Blog – Maxim Photo

Proserv & Morgan Sindall, Beacon Park, Yarmouth | PR Photography

PR Photography Yarmouth for Morgan Sindall

PR Photography Assignment

With a new base being developed for Proserv along the Norfolk coast, in a key enterprise zone, it seemed only fitting to mark the occasion with a ceremonial sign fixing. Proserv is a key player in global energy services and their presence in the region is a major time and resource investment for both them and the local council. Morgan Sindall are the construction partner on this development and asked Maxim Photo to cover this event with images destined to be circulated among local printed/online media as well as National trade publications.

Known as Artemis House, this building will house 200 employees and make a significant contribution to the local economy. And although Proserv are to be a leaseholder of this building they have have invested around £2 million for the fit out, further re-enforcing their commitment to this venture.

Although a tad muddy and very rainy during this shoot, spirits were upbeat as teams from Proserv and Morgan Sindall showed local council members as well as the LEP around the premises.

Ultimately we were happy with the variety and number of shots given the time constraints.

Image delivery

Clients that request assignments such as these place a heavy emphasis on the immediacy of image availability. The main images were edited at the site office so as they could be circulated as quickly as possible to ensure blanket local media coverage that same day, with the rest of the images being delivered the following day for wider publication.

(All images are copyright www.maximphoto.co.uk – do not use without the appropriate licence)

Orbit Homes – St Anne’s Quarter Norwich | PR Photography

PR Photography

Orbit Homes are one of the UK’s largest developing housing associations, they build around 1,500 new homes each year. The purchased a long-empty site in the centre of Norwich and had compelling plans to regenerate this key site.

Brief

At the early stages of any development there are extensive exploratory works and this site was no exception as it was steeped in history. My role was to follow key local government personnel and Orbit management around the site to document the tour. This tour was arranged to provide local officials with an insight into the site’s rich history and, through the images provided, show locals how much progress has been made on-site.

Tour

During the site tour a documentary approach was required in order to allow officials and management to explore without having to pose for any photos. Any posed shots were to be carried out at the beginning of the assignment as they stood at the pile driver. This pile driver was there to drive the first holes into the ground to begin the foundation work. Many of the images were taken at Howard House towards the back of the site. A 16th century house owned by the Duke of Norfolk. Having stood derelict for 25 years it was one part of the site which was steeped in history and many exhibits were laid out for inspection. Following the tour all dignitaries were taken to the neighbouring Dragon’s Hall for refreshments and to see the full plans for the site.

The view from Howard House

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Haines Boats | Product Photography

Product Photography – Haines Boats, Norfolk

Haines Marine are a Norfolk based boat builder, specialising in high quality low volume boats so product photography gets a bit interesting when you’re shooting a boat worth a third of a million pounds! Haines are widely known as one of the best boatbuilders in the UK, probably even Europe. So I was excited to get a call from Anglia Afloat magazine when they were planning a feature on Haines Marine.

The brief(s)

I was to spend a day alongside Justin Haines as he took the Haines 360 along the Norfolk Broads. I discussed the purpose of the shoot with Justin as well as Duncan, from Anglia Afloat, and the key purpose of the feature was to conduct a boat test and show general shots around the boat to support the feature. At the same time Justin was keen to get fresh images for their official brochure and so had quite different requirements for the images. With these slightly differing briefs in mind I set about shooting the boat from a feature/journalistic perspective. At the same time I was mindful that Justin wanted active as well as static shots of the boat for their brochure. In the end I covered many of the unique parts of the boat for the in-depth parts of the feature but also hopped onto another boat we had at our disposal to capture shots of the boat “in action”. All in all it was a brilliant day with access to all areas, as well as two very different briefs to fulfil. The backdrop suited the boat perfectly as this an in-shore boat and the weather played a huge part too.

Editing

While the edit was, in the main, very straight forward with colour correction, exposure balance and mild cropping. Due to excavation works alongside the river some composition and cloning work was required to remove the distracting backdrop. In fact one of the shots of the boat is made up of 3 entirely separate images blended together. Also, with the internal shots there was exposure layering work to be done, time-consuming but necessary to get the right balance of light in the image and make it look entirely natural.

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Pandora | PR Photography

PR Photography

Pandora has to be one of the best known Jewellery brands in the UK and to keep a strong profile they have a regular requirement for strong PR Photography.

We were asked to provide coverage of some new store openings as well as store refurbishment and re-launches. These events were opportunities for people to reacquaint themselves with the store and brand, as well as enter prize draws and gain introductory discounts. We were tasked to covering these events as unobtrusively as possible so as to ensure natural interaction with store staff. Both Pandora and the Franchisee needed natural shots but also required a large stock of images for their records: store shots inside prior to store opening and team photos outside the store. This particular selection is from the Southend-on-Sea store re-opening after extensive refitting and extension into another retail unit.

The store manager, Farah, had asked for the images to be turned around as quick as possible to get the most mileage from the imagery in local press and on the Pandora website. Images were delivered the next working day.

If you have a key PR event that you’d like to have covered in order to gain more brand exposure then please do get in touch with your questions.

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Imbibe LIVE! | Exhibition Photography

Exhibition Photography at Imbibe Live!

Imbibe run a very successful magazine for the drinks industry, but they also run a vibrant event every year at Olympia in London.

We were asked to provide blanket coverage of the event but also paying close attention to industry professional they had asked to conduct keynote presentations. Some headshots were also shot as part of the assignment for use in social media and industry publications. Images were delivered within 24 hours of the show ending, this is not typical of Exhibition Photography bookings we receive, this was due to publication deadlines. To speed up the image delivery process we carried out on-the-fly edits during breaks so as Imbibe had a stock of media optimised images ready to roll as soon as the doors closed.

To give you some perspective, this is Britain’s largest on-trade drinks event hosts around 12,000 professionals from the drinks industry, they offer insights, tips, samples (plenty of those) as well as workshops and key seminars on the latest products, technologies, techniques and sales channels. As one of Europe’s biggest events of its kind they’re keen to have full coverage to ensure maximum press coverage, also they need a well stocked image library for forthcoming media campaigns. The key message was that of capturing the buzz of the show, the vibrancy and colour and, of course, the personalities. It should be said, although it’s probably obvious, all show organisers have the requirement for images that capture the buzz of the event, but often they have a key message which underpins it all. For example, this event is heavily aimed at a market which is incredibly dynamic, very fashion-led but one that carries a social responsibility. With the media quick to pick up on messages of binge drinking and excess the show had to take care it was pitched at the right level.

It was an enjoyable experience as not many events are quite so vibrant and fast paced.

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