Been a while.

It's been a while sine my last update and to be honest I've been really bust with the practical side of life, rather than just writing about it, but what have I been up to since my last post...

After mine and Al's exhibition, which I would say was a big success, I am pleased to say I sold a fair few of my images which isn't what it was 'all' about. I get very tired of people talking about art in pounds and pence all the time, I think when you get to a decent standard and are only in it for the money where does your passion really lie? Yes we all need to make a living but I didn't start producing images because I wanted to chase the money, and trust me if I did I would be living on the street right now.
 After my appearance on Show me the Monet people said how I under-valued my work. I'm not a well established artist, I'm someone who's worked and is working very hard at trying to get there, this I'm glad to say came across on the show. Although I didn't make it through to the exhibition this was down to my choice of image not having enough emotional content, however well received. I was slightly disappointed with the edit as I got some really positive feedback which wasn't shown but all in all a positive experience and I would recommend anyone who is passionate about there art to go for it!
I have recently entered two images for the Taylor Wessing portrait prize and worked fairly hard to produce two contemporary images, Jon Eggins (farmer) and Mark Ormrod (ex-Marine). Looking back at past entrants this is an extremely tough competition and your have no room for error.

Mark Ormrod©2012MattElliott

Although I didn't get the light I wanted while working with Mark and wanted a different backdrop,  I used several symbolic markers and didn't want the viewer to concentrate on Marks disability but rather as inspiration and determination. Royal Marines spend a lot of their time on Dartmoor training and generally getting wet and cold, I should know, this, I hope, gives the image a great sense depth...but the rest I guess is down to the panel of judges.

Jon Eggins ©2012Matt Elliott

With Jon I used a ranger lighting kit, one key light with a soft box and one without at a ratio of 1:2. I also metered for the highlights as at the time the backdrop was lighter than I wanted. This is one of my favourite images and I guess if you're not into photography you would just say it's a picture of a farmer. I planed for Jon to fit in with his background and it was just a case of saying 'don't smile please'. If I don't get anywhere with these images I would just love some professional critique.

As per normal I've been carrying on with my portrait work and weddings, I still don't consider this to be 'work' as I'm enjoying it way too much! On Saturday I spent 14 hours pretty much shooting, apart from from stopping to have the odd pint or two and eating, I didn't ever question my passion for what I was doing. I have to give a mention to the people involved, who gave me so much praise for my hard work...thanks it meant a lot (you also have 555 images to see after your honeymoon).

Gaz and Paul ©2012MattElliott

Now for the Summer I have a lot of shoots planned, some work, some for Uni and more importantly some just because I love this art...