Huge Fire in Newcastle

I was in Newcastle today for one of my clients. When I finished I walked out to find a huge fire the other side of the river.

Links...

Daily Blipfoto

Photographing Former Olympic athlete Jonathan Edwards CBE

Had the priviledge of photographing Former Olympic athlete Jonathan Edwards CBE at Gateshead Games Maker event in Newcastle for one of my clients.

Earlier this year, the London Organising Committee for Olympic & Paralympic Games (LOCOG) opened the first volunteer interview selection event to interview and ultimately find the 70,000 volunteers needed to help stage the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, they will be known as Games Makers and the presenting partner for this programme is McDonald’s.

Links...

London 2012 - Gamesmaker Event Newcastle

Elton John Concert - What a Joke!

Elton John Concert

I have been told today that our photo agency cannot get accreditation for an Elton John gig which is happening in the town where we are based and that the only photographers who are allowed in are the local paper who have had to sign a contract which probably severely limits how and where the images can be used. God knows what they are signing!

I bet the paper still turns up and gives them loads of FREE publicity – even if they are being told what they can do with their own images!

This is happening more and more nowadays with many of these music artists even getting editorial photographers to sign over their copyright.

The only way this is going to stop is by photographers and publications completely boycotting these concerts, and therefore not giving any publicity to them. There have been a few instances where photographers have refused to sign and editors have pulled them off the event.

What they are totally forgetting is that it’s partly down to the newspapers, magazines and their journalists & photographers who have made all them all who they are today.

Some interesting Links...

Rolling Stone Magazine
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/photographers-respond-to-lady-gagas-new-copyright-demands-20110307

Jeremy Nicholl - Photographer Blog
http://www.jeremynicholl.com/blog/2011/03/07/dear-photographers-lady-gaga-wants-the-copyright-on-your-work-oh-and-by-the-way-so-do-we/comment-page-1/#comment-1447

Capturing 'the Power'

Photographing Phil 'The Power' Taylor.

I was commissioned by one of my clients (Grosvenor Casinos) on Sunday to photograph Darts Legend Phil Taylor at one their Casinos in Stoke-on-Trent.

He was making a guest appearance at a Poker tournament which was taking place at the Casino and my client needed pictures for local press, trade and
internal publications and web site etc.

I was great to meet Phil and I found him very amenable, relaxed and friendly.

Sir Matthew Pinsent

Photographing Sir Matthew Pinsent in Slough for a PR campaign.

4 x Olympian Gold Medal Winner Matthew Pinsent launches JJB’s sports shoes recycling scheme, giving consumers cash for their unwanted sports shoes, in Slough this morning.

Links...
Sport.co.uk

Whizz Kidz

Lancashire Sport

Facebook - Whizz Kids

JJB Sports

Deborah Stephenson - Build a Bear Workshop, Bournemouth

Deborah Stephenson

I had the pleasure in photographing the actress Deborah Stephenson this week, who was taking part in a PR event at Build-A-Bear Workshop in Bournemouth.

Links...

MORE PHOTOS

CHFED.org

Google Profile

I have just created my own Google Profile

Behance Network - Portfolio

Just created my first Portfolio Gallery on the Behance Network.

This is a Free web site and enables you to showcase portfolios of work to potential creative clients.

Projects can be built with text, image, video, and audio, using their intuitive and powerful Project Editor. You can also embed from Vimeo, Flickr, YouTube, and more.

My Blipfoto

I am really enjoying using my Blipfoto account (an on line photo-diary journal).

Blipfoto is a web site for people who have a passion for photography. You basically join up and add a Journal photo - 1 picture per day. Simple as that, it's so easy to use.

Until recently, and before I discovered Blipfoto, my camera didn't get to see the light unless I was on a paid job, it was packed away in my camera bag, only seeing the light of day when arriving at the location.

Now however I keep my camera out of my camera bag, (where it should be) and I am continually thinking about what my Blipfoto of the day could or will be. This has been very motivating for me, and has helped me create so many lovely images, I certainly wouldn't have created if I hadn't started using Blipfoto.

Please view my Blipfoto Journal and see my daily pictures for yourself. And please don't hesitate in joining and subscribing to my diary photos.

Picture above shows some of my images when doing a member search for Meatheringham.

Waitrose Donates Past their best Fruit & Veg to Zoo

I had a long drive to Colwyn Bay this week to shoot some press photos for Waitrose's press office.

Menai Bridge Waitrose has entered an agreement with Welsh Mountain Zoo to send them fruit and veg, which is past their best, to feed their animals.

I worked for Waitrose myself in the Warehouse Dept in Cirencester many years ago now, and I was always appalled at the amount of waste we threw away.

My Pictures were to be used to send out to the Regional & National papers.

Katie the Chimpanzee is pictured here tucking into some Bananas and a Pinapple.

The Zoo is a lovely place to visit and the staff are so friendly & fun, I would really recomend it to anyone.

See Links below to some of the places where my pictures have been used...

Waitrose Media Site
North Wales Chronicle

Meerkats

I was at the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay, North Wales yesterday for one of my clients Waitrose.

The Menai Bridge store has entered an agreement with the Welsh Mountain Zoo to send them fruit and veg, which is past their best, to feed their animals.

We photographed many of the animals there, but I loved getting close to the Meerkats, one of my favourite animals. They behaved very well for us.

Thanks so much to Paul Mattock of PM Photography for the photo of me at work above.

Microsoft Outlook Signature Problems

This week I wanted to create a neater and more professional signature for my emails, and in particular, I wanted to add the social networking Icons and links you see above.

I had many problems along the way trying to add the Icons and rather than elaborate on these issues, I would prefer to cut a long story short and explain how I managed to get to the final result above.

The first thing I did was use google images to find the Icons for Facebook, Flickr, Blogger, LinkedIn, Blipfoto, Skype and Twitter. I saved these all in one folder together. I also made a list of the URL to my home pages on each of these web sites.

For some reason when you use outlooks own signature editor due to ActiveX and other reasons, the images don't appear and it doesn't seem to work properly. My version of outlook is ancient (2002) and I am sure there must be better systems on the more modern versions.

I worked out in the end that the only way to do it was to create a html page and add the images to this from the same folder as the index file. I downloaded Kompozer, a free html editor. It's very simple to use, as long as you have a basic knowledge of html.

I typed in all the contact information and then added the icons one by one, adding their link at the same time when inserting the logo. I also re-sized them all so they looked the same size, and Kompozer has a neat way of doing this, giving you the size as you re-scale.

Once I was happy with the layout I the html file in the same folder as the Icons. I then went into Outlook and went to Tools/Options/Mail Format/Signatures. I then chose New signature and gave the signature a name and making sure the 'Use this file as a template' was ticked I browsed for the file I just saved. And that is it - all done!

I hope this helps. I just hope now my emails don't start getting sent to my clients Spam bins, I will have to wait and see.

Cheers Keith

Lindhurst Wind Farm

This is me on site in readiness for the first of 5 wind turbines to go up - Linhurst near Mansfield, Notts.

Been Commissioned by RWE npower renewables. First turbine will take two days to errect and I will be spending the next 2 days in a corn field.

Queen Visit - Scarborough

The Queen visited Scarborough today I was there to photograph the event for the National Newspapers.

GMC Shoots x 6

I have been commissioned by the GMC to photograph six different subjects across the UK for featurs in there annual report.

The shoots were in Norwich (above), Edinburgh, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Manchester and Leeds.

London Chess Classic - London Eye

London Chess Classic - London Eye Dec 2009

Two of England’s finest chess players, Nigel Short and Luke McShane, went head to head in a game of blindfold chess in the Merlin Entertainments London Eye before locking horns in the London Chess Classic at Olympia from 8-15 December.

We were commissioned by a new client of ours, PITCH, to officially cover a London Eye Press call & Launch for the London Chess Classic.

Our objectives for the client were to capture creative branded photography of English Grandmasters Nigel Short and Luke McShane playing blindfolded chess in the London Eye, and to achieve press coverage of the images in national and London regional press

We had to ensure that an iconic background of London is captured in the images.

I have a fear of hights, and so being 443ft above the City of London is not my idea of fun - But in saying that. You feel so safe in the Glass Pods, and the view is really breath taking and something not to be missed.

When you are concentrating on doing your job as a Photographer you tend not to notice it as much, but I didn't feel uneasy at all.

Press Release...

For the first time in 25 years the UK will be hosting a world class chess tournament at London Olympia from 8-15 December.

The best chess talent in the world will be up against England’s four leading grandmasters: Nigel Short, Michael Adams, Luke McShane and David Howell. Russian former world champion Vladimir Kramnik and Norwegian Magnus Carlsen are joined by Hikaru Nakamura, aka ‘H-bomb’ for his destructive style of play.

Links...

• Chess.co.uk
• PITCH
  
• ITN
• ChessBase.com
• ChessDom.com
  
• London Chess Classic
  

Pictured above is Norwegian Magnus Carlsen next to his portrait, and Nigel Short & luke McShane playing on London Eye.

Barcelona Bangers rally

I was commissioned by a PR Company recently to do some pictures for SAAB one of their clients.

A local team of adventure rally drivers has completed one of Europe's toughest driving challenges, raising money for charity in the process, with the help of car dealership Alexanders Saab York.

The team, comprising drivers Neil Gulliver and Mark Dennis, competed in the 2009 Barcelona Bangers rally - an event which saw 50 teams gather in Calais on 10^th September before embarking on a three-day cross country journey to Barcelona, travelling in a car purchased for less than £200.

In order to successfully complete the rally, each team had to drive this vehicle over the 920 mile route - during which they crossed the French Alps - to the finishing line, completing several challenges along the way.

The team selected a classic Saab 9000 to transport them across Europe, which they purchased for just £10. Local dealership Alexanders Saab York then checked to ensure the car was roadworthy and also made a generous contribution towards the cost of the team's fuel, allowing the team to complete the rally and raise money for their chosen charity - Macmillan Cancer Support.

See the Story Here...

Alexanders Saab - York
Barcelona Bangers Rally - 2010
Press & PR Photographers Throughout the UK - Editorial Photography
Yorkshire Press & PR Photographer

Trip to Parliament

My Trip to Parliament.

I was commissioned this week to cover the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign's trip to Parliament.

Disabled commuters are forced to pay more for an inconsistent and inaccessible public transport system across the UK, as revealed by a three month undercover investigation published by the MDC Trailblazers team.

The investigative report End of the Line which was presented to Parliament on the 5th May, includes over 200 mystery commuter journeys. The trips were undertaken by young disabled campaigners in order to assess the state of our nation's public transport system.

Read the evidence from you region here.

For more information - See the MDC Web site below...
Muscular Dystrophy Campaigne - Trailblazers

More about the 'End of the Line' Report HERE

Watch the London Tonight Video HERE

Dog Swallows Homer Simpson

Doh - Silly Dog!!!!

We did some photography this week in Aberdeen for one of our clients 'PDSA' about a Dog called Dixie who swallowed a whole Kinder Egg and ended up having a Homer Simpson Toy in his stomach.

Our photographs made the National Newspapers and lots of other on-line news & media outlets.

If you have a similar story please get in touch, or want us to handle a good Press story - Please contact us.

Just some of the links where our photos were used below....

• Sun
• Daily Telegraph
• Sky News
• BBC
• The London Paper
• Metro
• Virgin Media
• Aberdeen Evening Express
• Anorak
• Press Association