Lürzer’s Archive 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide - 2023/24

I’m again delighted to have had work selected again for Lürzer’s Archive’s Top 200 Ad Photographers Worldwide 2023/24 annual.

It’s always a treat to have work accepted in to this prestigious publication.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have appeared in every edition of the book since 2008.

Below is one of the images selected, a variation from a commission by Rose Design, for the Imperial War Museum and HMS Belfast.

There’s more information to be found on the actual shoot here.

Below is the final image placed in the 48 sheet poster.

Client : IWM. Agency : Rose Design. AD : Garry Blackburn.

New Work For Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust

I’m proud to be able to share some recent work commissioned for the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) by Simplify.

I received a call from Simplify’s MD, Neil Quidington, to ask if I’d be interested in working with his agency to elevate the EHAAT photography, in particular the portraits required for their upcoming 2022 annual review.

We spent two days at the EHAAT North Weald airbase, making a mixture of portrait and reportage photographs of the amazing ground staff, pilots, paramedics and doctors, who are based there.

It was truly humbling to witness first hand what these amazing people do and to hear the stories of what they face on a daily basis. On more than one occasion, we would be set up to make a picture and then a pager would suddenly sound and the crew would be up and gone.

You can find out much more about EHAAT, including ways of supporting this vital charity, here.

Below is just a small selection of the portrait work that we made, with more examples to be found here.

Client : EHAAT. Agency : Simplify. AD : Neil Quidington.

Newfoundland and Labrador

While shooting in Alberta for Land Rover, I received a call from the Creative Group Head of Target, NL. He’d been following me on Instagram for some time and spotted that I was shooting in Canada.

Would I like to extend my trip and spend some time exploring Newfoundland? was the question… The answer was of course, yes!

Salmon Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Salmon Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador.

To cut a long story short, we spent 10 days driving across the Avalon and Central regions of Newfoundland, our winding route taking in a mix of historical and truly beautiful locations.

Fort Amhurst, St John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador.

Fort Amhurst, St John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador.

During our time on the road we had some early call times and often experienced wonderful displays of light and typically mixed bags of weather. We took full advantage of the drama that would often unfold in front of us. It certainly wasn’t all blue skies, very much like my work in Scotland.

Everywhere we went the people were hospitable and helpful, and everyone had a story or two to tell. There really is a unique and genuine warmth to this fascinating place.

Salvage, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Salvage, Newfoundland and Labrador.

We came across places with historical and romantic names such as Fort Amhurst, Cape Spear, Queen’s Battery, Signal Hill and Salmon Cove. And curious names such as Quidi Vidi, Salvage and Dildo (Yes, Dildo!)

Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Having spent time in some of the more remote parts of Scotland, Newfoundland felt strangely familiar. In short, I felt very much at home.

It‘s a place I would love to return to…

Dildo, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Dildo, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Client : Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism.    Agency : Target NL.    AD : Kevan Kalyan.

Greenspond, Gander Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Greenspond, Gander Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Below are three of the finished press ads…

Range Rover - Elevated Drives

21 days on the road with 4 Range Rovers, driving across 4 US states. Shooting from dawn ‘til dusk, we travelled through California, Oregon, Colorado and Maine, witnessing the stunning and varied American landscape.

This was a commission from the good folk at Spark44 in New York, for Land Rover. The resulting imagery creating a beautifully produced coffee table style book called ‘Elevated Drives’ which includes the use of special papers, inks, embossing, die cutting and hand drawn maps of the carefully curated and iconic routes that we drove. A truly crafted piece and further proof that print is not dead!

A quote from the book sums things up perfectly.. “Driving from a low elevation to a considerably higher one can be profound. From the physical impact a shift in altitude can have on your body, to the dramatic scenery and weather changes, these journeys can be epic experiences”

Below is just a small selection of the work that we made, with many more examples to be found here.

A big thank you to the fantastic creative, production and support team who made the whole project both possible and immensely enjoyable. By the end of our time together on the road, we felt like family.

Client : Land Rover. Agency : Spark44 New York. AD : Peter Cooper. Brit Jackson : Associate Director of Production. Sr. Art Producer : Deb Grisham. Producer : Tim Willis, Lockbox. Production Assistant : Gina Wilk. 1st Assistant : Caleb Thal. Writers : Michael Hurley & Bec Couche. Valet : Steve Chavdarian. Drivers : Greg Nikolas & Chad Lourie.

Tim and Caleb executing precision tripod placement in Death Valley.

Tim and Caleb executing precision tripod placement in Death Valley.

Highways England Portraits

Back in January I received a call from a client who had moved to Highways England. She asked if I’d be interested in helping them create a collection of location portraits that represented the various arms of Highways England, and that would illustrate the diverse nature of the company and its people.

We spent six days on the road and covered hundreds of miles, shooting in a variety of fascinating locations across the UK. The resulting images have already been used across a large range of publications, including the annual report and accounts.

Client : Highways England.

Below is a small selection of the portraits that we made, with larger versions to be found here.

Lotus Cars - From Norwich to Nevada

Tight timings and impossible logistics often mean we have to be smart when producing images to a brief. This commission for Lotus Cars being a perfect example.

The project involved shooting six iconic sports cars over ten long days in a coved studio in Norwich, close to the Lotus HQ, and then compositing them with various back plates of locations from around the world. Careful attention was paid to match the lighting of each car to the background that each would inhabit, with CGI rendered reflections, studio shot wheel spins and virtual rig motion blur adding the touches of realism that would ensure that each car felt embedded in to it’s chosen environment.

A big thank you to the good folk at ThirdEye Studio in London, for their CGI and post production expertise and to assistants Brian and Steve for their hard work in the studio.

Client : Lotus Cars.    CGI & Post production : ThirdEye Studio.    ADs : Julian Calverley & Matt Haysom.

Below is a small selection of the work produced, with more available to view here.

The cropped imagery below hints at the level of detail achieved when shooting with the high end medium format digital back..

Alpine Passes for The Road Rat magazine

I got a call from my old friend Mikey Harvey.. how did I fancy shooting a series of Alpine passes for a new premium automotive magazine called The Road Rat? Of course I said yes.

With three locations chosen, a couple of Michelin maps in the glove box and hotel and Eurotunnel reservations made, we hit the road.. After 5 long days, 146 caffè lattes, numerous marmot encounters and with 1987 miles behind us.. we were back.

The mountain passes were truly breathtaking and recording them was not a straight forward task. Instead of cropping a single super wide shot, I decided to shoot panoramics using the ALPA 12 STC, ALPA HR Alpagon 4.0/40mm SB17 and a nodal rail. The scenes before us were so vast that some of them required 12 stitched frames.

You can see a small selection of the work we made below, with more examples of the larger project here.

“Exquisitely printed on a mix of heavy gloss and matt art papers, Issue One of The Road Rat is a beautiful thing. 244 pages (it weighs around 1 kilo) it is at once absolutely of the moment - Lewis Hamilton, the Aston Martin Valkyrie - yet simultaneously timeless as we dwell on the making of the modern Ferrari and the decline of the Mercedes SL. It’s not a place for hot takes but long-form, writing every bit as considered as our photography, illustration and design.”

For The Road Rat magazine subscription information, head over here.

The opening spread.

The opening spread.

The Col d’ Izoard. Highest point: 2360m. Number of turns: 49.

The Col d’ Izoard. Highest point: 2360m. Number of turns: 49.

The Col du Galibier. Highest point: 2645m. Number of turns: 44.

The Col du Galibier. Highest point: 2645m. Number of turns: 44.

The Col de la Bonette. Highest point: 2715m. Number of turns: 63.

The Col de la Bonette. Highest point: 2715m. Number of turns: 63.

ALPA Landscape Workshop in the Olympic National Park, WA

I'm delighted to announce that I'm leading an ALPA cameras landscape photography workshop in the beautiful Olympic National Park, Washington State, in September of this year. The workshop is being organised by my good friends at Capture Integration, who have years of award winning experience when it comes to offering the best in customer service and care.

I've been an ALPA user for many years and have always enjoyed sharing my experiences of working this wonderful camera system, with old and new users alike. This workshop is also a unique opportunity for clients to spend time with André Oldani, the CEO of ALPA Cameras.

The choice of location for the workshop was inspired by the simple fact that the Olympic National Park has such a diverse range of scenery and with the added bonus of some often challenging and dramatic weather, which is something I relish when making personal landscape work.

Finally the grand Lake Quinault Lodge is a truly wonderful place to be based. Stepped in history and surrounded by beautiful landscape, it is the perfect place to unwind, relax and immerse yourself in a week of landscape photography.

For the full details including booking, click here.

Enigma - New Work for Bletchley Park

Further new work for Bletchley Park is now live, commissioned by the good folk at Rose Design. 

I was asked to photograph the Enigma machine. It was both fascinating and a privilege spending time with such a historically significant piece of equipment, one which was indirectly responsible for saving so many lives through the cracking of it's code. 

Bletchley Park is the home of the World War II Codebreakers. There’s so much world changing history that’s been made here, it is a truly fascinating place. I’d recommend that anyone with an interest in World War II, coding or code breaking, spend a day here.

Client : Bletchley Park.    Agency : Rose Design.    AD : Garry Blackburn.

One of the ads is shown below, with more of the work available to see here.

Ad Campaign For Network Rail

The lovely folk at 23red, commissioned me to shoot a series of atmospheric ads for Network Rail, for their Midland Mainline Safety poster campaign.

The imagery had to be used across 6, 48 and 98 sheet sites, and so I chose to shoot on my ALPA 12 MAX and PhaseOne IQ MFDB combo, in order to achieve the largest possible file size and resolution.

A big thank you to the Network Rail safety team that watched our bright orange backs, while we worked.

Client : Network Rail.    Agency : 23red.    AD : Tristan Cavanagh & Tom Mann.

Below are 3 of the 48 sheet ads..   

Canaan Vineyard workers

I was recently commissioned to shoot a bank of imagery for the Canaan Winery, in China. Over the week we shot a mix of landscapes, working portraits and industrial architecture, which I'll be able to share later this year.

On our last day we had a few hours spare, and so I suggested to Neil the art director, that we shoot some portraits of the vineyard workers, whose infectious smiles and laughter had captivated us all week.

A makeshift daylight studio was set up close to the vineyard canteen and we made around twenty portraits. You can find a selection of them here.

Client : Canaan Winery.    Art Director : Neil Southwell.

Aston Martin DB4 G.T. Continuation

They're building cars in Newport Pagnell again!

I was recently commissioned to photograph the stunning DB4 G.T. Continuation for Aston Martin Works Service. I spent a day at the original Aston Martin facility in Newport Pagnell, recording the final stage of the build taking place, followed by a test and set up day at Millbrook Proving ground.

"Ahead of its time – and more often than not the opposition – the DB4 G.T. was a new breed of competition car. In modern parlance it was a homologation special, highly evolved from the series production DB4 on which it was based. Blessed with intensified performance and enhanced agility, the DB4 G.T. stole a march on both Jaguar and Ferrari, cementing Aston Martin's position as makers of world-beating GT cars.

Now, Aston Martin Works are making history by celebrating one of Aston Martins greatest cars with a special series of 25 Continuation cars."

I love everything about this stunning car.. the look, the sound and yes.. the smell. 

Client : Aston Martin Works Service.     Agency : Freestone.

The View From The Shard

New work commissioned by the good folk at Rose Design, for The View From The Shard is now live.

We were given special access to shoot at dawn and dusk, over a number of days. The views of London from this iconic building really are truly breathtaking. 

"Designed by Master Architect Renzo Piano, The Shard has redefined London’s skyline and quickly established its place as a dynamic symbol of London.

At a height of up to 800ft or 244m, and at almost twice the height of any other vantage point in London, visitors will experience unrivalled 360 degree views over the city for up to 40 miles on a clear day.

Begin your journey in our extraordinary high-speed lifts that carry you from Level 1 to Level 68 in sixty seconds. Once there, enjoy spectacular panoramic views of the capital from our Level 69 observation deck whilst unwinding with a glass of champagne, or share a moment with a loved one spotting London’s famous landmarks from our open air sky deck on Level 72, where exposed to the elements you can take in the atmosphere and sounds of the city below"

Below are just 3 of the 48 sheet posters from the ongoing campaign..

Client : View From The Shard.    Agency : Rose Design.    AD : Garry Blackburn & Simon Elliott.

Bletchley Park Codebreakers

New work for Bletchley Park is now live, commissioned by the good folk at Rose Design. 

Bletchley Park is the home of the World War II Codebreakers. There’s so much world changing history that’s been made here, it is a truly fascinating place. I’d recommend that anyone with an interest in World War II, coding or code breaking, spend a day here.

We certainly reaped the rewards of the 03:30AM call time, as you can see below. More of the work available to see here.

Client : Bletchley Park.    Agency : Rose Design.    AD : Garry Blackburn.

Chasing Shadows For Land Rover On The Isle of Skye

Back in January I spent a week on the Isle of Skye, and the reason I was there was to shoot the all new Land Rover Discovery 5.

We had a week of suitably wet and wild weather, which of course added realism and drama to the imagery, with the added bonus that the Discovery’s colour, Namib Orange, perfectly complemented the brooding grey skies and rich warm colours of the Scottish winter landscape.

Much of what I shot has appeared in Land Rover’s OneLife magazine, in a 12 page article entitled ‘Chasing Shadows’ which tells the story of my time with the car, and also my thoughts on landscape photography and equipment, it also documents a part of my journey around the island that I’ve come to know and love so well.

Client : Land Rover.    Agency : Spark44.    AD : Dan Delaney.

Below is a selection of spreads from the OneLife article, with larger versions of the images here.

Ash Soan Portrait For Zildjian

I recently had the good fortune to work with drumming legend and all round lovely human being Ash Soan, recent winner of Modern Drummer’s 2017 Readers Poll ‘Studio Drummer’ award, making him the first U.K. artist to win this category since Simon Phillips did so in 1987. 

We shot his portrait for world renowned cymbal makers Zildjian, who look after all of Ash’s cymbal needs.

The cymbals you see in this shot are from the new ‘Zildjian K Custom Special Dry’ range.

Location was Ash’s recording studio ‘Windmill Studios‘

New Work For GE Oslo

New work for GE is now live.

The GE Oslo shoot was a perfect example of a team effort. We were working under reasonably tight time and location constraints, shooting real people in their busy working environments, and so we had to remain as flexible as possible. Working with an experienced and flexible art director meant we could quickly explore visual ideas as they presented themselves, and working with a seasoned production crew meant we could work unhindered, knowing everything was at hand.. and all I had to do was think about making the pictures. It was a memorable shoot, and for all the right reasons.

Some kind words from Seven Stones’ creative director, Justin Earl.. “Working in Oslo with Julian and his team on this four-day shoot was an absolute pleasure. He knew exactly what we wanted to achieve with each shot, shooting in some very challenging industrial spaces. The brief for this shoot was about capturing the characters and stories of real employees and we did exactly that, thanks to the way Julian made everyone feel very much at home in front of his camera.”

Client : GE.    Agency : Seven Stones.    AD : Justin earl.

Below is a small selection of the work we made, with more examples available here.

Land Rover Reborn

I was recently commissioned to shoot a story for Land Rover’s Onelife magazine, on the Reborn project.

Spending two days in Land Rover’s Solihull manufacturing site, surrounded by history and witnessing first hand the amazing restoration work that the Reborn team are undertaking, was a real honour. 

For anyone who has a passion for Land Rovers, seeing these beautiful Series 1 vehicles up close, and understanding exactly where the Land Rover story started, is highly recommended, and you can do just that on a Land Rover Reborn Tour. You can also find more information on the Land Rover Reborn project here.

Client : Land Rover.    Agency : Spark44.    AD : Dan Delaney.