Winter swans

Happy Festive season

Okay so it's all but over... but lets not think about that!

A frozen Serpentine

Fees Demo 2

Above: A policeman, who was knocked to the ground unconscious by an object hitting his helmet, is caught in a camera flash.

All in all it was hard demo to cover; bitterly cold, fading light and plenty of things to keep your eyes open for. I'll be better prepared if there's another one!

Fees Demo

Here's one from the fees demo last week - I didn't get an awful lot but I'll chuck some up as and when I get round to editing them. Have lot of other things on my plate at the mo...

Portrait of fishmonger, Grimsby

This was a portrait I took in Grimsby, up on the east coast of England, whilst on assignment for the Guardian a few months back. It's a David Atkinson, a fishmonger who's smoking Haddock in old stack chimneys.

main·te·nance {noun}

Just a short note to say that the blog is undergoing some much needed updates and maintenance work so please excuse the appearance for the time being. Unfortunately it's come at the same time as I'm trying to set up 2 x 8TB archive system, a complete website and archive overhaul, having to do a two travel assignment...oh and a little matter of Christmas shopping. It never rains it pours! Nevertheless normal service will hopefully be resuming by the end of the week.

Recent Tearsheet: Markel

Recent randomness

Shots on set: The Downbeat

I've finally got round to watching the epic Paris Texas by Wim Wenders. As I was contemplating the cinematography it jolted my memory of a short movie I shot on set for about this time last year. The film, The Downbeat, was directed by James Hills with Laurence Blyth as the DP. It's always felt a bit strange shooting stills on set as it almost seemed like you were stealing someone else's set up and lighting skills! But I guess like any aspect of the film and tv industry it's a collaborative creative effort. Plus I soon realised being a set photographer can be great fun but at the same time, pretty grueling work.

AP

AP in London, fresh back from Chile

Talk at Belast Exposed

A snapshot from the talk at Belfast Exposed last week. If you're ever in Belfast do check out the gallery and if you're based there and interested in photography, have a look at the interesting training programmes they run.

lights - Belfast

How much wood could a wood chopper chop

....if a wood chopper could chop wood? And how much if he had jedi skills?

Photo: Adam P
Misleading photo placement: me

Recent Tearsheet - Michael Warren, COO UK General

Result of a 20 minute set-up in a fairly featureless boardroom - it's one saving grace, a coloured wall!

Easy Tiger!

On the way home the other night, after a jaunt in town, I spotted a tiger, two in fact. It then transpired that I went to school with one of them. Strange when things like that happen. At least the next morning the photo proved I hadn't imagined it...

St Paul's Cathedral, London

Another photo mutilation from the Polaroid 600SE

Recent Tearsheets

Two recent portraits, Mike Smith (top) of INK insurers and below Jonthan Davey, Keychoice Underwriting's MD. Mike was 7ft tall (see below) - and my manfrotto nano stand, which I tend to favour when working alone on location had a hard time throwing lighting onto him!

Recent Tearsheet: Sean Holmes, Time Out

Sean Holmes, Theatre Director at the Lyric Hammersmith. I think he was genuinely lost in thought in this photo being that it was a few days before the show was due to open they'd had major drama on set with part of it falling off the stage! The morning I went to take the photo was the morning it had been discovered. Considering all that was going on, he was very pleasant to work with.

Andrew

London cyclists

Margate

All together now...'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....'

Geek Calender 2010-2011 - Libel Reform

A few months ago I got asked by a friend of mine if I'd like to be involved in a charity calendar that was aimed at raising money for Libel Reform in the UK. I was working alongside a photographer from the Wellcome Trust, Ben Gilbert, and between us we photographed 18 ‘geeks’ for the calendar – all well known personalities within their various fields.
It went surprisingly well considering there was no budget to work with and most people on the team were having to fit this around their day jobs. However they all did a great job and the calendar was officially released last week, receiving coverage both on the Guardian and Telegraph websites along with a lot of general interest and a huge turnout at their launch party.

The geeks I was tasked with photographing were an interesting and varied bunch. The tech guru Dr. Aleks Krotoski started things off for me with a shoot at the Guardian multimedia offices. She was great fun to work with, but it was rather odd at the same time because I remember having a little crush on her when she presented ‘Bits’ on Channel 4 in the late 90’s. Anyway she humoured my photographic demands and was great to work with. Next came Brian Cox and Gia Milinovich - we arrived in the middle of them moving house and having to look after their little one, so the picture actually nicely reflected how chaotic it felt. The cat is actually staring intently at softbox probably wondering what the hell it is. We managed to stink out their kitchen with burn toast. They were shortly followed by the comedian Chris Addison – whom we photographed at the Wellcome Trust building, in the green room (props were mostly his own…). Again great fun to work with – and game for playing up for the picture, whilst also bringing out fantastically geeky facts throughout the shoot. Thirdly I worked with sex therapist Dr Petra Boynton whom we photographed at the Crossbones cemetery site in Southwark, South London. This was a fascinating part of London somewhat unknown – it’s basically an unconsecrated graveyard dating back to medieval times and mainly filled with the bones of prostitutes who worked in the Bankside’s legalized brothels or ‘stews’ (read more here). Dr Petra’s sensitive work with women in a similar field today made it a relevant backdrop. However diving out of the way of cars every five minutes made it quite tiring. Last but not least I had the pleasure of photographing Jonathan Ross at his home in North London – believe or not this is his office and it contains a rather crazy collection of comic book paraphernalia. Some members of the team had a hard time not getting too overexcited by some of this – sadly a lot of it was lost on me – his camera collection however wasn’t, and I did get a little bit jealous. He was a consummate professional to work with and generous with his time and energy – plus he had us all in fits of laughter throughout.This is the finished calendar below and I urge anyone interested in science, media and the like to pledge their support and buy a copy - it's a thing of beauty; put together Cosima Dinkel a great graphic designer. Libel Reform is very worthy cause and something that will have profound effects on this country in the future - you can read more about it all here. If you’re interested in seeing more behind the scenes from the shoot then check out the images on flickr here.

On the high seas...

I was very lucky to get the chance recently to be part of a crew sailing a 72ft Challenger Yacht - we were on board for a few days and took the boat across to France and the Channel Islands. There was a magic moment when I was helming the boat off the French coast when a school of dolphins joined us off the port side - obviously I couldn't take a photo as I had to keep both hands on the wheel! I took my Rollei (the black and white shots) and digital but it was hard finding time to grab the camera and bring them up on deck. Anyway above's a little montage I made.

Recent Tearsheet: Design Principles

Recently had this portrait used in a book called Basics Creative Photography: Design Principles published by AVA Academia...in all good bookshops now!

New Toy: Polaroid 600SE

Anyone who is a regular reader of this blog will know that I have an unhealthy penchant for old cameras, especially ones of an instant nature. I’ve been longing after a particular camera, the Polaroid 600SE, for quite awhile and I recently lucky enough to pick one up online. I partly blame James Bowden for reigniting this idea with his great polaroid snaps that appear on the blog every now and then
However it was first triggered when I had my portrait taken by this chap in Damascus. I sadly haven’t got the Polaroid anymore more but I remember which had a lens cap with quarter removed this allowing him to take 4 separate images on one sheet – it gave a nice if slightly kitsch Martin Parr-esque portrait. Apart from one old packet of Polaroid I’ve only really had a chance to test it with Fuji’s own instant pack film. If anyone knows where’s a good place to pick them up the old film I’d love to hear from you. In the meantime respect to see some pics being posted it.