Drone

Here’s Bee Inspector Charles Millar disturbing a bee’s nest. Relax, he’s doing it for the good of bee colonies nationwide. Charles works for the The Food and Environment Research Agency as an inspector in the National Bee Unit and he’s inspecting this colony for signs of disease, which you’ll be pleased to hear there were none.

I’ve never photographed a bee colony before and it was a very strange and tricky experience.  I was of course dressed in the same protective clothing as Charles but the sound of a few hundred bees buzzing around your head is totally unnerving and makes it very hard to concentrate. I guess it’s an inbuilt survival mechanism, much like the sound of crying babies, you just can’t ignore the noise. My brain switched between screaming ‘run for the hills’ and making me think one of the little buggers had gotten inside my suit, which made it difficult to focus on the photography. Luckily the cold weather meant that the majority of the bees did not take flight to defend the nest from the invading inspector and photographer. Call me a cream-puff but I would not like to try that on a warm and sunny day. Charles said I was very brave for my first time, so there.

Equestrianism

This horsey was exceptionally well behaved even when my light-stand blew over in the wind and gave him a bit of a fright. Victoria as you can see did an excellent job of looking happy despite the near freezing temperatures, if you look closely her hand has gone a little blue. The joy of shooting for spring editions when the weather is still in full winter mode.

Higher Ground

Here’s a few portraits from my day out.

The guy above is called Kai Paulden. Kai rides a bendy bike, that’s as much as I know… Unfortunately our conversation got cut short, I never found out why he rides a bendy bike, maybe he just loves a bit of heavy pedalling (I thank you).

Caitlin Morgan (above) is a keen Bristol cyclist and coincidentally a member of the Bristol Roller Derby team whom my good friend and fellow photographer Adam (Wildman) Gasson  has been photographing, take a look here.

The chappy below is Charlie Oboune, manager of Mud Dock cycles, which unbeknown to me has a fantastically positioned cafe overlooking the Bristol docks and serves great Spanish food.

Mrs Patmore

A recent portrait of British actress Lesley Nicol who you might recognise from her recurring role in ITV’s hit drama Downton Abbey.

Lord of the Manor

This is Tim Shorland, or Lord of the Manor of Redwick and Northwick and of Hempton and Patchwick to you and I. Tim bought manorial titles in both South Gloucestershire and close to his home in Westbury-on-Trym — for less than £10,000 in 1990. Tim’s Manorial estate is 6000 acres large around the Bristol area, which is where I photographed him near Severn Beach for The Times this week.

Survive It

A couple of portraits of UK artist Ghostpoet photographed at the beautiful Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol for Nokia UK.

Roger Lewis

The weekend before the Welsh rugby team beautifully upset both England’s grand slam and six nations victory plans, I spent the afternoon at the Millennium Stadium photographing the big chief of Welsh Rugby Union, Roger Lewis. As a big Welsh rugby fan I was more than a little excited to be shooting inside the Millennium Stadium. I almost lost my ship when we went on an unofficial tour of the Wales team changing room.

Lighter Life

A fun summery portrait shot for Lighter Life magazine.

Captive

Free

A remote beach on the West coast of the beautiful Sao Vincente, a great place to go if you’re looking to feel alive and free.

David Walliams

British Steel

Although these guys look like your average re-enactment enthusiasts they take it to another much more violent level. Popular in Eastern Europe and a relatively new “sport”,  these Battle of the Nations combatants use full contact techniques and blunted metal weapons with very few rules. A win is achieved by knocking your opponent to the floor using historically accurate weapons. Although the competitors are using blunted axes and swords as well as full body armour, injuries are common due to the brutality of the battles.

This video should give you a good idea of just how violent it is:

Unlike most re-enactment groups the Battle of the Nations event runs in its own right, rather than referencing  specific historical battles.

Although the armour and weaponry takes its inspiration from traditional medieval combat, the heraldry instead relates to the nationalities of the team countries competing against one another.

I’ve followed the newly formed British team around at their various training camps over the last few months and taken staged portraits of the fighters in their full period body-armour. I wanted to lighten the images up by using coloured backgrounds as well as having them stand on grass covered plinths. They are an interesting and eclectic mix of participants who take their fighting as seriously as their attention to 13th/14th century detailing.

Click through for lots more images 

Wiper & True

My portrait of super brewer and all round lovely man, Michael of Wiper & True fame. Be sure to try their beautiful artisan beers. My favourite being their pale ale, which I recently photographed for their website (below and left).

Hide and Seek

My portrait of artist Charlotte Sorapure, shot for Artist and Illustrators magazine last month. I love the consistency in colour and tone across the image. I was also hugely inspired by the Sisal flooring in Charlotte’s studio, which I’m now determined to lay on any exposed area I can in the new house.

Memory Serves

I’ve been looking to add some sports and fitness images to my portfolio and finally got around to shooting the talented Sarah who’s a fashion model but also a superb yoga practitioner. I wanted the pics to feel light and bright but to also show off the delicate beauty of yoga in action. We were very lucky with the location having changed venues last minute, the yoga studio fitted perfectly with the vision I’d had for the images.

Here are a couple of images that caught my eye, plenty more great images to come….