ianwestphoto.com photo&video

Ian West is a professional Photographer & Music Video Director based in the North East of England. Ian's work has been published in ROLLING STONE, NME, MOJO, UNCUT, CLASH MUSIC and Q magazine. His work has also been featured in THE NEWS OF THE WORLD...

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James Bay / Newcastle

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BalletLORENT / Snow White.

I was asked to photograph the new production of Snow White from BalletLORENT, it’s a brilliant retelling of a classic story, with incredible performances and an even more incredible Musical Score from Murray Gold

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The Lake Poets / NARC Magazine.

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Lanterns On The Lake / NARC Magazine.

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The Lake Poets Album Launch.

I have worked with Marty for many years on many projects, after all this time his album has finally materialised and it’s a wonderful thing. Dark, honest and very very good. He asked me to document two nights at the Sunderland Minster where he launched the album, and two wonderful shows they were. It was the best I’ve seen him.

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Shooting with an iPhone and a window pt 2

I love soft light, and I love to use it to form an image, to create a wrap and to keep it controlled. So now you can create beautifully lit portraits and product shots with one window as the light source and just a few tips with your iPhone.

The real secret is that the iPhone 5 range introduced an ‘exposure control’ slider that a lot of people miss, here’s how I got the shot above.

***Remember before you start to make sure your iPhone screen brightness it at max!***

ONE: Find a window and place your ‘subject’ next to it. (Obviously) Get it pretty close if you can.

TWO: Get in there and frame your shot, use the AE / AF Lock to lock your focus in place, we can adjust the exposure in the next step. Hold your finger over where you want the camera to focus, the box will pulse twice and lock your focus.

THREE: This is when things get interesting and it’s always down to personal preference. Personally I fins a darker image more interesting and less flat, not showing elements is just as important as showing everything, so work with the shadows. Next to your ‘focus box’ there is a little sun symbol. This is your exposure adjustment, simply swipe up or down on your screen to get the image lighter or darker. You can move your subject to create a more interesting composition at this point too. In the image below I have dragged the ‘sun’ down to underexpose the image but keep the highlights interesting.

The final step is to add basic adjustments to the image, you can do this directly in Instagram. I adjusted the brightness, contrast, warmth, saturation, shadows, highlights, added a vignette and a little sharpen to get the final image. All of these adjustments were just little tweaks here and there, don’t go mad, just tweak till you like what you see.

There you have it.

Enjoy!

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Shoot with Mr Nice Peter

There are some people who I will just never tire of shooting, and my old friend Nice Peter is one of those people. His energy is infectious, his humour razor sharp and he has a complete trust to let me shoot any ideas that may come to me. He's currently owning Youtube with his 'Epic Rap Battles Of History' and is touring the UK and Europe NOW! If he lands anywhere near you, it's worth your while to get to the show! Here's some favourites from the session...

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Fuji X100S. 

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Shooting lovely window light portraits with your iPhone.

The iPhone camera, for me, is a great tool. It does a lot more than it's given credit for and you can easily get a 10x8 print from its moderate file size. Probably the most important thing to realize is that you can tell it what you want it to do, where to focus and at what exposure you want it to shoot. The only difference is there's no buttons or dials, just your eye and your fingertip.

Locking Exposure and Focus is key. 

This is the function that alludes most, but one that if used properly can give you some beautiful pictures, portraits in particular. All you really need is a light source (a window) and your phone. 

Open the camera app and point it towards a window, the exposure will change to compensate for the light hitting the lens, move it away from the window and back into the room the exposure will shift again to make the room brighter. The camera automatically tries to determine the best exposure for what you are pointing it at. No bad thing, and sometimes it's pretty spot on if you want to exposure the whole scene, but if you let the camera automatically determine the exposure then you are basically getting the same photo that everyone else with an iPhone would be getting in the same situation.

Move your subject next to the window, looking at the exposure it will be bright and pretty boring, the camera will try and expose the whole room and in doing this will probably make your subject too bright. Now point the camera out of the window and lock the exposure by pressing on the screen for a few seconds until the focus box pulses. Now point it back at your subject, you are basically telling the camera you are outside when you aren't and because of that the exposure should be a lot more interesting. It's now reading the light coming through the window and hitting your subject, not the whole room. You can move your subject closer to the window if needed, your exposure is locked and won't change so move them until the light looks right to you and shoot the picture. 

Here's the before, the lock and the after:

Basically point your phone INTO the light, lock the exposure and bring it back to your subject. What you should get is a portrait that exposes for the light and the subject. Not the whole room. 

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Lanterns On The Lake

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Death Row Radio photographed exclusively for NARC Magazine at the Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 

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***LIMITED EDITION The Futureheads PRINT***

Following The Futureheads amazing performance in their home town at The Stadium Of Light, I am producing a very special, very limited print which will be available exclusively and only at Frankie & The Heartstrings shop Pop Recs Ltd in Fawcett Street Sunderland.

The print is sized at a large 30x20" and can be supplied either fully framed or as a loose print for you to frame yourself.

The print is very limited and only 10 are available so it's first come first served.  

The print is priced at £150 framed and £95 loose. Each print will be individually signed and numbered.

Call 07446105116 or Email [email protected] for more details or to order a print to be collected at the shop. 

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The Futureheads - Supporting Bon Jovi at the Stadium Of Light, Sunderland. 

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Portraits

I am producing a very limited run of a news printed portrait porfolio, featuring 20 of my favourite images of the last few years, over 12 pages.

View PORTRAITS here

It will be printed in a large newspaper format and will be strictly limited to 50 copies only.

Featuring: The Futureheads, Frankie & the Heartstrings, Field Music, Paul Smith, Willy Mason, Ethan Johns, Delphic, The Drums, Kathryn Williams, The Unthanks, The Chapman Family, Hyde and Beast, The Lake Poets, Beth Jeans Houghton & the Hooves Of Destiny, Rivals, Natasha Haws and Razmataz Lorry Excitement.

They will be available from the Frankie and the Heartstrings pop up shop 'Pop Recs Ltd' in Sunderland from June 1st as well as some very special band signed prints from The futureheads, Frankie & the Heartstrings and Field Music as well as larger framed images.

To reserve a newspaper porfolio or for more info drop me an email at [email protected] - 'Portraits' is priced at £5

(please note: this product is a newspaper print portfolio and the quality of the printed image reflects the method of which it was made)

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These very special signed prints from The Futureheads, Frankie & the Heartstrings and Field Music will also be available at Frankie & the Heartstrings pop up shop, Pop Recs Ltd in Sunderland next month. They are very limited and are priced at £35 per print. Once they are gone they are gone, and there's only a few of each left so be quick. Alternatively you can reserve a print by emailing me at [email protected], stating which print you would like.

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I am producing a very limited run of a hand printed portrait porfolio, featuring 20 of my favourite images of the last few years. 

It will be printed in a large newspaper format and will be strictly limited to 50 copies only.

Featuring: The Futureheads, Frankie & the Heartstrings, Field Music, Paul Smith, Willy Mason, Ethan Johns, Delphic, The Drums, Kathryn Williams, The Unthanks, The Chapman Family, Hyde and Beast, The Lake Poets, Beth Jeans Houghton & the Hooves Of Destiny, Rivals, Natasha Haws, B>E>A>K and Razmataz Lorry Excitement.

They will be available from the Frankie and the Heartstrings pop up shop 'Pop Recs Ltd' in Sunderland from June 1st as well as some very special band signed prints from The futureheads, Frankie & the Heartstrings and Field Music as well as larger framed images.

To reserve a newspaper porfolio or for more info drop me an email at [email protected] - 'Portraits' is priced at £5.

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an out-take of Frankie & the Heartstrings for NARC magazine out May 1st.