Eight.

A very busy few weeks has kept me on my feet and away from blogging, but i'm back and here to fill you in :)

Soo..... whey back now, whilst all the stress of the essay was ruining my life...Chris Floyd an English Celebrity Photographer came into uni for a guest lecture. It was highly entertaining, he was a funny and down to earth guy that spoke to us on the same level. With seventeen years of experience in business Chris spoke took us through his journey of how he started out up to his most recent work.

'I like girls'... And this is how Chris came about being a photographer! Being a shy teenager, Chris found it hard to talk to girls and after looking a book on David Bailey, Chris was inspired by photography. Chris used his camera as a way to talk to girls! He said he just 'loves it!'... Ironically Chis said photographing girls only became easier when he was married, as if you've got a ring on your finger, the female you are photographing won't think your just a sleazy old man!

In contrast to our guest lecture from Frederika Helwig that said that her worst person to photograph was Lilly Allen, Chris said that she was one of his favourite and they had a really sucessful shoot. Chris explained "Shes just a girl that doesn't like to be photographed by other girls"

His most recent work was for the sunday times photographing a grime night in London. This was a new way of working and he took over 500 images and spent 2 days editing.

To get into the crowd of this gig Chris used a quantum turbo flash attached to a pole and got his assistant to hold it for him whilst he was taking the photos.

Chris has shot most of his portraiture in about ten minutes for every celebrity, as limited time is given with the busy lifestyle. He gave us a few words of advice:

• Know what your going to be doing technically before hand.
• Make what you can get... drag something out that works.
• Connect with the sitter, but not on a power level... leave you ego at the door and let the sitter have their moment!
• If their not giving anything, show that... silence, makes it awkward and sometimes brings out the best images.
• Light in the front of the eyes always reveals the intensity.
• Know what sells... a neutral non offensive image with a white background, will sell 95% of the time!
• and... JUST GO FOR IT!

I found Chris to be inspirational and will definitely be using his advice to bring out the best in who your working with!

Jessica x