The thinking behind the images.

Back in Holmfirth after a fantastic start to the day in Leeds, at Yorkshire Industrial & Logistics 2026, hosted by Place Yorkshire! My biggest takeaway from Blink's end was how we can better use our marketing visuals to speak to occupiers. Power and future proofing came up time and time…

The building is the focus; however, the setting is what makes it believable. Especially with marketing visuals, the eye goes straight to the architecture. It's the star of the show, and rightly so, as the image is designed and framed that way. What sometimes goes unnoticed is the way we…

Sometimes it's better to demonstrate rather than explain. Detailed descriptions and spec sheets absolutely have their place, but so do visuals that let people see the point for themselves. On this London scheme, a key part of the story our client wanted their visuals to tell was the height of…

“Just type a prompt and click generate,” they said. We use AI at Blink Image, and we love what it can do. But for every polished result you see, there’s a reel of outtakes like this one. AI is a powerful tool, but it still needs people who know what…

Same scheme, same view, two very different images. The top one was turned around to a very tight deadline. We got it done, but it wasn't quite right, so we revisited it with fresh photography and gave it the time it needed. The bottom one is the result. We can…

Lovely to watch a scheme go from CGI in our studio to a finished building of this standard. Unit 8 at Symmetry Park, Biggleswade has achieved BREEAM Outstanding and been named Logistics Matters' Shed of the Month for September. Well done to everyone at Tritax Big Box, and thanks to…

I've always found the best way to learn is to immerse yourself. I'm doing just that next Thursday when I head to Yorkshire Industrial & Logistics 2026, hosted by Place Yorkshire, in what I'm sure will be the first of many events for me in the commercial development world. It's…

What makes a good planning image doesn't necessarily market a scheme well, and vice versa. It's all about audience. A planning image is there to help officers and neighbours assess a scheme honestly: its scale, the streetscene and how it sits in its real context, often montaged into photography of…

I'm not a fan of played-out sayings however, a photo truly is worth a thousand words. Two weeks into Blink, I've noticed that a lot of what I learned in automotive still applies here, just on a much bigger scale. At Autotrader I used to say the same thing to…

The leaves won't wait for your drone photos. A lovely start to the week; a morning family walk with sunny views across the valley and even a faint rainbow. Holmfirth sure is gorgeous! However, I noticed the leaves are definitely on the turn now. Over the last few days I've…

Funny how life sometimes comes full circle. Two weeks ago I joined Blink Image Limited as Account Manager. Back in 2018, I was at Bramham Horse Trials modelling this shooting lodge in ArchiCAD. I was working at my family's architecture firm at the time, teaching myself 3D modelling as I…

What happens when you run your house through an AI 1980s image converter? Apparently, you lose the blinds, the modern windows, the landscaping… and gain a BMW that looks like it’s just come home from Miami Vice. I thought I’d have a bit of fun and see what AI could…

Say "industrial development" to someone who doesn't work in property, and think about what they picture. Chimneys. Heavy machinery. Oil and diesel. Pollution. Something loud behind a very tall fence. Then look at what usually gets built. A clean, flexible building that could house a logistics operator, a food producer,…

Congratulations to Tritax Big Box on winning planning consent for the Manor Farm data centre. Data centres are complex, and getting the story across to everyone involved is no small thing. It's exactly where a well-crafted, story-driven film earns its place. We created the film in-house at Blink Image -…

The moment you send out a brochure, it starts going out of date. A PDF, an email, a printed pack - beautifully done. Then a unit lets, a price shifts, a masterplan changes… and suddenly there are a dozen versions of "the truth" sitting in inboxes you'll never see again,…

'Data centres in space' is a hot topic at the moment - for some bullish people at least. The 13th successful test launch of Starship last week hints at a potential future for this sector. https://lnkd.in/eYABeSEM But it's hard to appreciate the size of this rocket. So I put a…

I still get goosebumps when I see this building in the flesh. 61 Oxford Street. One of the more complicated facades we’ve worked on. To get accurate reflections we photographed a full 360-context to give a very realistic impression of the finished building. Looks like we need to start on…

The not so glamorous side of architectural visualisation! (AVR shoot in case you were wondering)

Architectural photography, and by extension, architectural visualisation, has lots of “rules”. Keep verticals vertical is one of the big ones. And often, yes, you should. But follow it too rigidly on a tall building and you can end up with something technically correct but visually… unhelpful (putting it politely). Like…

Lighting makes or breaks a CGI. Here's a real-world example of why. I shot this footage yesterday on a bright sunny day in Oxford - ideal conditions, you'd think. But look what happens when both facades catch equal light. The building loses definition. Your eye can't read the form. The…

I have seen the future. Are you scared? (I'm just glad I'm taller than these things!)

New-build landscaping always has an awkward phase. The CGI shows mature planting, activity, life. The completed building opens… and the shrubs are… doing their best. That’s normal, of course. Landscapes take time to establish. Businesses take time to move in. Buildings rarely look “finished” the moment practical completion happens. Which…

14th-century architecture (ish). 21st-century visualisation. We recently completed some work at York Minster. Possibly the oldest building we've ever been involved with. The project is a new step-free ramp into the quire - significant enough that the team needed to visualise it from every conceivable angle before anything was signed…

Right now, if you walk past this site in the centre of Oxford, this is what you see. Hoardings. Scaffolding. Demolition. Noise. It's hard to get excited about that. But this is what's coming. And suddenly the conversation changes completely. That's why architectural visualisation exists. Not to show off. Not…

Well done Reggie 2026. 😞

The developers who get the most from their visualisation budget usually ask a different question at the start. Not "what's this going to cost?" But "what will we need this to do over the next three years?" Last month a client came to us needing CGIs, animations and a development…

Industrial buildings. Metal boxes. Functional. Dull. Not much to them really. What’s inside is often something else entirely. This image was actually created a few years ago to show that properly. Not a planning CGI. Not a standard marketing render. More a way of showing two things at once -…

If you call an electrician and they can come tomorrow, that’s either good timing or a slight cause for concern. The best ones are booked out. Not because they’re difficult - but because they’re worth working with. The same is true in visualisation. Good CGIs and films don’t come from…

Most developers commission a 3D model and get a CGI out of it. That's a bit like buying a kitchen and only ever using the kettle. The 3D model is the foundation. Once it exists, it can generate CGIs, teaser films, full architectural films, 360 tours, interactive models, living images.…

The AI conversation in our industry is almost entirely about image generation. The most useful thing it does for us has nothing to do with images. It's the admin. The project management. The tasks that used to quietly eat half a day. Having something this capable sat over your shoulder…

Last week I took my camera into some of Oxford’s lesser-known back streets. Not the tourist trail - the bits in between. The overlooked corners. I ended up in Jericho. Most people recognise St Barnabas Church from the outside - that distinctive campanile tower rising above the canal. But I’d…

A month ago I posted this. The response suggested it was worth saying again. AI image generation is genuinely impressive - mind blowing in many ways. And potentially even more mind blowing now than a mere 4 weeks ago. Nuts! We use it ourselves, selectively, where it adds value. But…