My main work is causing trouble and then writing about it, which just about keeps my head above water financially, as long as you don’t ask too much about whether I have paid my council tax. Back around 2019 I also started selling my photo art, first as calendars, then as on-demand prints, and more recently as one-off signed prints.
I don’t offer paid commissions (weddings, events, corporate) as photography is principally a mental health activity for me; when distressed, I pick up a camera and create. The playful magic goes if I am trying to fulfil a contract for money.
There is one exception, however. If you’re a personal friend, and I feel relaxed about the “ask”, then I will do my eccentric “consistently inconsistent” style for you as a “work project”. And one friend is the proprietress of Hiver Beers in London, whose unique selling point is honey-based grog.
She’s done a remarkable job of assembling a brand, distinct product, taproom, events space, and workshops all as one business. There are even real bees on-site!
In conventional commercial photography the client typically wants a stable “look” across the whole portfolio, and “safe” photos of smiling people holding the product or doing the activity. I can do that. For about 1% of the time. Then I get bored.
My forte is popping into the stockroom and finding an odd juxtaposition of the brand logo and staff, or holding a ridiculously wide lens at some peculiar angle, or subverting the norms of foreground and background. If there’s a single whacky software style that fits how I feel about the scene, then I apply it.
I recently attended two Saturday workshops as photographer-in-residence, and was given free rein to “be Martin”. I did the bar owner’s wedding photos as a gift to the couple, both being friends, earlier in the year. This was quite a technical challenge: it really helps to have very specific zoom lenses for moderate winter or indoors light and mixed individual, couple, and group photos (which I don’t own).
At least my unconventional “documentary street photography mixed with autist observation and zero restraint on post-processing” style was no surprise.
I introduced myself, truthfully, as a friend of the owner to the workshop attendees, who had been pre-notified we were doing promotional photography. I think it makes a difference, as I am not some generic hired hand. I actually care about the outcome, and indeed working for friends in some ways is more demanding than just pumping out standard dross for a commercial customer.
The first workshop was cider-making. It is quite a physical activity!
I feel I am doing much more than just capturing the moment so it can be marketed on a website. This is more like being an urban anthropologist plus local historian. I sensed in 2019 the world was about to change, and recall a tweet late that year saying how I felt like I was looking at the last days of some old regime. We know what came next.
I have a similar sensation now.
So the value is not just for the client; it is recording how people lived and enjoyed themselves at the end of summer in 2026.
I don’t really do “portrait photography”; I cannot be bothered with complex lighting and manipulating anxious people into flattering poses. But capturing them “in the moment” is fun when you have permission.
What struck me was “making a product” like cider is a form of “work” and yet people LOVE to do such “work”. The participants were wholly dedicated to the task.
And then they were off home, with their fermentation bottles and fresh apple juice.
The second, shorter workshop was on harvesting honey. The source material was from hives in London itself.
With more people it was a little bit trickier to move around. There is also a balance: they may have been told the session is being photographed, but the attendees remain paying customers, not paid models. I don’t feel entitled to boss them around!
As someone who used to deliver highly-crafted workshops in telecoms network engineering, it was also interesting to observe the cadence of the event, with a mix of show, tell, and participate.
A centrifuge extracts the sweetness from the uncapped honeycomb.
The best bit was watching their faces at the end as they collected their honey to take home.
Although I did get one naughty picture!
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing their joy. This article isn’t part of any “deliverable”. It’s just a celebration of having fun on a Saturday in London with a camera and a pliant crowd.
I also got to pop around the corner to the sister bar of Fabal; this is much harder for me as it’s noisy with a DJ, crowded, and harder to “sell” people on why I am there.
Still, a chance to have fun!
Not your typical commercial photos, and that’s OK!
I came, I saw, I snapped away.
If you want to learn more or sign up for a Hiver workshop, click below.
I don’t have anything to sell you.
That’s the point.
Honey.
🐝