I often get asked to produce portraits which are friendly and approachable especially corporate portraits. Traditionally these tended to be be very formal boardroom, desk type shots with very little character.

The need to have web profiles, avatars and press releases has contributed to the style of these portraits changing, however the circumstances under which they are produced has not changed. There is often a limited amount of time to shoot many subjects with a variety of poses and with multiple backgrounds. My preferred method is to use the existing daylight when available and filing shadows with reflectors. This allows a fast turnaround of location background and subject poses. Below are examples of available and artificial light portraits all taken using interior office locations or nearby exterior locations, sometimes with many changes of location. Very often portraits are produced during conferences or between board meetings.

Friendly Approachable Corporate Portraits

Friendly Approachable Corporate Portraits

It is now possible for clients to view images after a photo shoot online without downloading any files. Full resolution files can be selected and shared with the lightbox facility. In addition to commercial commissioned work, the online gallery serves as an archive for stock images available for purchase under licence. As well as the purchase of prints and images with a personal use licence. Take a look at the gallery site!

The site is straightforward to use and provides facilities to share galleries and images via facebook, twitter and email. The lightbox feature is particularly useful to create a selection of favourite images which can be shared between registered users. It can also serve as a means to order or download full resolution image files. Please contact Alex Orrow directly to discuss the great benefits of an online gallery to archive and share your images.

Official photographer for Apple’s Summer Camp this Monday 26th at the Apple Store Cambridge. At Apple Summer Camp, kids aged 8-12 will learn the ins and outs of iMovie and how to make a film.

Folk legend Eliza Carthy popped into Cambridge for a little pre Cambridge Folk Festival photo shoot! On behalf of The Co-Operative. Eliza was great fun and I even got to hear her play a little on the old fiddle.

Eliza cycling to the Cambridge Folk Festival

A new facility is now available for clients and image buyers to access photographs online via a gallery website. The galleries can be configured to be accessible to specific clients and only by those invited. Public access galleries of commercially available stock photography and personal event photography are accessible by anyone and are fully searchable. Full resolution downloads can be made available as well as the ability to create a lightbox of favourite images which in turn can be shared with other registered users. All galleries are equipped with social media sharing tools and email tools. Tools are also available to provide code to embed slideshows on a website or blog of choice.

The galleries can be accessed via the client area of my  commercial portfolio website or by invitation. An internet search of a gallery name could also provide another access point.

Results from the Cambridge University Botanic Garden commission, to photograph children enjoying the Botanic Gardens surroundings and activities. Before undertaking this project I spent some time scouting locations with the marketing manager to find suitable places for children to enjoy and interact with the garden. There were so many beautiful and interesting options I new it would probably be best to stick to just a few places rather than tackling a long list of locations.  Otherwise tiring the children and  loosing their attention span.

There were in total about 12 children on the day, all were very enthusiastic and full of energy. My approach was to allow the children freedom to interact and enjoy themselves but to also set up and pose situations where the children might interact or find fun. Such as looking into fish ponds, hiding under tree branches or creeping through bamboo. Always keeping a mindful eye on the unexpected. I beleive the results are very natural and capture the fun atmosphere of the mornings shoot.

All images were shot available light with some fill from reflectors. The gardens are very interesting and diverse, with some wonderful views and trails throughout. More than enough for any photographer to get their teeth into, if you enjoy photographing nature and landscapes.

Photographs of Children enjoying Botanic Gardens

Photographs of Children enjoying Botanic Gardens

At the begining of the summer of 2009  I was asked by the marketing and communications team of Cambridgeshire Mencap to undertake photography for a new website and to update existing library images. The work involved visiting many of the homes, services and activities of the service users over a period of just under 3 months. With the aim of the photography to capture creative natural and fun images of volunteers, activities and service users.

Work is now complete on the new Cambridgeshire Mencap website and the site is now live. Cambridgeshire Mencap is a charity based in Cambridge, UK and supports local people with learning disabilities. Their important work encompasses supported living, access to community activites and training. They also support parents and carers providing them with information, advice on relevant issues and backup when they need a rest. Undertaking photography work for Mencap was a real joy and great learning experience for me, and gave me a better insight into the lives of those with learning disabilities and the conditions associated with having a learning disability. As well as the parents and people who support and care for them.

More information about this interesting commission and examples of the results can be viewed here.

Spire Healthcare commissioned Alex to take photographs for a new image library. The photo shoot took place in Manchester, Leeds and Hull Hospitals on 3 consecutive days during October 2009. Resulting images are to be used across the Spire group for all corporate marketing and PR.

Healthcare & Medical Images

Healthcare & Medical Images

Healthcare & Medical Images

Art Director: Tim Gosling / Hair & Makeup: Lesley Vye / Assistant: Wayne McDermott

Scouting Locations for a photo shoot at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens for new leaflets and image library updates. The garden is a fascinating place with exploding cucumber buds and carniverous plants! It also has endless possibilities for photographs and so I used the iphone camera to quickly take photo sketches of interesting locations so that I would have a reference on the day of the shoot as a reminder. Rather than having models and client hanging around waiting for me to find the best location and angles.

Example iphone images from the recce below. I will post comparisons to these images on completion of the job in a few weeks time!

Location scout Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Location scout Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Image below of one the huge coal burning furnaces at the Museum was lit using x3 Nikon SB800′s. 2 were placed close to the right and left of the furnace, behind walls. Angled up and zoomed slightly for a narrow throw of light. The 3rd light was placed out of frame through a doorway camera left, this light was again zoomed for a slightly narrow beam of light and aimed down towards the cobbled floor, children and  wall opposite. The exposure was around 1/30s  to expose for the daylight entering through windows high above. Part 1

Coal Burning furnace at Museum of Technology

The museum is a real gem for a photographer as there lots of character details and shapes.

This simple shot used a single SB800 flash placed low and behind the spanners and a long exposure to capture some ambient daylight on the front of the spanners.

Museum of Technology Spanners

More off camera flash used in this example.

Hathorn Davey Pumping Engine Detail