Welcome friends, Due to being sidetracked so frequently over the last few months with photo assignments, sticking to the original plan of releasing #RAW mag as a monthly instalment, proved to be impossible for me to do. However, because the first issue was received so well, I’ve decided to do things a bit differently and from now on will be releasing ‘#RAW LITE’ as a short form publication. It’ll now be completely random with no rigid structure. Basically anything health & fitness related is fair game and each issue will be completely different each time in terms of the content within. Paul Corkery paul@paulcorkery.com www.facebook.com/ezstyla www.twitter.com/fitographer www.pinterest.com/ezstyla
Because I’m a fitness photographer, it’s a given that imagery will be focal but the featured articles could range from a single photoset/interview with someone high profile in one issue, to a set of training tips, dietary advice, event reports or whatever, in others. It’s pretty much open ended. In this issue the feature is on a photoshoot collaboration I did with an old bro in the form of Tim Marquis, his assistant Wendy-Anne Hart and Miami Pro World champion, Davina Ward. Those who know me will be aware that I like to go against the grain of ‘normality’, so with this project I wanted to take an established athlete in the scene and do something themed that she hadn’t done before in a photoshoot. About a month prior to this session, I was browsing my Facebook feed and saw some blood fx imagery by Tim that blew me away. Straight away I contacted him, told him what I had in mind to do and then boom, it was game on. I’d already done a ninja themed shoot with Davina prior to this one, that was both great fun and generated really positive feedback. So when I asked her if she was up for some more of the same, it was a no brainer reply of “YES!!!!!!!” What follows are a selection of stills depicting what happened when blood got spilt in the Frimley ghetto. Hope you enjoy. Paul
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THE FIGHT CLUB
PHOTOSHOOT Model - Davina Ward www.facebook.com/davinawfitness www.twitter.com/davinawfitness
Blood FX - Tim Marquis and Wendy-Anne Hart www.cerberuscreations.co.uk www.facebook.com/CerberusCreations Photography - Paul Corkery www.paulcorkery.com www.pinterest.com/ezstyla Shoot location - Maximus Gym www.maximusgym.com www.facebook.com/maximus.gym
Having made the drive down from Birmingham to get to my studio, no time was wasted in getting straight to work. Here Tim lays the foundations on Davina’s face with bruises and the start of the first cut above her left eye.
I’ve worked a bit in the movie industry and in one instance, I was involved in a horror movie. Even so, I was blown away by how quickly the transformation of Davina was. While Tim adds more weight to the cuts, Wendy gets to work on the bloody knuckles.
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If Davina isn’t talking at 100mph or eating chicken, she can be seen checking her facebook account for updates. Would have been a good opportunity for a selfie but Tim ordered her to stay still or risk a real life beating.
It didn’t take long for the chicken breasts to make an appearance. It was a Godsend because it meant that Davina wasn’t able to talk (much) and this allowed Tim and Wendy to work unhindered by white noise.
On the right Wendy works away on the arm detail.
As soon as the face make up started to take shape, I took some test shots to see how it’d hold up under studio lighting. It goes without saying that I was very happy, as it not only looked realistic, it also looked really grainy and gritty.
With test shots done and everyone happy, it was back to adding layers before getting the blood out.
Attention to detail is what it’s all about in this game.
Despite me wanting to concentrate more on the upper body as the focus for the shots to come, we decided to go the whole hog just in case. Here you can see the grazes on Davina’s leg that Wendy had just applied. Being an ex parkour athlete myself, I’ve had a fair few of these for real and they had me wincing in pain.
A master at work applying layers to Davina’s face. I was in complete awe throughout and couldn’t wait to see the end results. #fatkidinasweetshopmoment
Davina’s not overly impressed here. Apparently, this is a regular look in Bournemouth after a few beers and games of pool. #touchofclass
As a last minute thing I decided that my studio alone, wasn’t adequate for what we wanted, so I rang a local gym called Maximus and explained what I wanted to do. They were absolute stars in saying “do whatever you want” at such short notice. The ring was perfect and while Tim and Wendy did some last min touch ups, I set up my lighting and ran a few tests.
Quick test shot before going for the one I wanted.
This is the finished shot for the ring corner setup. I opted to go for the simplicity of a close shot where the face, eyes and fist would tell the story. A wider shot showing Davina at full length, would have pulled the attention away from the intended detailing.
Here I wanted to position Davina up against the ropes but the background mural was too distracting, so I used a dry ice machine that usually saves the day. In this case, it wasn’t working so I had to think on my feet.
I ended up deciding that the best option was to override the ambient light and control everything via the studio lights. This meant a darker backdrop but still enough light to keep the wall in view. This is another lighting test shot before the big one.
With me being happy with the lighting set up, Tim added a bit more blood before we carried on. I have to say that it was headfuck to see someone so horrifically ‘injured’ but then see her laughing her ass off as the banter flowed. Even now I’m still blown away at how real it all looked. A testament to Tim and Wendy’s skills.
Of course we ended up taking loads of shots while there, but I’m a firm believer in not over-cooking things, so this is the final shot from the day. I decided to adjust the lighting so that we could still see some background brick detail to give the impression of the fight being held in a gym. Job done and it was so much fun. More to come....
"BEING DIFFERENT AS STANDARD" BOOK A PHOTOSHOOT - PAUL @PAULCORKERY.COM
Athlete - Kris Miles