Bespoke and Miss Benn

Highlight: A brand new show and Installation from Nutkhut at the Wandsworth Arts Festival.

Lowlight: Windy Wandsworth. The actors nearly got blown away and with ample smatterings of showers throughout the day even getting started was a challenge.
Fill in: I keep a huge coverall in my rucksack for those damp days...It advertises the O2 but I'm dry.

Have worked with the arts company Nutkhut everywhere from Birmingham Town Hall to Buckingham Palace. This brief was to document their latest Installation 'Miss Benn' and their new street theatre project 'Bespoke'.




Despite my partner's insistence that it was not going to rain, the O2 coverall was out several times during the day but coupled with the gusty wind, it wasn't really as effective as it could have been.

Tech Spec: The Installation required use of different lenses to get all its facets and a variety of shutter speeds to record the motion. Point of view was tricky as it had tons of mirrors on the floor, on the ceiling and in the background so not getting myself in the shot required a bit of photographic contortion. The street theatre means being quite flexible to work around the group but I find a long lens works wonders for tidying up composition in this situation

More info: www.nutkhut.co.uk

APPJAG Jazz Awards 2011

Highlight: An evening with the cream of the Jazz Community and the coolest politicians

Lowlight: Not being able to take photos out on the Terrace of The House of Commons with its spectacular views
Fill in: Have done this very enjoyable event for the past four years for PPL who run the evening. Am on good terms with the Head Waiter and Stage Manager so food, drink and good lighting are never a problem!

The brief is to shoot all the presentations with the minimum of fuss, get the Jazz World mingling with the World of Politics and capture some atmospherics of the band. This a really enjoyable event and there is always lots of interesting people to talk to so that presents another challenge. As a photographer at an award ceremony you are kind of with the crew, kind of with the staff and kind of with the guests so you are constantly switching your social mode as well as trying to get the job done.


Lord David Steele presents award and Cleo Laine receives award from Michael Connarty MP, Lord Tony Colwyn with compere Paul Gambacinni.


The Ronnie Scotts Allstars entertain, with the talented Pedro Segundo on Drums.
For more info: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pedro-Segundo/195911920423802


Dominic McGonigal of PPL Jamie Cullum with Michael Connarty MP. VIPS group shot.

For Editorial Enquiries please contact PPL
For articles on evening go to PPLnews
News and Reviews: The Guardian, BBC

Further reading:
Just Jazz - The Traditional Jazz Magazine (July Issue)

Tech Spec: Technically there is a lot going on too. Although the pictures are pretty straight forward you are constantly switching modes on your camera.

For the presentation shots the flash has to recycle quickly as the shots have to be taken fast. I don't like carrying a quantum as I always end up strangling myself with the wires. Plus by the time I have loaded up with two bodies, two fast lenses and a speedlight I'm already bogged down with equipment and adding a quantum and wires will make me look more like an extra from Dr Who than the unassuming, personable photographer I want to convey. I turn the ISO up to about 800, and stick the aperture to F4 so the flash does not have to work so hard. I also use a diffuser to soften the shadows and avoid red eye.

For the speeches and musicians I avoid flash altogether as the room is dark and flash can be very distracting. I turn the ISO up to 3200 and Aperture on F2.8. The light is very saturated but I adjust this in photoshop if necessary. Switching WB during a shoot can be disastrous.

For the reception shots again it is good to be swift and it can be hard to focus as it is pretty dark. It can be embarrassing if your camera is hunting for even a few seconds when a whole crowd of VIPS are waiting for you. So as soon as I have a focus lock I shoot and alter the composition afterwards if it needs it. I also try to get some distance (not always easy in a crowded room) as group shots can be very unflattering to the people on the edges of the shot if you are too close. I turn the ISO down to 400 and shoot at F5.6 and let the flash do most of the work. Normally just getting the right people together for a shot is a feat in itself so I don't have too much control over the backgrounds.

Vaisakhi 2011

Highlight: The male dancers - professional dancing for men is highly under estimated in the Uk as a way of wooing the girls.
Lowlight: Trying to find time to make it to the coconut stall for fresh coconut milk.
Fill in: The dohl drums always make me dance. Feel more of a prat than normal in the pit as I take photos and the rhythms take over.

The highlight of Vaisakhi for me is the male dancers. Smiling, dressing pinks, yellows and turquoise, everything against the British idea of traditional tough masculinity, but they come over as strong, vital and highly attractive as they whirl round the stage and are a photographer's dream. Capturing their energy on camera is not as easy as it looks but the pursuit is enjoyable!

Working again for the Mayor's office I had to get photos for press, sponsors and marketing as well as recording the event in general. Another highlight is the veggie indian food. I always make sure I find a gap in the schedule to get lunch.



A Dohl Drummer gets the audience dancing; a dancer charms the girls and Juggy D gets down with crowd - literally.



Tech Spec: I walk round with two cameras to save changing lenses - one with 24- 70mm F2.8, (this body has a speedlight mounted for fill in flash) and one 70-200mm F2.8. I use a double harness to carry the cameras so the weight is on my shoulders and not my neck. Light conditions constantly changing so I shoot manually as I may need to compensate for bright skies, backlights on stage, dark backgrounds and rainy skies!! I do this all manually as I find it quicker and more accurate. Any I get wrong are adjusted in Photoshop later.

Pythia Poster

Highlight: Emily, vocalist for the band Pythia gets in touch requesting a new poster for the band.



Lowlight: Tight deadline. Aren't they always!

Fill in: New poster is to accompany the special collector's package!

Emily is after a new poster and a 3 colour version of the Army of the Dead image to go on a grey t-shirt.

Poster is not a problem as I save all my artwork in full PSD layered files and there are plenty of un-used portraits of the band from the previous shoot that did not make the album. I have also created a few different backgrounds for this session so it is a simple matter of creating a few ideas for Emily to choose from.

I sent these initial ideas:





Final image with Emily's choices and suggestions:



Tech Spec: The T-shirt however is a new one on me as not sure how fine the screen printing can go. In the end I decide to convert the image to black and white, colourise with blue and then reduce the tonal range before converting the image to a GIF file matching to 3 exact colours to get the effect I want. It takes a few goes to get the faces looking alright but Emily seems pleased (no mean feat...) and hopefully the t-shirts will look great.




TSHIRT : AWAITING IMAGE APPROVAL

Ukbride

Highlight: Have joined the Uk's number one chatroom for brides as an approved supplier, and marked the momentous occasion by producing 50 limited editions postcards.

Lowlight: My lovely work of art is probably destined to be folded, torn and dumped in the bin.
Fill in: The postcards are made from quality recycled paper so no trees will die in vain for this brazen piece of aggressive marketing.

Yes this is the start of my brazen, aggressive marketing campaign so all brides in a 50 mile radius will be on my radarIf you would like to receive one of these postcards with a personal message from yours truly about your up and coming big day get in touch!




...and if you have not sorted out your wedding photographer for this year yet I still have dates free in the diary. Do not leave it to uncle Bob. Even if your budget is tight, beautiful photography is not something your should skimp on. You do not have to book an expensive photographer for the whole day to get memorable images that will last a lifetime.

Tech Spec: Used Photoshop to blur background and give impression of the moped moving. The cards were done through Vistaprint who have a template you can download to Photoshop which is very easy to use.

St George's Day

Highlight: The weather was fantastic and I was out all day in Trafalgar Square to record the Mayor's St. George's Day festival.

Lowlight: Had just come back from holiday night before at 1am in morning. Thought I was starting at 12 only to find an email asking me to come in at 10am instead. Neither my cameras or myself were fully charged.
Fill in: Still in holiday mode I wore my sandals and feet were killing me by the end of the day.

I shoot many of the Mayor's cultural festivals in Trafalgar Square and St. George's Day is always a dodgy one as the weather is deceptive. Sun cream, water and cover all kagouls are a must, as is a good rucksack and good shoes.

The brief is to capture the atmosphere of the day and each of the acts on the stage, plus backstage shots of the artists with the VIPS if possible. Shots must show the best features of Trafalgar Square and be suitable for use full page in a magazine or as a thumbnail on the internet. Even with just a dozen shots of each act and the general images of the day the number of images soon mounts up. I usually get an assistant to bring up a laptop later in the afternoon to download and process some key images to send straight to the Mayor's cultural team so they have images for the London website and local papers.

The shot I dread most is getting up on the stage and taking the crowd. The compere introduces me and gets the crowd to cheer. It's usually later in the day when I look particularly sweaty and ragged.


Alfie Boe who headlined. (A thunder storm broke as he came on stage. Thank god for my coverall transparent kagoul. I may look like a jelly fish in it but at least I am dry). The lovely Newton Faulkner (The mist is produced by a machine and is not a quirk of the English weather).


The fabulous Jamie West and the lovely Andrew Howe bring a bit of festival Summer cheer to the Square with their laid back, cheeky performances. My fashion tip for the season is top hats. You heard it here first...

For more on Jame West visit: www.jamiewest.net



Two sticks of rock by the Olympic count down clock and the dreaded crowd shots. (Note the drastic change in weather!)



Backstage with The Theory of 6 degrees (look out for these guys). World in Motion drummers get the crowd going. The Students of Royal Academy of Music enjoy the weather.

For more on Theory of 6 Degrees visit: www.t6d.co.uk

click here for review

click here for GLA Gallery


For editorial enquiries please contact the Mayor's Press Office.

Esperanza Espalding

Highlight: Chance to broaden my musical horizons by photographing this jazz singer who beat Justin Beiber to a Grammy award

Lowlight: Yes. The light was low and the high brow audience not amused by our constant clicking.
Fill in: The songs were very long. Our alloted three songs, no flash lasted over 40 minutes. The seats at the Barbican are very low and we have to keep out of the way so after half on hour of crawling round with a 70-200mm F2.8 swinging from my neck, my knees decided to give Bob Crow a call.

Shooting at the Barbican is always a challenge not least trying to find the best way into the place and then finding the place to pick up your photopasses.

Then you have to find out the various places you are allowed to stand/sit/kneel or in this case - crawl. I was shooting for The Guardian so was praying the light would not be too red as this looks awful in newsprint.

Esperanza's set was extremely quiet so even breathing was extremely exasperating to the highly sensitive and well tuned audience. I tried to time my shots to coincide with the noisier parts of the set and hoped the noise of my rumbling stomach was not as loud as it seemed to me. (I never eat before shoots - a hang over from the days when I was just too nervous before a shoot to keep anything down)





click here for Guardian review


For editorial enquiries please contact: Redferns Music Photo Library/Getty Images