I’m sat here watching a re-run of Kevin and Perry Go Large and it got me thinking of my trip to the white isle of Ibiza a few years ago.
This image was captured during the very last moments of daylight (or as I call the edge of darkness)
on a beautiful October day.
The fading daylight balanced with the welcoming interior warmth of the little cafe on the beach and sums up the tranquillity of the place perfectly as I experienced it.
Ibiza-beach-cafe-at-dusk
As a commercial and corporate photographer based in Somerset, I sure have done some travelling these past few weeks.
A couple of weeks ago I posted Boosting The Ayr Miles about my recent shoots including one in Ayrshire Scotland.
Fortunately, I provide a range of corporate photography services including video production services and these skills came in very handy on these shoots.
The shoot below was for KCP Limited who work nationwide from their Scottish base in Ayrshire.
KCP operates a large fleet of bespoke vehicles that dispose of all manners of waste and are Scotland’s leaders in their field.
My brief was to capture both images of staff and the vehicles on location at the various sites that KCP maintain and also come up with some hero shots of the vehicles within the beautiful Scottish landscape.
Apart from this, I was left with complete creative freedom including picking some of the locations which actually proved much easier than expected.
We had a very tight schedule with just 2 half days but the weather played nice for the most part.
The one image I was not completely looking forward too was a request for a high shot of the fleet from a cherry picker as heights are not my favourite thing and at this point, I hadnt moved into commercial drone work.
The two main concerns I had was the wind had got up (sods friggin law !) and the fact the owner of KCP Karl was going to be operating the machine.
The reason Karl was a concern is that we have been friends since our teenage years and I knew he would not miss a chance to have some fun scaring me…which of course he did !
Not A Face To Be Trusted!
You can never say this industry is boring, frustrating & unpredictable at times yes, but never boring.
It’s been a very manic few weeks seeing me on location in Scotland, Denmark and a couple of jobs in London.
This week made me realise once again just how no two days or two jobs are ever the same and why I love what I do.
Monday morning saw me in the heart of central London for an early morning corporate portrait shoot in some very modern and swanky offices.
This was followed a couple of days later when I found myself on route to the beautiful South Hams in Devon shooting a Lighthouse for a recent new client.
The contrast in the assignments & the locations was simply chalk & cheese.
The London assignment was in the heart of the city with tall modern office buildings and as you might expect pretty full-on but also quite a buzz.
The Devon shoot was also a pretty busy day however the location was simply mesmerising and you could not work for long without taking a moment to once again appreciate the stunning coastline views from our elevated clifftop location.
This kind of day makes me realise how lucky I am (due to many years ongoing hard work !) to get to visit such great places and meet so many interesting people because of the camera.
More images will follow in the coming weeks but for now, here are a few iPhone snaps from both shoots and a little video.
Have a great weekend everyone….
[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/129832517″ width=”1280″ height=”720″]
A precarious viewpoint!
Being a commercial photographer in the uk is a funny business as you never know what the next phone call will bring and the last couple of weeks have been no exception.
It started with a call from an old friend who operates KCP Ltd from Ayrshire in Scotland.
KCP specialise in transferring all types of waste with their huge fleet of lorries both from within Scotland and across the UK.
They needed to not only capture the vehicles within the beautiful Scottish landscape (something which I have a lot of experience of shooting in the past) but also corporate portraits and other images to showcase what they do.
The shoot took place over a long weekend with some changeable weather that actually worked very well with our schedule as did the locations that were chosen.
Short flight home on a Sunday evening allowed me just enough time on Monday to secure the images and repack before driving up to Heathrow for a flight to Copenhagen for Bristol Agency Flourish
I’ve worked with Flourish a few times capturing campaign images in Holland of various Chef’s for their client Knorr and this one was not different except Denmark was the location for this particular shoot.
After a change to the original location for a better one and a shorter shooting time, everything came together according to the client’s wishes.
I can’t publish any images at this point as the campaign is not yet live but as soon as I can get some samples rest assured I will.
This week I packed again for a trip to see some buyers in London followed by a meeting and a small shoot in central London for a corporate photoshoot with client Mimecast. This is followed today by packing yet again but this time for a weeks holiday and boy I feel I need one !
Have a great Bank holiday everyone….
Last Day Porto Cristo is an image I captured on a brief photography trip while in Majorca one October.
It was the last day of the holiday season for the island and most of the tourist areas were already closed up ready for the winter which is always slightly depressing to see.
I had decided to take a quick photography trip to visit the small coastal town of Porto Cristo to try and capture some “local life” at the town’s beautiful small beach in the late October light.
It did not take me long to work out my viewpoint which included the amazing cliffs and houses that reminded me more of the Italian or French Riviera than of Spain.
A short while elapsed when my slice of local life came in the form of a small fishing boat which left the rustic jetty to venture out to open sea and my image was complete.
While on assignment in Rotterdam Holland last year I had a day spare to explore and take in the sights of Amsterdam.
Only having less than a day mean’t priortising what to take in so I decided to explore the old part of town along the canals and take a boat trip before heading to the airport and home.
Even though I knew Amsterdam was renowned for it bicycles (amongst other things) it was still a sight to see so many being ridden or parked up up on every corner.
This image is a composite using images captured just a few feet from each other.Shooting this way allowed me to create a cleaner more uncluttered composition will a slightly more compressed look which suits my vision.
This wonderful smile belonged to a man I stumbled upon in the intence summer heat of Side (pronounced Ceday) in Turkey.
I was in Side in 2001 for my honeymoon but of course if you are a location photographer then honeymoon or not the camera gear has to come along !
It was mid afternoon and still exremely hot when we went for a walk and I remember seeing a crowd of people ahead on the shaded road.As we approached it soon came apparent that a crowd had gathered to quench their thrist with fresh orange juice this guy was selling from his mobile cart.
I have to say I dont think I have ever seen a man with such striking blue eyes that seemed to compliment his shirt perfectly.Then there was his amazing smile and almost perfect white teeth which in a country where so many men smoke is probably not a common site.
After buying some juice I gestured if I may take his picture and he happily without stopping his work obliged with a smile.
This image would have been a disater if not for the open shade of the trees which although cast a slight green but correctable cast on him softened the harsh summer light enough to avoid distracting contrasy light to take attention away from his wonderful expression.
This was also the days before digital at least for me so there where no checking histograms or image previews I had to rely on knowing my films characteristics (contrast range,latitude etc) and my experience metering and interpreting the readings…phew what a lot we had to contend with !
While on a shoot capturing some images for my personal project Life In A Somerset Landscape at Withy growers P.H Coates I came across this very dark but atmospheric room.
In it three guys where busy working in the dim light and plenty of banter was being exchanged in their strong Somerset accents especially when I was introduced to them followed by the words photographing you where mentioned!
It wasn’t a Landscape… but the room had a rustic historic charm and bags of atmosphere and I could visualize the final lifestyle portrait image complete with Matthew Godfrey one of the guys who skillfully weaved wicker fences in the room.
The image was going to be a tricky one to attempt to capture in one frame due to the dim light and the fact there were elements I wanted to be visible to help tell the story without over lighting and killing the whole ambience of the place.
It’s one of those moments when seeing the final image and having extensive knowledge of photo retouching techniques allowed me to harvest all the images I would need then combine them in post-production without a huge amount of system time.
As well as being an advertising photographer I also offer high-end photo retouching services.
This means even when not working on an assignment I will often challenge to myself that even on a family holiday I return with at least one killer image that represents the place and my experience of it.
There was a time in my younger years where I would never relax when away and I’d be running around every day at dawn and dusk shooting like a man possessed.
Over the years my way of working has changed (to the relief of the wife) and I often feel the need of a more challenging and unique way of creating that requires a little more of a planned approach.
This image (well some of it) was shot on the Costa Del Sol in Spain during one such family holiday. I had been out with my camera a few times during the week but mainly scouting for inspiration for the killer image.
Was struck me about the area was the amount of people out at both morning and night walking their dogs, running, cycling or on rollerblades simply enjoying the beautiful coast and its climate.
The coast was dotted with these striking looking lifeguard towers and clusters of exotic looking Palm trees along the beach that provided shade and a perch for the large colony of Parakeets.
Inspiration was gained and I decided I would venture out at daybreak later that week and capture some of these elements and create the image below titled Contentment.
The model is my youngest and cheapest child to bribe for a shoot Ava with my neighbours very photogenic dog Barney who were both captured upon my return home.
The Bristol Channel can be a treacherous place.
For starters it has the second-highest tidal range in the world, the first is the Bay of Fundy in Canada.
So if that does not catch you out then there is the mud to contend with which claims many a tourist’s cars during the summer months.
I’ve lived along this coast for a large part of my life so I know to give it a lot of respect.
So it was partly this that intrigued me about the Mud Horse Fishermen who go onto the dangerous mudflats to retrieve fish from their nets.
They can only do this as they know the area and tides very well and also have their sledges known as Wooden Horses that keep them from sinking waist deep or more into the concrete like mud.
I had 20 years previous captured an environmental portrait of another of the fishermen but now only 2 survive and I decided to call Adrian Sellick to see if I might be able to capture him for my project Life In A Somerset Landscape
A time was arranged and I met up with Adrian a week later and also his father Brendan who was busy mending nets just a stone’s throw from the beach.
To my amazement, Adrian said he would drive us part of the mile or so out to where his Horse was anchored in his small 4×4 and I have to say I was pretty nervous about that after seeing so many vehicles devoured!
Thankfully I had nothing to worry about and with Adrian’s advise I managed to avoid stepping on the wrong type of mud and being swallowed up and got the shots I wanted before the tide turned.
The final image shows Adrian with his Wooden Horse with Hinkley Point Power Station in the background.
