Gear Purge

18 months later it was time to part with my Olympus PEN-F. Great camera.

Over the past few years I have acquired 5 new cameras, 10+ lenses, countless accessories and camera bags. The reason for choosing a M/43 system was to stay light weight, yet all this gear had the opposite effect. Heavy on the shoulder and heavy on my mind.

It was time for a huge purge. Thankfully I had kept all the original boxes which second hand buyers love. Over the past few weeks I’ve sold my Olympus PEN-F, Olympus OMD EM5ii, Olympus OMD EM10, 40-150MM lens, 12-42mm pancake lens (non-pro), 2 camera bags, 10 batteries, leather cases and grips.

I have a sleeker set-up now and feel all I need in my back is my OMD EM1ii and 2 lenses (12-40 Pro + 40-150 Pro). It all fits neatly in my Peak Design 5L sling.

See you on the next shoot.

One Team One Dream Photoshoot

First off it's worth mentioning Neel is a great artist and that can be seen in his photography. He is very patient and has a friendly and approachable way of working with clients which is something we were looking for. 

We asked Neel to take a team photograph and headshots for all 30 employees for our global rebrand. Neel’s process and creative direction is really thorough; taking time for two meetings before the shoot took place to share ideas, suggest several locations and examples of previous work. After exploring several options we decided to shoot the headshots at an external location close to our office and a team picture using a drone. 

On the actual shoot day, Neel was very professional and arrived early, well prepared and had all the right equipment. He took time with each employee making them feel comfortable and created a fun atmosphere using music, great conversation and using an elaborate lighting set-up. 

Due to poor weather on the day of the shoot unfortunately the team shot using drone proved to be difficult. Neel was super professional and came up with a new idea and organised a new photo shoot for another day on the roof top on our office building - something which we had already discussed. The second day shoot was quick as the team only a small window of availability. The resulting image was perfect. The team really enjoyed it the entire experience.

We got every picture in RAW and JPG format on a USB Drive immediately after the shoot so our internal designer could work with the photos for the Lightful website. 

Neel also selected and beautifully edited two pictures of each employee a few days later. We recommend Neel’s work highly and will be working with him again in the future.

~ Isabella Grable, HR and Office Administrator, Lightful

EyeEm LDN Takeover | November 15

If like me you're also posting your work to EyeEm in addition to Instagram and Twitter, you'll be pleased to know the Berlin based start-up will be in London this week to meet the community and host a series of photo walks. 

If you don't already know, EyeEm is a platform and marketplace for photographers to share work and follow other creatives. The iOS app is a joy to use and I've even been able to sell a few of my own pictures through the marketplace.

What I enjoy most about EyeEm however is how involved they are with their community; creating monthly missions (with incredible prizes) to keep people like me shooting every day. 

If you haven't already registered for next week's event, you can do so here. I look forward to meeting fellow photographers and meeting team EyeEm.

Wide Open with the M.Zuiko 7-14mm f2.8 Pro Lens from Olympus

After much procrastination (2 years to be exact) I finally decided to make an investment in an ultra-wide lens for my kit. I'm not much of a wide shooter preferring a 35mm focal length for street shots and other general purpose photography. However as my commercial and events photography business grows, it's tough to capture all the action in an enclosed space with my current set-up.

Enter the M.Zuiko 7-14mm f2.8 Pro lens from Olympus

Enter the M.Zuiko 7-14mm f2.8 Pro lens from Olympus. A fully weather sealed chunk of class wrapped in sleek, black metal. It's heavy for the m4/3 bodies but the results are nothing short of extraordinary and worth the extra weight. It's sharp from edge to edge and maintains an aperture of f2.8 throughout the focal range - perfect for the recent Sofar Sounds gigs I've been shooting.

Here are a few quick street snaps I took immediately after receiving the lens. I'm super excited to experiment more with this crazy range. Watch this space for some ultra, ultra wide shots.

Back to the Streets

While most of my paid work is corporate headshots, portraiture or events, there is something about street photography which truly inspires me. Perhaps it's the movement required to create an image, (I often find myself walking miles, from neighbourhood to neighbourhood looking for an opportunity) or maybe it's sense of not being able to recreate or manufacture a moment, being ready to create, capture the light as it is. 

Street photography is a passion and I feel I'm able to bring some of that inspiration and aesthetic to my commercial work also. 

If you are interested in ordering prints of any of the above photos, or have a commercial opportunity, please get in touch or find me in East London, roaming the street with my camera. :)

Back Garden Macro

I recently purchased the fantastic M.Zuiko 30mm f3.5 lens from Olympus, however I rarely ever use it.

Specialist lenses are great, but unless I've made the express plan to go shoot macro it's unlikely it'll make it into my bag. Instead, the trusty 12-40mm f2.8 Pro lens, (which seems to always be attached to my camera) is able to perform as a really awesome macro lens too.

I was visiting my parents this past weekend. The weather being changeable as it was, Dad's carefully planted shrubs gathered beautiful pools of rain droplets, which I willfully snapped once the sun came out. I'm pretty pleased with the result. This will be my new desktop background image.

I really don't macro enough. Time to dust off the 30mm and get close!