Wellbeloved Baby Announcement

September 20, 2016

Hey I'm getting pretty good at these blog posts ... let's keep it going. I still have a ton of draft posts that I'm working on that I will be getting out to you guys soon. But for today's post, it's an announcement post.

I was asked last week to photograph Shay & Ant's announcement of their baby, the weather was kind enough to play nice with us and share a beautiful sunset to accompany the news.

All the very best to Shay & Ant, cant wait to meet the new family member.

Mike.

Engagement Shoot

September 5, 2016

So who would have thought I would manage to have a second blog post ready in just over a week after the last one?

Well todays post is relating to an Engagement Photoshoot I did a few weeks ago, Nick & Steph recently got engaged and wanted to celebrate.

This was the first time doing this kind of shoot, and Nick and Steph were fantastic to work with and the end results speak for themselves.

I am really happy with how these images turned out, and Nick and Steph were also very happy with the final images. I hope that you enjoy them as well.

Mike.

time for an Update.

August 24, 2016

Greetings everyone, it's been a long time since I last updated the blog or every the site for that matter. My last post was at the beginning of the year, before we flew out to Southern Africa for a month long adventure. It's been a tough time, in terms of my photography, I have had a major drop in desire to get out and shoot and there just hasn't been all that much time to get out anyway, but the bug has bitten again and the itch has been getting stronger.

Elephants at the Watering Hole in Botswana.

I've done a few photo shoots and jobs throughout the year, but my personal work has been left to sit on my computer waiting to be looked at. I came home with about 3000 photos & video from Africa that stills needs culling and editing, I have compiled my Vlogs from the trip and they can be seen below. The YouTube playlist video will play through all the video's from the holiday. I have also change the website around so now there is more content on here rather than just the vlog, there will be some more changes and updates as the weeks go on. But for now its on the right track.

My desire to shoot more film is still as high as ever, and the desire to learn to develop my own film is one of my New Years resolutions ... Luckily that will be one resolution I can tick off of the list, I have started a darkroom course that will go through developing my black and white negatives, to printing my images. So far I have developed 2 of my own rolls, and will be starting to play around with prints next.

Along with the darkroom course, I also have a number of ideas that I've been thinking about incorporating into my photo and video work. As well as some major changes to my site, including the option to buy prints of some of my photos. I'll be putting up some possible images to see what people may or may not like and will take it from there.

And finally I will be pushing my photo business more from here on in, I've got a few jobs locked in over the next few weeks. With some possibly larger jobs on the horizon, I'll talk about those more as time goes on. Hopefully I'll be a little better with maintaining this blog/vlog, I'm still playing around with some different ideas on how to keep the blogs/vlogs interesting so lets see how we go.

Mike.

Returning to Africa - Planning for a Photographic Adventure.

January 5, 2016

Hey guys, how are you all going?

Well not long to go now before we jump onto that plane and travel 5000 miles to west to Africa. This is a trip that's been nearly 6 months in the making, so I am very excited to be going back, not only to see the family and friends who are still there, but we are going to be doing things that will make this a once in a lifetime trip around Southern Africa. We will be exploring; South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

On previous holidays away, I have done a video blog of the trip recording my experience's, scenes, & thoughts as I go. These have usually been recorded and edited on my iPhone with some photos that I've copied across from another camera. I want to try and 'up' the production value of how I document this trip, as such I will compiling media captured on the iPhone, GoPro, Sony A7 & the DJI Phantom.

I've been thinking and planning the 'documentation' side of the trip more than just about any trip. The more I've travelled to more I've tried to limit just how much stuff I take with me on a trip. This trip initially set out along the same lengths, but as the months went on I've been adding things to the 'gear I want to take to Africa ... list'

Happy New Year

January 1, 2016

Happy New Years everyone, 2015 has come and gone in the blink of the eye and 2016 has begun.

I've got a quick video after I'm done talking, showcasing some photos and videos I took throughout 2015, I've got to apologise for the few months that will have no photos in... It was a slow year for photos.

I'm sure, like many of you, the thought of New Year's resolutions tends to be at the forefront of our minds. I've got the pretty generic ones that most of us have, get fit, eat healthy and others like that but I've also got some 'photography' related ones that I'm going to talk more about.

You guys may or may not have noticed that I've been playing with videos more lately, I'd like to put out a weekly vlog/what every kind of video. Got a few ideas on some what kinds of videos I could put out. I want to get out and shoot a lot more photo and video this year, last year was pretty tame compared to the year before so I must make the conscious effort to get out and shoot more.

Leading on from that I'd like shoot a roll of film a week be it 35mm or 120 film on some of my different cameras and film stocks in a 'weekly analogue shoot'. I'm still undecided if I'll leave the film to be developed at the end of the year or develop them as they are shot, who knows ill see how I go.

And again leading on from the weekly film shooting, I want to learn to develop film as well, maybe even make one of the weekly videos my first attempt at developing a roll of film. I'd like to develop my phantom drive video, trying to up the quality of what I am shooting on the phantom

I guess I should talk about my trip off to Southern Africa in the next 6 days, I will be doing a daily vlog video's of what we are up to from day to day. Only problem is that there probably won't be internet access to upload said daily vlogs, so chances are the videos will be compiled into either 1 long video or several video's. It's really Internet dependant. Before we leave I'll be throwing a video together of some of the gear I'll be taking with me on the trip so keep an eye out for that.

the Ballerina

November 26, 2015

So it's once again been a very long time since my last blog post ... sorry about that, its been a crazy month that doesn't look like it will be slowing down until next year. There is plenty to do and next to no time to get it done. I'll keep the text to a minimum today as there is plenty of content to view, todays post is made up of video and photos from a workshop I did a few weeks ago.

Uploaded by Mike Raats on 2015-11-25.

Ive wanted to do a 'Ballerina' themed shoot for some time, so I jumped on the workshop as soon as it came about. We were lucky enough to shoot an up and coming Ballerina who has already worked internationally and continues to succeed in her work. The video makes up part of a concept that I've been playing with for some time now and am pretty happy with the end results and will be playing with it more as time goes on.

So I think thats enough for now, I will post again soon. Along with all the work needing to be done there have been some new and exciting things happening, so I'll post about those soon.

Thanks for being so patient with me, I'll be back soon!

Mike.

Happy Back to the Future Day

October 21, 2015

Well today’s the day, the day that the ‘Future’ becomes and the 'Present', and soon to be the 'Past'.

Back to the Future has been a part of my life, literally, since I was born. After I was born, and still in the hospital, my dad went to watch the first movie in the cinemas. Since then I have grown up watching the movies, I remember the moment my dad came home with the 3rd movie on video tape for us to watch.

After the movies, it was my life’s dream to go to Universal Studios in Florida to ride on the BTTF ride. Unfortunately, when I finally got the chance to visit the ride had been replaced with the Simpsons experience and all that was left to remind us of what once was, was a chicken restaurant. Also while in Florida we did the Back Lot tour and went past the original vehicles that had been left to sit in the elements, so needless to say they were not looking very good. Luckily the car has been saved, and restored back to its original glory, hopefully I can go and see it sometime. Also while in LA we went to the Gamble House by Greene & Greene, which was used as Doc Browns Mansion in the movies.

I thought my hopes of getting to experience the BTTF ride, until I learnt that it was still in operation in UniversalStudios in Osaka, Japan. So when I went to Japan last year I made sure to include a stopover in Osaka to finally get to experience the ride I’d dreamed of for so long. It was a little dated by today’s standards, but I still loved every moment of it!

So to end off this quick blog post, in the immortal words of Doctor Emmett Brown:

“Your future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one.”

Black & White Architecture

July 3, 2015

Greetings everyone.

Well I really haven't been good at keeping these posts going, it's been pretty crazy since my last post. Also I haven't really been out taking that many photos lately, hopefully that'll change soon. If not I do have a ton of images that are in my back catalogue that I haven't even looked at yet. I'll do a proper, 'Self Update' soon so I'll leave all those juicy details for later. Rather lets look at some photos I have taken recently.

Architecture has been a subject that I've loved with for a very long time, it's a major reason why I work in the field as well. When I started my photography I was shooting architecture in more abstract ways, tending to focus on some of the architectural details rather than the building/structure as a whole. It was a great way to get into photography in general as I learnt a lot about composition and lighting, also buildings don't change ... well normally they really shouldn't. Photographing buildings is very different, compared to say model or fashion photography. Directing people is something I am still learning to feel comfortable doing, so being free to photograph a building at my leisure is what inspired me to try different types of shooting and helped me boost my confidence in my photographic ability

I haven't really don't much architectural photography for a long time, and it was an opportunity through work that got the architectural photographic inspired juices flowing again. Since then I've started to shoot more and have also invested in a nice 17-40mm wide angle lens. I've had a blast getting to play with the super wide focal range. It really isn't a range that I've ever shot at before. With these images, I have always loved Black and White photography as well so mixing the high contrast of B&W with the architectural lines creates an interesting look.

Anyway I hope you’ve enjoyed these, let me know in the comments below what you think. Otherwise I will be back with some more posts soon.

Mike.