Tuesday

Kate Fuller millinery

This was a commission to photograph hats made by Kate Fuller for the launch of her new website. Kate wanted images with the hats being worn – and two of her friends volunteered for the day. The garden looked fantastic, and I spent most of the day working in bare feet on the lawn. A good day at the office.






The bulk of the shoot was to document the collection of Kate's work from the past couple of years. I set up a studio in her enormous garage, which had large shelves down each wall. Kate explained that these were actually bunks for when the building was used as a transit station for moving wounded soldiers during the First World War! It was rather nice working in the shade after spending the hottest part of the day outside.







Saturday

2015 General Election image dump

Over the past couple of years I've been helping friends out with their general election campaigns, which has been great fun, with some lovely days out of London (a busman's holiday) and occasional calls late at night with 'I'm seeing the Chancellor tomorrow – don't suppose you're free for an hour?'

Here's a selection – I've posted more on my articles blog (www.matthewplummer.org.uk). Some of the photos are for specific campaigns, others are constituent endorsements, and a few are from being out on the campaign trail. It was amazing seeing Boris in action – people flocked to him as he walked down Sutton High Street. And supposedly politicians are unpopular!


















Tuesday

2014, as seen from my iPhone

Here are 14 of my favourite photos shot on my iPhone this year. I'm a big fan of the iPhone's camera, and use a combination of filters in iPhoto and Twitter to get the colour tone right – none of these photos have been edited on my computer. The camera's focus is a bit dodgy though, but I'm sure that will improve with future versions.

Monty on the Ashdown Forest 


Meal time near High Hurstwood, East Sussex 


People camping out overnight to get the best spot for the Trooping of the Colour


Taiga and Jodie at the summit of their first Munro


Riding along the Ridgeway 


Races at the Hawkridge Revels


Canvassing one of the many tower blocks in Wandsworth,
most of which are named after the icons of left-wing politics!


Making the stencil for my pavement sign as part of my 2014 local election campaign


Tractors, North Somerset 


St. Peter ad Vincula, Coggeshall


My cousin Richard on the Welsh Highland Railway


Playing fields at Barn Elms 


No. 1, Croydon


Henry with his first Royal



The view towards Westminster, St. James's Park

And of course there's this.

Saturday

Joe

I was heading out of London for work and went via one of my friends: she'd talked about doing portraits of her children and this seemed like a good opportunity. So meet Joe, one of the loveliest and wildest boys in East Sussex. I normally steer clear of 'family portraiture' but he was enormous fun to photograph – as you can probably tell!






Friday

Tom Tugendhat

My friend Tom has spent the last year as the Tory candidate for Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, one of the safest Conservative seats in the country. He is a lovely bloke who has spent much of the last decade in Afghanistan dealing with dodgy town elders – which will stand him well for life in Westminster!


Thursday

Richard

My cousin Richard asked if I'd do him a new photo for his cinema card, so we decided something a little edgier than the usual mugshot would be fun. This image also ended up in Felicitas Lind's Balham Sees Balham exhibition.


Monday

John Cullen Lighting

Last week I was commissioned to photograph the management of John Cullen Lighting, a lighting design consultancy based in Chelsea. They had a lovely studio and their team was great fun to work with. This photo – of Sally Storey, their design director – is one of my favourites.


Friday

University College London


I've just finished my Geography degree at UCL (with a 2:1 – phew!) and have been looking back through my stash of photos of the campus. This picture from earlier this year stands out as my favourite. I was in a lecture when I saw the puddles in the quad – and ran out as soon as we were done to make sure I photographed them before they were disturbed.

The building is the College Portico designed by William Wilkins, and regarded as his finest building, although most people are more familiar with the National Gallery building on Trafalgar Square.  UCL's main library is behind it, and when the sun was out we'd eat our lunch while sitting on the steps.

Monday

Christmas cards

I've had this photo in mind since last year for my work Christmas cards - the wonderful Sloane Square lights. I do love winter: much more fun than boring old summer.


Wednesday

Anna

I've been mucking around doing family portraits rather than deal with a three month backlog of Tri-X 400. Kodak, incidentally, is now owned by a UK group as part of their insolvency restructuring. Anna wanted a portrait for something to do with her undergraduate studies - a department photo, I think - and the final image we chose works rather well with one of the outtakes as a diptych.


Right. Must develop film.