App Designing Students Visit to Samsung HQ
Back in February I had the chance to visit Samsung's UK and European headquarters in Surrey. The reason I was there?
Four clever students from Hymers College in Hull created an educational smartphone game for Android phones called CryptoConnex as part of a competition called Apps For Good. They won the award in the Learning Category and as part of their prize they got to visit the Samsung head office to have a tour and meet some of the team behind Samsung's latest products.
I was there on behalf of Samsung's PR agency, GoodRelations, to capture the students' visit.
A Royal Visit, Good Relations and London's Coolest New Boutique Hotel
As we move into February, and snow falls in London for the first time this year, it struck me as a good opportunity to show you what I've been up to this January.
I'm really happy to say I've started to work with another top London PR agency, Good Relations PR, for whom I've done two shoots and a third is on the way. I found myself at London Bridge station early in the month on behalf of their client, South Eastern Railway, and in the offices of a big magazine business on behalf of another client, B&Q.
I also photographed a member of the royal family for the first time, when I found myself at a food and wine event for Australia Day hosted by Tourism Australia. HRH Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, popped along for an hour to meet some of Australia's best chefs and sample some delicious food cooked by Lynton Tapp, runner up in Masterchef Australia 2013. She also chatted to John Torode, Masterchef judge, and Darcey Bussell, a judge of a different kind from Strictly Come Dancing.
Thomas Sabo, the premium high street jewellery retailer, invited me along for the second time to photograph a couple of events in London and Manchester where they unveil their latest product lines to their own employees as well as other retailers. The London event took place in the ballroom at the Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge, an absolutely stunning venue which photographs so well.
I also did some more work for Diffusion, this time for their client BookATable.com in the very cool club, bar and restaurant DSTRKT in Piccadilly Circus. Keep your eyes peeled for those photos in the media around Valentines day this month. Following that I also took some interior photos in London's extravagant new hotel, The Exhibitionist, which have now been published on the Mail Online. To finish off the month I started working with one of London's finest event catering companies, Jackson Gilmour by photographing an event for them at the spectacular Wallace Collection.
An exciting start to 2015...
A Quick Look Back At 2014, Before Looking Forward To 2015
Having started this whole photography business thing at the end of 2012, I'm pretty happy with where I've got to in the past two years. I'm delighted that it continues to grow and I'm extremely grateful to all the people who have helped me over the past 24 months, particularly those who continue to help as happy repeat clients!
In 2014 I was busier than ever, photographing all sorts of things, including but not limited to corporate headshots, birthday parties, charity dinners, business conferences, many portrait sessions, hotel interiors, shop interiors, building sites, weddings, PR stunts, concerts, family events, a catwalk show and various products.
I took photos of a few famous people, notably Barry Humphries (of Dame Edna fame), George Osborne, Sir Jonathan Ive (of Apple), Paul Smith, Marc Newson and Amartya Sen. Hopefully 2015 will bring a few more celebrities in front of my lens.
I've also been very fortunate to go on some amazing trips this year, including South Africa, New York and Colombia. I don't suppose 2015 will live up to that from a holiday perspective!
Hopefully 2015 will be a great year, busy with exciting work and other fun stuff. I'm looking forward to it with great anticipation.
Restaurant Australia
I was absolutely delighted when I received an email from the PR team at Tourism Australia asking me to photograph their activation for the global Restaurant Australia campaign. If you haven't seen any of the campaign already on TV or at the cinema, check out this video. If it doesn't make you want to go to Australia, I don't know what would! I lived there for 3 years and one thing I miss a great deal is the food.
So each night last week I was at Australia House in London where Tourism Australia were hosting a pop-up restaurant. Every night represented a different Australian state, with food that was inspired by that state and cooked up by a different famous Aussie chef.
The first night on Monday represented South Australia, and the lovely, vivacious Maggie Beer was the chef responsible for the delicious food served up. The second night was all about New South Wales, and the food came courtesty of Skye Gyngell, whilst Wednesday night was all about Queensland with the meal by Luke Rayment. Thursday night's food was cooked by Matt Stone to represent Western Australia, Friday night was Victoria's night with a meal by Shannon Bennett, and Saturday night featured food from the Northern Territory cooked up by Rachel O'Sullivan.
The room in which the restaurant was hosted is magnificent. In fact, it was used in the Harry Potter films as Gringotts Bank. Various VIPs were in attendance, like Barry Humphries and radio DJ Neil Fox, both pictured below.
I had an absolute blast taking photos all week and working side by side with the Tourism Australia team, who I look forward to working with again.
