sports

PURE – Athletes series

I produced a series of 60 second clips for PURE Sports Nutrition to tell the stories of their sponsored athletes. As many of you know, I absolutely love working with athletes. They always have captivating stories to tell, they look amazing and fuelled by dedication and commitment, are a great source of inspiration to so

Curiosity Film Series

This post marks a sort of personal milestone for me. Over the last year or so, I’ve been working on a film series named CURIOSITY. I’m not necessary new to motion work, but producing a consistent short film series brings a new tool to a filmmakers kit so I threw myself into the deep end

BTS with Karina @ Wadi Adventure

A while back, I worked on an editorial piece for Women’s Health. They were running a feature story on super women, Karina Bensemann being one of the super women featured. I know Karina. We’ve collaborated in the past with Lululemon. She’s great company and certainly lives up to what she’s known for. Wadi Adventure in Al

2016 Recap

Writing this post feels like a celebration of all that’s happened in the last twelve months. 2016 was a dynamic year. Business was a bit all over the place with some great productions and awesome opportunities in the mix. Travel is one of my greatest passions and the year took me to Shanghai, Hong Kong,

My short film Khareef

My longtime friend Giles is an avid windsurfer and has been suggesting for years that I join him on (and shoot) one of his windsurfing trips to Oman. We finally made it work this past summer, thanks to the dates not clashing with my annual summer exodus to Europe. Beyond the usual photography, I set myself the challenge of shooting

Lululemon Ambassador David Labouchere

David Labouchere is a real character. Founder of his own gym, Optimal Fitness, he’s also a well established triathlete and Lululemon ambassador. Thanks to Lululemon, we had the opportunity to spend some time together, building a portfolio of brand imagery. It was a simple shoot. Just David on his monster tri bike at the crack of dawn,

Powerhouse Eva

Eva Clarke and I have competed in races together a few times now. She’s upfront and I get to hang around somewhere in the middle. We recently shot the Under Armour Middle East launch campaign together. Eva has an inspiring accolade of sports achievements under her belt but when checking out her Facebook page pre

Ultra Running; Love. Can. Do.

I always mean to write this post during a big race, when the thoughts are most fresh in my mind, but somehow I never get round to it and then on return home, reality kicks in and the routine takes over.  So I went back to a voice memo I recorded during the 50k Urban Ultra Race.

Catch Karina

With a bit of pre-summer breathing space in the shooting calendar, I’ve been able to catch up on personal work and hangout with some mad athletes. I love the surfers lifestyle and have enjoyed getting on a board myself in the past, mainly in Oz. I dusted off my Aquatech waterproof housing then called Karina

Hitting the dunes with Miss Poland & Saluki Motors

Mark and I go back a dozen or so years. I still worked as an experiential marketing manager for Land Rover when he first came knocking on our door. He had a passion for rally driving, which we supported and had also branded his pimped up Land Rover Defender. To me, Mark was a pure example

Under Armour Launch Campaign #2

Back for more launch content. The Under Armour campaign was based on a series of two images. One beach image with an iconic landmark setting, which we shot with Goes Grant on the Palm Jumeirah and for the second, I needed a location with a strong athletic feel so chose the Zayed Sports Stadium. The national

My fascination with bikes

During my younger years, I worked as an outdoor instructor around Europe, enjoying life’s great adventures, travel and camaraderie. One of my favourites was mountain biking in the Belgium forest with over-energetic school kids… hitting the hills, trails, mud pools and river crossings. After a day on the bikes, we’d be exhausted, filthy, aching and thoroughly beat.

Going hard at Under Armour Launch Campaign #1

Just before the summer I shot the Middle East launch campaign for Under Armour, in conjunction with their official launch in the region. Thanks to agency BWM+ and along with their CD Greg we worked on one super strong image showcasing local athlete, Grant Goes, posing in a push up hold. I love working with real time athletes.

I ran 555km!

Last summer I decided to do something different… to run every day that I was in Europe. This meant 55 days straight, with the aim of clocking 555km. The adventure started as soon as I touched down at Amsterdam airport. As I loaded my family and luggage into the taxi, I tightened my laces, waved goodbye and

Joe Clarke in training for Rio

Red Bull UK called to build a portfolio for young and upcoming Joe Clarke, who was training at Wadi Adventure in Al Ain. Joe is a complete joy to work with, very accommodating and knows his sport as a slalom canoeist inside out. I had certain shots in mind and Joe would just appear in exactly

Memorable runs

My love for running really took off when I moved to Dubai in 2002. It all started with my first half marathon in Abu Dhabi. Marathons and triathlons followed then eventually I discovered that my true passion lay in long distance trail running. There are so many reasons to love trail running. I love exploring

With adventurer Adrian Hayes

There’s never a dull moment in an adventurers life, particularly when it comes to UAE hero Adrian Hayes… over the last ten years, I’ve followed Adrian’s extreme expeditions and had the pleasure of capturing some of them. I’ve seen him at his best and and at his worst… I’ll never forget his flying start on

In Shanghai with David Beckham

What a great opportunity it is to fly around the world shooting celebs for big brands. In this case, travelling to Shanghai to shoot David Beckham for a PR activation was pretty cool to say the least. Why Shanghai? No major reason. it just happened that travel plans and availability found us meeting there, in

Football in Oman

Many I know love working in Oman. The people are amazing, the scenery is stunning and there’s a wonderful humility and sense of calm there. I recently worked on a reportage about youth football in remote places. There’s not a lot of text to go with it so just enjoy the images Also check out

Young, energetic & free

The crew at Red Bull took me down to Big Red, an enormous, iconic and pretty daunting sand dune between Dubai and the Hatta mountain range. With a reputation for being able to separate  the novice 4×4 drivers from the real dunes bashers, those who make it to the top are considered real heroes! On this occasion, we didn’t aim

Lululemon Brand Ambassadors – part two

I posted not long back on a shoot for Lululemon’s Middle East brand ambassadors. This time, we shot Yogi Omar and Crossfitter Karina, doing what they love and sharing what they love. Both were awesome to work with. We shot at two amazing studios… Urban Yoga and Rig Crossfit. The fit-out and format of both fits perfectly with what they do, which made

With Margot Robbie in The Empty Quarter

The most noticeable things about working with Hollywood stars is that the stakes are high, shoots come with lengthly pre-meetings, you’re seriously time limited and the entourage on set is enormous. But when it all comes together… when the shoot runs smoothly and the crew is happy… it’s so rewarding and such a cool thing to do. Recently, I

The essential packing list for Project Pause

What do you pack for a week of solitude in the desert? I’m referring to my recent Project Pause. For those not in the know, Project Pause refers to a week I spent in the Empty Quarter this last March. I lived for seven days, off the grid (no wifi, no email, no phone, no

Adventure HQ Photoshoot

That million-dollar question… how long will it take to shoot? Rock climbing, mountain biking, skate boarding, road cycling, kayaking, surf skiing, camping, trail running, yoga, fat biking, diving, fishing, BBQ… and the shoot list didn’t end there. I looked at the client and replied with “10 days”. They looked back, grinned and responded with “how

Lululemon Brand Ambassadors – part one

My first gig following my summer exodus saw me get straight back into the creative work I so love to do. Lululemon is a brand I’ve fallen in love with. Originally a yoga fashion brand from Canada, it’s now expanded into an athletic apparel company. With their first store soon to open in the Middle East,

555 Challenge

I’m currently prepping for my annual escape from the heat… Dubai, you may have heard, was recently marked as the hottest place on the planet! As always the loose agenda involves quality family time in Europe, fresh air, green mountains, local produce and hooking up with friends. A little work but mainly play, a chance

Falcons of Arabia – launched!

I always find it fascinating how business ticks along. Well over two years ago now, I received an email from sports marketing client, Professional Sports Group (PSG), asking whether I had any falcon images. I did as it happened and shared them with the group. It then went quiet for a while, as it sometime

This is why I love car shoots

For some reason the bulk of my work entails the shooting of cars and in particular, luxurious and fast ones. So when a SUV brand got in touch about shooting their big car out in the big dunes, it felt like a nice addition to the mix. Any excuse to hit my favourite desert location… The

New Nike brand images

Nike seem to shift their brand creative at a rate even more frequent than I buy new gear… and that’s saying something! We took some amazing environmental shots last year to put Dubai on the map at Nike Global. And now, we’re working in an entirely fresh direction. After going through an extensive 77-page brief, we’ve

Pro athletes portfolio shoot

I’m so glad we got this one together. Svetlana and I had spoken about it a number of times but trying to align her busy race schedule with my hectic shooting itinerary proved a challenge. A matching day finally arose and we certainly made great use of the opportunity. Here’s part one of a day