Richard Boll

Category Archives: Portrait Photography

Different types of Corporate Photography to consider for your brand

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Filed under Advertising Photography, Commercial Photography, Corporate lifestyle photography, Corporate Photography, Corporate Portraiture, lifestyle Photography, Portrait Photography

Different types of Corporate Photography to consider for your brand

When people think about corporate photography, they often assume it’s limited to headshots of CEOs, senior executives, or employees. However, corporate photography encompasses far more than business headshots. As a professional corporate photographer in London, I’ve worked on a diverse range of projects that go beyond portraits, capturing the essence of businesses in ways that elevate their brand identity and connect with their audience.

Types of Corporate Photography

Corporate photography is a versatile field, offering businesses a variety of options to showcase their identity, values, and operations. Below are some of the key types of corporate photography that can bring your company’s story to life:

1. Corporate Headshots and Portraits

While headshots remain a staple, they’re not one-size-fits-all. Modern corporate headshots often emphasise authenticity, personality and approachability, reflecting the company culture. Whether it’s a clean and professional backdrop or a more relaxed environmental setting, corporate headshots are a crucial component of branding, especially for LinkedIn profiles, company websites, and press materials.

Corporate headshot of a woman in a London office.

2. Corporate Lifestyle Photography

Corporate lifestyle photography focuses on capturing authentic moments that illustrate your team at work. These images can include candid shots of brainstorming sessions, employees collaborating in the office, or even a team enjoying a coffee break. These types of photographs showcase the warmth of the human side of your business, helping you to connect with clients and potential employees on a more personal level.

A team meeting photographed by Corporate photographer Richard Boll.

3. Behind-the-Scenes Photography

Behind-the-scenes photography gives audiences a glimpse of your company’s inner workings. This could include production lines in factories, the craftsmanship involved in creating a product, or day-to-day office activities. By revealing what happens “behind the curtain,” businesses can build trust and transparency with their audience. The image was taken for the fantastic agency Park Avenue Recruitment.

Corporate lifestyle photograph of a woman writing on a whiteboard by Richard Boll photography.

4. Corporate Event Photography

From networking meetings to conferences, award ceremonies, and company social events, corporate event photography captures the highlights of these occasions. Professional images of these moments are invaluable for showcasing your company’s achievements, culture, and community involvement on websites, social media, and marketing materials.

5. Architectural and Interior Photography

The architecture and interiors of your office or headquarters can also say a lot about your business. Capturing these spaces with professional photography highlights your company’s environment, giving potential clients and partners a sense of your professionalism, innovation, and culture. This photograph was taken for Lazard Bank in Paris.

An example of corporate architectural photography by London photographer Richard Boll.

6. Corporate Product Photography

For businesses that manufacture or sell products, product photography is key to presenting items in their best light. Whether it’s cars, furniture, food, or other goods, high-quality imagery ensures your products stand out on your website, in brochures, or across advertising platforms. Companies might require advertising photography, packshot photography for websites, or editorial-styled imagery to express elements of their brand.

How Corporate Photography can help your brand

Corporate photography plays an essential role in defining your brand identity. High-quality visuals communicate professionalism, build trust, and create a compelling narrative around your business. By commissioning diverse types of corporate photography, companies can use these images across multiple platforms, including:

Websites and social media (including LinkedIn and Instagram)
Annual reports and newsletters
Business plans and investor presentations
Editorial features and press releases

Each type of image serves a purpose, whether​ it is showcasing your team, highlighting your services, or giving an insider’s view of your company’s operations. Together, they form a cohesive visual story that strengthens your brand presence and helps you stand out in a competitive market.

Choosing the Right Style for Your Business

The style of corporate photography you choose should align with your brand’s values and the message you want to convey. For example, a tech startup might prefer dynamic, lifestyle-oriented shots that highlight innovation and collaboration, while a law firm may favour classic, polished portraits to communicate professionalism and trust.
As an experienced corporate photographer in London, I’ve helped many clients craft the perfect visual narrative. By collaborating with marketing and art directors, I guide businesses in selecting the styles and settings that best reflect their ethos. Together, we create powerful imagery that enhances their brand and resonates with their target audience.

Ready to Elevate Your Corporate Photography?
If you’re looking for an experienced corporate photographer in London to capture professional headshots, corporate events, or lifestyle imagery, I’d love to help. Let’s discuss how we can bring your brand’s vision to life. You can see more examples of my work and read testimonials from my clients here.

Get in touch:

richard@richardbollphotography.com


+44 (0)7812 908229

The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control

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Filed under Artists, Conceptual Photography, Editorial Photography, Environmental Portrait, Exhibitions, Fine Art Photography, Limited Edition Prints, Portrait Photography

The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control

I’ve been working on my latest project Expression: Portraits of Artists for two years but it’s been an idea I’ve been exploring creatively for the last decade.

The project features visually striking photographic portraits of celebrated contemporary artists: Yarli Allison, Rana Begum, Gordon Cheung, Adam Chodzko, Ann Christopher, Marie Harnett, Bruce McLean, Cornelia Parker, and Gavin Turk. Also featured are Sussex-based artists Stig Evans, Richard Graville, James William Murray, and Jake Wood-Evans. The ongoing project involves elements of unique collaboration with many of the artists involved, inviting each artist to make their mark on the final piece and truly make the portrait their own.

The aim of the project is to celebrate the individuality and artistry of these talented people. Often artists are known for their works, but I wanted to tell the story of the people behind the artworks and capture their creative process.

With traditional approaches to portraiture, the sitter is typically invited to a photographer’s studio and the photographer directs the shoot. With this project however, it’s been more of a two-way dialogue with each artist about how they would like to be photographed, and inviting them to collaborate on the portraits by relinquishing creative control. This has challenged my standard process and opened my eyes to what that creative collaboration could achieve.

Yarli Allison (she/they) (b.1988) is a Canadian-born, Hong Kongese art-worker based between the UK and Paris with an interdisciplinary approach that traverses sculpture, installation, CGI (VR/AR/3D modeling/game), moving images, drawings, poetry, tattooing, and performances. This portrait was taken at her studio in London and she is photographed wearing one of her wearable pieces which references her sculptural and performative works. In this image, we worked together to create the mise-en-scène featuring a series of props, clothing, and headgear.

A portrait of the artist Yarli Allison by Richard Boll. The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control is Richard's on-going project.

Gordon Cheung, born 1975 in London to Chinese parents, has developed an innovative approach to making art, which blurs virtual and actual reality to reflect on the existential questions of what it means to be human in civilisations with histories written by victors. Cheung raises questions and critiques the effects of global capitalism, and its underlying mechanisms of power on our perception of identity, territory, and sense of belonging. These narratives are refracted through the prisms of culture, mythology, religion, and politics into dreamlike spaces of urban surreal worlds that are rooted in his in-between identity. I took this portrait at Cheung’s London studio. During post-production, Cheung added a collaborative element – he applied his signature digital glitch – an algorithmic blur that distorts the pixels – inviting the viewer to question time, space, and reality.

A portrait of Gordon Cheung taken by Richard Boll and digital glitch applied by Gordon Cheung. The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control.

Stig Evans (b.1964) is a painter and public artist based in Brighton. Evans’ work investigates concepts of visibility and perception. He uses colour to explore our visual acuity, how we perceive it, respond to it, represent it, and by its historical, chemical and physical and immaterial nature. He paints with an airbrush, building up many layers of sprayed colour creating chromatic colour experiences where boundaries, borders and chroma subtly move and shift in front of the eye. I shot this portrait on black and white film using a Hasselblad medium format camera. The background of antique pigment bottles was constructed by Evans in his Brighton studio. I hand-produced the silver gelatine fibre print in a darkroom which was then hand-coloured by Evans. He also applied 21,915 “strikes” in pencil, each strike representing a day of his life.

A portrait of the artist Stig Evans by Richard Boll. The art of collaboration and relinquishing creative control, Richard's ongoing project.

Jake Wood-Evans (b. 1980) is also based in Sussex. In an age dominated by screens and pixelated images, Jake Wood-Evans’ work feels like a welcome antidote. Drawing on the legacies of Old Masters, his intention is to capture the essence of these historic works without replicating them, depicting familiar, yet obscured subject matter. Creating ethereal images that are both unsettling and beautiful, Wood-Evans’ powerful use of light emerges from a loose and instinctive application of paint. His oil paintings shimmer with luminous and intense layers of colour as bold marks, dripping oils and scored surfaces sit in company with fine, delicate detail. The portraits of Wood-Evans were shot on black and white film using an Ebony 5×4” large format camera in Sussex studio. I hand-printed silver gelatine fibre prints which were then left on the floor of Wood-Evans’ studio for several months. They collected paint marks, drips, and textures from the artist at work. The collaborative portraits explore aspects of time as the prints develop their own history of marks.

A diptych of portraits of the painter Jake Wood-Evans by the photographer Richard Boll

Gavin Turk (b.1967) is a British-born, internationally renowned artist, who lives and works in London. He has pioneered many forms of contemporary British sculpture, including the painted bronze, the waxwork, the recycled art-historical icons, and the use of rubbish in art. Turk’s installations and sculptures deal with issues of authorship, authenticity, and identity. Concerned with the ‘myth’ of the artist and ontological questioning. Turk was included in several YBA exhibitions and his work is held within public and private collections worldwide, including the TATE, Museum of Modern Art New York, Museum MMK Für Moderne Kunst, Musée Magritte Museum, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I shot this performance-style portrait of Turk in his London studio as he writes his signature in the air. It pays homage to Turk’s earlier works including Multiple Signature (1999) and Jazzz Signature (2009), while referencing Gjon Mili’s photographs of Picasso drawing with light, taken in 1949. The use of red and blue references Turk’s pieces I (2015) and That (2015).

A portrait of Gavin Turk writing his signature by Richard Boll.

Bruce McLean (b. 1944) is an acclaimed Scottish sculptor, filmmaker, and painter. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art and at Saint Martin’s School of Art, where he and others rebelled against what appeared to be the formalist academicism of his teachers. In 1965, he abandoned conventional studio production in favour of impermanent sculptures using materials such as water, along with performances of a generally satirical nature directed against the art world. From the mid-1970s, McLean turned increasingly to painting, sculpture, and film work and won the John Moores Painting Prize in 1985. This collaborative portrait is really significant to me as it initiated the idea for the Expression project. The blank canvases seen in the background inspired the idea to add collaborative elements and I invited McLean to apply paint onto the print. McLean added a painting of a sculpture of a jug to the final photographic print. The portrait was shot on a Hasselblad medium format camera using available daylight.

Bruce McLean in his London studio photographed by Richard Boll.

Richard Boll’s photography exhibition Expression: Portraits of Artists will open on the 4th of October at The Regency Town House in Brighton & Hove.

Limited edition prints of the images in the show will be available from the 4th of October at richardboll.art

Event details:
Location: The Regency Town House, 13 Brunswick Square, Brighton and Hove, BN3 1

Exhibition opening times: 
Tuesday – Friday 11am – 4pm

Saturday & Sunday 11am – 5pm

Monday closed

Artist Talk: Saturday 12th October 3pm. Tickets are free but limited: Eventbrite

About Photo Fringe

The biennial, open-platform Photo Fringe festival runs from the 4th of October to the 14th of November with exhibitions and events taking place online and in venues across its home city of Brighton & Hove and along the south coast from Newhaven to Portsmouth. The programme presents a vibrant mix of lens-based work from emerging practitioners and well-established names, in galleries, cafés, pop-up venues, outdoor installations, and other extraordinary spaces. photofringe.org

Q&A with Richard Boll on his show Expression

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Filed under Conceptual Photography, Editorial Portrait, Environmental Portrait, Exhibitions, Fine Art Photography, Gavin Turk, Gordon Cheung, Location Photography, Portrait Photography

Interview with photographer Richard Boll about his forthcoming exhibition Expression: Portraits of Artists

What inspired you to create the Expression series, and how did you choose the artists you photographed?

The inspiration for the series goes back to 1997 while I was studying at Edinburgh College of Art. I worked on a personal project photographing Scottish artists including Callum Innes, Elizabeth Blackadder, Callum Colvin, and John Houston which was a very enjoyable process and was an experience that really stuck with me.

In 2014, I had the opportunity to photograph Bruce McLean at his London studio and it was this portrait that initiated the idea for the Expression project. I was keen to reference the artist’s work by incorporating the teacup and saucer, which I bought from a charity shop. This references the work Tea on the Knee (1971). The blank canvases seen in the background inspired me to invite Bruce to paint on the final photographic print, which he generously agreed to, and that’s really where the concept was born. We reconnected in 2024 and McLean added a painting of a sculpture of a jug onto the final portrait and I’m delighted with the result.

Bruce McLean in his London studio photographed by Richard Boll.

It’s been a really interesting process of reaching out to artists to be a part of this project. I’ve tried to take a democratic approach inviting a broad range of artists from different disciplines. Some respond positively, some politely decline, and then it comes down to scheduling and availability as they are all busy people with their own creative practice. They all share one thing in the common which is that they all produce inspiring work that I’m keen to highlight through these images.

Can you share some of the most memorable moments you experienced while photographing the artists for this exhibition?

Each portrait shoot has been extremely memorable in its own way. I’ve enjoyed telling the story of the people behind the artworks through these images and I’ve found it interesting visiting their homes, studios, and working spaces. Some artists have embraced the opportunity to add collaborative elements to their portraits.
Visiting Gavin Turk’s studio in London was a fantastic experience. I was welcomed by a delightful team who were very accommodating as I had a series of different portraits planned, including Turk signing his name with a torch. Prior to the shoot, I tested this process at my home studio with a red torch to ensure a good exposure for the final shot. I felt very honoured to see bodies of work in process. For example, Turk’s candle paintings were underway in the studio on the day of the shoot. I then saw the completed paintings at a show at the Ben Brown Fine Arts in the winter of 2022-23.

The studio of the artist Gavin Turk in London. Photographed by Richard Boll.
Another memorable moment from this project was working with the fantastic Adam Chodzko. He was really engaged in the performative element and we spent the day driving around Kent to create some really interesting shots of him wading around in a pond, emerging from the sea in a suit and also dragging some sheets across a car park… It was a slightly surreal and highly memorable experience. I’m very grateful for his time.

The artists Adam Chodzko in a suit in the Sea off the Kent coast.
I also enjoyed visiting Ann Christopher’s home and workshop just north of Bath. It’s a wonderful and inspiring space. Christopher curated the RA Summer Exhibition and had selected one of my photographs for the show, which is how we connected. I invited her to be part of the project and she was really enthusiastic. I enjoyed talking with her and it feels like a very fortuitous meeting.

The workshop of the sculptor Ann Christopher in Bath, UK.

Were there any challenges you experienced?

The biggest challenge was scheduling the shoots. There are 13 different busy artists featured in this project to date and others I have been in dialogue with. Trying to manage shoot days in different locations around my commercial work has certainly been a challenge.
Relinquishing elements of creative decision-making and control has been very good for me, and to some extent challenging to my standard working methods. Each subject and portrait has had an individual approach and some artists have added collaborative elements to the finished photographic portrait. That creates a moment of anticipation during the reveal, not knowing how the artist has made their mark. But each time I’ve been overwhelmed with their contribution, from seeing Gordon Cheung’s digital glitch, to Bruce McLean’s painting of a sculpture of a jug, and Ann Christophers’ cuts and collage approach. Collaborating with artists opens the door for works to be created that are beyond my creative potential and is a very exciting process.

How do you approach capturing the essence of an artist in a portrait?

It all starts with research. I look carefully at each artist’s work and read as much as I can about them. I then try to plan 2-3 specific shots. I am always open-minded about being spontaneous on the day of the shoot, especially as many of the subjects are people I’m meeting for the first time in a space I’ve never seen before. To illustrate this, at Turk’s studio the illuminated signature was one of my original planned shots, but one of my favourite outcomes from the day was the seated portrait where he is facing away which was a spontaneous idea on the day.
Similarly, with Marie Harnett, I was eager to keep the approach spontaneous and fluid to reflect the film-like nature of her work. Not over-planning was the plan…

A portrait of the artist Marie Harnett drawing in a cafe in London.
With Cornelia Parker, I originally planned to use a backdrop and studio lighting. But on the day, I ended up using a handheld Hasselblad with natural daylight for the final portrait negating the need for some of the equipment I had taken, but you don’t always know that in advance. When you’re going to shoot in a space you haven’t seen before, planning is important, but sometimes you need to be open-minded and reactive about how to capture the person most effectively.

How does the project Expression contribute to the conversation of photography, art, and portraiture?

What interests me is the element of representation. The traditional model of photographic portraiture is that the sitter is typically invited to a photographer’s studio and told what to do by the photographer. Often there is not a great deal of input from the subject and I find that power position can be questionable.
I’ve enjoyed the dialogue created through the process that has resulted in a celebration of individuality, artistry, and collaboration. These portraits are an extension of that dialogue.
I’ve been interested in photographic portraiture since I started studying the medium in 1993. It can communicate the significance of these amazing creative people and hopefully encourage people to explore their work further. Photographs can be wonderful triggers for curiosity.

What do you hope viewers will take away from the Expression exhibition?

I hope people enjoy the show and that they have the opportunity to discover artists they might not have been aware of previously, encouraging them to investigate their work and ideas.

How does it reflect your evolution as a photographer?

I frequently carry out portrait shoots for my commercial work but this project has enabled me to explore different approaches to portraiture. From new and experimental methods to using medium and large format cameras which I don’t use in my commercial work, and hand-printing in the darkroom after a break of 20 years. I’ve loved the process and I’m delighted with the results.
I’ve also enjoyed the process of bringing a personal project through to an exhibition and I hope to continue to develop my personal practice alongside my commercial photography. Curating the exhibition has provided an opportunity to pause and reflect on this project, which I see as an ongoing work in progress. I’m already in dialogue with other subjects and plan to keep building on this body of work and to hold future exhibitions.

Expression is a compelling new photography exhibition showcasing a series of portraits of celebrated contemporary artists including Rana Begum, Cornelia Parker, and Gavin Turk. The free exhibition will run from Friday 4th October to Sunday 13th October at the Regency Town House gallery in Brighton as part of the Photo Fringe calendar of events. Limited edition prints from the project will be available to purchase at richardboll.art from 4th October.

Key details:

Location: The Regency Town House, 13 Brunswick Square, Brighton and Hove, BN3 1EH
Exhibition opening times:
 Tuesday – Friday 11am – 4pm
, Saturday & Sunday 11am – 5pm
Monday closed

About Photo Fringe
The biennial, open-platform Photo Fringe festival runs 4 October – 14 November with exhibitions and events taking place online and in venues across its home city of Brighton & Hove and along the south coast from Newhaven to Portsmouth. The programme presents a vibrant mix of lens-based work from emerging practitioners and well-established names, in galleries, cafés, pop-up venues, outdoor installations, and other extraordinary spaces. photofringe.org

Photography Exhibition: “Expression: Portraits of Artists” by Richard Boll

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Filed under Artists, Exhibitions, Fine Art Photography, Limited Edition Prints, Portrait Photography

I’m excited to announce that my show, Expression: Portraits of Artists will open on the 4th of October at The Regency Town House in Brighton & Hove. The show brings together visually striking portraits of thirteen celebrated contemporary artists: Yarli Allison, Rana Begum, Gordon Cheung, Adam Chodzko, Ann Christopher, Marie Harnett, Bruce McLean, Cornelia Parker, and Gavin Turk. Also featured are Sussex-based artists Stig Evans, Richard Graville, James William Murray, and Jake Wood-Evans. The ongoing project, commenced in 2022, involves a level of unique collaboration with some of the artists involved. These elements infuse the portraits with a blend of creative input, resulting in a dynamic and expressive visual narrative.

Limited editioned prints of the images in the show will be available from the 4th of October at richardboll.art

A close up portrait of the artist Marie Harnett drawing in a cafe in London. Photo by Richard Boll.

Exhibition dates: Friday, 4th October – Sunday, 13th October
Location: The Regency Town House, 13 Brunswick Square, Brighton & Hove, BN3 1EH
Exhibition opening times:
Tuesday – Friday 11am – 4pm
Saturday & Sunday 11am – 5pm
Monday closed

Special Event: Artist Talk
 On Saturday, 12th October at 3:00 PM

I’ll be giving a talk about the creative process behind the portraits, the collaborative nature of the project, and the broader themes of artistry and identity explored in the exhibition. Spaces are free but limited, so please RSVP for the Artist Talk here: EventbritePortrait of the artist Gavin Turk facing away from the camera in his London studio. Photo by Richard Boll.

This exhibition is part of the 2024 Brighton Photo Fringe festival taking place in venues across the city throughout October.

A colourful portrait of the artist Rana Begum in her home in London. Photo by Richard Boll.

 

I’m very grateful to the following suppliers for their help and support in creating work for the show.
Spectrum Photographic have printed my photographs for many years and I can strongly recommend them both for the exceptionally high standard of printing and also for their fantastic customer service.

I hand-printed several of the black and white prints in the show in the fantastic 71 Darkroom in Lewes. Run by the photographer Torz Dallison, excellent black and white printing facilities are available for small, medium, and large formats.

Many of the prints in the exhibition were framed at The Framing Workshop in Hove. I can wholeheartedly recommend their great customer service and very high standards of workmanship.

About Photo Fringe
The biennial, open-platform Photo Fringe festival runs from the 4th of October to the 14th of November with exhibitions and events taking place online and in venues across its home city of Brighton & Hove and along the south coast from Newhaven to Portsmouth. The programme presents a vibrant mix of lens-based work from emerging practitioners and well-established names, in galleries, cafés, pop-up venues, outdoor installations, and other extraordinary spaces.
photofringe.org
Follow @photofringe #photofringe2024

Derwent London commission corporate team portraits for Annual Report

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Filed under Corporate Photography, Location Photography, London, Portrait Photography

Derwent London Plc

Group corporate portraiture by Richard Boll Photography commissioned by Derwent London.

Derwent London’s ethos has always been distinctive and design-led. From modest beginnings, they’ve grown steadily to own a portfolio of 5.4 million sq ft (507,200 sq m) of commercial real estate, (predominantly in Central London) valued at £5.2bn as at 30 June 2023.

Based on Savile Row, they are the largest London office-focused real estate investment trust (REIT). Recently named in the ‘Sunday Times Best Places to Work List 2023’ in the medium-sized organisation category, 91% of their employees said they were proud to work there. 88% enjoy their job and 86% felt they were employed in a well-run organisation.

I was recently commissioned to photograph several corporate team portraits, in and around three of their London-based commercial properties, for their 2022 Annual Report & Accounts.

Annual Report & Accounts 2022

The 2022 Annual Report published on their website, is the third Derwent London Annual Report that I’ve taken photographs for since 2019.

For the images in this report, I worked closely with an Art Director and together, we visited some of the recently completed properties in central London to find visually interesting with aesthetically strong compositions.

Corporate Group Portraits for Derwent London

Derwent requested group portraits of their various teams from the following departments:

  • Finance
  • Health and Safety
  • Leasing and Marketing
  • Valuation and Investment
  • Asset and Property Management
  • Development and Sustainability &
  • Building Management, Facilities, and H & S

A corporate portrait of four people taken for Derwent London by Richard Boll.

It was a logistical challenge to get this number of people lined up and available for the shoot requiring meticulous advance planning.

A group portrait taken in London for Derwent.

Group portraits are always interesting to photograph and come with their own set of challenges. Initially, the challenge is to scout for suitable locations which could be an elegant room or a grand reception area. The challenge then becomes how to compose and photograph numerous different people within that space to create an effective photograph.

Group corporate portrait taken for Derwent London Annual Report.

It’s important to ensure that everybody in the photograph is looking at the camera with their eyes open, which can be a challenge when you have a significant number of people to position and photograph. The whole process typically takes much longer than photographing an individual portrait or headshot.
The Derwent London employees are great people to work with and this is a corporate photography project that I always find really enjoyable.

Find out more about Derwent London by visiting their website and seeing other corporate portrait and lifestyle photography projects I’ve worked on.

How & Why I enter Photography Awards

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Filed under Exhibitions, Fine Art Photography, National Portrait Gallery, Photography Award, Photography career, Photography competitions, Portrait Photography

Why I enter photographic competitions

Early on in my photography career, I started entering interesting and highly respected competitions that were suited to my personal style and creativity.  I had various reasons for wanting to enter these competitions:

• Exposure for my work to be seen on respected global platforms
• The personal challenge to produce high-quality work for a specific brief
• Recognition for my work to be acknowledged by judges of a high calibre
• Providing me with some content to share, whether for a blog post, social media or to show potential clients
• The potential to win prizes!
• The opportunity to have my work seen alongside highly respected photographers

Here are some of the successful entries that have either won or been shortlisted in photography awards:

1. 2004 – 1st place – Audi/Next Level International Award for Contemporary Photography

A dark mirror leaning against a wall, from the project Studio, produced in the Edinburgh College of Art.

From the project Studio

2. 2006 – 1st place – National Portrait Gallery (NGP) Photographic Prize

The portrait Joe, winner of the National Portrait Gallery's Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize in 2006.

This image, Joe also led to a commission by the NPG to photograph Sir David Attenborough.

3. 2011 – Selected Winner – Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Exchange

A portrait of a man in a snow-covered field holding a pheasant from the project Death in the Afternoon. Richard Boll Photography, London.

From the project Death in the Afternoon

4. 2021 – Shortlisted – Wellcome Photography Prize

A portrait of Louise, taken in March of 2022.

Louise, March 2020

5. 2022 – 3rd place – Kuala Lumpur Photography Awards

The artist Adam Chodzko standing in a pond in Whitstable, Kent, 2022. Richard Boll Photography, London.

The Artist Adam Chodzko, Whitstable, 2022

6. 2023 – Shortlisted – Professional Creative Category – Sony World Photography Awards

An image from the project Road, shortlisted in the Sony World Photography Awards 2023.

From the project Road

Two main approaches

When deciding which competitions to enter, I have two main approaches and I’ve had good results from both. I’ve also entered many awards and competitions in which I had no success at all!

The first approach is producing work specifically for an award. This involves planning the kind of work that could potentially do well and photographing a subject accordingly. When researching new potential competitions, I turn to various sources of information regarding awards, competitions, and also open exhibitions for example:

https://submit.picter.com/home
http://fotoroom.co/photography-awards-competitions/
https://photocontestdeadlines.com/all-photo-competitions/

2. The second approach is when I have suitable images already created that I feel strongly about and that I believe have the potential for a specific competition. With this approach, there is an element of chance that I happen to have something that meets the competition brief.

Competition Advice

If I were to give any specific advice to photographers about entering competitions, I would encourage them to blend producing the strongest work that they can with meeting the expectations from any particular competition. It has to be work that you feel is strong and that has come from the heart, but there is a skill in adapting work to particular competitions and recognising the potential in that competition for your own work. Similarly, understanding when your work is not a good fit or suitable can be key. However much you’d like to be in the running, you have to be realistic about whether you have strong and suitable work. Looking at galleries of previously successful work is a good way of getting an understanding of the nature of imagery that judges in the competition are likely to be looking for. If you start to believe that a competition doesn’t correlate with your style of image-making, the best thing to do can be to decide not to enter at all.

I find researching and entering photography awards a fun and enjoyable process and it’s a significant part of my work. I like looking at images that have been successful in current competitions and seeing what’s fresh and contemporary in other photographers’ work.

I enjoy the personal challenge of selecting suitable images, entering awards, and then hearing the results, whether good or not so good! To have your photographs critically assessed and receive constructive feedback from respected judges helps to elevate the standards of your work.

Call +44(0)7812 908229 or email richard@richardbollphotography.com to discuss your next photography project.

UK Visual Artist Photographic Portraits 4 of 4: Gordon Cheung – contemporary multi-media artist who blurs the line between the virtual and reality

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Filed under Editorial Photography, Editorial Portrait, Environmental Portrait, Fine Art Photography, Gordon Cheung, Location Photography, London, Portrait Photography

UK Visual Artist Portrait Series

When I first developed an interest in photography and started learning about well-known artists and photographers, I appreciated seeing portraits of them taken by other photographers. A portrait can be an effective introduction into the life of an artist and can tell a visual story and open a window into that person’s world. I found it really intriguing and was curious about why that person had been photographed in a particular way. I’ve decided to continue this rich photography tradition, by shooting a photographic series of well-known visual artists currently working in the UK.

Gordon Cheung

The artist Gordon Cheung wearing a mask ready to spray paint a new picture. Portrait photo by Richard Boll of London.

The fourth set of images in this series features Gordon Cheung, a London-born contemporary, multi-media visual artist from Chinese parents. Cheung has developed an innovative approach to creating art, blurring virtual and actual reality and raising questions about what it means to be human in a capitalist society. Working with a variety of media including stock page listings, spray paint, acrylic, inkjet, and woodblock printing, he blends his art into dreamlike spaces of urban surreal worlds, using the topics of culture, mythology, religion, and politics.

The London-based artist Gordon Cheung facing toward a picture that he's about to start painting.

His work centers around financial market crashes, incorporating elements of the Financial Times into his art to make 3D sculptural pieces. Tulips crop up in most of his work as a symbol because ‘Tulip mania’ was reputed to be the first ever market crash in February 1637. Tulip mania was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some new and fashionable bulbs reached ridiculously high levels – a handful of tulips would have cost the same as a house nowadays.
Gordon has pioneered a now iconic digital glitch technique, involving taking an image, whether it’s a painting or a portrait, and altering the structure of the digital file, getting into the programming behind it. This process produces a really interesting aesthetic, dragging the lines down and blurring the virtual with reality.

The photographic concept

The original photographic concept for this series was to shoot four different elements of the visual artist: behind-the-scenes studio shots, finer details referencing their work, the artist working, and photographic portraits. As part of this project, I also wanted to introduce a collaboration and crossover element between the visual artist and myself and I asked Gordon if he would be prepared to digitally glitch a portrait that I’d taken of him. I’m keeping that particular portrait under wraps for now to reveal at a future exhibition of the visual artist series. I chose Cheung for this series as I find his work fascinating and unique, in particular how he incorporates financial elements and assesses financial institutions. I regularly shoot corporate portraiture for an investment bank and I’ve even noticed his work hanging on the walls of their offices.

A close-up detail photograph of an art work by the London artist Gordon Cheung.

It was great collaborating with Cheung on this project and it’s encouraging to see my imagery being extensively used on Gordon’s own website and in a newsletter produced by the Cristea Roberts Gallery, the worldwide representative for Cheung’s original prints.
Watch this space for the next visual artist in this series – Yarli Allison. Visual artists previously featured in this portrait series were Gavin Turk, Adam Chodzko and Jake Wood-Evans.

Discover more about Gordon Cheung and his work by visiting his website.

UK Visual Artist Photographic Portraits 3 of 4: Jake Wood-Evans, contemporary painter and interpreter of past masters

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Filed under Editorial Photography, Editorial Portrait, Environmental Portrait, Fine Art Photography, Portrait Photography

UK Visual Artist Portrait Series

When I first began my education as a photographer and started learning about well-known artists and photographers, I appreciated seeing effective portraits of them taken by other photographers. It was a great introduction to the work of the artists and interesting portrait photography can tell a visual story that opens a window into that person’s world. I found these portraits intriguing and was curious about why each person had been photographed in a particular way. I decided to continue this rich photographic tradition by shooting a photographic series of visual artists currently working in the UK.

Jake Wood-Evans

The fourth set of images in this first series features Jake Wood-Evans, who works from a large studio based near Lewes, East Sussex. Inspired and influenced by artists such as Turner and Francis Bacon, his signature approach is to consider Old Master paintings and reinterpret and modernise them in his own way. He partially abstracts the original image and incorporates his own messages and ideas within his painting. There’s a language that exists between the original and his work. He produces very beautiful pictures that are visually exciting and very original in their approach. I find that his work has an effect of re-energising the original paintings.

Large Format Camera

Portrait photography by Richard Boll, London. Large format black-and-white portrait of the artist Jake Wood-Evans.

This black and white portrait of Wood-Evans was taken with a 5 x 4 inch large format film camera. I wanted to use a more traditional photographic approach, as this links in some way to his work as well as looking back to the history of photography. It was also a very enjoyable part of the process as I haven’t used a large format camera for 5 or 6 years, or produced a traditional darkroom print for over 20 years. Using a large format camera requires a very considered technical approach to the photographic process and I enjoy the extra time that these technicalities require. It’s not possible to look through the camera during the exposure, which for portraiture relies on the subject remaining very still whilst a dark slide is loaded. This contains the unexposed negative.

In the printing process, I used fiber-based paper which is a relatively involved way to produce a print. It needs careful handling, longer developing, fixing and washing times, as well as flattening after drying. The advantages of the paper is that a richer print can be produced and it’s more archivally durable than resin-coated paper.

Inadvertent mark-making

When I look at Wood-Evans’ paintings, I’m very aware of the layers of history and time within them and am conscious of the mark-making that creates them. Before I met Jake Wood-Evans I had the idea of giving him photographic prints to leave around in his studio: perhaps on the floor, where he keeps his paints, or underneath a painting that is being worked on; be it hanging on the wall or on an easel. The portraits could be left there for weeks or months and over time, they would inadvertently pick up marks and develop a history and life of their own in the studio space. It was a coincidence that Wood-Evans has previously carried out this practise by leaving photocopies of paintings around in his studio to develop interesting marks.

A photocopy of an old master painting left on the floor of a studio by the painter Jake Wood-Evans.

I like the element of chance in this practise and not being too precious about the prints or the process. I’m keen to allow mistakes to creep into the project. For example, one of the dark slides that held the negatives had slight cracks which created light leaks, leading to white lines being visible on the final prints. I appreciate that some photographers might find this frustrating and discard the negative due to what is technically a mistake. Instead, I’m taking hold of these elements, appreciating them, and pushing them forward. Jake very much agreed that these elements should be celebrated and not discarded.

Wood-Evans at work

Multiple blurred exposure of the painter Jake Wood-Evans working on a large canvas. Photo by Richard Boll, London.

For this image of Jake at work, I set the camera up on a tripod in front of one of the large paintings that he was working on. I took multiple exposures of him working over the course of 10-15 minutes experimenting with varying shutter speeds.
The exposures incorporated into this image were quite slow, around an eighth of a second which rendered Jake’s movements as blurs. Jake is a very dynamic, energetic painter and he moves around a lot when he’s working. This image captures his energy and that of his paintings. The slow shutter speed adds an element of partial abstraction. On showing the image to some people they didn’t initially see him in the painting at all. I like this element of abstraction that correlates with Wood-Evan’s style of painting. This image made an effective sketch but I’m looking forward to re-shooting another version of this image with a greater level of refinement.

Jake’s studio

An interior photograph by Richard Boll of the studio of the painter Jake Wood-Evans.

An interior shot of Jake’s large studio space near Lewes.

Visual artists previously featured in this portrait series are Gavin Turk, Adam Chodzko and Gordon Cheung.

Discover more about Jake Wood-Evans and where his work has been exhibited by visiting his website.

 

The portrait photographer Richard Avedon

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Filed under Editorial Photography, Editorial Portrait, Environmental Portrait, Fine Art Photography, National Portrait Gallery, Portrait Photography, Vogue

Photography Inspiration and Influence

When I first started my photography degree in 1996 and began to research well-known portrait photographers, I was struck by the strength of Richard Avedon’s powerful imagery, and in particular, his black and white portraits.

He was both a fashion and portrait photographer and pioneered his own signature style of black-and-white portrait photography. One project of his called ‘In the American West’ (1985) had a lasting impression on me, in that every portrait in the project was a powerful image taken of a visually interesting character.

Black-and-white self portrait of the photographer Richard Avedon

Avedon was an extremely hardworking, prolific photographer. In his lifetime, he produced an impressive quantity of high-quality work, photographing a very wide range of interesting people including celebrities, politicians, artists, poets, and writers. His work was an incredible commentary and document of the time. It always impressed me how he managed to combine his own artistic personal projects with editorial, magazine, and commercial work. The structure of his working life was a huge inspiration for my own photography career and I attempt to follow his blueprint in my own work.

Photography was very much a part of his personal life too. He consistently took pictures of his family, and whilst traveling. These images were taken purely for pleasure and not as a commercial project. This aspect of his photography also inspired me and forms the basis for my own personal projects, such as the UK visual artist portraits that I’m currently working on.

Who was Richard Avedon?

Avedon was born on May 15, 1923, in New York City and was best known for his work in the fashion world and minimalist portraits. Starting out as a photographer for the US Merchant Marines during World War II, he took ID portraits of sailors. He then moved on to fashion, shooting for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. His insistence on models conveying emotion and movement was a welcome departure from the norm of relatively motionless fashion photography.

Beginning of Photography Career

Avedon attended the New School for Social Research in New York to study photography under Alexey Brodovitch, the acclaimed art director of Harper’s Bazaar. Within a year, Avedon was hired as a staff photographer for the magazine. Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, he created elegant black-and-white photographs showcasing the latest fashions in real-life settings such as Paris’s cafes, cabarets, and streetcars.

Portraits and Later Career

Richard served as a staff photographer for Harper’s Bazaar for 20 years, from 1945 to 1965. As well as his fashion photography, he was well known for his black-and-white portraiture. He managed to capture the essential humanity and vulnerability of larger-than-life political figures and celebrities, such as President Eisenhower, Martin Luther King, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles.
From 1966 to 1990, Avedon worked as a photographer for Vogue, continuing to push the boundaries of fashion photography with surreal, provocative, and often controversial images in which nudity, violence, and death often featured prominently.
Avedon always believed that the story of his life was best told through his photographs, saying: “Sometimes I think all my pictures are just pictures of me. My concern is… the human predicament; only what I consider the human predicament may simply be my own.”
As one of the first self-consciously artistic commercial photographers, Avedon played a leading role in defining the artistic purpose and possibilities of the genre.

Discover more about Richard Avedon and his iconic work by visiting The Richard Avedon Foundation.

[Article Source: https://www.biography.com/artist/richard-avedon#citation]

Six of My Favourite Corporate and Personal Photography Projects in 2022

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Filed under Corporate headshot photography London, Corporate Photography, Corporate Portraiture, headshots, Location Photography, London, Portrait Photography

When a new year starts, I like to look back on the year before and review photography projects that I’ve worked on. I’ve handpicked 6 of my favourite corporate and personal images from 2022, depicting a range of different photography styles, including corporate headshots, corporate products, corporate portraits and two portraits from my personal UK visual artist project series.

1. UK Visual Artist Portrait Series: Gavin Turk

A double portrait of the artist Gavin Turk in his London studio.

This portrait of Gavin Turk forms part of a personal project from my UK Visual Artist Portrait Series, inspired by his own work including the ‘Portrait of Something That I’ll Never Really See’ (1997). I love this double portraiture combination shot particularly in black and white, as I think it’s more graphically powerful giving a direct, punchier effect to the stripes on his shirt. Both of these elements also echo Turk’s previous work using combinations of double portraiture and stripes. What I like about portrait photography is quite often, an unexpected result can emerge either during the shoot or in post- production as in this case. There’s a need to be open to chance and not overly plan the end result.

2. Corporate Headshot Photography: Octopus Energy

Corporate photography for Octopus Energy, taken by Richard Boll in London.

Octopus Energy is one of my regular corporate photography clients and this image is from a series of shoots that involved photographing staff in 3 of their offices based in London, Manchester and Leicester. Working alongside an Art Director, we collaborated to produce a whole library of corporate headshots and lifestyle imagery. This shot shows a flavour of the natural, documentary ‘fly-on-the-wall’ photography style that I think suits the Octopus brand really well. What I like about this particular image is the employee looks very relaxed and is clearly having a real, natural conversation with a customer, oblivious to the fact that she’s being photographed.

3. Corporate Product Photography: Kin Chairs, designed by Pearson Lloyd for Allermuir

Kin chairs around a table in a studio, photographed for Allermuir by Richard Boll Photography.

Allemuir came up with the original design concept for this image. Taken in their Preston studio, I attached a camera onto a scaffolding tower looking down onto this range of Kin chairs. What I like about this shot is that it shows off the products in an interesting and visually intriguing way. There’s the play on colour of the chairs around the table and it was fun choosing the props to co-ordinate with the chair colours. Having to direct a model was an interesting aspect of the shoot, in order to get a good range of images that worked. I like this particular photo of the model reaching into the bowl as that worked well compositionally, as a focal point in the middle of the table.

4. UK Visual Artist Portrait Series: Adam Chodzko

The artist Adam Chodzko in a pond in Whitstable, Kent.

This portrait of Adam Chodzko, is another favourite image of mine from the UK visual artist portrait series. It was a particularly enjoyable shoot with a strong collaborative element to it. We discussed the images at some length beforehand with Adam letting me know what he thought would work and wouldn’t work. I like this particular image because it highlights the collaborative approach to the shoot, and echoes Chodzko’s love of water and use of crossovers between different spaces. The recording equipment he’s holding picked up both urban and rural sounds within the space and I plan to use the sound clip as part of the installation for a future exhibition.

5. Corporate Product Photography: John Lobb, Frank Sinatra’s Wooden Lasts

The wooden lasts of Frank Sinatra, carved by the London bootmaker John Lobb.

John Lobb is a bespoke, traditional shoemaker to celebrities and royalty alike. Central to their process is the creation of a pair of wooden lasts, shaped to the exact contours of the wearers feet. What started as a purely personal project, initiated by asking if I could photograph the wooden lasts, has now developed into a regular commission shooting images for John Lobb’s marketing and social media.
This photograph of Frank Sinatra’s wooden lasts is one of my favourite images from the project. It’s not just the fact that they belonged to Sinatra who was an icon that many people can connect with, but I love the fact that they’re well-worn with interesting textures that suggest that many shoes were made from this pair of wooden lasts. In a way, they speak of a history and a life well-lived.

6. Corporate Portrait Photography: Elrige, Master Last Maker at John Lobb

A portrait of Elrige, master lastmaker at John Lobb, London.

This was a commissioned portrait by John Lobb who requested photographs of their Last Makers. I’m particularly fond of this image of Elrige, Master Craftsman and Last Maker. He is a real character and I love the intensity of his stare in this photo. I also think this portrait captures the essence of the traditional establishment of John Lobb with its traditional working methods, where each wooden last is carved by hand.
Elrige may appear to be wielding a lethal weapon here, but the tool he’s holding is essential for last making and is known as a Last Knife. It’s used to get a block of wood down to the rough shape of the last. Afterwards, a surform, various grades of files and sand paper would be used to get the last down to its final shape and measure.

See more of my corporate portrait and corporate lifestyle photography projects taken on location in London and around the world.

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