News: BEATNIK Online Magazine: “Housing New Music”
Like any creative, I constantly look for more ways to broaden my horizons and fine tune my skills on the job. It’s not that I am not satisfied with where I am since I’ve never been as busy before. It’s just that lately the Photography market has been dictating what I’d be shooting.
So I joined Beatnik Online, a wonderful adventure to me, a place where I am free to express my creativity and explore new ways of portraying people on the music scene. The team is young and motivated, passionate and very simply put: Extremely good at what they do!
And guess what: IT IS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!!
So far, 2 features I have shot are online, Click on the links for the review:
News: Come and join me on the 4th Plinth!
Hi All,
this is a little unusual but I got a slot on the 4th Plinth in Trafalguar Square. It’s this coming Friday (9th Oct. 2009) between 7pm and 8pm. For more info, read on there: http://www.oneandother.co.uk – Thanks to my Girlfriend Ilana, it was her initiative (as always, she has the best ideas!)
Now, since i’ve been really lucky, it falls at the exact time of the weekly live show on Sky arts and will be streamed live (like any other “performances”) on the One And Another website as well as on sky arts. So there is a chance I’ll be interviewed as well! Me! Interviewed!? lol
Let’s really hope for no rain. Imagine the laugh! All soaking wet, for an hour up there on the plinth!
I will be doing a few things up there.
- I’ll be taking photos, of course, of you people and the surrounding! At the end of the day I am a photographer! And I will be using a very old medium format that used to be used by press photographers in the late 1940’s. It’s a Graflex Speed Graphic Press camera, and looks every little bit old like… really old! It will be my first use since a good friend of ilana’s mum gave it to me. And it produces massive slides almost the size of an A5!
- We’ll be doing a sing along on the song “Smile“, also known as the Charlie Chaplin song… Thx to ilana, cause i wouldn’t know how to organize that myself! So come along and learn the words, we’ll be singing our heart out! and follow her on twitter for the latest info about her upcoming events!
- I’ll be promoting a project put together by Jeremy Cowart called Help-portrait. The idea being to find people/charities that could do with free quality portrait and give them the photos for free. It will take place on the 12th December 2009 and this will be my attempt to get as many people involved as possible! We need photographers who are willing to give their time for free. We need Locations! Photographic Studios, empty rooms or any cool place we could use on the day. Of course, all that for free! And we’ll need people to photograph: charity, youth movement, people in need… Anyone in need! I even got a T-shirt made for that which i’ll be wearing on the day!
Here is a little video to explain all about the Help-Portrait project:
For more info, here are a few links:
The One and Another website, to catch the streaming live: http://www.oneandother.co.uk
The help portrait website: http://www.help-portrait.com
The help-portrait community website to get involved: http://community.help-portrait.com
the place I got the T-shirt made: http://www.eastlondonprinters.com (thx to Brian, you’re brilliant!)
My twitter (if you want to spk to me while i’m up there!): http://twitter.com/romainkedochim
And to spread the love, you can email or tweet and retweet this post using this shrot url: http://bit.ly/3wxPjJ
EDIT: a little review on londonnet as well http://www.londonnet.co.uk/news/2009/oct/smile-flashmob-heads-4th-plinth-trafalgar-square.html
Portrait: Kate Chapman
Kate is a Lovely and bubbly Personal Trainer. She is a good friend and decided she was up for it when I offered the free session. She is dynamic, full of life and a little crazy, just like Ilana! Believe me, these two together are like a tornado of positive energy!
We took Kate to a lovely spot not too far from home and started with some lovely natural portraits and then moved from location to location:
Kate, what can I say? Brilliant!
And people, stay tuned for more to come…
Portrait: Liran Nathan
Here is the second shoot from the series of free portrait session I had offered on the blog.
Hope you guys enjoy it!
Thanks To Liran for his amazing attitude and smile and for making it so easy!
More to come soon!
Portrait: Rachel Huggins
Following the offer I made on facebook, flickr and here, I received quite a few direct emails and some comments. Thanks to all of you guys for your responses. And so, here we are in what is the first of a series.
More info about Rachel:
PRESS
“shoo Records a fresh and uplifting music label, based in London. For its first release you’ll be served with a track called ‘Mood for Love’ by Vic Miranda feat. Rachel Huggins and a vibrant remix by High Spies (USA)” Sandra Lastrel, Stereooxid Records/Shoo Records.
BIO
Rachel is a singer, songwriter & musician from south London and has just completed the process of recording her debut album. The collection is of produced tracks and live recordings featuring some of London’s finest musicians including Alcyona Mick (Piano) and Andrew Mclean (Drums). It also features a duet written and performed with Kevin Mark Trail. Her main instruments are Piano and Voice. Her musical style is grounded in gospel, soul and jazz. Rachel aims to be a successful British recording artist as well as a writer to the stars and has been fortunate to have one of her songs recorded by Leona Lewis who went on to winning 2006’s X-Factor competition.
SHOWS
Rachel has performed with many artists including: Kevin Mark Trail, ELOVA, Jonas, Lea Lea Jones, Ilana Lorraine, Selvin Thomas and Alex Holland
Rachel has performed at many venues including: The Halo Bar, HMS President, The Pigalle Club, Jazz Cafe, Sound and The Scala.
To hear songs from my forthcoming album please click on any of the links below.
http://twentyfirstcenturylovestory.blogspot.com/
www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/100752
www.myspace.com/rachellisahuggins
And if you liked the artwork for her album, you can check out her designer, BrandNu.
Now, let’s get to the photos: (more…)
Offer: Get a free portrait shoot!
Hi all,
In an attempt to enhance a little my portrait portfolio, I would like to offer a free portrait session to the first say… 5 people commenting on this post! You only need to tell me that you are up for it, and when is it that you are free for an early morning session! It’s usually around 7 or 8am for a little over an hour. Oh, and you need to be in London I suppose, or not too far :)
So go on, take advantage of this. There is no trick of any sort. This is pure bartering! I get a free model (probably mostly friends ahah) and you get free photos! I’ll provide you with a selection of 5 to 20 shots (depends on what comes out best!), in full size, ready for print. I can also print them for you if it makes things easier.
To see what I am offering, check the shoot with Roxane and the one with Caroline (akon as well?). The idea is to stick to that sort of thing, plus maybe a few 3/4 and full lengh shots.
Btw, first one who has taken the offer is Rachel Huggins. She is a good friend of Ilana and I, and is a wonderful and amazing artist herself. Her new album is coming out really soon, you can check her out on myspace. So Rachel, get ready for next week!
Looking forward to hearing from you all!
Love to all.
EDIT: No more room, all is booked. I will post some result as it comes. Thanks to all the respondants and see you all soon!
Interview: Tah-Mac for Blues And Soul Magazine
A quick preview of Tah-Mac’s interview shots for B&S. Not much to say apart from the fact he’s a really nice guy and was really friendly and willing to play the game. A real professional.
Actor Headshots: Caroline
It’s always nice to get work from friends, especially when you had the chance to meet your client and know already that you are getting on well. And so Caroline was looking to add some really natural headshots to her portfolio to promote herself as an actress.
We agreed on a shoot either outdoor or with window lighting, to keep that really strong natural feel to it. Soft light is all we needed. So we went to Kenwood House (I love this location, loads of shade, beautiful natural backgrounds, lots of quirky little corners, benches and so on) and spent about 90mins there.
For budget reasons, we had no hairstylist or makeup artist. My girlfriend Ilana helped on the day, making sure that every detail was perfect. and here is the final result:
Interview: Akon for Blues And Soul Magazine
I am pleased to see my photos up on Blues and Soul Magazine’s website from the interview we had with Akon. It’s been a few weeks I was waiting for them to appear on the site so I could proudly post it on my blog too! And the time has come!
He was all smile and really friendly when we arrived with Pete Lewis, the journalist. The interview went smoothly and I shot a few frames then. And at the end, I had the chance to spend 5 mins for a portrait session one to one. I asked him to sit by the window, his body turned to the side, and to turn his face towards me.
With a mix of ambiant light from the window and my softbox on the left side for a very subtle fill, I managed to get a very intense (IMO) portrait of him. His album is called “Freedom”, go and check it out.
And to read the whole interview, it’s over here.
Photoshoot: Yaya and Jones
Here is a sneak preview of the latest cover I worked on. The post-processing was done by Paul Bence. More to come soon.
Actor Headshots: Roxane
Remember this face people, I bet you she will be famous one day. Someone with such a passion for what she does cannot be left out of a world that is hers. It’s all a matter of time.
Roxane is a french Actress. She is young and beautiful, happy and real, sensitive and strong. She needed a few headshots for her book and she naturally came to me. We’re friends like “best friends” for a few years now. I love her to bits and more importantly, I know her very well. So it was really good to be able to feel relaxed, and focus only on getting the best out of our time together.
She is currently preparing her next play LES POÈTES MENTENT MAL. So we had to limit ourselves to a couple of hours of shooting. Here is the result.
You are an actor and need headshots? Feel free to get in touch with me for a free quote!