Moore Photographics

02/02/2023

THE VALUE OF GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY FOR YOUR BLOGS…

In September last year, I wrote about using professional photography for blogs, so in this ‘love’ focussed month, I decided to talk about what you might photograph related to love if you are blogging on this theme in February.

There are several Awareness Days this month that link to ‘love’ and the blogs you write can be about you personally or your business or both.

Some of these events and situations need a professional photographer, but for your social media, you could capture some images on your mobile phone.

If you are going to organise an event linked to a national day or week, and have booked a professional photographer in for the main event – capture some images on your phone, to gain traction in the event to sit alongside the professional images.

10 special weeks/days this month are:

1. The first three days /weeks are about making connections with schools and or colleges. My love of photography started as a boy, so I know there will be other children out there who may already be, or will become passionate about the subject. Engaging with schools, and taking photos can be a great way to introduce them to photography.

2. Big Schools Birdwatch (RSBP); runs from 6th Jan to 20th If nature is part of your business, or something you are personally interested in, and you have links with a school in your community, this could something for you. As part of the event, taking photos of the birds would be useful for the school, and for a blog about the event.
National Apprenticeship Week 6th – 12th The theme for this year is ‘Skills for Life’. taking an apprentice on in your business. This is a great opportunity, if you haven’t got an actual apprentice, to link up with your local school or college to invite pupils you’re your business and share the love of what you do, and show them the type of skills you use. If you already have an apprentice, write a blog focussing on them. Ask them some questions about which skills they think they’ve learnt whilst working in your business; what they’ve enjoyed most; what have they learnt about working with a team? For either of these situations, with the appropriate permissions, take photos of them working with you and your team.

3. Student Volunteering Week 6th- 12th Unlike the above, this is about volunteering in the community, learning to tackle social challenges, and finding out how both the communities and students benefit. It is a great opportunity to demonstrate how social action creates positive change. Last year 60 Colleges, Universities and Students Unions across the UK took part. If this is something that resonates with you or your business, then it would be worth contacting local colleges to see if they have anything planned. If not this year, you could perhaps talk to them about next year – planning ahead.

4. St Valentine’s Day. This is an excellent time for photographers. As well as booking a couple’s portrait during February, why not show the love to your business team and write a blog about them, introducing each of them in a paragraph, saying what they ‘love’ in life, and include a lovely photo from your recent business team photoshoot.

5. National Nest Box Week 14th – 21st This is definitely one for bird lovers how love watching birds in their garden. This event marks the breeding season for birds, and asks members of the public to set up nest boxes in their gardens to help with this. So, if you love birds and want to write a more personal blog, this would be a good one to write about, and capture photos for. You will need a decent camera to capture the birds, because you are unlikely to be able to get close enough to take pictures on your mobile without scaring them away.

6. World Sustainable Energy Days 28th Feb – 3 March. Write a blog about how your business is becoming more sustainable, with photos to go alongside. Product photography showing how you have changed from unnecessary packaging to recyclable packaging. Photography showing a local producer supplying you with products; services etc – sharing their logo, and sharing the benefits of integrating local producers into your supply chain, thus cutting down on the carbon footprint. Do you have an electric vehicle in your business that make most of your local deliveries? Capture images of your staff preparing for a delivery, putting the products into the vehicle etc.

7. There are many food awareness days this month, which are crying out for photos. Some of them are: Real Bread Week 18 – 26 Feb; Dark Chocolate day 1st Feb; National Carrot Cake day 3rd Feb; Nutella day 5th Feb; British Yorkshire Pudding day 5th Feb; Ice Cream for Breakfast day 6th Feb; World Latte day 11th Feb; World Almond day 16th Feb; Drink Wine day 18th Feb; Chocolate Mint day 19th For food producers, whether you are producers, or bakers, or chocolatiers – having professional photos of your food is incredibly important. It is the main focus of your business and should have photography to match. If during the year, you have had a product or working style photo shoot, then use some of your pictures to write a blog to match your day. If food isn’t your business, then just take a mobile photo of you eating the product of the day for fun social media posts.

8. Love your pet day 20th Feb. In June there is a Take your Pet to Work day, but as we are talking ‘love’, we all know how much the Brits love their pets. This is the perfect day to share a blog about your well-loved pet, and share photos. You may have loved your pet enough to have professional photos taken of them - talk about how the photoshoot went. Was it easy, were there problems, how did your pet perform in front of the camera.

9. Snow Moon 5th Feb 6.28pm. This is actually a full moon in February, which is named after the snow on the ground in the Northern Hemisphere. Some North American tribes called it the Hunger Moon, due to the scare food sources and hard hunting conditions during the mid-winter months. Others called it the Storm Moon. If you are fascinated by the Moon, then talk about this in a blog, and look into the other full moon names, and see if you can capture images throughout the year. There is plenty of information about the moons on the royal Museums Greenwich site. https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/full-moon-calendar

10. Flowers of this month: Most people have heard of birthstones, but did you know there are also birth flowers? February’s flowers are Violet and Primrose. If it’s your birthday, then this might be an interesting thing to focus during your celebratory month. If you also enjoy walking, link it with countryside walks where you can go in search of your flowers, and document with photographs.

If you would like professional photographs for any of your business blogs, or a couple’s or pet portraits – or any other blog related idea, please get in touch with me, so I can help. Email me at [email protected] or drop me a message.

05/01/2023

Planning for your own ‘stock’ photographs for 2023

Owning your own portfolio of professional photographs for your business is a must if you want to appear professional and stand out from the crowd.

Too often, companies use stock images for their business. They use them for their website, for blogs, for social media posts - in fact for everything.

Occasionally people are caught out, because the image they have used is not a free image. For example, I’m sure most people know that Google images are not all free.

Have you ever realised how unprofessional it might look if the image you are using for your business pops up on another site for a business that is diametrically opposed to your values and beliefs? How would you feel about that?

Even if you pay for an image from a legitimate online library, it is unlikely you will be the only person using that image.

If you plan your PR ahead for your year, (which many of you may well have done during the last months of 2022), then, you can book a time with your photographer and ask them to take photos to match your blogs and social media posts. Alternatively, your photographer may already have a range of photos in his/her portfolio that they could sell to you to use.

5 types of photos you may require:

Alongside the photos you need for your social media, you may also need the following:

1. You may be planning a special business celebration:

* A party for a milestone number of years in your business.
* Moving into new premises.

2. New members of staff may be joining your business, and now is a good time to get a new group shot, and individual shots, so that when you introduce them in social media posts, you have images of everyone that match your brand.

3. The coronation of King Charles In May.

* If you live in an area where there are links to King Charles, or you have may have some special celebrations arranged where you, alongside the community are going to celebrate his coronation. You could take pictures leading up to this, or if you get in early enough, book your photographer to drop by for part of the day. Failing the latter, take some photos before, and make sure you capture some images on your mobiles on the day.

* You might have a product that is going to celebrate the coronation. You will need to take photos well before to use in your PR and on any brochures or fliers.

4. You may have events where you want both aerial and ground photography. Ariel photography is something you can’t capture yourself on mobile phones, so this is where professional photography is a must.

5. This year might be the birth of a new product or project that you want to grow during 2023. Plan for any photos that can document that journey.

If it’s a product, you might photograph the actual production of the product. On the other hand, if it is a project, capture images of the group of people collaborating on that project. Especially if it is members of your team working with a charity that you support.

I can help you with any of these types of photos. I already take photos for one of my client’s blogs. They tell me what they want, and I take photos to match the title. Or, alternatively, you can choose some images from the vast portfolio of images I already have.

Please contact me if you want to book in some time to capture the images of your business in 2023. [email protected] or call 01672 519101

11/11/2022

The Rise of the Drone!

Drones are becoming more and more common for photography businesses to include them as a separate service for their clients.

I’m no different. Recently, I’ve teamed up with Sims Parker & Kidd, who are professional CAA approved drone pilots, based in Swindon.

Together, we can tackle most filming and photographic requirements literally from the ground up!

Using drones in my business, I’ve been able to add views that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to capture, enhancing the visual experience for my clients. In the past, camera cranes, very tall ladders – all having their own specific physical and safety constraints have made it difficult to capture shots from extreme vantage points. Drones make these new aerial perspectives a reality.

Drone images are extremely helpful for clients who require:

• Construction site and building surveys
• Land surveys for developers
• Internal room surveys
• Thermal surveys
• Agricultural crop surveys

Pros and cons of drones:

Over the past few years there have been quite a bit of negativity about drones. Mainly with people flying them when they weren’t approved pilots; also, some people are worried about the images that drones can capture covertly, invading privacy and safety.

However the truth is there are rules in place around this and they are different for those who operate on a personal licence and those who have commercial licences and training to use drones. You can find useful information on this here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drones-are-you-flying-yours-safely-and-legally

The government had some dialogue about drones with the public through workshops. During these sessions people were introduced to the positive benefits of drones.

There have been some particularly positive developments in the use of drones to help confront the global threat of air pollution.

Robert Garbett, one of the world’s leading experts in drone technology called on the UK government, back in September, to support the World Health Organisation’s plea to ‘rise up and act to protect the health of our most vulnerable people.’

He suggested that:

“Drone technology can be used in our most polluted cities to help improve the quality of the air, and this would be both economic and rapid. And lives can be saved, disease in the youngest reduced, the oldest and most vulnerable members of society protected.”
As things stand, 99% of the global population breathes in polluted air every day. In a study, the Francis Crick Institution in London found air pollution uncovered the link between car fumes and lung cancer in non-smokers. And another study by Imperial College London proved that around 4,000 Londoners died prematurely in 2019 because of long term exposure to air pollution. And poor air quality was found to cause permanently stunted lungs in children.
A Maritime drone initiative on the River Thames in London would decarbonise the city’s logistics and freight industry. And this technology could be deployed in any city with a river in the UK. Adopting this would reduce the number of delivery vehicles on our roads, which at present is approximately 89% of all goods transported by land. This is one of the UK’s most polluting industries.

Recent research published in a scientific journal found that a single delivery of a package by drone accounted for 84% less greenhouse gas emissions than a diesel truck, and used 94% less energy.

If the UK adopted drones in these situations the UK would become a world pioneer.

5 other positives use of drones:

• Emergency services and disaster relief can use drones to enable quick access to sites and to deliver medical supplies – saving lives.
• They can help find people lost in remote areas.
• Help to catch criminals more quickly, such as car thieves.
• Support conservation activities such as monitoring wildlife, habitat protection or rainforests
• Geographic mapping or land and coastlines and environmental law enforcement

If you think drone photography might be useful for you, please view my aerial photography gallery https://www.moore-photographics.com/portfolio-items/aerial-photography/

Or contact me: [email protected]

- Aerial Photography - Aerial Photography Moore Photographics is pleased to have teamed up with Sims Parker & Kidd who are professional CAA approved drone pilots based in Swindon. They have a large fleet of drones that can tackle most filming and photographic requirements. These

14/10/2022

THE THINGS WHICH CATCH MY EYE!

One of the main skills of a photographer is the capture the best image of a scene, or a moment in time. Add to this the ability to notice things that many non-photographers don’t notice, like telegraph poles, lamps, car aerials or trees growing out a person’s head; people or extraneous objects in the background – all objects that shouldn’t appear in the image and interfere with the main focus and would ruin a good photograph.

With much easier access to cameras – on our mobile phones, and good quality ‘point and shoot’ options, many people think they are good photographers. However, not everyone has the ‘eye’ for capturing a truly engaging, or beautiful photograph. There is talent and skill at play here.

There are many things in life we can just DIY – however when a good professional does that ‘thing’ the result is often very different.

Photographers approach capturing images in a different way. It isn’t just luck when we take a good photo. Thought is taken about many other things, and generally, I think we have an artistic view of life.

Five things I notice as a photographer:

When I’m out and about with my camera, which I always carry with me, plus several lens, I’m on the lookout for the following things:

Light:

Changes in light is one of the most exciting things to notice when you’re travelling around outdoors or even taking photos indoors. How light falls onto a subject or object is fascinating and sometimes breathtakingly beautiful.

In a predominantly dark room, you may suddenly have a ray of light that catches on the side of a person’s face, or makes a piece of glass shimmer.

Then I find the right setting to capture that brightness against the darkness (or vice versa), which for many amateurs can be difficult.

Shadows:

The opposite of light, looking for shadow is what I particularly love. Understanding shadows helps you understand light.

Shadows change the shape, intensity and even the colour, angle and direction of light.

When I use shadows as the main part of the composition for a photo, I use it to enhance the contrast of a subject, or of the subject itself. Shadows can create amazing abstract patterns, add mood, drama and texture.

Patterns:

Quite often, I notice patterns created by light and shadow, as I’ve mentioned above. But also, sometimes, I see patterns in every day things, such as a row of shaped, box trees, or the symmetry of some buildings; reflective patterns in windows or in puddles; use of tiles on a subway, diminishing in size as the tunnel stretches away from me; a group of animals standing in what initially may look random, but by moving to a different position, they might have created a pattern. Use of colour can create pattern too.

Negative space:

In photography, this is where a subject and the empty space around that subject can be emphasised. This means that although the viewer’s eye is drawn to the central figure, the emptiness surrounding it defines that figure or object. No spurious things to interfere with the focus.

Unusual weather:

This is another reason why I always carry my camera – because quite often the weather changes and you can suddenly be faced with an incredibly dramatic sky, or a rainbow, or ominous dark, or interesting shaped clouds. You need to be able to capture them at that moment, these are opportunities that don’t always occur again. You certainly don’t have time to nip home for your camera!

So, what makes photographers view the world with different eyes?

This is a big question. Is it nature or nurture or both? Am I wired to see things differently and to notice things others might pass by? Who knows?

I’m always looking for unusual situations, odd juxtapositions between things such as people and animals. I find even little things can be utterly extraordinary and I tune into that possibility wherever I go.

I look for the dramatic; dramatic skies or amazing clouds, which are often then useful for other photographs, particularly when photographing property - where I need to add interesting skies to alter the reality of the dull day when I took that photo.

Constantly, I’m on the lookout for moments that I can capture, knowing they will make a brilliant photograph, and one that will keep the viewer focusing on the aspect of the image I want them to focus on, rather than on things that shouldn’t be there!

If you’d like to talk to me about a photoshoot, contact me on: [email protected]

29/09/2022

The Value of Professional Photography for Blogs!

Many businesses write blogs these days to show expertise, share hints and tips and talk about their services or products yet often where do they get their accompanying photographs?

Some use online ‘free’ copyright websites (not Google images - they are not copyright free). However, if you are using them, there is nothing to stop everyone else from using them too. And it’s quite common to see blogs from companies with a generic picture which fools no one – we’ve seen it before, we know (if it’s an image of people) that those are not the people in that business. It’s often inauthentic.

A business owner or member of the team is trying to tell individual stories using generic images which bear no real relation to the content. And sometimes you are paying for those generic images.

Have you ever considered working with a professional photographer like me to PLAN those images for your blogs?

I can help you build a portfolio or images that are bespoke to your business, and match the blogs you are writing. I also have my own archive which can be used for such a purpose and which won’t appear in a hundred other places.

Having images that match your brand style will make you stand out from the crowd.

7 reasons why you should value professional photography for blogs:

1. You might like to have photos of your business premises, or paraphernalia linked to your type of industry. Products, or machinery, or tools etc.

2. Images of you or your employees photographed during a normal working day, showing your processes; or you running an event or workshop are far more authentic and create strong personal branding.

3. Working with me to a brief for your photographic needs, I can ensure that they are shot in the correct format you need for your blog. You may require portrait, landscape, letterbox style, or even square – deciding beforehand, I can provide the required format or even formats if you’d like to use the images to cross promote your content.

4. If you want to show your individual quirky side, I can help there too. We can plan together to create those particular shots, to match the blogs you want to write. I can shoot to create ‘negative space’ if you want to add words or phrases to that image.

5. Sometimes, blogs require a more abstract image, or one of something that you may not have the time, or the budget to photograph. However, among my vast collection of images I have already photographed, I may well have the exact picture you need. For example, I love photographing boats, trains, countryside, and places abroad, so I could offer you a range of images to purchase that match your blog ideas.

6. Business blogs are often also about the person behind the business – because people love to see the personality of the business owner/founder/MD or CEO. Therefore, a range of images of you perhaps engaged in your hobby, or with your dog, or maybe you have a number of office dogs; you relaxing in the garden you have created over time… These are also the types of things you may share in your blog, so worth arranging a photoshoot around these aspects of life too.

7. If your business works with a specific charity, then plan to capture images of your involvement with that charity during events or days you work with them.

Planning which blogs you are going to write during the year, and then booking a photoshoot with me to create some images to match those blogs also makes life much easier when it comes to time down the line

Also remember, you can choose to buy images from my collection to use for your blogs too. To view the range of photography I cover, visit my website gallery: https://www.moore-photographics.com/

If you’d like to talk to me about a photoshoot for blog images, contact me on: [email protected]

18/08/2022

Did you know I regularly donate platelets and plasma?

Something you will probably not know about me is, I donate Platelets. Have you even heard of such a thing?

You are probably now wondering what platelets and plasma are…



What are Platelets and Plasma?

Platelets are the tiny gold-coloured cells in your blood which help it clot and stop bleeding.

People who have cancer, or who have lost a lot of blood after an accident, organ transplant or surgery can also be helped by platelet transfusions.

Plasma carries out several functions in the body, including the transportation of cells and vital proteins that enable blood to clot and fight disease.



Why do I donate?

I used to donate blood and was totally unaware about platelets, but then they asked me if I would donate. My brother had cancer at the age of 16, and my mother has had breast cancer twice. I also have a number of my friends who have had cancer (as all of us do) so I felt it was the least I could do to help support them and others in the same predicament.

I have been donating for about eight years now. To make these donations I usually make a round trip of up to 100 miles from my Wiltshire home.



What happens when you donate?

I have to be careful about what I eat and drink for 48 hours before I give my platelets. I have to avoid fatty foods, so no fried breakfasts or takeaways are allowed, as they can affect the quality of my donation.

I also have to avoid taking ibuprofen, aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs, and obviously at the moment I have to take a Covid19 test.

What I have to do, is drink plenty of liquids and stay hydrated.

On arrival to donate, I am given a 500 ml drink, again to help with my hydration and my wellbeing during and after I donate.

I then have a health check to ensure that I am fit to donate, one being, to check my iron levels are high enough.

From signing in to leaving the building can take up to two hours to donate my platelets and plasma. I have A negative blood which means my platelets and plasma can be used by anyone. I’m known as a 2+1 donor- meaning that I donate two bags of platelets and one bag of plasma each time.

Over the last few years, I have made 376 donations, including plasma. The Guinness Book of Records has the maximum at 1,498 credited units, but that person has been donating since he was 16, and is still donating – so no chance of me catching him up!

The process is a little like giving blood – the main difference being that after my blood is taken it goes into the platelet machine, where the blood spins around to collect the platelets and plasma, and then as the extracted platelets and plasma are stored in separate bags, the rest of my blood is returned to my body.

Because the blood is returned to my body during the donation, it means I can donate platelets more often than I would be able to give blood. In fact, I donate every three weeks.

Once my platelets are donated they only last for seven days, which is also why I regularly donate.

Plasma is frozen to preserve its quality and function.



What are donations used for?

One donation can help up to three adults and 12 children – and, for me, that’s huge and gratifying. It can help them immediately too.

Most donations help people who are undergoing cancer treatment, and they can help avoid blood loss during chemotherapy.

69% of donations go to people with cancer.

17% to people who have undergone surgery.

8% helps people with medical conditions.

5% goes to adults in intensive care.

1% helps babies in intensive care.

It is worth considering and if you want to find out more please speak to your GP about it first.

Visit https://platelets.blood.co.uk/ for more information about platelet donations.

01/07/2022

Celebrating my 15th business birthday as a professional photographer!

Did you know that at MoorePhotographics.com I’m celebrating 15 years in business, and that has to be worth a ‘happy dance’!

I enjoyed photography as a child, even though it was during the time when you had to develop your film, and you simply weren’t sure what images you’d captured until the film was printed.

Growing up, I. actually wanted to be a physicist, but then went on to become a successful website builder, setting up my own business, Gopher Systems Ltd, which employed eight people at one point.

It became evident to me that far too often; website clients didn’t have decent professional images to populate their sites. It was a constant frustration for us as designers and I know it still is today.

To this end, I began photographing images for my clients’ websites myself to overcome this hurdle and move projects along in a timely manner.

The first digital camera I owned had only 1.3 megapixels, which is tiny compared to the size of digital cameras today – my latest cameras have 50 megapixels.

In simple terms, megapixels affect how large you can print an image – higher number of megapixels means images can be printed far larger. It’s why you’ll often see the media asking for a certain ‘size’ of image, the better the quality the more choice they have of how ‘big’ they will use it.

In 2007, I set up my photography business which has developed and grown over the years. Now, my business encompasses all areas of commercial photographic commissions. Some of my photos can also be bought via my online shop. Do feel free to drop by and have a browse.

I began by taking images of cars, managing to make them look good to advertise them for sale - in pre Autotrader times. This has led onto working with dealerships and other car manufacturers regularly since (and I happen to really love cars).

My next move was into landscape garden photography, when I was commissioned to photograph several gardens for a large landscape gardening company. They wanted a range of images from several gardens they designed and created to use on their website and in their printed brochures. Somehow, this led to me photographing a fashion shoot for Cotswold Country Living as well.

As the business grew, so did the variety of commercial commissions and now I photograph many diverse products, in different situations and locations which all throw up different challenges. I also have a studio so products can be brought into my premises so that I can photograph them in detail in a very controlled environment.

The photographic disciplines I cover in my business, is wide ranging including: architectural photography; automotive photography; aviation photography; commercial photography; corporate photography; farming and agricultural photography; fashion and accessories photography; garden and landscape photography; interiors photography; marine photography; product photography/ pack shots and travel photography.

In 2017 I was awarded my Licentiateship with the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP). To reach this level, I had to submit a range of images showing the quality and range of my commercial photography. Now, I’m working towards gaining my Associateship.

Even though photography is my business, it is also my favourite hobby too. For my own enjoyment, I love capturing seascapes, landscapes and night photography, and particularly when it means travelling alone around the countryside and coastal areas to capture the shots I want.

As a photographer you have to be able to think on the hoof, and therefore being prepared is vital. I always have a sleeping bag, kettle, and lifejacket alongside my camera equipment in the boot of my car – at the ready.

What I’ve loved over the past 15 years and still love about photography, is the huge diversity of clients I work with, which leads to interesting situations and engaging shots.

My photography services are available throughout the UK and overseas. My studio is based near Marlborough in Wiltshire.