Tom Sweeney

Tom Sweeney
Photographer & Videographer

As a kid, I was always fascinated by photography, constantly trying to find what it means to take a "good photo" and testing the limits of my creativity.

I never found school to be the right environment to nurture my creative side and always preferred to learn at my own pace through trial and error. Years later, the learning never stopped, but I have immense pride in every photo I take.

Starting with a simple smartphone, I progressed on to a hand-me-down Fujifilm XT2, a beloved workhorse in the industry famed for its stunning image quality and unbeatable reliability. It's hard to think of a reason to ever part from this camera as it still so solidly reinforces the quote: "Old but gold."

Today, I find myself branching out into many areas of photography: automotive, architecture, street, portrait and landscape, and I welcome the opportunity to try even more wherever possible.

Being a biker, I often found myself taking pictures and videos of my motorbike and posting them on social media. Suddenly, one of the first "meme" videos I posted to TikTok went viral, taking me from a mere 200 followers to 20,000 in only 2 days. Following this, I continued to post funny and relatable videos, a few more of which went viral, as the rather mysterious algorithm does, taking me to nearly 50,000 followers and collectively millions of views. This has inspired me to expand further into videography and cinematography with results coming soon.

a zoomed in shot of a modern building in Media City, Salford. In the foreground is a contemporary styled

Portfolio

Automotive

A wide shot of a Tesla Model 3 atop the Cat & Fiddle in the Peak District. it was shot just after sunset, giving the sky a greenish blue tint and creating a moody scene. The view behind the car has a row of hills, followed by a completely flat expanse, the Cheshire plains.

A moody shot in Media City, Salford, looking down from above on a silver Ferrari supercar. The car park is empty, drawing the attention right to the striking car.

A naturally framed shot of the golden wheel of a McLaren 750s supercar in a very vibrant toothpaste blue. It was taken at Mclaren Manchester in Wilmslow after the dealer had closed and it had gone dark. There is a soft purple glow from the lights left on inside the dealership, complimenting the bold blue of the car.

A menacing shot of a Ferrari 296gtb inside the Ferrari dealership in Wilmslow. The lights in the shop were completely off, though a soft glow from the street lamps outside illuminated the front of the car. This is a downward shot of the car's sleek and aggressive looking headlight and front-right corner of the bumper.

A very close up shot of an OZ Racing wheel on an Audi S1. The shot focuses on the structure of the wheel and the popular single central lock for quick removal and installation, just like race cars use in the pits. The wheel is sprinkled in water droplets, adding a nice amount of pattern and a clean aesthetic

A front facing shot of the aforementioned blue Audi RS1 displayed in the middle of a garage converted into an auto-detailing shop. The car is surrounded by shelves of cleaning items in a contemporary space. Two customers stand on the right browsing the backlit shelves, while the car sits pretty.

Bike & Rider

A man in a black hoodie staring into the bathroom mirror in a dimly lit contemporary apartment. Staring back at him is a fully black leather clad biker with a blacked out visor. An alter ego, so to speak.

A close up of a biker in a white t-shirt. taken from down low, the shot looks up at him as he leans onto the tank of his KTM. The headlight and bars are in view at the bottom of the image. The face of the biker can't be seen past his mirrored visor.

Architecture

I always find myself fascinated by "perfect alignment", and my architecture work aims to articulate this. In these photos, everywhere you look, you will see careful attention to lining up elements, both foreground and background, in a seamless way.

It appeals to my autistic brain.

Stolen Skies
This series of photographs is centred around the idea of the urban sprawl stealing away our skies.
neither AI nor photoshop had a part in this.
Fun fact: The backgrounds in photos 2 and 3 are in fact made up of 3 separate buildings in Deansgate, Manchester.

A front facing shot of the wall a grey modern sky scraper in Manchester. Up the middle of the image is a column of windows. Either side of the windows are long strips of light in the face of the building with a blueish green glow. The shot was taken at night, with subtle lighting off to the left, giving the building a soft gradient of light to dark as you scan across.

A moody shot of the curved edge of a modern building in Manchester. Each window has a different scene within, most with dimmer lighting or closed curtains. The central window, slightly to the bottom of the image, has its curtain open, making it a clear subject of the image. The purple glow of the dark building at night contrasts nicely with the yellow hue of the lights through the window.

A shot of a modern, brick-orange block of apartments in Manchester, taken from afar. Above the apartments, where the sky would normally be, is nothing but tiny windows. Behind the apartment block is an array of similar styled skyscrapers, that when shot at the right angle, completely block the sky from view behind it. Since the skyscrapers are mostly glass, and are blue as a result, at first glance, it appears to be the sky. You only notice the sky has been stolen away once you look closer into the image.

Fragments
This series of photographs is all about stacking up modern design elements with interesting perspectives.

A bright and vibrant shot of some buildings in Media City, all different colours and textures. The middle of which, is a block standing out the side of a building, painted bright orange, contrasting everything else.

A softly coloured shot of the top of a modern styled, gold-plated building in Salford. The lines in the image match up to a sky scraper poking out in the background, leading the eye from the interesting pattern at the bottom straight to the skyscraper at the top.

A very provocative architectural shot of some glass buildings in Stockport. The side of the building has an interesting pattern of wooden beams, greatly contrasting the otherwise very blue image.

Singularity
This series aims to accentuate vibrant colours popping out of the scene through careful editing techniques.

A shot of layers of buildings at Media City, looking up to the top of a tall apartment block. The whole image has a very black, white and blue theme, with a naturally progressing gradient, with the darkest buildings at the bottom to the lightest at the top, then met with the cloudy white sky.

Street & Other Projects

Singularity - Manchester Trams
Continuing the colour splash theme is my collection of pictures of Manchester's iconic trams and their bold yellow colour scheme.
Like those cliché pics with the red London busses, but I have too much northern pride.