Two days of portraiture, sunburn and midges!

****WARNING!**** The following post contains nudity and a use of a religious symbol with nudity. If you are a religious person, or are in any way easily offended, please do NOT continue.

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Well, as I have mentioned, I recently acquired a new lens. I've been wanting to point it at people now since I got it more than a month ago. Luckily, I'm part of a couple of modelling forums online so I posted a casting call for a male model. I got several responses on one site, while sending out a couple of messages on another site.

Friday rolls around and I'm driving to Talacre beach to meet up with a young model called Luke, tanned and toned his look was perfect for the beach and we went through the sand dunes and onto the beach itself for a few shots. Still fairly new to modelling it was good to be able to pose him and he was quite natural. I stayed with my sister for dinner that night, and I was exhausted after our hike over the dunes. I didn't have much time to relax though, as I had another shoot the very next morning!

Chris is a photographer turned model. After a drive to Conwy, I met up with him and we clicked instantly. Chatting to him about modelling, photography and allsorts we ventured out to Conwy mountain (aka Mynydd y dref). I don't cope so well with uphill, so after a fair bit of slipping, sliding and walking along a few very narrow edges and several stops to catch my breath we reached the top. The great thing about climbing up stuff is invariably, the reward is more than worth it. And yesterday was no exception. It was truly stunning at the top (well as high as we got). A smattering of buildings and boulders, a left-over of the quarrying that used to go on up there. At the top there was a beautiful pool of freezing water, surrounded on one side by trees, including one that had fallen into the pool. It provided a great start to the photos, we moved on to use most of the buildings, Chris was not afraid to get his kit off, which provided a couple of very strong shots.

After the pictures at Conwy, we decided that we'd go off and do something else since we both had the rest of the day free. I suggested the strange abbey at Talacre where I blogged about back in February and the location for our latest film 'The Wrong Way'.

Admittedly, I was a little jealous seeing his photography kit! Although slightly less so when I picked up his bag (a Lowepro photo trekker AW bag that you could fit a small child in) it weighed an absolute tonne! It took me all the way to Talacre and several pictures in to notice his tripod was a Manfrotto, at which point I momentarily considered stealing it!

As you can see from the two pictures he kindly sent on to me, Chris saw several photo opportunities at Talacre, and I was appointed official button pusher so he could pose in them. It was so eerie to be back there again, especially considering we both forgot our torches and despite having a fairly good one on my phone it was still a little too weak to light some of the really dark spots. There was a couple of times I felt like turning and running, and was convinced I could hear someone following us at one point. Perhaps it was because the location lent itself so well to a horror film?

(Picture by Chris Pollard, taken at Talacre)

Chris seemed as equally impressed as the others I've taken to Talacre. It never fails to shock and surprise people with just how bizarre and eerie it is. Despite extensive research and probing I haven't been able to find out much about it online.

The grave yard was completely overgrown, it hasn't been that long since the last time we went there to shoot the horror video. It is a little sad to think that at some point the location may be too overgrown to reach. It also occurred to me that there might be some parts of it completely buried underground. Sadly, we got stung by nettles, bitten by midges and mosquitoes and I managed to scratch myself on barbed wire twice.

While in the graveyard, Chris took advantage of the crucifix, apologies once again to any of you that might be religious, no offence is meant, it was just a great photo op considering the Jesus that was there has evidently been stolen.

I think it is a very strong picture.

All in all, I have loved being back behind the camera, and I'm happy to report I'll be seeing Chris again tomorrow to work in his home studio.

This week also sees the beginning for plans to shoot my 3rd film this summer 'The Egg'. We'll meet on Tuesday to discuss ideas, myself, Dave F, Sue and Dave R. I'm very happy to be shooting people once more, and it's great working in a studio, but it doesn't beat the possibilities the great outdoors offers!

(Picture by Chris Pollard taken at Talacre)