The opportunity to photograph the inside of an exceptionally large bendy bus does not present itself that often. Even less often comes the opportunity to photograph one that has an interior built to represent the inside of a home, the suburban street it’s on and the interior of a car. Kitchen, lounge, road, level crossing, car seats and steering wheels all inside a bus so long that it’s hard to imagine how it ever made its way to the Harpenden House Hotel.
The bus is the brainchild of the folks at Liverpool Victoria and the aim is to travel the country helping to educate young children on various safety issues that exist both in the home and on the streets.
A few weeks back it was the turn of the children of St. Dominic’s School, Harpenden who were taken through the bus and shown, room by room, all the things that they should be wary of. From poorly insulated wires, boiling pans, matches, medicines and chemicals through to clothes drying in front of lounge fires and various roadside hazards. The bus and its contents represented a pretty impressive portfolio of accidents just waiting to happen, all in a perfectly safe and secure environment I might add.
From a photographic perspective the shoot represented a number of challenges. Firstly the range of ambient lighting was pretty much full spectrum. From a very bright and contrasty exterior to a sequence of interior rooms that went from fairly bright to virtually completely dark. There were also a number of TV screens and a projector screen that needed capturing along with the ambient lighting etc.
Secondly the cramped conditions inside the bus made for an interesting time when trying to get the right composition. The kids were brilliant however and the LV= guide was exception (I wish I’d got his name) and by the end of the tour we’d managed to get what we were looking for.
We all had a great time, particularly the children. Fun AND educational ….. and a very, very long bus.
Earlier this week I covered a corporate party at the Barns on the Knebworth Estate. During the event I decided to use a method of photography that I’ve been playing with for a while which can really deliver a dynamic feel to a shoot, especially if the venue’s ambient lighting is particularly extravagant. By way of reference here’s a static tripod shot of the venue before the guests arrived. The pin lights in the ceiling are one of the things that give the subsequent image a neat little ‘twist’.
And here is a shot, completely in camera, of the event once it got going:
For the above image both the flash and camera were on manual. The idea is to have the shutter open, the flash fire and then a delay before the shutter closes again. During that post flash delay two things happen; firstly ambient light is allowed to hit the sensor, better exposing the background of the image and capturing more of the ambient light of the venue. Secondly it gives the photographer the opportunity to twist his camera around sharply about 90 degrees (not recommended with a flip top flash frame such as the Stroboframe).
For anyone interested in the numbers for the above image they were 1/4s at F/8 with the flash at 1/4 (-2/3ev), ISO 350. Nikon D300 with an SB800 speedlight. The timing of the human driven twisting element is not recorded in the EXIF data for some reason.
The burst of flash at the start of the shot has the effect of significantly freezing the subjects in the foreground while allowing the parts of the image registered in the ambient exposure (post flash) to blur.
This process is fraught with danger. Chimping the LCD display at 100% is recommended until you are comfortable with the shot setup.
On Tuesday I had the great pleasure of joining the chefs of Quantum Care for a day of nutrition training at the Fairway Tavern in Welwyn Garden City. I was impressed with the commitment and knowledge shown on the day and left feeling a little bashful about my own dietary habits. Note to self: more vegetation please.
Of course there was plenty of food on show and here is a small selection of the shots of that particular subject matter:
It’s a very odd feeling, being just about the only person in the Hatfield Galleria, but that’s where I found myself on an early Monday morning. I’d recently received a phone call from the Galleria’s PR firm looking to book a photographer to shoot the complex both internally and externally and I was extremely pleased to secure the assignment. The Galleria is an excellent project and extremely interesting in interior photography terms with many features that demand attention and some quite interesting lighting conditions.
The brief I was given was quite detailed and included the requirement to shoot specific store fronts both with and without shoppers present and to include a fairly comprehensive capture of the Galleria’s branding.
To say I had a blast would be an understatement. I did get a number of funny looks (it’s hard to be discreet lugging around the kind of equipment I had with me) but nothing I wasn’t used to. I even got in to a quite detailed conversation about the gray card and what it was for from a puzzled member of the public.
The whole assignment went swimmingly and I burnt the candle at both ends to ensure that images were processed and available for the PR firm’s close deadline.
I’ve received a lovely letter from the wonderful folks at the Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust. A little while back I was asked if I would be their official photographer at their tenth anniversary event which I eagerly agreed to. It was a great day and, frankly, pretty humbling when you consider that most of the people there were either crew, support staff, victims or charity givers. The whole air ambulance operation is charity funded and provides invaluable emergency cover for the local area.
“I have seen the photographs which have also been distributed to our Trustees and Aircrew. We will pick out certain individual shots and send them off to the groups involved. You managed to capture the day beautifully; you are a credit to your profession.”
I really am very grateful that they took time out of their very busy day to write to me.
I had the great pleasure of photographing a magnificent elderly residential facility recently. Anjulita Court, in Bedford, is a brand new cutting edge project with an interior that must surely be one of the most modern and inviting in the country. Vaulted wooden ceilings, acres of glass and gently curved corridors matched by a lovely indoor swimming pool and a cinema.
The shoot took a day but I could have spent far longer there, trying out different compositions and lenses and just looking for different images. The staff were all lovely and extremely helpful, particularly Karen and John, not to mention the chef who graciously agreed to pose in his kitchen.
Another great project from the people at MHA.
I’ve just completed a product photography assignment for a local Harpenden company looking to re-brand their product range. The brief was to shoot on white at the companies HQ which is where the products were stored so I took along my mobile studio and set up a white infinity curve and a couple of studio strobes.
One interesting thing about this particular shoot was the requirement to brand some of the products with new product logos after the shots were taken. That meant a bit of post production work in the digital studio with all the perspective issues that this kind of thing can raise.
Another issue was that some of the products needed powering up so that the screen displays could be depicted. This required a bit of rigging with wires poking out here and there and these needed removing digitally from the photographs with a bit of reconstruction of various product sections.
It was a great shoot for a great local firm with a lot of discussion and experimentation during the shoot. It’s remarkable how rigid wires develop a life of their own when all you ask them to do is sit still and keep quiet.
I had the great pleasure of covering this year’s Quantum Care Awards ceremony which took place at the Holiday Inn in Borehamwood. It was a rather pucker event with around 250 guests, a number of speakers and sponsors and a special guest star appearance by Shirlie Kemp.
This was a long event with a very busy schedule that had to run very smoothly simply to get through all the material and awards without extending the structured sections too far into the night and the brief I was given was very clear that there could be no delay in the proceedings. This meant that those receiving awards were not going to be asked to wait and pose on stage for their photograph to be taken. Normally this only takes a few short seconds but at this event those seconds would soon add up.
To get the required photographs of the award winners and runners up I was asked to extend the photography team and provide a temporary studio in an adjoining room so that posed photographs could be taken after each award. Winners would be lead to the studio and photographed without slowing down the proceedings in the main event hall. Print on the day services were also to be included which we staged in the same area.
Fellow photographer Chris Hawkes, aided by my lovely assistant, stepped up to the plate and did a magnificent job of that part of the proceedings while I covered the main event in the hall.
None of us got away before 2am.
This was a really special event and it was clear to me that the effort involved in its organisation was nothing short of epic. Debbie, Sarah and Caroline were largely responsible for its planning and I would post a photograph of the lovely three but I suspect they’d never forgive me for it.
I had the great pleasure, in association with fellow photographer Chris Hawkes, to photograph the Arsenal FC Ex-Professional & Celebrity v Park Street Primary School Dads charity football match yesterday. The match took place at the London Colney Football club and was a great success. I won’t mention the score line but I will mention how fantastic all the players, organisers and celebrities were on the day.
Many hundreds of photographs were taken during the day and a number of visitors took away prints of the occasion.
From a personal perspective I found the level of fitness shown by the Park Street dads and the celebrities remarkable. As a case in point, here’s Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet chasing down the ball. He didn’t stop all day.
Contact details:
MakingImages – Photography by John Joannides
t: 07976 651133
e: john@makingimages.co.uk
We always strive to delivery great imagery and an excellent service to our clients here at MakingImages and it’s always nice when that commitment is recognized by our clients. Last week we were delighted to received a testimonial from MHA, a commercial client that we have worked very closely with over the last six months, delivering imagery for their prestigious property portfolio.
Louise Owen-McGee, MHA’s Creative Services Manager, writes:
“MHA’s position as one of the UK’s leading care providers for older people has been established over 65 years of imaginative commitment and innovation. As an independent charity we are always looking to work with people who have an empathy for our values and an understanding of the aspirations of older people. John Joannides offers both of these qualities, as a specialist care interior photographer. His work is of the highest calibre, evidencing great attention to detail and commitment to delivering work that’s bang on brief every time. His imagery has enabled MHA to better reflect the choice and quality of its services by visually depicting the support, comfort and possibilities that MHA’s accommodation offers.”
MHA have been a delight to work with and their commitment to quality creative imagery and a quality product offering shines through. We’re very grateful to Louise for her kind words.