Beauty and the Beast? She's both.

What better way to spend your Sunday that to go to your local parish and turn beauty into a beast?

The idea for yesterday's Grotesque shoot was to tell the story of a descent into madness of beautiful Music Hall entertainer. The madness is represented by the extreme make-up, flowers and the jewellery as well as the darkening mood of the images themselves.

This image is a pre-production still of the story which I've included as a taster. Post-production on the story book has started and I'm looking to complete in a few weeks.

Art, like life, cannot be done alone and I want to thank some great friends for helping with the shoot. Sanchia (www.finlaymakeup.co.uk) for the make-up, Jan (www.daisychaingloucester.co.uk) for the flowers, Selinna (www.alissia-couture.co.uk) for the corsets and Teresa (www.jewellerybyteresa.com) for the jewellery. Oh, and Gary for his shoelace. You really are all the very best.

My final thanks go to Jess for being the star of the shoot. Jess' experience from stage school mixed with her own special blend of craziness really made this shoot special. She knew very little of the story I wanted to tell until the morning of the shoot which I think made her performance even more outstanding. This was only surpassed by her patience and ability to breath while wearing a very tight corset.

If you are interested in doing your own Grotesque shoot and have an idea for a story you would like to tell then please feel free to email me at david@davidgow.co.uk.

Please keep checking the blog for updates on the storybook release date.

Martin and Michelle are Maxed out

The aim of any pre-wedding shoot is to put the future man and wife at ease in front of the camera and to get an idea of shots for the wedding. No-one explained this to Max.

In the short shoot most of the images involved Max pulling a wheelie on his trike and scaling his mountainous climbing frame. My favourite shots, however, were ones like this were he paused and looked as pensive as a man 60 years older. Very disconcerting and even more compelling to record.

Martin and Michelle, as proud parents, involved Max in the shoot and we finished with some fantastic shots of the three of them enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning.

With only 4 weeks to go until the wedding I know Martin, Michelle and Max are going to be as much fun as they were today and it will be a real pleasure to capture their special day on film.

We'll bring Hoi Sin sauce next time!!

Well, how much fun can you have in the rain with a field of killer ducks? Steve and Tracey found out at their pre-wedding shoot last week.

There we were, minding our own business, when a dozen of them came out of nowhere, decided we were muscling in on their turf and wanted to do something about it.

I loved the shoot as Steve and Tracey, very quickly, relaxed and had a lot of fun in front of the camera as you can tell from this image. Although I am very seriously concerned that one of them may push the other into the river on the wedding day. I've asked David Hasselhoff to be on standby with a rubber float just in case. I've still to hear back.

Steve and Tracey were a real pleasure to shoot and I cannot wait to see what happens on Aug 30th. Whatever does happen you can bet I will be there to capture it on film. Whether they want it or not.

Matt, Stacey, Action Man and Barbie

We couldn't have picked a better day to do a pre-wedding shoot than yesterday. The weather was perfect, the Wharf House it's usual impeccable self and the river invaded by model boat enthusiasts (more to come on that). And to top it all off I got the pleasure of shooting a great couple in Matt and Stacey.

Matt held off on his infamous Joker smile but I guarantee I will get that shot on the wedding day.

Stacey was a little nervous about the shoot but I hope her nerves have been settled as I think she looks fantastic in the images.

Also a big thanks to whoever was steering the model speedboat with the action man, barbie and wooly dog in it. Funny enough to see until the action man and barbie figures waved at us. Now that was just too creepy. I checked under my bed last night to make sure they hadn't followed me home.

All in all it was a great shoot and both Matt and Stacey were very much up for a great laugh and, for a couple who weren't confident in front of a camera, did a fantastic job.

Thanks guys. I can't wait for the wedding shoot.

Dan, this is Dan...... with Dan

Well after a couple of failed attempts to get together for a photo shoot, Dan and I finally did and what a great time we had.

Dan wanted some shots of his new prom suit (with him in it) and I think you'll agree that he looked the part.

Dan brought his guitar in too so we decided to add a less formal element to the shoot. After a few bars of Green Day and Michael Jackson were knocked out, the mood of the shoot was set. And the man can play. Now I see where he gets his Guitar Hero skills from.

I want to take this opportinuty to thank Dan for being patient and accomodating to take part in a few shots for my portfolio. Actually, that sounds dodgier that it was. The "doorframe" shot must have been particularly strange to him. It will all make sense when I publish the final shot.

To check out a few more images from the shoot go to the David Gow Photographer page on Facebook.

Looking forward to a few frames of pool to get my revenge for that humiliating whupping I got on Guitar Hero.

Nic, Gareth and a hippo called Harry.

Nic & Gareth's shoot on Saturday was so much fun we ended up over-running by an hour.

Put two great models in the middle of two great venues (Ashton Gate and the Bristol Waterfront) and it was impossible to go wrong.

I would like to say a great big thank you to Adam Baker, the Media Manager of Bristol City FC for allowing us access to Ashton Gate to do the first half of shoot. Adam is a real credit to football in times where most fans feel alienated from their clubs. I can't claim to be a City fan but I am definitely getting tickets for next season and am looking forward to being converted.

Nic & Gareth (and Harry, or was it Henry?) were an absolute joy to shoot. Both had a wicked sense of humour and were very amiable to all suggestions for the images. Thank you also to Nic for some cracking ideas too.

I hope you like what I did with them.