You have to be living on a desert island to not of heard of  the Peaky Blinders. The TV series depicts a gangster family set in 1919 Birmingham, and centered on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby, who means to move up in the world.  Their name, Peaky Blinders, is said to have come from gang members stitching razor blades into the peak of their flat caps. The Peaky Blinders’ girlfriends also had a uniform of sorts, including pearls, a large fringe and a silk handkerchief covering their throats.

Peaky-Blinders – checking to see if its all clear.

Although I am not a fan of the TV series as I thought it was to drawn out and slow, I do like opportunity to take photos of this particular themed photo shoot when I can. I have a total of three Peaky Blinders shoots throughout 2018 and the very first one just took place and it was on a very sunny but cold day in Leicester. As I have mentioned in previous blogs it’s a very good idea to join a local photography group near you and gain experience with your camera in a friendly atmosphere. You can learn from one another and as a group you get to shoot some very cool themed shoots, such as this one.

The  photography group “Click group shoots” is run by the very cool Allen Sheffield ably assisted by Sean Lawrence and Sean Jarvis and the group meets weekly on a Wednesday evening to offer their members the best possible photographic experience available. In addition to their weekly shoots they also deliver periodic spectaculars based on a strong theme. With loads of ideas for upcoming shoots why not contact them and ask for a shoot calendar. They  plan their shoots 4 months at a time so everyone can see what is coming up with plenty of notice. 

All of my photos were taken with the Sony A7Sii dslr camera with a Canon 24-105mm lens fitted. In hindsight I wish I had taken my Canon 70-200mm lens too as I didn’t quite the zoom length I wanted at times. Again the Sony delivered and I am very happy with the results. The only niggly thing is sometimes the £400 metabones adapter can be slow when making any adjustments to my aperture, shutter speed etc as it has to work between Canon glass to a Sony body.

So I now have one Peaky Blinders shoot behind me and have another two to look forward to. Once of which is coming up very soon and what makes this particular shoot interesting is the fact it is where series one and two of the TV series was filmed, the Black Country Museum in Birmingham. The shoot has taken Karen Smalley seven months to get organised and be given the green light for a group of us to attend. Karen is a professional multiple award winning photographer and runs her own organised themed shoots and if you would like to join her group you can apply HERE.

So remember get out there with your camera, learn what you can do with it, you won’t break anything and get confidence in turning your dial to manual and see if there is a photography club near you and go along and say hi.