14 February 2024

A very calm headshot photoshoot in a great coworking space.

I’ve been working a lot lately in some coworking places called Spaces. They have locations all over London and the great thing is, if you join, you can go to any of them. I became a coworking member primarily as I love their neutral yet warm and well curated environments full of plants and soft furnishings. A particular favourite of mine is the Victoria one as it has tonnes of natural light and is also near some very cool outdoor backdrops.

I’d been talking to Katie Mantwa George about doing some new headshots for her for a while and then I did some test shots of the Spaces in Victoria and realised it would be a perfect location for her 🌟 Katie is an empathy speaker and works a lot with corporates, often incorporating meditation into her workshops. She wanted to be able to show how accessible meditation can be in the workplace, so having an office environment that had a contemporary and calm feel to it was critical. She also wanted to demonstrate how you can practise meditation with minimal needs: a comfortable office chair is more than sufficient.

All my headshots come with a full briefing including advice on clothes, make up, accessories, anything else to bring and things to consider to get the most out of yours photography time. Katie had prepped well with a great combination of outfits that work really well with her brand colours and feel. Once we’d talked through which outfits to do in which order we got started on a nice range of set ups in different parts of the space. Photoshoots are generally one long chat, whilst moving from a chair to a table to another chair, to a sofa, with outfit changes along the way. It was only just above 0C outside (it was that freeezing week in January!) so we popped out for a quick few photos to add more to her mix of images.

Katie’s company is called Being Human Well and she offers a really interesting combination of workshops on empathy & compassion along with guided meditation. She’s also a children’s author. We talked a lot about her work coming up as well as her impending 40th birthday, new food places we’ve found, and lots of other topics we both love. Have a scroll below to see just a few of the resulting images and guess what we were talking about when!

I’d love you to have a look at her website and see the work she does to boost businesses and individuals in their wellbeing. And don’t forget to admire her new photos too, it’s always good to see how clients use their lovely new headshots and branding images 😆

11 September 2023

Doubling up with two locations for maximum variety.

I keep writing about how amazing London is for locations and backdrops but this photoshoot with Connie, a final year Cambridge student, was a perfect example 😊 We wanted to capture a series of headshots which had a corporate and financial feel to them as well as a set of colourful funky profile images.

We started off in The City near Bank for lots of neutral backdrops of stone pillars and cream walls. But don’t mistake “neutral” for “boring”, these backgrounds lend an elegance and stature to photos particularly coupled with slightly more formal outfits. There are some nice cafes nearby which are great for quick changes as well as a pit stop for coffee. We then hopped across to Shoreditch for a real mix of colours, stripes, graffiti patterns, plus some greenery and plainer backdrops too. There’s pretty much everything on offer there, including plenty of options with cover from the sun – it was 30C that day so this was quite key!

Outdoor headshot photoshoots like these are always really fun and this comes through in your photos, giving you images full of personality. Although I’ll have checked out the areas in advance, there are often new hoardings or painted backdrops that suddenly appear to make each photoshoot even more unique. Lots of people and businesses have multiple dimensions and their headshot and branding photography needs to reflect this. What I love about Shoreditch is that in 20-30 minutes we can capture headshots or branding images with backdrops that can be completely tailored to you, just look at some of the many options below. It’s a headshot photographer’s dream and is ready and waiting for you 😁

17 August 2023

A photoshoot full of fun with lots of pink.

I love doing location photoshoots and using the many backdrops that different parts of London have to offer so it was really exciting to book in a branding photoshoot for Frankie Molyneaux. Frankie is a social media expert and her brand colours are predominantly pink with a bit of green so we immediately agreed that doing a little tour of the pink houses in Notting Hill would be perfect.

The forecast was looking pretty terrible for a few weeks with the exception of one dry morning so we planned it in and thankfully the weather experts were spot on 😊 When I book outdoor photoshoots we always look at the weather forecast carefully and also put in a contingency date, so it generally works out without a problem.

What we can’t always predict is whether the residents of the houses are about to paint their walls a new colour! I always do a recce of the area before any location photoshoot and have far more backdrop options than we could ever hope to fit in, but we walked to one particular street which has an amazing pink curved building on a junction only to find that it was being painted yellow that day, what a cheek 🤣

Before a branding photoshoot we would discuss outfits that work well with the style and feel of the brand and that’s the same whether it’s an indoor or outdoor session. Layers work well for quick changes while we’re out and about – Frankie was a pro at changing from a suit to a dress with no modesty lost – but there are always cafes and other changing room options.

One of the benefits of being a photographer is that you learn masses about your clients’ business. It was a real treat spending a few hours with Frankie and she really kindly gave me some invaluable social media tips over a cup of coffee afterwards (after I’d photographed her in action working 😉). Frankie helps businesses with their social media strategies, offers social media audits and planning as well as 1:1 coaching. She also creates video content for companies as well as manages their social media accounts. I can really recommend her. Follow her on insta @francesrosesocialmedia or have a look at her website

11 July 2023

Dramatic landscapes, wild, remote, but utterly entrancing.

The way I would describe cycling through Iceland is like slowly moving through a film set, or looking at a piece of art and seeing the detail gradually unravelling itself in front of your eyes. It is amazing for most people but a haven for photographers.

For speedier cyclists who aren’t pulling heavy panniers this might not be true ha ha but I just loved the fact that you get to study every bit of detail of the dramatic scenes you pass by, usually in real quietness with just birds or fast flowing rivers for sound. We were travelling round Route 1 which is the main tarmac road round Iceland. It’s great because you never get lost or have any arguments about the best route for the day as there’s only one option and it’s signposted everywhere. The people are incredibly friendly and it’s so remote that you have to map out your food stops days ahead of time to ensure that you have plenty of snacks for days where there are no shops, cafes or petrol stations along a 100km stretch!

I could write forever about Iceland but here are a couple of things about our trip:

It’s easy to become slightly obsessed with wild lupins which are out in all their glory in June. From afar they give off this amazing blanket of mauve along the foothills and then close up, the most uplifting carpet of hardy purple flowers 😊

You can always find good coffee when you’re away if you look hard enough. I can really recommend the Skool Beans Cafe bus in Vik – it was amazing ☕️

I wouldn’t have made it up any of the 5km long hills without my AirPods and Sam Fender 🎶 Having a fast beat song is sometimes the only good distraction from the steep hill stretched ahead. Spotify have got some brilliant cycling playlists for this 😁

I did a lot of training for six months but my poor achilles hadn’t seemed to take it on board and after seven days of 740 km windy, hilly, pannier-weighty cycling they said no more! They were painful and swollen and weren’t looking good for the remaining 700km so I reluctantly hired a car. It did mean that I could be support vehicle to my co-cyclist Steve – he’d hit the jackpot not having to carry panniers any more 😆 It also gave me the chance to stop and take EVEN more photos in between meeting him to pass out snacks. Scroll down for but a few… 📷 (Thankfully my achilles are healing very quickly now)

22 May 2023

High quality technical training, Maximum fun.

This is what Luke Abnett of The Ballet Physio’s brand is all about. So when he asked me to do a branding photoshoot we prioritised capturing highly animated images full of expertise yet fun engagement. I don’t remember laughing so much in any photoshoot as his!

Luke runs The Ballet Physio and helps young dancers accelerate their training without injury. I’ve photographed a lot of ballet and other dance over the years and am fascinated by what the body can achieve. It’s been a huge insight, learning more about how very specific ballet physio training can enable dancers to achieve their potential so much more and without the anguish and frustration of injury. For instance, many dancers want to improve their turnout but don’t know how to do this using natural strength and control, thereby opening themselves up to injury. Luke will look at your turnout and any muscle weakness or tightness and create a plan of exercises which will help you go from strength to strength. He’s just done a series of instagram posts on turnout, flexibility, balance and posture – follow him and have a read. They’re really interesting even if you’re not a dancer 😊

For Luke’s branding photoshoot we used multiple props including sunglasses(!) to show the kind of thing that his classes get up to, whilst revealing quite how much fun his students have. The focus of learning in his sessions is massive but never boring. I love these types of photoshoots as I get to learn a great deal about other businesses and what sets them apart. The resulting bank of images is perfect for a stream of social media posts and takes away half the headache of Luke’s marketing – perfect!