The Work

T.W.i.N.S | London Music Photographer

T.W.i.N.S are East End music duo Lawrence and Hugo. This shot drew on a range of images of the Kray Twins, another notorious East End double act (without the electro glow drumsticks).What I enjoyed most about this shoot-apart from the fact they both brought great ideas to start with-is that it was lit so simply, with just a single, bare Profoto flash head. After shooting multi light setups at PhotoFusion, it was nice to be challenged with something so stripped down and I like how the images feel similarly stark and duotone.

You can hear more from T.W.i.N.S here on SoundCloud.

You can see more of T.W.i.N.S here on Youtube.

You can read more from T.W.i.N.S here on Twitter.

You can buy T.W.i.N.S here on iTunes.

 (Christopher Parkes)

Oh, ALSO… this was my first published work on iTunes!

 (Christopher Parkes)

(more…)

Sam + Phil | Surrey Wedding Photographer

Phil is almost a colleague of mine: we’ve worked on so many Asperity presentations together, it’s like seeing an old friend each time, so I was delighted when I was asked to be the photographer for his and  Sam’s festively themed wedding in the midst of winter last December, just before Christmas. They took over Worplesden Memorial Hall and festooned it in bespoke festive decorations, including a massive Christmas tree, fairy lights, kids disco, and best of all a “All I Want For Christmas Is You” singalong music video populated by their family and friends. To paraphrase the bard:

“The weather outside was frightful, but what was inside was delightful.”

 (Christopher Parkes) (more…)

There Is No “I” In Team | London Business Photography

Trying to reinvent the wheel is a tall order. How, as a photographer, do you take a well-worn trope like the corporate headshot and try and do something even vaguely fresh with it? Companies often want something fresh but the combination of preserving brand integrity and the approachability necessary for any companies visual presentation, and it becomes hard to find something that’s really adventurous. It takes trust between the photographer and the client to take a step and a risk, and luckily, after building a two year working relationship with Asperity, THE market leader in employee benefits, that was something I could do.

I had done a set of team shots for the comany a year before, but wasn’t crazy happy about what I had produced. I had fallen back on old tropes despite my best efforts, and wanted something that was slicker, fresher, that presented the company and people in that company who I knew and liked, in a way that did the company’s personality justice while still being cohesive and professional. Drawing, as always, from love of film, I remembered the famous Trainspotting poster and proposed something similar when the next set of team shots were commissioned. I was delighted when it got the OK, and spent two days at Asperity HQ shooting about 500 images against a plain background, then editing and stitching each image into-best of all- a PSD that could be updated and changed as needed. Below you’ll see some of the results from that effort; enjoy and have a great day everyone! (Christopher Parkes) (more…)

Claire + Adam: London Wedding Photography

Intimate and casual, unfussy and classy: these words sum up Claire and Adam’s London wedding that I shot in the December freeze of 2012. The Gray’s Inn Chapel, snuggled away in the square where the letter of the law is carried out and adjudicated, was a suitably small but stately venue for their vows, followed by an equally plush drinks and dinner reception in the snazzy Coq d”Argent surrounded by their family and friends.

 (Christopher Parkes) (more…)

The Sculptor

 (Christopher Parkes)

Ru is an a award-winning personal trainer and fitness model. These photo’s were done to accompany his newly relaunched website and to communicate the incredible depth of knowledge he has about what you need to affect genuine transformations. The image came out of the well-know Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, and using my sketch I employed talented Texas-based designer Eric Hulsey to complete the complex weaving of the words around Ru’s arm.

Ru Wikmann | Personal Trainer
Eric Hulsey | Designer
Shot @ Photofusion Studio, London

More images after the break!
(more…)

The Voodoo That Vu Do

You might know Francis Vu. You might know him because he’s an inordinately talented freestyle footballer who featured in the music video for Timbaland’s grammatically-challenged but catchy “The Way I Are” . He’s also one of Red24′s young, up and coming, fresh new presenters, which meant creating a set of images that could encapsulate all his talents while still retaining his confident, enthusiastic personality.

Francis Vu, freestyle footballer and presenter, photographed by Chris Parkes at Photofusion, London, 2012. (Christopher Parkes)

Combining these images was as much a practical decision as it was a creative one; it just seemed to make more sense to get the different shades of Francis’ character in one shot than three separate ones.

(more…)