Mountain Warehouse Catalogue Winter 2012/13. April 10th, 2012
After a very brief visit home, it was a quick turn around and back to Alpe d’Huez to shoot the Mountain Warehouse Winter 12/13 brochure. This year it was all about lifestyle photography rather than action photography, which in hindsight, was an absolute blessing because believe it or not the weather was even worse than for the Ski Club shoot the week previously. It was snowing quite heavily which was great, but with it came fog! Nothing can kill an outdoor photo shoot stone dead like fog can, so we spent the next 4 days trying our best to get above it or below with varying degrees of success. At one point we went up to 3300m to get above it, which didn’t work at all and just succeeded in freezing the models hair in the -10 wind chill. When the weather is that bad I generally try and fill the frame with the model as much as possible, leaving less room for grey skies, I also punched up the colour on the sensor of my new Nikon D4, this was straight out of the box and I have to say is an utterly incredible bit of kit.
It all worked out in the end but it was hard going, good job I had such a great crew with me because even though the weather was bad, spirits where sky high and we had so much fun. Many, many thanks to Rebecca, Martin, Duncan and Charlotte from Sandra Reynolds, Anna, Craig and Emily from Mountain Warehouse and once again the Chamois and Underground for keeping us feed and watered (booze) 
Snow and Rock Catalogue Winter 12/13 March 23rd, 2012
This year we had a change of venue for the Snow and Rock winter catalogue shoot, it was in Saas Fee, Switzerland. This was a place I’d worked in before but always in the summer, so it was great to see what it had to offer during the winter, although I did have reservations about the fact that it was pretty much glacier top to bottom, which makes hiking a fairly sketchy experience. We did have a great guide with us for the whole shoot so that made things a whole lot safer. The snow was in great condition and we had a blast and got some great shots, more of which I will post in October after the catalogue launch.
Mountain Warehouse SS12 March 3rd, 2012
So within 12 hours of getting back from Verbier I was on my way to the George the Third Hotel in Penmaenpool, Dolgellau, to shoot the Spring / Summer 12 range for Mountain Warehouse. Once again I was working with Noddy Gowerns who was filming some product clips. After a great nights sleep in our superb rooms we woke up to fog which was pretty much down to toe level. Not to be put off and after a good breakfast we headed out and started work, happily the fog was starting to lift a little and our models Charlotte, Sarah, Duncan and Martin from Sandra Reynolds soon got into the swing of things. We had a couple of really good days up in the hills, down in the moss filled valleys and on the beautiful beaches of the Mawddach estuary. After which we returned to sunny Shropshire and met up with the kids at Carding Mill Valley in Church Stretton. All in all it was a really fun shoot, but after 4 days we all had to say goodbye, but only for a while until we meet up again in the alps in April. I then went home for a day before flying out to Tenerife for my next job.
Mountain Biking and Running Stock Photography in North Wales. November 14th, 2011
Time to shoot a little stock photography for Cultura and I’d got just the spot for it. I’ve waited a long time to shoot at this particular location with the right conditions but ever year something wasn’t right, mostly weather and diary. So with renewed determination for the autumn I kept an eye on the Met Office website with my fingers crossed. Eventually I saw a possible break in the weather coming up. I asked Kevin Harris to come up and model, and after two days sitting out rain and fog we decided to chance it and drive to Wales. By 2.30 in the afternoon we where there and the light was just incredible. After a quick look around we got to work and shot for two and a half hours and I couldn’t have be happier, I’d taken the Rangers with me just in case, but it turned out that we hardly used them, as the large flash in the sky was doing a fine job.
Somnio Advert. November 30th, 2009
Having seen the images that I shot for Profeet, the training shoe company Somnio decided that they wanted to use one for an advert, and here you have it, they are a revolutionary new design and they have this to say about it;
“Somnio is founded on the principle that running shoes should adapt to the individual runner and improve biomechanics. Every runner is different, and we believe that every pair of running shoes should be different too. Somnio needed an image to stand out for their advert in Running Fitness Magazine.”
Somnio Running are in stores nationwide, visit, www.somniorunning.co.uk for info.
Rain Rain Go Away. November 30th, 2009
What a crazy couple of months that’s been, it’s just flown past. I had made a few plans to shoot stock at some point, but they had to be shelved. October was spent mostly in the office or down in London, it’s a busy time of year with the Ski Show right in the middle of the month, I also had a wedding shoot from September to deliver and I had to edit 3 private shoots for Getty Images.
With October out of the way I started getting ready for a Mountain Warehouse shoot.
The brief was hiking & biking in the rolling hills of England, big landscapes, silhouettes and good fun. So we headed to the South Downs to try our luck, unfortunately our luck ran out, as did a Stella autumn that hadn’t seen any rain for nearly two months. Mother nature decided to make up for lost time with record rain falls and floods all over the South East, 100 mph winds in the Isle of Wight and “the storm of 20 years” ending a trying week. I will never again shoot on West Wittering beach either, not a very pleasant or friendly location!
So we rescheduled and moved to Shropshire to continue, I love shooting there, it’s like having our own private little Lake District, but without the lakes! Again we had some pretty mixed weather, but we did manage to shoot some nice images on and around the Long Mynd, Stipperstones and Carding Mill Valley.
The week I had in between the two shoots I managed to get a Getty Images submission out of the door and upload some fresh work to my Getty Assignment portfolio, and manage a trip to Scotland.
Busy, Busy, Busy!
Profeet. September 22nd, 2009
Profeet are opening a new concept store on the Fulham road, and it was up to me to furnish it with inspirational images. So they packed their staff into a minibus and picked me up on the way through to a jaunt around North Wales.We stayed at Betws y Coed in the heart of Snowdonia national park and spent a few days shooting running, hiking and biking around the hills and lakes with their crazy crew. We had a great time with a BBQ/bonfire in the hills one night and a quick visit to the Long Mynd in the Shropshire hills on the way back to London. We also shot a few pictures down in the smoke to mix it up a little. All in all it was a great shoot and everyone was pleased with the results. Many thanks to Shula and Hamish and all of the staff who helped to make this work out.
Water Water. July 30th, 2009
During the winter months I try and make loose plan’s for the summer months shoots, I create “wish lists” for images and locations, sometimes the ideas come to fruition, sometimes they get shelved for another year. I try and figure out the most cost effective way of getting the shots on my list, my philosophy being that you can sometimes find the exotic right on your door step. Here in the UK we are blessed with an exceptionally varied landscape to work with, but the weather can often let you down. So if the UK fails to deliver, then Europe is a pretty cost effective option, the Mediterranean is a top spot to work, and your chances of blue sky are much higher. Start crossing the Atlantic or Pacific and the price really starts to rocket.
With this in mind I hit North Cornwall to try and shoot some kite boarding with my friend Adam who has a cracking spot right by the beach. So I dusted off the old Ewa Marine water proof housing and cruised down the M5 a couple of times during July to try my luck. It’s a fairly frustrating business shooting sports that rely on the wind/weather and tide to be right, all at the same time, so patience is essential, I don’t get too stressed about any lack of progress, I just go fishing instead!
“All good things come to those who wait” and, as usual, it all came good in the end and I crawled out of the sea with a few shots to work with and a belly full of sea water, as they say in Cornwall …Proper Job!
Canon advert. June 2nd, 2009
Back in August 2008 I was in the alps shooting some mountain biking stock for Cultura. It seems that Canon liked these pictures too, they have used one for their web advert for the new iP4600 printer. Happy days
Duffers’ fortnight. May 30th, 2009
The Mayfly hatch was a little early this year in Shropshire and the weather was a bit unpredictable, never the less, I went out and had a cast during duffers’ fortnight. So called by my fishing mate Graham, because the trout gorge themselves on Mayfly with such gusto that even an idiot like me could catch one. We went on the Wye and Usk Foundation water somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and had a really nice couple of days fishing, catching wild Brown trout….. small but wily. This wasn’t a photoshoot, but I did pack a camera. There’s always the chance of a crafty stock shot at some point.
