Swansea Photographer

Emma & Matthew Wedding at Marriott St. Pierre

2009-09-24T23:10:00.007+01:00

Just finished downloading the images from yesterdays wedding of Emma & Matthew at the Marriott St Pierre in Chepstow. I would just like to say thank you to Emma & Matthew and their family for their hospitality, and a special thank you to Emma's mum for the delicious wedding cake, I made sure I grabbed a piece for my journey home, it was delicious.

Here's a few images from the day.

Karen & Patrick

2009-06-23T16:46:00.002+01:00

Had some fun last week shooting Karen & Patricks wedding. They decided to get married only 3 weeks ago, so take your hats off to them for doing such an awesome job getting everything organised in super quick time. The marriage was a civil ceremony and they were then having a hindu ceremony later in the day.

They are a lovely couple and were a real pleasure to photograph, I especially enjoyed taking some pictures of them down on the beach.

All the very best to you guys in the future and I'm glad you like the images.

Chris and Claire tie the knot at Spiney Palace

2009-06-02T10:58:00.011+01:00

What a week ! Just got back from a week up in Scotland mixing business and pleasure.
Me the wife, our niece and the 2 dogs travelled the 10 hours up to Elgin in Scotland, to visit family as there are 2 new additions to the clan. Little Kian and Ebony Rose. 2 Bonnie babies only a couple of weeks old. So much swooning over the little ones, before me and Laura(the wife) headed off up the north west coast to camp at Lochinver with the intention of climbing Sulliven.

On the way we stopped by Ullapool which is a stunning fishing village, and the best fish n chips I have had in a long time. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse on arrival at Lochinver which scuppered our mountain climbing plans, plus Suzi the dog had also managed to cut open one of her pads, so this definitely meant we couldn't do the climb. Not to worry I will definitely be going back to conquer the formidable looking Sulliven, it has certain magnetism about it which draws you in.

So another meandering road trip back to Elgin, taking in more sites from the East coast. As soon as we were back it was time to get the business head on as I was photographing Chris and Claire at their wedding on the weekend.
Chris and Claire got married at Spiney Palace a beautiful wedding venue. They also had a Humanist service, which was most interesting, it involved the mixing of coloured sands and the exchanging of gifts and tying of knots.
It really was a pleasure to be part of their day and capturing some great images for them to treasure.

New Website

2009-05-07T18:46:00.007+01:00

Not posted in some time now, I have been busy working on my new website in all my spare time. It's always the hardest thing in the world when it comes to working on self promotion.

When selecting images too upload you are constantly reviewing them and after while even convincing yourself that they are not good enough. A few emails to friends and a couple of tweets to the twitter community have helped allay my fears. So here it is, still not 100% finished, I have many more images to go up. But at least it's new fresh material which is an improvement on what was already there.

Any feedback from anyone out there is going to be very appreciated.

Cheers big ears

UPDATE - Tavis Burning brightly against the Azzuri !!!

2009-03-17T14:18:00.002Z

Following up from my previous post, Tavis had an awesome game last friday, giving a man of the match performance. For more info check out this article on the South Wales Evening Post.

Celtic Energy Fueling Welsh Rugby

2009-03-06T22:19:00.004Z

Celtic Energy's very own Tavis Knoyle has been selected to play for the Welsh under 20's rugby team to face Italy next week.

My brief today was to capture some shots of Tavis in his welsh kit and also of 3 of Celtic's employees are in their 40th year of employment, and were being presented with a gift for their years of service.

I have been lucky enough to shoot up at Onllwyn previously and the managers Keith and Paul are always very welcoming and helpful.

Anyway back to the shoot, I decided that I wanted to have some evidence of the washery in the background, but bring the emphasis back to the subject by lighting the subjects and dropping the ambient back a couple of stops.

I also wanted to make the portraits of Tavis a little more interesting by adding a bit of rim light and I also warmed up the light with a CTO gel. I also played around with the white balance to add a little colour to the overcast sky.

Tavis was a great subject, he was such a nice guy to work with a real pleasure and I wish him all the very best for his rugby career, and rest assured I will be watching next friday when they play the azzuri !

Gwalia Housing Fundraiser

2009-02-23T16:22:00.005Z

Had a nice evening on Friday night covering a fund raising event for Gwalia housing. Roy Noble was the guest speaker, and they also had the Gwalia Singers male voice choir singing after the dinner.

Tower of Swansea

2009-02-18T23:14:00.007Z

Went on a scouting mission for an upcoming job, 29 floors to the top
of this bugger! I just hope we don't end up needing to haul a load of
lighting gear up there!

Should be fun though, luckily I do not have a problem with heights.

Whilst up on the roof, I managed to take a few shots, these are to help me plan in advance exactly what I will be doing on the day of the shoot. Very important considering you have the safety of others to think about and also the people on site have a job to do. So I try to plan as much as I can in advance to ensure the minimum impact on the guys working day.

From the shot's i took I managed to stich together a panoramic shot from the roof. It's a bit ropey, but seeing as it is handheld I am pretty pleased.

Green Machine

2009-01-07T22:01:00.005Z

My good friend John Goble asked me to come and shoot some of the equipment that he has manufactured in his sheet metal work business over the last year. So I went down to sunny west wales to spend the day driving around the country side getting some good shots for his website. Of all the shots from the day this is my stand out shot from the day.

Boxing Day Swim @ Burg Head

2008-12-31T18:51:00.006Z

Wooo !! That was cold ! Swiming in the North Sea in the middle of winter is not for the faint hearted.
It all started a week before the event when I was invited on my brother in laws works do. As I had helped out in constructing the website for his new business I was 'qualified' to attend the Dynamic Abseiling Service's Xmas party. This consisted of going bowling and having a few drinks. Which in reality equated going for a load of drinks and doing a bit of bowling. Needless to say the topic of 'Boxing Day Swim' arose and due to my alcohol fueled bravado I instantly put myself forward to partake.

So back to boxing day, I am freezin my proverbials off and having a safety talk informing me that there has never been any casualties but there are saftey divers on hand in the water. Oh yes and the before you swim there's the small matter of the 20' drop off the side of the harbour to negotiate before entering the water. What have I done !

To be totally honest I loved every minute of it. It was rumored that over 2000 people had come out to watch us peform like lemmings. It was a really great experience and there was a wonderful sense of community, something which I feel is very lacking in today's society. It was a stunning day(cold) but stunning and once all the jumping and swimming was over we were blessed with a beatiful sunset to watch.

Life is Good.

Blwydden Newydd Dda

Dragons in the Pit

2008-11-27T12:20:00.007Z

Had a cool shoot last week. My client looks after the PR for Celtic Energy a open cast coal mining operation here in sunny south wales. Celtic sponsors the local Rugby regional team the Newport Gwent Dragons. So the Story goes - Some players are coming out to meet sponsors and 6 of the players are coming to the site. Luckily my client was really flexible and allows me to put my own stamp onto these images to make them a little bit different from you conventional PR images you get around here.

So anyway, my mind start whirring, as I have visited a few of these sites previously I instantly thought of using one of the monster trucks. And then I started thinking I would light this baby up ! In order to to do this I guessed I would need a lot of light. Being in the middle of a mine and not owning any big lights with power pack's, small strobes was the way forward. Inspired by the strobist website and martin prihoda I set about planning the shoot.

Problem was I only have 3 SB units at my disposal so luckily I mentioned this job to my friend Chris who really helped me out by loaning me 3 of his flash heads and his pocket full of pocket wizards !

So Kit sorted, batteries charged, fingers crossed for some tidy weather.

So I turn up for the shoot and as you can see from the photo up top the good weather didn't make an appearance. However I do think that the rain in the shot adds to the grittiness of the image. Nothing I can do about the weather, and living in Wales you would think I'd be used to it ! I digress.

I go about setting up my shot, in a way the bad weather has done me a favour as I am not going to need so much power from my strobes to overpower the ambient. So I am down in the open cast pit, up to my ankles in black coal slurry(nice) horizontal rain and it's freezin. Who said a photographers job is glamorous ! The really nice truck driver Keith is ever so helpful in standing in as a model to test my levels. And I am good to go.

The guys from the Dragons eventually turn up about and hour later ! I'm still standing in the rain! in fairness to them, the place was a nightmare to find, I got lost myself on my way there. SAT NAV can be a bit hit and miss around the welsh valleys! But it was my intention to be all ready for the guys when they turned up. As I knew they would be in rugby kit I didn't want them standing around in the cold and the rain. So once they turned up they were out of the Land Rover and back in 5 mins. Job done (for my shot) It was just a case of tearing the lights down to stop them getting to wet and then take some more general PR shots.

On the whole I was pleased with the outcome of the shot and I also learnt a load more about myself and my equipment, and I just love the buzz of just trying something new and not just going for the safe on camera sterile option.

Stay tuned for my next escapade !

Peter Hain MP Visits Cilfrew Junior School

2008-11-10T09:26:00.004Z

Photo call for National Grid last week at Cilfrew school. As national grid have helped to convert some unused space into a new IN - OUT room. Basically a room which which had large roller shutter door opening up the classroom to the outdoors.

Peter Hain MP and David Mercer from National grid attended the launch of the room.

Sorry been asked to remove image by National Grid !

Mayhem in Neath !

2008-10-27T20:57:00.004Z

Took the camera's along to a friends party on the weekend. Ended up shooting a load of frames and put them all into a movie clip.

Luke's 30th Secret Squirrel Party from Dave Griffin on Vimeo.

Retirement of a Open Cast Legend

2008-10-07T12:43:00.009+01:00

There seems to be a distinctive theme to my posts of late ! Mining ! Back photographing for Celtic Energy again, but this time to record the retirement of Meingwyn a machine operator from the Nant Helen Site.

Meingwyn has been working in the industry for 50 years which is testement to Meignwyn and also to the Open Cast Mining Industry in enabling Meingwyn to start and end his working life in the same job. A rarity these days I am sure you will agree.

Well my brief was to get some shots of Meingwyn at the site with some of the machinery that he would usually operate and also to record the presentation of his retirement present organised by Richard Davies from Celtic Energy.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the site and I would like to give special thanks to Derek, Alan and Richard who all gave up some of there time in their busy day to take me around the site safely.

And of course special thanks to Meingwyn all the best for your retirement.

Proper Monster Trucks and diggers !

2008-09-29T18:49:00.005+01:00

Being a photographer can be the best job in the world ! Latest assignment was to photograph at East Pit Open cast mine for Celtic Energy. This involved me going out onto the open cast site and photographing huge diggers and trucks. Upon my return my 2 yr old nephew was enthralled at the images of these monster machines, and it just proves that from a kid to adult years us boys still love the monster trucks !

The very helpful Leighton took me out onto the site and helped to organise the trucks and diggers to move into the right position for me. I only had an hour so we had to work quickly. All the drivers were making me laugh as when they were driving pass they would pretend to 'do' their hair, and one guy decided to show me page 3 of his news paper. Needles to say these shots didnt make the edit !

Toping it all off I get an email today to say that one of the images has been used on the BBC news website, so I am pretty pleased with that, you can see the article here

Celtic Energy Coal Washery

2008-09-18T12:24:00.012+01:00

Latest update, had a fantastically interesting morning yesterday photographing at a coal washery. Again I was hired by Camargue PR to get some images of Paul Davies from Celtic Energy as he has recently completed the 3 peaks challenge. He managed t raise a substantial amount of money for the meningitis trust. Something quite close to my heart as my good wife suffered with meningitis a few years ago. Thankfully she made a complete recovery.

As Celtic Energy sponsored Paul I felt it would be fitting to take a portrait of Paul in amongst the coal, which were conveniently arranged in little 'mountains' (requires a little imagination)

Whilst I was at the site, the site manager, Keith Jones, wanted some photographs to show the main processes in the plant! This was the really interesting bit, as I am sure most people wouldn't have the first idea of what really goes on in a coal washery or even that coal is required to be washed ! Also being Welsh and living in wales makes it all the more interesting when you consider our heritage and our association with coal

Photographing the processes proved to be just as interesting as the plant itself, requiring some creative lighting strobist style to achieve the required results.

Anglesey - Church Bay

2008-09-07T01:30:00.002+01:00

Really enjoyed our week up in anglesey luckily dodging the rain ! Had time to take a few shots while I was up there.

Took some shots with the intention fo including them on the website for the campsite that we stayed at. Well when I have gotten around to designing the site anyway.

ECO House

2008-09-01T17:32:00.008+01:00

Sorry its been so long since my last entry I have been really busy making portfolios and shooting other bits and bobs. I have also been off camping down in the 'sunny gower'(not) and also up in Anglesey North Wales not sunny but not wet either.

Anyway thought I'd post some shots of the last job I did which was an ECO house which has been built down in Rhossili on the Gower Peninsula. Basically a PR company called Camargue contacted me on behalf of a lintel manufacturer who has supplied bespoke lintels for the property.

I met up with the developer John Williams who is ever such a nice guy, and I shot the interior and the exterior of the house throwing in a few portraits of John to(which he loved doing, honest). Also have to give thanks to my mate Chris Cowell who loaned me his very expensive set of Pocket wizards and some extra Canon Speedlights which really helped to during the process. However I had to shoot over 2 days and I only had the wizards for one day so had to go back to the CLS system which can be a little hit or miss.

To top everything off the farmer had been round the weekend before I turned up and deposited a pile of hay in bags right behind the house. The house being dug away into the hill side gives the appearance that the bags or on it's grass roof. The client is pretty insistent on having the house shown within it's surroundings so no option to shoot anyway and do some photo shop wizardry after the event.

Gwalia AGM

2008-07-22T08:13:00.004+01:00

Photographing members of an AGM this week. Was quite interesting. My initial setup was to have the 30 odd guests assembled on the nice spiral staircase in the Grand Hotel.

However when my group of people actually turned up it was apparent that some of them were not going to be able to tackle the stairs. So I had to quickly arrange everyone in front of the main recpetion desk. Not very creative but the only place I could a vantage point to get eveyones faces in the shot without compromising their safety.

Gwalia Housing

2008-07-10T08:52:00.004+01:00

This week I have been to shoot the interior of a show flat for Gwalia Housing in Swansea and also take some shots at the opening event in the Village Hotel in the SA1 development.

Focus !

2008-07-03T11:21:00.006+01:00

This week I have been shooting the opening of a DIY store in Pontardawe. The brief was to get some shots of the staff outside the store and also to take some shots of cutting the ribbon.

The Swansea Air ambulance were there on the opening too, as Focus were donating some money to the organistion, so we took a few shots with the store manager and the guys from the air ambulance.

Those guy on the air ambulance do a great job, being a surfer, you know only to well how far away you can be from civilisation sometimes and if it wasnt for the air ambulance, people who have gotten into troubke and require medical attention in the rural areas have very little alternative.

So lets hope they continue to raise plenty of funds to keep the ambulance flying!

College Prospectus

2008-06-28T23:54:00.006+01:00

Latest project I am working on is for local Media Design company S8080. They are re-desiging a local college's prospectus and require some new photography for the publication. The project involves working with some of the students to produce some lifestyle imagery of life at the college, with some styled group shots also using some small strobes. I am not going to be able to post any images on the blog due to legal reasons with the students being of a young age. However I will be able to post some of the other shots of the Staff members including the principle who was an extremely nice person to take a portrait of.

Anyway should have some more news to post nest week as I have a few more jobs in the pipeline, the opening of the new FOcus DIY store in Pontardawe, and I am also have quite an interesting project of shooting a house in RHosili. The house to be photograph is quite special as it has a grass roof. So check back periodically to see the developements.

Dave

Edward James Griffin Croall

2008-06-25T23:57:00.001+01:00

Edward James Griffin Croall
Originally uploaded by flyingchorse

Well Edward, previously known as Igg has now arrived ! Born at 10.28 on the 25th June 2008.

Welcome to the big wide world little fella, you are a very lucky litle man to have such a lovely family and especially to have a big bruff like Tom.

Hope you have enjoyed your first day with us we certainly have.

Uncle D

365

2008-06-20T08:48:00.001+01:00

Guess who's gels arrived today !
Originally uploaded by flyingchorse

This is my first image in a new project. The photo sharing website flickr has a group which you can join on the condition that you take a self portrait every day for a year !

It's going to be some task but I have wanted to do this for a while, so any ideas that will help me to stay creative will be gratefully accpeted !

Why not give it a go yourself, you dont need a special camera to do it, I have even had to resort to using my camera phone as I have not had time to set up a shot(or just plain forgot)

Keep watching hopefully there will be some images to make you smile !

Dave

New Gower Images for Sale

2008-06-13T17:35:00.005+01:00

I have been busy working on a set of Black and white landscape images of North Gower.

Here a the first few images which will be part of a bigger set.

Its a lamp Jim But not as you know it!

2008-06-11T16:41:00.001+01:00

Its a lamp Jim But not as you know it!
Originally uploaded by flyingchorse

Going through loads of my olds photographs the last few days trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff !

Came across this shot which I took ages and ages ago when I first got a DSLR.

I thought I would put it up on the blog for 2 reasons. 1 I have not put anyhting on blog for a while and 2 I really like this image, it shows how you can make an ordinary everday object look totally different !

Kate Tom Steve & Igg Shoot

2008-06-09T00:23:00.000+01:00

Still processing the images from the shoot, but had to post this one as it just makes me laugh !

Igg about to go POP

2008-06-06T08:07:00.000+01:00

With my sister due to give birth anytime soon to little Igg(as my nephew Tom has named the unborn). I wanted to get some more shots of the the family. Especially of Tom and the bump named Igg.

We set up a little studio in their lounge and the chaos began ! I have never met such a wiggly worm as my nephew Tom. It really was a challenge to capture some nice images of them all.

Anyway here are a few of the shots and you can see more on my flickr page.

TTFN

Dave

Citroen Sales Dudes & Dudettes

2008-06-04T19:44:00.000+01:00

Been on a shoot today to photograph some high flying sales team for Citroen. The shoot is for Citroen's corporate magazine inCitroen. I was asked to do the shoot by PR company Headlines.

The brief was to shoot a sales team which are one of the UK's top sellers of the Citroen C1 , C2 , and C3. They are a relatively inexperienced team which has come together over the last 2 years under the guidance of their Sales Manger David Hooper.

The Dealership is based in Swansea and is part of the Bassetts group.

I was booked to shoot the team between 9 and 10. I duely arrived a little early to check out what I had to work with, and decided onmy setup. Just had to wait for the guys to turn up so I could shoot. As it turned out the sales team were really tied up and I only ended up getting 10 mins with them. So here's the best shot, with only 10 mins to work in.

What a good experience though.

Dave

Flickr

2008-05-19T09:31:00.000+01:00

Those of you who dont know about Flickr the photo sharing site. Go check it out, as far as I am concerned it's the best thing on the web other than my website of course :-)

Anyway for those of you who do know about flickr you will understand my joy at getting my first image listed on the explore pages. Its the image of my dad which I posted below a little earlier.

Thank you everyone who comented on it, it has certainly made my day.(simple things eh!)
Here it is again anyway !

Tired Limbs

2008-05-18T22:30:00.000+01:00

Have been working all day in the land that time forgot, AKA mum and dads garden ! Kate Steve Tom Igg and Steve's Dad and Wife called round for a cuppa, whilst I continued to muck out the pond, nice ! Dim photographing today so must make more of an effort tomorrow.

Will hopefully have new stuff to post tomorrow.

Charlie tango tea kettle barbeque !

Suzi the little Brown Dog

2008-05-15T19:11:00.001+01:00

SUzi the little Brown Dog
Originally uploaded by flyingchorse

Here's the little brown dog doing her thing on the beach. It is such a pleasure to watch her running.

My Dad

2008-05-15T18:43:00.001+01:00

My Dad
Originally uploaded by flyingchorse

Trying some new lighting techniques, here's my old dad with his gardening gear on !

Let me know what you think !

here are w few other shots that I have been trying some new stuff on.

Mari & Clives Wedding

2008-04-25T14:47:00.000+01:00

What a cracking weekend that was. So nice to see everyone again, and so nice to see Mari and Clive looking so happy and vibrant.

I have posted my photos on my website. One of the funniest moments for me was watching Clive doing the Basil Faulty walk down to the marquee.

Sister Kate and baby Igg & Tom

2008-04-25T14:41:00.000+01:00

Have been round to my sisters in the last week to take some photo's of her latest offspring in wating. Thought it would be agood opportunity to try out some of my new found knowledge from the strobist.com blog.

I love the fact that you dont have to use a big expensive studio to create some lovely images like these. This was shot in the living room just using 2 flash heads. 1 through an unbrella and the other bounced off a wall.

Start Blog

2008-03-31T22:28:00.000+01:00

Decided to add a blog to compliment my photography website, just so those who know me can see what I have been up to lately