Recent usage of a portrait I took of Eni Aluko which was featured on the front page of The Guardian recently. Shot at Chelsea’s training ground using broncolour flash, we tried a number of different set-ups including sports portraits, as well as action shots.
Mark King & Marianne Marston
Here are two previously unpublished images of professional snooker player Mark King and boxer and coach Marianne Marston. As a portrait photographer you often find yourself in odd situation, the snooker hall was certainly up there with the oddest.
IIDA magazine
I was asked to photograph Jaime Velez, Director of Design at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for the cover of IIDA magazine. Jaime was sharing his views on shaping and shifting perspectives. As a portrait photographer i decided to shoot shallow and use continuous light to create a image that was both classic and yet futuristic.
Logistically the shoot was quite difficult, utilising the top floors of The Broadgate Tower in The City of London. Here is one of my favourites, alongside some of the contacts and a behind-the-scenes image.
Sarah Wood
Here are some images I took of co-founder and CEO of ad tech company Unruly, Sarah Wood, this year named as one of the 500 most influential people in Britain. Sarah was speaking to Director magazine about creating dynamic content, retaining more women in technology and differentiating yourself in the market. All shots were taken at Motel studios in East London. As a portrait photographer you couldn’t wish for more form a subject.
Andy Turner and Pamela Cookey
Here are two unpublished sport portraits images of bodybuilder and retired track and field athlete Andy Turner and former England netball captain Pamela Cookey.
The Mission
A series of personal portraits shot of passers by on the streets of ‘The Mission', a neighbourhood in San Francisco. The area has become home to the left leaning dot com generation - displacing the original Latino residents. It’s full of cafes, shops and art galleries which play host to a very eclectic mix of people. There were some great faces as a portrait photographer I was spoiled for choice.
Evelyn Stevenson & Corinne Evans
Here are two previously unpublished sports portaits of weightlifter Evelyn Stevenson and surfer Corinne Evans, shot for Sport magazine. The image of Corinne was taken at Big Sky looking back towards central London. Sad news that Sport magazine has closed. They really were great people to shoot for.
Manchester City
I recently took a trip to Manchester City’s Etihad Training Campus, where the team’s youngsters are coached and moulded to hopefully make the main adult team, after a gruelling recruitment process. These images are featured in the March edition of Etihad’s in-flight magazine, Atlas. As a commercial photographer there were so many interesting aspect to the club to focus on.
Sarah Brown for Director magazine
To mark International Women’s Day, I was sent up to Edinburgh a few weeks back to photograph Sarah Brown. She was speaking to Director magazine about her new campaign for gender equality, women in leadership and politics. Here are a few images from the shoot. Sarah was very happy with the portraits and has subsequently used them for a number of other publications.
Peter Crouch for Sport
This was shot at White Rabbit Studios in Shoreditch for the cover of Sport, for a retrospective feature on Peter Crouch’s career, in anticipation of him scoring his 100th Premier League goal. Peter had a few days off, so we managed to get a very easy-going full hour with him for this cover and main feature spread. As a portrait photographer Peter was a delight to work with - there is a reason he’s know as one of the nicest people in football.
Jim Broadbent - Waitrose Weekend
In light of the release of the animated adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ book, Ethel & Ernest, Waitrose Weekend interviewed Jim Broadbent, who voiced the part of Briggs’ father, Ernest. This image was taken in London. As a portrait photographer Jim has a great face.
Louis Smith
Shot for the ongoing project Sport Uncovered, but this time we went on location and photographed Louis at his training gym in Northampton. We practised a few moves beforehand to make sure we got the right body positioning and used a harsh clip light to define his silhouette. Louis is back from a two-month suspension by British Gymnastics. As a sports portrait photographer I love working on location as much in in the studio.
Carl Frampton
These images were taken for a feature on Northern Irish boxer Carl Frampton, shot on location at his gym in West London (where he trains with Shane McGuigan, son of boxing legend Barry McGuigan). Carl was training in a sparring session, so we couldn’t use any flash. After he’d finished we had 10 minutes to take some portraits. As a sports portrait photographer I low the raw emotion that boxing brings to table.
The British Army - Portraits
Shot for the Army, in conjunction with Forever Sports, as part of a feature highlighting the importance of teamwork within Army jobs. The shoot took place at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich. My brief was to really dig into the people so we shot with shallow depth to draw out the face. the images sit somewhere in the middle of my work as a lifestyle photographer and portrait photographer.
The Viking - Traveller Magazine
Shot for EasyJet’s Traveller magazine at Texture restaurant in West London. This image is the cover for a wider feature on the Icelandic food revolution. The aim was to create a light and amusing visual - a big beastly Viking sat at a table of very delicate Michelin food. As a portrait photographer I love the subtle colour palette of the below image.
An alternative image from the shoot is below, as well as the finished front cover. Click HERE for a sneaky behind-the-scenes video.
Michael Page
An image of MMA fighter Michael ‘Venom’ Page, as part of my ongoing project Sport Uncovered. The light trails showing movement were all done in camera. Of his sport Michael says, "A lot of people are in the industry chasing something. I don’t chase it, I do what I do and things come to me.” As a sport portrait photographer I’m always amazed at the physical talents of my subjects.
Some other favourites from the project are below:
To view more from this series, CLICK HERE
Jon Bon Jovi
This portrait of Jon Bon Jovi was taken in his hotel room in London when he was on tour. To date, Jon has released two solo albums and twelve studio albums with his band, which have sold over 130 million copies worldwide. As a portrait photographer I’m not saying what I think about the cover design. Speech bubble…hummm.
Director magazine
This portrait of Dame Stephanie Shirley, a former child refugee, information technology pioneer and philanthropist, was taken for Director magazine, for their cover and main feature. Dame Shirley was shot at her home using Kino Flo on the 5Dsr...I’m a big fan of her earrings.
Jehnny Beth - Savages
This is an image of singer/songwriter Jehnny Beth, lead singer and lyricist for rock band Savages. The photo was shot in Hackney, using a narrow depth of field to draw the viewer into the front eye. On her music Jehnny says “artists are creating ‘the world exactly as it should be’. That is the real power of the artists, and I believe in this power.”
Sport 10 Year Anniversary
A big one for Sport for their tenth anniversary edition; we went out to Madrid to shoot Gareth Bale, who featured in the magazine ten years ago at the very start of his career. We shot him post-training at the club’s extensive facilities on the city’s edge. The magazine was running a double cover edition so it was then up to Sheffield to shoot Jessica Ennis-Hill who I have had the pleasure of photographing a few times before. To give the whole edition a celebratory vibe Serge Seidlitz then illustrated across the whole edition. Some behind the scenes images too of the days shot by Naomi Baker. As a sports portrait photographer it was great working with Gareth and Jessica.