PHOTOGRAPHY LONDON
Here is my photography London portfolio. I regularly work in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Essex, Exeter, Kent, Leicester, London, Oxford, Peterborough, Salisbury Southampton, Sussex, and the South Coast.
I have clients all over the country, and I am happy to travel. I live 10-15 minutes from the M25, around 5 minutes from the M3, and 25 minutes from the M4 near Reading East, so it is pretty easy for me to get just about anywhere in the UK.
I do sometimes go further North, but generally, it would mean working for a whole day shoot or more, rather than just a few hours. It is always worth contacting me, for a quote; all prices are fully inclusive of mileage charges. However, the only extras will be parking and any congestion charges.
Chelsea Flower Show
Chelsea, London SW3 4SR – Photography London
I was asked to document the construction of the Akzo Nobel Garden, which is a large Dutch chemical company, at the Chelsea flower show.
It took over 3 days, from the initial excavation to the planting and final construction.
It was an interesting project, as there was a very large painted canvas, which formed the backdrop to the garden. The dyes were made from the plants in the garden.
Best X – Photography London
Churchill Place London E14 5HJ
Best X offices are located in the Docklands development in East London.
This was initially just booked as a headshot shoot. However, they didn’t want the normal plain white background. We found three of four areas in the office that would provide different backgrounds
All the shots were taken with a telephoto lens with a wide aperture to allow the background to go really soft. They were lit by just bouncing a couple of flash heads around the walls and ceiling.
Bosideng – Photography London
28 South Molton Street, London W1K 5RF
Bosideng is a very large Chinese clothing retailer, that has just opened in Mayfair London.
My brief was to shoot stills and video imagery of the interior and exterior of the store.
Amazingly the forecast was right, and the sun shone all day, and I was able to capture all the shots and video that we needed. The dusk shots worked particularly well with Christmas decorations in the background at dusk.
Chesneys – Photography London
Battersea Park Road. SW11 4ND
I had done a few jobs for Chesneys, this shoot was for their main showroom. They wanted day and night shots.
Their main business was always fireplaces, and they had branched out into architectural features, from columns, to ornate staircases, and decorative door surrounds.
The problem with photographing large lumps of stone is that you can’t move them, which can cause a few background and actual back issues.
Claremont Clinic – Photography London
New Cavendish Street London W1G 8TL
I was asked to produce a set of pictures and a video for the London Claremont Clinic, which was a private clinic just off Harley Street.
Harley Street is London’s medical district employing several different specialists.
The clinic had just been fully refurbished, so it was really just a case of photographing the different rooms, with some setup shots of staff interacting with patients.
I supplied various images to use in publications, leaflets, and their website.
Corinthia Hotel – Photography London
Whitehall Place SW1A 2BD
I photography the CEO of a large investment company. This shoot had been rearranged a few times due to the COVID regulations.
Finally, it happened, and the Corinthia Hotel Kindly let us use their Royal Suite for the shoot.
The shoot ran very smoothly, and we even had a hair and makeup artist.
The suite itself was huge, with a beautiful roof terrace overlooking the Thames and London Eye, so there was no shortage of interesting backgrounds.
Fullers Brewery – Photography London
Chiswick, London W4 2QB
I was asked to do quite a large shoot for the Fullers Brewery in Chiswick London.
The vast majority of the shoot was done in the studio, but I did visit their pub on the site of the Brewery in Chiswick the get some background shots. These shots could be used out of focus in some of the studio shots.
Drink photography is always quite tricky, especially with beer, because it has a head on it that needs to be a specific size. It needs to look perfect in the shot.
Over the years people have come up with all sorts of things to substitute for the head, but I have never found anything works as well as the real thing.
At times I’ve used another type of bottled or canned beer to create this effect.
Paved with Gold – Photography London
Woburn Passage Bloomsbury WC1
I was contacted by a book publisher to do some photography for a book that they were publishing, called Paved with Gold.
The book depicted some of the lesser-known landmarks in London, as well as a few of the regular ones, but only if they had an interesting history.
I was sent a list of 30 buildings they wanted photographed, so it was a case of sitting down in front of the computer and planning the most economical, and fastest way of getting around them all.
It was interesting as some of the buildings I had never even heard of, and it took me to streets I never knew existed, although I had worked in London for a large proportion of my career.
Hey Human – Photography London
Borough Road SE1 1DN
I was contacted in February by an Advertising agency, that wanted to do a petfood shoot for cats and kittens.
The brief was to shoot a Cat and a matching Kitten sitting on some white painted wooden floorboards, looking up at the camera, in anticipation of a bowl of food.
It should of been a pretty straightforward job, unfortunately there is a shortage of kittens in February, as they tend to be born in the spring. Normally, you need to wait until they have had their first vaccinations.
After a long search, we found a couple that fit the bill. I made up a section of flooring, around 1.35 meters square, which was raised off the floor in the studio, to stop the cats from wandering off.
We got the shots fairly easily, there was a bit of retouching to even them out a look more symmetrical, which is only to be expected, but it worked out well.
Southwark Charities
London SE1 0XL – Photography London
I was contacted by Southwark Charities, which provides housing for elderly residents of the borough. The development was going to be closed temporarily for rebuilding.
To mark the occasion, they invited HRH Princess Royal to meet the residents. HRH Princess Royal had opened the development some decades earlier.
Everyone was early, and the Royal Protection officers were extremely helpful in briefing me and assisting me in getting in the right position.
The visit consisted of three parts, firstly meeting the Trustees in the
boardroom, secondly, meeting the residents in one of the common rooms, and finally the presentation.
Wilton Crescent London SW1A 2BD – Photography London
I was contacted around a week after the first Covid lockdown, to do a portrait for a property investor.
I was reluctant about taking it on, due to Covid restrictions, however, after looking at the government guidance, I was permitted to travel in connection with work.
We agreed to meet at the first location, on Wilton Crescent in Belgravia, London, which was totally deserted, with no traffic at all, no traffic wardens, and free parking. We did some shots in Wilton Crescent, then he suggested doing a few more in Eaton Square.
Great Photography London Locations
For Locations, London gives you just about everything within a relatively compact area, if it is impressive modern buildings you are looking for, there is the City of London, and Docklands.
The City gives you a mix of the old and the new, with traditional stone buildings, standing next door to modern glass skyscrapers, Canary Wharf and Docklands is all new, and does have some interesting photographic locations.
Then of course you have the traditional residential squares in London for example: Berkley Square, Bloomsbury Square, Eaton Square, which are beautiful as they are well kept and maintained.
Also, you have the traditional London Landmarks, such as the Tower of London,
British Museum, the National Gallery, St Pauls Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral and many more.
Water plays a major part in London’s history, the best known being the river Thames, and of course all of its bridges, photographically Albert bridge is probably the most photogenic, but there are canals in London too, probably the most famous being the Regent canal, offering many photo opportunities.
If horticulture is you interest, in the west of London is the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, with everything from trees to tropical environments under huge glass houses, they also have another site in Kent, Wakehurst Place, which has a wonderful collection of trees, and also houses the national seed collection.
As well as the well-known landmarks in London, there are also some not such well known locations, such as Woburn Passage in Bloomsbury which is a throwback to the Dickensian London.
I was asked to photograph around 60 buildings or locations in London for a book, and of course its just a case of plotting them all on a map, to work out the most efficient way of getting around them all, either on foot or by public transport, which is pretty easy with a computer,.
You soon realise that London is basically a building site, and you are hampered every step of the way by scaffolding, boarding and construction equipment.
