Dan Aziz Photography News

New Mobile site is here...

2011-11-23T08:06:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited to announce that my new mobile formatted website is now up and running...

If you'd like to see the website either go to www.danaziz.biz on your mobile device, or trial it on a computer by going to m.danaziz.biz

If you have any feedback, please feel free to leave a comment on this post...

C.O.P.D - Government Campaign

2011-10-14T04:12:00.000-07:00

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD as its commonly known is normally caused by smoking, and is the narrowing of the lungs airways which can have a significant effect on breathing. In England, an estimated 842,100 of 50 million people have a diagnosis of COPD.

I worked alongside Robson Brown agency and Malanson Television Productions to create the stills while on the filmset of the television advert.

The client was thrilled with the outcome of the stills, which will be used across multiple medias over the UK.

Watch the TV Ad

Client - Fresh North East
Agency - Robson Brown
Production Company - MTP

KSPR

2011-09-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

I've been approached by a PR company to photograph a portrait of the owner Kate Slater. The brief was to develop a portrait that suited her, which looks crisp and clear, and flattering. I brought Kate into the studio and set up a lighting specifically aimed for the look she wanted. We tried to add a few props to illustrate the PR side of her, but in the end we decided that the props only distracted the viewer from the look of the portrait.

Overall Kate was delighted with her portrait and the feedback she has received is excellent!

Client - KSPR

Northumbria University - Bumki

2011-09-11T03:55:00.000-07:00

Another commission from Northumbria Uni has come along, this time to photograph one of their students who has developed a miniature chair as part of his University course. I brought the student into the studio, where I spent some time working on a nice low key lighting to really emphasise the shapes and colours of the chair.

Client - Northumbria Uni
Agency - Cravens

Falcons Vs Tigers

2011-09-03T03:47:00.000-07:00

Another shoot for the Newcastle Falcons rugby club, this time for their match against the Leicester Tigers. I was commissioned to photograph a Leicester Tigers strip looking as though it is a tiger skin rug on an old Mansion House floor.

Agency - Cravens

Client - Newcastle Falcons

Northumbria University

2011-08-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

I've had the opportunity to work with Northumbria University recently on their Regional 6 campaign, to push for new students to enroll in their University. I spend two 12-hour days on a film set with MTP who were filming the Television advert while I was photographing the stills for the campaign.

The images are to be used across all media, from 96-sheet billboards, to ad-shells and online. They are being shown in the Newcastle upon Tyne area, in Newcastle airport, Eldon Square, The Metrocentre, and Newcastle City Centre.

This is a huge campaign and I'm very pleased that Northumbria Uni and Cravens have chosen myself to carry out the photography for it. There were eight set ups to carry out, along with another two carried out in the following weeks.

Ad Agency - Cravens
Client - Northumbria Uni

Atlantic Drive

2011-08-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Recently I have worked with the North East music band 'Atlantic Drive' to develop some new photography for their promotional material. It was quite a quick shoot carried out only just before they performed at one of their gigs, however the results are impressive and they have had some great feedback from the photographs. Another job well done!

Dan receives Honorable Mention in IPA 2011

2011-08-23T02:50:00.000-07:00

I am delighted to have received an Honorable Mention in the International Photography Awards 2011 for my portrait of Joseph in the category 'Fine Art: Portrait'.

Gordon Banks, 1966 World Cup Winner

2011-07-01T04:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the fantastic opportunity to photograph a portrait of the legendary England goalkeeper Gordon Banks. He is named as the second best goal keeper of the 20th Century and was a member of the England National Football team that won the World Cup in 1966.

I only had a couple of minutes with Banks, however pushed to get as best a portrait as I could with the time given. Shot on a 50mm prime lens at an aperture of f1.4 and shutter speed of only 1/60 second, it was a very tricky one to get the sharpness just right, but I did.

A few hours was spent on the retouching to get the look of the portrait absolutely spot on, doing justice to Gordon Banks.

N.B. If you are viewing this on a mobile device, please click on the image to see it clearer (as it may look distorted)

All comments are welcome...

Jamie Wilkinson - BBC Radio Presenter

2011-06-23T07:35:00.000-07:00

Very recently I was pleased to carry out a studio portrait of Jamie Wilkinson, a well known radio presenter for the BBC, and owner of a fantastic radio gift service 'Bespoke Radio'.

Jamie needed something which portrayed him in a presentable and approachable manner, something clean cut and high quality. After settling Jamie into the photo-shoot, we started to play on different expressions and poses to see what worked best to achieve this. We choose the following two images to proceed with, as the they portrayed perfectly, his welcoming nature and personality.

Faustino Asprilla

2011-06-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

I have very recently had the chance to carry out this fantastic portrait of Faustino Asprilla, or better know as Tino, a former Newcastle United Football player.

I carried out the portrait shot at a charity event where Tino was helping to raise funds for the NSPCC. This image will be offered to the NSPCC to help raise further funds for the charity.

Epson International Photographic Pano Awards 2011

2011-05-11T06:20:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to say that my image from Hartlepool Steetley factory has been awarded a Silver medal in The Epson Pano Awards 2011 by achieving a score of between 80-90 points...

The Mission Group

2011-04-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

I've recently worked on a commission from Robson Brown, which was to develop a couple of images that show their staff within their working environment. It was a pretty tight deadline but we got there in the end, and got some good results from the day!

The images are to be used within brochures to show Robson Brown as part of The Mission Group.

Zenith People

2011-04-21T03:52:00.000-07:00

Last month I worked with Dan from Zenith People to develop a set of portraits that portrayed their staff in a professional yet friendly manner. Below is the end result of the images, which shows them in black and white on a grey background. They are also presented on a white background for use on their website, both work very well.

It was great to work with the team at Zenith People and they were delighted with the images, so a good result for all!

http://www.zenithrecruitment.com/

Happy No Smoking Day!

2011-03-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

To help promote the official British no-smoking day, I teamed up with Robson Brown to develop this ad for Quays Clinic.
We're all really pleased with the result, and ironically it took quite a few smoked cigarettes to get it right!

Ad Agency - Robson Brown

Art Director - Ben Catley

Photographer - Dan Aziz

Auschwitz

2011-03-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Recently I've taken the time to work on some of my images which have been sitting patiently in the archives..

One of which is this small yet powerful series that I photographed while I was in Poland, at one of the most disturbing and emotional places I have ever visited.
The Nazi Concentration Camp 'Auschwitz-Birkenau'. The home of around 3 million deaths during the Holocaust to a mixture of Jews, Gypsies, Soviet POWs, and prisoners of all nationalities. 9 out of 10 of whom, were Jews.

Entrance to Auschwitz

No escape

Electrics on

The long walk

Enter the Gas Chamber

Any last words

CH4 Marine Advisory

2011-02-17T03:01:00.000-08:00

A commission shot back in January (which feels so long ago now). These portraits are of a gentleman named Angus Campbell, which were shot for his company 'CH4 Marine Advisory Ltd'. The heavily desaturated look of the images was intentionally used to tie in with the CH4 website, and corporate colour.

Art Director - Ross Pichler
Agency - Gardiner Richardson

The Newcastle Falcons

2010-12-02T05:57:00.000-08:00

I've been working on another couple of portraits of the Newcastle Falcons players' Joe Graham and James Fitzpatrick. These are little different to the last set, in terms of them being more low key and gritty, however a similar retouching process was used for the detail in the skin, and de-saturation overall. I think they work very well as a pair!

I'd love to hear your thoughts (good or bad) so feel free to comment!

James Fitzpatrick Joe Graham

Steetley Magnesite, Hartlepool

2010-11-22T01:03:00.000-08:00

I took a trip down to Hartlepool recently to photograph the derelict site know as the Steetley Magnesite. It is a fantastic location for photography because of its array of old worn colours and textures. Rusting metal sheets, interesting forms and shapes from what was once a working factory.

Steetley Magnesite was opened in 1937 to produce magnesium from seawater, it houses one of the worlds largest settling tanks, and this is the main focal point of the site along with the chimney.

I have graded these images in a way that maximizes the details and textures in the image, giving it the look it deserves...

Newcastle Falcons Rugby Portraits

2010-09-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

To start off the new season for the Newcastle Falcons Rugby players, comes a new series of portraits for me... While in training for their game against the London Wasps (who they defeated 29-17), I was lucky enough to have some time with them to capture some personal portraits, along with some shots for their new squad magazine...

More images from this series will be posted over time...

Ryan Portrait

2010-08-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

A recent personal studio portrait of Ryan...

Gabrial

2010-08-17T03:43:00.000-07:00

This is a natural portrait of my father Gabrial. It was shot in the studio with a mind for me to use it within my printed portfolio.

My father is originally from Iraq, however moved to England along with the rest of my family in 1989. I would love to travel back to Iraq to document the area in which I was born, however this may not be for a few years in the current situation.

Joseph, Byker

2010-08-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I came across this interesting character who lives within the Byker Wall Housing Estate in Newcastle. His name is Joseph.