Afternoon! We have made contact with Pete over the weekend, seeing what amazing things he has been up to on assignment in Switzerland. Pete has sent Sue Allatt HQ some lovely images, and a small video of the clouds from a recent excursion up a mountain. Thanks Pete!

Our brilliant Calligrapher, Satwinder Sehmi has had his latest work literally hanging in the Tower of London, and he has written an absolutely wonderful piece about the process of creating the pieces of work for this historical London Landmark. Grab a cup of tea, and have a good old look at how the piece came to fruition. Thanks Sehmi!

“The oldest zoo in our fair islands was in The Tower of London, and was to Regent’s Park when the number of animals became unmanageable there. Kings and Queens were given gift of exotic animals, which were housed in The Tower. Currently, there are numerous models of these beasts, made of chicken mesh, displayed around The Tower.

Historic Royal Palaces decided to create new signage regarding some of the animal exhibits based on the calligraphy of the era when the animals were gifted. Designers at HRP had researched into manuscripts relating to the period when King Henry III was given a polar bear by King Haakon IV of Norway and an elephant by King Louis IX of France. This concept was a complete departure, untried, from the usual signage at The Tower. Working with senior designer, Steve Burgess, there was an infectious enthusiasm about this project.

The brief was to create an illuminated (gilded) panel stating the gift, and a letter written by King Henry III instructing the Royal Builders to make specific housing for each animal. In fact, the keepers of the elephant had no concept of it’s diet, and allegedly fed it pheasant and red wine. I want to be that elephant!

Working with manuscripts from around the 1250’s, Sehmi was asked to produce signs to be encased in perspex to explain the exhibits. As The Tower is visited by a huge percentage of non-English tourists, it was vital that legibility was paramount. It is even difficult for indigenous visitors to comprehend the legibility of the writing styles of the period. With the premise that the signs stayed true to the writing styles of the period, a compromise style had to be created. This would have the characteristics of the period, but also be instantly legible as well. Easier said than done. Everything is possible!

The calligraphy on the illuminated panels was relatively easy to achieve. However, there were numerous tests for the King’s instructions. A style was achieved which remained true to the feel of the style and yet making it very legible.

A ‘test’ piece of the illuminated panel, using traditional methods of gilding with 22 carat gold leaf, and the King’s instructions were made and rigorously tested on the visitors and the advisory panel at HRP.  The results were very positive, and from the feedback, the only changes were to the text of the King’s original instructions as some the language then used is now archaic.

The final work was photographed and mounted on regal background to be encased in perspex, and will be hung besides the models of the Royal Beasts.

It is worth going to The Tower just to see these magnificent pieces of work, or as they say,
Sehmi hanging in The Tower!”

The brilliant Spiros Politis has been working on a series of personal projects focusing on hair and beauty. These are the first of his gorgeous images with make-up by Angela and fabulous hair by Jo Brown, well done team:

Pete’s just sent us a great image through from his travels in Switzerland at the moment, here is a photograph he shot this morning, hot off the press:

Another week, another hard day in the office! Pete this time has been in Switzerland shooting for Lonely Planet, with the full story to come soon. He has also been shooting at Gruyere, home of the cheese, which we will hopefully have some of those images to share with you very soon!

Pete’s been recently featured in Singapore Airlines ‘SilverKris’ magazine, showcasing some of Pete’s work, with a great interview with the man himself on how he got into photography, and how his career has taken him to some of the most beautiful places in the world:

Tif is still hard at work with his onmaltbystreet2011 project, here are some recent images from the series, lovely work as ever, Tif!

Pete Seaward is currently in Mauritius on assignment, he sent us a photo of his view for the next few days:

We are a bit jealous, but I think he doesn’t know its going to be a pretty good weekend in England too! Fingers crossed….

Last week Pete had another “hard day in the office” a little bit closer to home this time, by shooting the Welsh coastal path for Lonely Planet. Here are some out takes from the shoot, gorgeous! 

We are going to miss the Olympics here at the office, what a cracking two weeks it has been shouting at our computers for Team GB to do well. It seemed to have done the trick. Here is our very own Sehmi out and about with Team GB Gold medalist Peter Reed from the rowing team:

Spiros recently shot the latest addition to Strictly Come Dancing in the summer, Ballet dancer Darcey Bussell, who he photographed for The Sunday Times Culture magazine:

Yesterday a certain photo was posted, shot by a certain Sue Allatt photographer for a campaign for a certain computer company, who cannot be mentioned!

Spiros recently became apart of the panel at D&AD’s Sharp’ner event to talk about his last decade of music portraits and artwork. Spiros has made photographs for nearly every record label under the sun. He was worked with some of the largest artists, and the more independent ones too, in which he talks about the his experiences working within the industry.

You can watch his talk here.

Pete’s latest “hard day in the office” has been his recent shoot for Lonely Planet, where he had embarked upon his Canadian train journey starting from Vancouver, and heading through Banff, Calgary, and  Kamloops. Here are some out takes from the shoot, with the published article coming soon:

Pete Seaward has just finished his video shoot with Ayana resort and spa in Bali for their latest summer video for the resort, here are some stills from the end of his shoot:

Whilst whizzing some files over to some clients, we found that Spiros’s recent campaign for BT was on We Transfers website! Nice one Spiros ( & Jo!)

Spiros’s latest campaing for BT has now gone live! With the advert popping up in a few places already, we will post some spots we have seen it in the next few days!! Nice one Spiros and Jo!

Pete has returned to the Ayana resort in Bali to shoot their latest summer video for the resort, here are a few behind the scenes shots so far from what Pete’s been up to on his time out there: