Chris Kenworthy – Embodiment facilitator & coach in Leeds

Tag: photography

  • Welcome to clarity utopia

    Cast your mind back to the last time you made up with someone. Perhaps you fell out with your partner over something trivial. Or couldn’t find common ground on a point of difference with a colleague.

    Now picture clearing the air. Between you, you agreed that the end result, be it cooperation, progress or the very relationship itself, was worth more than a petty squabble.

    Do you remember that lovely warm feeling after you came clean with one another, by explaining your side of the argument? Remember how good it felt to realise you pretty much wanted the same thing? Albeit for different reasons; ones you both found hard to express in the heat of the moment.

    Now dwell on that deep feeling of relief and contentment

    Because that’s the effect I want my copywriting and event photography to have on people – a feeling of complete satisfaction when we address that most basic of human needs: to understand and be understood.

    Put simply, I’m in the business of helping people exchange ideas clearly. So they form more meaningful bonds, and make better informed decisions – without the need to ever fall out in the first place.

    In real terms that means helping your customers or clients ‘get’ what you really stand for, by writing engaging case studies on your behalf. Or solving their problems with enlightening insight I write, so you’re front-of-mind next time they need to call in the experts. Speeches I edit do the very same – captivating people’s attention so, if only for a stolen moment, they too see the world through your eyes.

    The same goes for event photos. Suppose you host a lively, engaging event that brought people together and made your industry that little bit stronger. What’s the best way to share that electricity than with natural, honest photographs that capture the day’s activities truthfully. Much as I favour the pen, pictures transport people to different ways of thinking, far faster than words.

    As you can see, honesty and straight-talking are at the core of everything I do as a freelancer

    No matter what the subject matter, copywriting or event photography, that vision of humans understanding and being understood is what keeps the pride and joy in my art.

    This rosy world I dream of has people saying what they really mean to, and that only comes from being honest to yourself and others. It’s where people feel fulfilled from articulating themselves clearly, their truth transformed into terms others can relate to. No obstacle is too complex in this clarity utopia – everything can be taken to bits, to grasp how it works, then reassembled and made better than ever before.

    Misunderstandings only happen when people aren’t being honest with one another, and so fail to get their point across clearly enough. Sure, you can get by gesticulating and yelling ever louder – like a sunburnt Brit abroad. But that’s not a sustainable way to live and build trust.

    Instead, I propose we stride forward together towards my clarity utopia – one word and photo at a time.

    Care to join me there?

  • Finance Innovation Lab leadership retreat in Ambleside, University of Cumbria

    It rains in Cumbria.

    A lot.

    That’s why they’ve got all those bloody great beautiful puddles over there. So imagine my elation (and The Finance Innovation Lab‘s) when the photos came out this good, after a bright and balmy summer’s day in Ambleside.

    You’re not supposed to have light like this in Britain! (Just check out those outdoor group shots…)

    Anyway, here’s a gallery of select shots from their leadership event at the University of Cumbria in Ambleside. The event photography brief was to act like a fly-on-the-wall, documenting their guest speaker, audience, group activities plus some group shots.

    I aimed to capture photos that convey a sense of lively engagement; diverse people connecting, collaborating and sharing ideas. The Finance Innovation Lab want to show that all this is what they do best.

    And that’s what happened – and doesn’t it show?

    Want lively photos like this to promote your cause? Hire me as your event photographer.

  • Event photography: Joe Root @ Dreams store, Birstall

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    Dreams (the bed people) invited England cricketer Joe Root along to their Birstall store in Leeds on 17th September 2016, to promote their MLine range of mattresses. They needed a local freelance photographer to capture the event, and show Joe engaging with fans.

    It was a three hour job, demanding attentive patience and an eye for spontaneous interactions – as and when they happened. The results will be used for an image archive, online promotion, sales, marketing and PR.

    Here’s a selection of the best photos from the Leeds event:

     

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  • Here’s a handy checklist for your upcoming event photography shoot

    You’ve booked a freelance photographer and your event is imminent. We’re talking a day, or only hours before everyone’s on location and your shoot takes place – all captured with glorious reportage photography.

    Everything feels ready to go. But is it really?

    Here are a few oft-overlooked items to remember, which I send to my freelance photography clients before we shoot an event together in Leeds:

     

    • What about permission? Generally, it’s polite and sensible to ask people’s permission when you photograph them. You could do it explicitly with release forms, though usually it’s sufficient to assume permission implicitly with a poster warning people they’ll be on camera. Whichever you choose, have someone ready to handle questions (and objections) from subjects. That said, in my experience most people are quite obliging.
    • Are contacts on the ground ready? Your representatives and freelance event photographer should exchange numbers, synchronise watches and share a rough timeline of the event.
    • Any fussy celebs in attendance? If a demanding celebrity is coming to your event, do they have any unusual requirements for your freelance photographer? Have you shared that information? Have you asked their PA what mood they’re in today?
    • Who’s keeping an eye on the weather? They say if you don’t like the weather in the UK, wait five minutes. So when it inevitably changes for the worse, do you have backup locations indoors? Remember good light is everything in event photography, and daylight is precious.
    • Are your staff clued up? Who’s on shift? Will they be dressed appropriately for camera, with uniforms? Will the areas in shot be clean and tidy?
    • Are props in place? Many a time I’ve rearranged objects and branded bits and bobs to give character to a photograph. Not all freelance event photographers are quite so diligent though, so check that important objects are ready and in shot (and hide the bits that aren’t)
    • Have you finalised your shot wish-list? Like all humans, us freelance event photographers perform best when we have a clear vision of success in mind. So scribble down your ‘must-haves’ and ‘nice-to-haves’ of photographs, and if possible be on-hand for helpful artistic direction. We’ll always try our best to capture what you ask for, but events often take on a life of their own.

  • Why I do this whole freelance thing

    Being a freelance copywriter means it’s my job to ask tricky questions, like what makes your business tick?, what do you stand for? and why do you do what you do?.

    I pose thought-provoking questions like these to my clients everyday. Yet I rarely ask them of myself.

    That’s because most sole traders are often too busy working in their business, rather than on it. And I’m no exception. We lock our vision away at the back of our minds for safe-keeping, occasionally reflecting on good or bad experience and dreaming of a brighter future. But we rarely get around to planning and shaping one.

    So, as the curtains are drawn on 2016, I turn the spotlight inward for a grand finale: a shift to a more values-based approach to running my business. Like I increasingly tell my clients: “The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.”

    You find people like these on common ground – where your values and beliefs overlap. This isn’t the what or the how, this is all about the why you’re committed to your cause, and what it is.

    I recently published this post about what’s important to my business, and this is its continuation – a translation of those values into what it’s like to hire me as your freelance copywriter or event photographer.

    Here’s my mission as a freelance copywriter in Leeds and event photographer

    I firmly believe people should make informed decisions about the things they need in their life. Things which solve real problems hampering quality of life.

    The important word there is informed.

    I’m fortunate enough to have an aptitude for doing that with words and photos. And I’ve a duty to put it to responsible use, educating and inspiring where I can.

    I also believe truth and honesty is the only way us humans build lasting, meaningful relationships. So it’s my job to unearth the facts, and share them in a way that’s clearer and easier-to-understand. And always with positive intentions.

    Another two notable words for you there: clearer and easier.

    What fuels my fire is humanity’s poisonous addiction to obscuring things with needless complexity. You know the sort of corporate drivel I’m talking about. People can go to war over this shit.

    I want to sift through the bilge, one sentence (or photo op) at a time, until there’s no better way to say what you really mean to say. I distill complexity. I clarify your message.

    Complexity doesn’t phase me, nor do myriad abstract ideas and subtle, tricky concepts. In fact, I rather enjoy them.

    Overwhelmingly nebulous projects with unrealistic deadlines and insufficient resources; I don’t. Yet present me with an interesting challenge that’s fair and manageable, and we’re already off to a flying start.

    Every one of us holds a solution to any problem we face. But not all of us know where to begin, or perhaps more appropriately, how to express it.

    I help people like you overcome these obstacles with empathy, insight and an endlessly curious nature. I crave new, diverse experience, and knowledge of the unfamiliar. I love getting under the hood and working out what makes things tick. Usually, that’s the motives and processes behind your business. What you do well, and what makes your business special.

    I also know what it’s like to want to stand out and be admired on your merits. For your hard work. Your effort. I believe everyone has a right to appreciation and respect for that. So I help your business elevate itself, and gain the recognition (and rewards) you rightfully deserve from customers, partners and rivals alike.

    Above all else I want to seize my own destiny. By creating useful things for people, feeling a connection with the end-to-end process of making them, and lifting others out of ruts who’d otherwise struggle on their own. I want to see ideas made real and take on a life of their own.

    That’s why I freelance (and now help others do the same).

    With the right trust and support, freelancing affords me the autonomy everyone deserves. Freedom to do a damn good job, under your own steam.

    Finally, if I make a sustainable living out of doing all this, one that lets me do all the other things that make life fulfilling, I’ll be content. As long as I’m capable, I will. And I’ll always pay it back to society.

    I aspire to live responsibly, minimise my impact on nature and nurture a sense of wellbeing in myself and the people I meet along the way.

    Pretty reasonable, I hope. Sound good? Let’s talk.

  • French gite

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    Though I’m usually a freelance event photographer in Leeds, occasionally a brief comes along that’s too temptingly different to turn down. In this case it was some interior photography to market a gite available for rent in rural France, near Bordeaux.

    Unlike event photography, the pace of work is far more relaxed – you don’t have to think on your feet quite so much. There’s time to plan your shots in detail, repeat and refine, and set up proper multiple light stands – a luxury you can rarely afford when there are countless people milling around at a launch event, for example.

    I’ve always been inspired by airbnb’s interior photography of houses and apartments so that’s the look I’ve gone for. It’s bright, vibrant and clear – thanks to high-key photography (almost overexposing shots) which makes spaces look fresh and clean. Using this style of photography, rooms seem to ‘pop’ out of the screen, emphasising modern, contemporary space. There’s some stunning vistas thrown in there for good measure too.

     

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