Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Long Exposure Dance Shoot with Deanna

I'd like to start off with saying thank you to Sean Allott, over the past couple of years he has taught me so much about photographic lighting. (Amongst other things) His continued support and guidance has made me a better photographer. One of the first things he taught me was "model safety is very important, model comfort is not, just get the shot" The other night he showed me mixed continuous and strobe lighting to show motion trails on a moving subject. It was a very cool lighting experiment for me. It's important to experiment and grow your skill set.

The model for this photo shoot was Deanna. We played around with some dance moves and other poses. She was super patient as I was learning a new lighting setup while using a camera I had never shot with before. I think we got some really cool looking shots and next time I will definitely be better and more creative with the process.

Makeup for the shoot was courtesy of Melissa O Makeup

I played around with mixed continuous light and strobes for different visual effects as well as multiple strobes fires within the same exposure.

- Mark Ruddick Photography is a full service London, Ontario photographer who specializes in fitness, boxing and mma photography

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Athletic Nudes with Sebastian Part 2

I won't write a lot about this shoot, but I wanted to share a few more images from it To read more about how the shoot came together, click the link below.

Part One: http://www.markruddick.com/blog/2016/12/16/athletic-shoot-with-sebastian

The lighting for this shoot was pretty simple. 2 softboxes to the rear providing rim light and a beauty dish to the front, high and pointed down for muscle definition. 

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Mark Ruddick Mark Ruddick

Athletic Shoot with Sebastian

I had contacted Sebastin a couple of months ago about getting together to photograph my implied nude athletic series. He liked the concept and the images but was a little unsure because he's an actor. I completely understood his hesitation and left it with him. We ended up reconnecting a month later and he said lets do it, so last weekend I brought him into studio.

I am humbled by the trust he put in me and my work. Sebastian is a complete class act and total professional to work with. Rather than go on I'll leave you with Sebastian's beautiful words on how he felt about the first image he got back.

Why?... Why this image?

I think it has to do with how life strips us down to all we really are sometimes.
It's about losing everything this past few years and starting over with all that's left. .

It's about how a person begins to fight their way back, leaping naked and fearless into the world, with all the strength they have in them and seeing nothing through the dark.

When all a person thinks they are is stripped away, it starts from this, from all they ever really were - just a body, just a mind... just a will to fight for something more.

When the elements that define most people are lost - belief systems, relationships, titles
and things that give comfort - what remains? Your art forms, your ideas, your passion - 
these are all you hold inside you when you begin again.

And what about the Bo staff? 
Learning to wield it came to make sense, because what else but a stick is available when all else is stripped away?

When life lays us bare we have no tools, no weapons. 
We use what's on the ground and dive into the fight with whatever is at hand.

We're born with nothing, so it makes sense that some find a rebirth the same way,
leaping into life stripped of everything, but the stuff God gave us to start with.

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