Yesterday I assisted Dan Prince with a photo shoot in Alnwick, Northumberland. I was really lucky that he replied to my email and gave me an opportunity to work with him. I really like his work, one of my favourites of his photographs is a mannequin head in the fridge. This photo won this years Sun Awards. Dan has done lots of advertising stuff, the most impressive a shoot for Nikon 'I AM CLOSER TO THE MOMENT'. I love the boys facial expression when he is kicking the ball and the composition of the image and the colours.
Dan has shot a few times for Alnwick Gardens before and today the project was for a Halloween poster for them. I met him at his studio around 3pm. He explained the project to me and showed me the drawing of how the final photo will look. When I saw the drawing which was done by a shoot art director I was surprised because when I am thinking about my shoot ideas I often sketch them myself just to illustrate the composition or general idea. So that was great to see them using the same technique!
At the studio I met Nicole, his personal assistant, then we picked up Allan, the shoot art director and we drove to Alnwick. The car was full of camera and lighting equipment.
We set up around a little cottage next to the poison gardens. We used seven lights, two inside to light up the hut, one behind, three on the sides and one on the front to light the model from above.
Dan took a few test shots and we put a few gels on the lighting to give the picture a fairytale effect.
The model arrived. He looked a little bit like Johnny Depp from Alice in Wonderland and he worked well with Dan. His facial expressions and body language was great. They comunicated really well.
Nicole was responsible for creating a mist and she was using a special smoke machine to create this effect.
Watching the preview on capture one I saw the influence of the back blue light for this effect.
We waited until the sky was dark and then you could really see how well all of the lights worked. The little garden cottage looked so magical and we moved the lights a few time to get the best results. I was really impressed when I looked on the laptop screen. The photos looked so good !!!
Dan is so professional, he understands the lighting so well. Watching him work you can tell he is enjoying himself.
We finished shooting at 9pm, it was really cold but I had had a great experience and realised how much I still had to learn if I ever want to call myself a professional photographer. I am excited and ready for the challenge ahead!
Wiesia
Behind the scene photo shoot with Dan Price.
Final Photo Photographer Dan Prince
