So today was the day! The Breakfast Club launched its first event at the amazing, Everyman Cinema in Birmingham. Nearly 70 people showed up, tucked into some breakfast and settled back into the comfy sofas to listen to a very inspiring keynote speaker and do some networking! Oh, and I was the sponsor!

So you might remember a blog post a while back where I spoke about this shoot with Omar and Gurdas, the two guys responsible for The Breakfast Club, a brand new, fun networking event (honestly it’s great) once a month in Birmingham. Well, these are some of the final images that we created to publicise and launch the first event. We wanted to make the images really stand out and set the guys and the event apart from any other networking event in the city. The guys were a little apprehensive about leaving their comfort zones and getting in front of the camera but the promise of jam, toast and strong coffee was all they needed to embrace the idea I pitched them. The images are fun and the guys are all about fun and people having a good time. They don’t want their event to be stuffy in any way like some networking events can be… naming no names!

Anyway as the event sponsor the guys asked me to say a few words before the keynote speaker. So not only was I there shooting the event for the guys, but I was also speaking at it as well. The shooting of the event I’m good with (although dark cinemas and photography aren’t the best combinations but I made it work!) but speaking in front of 70 people is, shall we say… unusual for me! I’m sure the guys were trying to push me out of my comfort zone a little like I’d done to them by getting them in front of my camera and I’m glad they did.

I’ll be honest I only had to speak for 5 minutes or so unlike the incredible keynote speaker, Deb Leary from the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, who spoke eloquently and inspiringly for 20-30 minutes, but I embraced it and threw together some images to go up on the big screen of the Everyman Cinema and it wasn’t long until Omar handed me the mic (yep, I had a mic! I had to resist every urge in my body to do something ridiculous like beatbox or shout ‘Hello Wembley’) and I was off.

I spoke briefly about my love of conceptual and creative portraiture and the importance of standing out and ‘packing a punch’ with your creative work. I shared a few images that looked pretty epic on the big screen I must say, and then went on to talk a little more about the shoot with Gurdas and Omar for The Breakfast Club.

The shoot for The Breakfast Club is a great example to show people what it is that I love to do. That is taking an idea from an initial ‘terrible’ sketch all the way through to the final images! It’s wasn’t the most complex of ideas but it was fun and we got all the details from the sketch even down to Gurdas, multi-talented guy that he is, designing the cereal boxes that we made up to keep the shots as authentic and real as we could! No photoshop here! Then it was just about getting the guys to loosen up a little and show their personalities on camera. That was easy as they have personality in bucket loads and that’s part of the draw that people have to their networking event I think. They come for the double act that is ‘Gurdas and Omar’. Despite being Arsenal and Chelsea fans (I’m a Spurs fan) they’re great guys haha! It was great fun shooting them and it was great to work with two people so invested in their brand and what they do that they saw the importance of strong and stand out creative images to help elevate them and The Breakfast Club further.

Anyway, that’s what I spoke about before making way for Deb, the keynote speaker. I didn’t notice anyone yawning or nodding off but then again it was dark in the cinema!

I was lucky to have some great chats and comments about the work I showed and The Breakfast Club shoot with people after the event and, as is the power of networking, within a couple of hours of the event finishing, I’ve already got a few people interested in sitting down and talking about some creative ideas they’ve had that they’d like some help with. Winner!

I love meeting new people and finding out all about them but I think some creatives can be a little reluctant to network especially if it’s in the usual stuffy business style environments. You have to choose how and where you network wisely and to suit you. It doesn’t even have to be a networking event, I’ve met some of my best contacts and now friends sat in coffee shops or on trains by just having a conversation. It’s so important to network in some form though and having pushed myself to do it more, the more I’ve enjoyed it and been pleasantly surprised by some of the interesting and inspiring people I’ve met along the way. People like Gurdas and Omar and 67 other lovely people, some of who you can see above at the event this morning!

Oh and yes if you’re wondering… It’s got me more jobs too!

Get out there, have a good breakfast and meet some new people!