A Fantastic Weekend with Ivory Flame - The Future.

Hi there people, well its taken a few months to come around but I am so pleased to say that the best things in life come to those who wait.  The best thing in life for me this weekend was the Outstanding model Ivory Flame and believe me she was well worth the wait.   Some time ago I had the pleasure of her company in what was to be the first of many visits to my studio up here in sunny Rotherham and each visit I have enjoyed her company, her professionalism and her ability to deliver results.   With this in mind I organised a little photographic day for May of this year and the photographers who attended were treated to Ivory at her best, for she is a truly stunning model.   I have to put my thanks to her for such an inspirational day, each of the photographers getting a wide selection of images due to her abilities and planning for the event.  I personally had some ideas which  she was very happy to work with and too specific time of my shoot to ensure that I got the pictures that I would need for my digital creation.   Its refreshing to know or meet a model who understands what makes a really good picture and in her case the ability to offer assistance is a major bonus to all photographers.   I now have very fond memory's of this day and look forward to welcoming her back to the studios in the future or perhaps sometime in the future when we have the new studios open.  Which leads us on to the next topic.

Just some pictures of Ivory flame below before we continue with the blog, so sit pack view and enjoy this visual feast from one of the UK's most brilliant art nude models.

The Future.
Yep well I have been saying watch this space and as many of you will know we are currently working on the studio to give improved facilities and space to work, the main aim of this is to be ready for our move to bigger and better premises in the near future.  For a long time the issue of disabled access to the premises and having to walk miles to the toilet (Well it felt that way) has been problems that we have been unable to deal with.  Hopefully by September we are going to be in a position to move to bigger and better premises in the South Yorkshire area and to that end we hope that you will continue to support our work in the months ahead.   The current studios have now been in use for almost five years, no mean feat when you consider that we have weathered the recession when others where closing, having to rely on other funding or just getting into amazing debt problems.  Our fees have consistently remained at a low level but we have not skimped on our services to our client's which have included commercial clients, private individuals, groups and other organisations.  I do hope that we can continue to serve our clients in the years to come, stay tuned for more information.
Paul Rowe.

The Time for Change.. A Happy Future.

A change is as good as a rest they say, well its time for a change and I can feel it in the air..  For a number of years many of you will know that I have run a photographic studios and business and that I have enjoyed every minute of it.  The only problem has been that enjoying and making a living out of something is two different things.  Following long discussions over months I have made a number of decisions about the future direction of things and this will become apparant in future postings.  My focus, pardon the pun, will now be clearly taken away from the model/studio hire area and move more over to a Commercial footing covering Legal, Eventing, Portraits, Corporate and Wedding Photography in the future months.  This will lead on to the establishment of a new studio complex with a number of other people with whom I have had the pleasure to be associated for a number of years. 

Can you feel the Force.

Why is this happening, I think its also been caused by the current state of the model/studio day situdation and hire position with studios throughout the UK with more and more models running uninsured shoots at home, constant no-shows from would be professional models and photographers who keep on changing their minds about shoot dates.  The industy is full of fools who like the tag Movel and then want to strip the hard earned cash from every joe bloggs out there, the problem is that there are far too many GWC's (Guys with Cameras) who give the industry a bad name as all they want is to see a bit of Tit and Arse to get them going....  Yep I said it like it is.

True professional photographers are faced with a constant stream of TF demands from models and very little in return, their work is liked but models dont want to pay for their services cause they think they can get the same on the cheep from the bloke in the pub for free.  Yea think about the years people have studied, the investment in kit and gear, the amount of testing and checking of equipment, the cost of hiring studios to perfect their art and then the movels want everything for free.

Regulation.  Yep its a strong word but its about time that all photographers were regulated properly and their experience and skills properly rewarded by people entering the industry and not exploited.

All for now, yep on a positive note I am looking foward to a trip back to Talacre Beach in North Wales in Early June and am getting excited about the chance to work on location in some sunshine at a beach...

Times are a changing, thats all for now see you soon.

Recent Pictures from shoot with SarahJane

Getting out and about for a Change.

Hi everyone, its blog time again and I thought that I might this time give a little time to talk about my recent experiences in the January to March period.   Are you sitting comfortably then I shall begin.
January 2011
Well the year started off slowly for me at the studios, perhaps it was the recovery from the christmas celebrations, the excitement of a new year in prospect or perhaps something else.  Well January was slow, very little was happening and I took time out to rethink about what I wanted to do in the coming 12 months.
My first project for the year was to sift through a number of models who had applied for the MUSE project that I was planning to run from April to March 2012 so this took a lot of my time.  Lots of applications, sortlisting and discussions with my Makeup Artist Gemma Lawrance about who to include and we got it down to six possibles.  Out of the six I sent out the questions and only three bothered to reply to me, still three is better than none.  I worked through the answers sent in and one model stood out as being ideal in that she was keen to do the 12 months work and had a versility that would be need for such a project.  Thanks to Holly (Holbot) who was selected, we are now planning out what we can do and we have a lot of ideas to work on from full body-painting to location work.

February 2011
This month held a lot of promise for me in that I had been working for some time to secure the services of the superb model Raphiella Macnamara for a shoot at the studios.  So naturally we had something to look forward to and this stunning young lady, trained dancer and professional photographic model arrived.

A number of regular users at the studios wanted to work with her and she really delivered quality work to all the photographers who booked her.  A stunning young lady whom I would love to have back at the studios again in the not too distant future.    The rest of the month being a short one passed with very little problems except that it seemed to drag somewhat as I had arranged to get out of the studios and go on location with the Wonderful Michelle Hush in North Wales with a fellow photographer Lance Burkitt.

March 2011.
North wales a blustery day, sunshine, a slight dabble of rain, stormy clouds, overcast and outstanding sands at Talacre Beach gave us some stunning images on the day, it was over very quickly but the memory of being outside in the open air will stay with me for some time, so planning for the next one in May/June time.

Well the month will get on without any further comments needed, looking forward to April for Lady Tathiel and for the stunning Ivory Flame in May so lots of good shots in pospect as well as a trip out into the countryside or seaside again.

Till next time, keep your lens clean, your battery charged and enjoy your photography.

Mine, the place to be and I dont mean fish! Title what Title!

Ok, its taken just a little time to do this but I thought that it might be cool for me to eventually join the 21st century and start up the studios blog, so here it is.  Well I hope to put a lot more on this in the months to come and hope that you will enjoy reading the wonderful things that I am going to comment about with you so sit down, get the kettle on and pin back your lugholes for some touching topics for you all to read.

So where to start, as they all say its best to start at the beginning and then proceed directly to the end of the subject.  Bristol a chilly evening, a short sharp cry of a baby in 1956.  Yep you guessed it I got born, well not the most earth shattering or momentus occasion I hear you cry, well actually I don't hear you cry at all cause you are actually reading this and not plugged into my Hifi or something.  

My life started out rather slowly until the age of 8 when my dad and mum thought it would be good to take me on holiday to Switzerland and to record the holiday I was given my first camera, an Ilford 127 roll film camera, yep two settings on it one for black and white and the other for the magical colour.  Well I was starting rather young and wanted to get some great pictures, which I did, the snowball fight at the top of the mountain was well recorded as was every country that we went through to get there.  I had got the bug.

Very soon I was asking for more film, more cameras and every type and shape of book on photography I could check out of the public library.  My interest grew and with it I wanted to know everything and anything about the photographic medium.  Eventually I joined the local camera club, well it was a short car drive away from home which allowed me to con my dad into driving me there and getting a lift home from the members.  Keynsham Photographic Society had a new and rather talented young member.  Very soon I was promoted to the role of slide battle secretary of the club and my skills (Sorry about this pun) DEVELOPED!!

I was still not happy so I thought it a good idea to start my own camera club,  Stockwood Camera Club was founded and very soon was attracting members like flies to a dung heap.   Pretty soon the club had grown to large numbers and we became a member of the WCPF (Western Counties Photographic Federation).  I retired at the age of 14 and was appointed as the clubs president, the fools.

My interest continued and as the years went by I gain more knowledge and more importantly lots more cameras and lenses, the old Zenith EM was a wonderful brick that I took everywhere and very soon with a heavy backpack I was looking for a much lighter set of gear.  It came to me in the shape of the Olympus Trip for carrying around and for more serious work the Olympus OM1.  Superb camera and I still have fond memories of all the films, slide film and negative work that I did over the years. 

Time rolls forward, medium format cameras came and went, film became a thing of the past, digital photography was coming and very soon the cameras and equipment became a simple extension of my photographic skill.  Founding Rowe Photographic and then the studios seemed to fly by as the past seven years have been a blur for me.  I have enjoyed the transition even though I find myself to be somewhat older than when I started I still feel like an 18 year old.  Well on the inside there is a teenager still tying to get out.  Second childhood I hear you cry, rubbish, I still have not got out of my first one yet!

Am I Happy? ...... Of course this is something that I like doing and enjoy, its part of me and will be until the day I pass off this world for the next one. or whatever happens next. 

Well to finish, if you are still reading this I have met many interesting and wonderful people on this voyage, some of which are no longer with us but I look forward to the future with a full measure of hope.  In this I too hope that you have enjoyed this first but by no means last installment.