Luta images on website

Images from recent shoot being used on Luta website

Travelodge Shoot

London agency More Creative commissioned me to shoot an image library for Travelodge. The company were going through a rebrand and they needed images of customers enjoying the newly designed rooms.

Production: LPA
Styling: Alice Timms
Hair and Make up: Ellie Tobin

Channel Islands shoot

Channel Islands travel feature shot for May 2013 Issue of Lonely Planet Traveller Magazine.

Victoria Pendleton for Halfords

Yesterday I was photographing Olympic gold medalist Victoria Pendleton for Halfords in the sunshine at wonderful Ragley Hall.  I also photographed her last  month at the same location during the freak snowy weather. Here's a picture of her walking in the snow covered grounds of Ragley Hall.

Stylist: Alice Timms
Hair and Make up: Claire Louise

Luta Video

In addition to shooting stills for Luta as mentioned in my last blog, I also co-directed a video for the company with my filming partner Ian Phillips-McLaren.

Luta - Life changing sportswear from michael heffernan on Vimeo.

Luta sportswear stills shoot

Luta make high-end, socially responsible sportswear. I was commissioned to photograph and film the Luta collection and as the brand has a tough, no nonsense reputation we wanted to shoot in a gritty atmospheric location. We found an excellent disused warehouse with peeling walls and flooded floors where we photographed and filmed our ultra fit models. Half of all profits made by Luta go to Fight for Peace, a global non-profit organisation supporting thousands of young people in communities affected by crime and violence all over the world.

Watch out for the Luta brand video, co-directed with Ian Phillips-McLaren, on this blog later in the week.

Cape Town shoot 2

The second shoot from my time in Cape Town a couple of weeks ago, shot on the beach at Camps Bay.

"Sweetheart" A short film

A short film written and directed by Michael Heffernan

Sweetheart tells the story of a woman who has chosen a path in life that frequently leads to mental torment and physical damage. In her most difficult moments she depends on a man who obsessively pushes her to follow his demands.

This film is a collaboration with a team of very talented people. Ian Phillips-McLaren does stellar work behind the camera as DOP and in the edit suite. Jacquline Freeman (represented by MOT models) in the lead role plays Sweetheart with a conviction that belies the fact that this is her first acting role. Cherrelle Brown's role is pivotal in the final scenes and Laura Marsh did a wonderful job with grooming and make-up special effects. A special thanks to "I am Harlequin" for the fantastic sound track. http://iamharlequin.com/ and also to Don and Tom for assisting.

Cape Town shoot

I'm just back from a couple of shoots in Cape Town, here's the first at a beautiful lake in the Mountains.

Urdang Academy

The Urdang Academy, the ultimate choice for training in Dance and Musical Theatre, is internationally renowned for its diversity and its cutting edge training by industry professionals.

I was asked to document the academy's young students training and rehearsing. Shot over a period of three weeks, it was a pleasure to record this group of dedicated performers as they were guided by the skilled team of Urdang's teaching staff.

The Date

Another shoot from my nocturnal series.

Hair, make up and styling: Kate John
Models: George and Sophia at Mustard

India portraits

Three weeks ago I was in India shooting for a global healthcare company. It's a positive story that looks at the benefits of healthcare provision for all in rural India. Bihar state is the poorest and most remote part of India and the serious portraits shown below, shot as we travelled through villages over bone crunching roads, are in contrast to the final uplifting images to be used soon by the client. I will feature the spreads here on the blog in a few weeks when they go live.

summer in the snow

It was snowing outside when I shot this a couple of weeks ago. Lighting and warm tones bring us a spot of early summer.

Snow Girls

Shot recently during the cold snap, we could not have hoped for better conditions to shoot this night time winter themed story. Models and crew were fantastic in the freezing conditions.

Models: Carlota and Tessa at Flair Talent
Stylist: Rachel Gold
Hair and make up : Laura Marsh

Junior Rodeo

Back in autumn 2012 I was shooting a travel story in California when I came across the Oakdale Junior Rodeo. Incredible horse riding and cattle wrangling by kids as young as five years old.

behind the scenes from my new short film

At the end of last month I directed a short film over three days which is currently being edited and graded by my good friend Ian Phillips-McLaren.The film has a dark theme with an ending that with hopefully surprise. It's nearly finished but in the meantime here are some behind the scenes shots.