Shepherd Neame has been partnering with Kent Creative on a number of occasions over the years and is the headline sponsor of our current ‘A Year in the Life of Faversham‘ community project.
Our common interest in Faversham’s local history is key to this fruitful partnership. Given that the project is photo based, we are keen on showing aspects of life in the town that involve Shepherd Neame. Not only pubs but also the people behind it.
Shepherd Neame is Britain’s oldest brewer and can trace its origins back to the early 1500s. Jonathan Neame, Bobby Neame’s son, joined the family business in 1991, was appointed managing director in 1999 and Chief executive in 2003.
We offered Jonathan Neame to take a couple of portaits of him for the project, which he happily agreed with. We had our first session on Friday 6th April 2018, in the boardroom at Shepherd Neame’s head office in Faversham. Our photographer on that day was Kevin Ralph (Studio4186).
Jonathan Neame by Kevin Ralph (Studio4186).
Behind him, a portrait of his father Bobby Neame.
We asked Kev to write a few words about the session:
“The technical side to this shoot I kept as simple as possible: 35mm camera, short lens at f4 and a bounce board with two speedlite flashguns on a slave setting. Both flashguns where powered down lower than the light from the windows, as I wanted to keep the dark warm quality of the boardroom.
Not having been able to meet Jonathan or the location before the shoot date, I first picked the part of the room that would become the background for the final shot. I then setup slightly to the right side of this location (these shots you can see on the contact sheet… ).”
“In this way, by mounting my camera on a tripod, I get time to check my lighting but also I can speak with Jonathan without the camera being in the way of me connecting with him. I get him to relax for the final portrait shot for which I took my camera from the tripod and hand hold it for freedom of movement.
I would just like to thank Jonathan again for his time… Really nice guy.”
Kevin Ralph
