1st November 08
Well the rest of October turned out to be really great with a couple new clients booking me for work. In particular I enjoyed the jobs I did for Inside Justice week, which involved local Magistrate's Courts doing talks, tours and mock trials for local school children and youth groups. I always enjoy work that involves kids, as I get a chance to capture some really natural shots and the young ones in particular seem to love the camera so it can be good fun. It was great to see the kids having a giggle putting their teachers 'in the dock' but at the same time learning some hard lessons about what happens when you break the law, and how the legal system plays its part - interesting stuff.

21st October 08
Latest pictures from En Passant magazine:

9th October 08
Well this last ten days I managed to squeeze in a trip to Florida and took a few pictures of the local wildlife......not what I usually get commissioned to shoot, but if anyone needs any bird pictures......just don't ask me to identify them............!





And a couple of random shots, just to make sure you're concentrating............





15th September 08
At the beginning of September I got the chance to photograph the incredibly charismatic chef, food consultant & publisher, Albert Roux, (brother of Michel and joint founder of La Gavroche, Britain's first Michelin-starred restaurant), who volunteered some very funny poses for me. I love it when I get to photograph someone in the public eye as they are used to being in front of the camera and not afraid to perform a little:



I also covered a champagne taster event and sampled amazing smoked salmon - er, I mean took great photos of people sampling amazing smoked salmon.......captured some more PR shots for The London Fire Brigade, did some headshots for a city firm and some brochure work for one of my regular clients in the electronic parts industry (I don't sound like I know what I am talking about? Well I am just sent there to take good photos, that's all.....)





31st August 08
Well the end of August saw another chance to capture the Notting Hill Carnival from the safety of The London Fire Brigade's float (see if you can spot me in one of the pictures), as well as a chance to photograph the nominees & winners from the Estates in Bloom competition from the summer (and pick up some top gardening tips). I also manage to get a great cover shot of the Managing Director of Soho House in London, playing with a Monopoly set, an image that captures the fact that he has a successful property portfolio. It's so great to get to see inside stunning venues - it's like 'Open House weekend' for me every month now!










21st August 08
Well it's been a busy couple of months and as a result I've not had much of a chance to update this page. As usual just before the summer slump - when everyone disappears off on holidays - the beginning of summer was a hive of activity and the range of work has been quite varied. Some of the jobs I've done over the last 10 weeks have included photographing gardens for the annual Estates in Bloom competition, taking pictures at Buckingham Palace of the Royal State Banquet set-up, doing a PR shoot of a rapper for The London Fire Brigade, documenting a youth conference in Chester, taking a number of actor/actress headshots at my new home studio, shooting a hotel brochure & indulging in some travel photography (for pleasure) in Majorca and Menorca, where I managed a well deserved holiday. Please do check out my new actor headshots section and have a look at some of the other images below:

4th June 08
After the glamour and glitz of the corporate world it was time to photograph a little day to day reality as we took to the streets of Lambeth to capture the essence of the great borough itself, including the local recycling team (a really great, laugh-a-minute bunch of guys), an estate nursery with adorable kids (I wanted to stay all day and play in the sand-pit, such fun!), a local health centre and the stalls, gardens and library around Waterloo.

Putting together a company brochure requires quite a bit of planning from both the client and myself, which is why I think these photos turned out so well. We had great staff happy to 'model' for us, access to amazing buildings and a corporative team to work with. We also had a comfortable schedule to get through everything so I had plenty of time to spend getting the best angles and working out the lighting below. I am looking forward to seeing how the designers pull together the brochure and work with the images.








And it's not all business people in suits, have a look at baby Dylan and tell me he doesn't make you go 'aah'. What an absolute delight to photograph, no arguing back, no telling me he doesn't want his picture taken, no need to check his wardrobe!!




A selection of photos from shoots featuring in this month's En Passant Magazine:




29th May 08
And sometimes it's not creativity or artistic flair you need, it's simply being able to spot those moments, capture them well, get the lighting and composition right within the conditions you've been given and simply capture the moments in order to document an event, meeting or conference and deliver solid pictures to the client....

22nd May 08
Last month for En Passant Magazine I had the privilege to photograph Robert Cook, CEO of Malmaison Hotel, which has a stunning reception area as you can see from the photos below. Robert was a great subject to photograph, very relaxed in front of the camera, which allowed me to take a varied style of photos.

21st May 08
What happens when two photographers get together? Yep you've guessed it, the camera's come out and it's time to have a shoot off! Here are some great pictures of Steve and his lovely camera below.

21st April 08
11 Million is the organisation led by the Children's Commissioner for England and I was asked to come along and photograph the launch party for their new website. The kids were all great fun and very happy to pose indeed, we had a good giggle doing the jumping shots in front of the logo board. I think they thought it was a new activity and after more then a dozen photos of all the kids waiting for their turn I had to put a stop to it and get back to photographing the actual event!!




5th April 08
Some recent pregnancy shots:

3rd April 08
Shoot in the daffodils.....let's take your office into the great outdoors!


28th March 08
Spring is supposed to be here and so I have been waiting patiently to get out in the warmer weather to shoot flowers and the like. But hmmm, it doesn't seem to have happened. The good news is the terrible weather has inspired me to update my indoor lighting kit and I now have a fully portable studio. Backdrops, mini lights and various stands.....all very exciting, perhaps not for you, but for me!

Latest shoots to take advantage of my news lights have included some of the shots below:




6th March 08
The London Fire Brigade have just launched a new initiative whereby Fire Engines will be equipped with defibrillators (used to revive people if they have a heart attack) and I went along to Vauxhall fire station, where they are piloting the scheme in their area.

24th February 08
Well I was quite excited last week to be asked by The London Fire Brigade to attend the official opening of their new head quarters by HRH The Queen with Prince Philip accompanying her. My brief was to capture the 'walk-around' so that LFB had good photographic documentation of the event. Rules were very strict but I enjoyed the privilege of being one of only two photographs actually allowed to follow her throughout the tour.

4th February 08
Here is a selection from this month's edition of En Passant magazine, the hospitality magazine, which I am the contributing photographer for:

1st February 08
There is nothing more natural and amazing than pregnancy and motherhood and to celebrate this fact I have started taking pregnancy portraits, inspired by the recent baby boom amongst my peers. Soon I plan to put up an online gallery of pregnancy work and offer this specialist portrait photography as one of my services. I am fortunate in that I have a very dear friend who is over seven months pregnant and was willing to pose for me. Here are the results:

21st January 08
The photos below were part of a two day shoot, which involved covering a lot of ground! The brief was to capture a number of locations all over the borough, with a mixture of natural shots showing people at work or play and some environmental portraiture of the people that worked at the places. All the models were members of staff or the general public, coerced into it!

17th January 08
Sometimes a portrait isn't about fancy lights, beautiful backgrounds, weird and wonderful ideas etc, sometimes it is simply about getting a nice, flattering head shot of a person, in this case to be used for business purposes, within a tiny window of time - in this case, fifteen minutes before the start of an important directors meeting. The key is not making the shot look too stiff, simply getting your subject to smile into the lens - no matter how camera shy - and getting the shot as swiftly as possible with the least disturbance! Below are some recent shots of directors doing just that - they look relaxed and happy as if they might even be enjoying it!


5th January 08
My brief here was to photograph the food tent at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. My aim was to capture the lighting, ambience and context of the tent within the event and here are some of the results below:




13th January 08
Well HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL! A new year is always a great chance to make some new plans and set some goals & challenges, and this year my photographic resolutions are to do much more creative work, to gain some new interesting and loyal clients, to keep improving on those portraits and to push the boundaries on the work I am producing, seeking new and wondrous ways to capture whatever is put in front of my lens! Here's to 2008.....

24th December 07


5th December 07
The December issue of En Passant is now out & here are two of my favourite pictures from this month, the lady on the left is Penny Moore, "The Hospitality Action" and on the right Juliette Joffee, founder of "Giraffe" cafe:


1st December 07
Well I am a big foodie and so I was pretty chuffed when I was asked to capture the essence of a "The Lost Ingredient" for The Restaurant Associates at the beautiful Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch. I was even more impressed as the evening unfolded to a wonderful array of delights! Unlimited cooked food samples, fine wine, champagne, cheese and much more. There was even a 'make your own desert' stand. Suffice to say it was not tricky to get people smiling for the cameras - this was a happy bunch of guests!

20th November 07
Well Happy Chanukah! And what better way to celebrate than to go down to the local Fire Station for a nice Chanukah party! Yes it's true. I was asked by LFB to attend a party at the Finchley Fire Station, where members of the local community were invited to attend the gathering, which was held in order to promote links with the local community and encourage recruitment amongst all faiths.


15th November 07
One of the most creative jobs I've done this month was photographing a 2008 calendar for The Restaurant Associates, featuring members of their staff with inspiring quotes, which they planned to send out to all their clients. Because the pictures were quite intimate close up shots of 'normal' people, it was a real challenge as some of them had not ever posed before, hated their picture or were just generally camera shy. Working, with the help of Christina the company designer and Victoria who was with me that day for work experience, we soon got each 'victim' relaxed and managed to get some great results. See for yourself:

20th October 07
This week we had a real giggle photographing an advertising campaign for OCS Catering. For the shoot they had one key character who was to 'star' throughout all the scenes. His job all day was simple to chat and smile and look 'engaging'. At times when everyone had run out of conversation we asked him to say "hey" a lot, I chose this word as it gives the model a very nice wide natural smile. That's if they don't resort to laughing too much with the silliness of it all. The rest of the models were staff and students, and I have to say they did a really good job. You can see some of the results below:

13th October 07
This week saw my TV debut on Channel Five, which was altogether about two minutes of coverage! Info and credits are here. The Hotel Inspector.

The show basically covered the make-over of the hotel from start to finish and a brief display of the fashion shoot that was taking place. Ruth Watson appeared to be rather annoyed at us as we were still doing the shoot when they were trying to get ready for a concert! But as you all know, it's all about the getting the right light, which was not going to happen until at least 5pm on a glorious summers day. It was pretty funny to watch the comments being said on TV especially as nothing had been conveyed on the day itself. Altogether an interesting experience shooting for a TV show, but I think I'll stick to working for real clients in future. Reality TV is definitely not my thing!

8th October 07
Well another fine issue of En Passant - some of this month's photos:


27th September 07
How lovely to get the chance to photograph the award winners for this years Estates in Bloom competition. Real people from real places working so hard to make their environment a better place to live. And what sweet people too, I am so glad that the photos I took of their gardens brought a few smiles to their kind faces. Another really enjoyable job.


29th August 07
The last few days have been a bit of a blur as I tried to recover from the longest shoot ever! Having been commissioned by The London Fire Brigade to document their attendance at The Notting Hill Carnival on Monday, we ended up on the actual parade for over 8 hours!! 500 photographs later, I can honestly say I didn't really notice the time go by despite the fact that by the time I got home I'd been out 'working' for over 15 hours! Not only was the atmosphere electric but the LFB team were super friendly and not at all camera shy as you can see from a selection of the pictures below!


22nd August 07
Sometimes I am lucky enough to do a job that really inspires me, and this week's commission was one of them. Working for one of South London's largest council's I was given the task (for the second year running) to photograph the gardens of the finalists of this years Estates in Bloom competition. The idea behind the competition is that everyone in the borough can enter their garden (or balcony) in the competition to have the chance of becoming the award winner of best overall garden. The concept behind the competition is to encourage as many local residence as possible to make a real effort to improve their environment. It is believed that the nicer an area is the happier and more respectful those around it become. I saw some amazing sites. Sunflowers on council estates, bunches of grapes grown on a balcony. Whole vegetable gardens tended by an elderly lady, magical fairies and oh so many beautiful well kept flowers!!


10th August 07
Today could possibly have been the largest amount of people I have ever shot in one group photo!

1st August 07
The first issue of En Passant has come out with my photos in, great to see the photos in print, here's a selection from this month's issue:

18th July 07
Here's a challange - photograph directors, production managers and staff in various electronic sites - and make it interesting! Hopefully I didn't do too badly.....


30th June 07
Aaah to be young again, school proms..times are definitly changing, last time I heard these were American right?

27th June 07
Luckily the rain held of long enough for me to do the photography for St Edmund's School new brochure. It was lovely to wander around such a gorgeous school, and the kids were really accomodating.


22nd June 07
June, with all its rain has been a very challenging month for photography and really put my lighting skills to full use! One of the most fun photo-shoots this month was at The Oval Cricket Ground, where we managed to persuade the head of banqueting to pose swinging a cricket bat for us - for the sake of art of course! On a historical level getting to see inside the very exclusive Army and Navy Club in Pall Mall, which has been established since 1837 as "a traditional establishment for former and serving officers of the British and Commonwealth Armed Services, as well as their immediate families" ((c) Army and Navy website), was pretty exciting. To see actual photos of Winston Churchill and his peers relaxing in the club, on the walls, as well, completed the experience.

10th June 07
This month I start my new contract with En Passant magazine. A by-monthly magazine, En Passant was created in order to provide the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism industry with a central reference point for discussion and debate on the key issues of the day. To see some of what the magazine is about, visit: www.epmagazine.co.uk. My role will be to help make the photography within the magazine more dynamic, creative and eye-catching. I am seriously looking forward to the challenge.

5th June 07
May has flown by, with a mixture of great assignments. Firstly there was the very interesting London Fire Brigade training day, which required me to document the morning's training session as young recruits decide whether the Fire Brigade is the correct career for them. They were seriously put through their paces - and no surprise really when asked if I wanted a go, I declined as I obviously had to be behind my camera at all times!!

Then there was a great opportunity to photograph the understudy cast of Wicked the Musical as they put on a private show for a very privileged few at a private party in Holborn. What a stunning performance and a great colour scheme too, as green is my all time favourite.

Other great jobs this month included being on site at Battersea Power Station to photograph a new initiative by the local council to get young people to learn the building trade from scratch to give them a great start to a good career future. I learnt a lot about the great power station including the fact that they have to dismantle the chimneys piece by piece to clean it and replace it all back one by one so as to not damage the original brick work which is part of the listed buildings. This may take a while.........I also had the privilege of photographing the head of banqueting at Lord's cricket ground. What a fabulously stunning venue.


2nd May 07
Today was my TV debut - as we carried out a photoshoot in front of a TV crew at Butley Priory in Suffolk for Channels Five's 'The Hotel Inspector'. Working with a dress designer, Helen from The Wedding Portfolio, we arranged for Make-Up artist Kerry Birch (www.dusktodawnmakeup.com) to come along and two great models Anne-Marie and Rachel. The shoot was wedding dress themed and the models had a real giggle dressing themselves up like princesses.

2nd April 07
Well it's been a busy few weeks, head shots for some new businesses and documenting meetings for clients as well as photographing kids at a new playground opening for the local council . The most fun has been photographing all the children as they enjoy all the new swings and round-abouts whilst simultaneously posing like mad for the camera........if only adults were as obliging!


18th March 07
Now that the weather has picked up and the natural light is bright and flattering, it's time to get some portraits done. Both individuals and models alike can now get in touch to get a creative & upbeat portfolio put together for potential work or simply their own pleasure.


25th January 07
Appearing around Lambeth Council are posters featuring real families who have suffered from homelessness and are currently in temporary housing. The poster campaign was launched to help families in crises who are not getting along and to help prevent kids from taking the dramatic action of leaving home, which often leaves them struggling financially, which in turn can lead to them living on the streets. I was commissioned for the shoot by the local council.


12th January 07
Well just in time for Valentines day publication, I had the chance to photograph the stunning model Aruna for the front cover of VOW magazine, a bridal magazine distributed around the South East.

10th November 06
Do you have any shoes lying around that you don't wear? If so, put them to good use and donate them to Blue Peter's Shoe Biz Appeal, which this year is supporting UNICEF with David Beckham backing the appeal.

I was lucky enough to fly out to Madrid to take photos of the famous footballer for use in promotion of the appeal. Please visit www.shoebizappeal.org.uk/news.aspx to see some of the pictures and to see how you can contribute to UNICEF's important work and help kids in Africa.

9th October 06
Just got back from New York and it really is an architectural photographer's dream. Some great sky lines....see if you can spot a few shots in my travel section.

25th Sept 06
Next month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and as a regular photographer for Cancer Research UK, I went off to photograph Olive from 'On the Buses' (a.k.a Anna Karen) hanging out of a bright pink bus, as a PR stunt to raise awareness. Of course, being England, it was pouring down with rain but thanks to a giant umbrella and a willing Anna, I got the shot! Visit www.cancerresearchuk.org/breastcancer/ if you want to raise some money or find out more information on breast cancer.

20th Sept 06
If you happen to be in Paddington and fancy a coffee, then take an hour to visit Tete a Tete Tea Room, 42 Southwark Street, corner of Star Street. It's a gorgeous little French style cafe, a real haven away from Paddington's hectic street, and a nice change from the chain coffee shops. When browsing the tasty menu have a close look at the photography and design, which I was commissioned to do.

19th Sept 06
Launch of Flashfields Photography 'Latest Work' Section.