Shaun & Anna - Engagement Portrait Session

Here are the rest of the images from the great shoot I had with Shaun and Anna - what a great couple.  I'm really looking forward to their wedding in July.

Anna was quite happy to volunteer information about how well Shaun did blue steel - I had to take a few photos as proof of course.

The Campbells Walk London

Peter and Vicky are good friends who moved to sunny Australia last year.  The Campbells and I go back a bit; I photographed their wedding in 2008 and then did two family shoots for them since.  Peter gave me a call and mentioned that he would like some family shots of them in London as he realised that they had not actually taken any "family photos" in the city when they used to go on outings.  He said that London had been home for such a while, it would be a shame not to have some photos and so why not have me spend the afternoon with them in the city shooting a mixture of posed and natural shots.  He also mentioned that he would like the images done in black and white.

It was great to spend the day with Peter, Vicky and the girls.  I enjoyed getting to know them as friends before clients and I do miss seeing them.

Enjoy the images...

I’M GOING TO THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS!

I just got my email…

Dear Rudolf Muff,

Congratulations! You have been allocated some of the greatest tickets on earth!
This email is from the London 2012 Ticketing team, confirming that your Olympic Games ticket application has now been processed. Your new Olympic Games ticket reference number is….

We are delighted to confirm that you have been allocated the following tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games:
Sport: Gymnastics - Artistic

I’m so stoked!  Bring on a bit of London Olympic action – YES PLEASE!

Will China do it again?

Renewed Inspiration

So I went to the annual David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation "Wildlife Artist of the Year" exhibition at The Mall Galleries in London on the weekend.  It was pretty spectacular!  I had a great time and enjoyed the work on show.  A massive congratulations to Zimbabwean David Filer who claimed the title with his stunning graphite pencil drawing of an elephant and her calf.

As always, it was great seeing what Emily Lamb has been up to, major inspiration she is!  Young and full of new ideas bringing such a fresh take of wildlife art to the art world.

While on my trip back to South Africa, I went through some goods sitting in storage at my folks' place and I found a picture of a painting I did for school back in 1999.  After looking at all the art on show and looking at some art I've done over the years, I've decided it would be a good thing to put the camera down for a few evenings a week, step away from the computer screen and put brush to canvass again.  I love my photography, but there is something so liberating and peaceful about sitting in front of a blank canvass and painting away.

Here's the painting I did of elephants with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background.

London Town

This weekend I hit the “big smoke” to hang out with great friends.  While I was there I made a mini mission to get my fill of inspiration. 

So I hit the Tate Modern to see what they had going on – it was a bit of a last minute plan so I didn’t have any time to check out the site to see what was on show, but I highly recommend you visit if you are in the London area. 

Tate Modern Tower

Monet blows my mind away… I could stand and stare at this for hours.  Cheeky hip shot – don’t worry, no flash used.  So much inspiration drawn from this legend.

Then there was this stuff… OK, yes, art is completely subjective… and this art was subject to my harsh frowning!  Call me close minded if you like, but I don’t know… the only thing that this says to me is that there is hope.

I came across a display of photographic typologies which were visually incredible.  The image above is another cheeky hip shot of loads of interior shots, some really stunning stuff.  The style of photography was pioneered by August Sander, a German photographer who focused on people studies in the late 1800’s – early 1900’s.  I could really relate to the style of photography as I find myself almost obsessed with photographing certain subject matter in similar fashion.  Perhaps that will make for a decent post at a later stage.

Along with the big pieces and great photographic work, I was also completely sucked in by the amazing textures and material manipulations displayed.  I loved this…  I’m really hoping to get painting again sometime soon and I’d love to throw in some crazy textures.

After the quick Tate Modern visit, I left for the most epic of picnics celebrating a great friend’s 30th.  Later on in the evening friends and I went out to set off some lanterns over the Thames.

The Thames at night running along Barnes.  I loved the reflection of the different shaded light on the rippling water.

  

good times…