Running a shoot: corporate headshots for a firm in London

Posted on by

This blog post features a selection of photographs from last week’s shoot with the founders and select staff at Melcrum publishing.

The term corporate headshots leaves me a little cold; I prefer to think of them as a series of mini quick-fire interviews and I like to make them last for up to 15 minutes each, depending on how quickly we get the shots. In most cases it only takes 5-10 minutes.

As always, the kit used for a photo shoot often determines the style of the photographs that come out, and in some cases where I want the diaglogue to be snappy, I prefer to go as natural as possible and use a single off-camera flash with a shoot-through umbrella.

During such photo shoots, I sometimes like to engage the sitter in a fast-paced conversation about the exact details of the work they do on a day-to-day basis. I love getting little slices of people’s lives.

In smaller business commissions, it’s often the case that there is not enough room – or time – to use your own backdrop or set up studio lighting.

As soon as I arrive, I look around for a space where the reflected light will be as white as possible, and assess the usability of a wall for a backdrop. Sometimes the backdrop may be too reflective, but in the case of most white walls it’s possible to manage the reflections.

The plus side of this limitation is that you are without the constraints of seating, free to allow the subject to stand and make conversation whilst snapping.

I like to inform the subject that the best photos come just when you are about to laugh or when you are about to sound-off about a colleague I have never met, and so I keep chatting from behind the lens. If this makes the subject a little self-conscious, that’s great, because I can then poke fun where appropriate, which in turn gets a laugh.

Without posing the subject too much, I will experiment with a variety of facial expressions. It’s usually towards the end of the 10 minute slot that the subject feels relaxed enough to look good for the perfect headshot.

The photographer must keep moving the light stand around, however. And this makes post-production that little bit more difficult, as the light varies so much between shots, and people’s skin reflects light differently.

Portraits of a pianist at Magdalen College, Oxford

Posted on by

Last Thursday I met talented pianist Ceri to take publicity shots for her website and upcoming album releases of her recordings of Bach. We spent the afternoon shooting in the picturesque grounds of Magdalen College, Oxford.

The weather was perfect for the kind of photography we were doing: overcast with no rain, the clouds producing a good strong diffused light. (I like to think of the British weather as silver, not grey…)

Mat Smith Photography - Ceri at Magdalen in the cloistersCeri, trees, Magdalen College OxfordMat Smith Photography - Ceri in the red, Magdalen College, OxfordMat Smith Photography - Ceri, piano, Magdalen College, Oxford

Tom and Emily’s Engagement – Gap advert styled portraiture

Posted on by

Tom and Emily are to be married next Easter in medieval York, and this weekend we went to take some photos around West London.

Sometimes a shoot is planned in great detail, but sometimes it’s nice to see what happens on the day.

Sunday turned out to be freezing cold, so we ventured indoors for these “on white” shots.

Boys being boys – family and character portraiture in Richmond, London

Posted on by

I have never met a single person who, when asked to ‘relax and look natural’ in front of a huge lens pointing in their face, takes a photograph that actually represents their character in some way.

Nor have I ever met a child who will sit still for a photograph.

At least, perhaps they will do for a school photograph. But that’s a school photo for you: well-lit mugshot at best.

But as for any other portraiture of children, they won’t sit still.

I therefore find it takes the stress out of photographing boys when you work with them rather than against them…

Mat Smith Photography Portrait of two boys pulling silly faces

Maja – portrait of a scriptwriter

Posted on by

This week I had the pleasure of photographing a scriptwriter friend called Maja, who was looking to have portraits taken for her acting portfolio.

We hit the shops for some makeup, stopped off at M&S Simply Food, and came back for seared venison on creamy mash with green beans, and a great bottle of red.

And here are some of the photos from Monday:

Maja on black #1

Maja on black #1

Maja on black #2

Maja on black #2

Maja on black #3

Maja on black #3

Maja on white #1

Maja on white #1

As long as it’s tasteful

Posted on by

When I was asked last month to photograph around twenty female nude university students for charity, it got me thinking about that phrase that hardly needs any extra explaining or context:  “… as long as it’s tasteful”.

This is the addendum that usually tells us more about the speaker than the preceding phrase “I don’t mind x/y/z…”, because it speaks volumes of our view of being naked.

At this point, it must be stated that I have no hang-ups about such a photography assignment, nor do I have any more excitement than I would have for any other type of assignment. Work – whether it features the naked or the clothed, the pretty or the less pretty, male or female, animal or vegetable or mineral – is work. In fact, work featuring twenty naked 19-20 year olds running around a field with horses for two solid days is hard work.

I imagine nudists will tell you that it’s our natural state – but for the rest of us, looking at naked people ‘in the flesh’ is something we do that involves only those who are very close to us. Of course, the internet generation – liberated as it is – finds it perfectly okay to look at photographs of naked people, moreover share with online contacts. A friend from school might have a ‘risque’ photo shoot and upload and tag photos on Facebook completely unabashed, caring little that their fathers or mothers will probably eventually see it – let alone friends of friends. But in the flesh – this is a little different.

When photographing naked people, one has to be aware of the typical British stance; we Brits are liberal enough to think it’s not immoral, but stiff enough to think it should nevertheless be done according to a generally accepted (and pretty abstract, if you think objectively) view of what is tasteful. In nude calendar terms, this means:

  1. No using props to hide body parts
  2. Moody faces work better than big grins
  3. Focus on the sensual aspect of nudity rather than the sexual aspect

The above maxims provide a generic and acceptable creative brief on which to base a set of modern photographs for a nude calendar.

They don’t address my deeper concerns about depicting nude women in this way, such as

  1. Women fought for the vote, why are they still taking their clothes off for men nearly a hundred years later?
  2. Why are nude calendars and Page 3 socially acceptable at all, unless we believe the same things as nudists?
  3. I’ve a very soft spot for the Futurist movement in art, and the philosophy behind the renaissance depiction of nude women that dismisses it as impure. (Note, this is not related in any way to a moral view; I have few moral views on the matter of impurity, just artistic views.)

Now I have got that out of my system, here are some of the out-takes from the Nottingham University Nude Polo Club Calendar.

For more information about the Nottingham University Nude Polo Club Calendar, please visit their Facebook group.

Below is an out-take from the calendar that didn’t quite make the cut. More photos to follow once the calendar has been released.

Hannah and Mini

Hannah and Mini