by Tim Gander

Did you miss me?

I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit quiet of late, the truth is the last few weeks have been unbelievably busy. For one project I’ve driven 1,300 miles, visiting Bristol, Reading, London, Ipswich, Manchester and Edinburgh with my mobile studio kit to shoot corporate portraits for a new client. Over 160 people photographed within a week and a half and more than 6,800 images shot. These then had to be edited down and processed before delivery to the client within a couple of days. An absolutely mammoth tusk task, on top of which I already had work booked in for other clients upon my return.

Granted this project had some gruelling aspects to it, for example getting stuck on the M25 coming back from Ipswich on a Friday afternoon, in sweltering heat and the air conditioning in my car being kaput. I should probably get that fixed (which will guarantee we don’t have another warm day this year). Or the long drive from Edinburgh to home – broken by a brief visit to my brother in Co Durham, but all the same a long old haul.

Thumbnail portraits displayed in Lightroom's working window

Dealing with several thousand images is no small task

On the other hand, highlights include meeting and photographing about 160 really friendly people. Staying two nights in London in an amazing room at a photographer’s studio with lovely hosts and having some lovely meals when I got time to stop long enough to eat something other than fast food, in particular Hector’s in Stockbridge, Edinburgh where the food and the service were just brilliant. These factors become even more important to the lone traveler.

For a while, at least until the next big project comes along, I should be able to return to something more like my regular routine of corporate communications work, press release photography and business portraits. And you’ll have to get used to me being around again. Thank you for your patience!

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 by Tim Gander

A day in her life, a lifetime for me

Image

My first published photo (click to enlarge)

As far as I recall, this is the first photo I ever had published in a newspaper. Perhaps a little weird that I still have the cutting, but I have a few books of cuttings dating back… well, to this first one.

This particular shot was taken for a competition and book, though I don’t believe it made the final cut, which was obviously a shame. I do recall that I’d heard about the competition and didn’t have anything to enter, but I was obviously on the lookout for something.

Although the date is missing from the cutting, it would have been around 1987. At that time I was working at London Camera Exchange in Bath, right next to the abbey.

I was probably cleaning cameras and shelving when I spotted this girl going to the fountain for a drink and I must have reacted incredibly quickly because I know I pulled a camera from the display, loaded a film and a telephoto lens and took the photo through the shop window knowing that if I went outside to take it the moment would have passed.

Perhaps the failure to be included in the book scarred me for life because I’ve not entered many, if any, photographic competitions since, but seeing my photo in print gave me a thrill which set me on the path to becoming a professional photographer. I may not have won the competition, but I wonder now if I would have become a photographer if this frame hadn’t been printed. That being the case, I’m going to say I did win. I just didn’t know it at the time.

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 by Tim Gander

Chocolate zombies and shaving penguins’ bums

It’s always good to get a new client, but when that client happens to make chocolates you know life just got a little sweeter.

James Chocolates approached me a few weeks a go because being based in Somerset they wanted to find a more local photographer than their previous one (based in Essex) with whom they could build a relationship. I had a conversation with their marketing man Matt and took delivery of the first batch of these quirky chocolates to shoot.

Product photography isn’t my bread and butter, but having discussed my client’s requirements I knew I could help. I was pleased with the results from the first batch and more importantly, Matt and his designer were pleased too. Aware of what the designer needed to do with the photos once I’d delivered them I made sure I got feedback from the client and the designer to ensure I was presenting them with what they deeded and making the designer’s life as easy as possible.

With a few minor tweaks to the set-up I was presented with a larger second batch to tackle which included chocolate lollies for Halloween and Christmas treats. The results of the Halloween shoot are already in sales literature, and the Christmas one is underway.

Halloween chocolate lollies

Spooky Halloween chocolate lollies! Woooo!

One particularly tricky product to shoot was a selection bag which included a couple of large chocolate lollies. I wanted these to stand on their stick ends, against the bag and with a little bit of an angle. Chocolate may be sticky, but it’s obviously difficult to attach chocolate objects to other things, especially when trying to attach a top-heavy lolly to a paper bag. I ended up using duct tape on the back of one, and Velcro to hold the other in place against the bag. Hopefully you’ll see the result another time.

The Christmas shoot included mini crackers with chocolate penguins in, but I wanted to make some of the penguin figures stand up as if they were marching out of the crackers, which is where shaving their bums (ok, their feet, but bums is a funnier word!) came in. It occurred to me, while shaving their “bases” with a craft knife, what a curious job I have sometimes and how the obsession to make something look just right can leave me doing strange things.

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 by Tim Gander

Plane Portrait (ouch!)

One of the things I love about my work is meeting interesting people and finding myself in interesting places. A fine example of this was an unexpected assignment for Centreline Air Charter, based at Bristol Airport, where I was asked to take a portrait of Centreline’s CEO Phil Brockwell for European Business Air News, who were to run a front page story on the company. Centreline didn’t have a suitable image and called me up to help them.

EBAN might very well not be a publication you’re familiar with unless you happen to own an aircraft operation in Europe, Russia, the Middle East or Africa. You don’t? Fair enough. To be fair, I’d not heard of it until the call came, but I strongly believe that all publications, even trade ones, deserve decent photography.

Phil is one of the friendliest CEOs I’ve ever met and it’s not every day I’m asked “where would you like the jet?” I suggested the South of France, but Phil meant where on the runway apron. Maybe next time, eh?

One of the difficulties I had with this particular portrait was that the sun was especially harsh, in the wrong spot (it almost always is, ask any photographer), and we needed one of Centreline’s shiny white aircraft in the background too.

My choice was either to have Phil squinting into the sun, or silhouetted against the bright backdrop. I had one other trick up my sleeve; bright backdrop but with tricksy fill-in flash on Phil (or Phil-in flash if you will… ouch) so that both background and subject would look good.

Having had the jet moved to where the shot would work best, I set up Phil where he needed to be and set my flash and camera to mitigate the sun, took a few test shots, made adjustments, took some more test shots until I could see we were getting close, made further slight adjustments, then got on with the real deal.

I knew I couldn’t spend a ton of Phil’s time getting things right, but it was nice to be given enough time to set things up properly and also get a variety of shots so that Centreline’s public relations handler would have a choice of images to put over to the magazine.

Apart from having to come off the runway for a coffee break while another jet came into land, the whole shoot was done in under an hour. More than 10 minutes is a real luxury when shooting CEO portraits and I was grateful for the time, but I also think the results were worth it.

The same day I delivered the images to Centreline’s PR, captioned and ready for publication. Their (and my) preferred shot made it to the cover of EBAN as planned and you can see the result below and read more of Centreline’s story here. A good result I’d say and a very satisfying assignment. I certainly didn’t wing it (ouch, again).

European Business Air News front page featuring Phil Brockwell, CEO of Bristol Flying Centre

European Business Air News front page featuring Phil Brockwell, CEO of Centreline Air Charter

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 by Tim Gander

Growing Groups

Five years ago I covered an event for University of Bath which celebrated the granting of sponsored scholarships to students. Certificates were given and a group photo consisting of around 50 students was organised.

Group of University of Bath scholarship students in 2009

From 50…

Last month I covered the same event which has grown hugely since its inception. This time the group photo was of almost 150 students.

150 University of Bath scholars in 2013

…to 150 in five years (don’t count them, some hadn’t arrived by the time the photo was taken)

It’s sometimes interesting to look back on assignments which have repeated down the years and see how they’ve developed. This scheme grew very quickly, and I won’t bore you with every group shot I’ve taken, but the contrast between 2009 and 2013 is certainly pretty stark.

The first photo was taken using a stepladder, the latest using a mezzanine floor overlooking the foyer of the building where the presentations took place.

I don’t know if the event will grow even more, but maybe in a few years’ time I’ll need a crane lift and a fisheye lens if I want to get the entire scholarship contingent in the frame!

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 by Tim Gander

Portraits with Personality

One thing I’ve managed not to bang on about for a while is the importance of good quality portrait photos in business, by which I mean genuine photos, well-executed of the people within an organisation, at the very least the key people who need to be the face of the business.

I’m happy to say that fewer businesses and organisations are now using stock imagery as a way to project themselves. Of course it’s still a popular source of images for websites and brochures, but people understand more than ever the importance of including their own personalities in their marketing, but having taken the decision to commission some “real” photography, what other decisions follow from that?

The key decision is what style to go for. A portrait can be formal, informal, serious, light, it can be taken indoors, outdoors, subject looking to camera, subject looking off-camera. There are infinite angles and permutations and most clients want a selection of styles and moods so they have a library of images to call upon for different requirements.

The limiting factor to all this might be how many people need to be photographed within the time available, and how much time each sitter has before they must get back to their desk or their next meeting.

I often find myself allocated a room in which to set up my lights and perhaps a backdrop, but even this basic setup can allow for quite a variety. Outdoors shoots often take longer because the environment is less easily controlled and the location is usually some distance from the office.

It’s important to have a think about the mood and the style of the shots required and the context into which they’ll be published. I’m happy to discuss all this with clients looking for guidance, and of course I’ll talk to their designers too.

Perhaps the most important thing about having portraits done is to remember that these aren’t for the mantlepiece or the family album, they’re for communicating personality and values to clients, which is something stock images cannot do.

I’ve plucked a few random portraits from my archive to give some ideas of what’s possible. There are many more possibilities than I can ever show you.

Portrait of a University of Bath student

Using available light and a white wall

Business portrait taken in Bath

Outdoors, looking off-camera, using the available architecture

business photo taken in Bristol

Standard business portrait in colour taken using lights and a backdrop

Black and white business portrait of Jamie Borwick

Black and white, looking off-camera. This was staged to look un-staged

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 by Tim Gander

Homeless Portrait

The other week I was taking public relations pictures for a hotel in Bath. Their staff were volunteering to help at a local soup kitchen for the homeless, and they wanted shots of the volunteers and organisers preparing to hand out the food. I was told by a volunteer from the local church that was involved, I should avoid taking pictures of any homeless people as it might upset them. I’ll be honest, I felt a little patronized as I think by now I know what to do in delicate situations, but I got on with arranging the shots I needed. It was so dark, it would have been impossible to take pictures without flash so I was only ever going to take pre-arranged photos. The PR photos went well, and I used a small portable lighting system to try to make things look brighter and more inviting, and as I finished I turned around to find a man going by the name Squirrel sitting behind me. He was hoping to have his photo taken too, so I included him in some shots. Then his girlfriend, Hayley, came over. All she wanted was a nice photo of her and Squirrel together, and it was a pleasure to oblige. I did ask if they would mind me blogging the photo and they were fine about it, so here it is. Squirrel and Hayley, eating out together.

“Squirrel” and Hayley, Bath soup kitchen.

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 by Tim Gander

For people who eat

One area of commercial photography I seem to have been getting involved with more frequently over the past year has been on-location food photography.

Food photography is a highly specialized area and if a client is going to go the whole hog (pun intended) they’ll be looking at very high fees for a top-end photographer, plus assistant, food stylist, studio hire, props, editing and post-production.

As for my work, I know my level and I know what I can do for a client. When they approach me I measure their expectations and requirements against their budget and if I believe I can offer what they need, I’ll take on the task. If they’re looking for something very high-end, I’ll recommend them to a food photography specialist. However, there are many instances where quality is required, but it’s clear we’re not shooting for The Ritz brochure and that’s where I can help.

This is the same approach I took when I was recommended to Caroline Jones of newly-launched online food magazine Local Morsels, which champions local food producers, growers, retailers, chefs and restaurant owners in the Bath and Bradford on Avon area.

I was recommended to Caroline by web designer Andrew Eberlin. Caroline and I met over coffee, discussed her requirements and I designed a fee and licence structure which suits her requirements perfectly.

The first batch of images, shot for the inaugural issue, were taken at locations in Bradford on Avon, using my portable studio lighting setup. The work was fun to do and I’m looking forward to the next session, which is already booked for later this month.

In the meantime, here’s a small selection of images from the first edition. If you’re the kind of person who eats, why not bookmark the Local Morsels website and learn more about locally produced food? Try not to drool on your keyboard though.

Pumpkin soup in a bowl on a place setting

The challenge – to create a warm light effect, and get the shot before the sparkler fizzled out

Apples in a pan with raisins and cinnamon sticks

The challenge – balancing cinnamon sticks

easy jose coffee beans in a bag with grinder

The challenge – foil pack reflections can be tricky

Christmas cake with slice removed

The challenge – making the cake look as moist in a photo as it was in real life

 

 

 

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 by Tim Gander

TIGA Feats

Last week I was at the annual TIGA Games Industry Awards to photograph the gathered great and good and the award winners in particular.

TIGA is the non-profit trade association which represents the digital games industry in the UK, and this year’s awards were presented at The Assembly Rooms in Bath, a historic venue contrasting with the relatively new art of game design.

I’ve covered a few events at the Assembly Rooms over the years, and though it’s a lovely building it’s always quite tricky to deal with the very low-level, yellow lighting in the Great Octagon (see this post on a similar recent challenge), where delegates gather for drinks prior to being seated in the main ballroom which, depending on what the lighting guys have set up, will be a whole new challenge.

Normally I’ll use on-camera flash of some sort for the drinks reception, and then portable studio lights directed at the stage to cover the dais and awards presentations up on the stage, but this time I decided to use available light for the drinks bit, and hand-held flash for the awards as I had to be super-quick for the presentations. The client didn’t want the photography to hold up proceeedings. There were a lot of awards being presented, and I needed to be nimble to get a shot from each one – the studio lights can slow me down as they don’t always charge back up fast enough to be ready for the next photo.

In between covering the flavour of the evening and the awards on the stage, I was also nipping backstage to send images out from my laptop in order that social media coverage could have pictures live on the night.

A pretty long night and tiring too, but great fun and an interesting insight into the gaming industry. I’ll be back at The Assembly Rooms before the month is out to cover the Regen SW Green Energy Awards. I can’t wait to see what the lighting engineers do this time…

In the meantime, here’s a small selection of images from the night:

TIGA delegates chat, drink, network in the Great Octagon, Bath Assembly Rooms

Delegates mingle and drink prior to dinner and the awards

Screen showing TIGA awards twitter activity

Social media was broadcast live to the room

Delegates at dinner enjoying the awards presentations and speeches

Capturing the fun of the evening

Actor and voice artist Corey Johnson comperes the evening

Compere Corey Johnson, actor and games voice artist, keeps proceedings flowing

TIGA gaming industry award winners receive their prize

Awards are presented, speeches are made

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 by Tim Gander

Back to my roots

With my roots firmly set in newspaper photography, it’s always a pleasure to get a commission to shoot pictures for a client that require that newspaper style. It’s not the same as shooting for a corporate website or brochure which generally requires a bit less story telling and tends to be more polished. For a newspaper style you can work faster and produce a wider range of image options. It’s ok to pull in props from what’s around you if it helps, and you’re not looking for a totally slick look, which can leave a photo looking less genuine when it’s for a news context.

A good recent example is a job I shot for Positive Outcomes, a national training company, who offer a range of training and apprenticeship services to companies and organisations and training to help a whole range of people looking to improve their work skills.

In this example two people, Holly Drew and Alistair Johnstone, completed their on-the-job training while volunteering at the St Peter’s Hospice charity shop in Westbury on Trym, Bristol and I was asked to produce a set of images suitable for local press and web use to help tell their story.

After about an hour on site I had a good selection of images, both upright and landscape orientations to suit picture desk requirements. I thought perhaps you’d like to see a selection of the results.

Showing Holly and Alistair interacting as they work adds an extra layer to the picture story

Offering a vertical alternative reduces the risk of a photo being ditched just because it doesn’t fit the page design

Showing Holly and Alistair at work in the stock room is another opportunity to show them at work

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