The start of a new year allows us to look back and review the year that has gone before, and look forward to all the things to come in the year ahead. 2016 stretches before us, like the clean pages of a new journal, and has all the promise of things to come. But I want to just pause for a moment and remember some of my highlights of 2015 and some of the wonderful things I was fortunate enough to photograph. Too much happened to fit into one blog post, so I think I will need to split this retrospective into three parts, but this seems quite fitting as the work I do can be quite diverse. In future posts you will be able to see some of my commissions for portraiture (from newborn babies to adults) and some of the weddings that I have been honoured to photograph during 2015, but this post is dedicated to the commercial work and personal projects that I have undertaken over the year.
2015 has been a huge year for me in terms of progression. It started in early February when I awarded my Qualification with The Guild of Photographers. This involves having a panel of internationally recognised judges assess a body of my commercial work. I was delighted to get a unanimous pass and it was a brilliant start to the year. The first half of the year I spent most of my energies concentrating on finishing my BA Hons degree in Commercial Photography, researching and writing through the night, working on my dissertation, and putting together my final major project. For this I created a Cluedo-inspired collection which I named ‘Mystery at the Mansion‘ and which involved a team of people modelling and assisting and lots of support from The National Trust who allowed me to use two of their properties as locations. I was delighted with the images created and with graduating with a first class degree. But this wasn’t the end for this collection. I was thrilled and extremely honoured to be asked to exhibit the collection at the Hull International Photography Festival through October, as part of their emerging talent section. This was a great festival and featured the work of some amazing photographers, many of which I was fortunate enough to meet. I am also in talks with one of the main locations Gunby Hall and Gardens, and we are planning to exhibit the collection at Gunby when the house opens in the Spring, so the pictures will be able to be viewed in the rooms in which they were taken. And if this wasn’t enough, in September I submitted 36 of the images as a Craftsman panel to be judged by the Guild. This meant submitting 12 large mounted prints which were supported by a further 24 digital images and a product. My panel was judged and I couldn’t have been more delighted to become one of only about 18 people in the UK to be awarded this very prestigious qualification. I have just included a collage of my 6 “cluedo” models in this post, but if you want to know more about it you can see the whole collection here, and see the 12 images printed for my Craftsman panel here. Better still come to Gunby Hall when it opens and see the pictures in situ.
The other images that you will see here are of my commercial work from the last year and some personal projects working with models and photographing landscapes. I love the diversity of the commercial work that I get asked to do, especially when it is an opportunity for me to work closely with my clients and create beautiful and interesting photographs that showcase their business or their products. Over the last year I have photographed a group of women running their first park run, a fashion show in aid of cancer research, some food photography for Montebello restaurant, John Spendluffe school Prom, the Avenue Club member’s snooker club, a range of beautiful stamped cutlery and jewellery created by The Faded Nest. Two lots of puppets, firstly a performance of Penguinpig The Play, and then a puppetry workshop held by former Warhorse actor Joe Richardson. Some location advertising images for SXY a company that sells adult toys. Corporate head shots for the web design company Webstraxt. And several puppies – the world has gone cockapoo crazy (and sorely tempted me into getting another dog!). Plus there are some images here from a portfolio builder day that I attended at Woodchester mansion organised by Andrew Appleton. These are a great way to spend time with other photographers and get creative with models in fabulous locations. I also got to hang out with some photographer friends in the Lake District this autumn. We had a lovely few days chatting and relaxing, and of course taking photographs of the stunning scenery. These images are in my prints for sale pages and can be found here. And what could be better than our own stunning Lincolnshire scenery!
Having strong commercial imagery that conveys the right message is vital for businesses. If you want to chat about how we can work together to help your business contact me here.
