Corporate, PR, advertising and general profile portraits
The first four are permanent posts. Click photo for slideshow. Scroll down for most recent posts.
Email Charlie! or call +44 7814 106 561
Travel, documentary, landscape and stock photography - click photo for slideshow
Email Charlie! or call +44 7814 106 561
Commercial commissions and stock photography - click photo for slideshow
Email Charlie! or call +44 7814 106 561
Musicians, actors, fashion, artists in general - click photo for slideshow
Email Charlie! or call +44 7814 106 561
The life of a photographer is full of variety and problem-solving – which is how I like it. Whatever one’s specialty, often one is required to do something new – to a certain extent I have to be a jack of all trades. Close-up product photography, for example, is not one of my specialties – although I am doing a lot of food photography these days, which is particularly rewarding…
So, when local security/locksmiths and ironmongery supplies company SDS commissioned me to do some product photography along with the usual portraits and interior/exterior locations photos, I saw it as a challenge and decided to spice-up their product shots. As well as the standard white-background, I thought blue would suit the metallic product. A little help from the Strobist community helped to polish up my idea (excuse the pun). Some black furniture from the attic provided the ideal surface to create the blue background (all done in-camera with lighting). Kiwi ingenuity is alive and well…
This job and several others (eg. recent restaurant projects) came to me via Karen of Red Shoe Marketing. As well as a talented designer, she is a great marketing/PR/social media agent and an excellent creative director on the shoots we do together. For example, she has cross-promoted SDS on local websites such as Nappy Valley Net (advert during centre slideshow) and Clapham Mums (banner advert at top). She also has an intuitive grasp of what magazines are looking for regarding feature articles and press releases. I’m learning a lot from her so highly recommend getting in touch!
Happy St Patrick’s Day! Here’s a bit of green for you and I even had a go at making up an Irish-style blessing, but with a nod to Irish-style humour…
And I know the woods in Robert Frost’s poem (below photo) are yellow, but that’s still what I was thinking of when I took this photo in Snowdonia, Wales, a few years ago.
May you always choose the other road!!
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
~
Then…
Creative ideas: Lexie (& Charlie)
Costuming: Lexie
Make-up: Lexie
Model: Lexie
Photography: Charlie
Late last year I did another vintage-themed shoot with Lexie, we made use of the great light that day and shot outside mostly. This time we concentrated on studio shots. Lexie is something of a period drama/vintage look specialist, in both her acting roles and as a model. She has an uncanny ability to copy the make-up and mood of actresses from yesteryear such as Lily Elsie. She even improvised using a sofa throw from my lounge as part of one costume (which she named ‘Pocahontas bling’). As on the previous shoot, I marveled at the way she can subtly change her mood from one shot to the next – sign of a great actress! Speaking of which, we also did some simple ’10×8′ headshots for casting purposes.
Post-production wise, I really went to town with a few of those vintage-look Photoshop actions that usually sit unused in some random computer folder as they’re too over-the-top for most uses!
Which looks do you prefer?! Feel free to comment below.
‘Glamour look’ – not vintage obviously…
Vintage Blue
Sigh, I’m in danger of being spoiled. I recently did another delicious PR photography project.
This shoot was for the award-winning Lamberts restaurant in Balham, south London. And yes, I did get to sample a lot of the food as we shot it! At times it can be a rush to photograph the dishes while they are fresh, but we devoured most of it afterwards. In the evening, the manager Joe Lambert and his gifted head chef Ryan fed me a hot fresh meal which was outstanding.
I’m really liking food photography…
Joe has realised his dream to create a high-quality restaurant offering seasonal British food with an ever-changing menu and it rightly has a huge following, both in Balham and further afield. To prove I’m not just raving about them because I worked with them – they have the highest ratings possible from Time Out and Hardens, are included in the Independent’s ‘Top 50 Roasts in the UK’, plus others. Lamberts were fantastic to work with. Even the busy kitchen staff tolerated me with good humour as I took the behind-the-scenes action shots.
Anyway, get in touch with them to book lunch or dinner (or phone 020 8675 2233), they’re 1 minute from Balham station and well worth the journey wherever you’re coming from!
by Charlie Round-Turner