Nick and Jim The Truck
Nick bought Jim several years ago in 2007. Jim was a secure truck used for moving money around. But Nick had other plans for Jim. Nick dreamed of driving Jim around the world. But first, he had to modify Jim quite drastically.
Since he bought Jim, Nick has spent most of his time when he wasn't working full time transforming Jim into an amazing motor home.
The original plan was to drive all the way to Australia, but that changed to a long road trip across the US of A.
Jim has come an awful long way from what he was like in 2007. This was what he looked like back then...
Jim The Truck in 2007
He's had a new coat of paint and a hec of a lot of modification. Inside is a double bed, kitchen, shower, dining table and a whole lot of electronics.
If you're interested, you can read much more about the transformation Jim has undertaken at the hands of Nick on Nick's blog.
Anyway, I'm very jealous of the trip that Nick and his new wife Naomi are soon to depart on. I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to take some photos of Nick and Jim whilst Jim was in East London getting an awning attached to his side at Cody Dock in Canning Town.
Today presented the perfect afternoon weather-wise for the kind of photos I wanted to take - moody, contrasty shots which show the industrial nature of the truck and what Nick has done to it.
Here's a selection of my favourite shots for your viewing pleasure.
Bloomsbury Clinic at Mortimer Market Centre
Today I spent the morning at the Bloomsbury Clinic at Mortimer Market Centre, which is a clinic for people with HIV located just off Tottenham Court Road, London.
It's a great clinic full of lively and lovely staff, who clearly care very much about what they do and the services they provide for their patients.
The shoot was organised by Taskbar Digital, a small digital agency based in Essex. It's not the first time I've worked with them and I'm sure it won't be the last. I spent some time shooting some portraits of a plasterer turned life-coach for another client of theirs not so long ago.
We spent the morning wondering around the clinic, taking photos of the facility itself, portraits of key staff members, and photos of some training which many staff were undergoing. I also was allowed into the pharmacy to take some photos, which was great fun.
Taskbar Digital are in the midst of designing a new website for the clinic itself, which is the reason for the photo shoot, as they have a strong preference for not using stock imagery. I couldn't agree more! I look forward to seeing the final website design with some of my photos in it. I've picked out a few for you to see here:
Tom Nichols, Doctor Who Super Fan
On Monday afternoon I found myself in a three bed house in Reading, taking some extremely fun portraits of a 22 year old chap called Tom Nichols. Tom is a massive fan of Doctor Who and has an enormous collection of memorabilia, including a full size dalek in his bedroom and full size tardis in his back garden!
The photos were taken for Wimdu, a couch-surfing site that allows you to rent people's homes when travelling instead of staying in hotels. Tom is hoping to make some money to help his local group of scouts.
They've been published today on page 8 of The Independent and page 19 of The 'i' too, as well as online on the BBC and Mirror websites.
Here are a few more photos you don't see in the papers or the press....
Saudi Arabian Billboards for Bubbly
I was watching a Division 2 football match on Saturday afternoon when I received a new business email on my phone. It was slightly unusual in that it was a last minute request for a photo of a Saudi celebrity. So on Sunday morning I found myself taking photos of Mr Khaled Almatrafi, the manager of the Alaraybia channel, in his hotel in central London. He was a really nice guy - obviously popular given he has over 305,000 followers on Twitter and over 10,000 on Instagram!
The photos I was taking will be used on billboards across Saudi Arabia in order to advertise Bubbly, a popular social network in that part of the world.
I will try and post an image of one of the billboards if I can get my hands on one! Watch this space.
