Toyota Mobility Foundation

The Toyota Mobility Foundation has launched a $4 million dollar global challenge to change the lives of people with lower-limb paralysis, culminating in the unveiling of the winners in Tokyo in 2020.

The competition is is looking for teams around the world - including startups - to create game-changing technology that will help radically improve the mobility and independence of people with paralysis. The mobility solutions of the future could include anything from exoskeletons to artificial intelligence and machine learning, from cloud computing to batteries.

Artist Yinka Shonibare MBE, photographed at his studio in Dalston. He is perhaps best known for his 1:30 scale model, Nelson's Ship in a Bottle, which occupied Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth for two years in 2010.

To raise awareness of the competition, volunteers from around the world (including athletes, presenters, scientists and artists) with lower-limb paralysis acted as spokespeople. 

I was commissioned to source, commission and liaise with photographers from various countries and create a brief in order to produce a stylistically consistent set of portraits. I was also to photograph the two London representatives, Yinka Shonibare and Sophie Morgan.

Head of Design and Research at Pinterest, August de los Reyes. Photographed at Pinterest head office in San Fransisco by Brooke Porter (www.brookeporterphotography.com)

Finding the photographers began with asking for recommendations and referrals, googling, searching agencies and skimming databases, and browsing scores of websites to find people with a roughly similar approach and portfolio. Narrowing them down based on their availability at short notice and, of course, budget, I presented these to the client for the final decision.

Dealing with my own, separate commissions alongside dealing with correspondence from various time zones meant late nights and early mornings, as well as lengthy, rather chaotic spreadsheets - something I've never had to deal with. And lots of coffee.

Preethi Srinivasan (founder of Soulfree) photographed near Bangalore, India by Boban James (www.bobanjames.com).

In a nutshell, the brief was to provide two portraits of each person: one full-length, wide shot to show their environment, locating them within their country or region, otherwise at a place which might suggest their profession or background; the other was to be a closer crop, with the emphasis on them and their expression (positive, challenging etc.) at, ideally, a different location. Lighting was to be simple, minimal to none where possible.

To maintain consistency, I did the basic retouch work on the selected RAW files myself which was extremely generous of the photographers to allow.

Dr Rory Cooper Ph.D, photographed by Angelo Merendino (www.angelomerendino.com). Dr Cooper is FISA & Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Chair and Distinguished Professor of the Department of Rehabilitation Science & Technology, and professor of Bioengineering, Physical Med & Rehab, and Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.

In the end, and despite best intentions and plans - as is often the case - some of it came down to what the photographers could do on the ground, what they could use to tell the story in the (usually short) time available from whatever relevant/photogenic locations they had in the vicinity. Mostly the time and location were dictated by the busy schedules of the volunteers and photographers, rather than by the best light or ideal spot. But you wouldn't know! - I think they did a superb job, and the launch was a great success.

Paralympian rower Sandra Khumalo at Victoria Lake Rowing Club in Germiston, Johannesburg. Photographed by Ilan Godfrey (www.ilangodfrey.com).

So, happy with the results (and slightly baffled as to how I got it done), I have now have on file fifty or so photographers around the world I could contact should this come up again - a pretty comprehensive spreadsheet. If only I could remember where I filed it...

Presenter, reporter, artist and model Sophie Morgan, photographed near Tower Bridge, London.

Corporate work

Here's a selection of business portraits and similar. Yes, they're nearly all corporate headshots against a light or white background. I'd normally not post these kinds of pictures but the first one I shot yesterday had a bit of personality to it which I quite liked. One headshot not being enough to justify a post, I found myself browsing others from the past year or so which stood out, and here they are. 

Recent work - October 2017

Here's another selection of images taken over the past few months. There's something about taking commissioned work out of context and with less explanation than with a typical blog post, and putting them into these 'mixed bag' posts. Especially those shots may have come from larger series, but which would have been picked here as being the most interesting, the most representative of the set etc. Without some blog-type explanation, they could be anything, so you can see them on their own merits rather than as the usual (and rather boring-sounding), "examples of commissioned work". 

Pfizer - Protecting our Heroes

I shot portraits to accompany the video made for pharmaceutical company Pfizer at Centrestage Studios, Angel, about the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, "Protecting Our Heroes."

Wyborowa vodka

I shot a range of lifestyle & location images of Polish Wódka Wyborowa for use in their social media:

Vauxhall animation

Vauxhall put together a stop-frame animation about the typical frustrations drivers experience for their new Mokka. (Above) I photographed our model running through the gamut of expressions. Then (below) from every angle:

(Below left) We then covered dozens of gestures and reactions as sequences, both left-handed and right-handed, with different expressions. (Below right) BTS.

Take your parents to work

I had the great privilege of running my own photography/Instagram stall at Facebook's first "Take your parents to work" day. I gave visitors pointers on photography, helped them understand the IG app, and edited a few pictures.

Questions ranged from, "What is Instagram?" to "Why don't I look nice in photos?" - as well as the ubiquitous, "How can I get more followers?" (which was my question). It was a lot of fun!  

Recent work - June 2017

Here's a collection of (mostly) recent shots:

For this portrait, I used the Magmod gobo to create a window light. Really lovely bit of kit!

A quick portrait for the charity Sense, who were working with Wayne McGregor dance at their new studios at the Olympic park.

Product photography for Fruitflow, a natural supplement which improves blood flow.

Noma Dumezweni, who plays Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, wins best actress at the Mousetrap Awards.

Shot for The Times, there weren't many options for this portrait of an entrepreneur. They wanted him photographed outside next to some goalposts. Sadly, the goals were half-size and we only had a few minutes before the kids' teams took over the pitch. We did what we could, but it quickly turned into the photographer's (dreaded) "Man in a Field" situation, which I obliged but - well, let's just say there won't be a blog post about this shoot. As the saying goes, "I don't want excuses -I want pictures."

Roy G. Biv and all that. Apparently, Isaac Newton added the indigo (previously they used to think there were three colours, then five, then six in a rainbow). And nobody knew what a rainbow was until the 17th century. The Greeks thought rainbows were a path created by the goddess of the rainbow, Iris, linking us to the immortals. Anyway, there aren't three, five, six or seven colours, but millions, all blending into one another.

Huawei - The New Aesthetic

At the end of 2016, MA Design: Ceramics, Furniture, Jewellery and MA Industrial Design students at Central Saint Martin's College were tasked with a brief to create new accessories for the brand, based around the concept of "The New Aesthetic". The winner and runner-up designs were developed into models and showcased at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to coincide with the launch of Huawei's P10 phone.

David Kim, Huawei Brand Director, introduces the brief and gives a background to the company. Not so well-known here, yet Huawei is the world's 3rd largest smartphone vendor, after Samsung and Apple.

Two design masterclasses followed later from Mark Delaney, Head of Huawei London Design Centre, and Abi Brody - formerly of Apple, PayPal and eBay - who is Chief Designer + VP at Huawei Consumer.

In February, students presented their ideas in front of the panel of judges from Huawei and CSM.

The winning design - Spectra - is a necklace which scans colours and textures, transforming them into sounds.

The user can "collect" sounds to create a kind of music as a way to document their experiences of a place.

The entries are debated until late in the afternoon, and the winning team announced.

The winners - Spectra.

S.H.O.K.K.

Portraits of DJ Claudio Pettannice of S.H.O.K.K. 

Parkour Generations

Portraits at the fantastic Chainstore in London, the UK's only indoor parkour training facility.

War Horse in Brighton

The amazing Joey again, this time around various Brighton landmarks to publicise the upcoming UK tour.

We started early on Brighton beach, with the sun to the South-West - low and strong - exactly what I didn't want. Ideal for a silhouette - but Joey doesn't make for a silhouette.

Yes, we could have moved to the other side of the pier to have the sun lighting it from the side, but that would have been a bit of a hassle to move, and too easy to shoot. He's quite large, so I doubled up flashes and set them to full power to overpower the sun. A third flash was used to light his face.

Moving further down the beach, something similar but facing out of shot:

After a public launch event, we went to the Royal Pavilion where I shot similar from a stepladder. Other than rearing (which I liked less) there's not much for Joey to do, so it actually comes down to Jack (who controls Joey's head) to take more of a role. When I couldn't see Jack's face, it just didn't work. Finally we went inside to this lovely room (below) for one more quick photo to the bemusement of the many visitors just off camera left.

It's an amazing show - see it if you can.

Jane Eyre

Following a critically acclaimed season at the National Theatre, Jane Eyre is touring the UK from April. I was commissioned to photograph the cast and crew on their first day of rehearsals.

Normally, these take place in a large, open space with chairs which we arrange so as not to have everyone just standing in a line. It's a quick group shot, a smaller group of the cast, and then a shot of the lead(s).

This time, I walked in to see this great set: 

Finally, a chance to place people on different levels, where they can have different poses in, on and around a relevant and interesting location.

Except...

The first thing is that when something looks good, it doesn't necessarily translate well or immediately in a photo. This angle is ok, but I didn't much want to include the fire exit to the left of A, nor the lights above the stage. Also, somehow I always feel I want to get in "among" a location, but by shooting from points A or B, at once I lose 1/4 of the useful area of stage, as well as showing the doors, tables, fire exits etc. (out of shot).

It seems something from around the bottom/left of the ramp is probably the best option. 

As for lighting, the yellowish ambient is 1/60 at f5 on 1250 ISO, but I've brightened it up here so it's perhaps a stop or so less. Ideally I want a better depth of field, as there are a lot of people and I'm intending to spread them around the set.

I have three speedlights and my stands reach about 8 feet high.

On the right (C) I can't use (any kind) of light on a stand, because it won't be high enough for people around point B: it would light them from below. Apart from the fact the ramp is sloped, the end of the stage is higher than the floor. Moving it further away would begin equate to side-lighting - as well as distributing the light more evenly across the image from right to left - I'd need a huge amount of power, and due to to numbers, some of the forty or so people would likely fall into shadow. It could be done at full power perhaps, but recycle times would be slow. 

On the left of A and running behind towards me, there's a wall, limiting lighting options there. It's white and it can be bounced off, but its relative proximity to those on the ramp means they'll be lit, but those around B won't be.

Bouncing isn't a good solution either as the ceiling is high and dark brown wood. A lot of power for a limited return. 

The messy diagram above shows what I ended up doing. On the left, a reflective umbrella at point A (which you can see in the final shot below). It has less effect as the light falls off moving across to the right, becoming more of a fill. 

The second light, also on a stand, was pointed at a grey curtain several metres away at C. Pointing it upwards at a 60° angle created a high bounce, which made a soft fill light, from above right.

I kept one light on camera and also pointed it up and backwards (roughly 75°), again to bounce high off the wall right behind me. This acted as a fill for those at the front, who had no light on them. 1/100 at f6.3 was enough (just barely) to keep people sharp throughout.

A simpler shot ie without flash, using a higher ISO (perhaps 2500 or 5000) and sorting colours and general muddiness later in post might have been preferable: the portrait below of the actress playing Jane used one light and took less than 30 seconds!  

Framing 101

I don't do weddings, pets, or selfies. But I had a quick, informal shoot recently: general pictures of an LG stand displaying some of their incredible products, including a £4.5K OLED television, the thickness of two (!?) credit cards, and a refrigerator which opens when you stand in front of it. Anyway, they also had a washing machine on display, and for the last shot of the visit I thought it might be fun* to get a photo from inside: of me in my own photo. Actually, I knew it would take several attempts and doubted I could get a customer to pose for long enough.

I lit the drum with our iphones, and supported the camera with a stack of various Gary Fong rubber flash modifiers. I'll bring a fisheye lens next time. 

* Fun in its loosest definition. 

Studio Fractal

I spent a day with James Ball at the offices of lighting specialists Studio Fractal, whose work includes Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge and Cabot Circus, and London's King's Cross development. 

While James photographed their designs, products, templates and models - all the cool stuff - I did portraits of the designers. Not that I minded -  it meant I spent (a bit too much) time chatting, as it's rare and lovely to meet a client who speaks exactly the same language as you. Their passion seems to boil down to "how light reacts with different things" which is pretty much all I think about. Despite running over time in conversation, I still found a little bit of time at the end to photograph some of the cool stuff, too.

Musician

Portraits of multi-talented musician Matt Smith:

While I was waiting...

I've said elsewhere that one of the things I like about Instagram is that it's a place to put all the images which don't belong anywhere else. Too random for Facebook, not relevant for clients, and neither suitable nor strong enough for my portfolio. But worse would be to leave them on a hard-drive, forgotten in a cupboard, forever. While browsing my IG feed, I noticed that a great number were shot while I was waiting around for something.

It's an interesting category. These are the kind of images which, most of all, should fall between the floorboards. These shots are either an afterthought or noticed when you're thinking of other things. They're the result of time spent idle, with no planning or prior intention, and they wouldn't exist but for the opportunity of a few free moments. 

One New Change, London. Waiting for permission from the site manager.

A friend was delayed. St Pancras station, London.

In a car park.

I don't remember where this was but it's a lamp-post (or was, originally). Strictly, I wasn't waiting and I knew I wanted to do this for a while, but it was taken on a break between shoots.

Archway. Meeting a friend. 

Photographed while the film crew were interviewing a subject. I did actually send this one to the client along with a couple of other stock images from the day (there was a lot of waiting around).

London, in between corporate portraits. The 'razor' building can be seen (centre) through curtains. 

The Tower of London, the Walkie-Talkie, the Cheese-Grater and the Gherkin. Taken from the event space at the top of Tower Bridge at dusk, while waiting for speeches to finish. 

In a cafe, waiting for a coffee.

Taken through glass in a queue at an airport.

Gelled flash through opaque glass. Waiting to do a portrait, I was playing around with the idea of using a coloured spot behind the subject. It wasn't working (there wasn't enough space to spread the light), but did make this interesting shot. 

Underground station sign (I had arrived early).

London. During dinner at a press launch.

Not quite waiting for paint to dry, but the next best thing.

Cracked glass at Sushi Samba, London.

Various gas pipes and pressure gauges in a factory corridor.

Canvas

I undertook a series of case-study portraits on behalf of Instructure for their state-of-the-art Learning Management Software (LMS). We photographed teachers, administrators and learners - users from all sides - and visited Birmingham University (where I studied!), Oxford, Sutton Tennis Academy and Trondheim, Norway. Here are a selection:

Rose Bruford

I was commissioned to shoot around a few of the backstages courses taught at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in Sidcup for their prospectus. Here are a few images from the set:

Instawalks

I've been running occasional classes for Instagram/Facebook over the past year. These are informal sessions where I teach their clients everything I know about photography (!) before letting them loose in Camden, King's Cross or Southbank. They have then 30-40 minutes' shooting before we regroup, critique, and decide on the winner(s).

The lesson itself lasts an hour. We cover some theory, a few practical tips and techniques, and then look at using the app to edit images. Nothing technical. Among others, clients have included Heineken and Starbucks, and there's one in the pipeline for Apple.

They're given a variety of themes to work towards - it's important to have limitations - but they're not obliged to keep to them. These are usually Reflections, Shapes & lines, Signs and symbols, Colour, and Close-ups.

Judging the winner is always difficult as many are equally good, but for different reasons.  

While I could have shown plenty of descriptive images, lovely detail shots and neat observations, this selection I've made of their work either reflects some of the points we cover, or tends towards fresh and quirky (often abstract and arty shots) which are right up my street. That is, I'd be very happy to have any of these in my own feed (@alexrumford)! Although I should point out that the best pictures on the day are just that - they have nothing do with my own taste or preferences.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did: