EP138 Interview With Toastmaster Simon Shirley | Simple Steps For A Successful Client Business

EP138 Interview With Toastmaster Simon Shirley | Simple Steps For A Successful Client Business In this interview with an old friend of ours, Simon Shirley, Toastmaster extraordinaire, we end up chatting about some of the simple things that make for a successful client-facing business for responding quickly, to getting a crowd onside (even when the odds are stacked against you!) I mention a few workshops we'll be running, so here are the links: Sunday 10th September 2023 The Guild Of ...

EP136 Interview With Margaret And Peter Aldington OBE | On Creativity And Relationships

EP136 Interview With Margaret And Peter Aldington OBE | On Creativity And Relationships Peter Aldington OBE, world-renowned architect and garden designer, with his wife Margaret - whose energy and partnership have been as fundamental to his success as any other creative's, though she professes to not being a designer of any kind. I have wanted to record this interview for a long time. Peter is a world-renowned architect, having achieved no less than 9 (yes, you're reading that correctly, 9) ...

EP132 Interview With Michele Jennings, Former CEO Hearing Dogs For Deaf People

EP132 Interview With Michele Jennings, Former CEO Hearing Dogs For Deaf People We are a lucky business.  OK, I know you make your own luck to a greater or lesser degree, but we really are a lucky business.  Every day I work with people I love - from our team in the studio to our clients across the UK and further afield. As we run into the festive holidays, our studio has been full of laughter (and the smell of ...

EP123 Interview With Street Photographer Ross Grieve

EP123 Interview With Street Photographer Ross Grieve This episode was recorded in a bar - possibly my favourite but, in contrast to our studio garden - not the quietest place to record audio.  But it makes me happy.  It was at this year’s incredible Societies of Photographers Convention in London where I spent the week judging and, well, generally feeling liberated from the previous two years of lockdown! The interview is with one of the nicest guys in the industry ...

EP122 Fireworks and Finding Freedom In The Studio

EP121 Portraits Are Portraits, Even If They're Corporate! It's late and I'm driving back from a beautiful spring wedding, shot in uncharacteristic April sunshine.  I am, to put it mildly, hot and tired.  in spite of this, I thought it would be an idea to record a quick podcast on my way home, so here it is - various musings on finding freedom in the studio and the joy of using the Z9  as a wedding photographer. Oh, and I ...

EP121 Portraits Are Portraits, Even If They’re Corporate!

EP121 Portraits Are Portraits, Even If They're Corporate! I think I may have mentioned this before, but I LOVE creating portraits.  The past couple of days have been all about headshots - part corporate, part creative branding.  Either way, these are just portraits. And that is something that I cannot stress enough: if you're a portrait photographer, creating cool, engaging headshots is no different to creating fine-art portraits - and you get to meet some incredibly interesting people along the ...

EP120 Service Is King, No Matter The Price

EP120 Service Is King, No Matter The Price So it's been a month since recording the last podcast.  A busy month. A very very busy month.  But during that time I did manage to get some time out with Sarah and our trusty spaniel, Rufus, and go for a walking holiday in South Wales. Wales is my home country so it is always a real joy to be back - there is something about the country, its ruggedness and its ...

EP119 Everyone Included: Interview With Author Helen May

If there is one skill I have, it’s recognising an opportunity when it bops me on the nose.  Today was one of those moments.  Helen May actually came to the studio to update her headshots but the minute we sat and talked about her work on diversity and inclusion, I knew she would be perfect to have on the podcast. Luckily both of our diaries had some time after her session and so we sat, chatted and laughed about her …

EP117 Interview With Grays Of Westminster

Well, this is the last episode of 2021.  Unless I find a moment to drag myself away from the turkey, pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, cheese, Quality Street, sherry, wine, stuffing, more turkey, more cheese and maybe just a tad more sherry.  Oh go on then, if I must, best make it a small one. In this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with Grays Of Westminster – a legendary shop of all things Nikon.  I am speaking with …

EP112 Interview With Julia Fensom, Sleep Consultant And Author

I knew this would be an entertaining podcast and so it proved to be: Julia Fensom, author of With Sleep I Can Do Anything: The First Year – A Manual is always funny, energetic and full of ideas.  So this interview was always going to be interesting – and long!  When the two of us get together it is always a very funny hour or two, laughing about life, having families and running a small business. While, admittedly, we do …