Richard Boll

Author Archives: Richard Boll

FLASH SALE: 30 LIMITED EDITION PRINTS AT £30 EACH

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Filed under Conceptual Photography, Exhibitions, Fine Art Photography, Limited Edition Prints, Uncategorised

I’m pleased to share that throughout June 2024 I am hosting a special print sale on richardboll.art  There are 30 limited edition photographic prints (10” x 8”) available exclusively priced at £30 each until 30th June 2024.

The prints available include seascapes from the project Six Degrees of Freedom, a series of still-life photographs from the project Memento, and other selected images taken in France, Greece, Iceland, Mauritius, Egypt, and Kenya.

A black and white photograph of Wildebeest on the Masai Mara in Kenya.

 

A storm photographed at night in Mauritius by Richard Boll.

The seascapes from Six Degrees of Freedom were created by attaching a handmade large-format pinhole camera to different navigation buoys in the Solent at different times of day. The diffused visual effect is created by the combination of a long exposure and the movement of the sea.

Limited edition prints of Bourne Gap from the project Six Degrees of Freedom.

Hook, a seascape from the photographic project Six Degrees of Freedom.

The project Memento serves as a study that explores form, composition, and colour. The images were taken in Mallorca in September 2023. A room in an ancient villa with plaster walls and old wooden furniture became an improvised studio. Shutters and linen drapes were used to control the natural daylight that came in through a single window. The subject matter of decomposing fruit and burnt wood was found in the grounds of the villa.

Memento III from a still-life photography project by Richard Boll

Still-fine photograph from the project Memento.

All proceeds from the print sale will contribute to the production costs for my forthcoming exhibition in October 2024 which will take place in Brighton. Buy the limited edition, signed prints at richardboll.art

Thank you for your continued support, Richard

 

Five Favourite Photography Projects from 2023

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Filed under Advertising, Advertising Photography, Commercial Photography, Corporate headshot photography London, Corporate Photography, Editorial Portrait, Fine Art Photography, Luxury product photography, Photography Projects

2023 gifted me with interesting and varied photographic shoots from still life to portrait, to corporate headshots and lifestyle photography. Here, I share five of my favourite photography projects from last year and the story behind each image.

Memento I – Still-life Photography

Fine art still life photography by Richard Boll from the project Memento.

In September, I stayed in a villa in the mountains of Majorca. Whilst there, I turned the spare room into an improvised photographic studio. It was a great space to work in as I could use the existing shutters and curtains to precisely control the level of daylight.

I explored the grounds of the villa for objects to use in a still-life project and found some citrus fruit in various states of decay. I loved the beautiful colours of the rotting fruit that went from almost black to deep purple through to burnt orange.

This still life photography project was inspired by Memento mori, an element of visual language used in classical painting for centuries to remind the viewer of their mortality.

I placed the images into antique picture frames as a reference to classical painting and successfully entered it into the South West Academy Open Exhibition in Sidmouth, Devon. A series of 10 photographs from this project were also entered into the Sony World Photography Awards.

2. Yarli Allison – Visual Artist Portrait Photography

A photographic portrait of the fine artist Yarli Allison taken in her studio in London.

Yarli Allison is an artist born in Canada, raised in Hong Kong and is currently based in London and Paris. Her artistry uses an interdisciplinary approach that crosses sculpture, installation, CGI, moving image, drawing, poetry, tattoo, and performance.

She has been a subject for a personal project I started in 2022, producing portraits of Visual Artists. As part of this project, I shot some studio portraits in a suitable space in her London studio. Allison organised her wardrobe, choosing a range of different outfits to wear. It was a collaborative and creative process working with Yarli, making mutually agreed decisions on ideas and approaches for the shoot.
It was particularly satisfying to have time to play and experiment with lighting and different approaches to portraiture with such a great artist.

This portrait of Yarli is one of my favourite images from the shoot. I love her wardrobe choice and I feel the image captures her profound strength of character and identity. You can see some of Yarli’s work on her website here.

3. The lasts of Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield – Still Life Photography

Fine art still-life photograph of the John Lobb wooden lasts of the 5th Earl of Lichfield.

John Lobb have been crafting exquisite bespoke footwear and leather goods for Royalty and celebrities alike for over 170 years. Central to their process is a pair of unique wooden lasts made to the exact specifications of the wearers’ feet.
In 1863, John Lobb received its first Royal Warrant after crafting a pair of riding boots for the then Prince of Wales. Since then, they have continued to craft bespoke footwear for ongoing generations of Royalty.

As part of a long-term project, I photographed the complete collection of significant John Lobb wooden lasts. It was great to photograph the lasts of Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield as part of the project. Known as Patrick Lichfield in his professional life, he joined the Grenadier Guards in 1959 and on leaving the Army in 1962, he began to work as a photographer’s assistant. He was asked to take the photographs of the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981, and went on to become one of the UK’s best-known photographers.

I used the same technical approach for this image as for the other photographs in the project, incorporating focus stacking to achieve a sharp image throughout the depth of field, from the top to the bottom of the wooden last. You can see more images from the project here. Original limited edition prints can be purchased here.

4. Swaine London 1750 – Still Life Product Photography

Still life product photography of luxury bags and an umbrella for The House of Swaine.

Swaine London, established in 1750, is one of the oldest and most prestigious luxury brands in the world, providing the finest handcrafted leather goods, hats, and umbrellas and supplying to the TV and movie industries since the 1950s. For example, Swaine have supplied Poet hats for every Indiana Jones film, including the original Herbert Johnson hat worn by Harrison Ford in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in 1981.

Swaine have commissioned my work as a luxury product photographer for a range of projects. This image featured on their website was from a shoot for their Christmas promotional campaign photographing a range of luxury leather products arranged into a still-life image. The shoot was a collaborative team effort working with the Art Directors from Swaine.

5. Newcore Capital – Corporate Lifestyle & Headshot Photography

Corporate lifestyle photograph taken for Newcore Capital in London by Richard Boll Photography.

Newcore Capital was founded in 2011 and is a Certified B Corporation. As a specialist investor in social infrastructure real estate in the UK, Newcore invests in assets that are integral to the needs of society. I’ve been commissioned to photograph several corporate portrait and lifestyle projects for Newcore Capital in the past.

In 2023, I carried out two Newcore corporate photography projects. The first was a corporate lifestyle shoot in the summer, and a range of different shots of staff in informal meetings were set up. It was an enjoyable and productive shoot, making the most of the natural daylight that was available.

The second shoot was a large-scale corporate headshot shoot at their London offices, producing headshots of every current employee in the company. You can see more of my corporate photography here.

See more photography projects I shot in 2023 including Derwent London and the OXO Tower Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie.

Cavendish rebranded from BECG Group commission fresh and up-to-date corporate headshot & lifestyle photography

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Filed under Birmingham, Commercial Photography, Corporate headshot photography London, Corporate Photography, Corporate Portraiture, headshots, Location Photography, London, Southampton

Cavendish

Cavendish (formerly the BECG Group) is a multi-award-winning communications consultancy that specialises in working with corporate and political organisations. Their recent rebrand has unified the Group’s four sub-brands: BECG, Cavendish Advocacy, Liberty One, and LoveThat, marking its journey to become a full-service international communications consultancy.

With a 150-strong team of consultants, their collective knowledge, abilities, and expertise span many different sectors, including Energy & Utilities, Infrastructure, Property, Health & Wellbeing, and Fast-moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

By combining the company’s specialist corporate communications, public affairs, digital engagement, and creative services teams, the new Cavendish brand will offer its clients a fully integrated solution with the ability to deliver impactful, multi-discipline strategies and campaigns.

Corporate Headshot & Lifestyle Photography

Over 3 consecutive days, I visited the Cavendish Headquarters in London and two of their regional offices in Southampton and Birmingham. I produced a wide range of corporate headshots and lifestyle photographs of their employees that were commissioned to update and reflect their new branding.
The images that were generated combined a range of photography including staff working in their offices, having creative meetings, socialising, and going for walking meetings outside. I also took a range of corporate office lifestyle photography of office interiors and exteriors.

Day 1: Southampton

A man in an office in Southampton taken by corporate lifestyle photographer Richard Boll.

Day 2: London

Two women talking in an office in London in a photograph taken by corporate photographer Richard Boll.

Day 3: Birmingham

Corporate lifestyle photography of two people on a bench in Birmingham for Cavendish by Richard Boll.

The 3 day shoot

In all of the locations, we took pictures inside the offices as well as outside to get the benefit of natural light. During the shoot in London, we took photographs in Westminster due to Cavendish’s specialism in working with political organisations.

As part of this shoot, I also arranged for a hair and makeup artist who I’ve worked with before to be on hand for the headshot photographs. The headshots taken have multiple uses. Cavendish can use the images for their website, and also for LinkedIn profiles, presentations, promotional and marketing materials, editorials in magazines, etc.

A video crew was also in attendance on these shoots creating content at the same time. Combining two mediums to get moving footage and still images is a fairly common scenario on the corporate photography shoots I carry out.

A close-up photograph of marker pens in an office photographed by Richard Boll.

Corporate Lifestyle Approaches

There are two main approaches I tend to use for corporate lifestyle photography. One approach is to take ‘fly on the wall’, documentary-style photographs showing people naturally working at their desks or engaged in meetings around the office. The other is to set up mini scenarios which could be between 2 and 10 people. For example, arranging staff to sit together in a formal meeting, having creative conversations about specific projects, or social scenarios with colleagues meeting up for coffee or having breakfast in the offices. It’s good to mix up these photography approaches to show different sides of office life.

The 3 day shoot was really enjoyable and it was great working with the Cavendish team on this rebranding project, and to see the images being used so extensively throughout their website.

To find out more about the new Cavendish brand, visit their website and see more examples of my corporate lifestyle photography work.

Luxury Brand Product Photography: Diageo Present Eight Limited Edition Scotch Whiskies in Original Fine Art Print Boxes

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Filed under Advertising Photography, Commercial Photography, Product Photography, Studio Photography, Whisky photography

Diageo Luxury Limited Edition Whisky Presentation Box

I was commissioned by the boutique content marketing and digital commerce agency Precious Media, on behalf of Diageo, to take studio photographs of an exclusive luxury presentation box containing 8 limited edition whisky bottles. Diageo was founded in 1997 and is a global brand leader in premium drinks, known for products that include Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Guinness, Baileys and Captain Morgan. Only 20 whisky presentation boxes were produced. 10 were sent to the UK’s leading whisky critics and 10 were made available for sale. Each presentation box was created with 8 bespoke compartments, to hold one special edition miniature scotch whisky bottle inside.

Original fine art prints were specially commissioned by several talented artists to be featured on the outside of each drawer and whisky bottle. These designs are also included in the presentation box as limited edition prints.

Whisky presentation box photographed for Precious media and Diageo in Jet Studios in London.

8 Limited Edition Single Malt Scotch Whiskies

Each of the 8 whiskies have a unique flavour and character. The tasting notes for the whiskies are as follows:

1. Singleton: Delicate. Light. Perfectly balanced. Uniquely versatile.
2. Clynelish: Muscular and slightly peaty.
3. Oban: Elegant. Mature. Fruity flavours with rich peat smoke and spicy wood.
4. Talisker: From the Isle of Skye. Captures the elemental wildness and beauty of its birthplace.
5. Lagavulin: Intensely flavoured, smoky and rich.
6. Glenkinchie: Known as ‘The Edinburgh Malt’. Fragrant. Light. Subtle. Floral.
7. Mortlach: Known as ‘The Beast of Dufftown’. Bold flavour. Refined. Complex. Elegant.8. Roseisle: Light. Grassy spirit. Nutty. Malty.

Studio photography of whisky bottles for Precious Media.

The creative process & studio photoshoot

The one-day photoshoot took place at Jet Studios in Fulham, London. It was a collaborative team effort, working alongside several creative art directors and a product stylist. My photographic assistant, Lee Thompson, was also on hand to assist me with tethered shooting and studio lighting throughout the day. Before the whisky product shoot, several weeks of meticulous planning and preparation took place, to decide on the range of images needed on the day, including discussion on optimum lighting, backdrops and angles. There were also ongoing creative conversations on the day itself, to discuss the best approach for the brand photography and any minor changes required.

Close up whisky branding photography for Precious Media.

The brand shots were a combination of illustrative, e-commerce product photography against pure white backgrounds, and creative, stylised shots with a mixture of close-up images showing the finer details of the whisky bottles, and wider overhead photographs of the complete product set depicting the presentation box, 8 whisky bottles and fine art prints. The creative images were shot against a pre-painted backdrop the product stylist had prepared in advance. As the camera was tethered to a laptop, the client was able to remotely view the digital photographs in real-time as they were being produced, providing instant feedback and sign-off for each shot. This made for a highly efficient and collaborative approach to the studio photoshoot, where both the client and the agency were very happy with the final results.
It was a very successful shoot that was well-planned and executed with great lighting, styling and art direction.

Studio product photography of a bottle of whisky and a glass by Richard Boll.

 

The final images have been used on Malts.com. See more examples of my brand product photography work.

Managing Large Scale International Corporate Headshot and Lifestyle Photography Projects

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Filed under Corporate headshot photography London, lifestyle Photography, Photography Projects

Large Scale Corporate Photography Projects

Over the years, I’ve managed several large-scale corporate headshot, portrait, and lifestyle photography projects for companies such as Citibank, T. Rowe Price, Lazard Bank, Octopus Energy and American Express. I’ve carried out different types of photographic shoots in locations including Bolivia, Dubai, San Francisco, Boston, Helsinki, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, and Paris.

Corporate clients commission the corporate photography to use extensively:

– throughout their website
– in magazines, promotional materials, and blog posts
– in press releases and presentations
– on social media
– for internal use

Compilation of corporate photography examples taken by Richard Boll.

Most shoots take place in London and throughout the UK, but I often travel abroad to photograph employees at their partner offices too. As you can imagine, there are many moving parts involved in organising a large-scale, international corporate photography shoot. Depending on the complexity of the project and the number of locations, it can take several weeks to organise. Here, I share my process and how I manage global shoots for corporate headshots, portrait, and lifestyle images on a significant scale.

Pre-planning & Project Management

– Client Brief: One or more online meetings may take place to discuss a client’s desired images. Headshots are typically requested for between 50 and 200 people. Most clients request a uniform, formal, and professional result against the same background. This background can be a paper backdrop or the interior space of an office. An advantage of the paper backdrop option is that the look and feel of the portraits can be unified from shoots in different offices in different countries. Sometimes a client will request spontaneous corporate lifestyle images taken in specific locations around an office, showing people working at their desks, socialising, or having meetings.

An example of a page of uniform headshots taken by Richard Boll.

– Timetables: I work closely with internal office managers to line up diaries of the employees being photographed. These tend to be extremely busy people who travel regularly, and inevitably, they’re not all going to be available on the same day and in the same week. I often have to revisit locations to photograph people missed from the original shoot.

– Sourcing Locations: A significant amount of time is spent finding suitable locations for the shots. The client can do a walk around of their office spaces and remotely show me still images and videos that they’ve shot. Between us, we roughly work out an initial approach but typically, an in-person recce of the locations is also required.

– Recce Time: If I have to travel to another country, I tend to book in time the day before the shoot to come to an office to carry out a recce with the client, to look around their building, to find specific backgrounds that will be effective. Often, a client requests headshots taken in the same location, whereas some clients want a range of different backgrounds to generate variety within the shots. Depending on the nature of the offices it can be a challenge to find a range of backgrounds that are a) available and b) look good for the headshots.

A variety of examples of corporate headshot and lifestyle photography produced by Richard Boll.

– Flights & Hotels: Booking flights and hotels for multi-location shoots can be a time-consuming task. Flight times have to tie in with different time zones and shooting dates, sometimes allowing sufficient time to recover from jet lag.

– Transporting Equipment: Transporting photography equipment internationally can become a complex process. Considerations include ensuring that cameras, lenses, and lighting equipment are packed securely, to avoid damage. Lithium batteries have their particular packing requirements for flights regarding the number of batteries allowed and whether they must be taken within carry-on luggage as opposed to going in the hold. For some countries, paperwork must be completed for equipment to be taken through customs, and failure to do so can result in some or all of the equipment being seized until permissions have been cleared.

– Digital Operators: Typically, I will source digital operators to work with me on these shoots. In most situations, my camera is tethered to a laptop attached to a large screen, so the client can view the images as they’re being produced. The digital operator will create multiple backups of all content taken and label the files as we shoot. They will also create multiple formats, for example, low-resolution JPEGs for selection purposes, and high-resolution TIFFs and RAW files for retouching later.

– Sourcing Professionals: I can also be responsible for sourcing, managing, and paying suitable professionals for multiple shoots in each location, e.g. lighting assistants, hair stylists, and make-up artists.

– Supplying images: After the shoot, the client is supplied with low-resolution images to make final selections. I’ll typically send 30-40 shots of each person and the client will narrow these down to approximately 5 shots to show the individual. One or two final images per person are typically selected for optimisation.

An example of corporate lifestyle photography carried out in London by Richard Boll.

– Retouching: Retouching selected images is a significant task in each large-scale project. I could easily end up shooting over 200 headshot and lifestyle images that all need to be optimised and refined afterward. This is a process I can complete for a client although this is often carried out in-house by the client.

Email richard@richardbollphotography.com to discuss your next large-scale corporate photography project. See more corporate portrait and lifestyle images I’ve shot here.

Derwent London commission corporate team portraits for Annual Report

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Filed under Corporate Photography, Location Photography, London, Portrait Photography

Derwent London Plc

Group corporate portraiture by Richard Boll Photography commissioned by Derwent London.

Derwent London’s ethos has always been distinctive and design-led. From modest beginnings, they’ve grown steadily to own a portfolio of 5.4 million sq ft (507,200 sq m) of commercial real estate, (predominantly in Central London) valued at £5.2bn as at 30 June 2023.

Based on Savile Row, they are the largest London office-focused real estate investment trust (REIT). Recently named in the ‘Sunday Times Best Places to Work List 2023’ in the medium-sized organisation category, 91% of their employees said they were proud to work there. 88% enjoy their job and 86% felt they were employed in a well-run organisation.

I was recently commissioned to photograph several corporate team portraits, in and around three of their London-based commercial properties, for their 2022 Annual Report & Accounts.

Annual Report & Accounts 2022

The 2022 Annual Report published on their website, is the third Derwent London Annual Report that I’ve taken photographs for since 2019.

For the images in this report, I worked closely with an Art Director and together, we visited some of the recently completed properties in central London to find visually interesting with aesthetically strong compositions.

Corporate Group Portraits for Derwent London

Derwent requested group portraits of their various teams from the following departments:

  • Finance
  • Health and Safety
  • Leasing and Marketing
  • Valuation and Investment
  • Asset and Property Management
  • Development and Sustainability &
  • Building Management, Facilities, and H & S

A corporate portrait of four people taken for Derwent London by Richard Boll.

It was a logistical challenge to get this number of people lined up and available for the shoot requiring meticulous advance planning.

A group portrait taken in London for Derwent.

Group portraits are always interesting to photograph and come with their own set of challenges. Initially, the challenge is to scout for suitable locations which could be an elegant room or a grand reception area. The challenge then becomes how to compose and photograph numerous different people within that space to create an effective photograph.

Group corporate portrait taken for Derwent London Annual Report.

It’s important to ensure that everybody in the photograph is looking at the camera with their eyes open, which can be a challenge when you have a significant number of people to position and photograph. The whole process typically takes much longer than photographing an individual portrait or headshot.
The Derwent London employees are great people to work with and this is a corporate photography project that I always find really enjoyable.

Find out more about Derwent London by visiting their website and seeing other corporate portrait and lifestyle photography projects I’ve worked on.

Hospitality Photography: London’s iconic OXO Tower Restaurant showcase delicious British menu, mouth-watering cocktails and stunning views

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Filed under Commercial Photography, Food photography, Hospitality photography, Lifestyle, lifestyle Photography, London

OXO Tower Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie

For over 25 years, the OXO Tower Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie has offered a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy memorable food and drink experiences, using only the best of British seasonal produce and serving the finest wines.
Situated on the 8th floor of the iconic OXO Tower on London’s South Bank, the restaurant boasts stunning views of St Paul’s and the river Thames. From birthdays and graduations to a romantic meal out, it’s the perfect setting for any special occasion with the views to match.

A member of staff at the OXO Tower Restaurant Bar and Brasserie in London with a tray of drinks.

Double Commission

I first shot promotional images for the OXO Tower Restaurant last summer and then again a few weeks ago. Both shoots were really enjoyable and generated some great content. The restaurant is a fantastic environment to photograph in. Due to its top-floor location and floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the natural light up there is great with nothing to block the view.
It’s a real gift to be asked to take photographs there and the staff are great to work with too. Typically, a shoot like this would take about 3 to 4 hours starting at around 6pm in the evening. I took a range of different photographic shots including still-life food and drink, documentary lifestyle, the interior space of the restaurant, and the outside terrace area.

Hospitality photography taken for the OXO Tower restaurant Bar and Brasserie in London by Richard Boll.

Food & Drink Photography

The food and drink photography shots were the most formal and composed, similar to taking a still-life photograph. It was an honour to take images of some stunning plates of food that had been specially created and prepared for the shoot by Executive Head Chef Jeremy Bloor.
I combined the approaches of photographing the dishes on a table set up for dinner and incorporating waiting staff holding plates of food. As well as delicious food, the restaurant is well known for its mouth-watering cocktails and I shot several composed images of these throughout the shoot.

Food photography at the OXO Tower restaurant in London by Richard Boll.

Documentary Lifestyle Photography

I always enjoy using a ‘fly-on-the-wall’, documentary photographic style here, as it gives a real flavour of the buzzy but relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant. For example, I photographed lifestyle shots of staff behind the bar making cocktails, kitchen staff preparing dishes and the waiting staff serving food and wine.

It’s always interesting shooting in a live, natural environment where there are customers and staff present. The atmosphere at the OXO Tower is great and really lively. Both of the shoots were dependent on the weather (especially the images taken on the outside terrace) but thankfully, I got lucky on both occasions and had natural sunlight and fantastic sunsets to work with.
I’m pleased to report these promotional images have been used throughout the OXO Tower Restaurant website, on their social media, and some of the images have also been featured on the Time Out website.

Drinks photographed in London by Richard Boll for the OXO Tower Restaurant.

Why not try the best of British menu yourself at the OXO Tower Restaurant and sample one of their famous cocktails? See more images from the promotional shoots.

 

How & Why I enter Photography Awards

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Filed under Exhibitions, Fine Art Photography, National Portrait Gallery, Photography Award, Photography career, Photography competitions, Portrait Photography

Why I enter photographic competitions

Early on in my photography career, I started entering interesting and highly respected competitions that were suited to my personal style and creativity.  I had various reasons for wanting to enter these competitions:

• Exposure for my work to be seen on respected global platforms
• The personal challenge to produce high-quality work for a specific brief
• Recognition for my work to be acknowledged by judges of a high calibre
• Providing me with some content to share, whether for a blog post, social media or to show potential clients
• The potential to win prizes!
• The opportunity to have my work seen alongside highly respected photographers

Here are some of the successful entries that have either won or been shortlisted in photography awards:

1. 2004 – 1st place – Audi/Next Level International Award for Contemporary Photography

A dark mirror leaning against a wall, from the project Studio, produced in the Edinburgh College of Art.

From the project Studio

2. 2006 – 1st place – National Portrait Gallery (NGP) Photographic Prize

The portrait Joe, winner of the National Portrait Gallery's Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize in 2006.

This image, Joe also led to a commission by the NPG to photograph Sir David Attenborough.

3. 2011 – Selected Winner – Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Exchange

A portrait of a man in a snow-covered field holding a pheasant from the project Death in the Afternoon. Richard Boll Photography, London.

From the project Death in the Afternoon

4. 2021 – Shortlisted – Wellcome Photography Prize

A portrait of Louise, taken in March of 2022.

Louise, March 2020

5. 2022 – 3rd place – Kuala Lumpur Photography Awards

The artist Adam Chodzko standing in a pond in Whitstable, Kent, 2022. Richard Boll Photography, London.

The Artist Adam Chodzko, Whitstable, 2022

6. 2023 – Shortlisted – Professional Creative Category – Sony World Photography Awards

An image from the project Road, shortlisted in the Sony World Photography Awards 2023.

From the project Road

Two main approaches

When deciding which competitions to enter, I have two main approaches and I’ve had good results from both. I’ve also entered many awards and competitions in which I had no success at all!

The first approach is producing work specifically for an award. This involves planning the kind of work that could potentially do well and photographing a subject accordingly. When researching new potential competitions, I turn to various sources of information regarding awards, competitions, and also open exhibitions for example:

https://submit.picter.com/home
http://fotoroom.co/photography-awards-competitions/
https://photocontestdeadlines.com/all-photo-competitions/

2. The second approach is when I have suitable images already created that I feel strongly about and that I believe have the potential for a specific competition. With this approach, there is an element of chance that I happen to have something that meets the competition brief.

Competition Advice

If I were to give any specific advice to photographers about entering competitions, I would encourage them to blend producing the strongest work that they can with meeting the expectations from any particular competition. It has to be work that you feel is strong and that has come from the heart, but there is a skill in adapting work to particular competitions and recognising the potential in that competition for your own work. Similarly, understanding when your work is not a good fit or suitable can be key. However much you’d like to be in the running, you have to be realistic about whether you have strong and suitable work. Looking at galleries of previously successful work is a good way of getting an understanding of the nature of imagery that judges in the competition are likely to be looking for. If you start to believe that a competition doesn’t correlate with your style of image-making, the best thing to do can be to decide not to enter at all.

I find researching and entering photography awards a fun and enjoyable process and it’s a significant part of my work. I like looking at images that have been successful in current competitions and seeing what’s fresh and contemporary in other photographers’ work.

I enjoy the personal challenge of selecting suitable images, entering awards, and then hearing the results, whether good or not so good! To have your photographs critically assessed and receive constructive feedback from respected judges helps to elevate the standards of your work.

Call +44(0)7812 908229 or email richard@richardbollphotography.com to discuss your next photography project.

Fine Art Photography Project shortlisted in Professional Creative category of Sony World Photography Awards 2023

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Filed under Conceptual Photography, Fine Art Photography, Photography Award, Post Production

This personal fine art photography project titled ‘Road’ (previously ‘Glitch’) was recently shortlisted in the Professional Creative category of the Sony World Photography Awards 2023.

A photograph manipulated in post production of the side of a road in Crete. Fine art photography by Richard Boll.

The Road – a fine art photography project

The project was based upon a series of photographs that I took whilst in Crete in August 2022. The taking of the images was haunted by an awareness of war crimes that had been committed in Crete by the Nazis in 1941. After the Germans invaded the island, strong resistance was shown by the local population, and in reprisal, many villages were razed and hundreds of civilians were massacred.

We were staying in a very remote hotel on a quiet country road and at night the road was very dark due to the lack of streetlights. I took photographs of the road using a flash. What interested me was the various points where the road turned around a bend. The flash would pick up the road itself and any trees, foliage, rocks, etc but it could only see so far around the bend leaving areas of darkness in the images. This aesthetic appealed to me and I felt that the road images are effective universal visual metaphors for the unknown. I took a series of shots of the road over two evenings.

A manipulated photograph of a road in Crete form the series titled Road. Fine art photography by Richard Boll.

Post Production

When I got back from the trip, I enjoyed looking at and working my way through the series of photographs but I felt that the images needed another layer of interest. They were good visual content to start working on but I wanted to develop the images further.
I manipulated them in various ways to play with the surface of the photograph with a view to generate questions about how we see the photographic image. The original pictures of the road became a canvas on which to work, rather than an end point in their own right.
The shots were taken digitally, so could be made either colour or black and white. They are mainly black and white, but with some selective areas of colour. I also turned some elements to negative, whether it was negative of a black and white or colour image. I also overlaid certain areas with blocks of colour and used coloured filters. The original image is still variably evident but with elements of abstraction applied.

Smashed glass laid over a black and white photograph of a remote road in Crete.

Experimental process

The whole project was intentionally instinctively experimental. I wanted to work quite quickly with the images to avoid overthinking what I was doing. This way of working was good for me, because most of my personal projects are often considered over a long period of time and I like the freshness in the images that this approach helped to generate. I’ve found that working more spontaneously can be refreshing and can often lead to unexpected results that I wouldn’t have achieved if I’d laboured over the images over a longer period of time.

A burnt photograph of a road in Crete from the fine art photography project Road.

Future Plans

I intend to build on this project. I see it as a starting point rather than an endpoint. Over time, some of the images will probably get discarded and other images will be brought into the project to be worked upon.
At this stage, I’m thinking about how I can manipulate the photographs further. Since beginning the project I’ve experimented with setting fire to certain parts of the images and overlaying glass that is then smashed. I plan to experiment with overlaying other elements, such as paint and tracing paper.
This project plays on the idea of our perception of the photographic image and things that can influence that perception. There are also visual comments on different visual mediums; where photography has come from, as well as posing questions about the direction that the photographic image is taking.

See all the Sony World Photography Award finalists here and see more of my past personal projects here.

UK Visual Artist Photographic Portraits 4 of 4: Gordon Cheung – contemporary multi-media artist who blurs the line between the virtual and reality

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Filed under Editorial Photography, Editorial Portrait, Environmental Portrait, Fine Art Photography, Gordon Cheung, Location Photography, London, Portrait Photography

UK Visual Artist Portrait Series

When I first developed an interest in photography and started learning about well-known artists and photographers, I appreciated seeing portraits of them taken by other photographers. A portrait can be an effective introduction into the life of an artist and can tell a visual story and open a window into that person’s world. I found it really intriguing and was curious about why that person had been photographed in a particular way. I’ve decided to continue this rich photography tradition, by shooting a photographic series of well-known visual artists currently working in the UK.

Gordon Cheung

The artist Gordon Cheung wearing a mask ready to spray paint a new picture. Portrait photo by Richard Boll of London.

The fourth set of images in this series features Gordon Cheung, a London-born contemporary, multi-media visual artist from Chinese parents. Cheung has developed an innovative approach to creating art, blurring virtual and actual reality and raising questions about what it means to be human in a capitalist society. Working with a variety of media including stock page listings, spray paint, acrylic, inkjet, and woodblock printing, he blends his art into dreamlike spaces of urban surreal worlds, using the topics of culture, mythology, religion, and politics.

The London-based artist Gordon Cheung facing toward a picture that he's about to start painting.

His work centers around financial market crashes, incorporating elements of the Financial Times into his art to make 3D sculptural pieces. Tulips crop up in most of his work as a symbol because ‘Tulip mania’ was reputed to be the first ever market crash in February 1637. Tulip mania was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some new and fashionable bulbs reached ridiculously high levels – a handful of tulips would have cost the same as a house nowadays.
Gordon has pioneered a now iconic digital glitch technique, involving taking an image, whether it’s a painting or a portrait, and altering the structure of the digital file, getting into the programming behind it. This process produces a really interesting aesthetic, dragging the lines down and blurring the virtual with reality.

The photographic concept

The original photographic concept for this series was to shoot four different elements of the visual artist: behind-the-scenes studio shots, finer details referencing their work, the artist working, and photographic portraits. As part of this project, I also wanted to introduce a collaboration and crossover element between the visual artist and myself and I asked Gordon if he would be prepared to digitally glitch a portrait that I’d taken of him. I’m keeping that particular portrait under wraps for now to reveal at a future exhibition of the visual artist series. I chose Cheung for this series as I find his work fascinating and unique, in particular how he incorporates financial elements and assesses financial institutions. I regularly shoot corporate portraiture for an investment bank and I’ve even noticed his work hanging on the walls of their offices.

A close-up detail photograph of an art work by the London artist Gordon Cheung.

It was great collaborating with Cheung on this project and it’s encouraging to see my imagery being extensively used on Gordon’s own website and in a newsletter produced by the Cristea Roberts Gallery, the worldwide representative for Cheung’s original prints.
Watch this space for the next visual artist in this series – Yarli Allison. Visual artists previously featured in this portrait series were Gavin Turk, Adam Chodzko and Jake Wood-Evans.

Discover more about Gordon Cheung and his work by visiting his website.

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