Photography Backgrounds, Photography Backdrops

Emily Kirkpatrick, was once a Forensic Photographer. She now creates the most delightful and colourful portraits. We catch up with her to find out more about her fascinating journey from Forensics to Freelance.

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself please? You say you started life as a Forensic Photographer? How did you get into that?

My photography career started when I was 14. I worked for a privately owned Kodak lab on a Saturday afternoon, processing wet film and printing peoples holiday snaps!

I worked there throughout my A-Levels studying photography & graphics. When it came to University, I was going to do a 3 year photography degree and at the last minute changed my mind as I wanted to learn from photographers and not teachers. So I continued to work at the Kodak Lab and used my days off to shadow the various photographers covering opera dress rehearsals at the London Colisseum, brochure shots for bespoke kitchen designers and posh swimming pool companies, glamour models for a biker magazine, weddings, portraits and a bit of paparazzi and journalism work with the local and national newspapers (funnily enough I covered the Milly Dowler memorial service at Guildford Cathedral with the newspapers and it was then I decided I didn't want to do that kind of photography - years later I worked on the Milly Dowler case with Surrey Police as part of my role when the case finally came to trial).

NEWO Imagery is one of our most popular photographers, pushing boundaries in terms of styling, colours and concepts.

Her recent set is now in Boyfriend Magazine, and features 2 of Creativity Backgrounds's backdrops (Sulphur and Ceramic Blue).

See more from Newo using Creativity Backgrounds photography backdrops here https://www.newoimagery.co.uk/Creativity-Backgrounds

A liitle while back Claire and Ed needed an image for the "About Us" section of their Things{we}make blog. One of the things they made was this video to show how they set up their photoshoot, and we are happy to say they've used one of our Grey backgrounds to great effect, so we'd like to share it with you - take a look!

We are pleased to announce that Creativity Backgrounds are running a competition and supporting the #SouthWestTogUp, a business support network for photographers and others in the creative industries based in the South West of England.

"We hold regular social events in both Exeter and Torbay for people to meet and network in person, building a fantastic support network for those in the industry and starting out.

Events are well attended with photographers of all levels, from enthusiasts to full time professionals in a variety of areas. We also have printers, models, web designers, make up artists, photographic tutors and film makers to name a few others who attend regularly as well!"

Watch this space for more news coming soon!

website: www.southwesttogup.co.uk

If ever there was a photographer with energy to match the Duracell bunny, then Tommy Reynolds is it, mix that up with a sophistication of styling and an accomplished lighting pro, and you've got the elements of the great image maker. We caught up with Tommy Reynolds, Photographer | Director | DP to find out how he started, about his love of travel and why grey for him is a must in the studio.

Flag Test by Tommy Reynolds

Karen Wiltshire is a multi award-winning portrait photographer based in Dorset specialising in maternity, newborn and baby, children and family portraits, cake smash photography and lifestyle photography. After seeing her "Cake Smash"video, which went viral on facebook, we had a few questions...

1. You must love what you do, the video really conjures the love and energy of what you do, what got you into photography and into baby and children photography in particular?...

Students at The National Film and Television School recently filmed an advert using a monkey... and our Carnation background paper .

The project is part of Cinematography curriculum at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield and it is a 30 seconds commercial shot on Kodak 16 mm film, part of the Kodak Student Commercial Competition.

Naomi Kendrick, an acclaimed artist based in Manchester, has used our rolls of background paper for her art for sometime now, this last project she used a roll of our Black

"the act smoothing chalk into the skin of the crumpled paper, like smoothing or taming the surface of a sculpture'

Naomi draws in response to music. Naomi is Artist in Residence at Mark Devereux Projects in Federation House. "This residency began my Arts Council England funded research and development project 'Drawing as Experience' which over 18 months will enable me to create a new body of drawing work, including an exploration of drawing and hypnosis."

New competition over on Facebook! Christmas Bokeh Competition!

Post upto 5 of your best Christmas themed Bokeh images to win a set of four of our NEW Bokeh designs and a 4 pack of Ella Bella! Just post your images direct on to our facebook page, there will be a judged prize and a public vote.

Closing date Midnight 30 November 2015 UK time. Tell your friends!

Ella Bella Printed Background papers

Terry Mendoza, of Retro Photostudio in Essex, has been working professionally for ten years. Initially he developed a retro/ pinup style, which has been popular with rockabilly clothing companies, burlesque performers and vintage magazines.

More recently he has been using a more contemporary style, working with more mainstream fashion and lingerie companies providing a complete package of casting models, shooting and retouching.

Being of inquiring mind we wanted to know how Terry got into photography and how he approaches a commission.

VOTE NOW! Our summer Flower competition has closed and the shortlisted images are now viewable on our Facebook page.

Did you enter, will you be one of our two lucky prize winners who will get to choose £25 worth of Creativity Backgrounds? Some gorgeous shots entered, which is your favourite?

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1061637993860485.1073741837.157829840907976&type=3

Closing date for Voting Midday Tues 1st September 2015 UK time.

James and Lauren of Portsmouth based Lemon Sky Photography were winners of our recent facebook competions with one of their novel "shelfie" portraits. We were intrigued by their style and way of working so fired over a few questions, which we are pleased to say they were happy to answer!

1. When did you get into photography and why?

James: Photography has been a way of life for as long as I can remember. My Grandfather was a photographer and my Father is a world class professional photographer - appearing in many publications around the globe. As soon as I was old enough to hold a camera, I accompanied Dad to all manner of shoots and assisted him, learning along the way - from weddings to magazine portraits! As a tutor of photography at University, Dad is a fantastic teacher and taught me everything I know about photography.

Further to  increases in shipping costs to us from our couriers we have, as of Mionday 10th August, reluctantly increased our shipping rates. Rates to UK Mainland destinations are now based on the total order weight and this means that for smaller orders the change is minimal. For full details see Terms and Conditions. For a summary of product weights see our faq here.

Increasing any pricing is always a difficult decision and we have been absorbing these extra costs for some time, but we remain confident that buying from Creativity Backgrounds still represents great value for money.

Newly introduced to our range of paper photography backdrops, our new Seamless Patterned Backdrops.

These patterned paper backdrops enable a variety of background effects without having to leave the studio. Available in two realistic "brick" designs, three "granite" designs ideal for table top product photography, and two "star" designs.

Suitable for portraiture, product photography, table top photography, stage sets and displays.

Christina Lauder won the Creativity Backgrounds SWPP Baby Photographer for the Year 2014 at the SWPP convention this year. We caught up with her to ask her a little about her background, practice and what drives her.

1. First of all congratulations on winning the SWPP Baby Photographer of the Year 2014. The fellowship panel of images are stunning, How did you select your images?

I've attached 4 images from my panel all using paper as the background. My images for my panel were not selected but instead created. I had an idea in mind, which developed from one of the images that was created in 2013, which won me Portrait Studio Photographer of the year in 2014 (girl on suitcases). It was the inspiration for the rest of the panel which involved months of planning and preparation to create the final set of images.