CCD Dance in Sidney Sussex Chapel

I’ve photographed many, many wonderful performances by Cambridge Contemporary Dance, the most impressive being a gala performance and publicity shoot for Light Matter, in Cambridge University’s Senate House. The dance company was asked to perform in Sidney Sussex’s chapel for Coty Prestige’s conference, as part of the post-prandial evening entertainment, and as always, they asked me to come and photograph it. Needless to say, the six dancers’ performances were as beautiful as ever, even one that was entirely improvised!

The altarpiece is by Venetian painter Pittoni, and features the blue and red gowns often found in his paintings.

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Li & Alyssa’s Wedding

Li is a good friend from University, and I was honoured to be part of his day both as a guest and wedding photographer. The wedding was quite small, but very beautiful. One of the few weddings I’ve photographed that had a wedding planner, but Rebecca Gregory did a fantastic job. The grounds of Wotton House, a hotel in Surrey, afforded myriad beautiful locations for photographs, and being able to enjoy the day among friends made everything perfect.

Bride's Shoes

Bride's Hair and Make-Up Preparations

Bridesmaids Helping with Finishing Touches

Groom Placing Wedding Ring on Bride's Finger

Newly-Wed Bride and Groom

Bridal Party

Bride and Groom

Bride and Groom walking away

Bride and Groom

Wedding Breakfast

Wedding Cake

Bride and Groom with Drinks and Wedding Rings

Groom's Speech

Cutting the Wedding Cake

Bride and Groom's First Dance

The rest of the wedding photos can be found at http://claude.cantabphotos.com/100808154327/

Cambridge Dancers’ Club Flyer

Following on from the photoshoot to acquire new publicity material from the Cambridge Dancers’ Club, here are my final designs for the A5 flyer which will be sent to 15,000 members of Cambridge University at the start of the forthcoming academic year.

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Cambridge Dancers’ Club

One of the reasons that I photograph a lot of dance, is that I’m also passionate about dancing myself. Thanks to the breadth of opportunity and classes available in Cambridge, I’ve worked my way through Ballroom, Latin, Offbeat, Salsa, Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll, and Contemporary dance. Most of these styles are offered by Cambridge Dancers’ Club (CDC), which was, up until recently, the largest student society in Cambridge. They’re in the process of doing a large publicity drive to bring lots of new members to classes, which in turn feeds new members to the Cambridge University Dancesport Team, one of the most successful student dancesport teams in the country. While I was on the Cambridge University Rock’n’Roll Team, I created lots of publicity material for RnR classes and the CURnR Team, so CDC have commissioned me to create the new publicity material for this year. Having started on my Cambridge Ballerina Project this summer, I had the idea of a photoshoot in one of the most impressive locations in Cambridge (New Court, St. John’s), with 3-4 couples, representing each of the styles offered.

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Cambridge University Dancesport Team
One of 4 related photos, focusing on each couple in turn

Salsa Dancers, Cambridge University
Salsa dancers

Cambridge University Ballroom Dancers
Ballroom dancers

Cambridge University Ballroom Dancers

Ballroom Gentlemen
Ballroom Gents. So suave.

Photoshoot with Amie

I’d been planning on attending a photoshoot with 4 models up North at the weekend, but had several other events taking place on the same day, so couldn’t go. Fortunately one of the models, Amie, was available at a studio not too far away, so I arranged a 2 hour shoot with her. I normally prefer a minimum of 3-4 hours for a shoot, to work through as many ideas, lighting styles, clothing changes, and possibly locations, as possible; so given the brevity of this shoot, I worked quickly to get as much as possible from the model and studio.

Luckily, Amie is an incredibly professional, vivacious and talented model, which made my task so much easier. In fact, all I really needed to do was decide on costume changes, the mood of the shoot, and Amie did the rest! It was the first time I’d had use of a ring flash, and was blown away with the effortless fashion-quality of every shot, so got carried away with that, only using a beauty dish for a few photos towards the end. I wanted to get some edgy, modern, almost-fashion photos from this shoot, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Nor was Amie, as she’d like to collaborate together on some artistic ideas in the near future (she’s also a photographer, and asked to photograph me next time we meet… ;)

Portrait of Amieboo

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Peek-a-boo with Amieboo
Peekaboo with Amieboo

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Amie Diptych

The rest of the shoot’s photos can be viewed at http://claude.gallereasy.com/gallery/297/

Studio Portraits with Holly

I photographed Holly back in February, and as she was visiting Cambridge this month, we arranged a couple of hours’ shooting together. We’d planned to use a local studio, and then shoot in some nearby woods, though the recent sunny weather ended the morning of our shoot, so we’ll hopefully get together again for the location shoot later this summer.

Portrait of Holly

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