Commissioning photography: comparing apples..

Photographs often are commodities… As a former management consultant, I participated in countless competitive bids over the course of 25 years. The norm in our business was to submit a proposal in response to a detailed RFP (request for proposals) that set out the client’s requirements, timing and expected deliverables. These projects spanned many months […]

The value of a plan: how a detailed photography plan saved my bacon

Fashion wedding promo for W Hong Kong – In mid-February the marketing team at W Hong Kong asked whether I could produce a series of images showcasing the hotel’s facilities, for use in an in-house sales application that would be shown to prospective wedding clients. “Holy crap!,” I said to myself. What an opportunity. Complicating […]

Flat light

I love light. Even flat light on a hazy day is beautiful. The IFC2 curtain wall reflects the flat light of another hazy day in Hong Kong, resulting in an interesting, monochrommatic effect that seems to flatten the subtle articulation of the building facade. As the gondola slowly moved into position, the cloud cover was […]

Find something interesting to photograph

While the lighting in this image is very simple – a gridded softbox on the left, to pick up the texture of the salmon and celeriac, and a white reflector on the right – the chef’s presentation turned this into one of my favorite photos. To add some variety to a restaurant promotion shoot, I […]

Find something interesting to photograph

Have you ever found yourself photographing something and no matter what you do it just doesn’t look right? A little while ago I was getting ready for a shoot, to make images for a Kagoshima food promotion at one of our city’s award-winning Japanese restaurants. The client wanted something more than the standard ‘window light […]