Healthcare advertising photographer Matt Wain specializes in evoking emotion
and keeping it natural – when the reality is anything but.
Keeping it natural and specialising in capturing emotion.
London portrait photographer Matt Wain’s ‘Node to Node’ project is a visual trip into the human web and social networking. Having chosen the initial ‘node’ himself, each subsequent node is nominated by the current node – and so the journey continues.
Naturally, Node-to-Node has a Facebook group page:
Client: PAN - Advertising Agency. Brief: Portraits for their Christmas Card
“We had worked with Matt Wain Photography before, so when we were looking for a one-stop solution for our Christmas shoot they were the natural choice. Matts’ personable nature, good humour and his ability to get the most out of people, was a massive help in guaranteeing a painless shoot for what, potentially, could have been a creative and logistical nightmare!”
Roy Robertson, Creative Services Director, PAN Advertising
PAN Advertising is a full-service healthcare advertising and communications agency. PAN came up with the concept of a hospital scene for their Christmas card and our brief was to produce a funny image based on this concept using every single member of Pan’s 35-strong staff. PAN also wanted us to orchestrate the whole shoot so that all they had to do was turn up on the day. We did just that: we sourced the location, the props and wardrobe. On the day, we shot the image in 7 sections, which were then digitally combined to produce the final shot. And the end result went down a storm!
Rhein II by Andreas Gursky.
It’s been mooted that Gursky is successful and accepted as a fine art photographer because he has never been a commercial photographer – the art world frowns on photographers who dare to do both. However, I read (in a Dissent Magazine article) that Gursky had been a commercial photographer – as were (are?) both his parents. I’m finding it hard to think of a fine art photographer who hasn’t done commercial work – Adams, Weston, Salgado, Penn & Bailey – for starters – it doesn’t stop the greats. Personally, I always rather liked Gursky, but not since the digital manipulation though. It just reminds me of how disappointed children are when they find out amazing things they see are created on computer and not real. Kids are rarely wrong in these matters. Here’s to keeping it real!
A bit about Matt
Son of an ad man, Matt understands advertising and how images are used to convey messages. His style is natural and his images capture emotion, keeping it real – even when the circumstances are anything but.
Matt works with agencies and corporate clients directly, appreciating that the images he takes exist to represent a company’s brand – whether the photos are of people or places they reflect the business’ ethos and the way it wishes to be portrayed and perceived.
Foremost a people photographer, commissions take Matt into all sectors of commerce. He’ll be in a classroom one day, a boardroom the next and dangling out of a helicopter the day after!
Matt finds inspiration in many places and appreciates the work of many photographers – favourites are Richard Avedon, Don McCullin, Sabastiao Salgado and Andreas Gursky.
A bit about Polly
Polly Harrison manages booking and production for Matt – calendar, estimates, assistants, props, models, stylists, locations and wardrobes and always goes the extra mile to ensure clients get exactly what they need – every time.
Before joining the business, Polly spent over a decade in corporate marketing, PR and marketing consultancy: “I hope that my broad experience helps me appreciate our clients’ needs and I always support them however I can – making sure we exceed their expectations and deliver what they need on time and to budget.”
The 2010 IPA received nearly 15,000 submissions from 103 countries. These images from Matt Wain entitled ‘Paradise City’ won Matt an honorable mention.
Captured on location in the American Southwest, the images form part of Matt’s ‘Life on the Edge’ project.
All project images are documentary style – candid and unstaged.
So, I see it’s welcome back to the Tetley Tea Folk this week. And they don’t seem any worse for wear 10 years on. Wish I could say the same – I saw some photos of myself recently and was quite surprised to see all the wrinkles on my smiling face!
Matt did a lifestyle photography shoot in London last week and the owner of the business said he had to get some portrait photography done soon of himself. Matt offered to do a corporate portrait of him while he was there – and he quite literally ran out of the room saying: “Not now, too busy!”.
Many of us don’t like having our photo taken, but if it has to be done ‘for work’ then go to a people photographer. A true people photographer puts people at their ease and captures emotion – you’ll see no forced smiles in their portrait images – even for the corporate headshots!
On advertising photo shoots, when the brief is to capture a lifestyle shot, a moment in time and a particular emotion, even models sometimes find it hard to lose the cheesy grins and act naturally. Which is where a people photographer comes into their own. With the production team to support them it’s happy creatives, happy managers & happy clients all round – job done.
Right, now for a cuppa…
Digital commercial photography has increased the importance of editing – which photographs are fantastic and which are not.
You might take the best image ever, a stunning corporate portrait, a natural ad image, which captures emotion, a Gursky-blitzing image that could sells for millions and launch you to cult status in the art world.
However, if you overlook it in the editing, it’s no good to anyone.
Knowing which image to keep and which to ditch can be tough.
I remember at college working on a project called ‘Take a fresh look at London’. I begged and borrowed  (no I didn’t steal!) to build a roomset in the studios at college. It had two walls a window a front door, a fully tiled floor and various props – all for the price of a pint of beer. I stripped in a picture of Big Ben, this was before photoshop and took forever. At the my crit my lecturers gave me 100% – I was appalled, no photograph can merrit 100% – I couldn’t have created the perfect shot so early in my career.
My point is that if you photograph mushrooms for the rest of your life, you might, just might          end up with some of the best mushroom pictures there are.
An assistant is a necesity for many a commercial photographer’s shoots, sometimes more than one, but it has always fascinated me what my fellow photographers look for in an assistant.
I’m not talking about the likes of Mario Testino, but for us mere mortals…
I have a friend who looks for a very technically able assistant, indeed, long ago I once assisted a beauty photographer who could not load the film in her own camera (so old!). She was most put out that I wasn’t familiar with her particular camera. I resorted to the manaul and it was sorted.
Personally, I would never expect an assistant to turn up on a shoot and be instantly able to work all of my equipment. In my experience, the specifics of using the equipment in terms of setting it up and basic operations can be taught relatively quickly and easily.
However, the ability to make small talk and strike up a conversation at a moment’s notice with someone
you have never met before and probably won’t again is not something that is easily taught.
Since specialising in people and lifestyle photography, I have to say that Nicky, who has assisted me for a few years now, is a fantastic assistant for me. Don’t get me wrong, she is technically very able, but she can chat also with everyone.
Nicky is immediately at ease with the diverse range of characters we come accross on shoots, which ranges from people living on the streets to high maintenance American lifestyle models and everyone in between!
Which means she puts our subjects at their ease too, leaving me to do get the job done – capturing emotion for visual communication.
Together, we keep it seemingly natural and unstaged when the reality is often anything but. Which brings me on to praise Polly for her logistics and production – but I’ll leave that for another day!
LIDF 2010 aims to explore the differences between photography and film-making as well as considering how they converge. Professionals from the film, photography and radio industries will all join panels and lead workshops and participatory events. There are two documentary photography workshops, a photographic treasure hunt around Bloomsbury and a visual exploration of Hackney and NE London. Among the exhibitions is Toby Smith’s ‘Madagascar: Bois de Rose’ and we wish him every success. Smith has been documenting illegal deforestation in Madagascar, within UNESCO-protected rainforests. Part of the LIDF, the exhibition runs from 17 to 26 April 2010 in Barbican Mezzanine, Silk Street, London. Admission is free.
For more information about the LIDF visit http://www.lidf.co.uk/
Client: LECG
Sector: Global Expert Services and Consulting Company – http://www.lecg.com
Brief: Portraits for Graduate Recruitment Brochure
“We like the way Matt puts everyone at ease – he really gets the best out of people”. We needed images for our new graduate recruitment brochure and we wanted to get across that LECG is a fun working environment – without being too wild and whacky! Matt now comes in every six months or so to photograph new recruits and he and his assistant create a great selection of images for us to choose from.”
Amy Kilbane, European Marketing Manager, LECG
LECG is a global expert services and consulting firm, with approximately 800 experts and professionals in 31 offices around the world. LECG is recognized worldwide for deploying leading academic, governmental and consulting experts on significant engagements in the public and private sectors.
LECG call on us to ensure their imagery upholds the look and feel of their brand. We provide corporate portraits of their ever-expanding team of consulting professionals. On this occasion LECG had a specific brochure in mind for graduate recruitment, we took a relaxed shot of each person as well as a more formal
portrait, allowing 10 minutes for each person, and shot everyone on location at LECG’s London offices.
Sabastiao Salgado is a photojournalist in the best sense of the word, Salgado’s lens captures the beauty in his subjects’ gritty reality. The following interview is with Carole Naggar in new York, March 29, 2000:
Why did you start the Migrations project?
The Migrations project is the continuation of my previous project Workers. It is the second chapter of the same story. While I was shooting Workers over six or seven years, I saw that we were inside a total transformation of the ways of production. With the end of the first industrial revolution and the arrival of the new technology–intelligent machines–on the line of production, with the new organization of factors of production, I saw that human beings and their traditional, sedentary way of life were also beginning to transform.
Today, Photojournalist Don McCullin’s work still secures the response that it so greatly received back in the 1960′s and 70′s. McCullin worked for The Observer, The Sunday Times and other commissioning magazines, who sent him on assignments, photographically reporting the stories that led from the ensuing wars around the world. McCullin used his camera as a witness to its surroundings: a tool that hoped could influence action. McCullin said “I knew things were wrong. That’s why I photographed them… I wanted to take pictures for the immediate consumption, to correct whatever wrongs they’re depicting.”
I admire Andreas Gursky for his large-scale, colour photographs, distinctive for their incisive and critical look at the effect of capitalism and globalisation on contemporary life.
Gursky studied under Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie in the early 1980s and first adopted a style and method closely following Becher’s systematic approach to photography, creating small, black-and-white prints. In the early 1980s, however, he broke from this tradition, using colour film and spontaneous observation to make a series of images of people at leisure, such as hikers, swimmers and skiers, depicted as tiny protagonists in a vast landscape.
Matt Wain takes photographs of people and places for commercial clients
– photography for advertising agencies, for architects who want to use movement and include people in their images, for corporate photography direct, for industry and construction firms and photography for school prospectuses for the field of education.
He specialises in the visualization of people on location, globally – people at ease in their environment.
An award-winning commercial photographer, Matt Wain is based in London. Location photographer, Matt works on one-off projects as well as managing the visual brand of his long-term clients. He accepts national and international photo assignments. A commercial photographer, Matt takes briefs from agencies as well as directly from corporate clients and has over 15 years photographic experience.
His location portfolio encompasses lifestyle photography, events photography, corporate photography, architectural photography, interior photography, exterior photography, industrial photography and construction photography. While shooting commercially, Wain’s style and feel is classic street photography. His trademark style uses movement and spontaneity, keeping it real to capture candid images of people and places in their natural element.
Specializing in the fields of advertising, corporate, location, portrait and landscape – Matt Wain takes photographs of people for commercial clients, through advertising agencies and with in-house creative teams direct.
His portfolios cover informal and formal business photos, corporate portraits, headshots, events photography and images for annual reports, bid projects, prospectuses, printed literature and lifestyle advertising shoots.
Matt's photographic assignments take him all over the UK, Europe and the USA – and he also works closer to home, providing local photography in London, the South East, the Thames Valley (or M4 corridor) and the Home Counties.
Matt Wain's natural documentary style of photography is highly regarded and he enjoys working with both design agencies and corporate clients, forging long-standing client relationships as he goes. Matt and his team appreciate that the images Matt takes exist to represent a company's brand – that the photos are the visual representation of the company's ethos. Whether the photos are of people or places they reflect the business' outlook and the way it wishes to be portrayed and perceived.
Matt finds inspiration in many places and appreciates the work of many photographers. Matt comments further: "Richard Avedon's close, show-every-follicle approach to portraiture can be jarring, but his ability to render both his and his sitters' personalities in each image he creates is uncanny. Sabastiao Salgado is a photojournalist in the best sense of the word. Salgado's lens captures the beauty in his subjects' gritty reality. I admire Andreas Gursky for his large-scale, colour photographs distinctive for their incisive and critical look at the effect of capitalism and globalisation on contemporary life. Don McCullin has been quoted as saying: “I use a camera like I use a toothbrush. It does the job." I agree."
McCullin is an internationally regarded British photojournalist, particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife.
Polly Harrison is a marketing bod and works with Matt. She reflects on her inspirations: “Many moons ago I was in corporate IT marketing and the first marketing master I admired was Geoffrey Moore when he launched ‘Crossing the Chasm' (which dates me!). I'm still in marketing today and I feel lucky to be surrounded by creative people - supporting Matt and our clients. I believe that photography is a powerful commercial tool and an underrated art form (in the UK) Professionally, I think Matt's people images often reflect the realist portraits of Edward Weston as well as the wit and honesty of Garry Winogrand. Matt has Alexander Rodchenko's way of looking at things from odd angles and I think his architectural photography is similar in style to the work of Berenice Abbott and Eugène Atget. Personally, I continue to be inspired by Matt's Beeseye collection and I like the images of surrealist David LaChapelle."
These are some various types of photography that enjoy a prominent position in the creative industry, which are relevant for Matt Wain. As we know, a photograph is not just a representation of what one sees in reality. It often represents something that is not seen by an ordinary observer. A stunning photograph requires the expertise of a skilful eye that is trained to capture moments in the best way possible.
Advertising photography is all about creating the right environment to highlight or illustrate the product or service to be advertised in the best way possible. The photographers generally come up with ideas or visuals or design houses and corporates or organisations themselves also brief photographers with the concept required in order to obtain the specific results. These photographs are always planned in co-ordination with the advertising firm or in-house team. For Matt Wain, the advertising shots he creates are in the lifestyle and portrait genres.
Architectural photography, as the name suggests, is all about the capturing images of different styles of architecture in different lights. This type of photography would require the photographers to be an expert in the technical, as well as the visual department. It encompasses interior as well as exterior architecture and lifestyle imagery. Matt’s architecture assignments generally involve including people in the shots, adding movement and character.
Portrait photography is all about capturing the mood of a person with an emphasis on the face and expression of a person. This style of photography need not only be about corporate portraits or professional models, it can encompass any kind of a person. Matt’s a people person – he finds the best way to banish nerves and secure images that reflect his subject’s true character.
This is all about capturing images of public places and people in their natural element. Matt Wain excels in this, putting people at their ease and capturing the essence of a location.
This can be said to be one of the purest forms of photography, which does not include any staged situations. Candid photography is all about being spontaneous. Matt Wain’s commercial assignments are carefully staged, the method is not candid, but his style and the feel or his imagery captures people and places in their element.
This type of photography focuses mainly on the person’s face, but is different from portrait photography. The images in this case are plainer in nature, perhaps for a bid, for Web use, or an annual report. A people person, Matt Wain’s headshots are of people at ease in their environment.
These are highly creative images that have an abstract appeal. Therefore, these photographs can be equivalent to an artist’s expression on canvas. This genre of photography is not restricted for commercial purposes but could be used for creative pursuits as well. A fine art photographer should have the ability to look beyond the obvious settings.
Matt Wain’s fine art can be seen at http://www.beeseye.com
Nature photography encompasses various other types of photography, such as landscape, cloudscape or seascape photography. These photographs mainly highlight the natural beauty of any place.
Matt Wain’s nature photography as part of his fine art can be seen at http://www.beeseye.com
This style of photography is completely about close-up images of the particular subject. This style is used particularly to capture details of organisms or nature that may not be visible to the naked eye.
Matt Wain’s macro photography as part of his fine art can be seen at http://www.beeseye.com
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Matt Wain Photography, The Lemonade Factory, 274-276 Queenstown Road, London SW8 4LP
+44 (0)207 627 6359
+44 (0)789 995 6453
© 2011 Matt Wain Photography. All Rights Reserved.
