Pictures and researcher

I was offered a job in the USA as a news and celebrity photographer in Manhattan. My first ever picture was published in Hello magazine, it was of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

I returned to the UK and started freelancing as a picture researcher for all kinds of publications, the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday people, and the Independent newspapers among others.

I even found the time to still take photos, as official photographer at the legendary Dog Star and also Mass nightclub in Brixton, photographing DJ’s and club culture. 

 and bbc years

After that, I joined the BBC as Picture Campaign Manager for all of BBC entertainment, comedy as well as all the picture content for the channel BBC Three. It was amazing working in TV, especially in such a key role. Briefly, myself and my team where part of the whole marketing and communications strategy. I created, produced and directed the photography for major shows, such as Strictly Come Dancing. I negotiated with channel and genre heads, show producers, artists, talent and celebrity agents all to make amazing photography happen.

I then joined Red Bee Media and learned to make on-air trailers for upcoming tv programs, I learned all kinds of new skills, video editing, directing voice over artists, writing a script and more, mostly for BBC programs and particularly for BBC Four.

I’ve worked with Paul for many years at the Mail (Associated Newspapers) in my role as Group Creative Director in Advertising and Marketing. 

Paul has many skills, and the ones that stand out are:

1.  He understands design and the needs of designers (not a given in my experience).

2.  He gets inside complex subject matters quickly; grasping a topic with an excellent eye for a picture, and he is thorough!

3.  He gives extra in time and effort to make sure the great pictures aren’t overlooked or missed.

As a bonus, Paul is also deadline and budget conscious which is a must.

He is great fun to be around.

Finally, Paul can very effectively self-manage his contribution to a project, but just as easily join an established team to get a job done.

I have been working with Dude for over 30 years, we started together in college, continued through Fleet street, freelance design, global advertising campaigns and even today we collaborate across borders (I live in Copenhagen).

 Whether I’m looking for something specific, a motif, a theme, or an aesthetic I’ll ask Dude what he thinks as his view of the world stage always ads a new creative twist that can lift my communication, adding cut through, which is essential in todays cluttered world where images have never been more important or so massively consumed.

 Dude often opens my eyes; whether its to new underground trends, or old obscure Japanese photographers his finger is on the pulse, and that’s what’s needed in todays fast-paced-high-consumption digital world that chews through images like no bodies business. I can only recommend that you take a brew and a chat with Dude.

Paul is an absolute joy to work with.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with him on a community art course for Escape Arts, supporting adults of mixed abilities on a photography session.

Paul is a great teacher, he is patient, funny and kind, and his personable approach ensures that everyone gets the most out of each session. This is so important when working with a group of people with mixed abilities.

Paul ensures everyone feels comfortable through his friendly persona and subtly provides extra support to those who need it. He gives real careful consideration to his audience and delivers interactive activities that are both engaging and enduring, with his hints and tips staying in your mind long after the session has finished.

We were so humbled that Paul delivered this session with his experience and knowledge, which translated brilliantly to all members of the group, no matter their ability.

We hope to do much more work with him and our community groups in the future.

escapearts.org.uk

Thanks to his work ethic, and top level experience, working with Paul is always a pleasure.

Shoots go smoothly because his vision, artistic direction and “nothing is impossible” attitude.

This means we always deliver more than we were asked to produce, even with tight deadlines.

markwhitfieldphotography.com

I arrived at the BBC as Picture Campaign Manager after many years working in print and magazines, TV was a new and exciting challenge.  

Strictly Come Dancing was the first flagship project I worked on, and what a project. This show was hugely significant to the BBC in their ratings war with ITV; the picture campaign was a critical part of attracting and increasing the audience figures.   

I approached the project as if it were an important cover shoot for one of the leading magazines I had worked on.  

This started with developing the creative concept and agreeing this with the show producers. This included the use of a hand-painted backdrop to be used in some of the pictures, rather than relying on digital post-production. 

I led the shoot production, art direction and directed the photos on the day to help achieve the best results.  

The backdrop made a massive difference. It gave the portraits of Bruce and Tess an ethereal chic and grandeur. In fact, Bruce loved his photos from the session so much he asked to use his portrait as his new card.  

After three years working on Strictly, the programme’s Executive Producer kindly said that without my work, the show wouldn’t have been as big of a success! High praise, given that a production like Strictly is the result of hard work and dedication from hundreds of people.  

A never to be forgotten experience. 

This was an amazing project; a collaboration between the Imperial War Museum’s archives and the Daily Mail.  

Thinking back in my life, when growing up I often leafed through chunky historical picture books on conflicts and world events. It fascinated me. So, you can imagine how excited I was when asked to be the Picture Editor on this project.  

I was determined to find pictures that went beyond the obvious and well known. To show the unseen or unexpected and really make this publication stand out and keep the readers engaged. 

It was incredibly important to the picture strategy that we find ways to inject the use of colour into a predominantly black and white archive. Along with the page design, colour was added to the pages with bold choices of contemporary illustrations, hand-coloured prints and art works. These sat alongside the photography archive brilliantly and created a much richer book, injecting real visual impact to some amazing stories. 

I’m immensely proud of this piece of work, I think it honours the lives and deaths of the people that endured the great war. 

BBC Three needed fresh ways to engage with its target audience of 16-24 year olds.

The channel wanted to evolve from a linear TV channel into a full multiplatform content provider with high levels of viewer participation. With our younger audience pictures were key to that successful participation.

As Picture Campaign Manager for the channel, I was a core member of the rebranding team, working with colleagues from the BBC and Red Bee Media.

My challenge was to translate the channel’s ambitions into a new picture strategy that had impact and recognition using photography.

The changes outlined in the strategy included the desirable photographic style and guidance on the use of pictures with other branded assets, to further enhance the look of campaigns and communications.

By adopting this picture strategy, the BBC Three teams were able to confidently create a whole new look. The strategy was used by the BBC and by the independent TV production companies to guide their picture creation for many campaigns.

I am proud of this strategy, as the use of distinctive photography and style easily identified picture campaigns as BBC Three.