UBL 17 Highlights

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Boxing Photographs, Leicestershire, Midlands

What an incredible night of unlicensed fighting.  A large group of hardened men avoid going completely underground to fight on the shows put on by Gypsy Jerry Gorman and Elvis Hopkins who runs Kings Gym in Leicester.

The shows are that good, there'll be no time wasted on idle chat.

Watch this slideshow mother fucker...

Oh, and turn your volume up!

Tough hardened fighting men go to war against each other in an unlicensed night of brutal gloved boxing bouts. Jerry Gorman and Elvis Hopkins of Kings Gym in Leicester put on such a good show that only viewing it will tell you what it's about. So get on with it...

Gorman's Fight Club Documentary Film

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A story about a hardened group of unlicenced fighters from the middle of England coming together for a ringed bout of gloved boxing.

This short documentary discovers a little about Jerry Gorman who runs the fight club and includes talks with some of the tough guys who step in to that ring.

If you're interested in going along to watch some of this fighting live then go to their Facebook page, and get in touch about purchasing some tickets.

The next fight night is on Saturday 4th March at The Athena in Leicester.

I'll be there again this year, with my camera doing the ring side photography.

Have a watch of the film and let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Finally, if you need or know any businesses that need professional photographs for their company website or marketing material, please direct towards my website via this link.

Futuristic Art in Landscape Photography

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I'm in the process of creating a 9 month long body of work for my Bachelor of Arts degree at De Montfort University and in preparation for an exhibition at Freerange, an Old Truman Brewery in London.

I've spent quite a bit of time with the paintings of the German Max Ernst (1891-1976).  This body of work is heavily influenced by some of his works, like this example below.

Max Ernst

As well as the german photographer Erasmus Schroeter (below), known for illuminating nazi war bunkers and putting such tragedy up on the stage for an audience.

I've taken a blend of what these artists have created and been playful with my camera and mind.

The intention behind my work is to almost create a new category of photography; Futuristic escapism within landscape photography and by using nothing but what is available in the environment and with zero impact upon the landscape.  

I'm creating a series of fine art sculptural photographs that herald the subjects at night against dramatic skies and using light to make the scene almost like a theatrical stage for the presentation of the subjects.

My plan for this work is to create a wooden light box from mostly reclaimed materials and to display the work backlit.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the imagery that I've been producing, please feel free to add comments on my work, good or bad.  After all, I'm in the process of making this long body of work and could use your thoughts?

You can comment here and also on my Facebook page.  Please don't pass by without leaving a comment, they really are appreciated.

Paul Hands

CALM Night at Karns

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CALM stands for Campaign against living miserably and is a charity that's set up to raise awareness and offer support to males who have to deal with mental health issues that can lead to suicide.

Steven Faulkner organised this event in memory of Michael Rose who lived in Hinckley for all of his short life until he passed away at the age of 37.

The bands that donated their time and performed this gig are:

If you have a man or boy in your life, then please don't be afraid to talk about mental wellbeing. If you are worried then contact your doctor, speak to a family member or call a charity like CALM or Mind.

Simon Workers Motor

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Here's a short promo video that I put together in my spare time to help save Simon's awesome motor from being to sold to an unloving home.

DMU Student's photo chosen as one of the best pics of the year

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This is a nice accolade to start 2017 with.  If you're not aware, I'm studying a photography & video Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree at De Montfort University while running my photography and video business, which is now in to its successful fifth year.

I entered a national student photography competition last year and missed out on £12K worth of prizes by a Gnat's nut.  However, my work was highlighted as highly commendable.

You can read more about my success with this nationwide competition here... 

This was my entry chosen by the judges as significantly good in their opinion.

 

I also have some even more amazing news to share with you.  My wife Lisa and I had a little too much Paella and Red Wine at one of Lisa's exhibitions last year.  This ended with the most incredible experience of my life.

Emma Leigh Hands was born 31/12/2106 @ 17:29 weighing 4lb 15oz.

My world has just turned upside down and my outlook on life is so very different to that of a couple of weeks ago.  It will be interesting to see if this moment in my life has an impact on my photography style and outlook.

So, 2017 promises to bring around a completely different lifestyle for myself.  I'm sure I'll be working even harder this year.  I'm hoping to get some more work creating films like the last two with R-Tech Performance and Gorman's Fight Club.  I'm happy to make commercial styled films that have a backline story and add a commercial context to be different to the typical advertising style.  I like to create documentary styled films that have high impact and hook the viewers straight away.

I'll also be looking for new clients regarding my still photography side of the business.  I'm hoping to be working with many more (PR) Public Relations Agencies, Commercial and Corporate clients as well as potentially get involved with more charities like SSAFA (The Armed Forces Charity).

What is important to note is that I will be graduating from my degree course and will then be applying myself to my business completely on a full time basis.  This can only mean that my clients are truly going to get the best of me from here onwards.

Happy New Year

If you'd like to get in touch with me, please click on this link.

R-Tech Performance The Movie

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A documentary style commercial film, 

about R-Tech Performance and the way in which they do business and interact with their customers.  The owner of R-Tech (Niki Gower) tunes cars to perform out of their skin.  R-Tech increases the power output of the cars that come to their unit in Hinckley, Leicestershire in the midlands.
The modified car scene is still prevalent and especially within the VAG scene (Volkswagen and Audi Group) and Paul Hulme's VAG Tuning and the VAG Gang.
Quite often, Niki from R-Tech will go to the meets at places like Santa Pod Raceway to socialise with customers that have also become friends.
This film tells the story of a typical day at R-Tech, the things that go on at Santa Pod in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire and includes the famous rolling road days at R-Tech's unit.
The style in which this short film has been created is a witty documentary with a commercial and promotional purpose.

Click on the logo for Paul Hands to contact him about professional photography and filmmaking.

Click on the logo for R-Tech Performance to contact them about tuning or performance parts.

R - Tech Film Trailer (Official)

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This film has been 3 months in the making and involved numerous film days on set at the R - Tech Performance unit on the Dodwells Industrial Estate in Hinckley, Leicestershire.  We've also followed R - Tech and their customers along with the VAG Gang and VAG Tuning to Santa Pod Raceway in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

The trailer has been cut to exactly 2.01 minutes and timed with a background music track that hits the viewer with everything that R - Tech Performance are about, inclusive of the modified car scene that they're famous for being involved with and tells a very quick version of their story.

This is of course a prequel to the full length film version, is designed to appeal to a customer base who takes pride in their cars and is due to be released at the end of this week.  The intention was to create a raw and punchy stylised commercial film that can be used on their website and social media to generate a buzz and vibrant level of interest around their company and the scene going forwards in to 2017 and the future.

Have a look for yourself...

Dark Power

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Well the title suggests something a little more sinister than the work portrays.  This is about a small series of images created at night time directly pointing at the the Power Station towers at Ratcliffe On Soar near to Nottingham and situated next to the M1 motorway.

I felt that these towers needed the drama of the night and an overcast sky to work as the backdrop so that the smoke billowing out from the chimneys, blended in with the clouds.

I stopped by this location on the way home after a making a still image documentary with SSAFA (The Armed Forces Charity) last night.

It is an epic site that hits you with complete awe, when you stand next to it.  Have a look through some of the images; click to enlarge.

If you'd like to enquire about commissioning my photographic or moving image services, please click here to be redirected to my contact page.

Don't forget to follow me on social media where quite often, I upload work that doesn't appear on my website.

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November Film and Photography

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I've got a very busy month coming in November.  

I'm finalising the editing of the film for R-Tech Performance.  We've got a few days of filming left where I'll be interviewing Ben from R-Tech about their amazing company and how they've helped to create a culture around re-mapping cars to go faster.  The film so far, follows some of their customers while they test drive their cars after being re-mapped.  We've also been to Santa Pod Race Circuit to witness R-Tech's customers testing their cars on the 1/4 mile track.  We also have a rolling road day coming up at R-Tech's unit in Hinckley, where we'll be documenting with moving image.

During November, I'll be working with SSAFA again.  They have a special event on where families of fallen and injured military personnel gather in remembrance and to find support from one another.  I'll be creating a documentary series of photographs around the event for use on the website, on social media and to be printed within their help leaflets.  The next event is happening in Nottingham

I've also been out making personal photographs for projects that I'm currently working on.

 

Click on images to enlarge.

This image is part of a year long project called Rockets.  I'm currently in search of human constructions that resemble rockets and juxtaposing them against the night sky.

The above set of four photographs are all considerations to become part of a series of pictures that tell a metaphorical story.  They're all colourful sculptural protrusions from the Earth.  This is still a work in progress and will culminate with an exhibition at Free Range in the Old Truman Brewery, London in 2017.

I've also been out and collected some cheesy landscape photographs of the recent Super-moon as it hovered and rose above Hinckley.

So November is and has been a very busy month for me.  On top of all of this, I'm decorating my house from top to bottom.  This is of course in line with the amazing news that I'm going to be a Father.  So I have to get my house ready for my beautiful Daughter to arrive in January.

I'm still currently working and taking on new and exciting projects.  I've got many enquiries coming in for commercial photography jobs and a couple of commercial films to do quotes for.  If you have any assignments where you'll need a professional photographer, filmmaker or videographer, then please click here to go to my contact page and drop me a line.