Australian-born Rugby League player, Nick Youngquest is one of the latest Celeb’s in the queue to be photographed for Checkum, the national testicular cancer awareness campaign. The shoot took place a short while ago in Manchester and is another supported by Nikon UK (who kindly lent us a Nikon D3x body). For further information and images relating to the Checkum campaign, please see my blog history. Another shoot is scheduled to take place tomorrow in Manchester. Keep watching this space - all will be revealed! Click on any image for a larger view.
Images shot with the Nikon D3x, 85mm 1.8 Nikon lens and Bowen’s lighting. Studio - Calumet, Manchester.
A quick trip down to an East London studio resulted in one of our first Checkum shoots with the Nikon D3x. A camera that yields a 24.5 mp image from a 35mm style DSLR body - fantastic! It was just like using my trusty Nikon D2x but with twice the resolution, a much larger viewing screen at the rear and shutter that sounded sweet every time I pressed the button. When the images were later viewed on my Apple Mac monitor at 100 percent, the detail was simply jaw dropping. As for my client, I think ‘impressed’ isn’t a strong enough word. I have used the D3x on two Checkum shoots so far; Jack Tweed (widower of Jade Goody) above and the other will be posted as soon as I get the go-ahead. Keep watching this space!
We have another couple of shoots coming up in the next two weeks and three more celeb’s to blog once the images have been approved. At least the next two shoots will be shot with the D3x. Nikon UK has kindly lent the camera to us in support of the campaign. Lenses I have used with the D3x are all Nikon and include my own 50mm 1.8, 70-200 2.8 vr and finally a 85mm 1.8 that was lent to me by Calumet, Manchester.
For more information about Checkum, please scroll through my blog history where you will find additional information and images that have been previously shot for the campaign.
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.
Following on from my previous blog entries, a recent trip to London resulted in another celebrity in the can for the ongoing charity campaign,‘Checkum’. This time we photographed former Hollyoaks star Marcus Patrick (aka Ben Davies), who has also appeared in BBC TV’s Strictly Ice Dancing and Weakest Link, amongst others. Although we used a central London studio, my assistant Andrea and I carried our own Elinchrom studio flash and modifiers, along with the usual Nikon D2x and 70-200 2.8 vr and 50mm 1.8 lenses. In terms of lighting, we predominantly used a medium soft box on the key light and a second flash was modified with a large honeycomb and became the backlight. A third flash head was used to light the background and was tightly channeled to get a soft spot effect using a snoot.
The campaign, in aid of testicular cancer awareness is now underway and the posters are due to be on display at various public venues, including shopping malls, major rail stations and universities and colleges. Keep following my blog, Twitter and Facebook feeds for updates on the Checkum campaign - and learn who will be the next celebrity to bare all for charity? Click any image for large view.
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.
Click on any image for a larger view.
