2016 - a year through the lens, Part II - Commercial photographers in Norfolk

This is Part 2 of my three part round up of last year's photography work and in this blog post I've picked a few (more than a few actually!) of my favourite shots from the commercial and event photography I've been commissioned to shoot around Norfolk.Probably the highlight for me, due to my love of boats & the water, was being hired to photograph for Oyster Yachts, one of the world's most respected luxury ocean yacht builders.  The level of detail and quality of these boats is absolutely second to none so being able to not only see & photograph them being hand-built but then sailed by the CEO was a real honour.  Being a yachting photographer has long been an ambition of mine so this is a great start and to have one of my images as the first shot on their homepage means a great deal to me. Below, one of the benefits of having the drone is that I am able to offer aerial photography as part of my commercial photography package which adds a whole new viewpoint and works well to set the scene when I am documenting a business such as this... One of my biggest Norfolk commercial photography clients over the last two years has been Beeston Hall School,  a really friendly independent school with some fantastic facilities.  While photographing the school for their website and various events I have also been shooting for their school prospectus which have involved some really fun compositions... Another regular commercial photography client has been Norfolk Gravel, part of the RG Carter group, flying the drone at their North Norfolk quarry to produce short films for them and document the process of extraction through to sorting & delivery of the aggregates they produce. One of the highlights of the year was spending two days in Lincolnshire documenting the construction of a wind turbine for renewable energy company Genatec.  Seeing the efficiency and speed with which the turbine was erected was truly awe inspiring, only topped by the chance to climb right onto the top of the turbine once it had been finished for one incredible view! Another industrial photography commission I had this year was to film and photograph the processes involved in producing energy from methane for Biogas, a fascinating process which mimics the digestion of a cow's stomach (the digesters are the domes to the right of the aerial photograph below) to produce methane used to power generators.From large national businesses to a one-man operation - PD Taxis - I've enjoyed shooting for Pete Thorogate and his company PD Taxis here in Sheringham over the last couple of years, Pete is a a forward-thinking & enterprising chap whose business deservedly continues to go from strength to strength.I always enjoy the chance to do some food photography and had a great morning photographing Aylsham butcher Crawford & his team at GF White Butchers for a commission funded by the Countryside Alliance.Photographing raw food is one thing but photographing cooked food (as a commercial photographer in Norfolk) means I often get to eat my subjects after photographing them and I don't remember any being as tasty as the food prepared by the talented Alex Firman (AlexChef) at his Garden Kitchen Café at Hoveton Hall.  The slow-cooked beef shin with bone-marrow butter (bottom left) was literally one of the best things I have ever tasted.  High recommended!More butchery photography, this time with the legendary Icarus Hines for his new website.   Over a couple of shoots we photographed his shop & the produce in Cromer before then heading back to his house to cook up some of the goodies for more photos.  Those sausages make an awesome sausage sandwich I can tell you!Still in Cromer, I was pleased to be asked by the Royal Cromer Golf Club to spend a couple of days photographing their beautiful golf course & it's facilities.  Golf photography is another discipline of Norfolk commercial photography that I really enjoy, must be something to do with being outside!  Photographing the golf course at Cromer was an absolute pleasure and I combined a selection of aerial photography using the drone and dslr photography of the various holes and stunning views.  In 2017 I've been commissioned to carry out aerial photography and video of Sheringham Golf Course too, just need some decent weather now. Photographing for Wilson Hotels is always a pleasure as their properties & rooms are always visually stunning.  In 2016 they completed the renovation of the accommodation at The Assembly House in Norwich and I spent a couple of days completing the interiors photography of this historic Norfolk property. Another hugely respected Norfolk hotel is The Hoste in Burnham Market,  and I've photographed for the owners Brendan & Bee Hopkins there for a number of years.  This year they added a basement cinema to the hotel's facilities and had me along to photograph prior to it's official opening with the charming Barry Norman... Another big holiday property photography commission I've had this year was for the beautifully renovated Manor Farm Holiday Barns in North Norfolk.  A collection of barns lovingly restored to an incredibly high standard, as an added bonus they requested a number of my framed landscape prints for the lounges which compliment the rooms beautifully (if I do say so myself!)... Another highlight for the year's property photography for me was shooting these stunning holiday apartments at Beachside, in Sheringham.  Incredible interior design by Annabel Grey, and right on the clifftop overlooking the beach at Sheringham, what's not to like?! We really are spoiled for amazing properties in North Norfolk and one of the jewels in the crown has to be Voewood at High Kelling, near Holt.   I've photographed the interiors at Voewood for the owner Simon Finch for a few years now for their website & various publications.  This summer Simon asked me to come along & photograph the gardens for them both from the air and from the ground so I spent a couple of blissful evenings in this most beautiful of gardens capturing the atmosphere.  Garden photography is another love of mine (again, must be something to do with being outside) so if you are searching for garden photographers in Norfolk look no further! Back to The Hoste in Burnham Market for their annual Classic & Supercar event.  I have photographed this brilliant motoring event for the last 4 years now and it's always lovely to see what surprises turn up.  This year one of the stars of the show was a Delorean, I was also quite taken by the McLaren!  After judging at the Hoste all of the cars take a (noisy) convoy to a different location each year, this year was to a stunning hall in deepest Norfolk, problem is that I've forgotten what it's called so you'll just have to make do with the photos! Sheringham is an amazing place to live not just for the location on the North Norfolk coast but also for the amazing community and dedication of the organisers of the many brilliant events laid on here each year.  The first one in the calendar (apart from the New Year's Day Dip, which was freezing this year by the way), is the Viking Festival, the brainchild of talented local artist Colin Seal, held annually in February.  The highlight of the day is the procession of a wooden viking ship through town down to the beach where it is set on fire by a flaming arrow (or five!)...2016 also saw the Sheringham Museum (aka The Mo) receiving it's latest exhibit, RNLI Sheringham Lifeboat station's retired Atlantic 75, named The Oddfellows after our generous benefactors The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows.  The Sheringham Museum is an incredible asset to the town, it houses all but one of the town's former lifeboats (with the other being just a few hundred yards along the prom in it's own boathouse), far from being a dull & dusty place the museum is beautifully thought out and a fascinating collection of seafaring & historical artefacts from Sheringham's past.  The housing of the Atlantic 75 was particularly meaningful for many of us there that morning as a good number of the lifeboat crew that had served on her (including myself) were present to watch her being lowered into her 'final resting place' so to speak.Only metres to the west of the Sheringham Museum an amazing transformation took place over the Summer months as resident artist David Barber painted an incredible 100ft long mural honouring the stone age mammoths that used to frequent this area.  David's commitment to this amazing piece of work was a real inspiration and has certainly brighten up a dull expanse of concrete no end.June saw the Queen turning 90 and to commemorate this Sheringham lit a beacon.  I have to confess that this stunning shot below was actually taken by my partner Leanne whilst I flew the drone to capture some aerial shots of the event but her shot was much better than mine from the air so I've chosen to show this one here instead!The Queen's 90th celebrations continued with a street party in the centre of town, it was really lovely to see so many people getting right into the spirit of things...Probably my favourite event on the Sheringham calendar is the annual raft race organised by the carnival committee.  Sadly last year's was cancelled due to poor weather conditions but they made up for it with a brilliant turn out this year and so valiant attempt to complete the course even though some limped home half sunk... I had always fancied going to the Blickling Hall proms event but hadn't made it due to wedding commitments so when I was commissioned to photograph both nights this year by the organisers I was thrilled.  The first night was an Ibiza themed evening with a live orchestra playing the big Ibiza hits backed by a DJ and the second night was a more traditional affair with philharmonic orchestra.  So much fun, can't wait for this year's! Our annual lifeboat day was a great success this year, helped by fairly good weather and the attendance of Cromer Lifeboat and HM Coastguard's new Sikorsky S92 rescue helicopter...Below is a fun shoot I was asked to do for Kali Yoga, a local yoga class, on the summer solstice at Sheringham's oldest building - Beeston Priory which celebrated it's 800 birthday in 2016.  After the class at the priory they walked to the cliffs to watch the sunset and I captured the class teacher Emily throwing a pose in silhouette...For a number of years now I have photographed cycling events for Push Sport, this year we were blessed with good weather at all three of the events.  For much of the time at these sportives I am sat in high vis. vest, camera ready by the side of a country lane in deepest Norfolk waiting for the 500 or so cyclists to come past.  I do get some funny looks!One of the highlights of Cromer Carnival is the airshow put on by the world-famous Red Arrows,  got a luckily timed shot this year of two of the arrows crossing which was picked up & shared by one of the actual Red Arrow pilots on Twitter...I took the drone to Worstead Festival this year to get some aerial shots of this charming country fair which has grown over the years to a hugely popular event.  In the shot below I took a vertical panorama comprising a number of shots combined by gradually changing the angle of the camera for each shot which creates an interesting effect at the bottom of the shot...This next shot was taken from the top of the church tower, it took a fair bit of sweet talking to the old ladies in the church to get them to let me to go up the tower without the vicar being present but I persisted and the TaylorCharm™ came though!Steve Banks, a friend & fellow Sheringham Lifeboat helmsman started a new venture in Sheringham this year - Sheringham Ghost Walks - a few days before the first walk we went to Beeston Priory to do some promo shots of him looking suitably mysterious & spooky, just after this shot there was a brilliantly timed rumble of thunder (and then the heavens opened!)The following week I was pleased to be able to go on the inaugural Sheringham Ghost walk (a fascinating collection of ghost stories, history and trivia about Sheringham, many of which I hadn't heard before).  At one point we stopped outside The Sheepshed shop where it is said a very active poltergeist resides upstairs.  Bizarrely a haunted face 'found it's way' into the shot in the upstairs window which proved great for publicising Steve's future walks in the local press and on social media!The last big Sheringham event of the summer is the hugely popular North Norfolk Railway 1940's event.  Over recent years this event has grown & grown into possibly the most popular event in the town with all of the shops decorating their windows in 1940's style & everyone dressing up in the style of the day.  The below shots show my son Will being apprehended by the bobby and the packed platforms at the railway.This year I dressed up in 1940's lifeboatman gear and carried the RNLI flag in the final march through town which was an honour.  A superb event and a massive draw to our great town.Finally (phew, this has been a long blog post, well done if you are still reading, it's taken me over six hours to put this together), I had to include some shots of the beautiful North Norfolk coast.  Most of these seem to include the iconic Cromer Pier, this first one was taken just after dawn on a chilly Spring morning, I love the pastel colours of the sky at this time of day...The next shot was one I talked about in my previous blog post, a shot of the North Norfolk Emergency Services, a huge (10ft-ish) print of this shot is installed above the bar in the pavilion theatre at the end of the pier.And finishing up with some aerial photographs of Cromer & Sheringham, for more information about my drone photography in Norfolk please visit my aerial imaging site: aerovisuals.co.ukThe final shot - an aerial panoramic of Sheringham cliffs was comprised of 18 shots - bracketing the exposures and capturing the shots which were then stitched together for the panoramic view. The third and final blog post round up of 2016 will be of my Norfolk wedding photography and Lifestyle Portrait photos in North Norfolk, coming soon!For more information on my work as a commercial photographer in Norfolk and Suffolk please click here.Thanks for reading. • Commercial photographers in Norfolk • Property photographers in Norfolk • Norfolk interiors photography • Food photographers Norfolk • Event photographers in Norfolk •