A Great Blog

London Assembly

2012-05-11T11:00:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Having a car pass for underneath City Hall.

Lowlight: Missing the Assembly members not re-elected.

Fill in: Despite the politics I do get quite attached to all the Assembly members and all their quirks and foibles, so for the fourth time doing this, I was now counting the ones that had been there since the beginning almost on one hand. As the Chair so eloquently put it, they are the theatre nurses to the Mayor's surgical role of taking care of London and their dedication often goes unsung. So I feel quite privileged to be able to work with these guys even in a small way otherwise I would be totally unaware of their hard work too.

Tech spec: Despite the current fashion for a white background, blue or grey works best from most complexions so I was relieved when the Comms. officer requested a grey backdrop. As well as making my lighting easier it meant I could get a car pass. Driving down into the bowels of the building is quite something as it is another world down there of underground cycles racks, dustbin lorries, trucks, trollies and racks and a few sparse parking spaces for the chosen few of which I was one for the day. However the entrance is quite hard to deduce as it is nowhere near City Hall and I didn't remember it from last time.There were five new members but quite a few came down to have a photo, so either they hated the last one so much they wanted a re-take or they loved it so much they wanted another. Either way it was pretty hectic.

Vaisakhi 2012

2012-05-06T12:00:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Great food backstage. Seeing the wonderful Deepa Rai again.

Lowlight:The threat of rain all day. It didn't but the threat is sometimes worse than the actual.

Fill in: Vaisakhi is the Sikh New Year celebrations and I have photographed it before for the GLA. It is quite a hefty brief, having to capture sponsors posters, VIPS backstage, performers on and off stage, crowd shots, over view shots - in short as full a documentary as possible of the whole event.

Tech spec: Whatever the weather for festivals I always take wet weather gear consisting of a storm jacket for my camera (a £50 plastic sleeve) and a poncho for me (a £1 one which is basically a piece of clingfilm in a bag). OK so I look like a blue jellyfish and my camera looks like it is wearing a huge condom but we are dry and happy thank you. OK So Deepa looks amazing, but she is cold - I need my comforts at my age. I can thoroughly recommend the storm jackets as they work and are simple. If you are handy with needle and thread you could probably make one from an old cagoule sleeve.

The Poetry Society

2012-05-05T16:30:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Visiting The Poetry Society Cafe as I get to be egotistical and admire my pictures on the wall.

Lowlight: Not having time to get anything to eat.

Fill in: I was called the day before to get some images of the cafe, which the society wants to hire out as a space and to set up a few shots of one of the staff members tutoring a young person.

Tech spec: I always find it quite difficult to set up these shots as a natural set up is not good for camera angles, so it needs placing and requires a bit of acting ability from the subjects. Luckily my subjects knew each other well and getting them to interact was not hard. Both were a bit self conscious but that doesn't matter as you get the smiles as they look at each other.

Bev Lee Harling

2012-05-04T21:56:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Bev Lee Harling launches her album

Lowlight: I have wretched cold and can't go

Fill in: Took photos for Bev's album - see previous blog and she is having the launch party tonight. I am feeling wretched, but gutted I am going to miss it.

Here are the original photos and the final artwork:

Bev Lee Harling

2012-04-30T21:01:00.001+01:00

Highlight: 3 hours to photograph a beautiful girl in beautiful clothes with Doris Day on Spotify.

Lowlight: wrestling with a huge red starched petticoat....

Fill in: Bev had used me to photograph her for her album shots in a fifties style shoot. Bev has the perfect face and figure to carry this look and she had been recently sponsored by a clothes company specialising in fifties clothing. The record company wanted some shots of Bev one of the dresses for her press shot. Bev's style and taste pervades all her projects and it is always exciting for me to see how the photos finally are presented after the designers have done their magic.

Tech spec: Bev is a musician first and foremost so the hard part was getting her to show her character and not look too much like a model, which was tricky as she has model features and figure. She is quite shy, but after putting on a bit of Doris Day (one song I had to play three times as this seemed to bring out the best in her), Bev got into the swing of things. I hit her with a hard light, (not literally) from high left - the nearest thing I could get to Hollywood glam) and put up a bright yellow background to add a warm glow to the whole proceedings. A huge umbrella did a fill in from low right and I had a speedlight kick in a bit of highlight on the hair and shoulders from behind.

No photos as yet as I have to wait for the album release but watch this space.

Gillman and Soame

2012-04-30T16:12:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Small Group Training - get to boss loads of kids around.

Lowlight: Most of the kids are bigger than me.

Fill in: The Summer term is here and my first season at Gillman and Soame means I get to do lots of training which I always love. A. I always learn new stuff and unlearn bad habits. (It was galling to find I still did not know how to use my light meter properly) and B. I get to work with some great photographers. At Gillmans the company goes back over 150 years working with everyone from the University of Oxford to the Royal Family and Armed services as well as all sorts of schools from Eton to your average state primary. Some of their full time staff have been in the business over 20 years and know a thing or two about crowd control and working under pressure. I was keen to learn how they set up such faultless school groups which could be anything from 3 young kids in the recorder group to a whole school over over 1000 seniors.

I was training on small groups which is any number from 2 to 50! There were pages and pages of diagram to study with variations for inside and outside groups, groups of girls, groups of boys, groups of young kids, groups of graduates, groups of kids with sports equipment, groups of kids with musical instruments, groups of kids in dance outfits, formal groups, informal groups - you name it - they had it covered.

Tech spec: Well I could tell you how to do it but I'd have to kill you. Surprisingly less kit is needed for a group shot than a portrait so even more reason to get this nailed as it will be easier on my back! The main kit needed was a cool head and an ability to use a lightmeter!

For more info: http://www.gillmanandsoame.co.uk/

The Osmonds

2012-04-28T20:30:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Got access to do whole show - again in two weeks (see Orbital) - what is going on???

Lowlight: ....can't stay! Got to get pix back asap. Apart from which I nearly got stampeded by the ardent fanz as there is no pit.

Fill in: There was no photo pit which can be tricky as you are in amongst the front row fans who have paid jolly good money to be there and the last thing they want is some snapper popping up and down with a long lens in front of them. But of course, The Osmonds aare diamond geezers and likewise their fans. The first one I speak to kindly warns me that might very well get crushed by a herd of hormonal, excited menopausal women once the concert starts. I am used to such things, but it's always nice to be prepared. It is also nice to have an ally in this situation.

Tech spec: There was lots of smoke on stage due to Jimmy's exploding guitar, which I was on the wrong side to get a really good shot of, so it was a case of shooting when the smoke was minimal. Also it was crucial to get all three brothers together and I was at a bit of an angle right at the front so after a few songs, I retreated back held the camera above the heaving throng and got a couple shots which were more front on.

For More info: www.redferns.com

John Oates

2012-04-27T21:00:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Got to see the man himself backstage.

Lowlight: Getting the wrong venue then photographing the wrong guy backstage!!!!

Fill in: So I had done my research. I'd checked out Mr Oates on the internet, and was all set to go. It was only when rechecking the times for the gig that I saw what I have taken to be Islington Academy was actually Islington Assembly Rooms. Actually this was a relief as the Academy has appalling lighting for gigs and the Assembly rooms were pretty good. On top of that, we were taken upstairs to the guest area where John Oates was mixing it up. In my continuing confusion (having only just got over that fact that I nearly went to completely the wrong venue) and complete surprise at having such access without even asking, I went up to completely the wrong guy (even though I had checked out Mr Oates on the internet) and asked for his photo. I have to say the guy took it very well. He let me photograph him, but I still have no idea who he was.

Tech spec: Get the right guy! Mr Oates was actually very accommodating, posing aimiably for shots. He was completely cool on stage too - a real old school musician, totally un-celebrity cultured even though he is a legend. The backstage shots were taken without flash, 3200, standard 50m lens on F2.

For More info: www.redferns.com

Absolute Radio

2012-04-20T11:00:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Using the Lastolite highlight! Love this bit of equipment.

Lowlight: Carrying a full portable white backdrop studio around the backstreets of Soho and the Lastolite highlite dropping out of the bag and popping open! (it is 8ft x 6ft and no mean feat to fold back up again).

Fill in: I was to shoot DJs against a white backdrop - headshots, full length, single and in groups. The main event was Rock and Rock Football, so the group shot consisted of Ian Wright, Ian Stone and Perry Groves, then I had to get some stock shots of Richie Firth and Andy Bush. The hardest part was finding a parking space near Golden Square and then lugging the equipment to the studios.

Tech spec: I used a white highlight background, but still needed to Photoshop around the feet for the standing shots. Because it was quite a variety of shots that were needed, I lit a whole area with a single large softbox from above and behind the camera. I also had some shots to do in the recording studio, which had no windows and small spots so the PR guy who was organising the shoot kindly let me use the huge LED panels to light the area. He also helped me lug my equipment back tot he car - that's service.

Patti Smith

2012-04-11T23:31:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Got to see The Lion King.

Lowlight: Missed out on Ed's Diner burger.

Fill in: I got the call to shoot Patti's playback at the last moment and was a bit suspicious. I was also a bit miffed as I'd planned an evening out with my mother and son at the theatre. Ms Smith hates being photographed and last time I was in her vicinity she told me and few other snappers where to go in no uncertain terms. However, not one to be put off, my long suffering partner was shipped in to fill my seat at The Lion King and I dutifully went forth with cameras to the Scotch Bar in Mayfair. I arrived in good time, and sat around playing Angry Birds, whist hostesses as tall as trees in silver outfits offered me salmon vol-a-vents, mini roast beef and yorkshires and sushi (I'm vegetarian!). Lots of important, tend people bustled in and out, but after over an hour of this decadence I was told Ms. Smith was not in the least bit up for a quick snap and my services were no longer required. I rushed across town in hope off catching the theatre party before it left Ed's Diner but alas, Keith had just polished off the burger he had bought for me, but I did get to see the show.

Tech spec: Be prepared, never assume, make the most of it and other such irritating philosophical utterances.

Orbital - Royal Albert Hall

2012-04-10T23:14:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Get to do whole show....

Lowlight: ....From the back of the auditorium

Fill in: Orbital are notoriously hard to get photos of, the whole performance being basically a laser light show with the two main guys hidden behind a stack of techno equipment and what little you can see of their faces obscured by lights attached to their heads. But I'm always up for a challenge and put my name down for it.

Tech spec: Metering is hard, but at t he very least I tried not to get to much light going directly into the camera or had a head or piece of techno gear obscure it. I kept the exposure pretty constant and just waited for the lights to be right to get a low enough contrast exposure to register. I also experimented with a few way out compositions and exposures and variations were none too forthcoming, and ended up with a pretty cool shot of the whole of the Albert Hall looking like it was being invaded by aliens.

For More info: www.redferns.com

Christy Moore at Royal Festival Hall

2012-04-04T20:00:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Nice gentle gig at the end of a long day

Lowlight: Photography was restricted to the side of the auditorium

Fill in: Commissioned by Redferns, I knew the restrictions would be side of stage before the gig, but we were actually pushed to the sides of the auditorium, then Christy came out and sat side on to the stage - (See Lambchop) - so the view was either of his back or him obscured by mikes and guitars. Ended up shooting from halfway back so I could get a slight view of his face. In the end I thought sod it and crept between the aisles - well it was sort of side on.

Tech spec: Used D7000 as the shutter is quieter than the D700 or D3 both of which clang like a bell. It also has a smaller CCD so my 70mm-20mm reached to 300mm which was just as well as I was so far away. ISO 3200, F2.8 shutter 1/200sec. Light was pretty good. Christy sat still for most of it but got a few action shots right at the end of the third song.

For More info: www.redferns.com

Slambassadors 2012 winners

2012-04-01T16:45:00.000+01:00

Highlight: Poetry in the 100 Club! As I am usually crushed up agains the speakers for this venue it was refreshing to be able to actually move around the space to shoot.

Lowlight: Being made to feel illiterate by a bunch of teenage kids - the week just gets worse (see National Poetry Competition)

Fill in: The cream of the young performing poetry set is crammed into a red and black, spotlit, graffitti-ed dungeon of the 100 Club (see National Poetry Competition). It is fairly heaving down there with anarchic teenagers exorcising their emotions and then there's me, blundering into this hallowed atmosphere brandishing a camera with a visual expression that says 'Trust me -I'm a Photographer'. Maybe it's because they are performance artists, but they all take the order to have their photo taken in their stride, either that or it's because the inimitable Joelle Taylor has them well trained. As wells the portraits, I have to document the whole event getting audience shots, mentoring shots, group shots, performances and presentations.

These young poets never fail to amaze me with their insights and ability to paint with words. From Glastonbury to Drag Queens, no subject is sacred and the evening is filled with humour, anger, irony, sadness and any other emotional scab you might want to pick over.

Look out future here comes (in no particular order):

Aaron ICY Denyer

Gabriel Akamo

Megan Beech

Charlotte Higgins

Harry Wilson

Tamara Lawrence

Renne Pascal

Emily Anne

Tech Spec: The light was not great but decided to give these guys the low-fi NME treatment and just grabbed them unawares and shot them (photographically speaking) with no additional lights, reflectors or other gizmos as they all looked funky and needed no embellishments. They were not phased at all - in fact Gabriel and Renne were obviously well seasoned at it.

I used a 24-70mm zoom, turned it up to 3200 ISO and shot at F2.8. for the whole event. When it came to the performances I felt like I was at NME again - except I was not trying to cram the whole thing onto one 36 frame roll of Tri-X pushed to 3200.

For more info:

http://slam.poetrysociety.org.uk/2012/04/

http://poetrysocietyphotos.tumblr.com/

National Poetry Competition

2012-03-28T18:30:00.000+01:00

Highlight: After four years doing this event this is first year I did not feel intimidated by the cultured crowd....

Lowlight: ...although I still felt illiterate...

http://www.allisonmcvety.com/

Fill in: The cream of the poetry set is crammed into one powder blue, chandaliered, mirrored drawing room of the Saville Club. It is all very sophisticated then there's me, with orders to get anyone that goes through the door, blocking the way at the top of a sweeping staircase, brandishing my camera and with a visual expression that says 'Your picture or your life'. Most are too refined to say no, either that or they know I am the only thing standing between them and a free drink. As well as quick snap portraits, I have to get the speeches, presentations and general event.

Poets are for me the last bastion of the Arts World resisting the celebrity culture that is insidious in all the other arts. All are individually eccentric/shy/tortured/exuberant or all of the above and interested in everything. Getting in conversation is the biggest hazard of this job. I don't have much time to get documentary photos as the room fills up very quickly. I spent a long time this year with the delightful Allison McVety who just happened to be the winner this year.

The best perk of this job is listening to the poets read their work even though it all goes straight over my head.

Tech Spec: Getting a good spot to do the headshots is key. I took a chance doing them on the double staircase as it was easy to bypass me by going up the opposite side, but people generally follow each other and once a flow was going it was quite straight forward. The light was great here and the background nicely out of focus once I'd slapped on the 85mm F1.4. Using a prime lens ensured I kept all the shots consistent.

The presentations for this one are particularly tricky as the poets don't do anything so vulgar as posing for a shot. They slink up modestly, take their prize quickly and evaporate barely looking up so you have to be quick to spot where they are coming from in the crowd and set your focus as the auto focus is not quick enough.

The group shots also need a lot of manipulation as immediately after the presentations, the key people tend to melt into the crowd so it usually takes at least two of us to round the up and prevent them getting into too deep a conversation otherwise they do not get done or you don't get any other work done just waiting for it to happen.

I keep a short zoom on for most of the event, set a fairly high ISO - 1600 and use fill in flash.

For more info:

http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/npc/

Stan Webb's Chicken Shack

2012-03-27T23:18:00.000+01:00

Highlight: My first gig in years that is NOT first three songs no flash!!!!!!!!!!!! And to get the pass we spoke to Stan himself - no pr, no manager, no promoter - the guy is a legend.

Lowlight: Arriving far too early and paranoid I would not get to front unless I stead my claim to a space early had to sit on hard floor for over 2 hours.

Fill in: I arrived right at the start of the evening to ensure of getting a good spot as the 100 Club is notorious for needing sharp elbows to protect oneself. But as it happens I could have arrived as Stan came on stage as the crowd were a sedate lot. In the main Blues musicians are a lot like Jazz musicians in that you could be sitting on the end of their instruments photographing and they wouldn't notice you. Their audiences tend to be equally laid back and I got talking to a couple of die hard Blues fans - one who had seen Deep Purple play in a pub in Essex at the start of their career so I was truly impressed. Stan himself was charisma personified and it was regret I had to leave before the gig ended in order to get the pictures off.

Tech Spec: The light was pretty saturated which results in soft looking images, but I kept the flash turned off as I did not want to kill the atmosphere. I could vary my viewpoint quite a bit as the audience stood back from the stage, and used a wide angle to get some up front shots and a long lens from the side to get some more atmospheric stuff.

For editorial: www.gettyimages.co.uk

Sports Relief Call Centre

2012-03-23T21:55:00.028Z

Highlight: Food! Well it's strictly meant for the volunteers but I was invited to join in the bun fight.

Lowlight: Having to stand on desk and rally the troops to a photograph - always feel a bit of dick doing this. (The legendary Jonathan Morrish is one of the best people you can have for assisting in these affairs. He manages to round people up and has no compunction about raising his voice and pointing and grimacing to get everyone to look in the right direction, but despite all this he still retains a dignity and unflustered air few people manage when they are trying to be composed let alone when they are performing various antics to get a group of people to look in the same direction and smile).

Fill in: PPL commissioned this shoot last year for Comic Relief when they were selected as the London call centre for donations for the event. This year they were the only London Call centre for Sports Relief. Volunteers all gather for a crash course in donation taking, some hearty grub and a group photo taken by yours truly before dispersing to their various stations and proceeding to take calls. It is a mammoth operation, with spot sprites for the first donation, biggest donations taken etc. etc.

Tech Spec: Most of the work is recording the proceedings, so it is straight forward documentary to capture the hustle and bustle of it all. As the light is pretty good I set the camera to 3200 ISO, F2.8 and fire away trying to capture various characters - they are a shy bunch. For the group shot I stood on the desk and yelled.

For editorial: www.ppl.co.uk

Girlschool

2012-03-10T12:58:00.019Z

Highlight: An all girl band - always great for photos.

Lowlight: Pit in Garage - exceedingly small and close to the monitors and I'd forgotten my earplugs.

Fill in: I used to love the Garage as you could use flash and stay fro the whole gig. However it also had a nasty metal bar across the front of the stage and at one particularly crowded event I made the mistake of wrapping my arm around it to try and prevent myself from being pushed over, only to nearly lose my arm altogether when the crowd swayed sideways pushing my body one way and my arm the other. It now has a pit, but this means 3 songs no flash and the lighting rig is really not up for it.

Tech Spec: Being a small stage, the backlights shine straight into the camera and the front lights are not really bright enough to counteract this, so it results in highly back lit diffused images. The best you can hope for is for the lights to be blotted out as much at possible by a head or a guitar. I turned the ISO up quite high as the light on the front was quite dim but this did mean the background burnt out. Great for the dark haired girls but not quite so great for the blondes.

For editorial: www.gettyimages.co.uk

Gillman and Soame - Dunhead prep

2012-03-08T21:42:00.025Z

Highlight: Rescuing an endangered school desk

Lowlight: Having nowhere to put it.

Fill in: I love learning new stuff so it was with great anticipation I arrived ready to shoot over 30 sports teams consisting of boys from 4 to 11 years old. However I was not prepared for my heartstrings to be pulled by a school desk. The school were having a refit and the old desks were being cast out after years of faithful service. By the time we arrived all of them had been found new owners and were off to a nice retirement in domesticity. All but one! There it sat in the huge hall where a fate of being chopped up that very afternoon awaited so we were informed by the caretaker. My trainer and fellow photographer, Dave, extolled its virtues and lamented he could not fit it into his car, and looking at me said it would easily fit int he boot of my car. I knew we had no room for it having more than our fair share of useless occasional furniture, the result of many a mad spending spree at IKEA, but cries of 'it's piece of history' and 'it'll make a mint on Ebay' together with 'you'll be doing me a favour' front he caretaker I was persuaded to take it home. Dave helped me heave it into my car, and I drove it 30 miles across London, arrived home and it has been bunging up my hallway on its side ever since. I did look on Ebay and you can;t give the damn things away. Did April Fool's Day come early this year....

Tech Spec: The main trick to the small groups was making sure you had the whole group present and when you did ensuring you'd counted the correctly because it was a real headache to get your group all nicely set up and symmetrical only to find you had an extra body to fit in, which means a complete reshuffle.

For editorial: www.gettyimages.co.uk

She Bop a lula

2012-03-06T18:00:00.001Z

Highlight: Get to see my picture up on a wall

Some great rock photographers and me.

Lowlight: Get to see my picture up on a wall

Fill in: I have no problem with my pictures being viewed by all and sundry in the papers, magazines, on an album cover or where ever else they may end up. Somehow then, they are serving a purpose; doing a job; providing a need. But putting a photo up in an art gallery as a statement in itself is a whole different story. Then you are saying - hey look at my photo - isn't it great, and you need to have a pretty tough ego to do that - which I have not. I was quite happy to provide Dede with whatever photos she needed to make her exhibition work. She was an old friend and the cause was a good one. However with all the fantastic photographers in her contact book, I was pretty sure that she would not be needing my services. The shock and horror at one of the my pictures actually making the final cut - and the one I least liked - sent me into a state of apoplexy. Still it was done. The big day arrived of the opening night. I was actually in a really bad mood and almost didn't go to the shin dig. But it turned out okay - the other photographers also moaned about their own photos and admired everyone else's and egos were stroked and calmed and placated and it was all in a good cause.

Tech Spec: There is an inverse reciprocal gravitational law in the world of photography. For any given group of photos (N) where x is the photo the photographer (p) likes least, and y is the one they like best, then I = pe/x - p/y where pe is the picture editor, I is the image published and / is the gravitational force. It's a bit like the F-stop scale where the smaller the aperture becomes the larger it's number. The less the photographer likes a picture, the more likely it is to be published. QED. Anyway - go see the exhibition.

http://www.shebopalula.co.uk/

My Life Story

2012-03-04T12:55:00.000Z

Highlight: Seeing Pat Pope (photographer) and Angel Dahouk (old friend from Poetry Society)- this really is a week for reunion

Lowlight: Queue to get in. No queue jumping here - the photographers are lumped in with the guests - even though we don't get a ticket to see the gig!

Fill in: These days I hardly know anyone in the pit as new music photographers seems to appear exponentially every day and most of the photographers I know have gone on to bigger and better things. I met Pat Pope when I was at NME, and tried unsuccessfully to emulate his distinctive black and white style. It was great to catch up with him whilst in the pit.

Tech Spec: My Life Story consists of quite a few characters, and as we have to name check all the people in the shot for Getty I had to concentrate on the lead singer only - but he was moving around the stage at a quite a pace and was enough for me to extort all my photography skill in trying to capture him. It was of course three songs no flash and Shepherds Bush Empire is very top lit so even though Jake came to the front a number of times in provocative poses they were not well lit enough to capture.

For editorial: www.gettyimages.co.uk

Lambchop

2012-03-01T12:57:00.022Z

Highlight: Seeing this band again - haven't photographed them since I was at NME.

Lowlight: Cap on head!
Fill in: I last shot this band for a feature for NME when there was a line up of over 13 members. I lined them up outside a bus-stop! Quiet and introspective, The barbican was a perfect venue to see them....

Tech Spec: ....but not to photograph. Kurt was sitting side on to the front, and the long length of the stage meant it was impossible to get close enough to shoot him facing the camera. Ended up having to crawl between the rows of seats and popping up between people to grab shots. Having just bought the Nikon V1, I put it onto silent mode so I could shoot without annoying the audience too much. It's small CCD meant my 85mm F1.4 became a 200mm F1.4 so I could get tight views without too much camera shake.

For editorial: www.gettyimages.co.uk

Curtis and Hayley

2012-02-27T15:06:00.000Z

Highlight: Having a free piano lesson

Lowlight: ..in Gap and not having chance to buy anything

Fill in: This job for Yamaha was to photograph child prodigy Curtis Elton - the youngest person in Britain currently to achieve Grade 8 piano. Gap had got together with him to give a short show in the Children's section of their Oxford Street store and to teach kids how to play the Muppet Theme tune for the day. I was there to get portraits and record the workshops. It is quite something to see a little person whose feet don't even touch the ground when they sit on the piano stool reeling off solo performances that would be quite at home in the Royal Festival Hall.

Tech Spec: Even a child prodigy is still a child when it comes to photos and Curtis was your typical 8 year old grinning cheesily for the camera, so it took his dad and sister to stand behind me and pull faces whilst I shot to get a natural smile. The background was lit brighter than the foreground so fill in flash was a must to balance the two.

Equality Frame Network Launch

2012-02-21T19:00:00.000Z

Highlight: Richard Barnes to host - he's always smiling and does what he's told when it comes to photos

Lowlight: ..lots of speeches....

Fill in: Launches and presentations naturally mean a few speeches. Tonight's seemed particularly extensive. Working for the GLA, I was to get all the speakers, the presentation of certificates and group shots.

Tech Spec: The London Living Room where the launch was held is surrounded by curved floor to ceiling glass, or reflective metal. This means when using the flash, I had to ensure that something was always directly between the flash and the background, usually someone's head, to avoid hotspot reflections.

Niki and the Dove

2012-02-15T21:00:00.000Z

Highlight: Glitter everywhere...

Lowlight: ...including over my whole camera kit.

Fill in: I was right at the front in a great position for this flamboyant band whose repertoire included dressing up everyone in neon jewellery and showering them in glitter dispensed from coke cans. I happened to be right in the firing line when the lead singer decided to shower a huge bagfull of glitter over the crowd and am still trying to remove it from my hair, face, clothes, camera bag, lenses, flash guns and cameras.

Tech Spec: Glitter is very pretty but lethal to cameras. This was cosmetic grade glitter so not stratchy, but could cause havoc if it gets into the finer crevices of the DSLR or motorised lenses. I am using vast amounts of canned air to decontaminate everything but am still nervous.

For editorial: www.redferns.com