Bt River of Music - African Stage

Highlight: Getting my free dress -I'm so cheap!

Lowlight: Having to miss some class acts to wire back the pictures.

Fill in: So I went to the dress stall (see 21st July post) and got Brij to select a dress for me as I am so crap and clothes shopping - Keith usually does it for me. Brij insisted I put it on so I photographed for the first time in my career in a dress.

Tech spec: Music photography was same as day before (see 21st July post) and I also made use of my experience with Belle Enfant to photograph Brij's dress collection for his website.

For more info:

www.redferns.com

BT River of Music - African Stage

Highlight: Meeting Brij of Divya Fashions.

Lowlight: Only one stage - this festival was rocking!

Fill in: This stage was one of six stages scattered across the capital to celebrate the Olympics. I had the African stage and the beats just did not stop. The sun was blazing, the crowd dancing, and the food out of this world with curry from Nigeria, noodles from Vietnam, Stir Fries from China and chillis from Mexico. Whilst on my wanders around the stalls I espied some great dresses and as I was browsing the stall holder came up and told me the one I was looking at was £40. He then, on seeing my cameras  threw a pose and asked me to take his picture. "£40" was my immediate reply holding out my hand. I was only joking but Brij, as he was called immediately took up my offer, saying if I took some pix of him on his stall and delivered them tomorrow he would let me have the dress.

Tech spec: I was actually there to shoot the music, and it was a hot, sunny day. The main problem was protecting the equipment from the dust, so I used my polythene rain bag to keep the dust at bay. The stage had a black backdrop, most of the acts were black, and there was not a cloud in the sky and the Sun beat down, so the light was high in contrast, so I pulled the contrast in on the batch process by moving the black point. 

For more info:

www.redferns.com

Clutter - Image Brief

Highlight: Finding a use for the clutter in the house

Lowlight: My photos were the most cluttered of all the submissions

Fill in: For several years now (I kid ye not) the spare room in the house has been in various states of cluttered-upness, and plans for boot sales, auctions on Ebay and trips to the dump have been made and post-poned. Occasionally a bag of assorted clothes and shoes makes it into a charity bag and escapes via a PDSA van, but for the most part the clutter just gets sorted, re-sorted and as more and more stuff is added to the melee I begin to think some sort of space-time warp is happening, similar to the DR Who Tardis phenomenon. It is a constant source of tension in the house as everyone insists they have got rid of all their junk and everything in the room is the fault of  someone else's hoarding. So imagine my glee when a call for a photo of a cluttered room was posted on the Image Brief site. I didn't have to set up anything.

Tech spec: There was a slight problem of actually getting into the room. Various boxes had to be shifted into the hall, and I had to engage a bit of mountaineering skills to climb over the clutter to get by the window. I decided to use the window to light the whole scene from the front and kept the door open on the opposite side of the room, A. because it gave a fill in light at the back and B. because it was physically impossible to close it because of all the clutter. I used a wide angle close up to exaggerate the space and items and arranged a few of the more colouful items to the front. I also hid any brand names and logos to make the shot more saleable.

All the hard work paid off as I got the sale.

UCB Science Education

Highlight: Putting on a white lab coat and googles - made me look intelligent!

Lowlight: Reminiscing about Biology lessons and the horror of dissecting cow's eyeballs.

Fill in: It was back to school and memories of science lessons came back to haunt me. UCB has got involved with science education and this was a visit to the school of the pilot project to get photos of the results. Just the sight of Bunsen burners and litmus paper was enough to send me back to my own physics classes when the teacher electrocuted himself and the biology teacher made us pull apart worms, frogs and eyeballs. 

Tech spec: It was a mixed bag for the photography of architecture, VIP shots and reportage of the lab work in the school and on-site at the UCB headquarters. Particularly tricky was the UCB decor of the corridors. It was impossible to get the branding without distortion, so I decided to exaggerate the distortion rather than avoid it and used a 17mm-24mm zoom to make the corridor look long and impressive and had a figure in shot (the Head of Comms who was in charge of the shoot) to give a sense of scale. Working in the labs it was a case of trying not to knock over bunsen burners, test tubes of chemicals and centrifuge machines so again - wide angle came in handy for up close shots

For Press shots of labs, VIPS and children:

www.hanovercomms.com

Big Dance - Big Top Family Cabaret with Engllish National Ballet

Highlight: The English National Ballet rehearsal of the Swan Lake pas-de-deux.

Lowlight: Not being able to join in with the cheerleading!

Fill in: This event had been flooded out the day before so it was with some trepidation that I entered the Big Top but all seemed in order and on stage the ENB were rehearsing. It was great to see the Pas-de-deux from Swan Lake performed in tracksuits and t-shirts!

Tech spec:. The stage was completely black but the lighting was pretty constant so I set the exposure manually as I was composing for large areas of black as well as highly contrasting lighting. Auto-exposure just won't cut it in this situation.

For more info:

www.bigdance2012.com

Big Dance - Land

Highlight: Morden Hall Park - getting to shop in the Farmers Market

Lowlight: Not enough cash!

Fill in: I arrived at this event early as had no idea where I was going or what I was doing apart from that this was a dance in the middle of a park- or more to the point outside. Even more to the point -  it was the day that a month's amount of rain was due to tip over most of England and when I arrived at the site it was indeed raining. I was early and a farmer's market was on so I spent a happy hour buying organic veg, drinking organic juice and eating organic cakes and pies! Twice I went back to the car to raid it for coins so it was just as well the rain chased me indoors to set up for the job in hand. By some miracle the rain stopped for the half hour performance and started again when it finished.

Tech spec:. All shot on ISO priority with the camera set to 1/250 shutter and F4 aperture. This allowed for the constantly changing light whilst keeping the shutter speed up to freeze movement and the aperture wide for shallow depth of field. The only thing to watch out for in this mode is that your manual settings are within the boundaries of the ISO range, so keep your eye on that meter reading.

For more info:

www.bigdance2012.com/land

The Big Dance Launch

Highlight: Dance photography all day - and with a lunch break!

Lowlight: Commuting into Kings Cross during rush hour

English National Ballet

Eurostars

Martial Artists - Scott Elliot and Anton Simpson Tidy

www.antonsimpson-tidy.co.uk

LIFT.

Fill in: Had to get up at 6.30am after going to bed at 2am and squash myself and my kit onto a crowded train to Kings Cross - Harry Potter never had to suffer this. On arrival, I could see no sign of any dancing or activity except a load of commuters rushing about. In panic, I left a message on the organiser's ansaphone saying I was lost, ran around like an idiot for several minutes before realising that some of the commuters were actually performers and left another sheepish message on the organiser's ansaphone.

I was booked form 8am til 7pm and was not in a happy place. Getting up early is not my strong point, but the day turned out to be pretty relaxed as two photographers had been booked for the day and there was even time in the programme for a lunch break. Never the less, I decided to make the most of it and used much of the downtime taking portraits of the huge arrray of dancers on site - from willowy ballet dancers to bouncy hip hop artists, from eight years olds doing the do-si-do to eighty year olds funking out to the Eurythmics (I kid ye not) and even Boris Johnson turned up to do a turn with Arlene Philips. Martial Arts performers posed as painters, break dancers dressed as business men, ballet dancers acted as security as London Commuters went about their daily business. 

Tech spec:. Light was very backlit and top heavy as most of the available light was from the glass ceiling. A bit of fill flash was needed in most cases. I kept the shutter speed high to freeze the movement, the ISO high so the flash was kept low so I didn't blind the dancers too much.

For more info:

www.bigdance2012.com/image_gallery

Arqiva Radio Awards with The Noisettes

Highlight: Up close and personal performance by The Noisettes.

Lowlight: Hardcore Paps! 

Ronnie Wood receives two awards

 Micah B performs

Katherine Jenkins receives an award

The Noisettes bring the house down

Fill in: The baby sitter cried off sick so it was a last minute rush to charge up an iPad for Kyle and persuade him that he really did want to come and sit in a dressing room for 6 hours whilst mummy worked. 'Can I go on Club Penguin?' was  his only concern in the matter so the deal was done. Consequently I arrived too late to bag a spot for the red carpet as the place was already teaming with paparazzi gearing up their laptops and setting out their step ladders. Luckily I knew a few of the guys and was given a spot at the front. not that it did me any good - shouting out to celebs is not my strong point so I got few pictures where the subject was actually looking in my lens or wasn't over flashed. It was a long night with a mixture of quick fire grab shots, group award portraits, performance shots and party snaps. My long suffering partner was in the dressing room with Kyle processing and uploading pictures on the fly.

Tech spec:. Essential equipment - bracket to place flash on side of camera for pap headshots. Quantum battery pack for quick fire flashes. Loud voice. Distinctive clothing to direct celeb to your lens. My lead for my side bracket was broken. I lost my quantum ages ago and forgot to replace it for this event. I had a sore throat and I was wearing black for the performance shots. Otherwise I was well prepared....

For more info:

www.bigdance2012.com/land

APPJAG Summer Jazz with Yolanda Brown

Highlight: Being the first person to recognise Bob Marley in a saxophone medley jam in a room full of jazz connoisseurs.

Lowlight: After five years of doing this event I still am a Jazz philistine.

PIX TO COME

Fill in: This annual Summer event is one of the highlights in the Jazz calendar at the House of Commons, where the hottest new talent in Jazz showcase their work for the people who run the country. This year Yoland Brown was the star turn and having met the lovely Yolanda Brown at a previous job I was looking forward to seeing her play. Had a great chat with her about my Jazz insecurities and whilst most Jazz musicians are easy going, she was the easiest to confess my musical ignorances to and when it came to the performance  she asked the audience to clap when they recognised the tune in a Jazz medley. "No hope' thought I, but was surprised when half way through and no-one had yet clapped,  I recognised Bob Marley in the smooth tones of Yolanda's sax and gave a humungous cheer and cap expecting everyone else to do the same. I was the only one, and sheepishly stopped but Yolanda gave me a cheeky wink. She has my full respect - espcially as she did the whole eveining is the highest, strappiest sandels ever.

Tech spec: Used the 85mm F1.4 to get a shallow depth of field for a moody effect perfect for the cool Jazz musicians.

For more info:

Jazzwise  magazine

Yamaha

Jazz Services

The Duchess of Kent

Highlight: Five Minute Job

Lowlight: 1 1/2 hour commute into London- The Olympic madness begins....

Fill in: On the drive in, a man was carefully changing a number signs all along the Limehouse Link Highway into London. The signs informed us that we were on a route reserved for Olympic VIPS only and that we could use the lane for now but come 25th July we were to scoot out of the way of the Olympic machine that is taking over the capital. The man on his step ladder was carefully sticking a number 1 over a number 2 of another set of signs that informed us that we were on a route reserved for Olympic VIPS only and that we could use the lane for now but from the 25th or 15th, depending on whether our man had reached that sign or not, we were to PLAN AHEAD! What does it all mean? Well, it did mean the traffic is getting worse if that is possible and I was very nearly late for my booking, but I arrived just in time and the chief exec at Yamaha was not fazed a bit by my just-in-timely arrival. I took three photos and then had to face the journey back...

Tech spec:. It was only three photos but there is no room for error. For these quick shoots I test all equipment before actually entering the same room as the people I am to shoot. There is nothing worse than faffing around with camera settings whilst a group of people, usually very highly paid people, look quizzically and expectantly at you as if to say 'How much longer do I have to stand here like a prat with this overly large cheque whilst you try to get the camera menu off the Japanese version'.

For more info:

www.bigdance2012.com/land

Back to Black - Gilberto Gil

Highlight: First time shooting in Old Spitalfields Market - a festival undercover - not usually good news but given the weather I was grateful.

Lowlight: Not having time to shoot the whole festival

Fill in: Redferns were desperate for this event to be covered but no one could do the whole event. I only had Sunday evening free so was not hopeful of getting the gig, but it was finally assigned to me. A festival under cover is not usually that atmospheric but the Summer weather was not really cutting it so I was glad to be under cover. The music was good, the crowd chilled out and Gilberto Gil's smile was enough to bring out the sunshine in your soul.

Tech spec:. Black stage, contrasty lighting so it was manual mode on 800 at around 1/200  F2.8.

For more info:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jul/02/back2black-festival-review?newsfeed=true

For images:

www.redferns.com