Corporate Headshots in Chelsea

Wow, it has been too long since I blogged. I really have no excuse either, so I’m just gonna get straight into it, and go back a few months to January.

I was asked to help out an asset management firm in Chelsea, called Oakley Capital, with some photos of their staff for their new website that was soon to launch.

Having done a site visit to their offices in order to scope out the best place to shoot, I decided on a particular large meeting room as my location, because it gave me enough room to set up a couple of different lighting set-ups which would make the whole process quicker and easier.

A couple of weeks later I came back and spent two full days shooting corporate head shots of the staff at Oakley Capital, before going back a third time for a few hours to shoot a few staff members who couldn’t be present on the initial two days.

Doing a shoot like this taught me a few lessons, which I’ll take forward into future jobs of a similar ilk. I love that each new shoot I do is an opportunity to learn.

Here are a few of my favourite shots from the staff and a screen grab of the new website featuring the corporate head shots themselves.

2013 - What A Year!

Phew, the year is nearly over and I'm pooped! But what a year it's been.

For those of you who have been part of it, thank you. Be you clients, friends, family or just online followers, I'm grateful because it's been a brilliant twelve months.

I've been taking photos since back in school days thirteen years ago, but it wasn't until a year ago that I decided to try photography as a career. And I love it. I'm chuffed that I'm able to do something I love as my job.

I can safely say that this year I've taken more photos than the rest of my life combined. For work I've photographed an amazing array of things, including but not limited to: weddings, reindeer, jewellery, chocolates, work conferences, charity galas, loads of brilliant people, a very public funeral, farmers, food, personal trainers, launch parties, store openings, hospitals and various PR events.

And for fun I've photographed a few things too. I was lucky enough this year to go to Gran Canaria, Las Vegas, Barcelona and Morocco, and my camera rarely left my side.

It's all been a brilliant learning experience and one that I hope will continue into 2014 and long beyond.

Wishing you all a lovely festive break and an awesome 2014!!

Andy 

p.s. here's a few (okay, quite a few) of my favourite photos from the last year.

The Tinder Launch Party @ Cirque Le Soir, London

Man was I happy to get this gig?! The most talked about dating app of the year (yes it's been around about a year), Tinder, was having its official UK launch party, and it was to take place in one of the most hyped London clubs, Cirque Le Soir. Yes!

The night did not disappoint. There were Tinder beach balls, popcorn and sunglasses, a free Vodka Red Bull for ever guest and more strange/crazy/weird burlesque entertainers than you could shake a fiery sparkler at. And there were a few fiery sparklers...

I appreciated this lady's safety precautions when handling a firework indoors.

Cirque Le Soir London is a brilliant club, full of circus themed paraphernalia. A photo booth, popcorn machine, peep show, official beer pong table and some unique entertainers all make for a very fun night indeed. 

Out of the entertainers there was a midget with a pig mask (charming I know) and numerous fire dancers (fire being the Tinder brand icon). 

I was wondering in advance if this party would turn into one big orgy, what with Tinder being the 'hook up' app. It didn't. It was rather tame for the first few hours, although after midnight I gather it did become a bit like a school disco with people eating each other's faces in most dark corners of the club.

Anyway, I had a brilliant time in the few hours I was there taking photos - a big shout out to Jenna Levy at Social Seen for making the event happen. If you want more of an insight into the night itself, I suggest you check out the video on YouTube.

Photographing an American Billionaire

A few weeks ago I had the chance to take some portraits of Vernon Hill. For those of you who don't know who he is, let me tell you. He is the American billionaire founder of Metro Bank in the UK, the new high street bank that opened up a few years back in 2010. He originally set up a bank called Commerce Bank in the USA at the age of 26 which was later sold for $8.5 billion. Not much then!

I was asked to come into the Metro Bank UK head office at Holborn to take some photos of him, his wife Shirley, their terrier Sir Duffield, and a chap from Seguso, an art glass and design company in which Metro Bank has invested.

Having waited around for 30 minutes or so, I had about 5 minutes in a random meeting room to get a photo that they could use for PR purposes. I managed to shoot a few frames and this was my favourite shot. 

Metro Bank Founder and Chairman, Vernon Hill, his wife Shirley, dog Duffy and a representative from Seguso.