Ferrero Rocher presentation

As part of a team, I was asked to help with a pitch to Ferrero for future business. The pitch was in the form of a PowerPoint slideshow. My role was to create the background imagery for the slides.

The best part of this job was the free Ferrero Rocher! This would have made anyone happy, especially my girlfriend - who unfortunately; despite being a fan - didn't get any due to the chocolates never making it out of the studio alive!

We were pressed for time, so the imagery was created in a day. I've attached two backgrounds; they are without any text - which was included in the PowerPoint slideshow.

Pregnancy photographs: Kelly

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by an old friend who I studied photography with at Spelthorne College. We hadn't been in contact for over a decade, this was recently rectified by the wonderful Facebook. During our decade of no contact she had married and had a child. She is now heavily pregnant (8 months I believe) and wishing to have some photographs taken. This is not my area at all, but I willingly said yes. Very excited to be seeing her again and catching up.

I was surprised that she had asked me but she said,

"I had some photographs taken of my last pregnancy, but this time I wanted some professional ones done. You were the first person I thought of."

I am extremely touched with her sentiment. We had done a lot of studio shoots together as youngsters and here we were again. I refused payment but we came to a mutual agreement, I would happily take the photographs and in return I could use her studio and lighting set up as and when I need it.

It was great to see her and try my hand at pregnancy photography. The best part of this whole thing is that like me, Kelly is a Creative - which means I'm allowed to be as artistic as I like. I definitely didn't want to churn out the standard style of pregnancy photos that we have all seen.

 

Director of an indepent film

It was only last week I was telling a friend how I yearned to work on another independent film. I've worked on four previously as a Director of Photography, Art Director and amateur actor. It was always a lot of fun. I've been dieing to direct my own film, but have always struggled with ideas for a story - as this is not my strength. My strength is visualization, not writing. As a strange quirk of fate, I was asked yesterday if I would be interested in directing a film based on an old school friends' story.

After an informal meeting down the local pub, I of course jumped at the chance. I can't begin to explain how excited I am about the opportunity. The genre is horror, and right now this is as much as I know. Although my friend has many written stories, he wants to create a new one from scratch. We have decided to meet up each week for the next couple of months to come up with something we're both happy with. I will keep you posted.

Epsom Derby multi-media video

I don't wish to sound like a broken record but I'm afraid I'm going to. This job was the same format as the previous two multi-media videos I was asked to create this month. Fortunately for the client, this was the third video - making it the fastest and cheapest for me to create.

For the last two videos I was handed some poor photographs taken by one of the account handlers which I needed to edit into better looking images. I have mentioned to the agency that booking me to take the photographs in future will benefit their cause. I'm glad to announce that they agreed!

The finished video is up on their website, but unfortunately I am prohibited from sharing a link here for copyright reasons.

Supermalt multi-media video

This was a very similar job to the previous multi-media video I create for the advertising agencys' website. The project was to show off the grassroots marketing strategies for Supermalt based around Notting Hill Carnival. It was almost identical in format to the previous job, this made it very easy for me to have a speedy turnaround - which of course always makes clients pleased.

It was created from pre-existing amateur photographs (not taken by Rewkachu), and I had to edit them to appear professional. The end result worked quite well. Again, I am unable to post a link here due to copyright reasons.

OK Magazine & the Royal Wedding

This job was to create a multi-media video for an advertising agencys' website. I had to use existing photographs of a guerrilla campaign for OK Magazine, which promoted their Royal Wedding edition. Their strategy was very effective, they erected large banners along the route taken by the Royal Carriage, and they gave out thousands of Ok Magazine flags with the Union Jack on it. They achieved an incredible amount of air time, at very little cost.

Unfortunately the photos that I had to work with were taken on a compact camera by an unprofessional. These photos had nothing to do with Rewkachu of course. My challenge was to make the best out of the photos I could, by creative cropping, colour correction and using clever editing. If you were to compare the original photos with the multi-media video I created - you would be surprised at the outcome.

I'm pleased with the results, as were the client. Unfortunately I can't post a clip here due to copyright reasons.

Candour Business Cards

With new employees joining Candour there comes the need for new business cards. Not much to say here, but a simple job to amend the artwork I'd previously created with new names. I created the original artwork in Photoshop and InDesign, it was only the InDesign documents that needed amending.

Telluride Photography Festival 2011

September usually means I take a month off, who am I to break such a fun tradition? This year I flew to Canada for five days, then onto Colorado for ten days and finally to Kansas for a further ten days. I won’t give you the details for the entire trip, I will narrow it down to the business relevant part only, Colorado.

I’ve just got home from the second annual Telluride Photography Festival. Both years I have volunteered and both years I’ve found it thoroughly rewarding. This year however, I got more involved. The first time around I spent most of my time staring in wonder at the autumn colours that the Colorado landscapes offer. I’d never seen anything like it, so last time I really didn’t do much else other than take it all in.

The festival is a great place for any photographer at any level to build contacts and learn new techniques. I made full use of that this year. There were many symposiums and seminars, of which I managed to attend most of – learning about the correct application and creation of HDR imagery, photographic techniques for styles such as landscape and adventure, how to fund a conservation project, how to maintain a successful photography business and how to make stock photography a viable income etc. It really was a wealth of knowledge, and it was handed down by the very best of each field. The line-up included successful conservation photographers such as Ian Shive, Garth Lenz, David Fitzsimmons and many more – some of which were fellows from The International League of Conservation Photographers. There were high end landscape photographers such as Adam Barker. Numerous photo editors from magazines as established and respected as National Geographic and many more industry experts getting involved in the festival.

The festival is quite small, it’s only the second year. As a self employed photographer/designer this is fine by me, the small size of the festival allowed everyone to mingle freely and build their contact lists. I couldn’t be any happier with the contacts I have made this year.

I also attended a three day workshop with Adam Barker. This proved to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I learned an incredible amount from this self taught landscape wizard. He has a way of delivering his knowledge in a humble and friendly way. I believe that everyone on this workshop evolved into a greater photographer. I definitely feel that I have gone up another level. The 4:30am starts were all worth it, there aren’t many things in life that are more satisfying than being in a vista as beautiful as the San Juan mountains as the sun rises.

Luckily enough, on one of the days of the festival there was a mini DSLR film festival. I believe I must have sat and watched about 30 short films that day. The majority of them were very interesting, and all of them were shot creatively. There were three movies which made a lasting impression however:

Wild Life: A New Generation of Wild / Filmmaker: Ian Shive

WildWater / Filmmaker: Anson Fogel,

Whose Wilderness Is It? / Filmmaker: Gabby Garcia-Pardo, Taylor Estape

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the directors/photographers of these films, I will remain in contact with them all and track their progress. There will be many exciting films in the future from each of these creatives. Ian and Gabby especially, are great human specimens, and I find them utterly inspiring. Thanks to these guys, in the near future I am going to start shooting DSLR films myself. This will translate into the films I currently shoot for my clients, and also as a personal interest.

Go to Telluride Photography Festival 2012, you won’t regret it.