Behind the Lens – The London Underground
Photography is a journey, every experience brings depth to your work as it evolves and changes. As you try new things you learn from your mistakes as well as success and every now and then you make an image which is like a lightbulb moment. These are your ‘hook’ images because they change the way you think and you hang everything on them as you move forward. This week in ‘Behind the Lens’ I want to look at a particular …
Behind the Lens – K9 Friends
Today ‘Behind the Lens’ is about an assignment for the National newspaper to photograph K9 friends the Dubai based charity that seeks homes for stray or abandoned dogs. I was given a tour first thing in morning by Alister Milne, the manager of the Kennels. K9 friends currently has some 120 dogs housed in the facility and Alister explains that there are a further 50 dogs on the waiting list. With an average of 20 dogs arriving each week K9 friends is struggling to …
Behind the Lens – Abdullah’s story
Its not every day that you get to do something good with your job but Saturday was an exception. I was sent to Al Ain to photograph Guilam and his Son Abdullah for the National Newspaper’s, Helping Hands section which reports on the work of the Dar Al Ber Society, a registered charity in the UAE.
Behind the Lens – Omid Djalili
In this edition of ‘Behind the Lens’ I want to share some insights on getting the best out of photographing stage performers by looking at a photograph I made of Omid Djalili for the National newspaper several years ago. Omid Djalili is one of the most media savvy performers I have photographed and is a great example of the relationship between a photographer and a performer. More on that later, firstly I want to talk a little about the technical …
Behind the Lens – Shemi
It was late in the day when I finally arrived at the small apartment on the upper floor of a villa in the Abu Hail district of Dubai. I was to photograph ‘Shemi’ the author of ‘Nadavazhiyile Nerukal’ (The truth in my path) for the National newspaper. I didn’t really know a great detail about Shemi before I arrived but the little of her story I did know fascinated me. Shemi was tragically orphaned at the age of 13 and …
Behind the Lens – Audi Q5 and lots of Camels
In this edition of Behind the Lens I want to look at a car shoot I did for Audi magazine. The brief was very open. “Here have an Audi Q5, go to Salalah and take lots of pictures of the car”. Myself and Noel Ebdon the writer on the story set off on our journey from Dubai which would amount to a gruelling 2 day drive. I had also picked up a bad case of food poisoning from a certain …
Behind the lens – war games
The image was taken when I was a student in Brighton University (not so long ago) but it taught me some important life lessons. For me it’s a ‘hook’ image, a picture that changes everything, an image which literally redirects you in the way you think as a photographer. It also seems an appropriate image to kick off the new blog series, ‘Behind the Lens’. The picture was taken in Hastings in Sussex, England. I had been working on a …