September was the start of conference season for me with both the Guinness Partnership customer conference, and Mothercare staff conference. There was also a fantastic 5 days shooting at MIRA for Continental tyres. I was tasked with shooting a range of cars, both interiors and exteriors, (all at speed) in what can only be termed “changeable conditions.” In the middle of this I had to travel from MIRA in Nuneaton down to Canary Wharf to attend the Gold Ball celebrating 50 years of Mothercare. Hostess was Myleene Klass raising money with Mothercare for save the Children through an auction late on in the night. Drove back to MIRA through the night to find my hotel key wouldn’t work. Bit groggy the following day.

October and off to Benidorm for the McDonalds Franchisee conference. Always nice to get away for a bit of autumn sun but coincidentally Spain were playing Scotland at the same time and most of the opposition supporters were based around us. Alicante has never been more raucous.

November. A feature on Wayne and Gerardine Hemmingway who have been tasked with regenerating an “ill-conceived, inwards looking, mixed use development” in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. This is an ongoing project needing monthly updates over the term of the project.

December . A quick trip to Bilbao for the launch of the new look Twingo and a great opportunity to photograph Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud. As usual with this type of thing time was very limited so everything needed to be in place for when she turned up. Also had the pleasure of a very exclusive concert with her in the evening. Not a bad end to the year.

May. End of the football season and I was asked to shoot the (hopeful) celebrations as Wycombe Wanderers were promoted to the First Division. I already shoot the squad at the beginning of the year and merchandise throughout the season but this was a bit of a homecoming as I used to work for the local paper and hadn’t shot from the pitch in about 15 years.

June and off to see David Cameron with Renault-Nissan Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn. Shoot was a nightmare as it had been raining all day and just before they came out for the photocall the sun burst through resulting in really strong sidelighting that fill-in flash couldn’t cope with. Thankfully a bit of post processing saved the day. Blagged our way into No 10 to upload the images from their computers. Offices are more like a shabby local council office rather than head of government. Can’t be accused of spending money on frippery here.

Julyincluded a quick trip to Edinburgh to shoot two Zero Emission cars for Nissan/Renault. As we didn’t have time to scout for locations it involved a lot of dodgy map reading, illegal parking and chatting up the local constabulary. Also got a really nasty magenta hue on the Renault’s windscreen using a polarising filter. Lightroom to the rescue again.

August and World Series Renault came to Silverstone. Had an access-all-areas pass so made good use of getting up close to the cars while I could. Love the dramatic sky in this one plus the fact that, in a relatively well funded formula, you can’t beat a bit of gaffer tape to keep your crash helmet together.

A quick look back at 2011 in pictures. Not neccessarily my favourites (though I love them all like children!) but hopefully a good representation on the kind of work I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in over the last 12 months.

January started in a pretty doggy way. I was asked to shoot the front cover in Bath for the Guide Dogs magazine, followed by their Vision for Equality conference shortly afterwards and ending with portraits of their chief executive. This picture is of Jenny Mitchinson and Foster overlooking Bath. Although this is my favourite picture from the shoot this is one that they chose not to use. Possibly it was a bit too dramatic whereas the other shots were softer and showed the emotional bond between them.

February ended with the first of my twice yearly trips to the International Motor Show. This one, in Geneva, is a favourite as it is a great city, the trains to and from the Expo do run ridiculously to time and the show itself is fairly compact. There is also usually a fine display of moustaches.  As usual I was working for Nissan Europe’s comms team, shooting cars, execs and celebs for internal and external use.

March was Princess Royal month. Firstly I photographed her at the opening of the British Horse Society’s new head office near Stoneleigh. Two weeks later I was with her again at Butchers Hall, London at the launch of “Ladies in Beef”.  I chose this shot as, having photographed Princess Anne many times over the years, it is an achievement to capture her looking relaxed and smiling. She seems to have a pathalogical hatred for photographers. Maybe just me. Sadly, I didn’t receive my invite to the Royal Wedding for the following month or to her daughters wedding later in the year. Gutted.

April was a bit of a nightmare to be honest. If you weren’t involved in the Royal Wedding, shooting Easter Parades or photographing people having endless Bank Holidays there wasn’t much around. However, I did manage to get some nice shots around Paris after a shoot for a pharmaceutical company there. This one is while climbing up the Sacre Coeur, handily placed near to the Eurostar.

Last week I was in Geneva at the International Motor Show. Working on the Nissan Stand for European internal and external communications during the press days allowed me to get up close and personal with the new concept car ESFLOW. Photos over the three days were to show the flavour of the show together with specific needs. Sebastien Vettel of Red Bull Racing F1 team was on hand to help unveil the new Infiniti Etherea and reveal their sponsorship tie-in. Long, long days but thoroughly enjoyable once again.

Traditionally a quiet month, happily this January has kept me pretty busy – from a company’s late Christmas Party through to a couple of visits to Paris –  the work had been it’s usual mixed bag. I’ve posted here a few pictures from January including a chef the year competition for Mutton Renaissance, Nissan collecting the Car of The Year in Paris, a feature for the Guide Dogs magazine and a portrait session at GE Healthcare in France.

I have finally sorted out a Facebook page which, though in it’s infancy, will hopefully keep everyone abreast of what is going on in my world.

Please click on the logo to be transported to  my new world!

Hi and welcome to my new blog. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep you informed of some of the weird and wonderful photography in which I am involved. In the meantime I am pleased to be able to show you an article that was written about a commission I had in Sudan a little while ago. I was asked by a landmine clearance company to travel to the southern area of the country documenting the work they do clearing mines so that locals can get back on the land. Please click here for a pdf of the article.