My 40 years behind lens working with big brands

A VIDEOGRAPHER from Henley is celebrating 40 years in the industry after rediscovering his passion for film during the coronavirus pandemic.

Richard Pinches, 56, bought his first stills camera in the summer of 1981 at Henley Photographic in Hart Street, which is now Café Rouge.

Seven years later, he converted one of his parents’ barns at Meadows Farm in Marlow Road and opened his own photography studio called Meadows Farm Studios.

The business has expanded over the years as Mr Pinches moved into video and embraced digital technology.

He has worked with brands including Rolls-Royce, BMW, Xerox, Sony, Panasonic and Dell.

He photographed Kate Middleton before she married Prince William and became the Duchess of Cambridge.

Mr Pinches said: “I’m very lucky. I almost fell into this career by accident. I was going to do a graphic design or architecture course before I picked up a camera.

“It has been a wonderful career — I’ve been all over the world and I’ve shot for some major brands.

“And in 40 years I’ve seen a lot of technological developments, from analogue to digital. It’s a much more competitive market now as it’s much easier to shoot with a digital camera.”

Mr Pinches, who was born in Henley, attended The Henley College to study chemistry, biology, art and photography.

Under the tutorship of Roger Pugh, he learned how to use his first camera, a Cosina PM1, which cost £49.95.

He recalled: “This really was the point when I got the bug and even biology took a second place to art and photography.

“It became my chosen vocation and I went on to Berkshire College of Arts and Design in Reading to do a diploma in commercial
photography.

“When I finished I very quickly got a job as an assistant in Paul Howard’s studio near Reading.

“He was a master of lighting and taught me how to light products, food, beverages and cars.

“Paul insisted I do one portfolio shot every month to increase my skills but I saw my future there was limited and I didn’t want to be an assistant any more so I applied to other larger local studios and got a job as a studio photographer with Giles Smith photography, near Stokenchurch.

“This was a big jump for me being only a year out of college and I did struggle at first to learn the new discipline of shooting with clients watching me work but I quickly flourished.”

Mr Pinches then opened his own studio at Meadows Farm.

His grandfather had bought the 50-acre farm when the Fawley Court estate was auctioned in lots.

It became Meadows Farm when Mr Pinches’s parents, Peter and Helen, built their family home there in 1964 and reared a beef herd. The couple had five children, including Richard.

“I asked my father if I could use one of his barns,” said Mr Pinches. “He said yes, so I turfed out his equipment and started my own business.

“My dad was a bit sceptical at first. He was a hard father to please. He was an ex-soldier and a hard farm worker and it took him a while to realise I could make a business out of it.

“He was definitely very happy in the end and he was even a model for me for some things, such as hearing aids. I would use my mother’s household items such as a lampshade as props.”

The Meadows Farm studio soon had three photographers, several assistants, an administrator and a full-time set builder.

Most of Mr Pinches’s work involved national advertisements for big name brands.

He was Hyundai’s official advertisement photographer for five years and Dell’s advertisement photographer for four. He also did some portrait work.

He didn’t know who Kate Middleton was when she came to the studio on behalf of her mother, Carole, who owns a children’s party company.

Mr Pinches said: “My then wife saw her in the studio and told me who she was dating and Miss Middleton was amused at her hitherto incognito presence.

“She was working with the children in the photos and getting them to sit still. She was very amused that we didn’t know who she was. She found it quite sweet and touching.

“I did joke when one of the kids was acting up that it’d be their only opportunity to punch a future member of the royal family.”

As he embraced digital technology, he was able to work on film sets as well as continue with his photography work. He converted one of his drive-in studios into a soundproofed green screen video stage.

He worked with Mel B, aka Scary Spice, on her fitness videos and on a variety of short films including Worth It! (2014), Venus and Mars (2015) and Without Direction (2016).

Now he does all the drone work for the Stonor Park estate.

Mr Pinches said: “One of my favourite memories has to be the first time we shot drone footage there and Will Stonor trying to herd about 200 deer in front of his vehicle.”

More recently, he has focused on more analogue photography, including developing unusual techniques such as adding extra layers of interest on to images by partly
destroying them.

He explained: “I have been burying colour film in soil. This might sound odd but it actually produces some stunning results where the soil microbes eat the photographic gelatine layers, revealing extremely interesting artefacts in the emulsion.

“These results are spectacular to look at as the layers are eaten at different rates, producing colourful imagery that looks out of this world and mimicking cosmic nebulas.

“My work is all based on barbed wire as a metaphor for conflict, which reflects my keen interest in the history of wars.”

He says the first lockdown in March last year gave him time to rediscover his analogue “roots”. “There’s no magic and artistry in the process of digital unlike with film,” said Mr Pinches.“In lockdown I set up a dark room and started a fine art photography course at the University of Hertfordshire and it re-energised me.

“I’m keen to move away from digital photography and use analogue techniques in a combination of monochromatic and chromatic styles. This includes a photographic process dating from 1852 called wet plate collodion.

“It is a very slow process working on tin and glass plates which are the complete opposite of generic digital photography.”

Mr Pinches is to hold an exhibition at the Old Fire Station Galley in Henley in February to mark his anniversary. He will be showing his fine art photography as well as early work and his modern commercial material.