24 Hours in Portugal

I was fortunate enough to be sent on assignment by Row360 magazine to Avis, Portugal last weekend. The brief was pictures and an article for their upcoming December issue. 

The area is a hotspot for rowing training camps, with rowers coming from as far afield as Japan to take advantage of the ideal rowing conditions on the vast lake and a purpose built hotel. The Hotel Herdade Da Cortesia was striking in both its architecture and hospitality.  The weather wasn't ideal for photography, but fortunately I had set my alarm early and managed to get some half decent shots in the morning light.

Luis and Pedro who run the hotel were absolutely charming and I had a great time getting to know them. 

Having never been before, I was impressed by Portugal. I was loathe to tear myself away as I stepped on the return flight to London less than 24 hours after touchdown. Exhausted but content with a good days work, I even managed to get some editing started on the laptop on the way back. Look out for more on the article when it is published later this month.

Naked Calendars!

In late September I had the honour and absolute pleasure of working with the rowing team from Newcastle University. They asked me to shoot their annual calendars, which they sell to raise money both for charity and to support their own boatclub. Oh and yes they are completely Naked.

I headed to Newcastle not really knowing what to expect. The brief was to produce enough images to fill two calendars (one for men one for women) and some left over for marketing etc. A fairly daunting task considering we had to fit all the shooting around their extensive training program in the space of 2 weekends. 

Needless to say the students were a joy to work with and got on with it despite the initial awkwardness and freezing Newcastle weather. See a report on the calendar launch in the tab here. 

Here are a few outtakes below to wet your appetite. The calendars are on sale now, get yours in time for christmas here!

Promo video here.

California Dreaming..

I have spent the last week in California, soaking up the sunshine and seemingly endless size and beauty of the place. It gets under my skin every time.

Our road-tripping has taken us all the way from the small horse-town of Norco, California to the San Francisco Bay. Stopping in at the ranch in Terra Bella on the way.

We decided to take the scenic way back down, on famous Route 1. The coastline is truly breathtaking and I encourage everyone to take that roadtrip at least once in their lifetime.

A few shots from our travels below and please see more on my Flickr here.

Busy week..

This past week has been extremely busy, with some great headshot sessions and then also sifting through a shed load of shots from a weekend shoot in Newcastle, that I can't say too much about at this stage, but all will be revealed. Needless to say I'm extremely excited about the project which will be unveiled at some point before Christmas.

Im off to California on Thursday where we have some very exciting shoots booked in and also an opportunity to hopefully catch up with old friends - looking forward to it.

Cheers!

B

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First time in print!

A few months ago I agreed to do some marketing images fora company called WaterRower, they are the guys who make the rowing machine Claire buys Frank Underwood (kevin spacey) in the Netflix phenomenon House of Cards. It was actually for one of their sidelines - Slider Dynamic - a line of rowing machines aimed more at  elite level rowers rather than corrupt US presidents. You may have seen on here I have done some other shots of their wooden models for them. 

For the shoot we recruited World Champion rower Polly Swann and shot in front of the prestigious Leander Club on the banks of the river Thames in blissful Henley.

I am delighted that they have since been used in both an editorial piece and back cover ad for the globally distributed Row360 magazine. Onwards and upwards!

Benedict

Sarah and Coco in Richmond

Had a great sunset in Richmond, up on the hill overlooking most of surrey a few weeks ago. Got some shots of Sarah and Coco in the park. The incredible view is here and well worth seeing.

A few photos of the lovely Coco and Sarah below.

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Here goes nothing..

My name is Benedict Tufnell and I am a photographer in West London. This is my first foray into the blogosphere. I have always felt that there is something I never quite got about blogs and the act of blogging. And yet here I find myself with this brand new website that I have here and - seeing as everyone else is at it - I thought I may as well see what all the fuss is about. 

Im looking forward to seeeing where this goes, I wil attempt to chart some of the interesting twists and turns of a photographer trying to make it in the big smoke. If you have read this far you may as well checkout (and follow) my flickr.

Anyway cheers, and until next time, here is a picture of the london eye I took a while ago.

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© Benedict Tufnell