Oxford

Jim Morrison – A Salty Seadog

Some 15 years ago whilst I was at college I did a series of portraits of retired seafarers in Falmouth, Cornwall. Those men who had spent their lives at sea, working the Cornish harbours, fishing and saving lives in the seas around Cornwall. One of the gentleman I photographed was Jim Morrison (nothing to do with The Doors!) Jimmy was a lovely man, retired and at the time, was in his eighties. He had plenty a tale to tell of his life aboard his boat named Eclipse moving cargo from one Cornish harbour to another under full sail.

These images were very well received locally and I had a few of them in an exhibition at a Truro gallery. Two of the images sold almost instantly to the gallery owner’s son who wanted them for his home. Some years later (15!) and I get a call from the gallery owner, (John – who is also now retired) who has been trying to track me down. I moved away from Cornwall 13 years ago and lost touch with John but thankfully I have still the same mobile phone number which he kept filed away.

He was after two prints of the images his son had bought for a friend who admired them on his gallery wall 15 years ago.  His friend lives in Munich but had mentioned she would love a couple of prints if John could find me.

Times have moved on in the world of photography and those negatives that I made on my Hasselblad film camera would be stored away in a box somewhere at home. I spoke to John a couple of months ago and we agreed it would be a good idea for me to search for the negatives in January when I was a bit quieter. One night last week I unpacked a large box full of negatives, wow my film processing costs must have been high.  All of my college negatives are in folders and it didn’t take too long to find the images I was looking for, all still in amazing condition. Now, I have the negatives but I don’t have a darkroom anymore, so they need to be into an electronic format. I sent the negatives to my lab for scanning and they arrived yesterday. The images look fantastic on my Mac screen and it is testament to the amazing optics of the Hasselblad camera I shot the portraits on – such an amazing camera that I still own! So a quick retouch to remove dust spots from the scans and the files are now ready to be printed. I would have remove dust marks with dye back in the day but Photoshop sorts it out now.

So times move on, our ways of recording images and outputting them has changed but the images of Jim Morrison will always remain dear to my heart. Such a wonderful man.

Here are the two images of Jimmy and his boat. Limited edition fine art Giclee prints available on request to info@marklordphotography.co.uk

Fine Art Prints Mark Lord 1 Fine Art Prints Mark Lord 2

The world of #Biomass energy…..

To those that know me and my work, most of the time I am photographing things with two to four legs, people and animals are what I specialise in.

This time last year I had a call from a local marketing company after I was recommended to them by a local design company in Thame. ‘I’ve got a bit a of a challenge for you’ said the voice down the phone. ‘What do you know about biomass energy?’

Ironically I had photographed a small biomass boiler in a pub I photographed for the Princes Countryside Fund a few months before. Biomass energy is a very efficient way of heating and many businesses are using it now to heat their premises due to it being cost effective and better on the environment. I had photographed a small boiler in a shed that was heating a small country pub but apart from that my knowledge was limited. Always one to rise to a challenge I accepted this gents offer to meet up for a coffee and discuss the project. Biomass boilers run on small wooden pellets that have to be manufactured and I was asked to photograph everything from the plant in Wales where the pellets are made to a swish BMW showroom and leisure centre in Milton Keynes who use biomass energy to heat their premises.

‘It’s boring stuff’ I was told, ‘you are going to have to be creative’ and ‘I’m thinking black and white’ came with the brief. So dates were put into the diary and off we went to these various locations to photograph the world of biomass!

It was brilliant, I totally enjoyed the whole project. I have always had a design head on my shoulders, wanting to be a product designer before finding photography many years ago. I enjoy the processes involved and the way we start with this and end up with that. I will bore you no more, but biomass can be interesting (he says hesitantly….) To find out more about biomass energy here is a link to follow.

If you are looking for a photographer for any commercial photography projects then please do get in touch, I would be delighted to discuss your ideas you may have.  My client was thrilled with the images and told me if i can make biomass look exciting I can probably make anything look interesting.

Here are a few of my pictures from the biomass days…… Biomass Photographer-IMG_6620BW_001 Biomass Photographer-IMG_6648BW_002 Biomass Photographer-IMG_6689BW_003 Biomass Photographer-IMG_6699BW_004 Biomass Photographer-IMG_6740BW_005 Biomass Photographer-IMG_6769BW_006 Biomass Photographer-IMG_6801_007 Biomass Photographer-IMG_6818_008 Biomass Photographer-IMG_6921_009 Biomass Photographer-IMG_7267_010 Biomass Photographer-IMG_7277_011 Biomass Photographer-IMG_7283_012

Biomass Photography-IMG_3370bw_007 Biomass Photography-IMG_3362bw_006 Biomass Photography-IMG_3294bw_005 Biomass Photography-IMG_3291bw_004 Biomass Photography-IMG_3277bw_003 Biomass Photography-IMG_3244bw_002 Biomass Photography-IMG_3237bw_001This is what I love so much about my profession. The way that one thing leads to another through referral and how one day I can be photographing a beautiful country wedding and another day a mucky old boiler. Variety is the spice of life they say. I think so!

Kick start 2014 off with a new profile pic for #Twitter

With the increasing use of social media in the corporate and business world it is important to keep a fresh looking image of yourself for your professional profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

I photograph many business people from different walks of life from authors to surgeons who want to keep their image up to date. I offer a simple approach to business portraits in the Henley on Thames, Marlow, Oxford and Thames Valley area, I can either come to you at your home or office or we can meet somewhere in the local area for the shoot. The shoot will last half an hour or so and I will capture a variety of relaxed but professional looking portraits from which you can choose your favourites.

With session fees from just £25 why not kick off the New Year with a new look? All images are digitally enhanced to soften lines, remove blemishes if necessary and can be supplied in colour or black and white.

For more examples of my business style photography please visit my website http://www.marklordphotography.co.uk

Business Portraits-MT-ML-IMG_8367_003_004 Business Portraits-MT-ML-IMG_8401_005_005 Business Portraits-MT-ML-IMG_8450_010_006 Business Portraits-PHA-ML-IMG_1601_012_007 Business Portraits-PHA-ML-IMG_1608_013_008 Business Portraits-JA-ML-2611-4_001 Business Portraits-JA-ML-2627-5-BW_002 Business Portraits-JA-ML-2699-7-BW_003

It may be stormy but #LOVE is in the air…..

I’ve had several orders placed over the weekend from various shoots and thought I would choose one of these images for my blog post today. It’s from a pre wedding shoot I did in the local countryside near my home last year of a couple who’s wedding is later this year.

I love the composition of this pictures, with the nettles giving some foreground interest, the dramatic sky and of course the lovely expressions on the couple. My portrait shoots or pre wedding shoots are always very relaxed and fun and it’s a great way to get to know each other before the big day. For the bride and groom, it gives them confidence in knowing how they look in front of the camera, and for me I can see if I have any serial blinkers!

Portrait Photography Oxford

To see more of my portrait and wedding photography in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and beyond please visit http://www.marklordphotography.co.uk