Capturing the Essence and Beauty of real women in an Essence Portrait.

WHAT is an Essence Portrait?

So what is an Essence Portrait? An Essence Portrait is a portrait that captures the essence and beauty of real women. It’s a portrait that goes beyond just the normal snapshot, the head shot, the family portrait. It’s something that is a lot more than just having a person in their normal state and having a portrait done. So an Essence Portrait takes the woman being photographed to another level and experience beyond the normal portrait that they may have experienced before.

WHY an Essence Portrait

So why an Essence Portrait? Because it’s different, because it’s an experience that a woman can have that involves making them look and feel fantastic about themselves. It’s something that just goes beyond sitting down in a chair in front of a plain background, with the photographer just going to take what I would call a standard portrait. It’s a moment in time that a woman can feel really great about herself and she can have a record of how good she feels how fantastic she looks and be proud of it.

Essence Portraits are designed not only to be a great experience but a product that will give you a portrait that you’ll be proud of hanging on the wall in your home. A photo that will be in a frame on your boyfriend,  lover or  husband’s wallet . It will be the computer desktop wallpaper the large canvas print in the hallway or the framed print on the office desk.

We don’t want to produce a photograph that just gets put on the wall for six months and gets taken down. We want to create capture the types of photographs that will be hung on walls for years.

An Essence Portrait is not so much about the here and now it’s more about the next five years it’s about the next 20 years, the next 30 years or more when they can look back on their ‘photographic history’ if you like and see a portrait that was taken by us and it will remind them of an experience they had and time that they were able to have a beautiful photograph produced that captured their essence and their beauty at a certain point in time.

HOW is an Essence Portrait Different?

I would like to talk a little bit about the technical side to the Essence Portraits.

It is a fact that women want to look beautiful in their photographs and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a social media head shot, family photo shoot, a fashion shoot or glamour shoot if a woman doesn’t feel and look great in herself, as a photographer I’m not going to have a very successful photo shoot.

An Essence Portrait takes about two hours. The first hour is typically the hair styling and makeup session. This is the first part to making the model feel special and pampered. The stylist/make-up artist role is to enhance and bring out the beauty of the woman, the model.

The technical bit on the photographic side of things is this. We want to keep it as simple and uncomplicated as possible. There is a style and studio formulae that we use for the Essence Portrait photographs. We use very few props and our lighting technique is kept simple and uncluttered. We tend to use a lighting system called continuous lighting. We don’t like bombarding the model with flashes all the time. It creates a more relaxed atmosphere than the normal studio portrait and it gives me his photographer more freedom to communicate and talk making the model feel more relaxed in front of the camera.

This way I can focus on capturing not only the beauty of the model in front of me but the essence which is crucial to the Essence Portrait. It’s about capturing that split second where I know makes that special portrait worth the time and effort that has been put into the session.

WHO wants an Essence Portrait?

The concept and formulae of an Essence Portrait has come about as a result 30 years of taking literally thousands of women’s photographs.

Essence Portraits suits the typical age range of 35 to 65 in our experience. They are enjoyed most by women of that age range mainly because they have usually raised a family, managing their own business or other professional role. They are the wife of an executive husband or maybe have been recently divorced.

In my experience I have found that (having spoken to a lot of women of that age range) they actually don’t have time or they feel very self-conscious about having a photograph taken and so therefore they tend not to have their photograph taken to the level of an Essence Portrait. Our mission with the Essence Portrait experience is to change that.

WHEN would you want an Essence Portrait?

Whenever you like and whenever you fancy. But seriously it’s about when it suits you. It’s more about when you’re feeling your best and about the environment you feel comfortable in. At the weekend or an evening or during the day and at a time that suits you.

We like to encourage having an Essence Portrait done on a regular basis too a bit like having your hair done or going to a health SPA. You go regularly to have your hair done because you always want to look your best and to feel your best. Likewise with an Essence Portrait we know that clients want to look back on a certain point of time, maybe a special time of your life, and remember and bring back those emotions and feelings around that time. I’m sure you have photographs that help you remember a special event or special time in your life.

My philosophy for capturing and creating an Essence Portrait.

The woman in front of my lens is a Lady and a Princess, if only for the next 60 minutes. As an Artist and Photographer, the true secret to making a woman beautiful is to see more than the surface beauty. If I do this successfully, I may have captured a moment, a look, or a deep expression into her delicate beauty. This is her spirit, this essence that is in every female, and I must connect at a level that helps me to see more in her than she can see in herself.

Mark and Maria Spooner
Spooner Studios Photography

http://www.essenceportraits.co.uk

©Spooner Studios Photography & Mark Spooner

Latest videos from Spooner Studios Photography

Here is a couple of vLogs from the past week.

The first is a brief update on a few photography related projects I have been working on. I like to be creative with photography and finding out more and more ways of getting different shots and using equipment for real life photography day to day work.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8tsQ4EbfNw]

The next vLog is a technical test on the microphones I use for video capture and/or sound byte recordings. I have tried to keep the distances and settings exactly the same to keep the tests as simple and clean as possible. Hope you find it useful/

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd6uC3t2YT4&feature=related]

The next vLog was a response to a fellow YouTuber who brightened our day on the diffeculties of lighting green screens. He came up with a simple solution that made sense to use in a studio environment which we now use all the time. Hope you find it of use also. The tubes in housings cost a total of about £38

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqoaZF9ibcs&NR=1]

Do please indicate if you find the videos useful or not. Sometimes we do these for just documentation purposes only.

Thanks for reading and viewing.

Mark & Maria

A day in the life of… Alison Hair Salon

This project has been something that I have wanted to do for a few years now. Basically the idea came about because of my passion photographing all ages of people. I thought what better way to photograph people than in a hair salon where people go to have their hair cut or style and generally feel better about themselves or maybe they are getting ready to go to a party or an event.

So I kept up the courage and recently had the opportunity through a business contact to meet with Alison McBride of Alison Hair salons based in Reading and Henley. We had a brief meeting and I explained to Alison my idea of spending time in her salon on a Saturday (which is probably the busiest day) photographing her clients after they have had their hairstyled. She had never heard of this type of work before but was willing to give it a go and we arranged a date to start this project on 2 April 2011.

Just after our meeting I asked if it was okay to do some test shots of her staff and herself in the salon before we left. Later that evening I downloaded and edited the images and e-mailed them on to her. Both she and her staff were delighted with the results and I received an e-mail from Alison expressing how they were excited about the photography project.

Well, the three weeks went by quickly since our first meeting and 2 April arrives. We drove to Redding and arrived at just after 8 AM to find that Alison was already starting a client’s hair. My goodness they start early! Immediately we got to work setting up one soft box on a magic arm kitted with a flashgun and remote trigger. I had my Canon camera attached to my black rapid RS-7 strap and used it all day.

Here are some of the photographs from the day. We have also put together a you Tube video which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kg8A9DwS8s

We thoroughly enjoy today and while we were there we took some model shots of the staff when the salon closed which the girls thoroughly enjoyed.

We have been invited by Alison to go to her other salon sites in the near future.

Alison Hair. 85, Gosbrook Rd, Caversham, Reading, Berkshire RG4 8BN. Tel: 0118 947 2540

Mark

Playing catch up

March has been a hectic month due to February being a month lost on the work front (see blog headed, February was a strange month).

Goals are back on target again and Maria is working on catchup as well on the photo front while I’m out and about. We can’t believe that the first quarter of 2011 is nearly over already.

Just to let you know that we are working on 5+ new blogs on various subjects coming up over the next few weeks. We really appreciate your time in reading our blogs.

Mark & Maria

February was a strange month

Why was February a strange month? Well here is the story and also the reason why I haven’t had the opportunity to update this blog.

The first four days of February were like any other month busy with photo shoots etc. Since just after Christmas day Maria had started coughing and it was just passed off as a cold. Two weeks later I said that she should go to a doctor and have it checked out, which she did, and the doctor just asked to take some cough mixture. A week later the coughing continued night and day which meant that by now she was losing hours of sleep every night and beginning to get quite rundown.

Off to the doctor again only to be given some antihistamine tablets which didn’t seem to work. Another week passes of sleepless nights and constant coughing, Maria goes back to the doctor following week (the last week of January) and the doctor decides to prescribe some steroid tablets. This diagnosis appears to work at first and she continues to take the tablets until around midnight of 5 February she has a particularly bad bout of coughing after which she starts to feel very strange. She wakes me up saying that she is sweating profusely and her left side feels strange. She also complains of having a headache on the right side of the head. What was also worrying was that she couldn’t swallow water.

Within 15 minutes we were in the reception of the John Radcliffe Hospital A&E department. To cut a long story short Maria was diagnosed as having a mild stroke. She spent the following two weeks in the neuroscience ward at the John Radcliffe Hospital and was allowed to be released home when she could start swallowing on her own, liquids, which up until now she had been fed through a tube from her nose into her stomach.

Maria on 5th Feb John Radcliff Hospital A&E department

Here is a photo of Maria in the John Radcliffe A&E department.

So we are now into the month of March and Maria is making a remarkable recovery from her stroke. To say the least I was as scared as hell when this first happened but keeping a cool head and making the right decision to take at a hospital immediately she displayed the symptoms of having a stroke, was the best action to have taken. Having seen the adverts on TV describing the symptoms of someone having a stroke and taking the appropriate action (I believe it was televised as F.A.S.T. Facial weakness, Arm & Leg actions, Speech and Time) saved vital brain cells from being permanently damaged.

I firmly believe that giving 110% support as her husband and also the determination and positive attitude of Maria has helped speed up the recovery from the stroke. Being my muse and also the most beautiful woman on the planet in my eyes, I wanted to document her recovery progress over the past month and last weekend I was able to have the opportunity to take some more photographs of Maria in a more glamorous way and here is one shot from the photo shoot.

Here is Maria 22 days after the mild stroke

In conclusion all I can say is that Maria certainly had an angel watching over her on the 5 February at night.

I would like to thank all of our friends who visited Maria in hospital and for all those who prayed for her to recover as soon as possible.

I would also like to thank all of the medical consultants, doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants for all of their dedication and care of Maria while at the John Radcliffe Hospital. If you would like more information about F.A.S.T and stroke then please head on over to this website: http://www.stroke.org.uk/campaigns/raising_awareness/act_fast.html

Nikon vs Canon

A short video blog about my own thoughts on this subject. Have an opinion? then I would welcome your thoughts below.

Cystic Fibrosis Calendar for 2011

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We had the opportunity and pleasure of working with Lisa Herbert (CFT Fund raiser in Oxford UK) and friends in making this calendar to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. If your lucky you may still be able to get a copy of the calendar from Lisa Herbert, it makes a great cause present for 2011.

Here is the full CF 2011 Calendar. Have you got yours yet. It’s still January and you may be lucky to get hold of one still. Contact Lisa Herbert directly to get your hands on one. 100% of the funds raised go to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Lisa Can be contact here for anything Cystic Fibrosis fund raising related in the Oxfordshire area for 2011 here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1406180730

Spooner Studios are proud to be supporting Lisa in more events coming up this year 2011 to raise more funds for the CFT and have more fun. Come along and see for yourself.

The Figaro Project!

We hear you say “Hey I thought you only photographed people“, well not always.

For anyone that doesn’t know what a Figaro is here is one on the right. It’s a Nissan car from Japan and there were only a certain number of them manufactured at the time. Over the past few years they have become quite popular retro cult car as they become rarer to buy. There were only 20,000 of them ever made back in the early 1990′s.

So what is the Figaro Project about then?

Well at Spooner Studios Photography we like to keep ourselves on our toes with projects that take us out of our comfort zone on the photography side of things. It’s what keeps us learning more and more about different aspects of photography when your shooting a subject that isn’t in the mainstream of your business.

We have the pleasure of being aquainted (Through the BNI Academy Chapter in Oxford UK) with Toby Brooks owner of The Figaro Shop in Didcot Oxfordshire UK (http://www.thefigaroshop.co.uk/). After Toby’s ten minute presentation at one of the BNI Academy’s meetings, his presentation caught my eye so to speak on a few points; 1. There were only 20,000 of these cars ever built (so it will become a rare vehicle) 2. It looks unique (doesn’t look like the rest of the small cars on the market which seem to come from a similar mould) 3. Toby’s workshop rebuild, strip down, repair and restore these cars day in day out.

So to cut a short story even shorter, we came up with the idea of documenting the story of a Figaro being stripped down to it’s shell and rebuilt and referbished (to the clients requirements) over a period of a few weeks. Toby has already shown me the Figaro that we will be documenting into a photo story book and we are quite excited about the whole project for 2011.

Thanks go to Toby Brooks of http://www.thefigaroshop.co.uk/ for allowing us to document this Figaro project and we will be publishing the progress as time passes.

Thanks for reading this blog, Mark and Maria

UPDATE! 20110119

Here is the actual Figaro Project subject in the flesh so to speak. Fresh off the docks and has come all the way from Japan on a container ship (takes about three weeks apparently).

The sun was a bit bright for my liking but then this was the first shoot of many probably over the next few months.

   Exciting Stuff. More updates to come.

   Regards, Mark

Plans and Projects for 2011

Plans for our business for 2011
1. Increase our business turnover by 100%
2. New web site for Spooner Studios Photography
3. Increase visibility of Spooner Studios Photography using WordPress (already doing this), Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Flickr and BNI
4. Maria (my wife and business partner) to work for SSP full time in 2011
5. 4x Pinup shoots in 2011
6. To have a structured monthly special offering and special photo days in 2011
7. Through the BNI, to have more business contacts and introductions to affiliates

Projects for Spooner Studios Photography
1. Car building/restoration project with Toby Brooks of Accident Solutions
2. ‘Help Photo’ type project
3. A series of B&W portrait projects based on Hollywood actors 1920′s-1950′s
4. To produce a vLog at least once a month and at least 2x live uStream videos
5. 4x Photographic workshops involving learning and demonstrating portraits and model shoots

Quite some goals for 2011. Some are WIP and some are new plans and projects for 2011 that we would like to complete, all acheivable which is the most important thing.

SSP Model of the year!

IMG_8983

Originally uploaded by Spooner Studios Photography

 

 

Janel has been modelling for us for a number of years now and has proven time and again that you need more than beauty to be a successful model. We have done a variety of photo shoots over the years using Janel with different themes and styles and we get fantastic results every time.

Here’s to 2011 and a load more photo shoots with Janel.