Recent work - September 2024

I’m sometimes torn with “recent work”. I’m always aware that as much of it won’t make it into my main galleries, it feels at odds with the idea of “less is more”. Surely best practice is only to show one’s very best* images?

Ideally, yes, that’s right. But the main problem with being so selective is that I’m not going to be posting very much: it’s hard to get more than about ten** good shots in a year.

So I try to remember that while all images stand alone, individually, they also play a wider role in a gallery (or blog post) of related items. And, indeed, each individual gallery is itself a subset of a portfolio. If I consider a blog post as a gallery of sorts, and contains work that I think is good enough to show, then it absolutely belongs on my website. An image’s strength may not lie in its impact as a photograph (“best”, again), but perhaps as evidence of a certain kind of work or technique. Or it’s a reference to a certain publication or client, or another example of a cohesive style etc.

Which is all to say that “good” is relative, and not absolute; and has many facets other than “impact”.

And so, while “recent work” nonetheless seems a very loose category when compared to, say, a full series from a particular assignment, I don’t know how else I could otherwise publish some of my work.

*“Best” in terms of website content, of course, not necessarily “most artistic”. For instance, an average picture of a celebrity carries more ‘weight’ because it implies access, and it shows one is current. So it would go in a portfolio ahead of a similar, slightly better shot of an unknown person. (Actually, it’s even quite reasonable to pull long-forgotten shots from the archives - I think of the photographer I met who’d taken an actor headshot of Benedict Cumberbatch in about 1998. Anyway, I’ve discussed portfolio theory in depth elsewhere on occasion on my blog.)

**And even if you were shooting every day, with various and interesting subject matter, clients and briefs; and produce, say, a hundred really wonderful photos, you’ll find yourself in the same position for two reasons.

One, unless you want a bloated (and slightly repetitive) portfolio, you have to make way for this new work, which means you have to remove old images.

And two, unless you want a jack-of-all-trades portfolio, you have to prune all but the very best of the best of the new stuff, as well as everything that isn’t core to your offering. Which might be forty images. However you look at it, there’s just some work that won’t make it into a portfolio.

Wakehurst

I was commissioned to photograph staff at Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanical garden and home to the Millennium Seed Bank.

Recent work - April 2024

Recent work - January 2024

Recent portrait commissions including work for AB magazine, iCrossing, Singapore Airlines and Innovate Communications.

Long live the local

The British Beer and Pub Association supports pubs and breweries across the UK. I was commissioned by 89up to photograph the draymen, landladies, bartenders and farmers who make up the industry - the people behind the pint - to support the Christmas “Long Live the Local” campaign.

CBRE

Portraits of CBRE’s UK Procurement Director Catriona Calder for CPO Strategy magazine:

Roche

Some images from recent campaigns for healthcare company Roche. Most of these portraits meant working around filming, stepping in and setting up in the short time available between takes, and wherever possible getting close to the look and feel of the video:

Recent work - December 2021

Here’s a mixed selection of photos from the past few months. I’m forced to stretch the word ‘recent’ again, in this case because 2021 was only eleven weeks long:

This was one of the first shoots I used my new Canon R6, which is a no-excuses piece of equipment. However, it’s not perfect: it stalled twice on this shoot. Apparently a known issue (except to me at the time), it caused no small amount of unprofessional flappery at the time, forcing me to use my backup 5d Mk3. Like riding someone else’s bike, it suddenly felt alien, weird and jarring, and got in the way of everything.

This was for mpb, who buy and sell camera equipment (I use them).

I went to Gail’s bakery to photograph milk supplied by Brades Farm where the cows are fed Mootral, a natural food supplement which reduces methane emissions by 30%.

National Theatre’s Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time opened at the Troubadour Theatre, Wembley. To illustrate this, we shot the scene where Christopher arrives in London, bewildered and unsure. We’ve shot this in recent years at Paddington and at Piccadilly Circus. This time, Toby the rat is played by Biscoff (it may have been his co-star, Oreo, in the photo: I found it hard to tell them apart).

The day the hairdressers opened

That’s my best effort for a catchier title than ‘Corporate Portraits’, which wouldn’t have brought you here. But then, this is an entire gallery dedicated to recent office photography. With subject matter like this, it’s plain wrong to tantalise anyone with even the most slight clickbait-y title.

So why would I do such a thing - and at Christmas? Well, since nobody had had a portrait for over a year, and with so many staff changes on top, it was inevitable it would occupy a lot of my work (98.8% to be precise) once restrictions were lifted. So while I’d not normally post so many pictures of people in suits, it makes sense to share them as I’ve been doing so much of this kind of work. So, “Sorry, not sorry,” as they say:

SOAS - postgraduate prospectus

I did some portraits for SOAS’ undergraduate prospectus early in 2020. It was my first commission for them, so it was great to be called back in the summer for the postgraduate version. Not only because I really enjoy this kind of portraiture, but because, as a freelance, there are no promotions or appraisals (even feedback, as I’ve said elsewhere, is often limited). Being commissioned again is the equivalent of a positive review, as is being recommended to another client. Even better is to be taken on as a regular supplier - or indeed, where possible, the main photographer.

GoFundMe Heroes

I was commissioned crowdfunding platform GoFundMe to shoot a series of case studies. Accompanying an interview, these were, literally, hero shots - portraits of extraordinary people who were raising money for some amazing things:

Former rough-sleeper Roy Celaire crowdfunded his place to study at Oxford University.

Astrid, 13, has been raising money since she was 9 for her ‘Kits for Kids’ fund, which buys Christmas presents for homeless children.

Patrick Vernon OBE started the Windrush Justice Fund.

Austen, 9, is fundraising for his tea company, which will employ autistic people.

Recent work - September 2020

It’s been a little quiet lately on the photography front. So if allow me to use the term ‘recent work’ loosely, then here are a series of portraits:

Shot for the SOAS University of London undergraduate prospectus (above, right, below and below right).

Corporate portraiture for OakNorth Bank.

(above and right) Corporate portraiture for Satellite TV service Freesat.

Actor Tyrone Huntley, for Mousetrap Theatre Projects.

MP Sarah Olney, for Accounting and Business magazine.

ACCA President Jenny Gu, also for Accounting and Business Magazine

Mootral

Mootral is a natural food supplement which reduces cows’ methane emissions by about a third - the environmental implications are huge. It’s a garlic and citrus extract which has the added bonus of deterring pesky flies, meaning happier cows.

I was fortunate to spend some time on Brades farm at the end of 2019. They make high-quality ‘Original Barista Milk’, and use Mootral in the feed. I was there taking portraits of cows (well, stock photos) and of the farm workers.

Brades Farm Dairy is just outside Lancaster.

Joe Towers

and his brother, Ed Towers.

Thomas Hafner, Mootral CEO and co-founder.

Yummy Mootral

A cow using a back-scratcher.

A lovely cow

(above and below) lots and lots more lovely cows.

Composition-aware cows

A big, scary bull

Biteback 2030

I was commissioned to photograph the Youth Board for Biteback 2030 - an education drive for healthy eating against the food industry’s manipulative advertising techniques. I shot around a dozen portraits at the Jamie Oliver head office in North London, and here’s a selection:

B3 Living

Here’s a series of portraits and case studies of staff, supporters and residents from a commission by B3 Living:

From the archives - six

I’m finally getting round to watching the Star Wars series and recognised actor John Boyega (he plays a stormtrooper who joins the good guys). I felt sure I’d met him somewhere, but I wasn’t too certain. I couldn’t think where it could have been, or when.

And I don’t really trust my memory. I have mild prosopagnosia - meaning I struggle to remember faces (one of the worst things for a photographer to have). However, I always remember faces I’ve edited. That is, if I’ve photographed someone, I'll remember. My prosopagnosia has led to some interesting situations which I’m sure I’ll blog about.

Anyway, with John, if we had met, it would have had to have been at a rehearsal or photocall. Browsing the archives, there he was. At the Tricyle theatre (now The Kiln Theatre), I photographed a series of work entitled Not Black & White - three plays tackling prejudice. Several years ago. I got two frames of John.

But what I remember most wasn’t John, or the rehearsals, but a conversation about music with the guy on the right (above), and him telling me about ‘Radiodread’ - a reggae/ska cover of OK Computer.

Funny thing, memory.

Recent work - April 2019

(Above and below) A series of images of street cleaners, enforcement officers, and waste collection teams for Wandsworth Council.

For Standard Chartered Bank’s annual report.

Corporate portrait for Pearson.

(Above and below) portraits for Corporate Financier magazine.

Corporate portraits where people are blinking are, on their own, entirely useless, but make an intriguing set that one day I might put on the blog. The same goes for lighting test shots (as in the example above) which - by definition - aren’t even posed. This photo would normally have been deleted straight after import but caught my eye.

(Above and below) Interior designer Sam Watkins-McRae.

(Above and below) Workshops for Mousetrap Theatre Projects.

(Above and below) For the University of London, some portraits of graduates - and some quick candids in between - at the Barbican.

International Women's Day

Landsec commissioned me to take portraits of ten staff members at their offices in Victoria. We had a room reserved, and were free to use any available locations in the vicinity (ie reception, foyer & cafe) as well as Cardinal Place, their adjacent retail centre and outdoor public space.

Poor weather meant we couldn’t shoot outside, so the issue was about getting a good variety with limited indoor options. This became increasingly difficult as the day went on. Happily, all the ladies were very generous with their time (and their patience). Here’s a selection from the shoot:

From the archives - five

Another selection of images from the past few years which never made the cut.

(Above and Below) Shot near Cardinal Place, these two images were from a publicity shoot as part of the “Create Victoria” campaign for Land Sec.

I also found this old one, also for Land Sec, from a shoot at One New Change, beside St Paul’s Cathedral, where they put on a (slightly gothic) fairytale event.

For Mousetrap Theatre Projects, this portrait was part of a feature on their Youth Forum.

This photograph was taken at Unum’s rather lovely headquarters in Surrey.

Actor Martin Freeman at an event.

Recent work - November 2018

Nathan is Chief Investment Officer at global innovation foundation Nesta, and I photographed him for Economia magazine.

Michael Rosen is a poet, broadcaster, and writer among other things, and made the BBC Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the Meningitis Research Foundation. I photographed him at the BBC offices.

I thought I’d do a deadpan / Sunday supplement image for this portrait. I’m not sure this style of shooting is for me, and interestingly both the selection and the editing were just as tough: being so far from my usual approach I felt much less sure what I was looking for or working towards.

I photographed art expert Natalia Cola at the Westbury Hotel.