"I Am..." an Olympic Table Tennis Player

Ask a professional table tennis player to serve eight balls towards the camera lens and guess what happens?

Eight out of eight shots soar into the lens hood at breakneck speed, blink and you'll miss it. This just goes to show why Andrew Baggaley will be representing Great Britain in this year's London Olympics.

With Andrew holding the title of Britain's leading Table Tennis medallist of all time at the Commonwealth games,  it didn't take long for him to showcase his talent. Precision, stamina and tactics all play an important part in the game he explains. Ranked as England number one in every age category (U10, 11, 12, 14, 17 and 21) and coached by his brother Stephen, the Baggaley brothers are a force to be reckoned with.

Having recently attended the kitting out session at Loughborough, Andrew arrived home to his training ground of Milton Keynes complete with various Team GB outfits. Unbeknown to me, Table Tennis is actually ranked as one of the most watched Olympic sports worldwide. Enjoying a quick game or two myself, it would of been rude not to knock up with Andrew, and as you can imagine I didn't stand a chance.

Sponsored by the Swedish brand Stiga, Andrew currently plays for SV Pluderhausen in the German Bundesliga and can often be found jet setting between various international venues. Highly regarded as a possible medal winner for the upcoming games, Andrew was selected as one of the London 2012 Olympic Bid ambassadors. I'm sure you will all join me in wishing Andrew the very best, hoping he can bring home another gold medal. If you are on twitter, follow Andrew's progress here and send him some support!

"I Am..." A Beekeeper

Surround yourself in the company of nearly half a million bees and the natural reaction for most is to run.

Meet Andrew Copley, a beekeeper from Hertfordshire with fifteen hives across two sites. Living in St.Albans, "Copley & Buckley Honey" is produced, extracted and bottled by hand. Shortly after arriving at Andrew's hives, a lone bee managed to sting my hand. At this point I thought to myself I was in for a challenging morning. Andrew very kindly loaned me a suit for the duration, not only supplying me with protection when approaching the hives, but for comedic value with how silly I thought I looked.

Andrew pumped smoke into the hive to calm the bees, opened the lid and began talking me through the processes involved in beekeeping. By now, several bee's had landed on my suit, camera and mask. You name it, it had bees on it. Fascinated by these intelligent creatures, I stood amazed as I watched thousands of bees work amongst the hive. Concentrating on the job in hand and attempting to operate the camera with thick protective gloves, you soon forget about that natural instinct to run. Still, putting your face to the camera where 15-20 bee's are currently exploring was slightly off putting.

It's clear to see that Andrew is passionate about what he does, informing me that bees are the only animal able to share information between other colony members about the direction and distance to nearby nectar and pollen by means of a 'waggle dance'. Through the length of movement and direction relative to the sun, the bees effectively draw a map out on the honeycomb for others to read. Incredibly it's estimated to take around one million flower visits to produce one jar of honey.

In a single hive there are around five thousand (male) drones, fifty thousand (female) workers and one queen. It is the drones' responsibility to mate with the local queen who will then lay up to 3,000 eggs a day. All other jobs in the hive are carried out by the female workers, which include looking after the queen, raising young bees, collecting pollen and nectar whilst building the perfect hexagonal honeycomb.

Keeping it local, 'Copley & Buckley Honey' travels less than one food mile from the hives to where it's sold at Carpenter's Nursery. Luckily I was able to sample some straight from the hive where it tasted completely different to how I expected. A real privilege to sample honey in its purest state.

Many thanks to Andrew for taking the time out to explain beekeeping to me. A truly fascinating insight that will result in me never looking at a bee in the same way again. If you enjoyed reading about Andrew and his beekeeping, please feel free to share and leave comments below. Interested in having your career featured? I'd love to hear from you! :)

"I Am..." A Pilot

It's been a little while since the last instalment of the "I Am..." Series, but it's straight back into the action with another 'high-flying' career.

Panshanger Aerodrome was built during the second World War as a decoy location to divert German bombers away from the factories in Hatfield. Complete with a Bellman type hangar, dummy aircrafts and smoking chimneys, the diversion was so successful that even a few British Pilots proceeded to land there. Now home to the North London Flying school and teaching the general public to fly since 1993, it's a great feature with a brilliant story behind it.

Working at one of the busiest flight schools within the United Kingdom, Ivan has flown for 8 years, 4 of which as an instructor at Panshanger. With the original hanger still standing, it was a great opportunity in which to photograph Ivan and the type of plane he commonly flies.

Until recently, flying is something that has been quite 'alien' to me. It's strange to think that this method of transport is deemed 'normal' for those who work at Panshanger, as I never before saw flying as an everyday occurence. Panshanger and its 875m grass runway is regularly used as a commuter route, with more than 400 pilots joining in the last year alone.

Although I was offered the opportunity of a flying lesson, judging by the amount of controls in the picture below, I think it's best I stick to the controls of a camera for now...

Despite our short amount of time with Ivan, it was a fascinating insight into the world of flying and great fun to photograph. The "I Am..." Series has some great features lined up, be sure to follow me on Facebook or Twitter to stay updated. If you have a career that you think is worth featuring then please feel free to get in touch, I would love to hear from you!

"I Am..." A Chef

If you can't stand the heat, get out the kitchen...photograph it. I'd like to think I can cook, but when you spend five minutes in the company of a professional chef it dramatically brings you back down to earth with a bump.

In the idyllic setting of Potten End is Martins Pond, a friendly family run pub with a fast growing reputation for great food. Owners Melanie and Neil have developed an uncompromised commitment to flavour using the finest quality, fresh and locally sourced ingredients put together with a fine dining twist.

To say I enjoyed the experience of being in the buzz of a working kitchen is an understatement, and was thrilled to meet Andy Mayersbeth (head chef at Martins Pond) who showed the same kind of passion and devotion to food as I do photography. Watching somebody with this level of skill at work was a joy.

With the aim of creating environmental portraits, I wanted to depict the heated and pressurised environment a chef works in. Flambé, a technique Andy was only too happy to demonstrate as flames licked up the kitchen walls. Neil (owner and chef) meanwhile stands calm and proud in the foreground leaning on what I later found out to be a very expensive knife, oops. This image can be seen at the top of this post, and was created using two speedlites. A Canon 580EXII was placed camera left into a 38" Softbox with a 1/4 colour temperature orange gel whilst a 430EX speedlite hides out of shot, carefully positioned behind the left pillar to illuminate Andy, his mountain of fire and provide a rim on Neil's knife. All of these lights were triggered via the PocketWizard Flex system which makes setups like this quick and easy.

Despite the crazy atmosphere of a kitchen, the attention to detailed carried out by Neil's team is second to none which really shows the passion for their trade. Each dish is lovingly prepared and presented with absolute precision in a way that can only be described as art. Every plate that leaves the kitchen really does taste as good as it looks.

The pub itself dates back to 1924, however the actual site of the public house has been a source of hospitality since the 17th century. Under the watchful eye of Neil and Melanie the pub has undergone a recent transformation which sees customers attracted from far afield. I'll have to admit that one perk of this photoshoot was sampling the delights that come out of the Martins Pond kitchen in their recently refurbished dining room. The Sous Vide Beef was quite simply out of this world!

Interested in visiting Martins Pond? Check out their website here. The extensive hand selected wine list and local real ales are a great accompaniment to their menu, especially after you have walked through the beautiful surrounding area.

If you're interested in having your career featured for the "I Am..." series, feel free to get in touch. Thanks to Neil and Andy for taking time out to feature in this project. Look forward to having you on the website once it's launched.

"I Am..." A Baker

Sunrise, 7am and 4th generation artisan baker Steven Oxford has already been working through the night to prepare Oxford's traditional English breads.

Established in 1911 by Frank Oxford, the Sherborne based bakery recently celebrated its 100th year anniversary. Despite the introduction of modern plant bakeries over the years, Oxford Bakery still prides itself in producing 'real bread', handmade using locally sourced ingredients.

I wanted to ask Steven to star in the "I Am..." Series as I grew up in the local area, eating their freshly baked goods and because I feel they have a great story worth sharing. Little did I know how passionate Steven was, and before long he had taken the time out to show us the in's and out's of baking. Truly gripped by his enthusiasm for the subject, it really hammered home why I want to do this project.

Testimony to their skill and dedication for the industry, Oxfords haven't changed their methods or recipes for over four generations and is what I believe is key to their success.

Ingredients are still combined using the original 1911 dough mixer, before being moulded by skilled hands using techniques that have been passed down between generations. Finally, it is left to "prove" before being cooked in the original Edwardian oven.

With Steven now at the helm of Oxfords Bakery, he's keen to teach and spread the word about 'real bread', running workshops from their bakery near Sherborne. Head on over to their website to find out more.

The original image in this post is my favourite of the shoot and will be featured on the "I Am..." Series website shortly. Shot on a 17-40 F4 L Wide Angle Lens with a Canon 580EXII Speedlite and 1/4 CTO Gel Camera Left in a 38" Softbox. The "rising sun" was courtesy of a Canon 430EX Speedlite with Full CTO Gel outside the window, triggered via PocketWizard Flex's.

A huge thanks to Steven for letting us in their charismatic bakery, a great insight into the history of baking!

"I Am..." A Studio Manager

Meet Martin, Studio Manager of the Cream Room Recording Studio in Dane End, Hertfordshire. Over the years, the Cream Room Recording Studio has seen it all from solo artists to bands, voice over artists to tribute acts, song writers to film companies and much much more. Martin and his business partner Rob also manage their own independent record label and have some exciting acts starting to breakthrough.

When I was commissioned to shoot some commercial pictures of the recording studio for their newly designed website, I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity for the "I Am..." series to capture Martin in his environment:

Shot using two gridded lights with warming gels, it was great to be part of a working recording studio and seeing where it all happens. Just the amount of buttons on what they refer to as a 'small' mixing desk makes the mind boggle. Naturally, I promised not to touch anything... :)

The Cream Room are actively involved in a project called 'Just Enough For The Real World', a foundation raising awareness on the issues of people trafficking. I've had the pleasure of seeing 'Just Enough For The Real World' perform live in Theatre and would thoroughly recommend you check out the fantastic work this group is doing.

Martin and Rob are likely to be two of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, and despite being commissioned to shoot for two hours, I actually spent most of the day down there. Keep an eye out for the Cream Room's new look website which is due to be launched soon and will feature a whole host of shots from the day.

I have real high hopes for this series, it's early days and already shoots like this reinforce why I wanted to do it, meeting the fantastic people behind the jobs and the intruiging stories they have to tell. It's received an overwhelming response in it's first few days and I have some exciting shoots lined up that I can't wait to share with you all!

The "I Am..." series website will be launched shortly so keep in touch via Twitter or Facebook for updates!