24Photography 2013

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For the fourth year running, I am participating in the 24Photography artist’s group exhibition, which itself is in its tenth year. Each year, 24 photography artists document New Year’s Day, each assigned an hour to capture the day through our eyes and relate it to the year’s brief. This year, the chosen theme was Sign of the Times and I was allotted 13:00 – 14:00 slot.

My piece is entitles Fast Forwards. It is based on the premise that any city such as London is always in perpetual motion. This forward movement is derived from all the constituent componenets, which operate independently at their own pace.

I wanted to juxtapose the different time transitions, from the ever changing skyline to the frenetic movement of the people who inhabit it. Finally, I wanted to include the natural elements that surround all this activity, which itself is in a constant change of flux. However, in all of this commotion, it is this natural variable that will enjoy the greatest longevity.

As usual, the exhibition will opens tonight, 24th February in Berkeley Square, Mayfair. The nearest tube station is Green Park. Please come along and see al our work.

Useful links:
24Photography website: http://www.24photography.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/24photography
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/24photography

Press Links:
Photography monthly: http://www.photographymonthly.com/News-and-Reviews/2013/2/24photography-s-10th-anniversary-in-Berkeley-Square#.URPlCxhMTvs.twitter
Professional Photographer: http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/News-and-Reviews/2013/2/24photography-holding-its-10th-anniversary
Hot shoe: http://www.hotshoeinternational.com/wo_exhibition_details.do?b=14&c=1
Evening Standard: http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/exhibitions/242013-magic-abroad-air-115014
ArtsIant: http://www.artslant.com/lon/events/show/259378-242013—marlow-mortons-and-magic-abroad-in-the-air
All in London: http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/whats-on.php?event=99527
Indie London: http://www.indielondon.co.uk/Events-Review/24photography-exhibition-berkeley-square
Photo 75: http://photo75.com/home/?p=3061

John Lewis – Fitness shoot

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In January of this year (2013), I executive produced a short film for John Lewis about the ever pertinent New Year’s topic of fitness.  With only a very limited time frame to pull together the shoot, we worked with a small unit at Mind’s Eye to create a humorous and delicately shot short to demonstrate how we all start the New Year with the best of intentions to loose the gut just acquired over the Christmas break.  However, our protagonist is thwarted at every turn by the shoddy state of his sporting gear.

How long did it take you to recognise the soundtrack?

Here are a few images I managed to grab whilst on the one day shoot.

Still from the video shoot
Wide shot 1
Wide shot 2
Main protagonist shot 1
Main protagonist shot 2
End shot (reverse)
Crew shot 1
Crew shot 2
Crew shot 3
Crew shot 4
Crew shot 5

Here are a couple of links from the press:
Drum’s Ad of the Day (18th January 2013): http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/01/18/ad-day-john-lewis-old-fitness-equipment

M&M Global: http://www.mandmglobal.com/news/22-01-13/john-lewis-launches-new-year-new-start-fitnes.aspx

Bring on the Green

Image | | Zapfly

O2 Ireland Rugby mobile site

Today marked the first of the Six Nations rugby games.  O2 Ireland commissioned my team at Tribal DDB to create a mobile optimised site as a second screen game companion. Utilising a highly detailed statistics feed, we create an application that would translate the raw data into meaningful graphics that would not intrude upon the live game experience.  We also incorporated a Twitter feed from the social team at O2 Ireland and Rugby fans

The data was updated at least every 30 seconds throughout the game and covered everything from tries and conversions to substitutions, penalties, red and yellow cards, plus comparative data such as the power of the Irish pack.

With incredible narrow timelines, we managed to deliver a great mobile optimised site (desktop and tablet versions also available) with a very short lead time.

Here are some other screen grabs of the application.

Screen grab 1
Screen grab 2
Screen grab 3

Useful links:
O2 Ireland Rugby blog: http://www.o2online.ie/o2/rugby/blog/
O2 Rugby mobile site site: http://bringonthegreen.ie/

Marmite Oxford Street interactive Christmas lights

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Marmite sponsored the Oxford Street lights for Christmas 2012.  Their active campaign at the time was based around the ‘you either love it or hate it’ concept.
My team had been challenged with coming up with an imaginative way to bring this concept to life socially, primarily based on Facebook.  The conclusion was to invite consumers to take pictures, demonstrating their love or hate of Marmite, which was uploaded onto a digital interactive bus shelter on London’s Oxford Street, by Selfridges.  This bus shelter, just below the interactive display, was fitted with a 55” interactive screen and camera that enabled visitors to have their photo taken.

Christmas lights in action

The interactive Christmas Lights display was a first for Oxford Street.

Aside from public generated images, the giant digital display also featured a series of Christmas Characters including Father Christmas and his elves, revealing their passion, positive or negative, for Marmite.

Marmite Facebook picture upload screen

After moderation of the face shots, we sent participants an email with a designated time for when their image will appear on the screen.  For people who were unable to view their face on the Marmite banner in situ, we set up a Facebook CCTV feed and broadcast live footage to the Marmite FB channel as well as an online gallery.

Marmite Facebook live picture screen

In addition to Facebook design, build and installation, we also got involved in the physical installation, as the crews shut down sections of Oxford Street through the night and trucks moved in to hoist the displays into place.  Based in a test booth on the rooftop of Selfridges, we uploaded images to the display below, hanging around 15m above the street.

With an anticipated 40 million visitors expected to shop at London’s Oxford Street during Christmas, the sign had a very significant audience.

The display won a Silver Creative Circle 2013 for Digital: Best use of DOOH.

Here are some images of the physical installation of the display.

Work begins on Oxford Street
The main display is hoisted into place
Camera 1 in place
View from the top
An eerily quiet Oxford Street
The Tribal crew still happy at 2am
Plugging all the wires in
Moments before the rain came

VW One Film shoot

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Last summer, I executive produced a global campaign for VW around the launch of the new Golf 7.  Part of the work created included a personalised film we shot out in the US.  This film was known as the One Film and was based around choices that users entered on the www.onething.com website.  Their input was then rendered in a personalised movie and served back to them as a dreamlike view of a journey through their one things.

We worked with JK and Todd Kellstein at Paydirt in LA, to capture a lovely 2 minute short film – our take if you will of the classic American road movie. The team also created two TVC commercials for global release.  Below is one of those TV ads that aired in Hong Kong.

Below are some behind the scenes images from the 5 days we were shooting in California:

Big Sur
Day 1
Day 1
Day 1
Day 1
Crew on Day 1
Crew on Day 1
Crew on Day 1
Day 2
Day 2
Day 2
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Crew on Day 4
Day 3
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 5
Day 2

A day in Death Valley, USA

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Recently, after being on a film shoot in California, I had a couple of days spare at the end of my trip and decided to capture some images in Death Valley.  I made the classic tourist error of hiring a convertible car, which in the desert, is a bad idea.  You want, no, you need to have air conditioning.  Being stoic, I chose discomfort and sunburn instead, which turned out well for me.

Anyhow, here are a few shots I took in a day long photography shoot in Death Valley.  It effectively documents the arrival of a fierce thunder-storm, gale force winds and a torrential downpour that flooded the roads in multiple places.

The fluffy white clouds formed the perfect backdrop to this ghost town

Thick, heavy cloud was blowing into Death Valley from Nevada to the east.

The sky seemed to lose colour as the heavy, grey clouds gathered overheat, blocking out the intense sun and dropping the temperature some 20 degrees Celsius.

Rain began to fall and there were two separate rainbows in the desert.  It was magnificent.

For these last two images, the wind was blowing a gale and I had to cling on to my camera gear to fear that it would be snatched away by the wind.

Forks of lightening spread 180 degrees sideways through the sky as I drove back to my hotel after taking the final session of shots on Zabriskie Point.

Launch of the new Corsa – Work from the archive

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Back in 2006, whilst based at PCI Fitch as Head of the Web team, we worked on amongst other things, a large animation for the main screen on the Vauxhall stand, which sat behind a half-pipe. The animation was several thousand pixels wide and played on a screen around 11m wide.

Gathering design and creative input from our surround environment and internet research, we crafted a completely new alphabet for the Corsa launch, used in this animation.

This approach was such a resounding success that it was adopted unilaterally by Vauxhall on other Corsa release material creative work.

Below are some images from the motorshow in London, showing all the different eleemnts the new font was used within as well as the main event, which was the half pipe.

Large animation behind car
New Corsa with our creative graphics
BMX bikes on half pipe
Welcome to the Corsa stand
People on the Corsa stand
BMX on half pipe
Corsa reveal on stand
Same of new alphabet branding
End of the BMX and rollerblade session on te half pipe
Interactive table games
Graphic details on the car

HTC One global launch

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During my time at Mother, I was the Head of Integrated Production on the HTC account and worked on the launch of the company’s latest and greatest smartphone, to combat top models from Apple and Samsung.

My production team co-ordinated the creation of all global launch material, ranging from a photo shoot of the new handset, the TVC of a photorgaphy student sky diving with the HTC One handset to collateral for all the subsequent digital channels with interesting behind the scenes material as well as social commentary and a PR event at the launch of the HTC One on the site of the TVC drop zone, in the desert around Arizona.

Here is how we made the TVC.

24Photography 2012

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Third year running for me to participate in the 24Photography artist’s group.  Each year, 24 photography artists document New Year’s Day.  Each of us are assigned an hour to capture the day through our eyes and relate it to that year’s theme.  This year, the chosen theme is Empty.

I was based in Hong Kong for most of December this year and although I was allotted 12 noon GMT, this translated to 8pm in Hong Kong.  The city is one of the most vibrant and hectic places on earth, so following the empty theme appeared complicated at first.  I wanted to focus on the hyper realism of the city, which I accomplished through using HDR to enhance the already bright end of day colours.

As usual, the exhibition will open on 24th February in Berkeley Square, Mayfair.  Nearest tube station is Green Park.

Useful links:
24Photography website: http://www.24photography.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/24photography
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/24photography