with Jen doing the styling, sourcing outfits from the likes of Designer Sharon Bowen- Dryden.

Walters Wardrobe images:

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from a fashion shoot at sledmere hall — Richard Spurdens Photography – fashion shoot – Lady of elegance

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from a fashion shoot at allerton castle — Richard Spurdens Photography – fashion shoot at Allerton Castle,

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from fashion shoot a wentworth woodhouse featuring model wearing a white bridal dress and high hair — Richard Spurdens Photography – fashion shoot a wentworth woodhouse

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour portrait image of kelly ann showing of the dress design and hair — Richard Spurdens Photography – fashion photography fashion shoot a wentworth woodhouse house

This year I have also started a number of projects which I will feature early next year on this site. The main one has been “Reflected Leeds” which is about creating images of Leeds but using reflections.

I have also had a few trips to various different parts of the country to give talks on my work. These have included a visit to Smethwich photographic society and Bristol photographic society. Both are very prestigous societies so I was pleased to have been invited to present my work. Earlier in the year I attended the Arena Photographers weekend in Bournemouth, showing some of my “Perfecting the art of ” series of images on the Photo walk on the Saturday. These were well received by the delegates at the weekend.

The FIAP distinctions trail had been progressing, I received my EFIAP gold in June of this year, which was pleasing, however I have scaled back the number of exhibition I have been entering, only entering the ones that have good exhibition catalogues. I have managed to maintain a high rate of acceptances and have managed to pick up a few awards as well. I now need to get on with submitting my application for the EFIAP/ platiumn award.

A couple of visits to Spain were fruitful in terms of photography with some more interesting bull running images and other image opportunites. A visit to Glasgow in late October also produced some good images of the city architecture.

Other images from the year:

Portrait Photography - Portrait Photographer - colour image of the subject looking up towards the light wearing a red beret — Richard Spurdens Photography – Red beret II

Portrait Photography - Portrait Photographer - colour portrait image of the victorian post mistress standing behind her counter in the victorian shop at the Black country museum — Richard Spurdens Photography – the post mistress

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - colour image of three surfers heading towards the sea carrying their boards — Richard Spurdens Photography – surfers in pembrokeshire

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - colour image of artistic nude model hold a vertical rope down the center of her figure with legs each side making strong shapes and arms gripping the rope each at an angle — Richard Spurdens Photography – Fine art nudes – elle beth with rope

Aerial Arts photographer - Aerial hoop photographer - Aerial Arts photography - colour image of aerialist on a red hoop and wearing a red leotard holding an aerial pose using hand one hand and inner leg — Richard Spurdens Photography – Aerial hoop shapes with Aerialist EM – Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Lens: Canon EF 70-200 f2.8 1/125 sec @ f/ 5.6

fashion photographer - fashion photography - monochrome vintage fashion shoot with model wear a sixty style psychedelic designed dress hat and black shoes — Richard Spurdens Photography -Standing tall

Sport photography - sport photographer - colour image from the time trail stage from javea to calpe in spain. — Richard Spurdens Photography – time trail focus

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - images from a bull running festiveal in the port of Javea Spain — Richard Spurdens Photography – image from bull running in Javea Spain

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - colour image of artistic nude model standing on tiptoe in a square of window light comming from behind and the figure also been lit from the side again from a large window. — Richard Spurdens Photography – Elle Beth at The Natural light Studio

Landscape Photography - Landscape Photographer - Blue dawn light Javea — Richard Spurdens Photography – Blue dawn light

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Events, Fashion, News

Walters Wardrobe at Wentworth House

The Venue.

Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, near Rotherham in South Yorkshire. With some 300 plus rooms it is the largest private house in the United Kingdom. It has also featured in a number of films and TV programs including Mr Turner (2014), and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015).

The event:

And for one weekend It was also became one of the location for a Walters Wardrobe event run by Jen Brook. What a really impressive location for a fashion shoot, its was too. With some truly great locations and large rooms to shoot in, together with the large windows which were providing some wonderful natural light to work with. Together with the designer outfits that Jen sourced and brought together for the event.

The crew:

This Walters Wardrobe event featured the following models Carla Monoco, Mel Tougue, and Kerry Ann. Now I have worked with both Carla and Mel before so it was good to also to meet and get to work with Kerry Ann. The MUAs artists were Abigail Pulleyn, and Livvy Morewood, who both did a great job with the MU for the models. Giving them the distinctive look to match the outfits for this event.

The styling:

Jen had sourced the dresses by Joanne Flemming Design and Headpieces by HF Couture Bridal & Millinery Designer Accessories. For this Walter wardrobe event there was also two dancer in attendance Rachel Gittins, and Rocky Serg Widdowson. Both who worked hard to show some great dance moves and poses in the large ballroom area at the location.

dance photographer - dance photography - colour image of two dancers one male one female the male is performing a side lift of the female as she kicks her top leg into the air. in the background are two roman statues — Richard Spurdens Photography – dance photographer – High Kicks among the Statues

dance photographer - dance photography - two dancers one male one female in the center of a large tiled dance floor the female is performing a spin so her skirt is spinning out and the male is holding out a hand as if he was spinning her as a top — Richard Spurdens Photography – dance photography -Spins and patterns

Portrait Photography - Portrait Photographer -colour portrait image of kelly ann — Richard Spurdens Photography – portrait photography -The lady of Elegance

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from fashion shoot a wentworth woodhouse featuring model wearing a gold and brown design dress — Richard Spurdens Photography – fashion photographer – fashion shoot at wentworth woodhouse

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from fashion shoot a wentworth woodhouse featuring model lying on the floor in a gold and brown dress shot from above, she looking like she has fall to that place on the floor — Richard Spurdens Photography -fashion photographer – fashion shoot wentworth woodhouse

Thanks to Jen and the Walters Wardrobe team for another opportunitie to work in a great location with some great models. dancers and designer outfits too.

Events, General

Photo London

Photo London 2016

Photo London from the 19^th -22^nd May 2016 – held for the second year at Somerset house London. We had spotted the event a couple of months ago and booked some tickets. I wanted to see what it would had to offer. As a trip to visit Paris Photo was an option for a visit later in the year.

The guide stated: that they had brought together 80 of the world’s leading photographic galleries for this year’s fair. Galleries from around the world including countries like Ag Galerie | Tehran. Ayyam Gallery | Dubai – Beirut, BILDHALLE | Kilchberg / Zurich, CAMERA WORK | Berlin, amana (amanasalto / IMA gallery) | Tokyo. So this was going to be an eclectic mix of images

Photo London also had a program of talks and symposia each day which were curated by William A. Ewing, writer and a distinguished curator. There were a number of talks I would have liked to have gone too listen too. These included: Nick Knight, Martin Parr, and Lois Greenfield. Unfortunately they were all sold out. Well before we had booked our tickets, so perhaps need to book earlier next year.

As the Photo London fair didn’t open until 12:30. We decided to use the morning and visited the Victoria and Albert Museum V&A. To view the photography exhibition that was getting 5 stars reviews in the various London guides.

Paul Strand: Photography and Film for the 20th Century

The advertising for the exhibition states the following:

Paul Strand was one of the greatest and most influential photographers of the 20th century. Whose images have defined the way fine art and documentary photography is understood and practiced today.

It was certainly well curated, and his early images were often taken from a high vantage point looking down into the city. His street images initially were often shot without the subject knowing that they were in the picture. But this changed in later years as he often discussed with the subject what he want to get from the image. He certainly travelled a lot and his actual cameras are on display. Which was good to see what he was working with. I would certainly agree with the 5 star reviews of this exhibition.

The court yard was also worth a visit as a canopy designed to mimic the microscopic structure of the forewing shells of flying beetles has been constructed by a robotic arm using a carbon and glass fibre spun by the arms program, the Elytra Filament Pavilion forms a waterproof shelter in the courtyard. This is part of the exhibitions and events focused on the “unsung role” of engineering in society.

A selection of images from the days visits

Travel Photography - travel Photograher -photo london poster in the ground of summer set house — Richard Spurdens Photography – Somerset house court yard Fuji XE-1 Fuji XF 27mm

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - london street scene — Richard Spurdens Photography – Somerset house court yard Fuji XE-1 Fuji XF 27mm

Photo London thoughts:

So this was an opportunity to see lots of different people’s work in one location and also see how the medium was being used by many different types of photographers. While you might not like the results it was good to see the range and depth of the different approach to image making in the different forms in each of the galleries.

I enjoyed visiting all the different galleries and it does take a long time to get around then all – you need lots of breaks too. Fortunately the layout of the event made it easy to get around and view the work without lots of other visitors being an issue. It was great to see images from the some of the great photographers of the past, the likes of Horst, Bob Carlos Clarke, and Norman Parkinson as well as images from today image makers like Andreas H. Bitesnich and Nick Brandt Each gallery has something different to view. For the Horst (Mainbocher Corset, 1939) image that I love you needed around 8500 euro to buy one of the prints. However it was amazing to get up close and see the details and shadow tones in the image which was taken in 1939 on a plate camera.

Photo London also had some specific artists with a room dedicated to their work these included Don McCullan (a range of his work, presented in association with Hamiltons Gallery.) This exhibition included a wide range of his works. A dark moody room for his images worked well.

Craigie Horsfield’s work was also on display in a separate exhibition, which featured 12 of his large scale portrait images. Horsfield is known for his intimate style and sensitive employment of diverse printing techniques, and it was certainly worth visiting.

However for me the best exhibition was the work of Sergey Chilikov, the exhibition was entitled Photoprovocations

The exhibition info stated the following:

Sergey Chilikov is one of the most outstanding practitioners of the ‘new’ photography which emerged in the USSR in the 1970s. This specially-commissioned exhibition, curated by the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, brings this important artist to the fore.

Closely linked to the Sots Art (Soviet Pop Art) movement, Chilikov’s work is a subversive response to the strict Brezhnev era of the USSR. Away from the oppression of public society and in the privacy of domestic situations, people were free to behave as they wished. Chilikov turned his lens upon his subjects in this liberated state. His work offers a glimpse into a fascinating past counter-culture that has striking resonance to our societies today.

It certainly did and was as I had said above was the best exhibition of Photo London. Overall and good day visiting both the V&A and also Photo London.

Events, Fashion

Allerton Castle with Walters Wardrobe A-team

Allerton Castle described as England’s grandest and most elegant gothic revival stately home and a venue for weddings, is a location that is quite close to me and it’s an amazing location both inside and out, and when Jen Brook posted a Walters wardrobe event at this location I had to put my name down for a place.

The following models were in attendance Angela Hudson, Arielle Jammy Fox, Alexa Taylor, Antia De Bauch, (hence the Walters Wardrobe A- team). With MUAs Abigail Pulleyn, and Livvy Morewood. Styling was provided by Jen Brook using dresses by Joanne Flemming Design and Headpieces by HF Couture Bridal & Millinery Designer Accessories

I have worked with both Angela Hudson and Anita De Bauch before but not the other two so it was good to get to work with two new models (to me) and also to work with Angela and Anita again as they are both great to work with. Jen had done a great job with the styling with each models outfit working well with the rooms that we worked with them in.

I shot mainly with the rooms’ natural light and my Fuji X-T1 which I found great to see what the exposure would look like on the display screen and then compose the shot. I did use flash in a couple of the rooms just to lift the models a bit out of the scene.

So here are a few of the images from the shoot wifi’d from the camera to the pc so no post editing :

Fashion Photography - Fashion Photographer - Walters Wardrobe arielle 1 — Richard Spurdens Photography -fashion photographer – A corner of elegance. Fuji XT-1

Fashion Photography - Fashion Photographer - Walters Wardrobe by the fire place — Richard Spurdens Photography -fashion photographer – A corner of elegance. Fuji XT-1

So thanks to Jen and all the team for a great day at this location.

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Events, FIAP, General

2015 – a review of the year

So here we are at the end of 2015 and a time to reflect on the year photographically.

Has 2015 been a good year?

The answer, I think is yes, it has been a good and varied year.

I have worked with a quite a number of new models which was one of the aims of the year. On the photographic Salon front I have continued to enter a few of the National and International Salons and been rewarded with some success with images being accepted into the exhibitions and on a number of occasions picking up awards. One of the highlights was picking up my second Gold medal in the Trierenburg Super Salon, which resulted in an invitation to the Gala dinner in Linz in October to collect this. This year our trip was by train and we visited Zurich on the way there and Vienna on the way home. A blog post will be coming in early January about the visit to these two locations.

A few Judging invitations this year, including one of the National PAGB competitions (The GB Cup with fellow judges Leigh Preston and Eric Orme) and also the international Yorkshire Salon 2015 with fellow judges Libby Smith and Rod Wheelans.

I have also had a number of invitations to present my images to camera clubs both locally in Yorkshire and nationally too, I even did a Couture fashion shoot too.

Mid-way through the year, I managed to put myself out of action for around 2 months when I broke my foot, so I had to cancel a trip to Spain and also a number of booked shoots which was a real pain. Fortunately at least one of the models I was able to work with later in the year. Just at this time I also got a studio space to work from so that has been a good step forward to have somewhere to work and play with lighting styles etc. I just had to wait for two months to start using it!

To make up for missing the trip to Spain in June we arranged a trip in September to visit the city of Bilbao, in northern Spain, which was well worth the visit as you can see from my post about it here.

On to the new models that I had the pleasure of working with this year, starting in January 2015, with Rosa brighid, then in alphabetical order: Angela Hudson, Amber Tutton, Darren H, Dee Delahunty, Gem, Mischkah, Rosewell Ivory and Tillie Feather.

I also enjoyed working again with Carla Monaco, Ella Beth, Faith Obae, Ivory Flame , Jen Brook, Kayleigh Lush, Raphella, and Madam Bink.

Finally I must put in a short bit around the FIAP awards which last year were revised upwards dramatically which made me decide not to follow on with the level awards. (see FIAP silver) Well in the FIAP congress in November 2015, guess what – they changed them all around again, you really do have to wonder!

So the upshot is I can now apply for my FIAP gold level award.

So to finish off here are some images from the 2015:

landscape photography - landscape photographer -January light Javea 2015 — Fuji XF18mm 1/60sec @ F8.0

artistic nude photography - artistic nude photographer - pushing the blocks

portairt photography - portairt photographer - carla m — Richard Spurdens Photography – Carla M

Landscape Photography - Landscape Photographer - scotish highland view to the buachaille — Richard Spurdens Photoography the buachaille

artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography -Fine art nudes - shapes in the square — Richard Spurdens Photography – Shapes in the square

artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography -raphaella floor shapes — Fuji XT-1 Zeiss Touit 12mm /f2.8 i/125 @ f5.0

Dance photographer - dance photography -Faith and Darren

Artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography colour image of model looking out of a large window wearing a sheer top. — Richard Spurdens Photography

fashion photographer - fashion photography -gem 1

fashion photographer - fashion photographer - jen and amber — Richard Spurdens Photography – fashion photography – Jen and Amber

portrait photography - portrait photographer - high key monochorme image of model looking through to gap in some net curtains, subject is lit with natural light from behind — Richard Spurdens Photography – portrait image – mischkah highkey – III – Canon EOS 5D Mark III : EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 1/125 @ F / 3.2

dance photography - dance photographer -checking the dance shapes

fashion photographer - fashion photographer - dee delahunty — Richard Spurdens Photography – Dee

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Events, General, News, Photography

Bilbao visit part II

Following on from, my recent blog post on my visit to Bilbao in September. Which mainly featured the architecture and areas around the Guggenheim.

I thought it would be worth sharing some of the other interesting places that are worth visiting whilst you are there.

Starting off a the tourtist information center where there was this interesting use of light bulds and photographes of the city of Bilbao.

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - light bulds and hotographs of the various locations in bilbao — Richard Spurdens Photography -travel photography series XF 35mm 1/60 sec @ f/4

The river Nervión runs through the city and you can walk on either side of this river and cross it by many of the different bridges that have been built at regular intervals in the centre. These are all different and some are more photographic interesting than others.

foot bridge sweep — Touit 12mm, 1/125 sec f13.0

Some of the outdoor sculptors along the banks of the river make interesting subject too and I choose to photograph them using a low angle to make these strong shapes stand out again the sky.

Travel Photography - travel Photograher -monochrome image of commemoration day of the sea sculptor bilbao — Richard Spurdens Photography – commemoration day of the sea sculptor series XF 35mm 1/60 sec @ f/16.0

travel photography - travel photographer - commemoration day of the sea sculptor — Richard Spurdens Photography – commemoration day of the sea sculptor

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - one of the commemoration day of the sea sculptor bilbao — Richard Spurdens Photograhy -commemoration day of the sea sculptor series. Fuji XF 35mm 1/60 sec @ f/16.0

Commemoration day of the Sea – XF 35mm 1/60 sec @ f/16.0

Another good place to visit was the Azkuna Zentroa, or in English the (Azkuna Centre) previously known as the Alhonhiga Bilbao. It is an interesting building which was originally a large wine warehouse designed 1909 but following it closure around 1970 was finally renovated between 2001-2010 by the architect Philippe Starck in collaboration with Thibaut Mathieu. This is now a multi-purpose venue which houses: a gallery, cinemas, café, shops, fitness center and a swimming pool.

circles of light — 2.0 secs @ f/8.0 Touit 12mm

But this is a swimming pool with a difference, it that at the top of the building and has glass panels in the bottom – so you can walk underneath it and look up at the swimmers in the pool back lit from above.

Architecture Photography - Architecture Photographer - a view from underneath to a swimming pool on the roof of the building — Richard Spurdens Photography – 1/125 sec @ f/11.0 Touit 12mm

The whole building make for an interesting place to visit: the open space has some interesting lighting and areas to sit and chat in.

Even the pillars supporting the internal structures are all different with attractive decoration patterns.

the ornate tiling of one support pillar — 1/4 sec @ f5.6 Touit 12mm

travel photography - travel photographer - monochrome image of a decortive brick support pillar under a building in spain — 0.5 sec @ f/5.0 Touit 12mm

As I said above you can walk around the city but there is also a very good tram and metro system, if you need to travel quickly or go further out of the city. Of course the metro system, which was designed by another fine architect Sir Norman Foster and as you enter the system by what the locals call ‘Los Fosteritos’ you feel you are entering a futuristic world. Once you have come down the escalators or glass lifts you are lead through tunnels to cavernous stations. With mezzanines floors above the trains and stairs from these lead you down on to platforms. Here are a few images from the stations which feel light and airy compared with some of the other metro systems that are around Europe.

metro esculators — XF 18mm 1/5 sec @ f/6.4

ticket barrier pop — The ticket barriers were worth a look at a bit of selective colouring. XF35mm 1/125 sec f/5.6

travel photography - travel photographer - colour image showing the station platform at moyua station with all the various lines runing towards the top of the image — Richard Spurdens Photography – Bilbao visit series – FX18mm 1/15 sec @ f/4

travel photography - travel photographer - colour image showing the station platform at moyua station with a train in the platform with the station name reflecting in the carrage windows — Richard Spurdens Photography – Bilbao visit series – XF18mm 1/30 sec @ f/2.8

We used the metro to go out to the Areeta metro station to visit the Vizcaya Bridge, known to locals as the Puente Colgante (hanging bridge) which is a link between Portugalete and Getxo. It is the oldest hanging bridge in the world and was constructed in 1893 of iron and was designed so that the passage of ships would be interrupted.

the hanging bridge — 1/180 sec @ f/16.0 XF-18mm

Another transport hub that is worth a vist is the railway station located in Abando near the old town. It is know locally as Bilbao-Abando and locally named as Estación del Norte (“North Station”), it is an interesting build and has a great station glass window showing the industrial heritage of Bilbao.

The skyline of Bilbao has some other notalbe buildings that are worth a look photographing, there is the Iberdrola tower ( Iberdrola dorrea) the head quarters of Iberdrola( the spanish electricity company) it certainly towers above the skyline and makes a interesting subject in various lights.

Reflected blues and whitess — Iberdrola Tower XF -18mm 1/180 sec @ f/11

Iberdrola Tower sunset II — XF-55-200 mm @ 55mm. 1/125 sec @ f/ 5.0

office block colours — XF-55-200 mm @ 200mm. 1/125 sec @ f/ 6.4

The final images I shot were at another transport link the airport which is also designed by Santiago Calatrava and the terminal is a sleek design and looks like the front of a large arrow pointing to the sky. This is a shot from the interior departure hall.

Architecture Photography - Architecture Photographer -bilbao airport interior roof — Richard Spurdens Photography – bilbao airport windows FX18mm 1/125 @f /10.0

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Events, FIAP, News

Trierenberg Super Circuit 2015

Following on from my success in the 2014 Trierenberg Super Circuit I went to the Gala Dinner to collect my medal and it was a great night of photography images and meeting fellow award winners. I again entered the 2015 Trierenberg Super Circuit and I was more than delighted to be a medal winner again in 2015.

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - Linz photo awards — Richard Spurdens Photography – Collecting the Gold Medal

So again the invitation to the Trierenberg Super Circuit Gala dinner was accepted and a trip to Linz was arranged to attend the award ceremony and dinner.

So Monday of this week (12/10/2015) I was among those photographers at the gala dinner and awards evening held at the Design Centre in Linz, Austria. My award-winning image this year was Perfecting the art of chair levitating which was awarded a gold medal for best mono image in the Bregenz salon.

dance photographer - dance photography - in the mono perfecting the art of chair levitation — Richard Spurdens Photography – EFIAP Gold – Perfecting the art of chair levitation

This is again a great evening, well organised and with a well curated exhibition of a large number of the accepted prints. To have one of your images on display with all the other impressive work and to stand on the stage in front of all those other photographers and creative artists for a second time was really a good feeling.

This year I was one of the winner who Dr Chris Hinterobermaier chose to interviewed on stage so a little nerve-racking to start off with but I felt I gave a good answer to this questions.

travel photography - travel photographer - interview image 1 — Richard Spurdens Photography – On the big screen

There were a few other UK-based photographers attending too – Slywia and Marcin Ciesielski based in Southampton and Marek Biegalski based in Dublin and Mike Pilkington again from Dublin.

There were two other photographers who I had met at the event in 2014 Lotta van Droom (Ireland), who I managed to have a chat with after the dinner and also Mohammadreza Rezinia from Iran but I did not manage to catch up with him this year. which was a shame as his work is really creative.

Have a look at their websites if you have the time.

Again as I said at the end of my post last year if you get the invitation to attend then GO

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Events, General

Couture Fantasy themed shoot

When Jen Brook posted an invite to a designer-themed Couture shoot at Velocity studios in Chorley a couple of months ago, I had to put my name down. As it featured Jen, Gem, Amber Tutton and Madam Bink, all models (except Amber) I had the pleasure of working with before, I knew this would be a good event.

It also featured Rosie Red, a designer and creator of fantasy bridal and couture wear and two fine Make-up Artists, Abi Pulleyn and Olivia Morewood. So with four great models styled in fantasy couture and two disused floors of the mill near Velocity Studios to shoot in, it turned out to be a great day.

Brian and Steve from The Flash Centre were also in attendance so there was a few toys to try out on the day, including the Elinchrom ring flash (some images to share later using this) and the new Pentax 647Z.

As no one seemed interested in trying the Pentax 647Z, I thought I would give it a go and so after loaning a 16GB SD card (thanks to Richard Awbery), I used it towards the end of the day for a about an hour.

I got some good images to play with but be warned this system produces some huge file sizes. I will share some images taken with this camera soon.

Here are two final images from the day when the sun came out and all the models were assembled for a few shots with them all together.

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from a fashion shoot at an old mill location in coppull featuring elegance femine designs — Richard Spurdens Photography – fashion shoot – rose petal bella III

Thanks to Marc (Velocity Studios), Amber, Binky, Gemma, Jen, MUA – Abi and Olivia, Designer Rosie Red and Brian and Steve, too.

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