Day Down Dorset: Part Three, Durdle Door

Shameless Selfie on top of Durdle Door

Shameless Selfie on top of Durdle Door

So this is the first time I have ever been to Durdle Door. I have wanted to come here for over a year and never really got round to it until now. It’s a landmark in my eyes, and a place everyone should just visit. However I do warn you, the hill is painful, the decline is mad walking down, and seeing elderly people doing it was amazing. Proving how unfit I have let myself become.

You get amazing views of Man of War cove and Durdle door from above and its leads you further and further down to either side. I spent the first part shooting for high vantage points then moving towards the beach. I wasn’t paying attention at one point and the waves were getting closer and closer and then looking down the lens you kind of forget where you stand and then my feet got soaked. Ryan had a little fun with his drone, flying through Durdle door itself.

The next part we decided it would be a clever idea to climb the hill connecting to Durdle Door, again only have one hand free and a heavy camera bag on my back, and the climb became more and more steep, however once up there is a great view, however I would recommend being wary and make sure its not windy, luckily it was calm. Parts of the top are only a foot wide, amazing chill spot.

Now I may exaggerated things from time to time but, walking back up the hill, was terrible. I can safely say after such a long day, it just wiped the last of my energy; luckily we were heading back to Old Harry's quick to see the sunset. However it wasn’t setting in the location we hoped so we didn’t stay long. Then we set off homeward bound finally. Got home at 8pm. out 4am-8pm was a long day but a great one, all was worth it. Until next time Dorset :)

- Charlie Bluck

Day Down Dorset: Part Two, Kimmeridge Bay

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Ryan heard about this place and we decided to type it into the sat nav. It didn’t really know where it was, so a bit of driving around was needed. Once there it was great, we spotted a cliff which was perfect, so Ryan started to drive around to it, however we were shortly halted by a fence, turns out most of the nice coast is a gun range... sad times. We parked up next to an oil pump area, and I shot this shot of Ryan. For a spontaneous shot it turned out to be one of my favourite.

We decided to go back to the bay entrance and check out near the water. Now the shore was covered in large smooth rocks, and instead of walking round we decided to run over them, in wellie’s it wasn’t the easiest, however I did feel like I was in Assassins Creed, if they wore wellie’s and a camera in there right hand instead of a blade. Could easier of slipped but oh well.

I clocked a waterfall, so we decided to investigate following a narrow dirt trail, it brought us to the ridge, Ryan wanted to take a shot, and so I held him off the drop. Then I though I’m in wellies so I decided to jump down. Got some really nice shots, captured on of Ryan looking at his images on camera on the bridge. We then decided to go down to the bottom of the waterfall, was really warming up by this point, really nice weather. We then spent a little time wondering the beach before we set off again

Next stop Durdle Door

To be continued

- Charlie Bluck

Day Down Dorest: Part One, Old Harry's Rocks

This has probably got to be one of the most tiring but memorable shoots I have done in a long time. Got up at 3:45am after only have three and a half hours sleep, and left by 4:15am to go catch the sunrise at Old Harry Rocks, Dorset. Accompanied by Ryan Winterbottham we set off on what was going to be a great day of picture taking. For any of you reading this go check Ryan out, he really is a great up and coming photographer, from his breath taking landscapes shots both from camera and drone and also his portraiture.

We arrived near the location around 6am. Once there, we met up with Will van Wingerden, also another photography enthusiast. We parked up, and then walked to Old Harry's. Probably say it took 10-15 minutes, it was early and I was half asleep. With the grass still frosted over and the sky only starting to brighten up it was a lovely start to a day. Now Old Harry has 3 major points along the cliff edges. We set our bags down and had a little wonder. Knowing that time wasn’t on our side I swiftly started looking at where the sun was, and what would make a good shot. Honestly say I have never really shot a sunrise before.

I was disadvantaged compared to Ryan and Will as they brought there drones, now I would get one because the shots Ryan and Will get are phenomenal, there’s just something about capturing photos and videos from places and views that are out of reach that I find so amazing. However I know I would crash a drone, so I’ll just stick to what I know I wont brake haha.

Now I know what most of you would be saying, but honestly it was a lovely experience to be up that early in a peaceful location. Literally felt carless, however the next day it was quite the opposite when I went to work haha. Wondering about the cliff edges composing shots, with nothing but the sound of the sea. Truly made me re-evaluate my life into what I would rather be doing, and working retail is not it.

One of the main things I remember about the morning was Will asking me to walk to one of the cliff edges by a narrow section of earth. I can honestly say I’m not the best with heights especially when a 50 odd foot drop is involved haha, so Will the lovely lad he his, decided to do it and I took the shot for him.

We started to think it was time for some food. After a walk back to the car, which seemed to take a lot longer than I remembered. We started following Will we ended up in Poole and got a Wetherspoons. Now am I the only person who would order burger and chips at 10am. What can I say I’m a fussy eater and if I got a full English I would only each the bacon, sausage and toast. Shortly after breakfast Will left. So Ryan and I had to come up with where to go next…. Kimmeridge Bay

To Be Continued.

- Charlie Bluck

A Whole Month!!!!

Just a quick post saying thank you to everyone that has clicked on my website, everyone that has read a blog post or looked at my work. I have had an amazing response off of you all and it really makes me happy and more focused towards photography. Please if there is anything you want to know or that you think would be a good post, or even just a chat. Don’t be afraid to message me through my photography Facebook page, Instagram or on twitter :)

Again thank you to you all for the support :) x

-Charlie Bluck

Day by the Pier (Part 2)

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So here is the highly anticipated second part of the Brighton Pier blog post of my shoot down Brighton....

I lie probably most of you didn’t know there was a part one. Scroll down to read part one if you haven’t already :)

So after we grabbed some food we wondered the pier once more. Might as well make the most of it while its open. It was actually quite eerie. Brighton in pretty miserable weather on a weekday, felt like a ghost town, well on the Pier at least. Most shops closed, only a handful of people to be seen.

If you follow my Facebook you may remember a post about Noo Noo the Teletubbies character.

"Ever wondered what happens to Kids TV actors after the shows finish, well I found Noo Noo in a rough state in Brighton, Don’t do drugs kids !!"

Harsh flash and quite a cropped image, kind of imitating when you see celebrities getting snapped when they are seen in a rough state. #PrayForNooNoo. The rest of the time on the pier was spent taking moody sea shots and the odd shot of the empty walkways.

Then we set out to take shots of the pier from the beach, thinking it would be nice to do a long exposure of the lights, as we got down to the beach and started setting up the tripod, just our luck that they shut all the lights off. So scrapping that idea we looked around for more lights, just so happens the wheel was still lit, so not waiting for that to be shut off we quickly took some long exposures. As much as light trails are cliché, I have always enjoyed adding them within landscape photography.

We spent the next part of our trip directing the camera to the sea. Long exposures made the sea look almost like a big murky puddle of milk. Misty yet smooth visually. Many of the images give a moody feel to such a location, which most people see as a bright happy place. As you can see some of my images take a slightly different approach to those happy ideals. After moving under the pier then we went for a walk along the beach. On the way we saw a giant tepee, for a club night, looks really cool. Sadly we weren’t really dressed for clubbing haha.

Finally we came to the old burnt down pier. Now if I didn’t credit Mark Checkley for the idea to walk down to the old pier, he would never let it go. But it was worth it for this shot. The Rusty corroded stilts, the only reminisce of the walkway and the bare shell, gave nice depth to the image.

As our long day came to a close we got in my car and drove home in the pouring rain, a very productive day all in all. Cant wait to go more places :)

- Charlie Bluck

Moo Moo Clubrooms 6th Feb 2016/Nightclub Photography in General

So at the start of the month I was asked to cover the resident photographer at Moo Moo Clubrooms Fleet. Been a while since I did photography in a nightclub. At times I miss doing it, there’s always funny stories when you walk around rooms filled with drunk people, and seeing friends out, but I don’t miss regularly losing my Saturday night shooting and part my Sunday editing. Pros and cons to every job I suppose.

Now Moo Moo's is a great local club in my eyes. 3 rooms to choose from with an array of music, always a packed and energetic atmosphere, 95% of the people are usually very nice, staff are friendly and the good thing is you know everyone in the club cause its local and people regularly go, so you always find friends all over the place, but the bad thing is also that you know everyone there, from that girl that turned you down weeks ago, to the old school bully, to your old friends who you fell out with. Its like that big reunion you never wanted haha.

Now every nightclub photographer will know these things, annoying things for the photographer:

  • "Can I have another photo" said after the 5th photo taken, now mate its not the cameras fault you look drunk
  • "Hey can I see that picture you took of me a few hours ago" now the volume of pictures you take, have to go through hundreds of photos looking for a person face you really don’t remember haha
  • Having drinks spilt on you/ or mouthy drunks, now most of the drunks in the clubs probably have worked in retail at some point in there lives, so they forget how they get treated by rude customers, try nightclub drunks haha
  • Trying to walk through busy corridors and dance floors, always trying to be polite and let people pass, and saying excuse me a million times to try and get past drunks who wont hear you over the music and that poor guy trying to flirt with a girl way out of his league by shuffling. Not going to work mate, now please let me pass haha
  • 'Lens Whores' - now its a little term I use when you have those girls who flirt with you so you take there pictures, and then you take a 5 second breather without your camera and they don’t even want to know who you are.
  • Being stood on by heels, it happens more frequent than you think, the amount of girls who are dressed up, there going to wear heels, and more often than not cant walk in there so they stumble and stamp your toe. R.I.P Toes :(

How to make the photographer enjoy their job more:

  • Talk to us, if you see us bored out of our faces, we are people too and generally are polite enough to have a short natter
  • Now I don’t know what it is with some people, I can understand people I know but complete strangers love taking selfies with the photographer, its always a laugh to pull a funny faces. Thank you to the many people who ask for selfies
  • Have manners, apologise if you spill your drink on us, and say thank you when we let you pass, we are there to work and you being polite makes our job even more gratifying.

Now to anyone who says nightclub photography is skill-less has no idea of what is going on in our minds. Especially in a club with more than one room, with different lighting in every corner of the room. Constantly thinking how is the lighting, framing of the shots to make the club look really busy, turning the people so there are lights behind them as apposed to a boring wall. Watching the lighting phases, so if the light is going to cast across the person face or is a strobe coming. Trying to fit a crowd of 10 or more in a shot while having limited space to move, But at the end of the day it’s a lot of fun.

Below are just a few of the shots from the night, not going to post all 250 and I hope you have enjoyed reading a little incite of what it is like our end of the camera.

Thankyou to Moo Moo Clubrooms Fleet team, Matt Lawrence for the job and the lovely people having a night out.

- Charlie Bluck :)

 

James Bluck

One of my most recent works at the moment. The nice and amazing brother I am, I did a shoot for press shots for my brother James Bluck, at my studio at home. James Bluck is a DJ/Producer. Go check him out on Facebook www.facebook.com/DJJamesBluck

Here is one of the shots used for a poster, promoting his event at Noir last month.

It was a quick and cheerful shoot, perks of living together and having a photographic space down in the cabin. Quickly set up my backdrop, then just shot James in many different poses. The social media fanatic he is, he shot a little video of a section of the shoot in a time-lapse. Have a watch :)

- Charlie Bluck

 

A Timelapsed section of the shoot with DJ James Bluck

Day by the Pier (Part 1)

So this blog post has to be posted in two halves just purely because there are too many things to talk about in one post without you (the reader) loosing interest.

So what can I say really? Brighton is a very popular coastal town which many people see as iconic. So why not go take pictures there. Accompanied by Mark Checkley, we set off early in the day to get the full benefit of the sunlight. Once there we had an initial scout of what’s about, accidently walking into a neon light maker’s workshop, very awkward and we made a swift exit.

Spent the first part of the day walking along the stony beach, taking shots of the waves and the surroundings. Starting the left side of the pier. Trying to find interesting subject matter, I liked the converging lines and symmetry of the train tracks. This part of the day was just chilled, honestly was so mind clearing just listening to the waves, made me think of the song 'Hollow Crown' by Brighton's Architects. These lyrics specifically

"As the sea breeze hits my lungs
It takes me back to where I belong" 

Snapping away, shooting anything and everything. From the odd seagull to nets tangled under the pier. It became hungry work, so we popped to the pier for some crepes, had to warm up somehow. As we got closer to dusk the sea breeze and drizzly weather was taking its toll. We took a brief detour to the right side where I shot some portraiture of Mark, just taking advantage to anything available to shoot. After the 5 minutes of vanity we spent some time messing around on the pier, but as it was a weekday and weather wasn’t the best it was deserted, most things closed.

If you follow my Facebook page you will remember this image to the left with a caption messing around with ideals of this day an age.

"So this is a shot of dave and lucy on a date celebrating their 2 years on brighton pier….
who am I kidding they're random people and in this day an age dave probably has 3 girls on the go, still a nice shot tho haha"

While exploring we found markings on the floor for what I can only assume meaning 'stand here', I made a little joke as it makes you face a wall. Pretty random.

As it became darker and it started to rain, we decided to get some proper food at the harvester nearby and have a little rest while the rain was passing.

To Be Continued...

- Charlie Bluck :)

 

 

 

 

Firework Night

To celebrate the 5th of November, a few friends and I went to Hawley Lake to watch the firework display put on by the army. I’ve been over there a few times in the past 5 years. It’s always a nice little evening with friends, and the money goes towards to army, which is always a good cause.

I believe the fireworks were shooting for 20 minutes, not leaving much time to shoot at all. The weather wasn’t on my side either, drizzly and windy. It did however make the images more interesting, as you can see in the image to the left the wind in blowing the smoke to the left and out of frame, and the first image below the water droplets on the lens while taking a long exposure.

Another image I’m particularly keen on is the shot on the island in the middle of the lake (seen left). The bonfire, out of frame to the left, is lighting the island itself. And the long exposure providing a perfectly smooth look to the water, almost like a mirror.

Always take advantage of what is going on around you. Capture what you can, when you can. And enjoy what you take.

- Charlie Bluck :)

No Consequence @ Star Inn, Guildford

Back in April 2015 I went to shoot No Consequence at The Star Inn, Guildford. I went as a kind of favour to Dan Reid, the guitarist and my good friend; also I really wanted to see some tracks off the latest album live.

Now this band is a force not to be reckoned with. Powerful sound, lyrically and instrumentally. And their latest album 'Vimana' is a masterpiece within itself. I recommend you to go grab a copy and check out their music video for 'Speechless'.

One factor which was the biggest help in this shoot was the band have their own lighting rig synced to there backing track, for a venue which lacks a lot of light, it gave such a fitting atmosphere to the music. With knowing the bands tracks, the builds was a little prompt to guess the blinders were going to backlight the band. My personal favourite is the one seen left of Harry Edwards, Guitarist.

Trying to move around from one side of the stage is always difficult with heavier gigs, this gig especially I remember being nearly wiped out by a mosher, all in a days work I guess haha.

Due to limited space, as the crowd was packed I mostly used my Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. But that’s all I needed really. Ultra wide-angle shots allowed me to get up close as they performed. Allowing me to keep them in frame as they moved about the stage.

I’d recommend next time you see No Consequence gig near you, snatch the hand of the ticket seller, these guys do not disappoint.

I posted some live raw footage up on my YouTube channel, so apologies for sound and shakey hands/ being nudged at times.

As always hope you enjoyed the read.

- Charlie Bluck :)

 

DJ Moses Midas

Back in October Moses approached me, asking for some up to date pictures for press publications. Now you may know DJ Moses Midas as the voice of BBC Radio 1 Xtra or a presenter on Londons Bang 103.6FM.

The shoot was at my studio at home, a laid back friendly chilled shoot. I find you get the best shots out of models when they are relaxed. Don’t force poses capture the real mood of the model. Natural is best.

Always a pleasure working with Moses, he is a very humble guy and easy to get along with. First met Moses one night shooting for Royal Holloway University of London.

Hope you like the final outcomes :)

- Charlie Bluck :)

London trip in December

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A little bit of background story for why I was in London. The reason for this trip to London was Mark had a London mini tour experience to use as it was running expiring soon from a previous birthday gift. So we thought why not make the most of it while we were up there.

So day started. Arrived in London for 11 ready for pick up. Found the mini and started the tour, now for anyone who has been in a classic mini, you will know there isn’t much space in the back, and that’s where I was haha.

The tour started off well, the tour guide Edward (I think that was his name) was a lovely knowledgeable chap. Told us about that mini in particular, his experiences of doing tours and told us some funny stories. Including one about a group of Americans visiting London and 3 men on the larger side getting in and out of the mini, now I had a challenge myself, let alone guys double the width of me as Edward put it. First location he took us to was the Graffiti tunnel, now this is the only place in London your legally aloud to graffiti. He gave us permanent markers and asked if we would like to draw or make our mark, which was a lovely touch and experience. Spent like 5 minuets looking around and taking the odd snap and then we were off again.

Throughout the tour Edward was telling us loads of fact about London, now I’m not a history fan but I actually found it really interesting. While in the back of the mini I was shooting our surroundings. Got some lovely shots on the move, my favourite probably the man on the bike. (Seen on left)

Sadly the last part of the tour was ruined by traffic; we were luck enough to not be in traffic for the whole thing, knowing what London traffic is like.

So the next part of our packed day was a quick stop off in Oxford Street for some shopping but that's not photography orientated so I’ll skip this part.

It started getting dark at this point, so we decided to head up to Tower Bridge. As cliché as it was, and that so many people take pictures of Tower Bridge, it just had to be done. We tried many angles of views from a distance and I wasn’t happy. So next port of call was to shoot on the bridge. Shooting long exposures from the path isn’t always the easiest, especially how busy London is, the amount of people was mad, but luckily enough they become a blur with long exposure. In my opinion the light trails on the bridge came out really visually pleasing through the composition of the shots.

After a very long day walking all over a busy city we found a little Christmas market on the Thames grabbed a burger and just relaxed before heading back to Waterloo to catch our train. I believe this shoot to be one of my most successful and memorable of 2015.

You can see some more shots from the day below, and as always hope you enjoyed reading about the shoot

- Charlie Bluck :)

Marks Mini

So this shoot was kind of a Plan B shoot. The original idea was to do long exposure from one end of a long road and capture some light trails. Problem Mark and I had was there wasn’t many cars going past and it just wasn’t visually pleasing. So Mark recently bought a classic Austin Mini, and this was the first trip we had out in it, so walking back to the car we decided to make the most of the night and to shoot the Mini.

We still tried to incorporate light trails as you can see below. These images were shot using a Canon 60D with a Tokina 11-16mm F2.8, and the light trail was produced using a general torch.

Bit of a short and sweet post

- Charlie Bluck :)

Signals

Back in October 2015 I got the opportunity to go to The Star Inn to shoot Signals; I was previously acquainted with them from a show they supported at Royal Holloway University on a night I was filming for the fresher week video.

Now this is a band you want to keep your eye on, bouncy grooves and melodies which get stuck in your head. I can shamelessly say I had their discography on repeat for many weeks after. They're lovely people as well.

This was the second time I've shot bands in this venue, first was No Consequence (Blog post to come) and as all venues there are limitations and obstacles. Problem The Star has is lighting, and mostly red lighting. As always I make small talk with the sound/lighting engineer, asking for less red lighting as much as possible but I’m there to capture the show not control the show, so anything I ever say is only ever a suggestion to give myself more opportunity.

A majority of the show I stuck with my Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 and Canon 50mm F1.4, switching between wide-angle close ups and varying depth of field shots. The show wasn't very colourful visually, hence the black and white edits, but aurally the gig was. The room was packed, now being a musician myself I love seeing large rooms packed full of supportive fans, but for a photographer in a venue with no pit or barrier, its always fun trying to get from one side to the other, I generally try to swap sides during breaks between songs, I really do try my best not to get in the way of any of the audience as they have paid to see this show and nothing is worse than a photographer standing in front of you so you cant see.

I had a blast shooting Signals and would recommend anyone to go see them. Always enjoy shooting bands with lots of energy live.

Check out the gallery below with some shots from the gig.

As always hope you have enjoyed the read

-Charlie Bluck :)

First of many... I hope

So here is the first post!!! its been a long time coming but I finally got around to making a website. This is kind of a milestone for me, more like a push in the right direction, taking Photography and Film more as a career than a hobby, and a start of a happier and more exciting life. Over then next week I will be posting about previous shoots and pictures, kind of giving a back story to what I have acheivedand exprienced so far,

Stay Tuned!!

Charlie Bluck :)