Leicestershire photographer Martin Neeves describes his PR and commercial photography business and keeps you up to date with his latest news. :: Website: www.martinneeves.com :: Tel: 07973 638591 :: CONTACT ME
I have just produced a short promotional business video for Leicester based coach hire company, Woods Coaches. It is based on a voiceover by the company's transport manager and the film shows the full range of services (using a wide range of coaches) that they offer. I also took some still photos for them too, so they now have plenty of still and moving images for their new website.
Short commercial videos are becoming more and more popular and it is an increasing side of my business. My clients like the fact that I can shoot still photos as well, so I am more than happy to do package deals for both stills and video. N.B. This blog covers just the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business. Please see my Reportage Wedding Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the wedding and portrait side of my business.
While stills photography still forms the main part of what I do, corporate videography is a growing side to my business. I have recently completed a large commission from a national chain of solicitors (Quality Solicitors) to film and edit 35 business videos in the East Midlands area within the short space of 3 weeks. The brief was to produce both customer testimonial and staff films, both at the solicitors' offices and at their business clients' premises. The high-definition films were used full-screen on Quality Solicitors' new website which was launched to coincide with their national television advertising campaign.
I handled all the direction,camera operation, sound, lighting, and editing myself and I was able to meet the very tight deadline - even if I didn't get much sleep in those three weeks! My client was happy with the results and my videos can now be seen on their website. Here are three of the business videos from this commission:
As Google now owns You Tube, video content on websites is more important than ever as not only does it help with search engine rankings, it also brings websites to life. Please see the Business Videos page of my website for more examples of my corporate films. I am currently working on more videos, so more videos are being added to this page all the time.
If you wish to have a video for your business, please give me a call on 07973 638591 or on 01455 271849 to discuss the brief.
N.B. This blog covers just the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business. Please see my Reportage Wedding Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the wedding and portrait side of my business.
I have just found myselfunexpectedly running in the Olympic Torch Relay!
Before you think I have done something heroic or that I have had a life-long commitment to sport for me to be chosen to run in the relay - I haven't and I wasn't! I was commissioned by Rugby-based concrete company CEMEX to photograph their Payroll & HR Manager Kevin Murch who had been chosen to carry the Olympic torch in the Relay as it passed through Rugby, Warwickshire this morning.
I photographed the torch being handed over to Kevin at the start of his leg and then I had to sprint ahead of him to take some photos of him running towards me. I took some shots then sprinted ahead of him again to where there were lots of people lining the route patiently waiting for a runner holding a torch. I'm afraid all they got was an rather unfit, red-faced photographer holding a couple of cameras! To my surprise (and delight), the crowd started cheering and someone shouted out "Where's your torch?!". It was at this point I decided to enter into the spirit of the moment and I proudly held up one of my cameras high into the air and carried on running. It seemed to amuse the crowd anyway. I was really out of breath by the time I got to the next hand-over point, but it did enable me to get some more photos of Kevin running and also his hand-over. I hadn't realised I was so unfit!
Here are a few photos of Kevin in his moment of glory. Now, where's my inhaler?...
N.B. This blog covers just the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business. Please see my Reportage Wedding Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the wedding and portrait side of my business.
I can't believe that this is my first commercial photography blog since mid-November! December to February is usually a fairly quiet time for photographers and it is a time that I normally use to update my website and to generally catch-up. It was not the case this year as I have been rushed off my feet! So much so, that I haven't had time to blog. It has been the busiest December to March that I have had in 16 years of being a freelance photographer.
I have had so many photography jobs in the last few months that it is impossible to blog about them all, so here are three that I have chosen to highlight:
I was recently commissioned to do some commercial photography for a national glass company. My brief was to photograph the processing, handling and delivery of the glass in an imaginative way, to be used in their new brochure. I was impressed by the way that they handled the huge sheets of very heavy but fragile glass - especially when they flipped each sheet down onto a cushion of air to go into a computerised cutter. This job was quite tricky as with so much glass around, I had to be very careful not to get my own reflection in the photos or to get flare from the reflection of my lights. The glass did, however, provide some excellent opportunities to photograph the staff with their own reflections.
Another technically challenging but highly interesting job was to photograph a laser cutting factory in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The company cuts anything from thick steel to moulded plastics with such high-precision and with great speed. It is amazing to watch, but very difficult to photograph as the laser-cutting is all carried out behind safety glass or perpex, and the factory had very patchy, but mainly dark ambient lighting, so it was quite a tricky job. They also do precision welding, which again, was behind glass, so this certainly was a job for the inexperienced! Even the conventional welding shots are tricky as I couldn't look through the camera viewfinder at the welding, otherwise I would damage my eyesight. I then went back for another day at the same factory for some product photography to photograph their finished products against a studio background.
Another interesting job was to photograph TV chef Richard Fox giving a cookery demonstration to some pupils at a school in Newark. Richard is a real character and he kept the children entertained as well as giving them some useful cookery tips.
I have also been working on a massive corporate video project, but that will be the subject of my next blog post, so I better not say any more - said too much already!
N.B. This blog covers just the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business. Please see my Reportage Wedding Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the wedding and portrait side of my business.
Here is a photo I took in TNT's contact centre in Lount, Leicestershire for TNT's company magazine. It shows Pudsey Bear "helping" to take calls - much to the amusement of the staff. Let's hope lots of cash is raised for Children in Need today. It's a great cause.
N.B. This blog covers just the PR, commercial, corporate editorial, architectural and aerial photography and videography side of my business. Please see my Reportage Wedding Photography Blog for up-to-date news about the wedding and portrait side of my business.
I will be exhibiting at Leicester Business Event LBE11 on Thursday 29th September at Walkers Stadium, Filbert Way, Leicester, LE2 7FL from 9.30am to 4.30pm.
As this is a an event by the best businesses in Leicestershire for the best businesses in Leicestershire, I will primarily be showcasing the commercial photography and video for business side of my work. However, I will also show some of my reportage wedding photography too, as I will have a couple of wedding albums on display. It should be a good day for making new contacts, so if you are in business in Leicestershire, there is no better place for you to be this Thursday! It would be great to see you there...
I have just done some aerial photography of a pallet yard in Nottinghamshire. My brief was to get as close as I could to the pallet yard and to photograph it from the air from all angles and to show its location. On the face of it, that sounded straightforward, however, when I checked the location of the pallet yard, it was sited on the edge of Langar Airfield in Nottinghamshire which is a parachute drop zone and as such, is a no-fly zone for any aircraft other than the aeroplanes that drop the parachutists. Being a private pilot myself, I knew the relevant people to contact to get the permission needed to enter the no-fly zone.
Having got the required permission (subject to fitting in around the parachute drops), I waited for a sunny day with good visibility and hired a helicopter and pilot. I felt a helicopter was best for this job as they are far more manoeuvrable than fixed-wing aircraft and as we had to fit in around the parachute drops, we had to get the shots done as quickly as possible. It would have taken longer with fixed-wing as we would have had to orbit the site for a lot longer. I also ruled out using my 15m ground-based aerial mast as it would not have been high enough for the shots required in my brief. It is great for low-level wide-angle shots that can look really dramatic, but it was not high enough for this job. Luckily it was a hot day as I always insist on taking the door off on my side of the helicopter as I don't want to shoot through the perspex window. It was actually a really comfortable temperature, although I was glad I wore a wind-proof Goretex jacket! I have done aerial photography shoots on cold winter days and despite wearing lots of layers, it can be absolutely freezing.
Anyway, we took off, let air-traffic control know what we were doing and that we had the relevant permission to enter the no-fly zone. We then changed radio frequencies to contact Langar drop zone to wait for clearance to enter their zone. As soon as all the parachutists were on the ground, we were allowed to enter and we found the pallet yard very quickly. It is amazing how different places look from the air than from the ground, but this was a very distinctive site which made it easier for us. I took lots of photos from all directions and heights. We were able to fly low when we were over the airfield as we didn't have to worry about the usual low-flying laws that apply when not over airfields, so that as a real bonus. All in all, a successful mission.
