Elliott Images - Experience you can rely on to keep costs down.

Training in England

I started professional photography in October 1969 in England as a staff photographer with Burmah Castrol Research Labs in Bracknell, Berks. At the same time I studied commercial and industrial photography at the Harrow School of Photography, achieving the Final Certificate from the Institute of Incorporated Photographers in July 1972.

I joined Hymor Photographers, in Caversham, Reading, in May 1972, doing portraits and weddings over the weekends and commercial work during the week. During that time I also taught photography at the Berkshire College of Art & Design, part-time, from July 1972 to June 1973. I gained my Associateship of the IIP in January 1973.

Back to South Africa

In September 1973, I returned to Durban and worked as a manager of professional services at Colorlabs in Pinetown. In May 1975 I joined Peter van Niekerk in Cape Town, as a photographer, doing a wide range of photography, but largely retail packshots for Pick & Pay through the Hedley Byrne / Young & Rubicam agency.

Own business in Cape Town

I started my own photography business in Cape Town in October 1981, doing a wide range of photography, but predominantly retail packshots for Spar through Bates Wells, for Metro through Phil Hetherington, for Checkers direct, for Gilbeys through Barker McCormack, and for the OK Bazaars Hyperama through McCanns, until Hyperama moved their marketing department to Johannesburg in December 1994. That month I was introduced to the Clicks Group and they have been a major client since then to when I left South Africa for the U.K. in July 2009. After more than 5000 packshots for Clicks, on colour transparency and B/W print, I, with their approval and co-operation, decided to go digital in May 1997, when I purchased the 5"x4" Phase One digital scan back to replace film and photographic prints. Since then I've shot over 18000 digital packshots for them, correcting each one through Photoshop, and delivering images on CD Rom disks, with a backup archive following on DVD disks. Forecourt Equipment & Services have also been a major client during this time, requiring photographs of their branded clothing and other goods for Engen, Audi, Volkswagen, Seat, and UCT promotional items catalogues and web site, all with clipping paths.

Lecturing in South Africa

In Cape Town, I lectured photography part time at the Ruth Prowse School of Art from January 1979 to November 1980, and at the Peninsula Technikon from January 1981 to November 1982. At that stage I had to choose between full time lecturing and my business, and although lecturing is very rewarding, the business even at that stage was a lot more profitable.

Return to the U.K.

For various reasons, I decided to return to the U.K. in August 2009 with three websites to be assembled with photography from South Africa. The story continues.....