References for Grumpy

denisastrakovaofficial

Grumpy is a serious photographer with creative mind. It was lovely to cooperate with him! I am happy to recommend him to other models for photoshoots :) I wish you all the best and I hope that I will meet you once again in the future. DS | www.denisastrakova.com

IrishRavan

Well what an adventure I had working with Grumpy, we had some miscommunications before we finally shooted but was worth it in the end!

We went to a location that I knew. We did the best we could with the natural light and background, the images turned out great :)

I would recommend working with Grumpy and of course you get to meet his dog :)

Until next time!

The Bard

Just had a wonderful medieval themed shoot with Grumpy. He is absolutely wonderful to work with, a brilliant personality and passionate photographer! Really looking forward to work with him again! Highly recommended!!

Prettydarksiren

Grumpy aka Rudy asked me to do a fantasy photo shoot wearing a long black dress in Bective Abbey . The shoot also involved pretending to play a violin which I enjoyed as I had never done this before and also I’m not a violin player . Grumpy arrived on time and was very professional . He’s a very friendly photographer who knew the shots he was looking for and gave great direction throughout the shoot. I’m happy to recommend Grumpy to other models as I was very comfortable shooting with him and look forward to another shoot some day soon :-)

Keira Lavelle

Since my first shoot with Grumpy (so he calls himself, I'm yet to see any evidence yet!) I have enjoyed two further shoots which have not only been completely different in the terrific material produced... But also fun and independent adventures of their own exploring different environments and styles. I feel like in the shoots I have had with Grumpy: we have really thrown ourselves out there with bouncing ideas around and making the very best from each situation: whether indoors working with whatever available light we could to create a specific effect, or out and about in conditions that would otherwise warrant calling the whole thing off! I feel he does understand the shoot dynamics so well which then lead a team to getting the best they can out of a session. We natter on and on (both in pre-shoot communications and on the shoots in-person!) but ultimately, the result is always a fabulous degree of productivity. And I mean that to the bottom of my heart. :)

Grumpy is very helpful by nature and offers to assist in so many ways wherever he can. It could be as simple as collecting me and then dropping me off again at my accommodation/next shoot which saves me struggling with bags. One time he even drove me from Belfast to Dublin as per my tour travel requirements for that day! Furthermore; he also, during the second time we worked together, arranged to put me up for part of my tour which made life so much easier since we were also shooting partly at the house and it meant there was no mad rush for me to get to booked accommodation elsewhere afterwards. His heart really is positioned in the right place... The endless generosity he has shown to me (without prompting) has really confirmed this. He is also terrific company and someone you could chat to all day about everything and everything - shoot related and completely off-topic! :D He has his hands full when we work together because I genuinely do not shut up. ever! Gold medals needed just for that! But yes; it makes the shooting experience that bit more enjoyable and fun when you can connect on a social level for when you're travelling the reasonable drives out to locations, or just generally building a rapport. As a model, it's in my interest to know and understand the person I'm working with on a creative level and you can do this by really opening up about chatting about inspiration, what makes a person enthused in creativity and so forth. As long as there is always more than one member on-board for a project, good rapports and working relationships become very important. Grumpy is someone that I can definitely say I have experienced prolific rapports with on multiple occasions now. He's a terrific guy to work with. :)

Grumpy strives with utmost professionalism in his shoots. He respects the models and the contribution they have to the shoot... In the various sessions we have had working together now, there have been several occasions where the weather/conditions or environment was testing. Be it rain coming sideways (it was almost being blown back upwards that day!), exposed to wind on a big open space, a cold empty house... Grumpy always presented a great amount of empathy and understanding to work quickly and ensure warm-up breaks. We had chatted a lot about working in the elements by email and he showed good understanding of importance of adapting to bad weather and other challenging conditions should they occur. He comes prepared and organised as such. :)

From an actual photography perspective; Grumpy does really have a fantastic eye, and visual brain! Many of the conceptual ideas we worked on were something that he had come up with from raw. He takes a possible shoot environment, or a garment or prop and builds an image up from that. He is genius in that sense. One occasion we were working with limited available light at his place, using what we could to reflect areas of sun back at me - Grumpy dealing with the challenges from a photographers point of view and multi-tasking essentially to get the shot. NAILED! :D Despite the fact that he is really good at creating and pursuing an idea of his own making with the model and communicating the brief forward relative to what he wants to achieve... He is also very happy to have the models give input to the shoot and allow the process to become a productive combination of everyone's contribution.

Would I work with Grumpy again - most certainly! Who knows where the next adventure takes us. :)

Keira

Kitty Quinzell

This was my second adventure with Rudy, This time he drove me and Katarina Marie from Dublin to Belfast and we shot in a beautiful Abbey on the way.

Once again he was a total gentleman, always mindful of our comfort and told us fascinating stories and facts about the places we passed. I really don’t think there is anything this man doesn’t know!

What can I say? He’s a gem of a person with a wonderful sense of humour and so many things to say!

Until the next time!

KatyB (Katex)

Grumpy (happy) was my first shoot when I got into Dublin on my Ireland tour. There was a bit of confusion to begin with but as soon as we met eachother we were laughing within the first 2 minutes! He has a great sense of humour and a brilliant personality.

He took us to the studio we were using to shoot, and he had ideas already that he let me know in our pre-communications, which helps me bring the right things for the shoot which results in better images for him to go home and be pleased with.

He set up the lights efficiently and bought props for the shoot idea he had in mind. We began with a creative shoot and he was helpful with what poses he was thinking of. We then went onto shooting art nude, and I loved his lighting for this, simple yet effective.

He was very aware of models safety and privacy, he made me feel comfortable straight away. Hes a lovely

man who i wouldnt hesistate to recommend to any model coming to Dublin. Pre comms were great and a all round great experience.

Thanks for a great shoot and for calming me down and making me laugh after the conundrum we went through at the beginning.

Cant wait to shoot again on my return,

KatyB

purupuru

Ruby is very polite person.

We have talked about this shooting concept before shoot.

And we checked weather. It was nice weather. Not too much sunshine and not heavy rain. We took many brilliant pictures!!

I'm looking forward to shoot again, soon!

Thanks Ruby!!

Keira Lavelle

Rudy booked a shoot with me on my recent tour of Ireland, his opening email was enthusiastic and keen to achieve creative concepts within a photo project and this continued throughout our communication before the day. He is a really elaborate and passionate person about all the things he does and both on the shoot and within pre-comms we were nattering about all sorts!

Rudy took a very thoughtful and logical approach to the shoot plan, we were initially hoping for sunny weather but the October month can be a funny time: sometimes freak sunshine that has arrived late for summer... sometimes torrential rain: it was to be a complete gamble. Discussing this matter with Rudy he was open and understanding about the fact that, even though I am known for being a sturdy model on location, heavy rain/wind blowing sideways would just be totally unproductive for the pictures anyway even if you did 30-second "quick" sets and he made arrangements for a back-up location if needed even though it was a strong preference to get outside. I found Rudy listened well and was really open to discussion on the matter of everyone's well-being.

As it turned out, it wasn't that bad a day at all! So we had our shoot on location! The only drawback being was that suddenly masses of people had fallen from the sky and appeared out of nowhere at the place we wanted to shoot, but a swift improvisation and we worked it out again! :D He was very patient on the day because it took some careful look-outs and driving to find suitable spots where we could snatch shots. Being out in the country with just a single road for miles we were quite limited and needed an area where we could see cars coming both sides for some distance, but it all came together and the teamwork flourished! The magic really happened right at the end of the shoot when the sun came out for a beautiful sunset and we grabbed the golden light hitting the warrior in the battlefield! :D

He's got real prolific and positive drive to make the shoot work... putting together sensational props and outfits to achieve the look and going the extra mile for the styling. He was patient and understanding about the time taken to do the warrior makeup for the second set after doing the basic art-nudes and got some pretty cool behind-the-scenes shots too! :D

It was a jolly adventure and I would certainly hope that Rudy and I can work together again in the future. He is respectful and well-mannered towards his models and takes their comfort on board very seriously. Plus I don't think there was a single point we actually stopped talking! :P

The images looked truly awesome!

Keira x

Kitty Quinzell

Grumpy this man is not!

He is a lovely, friendly man with a great sense of humour.

Rudy drove all the way to Killaloe to pick me up to take me to my hotel in Dublin. The idea was to shoot location on the way but the weather had other plans for us!

He had kindly brought food and hot chocolate and I had quite the guided tour of Ireland in our way over in his charming Moris Minor car.

When we eventually got to shooting, he had a very clear theme which he provided props for and allowed me to have a lot of fun with it.

I will definitely work with him again next time I tour in Ireland :)

Artemis Fauna

I worked with Rudy for a couple of hours during my second Ireland tour earlier this month.

Rudy picked me up and we drove in his mini to a studio space right by the Guinness factory. I got quite the guided tour on my way over and back which was quite entertaining and insightful! :)

The shoot itself went well (despite the fact Rudy had forgotten his camera!) but thankfully spares were available! ;)

Rudy took on board my suggestions during the shoot and also threw in his own ideas too. We got a lot done and produced some nice images.

Thank you, Rudy!

Bad Dolly

Yesterday I had a short but sweet shoot with Rudy who is an absolute joy to work with. He is professional and respectful, he came with an idea of the sort of images he wanted to achieve and I think we nailed it!

He bought along a film camera which is something I am a big fan of! We had a laugh and shot some lovely images, he was so interesting and friendly I can't recommend him highly enough! x

Liv Sage

Rudy is really kind, interesting, and professional to work with. He takes great care to reassure a model about safety, and encourages checking references as well. I had a lovely shoot with him doing some portrait and art nude work.

I can definitely recommend him to other models and hope to meet him again one day. I felt completely safe, and he was really pleasant and interesting.

Thank you Rudy :)

Lunacurves

I had a great time working with Grumpy. It was a very fun and relaxing photoshoot. He made me feel very safe, which is important for a model.Grumpy is a professional and a gentleman. It was my pleasure to work with him. I hope to do more work with him in the future. I highly recommend him. I would like to thank you for the amazing shots you took of me. Also for leaving me a great reference.

Lilly.

Marilyn Images

Thank you Grumpy for the lovely reference and for the creative shoots thus far :) I would work with Grumpy over and over again and recommend him to any model. He makes you feel at ease and is very pleasant throughout the shoot. I look forward to working with him again, models - book him now before he gets too busy!

Helen Diaz

Rudy very kindly booked me on my tour to Ireland for half a day and collected me from my last shoot of the day. I am always a little nervous working with new photographers on tour but needn't have been with Rudy as from the very start of introductions; from getting into his little mini to working in the studio together, I knew we would get on like a house on fire! Rudy is such a character- a fun, lively, creative gentleman who is just a joy to be around. We worked together from fashion to art nude and the photos looked lovely.

The studio location he booked was a very good space and Rudy was so respectful and professional to work with. I was a little nervous that Rudy didnt have many references here but as a person I can highly recommend him to work with. He is such a sweetheart and I really hope we get the chance to work together again! Thankyou so much Rudy, I really hope to work with you on my next tour, you are a lovely person, Helen x