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Art Buying

Working with ad agencies as well as direct with Clients, we identify the perfect Photographer for a project based on brief and budget.  We negotiate fees, usage, etc and put together a complete bespoke team for each job.  

 

We have the best black book in the business, filled with Photographers, Stylists, Production Designers, Make Up Artists, Actors, Models, Dancers, and every type of skill set you can imagine

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We produced this shot for Channel 4 and had one week to put the whole thing together, which involved a cast of 120 people plus all of the accompanying crew, costumes and props needed for such a big job. We commissioned Canadian Photographer Mark Zibert to work with us. In all we had over 200 people on set. Not to mention the cobra, tiger and elephant! Couldn't have pulled it off without our brilliant AD, Paul McCann, though the pigeon wrangling was all us!
We created this story featuring a Super Heroine with the power to shrink, taking on a powerful Sorceress.  We cast Actress and Aerialist Joss Wyre as our Heroine. For the role of the Sorceress, there was only one person we could possibly turn to.  She's been a Prisoner on Cell Block H, a Neighbour on Ramsey Street, she starred in the first ever video on MTV, has given Mad Max and James Bond a run for their money and now the amazing Virginia Hey is our Villainess.  We teamed up with Photographer Billy Waters to create our homage to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.
We brought Jim Fiscus over for his first shoot in the UK to shoot the cast of Channel 4’s Shameless. The next year, Jim was named the No. 1 Photographer working in the UK by Campaign magazine. It was the first shoot of its kind the channel's in house agency, 4 Creative did and it set the benchmark for all of the work that was to follow as well as that of the in house agencies of every other UK Broadcaster.
Our Client, Headline, asked us to create a poster for Karen Rose's novel, Alone in the Dark.   We knew there was only one person to shoot our concept for us.  Hooray for Julia Fullerton-Batten!
Britain’s Forgotten Children. We had a couple of days between this concept, by Joseph Ernst being approved and our shoot date, so we did what anyone would do and put a call in to a Canada based Photographer who had never worked in the UK before.  To his credit, and our relief, Mark Zibert got on a plane the very next day! 
The Mark of Cain. We’d spotted the personal work of Photographer, Gavin Evans and were waiting for the right project to come along that we could unleash him on.   We came up with this concept for the BAFTA winning film, The Mark of Cain.  Lead Actor Gerard Kearns gave an incredibly moving performance in the film, and gave excellent karaoke at our impromptu wrap drinks! 
We used a mixture of photography, design, library image and old fashioned arts and crafts  to create this image for Jezza Neumann's incredibly moving documentary, China's Stolen Children. Jezza had just returned from China and we had 48 hours from brief to deliver the final image.
Green Wing. We were the first people to commission Jim Fiscus in the UK. Shortly after, Campaign magazine voted him their No.1 Photographer.
Whilst working in house at Channel 4, we commissioned David Lachapelle to shoot this poster for the smash hit show, Lost, in Hawaii.
This is England. We commissioned Dean Rogers, a long time Collaborator of Shane Meadows,  to shoot the cast of Shane's brilliant, This is England.    Working with Art Director, Joseph Ernst, we produced the shoot in an abandoned theatre in Sheffield and saw up close what a close knit gang they are.  It shouldn't be legal to have that amount of fun on set.
We commissioned Gary Salter to join us in the Convent for this shoot for the Channel 5 show, Bad Habits. It was a lovely experience directing the Sisters as well as the young ladies featured in the show. We even resisted the urge to sing anything from the Sound of Music, so well done us!
We spotted the Talent of young British Photographer and DOP, Andrew Bainbridge, who asked us to edit his portfolio.  We then collaborated to create this image based on the work of Edward Hopper, putting together the location, styling, casting and post production
Producing this campaign for Channel 4 involved picture researching for the  iconic images, the casting of perfect body doubles and then matching the lighting and position of the original shots to blend both images together in post production.
As well as doing the art buying on this job for channel 4, commissioning Henrik Knudsen, we also art directed and produced the shoot. 
We had 15 minutes to capture Jamie on the back of the TV commercial for the follow up to the series documenting his School Dinners campaign.   It won best poster at the Campaign poster awards. Art Directed by Matt Fee.
The Throne. We created this image of Professional Wrestling Champion, the 'Amazon', Ayesha Raymond, with Photographer Billy Waters. Shortly after our shoot, Ayesha was announced as the only English Competitor in WWE's Mae Young Classic Event.  We handled every part of the project from creative concept through to casting, styling, art direction & production.        We had a great day with Ayesha, and happily, most of the Models we worked with are now out of hospital.
We'd previously given Kansas based Photographer Lyndon Wade his first job in the UK and asked him to shoot this image for the Channel 4 drama, All in the Game.  We produced the shoot in two parts.  The first included shooting at a premier league football ground, a case of £50 notes and a leaf blower.  The second involved laying turf in a studio and the absolutely charming Ray Winstone.  Art Directed by Jim Chambers
We commissioned Australian Photographer Polly Borland, to shoot this campaign for Channel 4’s 'Iraq: The Bloody Circus’. December in East London can look remarkably like Baghdad!  
We commissioned Elen Von Unwerth to shoot this image of America Ferrera for the launch of Ugly Betty in the UK.  Produced by Gwillim Gwylim.
We were asked by Jamie Oliver to work with the ad agency Mother to produce a campaign for their Client, Youngs, which we presented several creative concepts for. Two days before the shoot, Youngs told us they wanted 2 x ads but didn't have any more budget.  Keeping our shoot team very tight, we managed to the shoot and deliver both finished ads for the cost of one. Shot by Levon Biss.
Because of timings, this poster had to be shot in New York.  We brought in the brilliant  Jim Fiscus to shoot Jamie for his series based on classic Italian recipes.
We created this story featuring a Super Heroine with the power to shrink, taking on a powerful Sorceress.  We cast Actress and Aerialist Joss Wyre as our Heroine. For the role of the Sorceress, there was only one person we could possibly turn to.  She's been a Prisoner on Cell Block H, a Neighbour on Ramsey Street, she starred in the first ever video on MTV, has given Mad Max and James Bond a run for their money and now the amazing Virginia Hey is our Villainess.  We teamed up with Photographer Billy Waters to create our homage to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.
London ad agency Pablo asked us to find a Photographer for their global campaign for San Miguel.  We'd been fans Canadian Artist  Joey L since we had discovered him and  given him his first commission in the UK as a 17 year old. 
We worked with the in house team at Channel 5 to bring our creative concept to life.  We asked Gary Salter to shoot it with us which involved a day in the studio with the utterly charming Mr Titchmarsh and a much colder one on location in the grounds of the beautiful Stowe House.  In case you're wondering, yes that is the palladian bridge, with columns of unfluted Roman Ionic order and ballastrude parapet, completed in 1738.
For this billboard, for a Channel 4 season based on child literacy, we commissioned Tim Simmons to be our Photographer and utilised the world famous, 007 stage at Pinewood to house the set, designed by Oscar Production Designer Eugenio Caballero.  
We produced these images of Singer/Song Writer, Hannah White and asked Soulla Petrou to shoot, with styling by the brilliant Kate Ruth.
Race to the Pole. We discovered Polish Photographer, Andrzej Dragan before he'd ever worked in the UK and were delighted when we got this opportunity to commission him to shoot the poster for 'Race to the Pole' Working with Pan Macmillan and The Outfit,  we art directed and produced this shoot of James Cracknell and Ben Fogle shortly after they returned from their expedition to the South Pole. The Client liked the image so much, they also used it on the cover of the book itself.
We produced this shoot for Sky, bringing in Gavin Bond to shoot it for us.   It's always fun to hang out with a PussyCat Doll.
We produced this for the Channel 4 show, Fresh Meat.   Mr Whitehall took some convincing that the pepper we were going to use would be big enough to protect his modesty.   Each shoot is different.
Producing this campaign for Channel 4 involved picture researching for the  iconic images, the casting of perfect body doubles and then matching the lighting and position of the original shots to blend both images together in post production.
We commissioned Tim Bret-Day for this shoot with Gordon Ramsay which was produced by James Turnham for Channel 4.
We worked with agency, Big Small Works to create this campaign for our Client Channel 5 and their show, 8 Days That Made Rome. We brought in a great Styling and Make Up team and commissioned Photographer Levon Biss to shoot for us. We then art directed the shoot and all all post production. It was a pleasure working with the wonderful Bettany Hughes and a lot fun creating our own Roman Legion. We now have the perfect answer to the question, ‘You and whose army?’
We commissioned Metz & Racine shoot this shoot we produced. With wonderful floral arrangement by Athena at Rebel Rebel.
It was very unusual for us to not work with the Cast of a show at Channel 4.  On one of the rare occasions that this was the case, some cunning body double casting and styling was the solution.  We produced this shoot and commissioned Elen Von Unwerth to be our Photographer.
We art directed and produced this for Charlie Brooker's award winning series, Black Mirror, whilst working in house at Channel 4.  The Star of our shoot was absolutely charming and was  encouraged to work, with food fed to her on the end of a stick. Potential Clients should know that this technique also works on us.
Headline books asked us to create the marketing campaign for Jill Mansell's novel, Three Amazing Things About You.    We wanted to show the relationship Jill has with her Readers. and cast 4 wonderful Actresses to be in the film we produced as well as these posters with Photographer, Bill Waters.
It was a huge amount of fun shooting this all star Big Brother line up.  We brought in Jenny Hands to capture the image that marked the end of the ground breaking show on Channel 4. 
This image was part of the launch campaign for the E4 series, Skins. Art Directed by Alice Tonge, Produced by Keeley Pratt, Art Buying: Harry and Beatrice
Penguin books asked us to create the poster campaign for the MJ Arlidge novel, Pop Goes the Weasel.   We wanted an atmospheric, foreboding image in the most innocuous of settings. Working with Photographer Gary Salter, we art directed and produced this billboard which ran all over the UK.
We commissioned American Photographer, Jill Greenberg to shoot this image.   The babies were so young that they were cast for the shoot before they were born!  
Headline books asked us to create the marketing campaign for Jill Mansell's novel, Three Amazing Things About You.    We wanted to show the relationship Jill has with her Readers. and cast 4 wonderful Actresses to be in the film we produced as well as these posters with Photographer, Bill Waters.
Green Wing. We were the first people to commission Jim Fiscus in the UK. Shortly after, Campaign magazine voted him their No.1 Photographer.
Working with the team at ITV, we brought in Jim Fiscus to capture this 1950's era image for the drama, Grantchester on a replica set that we had built.
Working in house at Channel 4, we commissioned Gary Salter to shoot the cast of this documentary for billboards that appeared nationwide. We also produced the shoot.
The word 'Legend' is bandied around very loosely and in most cases is an exaggeration, however when we commissioned Sir Don McCullin whilst working in house at Channel 4, we got a glimpse of one at work, up close!
We did the art buying for this poster for Nick Broomfield’s incredibly moving documentary, Ghosts.
We take pride that we've given so many Photographers their first break in the UK industry.   For this Hollyoaks shoot, we commissioned Kansas native, Lyndon Wade to do his first job in London which brought his talents to the attention of the rest of the industry.
It's not often we wear a wetsuit to work, but there was only one thing for it, when we commissioned mistress of the underwater shoot, Zena Holloway to work with us on this image for Channel 4.
We produced these images of Singer/Song Writer, Hannah White and asked Soulla Petrou to shoot, with styling by the brilliant Kate Ruth.
We brought in Mary McCartney to work with us in creating this image of the incredible Katie Piper and friends, so we spent the day with two of the coolest women we've ever met.  
Channel 4 shut down Trafalgar Square for the day and we had a great week with Jim Fiscus, shooting screen legends, Dame Judi Dench, Ewan MacGregor, Willem Defoe, Christian Slater and Ray Winstone.
We produced this shoot for Channel 4, and it was an international affair.  To shoot Clare Foy & Christian Cooke we roped in Andzrej Dragan.  To design and build our Palestinian/Israeli landscape we were lucky enough to work with the insanely talented  David Mark Lee along with the gang at Artem.  We then got Australian, Julian Wolfenstein to shoot the model.  From there, Stuart Frost put the whole thing together. And it was all done over Christmas week!  Art directed by Joseph Ernst.
We commissioned French Photographer couple, Michael et Sandrine to shoot this image based on Myra Hindley’s infamous police mug shot.
We've built up a reputation for publicity images in the worlds of music, television and publishing. We know that Publicists tend not to have huge budgets for images, so we work with our Photographers to supply images that have multiple uses across various media.   Please scroll below for our images of Singer Song Writer, Hannah White and  Author & Columnist Tony Parsons among others.
We commissioned Norwegian Artist, Simen Johan to shoot this campaign for Skins. Directed by Alice Tonge, Produced by Keeley Pratt, Art Buying: Harry and Beatrice
We take pride that we've given so many Photographers their first break in the UK industry.   For this Hollyoaks shoot, we commissioned Kansas native, Lyndon Wade to do his first job in London which brought his talents to the attention of the rest of the industry.
Sky asked us to produce this for the marketing campaign for their period drama, Jamestown.  We chose the very talented and handsome Lorenzo Agius to work with us and had a lot of fun hanging out with him in 17th century Virginia.
Working with Pan Macmillan and the Outfit, we came up with the Creative for this book by Andrew Marr.   We wanted to show the Author with a ringside seat, bearing witness to the seminal moments of the 20th Century. Andrew was a pleasure to work with, as were Sir Winston and Franklin. Uncle Joe was a bit of a diva.
We produced this shoot for Sky, bringing in Gavin Bond to shoot it for us.   It's always fun to hang out with a PussyCat Doll.
We commissioned Norwegian Artist, Simen Johan to shoot this campaign for Skins. Directed by Alice Tonge, Produced by Keeley Pratt, Art Buying: Harry and Beatrice
We produced and art directed these images for Comic Relief featuring varoius Comedians wearing Peter Blake Designed t shirts for Red Nose Day

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