Usel have been on the go since the sixties. Their factory floor is ever agile and one interesting arm of the industrial sewing section produces bespoke accessories for blue light services. The designers work closely with ambulance crews and police units to create items that are clever, efficient and entirely fit for purpose.
Kobushi is the brand-child of a very dynamic young woman who came to the studio with a sack of boxing mitts. The brief called for high-key images on white for online shops. As I had some floorboards staged for another shoot I ran off some ambient 'lifestyle' fillers for banners and social media. Kobushi gloves are quality kit and detail shots show off the full grain nappa leather, embossed brand and heavy stitching.
Studio product shoot for Beauty Flash. Products shot and clipped for website and general marketing material to designers brief. Shown against colour blocks to illustrate the options clipping afford.
Made in Belfast. Since 1962. The Vintage Satchel Company has been stitching satchels in Belfast for over fifty years and they're still at it. They use ethically sourced sustainable leather in their Belfast factory, procured from one of the few remaining tanneries in the UK. The traditional school bag has found new expression in it's boxy shape with funky colours, chunky stitching and that first-day-at-school leather smell. Rows of them trooped into the studio to be shot recently and every handle had to be slunk around or hung down on fishing wire just so. Plenty of photoshopping later and the clipped-out png files were ready to be dropped on top of whatever. I've used some colour-block backgrounds here to show off the job that was in it.
Pollins Ltd studio shoot (crockery & consumables). White glossy objects against a white backdrop are tricky to light and tricky to expose for. Of course to show pure white objects against white the shadows and modelling tones need to be dialled down - just how far is subjective. This brief was for both photography and then the brochure layout. I felt that a colour block in the background would help the products pop. A few easy mono fillers gives a bit of depth. Product pages can be very dry on their own.
Clearhill are a big name in the retail entertainment game and their products can be found in shopping centres throughout the UK & Ireland. Photographing the machines onsite is a lovely challenge. They are big, shiny and frequently noisy. The exposures have to be spot on to make sure the colours really pop; too much flash and they blow out. The most effective solution involves bracketing and photoshopping to lift the low lights whilst at the same time capturing the illuminated panels and features. The final image might be a composite of four or five exposures.
The images are supplied as png files, fully clipped out. This allows the Clearhill marketing team to drop the machines over any background they like. The photoshopping is slow and painstaking but the results are very satisfying. I've had a bit of a play with backgrounds below to show how they can be used. The first image is a banner from the Clearhill site using one of the clipped images. Backgrounds courtesy of freepik.com
This bunch. What can I say. They are tireless. Relentless in the pursuit of just all-round doing a great job at whatever they set their hands to. Jolly purveyors of tasty inks and blank pages on North Street, they supply professionals, students, and anyone else who knows what it's like to squander their pocket money on by-the-one Caran d'Ache.
The shop doubles as arty venue and gallery in the support of local artists and craftists. They are demons on Instagram and are forever popping up behind stalls around the city. Ink Monkey also runs a Etsy outlet selling art and craft they have created themselves. They asked me to provide photographs of some of their frames and bon mot foil prints and I was only too happy to supply the suppliers. Between us we gathered a mountain of props once the Bowler Hat was dry I was off on my toes.
I should also point out that they wrote a very pleasant blog piece on their own site about the merits of good photography, and I was referred to as "a lovely, friendly woman, cocooned in a zingy, lime-green coat, (who) graced us with her enthusiastic presence and we knew right away that we had made the right choice." for which I am very chuffed and grateful.
PS - I pulled this off the Ink Monkey website. (thanks IM) Love it.