04 October, 2023

2 x GOLD at 38th AOP Photography Awards

Thrilled to announce that last week my personal projects 'BikeLife' and 'Cameron' both took home GOLD at the 38th AOP Photography Awards at a brilliant evening in Shoreditch, London. Not everything about being an advertising photographer in London is about winning awards... but it really does help you feel like you're doing something right when your work is recognised! Especially personal projects. Some awards mean more than others and the AOP is the equivalent to the oscars in our industry. With the field of work from other photographers being so high, it really was an honour to be awarded 2 out of only 10 golds available.

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I had a total of 4 pieces of work selected for the finals - which in itself is an honour - within the categories: Lifestyle Photography, Sport Photography and Documentary Photography. Thank you to all the judges who voted for my work and to the AOP for the event.

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20 March, 2023

Yet another skateboarding photoshoot

Further to my time with Jasmyn in previous post, I had to give some blog-space to this un-named skater in NYC. Skating has become synonymous with cliché in lifestyle photography. Photographers are naturally drawn to the culture because it is interesting, there's movement, sport, action, danger, edge, sub-cultures, fashion and trends... but it quickly becomes over-shot and finding your own angle - especially as an advertising and commercial photographer - is difficult. So it's a risk posting more of this, but to be honest - I just love the image. I'm stating it here first - there's still a place for skaters in front of my camera! I'm ready for the world to disagree.

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01 March, 2023

Jasmyn - A Chance Encounter

Whilst finishing a day working on my new personal project, BikeLife, in a pinch-yourself location atop a rooftop of an apartment building in Manhattan... I looked down to see a beautiful light being cast across a skate park. When I'd wrapped with my subject I was on a creative role, and being in a foreign city by myself always inspires confidence. I had to wonder into this skate park, it had so much raw life to it, such a lack of social media in the air (despite a fashion editorial taking place haha). I don't know, maybe it was the draw of the light colliding with a spirit of adventure, but I had to go in and observe.

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Then I spotted Jasmyn. I had to approach her and at least ask. She was definitely not looking for attention and it was a fight to get her to agree, but eventually she said yes to me observing her with my camera. She was most definitely not posing for a photo shoot, more allowing me in for a minute. I knew my time was limited, and the wonderful New York fall light was diminishing at pace. I wish I could have photographed her friend, who looked like something straight out of the cast of The Goonies, but cool. He said no, I have to respect that - sometimes it's best just to enjoy the moment and put the camera down.

The challenge of Lifestyle Photography in 2023 is the chase for authenticity is getting harder. Street-casting subjects like Jasmyn helps a lot. Un-apologetically herself, no input from any third parties, I was basically a street photographer in disguise.

See more here.

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14 February, 2023

New Year / New Agent (Europe)!

I'm really pleased to have joined the extremely talented roster at UPFRONT. Frank, Nico and the team in Hamburg will be representing me and my work across Europe whilst my amazing agents PROCESS still handle things in the UK and AIM in UAE.

Excited to start this journey with a brilliant agency and I plan to be in Germany very soon with the portfolio to start meeting people face to face. I've shot in Germany (and other parts of Europe) a lot over the last few years, and it's a market I've always wanted to connect more with. They do things 'well' in a very timely manner, with professionalism and great catering... always great catering and this is always the most important part of a successful production!

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05 December, 2022

Interview Feature: Little Black Book

Thanks to the amazing team at NM Productions for interviewing me for a feature Little Black Book recently. It was fun to do a deep dive into an epic shoot from a few years back - The North Face captured on Tenerife.

Sprained ankle, winds, frozen models, crazy locations, chasing the sun, running up volcanos. It had it all. There were a few frames from that shoot which have stayed with me and are still featured in my portfolio today so this interview looks in depth into one particular shot and the what leads up to such an image existing. Also a more detailed behind-the-scenes of how I approach my advertising work with clients.

Click here to read the interview.

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16 November, 2022

Llandudno - Intimacy in the Waves

A lifestyle photography story shot at the amazing Llandudno beach in South Africa's Western Cape. This is all about real-life real-love, combining authentic intimacy with an oft-photographed setting of surfing.

Surf photography always brings its challenges - the winter temperature Atlantic ocean (and subsequent lack of 'surf') to name a few. But this shoot was attempting to forget about the technicalities and focus on capturing intimate moments within life. I rarely get the chance to shoot a real-life couple - the world of advertising photography brings with it so many forced scenarios where by job is to make things look natural that perhaps aren't - until the end of the shoot maybe. So my brief to the talent was to be as much themselves as they could possibly be infront of me. They didn't hold back so a big thank you to Christina and James for letting me in.

Click here for the full story.

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17 October, 2022

Latest Zipcar Campaign

Always a pleasure to work with repeat clients - here's the latest campaign shot for Zipcar earlier this year, out now. Big shout out to Bangerz&Nash on the production - managing the complex logistics of street-shooting and having to get disobedient cars towed away (!).

It's not uncommon for crazy-wide formats to be part of the brief in advertising photography campaigns - in fact, now it's the norm. This was definitely one of those which required formats way beyond that of a camera sensor, so quite a bit of plating and comping had to managed to achieve the panoramic width, whilst maintaining a really involved aspect ratio. All fun and games :)

Click here to see the final images.
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09 September, 2022

A Walk With Darcy

Experimenting with pairing the world's most advanced DSLR (mirrorless) camera & some vintage Nikon glass put me in need of a subject. I found that very easily with my daughter, Darcy. We often spend the weekends together and as each day/week she changes and develops into the next version of herself - any moment captured is so precious. I was testing ahead of a small solo shoot where I would be both directing and self-shooting - so often these days, I work with my DoP to shoot whilst I am hands-off directing.

There's 40 years technology between the Nikon Ai-s 50mm 1.2 and the Nikon Z9 but some things in engineering were simply nailed when they were first developed (When things were made properly!) and this seems a match made in heaven. It's the same with hi-fi equipment - we've spent years trying to better it but the noise and imperfections we were trying to rid ourselves of, we've all realised it's what makes things 'human' and what we ultimately connect to; in art at least.

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Digital camera tech is so precise and detailed now - it's incredible what has been achieved. But, for a lot of photographers and film makers, it's the imperfections which count - it's these things that bring us warmth, connection, perhaps a point of relatability. Over sharpness of lenses and the loss of 'character' and flare etc is what makes photographers like me look backwards. Don't get me wrong, these all come with their issues and I wouldn't be able to satisfy my commercial clients with this setup - I often need, instant, accurate, detailed, reliable etc... but when you're looking for a bit of 'feel' and inspiration to see a frame differently, sometimes (just sometimes) a change in gear can help.

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This is a short film (click here to view on Vimeo) I made whilst out on a little 'hike'. Chasing a toddler whilst hand-holding a camera with no stabilisation, pulling manual focus at the same time as stopping both her and me tripping and falling into a river... it's a task! But I couldn't help put this together - a small snapshot for the time capsule, cut to the sound track of a friend's cover of Landslide by Fleetwood Mac.

04 April, 2022

AOP Finalist 2022

Thrilled to announce that JUMP has made the shortlist for the 38th AOP Awards. Industry recognition for personal work is rewarding in itself, so to make the final is brilliant. PODO won Gold in the previous year's awards, but due to Covid there was no awards night or exhibition - so we're due a night out to make up for that.

As usual - the work shortlisted across the board is incredibly strong, so it's a privilege to make it this far. Thank you AOP.

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And... a very nice mention in The Times to go alongside!

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30 March, 2022

Nestle Lifestyle Photography

Working directly with Nestle in Switzerland I recently shot a new image library for eight different Nestle brands. It was one of those shoots which was first talked about 8 months before the final assets were delivered, so a long journey - but such a pleasure to produce and shoot with the amazing Mother Bran Production in support.

There were some tricky assets to shoot for this due to the variety of brands/looks/feels/cast etc which had to be shot in a relatively short time-window. The most challenging being shooting Milo specifically for the Philippine market. The sleepy coastal town of Worthing played host to that shot!

As usual thanks to all the crew and cast involved - more images can be seen here.

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21 March, 2022

JUMP !!!! Finally lands...

It has been a loooong time coming. But I'm thrilled to have finally launched JUMP - the project that really kept me going through the dark lockdown-soaked winter of 20/21. There's so much to write about this project, which stemmed from an initial project first shot in 2018 - which got revived and taken further. It's a creative process I'm trying to get better at - the need for more depth. To have the final print mailer in my hands and be sending it out across the world is satisfying. A lot of blood, sweat and tears (alongside time, enegy, money and emotion) goes into making projects like this - but to have it finished to look back upon is so satisfying.

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It would be nothing without my collaborators - the amazing atheletes who let me into their world and let me take what I wanted from it, to showcase in my way. Thank you.

The printed mailers are a limited edition of 250 and I have a some left which are up for grabs. £15 + p&p, please just email me.

See JUMP online here.

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11 March, 2022

New Director's Reel

I've been shooting a lot more moving image over the last year - from 5 second social content snippets to full length films. I'm pushing my work as a director more and more and seeing it as a challenge to conquer as much as I am an opportunity to tell stories beyond still images. This showreel was well overdue and already feels out of date with what else I've shot since. For now... click here.

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01 March, 2022

Shooting in the Dubai Desert

I've been out in various parts of the UAE quite a lot in recent months for various shoots and meetings. Here's a new personal project shooting an automotive lifestyle story with the Audi RSQ8 ... in the desert!

This was a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun. Massive thanks to my cast and assistants - hoping to be shooting much more of this work soon. Check out the full story here.

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25 February, 2022

Film + Stills image library for Zurich Insurance

There are some days as an advertising photographer where all things come together and lineup and you feel that what you get to do is no less than a privilege. This shoot was one of those. I was commissioned to shoot an image library for Zurich insurance, but with a difference - they initially gave me creative control over the brief and content. Very unusual and really gets you thinking, but it also means there's breadth to be more creative in your subject matter and retain some control. Step up (via a loose family connection) the Arnolds. A family of 6 living far away from native South Africa, on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales, home-schooling their kids and living each day as if it were their last. It's no exaggeration to say that I could probably shoot these guys every day for a month and not run out of content. What an honour that they let me completely into their lives for 48hours, hosting me too. Thank you!

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The challenge was being completely self-sufficient, away from any crew or assistance and needing to capture both stills and film, searching for vignettes of every day life which Zurich can use to showcase their message. As a photographer / director, it's actually my preference to be off-camera as much as possible when shooting motion - despite years of self-shooting myself. However this brief required the flexibility I've managed to build up over the years. Needless to say, it finished me. But, looking back at what we captured will always fill me with happiness so that will always make it worth it.

Full story here.

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21 February, 2022

Sony LinkBuds Advertising Campaign

New work recently shot for the launch of Sony's new headphone product: LinkBuds - an alternative to Apple's Airpods but these are all about transparency rather than isolation. It was a challenging campaign to work on for various reasons due to having to shoot them in complete secrecy and also needing to show their use-case in still images (would be easier to achieve in motion).

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An early start on a cold day with a great crew at Sony's European HQ was what it took to achieve the shot list. We lucked out on gorgeous winter light which helped us massively, and shot a whole host of scenarios, which required some careful planning and clever thinking in the pre-production. Shooting lifestyle advertising photography for global brands always comes with a list of challenges, and this shoot was no different, but we did it - and there's some work in here which we're all really proud of.

Check out the full campaign here.

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24 January, 2022

Lifestyle Photography + filming for Mollie

I was commissioned to capture what it means to be a part of global online payments firm, Mollie recently. It was a brief split down the middle between film and stills which involved us needing to capture talking head interviews which would be used as part of a recruitment campaign, alongside authentic lifestyle photography of the staff.


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Real people, no casting - it was all about gaining the trust of the employees meaning I could capture them in the most true and realistic manner. But really, the work atmosphere at Mollie is genuinely so infectious that a lot of my job was done for me already. I got to meet some amazing people who made themselves slightly vulnerable to me, the crew and the cameras which resulted in a very happy client!

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18 January, 2022

Now Represented by PROCESS

New year, new agent. Pleased and privileged to join the small but mighty roster of talent at PROCESS.

It’s taken a lot of thought and discussion to make the move, but it’s something I’m really excited about and looking forward to getting properly stuck in throughout 2022. Kim, Renai and the team are super nice, talented, experienced and most importantly know how to have a good time.

Check out their website to see my portfolio in a slightly different guise… https://www.processphotography.com/

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21 December, 2021

Lurzer's Archive - 200 Best Ad Photographers 2021/22

What an honour it is to be included for the third time in the latest release of Lurzer’s Archive ‘200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide’.

I had four images selected for this year’s annual, one of them below - which is taken from my JUMP series, soon to be released. Try and get your hands on a copy if you can as it’s literally visual inspiration from start to finish. Helps keep me grounded looking through the sheer quality that exists in our industry out there!

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12 December, 2021

International Photography Awards 2021

Chuffed to have picked up some honourable mentions, a Jury overall ‘top 5’ and most importantly, a 1st place at the latest IPA.

As usual with such a globally recognised competition, the standard of entries is amazing and inspiring - so it’s a privilege to have been a part of it, let alone to win some accolades. Thank you judges and IPA.

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Quite a few bits of different work entered and featured but the image of the rowers shot for Canon took 1st place in the sports category, and the following image - part of the upcoming personal project ‘JUMP’ - received the overall top 5 award from the whole jury panel.

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01 December, 2021

New OOH TIDE campaign for 21/22

It’s always nice to be asked back for campaign number two from lovely clients. The Team at Tide banking commissioned me to continue their gradual takeover of the business banking world by working on their latest Advertising Photography Campaign.

Shot on a hot day back in the summer - the day England beat Germany in the Euros no less! - we captured more real clients and ‘heroes’ of Tide banking in an East London studio. See below for some behind-the-scenes images as well as some of the final layouts.

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