Sun, Clapham Junction and Olives, what more could you ask for!!?!

Dani and Janet Signori make the best olive oil I have ever tasted.  I'm not far off believing it must be the best olive oil in the world!!  The Corte del Signori sells olive oil all over the UK, selling in various farmers markets in and around London.  Dani and Janet, husband and wife, are some of the kindest and most giving people I have ever met.  (Dani is also slightly bonkers - when I first met him he was wearing his ripped Ugg boots in freezing snow whilst concocting new and exciting adventures for how to finish refurbishing his idylic olive grove properties in Italy).


Dani asked me to photograph the Clapham market on Lavendar Hill.  As an event and portrait photographer I jumped at the chance to document his stall and the customer experience that he was offering.  He sells his award winning olive oil (judged 4th best in the country by the Daily Telegraph) together with honey, fresh bread, cheese and a delightful mixture of other delicious delicacies. 

The Corte del Signori's olive oil is also good for you!  Here's why:
- it lowers cholesterol
- lowers the incidence of heart disease and cancer
- and whilst I was at the stall, one of his customers swears by rubbing it on their skin!!!

York Wedding Photography

Albert Einstein said that "Imagination is more important than knowledge".  Who am I to question Alby, but even with that little gem, I felt that knowledge and imagination could be a great thing as a wedding photographer.  Instead of being a London wedding photographer for the weekend, I grabbed my passport, camera and cassette tapes to learn northern phrases and headed for York where I was scooped up by Hull Wedding Photographer, Andy Crozier.  Andy and I worked together many moons ago as portrait photographers in Canada.

I had a great day, learning about different ways of doing things, from little things such as coordinating the confetti shot to larger and more important things like always carrying a pen knife in your bag for whatever emergency arises.  Amy and Dan, the bride and groom, were really, really lovely people.  So happy and friendly (I think it's a northern thing). I've attached a couple of the wedding photographs I took on the day for you to take a look at.

Andy is such a great photographer and always has a great rapport with his clients so it was lovely to see him in action.  If there is one thing that I have taken away from the day, it's that being a wedding photographer is more than just taking photographs.  It's a about putting all the pieces of the wedding day together; co-ordinating all the parties, the reception staff, the caterers, calming the bride and groom, moving the day on at the right time, keeping guests informed and most importantly, knowing how to attach the wedding buttonholes!!!

Fitness Photography

 

www.alexharrisoncripps.co.uk/prince

Prince by name, body building Prince by nature!

I met Prince in the magistrates court in Kingston (no I hadn't been naughty - it was back when I was training to be a lawyer!) he was one of the security guards looking after a prisoner I was working with.  In his spare time he worked on his body.. and a lot of work he must have put in too!  To photograph muscles it is important to get your subject to warm up first to wake up the muscles to make them more prominent.  I felt guilty making him do endless press-ups, but he seemed happy enough.

These are just a few of the pictures I took in the studio that day.  We used a mixture of light sources, but I found that one hard light was enough to give him a mean angry face and defined muscles.  This kind of lighting wouldn't work so well for female portrait photography but it worked well with Prince's muscular body.  The problem is that Prince's character is so charming and quiet it didn't seem to quite suit him.  It was all I could do to get him to stop giggling and grinning!

Faye the beautiful actress!

Faye came to me to take some headshots for her acting applications and her agent.  She was such fun to work with, telling us hilarious stories as she was getting her make-up done and then being a great sport in front of the camera.  We worked on several different lighting set ups.  I used natural light from one of the windows for some of the headshots and then added a reflector for fill light.   We then moved over to the studio set up where I used a couple of soft boxes and a variety of backdrops.

It's all in the eyes for actors' headshots, and Faye's eyes were beautiful.  The most interesting thing about photographing Faye is that she looks so different in different poses, hairstyles and backgrounds.  Above is a selection of shots from the day, the rest of the photographs can be found here.