Law Firm Headshots on location
Leicestershire Law Firm Headshots. These headshots are ideal to let your clients know who they are speaking or writing an email to. Have them on the meet the team page of your website, put them in the signature of your email etc.
These are also brilliant for press releases. Maybe you have a team member who is having an article published in a local or national magazine… Have the best photo possible!
Leicester Portrait Photographer
Law Firm Headshots
One last shoot that was one of my favourites was shooting the team at Michael Hill Partnership, a brilliant Leicester multi service law firm.
One of the reasons I love my job is meeting new people and getting to see the places they work in. MHP are based on London Road in Leicester and occupy a large office space above the old Landsdown pub. It’s deceptive, it looks relatively small from the outside, but it’s huge inside! They had a recently decorated and still empty office for me to set up my small mobile studio equipment, which was nice! Also their new marketing and in house web designer was in, and on hand! After discussing the image format and going over the background colour, it was decided that we would simply just use the freshly painted wall!! And the photos look great!
Leicester Branding Photographer
Next, we have to talk about ‘Branding’.
I had an amazing video call with two ladies from ‘The Orange Notebook’, a brand marketing agency over in Birmingham. There is actually 3 of them, Beatrice however is based in Sweden!
Their company needed a bank load of images for their website and social media, we put a plan together to create the images they needed. It was decided that we would meet at Medicine, a coffee shop in Birmingham that they often frequent. We would use Medicine as location 1, getting individual and group shots. A local photo studio was also booked so they we could get some more varied shots, such as clean studio images with the orange background to tie in with their branding. This was a really fun shoot, the 4 hours went really fast. Sadly I was still suffering from the effects of COVID and was really tired towards the end. I don’t mind saying, I slept for 13 hours when I got home!!
I also competed a brilliant branding shoot for the fabulous Sukh Kaur and her bespoke matchmaking service, ‘Matched by Sukh Kaur’.
We met up at the Exchange bar in Leicester, grappled a coffee and talked about the shoot. This shoot was originally going to be a simple headshot session, but after Sukh saw some sample images from The Orange Notebook shoot, an upgrade was ordered.
The setting in Exchange bar is always good for photos, and the coffee is pretty amazing too! We shot in 3 different areas before heading to my favourite studio in Leicester, XYZ.
At XYZ we used the classic white and grey for headshots and also positioned their graffitied sofa near the exposed walls for a more urban looking shot.
Very soon there will be a personal branding page added to my wesbite!
I can’t explain how much I enjoyed these shoots, it’s a different process to my normal portraits and headshots.. and if you know anything about me, you’ll know I enjoy a creative challenge. Branding shoots tick all the boxes for me
An update from November 2021....
So, what’s been happing in the world of Pete Martin Photography??!
I’m going back to November 2021, and tell you about a few shoots that we completed.
After contracting COVID-19 in late October, I was released from isolation after the full 10 days and went straight into an event for the wonderful charity in Leicester that is Menphys. https://www.menphys.org.uk/hub
Menphys were being presented with the prestigious Queens Award. It was a lovely 2 hour event attended by many local businesses and supporters of the charity. Amazing food from Ben Knowles aka https://benskitchenleicester.com/ as well.
Below are a few images from the event.
Another shoot I particularly enjoyed was Moneywise Plus. These guys help people back into work with such activities like CV Writing. It was nice to see how they help all types of people in the community. Big thanks to Tim from BRanagh PR for recommending my skills for this assignment.
More updates coming, and this year I WILL blog more!!
Over and out
Pete
Busy shooting lots of people in the face!
What i’ve been doing for the last four weeks
The busiest 4 weeks to date!
Its pretty fair to say that the last 4 weeks has been a little hectic. I’ve lost count of the amount of people i’ve shot in the face, it’s probably around the 400 mark.
I can honestly say it’s been awesome!
I like to keep the images on the memory card for a few weeks after the shoot, I’ve had to buy more cards… six 128gb cards to be exact.
So what people have I been shooting I hear you ask?
A couple of schools, staff and pupils. CEO’s of companies, golf club chairman, insurance broker, solicitors, protection services, charity for young people, a writer, local MP… and an office chair!!
Also in this time i’ve simplified my systems and processes, it’s now so easy to book me via this site.
If you have any shoot enquiries, drop me an email at pete@petemartinphotography.co.uk
Location Headshots
Leicester Urban Headshots!
Last week it was urban headshot time.
Not everyone wants a studio looking headshot, but everyone needs a quality headshot to stop people scrolling past on platforms such as LinkedIn!
Rachael from insurance brokers Morgan Betts & Co is this person.
During the Zoom consultation the week before we discussed various options and locations to achieve the desired results. I took my full mobile studio which included numerous backdrops, studio flash, softboxes etc.
All of the final images however used nothing more than natural light and a hand held reflector!!
We were blessed with an overcast day, which meant no harsh shadows on the face. I used the reflector to bounce a little light back to help create perfect even lighting across Rachael’s face.
Would you have your next headshot outdoors? or would you prefer the studio/indoor environment?
Drop me an email or give me a call for more information.
What's been happening??!
So, It’s October.
Following the UK’s COVID-19 Lockdown, things went a little quiet for me. I did 4 jobs in 3 months. But thats ok, I manajed to home school Callie, my 7yr old Daughter.
Around August things started to pick up. In fact, this August was best in 4yrs!. Sometimes 3 shoots a day.
These jobs ranged from clothing shoots, headshots for individuals & businesses, 4k video confrencing for a court trial in Hong Kong (yes, really!), enviromental portraits and some product work
I’ve updated my website with a few new images, below are a few.
Inside Stories - Leicestershire’s hidden lockdown
Leicester’s Hidden Lockdown - Photo Exhibition
Leicestershire residents invited to share lockdown photos for new exhibition
Residents across the county are being invited to submit photographs of life in lockdown for an exhibition which will take place at Winstanley House later this year.
The exhibition, titled Inside Stories, will bring together 24 compelling photos captured during the Coronavirus pandemic. The images will reveal a glimpse into Leicestershire’s hidden lockdown moments - the personal pains, small wins and revelations that marked out this unique moment in time.
The idea for Inside Stories came from Mark Robinson, director of Leicester creative agency Creative62, who saw a unique opportunity to document the experience of living through a global pandemic, and capture individual perspectives of an unprecedented time.
Mark tells us:
“With so many people confined to their homes, it struck me as quite fascinating to think how one person’s lockdown will be vastly different to others, and how would we sum up this time in just one photo?
Holding an exhibition of this type gives us a valuable opportunity to come together to talk about our experience and celebrate coming through it, as well as providing a valuable public archive for future generations.”
Mark is joined by fellow Leicester business owners Julie Proctor of Swithland Events, professional photographer Pete Martin, and freelance content writer Sarah Heeley, who are joining forces to promote and host the exhibition. Julie adds:
“We’re delighted to be bringing such a unique exhibition to Winstanley House, which will be the perfect space to showcase the final photographs.
These past few months have seen the whole of Leicestershire living through history and we’re intrigued to see how members of the public have captured such a strange time in a single photo.”
The call for submissions is now open and anyone with an interest in photography is invited to take part. Photos can be captured with a camera, smartphone or tablet in colour or black and white, and can be of any subject that conveys the lockdown experience. Photos must also include a brief caption and a short description of why the image is meaningful.
The 24 final images will be selected by Pete Martin. Pete is encouraging as many people as possible to enter, no matter what photographic experience they have. He added:
"This is a chance to express yourself and let your camera do the talking. You could share a meaningful moment with your family, an observation, or a view from your home.
There's no right or wrong, just be creative and show what lockdown meant for you."
If you are interested in submitting a photograph, please contact Julie for an entry form at the following link >> julie.proctor@swithlandevents.com
Photos must be received no later than Friday 29 May 2020. Exhibition dates will be announced later this year.
Background information:
Inside Stories is a joint initiative by Creative62, Pete Martin Photography, Sarah Heeley Communications, and Swithland Events. The group of local business owners will be reaching out to their network to encourage as many people as possible to support the exhibition - through submitting photographs, sponsorship and attendance.
For further information please contact Mark Robinson on 07786 916381
Last Job Before UK Lockdown - Coronavirus
My last job before Coronavirus caused the UK to go into Lockdown
Staff Headshots & Lifestyle Portraits
Currently we are in week 5 of the UK lockdown, due to COVID-19.
My last job was for a recruitment agency based in the Midlands. They have three offices and required headshots of key staff members and some lifestyle images showing the office’s and staff at work.
I had completed two locations and was scheduled to shoot the third when the country went into lockdown.
I love doing these type of jobs. Not only do I get to spend a little time with each staff member, learnig about their individual role. I get to create a fantasic portrait of them!
Below are a few images from the shoot, if you need similiar images, drop me a message.
A blog about a vlog... ;-)
I did a vlog, now a blog about a vlog... ;-)
Professional Photographers Workflow
If you’re interested in what happens after a photoshoot, the stuff you don’t see… this is the video to watch!
In all seriousness, this stuff behind the scenes is mega important.
I had a phone call with a family member who was photographing a friends wedding last year.. I was also photographing a wedding. On a break I checked my phone and saw 5 missed calls from said family member. I called him back and he asked me a question…
“I changed lens towards the end of the ceremony, now when I look at my images I can’t find anything before the ceremony…”
My question back was “have you changed out the memory card for a fresh one??” he had not. So he did, and I arranged to meet up with him the following day.
Turns out he’d been victim to a fake memory card, which had corrupted and was overwriting old images when the card became full. So the whole bride prep and 90% of the ceremony was now gone forever.
The message here is he’s not a professional, and he didn’t have a professional camera.. a camera that has two memory cards. He put the images he had on his 8yr old laptop, and he was done.
This is very different to what myself and other professional photographers do.
Event Photography
Why having a professional photographer at an event is a good idea
Event Photography Leicester
Why book an event photographer?
As good as mobile phone camera’s are now, there is still no substitute for a decent camera and flash.. and the professional operating it.
And here’s why, this might get a bit technical!
The sensor on a decent full frame camera is roughly 24x36mm in diameter. An iPhone sensor roughly measures 7.01 x 5.79 mm.
The sensors job is to capture the the image, which is based on mainly on the available light hitting the sensor.. so the bigger the sensor the more light can hit it and therefor... will equate to a better image.
Add to that the use of flash and the results speak for themselves.
Most camera phones have a small flash next to the sensor/lens, which points directly at the subject. In a pinch, just to get the shot.. this is ok. But using a real camera with a dedicated flash gun (speedlite) is a much better option.
The flash head on a speedlite can be rotated to different positions, so we can bounce that light from the ceiling or a nearby wall which will create a much more natural and pleasing image. We can also place more of these speedlites around the room on stands to create dramatic lighting, or simply to add more light if the venue doesn’t have great lights itself.
Check these two images out, The first was taken on an iPhone X, in the image you can see me taking a shot…
And this is the photo I took at that time. Notice how my additional light has made the subject (Kwoklyn Wan) look normal, and less purple.. Also the image is much sharper and clearer.
So if you or someone you know is holding an event, drop me an email or give me a call!
Below are a few images of mine from recent events, the last image was taken on an iPhone X… see the difference.
www.petemartinphotography.co.uk/events
