David Hall Photography

Keane - 02 Academy Birmingham 25/05/12

Whilst the rest of the country bathed in glorious 27 degree heat on Friday evening I was inside taking some shots of Keane at the 02 in Birmingham. I’m not bitter ;-)

First time shooting for a new client ACS who make incredible in-ear monitors. They are essentially very sophisticated ear protection for people working in very noisy environments like on a stage!

Used by many of the worlds leading acts if you’re in need of something like this they are truly awesome bits of kit, incredible sound fidelity, quality and ear protection all in one!!

They can be found here

Anyway here are a few shots from Friday…..

Thanks for looking

Dave

AirMighty!!!!

Well look what just landed on the door mat this morning! Airmighty mega scene and my photo is on the front cover!! I’m so chuffed its un-true, I absolutely love this magazine and for many it is the pinnacle of all that is awesome in the Volkswagen aircooled world. I am truly honored to have my work grace its pages let alone feature on the front cover :D

The shots were actually taken just after Christmas and until now I had to keep a lid on them as the magazine didn’t want them on display until publication. Here are a few from the day, most of which are included in the mag!

First off my favorite I think from this shoot! Shot in sunny Digbeth well actually very wet Digbeth in Birmingham. We had planned to wash the rain off but I liked the way it twinkled with the flash on the roof.

Shot on my 1DS with one profoto b2 head boomed way up about the car with a hard wide angle reflector. The cars owner Dan and a good friend Steve were the trusty assistants tasked with holding the head out over the ghia ;-)

The magazine wanted more traditional style editorial shots as well as what I would describe as styled shots like the one above.

Here are a few of those. All shot with one head and a soft box for fill.

My Old Girl

Well although technically this didn’t start out as an exercise for work purposes I have managed to pass on the images and they are now going into to print as advertising shots for Bromsgrove Auto Trimmers where the old girl has recently been re-trimmed.

For those that don’t know a great deal about me I’m passionate about old Volkswagen’s. The love affair started when I was really little, my older cousin passed his test and his first car was a 70’s beetle. Having been taken for a spin in it I was hooked. Lots of drooling and fantasizing over old Volkswagen’s later, I am now the proud owner of the bus you see below. She is a 1961 23 window samba imported from New York approx 9 years ago as a complete wreck. Rust on top of rust, holes everywhere and in need of some serious TLC. Roll on a few years and Matt at Smiths of Cornwall http://www.smiths-vw-repair-cornwall.co.uk/  waved his magic restoration wand and Jemima as we affectionately call her was re-born.

The sun was shining just before Christmas and having just had the trim finished I couldn’t resist jumping in her and going to take some shots. All taken on my trusty 1ds MkIII with natural light.

There are a few more on flickr if you wish to see more.

Tyler & Esme

Whilst i’m busy updating the blog I thought I would include some shots of my good friends Tyler and Esme’s wedding shot in November 2010. Not the ideal weather conditions for a wedding, very wet cold and dark by the time it all got underway, but hey I guess what can you expect for that time of year.

An incredibly tiring day ensued but I think that the bride and groom were happy with the shots. I’m really pleased I managed to convince Esme to brave the cold and wet and indulge me with one shot outside on the lawn. Poised under a brolly to the last very second!

Looking forward to shooting more weddings, although a long day the results are well worth it.

Anyway here are a few shots…….

Birmingham Burlesque

Also this week I have been frantically trying to get the shots from my burlesques shoot processed and back with Jo the designer from rawhide corsets. Jo makes bespoke one off corsets made to measure. Her work is simply stunning, the corsets are amazing so girls check out her site http://www.rawhidecorsets.co.uk which will hopefully soon has some of my imagery on as well!

The shoot was quite a few months in the planning and for one reason or another had been put back and back. Originally planned to be a joint venture with me and my good buddy Tom Whitehouse the shoot looked in jeopardy of being canceled again due to the rather ill timed volcanic eruptions. Unfortunately Toms flight got canceled and the shoot went ahead without him! Thanks to Andy for stepping in last minute and being  my assistant for the day!
 
Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot. More care be seen on Jo’s website

http://www.rawhidecorsets.co.uk/

London Graduate Fashion Week

Another crazy week at Hall towers! Been back and forth to London 2 times with shoot in between making for a very tiring few days. This week I have had the pleasure of shooting at Earls Court at the London graduate fashion week. The client Bournemouth University were showing their 3rd year graduate fashion garments.

I’ve never had the pleasure of fighting for a place in the press pit before ;-) Lesson learnt! Take no prisoners but also take a step ladder and gaffa tape to mark out your territory! Literally!

Had a great day though despite feeling a little out of place amongst the hardcore fashionista’s!  

The catwalk images shot using my canon 1Ds MKIII with my 70-200 2.8 and my trusty monopod and no flash!

A Day Out in Brum…..

A very last minute shoot was arranged yesterday out in sunny Birmingham! A good friend of mine Alex said he needed a hand doing a location shoot! Did I fancy coming along and bringing some gear and my camera.

I’ve been wanting to do something with him for a while so I jumped at the chance. The plan was to hit the streets of Brum and see what we can see, take along one head a battery pack and a soft box, gorilla style!

Had a great day, if a little tiring being a human tripod for a couple for hours. Managed to get a couple of great shots of the lovely Georgina Price our model for the day.

The shot below taken on my trusty canon 1Ds MkIII, a Bowen’s 750 head and travel pack at f5 1/320th

Gadgets with Otis & Suzie

Wow what an incredibly hectic few weeks, I plan to update the blog over the next week or so with a load of stuff that’s been going on.

First off was a weekend spent with the guys from the gadget show, filming their summer special. Chris the series producer approached me about coming along taking some press shots for the show and basically documenting the whole weekend as it was quite a big budget end of season special.

Needless to say I had a fantastic couple of days getting to know some of the guys and girls who produce and film the Gadget show. It was really interesting to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into TV production,  as well as get a chance to get my hands on some cool gadgets!!

The summer special aired on 13th of May and a lot of my shots made it into the final cut!

Here’s a few pics from the weekend!

My Dream Job

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a Photographic course fronted by Tim Wallace, a true genius in all things concerning the automotive image! His website can be found here.  It was a  two day course based in Solihull at the land rover testing track, first day setting up a couple of shots and taking images, second day a mixture of editing techniques, work flow and info and seminars from various manufacturers of photographic equipment.

It was a truly fantastic and inspirational couple of days, it has well and truly cemented my desire above all things to be a car photographer. Next step is to get practicing! a lot! 

The shot below was taken on my Canon 1ds Mk III although on the day I also had the pleasure of using a Hassleblad H4D which is next on the wish list. A simply mind blowing piece of kit.

Image below used 5 profoto heads the new acute b2’s and again when money becomes somewhat more fluid I shall be investing in a set of these. They took an unbelievable amount of punishment working flawlessly over the two days!

Trash Talk

Cant believe its been nearly a month since my last post! Been hit with a nasty chest infection which has knocked me off my feet and my new commitment to keeping a blog fell somewhat by the way side!

Aside from the the illness it has actually been a pretty busy month! A few pics of what i’ve been up to to follow!

Last week on Monday the 19th of April I had the pleasure of shooting Trash Talk and Rollo Tomasi at the Flapper and Firkin! A venue I usually avoid but due to the high concentration of endorsements in both bands it made sense to head on down!

It had to have been one of the most intense photographic shoots of my career! No barrier between me and the crowd of angry fist in the air hardcore fans! I tried my best to wrestle through the circle pit and shoot what i could, one shot here from the Trash Talk set.

A really tiring night, and an elbow in the face all made for a somewhat unique experience! Clients happy with the pics which makes me happy, job done!