Jan
I have been working with the British Red Cross for nearly twenty years covering some incredible projects with them, from disaster relief to the help that they do in the community. I was delighted to hear that the Youth Engagement team and Young Volunteers have received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Volunteering Award in recognition of their hard work and volunteering.
I am proud to have photographed their work of empowering young people into volunteering and inspiring social action.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups. It was established 20 years ago to commemorate The Queen’s Golden Jubilee and has recognised around 250 outstanding local volunteer groups across the UK each year to date.
The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Volunteering Award, a special one-off addition to the annual Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS), has been awarded to 20 national charities for their exceptional work to empower young people.
These awards are a timely acknowledgement of the wide-ranging support and encouragement that is available to young people across the UK.
They highlight the indispensable role that the voluntary sector plays in targeting help, advice and guidance where it is needed most.
These awards should also be seen as a tribute to the millions of volunteers and donors who, in difficult times, provide the resources of time and money which contribute so powerfully to the social fabric of our country.
#makeadifference #PlatinumJubileeQAVS #volunteer #empower #socialaction #charity #photo #photography #photographer #humanity #humanitarianphotography #people
Jan
In 2022 I posted 108 articles through my website and social media feeds. These ranged from being about the awards that I received, to exhibitions and festivals that my work featured in, publications in magazines and books, celebrations of awards that my clients had won or their achievements, work that I was involved with and new photography that I had produced.
I believe it’s important to maintain your passion by challenging yourself to work on “personal projects”, enter competitions and showcase your work in exhibitions.
In 2022 my photography was
Awarded, being a winner in the 15th Annual “International Color Awards” with 3 honourable mention & 4 nominations; receiving an honourable mention in the Whalebone Magazine Photo Contest; and highly commended in The International Portrait Photographer of the Year Awards, 2022 in four categories,
Exhibited at, the 6th Biennial of Fine Art & Documentary Photography in Barcelona; and at the Phillips Collection (@thearc) in Washington DC as a solo exhibition with my series “Portraits of Resilience”, produced in collaboration with TASSC International
Published in, The Times, Independent, The Guardian, The Evening Standard, CNN, Bloomberg, Architects Journal, Dezeen, Wallpaper Magazine, The RIBA Journal, Interior Designer Magazine, MIX Interiors Magazine, FX Magazine, Architecture Magazine, The Architectural Review Magazine, Office Snapshots, Design Curial, Designerati website and The Upstream Journal.
I was also honoured to, have work included in the film celebrating The Phillips Collection centennial year with my “Portraits of Resilience” series shown alongside the likes of Pablo Picasso, Daniel Canogar and Marta Perez Garcia; have my Microsoft assignment on 3D Holoportation as part of BBC feature; be a featured artist with INFLUX Gallery and inducted into their hall of fame; speak on the “Digital Artist” podcast; and sitting on the judging panel of "The Best Photography Awards”.
I Worked with clients including, Microsoft, Sanofi, Heatherwick Studios, EPR Architects, Buckley Gray Yeoman, HSBC, INTELSAT, Nando’s, InterGen, QOB Interiors, Harrison, Tetris DB, Hilton Hotels, 9 Yards Creative, Hakwood, Armourcoat, SVP Global, Corsair Capital, Canyon Partners and Hays.
And Supported charitable organisations including, The British Red Cross, Compass Collective, The Queen’s Green Canopy, St.Thomas’ Hospital Foundation Trust, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC), DelAgra Group, and Make-A-Wish Foundation
I hope that we have the opportunity of working together in 2023.
Dec
Earlier this year I photographed the “Tree of Trees” sculpture for the Queen’s Jubilee celebration. Designed by Heatherwick Studio, the “Tree of Trees” is one part of a national community campaign to plant more trees and inspire the next generation of tree planters, led by the Queen’s Green Canopy.
Last Friday I was asked by The Queen’s Green Canopy to capture the planting of a tiny forest in Enfield. The local community and council braved the cold conditions to join the Queen’s Green Canopy and Earthwatch Europe to plant 600 trees at Alma Road Recreation Ground.
The Queen’s Green Canopy is proud to be creating a living legacy with over a million trees planted in Her Majesty’s name across the nation.
The Queen’s Green Canopy is an inclusive national initiative, meaning that everyone from across the United Kingdom can get involved. Whether you’re an individual hoping to plant a single sapling in your garden, a scout group planting a large tree or a City Council intending to plant a whole avenue of trees to honour The Queen, the below pages will provide the information you need to plan and deliver your project.
https://queensgreencanopy.org/get-involved/
The Queen’s Green Canopy is a not-for-profit initiative with the aim to raise funds that will go towards planting trees and creating green spaces in deprived urban areas and schools across the United Kingdom.
With your support, we can plant trees across the nation to benefit our natural wildlife, provide cleaner air, slow the impact of climate change and improve general health and wellbeing.
https://shop.queensgreencanopy.org/
Oct
Congratulations to DelAgua for celebrating 10 years in Rwanda with the millionth stove distribution last week.
I worked with DelAgua at the beginning of their carbon credit project called Tubeho Neza (“Live Well”), travelling in Rwanda to photograph the distribution days, community health worker visits and how the program is improving the lives of those involved.
The photography went on to form a major part of DelAgua’s marketing awareness campaign being published in the “Tubeho Neza” book and featuring in a number of magazines. I was also a winner with the photography, at the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards.
The DelAgua cook stove is designed to work for the reality of the lives of the families who use them. It uses wood, but just small pieces of twig and tinder, which rural families can gather without encroaching on forestry. Crucially the design of the stove increases thermal efficiency resulting in quicker cooking speeds and much lower fuel requirements. The stove requires at least 50% less wood than a traditional fire. The stove is durable and saves the equivalent of 14 tons of CO2 emissions over its seven- year life.
With a target of donating 2.3 million stoves by the end of 2023, Tubeho Neza project is one of the world’s largest cook stove projects.
Education and ongoing support is central to the work. Every family is visited by a Community Health Worker who explains the dangers of cooking on a traditional fire and household air pollution and the health advantages of cooking on the stove and they also make sure the family know how to use it. Behaviour change is immediate and lasting.
