Capturing the Leicester Comedy Festival 2026 Brochure Launch
Capturing the Leicester Comedy Festival 2026 Brochure Launch
Last Wednesday was all about laughter, energy, and celebration as I photographed the Leicester Comedy Festival 2026 brochure launch at Big Difference in Leicester.
The afternoon event brought together comedians, organisers, sponsors, and supporters to officially unveil next year’s programme. The atmosphere was full of excitement — a great reminder of how much creativity and community spirit goes into making this festival one of the biggest of its kind in the UK.
Later that evening, I headed over to the Y Theatre for the Pick of the Fest event. It featured three brilliant comedians and a fantastic compère, all delivering top-quality performances that perfectly showcased what the festival is all about.
As a business sponsor of Leicester Comedy Festival, it’s always a privilege to be involved in documenting these moments — and to play a small part in supporting an event that brings so much joy (and laughter!) to the city each year.
Below you’ll find a few sample images from the day, along with a 360° video giving a behind-the-scenes look at the launch and performances.
📸
🎥
I’m already looking forward to the 2026 festival — it’s going to be another fantastic year for comedy in Leicester!
Capturing NEBOSH’s Graduation Awards at Warwick Arts Centre
Capturing NEBOSH’s Graduation Awards at Warwick Arts Centre
Pete Martin Graduation Awards and Event Photography East Midlands
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of photographing NEBOSH’s annual Graduation Awards ceremonies at Warwick Arts Centre. The day was split into two sessions – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – with hundreds of graduates, families, and colleagues coming together to celebrate years of dedication and achievement.
A Natural Approach to Graduation Photography
NEBOSH wanted their graduation photography to feel authentic, capturing natural moments rather than only posed group shots. I focused on documenting candid interactions, celebrations, and the atmosphere outside the venue, using the surrounding spaces of Warwick Arts Centre as a backdrop. This gave the images a fresh, lively feel that really reflects the spirit of the day.
Overcoming Challenging Lighting Conditions
One of the main challenges of the day was the constantly changing natural light. With the sun shifting in and out behind clouds, the brightness levels altered minute by minute. This meant quickly adapting camera settings to ensure consistency and quality across the 1,700 images captured throughout the day. My experience in corporate and event photography helped me anticipate these changes, keeping the shots balanced and professional.
Client Feedback
The images were delivered promptly to the NEBOSH team, who were delighted with the results. Their kind words say it all:
“Thanks so much for getting these to us so quickly. The team have said how good the photos are 😊
Can you provisionally hold Monday, 7th September 2026 for our next Graduation?”
It’s always rewarding to know that my photography not only meets expectations but becomes part of a client’s long-term event planning.
Why Professional Graduation Photography Matters
A graduation is a milestone moment – for the graduates, their families, and the organisation itself. Having a professional photographer ensures that the energy, pride, and joy of the day are captured in a way that reflects both the individuals and the brand. For organisations like NEBOSH, these images are also vital for marketing, alumni engagement, and showcasing the success of their programmes.
Looking Ahead
I’m already looking forward to returning for NEBOSH’s 2026 Graduation. In the meantime, if your organisation is planning a corporate event, awards ceremony, or graduation celebration, and you’d like natural, professional photography that tells the story of the day, please do get in touch.
Graduates arriving at Warwick Arts Centre for the NEBOSH Graduation Awards ceremony
Natural candid photo of NEBOSH graduates celebrating outside the venue
Wide shot of graduates and families gathering at Warwick Arts Centre for NEBOSH
Smiling graduate receiving congratulations during NEBOSH Graduation Awards.
Professional graduation photographer capturing moments at Warwick Arts Centre.
Natural candid moment of NEBOSH graduates chatting after the ceremony.
Professional graduation photographer capturing moments at Warwick Arts Centre.
Family celebrating with a graduate outside the NEBOSH ceremony.
Furnley House Foundation Summer Ball 2024
Leicester Event Photographer Summer Ball
Leicestershire Charity Photographer
A few weeks ago it was the Furnley House Foundations summer ball 2024
Having done numerous work for FH now, they asked if i’d be interested in photographing ther summer ball. It was a YES from me. Furnley House is an amazing company, and some of my great friends work there.. Their foundation is a registered chairty, they raise money to give to other charities in need.
The ball took place at Winstanley House, with many familiar faces in attendance.
Photo kit wise I pretty much stayed on one camera with a 28-75mm zoom lens and on camera flash. I did occasionally use my 135mm lens for some of the shots of the presenter on stage.
Here are a few shots from the evening. If you are holding a similar event and would like it capturing so you can look back in years to come, please get in touch. There photos are an excellent reminder and keepsake of your event. They can also be used in future marketing in print and social media. Guests can have access to the photo gallery and download digital files as well. Optional print products are also available from the online gallery.
Leicester Photographer Raises money for local charity
Leicester Photographer raises money for local Mental Health Charity
Headshot, Portrait & Event photographer Pete Martin raised £765 for Leicestershire Mental Health Charity LAMP
It was that time of year again, national mental health week 2024.
For the last two years I‘ve organised little gathering at one of my favourite Indian restaurants. This year however, the restaurant was already booked! So a new venue was foudn and the the organisation began.
Tickets were produced, the online booking system went live, emails went out to raffle prizes, a poster was designed. I asked a few people to share the social media posts to help with ticket sales and before long we had just under 40 tickets solds for the event.
It was no nice to see so many friendly faces, some i’ve not seen in quite a few years!
Enjoy some of the photos below, I kept the camera equipment really small, one camera, one lens and a small flash.. Great quality results from such a small compact set up.
East Midlands Event Photographer
Leicester & East Midlands Event Photographer
Professional Event Photographer covering Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Northampton (East Midlands)
A few weeks ago I had two events back to back, Menphys sports club and the Real Entrepreneurs Dinner.
Menphys Sports Club is done of my favourite events to photogrtaph, all of the guests are great and the speakers are brilliant. The events are always really well attended and there’s so much to capture.
Gear wise on these events I like to keep it quite simple, One Camera and a 28-75mm zoom lens. This allows me to capture people right in front of me and up to around 8-10m away. Over the winter months when the ambient light is lower I also use an on camera flash unit to help light the scene. During the summer months I often ditch the flash and zoom lens and go for a 24mm & 50mm prime and shoot more ‘wide open’ to get a slightly different look.
When I photograph the speaker being interviewed on stage I’m often at the back of the room to try and keep out of the way of the guests, I don’t want my job to spoil their enjoyment of the event. For this reason I switch lens to the awesome 135mm f/1.8. It gives me ample reach to the stage area while staying on the sidelines.
Menphys also have a ‘media board, this a branded fabric banner which at the end the guests can have a professional photo with the speaker. For this I set up a studio flash with a soft box on a stand, It really makes people look their best. Check out what a camera phone captures compared to my set up… very different!
An iPhone 13 Pro photo from the event
My photo from the professional equipment
Take a look at a few images from this event.
Next up was the Real Entrepreneurs Dinner at Winstanley House. I don’t get the shoot many of these events as they have a regular photographer, a very good friend of mine. He was shooting another event so the organisers ‘Cross Productions’ got in touch with me again.
The theme of the the evening is very similar to Menphys, open networking and drinks on arrival, a sit down meal followed by an excellent speaker
Gear wise, it was exactly the same as Menphys… One camera with zoom lens and a flash, then change lens to capture the speaker.
Here are a few examples from the evening.
Both of these events were edited and delivered the very next morning, so the organisers could create social media posts and send out to the attendees.
Signature & Nachurel Awards
Signature & Nachurel Awards Event Photographer
Event Photographer Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Coventry, Northampton, Coventry & London
Following on from my charity work with LAMP, I photographed their ‘Time to Talk’ event in 2023. At this event there were many guests in attendance to listen to the chosen speakers.
One of these guests was Mr Ninder Johal, a man who eases many hats. He’s on the board of trustees at Wolverhampton University, he’s also a Deputy Lieutenant of the city too. But, he also founded the Signature and Nachurel Awards. On seeing me work the room, and some of my work was being shown on the screens at the Time to Talk event, Ninder asked if I would photograph the Signature Awards at Wolverhampton Racecourse.
Of course I said yes!
On arrivial I could see the attention to detail everywhere, the venue looked stunning. The AV crew, also from the East Midlands had a superb set up, with multiple camera’s of the presenter and the people receiving the awards.
The night from my side was a real success, everyone looked great, and so did the photos. I had them edited the next day, and sent off to Ninder. A few hours later and they started to appear on social media.
Shortly after the Wolverhampton event, I had the call from Ninder…. Can you photograph the next awards night, in Mayfair London?!
Le me think about that…… Yep, put me down for it!
This event was much much bigger, so there was also a London photographer there. We shared out the work, he took the stage shots, I took care of the media wall shots of people with their awards. I also did some of the drinks reception too.
Take a look at a few of the images from both nights below, And yes… I have been booked for the next one!
Corporate headshots for the whole firm
Leicestershire Law Firm Event & Headshots
Some of you may know I’m a keen runner, and one of the guys I run with (Matt Green) introduced me to Leicester Law Firm Johnson Astills. They have recently moved into the Matiolli Woods building in the city center.
They are looking for updated portraits of all the key staff who deal with the clients. As they are a pretty large firm (40+) they was going to take 2 days get everyone done. They are also a growing company, so a retainer has been put in place for me to go in and photograph the new staff shortly after they have started with the firm.
There were very specific requirements for portraits, my usual high resolution large files and also 300x400mm 72dpi no larger than 1mb for at the request of their web designers. And also cutouts on a transparent background so the person can appear over an existing image on the website. It was a wills extra time, but absolutely no trouble for me.
Just before the first portrait session, Johnson Astills also asked if I could shoot a short event they were holding in the Sky Lounge at Matiolli Woods. This would be for partners and clients to attend. It was a really nice event with some quality catering.
Here are a few photos from the open event and the portrait sessions.
Miele Brent Cross
Miele Brent Cross opening event photography
London Event Photographer
Another client I’ve been working a lot for in the last 12 months is Miele, the German appliance brand. Their products have always fascinated me, as the price is high, but I’ve not had the chance to see them up close. Summer 2022 I was asked to video the Experience Centre’s at Touchwood Solihull, Abingdon in Oxford, Bluewater in Kent, Edinburgh and Central London.
Video wise it was pretty straight forward, a tour of the store, and some close up shots of each appliance in action.
Fast forward to March 2023 and a new store was being planned for the Brent Cross Shopping Centre in London. The site next to the Apple Store had become available, and Miele was the perfect fit.
Fast forward to September and the shop fit out was complete and the store was opened to the public.
I was booked this time as an event photographer to capture the opening of the store, the chefs in action using the appliances, the cutting of the ribbon etc. I was also asked to take wide shots of the store empty, and a few creative shots showing a busy store use motion blur of the pubic.
I arrived at Brent Cross on the Wednesday, Grand Opening. I pretty much got to work straight away and finished at 12. From there I had a look around the shopping centre, got some lunch and edited 10 photos… Did I not mention that Miele wanted edits on the day to publish on their social media??!
There I was removing fire exit signs in photoshop and editing in general like a mad man!
Edits were Air Dropped to the marketing team before I left, and they were on LinkedIn before I got to my Air B&B in Edgware!!
Teamwork makes the dreamwork!
Day 2, I arrived at 7:30am to photograph the empty store and capture headshots of the new staff members.
10:30am I was all done and on my way back home.
All in all a brilliant few days working for this amazing company.
Here are the edits used on Miele social media announcing the new store.
Leicester Charity Photographer
Leicester Charity Event Photographer
Charity work by a Leicester Photographer
Charity work is a big part of my life, and definitely part of my companies corporate social responsibility.
For the last 5 years I’ve been heavily involved with two charities, LAMP and Menphys.
LAMP is an advocacy service, they help people struggling with mental health issues navigate the complex issues and get their life back.
Bing a charity LAMP needs funding, and that’s where myself and others step in. So far with LAMP I’ve climbed Ben Nevis, marshalled at a Leicester 10k running event, ran a 10k, helped set up and partake in the now annual 5k campaign during national mental health week and am also part of ‘Team LAMP 23’.
This year we had local Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth run with us, he was also kind enough to be interviewed (if you can call it that!) by me after the run.. and of course i vlogged it here https://youtu.be/uJvpG8ky-vM
Team Lamp is myself, Greg Hollingsworth and Dave Green. Dave is an ex trustee of LAMP and Greg is an ambassador. Together we set the challenge of running a Parkrun alphabet, in 2023. We sold each letter off to a corporate sponsor and also set up a just giving page for donations. Our target is £10k, which we are well on the way to achieving.
Greg deals with most of the money, Dave does the organising and social media posts. My contribution is a weekly vlog of the run, and anything else that we get up to!.
This was a real challenge for me, as I know it’s hard to believe, I’m not a natural in front of the camera!
Looking back at vlog 1, I couldn’t wait to stop recording and get it over. I walked out fo sight of most people as I was a little shy and almost embarrassed at the thought of recording myself in public!
Now I almost crave it, and I definitely miss recording when we have a week off.
As of writing this, we have completed 22 runs, with just 4 remaining… and the last 2 are going to be amazing as they are international!
Here is a link to the vlog playlist on YouTube
Doing this also led me to try open water swimming with Charlotte Miles from Cross Productions who also hiked Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike with myself and a group of other fundraisers.
Here is a link to those videos. Pete & Charlotte
Charlotte did a training run with me, then I did an open water swim, then we combined a run and a swim. It was so good, just a bit cold! And if you want a good laugh, I’m in a wetsuit!
I also support Menphys, a local charity that runs sport programs for disabled children. I hiked Scalfell Pike for Menphys, and did Ben Nevis for both LAMP and Menphys. Menphys have and amazing business sports club, which i’m a member of, and I also photograph each event at a discounted rate.
Below is a photo gallery containing a selection of images from all of my charity work and events that I’ve been involved in.
#LeicesterPhotographer
#photographer
#eventphotographer
#charity
#mentalhealth
#mentalhealthawareness
Labout MP Jonathan Ashworth joins me for a charity run
Ben Nevis Summit
Leicestershire Charity Event Photographer
East Midlands Charity Event Photographer, Leicestershire Based
Menphys Charity Business Sports Club
I was introduced to the Leicestershire Charity Menphys via my good friend Chris Cain from Kazzoo IT, during Chris’s headshot session he mention a charity hike up Scafell Pike in aid of Menphys.
Menphys is s children’s charity working with disabled children based in South Wigston here in Leicestershire.
During the hike, I was introduced to a number of other businesses and Liam Deacy, the head fundraiser at Menphys. I recognised his face, but couldn’t place him.. After a slightly odd conversation in the car park it turns out his uncle is a singer and we were in the same band together in 1996-2001!
Menphys have an amazing business sports club, where for a nominal fee you can join and attend 4 meeting a year with a sporting personality. There is a 3 course dinner, a presentation by the sports person then some question and answer time. Right at the end there is a photo opportunity, which is where i come in!
I photograph the entire evening, but my favourite part is the meet and greet at the end of the night. I use a simple studio light set up against the Menphys backdrop to get a nice clean look. All of the edited photos are available via my private gallery and from Menphys the day after the event.
Here are a few images from the events i’ve shot for Menpys in 2022.
