PR agency Magic Hour Media is celebrating its 100th photoshoot after Andy Hiseman’s recent session at the GB&I Top 100 golf resort, Tewkesbury Park.
15 photoshoots earlier in 2019 had taken Hiseman to the brink of the century mark, before the two-day Tewkesbury Park project in late July became the 100th.
That photoshoot covered a typically broad range of subjects including golf course, golfers at play, spa, pool, food and interiors photography.
Hiseman spent much of the shoot 50 feet in the air, as course manager Paul Hathaway had hired a cherry-picker to help capture iconic shots of the Tewkesbury Park hotel and golf course.
An early highlight in 2019 was a commission to photograph the Kohler Waters Spa at The Old Course Hotel, a famous landmark alongside the 17th hole at the venerable Open Championship venue in St Andrews.
In 2019 Andy Hiseman (www.hisemanphoto.com) also photographed England’s Top 100 venues Berkhamsted and North Hants, plus all Glendale Golf venues and a host of other individual golf clubs including Harewood Downs, Knebworth, Harpenden, Windlesham, and golf / leisure clubs Cranleigh Golf & Country Club and Roehampton Club.
Specialist photography for golf clubs and resorts is a growing sideline to Hiseman’s day job at Magic Hour Media, which has been looking after media relations, PR and advertising for a number of clients in the sport since 2002. Hiseman previously spent five years publishing golf magazines at Emap (now Bauer Media).
“I started photographing golf courses in 2007 when we picked up the Crown Golf account” he said. “With so many golf courses in their group we needed a large amount of images to help illustrate our news stories – so I had to learn the ropes quickly.
“Over the last decade businesses have become even more image-hungry with the limitless demands of social media and the web, as well as needing photographs for their more conventional print-based advertising and marketing collateral.”
It’s not just about photographing pretty skies at sunrise and sunset, however.
“I’ve broadened my service to include Spa and Leisure as well as every single aspect of club life which adds to the atmosphere at a golf or leisure club” said Hiseman, who is based in South Yorkshire.
“There’s not much I haven’t done with the camera now, and I can confirm that golfers’ banter is pretty much the same no matter where you are in the world. It’s my job to relax people enough to have their photo taken, so you need a lot of energy, plenty of patience and the ability to think on your feet to get the job done.”
Like all photographers Hiseman has his favourite subjects. “You can’t really beat a glorious hour with a really good sunrise and an empty golf course” he said, “but I also enjoy photographing people working up a sweat in the gym, and you can get some fantastic images in the swimming pool once all your permissions are sorted. Food photography is a mental challenge, like chess, and it is very absorbing. There’s great satisfaction in looking over your shots afterwards, in Lightroom, while you’re preparing them for the client.”
So how can you spot an Andy Hiseman photo?
“Each photographer has his or her own style, and if people visit my online gallery they’ll see mine. I guess my course photos have a certain look, as do my people shots. I have my own mental rules as to what makes a good photograph and am quite fussy and certainly very self-critical.
“You’ll also never see a bunker rake in my golf course photos, or red and yellow stakes, or a white out of bounds post. At least, not if I’ve been concentrating properly in post-production!”
Contact Andy Hiseman on +44 (0)1226 781000, email andy@hiseman.com or see www.hisemanphoto.com to discuss your next photoshoot.