Toon Army!

I have always had a soft spot for Newcastle and the Geordies. A beautiful city, full of character. I spent an interesting few days as a visiting lecturer to the talented students of Newcastle College.  This is the image the students came up in one of our studio sessions. The threatening man holding the birdcage is Graham Stouph, one of the dedicated course leaders. The escapees are the students. All the images were shot and retouched by the students themselves. Creativity is alive and well in the North East.

Many thanks to top lecturer Jacky Longstaff for getting me out of London and for her warm hospitality.

Table Talk

Last week's Sunday Shoot, not very imaginatively titled 'Table Top Portraits' was both fun and sombre in equal measure. I enjoyed it so much I may repeat the theme next Sunday. Many thanks to all who took part. To see more of the project please click here.

Keep Mum!

If there's one person we all listen to, it's our Mum. Whatever her size a mother can strike fear in even the toughest of people. Ad agency St. Lukes came up with this clever solution to their client Centrica's  need to communicate to their staff the importance of protecting client data. Their masterstroke was to use actual mothers of members of the Centrica workforce in the campaign. The images were used as posters, notepads, mousemats and even life sized cut outs in the offices. Mums were sent to me from around the country for their shoot. We had a lot of fun on set and the campaign, by all accounts, has already had a marked effect on awareness among staff. many thanks to the spirited mums who took part. Hats off to creative team Jamil Bhatti and Natalia Frizzi for another corker.

Kerrygold

All hail the new Nancy! This is the latest poster from my recent shoot with Kerry Ellis who takes over the role of Nancy from Jody Prenger on March 29th.  Kerry has just finished two years playing the role of 'Elphaba' in the London production of "Wicked' and has a huge following.

I was lucky to see Jody's last show the other night. Suffice to say she really put her heart and soul into her final performance. Her curtain call was very touching with a warm tribute from Griff Rhys Jones.

The Oliver website has some videos from my shoot with Jody, Griff and Steven Hartley. Click here to view.