INSIDE JOB: Autocab Event Manchester

Client: AutoCab via Square Fish Events

Location: Manchester

Website: https://www.autocab.com // https://www.squarefishevents.co.uk

So, in a new series of blog posts, I have decided to share some info about commissions that I am either currently working on or recent completed. The hope is that this will give you a little insight in to how I operate, how to overcome certain challenges and if you’re considering hiring me, a look at some of my commercial work. With that said, let’s get into it!

Taxi!

I’m always happy working with new clients and Square Fish Events are one of the latest added to my list. The job itself was a ‘Summer Festival’ for AutoCab - one of the leading Taxi booking and dispatch systems. The client required a short, minute-and-a-half video showcase the event and the day itself. So I hoped on a train, made my way to Manchester and waited for the rain! Well, it is Manchester after all…

The event was great and well organised by Square Fish - which made my life a whole lot easier. There were lot’s of fun activities and a live band etc. which made getting engaging action shots fairly straightforward. More importantly, the attendees were all in high spirits and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

After dodging the occasional thunderstorm, it was time to pack up and head home. Despite the travelling, I got home and was still full of energy so managed to get the bulk of the editing done that night, ready for the client to view the next morning - which, I think was probably a welcome surprise!

After a few minor alterations, the video was signed off by all parties and another job was ticked off. More importantly, a new client was brought on-board and seemed happy with the output - onwards and upwards to the next job!

If you have any questions or would like to hire me, please feel free to Contact Me

INSIDE JOB: Commission for Elevate Property Group

Client: Elevate Property Group

Location: Birmingham

Website: https://elevatepropertygroup.co.uk/

So, in a new series of blog posts, I have decided to share some info about commissions that I am either currently working on or recent completed. The hope is that this will give you a little insight in to how I operate, how to overcome certain challenges and if you’re considering hiring me, a look at some of my commercial work. With that said, let’s get into it!

Elevate Property Group are a well established developer with office based in the beautiful St Paul’s Square area of Birmingham. I was contacted by Z3 Design on behalf of Elevate to help with imagery for marketing materials.

Without giving away too many details of Elevate’s latest venture, the brief was a fairly broad one. It required a selection of ‘standard’ Birmingham shots, including some well documented areas. However, there was also room for a few details here & there with a focus on architecture - not surprising from a property developer!

Communication with the design company turned out to be the key to this shoot! My first venture out was not the most succesful, not fully nailing the brief! However, after a brief telephone conversation and a bit of clarification, I felt far more confident. The ensuing images were far more ‘on point’ for the clients needs.

The shoot itself was a pleasure. I felt i managed to cover a lot of the city in a relatively short space of time to show many various aspects of our vibrant city. When you take the time to look around and look at the details of buildings, the variety of architecture on offer in Birmingham is astounding - but I digress.

With the client happy to sign off on the images - the job was complete. Even though jobs like this feel well within my capabilities, it still goes to show that communication is key and I was more than happy to go out on multiple occasions to make sure the client was receiving images that fitted their needs. The only ‘dampener’ was the weather but again, with some persistence, we managed to make the most of the little but of good weather that we got!

If you have any questions or would like to hire me, please feel free to Contact Me

INSIDE JOB: Commission for Woodblocx Garden Design

Client: Woodblocx

Location: London

Website: https://www.woodblocx.co.uk/

So, in a new series of blog posts, I have decided to share some info about commissions that I am either currently working on or recent completed. The hope is that this will give you a little insight in to how I operate, how to overcome certain challenges and if you’re considering hiring me, a look at some of my commercial work. With that said, let’s get into it!

Woodblocx are a manufacturer of garden planters, retaining walls and other specialist items. I have worked with them previously but this was to be my first job following the lockdown. The client asked if I could travel from Birmingham to London to shoot an outdoor area that had made great use of their products.

The brief required me to photograph the are and also produce a short video with ‘fly through’ gimbal shots. and edit the video - However, the client did not require branding/music etc. as this was something they would add themselves. This was perfectly fine with me but I still wanted to make sure we got some great footage.

Planning was critical as I would have to travel from Birmingham to London and I didn’t want to make the journey, only for weather to ruin the shoot. The main concern was obviously rain. However, if it was a grey, uninspiring day, the products wouldn’t look their best, so it was critical that we planned for the clearest possible day - our planning certainly paid off as the weather was spectacular!

The day of the shoot felt so different. On arriving in London, the underground felt deserted and the usual bustling streets were remarkably quiet. I made my way from central London to Kew Gardens where the beautiful 3 bed apartment was with an amazing outdoor space - incredible to think this was still London!

After being greeted by the very friendly residents, I set about capturing the shots that I need. The plan was to photograph all planters/spaces and then move on to the video. However, it was important to check the are first to make sure everything looked spotless and move any distracting items.

I spent a little over 30 minutes, slowly walking around the space and photographing from various heights and distances from the items - to give the client as much potential as possible to use a variety of images. The weather made it a really enjoyable experience but the heat certainly was an issue!

After a quick breather and a chance to shelter from the midday sun, it was on to the gimbal work! Having already photographed almost every square inch of the space, I had built a pretty good mental image of how I wanted to move through the space. I set about capturing the necessary shots and once completed, reviewed the footage to tripple check that I hadn’t missed anything!

The job was done and after packing away and saying my goodbyes, it was time to head back to Birmingham. The train journey gave me the opportunity to do some editing and I was pleased to see that the images looked great - the weather had really made the shoot! The gimbal footage looked great too and I was satisfied with my days work! All that was left to do was to get home, disinfect everything and have a beer!

If you have any questions or would like to hire me, please feel free to Contact Me