I’m back with an update

And some good news for lovers of photography

The sunrise a couple of days ago as I was prepping to shoot.

So, back in July I said I was calling time on this site. I‘ll honest, I was a little disillusioned with the member take up for the paid plans. Since then I’ve been pretty busy working with great models. As I write this, I’m on a weekend break from a near full week of working with a range of French models. 9 shoots in 6 days is an undertaking, but I have to ask for what end?

This trip is one of our 2-3 times a year pet sitting excursions. Cat (my wife) has another author friend who happens to also have cats and chickens and so when she and her husband are away on press trips or holidays, we get the call to parachute in and play animal sitters.

The beauty of it is we get the most amazing place to stay in for the cost of flights and a car. Cat gets a chance to write her books in a stunning location in relative peace and quiet. I get to traipse around the south of France either photographing locations or finding and working with models. So it often feels like a win win win situation.

Last time we were here, I worked with Catalina and Laurie at a great little studio in Toulouse, which is about an hour away from where we base when we’re in France.

Following on from that successful day, knowing Cat is in the early stages of her sixth book, we agreed that I was free to go shoot each weekday as she was going to be head down writing. So off I went using a combination of Purpleport, Kavyar, Insta and book.fr in search of models to work with.

Catalina was also really helpful with reaching out and connecting me with fellow models in Toulouse. So much so I had to keep adding days to my already committed shoot list.

As a result, I’m two shoots into a 9 shoot run. All the shoots bar one are for trade. A very different proposition to that we normally face in the UK. So I’m zipping back and forth from our base to Toulouse and Montpellier this trip for a mix of studio and location shoots. So there will be much more to come from those!

And so to the update. I’ve realised during this period that the reason I shoot is because I love being with creative people and creating hopefully interesting images. Friday was a great example. Met and worked with a fellow photographer who has also modelled in the past. It had been nearly 10 years since she’d last shot in a studio and felt people had never really captured her as she felt she was. About 2 looks in when reviewing images on the tethered iPad her exclamation that we had captured her as she’d hoped we would provides a buzz that’s had to get anywhere else.

It was a salient reminder that the pursuit of creating art can be enough in its own right. It doesn‘t have to have a monetary outcome attached to it. So I’ve decided to continue posting here, sharing my shoots and all I ask for from now on, is that you sign up to the free membership tier. This allows me to notify as new posts go live, and occasionally provide you with other updates, like new art books etc.

All paid members access posts have been opened up to anyone with a free membership.

I’ll continue to share for as long as I have images and you want to see them. So as they say over here, On y va! (Let’s go!)