Commercial photography encompasses a lot of different types of work. Some examples are product photography for a brand’s new launch or headshots of a start-up’s dynamic team. Another type of commercial photography that I love is ‘day-in-the-life’ or lifestyle photography. I’m often hired to photograph behind the scenes of busy organisations either for use on their website or for press releases. NatWest have often booked me over the years to follow their CEO around during conferences and client visits, which I love. You get to see first-hand the hectic schedule of a top executive with the challenge of being as creative as possible in the process.
Brief
As well as shadowing her predecessor Ross McEwan, I have had the pleasure of working with Alison Rose several times now. From documenting her first day as CEO at NatWest to early morning meetings with influential women in business. This time I met her in Leyton to photograph her visiting vertical farmers Harvest London. Using an incredible alternative to traditional farming techniques, they grow vegetables and herbs in a controlled environment. By using just the right amount of water, light, nutrients and humidity they can grow fresh ingredients using 100% renewable energy.
I needed to photograph Alison with CEO Chris Davies on a tour of their facility. Chris would be demonstrating the techniques and machinery used and I had to capture Alison’s interaction. They also required some portraits of them together at the end of the tour.
Shoot
Founder Chris’ enthusiasm for his work and its waste-reducing properties was clear from the outset. I started off capturing some action shots of his explanation of their equipment and techniques. I only had time for a bit of on-camera flash every now and then due to Alison’s busy itinerary. We then ended up in the vertical farm where rows of herbs are grown in several tiers. This made for some great detail and colour for the photos.
I mostly needed natural shots of them in conversation with just a couple of posed portraits at the end. The rows of Basil were a great foreground for some nice shots of Alison tasting some of the produce. I also found a ladder which helped capture the scale of the operation from a different angle.
Harvest London use a very specific mix of coloured lights on the herbs so no extra lighting was needed. I therefore just ramped up the ISO a touch and made some colour-corrections in post.
And all before 8am. I was then off to Euston to my next job photographing the Central Arbitration Committee‘s biennial meeting and accompanying headshots.
I’m really enjoying being able to work again after COVID-19 caused such a hiatus. It’s great to be back. Here are a few from Alison’s visit.
You can find more of my commerical photography work here. If you’d like to book me for commercial photography please do get in touch.
