|
| Featured Photographer - August 2010 |
| |
|
AsukaBook is proud of its customers and the different ways that they use AsukaBook products. Each month, we will be talking to one of our active customers and finding out what they love about AsukaBook and how they use our books to help grow their business. Check the 'Book of the Month' page each month as well!
|
|
|
Tom Handbury Photography
“ When I received the AsukaBook sample I was absolutely delighted.
The standard of packaging and presentation is fantastic. ”
|
|
Building a future
Tom Handbury; make a note of the name. The former graphic design student may only be a few months into running his own wedding and portrait photography business, but he's already got ambitious plans for future. If all goes well, the next few years will see Bingley-based Tom establish himself as a household name in bespoke portraiture in the UK and beyond.
Quite a goal, especially when you consider he started his career taking pictures of derelict buildings in Sheffield.
To find out more, we spoke to Tom about his fledgling business and why AsukaBook plays such an important part within it.
  
AsukaBook: How did you go from photographing derelict buildings to portraiture?
Tom Handbury: I was interested in a place Darnall, near Meadowhall, where there were a lot of derelict steel works. I spent six months shooting the buildings there, but they couldn't talk to me and tell me about the area, so I photographed the workers in the industries that remained instead. I enjoyed interacting with people so, when I left university in 2004, I went to work as a portrait photographer for a national chain. I worked there for six years, but now I'm going it alone.
Much of your portraiture is location based, why is that?
It's an important part of telling someone's story as opposed to just shooting in a white studio. Working on location gives me the opportunity to photograph people in places they find significant - it might be a park they go to or a specific walk they do. Using available light is more of a challenge, but I think the images will mean more to the sitter in the long term.
How did you move into shooting weddings?
I'm nearly 30, so I'm at that age where a lot of friends are getting married. Some approached me to take their wedding shots and I used these as an opportunity to build up my portfolio of images. Now I'm getting commissions.
Some of your shots show very bold cropping - is that part of your style?
I like to capture natural expression and interaction in my images, and this can be enhanced with the way the image is cropped. It's definitely an influence from my graphic design days, I'm interested in crops that are different and can lead the eye around a picture.
How did you find AsukaBook?
I trawled the internet for something that had a quality look to it and AsukaBook stood out. The website looked good and the books on the site appealed, so I ordered a sample to assess the quality of binding and presentation. When I received the sample I was absolutely delighted. The standard of packaging and presentation is fantastic. If I feel that, the client feels that as well, so it's a great advert for my photography.
I also like the fact that I can lay out the pages using Photoshop. Some book companies don't allow you to do it this way, but this flexibility means I can design the books how I want them.
Which AsukaBook products do you use?
I use the 10x10in Neo Classic for weddings. I chose it because the thick card pages feel substantial and the presentation box is designable to suit the couple; if they had a particular theme for their wedding, I can use it on the box. Some other books can seem rather throwaway but the Neo Classic isn't disposable, it's got a lovely quality to it.
When you've taken the shots, how do you go about creating the finished book?
The client chooses a selection of images and then I'll pick from that for the book. If the couple have a favourite image I'll obviously include that, but I like to work the images into an interesting design so the book has a flow to it and every page has a different feel.
Any plans to expand the AsukaBook products you offer?
I plan to use the Zen Lay Flat for portraiture, because it offers something different, and I'm looking to extend the range I offer, so members of the bride or groom's family can also have a book. I'm confident that AsukaBook will be able to deliver the products and the quality that I need. They're perfect for the brand that I'm creating - I want everything to be of high quality.
  
www.tomhandbury.co.uk
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
