Sean Smith from X Factor’s sibling duo, Same Difference is another celebrity to brave the on-going national Testicular Cancer awareness campaign known as Checkum. We photographed Sean a few weeks ago in London, but I will hasten to add that his sister, Sarah wasn’t present at this particular gig! Instead she took a hasty retreat after dropping Sean at the studio door and returned later with a beaming smile all over her face - I can’t think why!
A positive and happy character (despite the three hours of nude labour Andrea (my Art Director) and I put him through, Sean was a delight to shoot and sailed through every pose like a true professional. I have posted one of Sean’s Checkum posters here, but more should be released once we receive approval. All images were shot with a Nikon D3x provided by Nikon UK in support of the campaign. The lens I used was my own Nikon 70-200 vr. We used Elinchrom flash as our light source. Click on any image for a larger view.
HOT OFF THE PRESS! An additional photo has been used by Heatworld (Heat magazine on-line) here.
(To find out more about the Checkum campaign and view additional images and stories, please scroll through my blog history. The Checkum celebrity campaign was created by Famousmales in association with Macmillan Cancer Support).
Gavin Jenks from the Autoglass TV advertisements is another familiar face to reveal all for the Checkum Testicular Cancer Awareness campaign. Shot about a week ago in Birmingham, Gavin told us he had never done anything like this before, but was willing to expose himself in the name of charity and for the good of all mankind! Gavin’s shoot was a little trickier than most, as we had to position the glass windscreen to avoid reflection from the studio lights. My Art Director, Andrea had much ‘windscreen tweaking’ to do in order to get the perfect shot. Gavin provided all the props for the shoot himself, including an array of tools for the job, plus the glass windscreen that weighed an absolute ton!
All photos were taken with a Nikon D2x and 50mm prime lens (75mm due to chip size of camera). The images were mostly lit with 3 Elinchrom flash heads with a small softbox as the key light, a snooted light on the background and a large honeycomb to backlight Gavin’s body and hair and separate him from the background.
Click on any image for a larger view.
HOT OFF THE PRESS! Gavin’s photo’s are in Heatworld (Heat magazine on-line) here. More radio coverage at BRMB Radio here.
Stuart Pilkington of Big Brother 9 is yet another celebrity to hit the headlines for getting his kit off for charity. We photographed Stuart in a Manchester studio very recently, followed a couple of days later by an additional celebrity shoot in London - soon to be revealed!
The idea of the final Checkum posters is to promote Testicular Cancer awareness to the male population. As the campaign gains popularity, aided by the fantastic publicity it’s receiving through the international media, more and more celebrities are showing an interest in joining in. The photo shoots are essentially a bit of fun, but carry a very serious and important message in the final posters (click on the poster images for a larger view).
A recent shoot with Coronation Street’s Adam Rickitt has also been featured widely in the media and the Checkum campaign received mention a few days ago during a TV interview with Adam on ITV’s Loose Women. You can see a selected gallery of the Checkum posters so far, including Adam’s images here.
Here’s to the next Checkum shoot (coming very soon)!
All images were shot with a Nikon D3x loaned by the Nikon UK in support of the campaign. Checkum is a celebrity Testicular Cancer awareness campaign created by Famousmales and is sponsored by Macmillan Cancer Support.
Lenses used were my own Nikon 70-200 vr and 50mm 1.8 prime. The studio flash used was Elinchrom.
HOT OF THE PRESS - The funniest thing to come out of the Checkum campaign yet is here! And another article here.
The Checkum celebrity Testicular Cancer awareness campaign (sponsored by Macmillan Cancer Support) is now gathering pace, gaining national recognition and global media attention. I have therefore decided to create a quick blog post hosting a gallery showing the majority of the Checkum posters we have created so far in liaison with my client, Famousmales. An additional celebrity took part in the campaign recently and the poster will be added to my blog very soon.
Sadly, we no longer have Nikon supporting us with their high-resolution D3x camera, which was perfect for the campaign shoots. Should any other camera manufacturer/supplier like to support the campaign in return for a credit on the posters, please contact me - 07802 463315. You can see Nikon’s credit on many of the posters in the gallery.
The latest star to join in with the Checkum testicular cancer awareness campaign is ex-Coronation Street actor and music star, Adam Rickitt. Joined by my regular Art Director, Andrea and Make-up Artist, Sadaf Saeed we photographed Adam in Manchester at Slaughterhouse studios around a week ago. This time, some additional video footage was captured during the ‘less-exposed’ parts of the photo shoot, which will be aired on TV sometime in the future. All will be revealed as to what goes on behind the scenes of a Checkum shoot!
The photos from the shoot have so far been published in today’s Sun newspaper (and The Sun on-line), Heat on-line, plus OK on-line. In addition, they appear on the Coronation Street blog, Adam Rickitt’s official website and Metro. All images were captured on a 24.5mp Nikon D3x, that has been kindly lent to us by Nikon UK by way of supporting the campaign. Lens was my own Nikon 70-200vr 2.8. The studio flash used was my own Elinchrom kit - I generally shot with four flash heads and two ‘polyboard’ reflectors.
For more information and images relating to the Checkum campaign, please scroll through the blog history. Click on any image for a larger view.
Matt Evers, American Figure Skater, TV Presenter and male Model recently shed all but his skates to take part in Checkum, the on-going testicular cancer awareness campaign sponsored by Famousmales and Macmillan Cancer Support (for more information see my past Checkum blog entries).Matt is one of the stars of TV’s Dancing On Ice and has toured with every show alongside Torvill and Dean since 2006. For more information on Matt, visit his official website here.
The shoot took place in London at Boak studio, a great modern environment with plenty of Elinchrom flash heads, modifiers and power packs, all of which helped to make the shoot a great success. This was different to all our previous Checkum shoots because this time we had to capture action scenes, yet keep Matt within the parameter of standard-size paper background. However, Matt was fantastic and hit the pre-focused mark every time and responded perfectly to the instructions on our storyboards. As usual, my assistant Andrea relayed the instructions and helped by art directing the shoot. Further examples of the final posters can be seen below. Click any image for a magnified view!
All images were captured on a Nikon D2x and a prime Nikon standard lens (which works out at around 75mm due to the chip size of the D2x). I have recently approached a number of companies for further support in the form of camera equipment. We especially require a higher resolution camera body to achieve maximum quality for large-scale reproduction. I will keep you posted as to whether I achieve any success. I have already had a positive response from the rental department of a leading photographic supplier, who have provisionally offered to support the campaign by way of lending us additional equipment for future shoots. If there are any manufacturers who feel they would like to support the campaign, please contact me by phone or directly by email and place the name CHECKUM in the subject field. You can find my contact information on any of my websites. Links are in the right-hand column, under ‘pages’ at my blog site.
Next up, more dynamic action shots in the pipeline – keep following my blog!
Yesterday, I traveled to London to shoot another celebrity for the Checkum testicular cancer awareness campaign. Keep following my blog to find out who braved all to camera this time - all will be revealed soon! In the meantime, I have posted another campaign poster. See my previous blog entry for details regarding this shoot, plus view my past blog entries for other posts relating to the Checkum campaign.
The poster above shows Monty Halls. See his new series, Monty Halls Great Hebridean Escapes, 21st April, 9pm, BBC2. More info here.
BBC Bargain Hunt presenter, Jonathan Pratt was one of the latest celebrities to take part in ‘Checkum’, the ongoing testicular cancer awareness campaign where celebrities bravely shed their clothes in the name of charity (see here for further details). Over the past few months I have been commissioned by sponsors, Famousmales to photograph those who have agreed to take part in the campaign. So far, the job has involved traveling to various locations of England. On today’s BBC screening of Bargain Hunt, Jonathan talks about why he became involved in Checkum and how it felt to be photographed naked. Below you can see a clip from Bargain Hunt where Jonathan reveals all!
You can also hear Jonathan giving a more detailed radio interview here. In this interview, Jonathan talks about the shoot itself in more detail.
If you have been following my blog you will know from past entries that I have been working on an on-going national charity campaign called ‘Checkum’. The aim of the campaign, sponsored by famousmales.uk.net, is to raise awareness of testicular cancer and ultimately encourage men to get themselves regularly checked out against the disease.
Radio interview - how it feels to be photographed naked!
Celebrities from all walks of life have been agreeing to shed their clothes in the name of charity. My most recent shoot involving Bargain Hunt’s TV Auctioneer Jonathan Pratt, has already kicked up a stir with radio station Newbury Sound, resulting in a radio interview and web article where Jonathan reveals how it felt to be photographed naked - all helping to gain valuable publicity! You can see the web article and images I shot for the campaign, plus hear the interview with Jonathan here.
CLICK ANY OF THE ABOVE IMAGES FOR LARGER VIEW.
Related to this campaign, I have another two celebrity shoots coming up towards the end of this month in London - I’ll keep you posted! Related past blog entries can be seen by clicking these links - link 1, link 2, link 3.
A positive and happy character (despite the three hours of nude labour Andrea (my Art Director) and I put him through, Sean was a delight to shoot and sailed through every pose like a true professional. I have posted one of Sean’s Checkum posters here, but more should be released once we receive approval. All images were shot with a Nikon D3x provided by Nikon UK in support of the campaign. The lens I used was my own Nikon 70-200 vr. We used Elinchrom flash as our light source. Click on any image for a larger view.
