What a weekend! What an experience for all involved on both sides of the camera!. Over the two days we hosted 84 photographers, 8 models, Rotolight, and the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB).
Our models for the day included Jack Cutler as Charlie Chaplin for the very first time, the King of Cool – Retro Rob from London, the very beautiful Natasha Bella, the charismatic Lydia Francis, the mercurial Eva Serration, the amazing acrobats – Damian Senior and Chloe Roberts, and the multi-talented singer/songwriter Katie Nicholas. We are already aware of several competition successes that attending photographers have notched up since the weekend event but what is clear to us is that the quality of images across the board is high. We have seen some very good work appearing on our facebook site. Here is a just a selection of shots of each model that has impressed us so far.
JACK CUTLER as Charlie Chaplin by Anna Backlund
RETRO ROB by Roger Geldard/South Manchester CC
NATASHA BELLA by Kathy Kesteven-Griffiths
EVA SERRATION by Dave Roberts
DAMIAN SENIOR/CHLOE ROBERTS by Darren Fellows of Rotolight Group
LYDIA FRANCIS by John Hallard/Wrexham PS
KATIE NICHOLAS by Rohit Kandoth/South Manchester CC
Our busiest and most ambitious event of the year started on the Friday as we went to site, prepared and checked set positions and set up lights, staging areas and unloaded a host of props for use by each of the models. Then it was time to shop for food and drink for the weekend and collect models arriving on the train from London before charging batteries, reviewing checklists and getting an early night.
Early rise on Saturday morning, straight off to collect models and get to site for an early call time of 8:00 AM…..everyone arrived on time and went straight in to getting ready as we made last minute preparations for the early arriving photographers.
The event started on time after some brief introductions from Gordon Jenkins (PAGB), Emma and Graham and then it was time to get down to work. Split across two floors, the seven sets were positioned to make best use of the mill backdrop with concrete pillars, large windows and walls with peeling paint. Using combinations of natural light and studio light, each team of three photographers set about working with each of the models in turn until the morning session came to a conclusion when we did a quick reset before repeating the whole experience again for the new arrivals for the Saturday afternoon session. We were pleased to see so many photographers attending from all over the country and grateful for the enthusiasm and professional approach adopted by all of the models and performers on their sets. Later on in the early evening we were blessed with some superb golden hour light streaming in through the windows and across the floor of the mill. A quick tidy up, cross-check of equipment and collect lost property and we were on our way home to get ready to repeat on Sunday.
On the Saturday we were able to hand out a free cleaning kit and catalogue provided courtesy of Pixapro and hold a series of prize draws to hand out bounce cards and 5-in-1 reflectors to the lucky winners.
The Sunday event started in a similar vein with an early start to the day and lots to get ready before photographers arrived. We were joined by Rotolight who kindly provided continuous lighting on some sets and assistance throughout the day. It was particularly pleasing that on the Sunday we got to meet and greet so many new faces as first-time attendees on an event of ours and once again we were flattered and pleased to learn that they had travelled quite some distances to take part. As the Sunday afternoon session came to an end there was no time to reflect. We had to pack up essentials and valuables, take models home or to the train station and then start to take a look at the weekends events. We loved it and we certainly hope you did too.. There were some memorable moments over the weekend : most particularly the first sighting of Charlie Chaplin and the exceptional amount of preparation that had been put in to perfecting the look and mannerisms of such an iconic character, and the amount of work and effort that all of the performers put in to making the photographers feel comfortable and confident.
On Monday we were back again, clearing up the mill and collecting all of the props, lights, stands, and catering equipment ready to be checked and prepared for our next event.
JACK CUTLER as Charlie Chaplin by Sophie Woof/Morecambe CC
NATASHA BELLA by Michelle Billington/Congleton CC
KATIE NICHOLAS by John Nightingale/South Manchester CC
RETRO ROB by Gordon Watson/Lytham St Anne’s PS
DAMIAN SENIOR/CHLOE ROBERTS by Alan Andrew/Oldham CC
LYDIA FRANCIS by James Bissett
EVA SERRATION by Pete Marney
We did manage to get a shot of each photographer in their team with one of the models during both the morning and afternoon sessions on both days, just for a bit of shameless publicity. You can see the full set below and how much fun was had.
We loved hosting this event and we love seeing the images coming through.
You can view behind the scenes video footage and stills from the event here.
Thank you to all the models and to those of you that came along for making this event a success. We are very grateful for the support we receive and we are very much looking forward to seeing you all again on future events.
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