Another commission for Transport for the North, this time highlighting railway infrastructure and electric car charging. Shot in and around a cold, wintry Warrington Bank quay station.
Commercial photography for Transport for the North
A recent series of images for long-standing client Transport for the North. I’m proud to play some small part in their effort to demonstrate to the government the North’s increasingly desperate need for proper transport infrastructure and planning.
Documentary Photography - BP's LiDAR buoy at Liverpool Docks
Another commission from BP as they work on the development of the Mona and Morgan Irish Sea wind farms. This time I was taking photographs to document the maintenance of one of their Fugro Seawatch LiDAR buoys which are surveying the field to find optimal wind turbine locations. The Seawatch buoys run on solar panels and fuel cells using methanol fuel. Although autonomous in the field the buoys need to be towed to shore for refueling and servicing.
As an ex-engineer with a background in Physics, this was a really interesting - if freezing! - few days shooting in Liverpool.
LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, can measure wind speed by using the Doppler effect. The Doppler effect is a phenomenon that occurs when the frequency of a wave changes as the source of the wave moves relative to the observer. This effect is commonly experienced in everyday life, for example, the change in pitch of a siren as an ambulance approaches and then passes by.
In the context of LiDAR, a laser beam is directed towards the atmosphere, and the reflected light is detected by a sensor. As the laser beam passes through the atmosphere, it interacts with particles in the air, such as dust or water droplets. These particles scatter the laser beam in different directions, and some of the scattered light returns to the sensor.
By analyzing the scattered light, LiDAR can detect the movement of air particles and calculate wind speed. The movement of the particles changes the frequency of the scattered light, and this change in frequency is detected by the sensor. The amount of frequency shift is proportional to the wind speed, allowing LiDAR to calculate the wind speed with high accuracy.
LiDAR can also provide information about the direction and turbulence of the wind, helping to identify potential challenges for wind turbine installations. This information is particularly useful in the development of wind farms, where accurate wind measurements are essential for identifying the most suitable locations for wind turbines.
Event Photography - Adidas and Versus at Manchester United
VERSUS is the platform championing the future of football and its rising influence on new music and culture. Adidas is well, Adidas. On commission for the wonderful TO Events, I photographed the launch of a collaboration between the two brands on the occasion of a games between Manchester United and Aston Villa’s women’s teams.
BP Bodelwyddan Village Hall consultation
I worked with BP to photograph a consultation event at Bodelwyddan Village Hall that helped explain to residents of the area the changes that would be brought about by the development of two new wind farms off the North Wales coast. The Mona and Morgan windfarms will be two of the largest offshore windfarms in the Irish Sea.
The wind farms will be located approximately 20km - 30km from the coast and be operational by 2029. Together, they will form one of the largest wind farms in the world, with a combined potential generating capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW). This is enough to power the equivalent of approximately 3.4 million UK households with clean electricity.
The development of the Mona and Morgan windfarms represents a significant achievement in the UK's transition towards renewable energy, and highlights the potential of offshore wind to play a key role in meeting the country's energy needs in a sustainable way.
Suzanne Lacy at Whitworth Art Gallery
Suzanne Lacy
What kind of city?
A manual for social change
The Whitworth presents the first major UK presentation of multiple works of US artist Suzanne Lacy, a pioneer of social practice and community organising for almost five decades. In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, What kind of city? has been conceived with the artist as a project that is more than an exhibition, one that takes key works with relevance to our current context and uses them to convene people in order to start new initiatives that will actively help rebuild our city. Working around fundamental themes such as youth agency, borders, social cohesion, and work prospects for older women, the exhibition is designed to operate as an evolving manual for how we create equitable transformation. This underpins a new direction of travel for the Whitworth, as an institution that actively works for and with people across the city, one that begins with the question: after Covid, what kind of city can we make together?
Thanks again to my friends at the Whitworth for asking me to document the event opening and associated artist’s talk.
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Langfields
Langfields are specialist fabricators of process plant for the Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Offshore, Oil & Gas, Marine, Defence, Nuclear and other process industries. Based only one mile from Deansgate they demonstrate that there is still some manufacturing industry in the post-industrial city.
As a former engineer, I love visiting these places and finding out what’s being made and the techniques used.
The fabricators at Langfields receive giant 18mm Aluminium plates and within the space of only 20 metres, cut, bend and weld it into complex, water-jacketed vessels according to the exacting specifications of high tech industries.
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What Media
What Media help brands engage with clients by producing creative video and animation content.
They asked me to photograph their team at their new location in central Manchester. As always when working with this team, the shoot was full of positive energy and went by in a flash.
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Luneside for U+I
It was a real pleasure to work for Just H architects again, this time on their latest project for developers U+I.
Photographing their Luneside student accommodation a few weeks ago was helped along by some gorgeous unseasonal weather and the presence of the beautiful River Lune.
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Seashell Trust & Lauren Mullarkey Location: The Atrium, Library Walk (mixed media installation)
50 Windows of Creativity. An assignment for Wild in Art
This autumn, Manchester is hosting 50 Windows of Creativity, a showcase of the work of artists and makers displayed in a series of windows, venues, businesses and spaces across the city centre.
The displays feature multiple art forms from fine art and photography to ceramics, crafts, mosaics and murals curated by well-known and emerging artists and collectives – all with a connection to Greater Manchester.
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Barnfather Wire for HTP Digital
Barnfather Wire is the UK’s largest independent wire production company. I was commissioned by long-time collaborators HTP Digital to visit the factory in Wednesbury to produce images for the company’s new website.
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Phoenix Healthcare distribution for Fagan Jones
A shoot documenting the high technology pharmaceutical facility in Preston Brook commissioned by the wonderful Vicky at film production company Fagan Jones. I was once again shooting stills alongside the exceptionally talented film cameraman Dan Lightening.
Miles and miles of robotised, computerised conveyors pick, sort and pack drugs for distribution to pharmacies around the country.
An enjoyable and very busy day that reminded me that running shoes are required equipment for photography professionals.
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BeClear Orthodontics for What Marketing
During the quiet times of our coronavirus disrupted summer it was great to get a call from the team at What Marketing to work with them on a shoot for cosmetic dentist BeClear Orthodontics.
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Mark Radcliffe for the Daily Telegraph
Mark Radcliffe is as nice in person in real life as his radio persona would suggest. Music nerd, City fan, all round good egg.
I’ve photographed him a couple of times, here in Dunham Massey country park in Cheshire with a beautiful vintage VW Beetle for a motoring feature in the Daily Telegraph.
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Paddy Wagon Removals
Paddy Wagon is a family run independent Manchester removals business run by my friends the Wagon family.
During lockdown I worked with them on a number of jobs, taking photographs along the way and finally designing their new website.
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Documentary Photography for Buzzfeed News
Harassment Outside Abortion Clinics Is Still Happening, But Local Authorities Are Struggling To Stop It
The Home Office has rejected calls to put a national ban on abortion clinic protests, but councils are a long way off tackling the issue locally.
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New website photography for Nufox
It’s long time ago since I finished my PhD in Materials Science, my subject was high temperature materials yet my office was not in the upper rooms with the furnaces and laser flash equipment but in the basement with the polymer engineers and the extruders and that weird persistent smell of all things rubbery. So it was with a feeling of nostalgia that I was once again amid the extruders and waterbaths at Nufox in Manchester to photograph their people, processes and products for their imminent website redesign.
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Documentary photography of Helen Knowles 'Trickle Down', Arebyte Gallery, London
Trickle Down, A New Vertical Sovereignty is a tokenised four-screen video installation and generative soundscape, which explores value systems and wealth disparity. The artwork is composed of auction scenes, performances and choral interludes by different communities such as prisoners, blockchain technology employees, market sellers, and Sotheby’s auction bidders.
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British Association for Applied Linguistics conference
A few weeks ago I photographed the latest BAAL conference at Manchester Metropolitan University.
I find it really interesting to cover conferences as you get thrown into the deep end of academic research in subjects that you previously hadn’t really thought all that much about. BAAL this year was no exception, some extremely interesting themes and insights into language acquisition, learning foreign languages and linguistic changes brought about by emerging technologies.
As freelance photographers we often don’t get feedback on our work after the event, so it was very pleasing to get this response from the conference organiser:
‘I’ve just downloaded the photos – absolutely fantastic. I’ve never given a photographer such a haphazard brief and had it nailed so well, so thanks very much. I wouldn’t hesitate to use you again based on these.’
If you’d like me to photograph a conference for you either in Manchester, the North or across the country, please get in touch via email or using the contact form on the About page of the site.
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British Ecological Society Summer School
The British Ecological Society’s summer school is a week long residential field experience for students studying sciences at A-level, Scottish Higher and other similar qualifications. This year 31 students from 7 different schools across the UK gathered at Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales. I was there as documentary photographer giving an overview of the day’s activities and providing marketing and social media material.
As ever, working for BES was extremely interesting, a personal highlight being the nature walk led by Dr. Daniel Forman, lecturer in Biosciences at Swansea University. I’d walked the same route as part of the Pennine Way last year but his fascinating insights into the ecology around us was illuminating.
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