Last week I decided it was time I learnt some basic fundamentals about Photography and shooting the flesh, believe it or not that despite launching my web site (and doing fairly well to this point) I had never actually taken the time to learn and utilise any technique or technical skill. My photography was born out of interest and genuine passion rather than necessarily the desire for people to view my work and enjoy it… clearly that view has changed and I now love having my content on view to, potentially, the World.

I also felt that the current quality, while reasonable and decent, as it stands now across MyBeautifulTease.com just wasn’t fair to be offering paying members with this in mind I approached someone who’s work actually kicked me up the ass and inspired me to begin work on a site. Simon Davies regularly shoots content for Suburban Amateurs and the Paul Raymond group of adult magazines (such as Razzle and Escort), he is an awesome adult producer and from our tuition I could tell he really had his finger on the pulse of what makes a good image and the technical aspects of photography that should be followed whilst understanding those that can be broken and ignored.

The tuition was well put together and progressed at a chilled and lighthearted pace, it was much more two guys having fun with their cameras and hanging out than a boring, stuffy class room. The morning began with the theory aspects of using the camera and getting to grips with such basic functions as ISO, Aperture, Focal Length and White Balance – I had always shot on Auto and learnt that auto should now be regarded as a swear word and Manual is the only mode I should be shooting in from now on and by the end of the morning session I was beginning to see why.

The afternoon was soon upon us and once we had picked Faye up, our chosen guinea pig for my tuition, and returned to the studio following a spot of lunch I began learning the ins and outs of studio lighting and how to manipulate it and how to set up the camera correctly to capture the best possible set of conditions. It was hugely beneficial to see the gradual increase in image quality as the light setups were changed.

We ran through two sets and then did some high key photography to finish off the day, between each of the sets Simon would take my camera and mewss up the settings, changing them vastly from what we used in the previous setup… I liked this method of smashing it into my head and checking weather the stuff he was teaching me was actually sinking in or not, I’m glad to say I did well at remembering it.

By the end of the day I felt immensely more confident firing off my camera and feel that i’ve learnt some valuable practical techniques that can only be learnt in the field and not a classroom or online. It’s a hands on craft that requires demonstration and practice. I came out of the tutorial with a couple of usable sets (thank you Faye) which I am glad to say are at the very top of my work to date and are perhaps some of my best work.

So, I’d like to say a big, big thank you to Simon and Faye, of course for the lovely and totally overwhelmingly awesome day If you are so inclined and want to get a better understanding of photography in the practical sense check Simon’s studio out.

Now for some piccies:

Some examples of Simon’s work;
Carla Cox @ Suburban Amateurs
Scarlet @ Suburban Amateurs
Theo @ Suburban Amateurs
Skye @ Suburban Amateurs

Simon Davies’s Official Site and homepage.