Leicester

Raising Funds For The Fire Fighters Charity

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Lancaster Road Fire Station, Leicester.

Recently I’ve been collaborating with Firefighters from Leicestershire Fire Service to produce a jigsaw puzzle of the historical central fire station at Lancaster Road in Leicester.

In connection with my latest photographic project where I’m touring the county of Leicestershire to document people and place in a bid to cover the entire county recording life as it is today for future generations to refer back to historically. I’ve collaborating with the Firefighters to create a photographic jigsaw puzzle for the purposes of creating awareness and raising funds for The Fire Fighters Charity.

Lancaster Road Fire Station, Leicester - 500 & 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

The jigsaw puzzles have began their production journey, which starts with the idea, going out to make the actual photograph, which took three attempts at getting the composition right, the light and positioning of the appliances. Then the photograph goes through post production to ensure the colour and presentation is suitable before sending to my suppliers who then design the boxes.

Although on this occasion there’s been the added communication with the Firefighters and The Fire Fighters Charity.

The prints are then made and pressed on to a 1.5mm puzzle board before being cut in to the individual shapes. The puzzle pieces are then bagged and sealed, put in to the right boxes and then shipped to me for distribution to you.

This process takes an average of 4 weeks.

The Fire Fighters Charity provide confidential, personalised support to the whole of the fire services community, delivering mental health, physical health and social wellbeing services at their centres, remotely, online and in communities around the UK. Championing the health and wellbeing of all those they support - serving, retired or dependant - They exist to support all fire and rescue service personnel, whatever their role in the service. They’re also here for all those who have retired, as well as for spouses and qualifying dependants.

The Fire Fighters Charity provide confidential, personalised support to the whole of the fire services community, delivering mental health, physical health and social wellbeing services at their centres, remotely, online and in communities around the UK. Championing the health and wellbeing of all those they support - serving, retired or dependant - They exist to support all fire and rescue service personnel, whatever their role in the service. They’re also here for all those who have retired, as well as for spouses and qualifying dependants.

I’ve started off by ordering a small quantity to test the market - 10 x 500 pieces and 20 x 1,000 pieces.

I fully expect the first batch to have sold out long before the puzzles arrive. I will of course be ordering more but each time a new order is placed, it can take a while before I get to see stable stock. So it’s recommended that if you would like one of these jigsaw puzzles, then please get your order in asap.

The puzzles come out during my Spring/Summer sale where all puzzles are £20, which includes a £2 donation towards The Fire Fighters Charity.

If you’re feeling generous, you can pay £23 for the puzzle where you’ll also get a free postcard of Lancaster Road Fire Station and £5 will be donated towards the cause.

Place your order for a jigsaw puzzle using the product link below…

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500 & 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle - Lancaster Road Fire Station
£20.00 £25.00
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Project

using photography

Photography Adventures

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Immersing in Photography

Photography is so yesterday

Surreal Photography Art

I covered a roof top party for Mode Transport Planning at their head offices in Birmingham during the Summer and towards the end of the night, my wife Lisa discovered these cool stairs.  This week I hand delivered a framed print for them and was proud to hang it on the wall in their office.

Mode Transport Planning
Mode transport Planning

I've managed to raise £1500 for a photographic project around my home town, involving 60 local business owners.  The project is to create environmental portraits of each self employed business owner. 

I'm running a niche workshop on Monday evening, creating low light urban photographs.

The documentary styled short I've been working on for Diabetes UK is finished and we're awaiting news of a release date.  I'm looking forwards to sharing this with you, it's been one of my favourite assignments this year.

I can't forget graduating from university as a mature student this year.  Studying photography has been a long old slog in the establishments.  I've loved every minute of it, even the minutes I wasn't that tickled about.

Bradgate Park Leicestershire

Bradgate Park Leicestershire

I've enjoyed getting creative with my camera, learning to create photographs out of the ordinary that make me feel good about them.  Most of the time, just for the hell of it.

Old John, Bradgate Park, Leicestershire

Old John, Bradgate Park, Leicestershire

Jigsaw Man, Steven Faulkner

Jigsaw Man, Steven Faulkner

Danger High Voltage from the series 'Sublunary 1'

Danger High Voltage from the series 'Sublunary 1'

I'm working on getting some of my best work printed and made available in my online shop.

Why is your business headshot / portrait so important?

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Professional corporate headshots / portraiture helps to put a face to your business and makes you and your employees appear human to your customers.

corporate headshots / portraiture, Leicestershire

Your image 

is so important in business

Did you know that when your customers view your website and come across photographs of the staff, the information they can get from a simple headshot is initially your look, style, type, age, occupation, professionalism, socioeconomic status, personality traits, and of course your brand, you're the brand!

So as you'd imagine it's pretty important to get it right and project the right image to prospective customers and those that already work with your business.

Some people might take their own photos and convince themselves that it looks good and if they've been trained professionally in the visual language of photography, there could be a good chance that it is but usually it isn't.

You often get photographers in my industry that haven't actually trained or qualified in photography, have just bought a camera and then watched some Youtube videos! That puts them on the same level as you, so why should you pay someone like that?  Is that what you think of your professional image and your beloved business?  

Cutting corners is always bad news in any industry.  Image making is no different.

If saving money is your goal, try to reverse your thinking.  Make yourself look more professional, get more work, make more sales and put extra money in your pocket.  That's the same as saving isn't it?  Perhaps better than holding what you have and collecting more instead!

Put the extra effort in to you!

Contact me to discuss my corporate headshot / portraiture service.

  • I have a fixed studio in the town centre of Hinckley, Leicestershire.
  • I have a portable studio and portable professional lighting if you want me to come to your business.
  • I'm qualified, have a Level three, HND and BA Hons degree in Photography & video.
  • I'm experienced and have a long list of incredibly prestigious clients of all sizes.
  • I have solid reviews, awards and fantastic reputation.

Here's some quotes from my clients:

“Our company has used Paul Hands Photography on two occasions now; the photographs produced have been exceptional quality and Paul really helped our staff feel relaxed in order to achieve some really professional looking staff portraits. We will continue to use Paul Hands for his portrait services and in addition we have instructed some bespoke commissions in relation to obtaining high quality material for our website. ”
— David Frisby, Mode Transport Planning
“We used the photographic services of Paul Hands for our Corporate Staff Photographs. We required photos for our new website. Paul was recruited as a last minute booking and he could not have been more accommodating. His attention to detail was a comfort as a client and we received great customer service. On the two days of shooting he was very professional and brought out the smile in every member of staff in his own unique way (a lego car and a gingerbread man helped with this too but I won’t let any further details slip and ruin his secrets to getting you smiling). We had the photographs returned to us within a matter of days and Paul had put each set of photo’s into individual files, per staff member, for ease of reference for us. These little bits of attention to detail really make the difference. The quality of the photographs were crisp and clear and were exactly what we were looking for. We would thoroughly recommend Paul’s services to anybody looking for a photographer, he is fantastic!”
— Rosie Iliffe, Stuart Fletcher & Barrett Wealth Management
Corporate Headshots / portraiture, Leicestershire

This is me, hi

I'm Paul Hands

Let's do business together, contact me using the link below.

A Commercial Film Production To Remember

I was booked by Diabetes UK to produce a commercial film, a trailer and a series of documentary style photographs.  They came to me because they wanted the natural candid feel that I often produce. They wanted a sense of fun to help promote their Type 1 events to the children and parents who have to endure type one diabetes on a daily basis.

I jumped at the chance because I felt that working with such a genuine and helpful charity is how I want my business to be seen.  I always offer a generous discount to charities.  This opportunity was to work a a large group of 8-10 year olds who all have type 1 diabetes and these events are designed to help the children learn to manage the diabetes on their own, and to continue to enjoy a normal, healthy and active lifestyle.

They attend without their parents and love every minute of it!

Shooting this film and producing the documentary is up there with the best commercial project I've been commissioned to do.  The children were an inspiration and genuinely warmed my heart.

I'm currently at the proofing stage and won't be able to release the film until it has been finalised but rest assured, as soon as it is, I'll be sharing it here.

Maybe a sneak peak at one of the pictures...

You can click through the logos for Diabetes to go to their website and learn more information.

If you'd like to enquire about commissioning me for other assignments, please contact me here.

The Ghost of Old John, Bradgate Park

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Bradgate Park's ghost of Old John has been caught on camera!

I went out to Bradgate Park in Leicestershire last night to make some photographs of the Persiedes meteor shower, but as usual I became distracted with making my own different set of  photographs.

There must have been around 30 other photographers on the hill and all pointing their cameras towards Old John and the night sky.  If I had set my camera up in line with them, all of our photographs would have all looked the same.  I checked the backs of some of their cameras and some shots had caught meteors but no land, just sky, stars and a meteor.  I felt that the interest there was lost within seconds of saying 'Oh yes, a meteor'!

I couldn't stand in front of them to get a different composition, so I spent some time observing them making their pictures and then stepped back to design my own, carefully ensuring that not one of those photographers could make or replicate mine.  I decided to not collect any photographs of the meteors because I'd already done it before and I needed different pictures to everyone else on the hill.

It's probably the very thing that has stopped me from visiting this place at night to make photographs in the past, I really don't want to make the same pictures as everyone else.  

Hopefully, I've achieved that, what do you think?

If you'd like to look at more of my work, try starting with my personal work.

You can subscribe to my newsletter to receive my blog directly via email.

If you'd like to chat with me about my work, please feel free to contact me.

An Alien Invasion

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A series of metaphorical, futuristic landscape photographs based on an imaginary alien invasion of the planet Earth.

I've spent the last 9 months creating this body of work and now I'm publicly publishing the results.  The work is not finished and will be continued throughout my career but this current collection is now ready for the first exhibition.

The challenge for this project has been finding locations and objects that fit within my criteria and also hold that metaphorical 'Je Ne Said Quoi'!

I now have a selection of images that can tell my imaginary story and are fit for purpose with regards to being hung in an exhibition spanning across two venues; Free Range at The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in London and De Montfort University in Leicester, both in June 2017.

This short stills film is pat of my submission and displays a series of the photographs made for this project, together with my own vocal narration and a series of sound effects.

You can see the stills from this film exhibited at the above mentioned exhibitions in June, which I will be notifying you about closer to the time.

Please watch and leave a comment on your thoughts because I've put so much effort in to making this, it would be great to hear your thoughts.

I will be part of a larger collective show that will see the students from De Montfort University's Photography and Video Ba Hons degree come together to exhibit and show off their talents, as a culmination of three years of studying the worlds best photographers and videographers and being lectured by some of the key figures in the industry today, like Laura McGregor, Nick Locket, Neil Dyson, Su Ansell, Dr Mike Simmons, Lala Meredith, Dave Soden, Martin Shakeshaft and visiting professor Paul Hill.

Exhibition Dates:

De Montfort University, Vijay Patel Building, Leicester, LE1 9BH 

17/6/17 - 22/6/17

Private View - 16/6/17 

 

Free Range, The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL  

22/6/17 - 26/6/17

Private View - 22/6/17 6-10pm

If you'd like to be invited to the private view where hopefully there will be an opportunity to meet all of the artists, have a drink and some grub, then please drop me a line using this link.

UBL 17 Fight Photographs from The Athena

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Welcome to the home of the boxing photographs from UBL 17 at The Athena in Leicester.

This page on my website has been specifically dedicated to the huge collection of photographs, from the unlicensed fighting that goes on between some of the hardest men in Britain.

To view the pictures, simply click on the photograph, then choose the fight collection that you wish to look through.  You will even have the option to buy and have a bespoke book designed for you as well prints and a dvd slideshow with music.  You can do this directly through my website.  Payments are secured and guaranteed through Stripe.

 

Professional Photographer Leicester, Leicestershire, Hinckley, Nuneaton, Coventry, Birmingham, Warwickshire, Midlands, England, UK, United Kingdom, Great Britain.

Commercial, Business, PR, Public Relations, Landscape, Street Photography and Documentary photographer available for commissions.

UBL 17 Highlights

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Boxing Photographs, Leicestershire, Midlands

What an incredible night of unlicensed fighting.  A large group of hardened men avoid going completely underground to fight on the shows put on by Gypsy Jerry Gorman and Elvis Hopkins who runs Kings Gym in Leicester.

The shows are that good, there'll be no time wasted on idle chat.

Watch this slideshow mother fucker...

Oh, and turn your volume up!

Tough hardened fighting men go to war against each other in an unlicensed night of brutal gloved boxing bouts. Jerry Gorman and Elvis Hopkins of Kings Gym in Leicester put on such a good show that only viewing it will tell you what it's about. So get on with it...

UBL 16 Top 10 Pictures So far...

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I left The Athena on Saturday night with over 2000 pictures, after a very heavy session photographing the boxing matches for UBL (ran by Gorman & Hopkins Promotions).

I've been working on the post production all day, since waking up until now - 22:48.  I'm turning off the Mac now, my eyes are now 6x4".

Before I do, I felt there are some photographs created at the show that just cannot remain unseen.  They do belong to albums from each fight and can be found on my Paul Hands Photographer & Filmmaker Facebook page here.

However, to find these hidden works of art, you'd have to trawl through the fights, unless you've decided to visit this blog.  Here's my top ten photographs from the 7 fights that I've worked on today.  There will of course be another 11 fights to come over the next couple of weeks but for the time being, have a look at these and check out my explanations as to why I think they're in my top ten.

If you click on the pictures to enlarge them, hover the cursor over the picture and my explanation for why these have made my top ten will appear.

Modern, Deep, Distraction

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This is a a triptych of images concentrating on how the light trails from aeroplanes zip through the night sky like meteors from outer space.  

My intention was to create an abstract series using these light trails to add drama to what would normally be perceived as a boring picture.  

Gazing deep in to the night sky, considering all things universal and with the interruption of human progress and the modern technology of today's transportation, as a distraction.  

These pictures serve as a metaphor for how modern humanity has become obsessed with science and technology. 

 

This link below will take you to the website of my long running social documentary of Hinckley & Bosworth District.