Christmas Eve and time to wrap up before the next few days break, first thing this morning and I had some corporate portraits to do for local business women Christine Cork from Target Literacy. With a new website being produced for the new year she had contacted me a few days prior to get an idea of what could be covered, now being based at the Innovation Centre in Canterbury we were not short of backdrops... ...more

I still have spaces available on the first Digital SLR Photography course for 2012 which will be held in Canterbury on Sunday 29th January. The course will run through the controls, handling, lenses and techniques of how to get the most out of your camera, gift vouchers are available as well which can be used for any course dates or for one to one photography training... ...more

This year has been a great success for my automotive photography, especially with the Brooklands car photography courses that I have been running at the museum. I had been asked by the Brooklands newsletter editor to supply some images and words for their last edition of the year, no surprise that the images included an Aston DB3, Ferrari F40 and one of my all time favourites a Porsche 356 speedster... ...more

Every year I produce a calendar to send out to clients showing a mix of my portfolio. Not always an easy choice as I like to show a cross section of the work that I have covered over the past twelve months... ...more

The last two days I have been covering work for Avante Partnership who have a number of residential homes in the South East for people with dementia. Both jobs were in Kent, the first for a staff member who was retiring and had been for the company for over sixteen years, and the second to cover some interior photography at New Close in Bridge near Canterbury where eight new rooms had just been completed... ...more

Tuesday evening and St Edmund's School held its Christmas carol service at Canterbury Cathedral, a venue I know only too well but with a small area in which to work in and only candle light at one stage for lighting for the camera to work from it was going to be a challenging shoot... ...more

Last trip to London this year for the Institute of Financial Services where they were having a film produced for their website and other promotional purposes. They had commissioned me to document the production as well as covering some portraits and scenic shots of the capital... ...more

Saturday morning and a fresh winters day for Rachel and Stephen's wedding day that was to take place in Faversham, Kent. The couple booked me last year to cover their big day and with Stephen, his Dad Derek and best man Dave all being friends and also members of the photography club that I run it was going to be an enjoyable day... ...more

A busy day ahead, first stop East Grinstead to cover some group photos for West Sussex fire brigade at the Queen Mary Hospital followed by car photography at Motorline Renault and Barretts Honda in Canterbury. The last job of the day will be at Canterbury Christ Church Universities Augustine House for some portraits of various students... ...more

I have been commissioned by Basepoint to cover the photography of their centres which provide high quality serviced offices for small to medium businesses. There are 28 business centres across the midlands and south of England and the photography is to capture the interior and exteriors of the buildings... ...more

Wednesday evening and Canterbury Christ Church University had asked me to cover some portraits of Professor Mark Hammond who was presenting a lecture on equality and human rights which he has been a member of since June... ...more

Now that I am based at the Canterbury Innovation Centre the office can work as an ideal set up for product photography. Today I was covering a range of photographs for glasses supplier Rodenstock, they are Germany's leading manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses and spectacles frames. The company, which was founded in 1877, is based in Munich and has a worldwide workforce of approximately 4,000 and is represented in more than 80 countries with sales subsidiaries and distribution partners. Todays photography was to cover their Netline range of spectacles... ...more

Pilgrims Hospices has been providing care and support free of charge to people with life-limiting illnesses, their families and carers for over two decades. 2012 will be the charities 30th anniversary and to celebrate they are doing a host of activities, one which includes a photography competition covering the people and places in Kent... ...more

In London Wednesday and Thursday this week for the Institute of Financial Services Pro Share and Financial Innovation awards which take place at the new Connaught Rooms over two nights. This is the fifth year that I have covered the awards now and the brief and content are very much the same as in previous years, it is an opportunity for the guests to dress up in their DJ's and evening dresses for this prestigious ceremony... ...more

Off to Essex today for charity MCCH enterprises who focus on helping people with disabilities and learning difficulties in the work place. The photography was covering the products that are made at both locations, these include frames, greeting card and garden furniture... ...more

The last car photography course at Brooklands this year and another fine selection of cars for the attendees to photograph, also nice to have the sunshine out for the day along with some crisp blue skies and cloud cover as well... ...more

Canterbury Cathedral played host Canterbury Christ Church Universities graduation ceremony, also in attendance to hand out the degrees was the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. With hundreds of students graduating it was going to be a busy but special day for everyone involved... ...more

Over the next twelve months I am going to be covering more work for Avante partnership, today's assignment was to cover some new photos at Barton Court in Sheerness, it was also an opportunity to cover Edith's 100th birthday party where the home had a party arranged for her friends and family... ...more

Two photography shoots for Christ Church University today, the first was for music lecturer Kim Barwell for a book that she has just recently written on the psychology of music. The second was to cover the annual report at Old Sessions House where various lecturers and students would talk through the year to date, this was introduced by the pro and vice chancellors of the university... ...more

Up to London again today, work this time and just over the other side of the river from where we were yesterday, this time for the IFS in Monument Square. The fog hadn't lifted all day so the opposite to yesterday's ideal photo conditions... ...more

Sunday and I was heading off with members of the Kentish Photography Club, that I run with Paul Spree, to London. The plan was to view the World Press Photographer of the year exhibition at Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank followed by some early evening photos of the Thames and its iconic landmarks... ...more

MCCH charity has linked up with Byways in Hampshire on a newly renovated development in the village of Odiham, this is to accommodate residents with disability and mental health issues. The photography today was to cover the opening of the new site along with the staff, residents and local dignitaries... ...more

Monday and our last full day in NYC, after a few options we decided to do something different and visit the US Intrepid aircraft carrier which sits on the Hudson River off of twelfth avenue... ...more

A mix of tranquility and noise today, Central Park in the morning and the Foo Fighters performing at Madison Square Garden this evening... ...more

Saturday morning and my birthday, couldn't think of a better way to start it at 5.30am with Paul for a coffee and some early morning photography, the city starts off quietly and builds up during the day to a full on cavalcade of cars, buses and people... ...more

New York is one of the most amazing places that I have been to, last year was our first time so it seemed only right to celebrate my 40th birthday back in Manhattan. With our friends Paul and Jan on board it was going to be a good chance to soak in this amazing city as well as get some great photos, no SLR with me this week just the Canon G12 compact... ...more

Following on from a successful series of courses this year I am pleased to announce another fashion photography course, this will be held at the recently opened Brewery events bar in the Shepherd Neame Brewery in Faversham... ...more

Training has been a big part of the last eighteen months for me, with individuals wanting to gain more from their Digital SLR cameras and using them to their full potential. Another area that is growing now is for companies marketing and press departments who are looking to cover some of the smaller jobs where it is not cost effective to get a professional in for a small shoot... ...more

St Edmund's school in Canterbury had asked me to cover some new photographs for a brochure that was going to be coming out soon, the images were to cover boarding, pre prep school and some of the staff... ...more

The last two days have been covered with the portrait photography for the Christ Church annual report publication. Today was a busy day, with ten portraits to cover which also included some group photos, first stop was over to Maidstone Hospital to meet ex CCCU student Colette for a set of portraits outside the venue... ...more

Today was the penultimate car photography course for this year, and with a real mix of classic and modern day super cars it gave a great variety to choose from for the seven photographers present. Their were also a few familiar cars which had attended previous training days, including the stunning Gordon Keeble, MGA and Peugeot RCZ. The star of the day was the late 80's Italian super car, the stunning race bred Ferrari F40, the Porsche 356 Speedster also gave a real contrast as this was the birth of one of the most iconic super cars around, the Porsche 911... ...more

I had been asked by the curator at the Sidney Cooper Gallery in Canterbury to document an exhibition that they had on called the Red List which five artists work from across the world on display... ...more

The last car photography course will take place on Sunday 27th November at Brooklands museum in Weybridge, Surrey. This is a great opportunity to take a variety of old and new sports cars at the famous museum, you will have access to take photographs on the historic banking which forms part of the old racetrack, Concorde which is among an airfield of aviation history as well as in front of the atmospheric garages... ...more

The Canterbury Christ Church annual report is just in he process of being completed and the photography requirements today and next week are for a variety of scholars and students to be pictured in their working environment... ...more

After the fashion photography course in Faversham just over a week ago model and actress Siobhan asked me to cover some up to date head shots for her portfolio. She is currently taking an MA at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art... ...more

In Wales for the next three day for Covidien who are a $10 billion global healthcare products leader who create innovative medical solutions. The venue for the three days was the Marriot St Pierre country hotel in Chepstow where the sales teams would be taking part in a variety of activities and conferences... ...more

The fashion courses that I have run this year have been a great success, the fourth one this year took place at the Shepherd Neame Brewery in Faversham, with a collection of vintage vehicles, pub signs, carts, workshops and the premises itself the day turned out to be a great success... ...more

A glorious autumnal day and off to Brooklands museum for their very first motor sport day, a a celebration of classic and modern competition cars throughout the years, the highlight being Nelson Piquets 1991 Benetton F1 car... ...more

First job today was to photograph a conference for Kent Music at East Malling conference centre. Kent Music is a music educational charity promoting the development of music through various groups across the county... ...more

This evening and over to UCF in Folkestone for the grand opening of their creative mural which had been created by the students from the University... ...more

CATS in Canterbury is an International school catering for students across the world in terms of education in the UK. They have just recently had some new premises built and today was also their annual University fair which was held at Kent County Cricket ground... ...more

The IFS Pro share annual conference was at the British Museum again this year and with 32 lecturers speaking throughout the day it was going to be non stop to cover all of the talks from the industry experts... ...more

Saturday morning and off to Maidstone to cover the penultimate wedding of the year. Trish and Anthony were having their wedding ceremony at Boughton Monchelsea Place, with sixty guests and a great venue it was going to be a relaxed day with great scope for some great photos... ...more

Five jobs today, covering a specialist sports car dealer, interior design company, Land Rover and Renault dealerships, plus a rehearsal for a wedding on Saturday... ...more

The Ship and Trades is one of Shepherd Neames flagship public house and restaurant, it sits on the River Medway in St Marys at Chatham Maritime. The photo shoot today was to photograph one of the barman, Lee for the Master Brewer magazine... ...more

After the official UK launch of the Range Rover Evoque three weeks ago it was now time to drive it for myself, was this concept car worth the wait after all of the hype surrounding it with Victoria Beckham being one of the brand ambassadors for the new baby Range Rover? Off to Brooklands for a photo shoot and drive to find out... ...more

Motorline who have over twenty car dealerships across Kent and Sussex have just expanded in Sussex and Kent with five new dealerships. The photography today was to cover interior and exterior images which will be used for the groups website and also for a set of canvases for the showrooms to accompany a range that I photographed last year... ...more

The next two days I am covering the photography at Thanet College, based in Broadstairs. The site comprises of ten multipurpose buildings, two workshops and three mobile classrooms. A second site is located at Hornet Close on Pysons Road Industrial Estate and is the delivery centre for construction-based vocational courses... ...more

The fourth annual Classic cars on the Green took place in the village of Bearsted near Maidstone, with over 50 cars on display and the sun ablaze it was a day full of automobile history from a variety of iconic motor cars spanning over 80 years... ...more

After an early 5am start t was off to Stuttgart with fellow petrol heads Al, Mark and Iain. The purpose of the trip was to visit the home of two of the most iconic motor car manufacturers in the world, Mercedes and Porsche. The two museums are a ten minute drive from each other so the next few days would be an ideal opportunity to take in two amazing museums showing off the history of both of these German marques... ...more

Oakwood House in Maidstone was the venue for the 2011 Kent Fire and Rescue Services awards ceremony. The day is to celebrate the dedication and courage of the staff that work for the KFRS all over the county. With Meridian TV present as well the event was going to get a lot of well deserved coverage... ...more

Over the next few months I am covering more events for the Institute of Financial Services in London. Today's photography was to cover two events, the first was a lecture from Barclays Bank on the environment and sustainability, the second in the afternoon was on finance related research in Singapore and also covering the recent UK banking nationilisations... ...more

BMW car dealership Broad Oak BMW recently had a refurbishment at its Canterbury showrooms, with all of the interior work complete I had been asked to take some photographs of the showroom in its completed state. With the sun facing the showroom directly and with a deep blue sky behind the building it was also the ideal time to capture some exterior photos as well... ...more

Pilgrims school is based in canterbury and offer a wealth of training programmes to business professionals and teachers from across the world. Their were a good mix of teachers and students present today at their offices in canterbury for me to photograph in a natural and relaxed way... ...more

2012 will be a very special year for Canterbury Christ Church University, as they celebrate a milestone in their history, their 50th anniversary. This evening a presentation by Robin Baker the Vice Chancellor was held to celebrate recent academics projects in the UK and International countries... ...more

The Range Rover Evoque has been one of the most talked about new cars of the year, a four wheel drive that handles like a hatch back and has the interior of a luxury car, it is smaller then a Freelander and comes in coupe and five door guises, and amazingly looks like the initial prototype designs seen a few years back. Barrett's of Canterbury were holding their official launch this evening in the Canterbury showroom, and with seven models on display it was going to be a good chance for everybody to get a good look of this landmark model for Land Rover... ...more

St Edmunds school this afternoon to cover a range of photos for some future advertisements as well as some portraits for the schools website. Celia from Amber Designs was also present for the shoot, as she has been designing the artwork for the schools adverts and with some of the design being limited for space it was beneficial to have her around for the shoot... ...more

The last car photography course will take place on Sunday 30th October at Brooklands museum in Weybridge, Surrey. This is a great opportunity to take a variety of old and new sports cars at the famous museum, you will have access to take photographs on the historic banking which forms part of the old racetrack, Concorde which is among an airfield of aviation history as well as in front of the atmospheric garages... ...more

Christ Church University have collaborations with local schools in terms of promoting the forthcoming 2012 Olympics, the photography today was fairly straightforward, to take a photo of some of the school children who had been involved in helping out with the Olympic designed garden from Swalecliffe Community Primary School in Tankerton... ...more

Maidstone based charity MCCH today held its annual fun day at the Detling showground in Maidstone to reward its staff and clients across the county. The photography brief was to cover all of the activities which people were taking part in, including singing with Elvis, football, face painting and the awards ceremony at the end of the day... ...more

Following on from a successful series of courses this year I am pleased to announce another fashion photography course, this will be held at the recently opened Brewery events bar in the Shepherd Neame Brewery in Faversham... ...more

Today off to High Rocks in Tunbridge Wells to cover Mark and Gemma's wedding. The forecast looks food with temperatures up to 26 degrees, it won't be too much of a problem finding some shade as the giant rocks have loads of avenues inside for some great portraits as well as creating a great backdrop for the couples wedding photographs. Located two miles west of Tunbridge Wells, these impressive sandstone rocks date back millions of years. These rocks were once a stone age camp, but are now part of the High Rock complex, which also includes a pub and a railway station... ...more

The final leg of our trip, breakfast in Chalon Sur Saone and a visit to the Cathedral where we had breakfast before a 360 mile stint back to the UK, the town is very reminiscent of Canterbury and with it sitting alongside the river a very peaceful and picturesque location. The town also boasts the first cameras in the world used in 1816 by Niépce, inventor of photography and a native of Chalon-sur-Saone, shame that the musee Nicephore Niepce is closed on Tuesdays... ...more

We left Monte Carlo at 10am after saying our goodbyes to some old and new friends, our destination today was Mont Ventoux which hosts a stage of the Tour De France, it was also described by Evo's Richard Meaden as one of his most favourite driving roads in the world. After hours on the road Mont Ventoux appeared in the distance, the roads lined with cyclists taking on what must be one of the most gruelling stages of the tour... ...more

Day five and the final 24 hours in Monte Carlo, after some amazing roads, cars, scenery and company it was time for everybody to relax and soak in the atmosphere of one of the most iconic places in the world. For me this one of the most memorable days of the week, fast cars, fine dining and an evening at the Hotel Hermitage was a great end to an amazing road trip... ...more

Waking up at the Badrutt’s Palace in St Moritz on Friday morning to a heavy downpour of rain wasn’t quite what we expected in this chic resort, it did give us time to look at a few options on our route down to Monaco though, and with Lake Como not too far off our route we decided to take the coastal approach to the picturesque town... ...more

With a potential seven hour drive ahead of us everybody left the lodge in Friedrichsruhe around 10.30am, their were a few options on the route down to St Moritz and we decided to go for something completely different, a diversion to the BMW museum in Munich... ...more

Day two and a more relaxed drive ahead, with a variety of route options it was a chance for us to track along side a few cars to get some motion photographs, the red F430 looked great with the sun gleaming against it and after we had ran side by side among the Mercedes, Maserti's and Ferrari's we headed to Heidleberg where we met up for lunch with a small group... ...more

After an early drive down to Eastwell Manor with my friend Alex we met up with a selection of exotica super cars for the first day of the Full Monte 2011, I covered the event last year and had been booked by the organisers to cover this years event, tough life! This year would see us take in the Nurburgring in Germany, along with five star hotels in Friedrichsure, St Moritz Switzerland and last years final venue, the Monte Carlo Bay beach hotel... ...more

The third bartender photo shoot for Monin was to take place at the Neon Cactus cocktail bar in Leeds. I had last visited here six years ago with Alex when we were doing a series of articles for the Leeds Guide, so it seemed an opportune time for us to make a return visit and link in the shoot with a nights stay at the excellent Woodlands Hotel where we stayed last time... ...more

Back to Brooklands today to cover two photography shoots for them, one with model Kelly showing the heritage of the museum and it's motor racing and aircraft history. The second was with newly weds Ben and Kim whose wedding we had covered last month, Brooklands have been covering weddings on Concorde and these images would be to promote these to a wider audience... ...more

Off to the LAB bar in London today to cover the Monin UK bartender of the year competition. Next year sees the centenary of Monin and they are celebrating it with an International final at the Eiffel tower in December. Today their were twelve contestants from across the UK, including Brighton, Chester, Leeds and more locally London... ...more

The Westgate Towers are just as much a symbol of Canterbury as the Cathedral itself, and with a major redevelopment that had taken place of the Towers museum over the last year and the introduction of an stunning modern riverside Cafe and restaurant, which stands in the old prison yard it was a welcome opportunity for the Kentish Photography Camera Club that I run with Paul Spree to hold it's first meeting in this stunning venue last week... ...more

On Friday I had been commissioned by a press agency to take a series of photographs of a 23 foot sunflower grown by Eve Fielding in Margate, Kent. The images have just gone across the national press including the Daily Mail and other various on line publications... ...more

The sixth car photography course this year at Brooklands museum in Surrey looked to be the same old story weather wise, rain and flat grey skies! Fortunately just as we started off the course at 10.30 the sun appeared and we had one of the first sunny days of the year, some great detail in the clouds and rich blue skies which made for some great photography for everybody on the course... ...more

Sketch restaurant was to host Lloyd's corporate bankings summer dinner this evening. The venue is covered over two floors of a converted 18th century building in Conduit Street, based in the heart of Mayfair... ...more

The second time this week at St Edmunds school in Canterbury to wrap up the Summerfest photography, a busy couple of hours today covering football, tennis and a variety of outdoor activities. With another good days weather all of the events I was to cover were outside, these images will be used for the schools publicity, across the web, press and publications... ...more

Over to Maidstone this morning to cover some publicity photographs for charity MCCH, who support individuals with learning disabilities, autism or natural health needs. I have covered work for them before and also done some in house photography training which they have been putting to good use over the last twelve months. The photographs today were to be used for the website and and forthcoming annual report... ...more

The first of two photography sessions this week at St Edmunds school continuing my coverage of Summerfest. Today the brief was to cover circus skills, cycling, dance and swimming, a variety of different activities to cover so the 70-200mm was the lens of choice for today... ...more

The first Saturday of the month and the first wedding in August which took place at a new venue, Solton Manor in East Langdon near Deal in Kent. The beautifully landscaped grounds, pond, lake, bridge and treelined driveways made a great back drop for Kerry and Paul's wedding photography... ...more

At the beginning of May I was commissioned by Broad Oak BMW to create some car photographic art work images of the current BMW range, these were to be printed on to large format canvases and displayed in their newly refurbished showroom in Broad Oak Road, Canterbury... ...more

After quite a few weeks worth of educational photography across the UK todays job was more local, in Deal where a new doctors surgery had just been opened. The shoot was to cover the interior photography for Canterbury based firm, Cantium Interiors. I have covered a variety of work for the company over the years, and with them providing the furniture for the surgery and fittings it was a case of covering the areas over the two floors, including reception, consultation rooms and offices... ...more

After covering some early morning car dealer photography it was over to St Edmund's school in Canterbury where they were holding Summefest during the summer holidays, this is where pupils from the school can take part in a series of activities during the summer holidays... ...more

Day five of the photography for Bell International which was to take place at Red Cross Hill, Bell's main offices and own school which with it's new restaurant, library and landscaped grounds was to be a great location for the last days photography for the brochure and website images. The weather was also looking up as well, although it started off hazy the sun started to peer through early morning and with rich blue skies going to create a great backdrop for the days images... ...more

The last two days of photography for Bell International Schools in Cambridge, the first at Homerton College and the second day at Bell's own school at Red Cross Hill. The photography was to cover adult learners, including teachers from across the world who were looking to improve their english and educational skills... ...more

Kim and Ben's wedding was to take place today at the beautiful gardens of Mount Ephraim, situated in Boughton just outside of Canterbury. I covered Ben's sister in laws wedding a couple of years ago and after they had seen Debbie and Alan's pictures they immediately booked me, I think that our interest in cars also helped, especially Porsche 356 speedsters... ...more

After a few busy days outside of the county today was to be more local, after traveling to Honda, Land Rover and Renault dealerships in Canterbury, Maidstone and Ashford to cover their used car photography I finished up at St Edmund's school in Canterbury to cover some portraits of some of their staff for brochure and press purposes... ...more

After the photo shoot for French syrup company, Monin in London two months ago, today was to be Manchester's turn, and the bar in question was the recently opened Sandinista in Old Bank Street with cocktail waiter Dave Blair as the model for the advertisement shoot... ...more

The third day of photography for Bell this month was at Bedgebury School where we were taking a variety of images for the summer school international students. I know Bedgebury really well now which was good as their was a variety of events going on across the whole school, including the lake and wood areas in the grounds. A midday start as their were going to be some early evening activities that the students were going to be involved in, a bonfire had been pencilled in but the weather forecast wasn't looking too good for late afternoon... ...more

An early start today as the holiday in Sorrento seemed almost a distant memory as I spent just over two hours on the M25 in the pouring rain. The first job back was the second day of photography for Bell International Schools at Wellington College situated in Camberley, Surrey just outside of Sandhurst. The college was built in the 1850's and has a historical royal background with HRH Prince Albert and Queen Victoria behind the original idea of the College being built... ...more

At the end of a wonderful ten days holiday in Sorrento, and due back to the UK today, the time has flown by and with temperatures in their mid 30's and the laid back lifestyle of the
Locals it has been a great time for us and our friends Paul & Jan. As it is our first holiday of the year no SLR's in sight, just the Ricoh GX100 compact and my wife's Panasonic TZ10, nice to feel like a tourist and to just take snap shots as you go along... ...more

Today was the first of five days work during the course of July for Bell International schools. Cobham Hall school is set in a rural location just outside of Dartford, the grounds cover over 150 acres. Cobham Hall dates back to the 12th century and is home to over eighty students from Bell International over the half term period... ...more

After finishing just after mid day in London with RM auctions their was just time to grab a quick bit of lunch in St Pancras station, and then it was back to Canterbury on the high speed with a short drive from the station over to the Shepherd Neame brewery in Faversham. The photography today was to cover the Old Brewery store which had been cleverly converted in to a bar and venue which the brewery will be using for events, gigs and weddings in the future... ...more

After a successful training course yesterday in London for RM auctions today was very much a repeat with Max and Alex auctioneers and car specialists for the group. Max had a bit more experience behind the camera and we used his Mercedes ML as the model this time, not quite the same as the Mustang we used yesterday but still a very photogenic vehicle all the same, and in silver it provided some challenges in the shade and bright sunshine... ...more

The first of Two days car photography training in Kensington for RM auctions staff,they are the worlds largest auction house for automobiles, from restoration to private treaty sales, auctions, estate planning and financial services. Due to the volume of cars that come in to this country as well as Europe the photography costs have been quite expensive, hence the need to have some bespoke training for the staff so that they can cover the photography when they first see the vehicles... ...more

Off to Brooklands this morning with Motorline Renault for a Renault Sport meet at the historic racing circuit and museum. Motorline had contacted it's RS owners for a breakfast meet to celebrate it's status as an official Renault Sport dealer. We set off from the Canterbury dealership in convoy, just after 8am and the roads were clear with blue skies and sunshine forecast for the day... ...more

After finishing just after lunchtime at Bedgebury School the next stop was very conveniently the William Caxton public house in Tenterden. The pub has just gone through a refurbishment throughout and the brief was to photograph the interior, exterior and also some food photography... ...more

The annual prize giving ceremony at Bedgebury School for their international students is always a happy occasion, this year it was unfortunately going to be the last as the school is now up for sale. With students past and present at the ceremony it was going to be an emotional affair for the students and staff... ...more

McCabe Ford Williams who are chartered accountants based in Kent celebrated their 75th anniversary this evening. The location was at the Orangery at Turkey Mill in Maidstone, the grounds are stunning and on an early evening summers day it provided a great backdrop for the informal photographs that the client had requested... ...more

After yesterdays less then ideal weather for exterior photography today was the complete opposite, sunshine, blue skies and white clouds. Ideal for our venue shoot at Salomons in Tunbridge Wells, which is part of Canterbury Christ Church University. The secluded victorian venue sits in 36 acres of land, encompassing gardens, woodlands and lakes as is an idyllic location for students and businesses who want to arrange conferences and events... ...more

Off to London today to cover the photography of a recently installed Spitfire Bar for Shepherd Neame at the Royal Albert Hall in London. After setting off from Ashford on the high speed with Clare we arrived at St Pancras station in just over 35 minutes, the weather was a real contrast to Kent as it was cooler and very grey, after lunch we managed to avoid a complete downpour and mini thunder storm, didn't bode well for our planned night time shots for later on. We met John from Shepherd Neame at the historic venue for a quick catch up before we started to set up for the interior and product photographs at the venue... ...more

After covering some photography for the Hope Wellness Clinic in Canterbury two weeks ago, the second part of the photography, involving clients had been scheduled for this evening. The aim was to show a variety of ages having a series of various treatments which the clinic offer... ...more

On a very warm Sunday lunch time it was off to the Five Bells Inn, situated just outside of Ashford in East Brabourne, to cover their monthly classic and racing car meet. With a variety of Jaguars, MG's, Maserati's and Bentley's in the line up it was a typical English summer afternoon and the pubs idyllic country setting made for a great backdrop... ...more

Friday evening and after a day of car photography for Renault and Land Rover dealerships it was off down to the coast at Folkestone to cover some portfolio photos of musician Ryan Strand. I took some photos of Ryan's band Waterhorse last year and with lead singer and guitarist Terence now playing for the Straits, which includes original members of Dire Straits, Ryan had decided for the interim to write some new material for an up an coming album, hence the need for some new photos... ...more

This morning was an installation of art work by local artists Jonathan Wright, Anne Wimsett and Sally Higgs for the Folkeston art triennial. The designs were to be suspended in the atrium of Univesity Centre Folkestone, the photographs were to document the installation as well as some publicity photographs of the creators... ...more

I covered the first of three photography commissions this year for French syrup company Monin in London back in May, the first advert has just been designed and will shortly be appearing in Imbine, a magazine dedicated to the world of cocktails... ...more

The last weeding for this month, although I only cover a small amount each year the popular months are always going to be between June to August, supposedly when the weather is at its best! Paul and Lynn's wedding was to take place at St Lawrence Church with the reception at thirteenth century venue Salmestone Grange in Margate... ...more

The Little Shop of Horrors performance this evening was a performance put on by the students at the University Centre of Folkestone at the Quarterhouse along Tontine Street. I met with Clare for a chat beforehand and to catch up on the days events, we had covered the Broadstairs University end of term gig here last week so knew that full manual control due to the atmospheric lighting changes would be ideal for the performance this evening... ...more

The Guildhall in London has hosted the Institute of Financial Services graduation and awards ceremony for a number of years now, this is the fourth year that I have covered this prestigious event and with the photography telling a story of the day the pressure is on to take a variety of different images to the previous years so that the client can use them to promote next years event... ...more

After covering car dealership photography in Ashford, Maidstone and Canterbury off today it was off to the University of Kent where I was covering a small informal awards ceremony, Clare was on the other side of town at Christ Church Universities Augustine House where they were hosting the 2011 cultural awards... ...more

After a very successful photography shoot last month for DFDS ferries today was the lifestyle photography session where we were using a variety of model families to promote the ferry companies on board facilities, their was also some car photography with the families over in Dunkirk as well, so a real mix of coverage for the client... ...more

Tuesday afternoon and a local photography job in Canterbury for the Hope wellness clinic just a mile down the road from where I live. Hope Spinal Wellness is an internationally respected Centre of Wellness with a reputation for excellence in the field of family spinal and wellness care. They provide care in a welcoming, friendly practice that is fresh and modern, very much a case of what Scott and Veronica were after in the photographs... ...more

My third wedding in four days, this was a much smaller affair for Mike and Jan who had decided to have an intimate ceremony and reception at the Blazing Donkey in Ham, near Sandwich, Kent... ...more

Today was a slightly different concept to the popular car photography courses that I have been running at Brooklands museum in Weybridge, Surrey as we were basing the photography on the annual Bentley drivers day. The weather couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of the photographers or drivers, and with a mix of tasks for the drivers to complete including a sprint up test hill and a jousting competition with human size bunnies it was a real mix of events to photograph... ...more

A busy weekend with two weddings, one in Winchester, Hampshire and the second between Belvedere and Higham near Rochester in Kent. Both weddings were through my commercial work and after viewing both venues earlier in the year we had an idea what to expect, the only thing that everybody was unsure of was the weather forecast which had predicted heavy downpours during the weekend.... ...more

After getting back home mid afternoon thanks to the High Speed train from St Pancras, it was time to get changed and head off to the Quarterhouse in Folkestone for the Christ Church University Broadstairs campus' end of term gig. I have covered this for the last few years now and it is always an entertaining evening with a mix of first, second and third year students... ...more

Off to London again today to cover a fundraising event on behalf of Canterbury Cathdedral where His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, who is a patron of the Cathedral, was in attendance. The aim from today was to highlight the appeal for this historic building to the city. The venue was Sarasin's which sits next to St Paul's Cathedral and gave a breathtaking view of this famous landmark... ...more

Tuesday evening and off to the Gulbenkian Theatre which is situated in the campus of Kent University, the venue was to host the first employability rewards event which had been set up for students to gain points from attending events, workshops, seminars as well as volunteering for part time work and mentoring. Their were a host of Kent based businesses at the event who were giving out a selection of the awards on the evening... ...more

Following on from the BMW car photography shoot of the new 1M I now had to finish the series of abstract art work for the soon to be opened showroom at Broad Oak BMW in Ashford. As the Canterbury showroom is being refurbished Ashford was the ideal location to cover the car photography at, with a good range of cars available inside and on the forecourt it was an opportunity to cover a wide range of images... ...more

The best way of getting business is generally through recommendation which is how Theresa who is the Director of the MSC in forensic psychology at Kent University came across me. She was after some group and individual portraits of the team, but removed from the standard staircase photos that seem to be the norm at Keynes College where the team are based... ...more

After completing the photograph edit for the Lloyd's pharmacy press photography earlier in the day it was now back home and off to Canterbury Cathedral, the campaign is going well but as with any historic building their are always new areas that need support and the Canterbury Gift appeal need to publicise these to its supporters and the public. These photos will be used in their newsletter, website and press... ...more

The first photography assignment of the day was at Lloyd's pharmacy in Rainham, Kent where the store had just been fitted out to be the companies first Betterlife living range centre. The showroom had a mixture of room set ups to show the vast range of furniture, mobility and lifestyle products that it now had to offer... ...more

After the Solley Farm House photography off to Broad Oak BMW in Ashford where the dealership is sponsoring Kent rower Dan Ritchie who has just been named in the men's eights for this years World Cup event in Slovenia. Dan has been loaned a BMW Z4 roadster and is a hopeful for the London Olympics team as well. He was fresh back from Munich where his team had won silver... ...more

Nestled in the heart of a peaceful conservation area, Solley Farm House overlooks the tranquil village duck pond and an ancient church with Norman origins. This picturesque setting is where the 18th Century Solley Farm House is set in Worth, near Deal in Kent. I had covered the photography for Sandy Hobbs, the owner four years ago and after a recent call she had asked me to update some of the photography due to some refurbishments in the guest house... ...more

After doing a trial run in March for the reptile and amphibian course this evening was to be the first of many courses that will be taking place in future. The set up was kept to a simple lighting arrangement, one 500 watt constant light through a brolly and the LED portable light which could be moved around each animal easily for an added bit of fill in lighting... ...more

Can't think of many better ways of spending a Bank Holiday then being commissioned to take photographs of some ones super car collection, the star of the show being an ultra rare Porsche Carrera GT. The GT boasts 612 bhp, 0-50 of 3.9 seconds and new cost a whopping £400,000, plus it has a top speed of 207 mph... ...more

After Selena and Simon's wedding yesterday it was straight in to the second one of the weekend, Jon & Jo's wedding which was to take place in Kilndown and Bedgebury in Kent. The service was at mid day in Christ Church, Kilndown just outside of Goudhurst, and with Jon's family coming from Canada the theme was a very British affair. Two coaches had brought he guests to the church and after an hour long service John and Jo were very happily married, off now to Bedgebury School where the reception was to be held... ...more

The second wedding of the year and today was the marriage of Selena and Simon who were getting married at the Blazing Donkey in Sandwich. As with most of my weddings this was a referral from a friend (thanks Thom) and after having met the couple on a few occasions today was going to be a fun and relaxed affair, even the inconsistent weather couldn't spoil the day... ...more

After what has been a busy couple of weeks traveling it was nice to do some photography locally at Fitzgerald's jewelers in Burgate, Canterbury. The photography primarily was to cover a range of products, old and new for the companies website and also for Ebay... ...more

After arriving on time for the start of the ICE event at the University of Kent's Innovation centre in Canterbury it was time to start snapping away and getting photos of the guests networking and also of the key speaker Dr Tenday Viki, the event was a repeat of last weeks at Chatham Dockyards so the photographic challenge was to cover a different view today... ...more

Off to London again this morning, today is the Institute of Financial Services Higher Education conference in Monument Square. I have covered the photography for this event for many years now, and with the exception of a few head shots the brief is very open ended, very much a case of documenting the day and capturing the variety of events that occur. These include lectures, workshops and an open forum where the teachers and students can ask questions to the speakers. ...more

The second photography commission in one week for Acorn Care was in Norfolk at Eagle School, set just outside of the picturesque village of Banham. The school is set in 30 acres of land and has been specially adapted to care for children with autism who are residents throughout the year. The brief was very much down to the schools schedule and how the pupils would react to a new face, especially one with a camera. With the help of the staff I went around each classroom to see what we would be able to get on the day... ...more

After covering planes and boats during the last couple of days it was the turn of cars for Mays car photography workshop at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Today was themed more towards super cars with the highlight being the Lamborghini 670 SV, although the Aston Martin Vantage, Porsche 993, BMW M3, Maserati Spider and Mercedes SL500 made great additions for the seven photographers present on todays course... ...more

An early start and off to Geneva, Switzerland for Private Jet Charter who specialise in the rental of aircraft all over the world. The event I was covering was the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) and hosted 100's of jets and aircraft exhibitor stands at Geneva airport. I had Clare as my assistant for the day as well as Olga from Private Jet Charter who was to show us the clients requirements for the photographs... ...more

Another networking event this evening by the University of Kent's Psychology department which was focusing on how businesses could understand their customers more. The speakers from Kent University were Dr Tenday Viki and Dr Tim Hopthrow who ran through a variety of tests and theories about peoples logic and decision making... ...more

Following on from the dance photographs taken a couple of weeks ago for Christ Church University/UCF, today was a rehearsal prior to the evenings performance and I had been asked to capture the various routines. The lighting was a mixture of colours but not too diverse that it took over from the dancers routines... ...more

From Finsbury Park to St Pancras then on to London Bridge and then to Blackheath, looked that their might have been an easier route on the National Rail website but I couldn't find it. The Crown Inn has had an extensive refurbishment throughout, including the bare, restaurant, function room and first floor kitchen. The brief was to cover the whole of the pub and restaurant and get a mix of people in the photographs as well... ...more

Early high speed train off to St Pancras for the first of todays assignments. After getting the tube to Finsbury Park I decided to walk to the school which was at Crouch Hill, after almost a two mile walk I arrived at the school on time, if a bit exhausted after carrying a bag full of camera gear and tripod. The school is an independent specialist education facility which caters for children and young people with autism, asperger's syndrome and social abd communication disorders... ...more

Sunday morning and an early start to set up at the venue in Canterbury for a fashion photography lighting course. This was the first lighting course that I had run this year and with nine photographers attending from the Kentish Photography camera club that I run it was sold out within a couple of weeks. The location for today's course was the Ballroom in Canterbury which had only just recently opened at the end of last year, it has loads of ambiance and with the bar, sofas, mirrors, chandeliers and quirky art work it was a great location for the course to take place... ...more

I have just been commissioned to cover a range of art work by Broad Oak BMW in Canterbury for their new showroom, the car photographs are to cover the range of BMW cars and are more on an abstract theme, their is plenty of scope with car photography to cover this and a great opportunity to promote the Carzpix branding through this venture. After I had met with Broad Oak it seemed an ideal opportunity to take some photographs of their new demo, the 1M which is the smallest in the M range of sports cars on offer... ...more

Monin is a French manufacturer of flavored beverage syrups which are used in a host of different recipes for drinks, most notably cocktails. I set off on the high speed with all of my kit, David Morgan was my assistant for the day, the bar that we were going to be covering the shoot in was The Lab in Old Compton Street, London. The photos are going to be used in Imbibe magazine where the advert will show a real cocktail waiter with one of his creations which include the Monin product... ...more

Two of the more high profile photography assignments that I have covered this year were for Kent County Cricket Club and a performance by world renowned classical musician and composer Vladimir Ashkenazy at Canterbury Cathedral. Once you have completed jobs it is very rarely that you get to see the finished photographs in an advertising context... ...more

After covering the recent prospectus photography for Christ Church University todays images were for use across a cross section of subjects, including music, radiology and a public lecture plus a host of staff and student portraits. The afternoon had been broken down in to five separate shoots so time wise it was very much a case of being quick and not disrupting everyone's schedules too much... ...more

After covering photography for the two public houses for Shepherd Neame it was over to Canterbury Cathedral where the boys and mens choir were to be photographed for promotional purposes for their forthcoming US tour... ...more

The Grove Ferry just outside of Canterbury is in the Stodmarsh national nature reserve and sits upon the riverside, with a £100,000 refurbishment and the introduction of a tourist centre it is a great spot for locals and visitors. The job was very dependent on the weather and after some early morning showers the weather had picked up nicely for some scenic photographs, again for client Shepherd Neame... ...more

After a morning of editing and general admin it was off to the pub, the Miller's Arms in Canterbury has just had a major refurbishment and brewer Shepherd Neame required a selection of photographs to show the overall changes to the bar and restaurant for its in house magazine as well as web and general public relations use. The sun was behind the building so the interior was very evenly lit and with a steady flow of people coming in I had a good variety of people to cover for some closer up images... ...more

After covering a cross section of areas for Christ Church University during the last year for the 2012 prospectus their are certain areas that I only had a small amount of time to cover, one of these was dance which is based down at UCF in Folkestone. So today was an opportunity to cover some more creative photographs of the performing arts which will be used for posters and on the Universities website... ...more

After the Bank Holiday weekend back to some normality this week, first job of the month was to cover a series of corporate portraits for Canterbury Christ Church Universities Inspire magazine. The photography was to cover a variety of staff at the University and with an inventor of a swimming machine, lecturer in applied social sciences, a solicitor and a lecturer in the mediation clinic their was going to be a variety of options on offer for some creative portraits rather then just the normal head and shoulder portraits... ...more

Auto Italia is one of the biggest events held at Brooklands and as the official photographer for the museum it was my job to document the day. With over 1000 Italian cars attending the event from Fiat 500's to Ferrari Enzo's it was going to be a diverse and fun day to capture the Italian cars in all their glory. The day was broken down in to displays, a sixty car display going around the test track at Mercedes World and a finale of cars going up test hill at Brooklands... ...more

The student investors finals is a national competition that has 10,000 teams from schools across the country taking part for one of the eight places in the finals which are held every April in London by the Institute of Financial Services. Their is a prize of £2,000 for the winner as well as a trip to New York... ...more

Just over a month ago I was commissoned by design agency Deeson's to cover a series of portraits of the Kent County Cricket team for a poster and campaign to highlight the various cricketing championships that they were involved in. After a few meetings it was decided that the portraits had to give a moodier and grittier feel to them rather then just the ordinary head shots showing smiling faces. I had done a shoot a few weeks prior with Rock band Electric River and the style and set up was to be the same for this shoot... ...more

Off to London on Bank Holiday Monday with my good lady, Jan and Paul. Being a photographer you can never call a day in London as a social affair as their is always a great opportunity to get some stock photos and with the Royal wedding maybe some images with a difference. After getting the High Speed to St Pancras it was time for a coffee break and to put together a plan for the days events, first stop was Covent Garden... ...more

The second beginners digital SLR photography course took place on a sunny Easter Sunday at Davington guest house in Canterbury. The group today ranged from Canon, Panasonic, Pentax and Sony users witn a diverse range of photography interests, geology, properties and teddy bear photography. All of these subjects posed some technical issues which by the end of the day we were able to overcome with the aid of using the cameras manual controls and some reflectors... ...more

On a gorgeous Bank Holiday it was a great time to meet up with some members of the photography club that I run to cover some model portfolio photography. With five photographers and four models it was going to be a busy but fun day. We used Folkestone as our base, with the old railway station, harbour and seaside novelties it was going to be a varied shoot with models, Elika, Kayleigh, Kelly and Siobhan... ...more

As well as covering the used car photography for Barrett's of Canterbury I also cover the commercial side as well, the Land Rover showroom in Ashford has just recently been refurbished and had some new exterior signage and the dealer had asked me to cover some external photographs for the website and also future marketing purposes... ...more

I had covered a series of corporate photographs for Psicon who specialise in psychological and physical health and well being for a wide variety of patients across all age ranges. One area that we were not able to cover on the initial shoot was the younger age range, which is where Felix came in, as it was half term and one of the staff at Psicon had a photogenic nephew today was a good opportunity to capture some photos for the client in this area... ...more

For the first time this year during the car photography courses at Brooklands the weather remained dry, with some bright and challenging sunshine in the morning through to the cloud cover and darkening skies late afternoon it gave all of the attendees a great variety of images of the eight vehicles present, ranging from a VW Beetle through to a Maserati GT Spider and an extremely rare 1965 Gordon Keeble GK1... ...more

As all of my weddings generally tend to be through word of mouth or referrals this was my first wedding since October last year, although having covered over 100 in five years is still not bad going forma full time commercial photographer. Gemma and Nick had booked me to cover from the brides preparation through to the start of their sit down. The wedding took place at the recently refurbished Whitstable Castle which with the Spring sunshine out looked amazing... ...more

Thursday evening and off to cover some commercial work for one of my very first clients, Sarah Dillow who had just started up Colourbox Clever an, interior design company back in November 2004 when I had just started my business. We worked together on some various commissions which included stock images for bespoke wallpaper, blinds and also a variety of abstract images on the natural world for FTSE's new offices in London back in 2005. Sarah has since been working on various projects and with her business partner, Sarah Harris they are just starting to promote The Little Theming Company... ...more

After just coming back from a successful meeting at Brooklands car museum in Surrey I am pleased to announce two new dates for the car photography courses that I have been running at the historic venue. The new dates are Saturday 13th August and Sunday 11th September 2011... ...more

After running a successful series of photography related courses over the last two years I thought that it was time to run a stand alone Photoshop workshop, this has been covered briefly in my beginners and advanced courses but not as a stand alone workshop. With June, Linda, Laura, Maria and Nick in attendance it was a very hands on workshop... ...more

Motorline Renault in Canterbury is now an accredited Renault Sport dealer and I had been asked to cover some photographs of the dealership to go on the groups website. The brief was to cover photographs of the workshop with an RS model, exterior photographs with two RS models at the front of the showroom and also a photo of the sales and after sales expert with a Renault Sport model... ...more

As well as running a series of photography courses covering a variety of subjects I also cover one to one training sessions. I met photographer Sarah Ansell when I was covering the portraits for Kent County Cricket Club where she is the official photographer. Sarah is a great sports photographer but was struggling to get to grips with some of the indoor photography that she had been asked to cover, in terms of using the flash mainly, hence the lesson... ...more

St Georges School in Broadstairs is just under a year old now since it had been completely redeveloped, one of my clients Stannah lifts had just recently installed four some lifts in the new building and required some interior and exterior photographs for their portfolio. The exterior photographs of the school were perfect due to the location of the sun and the rich blue skies... ...more

This morning I set off down to Tunbridge Wells,the photography was for Kent Fire and Rescue Services to promote their bike awareness campaign, they have had a Honda Fireblade now for nearly two years and as well as being used for various emergencies it is also a great draw for bikers and enthusiasts to learn more about safety in all types of environments. The shoot was also covering a portrait session with adventurer, travel writer and entertainer Charley Boorman. His adventures across the globe, most notably with Ewan McGregor have seen him take his bikes in dangerous territories and as a respected face in the biking community it was a great opportunity for KFRS to promote their campaign... ...more

I have covered a variety of wildlife images recently for stock purposes and one of these sessions was with a company that have a variety of exotic animals, this was a great chance to get up close to a bearded dragon, tree frog and a few other reptiles that you would normally be waiting to appear stuck behind a glass cage. The workshops that I am running will be a great opportunity for some portfolio work as well as some stunning macro images... ...more

It has now been two years since myself and Paul Spree started the Kentish Photography club, in that time we have seen the membership grow to thirty members and have had a variety of different judges visiting us, including Peter Dench who also gave us a great plug in the Dench Diary which appears in Professional Photography magazine. The standard of the photography has improved dramatically and with a variety of different topics set each month the diversity of the members is great to see in their work... ...more

This morning the Archbishop of Canterbury was to be present at Christ Church University to open the research centre for children, families and communities. This had been a project which had involved a large number of staff as well as external sources to find out how people from different backgrounds can integrate with each other... ...more

Vladimir Ashkenazy is one of the greatest musicians of his time, and today was to be performing at Canterbury Cathedral in aid Of Canterbury Christ Church Universities St Gregory's project. I was unaware of Ashkenazy's fame and found him to be a very humbling and friendly character, telling jokes and chatting at ease to a few students prior to the concert... ...more

Continuing the school theme I had been asked to cover some pre prep photographs for St Edmund's school in Canterbury. The school had a variety of images that they would like covered for some forthcoming press releases and posters... ...more

I had covered some work for Baotian scooters around six years ago now, just after they had started being imported in to the UK and also just after I had started my business. They have gone from strength to strength now and the UK range distribute a range of fully automatic twist and go scooters from 50cc to 125cc... ...more

As Spring approaches it's time for our annual track day, a group of us get together and go over to Europe for a weekend of cars and of course photography. Last year we went to the legendary Le Man track in France, this year the venue was Spa in Belgium, one of the best drivers tracks in Europe. We set off on Friday morning and met up at the channel tunnel terminal in Folkestone, five cars in total, the fifth one wasn't difficult to see in the car park as it had a group of French school children gathered around it, Robin's Lamborghini Murcielago 670SV... ...more

A 5.30am start and off to Bramfield House School in Suffolk for the Acorn Care Group who I had covered some photography for last year in Kent. An ideal day for the school photography at Bramfield as the brief was to cover the exterior and interior of the school as well as portraits of the staff and pupils, over 100 in total... ...more

This was the second event that I had covered this year on behalf of the University of Kent, as a follow up on the successful Sex, Leadership and Rock and Roll talk given by Peter, John and Dennis in Canterbury during January this event was hosted at the Smithery at the historic Chatham Dockyards... ...more

I have covered stock photography for a number of greeting card companies for quite a few years now and one of the areas they are always asking for is animals. With a novel weekend off it seemed a good opportunity to enjoy the sunshine and take the camera with me to a place I hadn't been to before where I knew that I was going to get a variety of images... ...more

After covering the photography course on Sunday and taking photographs of the £238,000 Rolls Royce Ghost it was on to a slightly cheaper car today, a mere £102,000, the car in question a new Range Rover Autobiography which Barrett's Land Rover had sold to a customer. I only had a 45 minute window to take the photos and used a plot of Land just around the corner from the dealership... ...more

Off to Hextable Dance studios in Swanley this afternoon to cover the rehearsals for national UK tour Drumchasers which features the voice of Stephen Fry as the narrator, DrumChasers is the new show from Ethan Lewis Maltby, creator of international success Noise Ensemble. Ten virtuosic percussionists and dancers take to the stage in an explosion of sound and light with a story of rivalry, romance and rhythm. Powerful and energetic, moving and funny, DrumChasers is a show for all ages, for both fans of percussion and lovers of theatre, and promises an evening quite unlike anything you’ve seen before... ...more

Their were quite a few similarities with todays car photography course at Brooklands Museum, a great range of cars, a group of budding photographers and the typical british weather, a torrent of rain as I arrived at the venue greeted me, and the soft tones of a jazz band through the audio system. Almost made it feel like an early morning Spring day, just needed the haze of the sun filtering through. As everybody arrived the plan was to work through the rain and hope that it would ease up... ...more

As mentioned in the previous post during the Lexus CT200 car launch I used a set of LED lights during an exterior photograph of the car and showroom at night, The example with and without can be seen in the picture on this post... ...more

I was due to go up in a helicopter today with Rotary district governor John Dunkerly, but due to the prevailing winds and grey skies we had the call at 8.30am from helicopter pilot Tony Webb that it was a no go. Plan B and off to Minster on Sea to visit the Minster Rotary clubs celebrations in aid of Polio day... ...more

After waking up at just after 5am to get the early high speed train to St Pancras with Martin from MPJ Design it was all worthwhile when we entered in to the St Pancras Renaissance hotel, it has not officially opened yet so we were priviliged to be covering the photography for French door manufacturer Huet as well as the Marriot Hotel group. The five star hotel will open this Spring with a launch to the worldwide press next week. It has gone through a £150 million pound restoration and the attention to detail is breathtaking... ...more

Tonight was a lavish affair at Motorline Lexus in Canterbury, with local band Hullabaloo, artist Graham Clarke and champagne and the introduction of the new Lexus CT200 hybrid hatchback, probably one of the most talked about cars due to the current climate and soaring fuel prices will make this car a more viable proposition then before. Plus a first for a hybrid (excluding the sporty Honda CRZ) great looks and the refinement of a luxury saloon in a 5 door hatch... ...more

I had a successful meeting with LJ and Sue at Psicon in Canterbury last week, so when they agreed to go ahead it was as soon as possible due to the website being near completion, Monday afternoon was the only slot I had available and worked well for them as that is when all of their staff were in... ...more

A glorious Sunday morning full of blue skies and sunshine appeared as I drove up to Brooklands again, this time to cover the Morris Austin day at the historic museum and race circuit in Surrey... ...more

A new date has just been announced for the Car photography workshops that I am covering at the historic circuit and museum. The date is on Sunday June 12th and places are limited, we will be covering the day based around the Bentley drivers day which will be taking place during the day as well as setting up a series of static set ups of other marques of cars as well... ...more

It has been a few weeks since I had last been to the Umbrella Centre in Canterbury, today they were holding a cooking course for the members, curry was on the menu. I also took the opportunity to capture a few more portraits of the locals that attend the centre on a regular basis... ...more

I always enjoy reading fellow pro Peter Dench's diary in Professional Photographer magazoine, and after he very kindly agreed to be a judge and speaker at the Kentish photography Club that I run in January it was an added bonus that he gave us a mention in his Dench diary in the March edition... ...more

I still have spaces available on the second Digital SLR Photography course this year which will be held in Canterbury on Sunday 24th April. The course will run through the controls, handling, lenses and techniques of how to get the most out of your camera, gift vouchers are available as well which can be used for any course dates or for one to one photography training... ...more

The first car photography course of the year took place at Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey today. The weather was looking good as well, sunshine clouds, blue skies and some strong shadows, ideal for the photographers who were attending the course as the different lighting conditions would create some good opportunities as well as problems in taking their photographs... ...more

The Vice Chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University Robin Baker was today being installed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in a service that would take place in Canterbury Cathedral, their was a large group in attendance for this special occasion and the photography was to be discreet and a document of the days celebrations... ...more

Good to see that Classic and Sports Car magazine have put a piece on their Facebook page, the feature on my Dad winning the competition will be in the May issue of the magazine... ...more

After a couple of successful years now with the Canon 1D MK 3 it was a good time to take a look at the recently released MK IV version, improved pixel count of 16 megapixels, ISO performance up to a staggering 102,400 and HD video it looks to be a great partner to the MK 3. Plus they have also improved the 45 point autofocus system where you can even go in to each focusing point to improve the focusing of it, great for smaller detail or objects further away in the viewfinder. The big question though is will it be equal to the larger pixel full frame 5D MK 2... ...more

It was my fathers birthday today so seemed appropriate to go to Mercedes World for lunch and take a look around the showroom and museum. Dad had also won a competition with Classic and Sports Car magazine, the prize was a bespoke hand made ERA racing car from the 1940's made by model maker Peter Posner... ...more

Monday afternoon and off to the University Centre at Folkestone to cover some publicity photographs of their choir which were to be used for brochure purposes as well as their entry in to the Top Choir in Kent competition... ...more

Sunday morning and the second Brooklands museums breakfast meeting of the year. These are going to be a monthly recurrence and are a great opportunity for car enthusiasts to meet up on a Sunday, although the weather was a little damp from the previous days rain their was a good turn out for the meeting... ...more

I can't believe that it has been almost two years since I had last seen the guys from Electric River, the last shoot that we done was in the snow with freezing temperatures, bit more civilised today as the band were after some portraits so a warm lounge was the setting. I wanted to create some dark and moodier images of the band then before, simple set up, one large Lastolite black backdrop and a single speedlight off to the left of camera... ...more

Today had been booked off to do some car photography with Nick Simmonds who had been one of my students at Christ Church University, his also a car nut as well so the chance to use a portable Pro lighting kit with some Bowens studio lights was a great way of spending the day off. The added bonus was that I had a call from Brands Hatch Morgan asking if I had any availablity in the next few days to cover some photography of their Morgan Sport demo as they needed a photo of it to go in to a glossy London business magazine... ...more

First time this year that I have been to London for a job, new client as well Lloyds bank. The venue was Brown's Hotel which was just a stones throw from the Ritz, settled for Pret A Manger for my daily coffee fix though. I was due at the venue just after 5pm for a 6pm start, walked past a few watch shops in Bond Street and past Bentley and Rolls dealerships, nice area, if only I had a spare couple of hundred grand, for the watches not the cars... ...more

After the luxury of a day off it was time to pack the gear together and head off to the Sun public house in Faversham for local brewer Shepherd Neame, the evening was a beer tasting and meal event that had been laid on by the brewery. I had already eaten but with a host of different beers and curry on the menu it was at times difficult to stay focused (excuse the pun!) on the job in hand... ...more

After the interest from the camera club in the 365 Day in the Life of Canterbury project it seemed a good idea for a club meet to take in some street photography in Canterbury, Saturday morning was a little overcast but good neutral light to take some street and abstract photographs in. We met at Costa Coffee along the High Street for a caffeine fix to wake us up and then set off around the town in two groups... ...more

The second day this week for Christ Church University and another busy day ahead. The agenda today was to cover the Chaplain, sports department, bookshop, lecture theatre, Augustine House library and the Student Union. Again Nik from the design team at CCCU knew the type of images that we were after and with nearly a dozen students we had a great mixture of looks to play with... ...more

The second of three days work this week for education groups, todays was in Canterbury for Stafford House School of English, part of the Cambridge Education Group. The school was after some informal images of their students as well as some of their recently refurbished reception area and classrooms... ...more

The first of two days work this week for Canterbury Christ Church University for this years prospectus. The photography will cover a wide range of areas that cover every day campus life, fortunately the weather played ball today with some blue skies and sometimes challenging sun and shadows during mid afternoon... ...more

Following on from last years successful fashion workshops the first of 2011 happened in Canterbury this Sunday, with three models, Elika, Natalie and Sonia and nine eager photographers it was going to promise to be a great day. Elika is also a great make up artist, so we met up in the Blind Dog in Rosemary Lane which was going to be our base today at 9.30am so that the girls could get ready before the photographers turned up... ...more

I had the initial contact from the marketing division of Sony through the car photography courses that I am running at Brooklands, Sony UK's offices are just a stones throw from the museum. A meeting had been set up to talk about how they could promote their range of cameras more, especially the digital SLR market which had a great heritage with the Minolta range which Sony had purchased a few years ago now... ...more

Off to Brooklands museum today to cover a Toyota MR2 car photography shoot for a client plus two meetings as well. I arrived at the venue at 10.30am and met John and his son Jay by the banking of the old racetrack. john has spent quite a bit of money on his MR2 which has been modified to a really high standard... ...more

After covering Barretts of Canterbury's used car photography I had been contacted by the Motorline group who I already covered commercial work for to look at taking the photography for their Renault franchises in Kent... ...more

After a busy morning catching up with some work at Barretts, a meeting at Christ Church University plus a trip to the opticians to have my annual eye test it was off to the Umbrella Centre again. Tuesday afternoons is the centre's art day so their was plenty of opportunity to get some documentary photographs of the proceedings... ...more

I met a couple of staff from the Umbrella Centre in Canterbury a couple of weeks ago and thought that it would be a good opportunity to highlight the good work that the centre covers during my Day in the Life of Canterbury photography week... ...more

Today was the first day of my week covering the Day in the Life of Canterbury 365 project. I had a couple of meetings in town so decided to base the images along the Hight Street, during the week I have arranged for coverage in some different areas which will be shown in the blog... ...more

The artist Anthony Gormley may be a familiar name as his most iconic work was the Angel of the North in Newcastle. He had been commissioned by Canterbury Cathedral to produce a piece of artwork made out of the nails that were removed from the lead tiles that were removed from the Cathedral last year... ...more

Last week I had a call from the Daily Express newspaper to cover some photography work for their STAR magazine publication, the publication covers celebrity and real life stories and the brief was to take a variety of portraits of Becky Torres who had contracted a flesh eating bug during a routine hospital operation... ...more

The car photography workshops have taken off really well and with February's now sold out I have just agreed another date with the venue, the next one will take place on Sunday 13th March, please do contact me if you would like to book a place on the third in this series of exclusive workshops taking place at this historic motor racing venue... ...more

Sunday saw the first digital photography camera course of the year which was held at Davington guest house in Canterbury. Their were ten budding Photographers on the course whose goal was to learn more about their cameras and how to use the manual settings so that they can be in more control of the final picture... ...more

I had been commissioned today by St Edmund's School in Canterbury to cover some hockey photography for them. I have been covering work for the school for three years now and due to schedules and timings the only sport we seemed to have missed is hockey. The match was against Sutton Valence School in Maidstone... ...more

I was at Canterbury Christ Church University today to cover a variety of photographs for them which showed their law and legal degree course in action. The images are to be used for the website, brochures and leaflets promoting the course and had to show a variety of areas that were covered in the course... ...more

I cover a lot of conferences throughout the year which include all types of professions, the event that was held at the Innovation Centre at the University of Kent this evening was a little different as it involved the Academy of Rock which based the leadership seminar around music... ...more

I have been meaning to do a portrait of myself for some time, not having the funds to get Bailey or Rankin to do a photo of me it looked like being a self portrait. I always look at photographers portraits and they follow the same theme, mean and moody or smiling with a camera, not that original really... ...more

After a relatively quite start to the month in terms of taking photos, it was good to be back in the swing of things. Today's job was to cover a lecture being given by Tom Purves at Christ Church University, he is an ex CEO of BMW and Rolls Royce. With his experience and knowledge it was going to be an interesting lecture, good to see that their was a good turn out of lecturers as well as students in attendance... ...more

Janaury 1st saw the start of Kent Creative Arts photography assignment for Photographers to document a day in the life of Canterbury, the aim is to have a pictorial document of every day this year, with the final set of pictures being used for an exhibition. You can send in one image for the year, a weeks worth or take part as little or as often as you wish... ...more

January is always the rime of the year when you have to start all over again to get the ball rolling to generate work, so off to Chichester today to have a meeting with the event company that made the arrangements for the Full Monte trip down to Monaco last year. I hadn't been in to Chichester town centre for a few years so an early arrival gave me an opportunity to look around... ...more

It was a great pleasure to meet up again with acclaimed professional photographer Peter Dench again, this time on home turf as he had very kindly agreed to be a guest speaker and judge at the Kentish Photography Camera Club that I run. The new venue for the club was The Blind Dog public house in Rosemary Lane, Canterbury, great venue, great pub and a great host in Will the landlord... ...more

I cover the used car photography for Barretts Motor Group in Kent on a weekly basis and have been doing so for almost a year now, the car photography is a series of nine photographs of each car, all set positions so that when a customer looks through a range of different vehicles the exterior and interior photos are the same on each model of car that they are looking at... ...more

Well a great way to start the New Year, taking car photographs for Brooklands museum in Weybridge, Surrey. This is an annual event that takes part on New Years Day and is an invitation to anyone that loves motoring, whether they turn up in a 1920's Bentley, Morgan three wheeler or a bright yellow Lamborghini Gallardo... ...more

Here's to an exciting and prosperous New Year! After an amazing 2010 I thought it would be an opportunity to run through some of the highlights of the year, the big thing in 2010 was getting the Carzpix brand up and running which meant more coverage of car photography not only in the UK but also across Europe as well, plus some great exposure in Digital Photographer magazine and Kent Life magazines... ...more