The Photo Blog

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.

James Pritchard (Pro Rugby player - Bedford Blues)    Click any image for larger view

Recent commercial shoots have taken me up and down the country, from Bedford to Chester to Hartlepool - all in one week! Planning the shoot around the client’s brief is essential and I have therefore developed a list containing a generic location studio kit, which should cover me for every eventuality. Sometimes I may be setting up studio in an empty hotel room, other times hiring a professional well-equipped studio. Either way, it’s always a good idea to carry with you as much of your own kit as possible, otherwise you just might be without that essential piece of equipment that’s required to create that million dollar shot. Aside from the all-important lighting kit, simple things like Gaffa tape and bulldog clips can be the less obvious items you need for that time saving quick-fix.

Me with James Pritchard

The main image above of professional rugby player James Pritchard, was taken in a small hotel room in Bedford. On the day we shot around 200 images in 3 hours and many different poses and lighting set ups were required by the client. Some shots were dark and moody, others high-key on a white background and full-length. The shots were commissioned for a charity advertising campaign, details of which will be revealed at a later date, along with example finished images.

After a smaller job for a design company at a college in Chester, my assistant Andrea and I travelled up to Hartlepool to photograph Channel 4’s ‘Deal Or No Deal’ contestant, Shaun Webb. This time we were in a well-equipped studio, but finding you’re short of the right kind of light modifier, essential prop or coloured backdrop can present you with unnecessary stress on the day.  When your main goal is to fulfill the client’s brief as closely as possible, I try to leave nothing to chance, so taking along a back-up kit to every shoot is always preferable.