You Know, Yeah?

Mat Arney Content Marketing, Photography and Writing Portfolio 2014 from Mat Arney on Vimeo.

You know that I do this whole photography, writing and content marketing thing for a living, right?  

Last week I caught up with my Dad, and he made a very valid point that I hope this blog post will address:  I don't market my work well enough.  I was having a bit of a work-whinge (no doubt revolving around the fact that I work a lot but that it never feels like it's quite enough) and unloading all of the regular freelancer's anxieties in his ear, when he highlighted the fact that most readers of this blog, or visitors to my website, probably wouldn't know that this is my job.  I market my clients very well, through ongoing content marketing campaigns and bespoke photography and copywriting commissions, but I don't actually market these services to other potential clients.  So here goes:

My name is Mat and I am a storyteller.

I develop and distribute high quality media content - mostly in the form of images and words - that builds lasting relationships between a brand and its customers.

This might be bespoke photography or copywriting for a website or a print marketing campaign.  It is more valuable to a brand, however, in the form of regular, creative and dynamic content that potential and existing customers engage with through various marketing channels.  Custom digital content such as blogs, e-newsletters, photo essays and short videos increase website performance (particularly for search engines) and social media engagement, helping your brand to reach more potential customers and consistently converts views to sales.

Every business needs to share its message.  Being able to communicate what you do and why, in order to engage customers, is the key to a successful marketing strategy in the digital age.

You have a story, let me help you tell it.

So there you have it:  I'm an award-winning, published, photographer and writer with an international client list including Cloudy Bay Wines, Nokia UK, Otter Surfboards, Hog Island Oyster Co and the London Surf Film Festival, and I'd like to work with you.

Let's talk:

All of my contact details are in the last frame of the short video clip above, or you can use mat(at)matarney dot com, send me a message on facebook, instagram or twitter or leave a comment here and I'll get back to you.  Thanks.  

Jagwar Ma - Guilty as Charged

Last night they played the Park Stage at Glastonbury to a crowd of thousands, but a couple of weeks ago Jagwar Ma performed in front of what is likely to be their smallest crowd this year, in The Old Crown Courts in Bristol.  The Aussie three piece are hard to pigeonhole with a psych/electro/indie/rock sound moulded by the Sydney synth scene, and in such an intimate setting (three people deep from the front row to the sound desk) they rattled the roof of the old, crumbling, building.

I was there to shoot the event for Nokia, who put on the gig as one of their #LumiaLive sessions featuring rising stars in unique settings.  I love the challenge that these Lumia Live sessions present, with the usual bright, flashing, lights of a live performance paired with the less than standard locations - there's no getting a media pass to get side-of-stage here, as the audience filled the judges bench, jurors stand, witness boxes and gallery.  I had to climb around furniture and crawl between feet to get the angles that I was after, but that's what I love about these shows.  I also took portraits of the band in just about the creepiest location that I've ever used for a shoot - the dark old jail cells in the basement beneath the courts.  

Jagwar Ma played a storming set and frontman Gabriel Winterfield even managed to make light of the fact that, what with the previous gig that they played in Bristol being aboard a boat, perhaps the person in charge of their bookings was making a joke at the expense of their nationality.  The band are based in the UK now, however, and with Noel Gallagher hanging his hopes for independent music on them they look set to maintain their rapid trajectory.

As usual, pioneering French music film makers La Blogothéque were on hand with a dazzling amount of kit to film the performance…check it out below.

Two-Point To-Do List: Ella Eyre Live in Session

There were only two things that I had to do:  

1. Capture the images on the shot list that Nokia and the event organisers Mission had given me.
2. Not get in shot during the two songs that the film crew from La Blogothèque were filming.

I was shooting a special performance by Ella Eyre (an incredible young singer best known for her vocals on Rudimental's hit "Waiting All Night") for the first Nokia Lumia Live Session of 2014.  The Lumia Live Sessions set out each year to showcase incredible new artists in unique and memorable settings, and this first event of the year was to have Ella performing her set amongst the dodgems and vintage rides at Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre in Devon.  It was a fantastic location but Ella's voice outshone everything else - strong, soulful, and incredibly controlled - the small crowd were completely captivated despite the colourful flashing lights of the historic fairground attractions surrounding them.  She was backed by her live band playing semi-acoustically, before performing her encore sat on the bonnet of one of the bumper-cars with just her unplugged guitarist and no microphone.  I managed to keep track of the songs in her set and stayed frozen to the spot during the two songs that were being filmed by ground-breaking French music videographers La Blogothèque, lying on the floor at the front of the stage during one of them with a stage monitor blasting right into my ears.  I still managed to end up in the background of a couple of their shots though(although I'm blaming this on their slick editing), so don't get to fully tick that second box.  As for the first job on my list, well I managed to get the shots asked for during the gig - as well as a few nice backlit ones during the soundcheck when Ella sat in a dodgem car tweeting about the gig on her phone, absent mindedly singing pitch perfect into her microphone whilst a single spotlight shone through her impressive hair.  Check 'em out - I hope you dig.  

Spotlit

Lights, Dodgems, Action!

Vintage Fairground, Modern Neon

Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre

Performing "Waiting All Night"

The best seats in the house were far-and-away the dodgems.

Perhaps I should take stickers next time?

Merry-Go-Round

Keep your eyes and ears peeled for Ella Eyre this year.

Soundcheck - check.

To keep up to date with the Nokia Lumia Live Sessions of 2014 click here - each gig is by invitation and there are various ways to win tickets.  If this event was anything to go by then I'd say it'd be well worth keeping an ear to the ground.

Check out my images and the La Blogothèque video from the last event of 2013 (on a rainy beach in Cornwall) here.