For some time, I've been wanting to put together a showcase / advertising video – but a lack of ability and a lack of time to gain the ability has held me back. However, I came across an IOS app made by Adobe called ‘Voice’. This lets you create short annotated videos with ease, adding photos and music. Whilst quite limited, the limitations encourage you to focus onto just putting the clip together. I’ll probably re-do the clips over time, adding different pictures etc, but I’m actually quite pleased with the result. I've added the video to my FaceBook page, and it’s also heading up the Weddings page on this site.

Here it is, let me know what you think:

Also this week, I found myself in London and I finally got around to photographing the London Eye. I tried a number of angles, from directly across the Thames, from Westminster Bridge, the Golden Jubilee Bridge, and right next to the wheel (which produced by favourite image of the session.) I think I’ll try the session again closer to dusk as opposed to night as – in my opinion – it produces a more interesting sky. Still, I think I’ll get at least one of these printed out for display.

Remember that if you’re looking to book me for weddings or events get in touch as early as you can to ensure I’m not already booked up (as bookings are steadily rolling in!)

Thanks for reading!

Al.

I recently had the privilege of being booked to take the (semi)formal event photographs at the RAF Cosford Officer’s Mess Summer Ball. This was a great evening taking photographs of the guests in front of a classic car.

At most of these events, the photos are taken indoors, with very stable and constant lighting – effectively, get set up and then you don’t have to alter your settings all night. However – this wasn’t such an easy setup! The location was outdoors, starting at 7pm through to 10pm. So I started in quite bright sunshine (setting behind the guests) and ended up in pretty much pitch black night! So, pretty challenging… I also had to contend with the wind blowing my lights over, or making them swing around so they weren’t pointing in the right direction - luckily a swift application of tie-wraps sorted most of the issues!

In order to make it really easy for the guests to choose their pictures, I was shooting tethered into my laptop, with this connected to a flat screen TV. My original plan for tethering to the laptop was to use an Eye-Fi memory card, that sends the pictures over a Wi-Fi link. Whilst this worked flawlessly in every test running up the event, it stubbornly refused to send any more than 2 pictures when I’d got set up. So, I swung plan B into action – which took the form of a 5 metre USB cable! Whilst this limited my movement slightly, it did give me a robust way of getting the pictures to where I needed them. More testing is required with the Eye-Fi card before the next event, as when it works, it's a fantastic way to work giving much more freedom of movement.

Despite my difficulties, I adapted and overcame and most importantly I got some great pictures, and some very happy customers! A good tally of sales on the night, and download and print sales from the website in the week that followed made it a really worthwhile event.

A New Video and the London Eye.

Shooting the Ball