A&M Photography

Bonfire of the Brands

Last year we were comissioned to take some publicity shots of Neil Boorman which related  to his upcoming book called  Bonfire of the Brands. Neil's book is all about his addiction to branded goods and his journey from being a self confessed brand junkie to living his life without any branded goods. He rid himself of all his branded stuff by having a huge bonfire in Finsbury Square where he burnt the lot. (There is a lot more to it then that but you'll have to go and buy the book). The first shots we took were some portraits to be used for press release and for an editorial piece in the Sunday Times Style magazine. We took these portraits outside his favorite shop and the second with all his branded possesions before the bonfire.

 

 

 

 

                                                     Sunday Times Style magazine usage

A&M also covered the bonfire where Neil burnt the lot!

We were also asked to produce a portrait of Neil for the book, Bonfire of the Brands being published by Canongate in September.

Waitrose New MD Portrait

Mark Price was appointed MD of Waitrose last week. A&M Photography were brought in to create an up to date portrait of Mark who has been with John Lewis for 25 years. We were comissioned to take some fairly standard corporate portraits but also to come up with a more creative image. Mark Price is the first to describe himself as the "Chubby Grocer" so we decided that the image had to have something in the shot relating to groceries. The final image is quite a simple portrait of him just tossing a single green apple into the air, pictured in front of a coloured background. We were lucky to get the shot quickly as we only had 15 minutes with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bridge Face

Following on from our Poker face shoot, we decided to visit a bridge card club. In many ways the players attitude to bridge was similar to the poker players, in both cases they were very serious about the game. I have posted a few examples from the shoot of the most succesful portraits.

Ashley and Mark's poker faces

Polaroid of Ashley and Mark pictured with our best poker faces

Poker Face

We have been working on a series of pictures on card players, the first being poker players. There has been a huge increase in the amount of people playing poker online and at live games in recent years. The World Series of Poker offers massive prize money that couldn't be matched by most sporting events and there are millions of people regularly logging on to poker sites to play in real money games and tournaments. Mark and I decided to orginise a photoshoot at the Gutshot Poker club in Clerkenwell one saturday night. The mix of different characters of ages and backgrounds who entered the Saturday night tournament was quite amazing.

To follow on from the previous post, I want to make it clear that when we shoot a more "set up" corporate portrait, it doesn't mean that it has to look boring or stiff. If you plan the shot and use your lighting well, you can create images that will have personality and be interesting to the viewer. We often prefer to find a suitable backdrop in the location where the shoot is taking place, however we do have clients that like the clean look of a background, which can also work well if lit right.
It is always important make the subject feel comfortable. These people are not models, and the most common thing we hear when they enter the room is " I hate having my picture taken". We always take time to put them at ease. There are often two of us on the shoot, which helps a lot in this situation, while one is talking to the subject the other can get some shots of them off camera. We find these images work well to accompany an interveiw because they give a sense of reality.
As the pictures will be used for different purposes we always strive to get a good variety of facial expressions. We always like to make sure there is a suitible portrait to appear along side any article.

Candid corporate shoot

Just to keep you upto date with some of the photography commissions A&M have had recently, i've posted this example where the client wanted somthing a little different from the standard head and shoulders photography. They were after something more dynamic, fresh looking and not posed. It's important to always understand and follow the clients brief. We thought it a good idea to have the environment of a company meeting, the clients premises were nice and light, and with some additional lighting, we managed to create an informal look which the client was very happy with. As I mentioned before it's important to understand the clients requirements through their brief. Each client will have their individual identity that they wish to portray within their industry and to the media, which must be apparent in the final images. This is where A&M Photography feel they keep ahead of the competition in the field of corporate photography.