References for Caledonian

Natasha ПΣӨП

I had a lovely 2hr shoot with Gary at an air bnb in Kilmarnock. Pre comms we’re great, he was friendly, chatty and respectful. We got some lovely shots and I’d love to work with him again!

Highly recommended.

Thanks 😊

Rachelle Summers

Had another lovely shoot with Gary on my recent trip to Scotland!

This time we got out on location (thank god as it’s the nicest weather I’ve had on a tour up north and would have been a shame to waste it haha)

Despite shocking the locals and broken shoes we managed to get some fab images :)

Was lovely catching up and look forward to next time! Highly recommended!

Keira Lavelle

Finally managed to tour Scotland after the chaos of the previous year, and finally got to catch up with Gary in his neck of the woods! 😃 We’d has some fantastic shoots in the meantime (when he came down to Yorkshire) but it’s always nice to get Northern adventures in the diary in the great outdoors of Bonnie Scotland! Gary’s knowledge for locations never ceases to amaze me either! There were a few different sites on the agenda for the day... Gary planned it extremely well to enable us to get to each; some were a straightforward doddle, others certainly tested our outdoor inner explorers haha! But the main thing was that the whole day was a ball as per usual, and we made awesome creative use of the environment at our final destination locations, and on the way too!

Gary kindly picked me up at the hotel where I’d been staying (and dropped me off there again after too!) I was touring up the East Coast and beyond so I’m always grateful of great comms and organisation - as Gary routinely offers when we work together. Even though my planning can sometimes be all over the shop when it’s last minute and I have several things I’m coordinating at once. Outfits were all pre-discussed and ready so we knew exactly what we were aiming to go for at each stop; and Gary always knows what he’s looking for in the shots too so he’s a total breeze to work with in all fronts. 😊 Once we were out in the field and the creativity took hold of course: we were off on one! Hurdling the ideas back and forth, eyes peeled for the next quirky tree/landscape! It really is an enjoyable team-orientated process working with Gary. Plus we always get some mega shots! ☺️

Professional as always, chilled out and completely easy going... Gary is a really cool guy to work with. I’ve lost count of how many shoots we’ve actually had now come to think of it! But I know my thoughts (and references) are basically the same after each one. 😃 He always wants the model to be happy and enthused; it’s a bonus that we always enjoy lots of nice chatter from start to the end of the shoots too. The vibe is a good one - that’s for sure!

Absolutely recommended - and more still to come! Watch this space! 😄

Keira

Eowyn Luna

Another lovely shoot with Gary, this time I came over to Scotland!

He was wonderfully prepared with some fabulous locations ideas, which we made good use of.

Gary is a lovely person to work with and spend time with and he is always respectful and understanding. I very much enjoyed working together again.

Looking forward to the next time we shoot :)

Artemis Fauna

I shot with Gary on a remote shoot just yesterday for a couple of hours.

Within a few emails we had a plan on where we were going to shoot and what outfits Gary wanted to use- I like a good clear plan!

As has been said all along, remote shoots are not a replacement for 'in person shoots' but, as has been proved now over and over- they are a fabulous and creative alternative while we are unable to shoot face to face.

I am very happy with the results and it was nice to catch up with Gary- we last shot in August on my Scotland tour.

I really hope we can shoot again this year- remote again or/ and in person!

Thank you so much :)

Ploy Tigerstam

Had a remote shoot with Gary last month. From start to end he were very organized, friendly and professional. And the results really good. Shooting again this month. Big thanks

Strongly recommend

Elle Baldwinson

Shot for the third time on Wednesday with Gary. As always the shoot was a delight! Gary is always very creative with ideas which makes for a fun shoot! I look forward to shooting again with Gary.

ชีวิตของนักศิลป์ (LifeofArt)

Had second remote shoot with Gary few days ago.

Gary was just a pleasant person to work with, easy going, gentle man and very understanding person.

Pre-comms always excellent, he know what he wants and try different things. He is very generous person, down to earth man.

Highly recommended to anyone who would like to do remote shoot, you won't be disappointed. Thanks Gary. T

Makayla_Models

Working with Caledonian was one of the highlights of my remote shooting experience.

We took the concept of Jessica Rabbit from "Who framed Roger Rabbit" and had the best time putting a modern spin on some of the frames.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Caledonian remotely, with him in Scotland and myself in Miami USA.

I would work with him again in a heart beat if given the opportunity!

Elle Baldwinson

Shot yesterday for the second time with Gary! It was yet again another lovely shoot!

Gary is a very friendly and chatty person which makes the shoot very enjoyable!

He has so many great ideas for shoots which keeps them interesting and exciting! He is always planning the next wonderful idea! This also helps to a theme and keeps the shoot organised and easier to plan.

Elle Baldwinson

Shot with Gary for the first time yesterday, we worked together virtually and it went really well!

Gary was great to work with, his communications beforehand were quick and clear, making preparations for the shoot so much easier.

Gary was very friendly and was very patient with me shooting remotely, I appreciated his enthusiasm for the shoot and we already have plans for future shoots. I would definitely recommend working with him!

ชีวิตของนักศิลป์ (LifeofArt)

My second remote shoot but first time with Gary. Gary contacted me through my casting and I'm so glad he did. He is such an amazing person who very easy to work with.

Pre-comms and moodboard were great and make our remote went smoothly and flied by. We did few fashion set, Gary is good at direction how he would like in images. I feel every comfortable once we start shooting, got images that we like.

Thank you and hope we work again. Highly recommended. Until next time.

Keira Lavelle

I have always had a killer time shooting with Gary: and up to now, I’d say it’s fair to say that I’ve completely lost count of the number of independent/single day shoots we’ve done! So it was a highly exciting prospect of putting a plan together for this year to go abroad and shoot together on one of my photographic holiday trips. Unfortunately: the whole pandemic had other plans. 😢 BUT! What we did manage to salvage as an alternative was an utterly wonderful week-long shoot in and around Yorkshire instead! 🤩 I was flabbergasted and entirely buzzing at the same time when Gary proposed the suggestion... It was genius! Pure genius! And at this point in time I cannot stress just how grateful and happy I am that we managed to squeeze it in when we did. As I write this, restrictions in both England and Scotland have been changing virtually by the day - which was always the biggest preventative measure we were faced with that could’ve scuppered our plans again. But no! Team Keira-Caledonian did the pretty Pennines very proud I think in all of the gorgeous ground we managed to cover. :D What a week it was!

Despite everything being quite last minute for essentially quite a big event: Gary was just superb with communications and thoroughness in getting a plan together. He did extensive research on spots of interest for us to go and welcomed me to bounce my ideas too for local locations on my radar. So the creative juices were indeed flowing before we got started. :) Gary came up with a cleverly thought-out itinerary for us to get the best out of each day and our travel routes, outfits were discussed and backup plans in case of bad weather. In a matter of weeks we had a full-scale week-long road trip all mapped out! Gary was also very conscious and understanding of the precautions and weariness of the pandemic - we were able to essentially “bubble” during our time shooting which made things easier; but still took all the safety guidelines very seriously including social distancing where possible/masks and sanitiser. Absolute kudos to Gary’s professionalism and appreciation of this new way of working: which didn’t actually bust our usual awesome rapport at all. :) We really made the very best of it in the safest manner possible and it’s one event from 2020 that at least I can look back at with joy after a very testing year for us all.

Shooting-wise: well I dread to think what Gary’s poor hard drive thought when he got home after his Yorkshire shooting holiday. :P We did a lot - and even that seems like a major understatement! Waterfalls, limestone pavements, old farmhouses, urbex, viaducts, river pools, sculptures, landscapes and more! Completely going to town on the local countryside for the best part of the week and then finishing up with a home/indoor shoot on the final day which still had the flow going strong. :D Each day gave us something a little different and Gary rose to every challenge that is in the book of “shooting mad models on location.” 😂 Jokes aside, he really does have such a cool approach to any obstacle (the weather/spectators) and when it comes to the crunch of grabbing those epic photos: he wastes no time! His eye instantly sees opportunities in the dozens at a single site, and he’s not afraid to get stuck in with leaning into some weird angle himself to get the ultimate photo/enhance the “wow factor” of the picture. The light quality and intensity was very variable all week long: mostly fine with some really lush days (we got our tropical looking photos after all! Shhhh, we won’t tell it was Yorkshire if you don’t! ;) ) But it also did what this part of the world does very well and grey over at times or throw the occasional pesky cloud into the mix. We dodged most of the worst weather and Gary even took that in his stride: we just hung fire for a few moments while it passed and sure enough, it did! So Gary is the ultimate designer of a perfect shooting system... But really does deserve credit for the truly awesome photographer that he is too! :D He has a lot of passion for his photography, and each time we shoot; it’s just a blast to pick up that brilliant teamwork-orientated working relationship and rock whatever situation is before us. I think having a few more days to shoot/a more extended timeframe really did open the windows to be innovative in so many ways and allow the suggestions and brainwaves to just keep on bouncing with outfit and location combos. That said: even a full week flew by like I couldn’t believe!

So much fun was had during the week. :) Gary and I always manage to do so anyway, but with the eventful year that it had been and the fact that we’d missed out on our own number of shoots this year which had to be rescheduled or whatever... It was just nice being able to chat non-stop, put the world to rights and enjoy a cracking adventure with another fellow creative. Something that has been much more limited this year than ever before in my modelling career and it’s weird! So thank you Gary; for putting up with me for the week, for the chinwags/laughs as we worked and the lovely company throughout the course of our latest shoot! I hope it won’t be too long before our next chance to shoot together - fingers crossed for our rescheduled trip next year! I also need to get myself up to Scotland again!

So - I couldn’t help but but a long rambling one. But if you’ve skipped past the majority of my (well deserved waffling credit to be fair) then I can confirm that I recommend Gary very highly indeed! :D

Thanks a bundle for a fabulous week!

Keira

Artemis Fauna

Another super day out with Gary shooting in some fantastic locations he had scouted!!

We were blessed with incredible weather while we shot- it was AMAZING to be modelling in the warmth of the Scottish sunshine once again!

Thank you Gary- always an enjoyable shoot with lots of catching up. Hope to see you again next year :)

Eowyn Luna

Had the pleasure of shooting with Gary for the first time as he visited the Lake District.

He was super easy to be around and to talk to and I felt comfortable the whole time. He had some brill ideas for us to shoot, and he came with a clear plan for where we were shooting which made everything run smoothly.

Gary was absolutely lovely and was a joy to be around and work with. We created some brilliant images together :)

I look forward to working together again at some point in the future.

Thank you again!

hannah wallace

Hi, I had a lovely day shoot with Gary today, he picked to shoot around st Andrews which was a beautiful choice, great pick from Gary.. he knows his places.

He is very skilled and had plenty ideas in each street we went too, super chatty which was great and so comfortable to work with which makes it so easy for me. I had a great day out, and hope we can get another too... highly recommend

Natasha J Bella

Gary and I have done two remote shoots. Gary has a great approach, having a clear idea of what he wants to shoot then we work through it. It's always great for me working on something I've not done before so that's been cool with our shoots. He's also a lovely person to talk to, lots of chatting through out the shoot, along with lots of interesting styles and images. All perfect and highly recommended :)

Thanks a lot Gary :)

Keira Lavelle

My latest shoot with Gary was remote! :D

Given latest lockdowns etc. we looked to adapt and shoot this way instead, which have us something different to the usual hiking up picturesque hills/rivers haha! We were able to shoot at an office location I have access to: and subsequently come up with cool themes to suit the environment.

Communications were pristine as usual: in a few short messages we nailed the date/time no fuss and we could then concentrate on chatting about ideas and looking forward to the shoot. :) You know what you’re getting with Gary - he’s just a breeze to deal with and really was a gem in my early stages of kicking off with remote shooting!

The time raced by: it was different in that I was doing the running around - but we were still able to bounce with that usual amazing rapport and get the looks rolling that we shoot so well. Outfits etc. we chatted about beforehand, and then we really pushed the boat out being innovative with the lighting too. I had my lights at the ready because of the early nights of winter - as it happened we got some strong natural sunlight at the beginning! Then we’re able to light the sets appropriately later on. Best of both worlds, and Gary nailed all the settings and what-not as we progressed through the shoot!

It was really lovely catching up! I think during lockdowns it’s just really exciting being able to see friendly/familiar humans too which is what has made remotely shooting quite a godsend whilst we’re all locked up. Gary and I still did our fair share of chinwagging as we do all the time haha! :D

Lovely guy with top professionalism and a huge degree of enthusiasm for shooting. Can’t wait to be able to shoot again - be that in-person or remotely.

Thanks Gary!

Keira

Rachelle Summers

I had another wonderful shoot with Gary yesterday evening during my current tour of Scotland!

It's always lovely catching up with Gary, he's great company and the shoots always fly by which is always a good sign that you have enjoyed a shoot!

It had been a while since we shot so we had a good old natter and from what I saw on the back of the camera we got some really beautiful images too making good use of the apartment I had hired for my tour :D

Highly recommended and hope to see him again soon!

Keira Lavelle

Another inventive remote shoot with Gary! This time back in a studio environment where we planned to mix up the usage of cable drums... Yes, that's right! Cable drums and gel lights! Something a bit different - but great fun. 😊 And I think that's what makes our shoots something to look forward to because each one (be it remote or in-person, outdoors or indoors!)

I had recently got my hands on a new wide angle lens as well which really changed the way I could shoot in my spaces and the angles I could get. This suited Gary's style because I went from sometimes struggling to get full-length shots with the prime lenses that I had for remote working, to being able to do all kinds of mad poses (even working a bit of crazy distortion into the looks) but still getting nice quality pictures. 🙂 Gary threw in all manner of outfit and accessory suggestions as well (he always does and usually gives the model a good starting brief which allows for ideas and creative bounce to develop from there). Even just changing something minor like a light or adding something to play with (garment or something) changed the vibe completely! It's always cool to get Gary's input - he is very actively involved in coming up with things (be it pose ideas or as part of the styled look). A very enthusiastically driven photographer always!

Gary's communications have literally always been perfect prior to the shoots we've had. He gets back to you quick - covering all important details. No fuss/no confusion... He's just a joy to deal with. 😀 Routinely professional offering superb courtesy and respect to models... Etiquette is very important on shoots - and after [INSERT CRAZILY BIG NUMBER] of shoots I've now had with Gary, I think it's safe to say that I can totally vouch for him being a nice person to work with/feel comfortable with. He's uber chatty as well - we probably don't shut up every time we work together haha, just how the working click had developed.

Always recommended! Thank you for another cracking little shoot Gary, until next time and the new ideas that will come then!

Keira