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The weekend before the Welsh rugby team beautifully upset both England’s grand slam and six nations victory plans, I spent the afternoon at the Millennium Stadium photographing the big chief of Welsh Rugby Union, Roger Lewis. As a big Welsh rugby fan I was more than a little excited to be shooting inside the Millennium Stadium. I almost lost my ship when we went on an unofficial tour of the Wales team changing room.
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A fun summery portrait shot for Lighter Life magazine.
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A remote beach on the West coast of the beautiful Sao Vincente, a great place to go if you’re looking to feel alive and free.
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Here’s a selection of images from my most recent project Armour. The project focuses on medieval re-enactment fighters from the UK contingency who are (for the first time) representing their country at the ‘Battle of the Nations‘, an international historical fighting tournament.
Although these guys look like your average re-enactment enthusiasts they take it to another much more violent level. Popular in Eastern Europe and a relatively new “sport”, these Battle of the Nations combatants use full contact techniques and blunted metal weapons with very few rules. A win is achieved by knocking your opponent to the floor using historically accurate weapons. Although the competitors are using blunted axes and swords as well as full body armour, injuries are common due to the brutality of the battles.
This video should give you a good idea of just how violent it is:
Unlike most re-enactment groups the Battle of the Nations event runs in its own right, rather than referencing specific historical battles.
Although the armour and weaponry takes its inspiration from traditional medieval combat, the heraldry instead relates to the nationalities of the team countries competing against one another.
I’ve followed the newly formed British team around at their various training camps over the last few months and taken staged portraits of the fighters in their full period body-armour. I wanted to lighten the images up by using coloured backgrounds as well as having them stand on grass covered plinths. They are an interesting and eclectic mix of participants who take their fighting as seriously as their attention to 13th/14th century detailing.
Click through for lots more images Continue reading
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My portrait of super brewer and all round lovely man, Michael of Wiper & True fame. Be sure to try their beautiful artisan beers. My favourite being their pale ale, which I recently photographed for their website (below and left).
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My portrait of artist Charlotte Sorapure, shot for Artist and Illustrators magazine last month. I love the consistency in colour and tone across the image. I was also hugely inspired by the Sisal flooring in Charlotte’s studio, which I’m now determined to lay on any exposed area I can in the new house.
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I’ve been looking to add some sports and fitness images to my portfolio and finally got around to shooting the talented Sarah who’s a fashion model but also a superb yoga practitioner. I wanted the pics to feel light and bright but to also show off the delicate beauty of yoga in action. We were very lucky with the location having changed venues last minute, the yoga studio fitted perfectly with the vision I’d had for the images.
Here are a couple of images that caught my eye, plenty more great images to come….
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