Often I am asked to do food and drink shots in hotels around London to be used for PR and promotional purposes.

High-end food photography is a very specialist area, requiring hours of preparation, special”food stylists”, and no end of patience and attention to detail.

My shoots typically take an hour or less, in busy, dark, cluttered bar areas, with guests and staff going about their business as usual. Not ideal for this type of work, but the picture below shows what is capable with small flashes used to backlight the cocktails.

The cocktails below were a promotion run by Charing Cross Hotel in the lead up to London Fashion Week 2011.

I recently photographed the launch of “Slipstream” by artist David Cotterrell at Peckham Space gallery.

In the gallery’s words: “David is an installation artist working across varied media including video, audio, interactive media, artificial intelligence, device control and hybrid technology. His work exhibits political, social and behavioural analyses of the environments and contexts, which he and his work inhabit.”

This project had him film lost (or future) views of North Peckham using a specially-constructed  miniature stunt helicopter!

One of things I love about working for Peckham Space is that no two jobs are the same, and I always come away with something out of the ordinary.

Below are my favourite images from the evening.

I often get to photograph the rich and famous as part of my job, but it’s not often I photograph someone I actually care about. Today I had the honour of meeting and photographing Michel Roux Jr., the legendary two Michelin-starred chef and judge of Masterchef.

And, unusually for me, was actually star-struck!

Left-right: Andre Garrett, Michel Roux Jr, Fred Sirieix, Chris Galvin.

All four will be taking part in the Mayfair Park and Tower Race, a gruelling 4km sprint around the Serpentine Lake and up the 475 stairs of the London Hilton on Park Lane.

The runners are fund-raising for Galvin’s Chance, an into-work apprenticeship programme.

As is usual for shoots like this, all four were very short on time and the PR company had a very specific brief for me to follow. I would have loved a one-on-one portrait session with Michel in his kitchens – one day!

The photo won’t win any awards, but it was great to meet them all, and Michel in particular, and they were all very friendly and professional.

Photo: John Clare/Newspics Ltd.