Nutkhut Stilt Walkers Rehearsals

Highlight: Watching the stilt walkers rehearse

Lowlight: Not being able to stay all day

Fill-in: Ajay of Nutkhut called me to photograph his stilt walker rehearsals at Greenwich Theatre. It was pretty dark as the space was painted black but it was moody.

Tech spec: Lots of black to had to shoot it all on manual. Very low light - so 3200 ISO, F2 on my 50mm and 85mm.

Royal Collection - kids workshops

Highlight: Trip to Windsor Castle and catching up on my history

Lowlight: Dragging a load of lights up from the car park and not needing to use them.

Fill-in: This is part of an on-going commission to document the education programmes for the Royal Collection. Pix of kids so i can't show them to you or I would have to kill you.

Tech spec: Shooting against the light, in long narrow rooms so light was very contrasty and spot metering essential.

Tudor Exhibition Launch - Buckingham Palace

Highlight: Sneak preview of Tudor Fashion Exhibition with breakfast included.

Lowlight: Not getting enough time to see exhibition

Fill-in: It was a social media launch of this exhibition so I was taking photos of people taking photos with their ipads and smart phones. It was launched at breakfast so we had pastries and croissants, tea and coffee served with a bone china tea service.

Tech spec: Very low saturated light so I took everything RAW to give myself plenty of adjustment leeway in the processing.

Jazz Awards at House of Commons 2013

Highlight: Stan Tracey's Speech - what a legend!

Lowlight: Moira Stewart being particularly shy about having her photo taken - and she was the main presenter!

Fill-in: This annual event is THE Jazz award event of the year, held on the Terrace at the Houses of Parliament. It is always a great schmooze for the Jazz world.

Tech spec: If you have a shy one like Moira, ensure you get at least one in the bag early before anyone else, telling them that if they do this one they won't have to pose for any more.

Vaisakhi 2013 - Trafalgar Square

Highlight: Free Mango Smoothie Stall

Lowlight: Everyone getting free mangos on the VIP tour of the stalls apart from me...

Fill-in: A whole day documenting on the most colourful spectacles in Trafalgar Square of the year.

Tech spec: Whatever the weather I always carry my storm jackets and raincoat for my camera bags - been caught out too many times.

http://www.london.gov.uk/get-involved/events/vaisakhi-2013

Sony Showcase

Highlight: The rooftop gardens on a sunny spring day. Seeing Everything Everything.

Lowlight: Last minute job so forgot to have lunch and had to make do with sneaking as many olives and peanuts from the bar as possible.

Fill-in: 6 acts, scattered round the venue. I made sure I knew the timetable beforehand (of which there were two variations in case of inclement weather) and checked out the lights. The acts were all fairly new (one had been signed that very morning) so restrictions were fairly loose. They were all very different and only did two or three songs so I had to get into their vibe very quickly.

Tech spec: LED blue backlights! The worst. Aperture processes these lights really badly so I have to process in Lightroom which I am not so keen on. Low ceiling also meant backlights shining straight into camera so lots of flare. I tried to shoot when the artist was covering the lights with their head or body.

Bishopsgate Walk

Highlight: Going for a free two hour walk of Underground London

Lowlight: Having to to it backwards and without the recorded guided tour.

Fill-in: Bishopsgate were running a walk (?) of London which consisted of a poet guiding a group of walkers via a recorded piece of poetry on an MP3 player. I did ot get an MP3 player as I was taking photos, so I had the bizarre task of trying to guess where the walkers were going to go, walking backwards in front of them to get the shots and not being able to talk to any of them. Even though I didn't have the headphones on I felt like I had gone deaf.

Tech spec: It was quite liberating to be able to shoot so spontaneously so I took the camera off manual and shot aperture priority. I ran ahead as far as I dared and tried to anticipate backgrounds that would look good for the walkers.