This blog site has served me pretty well but now it’s time for an upgrade so please go to the new look www.morgansilkblog.co.uk and subscribe to the RSS there.
Big thanks to Simon Lunt at luntdesign.co.uk for all his hard work making it happen.
Onwards and upwards!
A couple of portraits from a shoot on location in New York. Sorry to be so vague but I’m afraid I may have said too much already… sssshhhhh!
After months of what seemed like a weird form of semi-hibernation, tucked away in a dark North London retouching dungeon, I finally escaped.
Here are a few images from a recent trip to the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota - if only to serve as evidence to prove that on occasion, I do actually leave the house.
Silver Birch Forest, Black Hills
Terry Peak Summit Road
Roadside Trees
It’s always good to win something but sometimes it’s great to help someone else win… This time Redwood’s Land Rover OneLife Magazine won Best Use of Photography in the APA International Customer Publishing Awards for the Mongolian story we shot last year.
See what the judges said about it in the APA Winners’ online brochure - page 23.
The elite fighting force that is the RAF Regiment (aka The Rocks) are to the Royal Air Force what the Marines are to the British Navy. These guys are extremely tough - and to make the rank of Flying Officer doesn’t just take brawn, it takes brains too.
As part of a new drive to help recruit the rare few with the right stuff to become RAF Regiment Officers, FHM Magazine launched a National open contest of absolute mental and physical toughness to see who has what it takes to make it through what they call “The Rock Hard Challenge”.
For the FHM spread I photographed Flying Officer Anthony Bird, who will be the man to beat in the contest which takes place in January 2010. Shot on location at RAF Honington, Suffolk. Post production by yours truly. December Issue out now.
To see the animated spread, learn more about the challenge and maybe have a go (if you think you’re hard enough!) check out www.fhm.com/RAF
This year’s Creative Review Photography Annual / October Issue features three entries from yours truly… and as a bonus, my portrait of the brilliant Jake Tassell aka “the Banker” from my series After the Riots, made one of the six chosen limited edition covers … nice.
I just wanted to say a little about the IPA 2009. It was the fist time I have entered this US photo contest so I wasn’t sure what to make of it but even though I didn’t win I did make it through to the final rounds of judging on 12 entries.
The good thing is they gave all the runners up an “Honorable Mention” on the IPA site. After going through the extensive lists of entries I personally think there are images there that didn’t make the top three that outshine many of the winning entries… but that’s my two penneth so make yourself a cuppa, sit back and check out all the work that made the IPA 2009 Honorable Mention Gallery and see what you think.
This Summer I was lucky enough to land a wonderful job shooting portraits and landscapes in the beautiful Burgundy region of France for the website and brochure of a new business venture called Sarment, which is a French word describing the first growth of the vine. We worked with some fantastic people including the pick of the world’s best Sommeliers and after they twisted my arm I took their advice and brought home some of the best wine I’ve ever encountered.
A huge thanks to Trefor Thomas at Brand Advocate, everyone at Sarment and not forgetting the genius winemaker Olivier Leriche at L’Arlot for helping to make the shoot possible and teaching me so much about good wine.
My wine tip of the month: Domaine de L’Arlot - Nuits de Saint Georges 2001.
A personal series of portraits depicting six different characters after the protest in the City went wrong…
A big shout goes out to the talented actors involved and everyone who helped me on this including the amazing Sue Odell who worked her magic with casting and styling, and hair and makeup expertly handled by Amanda Green. Not forgetting a big thanks to Jesse Stagg, Andrew Howe and all the team at Street Studios for all their support.
Check out the rest of the series at morgansilk.co.uk and look out for the Banker - he’s the one with egg on his face 
The Network Rail Campaign I shot in April is now live !
The print and posters are all over the UK at the moment and some locations like Euston Station have used state of the art digital posters like this digital six sheet.
The idea is to inform the British public (deprived for years of a fully operational rail service) of the massive job Network Rail have done improving the West Coast Main Line from Euston to Glasgow. We ended up shooting the viaduct up in Cumbria, the night shot in Camden and if that wasn’t glamorous enough we then shot the platform at Rugby Station. Once again it was a pleasure to work with the fantastic Angus and Nick at Locate Productions and also ace Art Director Toby Burnett for Iris London.
To check out the three poster campaign in more detail go to the New Work section on my site.