Club Meeting, An Evening with Simon Williams - Tuesday 5th February 2019.

   

On Tuesday 5th February 2019, Simon Williams was the guest speaker at Morpeth Camera Club. As a commercial
photographer he runs the successful and well established local firm Crest Photography and he gave a fascinating
insight into his hectic life and work behind the camera. With over thirty years in the business he has gained a
reputation for his Corporate Public Relations, Commercial and Press photography with many awards and accolades.
Highlights have included private sittings with Prince Charles and the Prime Minister, along with photographing most
of the royal family and VIP's on visits to the region.

Leaving school he had started as an assistant, working with film in a darkroom and over many years had learned his
craft. Working for others until the age of twenty seven, he gained his ABIPP (Associateship with The British Institute
of Professional Photography), by displaying a high standard of craftmanship and creative ability. In 1995 decided to
become self employed and founded Crest Photography.

During his presentation we were shown a constant stream of outstanding images that held the attention, Simon
stated that his first questions to potential customers are "Whats the message they are trying to get across ?" and
"Where would they like the images to appear ?". He will then shoot in different ways to appeal to different markets.
He went on to explain some of the things that a photographer has to consider when shooting on location, Is the
product or company name on display, if images are for a magazine leave room for text or titles, who to leave in or
who to leave out in people pictures, is there anything that can date an image and possibly hamper its use or reuse.
All these things have to be considered as well as the normal photographic business of exposure, light, shade, time
of day, backgrounds, distractions, weather etc etc.

                                

Simon stated that although every shoot is different depending on the requirements of the client, his experience in
this field enables him to look ahead and foresee the final image. He aims to produce strong images that catch the
attention with composition, colour and shape and no matter whether it is a press release, marketing exercise or a
product launch, they should tell a story to the viewer.

With a range of high-profile clients, Simon showed a portfolio of images of celebrities including Sting, The Duke &
Duchess of Northumberland, Richard Branson, Alan Shearer, The late Bobby Robson, Dan Snow, Cheryl Cole, and
Neil Oliver, to name but a few. His ability to communicate with those he is photographing, to put them at ease and
to then arrange them to get the best results is testament not only to his people skills, but to his attention to detail
and undoubted technical ability with a camera.

Throughout the evening Simon covered all aspects of his work and shared some behind the scenes anecdotes of his
experiences, together with a number of images that he had taken on his travels for his own enjoyment. Concluding
with a question and answer session he was then thanked for giving a very informative and entertaining presentation.