COVID-19 Update - November 2020
Time has moved on but COVID-19 is still with us. The Scottish Government has introduced a new, five-tier system of restrictions, or protection levels. For now, in early November, Lothian remains in Level 3. There is NO social contact between households indoors and a limit of two households and six people outdoors. While essential businesses are allowed to continue to operate beyond those limits as long as physical distancing and other precautions are maintained I will be operating a strict ONE HOUSHOLD policy for my customers, ensuring that even considering me as a separate household rather than a business provider, we will remain within the acceptable level of risk enshrined in the guidelines. In addition I will continuing to only provide OUTDOOR photoshoots.
For full details read my COVID-19 page.
For full details read my COVID-19 page.
Personal and Local. Make it Specific.
These days, in a world awash with social media and online platforms, branding is personal, even for the largest companies. Businesses want to show their human side, with pictures of their staff online or in company publications. For small businesses in Edinburgh it is frequently your unique personal story that attracts potential clients and helps you stand out in a busy marketplace. Whatever the size of your business professional portrait photography helps to project your brand identity.
Having the right pictures to tell your story are really important when it comes to PR and publicity. With strict rules on people gathering it is not the time to organise a promotional event on Edinburgh's Royal Mile or on Portobello Promenade to get some attention from passers-by. Instead we all need to be more creative to promote our activities to a much more online audience. Press calls are still permitted business activity but by hiring your own photographer you can be sure to manage the photocall much more closely and get your pictures exactly the way you want them, ready to share online and with the media.
And it isn't just businesses - a feature of our times is the way in which branding has gone beyond the business world and has become important to everyone. Whether you are looking for a new job or a new relationship a great portrait is a real asset. My portrait photography is done out on location, which could be just about anywhere you like. In more normal times we could set up a space in a meeting room while for more intimate family portraits it could be in your living room, kitchen or back garden. I say 'we' because taking a portrait should always be a collaborative project between subject and photographer to create a picture that captures your personality, who you really are. At the moment I am restricting myself to OUTDOOR portraits only but that need not be a restriction for either business or personal portraits. Please get in touch to discuss ideas.
With families living further apart the opportunities to take a group photo are less frequent and can often only come about when people gather for a particular celebration - a Christening, an 18th or 21st Birthday or a Silver or Golden Wedding Anniversary. As well as taking advantage of having everyone in the same place for a family portrait, hiring a photographer for the party itself will leave you free to enjoy yourself. At the time of writing these sorts of multi-household gatherings are currently off limits but hopefully they will be back again soon in some form or other, even if we have to be a bit more creative to create a 'group shot' while still observing physical distancing between households.
Place is important to me and especially the place I currently call home - the city of Edinburgh and more specifically the suburb of Portobello. Portobello is a thriving local community with lots happening throughout the year, frequently based on grass-roots local activism. Important as this work is, it is still often unpaid as volunteers take on the job of making the place where they live that little bit better. Sometimes, as my schedule allows, I am able to make my own contribution to these efforts by taking and making available top quality pictures of what is going on in Portobello - our pictures, our story. At the moment much of those activities a severely restricted by the two-household limit on gatherings but I will continue taking photographs and before too long I hope we will be able to gather in larger numbers once more.
These days, in a world awash with social media and online platforms, branding is personal, even for the largest companies. Businesses want to show their human side, with pictures of their staff online or in company publications. For small businesses in Edinburgh it is frequently your unique personal story that attracts potential clients and helps you stand out in a busy marketplace. Whatever the size of your business professional portrait photography helps to project your brand identity.
Having the right pictures to tell your story are really important when it comes to PR and publicity. With strict rules on people gathering it is not the time to organise a promotional event on Edinburgh's Royal Mile or on Portobello Promenade to get some attention from passers-by. Instead we all need to be more creative to promote our activities to a much more online audience. Press calls are still permitted business activity but by hiring your own photographer you can be sure to manage the photocall much more closely and get your pictures exactly the way you want them, ready to share online and with the media.
And it isn't just businesses - a feature of our times is the way in which branding has gone beyond the business world and has become important to everyone. Whether you are looking for a new job or a new relationship a great portrait is a real asset. My portrait photography is done out on location, which could be just about anywhere you like. In more normal times we could set up a space in a meeting room while for more intimate family portraits it could be in your living room, kitchen or back garden. I say 'we' because taking a portrait should always be a collaborative project between subject and photographer to create a picture that captures your personality, who you really are. At the moment I am restricting myself to OUTDOOR portraits only but that need not be a restriction for either business or personal portraits. Please get in touch to discuss ideas.
With families living further apart the opportunities to take a group photo are less frequent and can often only come about when people gather for a particular celebration - a Christening, an 18th or 21st Birthday or a Silver or Golden Wedding Anniversary. As well as taking advantage of having everyone in the same place for a family portrait, hiring a photographer for the party itself will leave you free to enjoy yourself. At the time of writing these sorts of multi-household gatherings are currently off limits but hopefully they will be back again soon in some form or other, even if we have to be a bit more creative to create a 'group shot' while still observing physical distancing between households.
Place is important to me and especially the place I currently call home - the city of Edinburgh and more specifically the suburb of Portobello. Portobello is a thriving local community with lots happening throughout the year, frequently based on grass-roots local activism. Important as this work is, it is still often unpaid as volunteers take on the job of making the place where they live that little bit better. Sometimes, as my schedule allows, I am able to make my own contribution to these efforts by taking and making available top quality pictures of what is going on in Portobello - our pictures, our story. At the moment much of those activities a severely restricted by the two-household limit on gatherings but I will continue taking photographs and before too long I hope we will be able to gather in larger numbers once more.
Conferences, Events, PR - Professional Photography Will Make Them Shine.
If you are organising a conference in Edinburgh it helps to use an experienced local conference photographer, familiar with the city and its locations. I have worked at many prestigious conference venues across Edinburgh including the EICC, Edinburgh University, Napier University, the National Museum of Scotland, the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh Castle, Royal College of Physicians, The Balmoral, The George, the Sheraton Grand, the Waldorf Astoria (aka 'The Caley'), the Radisson Blu, the Radisson Collection, the Edinburgh Grosvenor, the Kimpton Charlotte Square and the Macdonald Holyrood.
As well as conferences I have covered numerous other events for companies and organisations including awards ceremonies, company celebrations, launch events, formal dinners and balls at venues across Edinburgh from the Royal Yacht Britannia to Tynecastle Stadium. As a photographer I pride myself on my ability to work with you to tell the story of your event. I can offer advice on organising large set-up group shots, finding a suitable space for more intimate posed portraits and the best ways to get the pictures you want without interrupting the flow of your event. Often it is the candid, informal pictures that best capture the flavour of an event and I am able to work quietly and unobtrusively in the background to get those pictures. Although I mostly work in Edinburgh I can also travel further afield for specific events. For example I have photographed a three-day company event based at Gleneagles Hotel, conferences in Stirling and Glasgow and Royal Scottish Country Dance Society dances in both St. Andrews and Perth. Obviously all of this activity is currently impossible under current restrictions and none of us know when such large gatherings will be able to safely re-commence. For now we can only look forward to that day.
Edinburgh is The Festival City and a significant element of the city's identity is theatre and the performing arts. Theatre Photography serves two fundamental purposes - publicity before the show to attract an audience and then a documentary record for afterwards of what is otherwise a very transient art form. Some pictures can serve both purposes, such as dress rehearsal photographs being used to promote the show. Theatrical publicity shares many features with business PR, with the added advantages of great costumes and natural performers. You just need a professional photographer to take the pictures that tell your story. And it is always your story, even if the action on stage has been written by someone else and performed hundreds of times before, because your particular telling of that story in your venue with your cast makes it unique. Sadly almost all theatre is impossible at the moment, certainly any that involves people gathering in the same space, but hopefully it will be back before too long.
If you are organising a conference in Edinburgh it helps to use an experienced local conference photographer, familiar with the city and its locations. I have worked at many prestigious conference venues across Edinburgh including the EICC, Edinburgh University, Napier University, the National Museum of Scotland, the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh Castle, Royal College of Physicians, The Balmoral, The George, the Sheraton Grand, the Waldorf Astoria (aka 'The Caley'), the Radisson Blu, the Radisson Collection, the Edinburgh Grosvenor, the Kimpton Charlotte Square and the Macdonald Holyrood.
As well as conferences I have covered numerous other events for companies and organisations including awards ceremonies, company celebrations, launch events, formal dinners and balls at venues across Edinburgh from the Royal Yacht Britannia to Tynecastle Stadium. As a photographer I pride myself on my ability to work with you to tell the story of your event. I can offer advice on organising large set-up group shots, finding a suitable space for more intimate posed portraits and the best ways to get the pictures you want without interrupting the flow of your event. Often it is the candid, informal pictures that best capture the flavour of an event and I am able to work quietly and unobtrusively in the background to get those pictures. Although I mostly work in Edinburgh I can also travel further afield for specific events. For example I have photographed a three-day company event based at Gleneagles Hotel, conferences in Stirling and Glasgow and Royal Scottish Country Dance Society dances in both St. Andrews and Perth. Obviously all of this activity is currently impossible under current restrictions and none of us know when such large gatherings will be able to safely re-commence. For now we can only look forward to that day.
Edinburgh is The Festival City and a significant element of the city's identity is theatre and the performing arts. Theatre Photography serves two fundamental purposes - publicity before the show to attract an audience and then a documentary record for afterwards of what is otherwise a very transient art form. Some pictures can serve both purposes, such as dress rehearsal photographs being used to promote the show. Theatrical publicity shares many features with business PR, with the added advantages of great costumes and natural performers. You just need a professional photographer to take the pictures that tell your story. And it is always your story, even if the action on stage has been written by someone else and performed hundreds of times before, because your particular telling of that story in your venue with your cast makes it unique. Sadly almost all theatre is impossible at the moment, certainly any that involves people gathering in the same space, but hopefully it will be back before too long.
Your images will usually delivered to you electronically and to fit with your schedule and workflow. If you need to see proof images before making a selection or would like other people to be able to buy prints and/or digital files directly I can provide password-protected client galleries.
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I am a fully insured qualified member of the British Institute of Professional Photographers (BIPP).
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