I had a really interesting last minute job at the University recently. Eminent geneticist and the man that brought us DNA testing and profiling, Sir Alec Jeffreys, is having his portrait painted by Tess Barnes, who has an impressive list of subjects that include Michael Portfillo, Carole Vorderman and Camila Batmanghelidjh of the Kid’s Company. I went along to his office briefly to capture the last of six 2 hour sittings so there was a record of the sessions. Brief it most certainly was as I had all of 10 minutes to work out the best angles whilst blending in and not disturbing them!

Note to self: must blog more often. And tweet. Monthly blogs and a grand total of 3 lifetime tweets are hardly harnessing the power of social media…

Bertie’s new store in the Trafford Centre is fun, eclectic and striking. From the wall of clocks to the chalk boards with messages(‘Man Up’ and ‘Loafing around in style’ are a few on view!), it’s highly original and was a pleasure to photograph. You can see some more examples of my expanding retail portfolio here.

Here are a few images from a recent shoot with Leicester Prep School, Stoneygate College. And yes, they’re of the lovely Claudia (you have to admit she’s a pretty good model and model release is never a problem). I’ve always been a great believer that school and nursery photography doesn’t have to be mottled backgrounds and pasted on smiles – so give the pictures a modern look whilst making it enjoyable and painless for the children – as well as myself. I was surprised to count the other day that I will have done over 30 nursery and school shoots by the end of this year and hope to build on this success into next year.

Sometimes you have minutes to capture the right shots and this shoot at the end of the summer was a case in point. The Pro VC of the University of Leicester, Keith Schurer, and three members of the Leicestershire Asian Business Association were on very tight schedules but we needed to capture this photo opportunity marking the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.

Dune unveiled their new stores in the Trafford Centre Manchester and at the recently opened Stratford Westfield. The ‘catwalk on the ceiling’ concept has gone down a storm with customers and staff – and you just have to admire how the shoes stay up there!

It was such a pleasure to meet and shake hands with the great man on his flying visit to Leicester to receive his honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University during degree week. He had a punishing schedule coming from and back to Cape Town in one day but was charming and patient throughout with an infectious laugh. Before joining the rest of the press pack at De Montfort Hall, I spent some time with him at the University Chaplaincy and then on his journey to the David Wilson building for lunch. A BBC radio interviewer had told him earlier that he’ll always be associated with a lower second class degree and he had the good humour to congratulate the graduating students on getting their firsts, two-ones and ‘what people call a Desmond.’  You can see how the Leicester Mercury covered the story here.

I was really happy to help out Just Fairtrade and Newenglish Design at their fashion show held at St Martin’s House on Saturday night. Over 200 guest enjoyed the event that showcased the work of local fairtrade designers like Braintree and Patchouli Fair in a fun and refreshing way using ‘real people’ of all ages as models, as well as explaining more about what can be achieved through the fairtrade movement. As well as those above and below you can see the full set of images from the great night here.

Better late than never… The Percy Gee building at the University of Leicester was officially opened recently with a high profile ceremony that included VC Bob Burgess, President of the NUS Aaron Porter, lots of mayors and mayoresses and the family of Percy Gee. The event focused on the unveiling of the Touching Pair statue by Deidrie Hubbard and the official opening plaque; and also included team shots of the those involved in the design and construction of the impressive building.

Here are some shots of the lovely Ella Betsy at home in St Albans with mum Jenny. Natural light, no flash, no backdrop, very simple.

I stumbled across this blog about archive images from the BBC’s Face-to-Face series that was originally aired between 1959-1963. I’d seen footage of the cringy Hancock interview and a few others before but the stills work well on their own, particularly the darkened studio shots with the isolated lighting on the subject. The Martin Luther King image is also interesting as he’s almost framed by the statue and producer.