CAMINADA CREATIVEissue four

high flyers

big thinkers

hard workers

Front cover: Gideon Capie, The Growth Hub (Gloucester) for Isaac Partnership 2: Manabu Nishimae, Honda Europe (Slough) for Words&Pictures 3: Sam Fanshawe, Marine Conservation Society (Ross-on-Wye) for Triodos 4/5: Simon Richards, EDF, The Growth Hub (Gloucester) for Isaac Partnership 6: Procter & Gamble (Geneva) for Words&Pictures 7: Grant Thornton (London) 8/9: Stephen Vaughan, Gloucester City Rugby Ltd, The Growth Hub for Isaac Partnership 10/11. Malcolm Rixon, Autodata for Grant Thornton 12/13: Clare Hoskins, Lisa Cammies, Melanie Standley, Richard Mallinson, Paul Veysey, Nicola Edwards, Tom Danter for Dolmans Solicitors (Cardiff) 14/15: Mick Caroll, Cape Connect (Southampton) for Words&Pictures 16/17: Matthew Smith, Safia Khatri, Ian Smart, Janine-Marie Holness for Grant Thornton 18/19: Darcey Crownshaw, Snow Business (Stroud), The Growth Hub for Isaac Partnership Back cover: Aaron Livingston for Grant Thornton

I’m very pleased to bring you my fourth issue of CAMINADA CREATIVE. Corporate portraiture

makes up most of my commissioned work. What I love about taking corporate portraits is the variety of what can be achieved and the triumph of seeing the subject’s personality shine through. I meet so many interesting businessmen and women in such different surroundings as you’ll see! I hope you enjoy my work and it helps you to understand why I’m so passionate about taking people pictures. This issue follows previous ones focusing on education and farming – please get in touch if you would like a copy. Visit www.caminada.co.uk for more information.

CAMINADA CREATIVEissue four

high flyers//big thinkers//hard workers

March 2015

produced and published byAlexander Caminada Photography ©

www.caminada.co.ukalex@caminada.co.uk

01453 75829007836 571145

Finding a suitable metaphor when shooting a location portrait can be a challenge. Often the brief from the client gives me something to work with and I start by scouting around the location for ideas. This picture

is set in an eco-garden, surrounded by 1980s office buildings at EDF in Gloucester. As soon as I saw the little red apples, the idea for this shot came together in my head. As I was taking pictures I noticed the gardener working behind me. I managed to persuade him (with much flattery!) to stand in the corner which adds another dimension to the picture. Lucky for me (and my ideas) subject Simon Richardson was a keen football player and perfectly executed my vision.

It’s no secret that I don’t know a rugby ball from a football when it comes to kicking them. Any conversations with me about either sport will be very short indeed! However, I have become an expert at turning my naivety into an advantage when it comes to photography. There is a real benefit to looking at something with an

ignorant eye and putting a fresh spin on it. Stephen Vaughan (CEO of Gloucester Rugby) is one of the sport’s high achievers and he was an absolute pleasure to work with.

Meetings. No one admits to enjoying them but for me they make a fantastic

opportunity to capture some great images. When I took this photograph, Malcolm Rixon was taking part in an anti-counterfeiting podcast. I surprised myself by getting drawn into the subject. I never knew it was so interesting – unlike the space we had around us for the backdrop of the shoot. Boardrooms do always add a challenging dimension but with some careful observation, it’s still possible to get some genuine, unique shots.

Increasingly, the portraits I take are used for social media and websites. A one-inch picture on LinkedIn needs to do a bit more work to make an impact and not get lost among a sea of faces. Of course commissioning a shoot just for this purpose would be a wasted opportunity and for that reason, I make certain that images can

be used across all media and at any size. When shooting a team, consistency is essential. Using the same lighting, cropping, posture and style all create an impression of cohesion.

Climbing chimneys at a petrol refinery is not something I get to do very often but the moment that this became a possibility, I got very excited! When I’d received the initial brief, it wasn’t nearly so exciting as there was no mention of heights and spectacular views. After a very thorough safety briefing and kitted

out with fire-proof suit, hard-hat and gas mask, I was ready to go. I must admit, I started to get apprehensive when my subject Mick Carroll pointed out the best spot – at 40 metres up! The team’s concern for my safety was reassuring and I knew I was unlikely to put a foot wrong. The resulting image is very unusual as I managed to get just enough light on Mick to set him off against the atmospheric industrial background. The dull, hazy overcast day added to the edgy effect with the surrounding chimneys giving the idea of the scaffolding used at height.

With around 1,500 employees requiring portraits each year, Grant Thornton, one of the world’s leading accountancy firms, keeps me very busy! The variety of people means a variety of faces. With limited time available – usually just five minutes per subject – each session is like a ‘speed dating’ performance.

I have to get to know each person enough to put them at ease and get the measure of their character. Over 10 years of practice with this client has enabled me to hone my ‘dating’ skills, helped along by my meticulous attention to consistent lighting and post-processing. I even record each name so that Matthew, Safia, Ian and Janine-Marie can be easily searched in the huge library we have established.

The moment I met Darcy I knew that I could push my luck just a little bit further with him. I wanted to show an entrepreneurial maverick. This shot, and some others in this magazine, were commissioned by the Isaac Partnership for The Growth Hub to advertise a new service for businesses. Finding the fun in a business

portrait is a huge and rewarding challenge and an opportunity to be creative. It does help if the subject makes snow and fires it with a Ghostbusters gun!

Accountant Aaron Livingston had just completed a successful deal with a major airline. A life-sized prop would have been impractical in the middle of Finsbury Square in London so this alternative did the job just fine.

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