Best 19 Photographs of 2019!
2019 – What a Year!
So, we’re already halfway through January 2020. But I really wanted to look back on 2019 and sift through my photos to find my favourites.
It was quite a year for photography and video production here. My first full calendar year as a full-time photographer, since leaving my engineering job in September 2018.
I also expanded my studio space dramatically and had a re-brand. The re-brand felt long overdue but came at the right time. It coincided with the studio expansion, so I ‘launched’ everything at the same time. And it was the perfect excuse for a party! It also coincided with my 1 year ‘freedom anniversary’ – so everything fell into place nicely. It was fantastic to welcome a few people to the new studio space and have a drink (or three) with them!
Photography in 2019
The year started out with some fun headshot sessions at the studio. I developed an in-depth headshot session for clients wanting that extra level of detail and care. We spend up to 2 hours shooting together, reviewing shots on the laptop as we go along and tweaking the look until it’s perfect. The intention is that everyone walks out having seen the best photo of themselves they’ve ever seen!
2019 was also the year that I developed my niche in industrial photography. As you may have read on my industrial photography page, my background is in aerospace engineering. Being able to enter an engineering or industrial facility and understand the processes taking place turns out to be an enormous advantage when photographing them.
Additionally, I’ve found that clients feel more comfortable knowing I have that background. It can be hard for technically minded people to identify with creatives. So having a background in both elements really helps to bridge that gap. And most importantly, it enables me to get the very best photographs and bring out the important aspects of the technical processes and products. I’m really excited to be heading into 2020 with a portfolio of industrial photography photos I’m super-proud of.
Product photography continues to be a big element of what I do. This is great because I love it! And great for my clients because they’re selling more products as a result of my product photography.
I believe my engineering background helps with product photography as well. You have to be patient and willing to tweak the products and lighting for hours, to get the right shot! Having been an engineer worrying about the thickness of metals to the nearest 1000th of a millimetre, it turns out I’m quite happy doing that.
Videography in 2019
2019 was also a great year for video production. And it’s an area of the business that’s growing rapidly. Although it’s not the focus of this blog post, I’ll list some of the great video projects we had in 2019.
We started strong with a homepage video for Oldfield Forge. This is an incredible place, nestled in the hills of Herefordshire, where people come from all over the world to learn traditional blacksmithing.
We produced numerous property videos throughout the year, with some awesome drone footage on some of them. There was an actor’s showreel at the beginning of the year, filmed at the theatre here in Ledbury. And we were up in Birmingham filming a promotional video for a Northern Ireland based exhibition stand designer.
One of our bigger projects was for a summer camp based in Herefordshire, run by Pippa’s Guardians. We were on location for several days over the summer and absolutely blessed with the weather every day! We had a licence to fly drones over the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire and captured some great energetic shots of kids at the summer camp from Hong Kong and China.
Finally, we produced several product videos this year. This was our first foray into the world of product videos and it’s something I’m looking forward to doing more of in 2020. Being able to combine lighting techniques from product photography with moving images produces some high-impact results. And I know for a fact that my clients have seen an uplift in sales as a result of these videos.
19 of 2019
Here are my favourite 19 shots from 2019 – it was a tough choice, but I managed to whittle them down! These are presented in the order in which they were shot throughout the year:
First up, we have a detail shot of a part in production, captured during an industrial photography shoot in Bradford. One of my favourite parts of a shoot is when the client says “just go and do your thing”. And that’s when this was captured. I spent about 45 minutes at the end of the day wandering the site, being able to capture whatever caught my eye.
In a busy factory environment, using a shallow depth of field to blur out the background is a great way of ‘cleaning up’ the shot. I think I just love the precision of this shot. The item is clean and beautifully engineered. They were lined up with others in the background. I also like the stand it’s sitting on, which is a lovely clean, crisp colour.
Next, we have two shots from another industrial photography shoot. This time in Hereford for Hereford Contract Canning. I’d always wanted to to see inside a drinks factory, so I was very excited to be given a tour of the whole place while I was there.
These two shots are very different – one being a close up of a box filling machine and the other being an overview of the factory. With the close-up shot, I tried to get in and find a different view, one that wouldn’t normally be seen. I feel it shows the inner workings of the machine really well.
Both shots are square on with straight vertical lines and I feel this gives them a feeling of precision and tidiness. Not all industrial facilities are as clean as a drinks canning factory. By the nature of what they’re doing there, they have to be kept immaculately clean and tidy.
The overview shot shows the workings of the factory, as the drinks cans follow their route through all of the processes until finally, they’re boxed up and ready to be sent out.
In May of 2019, I was contacted by an American Football team in Hereford – the Hereford Stampede. They are a growing, ambitious local team who wanted to attract more players to the roster. We had a pre-shoot meeting and the team put together a mood board of the type of thing they had in mind for their promotional materials.
It was a very fun morning in Hereford at the rugby club where they play! They’d managed to get most of the team members in for the shoot and we had A LOT of fun!
I knew they had to look imposing to the opposition, but inviting to people who may want to join them. The lighting setup in the studio shots was designed to show off muscle, with intentional highlights at the edges of the arms and face. The key light (front light) was aimed downwards to give definition.
Then it was a case of working the poses! They’re a great bunch of guys and girls, so there were plenty of outtakes in between the ‘serious’ shots and the one above is one of my favourites!
Jon from Barbertown has launched his own range of male grooming products, Ace products. So he came over to the studio in Ledbury and we spent a fun day photographing his products and making them look as slick as the hair they’ll one day hold in place.
The second shot here is our ‘hero’ shot. The camera is positioned low so we’re looking up at the products. The lighting is dark and moody with a dark background.
More industrial photography – this time in Gloucester for Poeton Industries. This shoot was a really interesting one for me. For years as an aerospace engineer, I’d been specifying protective treatments to metals on drawings. All theoretical to me as I’d not seen the processes in action.
Finally, after leaving engineering and becoming a photographer, I got to see these surface treatments being applied! Not only that, but I got to photograph them as well.
As I mentioned above, one of the great things about industrial photography for me is the tour of the facility. Although I left engineering, I’m still really interested in all aspects of it. Getting to see these processes being applied was fantastic.
The first shot above is where parts have had wax applied so the surface treatment is not applied to that section of the part. Secondly, we have an NDT (non-destructive testing) inspection taking place. The lighting they use for this was all I needed to get the shot, it was perfect!
Finally, the third shot is from a series of images I was taking while this employee was working. I’d been using on-camera flash to light the scene, but on this occasion, the flash didn’t fire. Thankfully, there was enough ambient light as it was coming from behind him, lighting him perfectly for a dark and moody image. I love this shot!
Next up are some of my favourite headshots from 2019. It seemed like 2019 was the year that headshots really became a big part of what I do. And I love it! Getting the best expression from people is a challenge I enjoy.
These three were all out on location, rather than in my studio. The first is Harry from VoodooChilli in Hereford. Harry chose a pub in Hereford for the shoot with him and his employees. It was chosen for the backdrop, but of course, the side-benefit was that we all got to enjoy a tasty pint during the shoot!
Secondly, we have Jo Ludlow, a hairdresser based in Colwall, Herefordshire. I’ve had two shoots with Jo and her team in Colwall, and enjoyed every minute of it! Totally different to an industrial photography shoot, in terms of the setting at least. We had a great time and I think I managed to put them all at ease, in order to get some great shots!
Finally, the third headshot is a new employee at Barbertown in Worcester. Having a consistent look for your team headshots is critical. So whenever Barbertown takes on a new employee, I head to Worcester to photograph them in the same location as the others. And I edit the photo to have the same look and feel.
I’m very lucky to be surrounded by some incredibly talented people in the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire. Richard Meyrick is certainly one of those people.
Richard makes guitars by hand in Abergavenny. And as he produces new ones, I get to photograph them in the studio. Richard comes in every so often to Ledbury and we produce product photographs for his website and social media – and as a record of his work – before the guitar is delivered to its new owner.
This was one of my favourites from last year, an electric guitar. The light just hit the curves on the left-hand side perfectly and I added a focussed light to the top to bring out the fixtures on the head.
Hay Wines in Ledbury are my original client! I shoot for them several times a year and this one was an extra-special shoot. They make their own Amaretto and it was recently awarded 3-stars in the Great Taste Awards.
We spent a few hours shooting the amaretto in various setups. For this shot, the glass was actually a lot bigger than the bottle, so I adjusted the camera angle to bring them in line. The result is something of a ‘hero’ image of the cocktail. The best thing about this shoot was being able to drink the cocktail afterwards – I mean, waste-not-want-not, right?
Hereford Quarries recently had an incredible new machine installed which is capable of creating high-grade materials from recycled aggregate. My brief was to photograph the machinery on-location for the manufacturer’s website. There were some great views of this machinery and as usual, I tried to find interesting angles that wouldn’t normally be seen.
The second shot of the digger was an additional shot I grabbed at the end of the shoot as we walked back to the office. It wasn’t technically part of the brief, but I saw it there and really wanted to photograph it for my son! He loves the print I made for him and I’m really happy with the shot too.
Talking of angles, I was really pleased with this shot of some Fritz Fryer lighting at The Bookshop in Hereford. It’s not always easy to photograph lighting and make it the hero of the shot, as it’s usually located high up, away from the rest of the furniture in the room.
To bring it into line with the table and chairs in this shot, I got down nice and low, so that it’s framed against a plain part of the wall. By adjusting my camera settings, I was able to make it feel like evening time, even though it was the middle of the day and bright sunshine outside!
Onwards to 2020
So there we go, that’s my 2019 favourite photographs. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into 2020 and have already had some great shoots which will no doubt be featured next year. Thankfully I get to add a shot next year and make it 20 of 2020!
