Tim Gander, Author at Tim Gander, Photographer, Bristol

April 2, 2025April 2, 2025 by Tim Gander

Photo|Frome is Looming

View of the front of Frome Library with extremely large format vinyl photographic prints attached to the walls showing the work of Joanne Coates

Frome Library wears the work of Joanne Coates

After a fallow year in 2024, Photo|Frome is set to return with a bang in 2025. In fact, it’s nearly upon us and installation has started!

I should start by saying that due to a combination of personal and professional commitments, I have much less involvement in this year’s festival than in 2022 and 2023. For the planning of Outdoor Exhibitions in 2025, I’ve taken on a more limited advisory role to assist de-facto new head of outdoor Mark Somerville, who’s done a grand job from a standing start.

And so on Monday of this week I was back on a scissor lift, helping a great team of volunteers to install massive vinyl prints on the outside of Frome Library. In 2023 this consisted of a collaboration between myself and the photographers of T House, an Italian collective.

This year’s star of this most visible of locations shows a small selection of images from Joanne Coates’ project “The Lie of the Land” which looks at rural life through working class and low-income communities, encompassing issues of gender and heritage and human impact on the landscape.

I haven’t necessarily summed it up very well, so do explore Joanne’s work more thoroughly here.

The wider festival, which runs from 5th – 27 April, promises to be exciting as exciting as ever, with a breadth and depth of exhibitions which will have something for everyone (always an aim of Photo|Frome).

Just returning to the library show for a moment, it’s also worth mentioning that the vinyl posters from 2023’s show have been recycled into bespoke, each-one-unique, handmade tote bags which will be available for sale at this year’s festival. Or if you’re interested in owning one, drop me a line via [email protected]. They are very limited edition (I believe just over 60 were made before we ran out of material), so don’t hang about!

Finally, just to say that if you are planning on visiting Photo|Frome, drop me a line so we can meet up if time allows. Either way, enjoy your visit!

Thank you to Photo|Frome’s sponsors:

MPB is Photo|Frome’s Official Sponsor, the largest global platform to buy, sell and trade used photo and video gear.

Arts Council England Photo|Frome is supported using public funding by the National lottery through Arts Council England.

Frome Town Council is Photo|Frome’s Local partner.

March 10, 2025 by Tim Gander

The Naked Truth About Safety

The idea for this post was sparked by a post by fellow photographer and blogger Neil Turner, which you can check out here.

In it Neil discusses the requirement for professional photographers to fill in Risk Assessment and Method Statement (RAMS) forms when working for clients. As a professional, Neil is keen to emphasise that while RAMS and Health and Safety regulations do contribute to the freelancer’s work load, they are there to minimise risk and keep everyone safe.

But aside from how societal and commercial attitudes to risk have evolved in the past couple of decades, Neil’s post got me thinking about the riskiest job I’ve ever done. There are a number of contenders – scaling a 150ft hospital incineration chimney, or taking photos from the open door of a Royal Navy helicopter over The Solent having forgotten to attach my seatbelt (oops!), but these were back in the days when H&S didn’t seem so important.

My Riskiest Job

The job that I think entailed the most extraordinary risk mitigations was when I was commissioned to shoot some stock images for The Pirbright Institute and BBSRC. But the measures I had to undertake were less about my personal safety, more about bio-security. In this case, not accidentally transmitting a highly contagious pathogen to livestock.

Because I was going to be working in laboratories which investigate animal pathogens such as BSE, Bluetongue and, from memory, even Anthrax, the rule was that anything which went into the lab could only come back out either through a shower, sterilisation cupboard, or through a peroxide bath. This had certain implications on my approach to the task.

Kitting Up and Kitting Off

For a start, the kit I could take in would be very limited. I opted for my Canon 5D MKIII with 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens which would give me the best range of flexibility under the circumstances. There was no point taking a second lens in since the camera was going to be sealed into an underwater housing for the duration of the session, which was going to exit the lab through the peroxide bath. This also meant no flash because the underwater housing prevented this being an option.

All well and good for the kit, but what it meant for me and the client contact going in with me, was that not a single stitch of clothing could be taken in because it couldn’t then be taken out again.

This was the first and only time I’ve been naked in front of a client, but y’know we were pro’s. And so we stripped off, passed through a shower section, and dressed in scrubs on the lab-side of the biosecurity barrier. In this way, this laboratory is as sealed as it is possible to be from the outside world.

The Tricky Bit

Once in and dressed in lab scrubs, it was then a case of working out which parts of the lab would get the images the client needed, while also doing our best not to hamper the work of a very busy team of scientists. It’s also fair to say, as a working lab this was never going to look like a Getty Images photo session with clear benches, shelves of identical flasks and vials and clear white walls, all perfectly lit like Heaven’s waiting room.

I had to pick angles with the least distracting backgrounds and contend with a mix of off-white ceiling lights and a bit of window light here and there. Most of the colour correction was going to have to happen in post-production.

Add to this, working a camera inside an underwater housing is like trying to knit while wearing boxing gloves (not that I’ve tried that, but you get the picture). However, by the end of our time in the lab we had a good selection of images of all the key activities the client needed covering. So time to leave.

U-Bend If You Want To

This is where things got a little tricky. You see my camera needed to exit through the peroxide tank; imagine a sort of large u-bend filled with a powerful bleaching agent. We could have used the fumigation cupboard, but that would have taken around an hour and none of us saw an issue with passing the camera, in its underwater housing, through the peroxide.

That is until it got stuck in the u-bend. With a lab-side technician trying to prod the unit down with a rod while another technician outside the lab tried to hook it out (we’re talking a strong peroxide solution, so full gloves, masks and all the health and safety being observed), there was a 20-minute tussle to retrieve the camera.

In the meantime, my client and I got showered in the fanciest shower I’ve ever been in. A single-person cubicle with doors which locked automatically and didn’t release you until you’d showered for a set amount of time (six minutes, if memory serves).

By the time the camera equipment was retrieved and thoroughly rinsed off I was back in my usual clothes, but the underwater housing looked a little sad after its ordeal. Even one of the locking screws had sheared off in the process, but the bag was still watertight and everything inside was fine.

A scientist in blue scrubs stands looking into a large steel door with round porthole windows. He's in a mostly white corridor with other scientific equipment installed to his left.

A female scientist looks at a red coloured liquid in a large test tube which she is holding horizontally between her face and the camera while wearing PVC gloves.

A male scientist in white lab coat is turning away from his computer monitor to look beyond the photographer. There is a micoscope image of a sample on his computer monitor.

Close-up view of the front lens housing of an underwater housing for a camera, with camera lens visible through the clear plastic. The paint on the ring has been corroded back to an alloy metal ring by strong bleach.

What’s Not In The Picture

I suppose what all this illustrates is how we can see a routine-looking image and not realise what’s gone into making it happen, a lot of which might be completely un-related to the photography itself. Sometimes this can be the extensive planning of logistics, other times health and safety considerations (often both), or even whether or not the photographer had to take their clothes off to do the job.

Needless to say, that last bit isn’t routine for me, and thankfully so for everyone’s sake.

in Uncategorized 1 comments

February 19, 2025 by Tim Gander

Worst. Tourist. Ever.

I just can’t do it. Send me on a nice break, and I’m constantly looking for the gritty photo, or at least something with a bit of a story to it.

At the end of January my wife and I took the Eurostar to Paris to visit friends who live just outside the city. It was nothing more than a long weekend, so we packed extremely light which meant I wasn’t especially interested in taking a film camera, lenses and film. Besides, I’ve fallen a little bit in love with my Lumix GX9…

mmmmcheese

What we couldn’t resist during our trip, apart from the astonishingly good cheeses and cakes, was a visit to the newly-restored Notre Dame Cathedral. I can honestly say, it is well worth getting there if you can, but be prepared; prepared for crowds, queues and smartphones in every view.

The last time we visited Notre Dame was in 2014, and although there would have been tourists taking photos then, it wasn’t an impression which was stamped on my memory. This time around it felt like the smartphone-wielding had gone a bit OTT.

Rear view of a female tourist in an orange knitted hat raising her iPhone to take a photo of a holy mass underway in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, with one of the beautifully restored circular stained glass windows visible out of focus beyond.

Tourist captures Holy Mass on her iPhone in Notre Dame Cathedral

I’m not a religious person, but if I visit someone’s holy place, I hope I tread carefully and with consideration of where I am. At Notre Dame there were people poking their phones through railings, taking pictures in places with ‘No Photography” signs right next to their elbows. Maybe this is nothing new, maybe I should mind my own beeswax.

Maybe it seemed worse because it was incredibly busy – perhaps unsurprising as it’s only been open a few weeks, but when a Holy Mass got underway, there were people filming the service with phones on selfie sticks, small gimbal cameras and the like. Is this normal? Maybe it is.

While I wasn’t there to pass judgement (as I seem to have done, whether I like it or not), and not there to gather a story, rather than poke my camera into every nook and cranny of the cathedral I focussed on the visitors around me and tried to get a sense of what it was like to be there, more than what the space looks like*.

The result you see here is the best of a handful of photos I took during the visit to Notre Dame. In a single image I’ve tried to bring together the iPhone experience so many people have of places now with how such use can feel a little insensitive. At the same time, I wanted to make it fairly obvious where the image was taken to give it context.

A Dame Good Photo?

I’m not sure how successful I was in this. Perhaps if I’d had more time I might have managed to capture a sea of phones-type shot, but filling the background with a single spectacular rose window would have been impossible, and here I feel it helps add impact to the image. And on the tourist’s phone you can clearly see she’s lining up for a photo or video of the Mass, rather than an architectural aspect of the space. If I’d got multiple phones in-shot, you wouldn’t see what was on any single one of them, and this would have diluted the impact further.

Either way, however successful/impactful/useful it is, the shot scratched my itch to make a different kind of image that day, so I’ll settle for that.

Having had this semi rant, maybe I’m the worst tourist ever. While other people go to places and do their thing, I feel compelled to document them doing their thing rather than going to a place and minding my own business. And doesn’t that make me slightly hypocritical?! Or perhaps it’s healthy to take a step back from the crowd and show what society looks like, rather than copy what everyone else sees. It’s certainly a minefield, and one I’ll probably spend the rest of my life picking my way through.

For the camera nerds, here are the image specs:

Camera – Lumix GX9

Lens – Olympus 45mm f/1.8

Exposure – 650iso, 50th sec @ f/1.8

*It is incredible. The restoration has been done with astonishing care and attention to detail. There is far more lighting than was evident in the pre-fire cathedral, but this means you can now see all the beautiful carving, all the way up to the beautiful vaulted roof. Just go, you’ll love it.

in My News / Personal Work / Point of View 0 comments

February 6, 2025 by Tim Gander

A Long but Fascinating Day of Acronyms

If it seems like I’ve gone a bit quiet lately, it’ll be because I’ve been anything but quiet lately.

A prime example is last Wednesday, when the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) Professor Dame Angela McLean visited University of Bath to see how their research is achieving real-world impact across a range of sectors.

Beyond a handful of set-up group photos, my role was largely as a fly-on-the-wall (FOTW) photographer recording Professor McLean’s visit through the day – and boy, was it a long day!

It started at the Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS) at Emersons Green, Bristol. In short, IAAPS is where engineers and designers can examine new forms of propulsion, or improve traditional ones (for example, improving fuel efficiency in internal combustion engines). There’s a lot of exciting work into hydrogen propulsion going on there, and Professor McLean got a good look behind the scenes at the state-of-the-art facility.

In fact, it resulted in one of my favourite images from the day, with Dame Angela clearly having a hoot on the driving simulator.

Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Dame Angela McLean laughs and smiles as she steers through a virtual course in a driving simulator.

Professor Dame Angela McLean enjoys a drive in a simulator at IAAPS

After a couple of hours at IAAPS, the visiting party moved to the University of Bath’s Claverton Down campus for a whistle-stop tour of a variety of laboratories and research demonstrations. Again, one of these resulted in another favourite image of the day, that of Dr Hannah Leese, a Reader in the Department of Chemical Engineering whose research covers nanostructured membranes and nanofluidic transport (you asked!).

Dr Hannah Leese smiles as she holds up a dish containing her scientific work as Dame Angela McLean looks on with interest.

Palpable pride on the face or Dr Hannah Leese as she shows her work to Professor Angela McLean

As she shows Professor McLean a dish of microneedles, you can see the excitement and pride in her work.

There were further tours of incredibly impactful research, including that into the augmented human where Professor McLean was shown (amongst other things) the huge advancements in prosthetic limbs, such as hands which respond to users’ commands.

Dame Angela McLean gets a closer look at a robotic prosthetic hand, being shown here by a female student who uses them on a daily basis.

Research into controllable (and useable) prosthetic limbs is part of the University's Augmented Human work.

Also part of Dame Angela’s itinerary was a tour of the labs at the Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour (IDSB) and a round-table discussion on Climate Resilience and Adaptation. But as if that wasn’t enough, she went on to officially launch IDSB that evening at Bath’s Guildhall.

In IDSB’s own words, “The primary objective of the Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour at the University of Bath is to respond to the evolving security risks to – and from – digital technologies from a socio-technical perspective.”

For this segment I needed to get usable pictures of the various speakers, some group photos, plus the general flavour of the evening.

Professor Dame Angela McClean stands at a lectern to deliver a keynote speech at the launch of the Bath Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour. A pop-up banner to the side behind her reads "Putting people at the heart of digital security."

Dame Angela's keynote speech emphasised the importance of highlighting to government where research can drive growth

On reflection it was a pretty long day, but fascinating, and I could see that in spite of having travelled from London that morning (and the prospect of having to travel back that evening), Professor McLean had thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

My work didn’t quite end at The Guildhall as I needed to turn images around for various communications teams at IAAPS and the university so they could get their social media feeds updated first thing the following day. So the evening stretched on a bit, but it was good to get the image files securely backed-up anyway. The following day I completed the full edit and delivered the rest of the images for on-going corporate communications purposes.

So a long day for all involved, but while I could have passed the evening segment to another photographer, I wanted to see the job through from start to finish and bring continuity to the coverage. It also meant one less complication for the organisers!

in Case Studies / corporate communications / coverage / launch / photography / press release photography 0 comments

December 23, 2024 by Tim Gander

So long 2024

It’s that time of year again when I kick of a blog post with the line “It’s that time of year again.” Maybe I should find a new intro! Maybe next year…

So here’s a bit of a whistle-stop photographic round-up of my last 12 months. These aren’t all Pulitzer winners, but there’s an image from each month about which I have something I can say. This’ll work best if you expand the first image, then use the ‘Next’ button to navigate through. Enjoy!

Outdoor portrait of Katharine Tylko in a nature setting. She is wearing a pink coat, scarf and blouse and looking to camera.

And finally of course, just to say a massive thank you to all my clients, collaborators and blog subscribers. I really appreciate your continued custom and support, and I wish you all the very best Christmas and New Year break. See you in 2025!

Tim

in Business Portraits / corporate communications / Personal Work / photography 0 comments

November 19, 2024November 22, 2024 by Tim Gander

From BTS to ECG, MRI to ICB – it’s all happening here!

First of all, apologies for the extended radio silence, I’ve been having an unusually busy time. There are reasons behind this which I will save for another time, another blog post.

Suffice to say, Google might have been disappointed by my lack of posting; my handful of loyal readers on the other hand might have enjoyed the quiet.

While much of my recent photography work hasn’t lent itself to sharing, there is one completed project worth a mention: a series of images taken around the local(ish) area of newly-installed Community Diagnostics Centres. This is work I’ve undertaken for NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board.

The brief was to visit the various hospitals and health centres in Bath, Salisbury and Swindon where new diagnostics facilities have been set up so patients don’t have to travel so far for MRI scans, respiratory tests, CT scans and the like. It’s a multimillion pound investment making testing facilities more accessible to a greater number of people.

What is always rather fun these days is when I’m asked if a few Behind The Scenes (BTS) photos are ok. This usually involves me being photographed while I’m setting up and taking pictures.

I’m fine with this as it helps the client with their social media, and most are happy to give me a mention too.

This set includes the BTS photo followed by the shot I was setting up, and a couple of further images taken during my visit to the rather swanky Sulis Hospital in Peasedown St John near Bath.

A medical nurse sits at a electrocardiogram (ECG) machine while a photographer adjusts the medical light behind her. The photographer's camera is on a tripod in the foreground.

I'm gracefully reaching across to adjust the light.

A clinical nurse sits at an electrocardiogram (ECG) machine, looking at the screen and operating the controls. There is an examination bed in the background.

One of the results of my set-up to photograph the ECG machine.

The Sulis Hospital Bath reception area with comfy seating, reception desk and hanging net curtains designed to bring light into the space. I blurred nurse is walking through the scene.

The reception area at Sulis, Bath.

A male patient is on the MRI bed wearing a hospital gown and the head scanner piece. A female nurse is standing the other side of the bed operating the controls.

To avoid my equipment damaging the MRI, I could only take this shot from the doorway.

Screengrab from the News page of the NHS BANES Swindon and Wiltshire ICB website showing the announcement of the multi-million-pound investment in new community diagnostics centres

The client was able to quickly update their news page with one of the images from the set.

in Case Studies / corporate communications / My News 0 comments

September 27, 2024 by Tim Gander

Tool or Toy?

As September draws to its conclusion, I’ve been surprised to realise it’s only been a couple of weeks since I got back from an all-too-brief holiday in Brittany.

Now I could bore you with my holiday snaps, but I’m only going to bore you with two. And they’re not even typical holiday snaps.

The real purpose of this post is to share some thoughts on a new addition to my kit bag, a Lumix GX9 camera (and two lenses). This isn’t so much a camera review, more a ‘why did I do that?’ sort of musing thing.

For My Pocket

For a long time (I’m talking years!) I’ve been in the market for a properly pocketable digital camera. Something I could chuck in my coat pocket, but with more versatility and better image quality than my iPhone – a Holy Grail for many photographers.

I looked at all kinds of options, from the eye-wateringly expensive Leica Q2/Q3, to the Ricoh GRIII, but nothing quite hit the spot. Then I started to notice the Panasonic Lumix GX-series of cameras. Again, not perfect, but as close to the right balance of versatility, quality and price as I was ever going to get.

Since I wanted a camera that could potentially find a use in client work as well as be a personal carry-around snapshot option (my Brittany holiday was starting to focus my decision-making too), Panasonic’s Lumix GX9 has the added benefit that it takes interchangeable lenses. I didn’t want the built-in zoom that many cameras in the pocket-friendly category have because I wanted the best quality I could get.

The only potential downside is that the GX9 is discontinued, and the GX-line seems to have reached the end of the… um… line. So a used camera was my only option. Even some of the lenses seem to be discontinued, such as the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7*, which is mounted on my camera in the photo.

That 20mm is, on this camera, equivalent to a 40mm lens on a regular SLR (I won’t explain the technicals here, just believe me). That’s my favourite focal length, so I was pleased to be able to pick up a genuine Ebay bargain.

For a second lens option, I bought a Lumix/Leica 15mm (30mm equivalent, see above) for wide angle shots. For this I bought new as the used prices weren’t all that attractive, and it is still available through retailers.

For Work

So how does this slot in with my work gear?

As a rule, I favour fixed lenses for my work – I just prefer the quality. However, even with two main camera bodies, this can leave me changing lenses rather more often than I’d like. So the GX9 with the wide lens on it gives me the option to do the general views at events without having to switch out the standard or long lenses mounted on my other two camera bodies.

There is compromise here though. The GX9 isn’t exactly a wizard of low-light photography, so I don’t use it where I need to crank up the ISO (sensor sensitivity) beyond 800. Things get awful noisy from 800 onwards, though the end-use of the pictures can mean low-light noise isn’t always a problem. The camera can also take an external flash, which can get me out of a fix in certain low-light situations.

The viewfinder is pretty dire too, but I knew that going in and actually I’ve got used to it. In most other respects, it’s a highly usable, capable camera – you just need to know how and when to use it.

For Fun

Beside the personal/holiday/family snap use, and to make the camera even more versatile, I also bought a lens adaptor which allows me to use some of my lovely Nikon lenses on this camera. Ok, so I lose a lot of the automation of the purpose-built lenses, but it’s another chance to play and experiment with other looks and styles. For example, I haven’t (yet) bought a longer lens for portraits for the GX9, but I have a Nikon-fit Voigtländer 40mm lens which becomes an 80mm lens on the GX9 – perfect for portraits! The adaptor adds value to the camera, as well as allowing me to use those lovely older lenses more often too.

For the Future?

I suppose my biggest fear is that one day this camera will die and I won’t be able to replace it easily. Modern digital cameras don’t always have the robustness of some film cameras. For last year’s trip to Brittany I took a very pocketable 35mm film camera. It was manufactured some time in the 1990s and yet it still functions. However, I can’t use that for work since no client wants to wait for film to be processed and scanned.

In an ideal world, Panasonic would bring out an updated version of this camera. Sensor technology keeps improving and this camera’s format (known as M43 or MFT, and pronounced ‘micro four thirds’) has a lot of advantages in terms of portability. If they’re thinking of doing this, they’re taking their sweet time about it.

For the time being this toy/tool will get use while it lives. If/when it dies, I’ll see if there’s a decent used replacement available, and keep going until I finally have to ditch the lenses. Maybe by then some perfect alternative will have emerged.

So keep an eye out for future posts featuring this dinky camera, in the meantime, here it is in all its cuteness alongside two of my favourite ‘holiday’ photos.

A panasonic Lumix GX9 camera on a wooden table with a yellow background. The camera has the Panasonic 20mm lens fitted and is shown next to a Lumix/Leica 15mm lens.

The Lumix GX9 with 20mm lens mounted and the Leica 15mm lens next to it.

Golden evening sunlight illuminates the curved wooden chairs on board the Portsmouth to Saint Malo ferry as a cleaner moves through, vacuuming the floor.

Passenger lounge on the ferry to Saint Malo.

Small snack cabin and bar in evening light at Batz-sur-Mer, Brittany, as a man and a woman stand outside chatting.

Snacks and drinks cabin, Batz-sur-Mer, Brittany, France.

*Wherever the lens is listed new, it’s shown as Awaiting Stock. I suspect Panasonic ceased production some time ago.

in Personal Opinion / Personal Work / photographer / photography / Uncategorized 0 comments

August 28, 2024 by Tim Gander

A Qualified Opinion

Final grades certificate in photo-journalism for Tim Gander. Issued by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

Not bad grades, and I did pretty well on a local evening paper.

This is a blast from the past – my certificate in photo-journalism, awarded by the National Council for the Training of Journalists in 1992. It was amongst a stash of old school reports hoarded by my mum.

I don’t want to sound like an old man reminiscing, but this dates from an era when photographers were trained to take pictures for news. This no longer happens, and sadly reporters with iPhones are a poor substitute.

The course at Stradbroke College in Sheffield was, for a few decades, the only formal route into news photography in this country. You either took the one-year pre-entry course (as I did), or you could get a traineeship on a paper who would then send you on block release to cover the course over a period of a couple of years (I’m a bit sketchy on this as it was a long time ago!)

Having completed my full year, this certificate graded me on my progress at that stage. I then had to find a job with a paper (in my case, The Portsmouth News) and be indentured for two years before taking final exams, submitting a final project and qualifying as a senior photographer. Of course I passed with a Distinction, as you would expect.

But why is it a problem that this structure no longer exists? People consume news very differently today, so this training malarkey is old-hat and obsolete. Plus taking photos is so much easier; who needs training?

The issue arises because since newspapers have devalued their product to the point where most local papers consist of nothing more than a mixture of phone snaps, Google Streetview screen grabs or images lifted from Twitter, photographers no longer play the role they once did, that of first witnesses and documenters of breaking stories. We simply don’t have that anymore, at least not in the traditional titles.

We were also trained to cover events, even incidents, with professionalism and with a good grasp of press ethics and the law. In fact understanding the law as it related to our work was often useful in situations where those in authority (*ahem* the police) would try to obstruct our work. Today, many reporters and certainly members of the public don’t have the knowledge required to be effective image gatherers.

The cutting back of photo departments, which really got going in the early 2000s, also disposed of an incredibly valuable asset. While reporters were already being increasingly tied to their desks, writing stories almost entirely over the phone and without leaving the office, photographers were the main point of contact between the readers and their paper.

This wasn’t always an entirely comfortable role for photographers, but it had a value which is now lost for good.

It’s good to see the emergence of community newspapers now, such as The Bristol Cable, which work on a different business model to traditional newspapers, however they still haven’t fully embraced the power of photography, largely relying instead on their staff journalists or, at a stretch, casual freelancers. This is a shame because a publication will struggle to find its look and voice if there is no consistent style to its visuals. It also means there’s still no consistent contact between readers and editorial staff.

Of course I understand the issue of cost vs benefit, and most of these new news initiatives just don’t have the budget for properly-trained photographers, so they’re stuck with this new paradigm. They can’t cover stories consistently and in depth, so they fall short of the engagement they need to grow. For as long as they can’t grow readerships, they can’t invest in photography.

So while this certificate might be a flimsy document harking back to a time when the news industry was very different, it’s also a reminder that an entire industry, underpinned by structured training, has suffered a pretty mortal blow. I would love to see a new ‘traditional media’ emerge where photographers have regular patches and disciplines to cover (eg news, sports and features), and as platforms such a Twitter seem to be losing ground, maybe the time will come when people return to trusted, curated, edited and regulated sources for news.

There is hope yet! And then perhaps I can present my certificate and get a job on an evening newspaper.

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August 15, 2024August 16, 2024 by Tim Gander

Three In One

The majority of my work is based around photographing people; professional headshots, people in business, in their office environment or at corporate events. However, every so often I’ll be called upon to make purely architectural images too.

It’s a side to my practice which I enjoy, so it’s a particular pleasure to get to work with property development company Bellhammer through their design agency Blast Design Limited.

Those with a good memory will recall that my relationship with Bellhammer’s Bristol city centre project (Assembly Buildings A, B and C) started during a headshot session for another client, when I took an opportunistic photo of Building C under construction. Since then I’ve returned to the site a few times to capture various stages of the project.

I was there again in June, with a brief to capture various aspects of Buildings B and C, but also to get an angle which included all three buildings in a single shot. That’s not as easy as it might sound, requiring some consideration of how the light falls on the buildings at various times of day, as well as trying to exclude other buildings or scrappy bits of cityscape.

However, give me a challenge and I’ll rise to it (within the bounds of feasibility of course).

What I came up with was two options. One based on a reference photo supplied by the client, the other an angle I found by walking the site until I located a spot which would work.

The more ‘standard’ angle is the stronger of the two images, but the one looking up at the buildings also has its strengths and uses. Giving a client a choice allows them to adapt images to whatever design and format they need, even if they don’t yet know what they need it for.

Sections of three modern office buildings shown together in a 'compressed' view using a long lens. From left, a burgundy-coloured building, the centre building has yellow accented balconies and the righ-hand building features green external steel girder construction.

Left to right, Buildings B, C and A.

Wide angle view looking up at buildings C, A and B with blue sky beyond their rooflines.

Left to right, Assembly C, A and B

Some of the images are included in the micro-sites for the buildings, including this (see below) from Building C taken during a previous trip.

Screenshot from the Assembly C website showing the open-plan reception area with the letter C layered over and the square footage available. A blurred female figure is striding through the photograph, carrying an opened laptop.

Still from the Building C web page.

Architectural photography, done properly, won’t generate anything like the quantity of images that something like a headshot session or event coverage might. More time and consideration is required; finding the best angles, setting up a tripod, making sure verticals and horizontals are correct (unless you’re after that leaning look, of course) and often having to wait until a person or lorry or whatever has cleared the scene.

The challenges of architecture are very different to pretty much any other genre of photography, but if you have a project which needs photography, I’d be delighted to hear from you!

Email me, or call 07703 124412 for that initial creative chat.

in Architectural Photography / Bristol / Case Studies / corporate communications / photographer 0 comments

August 7, 2024August 7, 2024 by Tim Gander

Going for G-old

Have you been watching the Paris Olympics? Like most big events that I’d like to see (Wimbledon being the annual classic), I usually miss the whole shebang.

This year though, I’ve managed to carve out a little time to catch a bit of the cycling and swimming – the two areas of sport I’m most interested in.

In particular with the swimming, I’ve been trying to pick up some clues for improving my personal performance in the pool. Well, let’s say that’s a work in progress. Most of the athletes have a 40-year advantage on me. Plus they swim every day (for several hours) and spend hours in the gym when they’re not in the pool. I mean really, it’s cheating!

Of course their performances are also enhanced by things like, I dunno, raw talent. They’re coached in techniques to the nth degree, drilled until they want to cry and many have been swimming since early childhood.

Contrast this with my “swimming career”; I left school with only a basic breast stroke, and no real drive to improve even that. As for front crawl (for the Americans reading this, that’s freestyle), until a few months ago, I couldn’t even get off the side of the pool. I was, in short, a drowning windmill.

However since rediscovering the joy of swimming while on holiday last year, I’ve signed up to regular sessions at my local pool, where my breast stroke has blossomed, and I’ve taken lessons in front crawl. I can now just about manage 50m without feeling sick, which is a huge step up from where I was around three months ago.

So why am I wanging on about the Olympics and my swimming now? Well of course it’s so I can shamelessly showcase the fact that 16 years ago, I had the honour of photographing double gold medal swimmer Rebecca Adlington (Becky) when she came to the University of Bath in 2008 to help launch the Youth Olympics.

There is a little more to this tale (not much tho) than just wanting to share an archive photo.

Bearing in mind Becky had only just achieved this huge success in the Beijing Olympics that same year, the attention she received would have been a whole new experience and perhaps slightly disconcerting.

As we settled into one of the university’s lecture theatres for a press call, I was just checking my focus and exposure on Becky when she leaned in to the person sitting next to her and said, “I suppose I’ll have to get used to this,” meaning “being photographed”.

As she sat straight again, she looked directly down my camera lens, and I took the shot you see here.

Becky Adlington looks directly down the barrel of my lens.

Double gold-medal swimmer Rebecca Adlington holds her two gold medals while looking to camera.

Becky Adlington holds the two medals she won at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

The comment didn’t strike me as anything more than a very matter-of-fact observation of how her life would change; there was nothing hostile in her tone, and she posed patiently and with good humour for more pictures after the sit-down press conference.

Becky’s career beyond the pool has flourished. Clearly, she got “used to this” a long while ago. I doubt she remembers that moment or her comment back in 2008, but for some reason it always stuck with me. Perhaps because I care how someone feels in front of my camera, even if I’m just doing my job.

On that day, we were both there to do a job. I’m still a photographer, Becky is still in the media spotlight and seeing her presenting from Paris 2024 alongside Clare Balding and Mark Foster reminded me of this one moment.

In the meantime, I’m going to continue with my own swimming career, though I’m not expecting to slip into professional swimming any time soon. That ship might have sailed unless there’s a VERY senior league out there?

in My News / Personal Opinion / photographer / press release photography 0 comments