Burberry did it!

It never ceases to amaze me how little is sometimes required when dealing with a company with a high public profile and a good reputation to lose.

In this case, we're talking about the fashion brand Burberry, and Greenpeace's recent Detox campaign. The environmental group called on the luxury label to end the use of hazardous and toxic chemicals during the manufacturing process of its clothes.

Activists dressed as naked shop dummies casually strolled into the flagship store on Regent Street in central London, attached toxic warning labels to some of the clothing and proceeded to stage a peaceful protest at the shop's main entrance. They had the facts, and pulled off a very visual event which didn't go unnoticed. Following a meeting with the bosses at Burberry, today the luxury brand caved and promised to clean up its act. Doing the right thing is nice work!

Meeting Bernie

Last week had a surprise for me in store: I met a charming old gentleman called Bernie Ecclestone, known to most as the F1 supremo, or in other words - the man that dominates Formula One racing. No doubt he is a very astute and wealthy business magnate, a shrewd negotiator not without controversy. Hence our interview with him, which largely centred on the court cases against him in which he is accused of bribery.

At his tender age of 83 and the amount of pressure he must be under, I didn't fail to be impressed by him. My client, Handelsblatt newspaper thought so too and published my portrait on their cover as well as two more on inside pages to accompany the headline interview.

Year end in Hamburg

Welcome to the blog in 2014, and a belated Happy New Year to all readers. I'd like to start it with posting some leftovers from my visit to Hamburg over New Year's Eve. As of last year, Hamburg is fast becoming a second home to me and I look forward to exploring this city in far greater detail this year. Again, tilt-shift lenses dominated (or clouded) my vision, the winter sun helped things along in the HafenCity and as a result we have some interesting silhouette shots.

Thank you for your comments, feedback and support during 2013, they were very welcome!

Tree Surgeons with the 6D

What better way to explore my new camera, the Canon EOS 6D than from my own office window? Call me lazy (is it that time of year?), but this time, very little effort was required to shoot some test pictures. A gang of tree surgeons were pruning the sycamore trees right outside my house - and living on the second floor means that I was able to capture them on eye-level, although that's a good 30 feet off the ground. In any case, it made for interesting pictures, and phantastic image quality thanks to the superb 6D.

Shifting Perspectives

What more could you want on a lazy Sunday? Good light, a bit of energy and three wonderful tilt-shift lenses in the bag to experiment with. Following on from the somewhat old Tilting & Shifting, I have once again found my more playful visual side and went for a walk through London's east end.