Martin Beddall

Portrait of a runner

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:19:26 +0000

A shoot last week for Imperial College in London, the brief being to get portraits and 'action' shots of a member of staff preparing to run the London marathon again, for use in the college magazine. Popping to the park near the campus I shot some fairly straightforward 'action' portraits on my 200/2 lens, shooting slightly against the low winter light. Then a small dog appeared and sat by the path watching the running. Moving across - I was lying on the path - I managed to get a frame with the dog in the foreground before it ran off. Seemed like a picture missed. It turned out that the dog's owner was stood behind me watching also. As a photographer you get used to people saying 'no' or not wanting to get involved - photography arouses so many unfounded suspicions, not helped by ignorant authorities - but this time without any prompting he offered to get the dog back to his spot. The dog sat back, almost in the same spot but this time something was far more interesting to him in the opposite direction. Even so I thought the blurred foreground shape of the dog added a liitle more interest and visual depth to the image and broke up the background a bit. And a couple more images from the shoot.

Stone Cleaning

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:37:58 +0000

For the past few weeks I have been documenting the different stages of the stone cleaning on a facade of an old Livery Hall near London Bridge for a corporate client. The technique involves no scaffolding, excessive noise or showering passing pedestrians with water and dirt. Working from a lightweight vacuum cabin suspended by a boom, the masonry is cleaned by projecting very fine powders with low-pressure compressed air. No chemicals, water or detergent. The gentle rubbing action of the fine powder and compressed air quickly removes decades of dirt and pollution.The cabin then captures the bulk of the powder cloud with a water spray and down to a containment area at ground level via hoses. This cabin contains the spray, the dust, the dirt and the water - but does make it visually a bit dull... So apart from some images shot through the Hall windows, it was important to get images near the roof. The question was when? We were waiting upon the weather and permits from TFL. Sure enough the work began on the weekend when I was in Derbyshire. Cutting short my part in a family holiday and after a sleepless night in an old coaching inn ( some odd noises but that could have been the kids! ) I raced back to London on an early train. Work was delayed though that day. Abandoning that, I returned the next day in time for the statue cleaning at the very top of the facade. Shooting on a Nikon D3s with the amazing 14-24mm lens standing at the edge of the roof, the light was great but I left it a minute too long...If you look at the last image you can see a small cloud of the powder and dirt building up as the spray hits the back of the statue. A nanosecond later my lens, my camera and myself were engulfed by a large blast. I had been warned that the powder was so fine it could penetrate a lens - however so far the camera and lens seem to have shrugged off the assault, a few blasts of kenair and back in action.

Out & About #13

admin — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:38:02 +0000

Two Lawyers and a flag

admin — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 06:40:43 +0000

Tearsheet from a recent issue of American Lawyer magazine - shot atop the offices of Allen & Overy in London ( my assistant hanging onto the large Chimera softbox - camera right - trying not to float off over the rooftops of East London like Mary Poppins! )

Portrait of a Chap

admin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:15:42 +0000

Johnny Vercoutre, a modern-day dandy and owner of the 1940’s-transporting tearoom ‘Time for Tea’ in Shoreditch, London, shot for The Independent on Sunday.

Imperial College – Corporate Portraiture

admin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:30:58 +0000

Some corporate portraiture from a recent shoot for the communications department at London's Imperial College. Shot around their South Kensington campus using the natural light, the location environments and fast, prime glass for a modern looking set of images of various personnel. The images are for the University's imagebank for both internal and external use.

Portrait of a lawyer

admin — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:22:43 +0000

A shoot from last month for US title, American Lawyer magazine, shot at the offices of DLA Piper in London ( actually shot in a corridor of the offices of...), for their Focus Europe supplement. A tight headshot, using natural light went on the cover, but I liked this shot the best from the shoot, so pleased they used it nicely.

London corporate photography

Restoration Project

admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:40:02 +0000

A few shots from an ongoing commission to document a large restoration project in East London. A renovation of a unique piece of Victorian architecture and a local landmark.

Was he Britain’s oldest employee?

admin — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:27:42 +0000

I missed this in the news a few weeks ago, but Buster Martin died back in the middle of last month. He had his moment of fame when it was claimed he was Britain's oldest employee at 100 years of age working part time cleaning the fleet of vans for the publicity savvy Pimlico Plumbers and for having fought off an attempted mugging, I photographed him back in 2007 for VW magazine - as the firm used Volkswagen vehicles in their fleet. Part of the brief was to photograph the eccentric 'centenarian'. My idea for a shot was to show him 'at work' in a portrait. So with a profoto light off to the right and myself armed with a Canon 1DS MKII and a 16-35mm lens in the cab of one of the vans, I had Buster stand on a box and 'wash' the windscreen. This was a portrait not reportage so I just wanted him to wipe and then look into the lens. Unfortunately Buster seemed so dedicated to his work he would proceed to actually wash the windscreen for real, rather than pose. It took several complete washes of the glass for him to comprehend what I wanted.

When Buster entered the London marathon the following year, in 2008, stories began to appear that questioned his actual age and whether he was not really in his mid 90's rather than 100. The Guinness Book of Records would not validate his title as the 'oldest' person to participate in a Marathon race, as birth records were vague. But still for 95+ he was 'doing well'. To a photographer a character like Buster with his look, his attitude and willingness ( with a few grumbles ) to be photographed is rare, may he RIP.

Out & About #12

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:07:57 +0000