documentary photographer

Adapting As An Artist

July 31, 2019 in wedding photographer, wedding photography

To Adapt with changing times, understanding you need to change is the first step!

I’ve recently had to thoroughly scrutinise myself and my work to figure out how to use my skills for the good and benefit of everyone connected with me.

It’s quite a difficult thing to do, really look at yourself and work out where you’re going wrong, who you are and who you want to be etc. When you discover the bad parts about yourself, it kicks you in the gut but is great for an idea of where to start.

My work life wasn’t really going anywhere. I was picking up the odd job here and there but nothing solid enough to support my family and everything I do is to help them to survive. Our survival was coming in to question because of the lack of direction I had. I felt like I was letting them down, which I was and these alarm bells were ringing for me to take notice.

This is one of the very first photographs in the first portfolio I put together to get accepted on to a level three photography course at NWHC in 2012

Looking back to correct your ways.

There’s not a lot of point in looking backwards but you must remember the mistakes and don’t make them again. It’s how we all grow and the more mistakes we make, the more lessons we get and as long as we understand how to grow from those mistakes, it should be easy to pass through the lesson.

I’ve had to look back at my website because I've had a dry spell where I’ve had no work after working in temporary jobs through an agency. Some good jobs and some truly terrifying! Last week I came in to a bit of good fortune because a talented photographer Simon Turner hired me to second shoot for him at a wedding within the grounds of an old Granary deep in the countryside of Fawsley, Daventry called The Granary Hotel and Wedding Venue. That was awesome, although a real challenge with it being the hottest day of the year and the guests didn’t want to move much, nobody did!

This photograph is from one of my recent weddings. I love this picture because it offers some anonymity to those in the picture with their identities are not completely revealed and the photograph still tells you a story.

A Wedding Theme Developing.

I’ve had to look at where my talents lie in photography and it always boils down to street, documentary and the landscape / environment. Wedding photography requires the perfect combination of each of those genres because my street shooting experience keeps me on my toes, I’m alert to my whole surroundings, aware of the little stories developing around me as people live through their lives, interacting with each other.

Documentary style helps me to see where the stories are happening and know where and how to get the photograph without interfering with the scene (as little as possible anyway). The landscape and the environment is the stuff of features and backgrounds. My understanding of combining these skills to produce what I feel is my best work, is where I need to place my efforts.

My filmmaking is an entirely different entity with regards to weddings but it’s a talent that I need to develop.
So I’ve reshaped my entire website to represent myself as a documentary wedding photographer and storytelling filmmaker. I’ve placed my photographic practice in a personal box that can only be commissioned privately or for a wedding.

Ratcliffe On Soar Power Station. I made this while on the way home from photographing a family day with SSAFA (The Armed Forces Charity). This is the kind of image that I’ll be including in with my personal practice from now on.

New Website

With taking heed of my thoughts and desire to develop more as an artist, I’m placing my focus on documentary wedding photography and the production of promotional films. I’ll still be practicing photography as an artist but my main focus of my website is now aiming for employment. I have a family at home and a little girl that I intend on giving a good childhood to.

So if you’re familiar with my website, you’ll notice the stark differences.

I hope this new design works and does the job I’m trying to train it to do. Only time will tell.

This photograph forms part of a nationwide project I have been putting together for the past 12 months, The Quirky English Countryside. I’ll still be building projects like this for the good of my soul and the benefit of the wider community but mor… — This photograph forms part of a nationwide project I have been putting together for the past 12 months, The Quirky English Countryside. I’ll still be building projects like this for the good of my soul and the benefit of the wider community but more on a personal level.
Burbage, Hinckley, Leicestershire.

Please have a browse around my website, starting with my home page, which is where people will land when visiting my site and also let me know what you think and I’d love to hear if you find any typos or spelling mistakes.

Thanks for reading my blog.

What Can Street Photography Do To Help?

June 10, 2018 in Street Photography, Documentary Photography

Street Photography Skills Are Transferable

It's the hardest genre of photography to pick up!

Firstly, the genre of Street Photography is the single most difficult genre of photography to do, be good at and to practice because you're simply pointing your camera at strangers in the street. In today's society, people are becoming more and more aware of their image appearing on the internet and usually, object to having their picture made by a stranger on the street.

In this picture above, I noticed the man approaching this painting and realised that he looked incredibly similar. The moment happened in slow motion and I couldn't believe what was happening at the time. I was completely tuned in to the environment when I came across this scene in Artists Square in the Montmartre district of Paris. I had to make sure the exposure was right, using manual controls on my camera, get the focus in the right place, frame the shot and make the picture, all without being creepy, obvious and with respect.

I noticed this dog in the window, while scouting the centre of Birmingham, looking for street photographs and because there was a reflection in the window below, I had to position myself so that I wasn't in the picture as a reflection but wait until the right person passed the scene to get them in the picture. This was a necessity for the image because the general consensus for a street photograph to be classed as that, there needs to be a human element in the frame.

Most of the time a street photograph works best in black and white. There's an old saying that when you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes but when you photograph them in black and white, you photograph their souls. For a picture to work in colour, the colour in the picture has to matter. The colours in this picture (above) matter because they're quite striking and demand attention. In black and white, this picture would just be a very average one, even now, it's still an average picture by comparison to others work.

Where I've said that Street Photography skills are transferable, I'll explain. You see, to make a street photograph, you have to really tune into your environment, slow life down and watch humanity passing your eyes. You're effectively people watching but looking at the world and these people with an artistic eye. You look for meaning and a way of making sense of life. You have to be very quick with your camera too and learn to move unseen around the city. Using the skills of a street photographer, you can learn to apply them to a commercial setting. For example, I do a lot of documentary photography for my clients, telling real stories with my camera for promotional and positive reasons. I often get commissions that require my street photography skills because it tells a certain amount of truth as opposed to designing a photograph and this is a valuable commodity for certain organisations.

The above picture is purposefully blurred because it was made in Amsterdam and it was towards the end of the evening, with this demonstrating how I felt at the time. There's a human element and it's not close up but I've photographed the environment and placed a person for the human element within the frame.

This picture is also blurry and was made in the red light area of Amsterdam. The blur is from an intentional camera movement designed to create a hectic vibe in the picture. Its design is to create tension in the frame, to make the viewer feel the chaos of the night in that place.

I made the above picture in my hometown of Hinckley Leicestershire at the end of the LOROS Colour Fun Run. The light was low and casting long strong shadows. The floor was covered in paint powder from the race and it made an interesting picture. I stumbled across a child rolling around on the floor in the paint and loved the frame with the bollards, almost creating an invisible box.

The above picture was from the same fun run as the photograph before and catches a very unique moment in time where these three girls are holding hands passing through the place where they're doused in pain powder. The paint itself is flying through the air and offers strong evidence of time stopping. There's also an element of the environment in the top left corner for reference, it also provides context as opposed to the paint blocking out any visual reference as to where it is. These are strong skills that can be applied to photographs for a commercial setting, especially within the events genre.

So in essence, Street Photography skills are the hardest to acquire and learn. I remember the first time I pointed my camera at a stranger in the street. I was so worried that they'd be offended and it wasn't until I learned how to do this properly without them realising and even noticing me that my pictures started to work. It's all about getting close to the subjects and telling the real story or even making up your own. To make a picture instead of taking one is the difference. Anyone can take one but making one is the difficulty and why only some pictures work and others don't.

I don't shoot weddings anymore, I used to but fell out of love with it through some awkward clients being painfully interfering with the process. My point here is that if you shoot weddings, Street Photography can really help your style, it's how you need to shoot a wedding really. Once you've done all of the portraits and the time comes to make natural looking pictures of the guests and wedding party enjoying themselves, these skills come in very handily.

I've always found that by learning to shoot street, it's sped up my decision-making process and the way in which I think visually, happens so quickly now. I can only put this down to the skills being transferable.

Try it for yourselves.

PR Photographer, Midlands

May 01, 2018 in Professional Photographer, Public Relations Photogra

Public Relations Photography Midlands Service

All good leading brands need to self promote

How my PR photography service can help your brand?

I'll answer that question easily enough, I'm great with candid photography. I'm a street photographer at heart and this genre of photography is a very fast paced pictorial style that can't be done well by just anybody. The snapshot is often and incorrectly disregarded because of the quick nature in which they have to be created. It actually takes great craft, skill and observational techniques that can only be grown by a practicing and experienced photographer.

Sajid Javid (Home Secretary) & Phillip Hammond (Chancellor of the Exchequer) at Morris Homes, Leicester.

The story is always the important part of the picture and in the image above, Sajid Javid who was at the time of this photoshoot, was the Secretary of State and Phillip Hammond who is still the Chancellor of the Exchequer. They both visited Morris Homes in Leicester as part of a PR stunt aimed at boosting the new Homes England campaign by the government. In this picture Hammond and Javid spoke with house building apprentices in one of the show homes. They were genuinely interested in what the apprentices had to say.

I had to light this image with a speed light in order to bring out the details of the people with this being inside a fairly dark room (for photography). The PR shoot was mixed and based both inside and outside, with me moving quickly between environments. Many lighting factors had to be considered and worked around to get the images clean and crisp enough for professional usage.

Sajid Javid, Home Secretary, Public Relations Photography Shoot.

The above image was made outside and extra lighting wasn't required to get that candid feel. Lighting always make everything look staged. I was hired purposefully to create a documentary feel to the images.

David Treddinick Politician Hinckley & Bosworth MP

David Treddinick visited an event that was held by Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council at The Royal Arms in Sutton Cheney in the district of Hinckley & Bosworth. The event was a celebration and event for the tourism industry, filled with many local businesses in the district like Twycross Zoo, Bosworth Water Park and Tropical Birdland. I was hired at the last minute, and luckily I was available and always happy to cater for emergencies and urgent requirements.

Employees at JJ Churchill Aerospace Engineering Ltd.

I was hired by a marketing agency to provide some pr photographs, product shots and studio styled headshots of the Directors for JJ Churchill Aerospace Engineering in Market Bosworth. Churchill's required imagery for their website and also for some marketing material at a trade show. This was also a last minute booking and I was hired urgently with a premium request for the turnaround of the images within 24 hours. I provide an overnight service that helps companies complete their marketing needs at late notice and with precision.

Diabetes UK booked me to provide documentary styled images that could be used for public relations and to help push focus towards their charity, hopefully gaining support, donations and convince parents to pay for their children to attend their type one events.

What ever your visual requirements are, what ever your budget is and whether you need still or moving images. I can provide you a tailored service that gives you a service and product that meets your budget.

My diary is very busy but I do have spaces for new business, so if you have any pr photography requirements, then please don't hesitate to get in touch.

I also provide services for:

Website Imagery
Marketing Photographs
Public Relations
Moving Image
Documentary Photography and Filmmaking
Corporate Portraiture / Headshots
Landscape Photography
Street Photography

The best thing to do if you think you might be able to use my services is to make a note of my contact details and / or just get in touch now.

Contact Me

Photography Adventures

November 30, 2017 in Astrophotography, Documentary Photography

Immersing in Photography

Photography is so yesterday

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.

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.

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.

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.

Learn More

Commercial Documentary Photography - Diabetes UK

September 25, 2017 in Commercial Photography, Documentary Photography

Commercial Documentary Photography Midlands

Diabetes UK

Type One Events

Recently I was commissioned by Diabetes UK to produce a still and moving image documentary of their Type One Events so they could use the images in their 2018 marketing campaigns. The moving images were for a documentary film and a short trailer for social media.

I'm always grateful for every bit of work that I get along the way and this assignment was no different. In fact it was special to me because they chose me for my style of working and not because they just needed a photographer or filmmaker. Their marketing team found my website and preferred my work above most of the other photographers that they came across. So for me, this was special and encouraged me to really zone in on the assignment.

I can't show you the films yet because they're not allowed to be viewed until the proofing stage has been completed and I get the green light on the final production. It is for their 2018 marketing campaign as well so I have to be careful where I show the work.

Plus it needs a shed load doing to it in post production after the first proofing has been done.

What I can show you is a small selection of my favourite pictures from the Type One Event.

These events are for 8-10 year old children who all have type one diabetes and are designed to allow the children to experience life together, with other type one children, to feel normal and inclusive. They also learn easier ways to manage their intake of insulin in softer ways, so that they don't realise they're learning. You can get more information about Diabetes UK and their Type One Events by clicking on their logos below.

Working with the children for the day was so special and they gave me a real zest for life, just by being themselves. This helped me to be with them and make such a close body of work with the main brief being to work closely without interference, my speciality and no flash required...