Mayors Christmas Carol Concert

Highlight: Carols, mince pies and mulled wine in Southwark Cathedral at Christmas Time

Lowlight: As always in this Cathedral - very low light!

Fill-in: Brief - to document event and get a group shot. Sounds easy enough but getting a group shot of the key people who are all in different places at different times requires a little help from a black hole and a time machine. Fortunately Nikon does a kit that fits into a camera back for a very reasonable price.
Tech spec: I use prime lenses for this event as even F2.8 at 6400 ISO gives me a shutter of 1/60 which is too slow when doing long shots and as I have to shoot from quite a way back long shots are my only option. I used the fab Nikon 85mm F1.4 on the D7000 to get some extra zoom and the 135mm F2 on the D3. Oh, and the Nikon Black hole with time machine to get group shot.

MU Xmas Party at House of Commons

Highlight: Seeing Andy Parsons - one of my favourite comics

Lowlight: Having a mad fan moment with Andy Parsons

Fill-in: This annual event brings together the Musicians Union, Equity and The Writers Guild together under one roof for drinks and a bit of lobbying. Yes, that's musicians, actors and writers in a room full of politicians with lots of drinks and some rather superb fancy cakes and sandwiches.

Tech spec: Flash snaps! Turn on the flash, I tend to turn the ISO up to 400 to get the ambient light in. Although higher ISOs are often looked down on by purists, these shots are not going to be double page spreads and a bit of ambient light with a reasonable shutter speed means you can capture the mood of the party with asking people to pose every five minutes.

ERD and ESF Awards 2012

Highlight: Meeting Pet Bowl Shop - the end to my days struggling to Pets at Home and humping back sacks of wild bird food and kibble.

Lowlight: Not enough time to eat - again!

Fill-in: The brief was to capture the award winners, all the winners together, the ceremony itself and the reception after.


Tech spec: Shooting in City Hall in the Chamber sis a bit of a nightmare with floor to ceiling curved windows and lots of reflective steel. I try to not use flash and go for very wide ambient shots or tight close ups to avoid too many technical problems. Luckily the organisers were very photo-helpful and put the sponsors banners behind the stage as a background so I did not have to contend with glaring backlight.

Storytelling at WIndsor Castle

Highlight: Olivia Armstrong's story telling - I need her to read me to sleep every night. I feel like I have spent Christmas with Queen Victoria herself.

Lowlight: Yes - it was very low light. There were huge floor to ceiling windows and they were almost completely blocked by dark shutters.

Fill-in: Following on from my adventures at Buck house, I got offered a commission at Windsor Castle. My long suffering partner and my son accompanied me, and I had the idyllic notion they would visit the castle and get some culture stuffed into them - especially as Kyle is studying the Tudors at school. However they got as far as the first Starbucks, fell into two comfy sofas and whiled away the two hours drinking hot chocolate and playing on their Ipads whilst I slogged my guts out ducking between kids, under ropes and over cushions trying not to knock over priceless antiques.

Tech spec: The area I was working was very dark so it was out with the prime lenses, up with the ISO and open with the shutter. I arrived early and took the opportunity to take some photos of the story teller without the children just in case we had no children at all or if they would not be happy to be photographed. Olivia is a fantastic story teller and a pretty good model too...

More info

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/

http://oliviaarmstrongstoryteller.com/

Fairy tale in New York

Highlight: Seeing Nina Conti and Monkey - ventriloquism was never so good.

Lowlight: Not being able to join in the bidding for the auction.

Fill-in: This was a charity dinner for Vision, and the Theme was A Fairy Tale in New York. I donned a white shirt, black trousers and waistcoat hoping to be reminiscent of Fred Astaire, but with camera in hand was more like Yoko Ono. The party area was decked out like Studio 57, and entertainers with fluorescent afros wiggled round the tables. Up for auction was a shopping trip in New York, Ronnie Wood's Guitar and George Michael's leather jacket.

Tech Spec: It was just like doing a live gig with lights flashing into the lens, and lots of smoke but I had the added fun of having to crawl through the forest of tables to get the shots. I used F2.8 at 1/250 second at 1600 and lots of excuse me's to get through the evening.

Christmas carol concert for volunteers

Highlight: free mince pies and juice

Lowlight: no time to eat any

Fill in: The mayor decided to hold a carol concert to thank the volunteers of the London 2012 games. Trafalgar Square was a sea of pink and purple of people squashed in the barriers. I had chilblains however so my toes were also pink and purple and were similarly squashed but in my boots.

Tech Spec: Fill-in flash and lots of cheering to get crowd going. I also used open shutter to get the pink and purple fountains.

Christmas Tree Lighting up Ceremony

Highlight: Carols under the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Sqaure

Lowlight: Standing out in cold

Fill-in: I was booked by The Poetry Society to take Children reading their annual tree poem. I was stuck in the photopit at the exact opposite end to where I needed to be!

Tech spec:  If you are not sure where you will be shooting, always take the widest and longest lenses you own!