Photographing the Southbank with Energy
My lovely clients at 'energy design' gave me a great job recently down along London's Southbank. My shots were to be used in a local area guide, marketing the swanky new 'Grange Garden' housing development down near Bermondsey. These are the sort of jobs i just love!! Me, my camera, lots of walking and hunting out interesting places, features, and funky people. The weather was glorious, so i jumped on my motorbike and headed down there early. My brief was to show the local area, its atmosphere, the characters, the bars and restaurants etc. If there is one aspect to documentary/reportage photography i love it is capturing the things that are there, happening under your nose... I love people watching and seeing people going about their busy lives.
Have to say the cover shot was my fave also, so glad it made it there!! :-)[slideshow]
If you are down that way, why not pop into Grange Garden and see some of my images displayed in the reception area... here are a few shots from my iphone of me having a peek myself last week :-)[gallery columns="4" orderby="ID"]
Flower Power!
My new girl Lis, is somewhat of the 'green fingered' type, and whenever i popped round throughout the summer, was often pottering about in her garden planting , watering or shaping something ... i grabbed ye old Nikon Macro 105mm f2.8VR and started snapping ...and loved it! I've not really done much close up stuff, but i do enjoy the abstract shapes and textures plants and flowers give when seen under close quarters! I think you will agree, some of the colours are stunning! a lot of these images are from Capel Manor Gardens near me in Enfield.... Stunning!
My first 'Civil Partnership' wedding
Not many of you will know that i have a weddings business that i run separately to blitzimages... I don't normally rave about the wedding work, but this was something a bit different! When one of my clients and good friends - Matt, asked me if i would be his photographer for his civil partnership, i was rather nervous in all honesty.... but only as i wasn't sure how i was going to style the shots!!? No big wedding dresses or detail shots here!? I was chuffed he asked me and accepted happily... but knew i would have to get my thinking cap on!
I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised at how good the day went! It was a glorious sunny day, Matt and Jeff were getting hitched at Stoke Newington Town Hall, and the day went like a dream .... Great guests, fabulous venue and some beautiful natural light all went to make my job a dream ...
Please check out the book preview and do leave me a comment if you like the work...
All the best, Simon.
http://www.blurb.com/books/1456152
Latest Project 'BBC Documentary ~ My Life: KARATE KIDS Saturday 13th March BBC2 11.30am'
Karate Kids follows the friendships of two children with cerebral palsy. Tim cannot speak, so best friend Francis is his voice. However, when Tim embarks upon marital arts training his life changes forever. Karate Kids is a unique glimpse into a world that is ignored by mainstream society and often misunderstood by many children. This film challenges the perceptions around childhood disability. From award-winning and BAFTA nominated film-makers Walsh Bros. I worked during the making of the film, producing all the stills for use to promote and document the show.
The whole experience of working amongst these kids was very humbling.I'm very grateful to John Walsh and his production team for giving me the opportunity to work with them on this, and hope now to be doing more of this work and eventually some movie set stills...
Watch this space! ... [gallery]