Faith

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted at the blog but for those who have been following me will know I’ve been trialling bency.tumblr.com for the last 2 months. I like tumblr for its ease of use and its ability to act as a central point for all the things I like such as music, film and other nuggets of information you find around the web.  Saying all that, I also realise that a blog offers something a bit more in depth and that’s why I’ve decided to continue updating this one….So I’m back…….

The past few months have been relatively busy for me and since we last spoke I’ve been to France,  Morocco and at least 5 times round the circle line.  Some news is that I’m hoping to get myself a Studio in the next few months which will finally mean a space of my own. Also the website will be going through another stage of change as I update and alter her slightly…

My good friends at Glug are putting on a Digital BBQ on the 20th May 2010 @ Cargo, London.

Glug is a once monthly London based after work drink for designers, creatives, clients and friends brought to you by Ian Hambleton of Studio Output and Nick Clement of Made Studio. It’s an eclectic mix of people from all design disciplines from advertising and graphic design to fashion and architecture.

I’ve been taking pictures at these events for a while now and wanted to to take it a step further by incorporating something I love, taking portraits on the street into the Glug World. After hours of hard discussion with Nick, we finally came to an agreement and this is what’s hopefully going to happen.

You turn up either as you are, or with a hat, a pipe, a stuffed animal or any prop you can be bothered to carry.

I take your picture, in a similar style to these and then you write down your email address and put some money in the “Charity Bucket.”  The fee is upto you and you can put as little or as much as you want in. I’m not sure what the Charity is yet but stay posted and I will update you all as soon as I know who it is.

Once we get back to the batcave, I’ll edit all the photos, post them online and then you email me asking for you picture. The pictures will be yours to own and you can post it wherever your live on the crazy world of “Social networking.”

Thanks

Paul

Sometimes you see something and instantly or instinctively want to take a photo of it. Faith for me was one of those moments. Faith is my next door neighbours daughter so for all those wondering, I just didn’t jump out on a random child and start taking photos..It was late in the afternoon and the sun was that lovely hazy golden colour, perfect for taking pictures. We all know about the “Golden hours” but I think now the evening’s are longer and the weather warmer it’s time to get out and start using them….

It’s been nearly 6 months since we returned from Africa and I never really got chance to go through all the images that I took but this slideshow shows some of the Children we met on trip from Mto wa Mbu otherwise known as ‘Mosquito River’ area all the way to the Usambara Mountains, and then finally on the coast of Zanzibar.

Ali my wife taught in the Usambara Mountains when she was 18, and this was the first time she’d returned in 14 years.  Also Ali wanted to ensure I got a proper taste of Africa so we did all travelling by local bus which was fun most of the time !

I met some great kids along the way, all of which were incredibly positive and great fun to be around. My camera was a bit of magnet to them if I’m honest and hopefully the images will show that with very little you can still be very happy.

Children of Tanzania from Paul Bence on Vimeo.

some pictures of him today.  This is just a quick pick and will do  a full update a bit later on. Just to say, he’s a lovely chap, full of energy and really easy to get along with.

I had to drop off some work just off Oxford Street on Wednesday.  I love taking photos on this street as you get such a variety of different people.  If you do follow my work you’ll know that I usually stop people and ask for there portraits.

On this occasion though, it was 4.30pm and the light was shining straight down Oxford Street, that light you know only happens  when you don’t have your camera.  This time, I was not to be foiled and used that light to add quite a nice bit of drama.

The Nikon 50mm is my favourite lens, it’s sharp, discreet and you can add some great depth to your photos. If you shoot Nikon and don’t own it, I seriously urge you to go buy it.

Wise Buddah Talent represents some of the UK’s best known broadcasting talent and many of the fastest rising stars in the fields of TV, Radio, DJ Gigs and Voice Overs.

So onto the shoot. For this job I hired a Studio in East London and Romain and I headed on out just after Lunch.  At this point I think I’m going to slightly digress and bring in the importance of having someone you can trust to help you on a job.

I know at times we like to go solo and I’ve done that many times myself but for Studio portraiture it’s always good to have a “third person” to bounce off. It just makes the whole thing go a lot more smoothly.  Romain is the best wing man a photographer could want !

Also it helps that he’s French and I’m Welsh and sometimes he doesn’t get my jokes but as we’ve known each over 5 years now, that “In Studio” banter is all part of the setup and probably the most important bit. It relaxes everyone.

Anyway, we get to the studio just after 2, Suzi was due to arrive at 3 and we begin setting up. We had a few idea’s bumping around our heads and after initially having issue with one of the lights, all ran smoothly.  We had three changes, 90 mins and 3 setups so we had to move quick.

The images you see below were all shot using a clever little technique Romain picked up off the brilliant website Strobist. This is the particular article

The first setup was Natural light, the second was the beauty dish and the final setup was  the double softbox. We also shot a bit on medium format which was cool as I’m a total newbie at film being a child of the digital age !

Suzi was a pleasure to work with and we managed to get it all done in the allotted time. Moral of the story, “Never forget your wingman!”

I met James over 18 months ago while working for the BBC. He was in need of some portraits for an article he had appearing in the

Guardian.   We met at the Soho Hotel in London. The Soho Hotel has a private cinema in the basement which I have to say is one of the

plushest cinema’s I have ever come across. For those who don’t know, James is film critic on Radio1.