Welcome to the long-overdue collaborative mash-up of two established East Midlands artists – Koo Bhangra (aka The Unloved) and Chris Denner (aka Jericho 1) who have come together for the first time to combine cutting-edge photography with graphic illustration.

This self-initiated, mixed media exhibition, which is sponsored by PG1 London, is their artistic interpretation of conventional portraiture. Graphic illustration was then added, inspired by authentic harlequin designs from the 15th century. These fancifully designs, varied in colour and decoration fit beautifully with the illustrative geometric shapes that were added over the actual photographic images, allowing Bhangra and Denner the creative freedom to test the boundaries of their prospective art forms and in so doing, create limited edition pieces which are already being hailed as future classics.

Denner, who won international acclaim in 2001 when he won AGFA’s much coveted award for Creative Photographer of the Year, agrees that it is this synergy between the art forms that makes the exhibition so exciting: “previously I’ve never felt the need to exhibit my own personal photographic work, however it became obvious to both of us, even from our very early collaborative pieces, that this artwork HAD to be showcased to a much wider audience. Very quickly our idea of “Wouldn’t it be cool if we COULD do this?”, became “We HAVE to do this, people NEED to see this”.

About Chris Denner

Chris Denner is a UK based, international award winning photographer, a recipient of AGFA’s much coveted “Creative Photographer of the Year “award, and recently received a commendation in the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition 2010.
An innovative commercial photographer for the last decade, Denner’s iconic, dynamic and signature photographic style and his mischievous eye have gained him a reputation as one of the UK’s new onslaught of emerging photographers.
Denner mix’s the romance of creativity and inspiration, to create stylised images that visually communicate key messages with impact.
An insatiable creative, Denner also exhibits his own self-initiated work internationally.

(Images © Chris Denner)

More of Chris’s work here and here

Myself and my partner Kasey picked her up on this weekend, and she’s already filled the house with love and puppy cuddles! Her favourite hobby at the minute is biting Kasey’s toes, and she can’t get her head around Kasey’s afro caribbean hair – she keeps chewing it like its candy floss!

She’ll be coming into the studio with me every day – so look forward to puppy loves when you come to visit us! Indy may even help Rebecca get over her fear of dogs, she’s too loveable to be scared of!

After setting up (and coffee!) we started by capturing some candid images of Arti as she welcomed guests before Rahul’s arrival.

Rahul was carried into the hall like a King, and this was just the start the day needed – Vibrant, Loud and an Explosion of Colour.

The couple were treated to a professional dance routine / show during their wedding ceremony, and this combined with the priest’s insistence that the massive crowd of family and friends concentrate and become involved in the service really made it special for the lovely couple.

We’d planned on taking a variety of family images in a pre set up room instead of on the Mandap, and it was nice to include some fun and playful images in with this photo session, including one where Rahul was pretending to cut Arti’s head off!

The couple had planned the day with what seemed like military precision, and everybody involved appreciated it, which led us to a very emotional Vidhi (leaving) ceremony, where there really wasn’t a dry eye in the house!

www.yourperfectday.me uk

A new addition to our offering is the HD experience that is known as Noir. A photographic slideshow, accompanied by stunning soundtrack. It also arrives before the couple’s wedding album, due to no printing requirements, so is a good chance to re-live some moments from the Big Day!

Here is our latest offering; Aaron and Jo Lang (Nee. Shaw), who married in St Michael and All Angels Church, Cosby, in Leicester and then went onto the Hinckley Island Hotel, Leicestershire for their Wedding Reception.

I think you’ll agree that this vid really captures the couple’s special bond and a great day had by friends and family.

Awww!

x

This was the first wedding I’ve ever shot where the groom underwent such a radical transformation, as Roop had grown both his hair and beard for the Sikh ceromany, but then shaved them both off to be transformed for the Civil service at the Recency Hotel Leicester. The service had everybody in tears, but they also added in some laughs by reciting Niles wedding vows to Daphne from Charlottes favourite TV show “Frasier”.

It was a awesome day, and I felt very humbled by this amazing couple who are totally 100% on the same frequency, and compliment each other perfectly!

Other great news this week; WGPA; World Photography Gala Award

I’ve won the Bronze Award  for some of my commercial photography in the recent WPGA (World Photography Gala Awards) Portraits and People competition. Regular followers of my work will know how passionate I am about my art and my photography, and this year has seen us here at Your Perfect Day winning lots of awards and being ranked by such prestigious bodies as Aesthica, The AOP, and now the WPGA.

The (1st edition) book containing all the awarded photographs in the Portraits and People contest, including my work is now available to purchase from the distinguished www.blurb.com website. Its so flattering having my photography featured in an Art Photography book – I’m very chuffed! Mine is the image on the left entitled “A Darkness More Than Light”.

They were married in an intimate service in the morning, together sharing a beautiful Humanist Service with lots of family and friends (Chris’ family dog popped along to witness the celebrations as well!).

We were so lucky with great weather, with the guests and wedding party making the most of the Manor’s beautiful grounds. The very relaxed drinks reception in the courtyard made sure that people really got into the couples intended informal vibe for the day.

Speech Time!

Chris really got stitched up by his best man, who made him wear an assortment of props during his speech, and the couple enjoyed a very moving first dance in the converted barn section of the manor.

Myself and Chris regularly train together (well he trains, I chat apparently!), and it was great to see him away from the gym enviroment, and both himself and Sophie so happy as they were enjoying their Perfect Day together.

More information can be found at www.yourperfectday.me.uk

It was great shooting Lee & Georgina’s wedding on Saturday 30th of July. Georgina is a school teacher (At Brockington College; my old college!) and as she’d just broken up for Summer, she was fully focussed on getting Married and making damn she everybody had a great time!

The Wedding was at Great Bowden Church (A church Georgina went to as a child) with a lovely reception held at the Three Swans Hotel in Market Harborough.

The weather really broke through for us (in fact so much so that myself and Lee were sharing factor 50 suncream for our shaved heads!) and it was a really great vibe as alot of guests were school teachers as well, some in fact from my time there 20 years ago!

Lee’s two lads played a great part in the day as ring bearer and pageboy, and it was a real family affair particualrly during the speechs when Georgina’s Father sang to her, which nearly had everybody in tears!

I love kit, and as I’m passionate about off camera flash I decided to replace my wireless flash kit, as my cheap Viewfinder ones are just junk (TBH!), and let me down far too much for my liking.

Unfortunately wireless triggers are either really expensive or really cheap, the really cheap are junk (In my opinion as a professional) and the expensive ones are sweet but break the bank and therefore ruin fun.

Firstly before I review the wireless triggers I bought, yes, I know there are other opinions to wireless flash!

So onwards…

Personally though I’d stay away from optical slaves, as they are OK-ish indoors but as soon as you step outside they can’t be trusted at all. Triggers purchased through an avenue such as Ebay are another opinion, but are a pure waste of time too, as they work now and again but can’t be relied on (much like my viewfinder ones!). I’m not a fan of sync leads either, they’re cheap and work every time, but the only obvious downside is the range. It’s hard to get decent distance with sync leads (even if you stick a load together).

This is why good radio triggers are a must for anyone who is serious when it comes to off camera flash. I have used Pocket Wizards and Quantum free wire triggers in the past and they are great but I don’t like the price tag on either of them to be honest nor should you as any money saved means more holidays or more kit.

So the hunt for new wireless flash started!!

After some sourcing and reviewing online I settled on the iShoot Sniper Units. But were the reviews true? Affordable wireless flash triggers that work? Can it be?

Straight out of the box iShoot have gone for a similar look and feel to the newer TTL Pocket Wizards. There are pretty chunky triggers, well made, not some flimsy rubbish like I’ve had before!!

The first thing that had me think when I saw the triggers, was what cables am I going to need? I hate cables and hate finding the right ones for my flashes that work with triggers.

However with the iShoot Snipers I was very happy to find that no cables are needed, they have a sync socket on them, and they have worked with all of my flashes by just sliding them on to the hot shoe that is fixed to the trigger.

Many flashes don’t even have a pc socket on them so with other triggers you would have to purchase a separate piece of equipment to allow the trigger to plug in to the flash.

The coverage is pretty great, though NOT the 500 metres as advertised, but pretty reliable up to 350 ish metres, and line of sight wasn’t an issue when using them either ( in fact I managed to get them firing around corners and through walls ).

Very easy to use, I actually have just left the unit on my Canon flash as when used on the hot shoe it only lifts the flashgun further away from the lens (always a good thing in my book).

So basically I would recommend these to anybody, they run at £170 (+ vat) for two units (and you need two) with additional units coming in at £75 (+ vat) so reasonably priced I think, at that price these are a great addition to anyone’s kit bag, as straight out the (pretty cool and smart box) they run on AA’s and everybody has a heap of them in their bag, right?

The pics within this post were shot using the iShoot snipers flash, people who follow me on twitter (@ChrisDenner) will know of my love for photographer Bruno Dayan, this is my homage to him!

The Clix project is something I’m very proud of being a part of, it’s so great tutoring young people, and seeing them grow as photographers and create some amazing images.

As photographers I wonder how we’d like to be remembered, for great work, or great ideas. Do we wish to be remembered for breaking rules, pushing boundaries, or something as simple as inspiring young people to grow into a new generation of confident photographers?

Either way, my time spent tutoring at the CLIX project will make up an extremely satisfying part of my legacy.

I’m do adhere to this stereotype unfortunately, BUT over the last few years, I have really tried to throw myself into learning new skills. Through trying (and failing!) at new lighting techniques, reading blogs and watching YouTube videos. It’s a very rewarding, frustrating, liberating and annoying process but it’s working. Lately I have decided that by approaching my photography with humility, asking for help, and just emerging myself in learning; news tricks that I have learned have therefore made me a better photographer.

Lately I’ve loved learning about off camera flash. This has been a 2 year journey for me, learning about light modifiers, direction of light etc. I have been following the work and have been inspired by the methods used by the guys at Lighten Up and Shoot and Joe McNally. They come with a full Denner recommendation for anyone else wanting to look into Off Camera Flash

Attached is a photographic editorial I submitted to Japanese magazine Scene, using the off camera flash skills I’ve learnt. These photographs were created by underexposing the image to get that very punchy, contrasty sky, and then fill flashing using a soft box off camera left about one metre away. The flashgun was mounted on a remote trigger, with the soft box attached and handheld on a stand by an assistant.

It’s lovely when schooling pays off! Never before have there been so many resources available to us photographers!

Over the past 2-3 weeks the Innersmile team and I have been hard at work on another motion video, this time for the Leicester City Council’s ‘One Brilliant Future’ project aimed at projecting a positive image of youths today.

One Brilliant Future came about after the Leicester City Council approached Innersmile with an open brief to somehow create a positive image of youths within Leicestershire. After several creative meeting’s that included positive spins on area rivalry and discriminitive video ideas and virals, Leicester Youth Tube was born, and with that One Brilliant Future!! The idea is for youths to upload positive images of themselves performing a positive task, each week the best positive image uploaded will win £50!

I was asked to lead the creative for the video produced to go alongside this campaign. Having had very little video experience in the past, I have to say I am really pleased with the outcome. In the initial meeting about the video the only real thing that was in mind was the medium, which is unusual, however Innersmile had it’s sights set on a stop-frame animation, all we had to do now was figure out an idea of what we can do to promote this project. Just how it happens in the movies I had a light bulb flash from above, I had an idea of how this could work… Thankfully, with a bit of trust and foresight, the idea became reality. However, I was to direct the photo shoot’s and pretty much the whole project (With the help of Gemma Hose) right up till the point of giving the files to our developer to put together – and even then it was for me to make any corrections in order to make sure it is right. Now although I could still pick faults in this video, I have to say – I’m proud of my efforts, and with the help of Innersmile and Tom our developer, my idea has come to life!

Let me know what you think.

Leigh.

Credits

Initial Concept
Leigh Riley
Anoop Randerwala
Lee Garton
Gemma Hose

Art Direction
Leigh Riley

Photography
Chris Denner

Storyboarding
Leigh Riley
Gemma Hose

Screen writer
Gemma Hose

Illustration
Leigh Riley
Luke Kurbalija

Development
Tom Saunders