Shooting for the o2 Intercontinental Hotel...
I remember the first house I ever photographed, it was a new build 4 bedroom detached house worth £340,000. I never thought that i'll be in a luxury hotel penthouse 2 years later, it was such an amazing experience, so it was really cool to be in the penthouse seeing how the rich live!
Honestly, it was such an eye-opener, there were rooms that had rooms in, hidden showers, 3 exit and entrance doors. the attention to detail and hospitality was out of this world. From the chandeliers to the fridge with specific things the customers staying asked to be available even the magazine based on the customer's preference.
Take a moment to look through the photos below;
The Big Move To Uni Campus
Many students make the biggest decisions of their lives after choosing a university 👩🎓 - WHERE TO LIVE! 😱
That's right! This is the chance where they'll live by themselves, fending for themselves and actually being a real adult (well as 'adult' as they can ATM). And for most, if not all students, a campus that looks new, clean, has an indoor gym, cinema and a games room would be the DREAM! 😍
I had the chance to shoot a university campus this week, which had all of those features and then some!
The gym was amazing; kitted with modern cardio machines, boxing equipment and free weights to suit every person's needs. 🏋️
There was more than enough space in the cinema room, which had leather sofas alongside the walls and reclining seats with footrests which would have any Vue, Odeon, Cineworld, in fact, most cinema's quivering!
The games room had a nice touch to get most if not all students interacting and active.
Not only that but having a rooftop terrace with an outdoor daybed with a sun canopy 😍
In all fairness, these communal areas had to be top notch with the rooms looking as beautiful as this
What student wouldn't want to leave their room when it looks as amazing as that. Check out more of Luton's Opto Living University Campus pics
It's been a while but I'M BACK !!!
Why and how i moved into properties from weddings…
I've been MIA for a long time so much has changed in my business and I'm sure if you've been following my website you'll notice, the weddings have now unfortunately taken a backseat :( (awwww)
All is not lost and it's okay because things are more amazing now than they have ever been !
So I'm sure you can tell that i have moved from wedding to property photography and well its been tough trying to break in to a new market, regardless of the wedding skills i had properties is a whole new world to me. I has made me learn new editing styles and techniques. i know no longer only edit in lightroom, i would say im a beginner in Photoshop but im probably more of an intermediate. that being said i kind of find a way that works for me and run with it until i discover a new way to achieve the same or better result. I'm always trying to find a way to make my workflow quicker.
My journey into properties...
My journey into properties was somewhat of an accident, like my careers as a photographer, i just fell into it. One day editing a wedding a fb message popped up from a major properties marketing company at the time was reletively new. i jumped at the opportunity to try something different because as fun as weddings are back to back weddings for 5-6 years gets tedious. i done the trial as they requested and i got accepted immediately. My first property was in Loughton, UK, to which i took with me 3 lights all with light stand and my wireless trigger and of course my camera equipment. that day it took my 3 hrs to shoot a 3 bedroom detached new build property. i definitely went above and beyound my duty when shooting this property, it couldnt of been more correct in camera if i tried. the company was incredible impressed with my work considering i had never shot a property before. From that day i was shooting around 4 properties a day 5 days a week on some occasions up to 7. I cant lie that money along with wedding money was incredible i felt like a millionaire.
Around a year and a half went by before i started to think id love to make more money and do less work, i done research and it was possible. i found the likes of Fstoppers and Mike kelly which made me think wow, i could actually make more money from properties than from weddings. To which by this point i was from the company i was working for as a side hustle. i started looking for bigger and better jobs until i could maintain my lifestyle with properties, wedding started to unknowly take a back seat and i start to stop taking bookings around a year ago now. i honoured the weddings i had booked and put 110% into properties.
2 years down the line, I now shoot for clients in London for commericial and residential properties in some of the most famous and prestige areas of london, Mayfair, hyde park, kennington, belgravia, sloane square, trafalgar square for example. ive also started shooting for hotels, restaurants and other hospitality area. I never would of thought all those late nights and back to back weddings would of brought me here. i never would of put money down that i could go from possibly one of ost most stressful industries somewhat a relaxed one. I really do love it and have made some friends along the way also in the industry.
I have had help from some talented people who have no reason to help me but they do and i grateful and i will always look up to them and when im closer to there level i will help them out (or atleast buy the a beer one day) for the help they have given.
Peter Hurley inspired me!
As a photographer, weddings aren't always in the diary, you have to be available and willing to do almost any job. However, i choose to branch out a bit to try and get some inspiration from other areas of photographer to improve my wedding photography.
I have booked in two headshot job, one of which im yet to do, in order to get a better understanding of posing faces and hands. The clients has no experience in front of a professional, given that its 2016 selfies is what most people are used to, so I took the opportunity to sharpen my portraiture skills.
The Challenges;
It wasn't easy for me to do this and I faced many challenges, first of all i didnt have full creative control because my client, Danny, had criteria from his agency to which i had to follow but just add my own style into the mix. One of the challenges i face was the background i wanted to use, you will see when i post the final images, i used a sunset background which mixed well with his skin tones and i thought added to the images. Another challenge was gettin the facial expression right, i didnt want him to be smiling so much that his face screwed up. I wanted to him to smile with his eyes though .
Top Tips for Preparing a Great Best Man Speech...
There aren't too many rules here and but are some guidelines you may want to follow if you don't want to embarrass yourself and/or insult anyone. I will also give a few line you can include in your own speech.
- It's a Wedding - It's not all about the stag and speech there is more to your role, keep that in mind.
- Be Thoughtful - why not buy a nice bottle of champagne or wine for the honeymoon suite for after the wedding. Offer to pay for your own suit or the hire?
- Take the Stress - Unfortunately, you are there for the entire day from prep till the tidying up. like tip 1 it's not just about the speech and stag. You should be the go to guy unless it's a real emergency the groom should know of anything that has turned up late.
- Be Prepared - Show that you care about the wedding as much as the groom, get everyone's number from the bridesmaids to the vendors. keep the bride and groom hydrated and make sure the vendors have all paid and been fed and have what they need to do what they were hired to do.
- Keep your speech short and sweet and avoid awkward stories that are funny ' by the bar' stories, to a minimum. the aunts and uncles and grandparents don't want to hear about the newlyweds' sex life. Also its generally a good idea not to bring up any ex's during your speech.