winter portraits Archives

Jan

Winter Portraits

Its sometimes assumed that a portrait is best taken in the warmth of summer when the sun is high in the sky and colours are vibrant. However, in the UK, the portraits I’ve most enjoyed taking have been in the middle of winter when the sun is muted by cloud, there’s a frost underfoot and low clouds here over the Blackmore Vale create a haunting atmosphere. Admittedly, my dislike of bulky coats which have the annoying habit of restricting children’s movements, hiding hands and hoods that hide faces, can cause some interesting responses from the parents of some of the children I photograph.. Some reassurance that lots of running around and copious thin layers make for more natural portraits is given. On occasions (like with Tom below) I’ll use a hood or a coat to shape an image to a face, but generally I find they hinder the aesthetic.

I don’t need a reminder of how beautiful our landscape is in Dorset, it excels in all the seasons, but this morning was what I yearn for as a UK portrait photographer who works on location. This winter’s taken its time getting going and this mornings run over Melbury Hill reminded me of the shoot I did a few years ago with child actor Freddie Downham and his brother Tom. Even my trusty, resilient Hassleblad, groaned under the minus temperatures. Ever the professional, Freddie braved the icy conditions, sat in a corn field with a thin jumper – I love how the frost clinks to corn and foliage and the cloud creates a natural soft light and gradient of tone – a location portrait photographers ideal.

Apr

Bella West Portrait Days

New dates for my ever popular Bella West Portrait Days. I’m so happy to be able to remove the fingerless gloves and looking forward to balmy English summer days and especially the evenings. If you would like to host a Portrait Day at your home, drop me an email or give me a call and we can have a chat about how that works. In the meantime, you’ll find all the information for my Bella West Portrait Days here, booking is a must.

Jan

Bella West Portrait Days

Bella West Portrait Days.

My hugely popular Portrait Days which I hold throughout the year are kicking off this February at one of my very favourite places to shoot in the winter, Studland Beach. Beautiful all year round, but so much quieter in the winter, the light is more favourable and some gorgeous muted tones graduating from the sky through to the sea – the grasses and dunes offering texture and a natural backdrop. It’s also one of the most natural places in the world for children to run wild, bring a kite, bring the dog, bring a flask and make a day of it. It’s a rare thing to cancel a shoot, I like to work with our climate, ice, fog and even drizzle can make for something special and atmospheric – and children are far more resilient than us adults – the only time I will cancel is if it is torrential rain that looks set in for the day or if the roads are too treacherous. So, the difference between my commissioned portraits and portrait day is that we set the location, we book a time for you and your family, but our normal shoot fee is wavered, you then come along to my gallery in Shaftesbury and you can select the images that you would like.

Take a look here for more information – my first Portrait Day for 2015 is half term week, 17th February.

Sep

Portrait Days in Dorset and Wiltshire

If you are starting to think about the lead up to Christmas and what to buy for whom, a beautiful Bella West portrait is both personal and wholly unique which can be presented in the form of a finished frame, print box or a voucher to be taken when convenient . We run our ever popular Dorset and Wiltshire Portrait Days throughout the year, in all seasons and weathers to embrace the Autumn and Winter months, utilising locations throughout Dorset and Wiltshire which we feel hold an abundance of colour or atmosphere at a particular time of the year. There is no shoot fee for the Portrait Days in Dorset and Wiltshire, normally valued at £150, no limit to the number of people included in the shoot – but booking is essential.

Our new dates also include a special day for dogs and horses on the beach at Studland. Check here for more information and for booking.

May

Portraits in Dorset

Our new dates are now available at some of the areas most outstanding locations. Bring a picnic, bring a dog and make a day of it!

Apr

Portraits in the rain

How often do you hear a child say ‘cancel all playing, have you seen that cloud…?’ It’s a rare thing to hear a child complain that it is raining, And as a professional photographer, making portraits in the rain and having to work with the elements is part and parcel of the job. If the children are happy, then I’m happy and variable weather can make for more interesting portraits than the usual. My own children will tell you that I would far rather see them outside running around in all weathers than stuck inside – that’s becoming increasingly more difficult as they progress into the interior world of ‘teengagerhood’, hair straighteners and Facebook. It’s a phase. I’m sure….. Even by my standards, the day Abi bought Austin and Ava, I was in half mind as to whether we should postpone – it wasn’t only raining but it was cold and that combination has a tendency to take the fun out of things a little not to mention flat light… But optimism gave the nod and Abi made the trip to my gallery from Bristol for a portrait in the rain on location at my lovely gallery in Dorset, where clouds often linger low over the Blackmore Vale, thus despite it being wet and cold, added to the atmospheric quality of the shoot..

I give you Ava & Austin…..

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Mar

Photographing Children in Natural Light

Some of you may be aware that I am writing a book for Crowood Press, Photographing Children in Natural Light. It’s an enormous task! But I am relishing bringing everything together, shooting new work and am looking forward to seeing that first copy! The book is a tutorial on all the elements that go into professional and semi professional portraiture of children in natural light situations. A few people have asked to see a tease so here is a little exert about getting creative and trends in social photography..

“It might be you are wishing to take your skill to a professional standing, you have understood the need to take your photography to a higher
level in order to remain competitive so are looking to build on your existing portfolio. Itʼs easy to fall into a comfort zone – especially if you
have something in place that works. When you have a method and style of working it is natural to become, not complacent,
but perhaps in a safe zone to not think forward. However, we need to be looking ahead in order to remain current, to keep ideas and imagery fresh.

Despite having something that ‘works’ and is popular with your clients, by keeping yourself inspired, working on personal projects and staying current is fundamental.
Similarly to the fashion and design trade, photography is constantly evolving around trends – if you look at the likes of designer
Vivenne Westward, or any successful fashion label, they possess a very distinctive style of course, to assuage their client base,
yet have to be seen to be current, to be one step ahead of the market. Otherwise, the clients move on to the next best thing.
Gentle evolving consistency is a powerful tool in the creative world. What works today will have progressed to
something new tomorrow – style remains but trends change.

The photographic industry is the same and your clients will be expecting you to be trend aware. All the small elements even of portraiture
go through styles – often dictated by the current mood of fashion. Take composition, the multi sensor focussing option
within a camera has enabled us to use negative space with more ease and to effect and become popular for a while, perhaps we will
see the regeneration in placement of subject bang in the middle of our image, bold and direct, make a comeback.
This may coincide with the return of a more classical trend of portraiture?

We have seen the phase of over manipulation, spot colour, toning, vintage styles come and go. ʻReportageʼ or ʻDocumentaryʼ
were adjectives thrown around in the late 80ʼs and throughout the 90ʼs, moving into ʻLifestyleʼ – a more candid way of working
and this is natural to follow. But only to glance at it, to play with it within our work – to go down a wholly definitive change of style
can be disruptive to marketing and confusing for the consumer. We need to be thinking ahead to the next adaptation of trend,
or in an ideal world, creating our own – most certainly being honest with ourselves as to what moves us, and always being one step ahead.

Natural light portraits as a trend.

Many of these ʻstylesʼ were more about the user experience. In fact, perhaps a lot about the label itself – it was reassuring to clients
that their portrait was to be something wholly natural, it was going to be a pleasurable experience
(which is of course of absolute importance) and it was current.

This style of portraiture interestingly ran alongside the growth of the digital era, having come through the more controlled,
classical times of film. Photography became accessible, and the public were starting to understand that they could have their
portraits taken fast and candidly and the cost of producing one image, drastically reduced. So, with that came a new breed of photographer
who discovered the power of a long, fast focal length lens in order to create images on the hoof and candidly which would produce a viable,
saleable product, wholly accessible to all. In some ways this had a negative effect on the marketplace of portrait photography – by diluting skill,
making it too easy perhaps. Which it has to some, but for the serious photographer, the artist who can marry
ideas with skill, who can control light and can relate the great ideas onto paper (or a digital chip), it has opened the door.
As previously said, the ideas for portraits have not changed from Steichensʼ day, what has, is the methods of how we achieve the final results.
What the saturation of the market has done is opened the door wider for the creative who can push themselves to a far higher standard in
order to set themselves apart. This takes, firstly imagination, and subsequently vision and skill. But we are not born with a skill – the skill has to be taught….”

Mar

A winter wedding in Wells

I had a lovely email from Lynnsey last year, she was interested in commissioning me to photograph her winter wedding in Wells this March. My connection with Lynnsey came about through my friend and colleague Bobby Sharp, incredible dress designer and maker from Glastonbury. I first met Bobby when I shot the wedding photography in Somerset for Nicky and Adam (pictured below) – so it was then that I discovered the talent of Bobby, I have subsequently worked with her on weddings. She has an eye for detail which is second to none, but also seems to create designs and source fabrics for her clients which compliment so perfectly.

Nicky and Adam’s wedding was around six or seven years ago, but having dug it out of my archives, it still has that wow factor and is very current. That’s the sign of a good designer in any genre. In a roundabout way, this also gave me a helping hand at a time when I was still trying to find my way with my own style. The sharp lines of the white suits which contrasted so beautifully with the almost risque dress complimented the pillars and simplicity of the background at this Charlton House wedding.

So Lynnsey and Nick were to be married in the beautiful Bishops Chapel, adjoined to Wells Cathedral – locations don’t get much better than that for a wedding photographer.

With Bobby already on board and Lynnsey being herself a florist, we had ourselves the potential for something very special. I find it interesting that when I am teaching and giving lectures, I am always harping on at students about the importance of styles and the more I surround myself with designers of every genre, the more relevant I see that in every aspect of creativity, from Lynnsey Kelly, florist to Jay Daniell, designer, that style has to shine through in order to give your clients confidence in the product you are offering. Certainly in wedding photography, corners can be cut and I see it regularly – but a true creative will apply their style as well as their own bespoke twist on a job, irrelevant of what the job is. I love working with like minded people who hold such a passion for what they do that it speaks volumes in their work.

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One thing to point out is that at the initial stage of coming to talk about wedding photography at my gallery in Shaftesbury, Lynnsey had not actually told Nick that she was going to ask me to be their wedding photographer – in fact they weren’t at this stage going to have one. But a wedding at Wells Cathedral would not be complete without a visual record of it’s beauty and grandeur – so Lynnsey went ahead and asked me to photograph her day. She did eventually tell Nick (I’m quite pleased about that – rather than some random photographer turning up on the day!).

February and March – in fact any winter weddings – are always hit and miss with regards the weather of course. I actually prefer Winter over high summer as the light is more flattering, and when you get one of those wonderful bright sunny winter days, with a little hoarfrost still lying around, there is really nothing more atmospheric. But it could also be torrential rain (and so it can in summer), that is the beauty of the English seasons, it keeps us on our toes and a good wedding photographer will have that all important skill of being able to adapt to whatever they are faced with! But…. March 2nd came and either side if I remember, were grey flat and cold days – but that Saturday we had everything on our side. And for Lynnsey and Nick, the sun shone low in the blue sky.

With Lynnsey getting ready in an apartment overlooking the hustle of Wells market place (great for people watching), I spent a couple of hours mulling around, playing with details, before spending some time with Nick, a stones throw away at the Swan Hotel in Wells which owns the Cathedral as it’s backdrop.

Watched by the community of Wells where Lynnsey has her flower stall, she made the short walk through market goers to be greeted by the Bishop – as Bishops go, he was one of the finest and embracing of everyone and put all at ease. A wonderful ceremony with high emotions and sun light streaming through the door which encouraged a more relaxed atmosphere in contrast to the grandeur of the Chapel. With the chill factor increasing as the sun went down, some wedding photographs outside before we hot footed it to Vicars Hall where the informal celebrations continued.

Feb

Mothering Sunday

Of course, being a mum myself, I feel the love every day from my children, it is so incredibly rewarding and having one day a year to feel recognised kind of feels a little unnecessary, Until that one Sunday comes and the tea in bed arrives albeit a little milky and the toast arrives with ‘layers’ of marmite along with the homemade cards and the question, ‘what do you want to do today mum?’ (knowing full well that they are dreading the words,’go for a walk would be lovely’). I also know that finding inspiration for something special for that one day can be very difficult – there’s only so many yummy mummy mugs and gifts you can have in the cupboard.

So we are offering you the opportunity this Mothering Sunday to give mum a gift which noone else in the world will have. Our gift vouchers can be made to order and personalised for your mum, they can be used against a family day shoot, a fine art print or some portraits of her dog, horse and children perhaps taken on the beach, on holiday or just at home.

An alternative gift, would be a to give a training gift whereby your mum can come and spend the day with Bella at her Gallery in Shaftesbury and have an incredible one to one experience, learning all aspects of photography either on a professional level or just to improve her skills for taking her own pictures. The day can be designed to mums skill base and can either be nitty gritty technical or just plain fun finding some great locations and photographing one of our lovely models. More details here on our training courses.

For further information on Bella West’s portraits throughout Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and the UK, call the gallery 01747 854509 or drop an email, we look forward to hearing from you!

Dec

New Portrait Days 2013

We are delighted to announce new dates for early 2013 – later dates in Spring and Summer will be added to this but for now, here are the portrait days for those lovely winter months. We may even get some snow….magical!

How it works..
These special dates are by appointment only – we set the date and location, we give you a time for your portrait. We alsonmake another appointment for you to view your images at our gallery
Is there a cost..?
The shoot is free – we ask for a £25 seurity which is offset against your order – you can then choose from an extensive range of frames and albums in the comfort of the gallery in Shaftesbury.
Who can be inlcuded in the portait..?
You can bring along as many members of your family – inlcuding pets, horses etc (just give me some warning about the horse….)
How long will the portrait last..?
I allow 45 minutes to 1 hour per family
How do I book?
Call the gallery 01747 854509 or email bellawest@me.com – we can discuss any further queries you may have.

New Portrait Days – Dates & Locations early 2013

Saturday 5th January – Studland Beach
Sunday 6th January – Shaftesbury
Saturday 19th January – Shaftesbury
Friday 17th February – King Alfreds Tower
Saturday March 9th – Studland Beach
Sunday March 10th – Shaftesbury

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