Personal // Benjamins of Beni

I shot this series a couple of years ago in the town of Beni, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. I was there on a NGO job and started to notice the art work on these money changers stalls, portrait of Benjamin Franklin. One day, when we didn't have anything else scheduled in, I was able to head off with my fixer and start photographing some of these places. After about half an hour of shooting two plain clothes 'police' on a scooter pulled up and started giving us hassle, so we spent the next half an hour trying to extricate ourselves from two chancers who were clearly looking for a bribe. Ever since then these images have just been sat on my hard drive so I thought it was high time I got them up on here. 

Assignment: Household Cavalry

To this story in it's entirety you can find it on the website here

Assignment: Breitling Jets

Client: Gentlemans Journal
Subject: Breitling Jets

This was one of those dream assignments involving some very photogenic elements and a free flight in an L-39 Albatross jet. So I can now tick that off my bucket list. The French pilots were great to work with, super professional but up for trying things out. They were a little concerned I would be sick in the back of the plane - thankfully I held down my croissants and coffee, even whilst pulling barrel rolls at 5G.

You can see the whole story up on the website here

Portrait // Carlos Magdalena

A portrait of the botanist Carlos Magdalena photographed at his work place in Kew Gardens. Carlos is a fascinating guy with an encyclopaedic knowledge of plants. He's one of those people where I just wanted to put the camera down and have a pint and a good old chat. Before we photographed him, he had to talk with two journalists. I watched the light get better and better in the greenhouses and then begin to fade. I waited over three hours before I could finally shoot him, at which point the light was completely gone. All I could do was try and create some drama with my own lighting.

Work // Tahnee Seagrave, Redbulletin

Client: RedBulletin

Assistant: Sam McElwee

Hair and Make Up: Katie Beveridge

Beginning of the year I was sent to North Wales to photograph the very talented British mountain bike rider, Tahnee Seagrave, riding her local trails. We had to shoot a cover portrait for the magazine and then a feature up on the trails. We spent a lot of timing setting up lighting and trying a lot of different set-ups for the portrait, with Katie doing some amazing 'fake mud' for the photo - in the end we shot a few frames with natural light - and this what ended up being used. It was a wise choice - definitely felt the most genuine and I feel it's got a great energy to it. Classic case of having to exhaust other options first though. Day two fo the shoot we spent out on the trails - battling through rain and mud. Throughout it all Tahnee was a super accommodating athlete to work with. 

Assignment // Moto GP, Malaysia

Story: Moto GP, Malaysia
Client: Redbulletin

Interesting few days shooting the British rider Bradley Smith and the KTM team at the Penang racetrack in Malaysia for Redbulletin.

Here's how the images ran in the magazine