Commercial and Business Photography, Reading. Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire and London » People Photography

Portrait Photography | Reading Berkshire

Simon — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:57:28 +0000

Ian Keable is an entertainer and magician from London and he approached me for a portrait for his new show and tour. The act is based around the magic of Charles Dickens (apparently an enthusiastic amateur magician).

The finished portrait was to be reminiscent of a Victorian portrait so I opted for a slightly more dramatic form of lighting than I would normally use. That, and the the post-processing of the image convey that feel. Comments welcome as always.

Headshot Photography | Business Portraits, Reading, Berkshire

Simon — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:22:29 +0000

A very nice lady called Sue, a business coach and management trainer, booked me for a headshot session recently. Every time I schedule a business portrait at my studio near Reading in Berkshire people always remark that it’s something they have been meaning to get around to for ages. Apart from using it to bring a website to life and to connect with your potential customers, a nice portrait photograph is so useful for networking sites like Linkedin and of course Facebook and other sites. I think subliminally we are always slightly suspicious of a lack of avatar on internet forums and small business websites. Some say that a bad or unflattering photograph is worse than no photograph at all on your website. For me, it’s always been about the expression – it has to be warm and sincere in my view for a typical small business application.

If you are interested in a professional headshot session, please call me on 0118 9885088 for details and availability.

Here are a couple of favourite photographs of Sue from the session.

Relaxed Business Portraits | Maidenhead

Simon — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:10:24 +0000

I was asked by the ladies of HN Marketing near Maidenhead to photograph them in a relaxed style. The idea was to photograph at their offices in a portrait style rather than a strict business headshot style. Here are a few favourites from the portrait shoot.

Business Portraits | Reading Berkshire

Simon — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:21:05 +0000

The brief today was for some relaxed commercial portraits of Nicola Carruthers, Chief Executive of the Thrive Charity. The photographs are for press releases, web use and for brochures and reports. It’s been a while since I photographed at Thrive but it was a pleasure to be at this gardening based charity once again today.

Here are a few favourite portraits we photographed in the grounds of Thrive. Autumn is an interesting time for portrait photography outside. When the sun is out this time of year it can be very contrasty with harsh shadows. I generally prefer my portraits to be lit with a softer, more flattering light so we sought some shaded areas of the garden for the photography. The autumn colours are of course a bonus at this time of year.

Location Portrait and Food Photography | Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons

Simon — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:53:42 +0000

Today I was asked by my colleague and fellow photographer Douglas Fry of Piranha Photography to photograph a chef’s course in the kitchens at the beautiful Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saison, in Great Milton Oxfordshire. The hotel and restaurant are beautiful and it’s wonderful to wander around the colossal vegetable gardens – one of the secrets to the amazing food that’s served in the restaurant.

The course was run by Raymond Blanc himself and it was really interesting to photograph. Here’s a few favourites from the day.

The beautiful hotel and restaurant.

Some pictures from the kitchen. The small cups contain different concentrations of salt to help train the chef’s awareness of salt as an ingredient.

Here’s a portrait photoograph of Raymonde Blanc that I shot after the session in the kitchen.

PR Photography Bracknell | Anne Diamond

Simon — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:22:11 +0000

Today I was asked to photograph Anne Diamond for Health Magazine. The shoot was to take place at the Royal Berkshire Health and Racquets Club in Bracknell.Whilst it might be a wonderful place to work out and trim the waistline, sadly it didn’t offer much in terms of photogenic backdrops. If I’ve learnt one thing about location photography in the last eighteen years, it’s how to make the best out of less than stellar surroundings so we found some space behind the club (acres of carpark at the front sadly) to shoot some portraits by the tennis courts. Anne was delightful to work with and made my job easy.

Here are a couple of favourites from the shoot.

Reading Berkshire | Relaxed Business Portraits

Simon — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:08:42 +0000

Here are a couple of favourite images from a short headshot session for Chris. Chris is recently back on the job market and wanted to update his CV photograph and his Linked In profile picture. We can’t stress the importance of a good profile picture enough. It speaks volumes about who you are as much, or more so in some cases, than any supporting text might do. A great expression is key – looking like you would rather be somewhere else is a sure way to convey a negative impression.

The natural lighting, casual clothing, great expression and relaxed posing all help to convey a positive image for Chris. Rather than a studio backdrop, the photograph was shot in an office to strengthen the ‘real life’ impression of the headshot photograph.

If you are interested, you can view all the images from this short portrait session by clicking here.

If you are interested in our brand of relaxed business photography, please call 0118 9885088 or email.

Charity Photography | Reading, Berkshire

Simon — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 18:18:27 +0000

This is a portrait of Neil who has been coming to the Thrive charity in Beech Hill, near Reading for a couple of years now. Thrive is a charity that uses gardening as therapy to all sorts of mentally and physically handicapped people. I was asked by the charity to shoot some pictures of Neil for a spread in one of their magazines. It was pretty cold this morning so we opted to shoot indoors. The image was photographed in the Thrive Christmas shop. They make wreaths, table pieces and all sorts of Christmas floral decorations there. I liked this image because of the setting but also because at the beginning of the session, like a lot of subjects, Neil was uncomfortable with the camera and found it difficult to face the lens. After a while though, he relaxed a bit and let me shoot a couple of images and this one was my favourite. A portion of my work each year includes charity photography so let me know if you are involved in charity work and need some help with images for your publicity.

Business Portrait Photography | Reading, Berkshire – Rob James

Simon — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:57:29 +0000

Business portraits can take many forms depending on what sector you operate it. Banking, the law, religious figures and senior medical appointments often call for a more conservative approach and for photographs in a traditional style. With the creative and entertainment industries obviously the approach can be different. It can be fun to shoot these kind of photographic portraits in a more creative, contemporary or interesting way.

I had the pleasure of photographing close up magician Rob James recently. Rob’s one of the country’s leading magicians and has worked all over the world at weddings, corporate events and parties. Hyperbole aside, he performs incredible things at his fingertips right in front of you that will have you doubting your senses.

Here we shot some studio portraits using natural light. There are subtle differences in artificial photographic lighting and the light that enters a room naturally. It can be trickier to use but gives a result I really like for business portraits. We took the opposite tack with the exterior shots and used supplementary location lighting to create a slightly edgy, unreal look to some of the images which I think works really well.

Here are a few favourite images from his business portrait session.

Business Portraits Reading Berkshire

Simon — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:34:44 +0000

I was asked to shoot some informal business portraits in Forbury Square, Reading Berkshire today. The light was soft and overcast which is ideal for people photography. The client was a financial services company with two new employees and the brief for the photography was to keep the images natural and relaxed and make sure the subjects look approachable and friendly. I think these kind of images are ideal for websites where you are trying to build a relationship with the customer or potential customers.

Here are a few favourites from the shoot.