Street Photography Workshop

By shendyNo Comments
Yesterday I attended a street photography workshop, hosted by former Amateur Photographer editor Damien Demolder (in association with Jessops and Panasonic). Damien spoke for some time about his street photography, showing some cracking examples, and encouraged us to take more than just candid snaps - look at the interchange between light and shadow and how and where the light falls onto people. There are some great examples on his website. He's a very good engaging speaker and obviously knows what he's on about. We then picked out the Panasonic hardware we wanted to try out (I used a GX-8, which seemed a pretty good piece of kit, with a 25mm lens - equivalent to 50mm in 35mm terms) and headed out for a tutorial about how to use the light. What was fascinating was how his recommendation to crank the camera down to about -3/-4 stops of exposure compensation really worked - changing the photos from a plain bright representation of the scene into...
Read More

Weston-super-Mare

By shendyNo Comments
Despite having lived in Bristol for almost 20 years, I think I've only been to Weston once before. Last week I got together with a couple of old photography friends (we met on a course at the Watershed back in about 2001) and went down to Weston for the day to catch up and take a few photos. I quite enjoyed the traditional seaside resort ambience, a week or two before the main summer holidays begin so it wasn't horribly busy. A nice mix of shots of the seaside thing, the pier and people....
Read More

More Flinty Red

By shendyNo Comments
Flinty Red asked me in recently to take some shots in the kitchen for them to use to publicise their Outside Catering service. Some Creme Brulees (or should that be Cremes Brulee?) in the foreground, with Max the (temporary) chef in the background. Crostini, ready to be loaded up with Marsala-cooked onions on Ricotta. This was actually the (really nice) staff dinner - pork, beans, herbs and some of the Marsala onions. Onglet with courgettes. I think the yellow ones came from Matt the chef's own garden. Fresh haloumi cheese I had an email yesterday from someone at the BBC (yes, that BBC), asking for photos of Flinty Red to use in one of their food magazines. Coo!...
Read More

Wedding photos

By shendyNo Comments
Pretty much the only non-rugby photography I've done recently was at a friend's wedding in February. I wasn't the official photographer or anything like that - I just did my normal thing and took loads of photos. I think it's only the second wedding I've taken any serious photos at - the first was an odd one. I was involved in a sort of informal photography club at a previous job, and one lady in it asked me to go to her wedding and wander around taking photos. It was a slightly surreal experience - you had people asking "do you know the bride or groom", and I had to honestly answer "neither"! The photos came out really nicely and Nicky was happy, so that's the main thing. I don't normally take many pictures of people, so the candid part of it is probably what appeals to me. Caroline & Dom's wedding was at Tortworth Court in Gloucestershire - next door to Leyhill...
Read More