The other night I went out with my friend Phil again to take some night shots along the river. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve actually managed to get some decent results due to the weather and, erm… the pub. This week was different though! We were disciplined and made sure we got some photos under our belts before we had any beer. This seemed to pay off. Again, we headed to Tower Bridge determined to get some decent shots. I’ve been to Tower Bridge before so it’s always a challenge going back to a location and trying to get something different, and hopefully better, than the previous trip. The shot above was probably my favourite of the night. I was really happy with the composition (it’s just a pity that there was a load of scaffolding on the right hand side) and trying out a few Lightroom tricks I picked up from the Canon Pro Solutions exhibition I went to on Tuesday, I was able to get a crisper more contrasting image. Mission accomplished I reckon. We certainly deserved the couple of pints we treated ourselves to afterwards…
Archive for October, 2009
While we were away following the Manics in America, I was (naturally) on taping duty. We went to three shows in total (including an instore appearance that James did at Newbury Comics in Boston. I spent the week or so after I was back editing the recordings, sifting through photos and making artwork. I kind of had something in mind, artwork wise, of what I wanted to do for these recordings. I wanted to use tints of one colour for each show. I kept a lot of my trademark elements in the images but tried to go in a slightly different direction and push my use of type a bit further than normal. Here are the results…
I turned them round pretty quickly and I’m really pleased with what I produced. Huge thanks to my mate As who supplied me with the quality photos of James to work with which made my life a hell of a lot easier.
The recordings sound really great too, especially the songs from the new album! Here’s Peeled Apples from the show at Webster Hall in New York. Good times!
Over the last couple of weeks me friends Ben and Craig have been meeting up at lunch times to indulge in a spot of Slacklining. The other guys are getting pretty good, and leaving me (and my ridiculously high centre of Gravity) for dust. Anyway, last week I took my camera along and got some photos of us in action (I like slacklining photos as it makes me look like I can actually do it!). I’ve put a set of some of my favourites on Flickr. I hope ya like ‘em.
It’s getting cold and dark out now. Winter is upon us once again. I’m currently uploading some shots from our trip to America. I’ve got some I’m really pleased with. The one above is possibly my favourite from the bunch though. It’s weird considering it was one that I just snapped as we were wandering through the park in Boston. Sometimes that’s the way it goes – You get an off-the-cuff shot which you pay no mind to at the time, and it turns out to be the nicest due to the spontaneity which caused it. A happy accident.
It seems like we just missed the best of the Autumn colours in Massachusetts by a couple of weeks. This was just a mere hint of what is to come. It’s making me feel all wintery and Christmassy just looking at it. Time to go into hibernation…
Hello. I’m in Boston. In America. Again. My girlfriend and I, plus two of our friends decided that trekking around the UK to watch some Welshmen sing some songs wasn’t quite enough, so we upped the ante by flying thousands of miles to see them on their first US tour in ten years. We went to two shows, one in New York and one a short (four hours) bus ride away in Boston. Both were really great, and I’m really glad we did it! I took a few shots in Boston but now many. My friend Ash took lots though and they’re really good. Every time I think that I’m starting to go off the band a bit, something like this happens and I’m right back into the fan-boy world. But I love it so it’s all good.
We fly home today, so we’re off to enjoy the chilly Boston sunshine. See ya back home!
Lee & Chloe, originally uploaded by Ben Grubb.
Greetings from a Mega Bus, somewhere on the freeway between New York and Boston. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write this, but finally here’s a bit of a run down about the Lee & Chloe’s wedding from last month. Well, first off – Thankfully everything went really well and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was very nervous in the morning, but after a couple of glasses of Champagne with Chloe and the Bridesmaids while I photographed them getting ready I was soon feeling more relaxed. After that, the day just flew by. The ceremony was short but very sweet, and while the happy couple mingled with the many friends and family that were crammed into the Vaults at the RSA I flitted round and took a load of nice candid pics of people – It seemed to be the way to go. I spent about ten minuets on a nice, candle lit flight of stairs for a few posed shots but other than that I was left to my own devices for the rest of the afternoon and evening… until it was time to put the camera away and get on with the the more serious business of drinking lots of red wine and dancing like a mad person.
The next couple of days were spent sifting through and editing the photos, as well as putting together a book through one of my new favourite websites Blurb. Unlike most online based book printers, Blurb let you down a selection of InDesign templates and PDF export settings which allows you more free rein over the design of the book, which is exactly what I wanted. I went for a fairly simple seven inch square format, hard cover book with a selection of some of my favourite photos in. I’ve already had it back from them and I’m really pleased with it. You can see one of the spreads below along with some business cards I had done via another great online printers: Moo.com.
You can see a selection of my favourite shots on Flickr now. I have a couple more weddings lined up for next year. After Lee and Chloe’s, I’m really looking forward to them!
The other day I found a new (to me) and rather cool view of Canary Wharf. I ventured down to Greenwich and after getting hopelessly lost, I managed to find the park. The Greenwich Observatory sits at the top of the hill in the park, and projects the meridian line (the green line at the right of the photo) out across towards East London. It was a great view, but unfortunately I got thrown out before I’d totally finished as the park closed. Ah well, it’s nearly winter which means it’s night photography season again. I’ll have to get down there again (with Phil) and try and get some different/better shots. Stay tuned…
