In November 2023 I was approached by Torfaen County Borough Council and Coleg Gwent to produce a film to advertise a Social Care work placement course for young students looking to work in the social care and health sector. The film is centered around a young student named Mollie who gives an account of the experience she has gained throughout her time on the placement and encourages other young people to consider signing up for course if they’re hoping to have a career in social care in the future.
The film was shot over two days and it was lovely working alongside Mollie and the other people featured in the film who all did a fantastic job!
In December 2023 I was commissioned to shoot some promotional images for the lovely staff at Caldicot-based dental surgery Teeth For Life. Here’s a few favourites. Big thanks to Emma and Adam for reaching out and to all the staff for being so welcoming!
In May I had the pleasure of being asked to shoot scenes from Devauden Festival 2023 to capture the fun and vibes of this amazing family friendly festival, headlined this year by Rusty Shackle. It’s always a pleasure working on big events like this and I want thank the crew and artists for having me and being so obliging! Here’s a highlights film and a few snaps from the weekend!
In April I began a period of work shooting for the Wye Valley Meadery, a local brewing company originally founded in Chepstow and ran by brothers Kit and Matt Newell, who were about to complete an entire rebrand of their business – soon to be renamed the Hive Mind Mead & Brew Co. They had already enjoyed an admiralable level of success and exposure having been praised and endorsed by TV personality and local celebrity Kate Humble. The company has also appeared on an episode of popular BBC television show The Hairy Bikers.
As part of the rebrand, the guys were looking for an enitrely new suite of marketing imagery that captures and emphasised a bold new move to stand out from other companies in the brewing scene. They were particularly keen on a more down to earth, lifestyle approach that showed more emphasis on the bees and honey aspects of creating mead, as well as more emphasis on people enjoying the products in a social ‘real world’ setting.
Added to this, they’d been talking to several marketing agencies about the prospect of having a brand film made to showcase the evolution of Wye Valley Meadery into Hive Mind. After going down to pitch for the opportunity, I was thrilled that they loved my ideas and opted to use me and support a fellow local business through their journey.
The result was a series of shooting phases continuing through spring and summer to produce the final brand film, as well as a bank of fresh imagery showcasing the various products and processes. Additionally, I was also asked to shoot some merchandise shots and also travelled to both the Green Gathering festival and CampBestival Shropshire to capture the boys’ summer promotional activities to help push Hive Mind’s brand further away from home.
All in all, I got to climb into a bee keeper’s suit and get up close and personal with thousands of honey bees (only got stung twice…). I got to observe and capture the complete process of brewing beer. I got to go out around the beautiful Monmouthshire countryside on a summer’s day delivering crates of mead to various local suppliers. I got to meet some amazing, hardworking people working behind the scenes at festivals. I got to witness the wonder on children’s faces as they learned about the life cycle of a working bee. And most importantly, I got to bring my visions to life – from concept to fruition – and push myself to achieve shots and images I just wouldn’t have been able to achieve six months ago.
I’ve loved every minute of working with Kit and Matt – two of the nicest people you could hope to meet, with wonderful and supportive families – and it’s been great diving deeper into my journey of shooting and creating for local brands and businesses!
One last thing – I’d highly recommend the rhubarb or ginger sparkling mead!
Cheers!
In January I spent the day shooting a bank of marketing images for James at Caldicot Painting and Decorating, a local business that has recently starting to attract a lot of work. As part of my goal to spend more time this year shooting for brands and businesses, this seemed a great place to start!
James wanted some action shots of him on the job, but also wanted to capture some of the finer detail of his work with a more ‘arty’ feel to the images. Essentially he wanted to stand out from his competitors and project a professional vibe that was also friendly and welcoming.
It was impressive watching him work and witnesses his attention to detail (I can totally relate!), and made for some great visuals! The man’s a ninja with the paint roller and makes a decent brew too!
Thanks for having me, James!
In early January I was asked to head over to NOCO hair salon in Bristol to capture some hair and makeup images for a L’Oréal ID Artist submission in what would be my first shoot of 2023. I was contacted by Hannah who was looking to audition for the prestigious programme and who had come up with a radical concept for a unique hairstyle that she wanted to showcase.
L’Oréal only recruit a select number of stylists per year for their highly regarded and competitve development programme, and Hannah was eager to prove what she could do and had already secured a model and makeup artist (MUA) to help bring her idea – an industrial punk vibe which included the elaborate use of cable ties and about 17 cans of hair spray – to life.
After friendly introductions with Hannah, Sophie (talent) and Mariella (MUA) I began capturing some of the prep work as they worked collaboratively to bring Hannah’s vision together. Prepared and shot entirely within the salon on a quiet Monday morning against a few different back drops and lit with my ever-dependable Interfit rig, I think the final results were incredible (and completely eccentric)!
Thank you to all three ladies for being so much fun and having me along to capture the fruits of their talent. Big shout out to the manager of NOCO also for being so accomodating and lending his ideas and experience. Best of luck to Hannah, you thoroughly deserve a place on the programme! A great way to start the working year.
Concept and hair design: Hannah Hayes
Makeup and style: Mariella Tardio
Talent and vibe: Sophie Alyssa Shah
Imagery, lighting and bad jokes: Tom Damsell
A few behind-the-scenes snaps, prior to the main shoot.
In August I was contacted by the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, the South East region of Wales’ NHS service, and commissioned to shoot portraits of the Value-Based Health Care team as part of an awards submission for recognised great service. The team support and rehabilitate patients who suffer with serious, often life-threatening heart conditions and nurse them back to health with the use of data visualisations to track progress.
After the COVID-19 pandemic and the monumental effort nationwide from the NHS, I jumped at the chance to shine a bit of a spotlight (quite literally) on some of the staff who all play an unsung part in helping people. Everyone was fun and bubbly, and very accomodating and I was grateful to have the chance to work with some lovely ladies who heroically put up with my dry humour and naff jokes. Job done!
EDIT: ** I’ve since learned that the team have now been shortlisted into the final for the awards and will attend a ceremony in Cardiff next month to find out whether they’ve won. Sending luck and best wishes to everyone!
I was recently commissioned to capture portraits for Monmouthshire County Council’s newly elected Cabinet after a change of administration following the local elections back in May. It sees the Council change from a Conservative Cabinet to a Labour Cabinet, led by Monmouthshire’s first female Leader Mary Ann Brocklesby.
The brief required me to capture the new Caninet members in the wards for which they were elected and the shots needed to be relaxed and welcoming – nothing too formal. Natural lighting and simple was the name of the game
Everyone was extremely accomodating on the day of their shoot and I was able to quickly grab the shots with ease. Thank you to each of them for puttin gup with my rubbish jokes!
In July I was recruited by local folkrock band Rusty Shackle to film their new music video for upcoming single release ‘The Devil’s Pulpit’ as part of a promotion cycle for their latest album Under a Bloodshot Moon. The demand for my film abilities seems to be increasing, and I was eager to jump at the opportunity to work with such a talented band.
Filmed around various locations around Tintern, the Wye Valley and other rural areas around Monmouthshire; the song refers to the temptations offered by the Devil and the band were keen to visiually reflect the legend of The Devil’s Pulpit, a ‘sacred’ spot up in the cliffs above Tintern Abbey.
The video was co-directed between Scott Mackeon and myself and filmed over three different days in order to capture various narrative strands within the plot. As collborative efforts go, this was up there with one of the most creative and enthusiastic that I’ve had the pleasure of working on. Watching the boys rehearse the dance routine has to be one of the most entertaing things I’ve seen in a while!
Thanks to the guys for putting their faith in me.
Some of my favourite shots, behind the scenes candid snaps and final cut below:
Check out Under a Bloodshot Moon on streaming services or order from the band’s website. You won’t be disappointed.
What a crazy one this was! In June 2022 I entered a competition to win a commission shooting a marketing project for FOR Cardiff to promote all of the shopping arcades around Cardiff city centre. All that was required was to take an abstract photograph that captured the energy and vibrancy of Cardiff. The competition was open to anyone of any ability, and could simply be taken on a phone. Not expecting to win, I entered with the intention of a free bit of publicity and marketing exposure to a broader audience.
Three weeks later and before I knew it, my phone started going bananas with alerts and messages notifying me that I’d been shortlisted into the top five after 600+ submissions. I was contacted by the organisers and asked to write a short piece about the image (which was actually taken 3 years previously – see below!).
After a lot of love and support, my image was eventually voted the favourite and I won the commission. Two weeks later and I’d received the project brief and the final images were delivered shortly after, much to the satisfaction of FOR Cardiff. Below is a small selection of snaps that were captured during the shoot. Thank you to Emma and the team for the brief and for having me a long for the ride!
You’ve got to be in it to win it!
Some of the final images delivered for the commission:
