stuart mcalister
visual specialist
To get the ball rolling, I am a visual specialist who likes nothing more than watching a client achieve their campaign goals - on time and on budget.
My creative and technical skill-set is a result of a substantial and varied background working as a television news cameraman with a selection of national and international broadcasters, and as a photographer with some of the more respected publications and picture agencies.
- Social media, web content and marketing support material -
Insured by
My early years as a television news cameraman saw me wandering the often murky corridors of Westminster: politics being the order of the day. From there, I sidestepped into exposing the socially corrupt when I joined the team to film Central TV’s ‘The Cook Report’, after which Sky News snapped me up and sent me on multiple trips to Bosnia and then to South Africa to cover Nelson Mandela's historic election. On returning to the UK, I joined the management team at Associated Press Television News (APTN) where I trained novice operators in the art of shooting and editing news footage.
18 months later, eager to return to the shop floor, I shed the suit and kipper tie just in time for APTN to transfer me to Paris to cover European headline news. This next chapter was to run for the best part of 2 decades, though barely five months after I arrived one of the biggest events unfolded: the death of Princess Diana. Within the year I'd jumped ship and become a freelancer with CNN and the BBC. The Americans whisked me off to Kosovo and the BBC sent me out into the choppy Atlantic to look for Ellen MacArthur. During my time in France, I made many hundreds of news and feature packages and added multiple credits filming for BBC flagship programmes Newsnight, Panorama, and Hardtalk, along with football for ITV Sport and cultural pieces for Sky Arts.
When my career pivoted into corporate television, I used my transferable skills to forge long-lasting relationships with blue-chip clients Airbus, Publicis Groupe, The Paris International Airshow, Hélicoptère et Jet, The International Boat Show, and The International Chamber of Commerce.
At this point, I added to my creative arsenal by branching into stills photography, joining World Picture News in New York, NTI in the UK, Paris-based agency Le Desk and Getty Images, the global library. Pretty soon the internet became a more attractive stakeholder, with headline news and editorial features giving way to social media platforms and website content - the requirement for marketing assets and branded imagery was definitely 'on the up'.
In case you haven't guessed, I love working with images and possess a solid understanding of where and how best to deploy them. Online's insatiable appetite requires a constant demand for high-quality imagery, and I would be delighted to join your journey and help shape your digital future.