Saturday 23 September 2017

Rooftop Photoshoot

(DISCLAIMER: As an overall nice human being, I do not force entry, vandalize, steal, or disclose means of entry or location if it isn't obvious. I do this to protect locations and respect them. Trespass without forced entry is a civil offense rather than a criminal one, which isn't worth acting on unless one causes damage, steals, has ill intent, etc. I simply photograph and leave everything as I find it. I do not condone breaking and entering, and I do not condone what I do. I'm a danger to myself and a terrible role model )

It's time to do something completely different. It's long overdue, in the sense that these photos have been sat on my computer for an unspeakable amount of time, thereby defeating the point in a rooftop photoshoot. It's down to habit, of course. When I started the blog, my original rooftopping group said something like "Thats fine, but don't mention our names or show our faces," and that became the way of the blog. But today I prove that I can be a *gasp* photographer, and not just a weirdo with a camera and a compulsion for going on crazy adventures with wild abandon. And who knows, maybe this will become a regular thing, and a new direction to go in.

I first met todays model, Isla, in the queue at McDonalds. Later on, when neither of us had died of food poisoning, I messaged her to ask if she'd be interested in doing a photoshoot on a roof, due to her somewhat unique (for Shropshire) appearance.
Okay, so she's not totally unique. I did see a girl at the pub once who had a shaved head. I called out "Isla!" believing it to be my new buddy, and the girl, who turned out to be a complete stranger, just frowned and said "You're the third person tonight who has called me that."
I am so sorry. Were I capable of meeting this woman without pissing them off through mistaken identity, they'd be a rooftop model too. 

Obviously, simply being on a roof isn't illegal. (Otherwise they would have caught Santa Claus long ago. I mean, they know when to expect him. Just don't be naughty and he's all yours.) However, it can be dangerous, and so I take full responsibility for the safety of todays model. In spite of how it may look, she was never hanging over any massive drop. Most of these sloped rooftops just lead to flatter rooftops. In all honesty, the only way to fall to ground level from these locations is to actively try. And we're not about to do that. Enjoy the shots that Isla and I made together. Click a picture to see it big.















This was a pretty fun photoshoot. It's a step in a new direction because it means I can do photoshoots with models, while keeping it in topic with the forbidden tourism theme of the blog so far. Here we are on the rooftops enjoying the world that we live in, and it's great.
I'd love to do more work like this, but purists don't need to worry, I'll still be blogging about my adventures. I still have that massive backlog.

As mentioned in my blog about the Abbey Forgate Brothel, I do attend events in Whitby, and it's given me a love for photographing people in Steampunk, Cyberpunk and Dieselpunk attire. I have the props, and in the future I'd love to integrate that with abandoned places.
But the future is unwritten, although I can promise my next blog post will an abandoned house in Shropshire and I'm really excited to get it out.
On a slightly sadder note, I recently discovered that a Shrewsbury pub that I blogged about, the Castle Inn is set to be demolished and replaced with houses. On one hand, it's falling apart anyway and its an eyesore on the neighbourhood, but on the other hand its one of my most popular blog post, with a lot of fond feedback, so it clearly has a lot of fond memories attached to it. I never drank there when it was open but even when derelict it had a good vibe. It feels like the end of an era to see it go. 

In the meantime, thats it for this blog post. As always if you like my blog, share it on your social media of choice. Don't forget to follow my Instagram, Twitter and like my Facebook. If you can spare the pennies for the blog fund please hit the donate button up at the top, but don't feel that you have to because happiness is far more important than money, and I'd much rather you just have a good day and make sure someone else has a good day too.

Thanks for reading. Stay awesome!

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