Lee Greatorex

http://lgreatorex.com Photographer, Visual Artist. Digital Learning Lead in the VFX Industry. Some of my continued work and inspirations. (work my own unless otherwise stated)

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Updates on things

Hey,

I don’t post loads on here, but for those interested in some updates take a look below:

Job update:

I’m still working at MPC although in a new position since January as Digital Learning Lead for Technicolor Academy. Take a look here if interested in taking your first steps into VFX! 

Photography:

I have updated my website and also have an instagram page now. Take a look at the links below: 

My site

Instagram

I’ve also found an excellent print lab relatively near work which I order prints from. I think it’s important to have a good print portfolio around and I think it provides additional confidence in your own work. (Also bought a couple of new lenses and a camera, shhh! - Fuji X-Pro 2 with the mitakon 35mm f0.95 speedmaster II and the Samyang 12mm f2)

Film: 

The film I worked on with a group of friends is making steady progress. We had a successful kickstarter campaign and spent 10 days shooting in Iceland last summer (we slept in a car for 9 of those days!). As soon as we have a launch date scheduled I’ll update folk for those interested to come along to the premiere! For more information keep an eye on the website

I’ve also started reviewing films again, this was really just for myself to regain my love for film. I realised I was watching a lot of the same, rather than rewatching or discovering classics, or films from around the world. If interested you can follow my letterboxd account below for new reviews:

Link

Music:

This isn’t something I’ve really shared to people in the past. Those that know me know I played various instruments since about the age of 5. After playing in an orchestra, I studied music at college (along with photography and film). I have found my old soundcloud account and am now uploading new tracks to it of compositions done within the last year. For those interested the link is below: 

Link

Travel:

I’ve just returned from a week in the Bavarian mountains. I miss it already! We (a group of Irish and German art friends) went over to Austria while on the trip and did a lot of hiking. Photos of it are on the site.

I also had the opportunity to play with a bassist, accordion player and harpist at the hutte we were staying at. It was an awesome jam session lasting over 2 hours. I’m currently editing the tracks and will upload them to soundcloud when done. It was a great evening and trip.

Hope everyone else is doing great anyway! I still check on here and am blown away by people’s art consistently. 

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River Surfing - Munich Xpro-2 + Mitakon 35mm Speedmaster II

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Still alive

Hey all,

For those that still follow me (thanks by the way!) wondering where I have gone to; I’m still here! I’ve just been super busy with work and events so I’ve been throwing up posts mostly on Instagram instead.

Since my last post over half a year ago I have done the following (In no particular order):

Got promoted (I am now the Digital Learning Lead at an award-winning VFX studio)

Was on the jury for the ESMA grad show (incredible work by very talented artists, a lot now working in the feature CG/ VFX industry

Became a member of the board for London ACM SIGGRAPH (we help organise events for all those interested in the VFX and Games industry)

Rekindled my passion for music composition and spent some money on a mini music production set up

Helped in a case which saved a care home being shut down by the local council back home

Bought a new camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Fuji X-Pro 2 with a 35mm f0.95 Mitakon Speedmaster II) - last week!

Spoke again at UWTSD for SAND2018, along with a number of other events to help encourage people to take their first steps into the VFX, games or animation industries

Finally booked a holiday for myself (which should be this June!) - going to Germany with my old Irish sketchgroup!! 

I’ve had a number of ups and downs on the way, London living is tough and the environment can feel a little oppressive at times to me. A lot of my friends and work colleagues have moved on to new things so it has been a bit of a solitary life (along with the workload I’ve taken on). The winter is pretty much finally over here so I can start to see a little more sun in the sky!

I usually leave these posts with some advice or tips, the only thing at the moment I would say is pick up a guitar or buy an instrument to learn. It has really helped keep my creative inspiration alive even on the darkest days. I think because I have not tried to pursue it as a full time career (and not sure I will do) it still feels ‘free’ to me, so the times when I have felt paralysed by the awesome work and projects i have seen (in and out of work) it has been a good comfort (particularly over winter months).

Thanks again anyway. I’ll be updating my website soon with a bit of a re-design/ maybe more of a focus on my photography as I have some goals I want to achieve for that.

If you haven’t already, please follow me on Instagram, it seems quicker to post on for me during hectic schedules. Username is lgreatorex (or you can click the link if that works).

Lee

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Garage

x100t

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Back from Iceland and still editing photos, but keep getting hypnotised by this 1.

It’s like a magic eye has caused a giant sinkhole slowly enveloping it’s surroundings.

This was just next to Jökulsárlón.

Nikon d7200 + sigma 70-200 2.8

We didn’t film at this location (thankfully as we would have fully froze) but spent an early morning there before dashing off to the next location!

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Another update

Hey everyone!

I’ve had a bit of a busy few months (set to continue nodoubt), but it has been an incredible journey. 

In the past 30 days I’ve been camping in the Scottish Highlands in a kit car, helping to shoot a short movie in Iceland and have just got back from being on the jury for the ESMA graduate final animated shorts (which was in Montpelier).

It has been a crazy month and have lots of photos, stories and experiences/advice to write up, which I will aim to do over the next few months.

In other news I finally have a new phone which locks and everything (been walking around with a broken phone, stubbornly refusing to change it even though the battery would die after 2 hours, the power and lock buttons were broken and it was fully cracked). With that I’ve joined the dark side on instagram - username is lgreatorex (original!). I am not sure how to use it but looking at the photo I shared from it here I’ll carry on doing separate photo uploads on tumblr as well (hopefully the repost of the image below will be in a better resolution!)

My portfolio review is going to be taking a small delay, I want to print off more images for it and need to do a bit more editorial work on picking what I think show off my current photographic range but also my personal tastes in photography. It will still happen though and have money aside for it now.

Anyway here is to a few more exciting months ahead! One of my goals in life is just to go on some interesting journeys, sometimes I don’t know how I get on them but very grateful for the experiences!

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Cold but beautiful. During a small break between location changes while in Iceland #photography #iceland #ice #glacier #cold #blue #lgreatorex #jokulsarlon #nikon #landscapes #landscape_photography #splendid_earth (at Jökulsarlón)

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Iceland, another jaw-dropping landscape!

D7200 + 70-200 2.8

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The Northern Lights - Iceland

D7200 + Samyang 8mm Fisheye

Ultrapod II tripod

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Jökulsárlón - Iceland

Pretty chilly!

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One of the many incredible waterfalls in Iceland.

x100t (which survived the trip just about!)

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Driving through the mountains towards Applecross.

D7200+8mm fisheye

I only got back to work for a few days now I’m off again to Iceland for another 9 days!

Hopefully I’ll return with some good photos! (we’ll see, not finished packing yet!)

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Scotland

D7200+85mm

edit: it kinda works online in some browsers haha, smaller version on my twitter

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Scotland

x100t

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Scotland

x100t

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I’m back from the trip up to Scotland! 

Tonnes of editing to do but here’s one photo from the trip which kinda explains what we were mostly doing.

I was the passenger in my friend’s kit car (MK Indy), along with supporting and helping navigate at times in the support vehicle (an old Citroen ZX estate).

We drove from Melton Mowbray to the Highlands of Scotland to test one car with a new engine and MOT, while also giving the other a fond farewell.

This is driving up the road to Applecross.

D7200 Samyang 8mm

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Kickstarter funded + other news

The short movie I helped work on got funded last week! 

For those that haven’t seen it the link is below (still 60 hours left!):

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/952835418/fieldtrip

It’s an exciting time and maybe it will lead to some more on-location/on-set photography.

In regards to current work I’ve been a little busy with day to day work which has got a little hectic recently (but a fun kind of hectic). Sadly nothing I can talk about but fun and engaging work. I’ll be in London until at least late October/ early November here with my current workplace and will see what happens after then!

I’ll be heading up to the highlands next week for photography. I can’t afford a holiday abroad but a friend is kindly driving up there. We’re going in a roofless kitcar so I’m getting as much waterproof stuff as I can! We’ll be camping for 7-8 days if all goes well. 

For the trip I’ll be taking a d7200 with the 85mm 1.8, 8mm 3.5 and my fuji x100t. I’ve just bought an Ultrapod II to test out (super cheap micro tripod) and for audio (for soundscapes, diary/blogging and interviews if they arise) I’ll be bringing the Zoom H2n.

As I aim to do more travel work after I get finances back on track my ideal travel set up will be as follows:

Replace x100t with the xpro2+35mm wr2 (or potentially the mitakon 35mm 0.95), eventually adding portrait (561.2 or 90 wr) and super wide (rokinon/samyang 12mm). 

Zoom h2n 

Travel Tripod (going to see how much use I get out of the ultrapod)

Dell XPS 15 (the 13 is much lighter, but I tend to be asked to do large scale event work now and then and this would cover that, any teaching or guest lecturing I do and editing. Also I can do 3d work on it or start to convert more of my work to textures in Substance Designer so opting for the larger one). 

This setup is lighter and smaller than my d7200 set-up (which I would still keep for purely event or studio work). For smaller journeys (1-3 days) I wouldn’t take the laptop, keeping weight down to an absolute minimum.

Hopefully I’ll get some OK photos from the trip next week but regardless it will still be a great journey in some beautiful landscapes. Anyway stay tuned!