Sharing The Roijoy

Whenever I’m asked to do a photoshoot with any sort of complexity, I like to produce a visual to give the client some idea of where my head is going. Sometimes I sketch the visuals with markers onto paper, other times I will draw and paint electronically on my computer. And at other times I’ll do a combination of photos and digital drawing to create the visuals. A couple of days ago, Adobe put up a Beta version of ©Photoshop that has an AI engine at the heart of the release. So I signed up and downloaded it today and played around with it for a while. It’s still in Beta but really amazing and the potential is undeniable. In its current beta release it doesn’t handle large high resolution images but for day to day visuals and for some social media need or smaller hi-res images it is usable. To give you an idea of what the AI part of the software can currently deliver, I’ve included this image that I made in less than ten minutes. To create this, I started with a blank workspace on my...

Emma called me, "Hey, I have this really cool idea for a shot for May the 4th. I'm dressed in motorcycle gear but I'm riding an Eopie ". Well it sounded a little off the wall so how could I not say yes! Emma owns and runs Motorbike Rentals & Alternative Adventures - Hopkins, Belize , and I often collaborate with her on photoshoots. Emma would be the model — not a problem. The shoot would be on a beach location — not a problem. And we need a full-sized Eopie from Star Wars — hmm. After scouring the inter-webs we found that good old eBay had a supply of the creatures, but they were only 3 inches tall. If you've worked with me on anything creative you'll know immediately that size really doesn't matter. What was concerning though was getting the Eopie delivered to Belize in time for me to shoot it and have the image ready to go live on May 4th. Again, Emma reached out through her business connections and found someone who would be in Belize on May 1st, a...

  How we got the shot. First of all, this shot only exists because of the pass that we get for posting prank images on the morning of April 1st. Which means that the posted image is what is commonly known as an April Fool’s Day prank. I regularly collaborate with @dualsport_emma and her business,   Motorbike Rentals & Alternate Adventures - Hopkins, Belize . Emma is well known for her willingness to push the envelope in all that she does so a shot of her performing an x-games type motorcycle stunt would not really be too unexpected.   The only issue with getting the shot is that she isn't able to do these types of stunts, at least — not yet! But on April 1st, anything goes so we set out to do   the shoot. Emma came up with the props and equipment. At first we were going to use an A frame ladder as part of the set up but after doing some trials Emma found that a safer way of providing the support she would need meant constructing something to be used specifically ...

  Title: Chef Acrylics on canvas. 12 x 16 inches I decided to do something that was just for fun and here is an abstract portrait based on a Chef I know. So what are you looking at? Starting with the face in the middle of the composition, you'll see that the face is both front on and side profile. The constant refocusing of attention in a busy kitchen. Then we have the knives being juggled referencing the many dishes and serving options offered in a busy serving.  To the right you have the saucepan, hand and hotplate in a morning breakfast service. The pan is rendered more smoothly and the hand is darker. The breakfasts are less demanding to the evening sessions as the menu is a standard one with choices rather than choices of many quite different dishes. The hand being darker is because there is more reliance on natural light which can sometimes cause more shadows in the kitchen area. The dinner menu is included here because it is put together early in the morning ready for e...

Title: A Kiss Is Just A Kiss? Acrylics on Canvas. 30 x 40 inches  While studying at art college, I was introduced to the works of Salvador Dali the surrealist style painter. My preference for surrealist paintings has stayed with me to this day. With nowhere near the talent of the greats, I do indulge myself from time to time with renderings of my own. Although my paintings do have stories behind them, I like to hear other peoples experiences of the imagery as it relates to how and what they are seeing. I've included here a quick video showing my stages in the making of this painting.  

The Ice Cream Man 30 x 40 inches Acrylics on canvas I've begun painting again and this one is inspired by a visit I made to Belize City. I was in a quiet side street on a dirt road that suddenly seemed to burst into life with the appearance of an ice cream seller. There was reggae music wafting out from one of the nearby buildings and the gentleman spontaneously delivered some 'moves' for the people noticing him passing through. Here I wanted to capture one of his moves and also the instant attraction it would bring to him from eager young patrons.     Here is how the painting progressed to the finished piece. 

So we're already over a quarter of the way into 2022and Easter has come and gone. I had some fun doing another photoshoot with Emma at Alternative Adventures in Hopkins, Belize. It worked out this year that Emma had a couple of celebrity motorcycle world travellers staying at her hostel ( Crashpad in Hopkins Belize) she pitched the idea of collaborating with them for her Easter shoot. You can check out these 2 adventure riders by visiting their Instagrams: @advtorally and @biologist_on_a_bike . You can also catch up with Emma's 2-wheeled exploits by following her Instagram  @dualsport_emma . It is worth the visit. You'll also see how she used my pictures of the 3 of them turning in Oscar performances... And the pictures are here too, but you'll see that I have used them slightly differently to  @dualsport_emma I chose to shoot just as the sun was going down to get the dramatic sky and backlight. I got the hard foreground light by using an off-camera, single unmodifie...