London Portrait Phtographer

Portrait photographer based in London shooting editorial, corporate and advertising photography

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Showing your brand to the world! Creating your own images

I work with many companies not only shooting their corporate headshots and profile portraits but showing life in their business.

Using people from your own company gives potential clients a look and feel of who they will be working with. Although stock photography can be a fast option for designers it can be unrepresentative of you as a business, so commissioning your own is a good idea. It also gives you far more control over what is relevant and what isn’t. You could show a story of working at your firm, a day in the life or highlighting destinctive aspects that make you unique.

A good idea is commission photographer to create a bank of images so you can draw upon those images when needed. Practically this is a good idea as you will be in control of the rights of the images, using a third party stock library they may charge you for different uses and you may not exclusively own those images.

Here’s some examples of what I have worked on recently. If you’d like to see more examples please do let me know.

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Nabylah Abo Dehman In London

Making a better working environment

Together with the United Nations, 5,000 major financial institutions, are committed to better working conditions for workers, a living wage and an end to child labour. They do so according to UN-PRI's ambitious new Advance programme, led by Nabylah Abo Dehman.

I was commissioned by the dutch magazine/ on line platform to photograph the bright and beautiful Nabylah Abo Dehman in the city of London for their feature on her,

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Dentons LLP Recruitment Advertising

Lawyer recruitment advertising

Not your typical law trainee photography shoot I have to say!

But then again, nothing surprises me from the team at 106comms with their pushing the boundaries creative flare.

Denton Challenges you to ‘Question the norm, to think big. Taking a fall and getting up, back stronger- pushing further….Not everyone is a challenger, are you’?

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Laing O'Rourke advertising shoot in London

Portraits in London Olympia

A recent shoot for Laing O’Rourke in London Olympia to be usied for their Recruitment advertising and other marketing material. It was quite a loose brief to do portraits in and aropund the area. These shots are just quick picks from me and not the finish selections.

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Unmade bed reprise

In 2010 I photographed my bed after waking everyday for a year, for want of a better I name I called the series, ’Unmade Bed’ and later The Poetry of Things, which in some way seemed more apt, the beauty in the everyday.

I may have been drawn to photography early on because of its association to memory. It by its very essence holds what is no longer there and this dicotomy has always facinated me. Whether it’s people scars and the memories behind them or the spaces that people vacate I have always been drawn photography’s ability to show what is no longer but what for certain did at some stage exist.

Unmade bed was an extension of this train of thought. I wanted to do a piece of work on the bed. A place where people sleep, where they exist and don’t exist. In our dream filled minds we go to to places that our spaces rarely siginify, we are there not not there.

I was also interested in the data in the camera verses the aestheics of the photograph. In some sence the cameras scope showed very little, it was a very narrow documentry project but the digital camera is loaded with information about the date and time, GPS co-ordonates, the exposure the make-up of pixels of the picture represented.

When I showed my late mum the project she naid “David, thats rubbish! ”, and she’s quite right, but I liked the images non the less. The small imprints we make when we sleep, a sleep tat takes up 1/2 our lives.

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The Poetry of things

Garden treasures

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Private headshot commissions

Private commissions are fantastic!

I’ve had a few private headshot commissions recently which im sharing here. I’ve always shot individual portraits for people, mainly business headshots from my home studio, in people’s homes / offices and outside. I’ve shot for magazines when a client features in an article and they want something professional and different from what they have. It’s always fun working with someone to create the portrait that best represents them.

Jon, already had a really good studio headshot that was done recently, it is really nice but very ‘corporate’. Shirt, tie and on a white background.

He called me to get something that showed him in a different light, more like himself- less serious, more ‘approachable’.

We did a session in his home, shooting some portraits around the house and in his garden. This is one of the selects which worked really well. The final use will be cropped in but I like on the out of focus shapes and tones…

Caroline and Debs needed some headshots for their new property business website and we decided to shoot in Caroline’s Chelsea apartment . I always send colour and black and white versions to clients and due to the contrast of what they were wearing the black and white worked well. I generally prefer to shoot with natural daylight as it can give a sympatetic feel to portraits but on this particular overcast day I used a little flash to replicate it .

I shot Miquel in the Canary Wharf offices where he works during the first lockdown. Only a handful of people were working fro his office so we had free run to shoot in the main reception which was great. It would have been tricky otherwise as the serviced office that he uses was tiny; One of the very few upsides to the pandemic.

Like the other shots I use a low depth of field to isolate the subject from the background but hint at where they are.

One to one photoshoot

Having a personal one to one photo shoot, you get a totally bespoke service catering for your needs entirely. Sure, its more expensive than getting in done in the 5 minutes you would be allocated when the company does all theres but this way you get exactly what you want. When it comes down to being happy with your heashotsphoto- its worth it!

This is how the world sees you, its worth giving it some time and patience….

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10 key points for a perfect headshot

The Perfect headshot for business

The headshot check list

1. Preparation

Decide what the headshot is for! Sounds like a stupid thing to say right, but you would be surprised. Knowing precisely where and how the photo will be used will naturally determine the look and feel of the headshot. So many people used holiday snaps for their Linkedin profile photos, Incredible!

2. Contact a professional photographer.

Call the studio and have a chat with the photographer, letting them know what you would like and where the headshot will be used. You may have one idea of what you would like but one thing is for sure an experienced photographer will know what you need.

The photographer will run through some ideas that might work for you, whether in the studio or on Location. What kind of lighting, what kind of background. (I personally do a few options in the session)

I often find it easier for both patrties to bring my photo studio to the office- It takes up little space and is less disruption for the client.

Check you are happy with thie costs.

3. Presentation

It’s a good idea to get your hair cut a few days before. Have a shave if you are a man.

If you are a woman you might even get your hair styled on the day. Its often nice to get your make up done to, it relaxes some people to be pampered, it can make you feel good; feel more confident.

We work with make up artists on some shoots and generally people love being pampered; but its not essential (in my opinion)

4.Practice

Before the shoot, look in the mirror and practice a little…It may feel ridiculous but it will make you feel less self conscious on the day. Practice how to smile, how to look serious, how do do something in between. It can also make you feel a little more comfortable on the day.

5. Clothing

Largely this is common sense. Take clothes you feel comfortable in. Avoid busy patterned shirts. Make sure the clothes are ironed and everything fits well. If that’s your look.

Maybe consider taking a tie and having shots without to. Perhaps, take a few outfits

For women perhaps avoid low cut tops. They can look odd when they are cropped tightly, to head and shoulders portraits that are often used. You may even look naked!

Clean glasses

Your business may have a way of dressing that they emphasizes the type of business you are, whether thats no tie, or very relaxed. Perhaps you want some smart, suited and booted and others more casual, open shirted?

6. Arrive on time

With anything, if you arrive late you are immediately placing yourself under undue pressure. This doesn’t help when you want to look relaxed and ‘natural’.

7. Relax.

Feeling uncomfortable in this situation is actually ‘normal’. Everyone in my opinion feels this way. Try and relax if you can. A good photographer will help you to relax as much as is possible in this odd situation (strange man/woman in a new place with a large lens pointing at you with lights going off, not to mention the expectation of the on-line world waiting!!) . Take deep breaths and don’t worry about a thing. I think if you don’t take things too seriously and try and have some fun things will go well.

8. Be open!

The photographer will suggest things for you to do, ways to sit or stand that might well feel odd to you. Trust them! But also ask questions and make suggestions!

I usually show people what I am doing and explain why, so you are as much a part of the creative process as me. In my experience if you engage with people and include them in your thoughts and what you are doing , then enjoy it so much more. It can even be fun!

9. Review the images-ask opinions.

After the shoot each photographer will work differenly but they will essentially edit the photos from the shoot and show you them to you. Some will physically show you in the studio, I like to send them to the client to mull over either via a website or via a PDFcontact sheet (thumbnails of the images edited from the shoot).

Most like me will then suggest making a choice. At this stage take your time. Look at them and then review them few days later (if you have the time).

Share them with a friend of family member as we all see ourselves differently.

send the selections to the photographer

10. Retouching

The photographer then should send back the images retouched. If you have any specific requests for things to be changed ask the photographer. I presonally do what I imagine the client would want but am happy to do more if needs be.

Without being told, I would remove spots and get rid of shinny skin, smooth wrinkles a little. Retouch out anyting distracting from the skin or clothing.

The photographer will send the images to you via dropbox or wetransfer

If you need the images to be a certain pixel size for a specific use, let them know and they can do that for you prior to sending.

So just to sun up the 10 key points to for a perfect headstot

Preparation- what is the headshot for / where will it be used?

Professinal photographer-source a Professional photographer

Presentation-Get hair cut/ styled

Practice-the poses

Clothing-wear the right clothing for you and the company

Arrive on time- dont put yourself under undue pressure

Realx-if you are nervous take deep breaths

Be Open to suggestions-Let the professional guide you

Review images-take a look at what the photographer is doing so you are happy

Retouchimg of images-Are there an specific needs you have (spots on the day)!

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Artists in Stroud

British Artists in Stroud

Having newly moved to the Cotswolds town of Stroud I am amazed by the amount of creatives that live in the area. There are lots of artists, a great many studios that serve well known artists like Damian Hurst et al. I’m kind of interested in the creatives that have made stroud there home.

I spent an interesting morning with James Green a successful artist in his Rodborough studio deep in the…

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Sophia Hughes, artist in her studio

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Portrait of an artist

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Headshots around the country

Business headshots

Getting your headshots done in this climate can feel like a logistical nightmare, it needn’t be.

This is a set I did for ActiveCare in three locations around the country. As long as you have a room booked and people come in individually all is good; infact its pretty much how I worked anyway. Just less shaking of hands :-)

One of the tricky things for large businesses is to have a coherent set of headshots that sit well together across offices. Something that can also work for new people joining in the comapny, a style thats easy to replicate so those future ‘about us’ pages or pitch documents hang together well.

This set portraits or Activecare was a simple headshot set-up with a white studio background, clean simple lighting with hopefully a open approachable feel from the people.

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Staff portraits at the Principal Hotel London

Principal Hotel London portraits

I had an intriguing commission to photograph portraits of the staff at  Principal Hotel London, a soon to be 5 star hotel currently under construction on Russel Square; Still literally a building site. Naturally this had its own challenges with no power or heating on one of the coldest days of the year so far, and IT WAS COLD.

What a great place to do a photoshoot! We had the suited and booted staff set against this construction site with a beautiful hotel emerging.

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Lawyer headshots shot in their homes

A new socially distanced headshot solution

Keystone law LLP are a law firm where they lawyers work with their own cinets on their own cases remotely; they are already a work from home freelance style of lawfirm. Their head offices are in central London but people work remotely with their own clients. Usually they would commission a shoot in their offices in London and the headshots would be shot in one session. Post lockdown a solution was to travel to the lawyers houses and do them indiviually. Heres some of the results.

If you are interested in commssioning some headshots for your company and need a solution to get the work produced please do give me a call, I am happy to help you work on something that will work safely with your employees. I have worked in many different ways of late so will be able to assist you with your business portraits.

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Corporate and business photography

Some exampls of some recent corporate photography shot for some clients prior to lockdown. Everything from brochure work and website portraits for businesses to shooting headshots directly for clients. One or two business to business magazine profile shoot to.

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Lockdown flowers

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Martyn Dicker from Unicef

In March I was commissioned to do a portrait session of Martyn Dicker, HRD of Unicef.

The offices of Unicef are located right next to the Westfield centre in Stratford with an amazing view over the Olympic Stadium and across to the city. Simply could not resist doing a portrait of Martyn infront of that!!