A lovely commission this week from Brighton newly-weds Erin and David to photograph their wedding portraits by moonlight. We drove to Peacehaven and walked down the steps to the undercliff, a spot I know well from my Sleepwalking series. It was a wonderful clear sky with a low full moon which left clear, long shadows. This shot was taken from halfway up the steps with guidance shouted down over the sound of the splashing waves. Many thanks to the bride and groom for a very memorable night shoot. You can see the other shots in my Commissioned section.
moonlight
Moonlighting /
My first serious forays into photography were very clandestine. I was working in London as an art director in a large advertising agency and found that photography came as a private creative release for me. I could think of an idea and execute it exactly how I wanted without needing approval from the committees of clients and creative directors.
I began taking photographs by moonlight in 2006 during a trip to Japan to art direct a car shoot . We had commissioned a Japanese photographer, Satoshi Minakawa, who at the time was taking amazing nightscapes in and around Tokyo. One of our ads was set against a backdrop of Mount Fuji and on the day of our shoot we were lucky enough to have a clear skies and a full moon so we shot it at night.
Satoshi used a large format film camera, with exposures lasting up to an hour, so I had plenty of time to experiment with my recently bought digital camera. I didn't have a tripod but I found that by resting the camera on a glove on the ground and shooting for 30 seconds, I could get a half decent picture (nothing in comparison to Satoshi's though).
It was enough to get me hooked and on pretty much every full moon since I have been out with a camera, in and around Brighton where I live or wherever I happen to be.
This blog is a journal of my photographic journey and how it emerged from the darkness and into the light.
