I’m always keen to try different looks created by new lighting set ups. I was pointed towards this interesting blog by Swedish photographer, Stefan Tell (thanks Mark from Decoder) and had to experiment with the two-light set up with black background – with my first attempts above.

Revisiting this for a second session, we thought we’d made it even harder  by having Kate wearing a black dress and other dark clothes! Getting the separation of the head and clothes from the background proved to be the biggest challenge as there’s the balance between getting your separation and light seeping on to the background. So, it works for some better than others. You can see these and a few more in this gallery.

I think a more directional light (snoot or grid) is probably needed to ensure that the backlight remains on the head and shoulders. I shall try that next time round but for all of these I used the softboxes I have. This simple and effective look would certainly suit corporate profile shots…

The summer’s as good a time as ever to update your website so I’ve started the process by adding to some of the galleries. Most notably, I’ve received model release for a few more school and nursery portraits so you now see more of a selection now from formal(ish) school studio shots to the natural nursery playtime images here.

The Events gallery has also been updated to include some recent work for the University of Leicester amongst others. I shall continue to add more work during holiday periods so do come back…

At the end of the last academic term, I worked on the Chemistry Activity Day at the University of Leicester – organised by the Colleges and University Learning Network. It was a great day designed to introduce college students to chemistry as a study subject and included an ester lab session, visual chemistry demonstration (with lots of smoke and bangs!) and business game for the competitive amongst them.

You can see a selection of the images here along with other recent shoots for the University.

Apologies for leaving it so long before another post but I’m sure my small pool of readers understand… I’m not long back from another trip with Mynt to the Bread & Butter fashion show in Berlin, which coincided with the two World Cup semi-finals. Mynt did another fabulous job on the Lee Cooper stand and relaunched the heritage British brand with the core denim range and brand extensions like fragrances, eyewear, swimwear and children’s collection amongst others. You can more images here. We’ve already had some good press coverage for the work at B&B on The Drum and hoping for more in the design and marketing press.

Bread & Butter itself was as inspiring as ever and I’ve returned with some fresh ideas for shoots should anyone be interested…

I don’t know if you’ve ever come across the Guardian’s Eyewitness series. The idea is for a single powerful image to be released each day in print, online and on the iPad. By displaying a single image only, I think it forces us to look at it in greater detail than we normally would. And there’s a small pro tip box too that gives a few clues on how the shot was achieved. The iPad seems like the perfect place to display these images as you can read here. Wouldn’t mind getting my hands on one, would make a great portfolio…

I thought I’d let you know how I was getting on with my nursery photography. I’ve recently finished shoots at two nurseries in Market Harborough and Branston; and have bookings in the summer and autumn for at least four more local nurseries. And a booking for next March, which is pretty impressive planning on the nursery’s behalf!

So far, there seems to be an event split between studio shoots and the natural playtime pictures – both have their place and it all depends on the style and look the nursery and parents are going for. I’m limited with what I can show online as it all depends on parents consent for model release but I shall add images to the portfolio as and when.

The brand new Mynt website has recently gone live – and very impressive it looks too. You’ll see many of my images throughout the site – Gola, Lee Cooper, Craghoppers and many of the school brochures to name but a few. We’ll be adding to it regularly with new work and news stories so be sure to go back again soon www.mynt.co.uk

It was a real pleasure to be involved in the recent Leicestershire’s Got Enterprising Business Talent project organised by the Colleges-University of Leicester Network (CULN). Colleges across the county competed in Dragons Den-style competitions showcasing their enterprising business ideas.  So, I was there for the two days of filming/shooting the College winners and for the Grand Finale event held at The City Rooms in Leicester and hosted by original Dragon and Yo Sushi founder, Simon Woodroffe. There are great stories attached to each college and idea, none more so than for the eventual winners, North Warwickshire and Hinckley College with their Companion Coffins concept.

This week I was commissioned to work on the University-hosted event called Enterprise Matters: Unleashing Enterprise Talent in the FE Sector held at the John Foster Hall on Manor Road. It’s great to see the effort and measures in place to encourage today’s student to be entrepeneurial and to think about their career prospects. Things have certainly changed from our school ‘careers’ service that consisted of a few untouched leaflets…

Amongst all of the delegates of college representatives and service providers was guest speaker, Sabirul Islam. Company CEO, trader, author of ‘The World at Your Feet’ and entrepeneur. His boundless energy, enthusiasm and determination to succeed was really impressive and inspirational to all, not just the young.

It’s always pleasing when you’re remembered for doing a good job in the past – and so it was that someone at the CLAHRC conference in June (thanks Ruth) recommended me for the NIHR RDS (Research Development Services) conference that took place on February 11th at Burleigh Court in Loughborough.

The event was a mix of talks, Q&A sessions with a panel of experts and one-on-one discussions so it was my job to capture the programme in full – plus the general interaction between all of the delegates throughout the day.  This launch was designed to help those interested in research and research funding in health and social care and gave them an opportunity to actually meet those who manage and administer the research funds. You can see some of the event shots here.