An 'ExEvent' for a Rendezvous

My good clients ExEvents got me down for a great job last night!! .... The Chambord Rendezvous 2011 The venue; One Mayfair! Built in 1825, One Mayfair has recently reopened its doors and is set to be London's newest and most spectacular venue. After years of neglect this historic Grade I listed building has undergone months of refurbishment bringing it back to its former glory. As one of the largest event spaces in the Mayfair, it has already attracted a range of high profile events.

Guests were wowed by the excellent transformation the space took on under the expert handling of the ExEvents team. The winning drinks were served throughout the evening along with a wonderful dinner, again with the winning chambord recipes. I unfortunately was working ... but then even when i'm working its not work! The guests were great and it was good to be in amongst this happy crowed ... DJ Philly was on hand spinning up some excellent tunes before Comedy act Mr Russell Kane introduced the evenings events. BBC Radio 1 Celebrity DJ Edith Bowman then took over on the decks and things really hotted up ... drinks were flowing and butts were shaking! My trustee Nikons were also working their own little butts off as you can see from a selection of the shots here. Enjoy!! :)

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Food Glorious Food at 'One Blenheim Terrace'

Sometimes my work, just really isn't work!! ;) I had the pleasure of shooting the very swish and new restaurant 'One Blenheim Terrace' in London's St Johns Wood this week. Owner, head chef, and top guy 'Ed' was there with equally top guy and sous chef 'Stuart' to prepare some amazing dishes for photographing. The restaurant itself has a beautiful, elegant and calm feel... It has a huge glass roof to the frontage making life for me much easier with an abundance of natural light available... I have to confess, i did have a few nibbles and got totally stuck into the Wellington!!! It was STUNNING!! .... Hope they need me back there again very soon to update the new forthcoming site!! ... enjoy and go visit them, you will be very pleasantly surprised.

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Street Surfing at Eastbourne Extreme

Earlier last month I had the pleasure of working down in Eastbourne at the  Eastbourne Extreme event for Street Surfing UK. Street Surfing is taking a firm grip in the UK as the alternative to standard skateboarding... and to show just how great an alternative it can be ... they sent their 'International Pro Rider Team' over with their 'S Ramp' to prove it! What a day i had .... i nearly got mowed down a few times but it was great fun!! The pro boys are NUTS!!!! I was using fast sync speeds to capture the fast action and also darken the background to add drama ... Hope you all like and hope to be doing more for ther Street Surfing Team again soon .... (Do you think they need me in California???????????? ;) )  

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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"]

Tankus The Henge ~ "the most fantastic band in the world" ... On a Boat !

[slideshow]Wowza, my good friend TANKUS THE HENGE  invited me down to their latest gig, aboard a beautiful old barge moored up on the embankment of the Thames. I haven't seen the boys play live since they took on 3 new members. Tim Fulker - Guitar, Vocals. Seb Laverde - Drums and Louis Schultz-Wiremu - Saxophone. For anyone who hasn't seen this band, i can only say you must!! I defy anyone, and i mean anyone to not find themselves jigging along to these boys eclectic beats. They are truly a sight to behold and the energy they give off is infectious to say the least! Jaz Delorean - Keys, Lead Vocals, squeeze box, Trombone and Table tapper was in hight spirits, and gave me a wink when he said, wait till you hear us now with the new boys on board! He was so right!! Dan Mason - Bass, Vocals and crazy Jake Stoddart - Trumpet complete the line up. I am looking forward to going along with the boys to their amazing appearance they have confirmed at the HOP FARM FESTIVAL on the 1st-3rd July. Prince, Iggy and the Stooges, The Eagles, 10cc, Lou Read, Bryan Ferry, Morrissey and many more all playing!!

Big congrats to Tankus for getting onto this line up. They are def going places, so get along to a gig of theirs while you can still get  to enjoy them up close and personal, at their very most craziest!

See you there!! ;-)

London Landscape for Property Developers,

I got a call last week from a new client asking me how i was with heights?? Hmmmmm i thought, but never say never to work!! ... It turns out i was to be up on the roof of an apartment block off of the uber trendy 'Brick Lane' to shoot a landcape of the horizon to show potential buyers of the newly proposed Penthouse what they will see out of their window each day! Nice!! I love jobs like these... just watching and waiting for the light to drop .... it was beautiful! Hope they and you like the results! :-)[gallery columns="4" orderby="ID"]

British Superbikes Kicks off at Brands Hatch - Round 1, and a SCORCHER!

The good people at the Mirror.co.uk have kindly enlisted me again this year to attend the British Superbike rounds and snap the action and the events as their roving Snapper! The opening round proved to be an absolute cracker! Weather in the 80's, the course record going to Mr Shaky Byrne and only 10th's of seconds separating the top of the field!! Check out my images here or on the mirror site ... and do stop me if you are attending one of the rounds and see me.... We will be selecting people from each round to be entered into the 'Wall of Fame' so be original and get your mug in the Mirror!!  Hope to snap you soon!! :-) don't forget to join our Facebook fanpage also and tag yourself[gallery columns="6" orderby="ID"]

Help with Aperture and Shutter Speed?

Hi there, I have had an increasing number of friends asking me for some basic help in using their cameras more effectively. One of the most important things to understand is the relationship between APERTURE and SHUTTER SPEED and how both effect the image you creat.[vimeo 19603662 w=400 h=225]<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/19603662">7. Aperture</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2642804">--jL</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

SLACKNESS!!!!!!

Ok everyone.... so.... i commiteed the cardinal sin of starting a blog, and not keeping on with the updates!! Sorrrrrrry! Everyone told me that its harder than you think, especially when you get busy.... so I promise to be loading looooooooaaaaaads of shots and info sooooon!

Thanks for looking out!!

bye for now,

Simon X