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:

New Portrait Packages & Pricing

Having recently joined the world of SmugMug, which allows me to sell prints and other brilliant products much more easily, I've decided to update my portrait photography packages to include the option of purchasing some of said products. 

I've updated both individual and family portrait sessions, and they now offer great value and more flexibility. 

The products you can now order include digital files, prints of multiple sizes, canvas wraps, box framed prints, desk ornaments and more. 

My new packages are as follows: 

INDIVIDUAL PORTRAIT SESSIONS

These sessions are great for individuals looking for quality portrait photographs.

1 hour shoot - On location (in London) or in my home studio, including £75 worth of products (digital files, prints, canvases etc.) - £100.

2 hour shoot - On location (in London) or in my home studio, including £150 worth of products (digital files, prints, canvases etc.) - £195.

3 hour shoot - On location (in London) or in my home studio, including £225 worth of products (digital files, prints, canvases etc.) - £295.

and... 

FAMILY PORTRAIT SESSIONS

Perfect for families looking for great portrait photos to hang on the wall, frame, put in the family photo album or send to your relatives.

1 hour shoot - On location (of your choice in London) including £150 worth of products (digital files, prints, canvases etc.) - £195.

2 hour shoot - On location (of your choice in London) including £225 worth of products (digital files, prints, canvases etc.) - £295.

Print Ordering & Sheet Changing

I've just signed up to SmugMug to allow me to offer my clients an easy way to view the photos from their event, wedding, or other shoot and order products. 

Products range from 6 by 4 inch prints to large wall canvases, right through to t-shirts and mugs.

Check out my SmugMug page by clicking on the 'Shop' link in the top navigation. 

In other news I'm spending tomorrow afternoon in the Bullring shopping centre, Birmingham, where I'll be photographing members of the public trying to change the sheets on a double bed as fast as they can in a competition being run by Dunelm Mill. I think hilarity may ensue! 

Have a great weekend everybody! 

Taking A Break In Morocco

As some of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter may know, I've been in Morocco for a week soaking up some sun before the cold reality of the British autumn and winter hits.

Morocco, in north west Africa, is an amazing place to go visit from Western Europe. It's just a short flight of a few hours and you're there, in a place that feels much further away culturally than it is geographically.

The whole country is a photographer's dream, with bright colours everywhere,  beautiful golden light and no shortage of interesting people. It's these people that I love photographing. The trouble is that when you take a photo of someone, it's rare they wouldn't ask you for some small change in return for the snapshot. That's all well and good but if I did that I would have been stopping every two minutes and the small change would turn into a large amount of cash! So I took the opportunity to practice some true street photography and 'shoot from the hip'. And it's such a great place to do it, as it seems to be the norm in Morocco to just hang out on the street, whether you're selling things or not!

Street Photography Tips

With my camera hanging on my strap by my waist with a fairly wide angle lens about 30mm,  all I had to do was set my ISO to a high enough level (I found 800 was usually fine) so that I could whack the camera on shutter priority, set it to 1/2000 of a second, and snapped away (using silent shutter on my Mk III). The challenge with shooting from the hip is composition and autofocus. I definitely got better with practice though. Although my girlfriend tells me it wasn't very subtle, I managed to get through the trip without someone chasing me down the street demanding money in exchange for their photograph.

We spent a couple of days in Marrakech but more time in Essaouira on the west coast, where it was great watching the fishermen bring in their daily haul each day before selling it to the locals. You could then head to the market stalls by the port and pick out your fish before they grill it in front of you - it doesn't get much fresher than that! 

Here are a selection of my favourite images from the trip. Hope you like 'em!