f you've ever watched a spy film or a seen any kind of car chase, at all, then you'll have seen cars racing around, skidding around corners and invariably someone shooting out of a window. To do that, the crew behind the film have gotta be trained to do it so it doesn't go pear-shaped.
Chris Vosper and his wife Clare are two such people who have developed a business for training people to do just that. And having spent a few hours with them at their base in south Wales, I can tell you that it's fantastic!
I was sent by Career Pursuit magazine owner, Helen Massy to get some shots of Chris, Clare and their business for the 2022 cover of Career Pursuit - available online and in resettlement centres, HiVE's etc for UK Forces spouses, partners and veterans from 12 September 22, as well as some supporting shots for the article that Helen was writing for them. The brief was pretty concise and that was great and that helped constrain my creative brain from wandering into taking photos which wouldn't be suitable but sucked up a lot of available time. On a Friday afternoon, over 100 miles from home, that absolutely wasn't what was needed.
The V-Force site is nestled within an area of the Brecon Beacons national park and that lends itself well to develop their clientele's off road driving skills. They've got miles and miles of tracks in the woodland around their base to get up to speed and give their more experienced clients something to think about too. With a host of credible instructors with Special Forces, rallying and attack helicopter backgrounds, there's enough experience in their team to ensure no-one will come away without having been tested.
On top of their driving experiences and training - which cater for corporate away days and stunt person qualifications, they also offer tactical experiences for those looking to step into the SF world and clear rooms, shoot bad guys out of the window and develop evasive driving techniques. This all adds to a well thought out training package that will fit a niche market of clients.
And the best bit was, I got an insight to how it all goes together.
Helen's article was about the couple's venture into entrepreneurship from a mixed background of military, aviation and IT management. Their story is a combination of both their independent skillsets coming together to build a professional outfit that had quite a different target audience to what they'd previously been used to. Ultimately this led to them both being the focus of my pictures for their own merits. Chris is very much the tactical SME, the driving enthusiast and motivation behind the company direction, however, Clare is an admin powerhouse. She's spent a long time in the commercial world working with large organisations and as such is well suited to running a company. However, she's also a motorsport fan and just as much as Chris takes the dominant role in this part of their business, she can still kick ass when in the driving seat.
Consequently, after an hour or so of conversation over a brew when I had (finally) arrived, it was clear how to tackle the shoot. First, the covershot.
The Covershot
The idea for this came as soon as I saw the site - industrial.
The brief I'd been given was this:
With the intended style of image being something akin to these other, well-known publications...
Produce a shot that says the couple are happy, successful and in control. This is the most important shot. Show their confidence and determination.
For me, having seen where they'd set up, this also said 'gritty and industrial' too.
It had to feature both Chris and Clare in the image too. No problem.
The Article
With that in the bag, it was now time to focus on the business and collate a selection of branding images that would be used alongside the article that Helen would produce on the couple's move into being business owners.
Helen provided more guidance. This time:
...it would be good to capture a few shots of them working together, in whatever capacity that is natural for them. Perhaps one of Chris on his own too – doing his day to day activities. A photo that captures the business (as it is punchy and exciting) would be great. I like the idea of this being a large landscape shot.
That landscape shot would later become this overview of their premises and the landscape they've chosen to embed themselves in.
They've become friends with the two other businesses on the same patch. Their friendships evident from having one of them coming to 'play enemy' in one of our images. To them, I think he was a 'Dave', having Chris, Clare and their team on the site made their lives more exciting too as they regularly had events over the weekends which brought variety to their, otherwise very different lives.
Turning my attention to Clare. Her natural environment for the business is in administration and business management. But, given their facilities weren't the most photographically inspiring I opted for an outdoor shot or two too. I mean, it was a banger of a day, turning into an evening which most photographers would pay good money for so it's wasn't a hard sell. Clare stood out to me as a very capable plate-spinner. She had a wealth of commercial experience but I still found her moving cars and doing other jobs which most wouldn't.
Finally, Chris. As the former serving Commissioned Officer, Chris is the military link for Career Pursuit. He's had some interesting jobs too. Royal Marine Reserve, Apache Helicopter Pilot and now tactical driving instructor (I'm probably missing one or two out too somewhere). He loves being 'green'. He's very capable and conducts himself just as you'd expect a veteran to do so. Meticulous, professional and highly competent. Chris needed a portrait to be all that and more, if possible.
And before you realised we'd run out of time from taking great shots!
I'm thrilled with how the results came out. These two really deserve the limelight for what they've achieved so far and no doubt will go on from here and do great things.
And here are some of the other shots from the shoot.
Also, don't forget to check out Career Pursuit to read the full article on how V-Force came to be plus many more top tips and guides for transitioning from the UK armed forces into the civilian world, or, if you're a spouse of a serving soldier, sailor or airman, how to start and run your own business too.
You can find more details about Chris, Clare and V-Force Driving Training by visiting their website at https://www.v-forcetraining.com
