To Birmingham last week, where I had the pleasure of photographing the National Guardian’s Office ‘Freedom To Speak Up’  annual conference. The NGO was created in response to the Francis Report of 2013, which investigated the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, quite the scandal at the time.  Some very inspiring speakers and a great atmosphere, which you could feel was fostered by the culture within the organisation and what the delegates bought to the event in their roles as National Guardians ; engendering a culture of openness and ensuring NHS workers can speak up.  

As well as the standard speaker shots..

 I added some foreground sparkle with some strategically placed glass water bottles lit by my iPhone. At conferences & events I’m always looking to give clients the option of something a bit different.

Thanks to Harrogate Water for their diamond cut bottles! 💎 🙂

As a London based headshot and portrait photographer, It’s my job to relax the subject to capture their best look, as many people (me included!) can be nervous and tense in front of a camera. Especially when confronted with the lighting array that professional photographers often use for a uniform look. It is after all quite an unnatural situation; a bit akin to speed dating, except I have a camera! Towards the more corporate end of headshot photography, there’s usually not too much leeway for fun images; professional, relaxed and engaging is more the tone. So it was a fun day working with the staff at this large removals company where they wanted to do something a bit different.

Some of the staff were very reluctant to be photographed at all, let alone strike a pose with a prop, but we worked through that to create a fun set of staff headshot images. If you’d like professional staff headshots for your business, please get in touch and let’s discuss. You don’t have to throw papers in the air unless you want to 🙂.

To the races last Saturday, for Frankie Dettori’s swansong appearance on UK soil at Btish Champions Day at Ascot. A PR job for Great British Racing, where members of the public could re-enact his trademark flying dismount (with varying degrees of success!), though some people opted for a more sedate pose. This job had lots of potential banana skins; from high voltage flash, off camera, in the rain (more about that below), inebriated race goers (no, for the third time,  you can’t sit on the horse!), plus we had to get ‘jump at your own risk’ waivers and  emailed out over 170 pics to the participants, all with no hitches. About the only thing that went wrong was me breaking down on the way to Ascot - still made it on time. Phew!    Here are some of my favourites from the day.

The Great British Public were a really fun bunch to work with on the day, and a surprising diversity of racegoers. 

We’d already done a version  of this PR activation on the Southbank, the previous week, where Dettori gave interviews and of course showed us how it’s done (photo on my homepage)

Both times, I used a studio style setup of off-camera flash using umbrellas, really helps help the pictures pop. You can’t rely on the the sun to make an appearance in the UK at any time of year, let alone October, and even then, I had limited control over orientation of the setup, and even then then, the Sun as a light source is not very controllable, so lighting it with flash was the only way to go. Predictably, we had rain both at the Southbank and at Ascot, from a fine drizzle, to passing but more than just light showers. Supermarket food roasting bags my go to for protecting the flash heads (and anyone touching them!) from the wet - heatproof, lightweight, colour neutral and cheap! With a belt and braces buggy parasol that I waterproofed for further protection over the main light. The light stands were then cable tied to the perimeter guard rail, which made this  a safe and secure solution to off camera lighting in a public space. Free standing lighting, however well weighted  and marked with hazard tape would have made me very nervous for the health& safety implications, and simply wasn’t an option, regardless of, add to that, the fact that as expected, there was more than a few boisterous groups well into their 3rd of 4th pint/bottle of champagne. In events photography, it’s par for the course that alcohol enters the mix for both business and private parties work, but people don’t imbibe they way some do when they’re off out out for a day at the races. Add to this they’d be jumping on a trampoline… There’s an approach you can take to ground the inebriated in what sobriety they can find within which I had to employ a few times, and it worked well enough that we didn’t have to turn anyone away, even if they ended up posing with the horse instead of flying through the air.

Very happy with how these images turned out, and after several weeks of planning, zoom calls and thinking through set up, workflow and problem solving, to finally say, farewell Frankie.

As a London based event photographer, I’ve worked at many iconic Central London venues. From museums & guild halls, to sports stadiums & concert halls, crypts (not great light!) and even afloat on the thames. But of them all, perhaps the best views are from The Shard,  Aqua on the 31st floor to be exact. 

With a brief to shoot candid and unobtrusive images, for a city law firm’s summer party, event photography can be tricky when there’s little to no natural light, and no useful ceilings to bounce flash from. Experienced event photographers know the tricks to work around this, and catch the best moments of guests enjoying the event.

… but star of the show at this event has to be the view.

London by night shines bright! More pics here.

Meet Ruby.
A French Bulldog / Staff cross, and Head of Security at Friedrich Events , my talented twin sisters events design & production company. You might find some of my pics on her site.

I dog-sit her from time to time (Ruby, not my sister), she’s too adorable not to share this pic.

I regularly photograph the occasional wedding, for friends and friends of friends. Vicky & Jay’s was a small informal affair at Marylebone Registry Office, just down the road from me at The Old Marylebone Town Hall, Marylebone Road NW1. Here’s a few pics from the day. 

Congrats Vicky & Jay!

Walking through London between conference & events jobs, there’s often buildings and cityscapes I’d like to photograph, but as camera kit all packed away and an edit to finish, I mostly don’t stop. So I’ve started taking one camera + lens out on local walks, or just to the shops and back. Here’s a few taken around my immediate neighbourhood. Brutalist (and not so brutal) architecture in London WC1

The SOAS building:

The Brunswick Centre:

The Imperial Hotel, Russell Square (now under renovation!)

Nice to be photographing some outdoor events through another warm English summer. Sometimes a little too warm in London, but that didn’t stop the officers and families of the City of London Police enjoying a Family Funday in Guildhall Yard. Cadets on parade, face painting & various modes of transport,  both two wheeled and four legged were among some of the activities on offer

And while lugging up to 20kgs of camera equipment to jobs in the summer heat is sometimes a bit sweaty, hats off to the City of London Police officers in their black uniforms, along with stab vest, and then all the kit they carry..

.. some anon’ pics of officers on duty to fulfil the brief - 

Though it’s traditionally a fairly quiet time of year for events work, been pretty busy shooting speakers, delegates etc these last few months, but here’s something more fun 🙂 . A 4th Birthday Party with some gender reveal confetti thrown in for good measure. Love shooting private client celebrations 🥳

Happy Birthday Yohan!

A suitably festive job photographing one of  Hannah Brine’s Choirs Christmas Recitals in a church in Hackney. 

The beauty of many voices in harmony in a space made for that sound.. there’s magic there. 

The capabilities of todays mirrorless cameras means you can capture images in low light situations which simply wouldn’t of been possible not so long ago.

The choirs are inclusive and non audition, and sounded amazing. I liked it so much I’ve joined Finsbury Park Singers for the next term. See you in 2023 Hannah

A Happy Christmas, and a peaceful, prosperous and harmonious New Year to one and all x

Feeling a little Felty? The Doctor will see you now,

Pop Up shop Felt ‘R” US in the Brunswick Centre, WC1 through to Xmas Eve, when the rozzers will come and shut it down, if a copyright infringement doesn’t first.

Amazing work by @SewYourSoul , looks (almost) good enough to eat

Busy with conference & event photography this month, here’s a few from a recent corporate event in Central London. 2nd camera shooting pick up shots so nothing from the main hall!

All over London (and Romford!) recently to photograph Police Constables nominated for bravery awards. Some fairly harrowing tales as to some of their nominations, hats off (and caps on) to them all.

Twenty years ago my good friend Alex started a man and a van removals service, so it was a pleasure to be at the opening of his new Heathrow warehouse and see his removals and storage business thriving, along with the great and the good of the industry and their local MP Ruth Cadbury. Artist Penny Linton cut the ribbon and unveiled her artwork, to bring some colour to the warehouse. Happy 20 years Alex!

After the majority of 2020-21 with work coming to a standstill for long periods, how appropriate to (finally!) update the blog with a few pics from a recent shoot of a Covid-19 mobile testing facility for Film & TV, an industry where rigorous testing protocols still apply. A whole new industry has sprung up on the back of the pandemic. 

Took me a while, but now taking Instagram for a spin. All personal work, mostly iPhone, so follow me to see what I see… now available in colour :) .

With Party Conference season in full swing, and PM Theresa May due to give her headline speech in Manchester today, I’ve been digging through my archives.  It’s been over 12 years since I spent an hour with her out on the general election campaign trail in her Windsor constituency  (converted to mono for that retro news pic feel!). She was a lowly Shadow Secretary of State when I took these for The Times news pages, back when I did more newspaper work. Blair’s ‘New’ Labour was returned with a comfortable, albeit vastly reduced majority, for his 3rd term as PM. The result was never really in doubt, and I remember thinking at the time that May was of a generation of Tories that, by the time they next see power, would have shuffled off to the House of Lords and private sector consultancy work.. turns out what do I know?!

In these days of ubiquitous video content, yesterday’s front pages are a tragic reminder of the power a still image still has to influence public opinion and consequently government policy.

As well as my commissioned work, I have a small selection of images in various stock libraries. Pleased to see some of my weekend work featured in Picfair’s pic of the week. An image of skydivers from inside the plane, just before jumping into a Kenyan sunset… good times!

See all my stock images on alamy.com and a smaller selection now with picfair.com. A mixed bag of skydiving, travel, education and news images (all available to licence!).

To Margate last Friday for Dreamland, the UK’s original seaside pleasure park which re-opened to the public, for all the fun of the fair!

Round and round on the swings:

..and rockets..:

Then while Vic Reeves did a stint on the hook-a-duck stall..

I went round and round on the gallopers with his wife Nancy and their adorable twin daughters..

..then after some more round and round as well as some up and down..

Everybody went home for tea, tired but happy.

Enjoying my work covering events for The Guardian - I get to hear some really interesting discussions and debates on everything from Is free will an illusion? with Will Self and John Gray, to last night, Gilbert & George discussing their work with Hans Ulrich Obrist. Often briefed to get a portrait of the participants, given the time and locations available that’s not always easy… here’s a portrait of George Monbiot and George Marshall who discussed Climate Change recently at Kings Place, London. They were kind enough to give me enough time to take them outside (5 minutes - including travel!), so we found a side alley and we made this portrait.

Photographed a VIP preview at The Natural History Museum last week, styled by my talented and generally wonderful sister at Friedrich Events. Here’s some detail from the tables in the drinks reception area, echoing the title of exhibition; Coral Reefs. Being the Natural History Museum, maybe a dinosaur crept in too…

On a visit to see a newly built Healthcare Centre in the London Borough of Merton, Lord (Earl) Howe drops in for tea on a local service user to hear of her positive experience. Extra biscuits all round!!

A bit more competitive than a kickabout actually, at Street League’s annual 5-a-side fundraising tournament last week. 20 teams from the banks and financial organisations in Canary Wharf competed in a knockout competiton for kudos and the chance to have the trophy presented to them by surprise guest and Arsenal legend Lee Dixon. Great to meet him and hear stories from the glory days… :) High intensity work shooting all the matches, team shots and set-ups required, all under challenging sports centre lighting.