Made it!!!

Hooray!! I'm so excited... I've just done a google check on my website name, I just typed in 'rt photographics'; I didn't add any more than that, no 'UK' or 'Scotland', or 'portrait photographer', 'headshots for actors', none of that... just 'rt photographics', and there it is, number 1 on the first page! Hooray!!!

So a HUGE thank you to everyone who has ever clicked through to my website, and for all of you who read my blog updates. I'm incredibly pleased and happy and excited, and it's all thanks to you!

x.

The website is updated all the time, as new photos come in and the advice pages change, keeping up to date with all the latest information and facts to help get your headshots noticed!

If you haven't visited the website for a while, pop by and see what's new... then come back next week and see what else is new!! It's so exciting, it's forever changing, evolving, and growing and it's all down to you. Thank you :D

I have another photo shoot on Friday with a beautiful wee girl in Meigle, just down the road from us here in Blairgowrie.

There are some more Scottish actor's headshots to come, and another trip to the studio in London in October, for even more headshots... there are a couple of places left; if you need headshots that work for you, email me rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk and we'll get you booked in! If you can't make it in October, don't worry, e-mail me anyway and we'll arrange a suitable time for you.

So please do keep on clicking through, have a look at the website and see what's new on the advice pages and in the galleries. With so much happening, there's always something new to see!

Rebecca, x

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/

rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Down in London Town!

WOW, talk about 'hot in the city'!


Deon Adams (c) rtphotographics 2009

Probably not what Billy idol (or whoever it was) was singing about, but my word, it was HOT! Sweltering, sweating hot!!

I was down in London a couple of weeks ago to work on some headshots with a group of 7 young actors, all of whom are working hard and very nearly at the end of their first year at the Mountview Academy in London.


Jeffrey Socia (c) rtphotographics 2009

Their week at the Academy is unbelievably hard and how they manage it in the heat I really don't know! I have nothing but absolute and utmost respect for these incredible young people.


Leigh Lothian (c) rtphotographics 2009

I set up the studio in the top floor apartment of a town house in Palmers Green. There is a huge balcony up there and loads of natural light as well as studio lighting, so all was looking good. I hadn't bargained on the heat from the enormous windows though. Wow. Hot and thirsty work. I haven't drunk that much water since my first attempts at swimming in the English Channel over 30 years ago!!


Leah Shears (c) rtphotographics 2009

Each session lasted a little less than an hour and the time flew. It was an absolute pleasure and a privilege to spend that time with the students, and talking to them, finding out a bit more about them. As well as being interesting and fun, it's also the best way to help them relax and put themselves across in their headshots.

They were all 7 very different people; different backgrounds, different experiences, different approaches to life and hopes for the future. Their personalities need to come across in their headshots. It needs to be 'them' that a casting panel sees, not a lovely photo of someone airbrushed beyond all recognition.


Greg Airey (c) rtphotographics 2009

If they are more serious or quiet by nature, that needs to show. If they are fun and bubbly, that should be in the headshot. It is the only thing they have to show a casting panel who they are. They won't get an audition without one, unless they are incredibly lucky and are incredibly famous!


Grace Gardner (c) rtphotographics 2009

With the amount of dedication and enthusiasm these young folks have, as well as bags of talent, I am quite sure these are names and faces we shall all get to know in the future! I can't wait for the day when I can say "oh yes, I knew them before they were famous!"


Paula Masterton (c) rtphotographics.co.uk

Thanks everyone, so very much, for all your hard work on such a terribly hot day!! It really was a pleasure to meet with you all and work with you all.

Rebecca,x

rtphotographics.co.uk

rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Glamorous!

The further happy tales of a portrait photographer...



A model, a make up artist, and a whole apartment all to ourselves...




Last Saturday saw myself and Hannah heading across to Dundee for a glamour shoot with Irena. We knew it would be a busy day and were armed with bean bag, flowers, a shedload of lights, stepladders, reflectors.... all the usual gear.



Hannah was along for her first shoot as a make-up artist, and this was my third shoot with Irena so I was confident we were going to have a pretty good girly fun kind of day! I wasn't wrong!! It was fab.



Irena had some amazing gem-studded false eyelashes, and a very good idea of how she wanted to look...



One of the things I love about Irena is that she puts so much into the shoot. She has ideas and we try them out and discuss them - real teamwork



With a whole apartment to ourselves there was no shortage of corners to shoot in, and we tried most of them!




We used the rooms upstairs to get some different angles and styles, and Irena had a set of outfits ready to try on that evoked a feel of more sophisticated glamour.




This inspired a series of shots to capture that atmosphere,



even on the stairs...



and into the bathroom, where Hannah pushed in some bubbles to create a fun but classic set.
Five costume changes, four hours, three girls, two lenses, one camera... job done!





One very happy photographer!! Thanks Irena and Hannah for your hard work that day,xx.






Contact me by e-mail if you'd like to book a shoot or if you'd like any help with your ideas... rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk






Intimate Portraits, Family Portraits and Actors Headshots...

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/

Bubbles and the Beach... I love photography!

How much better does it get than last Sunday? I don't know that it can!

I was at Kenmore on the shore of Loch Tay in the Scottish Highlands. The sun was shining but softly diffused through the cloud, perfect for portraits and a stunning location for an outdoor family shoot.

The girls are absolutely stunning... fun, relaxed in front of the camera and so beautiful, they are amazing and it was such a joy to photograph them. Add their gorgeous wee baby brother, a couple of bottles of bubbles and a fluffy blanket, and the afternoon was officially perfect!

Perhaps a little alarmed when we met in the car park at Kenmore beach, the girls soon accepted the fact that I was clearly bonkers but obviously ok, and happily helped carry my stepladder, hula hoop and dog's bed down to the shore!

First stop was going to be at the famous dead tree on the end of the rocky jetty, but nooooooo, it was gone!! Never mind, the rocks are big enough and flat enough to sit on and the backdrop of the mountains, the loch and the crannog more than makes up for any missing tree stump!

The trees along the head of the beach have wonderful twisted trunks that lend a kind of stately and organic contrast to the hard rocks and driftwood along the shore. Ashley and Emily settled easily into a nook at the base of an old tree and the soft green leaves of the trees behind completed the frame. Gorgeous!!

Surrounded by soft grasses and wild flowers, Brodie was thrilled to be allowed to stand up against an huge old tree root. I seriously think that given food, drink and his family, the wee man would have happily stayed there all day! His facial expressions were fantastic and I still chuckle now to think of him...

Further along the beach we played around with a tyre swing and got some shots with the island crannog and the Scottish Crannog Centre in the background, before heading round the mouth of the loch to Dalerb.

More trees, this time dripping with lichens, and the soft dappled shade provided excellent photo opportunities and an excuse for climbing trees... I don't need any encouragement and the girls bravely followed!!!

Finally, the blanket and the bubbles! Brodie was settled on the blanket as Ashley and Emily fired bubbles from a battery-powered bubble gun (who knew there were such things?), and all I had to do was watch and wait as the delight and wonderment took turns across the baby's face... I truly do love photography!!

A stunning location, beautiful family, fun, sunshine and bubbles... does it really get better than that? Thank you so much; you made a middle-aged lady smile and she's still smiling now!

Rebecca,x.
http://www.rtphtographics.co.uk/

p.s. we never did use the hula hoop!!!

All Good Plans...

You may recall that I mentioned a beach shoot with Irena that was planned for last Friday. Well, this is Scotland... need I say more?

It had been beautiful all week, so warm and sunny and gorgeous sunsets, it should have been perfect! Oh well.

Friday dawned wet, grey and windier than my other half after a chicken dhansak!!

The rain fell heavier & the wind grew stronger as the day wore on and all hopes of a beach shoot were well and truly dashed... as we would have been against the rocks if we'd tried to venture out in that weather!

But, Irena is a real star and before I could even finish saying "what about doing..." she was agreeing to a studio shoot in Dundee.

All thoughts of shorts, bikinis and fine art nude portraits at the coast were put aside and instead, we embarked on a three hour shoot indoors.

Irena is fantastic. She always works with me, never against me, and contributes all she has to the session. It's hard work looking effortlessly beautiful, but Irena can do it and then some! So many people wonder "how hard can it be getting your picture taken?", believe me... it's hard! So many poses that look natural and effortless are the most ridiculous positions to hold. You use muscles you never knew you had, and all the time trying to look gorgeous and relaxed.

Thank you Irena, you're amazing and I am so looking forward to working with you again... and we will get that beach shoot done!

rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Photography Holidays

Well, that's my second hub published in the 30 hubs for 30 days hub challenge!

I chose 'Photography Holidays' as the subject because it's something I'd love to do and is such a great idea for a vacation!

Just think, you can spend a whole week in beautiful locations with an expert on hand to give you all the tips and tricks of the trade... and your family can enjoy a holiday without you constantly badgering them to 'hold it', 'smile', 'say cheese'! Everyone's a winner!!

I haven't been on one yet, but I'd love to. My choice would be a week with Colin Prior on the west coast of Scotland. He also does short courses at Dunkeld here in Perthshire. A beautiful place right enough, but as it's practically my own back yard I reckon I'd rather go somewhere different!

I'm rather hoping that Simon at prophotoinsights.net will be organising some workshops in the future. He is such a great guy and has a way of explaining things that makes you believe you can do it too! http://www.prophotoinsights.net/

So, photography holidays, I think they're a great idea... one day I'll go on one and I'll let you know all about it!

Cheers

Rebecca

www.rtphotographics.co.uk