A person, not a personnel file.

Portraits with room to breathe. Shot where you work, in the light that is already there, for press, profiles and the pages where a headshot is not enough.

Tell me the date See the prices

An environmental portrait of a researcher photographed among the plants she studies

Rate: £180 first hour, £100 after
Typical length: One hour for a single portrait
Where: Your workplace, on location
Used for: Press, profiles, leadership pages, bids
Look: Available light, shallow depth of field
Covering: East Anglia and nationally

An environmental portrait photographed on a staircase in a Cambridge building

An environmental portrait photographed in a Cambridge biotech building — Abcam

A researcher photographed in the greenhouse where they work — Cambridge Plant Sciences

A portrait photographed in a café, natural light from the window

A portrait of an athlete holding a rugby ball, photographed against a brick wall

The point of an environmental portrait

A plain background tells the reader nothing. A portrait made in the place someone works tells them what the person does before they have read a word: the greenhouse, the clean bench, the workshop, the trading floor. That context is why editors run environmental portraits and why they are worth the extra half hour.

Shallow depth of field, and why

I shoot wide open. The background falls away into soft colour and the person stays sharp, which is how the eye actually attends to a face. It also solves a practical problem: most workplaces are visually cluttered, and a wall of cables behind somebody's head is a distraction you can render as an atmosphere instead.

Directing people who would rather be elsewhere

Senior people are often the most uncomfortable in front of a camera, usually because the last photographer told them to relax and then said nothing else. I direct throughout: where to stand, where to look, what to do with your hands, when to stop smiling. It takes the decisions off you and it is a great deal quicker.

Use and delivery

Portraits are delivered to a private online gallery with full commercial rights, in high-resolution files suitable for print as well as screen. Press offices can hand them straight to a journalist without asking me first, which is normally the point.

Common questions

What is the difference between a headshot and a portrait?

A headshot is head and shoulders on a plain background, made to sit in a grid with everybody else. A portrait has room around it: the person in their workplace, doing something, with the space telling you what they do. Headshots go on the team page. Portraits go on the press release.

What does a portrait session cost?

£180 for the first hour and £100 for each hour after. Most single portraits are done inside the first hour. A morning covering several leaders is usually two hours at £280 or a half day at £480.

Where do you shoot them?

Wherever the person actually works: the lab, the workshop, the factory floor, the office they run. It takes ten minutes of walking the building to find good light and a background that means something.

I hate having my photograph taken.

Almost everyone says that, including people who end up liking the result. The job is mine, not yours: I direct, I tell you where to look and what to do with your hands, and it is over quickly.

Also

Corporate photography · Headshots · Event photography

By sector

Life sciences and pharma · Universities and research · Professional services · Agencies and campaigns

Tell me the date

Send the date, the venue and roughly what you need. I will come back with availability and a price, usually the same day.

Booking	Fee
First hour	£180
Each hour after	£100
Two hours	£280
Half day	£480
Full day	£880
Headshots	£10