Feb
My portrait of Desiré Lemoupa, a survivor of Torture from Cameroon, is a finalist in the prestigious Lucie Foundation “Portrait Project”. This is the third “Open Call” Awards, in partnership with Sony and supporting World Central Kitchen.
My photograph along with all the other winners work can be seen in an online exhibition at
https://www.luciefoundation.org/open-call-portrait-project/#
The portrait is one from a series that is a personal project and collaboration with TASSC. The portraits feature survivors of Torture from around the world who fled their home countries seeking safety, recovery, and political asylum. Most were persecuted for standing up for freedom of speech & tortured by repressive governments.
Survivors are the strongest and most effective voice in the campaign to abolish torture.
Not all survivors want to be recognised for fear of repercussions to their friends & family. Each survivor selected a photograph that was significant to them. The photograph was then projected over the individual, sometimes obscuring their identity as per their request.
The Lucie Foundation was set up to honor master photographers, discover and cultivate emerging talent, and promote the appreciation of photography around the world.
Jan
Dec / Jan 2020/21 Issue of arc Magazine
My photography is featured in the Spotlight section of the latest arc Magazine, the international magazine for lighting in architecture.
I photographed the award winning ICON Outlet centre at the O2 in London for CallisonRTKL who worked alongside Hoare Lea.
The design focuses on the creation of two unique retail experiences – the Petals and the Clouds – to correspond with the leasing strategy and the character of the space they occupy. The ceiling treatments within these spaces are a unique feature to the site, designed to create a sense of light, space and tranquillity. Clever use of LED lighting enables the tone and look and feel of the development to shift depending on the time of day.
The success of a mixed-use project hinges on activity. The more people are walking around, using the space, and engaging with it, the more it creates an inclusive atmosphere and people want to be there. Creating spaces where communities can come together, alongside major entertainment destinations would ensure that the district will never ‘go dark’ and the different zones will offer varied, engaging experiences for visitors any day of the week.
I also have an advert in the magazine.
Sep
Following the announcement of Project Natick’s Phase 2 results on Monday, the “wild experiment” has seen increased attention as influencers continue to recognise the research is “less crazy than it sounds.” Called a “bizarre idea”, ”wild and creative”, and even “Davy Jones’s data-centre”, the effort has driven articles around the world, spanning a variety of audience types including top press, tech forums, business platforms, policy focused communities, sustainable media and channel press.
The photography and film have also featured on the Microsoft website –
https://news.microsoft.com/innovation-stories/project-natick-underwater-datacenter/
and performed strongly on their blog, YouTube channel, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn feeds.
Across all audiences the reliability of the underwater solution was a key point and overall, articles highlighted the project’s overall success and “promising findings” while illustrating Microsoft as an innovator with a customer-led focus. The “high-quality imagery” was noted as a contributing factor to the success of the coverage. Steve Clayton’s (Chief story teller at Microsoft) Friday report commented that “There are a ton of lessons we’ve learned from this experiment that will improve the sustainability of datacentres on land and underwater in the future. I share the story for two reasons beyond the tech though – the first is, it’s just beautifully told story that embraces the power of visuals to draw you in. The second is to celebrate the audacity of the idea”.
Sep
Not every assignment has me photographing a research project that is developing a revolutionary approach to an ever-increasing requirement with a sustainably responsible solution. Not every assignment is on the coast in a beautiful part of the world. Not every assignment has me working alongside extremely talented and creative individuals (and teams), that are appreciative of myself.
Microsoft Project Natick was all the above and more. We were working out at sea, on the dock side and in an energy park, on the Orkney Islands and mainland Scotland.
Microsoft assigned Photobanks to capture the retrieval of the underwater datacentre and data analysis with stills photography, drone, and film. Do not get me wrong this was not all plain sailing. Logistically we were at the mercy of the weather, there were major travelling and working challenges to overcome with the current pandemic, and technically this was extremely difficult to capture; flying a drone from a boat out at sea, photographing inside the vessel with a portable flash system and filming interviews on the key side in between ferry horns, seagulls and fishermen.
However, despite all these niggles, I returned to the Airbnb every evening throughout the shoot thinking … I love my job.
To read about the project and see the photos, film and drone pictures –
