Making the News…

As a Life Member of the NUJ and a professional photographer for 50 years I have always appreciated the real value of good visual content for PR, marketing and sales. 

“Well”, I can hear you saying, “you would say that – it’s how you earn your living”

But ironically, the photographs and video that went viral, got the most social media hits and were used by media outlets across the UK and overseas, weren’t from a commissioned shoot.

It was a personal project shot to help a local environmental group raise awareness of a particular issue, but I approached it with my “professional” hat on.

This mean’t carefully considering angles, composition and flight paths to ensure that the footage and stills would have the maximum impact.

We released the initial video on social media over a weekend and by breakfast on the Monday I had already been contacted by the BBC, ITV and SkyNews.

The days that followed were an avalanche of requests for interviews and material from news and current affairs programmes across Britain and Europe, with our images being used as far away as Mauritius and New Zealand. Our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/JpmB56Tz4oY where the original video had been posted, had over 10k views in four days.

Although this was about a very topical environmental issue, the quality of video and stills we supplied played a major part in news editors choosing to feature it.

Not phone snaps or upright video, but a powerful message conveyed in powerful images.            

Buuds Farm sewage outfall 21-10-21
Buuds Farm sewage outfall 21-10-21
Buuds Farm sewage outfall 2110-21