Christmas Party At The Natural History Museum
A futuristic corporate Christmas party at the Natural History Museum in London.
I’ve been working with EF for a few years now and their parties never disappoint. The venue for their Christmas party in 2019 was the Natural History Museum. Not the main hall where the whale is hanging from the ceiling, but in what is called ‘The Red Zone’ where there is an escalator which goes up into a giant globe as well as the world’s most complete stegosaurus skeleton.
The fancy dress theme for the party was futuristic, and many of the costumes didn’t disappoint. There were superheroes, astronauts, LED costumes and plenty of other inspired choices!
Technically speaking this part of the Natural History Museum isn’t the easiest in which to photograph an event. Why? Because everything is red! Whilst red people are alright for some photos, it’s better to have natural skin tones for people so they look human! So I used off-camera flash in order to add some more natural-looking light into the scene whilst shooting.
Check out some of my favourite photos below.
An Office Transformed Into A Bar (Or 3)
A drinks reception in an office transformed with different themed bars.
As a corporate event photographer in London, I love capturing events at venues and locations at which I have not shot before. I consider seeing lots of great places as one of the perks of my job.
Caledonia Private Capital invited me along to their offices to capture a drinks reception they were having for their clients to celebrate the brand’s relaunch. Their office is already great to look at, featuring lots of immaculate models of old ships, but it was also transformed into a few different themed bars for the event.
There was a James Bond style martini bar, a brightly coloured ‘buzz bingo’ non-alcoholic cocktail bar and also a classic pub complete with a Caledonia Private Capital lager.
You can see some of my favourite photos from the event below.
More Than Just Corporate Headshots
I’m always striving to take better corporate headshots that my clients really love.
There is a famous quote amongst photographers by an American photographer Imogen Cunningham, which goes “Which of my photographs is my favourite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.”
This has always really resonated with me, and is one of the reasons I am always trying to improve my photography. It’s one of the things that I believe helps me differentiate myself from the thousands of other photographers out there. I don’t believe there is a perfect photo so I’m always trying to improve my level of skill and technique.
To that end, I often watch tutorial videos online, but the best way to learn and really improve is to do workshops with photographers whose work you really admire.
This year I did a workshop with a headshot photographer from New York and I really took away a lot from it. I learned not only how to help people look their best in a photo, but also how to establish myself as the expert, which really helps when you have limited time to take someone’s photo. I normally have 10 minutes with each person when I go into a business and take corporate headshots.
Since I did this workshop, I’ve definitely noticed an improvement in my photos but also in the feedback I’m receiving from my clients.
I went in to do some headshots for Lloyds Market Association in the Lloyds Building in the heart of London City on Lime Street. I really enjoyed putting into practice many of the things I learned on the workshop and figuring out how they can be adapted to a British audience. By that, I mean British people tend to be less confident and extroverted than their American counterparts. The feedback I got from the team at Lloyds was really positive, which is what I am always aiming for every time I take photos for my clients.
Please see some of the photos I took for Lloyds below.
Corporate Editorial Photography
Photos for an online B2B magazine focussed on the IT sector,
In the second half of this year, I’ve started to work with a new online B2B magazine for IT professionals called Interface.
Each issue of the magazine features a front-page story that focusses on a particular high profile organisation. The team at the magazine approached me because they wanted high quality editorial photography to accompany these feature stories.
Since starting work with them I have been lucky enough to visit the head office of Sainsbury’s supermarkets and also that of BT following their recent rebranding project.
Some of my favourite photos from the toe shoots can be seen below:
