A portrait of Simon Fanshawe in 40 minutes

I've been doing a lot of magazine work recently and really enjoying it. I don't know if you'd call it environmental portraiture, or editorial portraits or just plain old traditional portrait photography. Well i've been shooting people in the way that I want to shoot them and have been really enjoying the challenge and being a bit more creative with my photography.

This particular set of images was taken when I was asked to shoot Simon Fanshawe the broadcaster, presenter, comedian, speaker, consultant and general all round good chap, at his Sussex home on Brighton seafront. I didn't have very long with Simon, just long enough for a cup of tea, but working fast we managed to produce a handful of portraits together in a couple of different locations, which expressed his personality.

The images were published in Viva Brighton Magazine.

Bite Studio Profile Photos

Award winning boutique digital agency Bite Studios, commissioned me to take some portraits for them at their Brighton studio. The idea being that we would take a few different types of images that could be used for different purposes. So we took some classic head shots / profile images, some half body portraits and some more character full length portraits. Each of these can be used in different ways for example, on the 'about' page, on blog post to denote the author, on LinkedIn profiles, any company marketing material, when they give talks at conferences etc. By taking a few different styles of portraits in one session we made the most of the photo shoot and Bite got real value for money. Also as with all my corporate portrait shoots, we made a note of the set up, so that when they expand we can shoot new staff members in the same way.

I won't make this a long blog post, i'll just let the pictures do the talking. So check out the big group shot, which can be added to should we need to, the character portraits and the profile shots (which i've converted to black and white, to show you something different as lots of companies want black and white images instead of colour ones)

If you'd like some company profile shots and want to take advantage of my HALF PRICE HEAD SHOTS offer check out the link and get in contact with me.

Guest post by Emma Lucy

So it's guest post time on my blog today. This time it's a lovely post by the wonderful Emma Lucy, who came on my Off-Camera Flash Photography workshop in Brighton the other week and very kindly wrote a blog post on here experience. Here is her post:

The joy of photography is you never stop learning. You can always learn something from another photographer, whether it they way they do business or how they approach their photography.

I am predominantly a natural light photographer. I do have some studio lights but because most of my work is on location then using them isn’t really practical unless I hire a big heavy battery pack. So I’ve been wanting to learn some off camera flash for a while.

I’ve been a follower of Adam’s work for a while and first met him last year at an industry event. Our paths crossed again at the awesome Photography Farm Week last month and I tagged along to his light painting workshop. Adam is a natural teacher and is so full of enthusiasm with what he does.

So I knew I wanted to learn more about off camera flash, having only experimented with it a bit and ‘blagging it’! So I booked onto Adam’s Brighton workshop.

I turned up to find a small group of photographers (perfect to get a good amount of one on one teaching as well as group), some of who I knew from various means. Adam worked through the very basics – from getting comfortable with your speedlite to more advanced – working with light modifiers and how distance and other factors affect light. Everything is in layman’s terms but if you do want to explore the more technical side of it Adam actively encourages you to ask questions and explains everything is an easily digestible way.

I came away from the course (a few gin and tonics down with a few of the other guys there) feeling inspired and confident with what I’m doing. I even plucked up the courage to do a self portrait when I got home. I also embrace any chance to meet other photographers – I find other photographers so enlightening.

If you’re thinking of doing this course, get on it! I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s all very well being a natural light photographer but there is always going to be instance where you will need to whip out your flash and your triggers.

On that note, if you’re wondering what I use to trigger my flashes, I have some Yongnuo RF-602 that you can buy from eBay. Inexpensive and does the job nicely!

Here’s some rather ropey shots from the day! I do believe Adam has another workshop taking place in March in Brighton and another in Bath soon.

I’m so sorry Adam, I had to blog this next shot! Adam teaching us distance…. Sarah Morris and James Gifford Mead practicing! My trusty model Ben And a quick portrait of Ben and my selfie *cringe* (the temperatures don’t really work side by side but for illustrative purposes only, you understand!)

Thanks so much Emma Lucy!

I'm running flash workshops in Brighton & Bath, as well as Belfast & Glasgow (as part of Photography Farm) over the next couple of months, if you're interested in attending one of my workshops, please do give me a shout by clicking on this link: I want to learn how to light from the Grand Master Flash.

Environmental character portraits

You know by now that I like taking photos of people. There is something that really interests me about capturing someones personality and taking a photo that really represents them.

Well I was commissioned to take some portraits of top recruitment trainier Roy Ripper for use on his new website that is currently being designed by Brighton Graphic Design agency Very Own Studio. After having a quick hot chocolate with Roy and getting to know him a bit we hatched a plan for some environmental portraits in different locations as well as a studio style shoot afterwards, as Roy had a few different needs for the images. I'm really pleased with the final images and although the ones i'm showing you here are not the final images selected by Roy and Very Own Studio, I feel that they get more of Roy's personality across and that's just the kind of portrait's that I love.

If you're interested in me taking some portraits of you or your company, don't forget that i'm currently doing a special offer offer of HALF PRICE HEAD SHOTS.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Flash photography, but were afraid to ask!

I'm teaching a couple of flash photography workshops in Bath!!!!!

Yep that's right I'm taking the show on the road and spreading the love.....well the knowledge.

I was asked recently if I did any workshops in the west country and as I'm based in Brighton I thought it would be a good idea to Go West.

So i've got the weekend of Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th March dedicated to everything flash and I'll be teaching two workshops in the Bath area as central as possible for those traveling by train.

The workshop on 23rd March is already looking like it's fully booked so it's just the 24th that I have spaces for at the moment, so if you're interested drop me an email.

The workshop will be a combination of my On-Camera and Off-Camera flash photography workshops, so it'll be pretty compreshensive and should set you up to be totally comfortable with your flashgun and how to get the most out of it.

We'll be looking at:

On-Camera Flash:

* Understanding your flash and its settings

* Bouncing flash to create soft lighting and how to shape your light

* Balancing daylight and flash for very sunny situations

* Using on-camera flash indoors

* Creating natural looking images taken with flash

Off-Camera Flash:

* The fundamentals of off-camera flash

* Equipment needed to get you started and take your photography further

* The core principles of getting a correct exposure every time

* The different way in which your light can be shaped / changed for creative techniques

* Changing the colour / hardness / depth of your light

* How to use the different techniques in any environment

So the idea of the workshop is to make sure that you don't have a fear of flash and can go into any situation and get amazing results. It's a very practical workshop and not technical in the slightest bit.

I'm still trying to source the perfect venue at the moment and am talking to a few places, but if you know of anywhere in the area that may work, please do give me a shout.

But for now places are limited to 8 on each workshop and i've kept the cost down to £115 for the whole day.

I'm also planning on teaching a few other workshops all around the country, so if you're interested in me coming to a town near you, let me know.

If you'd like to reserve a place or more details about the flash photography workshops, please do give me a shout.

HALF PRICE HEAD SHOTS

Business head shots. Company profile photos. Corporate Portraits. Call them what you like, i'm offering them all half price in February!!!!!

Yes thats right, HALF PRICE HEAD SHOTS. If you've been thinking of getting some new photos of staff, for your 'About Us' page on your website or for any of your print needs, well now could be just the right time.

Having good photos of the people who work for a company raises the profile of that business. It says that you invest and take pride in your staff members and if you value your staff, you'll value your clients and customers. How often have you looked at a companies website to see who you are dealing with? Checked out the person who you regularly speak to on the phone? Well we all know that people buy from people and it's always good for business, to place a face with a name. Have you ever seen a companies website where all the photos of the staff look so different and disjointed? It just isn't professional and what does it say about that business?

Why not used an experienced professional photographer to come into your place of business and set up a mobile studio, with minimal disruption to the working day, and take quality portraits of your staff members. I also document how the photos are taken, incase people can't make the shoot that day, the company expands and gets new staff etc. So that we are able to duplicate the photos at a later date, should we need to, so that they can fit into the existing about us page.

I'm very experienced in taking portraits of business people and have been doing so for a number of years, my portraits are regularly used in magazines and online. I've written photography books, I teach other photographers and regularly write articles for leading photography magazine. I use traditional portrait techniques to achieve the best photos of people who are not used to being in front of the camera. I work with the minimal of disruption to the working day and produce quality images for clients time after time. I'm based in Brighton, Sussex but i'm able to travel all over the South East and London.

Why not use an experienced professional photographer to help show of your company?

If you'd like to find out more about the HALF PRICE HEAD SHOTS deal or to speak to me about any other photography needs that you may have, please do get in contact with me by clicking this link.

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New company profile shots

I really like doing company profile shots. I can guarantee that most people who I have to shoot a portrait of for their work, always start the conversation off with "I hate having my photo taken and have never had a nice photo taken of me." Admittedly it's not the best way to start a conversation off with someone who's about to take your portrait, but the conversation usually ends with "Oh, I'm really pleased with that photo. Thanks."

I see taking someone's portrait as a two way process, so I always involve my subjects in the decision making process and we work together to get a great image of them that they are happy with. This way we end up with comments from people like "That's the best photo that anyones ever taken of me" and "oh you're such a genius"......OK that last one was made up, but it's really nice to change someone opinion of photography and having their photo taken.

These images were from a recent corporate portrait shoot that I did for a Brighton based business psychologists Criterion Partnership's new revamped website (which at the time of writing this blog post is still in development, but should be up soon).

If you'd like some company profile shots / corporate portraits / company head shots, call it what you like, but please do get in contact with me here, as i'd love to help you out.