Digital Artist Dave Charsley

Distorted Dreams shoot

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:44:14 GMT

This afternoon I had my "Distorted Dreams" shoot with my old friends thevioletraven and Sarah-in-Tortureland, along with new friends etoile_violet and Lars Wickett. The theme was our take on the wonderful paintings of artist Luis Royo, a very strong theme and one that will take some serious photoshopping in the weeks to come! Thanks to all the lovely models and Neo Geisha, for helping out behind the scenes.

LtoR: Violet Raven, Sarah-in-Tortureland, Lars Wickett, Etoile and Dave Charsley (Picture by Neo Geisha)

The Sisters Todd - Whitby 2009

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:27:07 GMT

In the middle of the Summer, avatarsteve and myself got approached by the beautiful Stockton-on-Tees model Violet Magenta, about shooting while we were at the Whitby Goth Weekend. Violet Magenta had planned to be one of the models at our big group shoot the previous year but flu had got the better of her and so this was a great opportunity. We bounced a couple of ideas around between ourselves and new model Flamin Hell and came up with a homage to Sweeney Todd. Our original idea was to have the models playing Sweeney's sisters on holiday in Whitby but straight away we came up against some problems. First of all, the Victorian bathing huts we'd planned for our location had been put away for the Winter. Then secondly, it rained terribly on the day we'd put aside for the shoot! Thankfully our B&B came to the rescue and allowed us to shoot in their dining room, which was really nice of them but meant we had a host of new problems to address. So here's my homage to Mrs Lovett's pies and Sweeney Todd, "The Sisters Todd".

My huge thanks to the wonderful models Violet Magenta and Flamin Hell and for avatarsteve for going to so much trouble creating us the props.

This coming weekend is my "Distorted Dreams" shoot which is another homage, this time to one of my favourite artists; Luis Royo. As usual, I won't tempt fate and tell you the models involved but they're a great mix of experience and new faces, so a great team!

"City Nights" with Neo Geisha

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:55:15 GMT

I'm back from another Whitby Goth Weekend and this year was quite different from other years I've gone to. There was a lot of my friends missing but I did manage to catch up with avatarsteve and his wife Dan, druidess1982 and Nikolai, Leeds photographer Simon Cliff, models Violet Magenta and Flamin Hell, the newly engaged davefish and keris , frozen_amaranth, Shadowkat, devolutionmag, nevroli and fuzzygoth. I also had a nice chat with Biff Byford from Saxon about his latest album and his move back to Yorkshire from France. One of the highlights of the weekend for me though, was seeing Uninvited Guest play at the Resolution on the Saturday, a tremendous band!

Today's images are from a night shoot I did last week with the lovely Neo Geisha. Shooting at night always adds new challenges and this time I wanted to keep some of the ambient light from the city in the background. I ended up giving Neo Geisha a quick burst of light from three flash guns arranged around her but let the shutter remain open for a little while to soak up the ambient light. It was a bit of a hit and miss affair but we managed to get a small set, four of which I'm posting today.

"Silhouette One" and "Rising Sun Two, Three and Four"

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:33:22 GMT

I'm posting my weekly images early today as I'm off to Whitby tomorrow morning for the Goth weekend. So looking forward to meeting some old friends and making some new ones and doing a couple of shoots while I'm there. As of my last post, today's images are all from September's "Silhouette" shoot with Amaeya, Neo Geisha and Arcane Kai. These also have a strong Japanese influence and the "Rising Sun" images have a massive nod in the Manga direction.

I actually shot with Neo Geisha again this last Monday and she was excellent as usual! We did some night shots in Birmingham city centre, with the city lights in the background and I'll hopefully share those with you next Friday.

I've only posted my favourite images from the "Silhouette" shoot, so anyone who wants to see the full set, can find them here -http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecharsley/sets/72157622466407784/

"Silhouette Three","Dragon", " Lifeforce" and "Enchantment"

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:24:41 GMT

Today's images from my "Silhouette" shoot, introduce two new members to my team; male model Arcane Kai and the beautiful Neo Geisha. Along with principle model Amaeya, we created a dark and gritty vision, where peoples grip on reality is not quite what it was. And where losing hold, actually means breaking down to nothing!
Although it wasn't planned before hand, the whole shoot developed a strong Manga / J-Horror theme, as we all realised we shared a love of all things Japanese. I think my "Silhouette" and "Lifeforce" images owe a lot to the movie "Kairo" or it's American version, "Pulse" in particular.

So less than a week to go now to this year's Whitby Goth Weekend! I've got another little mini night shoot next week before I go and then I've got atleast two shoots while I'm there but I'm hoping I'll have more when I get there!

Etoile in Moseley Park

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:17:01 GMT

I'm continuing my brief interlude today with some test shots I took of new model etoile_violet in a local private park. These images were really taken to see how etoile_violet worked in front of the camera and to see if she was a possible new recruit for my team. For someone who'd never modelled before, she was rather excellent and she'll be joining in on a full group shoot next month.

My plans for the upcoming Whitby Goth Weekend are coming together. As well as my pre-arranged "Sisters Todd" shoot with avatarsteve on the Sunday, we now have a very beautiful and well known model for the Friday too, so things are looking up!

"The Ruins"

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:26:54 GMT

To give me time to finish off the images from my rather epic "Silhouette" shoot, I'm going to take a brief two week interlude and share some work from two mini shoots I had over the Summer. The first today, features the beautiful Amaeya taken in the ruins of Dudley Priory one Sunday afternoon. I'd been asked by my friend bexbat to help her with some promotional photos for her belly dancing and I'd taken Amaeya along to help with the modelling side of things. Once we'd shot the main event, Amaeya and myself just took about fifty or so images around the ruins and we got about four we really liked. It was one of those shoots with very little planning but I was pleased how everything turned out.

So the countdown to this Winter's Whitby Goth Weekend has begun! It was three weeks yesterday, twenty days today! I'm looking forward to seeing those of you that are going this year. It sounds like the attendance will be down on the usual but I'm hoping to still have a great time!

Fleurs de la Mer (Part Two)

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:30:34 GMT

Here's the second set of images from my "Fleurs de la Mer" shoot in Wales with pinkbeene and Aimee L'amour. The idea of shooting an implied nude set on a beach somewhere was one I'd wanted to do for years and it was a great experience. I try to be very much in control with my lighting, so shooting without my multiple flashguns and using just natural daylight was a challenge but I think the images have turned out well.

If anyone wants to see the whole set of images from the day, you can find them here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecharsley/sets/72157622181973730/

The "Silhouette" shoot

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:32:24 GMT

This afternoon Amaeya and I, introduced another two models to the Declinegothica team with our "Silhouette" shoot. New models, Neo Geisha and Arcane Kai performed wonderfully, as did the new chromokey green studio we hired for the shoot. I'm hoping shooting chromokey will speed up my post editing but we'll have to see. Thanks as usual to Amaeya, who always helps me so much with my shoots.

Dave Charsley, Neo Geisha, Amaeya and Karl Deegan

Fleurs de la Mer

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:25:09 GMT

On the Saturday of the August Bank Holiday, Aimee L'amour and myself joined like what seemed a mad exodus of Togs and Models from England into Wales. We met up with the beautiful pinkbeene and my fellow Tog avatarsteve at Cardiff central and Steve drove us round the coast until we found a stretch of rocky beach that was suitable for our shoot. Of course the nude model playing with a brightly coloured length of fabric is more than clichéd but it was something I hadn't done before and was a new challenge without my usual strobist equipment. I had at the time planned to use my flashes but when I realised how perilous the terrain was, I didn't think it was worth the risk and I'd already killed one flash working with pinkbeene in the rain the previous Summer!

In other news, if anyone noticed that my website disappeared over the weekend, someone hacked the entire host! So it wasn't just my website that got a new "You've been hacked" index page!! This coming Sunday is my "Silhouette" shoot, which is the first in the new hired room, so that will be exciting. I'm not looking forward to lugging and setting up all my gear each shoot but I'll just have to get used to it!

Before I go, Happy Birthday to my beautiful friend thevioletraven who was twenty yesterday! Hope you have a great Birthday weekend Raven! X

Beauty Inferred

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:23:40 GMT

These "Beauty Inferred" images of chackra, thevioletraven and melaniemorticia were taken at the end of my "The Last Coven" shoot, after the fangs and blood got put away for the day. Poor peterallison got evicted to the living room and the girls took it in turns to see how they could cover themselves with the fake fur coats. The images were a challenge to create because I had moved into a fully white room for this shoot and so it was harder to create any shadows.

I had a great little mini shoot this week with lovely new model etoile_violet, which I may post in a week or two. But before then I'll start subjecting you to my adventure in Wales with my mate avatarsteve.

The Last Coven (Part Two)

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:34:39 GMT

Of all the themes I return to time and time again, Vampires have to be my favourite. August's "The Last Coven" shoot with thevioletraven, melaniemorticia, chackra and peterallison was another great chance to get the blood and fangs out and play children of the night. We gave the second part of the shoot a twist with three fake fur coats I had inherited and I tried to portray the girls in a wild feral way, as opposed to the military styling I gave them in the first set.

Following the great death of 2013, a plague swept the earth, and that plague was the Vampires. Thus the Pogroms came, until only The Last Coven remained. Now the Quadra of this new Dominion, The Last Coven remain hiding in public view, the tyrants of this new regime. Yet within their midst, One controls the Three, reducing them to feral beasts through denial of blood. - Peter Allison, August 2009.

The Last Coven

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:30:30 GMT

I wanted the final shoot in my old studio to be something special. So I invited four of my longest standing models to create a vision of a Vampire coven in a futuristic fascist state. All "babes, blood and guns". I've split the shoot into three parts and the first images today feature thevioletraven, melaniemorticia, chackra and peterallison in their medically controlled vampire states. Next week, I'll share what happens when the coven leader doesn't give them their regular blood dose!

Last Sunday I went to take a look at Rich Bitch Studios that's going to be my home for atleast the next couple of shoots. It's a great place, the sort of aladin's cave I would have killed for when I was younger and still making music! I've hired the green room which is a quite large square studio with a small stage. The whole place has some great facilities so I think the models will like it.

Following the great death of 2013, a plague swept the earth, and that plague was the Vampires. Thus the Pogroms came, until only The Last Coven remained. Now the Quadra of this new Dominion, The Last Coven remain hiding in public view, the tyrants of this new regime. Yet within their midst, One controls the Three, reducing them to feral beasts through denial of blood. - Peter Allison, August 2009.

"Fleurs de la Mer" shoot

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 06:07:00 GMT

Yesterday was my "Fleurs de la Mer" shoot in Wales with my mate avatarsteve and the lovely models pinkbeene and Aimee L'amour. I'd shot pinkbeene very briefly at last year's Margam charuty shoot but it was wonderful to finally get a chance of working with her for a couple of hours. A great model and a lovely lady! Thanks to Steve for finding us a great location, even if it nearly broke my back carrying the gear and cut the models feet to ribbons on the rocks! Talk about suffering for your art!!!

Me, Aimee L'amour, Charizma and Steve Avatar

The Cell

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:26:11 GMT

Today I've got another new model to introduce; The Oxidising Angel. Angel and myself met through her MySpace page, which is an increasingly popular way for me to find local models. As you can see in the images, she has incredibly piercing blue eyes which I've tried to accentuate in the images. I wanted to create something a little different and eye grabbing in the images and The Oxidising Angel wanted to bring some blood into the equation, so I shot her in a Vampire role and then in a padded cell! Well a virtual padded cell anyway!

Tomorrow I'm off to Wales to meet up with my mate avatarsteve for the day. We've got some exciting ideas to shoot on a beach somewhere and then on Bank Holiday Monday I'm meeting up with two very lovely Belly Dancing Vampires! Have a great long weekend and lets hope the weathers alright!

More "Faces of Eve"

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:08:25 GMT

Here's the second set of images from my "Faces of Eve" shoot with Amaeya and Sarah-in-Tortureland. This first one, "Echoes" is one of my personal favourites from the day and was taken right at the end of the afternoon when we were becoming a little rushed for time. We'd already shot several versions of this pose with more clothes on and they didn't quite work and it was Sarah's idea to give it another go before we called it a day, and I'm glad we did! Under the cut you'll find "Fr/actu/red" which shows Amaeya in a different light and has gone down very well on her MySpace account.

Next week, I've got a little interlude with a new model I shot some weeks back and then I'll start sharing images from my "Last Coven" Vampire shoot! It was the biggest shoot I've done since March and I've had twenty-six images to photoshop, which is quite a task but hopefully it will all be finished in the next two weeks.

"Faces of Eve"

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:26:23 GMT

Two years ago a young sixteen year old called Sarah contacted me to say she really liked my images. We corresponded for a few emails and then she let slip that she had done some modelling in the past, herself. I went and had a look at her portfolio and was totally, utterly gutted!! Here was an incredibly talented model! Sarah was beautiful but I had a rule of not working with under eighteens!!! So I had to wait for two years for Sarah-in-Tortureland to become eighteen and of course it all could have been a complete anti-climax but let me tell you it wasn't!!

Last month's "Faces of Eve" shoot was also going to be my first collaboration with my new MUA but sadly she got flu and cancelled on the morning of the shoot. So it all got off too a really bad start really but thanks to the sheer professionalism of Amaeya and Sarah-in-Tortureland, they just got on with it! Sarah applied their extra make up in absence of the MUA and I think they both looked fantastic! This was my second shoot with Amaeya and I can't sing her praises higher! Tremendous models and you'll be seeing a lot more of them in my future work.

"The Last Coven"

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:10:59 GMT

Today was always going to be an emotional experience, saying goodbye to the home and studio where I've created my images for the last six years. It was wonderful to share my very last shoot there with four such great friends as thevioletraven, peterallison, melaniemorticia and chackra. Thank you all for making "The Last Coven" a very special shoot and giving me the chance of sharing the day with you. Don't worry life will go on, I'll be doing more locations shoots soon and I'm on the look out for somewhere new to rent for a studio.

Today's "The Last Coven" was the story of a group of Vampires led by peterallison, who if not fed their regular dose of blood drug turn into feral animals. The day was split into the two distinct sides of modern day blood drinker and untamed cannibal Vampire! I've got to admit, the shots of the girls dressed in fake fur and doused in blood, looked pretty good in camera. Looking forward to getting them into photoshop very soon!

Lacrimosa, Alrune, Violet Raven, Chackra and Me

More "Dreadful Tales"

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:24:37 GMT

Today I'm posting the second part of my trip to London to work with Tepidboo and Lachesis Muta. This time I'm concentrating on some of the solo images we took around Abney Park cemetery. The ladies changed into more traditional Victorian outfits for this part and fantastic they looked too! I hope its not too long before our paths cross again as they were lovely models to work with.

On Sunday I'm surrounding myself with my friends for what will be the final shoot in my studio before I have to give it up. The day will be made even more poignant by the fact it will also be the last shoot of my friend peterallison, who's been part of my core team for a good while now. I'm still on the look out for a new location I can hire but as I don't really want to pay photography studio prices, I've so far had no luck!

"A Victorian Melodrama", Dreadful Tales One", "The Notorius Darkness" and "A Victorian Melodrama Two

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:31:02 GMT

My "Dreadful Tales" shoot at the start of July, was my attempt at creating a twisted Victorian melodrama. Lachesis Muta was my mysterious villain, looking fantastic in her mock male attire and Tepidboo played the role of innocent heroine, perfectly presented in a beautiful nightdress. Our location was Abney park cemetery in north London, a place I last visited with the nocturnal_uk folks back in 2007. The monument and ruined chapel at the cemetery's center, makes a great backdrop for this sort of shoot. There was a few people around but they didn't seem that interested in what we were up to, which was good.

I lit most of this shoot with two handheld SB600 speedlights that Tepidboo and Lachesis Muta's partners were good enough to hold for me through the whole afternoon. I was feeling hungover that day and the thought of carrying the extra load of lighting stands all the way to London, was just too much for me!!

Tomorrow I have another little test shoot with a new model. I have a really good feeling about the way my new "core" group of models is developing. Yes, I'll miss the established models that have helped me so much but there something exciting about this new blood.

"Faces of Eve" Shoot

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:16:53 GMT

Today just proved, that the more people you involve in a project, the more chance of it falling apart! I've been waiting for two years for Sarah-in-Tortureland to turn eighteen and work with me, and I really wanted our first shoot together to be something really special! I had a MUA arranged and an exciting idea to create but I awoke this morning to find the MUA
had cancelled with flu and my shoot was in tatters!! Thanks so much to Amaeya and Sarah-in-Tortureland , who were total professionals and threw make-up and outfits in a bag at the last minute and came and rescued the shoot! Our original idea got a little diluted without an MUA but Sarah did a great job filling in and creating some very pretty designs for Amaeya and herself. Thank you so much ladies, I had a lovely day!

Sarah-in-Tortureland, me and Amaeya

"Caged"

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:32:06 GMT

I was lucky to have a visit from bass_prin_prin the other week, who was in Birmingham staying with her boyfriend. Although we didn't have much time, we played around with some different lighting set ups and tried to get something good from the morning. These images of bass_prin_prin looking through a cage of chicken wire seemed to come out the best of the session. I've dodged and burnt these more than I usually would but I think the subject matter suits the harsh contrasts.

This coming Sunday is my "Faces of Eve" shoot, which is my first project with new MUA; Hannah Pullen. I've noticed that my portfolio has very little "head and shoulder" style images and so this shoot should rectify that and give us both some strong close up shots. I've chosen three very beautiful models, so Hannah can concentrate on her designs rather than just making the girls look good! I'm rather excited about it all really! The "Faces of Eve" shoot will be the first part of my mega Summer shooting spree while my Wife is back home in New Zealand for six weeks. So you can expect lots and lots of new images in the upcoming two months!

And before I go, Happy Birthday to hildekitten, have a great day Hilde! X

"Angels and Demons", "Angel" and "Heaven and Hell"

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:25:19 GMT

I've worked with my lovely muse satanicangel666 for five years now, so it was a shock but not totally unexpected when she told me she was quitting modelling. I think she achieved her own goals very early on but we carried on working together because of the working relationship we developed. She'll be a hard act to follow. Hopefully she'll be able to attend my last group shoot to say goodbye to my studio next month but here are some images we took before we went out clubbing the other week. Ironically, these are some of the last pictures taken with my D200 camera as well. The theme, was a little tongue in cheek play on the two sides of satanicangel666's personality.

And so I'll be handing out application forms very soon to be the next Declinegothica muse! Lol!

"Newborn" one to three

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:20:11 GMT

Sometimes you have a shoot where everything just falls into place and my "Newborn" shoot with Aimee L'amour was one of those days. These images were lit with my new Interfit beauty dish, so while it was a little trial and error playing with the light, the images turned out just how I envisioned them in the end. I'd tried to create a very "high key" portrait with another model last year but my gear and technical skill wasn't quite up to the task. Getting my new camera and Strobie's kit, prompted me to give it another go, this time with the lovely Aimee L'amour.

For those interested in the strobist information, I used the beauty dish very close at about three foot and slightly to the right of Aimee and a second higher up strobe diffused with a soft box, further back and to the left to soften the shadows a little. I took the shots against a white background and pushed the highlights as far as I could without blowing. The skin whitening and dodging of Aimee's wig was done later in photoshop, as I wanted to get as good an exposure as possible in camera.

"Dreadful Tales" at Abney Park

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:41:22 GMT

I've been very lucky with models recently (those that have turned up that is!) and today's London shoot with Tepidboo and Lachesis Muta was no exception. The Abney park location was an excellent backdrop and the girls modelled superbly! Extra thanks must go to the boyfriends; James and Pete who acted as my lighting tripods through the afternoon.

Tepidboo, me and Lachesis Muta