Vampire Make Up Shoot

A few weeks back, my friend Helen Dickenson, who is an excellent MUA  based in Bradwell, asked me if I would be happy to shoot a few photographs of vampire make up she wanted to try out on a model.  Of course, always ready to take up a challenge, I scouted a few suitable locations in Great Yarmouth and set about thinking on how best to photograph this.

I chose to take three different approaches for this shoot.  I shot solely in natural light, with and without a reflector, using a video light and with a single strobe and silver brolly.  I like the change of feel the different types of light give and only used my trusty 50mm 1.4 on my Nikon D700 throughout.

Our model, Charly, was brilliant, and I look forward to working with her again and with Helen, very soon.


I especially love the monochrome shots, with Charly's sultry expression that reminds me of an early Sofia Loren or fiesty Anna Magnani in Italian fifties Noir...

I leave you with my favourite images from the shoot and a slide show, and look forward to your comments! :)

Maltese Culture Movement shoot - Imnarja Day

I have now been in the UK for 4 years.  Although I consider myself well settled in East Norfolk, I still get bouts of homesickness at times.  This isn't necessarily missing home, as my home is here! :) I miss talking freely in Maltese, talking as quickly as is customary for us, and gesticulating lots too :))

I also miss the food, not so much in that I can't find what ingredients I need for my recipes, as most stuff is available freely now, but then I can't manage to cook all  Maltese goodies well enough, (have I mentioned pastizzi yet?!!!).  My ever present interest in food, together with a tingle of homesickness, took me to London a few weeks ago, to cover the Maltese Culture Movement's Imnarja Day Celebration.

I hope the photos cover the essence of the day, which started with a celebration of the feast of St Peter and St Paul (l-Imnarja) during Mass.  His Excellency the Maltese High Commissioner, Mr Zammit Tabona, and Mrs Zammit Tabona were in attendance for both the Mass and the fair afterwards, and the commissioner was gracious enough to spend a bit of time with ourselves for a little chat.  The commissioner was not aware of us being motorsport enthusiasts (he is a Jaguar fan) so we had a bit of a chat about footy instead!

The second part of the day consisted of a fair selling Maltese products, including pastizzi, ravjul (ravioli), biskuttini (biscotti) etc.  We had our fair share of pastizzi whilst many others sat down for a hearty Maltese lunch. As it was a very warm day, we did not stay too long, and left for the long drive back to Norfolk whilst others were still enjoying themselves, however Malta Day is only two weeks away now, and we shall be going back for more pastizzi, Maltese chat and some photography :)

Hope you like the images and look foward to your comments as usual!

Have a good weekend everybody!! x

Creative block

I've stolen an idea for a post today... yeah, really...
I've grabbed an inspirational video from a fellow Maltese's blog, a great illustrator and graphic artist called Jimmy Grima, whose work I was admiring earlier...

I recently spent time looking up friends and friends of friends in LinkedIn and I've realised, just very suddenly, what a large number of Maltese are doing fantastic work in the creative arts .... I felt fantastically humbled and a bit disillusioned, as if my work was just scratching the surface of the reality of it all... and I actually still had to work very hard to reach the level of creativity that I aspire to...

I generally put a lot of effort in my work, a lot of thought and planning goes in to achieve what I want...  I look forward to the adrenalin kick that I get when an image of mine flashes up on my monitor and makes me stare and grin, and when I impress a client with my work.

Posting to blog is very difficult sometimes, as I look back at my previous postings and wonder whether the latest work is up to scratch and a little bit better, or in a different direction, to my other work. I would not post just any photo so I scrutinize my work and only post the very best, the work that is up there for me and that I am happy to move forward on with and share with you. This often leads to a creative block that makes it increasingly difficult for me to come up with new ideas to share with the world (well actually, my very small audience) on here.

How do you move on after you've produced what you think is your greatest work? Do you worry about it, ponder to infinity, procrastinate? Or do you just labour on, and keep finding inspiration in the little things that surround you, and the ideas just keep flowing, just very naturally?

I thought the following talk by Elizabeth Gilbert was very inspiring - beware, it is about 20 minutes long, but worth listening to and pondering on...

Enjoy x

Sneak preview - eshoot R&L

Hello everybody! Just a short update to my blog this evening as I'm working through images taken at R&L's eshoot.  They're a truly wonderful couple, and a joy to work with.  The shoot was so much fun, with lots of laughter, and we are really looking forward to their wedding in a few weeks time!

Just one shot from this session, a little taster ... :)

Hope you like it and look forward to your comments!!

Will try and catch up with my blogging very soon... :)

Wish you all a good week!  x

Sizzling Summertime offers....

The holidays are nearly here, and the kids are waiting with trepidation for the lovely long days, the trips to the beach and masses of lovely ice cream.  Sluuuurp!

The lovely coast line in East Norfolk harbours the Golden Mile in Great Yarmouth, as well as the lovely promenade in Lowestoft and miles and miles of golden beaches that stretch out all the way from North Norfolk, into lovely little coastal villages full of character, dotted along the coast like Happisburgh, Southwold and Aldeburgh.  

The weather here has so far been fantastic - we've had wonderfully blue skies and high temperatures the sea temperatures have warmed up too!  Will it keep?  Who cares!  There is really so much to enjoy on the coast that it really does'nt matter if the skies aren't quite so blue :)

Just to make sure that you have some lovely keepsakes to take home from your stay on the coast this year I'm offering FREE family photography all through these six weeks of summer holidays!  That's right!  An hour's session with myself will cost you absolutely nothing.  You will then just pay for what you decide to purchase, whether it's a large framed print, and acrylic block with your favourite image for your office desk to brighten up the rainy days, or a lovely coffee table book full of images of a happy family enjoying their holidays.

If you're not really a beach family and prefer relaxing holidays in the broads, my offer still holds, it's holiday time wherever you want to spend it!  Bad weather should not be a problem either, unless it is raining heavily, as sometimes images taken in strong wind and a little rain tend to be very interesting, and can be a lot of fun to shoot! :)

If you are interested in taking up my offer, call now, as dates are limited, on 07748 197522 or email me on contact@antonellamuscatphotography.co.uk  Conditions apply.

Happy Holidays!! x

Broad Beans

Yep!  It's the modest little legume I am writing about today, not about my ISP or download speeds...

as food is another important passion of mine, but one which I probably have been blogging about too little about.  Food is one of the influences in my work.   I can honestly say good food makes me happy :)

When I was little, my parents owned a villa in what was then a rural village in Malta called Fgura.  My dad's business was prospering and we moved into a villa in the fields with a semi made road for access.  Mum had a sizeable garden as well as a pool and at Easter time ( that's when broad beans get to season with the warmth there) we used to have the first taste of the produce from the gardens there.  Spring onions, early tomatoes, a taste from some Kumquat fruit and lots of crunchy baby broad beans to add to our crunchy rustic bread spread with tomato paste and lovely olive oil. 

Having had my first taste of broad beans this season earlier today took me a long way back.... back to my childhood when I learnt to appreciate tastes, colours and emotions, and my holiday times were spent curled in a corner reading volume after volume of historical novels  and splashing in the pool in the baking hot summers - all stuff that has influenced the way I see the world and ultimately affected my photography.

The taste of fresh broad beans reminded me of a  wonderful broad bean and goats' cheese risotto eaten at Nicolino's in Emsworth after a lovely time at Goodwood last year... mmm, a lovely rustic broad bean soup eaten at La Fontana in Edinburgh

Going back to the succulent, crunchy and very modest broad bean, hardly even given a nod by shoppers passing by the veggie stall....

Many people don't bother preparing their food today, thousands of shoppers dwell in the take away and the ready made food sections in supermarkets every day. They might think they appreciate cuisine, but they aren't ready to go into the bother of preparing it, they aren't open to getting down to cooking, trying new things, new tastes, to make up new recipes with what's left in the fridge.  To appreciate the difference between a product and another, the difference in quality between an item that's prepared to strict standards and one that's not.

I put in a lot of research into everything I do. I like to get to the point of perfection in most things... I like to construct images like I would be constructing a recipe.  I build up complementary foods to get to the taste I am looking for, that lovely lingering taste that embeds in the neurones and recalls lovely memories when it tingles the taste buds.

That's how I like my images, lovely, cooked at the right point, leaving a lush taste that becomes a beautiful memory, a lovely thought to think about and smile.

I hope that is the effect my work gives you....

now... back to my crunchy broad beans and lovely thoughts... :)

The Classic Team Lotus Festival 2010

We trekked down to Snetterton today for the Classic Team Lotus Festival, a family day out with the opportunity to view all Lotus F1 cars made, and for the first time, all displayed together.

To be honest we were'nt really interested in the family day out... :)  we are keen Lotus enthusiasts, and we walked around the circuit looking out for the rarer models, the smells of melting rubber and racing fuel keeping an ear out for the occasional FVC or DFV being revved.

As a mass of Lotus fans descended on Snett, we walked through a sea of Elises, with some Elans, Plus Twos and Esprits thrown in.  I grinned at the sight of the number of media photographers on site, all slinging one or two bodies with big zooms.  I wondered, as some of them aimed and shot, what they were looking at, in their view finder, whether like me, they aspired to shoot images that captured the elegance, the lightness and handling of a Classic Lotus.

The unusual find of the day was this extremely rare Plus Two in estate version!

The day was very cold and we had to take frequent coffee/tea breaks to warm ourselves up!  I think this photo I shot of my son Matt really sums the weather :) Brrr...

For me, the most interesting part of the day was the point at which the Historic cars were fired up for a parade.  The most glorious cackle and roar filled the air and a grin returned to our faces :)

It was disappointing though, that the car we were closest to, gave the team a real hard time with firing up.  The main mechanic spent loads of time adjusting the injection system to no avail, progressing to squirting raw fuel into the inlets, whilst I patiently looked into the viewfinder, hoping the engine would fire and light up the fuel!  Unfortunately the only thing the engine did was backfire, spitting out fuel and smoke.  Clive Chapman came out to see what was wrong and the apologetic mechanic could unfortunately do nothing much else to get the car going....

It was a really good day out, a nice Fathers' day out, spent with my dad, something I had not done for a while.  Judging by the smile on his face as I said my goodbyes later, I think it was the best gift I could have given him today :)

Have a good week everybody!...

Boudoir shoot

I recently uploaded a teaser image from a boudoir shoot, and I really must show you some of the rest of this set, before the list of stuff to blog about grows too long and I'll forget all about this! :)

The images were shot using a combination of different light sources to create different moods.  Although I am a fan of natural light, and use only fast prime lenses (these allow me to work in very low light if I need to), I am increasingly experimenting with alternate light sources as these produce different effects which make images more interesting and varied with regard to effect.

I'll quickly move on to some of the images I've produced for this set.  For a boudoir shoot I am typically shooting around 250-300 images, so plenty for the client to choose from.  These are some of my favourites ...

I do hope you like my work.  Please do give me a call if you would like to discuss a photoshoot.  Gift vouchers are also available.

As always I look forward to your comments.  Please use the comment box below to leave some feedback.

At the moment I'm working on my new website, so I'll be blogging sporadically, as time allows.  Add me on facebook or twitter to catch up with what I am up to.

That's all for now!  Hope you all have a good week! :)

a photograph that means a lot to me

Quick posting today about a photo I shot two years ago after a very nice Fish and Chips takeaway from Southwold.  We were out for what was a bit of a stress relieving mid summers blat in the Caterham for me and a bit of sideways fun for Matt, my son.  We parked by the side of the road to tuck into our food when we noticed a large congregation of gulls on the grass.  

Some enthusiastic chips throwing by Matt followed and about a hundred shots later, I captured this image...

I so love Matt's delighted expression as the gulls descend on the bit of chip he's chucked.  The Caterham looked pretty poised for fun, even though it was stationary.

Why am I posting this today?  Because this photo's ended as one of twelve selected last December for Kate Day's Daily Telegraph Charity Calendar competition, after a gruelling session of voting online, and my image, perhaps unknowingly to whoever prepared the calendar design, was placed in the month in which it was really shot, so on the 1st of June, a motoring rendition of Hitchcock's Birds appears on the new page :)

So a very happy June to you all, especially for all you Caterham owners enjoying the nice weather out there!! x

Surprise Him!!!

I bet Dad is fed up of the socks, the Top Gear videos and that latest gadget that was so cool, like for an hour or so!  I bet he sometimes feels a bit jealous of Mum and all that thought that goes into her gifts,  but he's too nice to let anybody know...

Now that Father's day is coming up, why don't you surprise him by giving him something nice that he'll really want to keep, and that really means something to him?

I'm offering big discounts on my portrait sessions for the Father's day period.  £40 instead of £75 which gives you an hour's location shoot with myself and a 10x8 mounted print.  This will give you lots of images to choose from and lots of time to give you the relaxed, fun images which really show the best in people.  

You may want to give him images of the family that he will want to treasure, but you may also want to let him have a portrait of himself with his favourite toy...

Is he in love with his car or his bike?  Do you think he would treasure professional photos taken of his other babies?  The possibilities are endless... just give me a call and we can take an idea forward.

But hurry up... I only have a limited number of spaces available and Father's day is soon with us

Give him that surprise he'll love you more for.... 

Email me on contact@antonellamuscatphotography.co.uk or call on 07748 197522