Mar 26 2013

Shots from the archive: Namibia

Several years ago, I spent a couple of weeks on the road in Namibia. This was before digital photography had taken off (still prohibitively expensive), so I was armed with my trust Canon T90 and long lens as I intended to shoot wildlife photography. However, on day 2 of my 15 day trip, whilst I sat in Etosha Park waiting for the animals and lighting conditions to align at the watering hole, my camera electrics suffered a catastrophic meltdown (literally) at the hands of the African midday sun.

All I had left was a £20 Lubitel 6×6 camera, 10 roles of Fuji Provia and my father’s 40 year old light meter As it turned out, that was all I needed. Over a decade later and I still love the analogue nature of these shots, all captured on a camera with a super cheap lens.

Sossusvlei – Namibia

Skeleton Coast 2 – Namibia

Skeleton Coast 1 – Namibia

Open Road 1 – Namibia

Skeleton Coast 3 – Namibia

Mar 14 2013

Guinness – St Patrick’s Day shoot

On an icy cold Thursday and Friday in January, as the snow fell and the temperatures tumbled below zero, I was on the set of a Guinness shoot, to celebrate St Patrick’s Day this March 17th 2013.

The team was made up of our Guinness client, creatives from Saatchi, Michael Sugerman (Director) and Production team from Holster, my team from Tribal, a live action / post production team from Rushes, as well as the assembled cast and crew.

The complexity of the shoot was based on the fact that we were interjecting personalised elements into the experience and therefore had to carefully choreograph the key sequences that my post production team at Luma could then create assets from and pass them over to the render farm team at Crystal CG / Hoopers.

One point of interest was that the bar set we used was from the hit TV comedy ‘Only Fools and Horses’.

The final output is available on Facebook: http://bit.ly/GuinnessPaintYourTownBlack

Here are a few behind the scenes images I managed to grab whilst on the two day shoot.

Behind the scenes

Screen captures from the shoot

Here are some links about the film in the press:
Marketing: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1173008/Guinness-unveils-St-Patricks-Weekend-marketing-drive/
The Drum: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/02/26/guinness-invites-world-paint-town-black-st-patricks-day
IBB Online: http://lbbonline.com/news/guinness-paint-the-town-black/
More About Advertising: http://www.moreaboutadvertising.com/2013/03/saatchi-paints-the-town-black-for-guinness/

Feb 28 2013

24Photography 2013

For the fourth year running, I am participating in the 24Photography artist’s group exhibition, which itself is in its tenth year. Each year, 24 photography artists document New Year’s Day, each assigned an hour to capture the day through our eyes and relate it to the year’s brief. This year, the chosen theme was Sign of the Times and I was allotted 13:00 – 14:00 slot.

My piece is entitles Fast Forwards. It is based on the premise that any city such as London is always in perpetual motion. This forward movement is derived from all the constituent componenets, which operate independently at their own pace.

I wanted to juxtapose the different time transitions, from the ever changing skyline to the frenetic movement of the people who inhabit it. Finally, I wanted to include the natural elements that surround all this activity, which itself is in a constant change of flux. However, in all of this commotion, it is this natural variable that will enjoy the greatest longevity.

As usual, the exhibition will opens tonight, 24th February in Berkeley Square, Mayfair. The nearest tube station is Green Park. Please come along and see al our work.

Useful links:
24Photography website: http://www.24photography.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/24photography
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/24photography

Press Links:
Photography monthly: http://www.photographymonthly.com/News-and-Reviews/2013/2/24photography-s-10th-anniversary-in-Berkeley-Square#.URPlCxhMTvs.twitter
Professional Photographer: http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/News-and-Reviews/2013/2/24photography-holding-its-10th-anniversary
Hot shoe: http://www.hotshoeinternational.com/wo_exhibition_details.do?b=14&c=1
Evening Standard: http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/exhibitions/242013-magic-abroad-air-115014
ArtsIant: http://www.artslant.com/lon/events/show/259378-242013—marlow-mortons-and-magic-abroad-in-the-air
All in London: http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/whats-on.php?event=99527
Indie London: http://www.indielondon.co.uk/Events-Review/24photography-exhibition-berkeley-square
Photo 75: http://photo75.com/home/?p=3061

Feb 16 2013

John Lewis – Fitness shoot

In January of this year (2013), I executive produced a short film for John Lewis about the ever pertinent New Year’s topic of fitness. With only a very limited time frame to pull together the shoot, we worked with a small unit at Mind’s Eye to create a humorous and delicately shot short to demonstrate how we all start the New Year with the best of intentions to loose the gut just acquired over the Christmas break. However, our protagonist is thwarted at every turn by the shoddy state of his sporting gear.

How long did it take you to recognise the soundtrack?

Here are a few images I managed to grab whilst on the one day shoot.

Still from the video shoot

Wide shot 1

Wide shot 2

Main protagonist shot 1

Main protagonist shot 2

End shot (reverse)

Crew shot 1

Crew shot 2

Crew shot 3

Crew shot 4

Crew shot 5

Here are a couple of links from the press:
Drum’s Ad of the Day (18th January 2013): http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/01/18/ad-day-john-lewis-old-fitness-equipment

M&M Global: http://www.mandmglobal.com/news/22-01-13/john-lewis-launches-new-year-new-start-fitnes.aspx

Feb 2 2013

Image

Bring on the Green

O2 Ireland Rugby mobile site

Today marked the first of the Six Nations rugby games. O2 Ireland commissioned my team at Tribal DDB to create a mobile optimised site as a second screen game companion. Utilising a highly detailed statistics feed, we create an application that would translate the raw data into meaningful graphics that would not intrude upon the live game experience. We also incorporated a Twitter feed from the social team at O2 Ireland and Rugby fans

The data was updated at least every 30 seconds throughout the game and covered everything from tries and conversions to substitutions, penalties, red and yellow cards, plus comparative data such as the power of the Irish pack.

With incredible narrow timelines, we managed to deliver a great mobile optimised site (desktop and tablet versions also available) with a very short lead time.

Here are some other screen grabs of the application.

Screen grab 1

Screen grab 2

Screen grab 3

Useful links:
O2 Ireland Rugby blog: http://www.o2online.ie/o2/rugby/blog/
O2 Rugby mobile site site: http://bringonthegreen.ie/

Jan 12 2013

VW One Film shoot

Last summer, I executive produced a global campaign for VW around the launch of the new Golf 7. Part of the work created included a personalised film we shot out in the US. This film was known as the One Film and was based around choices that users entered on the www.onething.com website. Their input was then rendered in a personalised movie and served back to them as a dreamlike view of a journey through their one things.

We worked with JK and Todd Kellstein at Paydirt in LA, to capture a lovely 2 minute short film – our take if you will of the classic American road movie.

Below are some images from the 5 days we were shooting in California.

Big Sur

Day 1

Crew on Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Crew on Day 4

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 2

Aug 7 2012

A day in Death Valley, USA

Recently, after being on a film shoot in California, I had a couple of days spare at the end of my trip and decided to capture some images in Death Valley. I made the classic tourist error of hiring a convertible car, which in the desert, is a bad idea. You want, no, you need to have air conditioning. Being stoic, I chose discomfort and sunburn instead, which turned out well for me.

Anyhow, here are a few shots I took in a day long photography shoot in Death Valley. It effectively documents the arrival of a fierce thunder-storm, gale force winds and a torrential downpour that flooded the roads in multiple places.

The fluffy white clouds formed the perfect backdrop to this ghost town

Thick, heavy cloud was blowing into Death Valley from Nevada to the east.

The sky seemed to lose colour as the heavy, grey clouds gathered overheat, blocking out the intense sun and dropping the temperature some 20 degrees Celsius.

Rain began to fall and there were two separate rainbows in the desert. It was magnificent.

For these last two images, the wind was blowing a gale and I had to cling on to my camera gear to fear that it would be snatched away by the wind.

Forks of lightening spread 180 degrees sideways through the sky as I drove back to my hotel after taking the final session of shots on Zabriskie Point.

Jan 22 2012

24Photography 2012

Third year running for me to participate in the 24Photography artist’s group. Each year, 24 photography artists document New Year’s Day. Each of us are assigned an hour to capture the day through our eyes and relate it to that year’s theme. This year, the chosen theme is Empty.

I was based in Hong Kong for most of December this year and although I was allotted 12 noon GMT, this translated to 8pm in Hong Kong. The city is one of the most vibrant and hectic places on earth, so following the empty theme appeared complicated at first. I wanted to focus on the hyper realism of the city, which I accomplished through using HDR to enhance the already bright end of day colours.

As usual, the exhibition will open on 24th February in Berkeley Square, Mayfair. Nearest tube station is Green Park.

Useful links:
24Photography website: http://www.24photography.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/24photography
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/24photography

Oct 1 2011

Canada photoshoot 2011

Just prior to the Frankfurt motorshow in September, I went out to Canada for a two week photoshoot. Starting off in Calgary, I headed west to Banff National Park. From here, I drove through all the surrounding national parks including Kootenay, Yoho and Jasper. Over the first ten days, I covered almost 2000 miles.

After returning to Calgary, I then flew further west to Victoria, capital of Vancouver Island. My good friend Justene Miller, a Canadian from Vancouver, gave me some excellent advice, to visit Tofino and Ucluelet, on the Pacific coast of the island. I was treated to a cloud rainbow, something I have never seen before.

I loved Canada, with its spectacular landscape and friendly locals. My only reservation is that the food is much like the US is pretty awful most of the time.

Sep 16 2011

Honda at Frankfurt 2011 motorshow

For several months leading up to the Frankfurt 2011 motorshow, I executive produced the Honda stand with an excellent team at Wieden & Kennedy. Creative directing the stand was Tom Seymour and David Bruno. You can see more of their work on their website www.davidandtom.co.uk.

Collaborating with a production company just outside of Frankfurt, Germany, a Belgian artist based in Marseille and Honda clients based across Europe and Japan, we designed, built and implemented a stand for Honda in less than 4 months from start to finish. The design was meant to visual representation of the roads to zero emissions for the motor show, one of Honda’s key cornerstone values.

The stand was covered by the full breadth of auto press and design magazines, including Wallpapaer (who used one of my images).

Here are more images of the stand I took for Wieden + Kennedy’s press releases.