The AXA Team

Recently, my life has been full of ‘A’s. I’ve been shooting pictures for AXA Insurance Group, and I’ve snapped an amazing dance-troop called ‘The A Team.’

Both jobs are great to do, but they’re so different! It has definitely reminded me how photography can differ from one day to the next.

The A-Team are a really talented group of dancers. They know how to pose, they know how they want to look, and - no doubt - they know how to dance.

The troop have got the world at their feet. They’ve got dancers as young as 11 in there, as well as others who’re 25-30, backing up the energy of youth with experience. They tell me that they’re going to be on Sky TV soon, too. Tune in! I promise you they will be well worth watching.

When I shot them they were great fun. They brought loads of their own ideas to the table. Every one of them had their own thoughts about new angles to create, new poses to hit. As they were natural posers I saw this as an opportunity to do some really creative, really high-end photography.

On the day of the A-Team shoot, I took a little stroll from my underground lair, upstairs to the courtyard. When I turned the corner I found the entire troop putting on a little show for everyone who was having their lunch. They were busting some serious moves! Even watching them brought me out in a sweat...

I’d love it if you kept in touch with their progress on Twitter. It’s rare for people so talented to have the personalities to go with it. These lot certainly did, they were top banana. Give them a follow @ATeam_Official

The AXA Insurance Group stuff is a completely different kettle of fish.

The job is this: I travel around the country and take quirky pictures of AXA team members! When I’ve taken all of the shots I’m going to compile them into a series of bigger, quirkier pictures which include loads of different people and poses. In the end, the finished product is going to be an aesthetic treat. This project has given me loads of ideas!

But this is definitely the long game. Whereas The A Team bopped into my studio at 1000 miles-per-hour (does anyone say ‘bopped’ anymore?) taking pictures all over the country is closer to a marathon than a sprint.

But I am loving it! AXA, you’ve got some great characters in your team. I thought I might have trouble getting some of them to let go in front of my lens... what do I know, eh? It turns out most of them didn’t even have a shell to come out of. They’ve been great fun! Top team.

I have been laughing my way around the AXA network. I’ve been up north, down south and to a whole bundle of places in the middle! (Also, I’ve spent a lot of time in my studio retouching and editing - come and visit lonely Cary? This big pop-in portraits project is still on!)

I’ll blog again soon, there’s loads of stuff going on. On top of that Santa’s coming! I best clean that chimney...