On Sunday, London’s West End became a colourful and vibrant scene for the Chinese New Year celebrations in London. Despite the bad weather, people didn’t seem to have been put off coming into Chinatown and Trafalgar Square to welcome in the Year of the Snake.

A large crowd in the streets enjoyed the parade and then food from the outdoors stalls which had been set up in front of the restaurants. Down in Trafalgar Square, various artists performed for an equally large but damp crowd.

This is the second year that I have manage to photograph these celebrations in some quite challenging conditions … it is never easy shooting in the rain and trying to keep your gear dry. Having said that it was good fun and I was joined by my friend, John Chandler who I hadn’t seen for a while. A selection of my best images from this year can be found in my Chinese New Year 2013 – The Year of the Snake gallery. Please have a look and let me know what you think.

Last weekend, I tried a new studio out in East London called Murder Miles Studio which is run by Amber and Adrian. They were both extremely helpful from the booking right through to the shoot on the day making sure that I had everything.

The studio is amazing with lots of different shooting options arranged into a number of different chambers which can be booked independently. Each chamber is well decorated and equipped for different themed shoots. First, I used the chamber with office and lounge settings followed by one of the other chambers with bar, diner and boudoir.

The other main chamber (which I didn’t use) is geared towards fetish and alternative shoots and extremely well kitted out with dungeon, prison cell and medical settings.

In conclusion, Amber and Adrain have created a fantastic space to shoot a very wide varieties of styles and all very reasonably priced to hire – great job!

After many months waiting, my new fisheye zoom lens is finally in my hand and of course on my camera.  i have managed to take a few shots in the studio, at Brands Hatch and around Canary Wharf.

My initial view of Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM is that it has huge creative potential and has really opened my mind to shooting some very unusual images.  This is mostly due to the ultra-wide field of view that it offers – for example standing in any city surround by tall buildings you can get the top of building in all directions around the edge of the image.

I am also find the circular image produced when shooting at 8mm on a full frame camera very pleasing but are definitely best when cropped square.

The image quality is good as you would expect with a L-series lens.  The fisheye nature of the lens means that you have to be careful not to get dust on the front element and it appears to be slightly susceptible to lens flare or colour aberration at the very edges of the image.  On some of my Canary Wharf images, you may notice a very slight blue tinge.

Overall, I am very pleased with this lens and it has been well worth the wait.  I am sure that I am going to use this lens a fair bit but promise not to make everything fisheyed.

Following an amazing shoot at the weekend with Leanna, I have updated my Studio & Location gallery with some new images and extended the gallery to include some location shoots from a few weeks ago.

Since the beginning of the year, I have shot 15 different studio sessions and 1 location shoot with a total of 16 different models.  I think that all the shoots have been great fun and I am very pleased with the feedback that I am getting.

I also have a larger portfolio from the various shoots on Model Mayhem website.

If you are interested in working with me then please feel free to contact me via email.

So far this week I have completed 3 shoots in 3 days and not managed to do any post processing.  I have shot a corporate launch event, some cycling shots for London Cycling Campaign and corporate portrait followed by a summer party for a good friend’s business.  Luckily no photography planed for today.

The weekend will continue in this vein as I am shooting Pride London on Saturday – always a great event followed by a location shoot in London on Sunday.  It is good to be busy!

I have been working through my post processing especially focusing on the shoot with Carolyna and Magda two weeks ago.  Working through the images reminded my what a great shoot it was … thanks again to a great team.

There are a number of new images in my Fashion gallery which are individual shoots of both Carolyna and Magda.  All the original images were of Carolyna and Magda together wearing different outfits

Hopefully, I will get the chance to work with both Carolyna and Magda again in the near future.

On Saturday, we were having lunch at friend’s in Camden and I decided to take my new studio lights with all my camera gear to practice location shooting.  This was the first time that I have used studio lighting outdoors – luckily it was in the privacy of our friend’s back garden, which is a good place to shoot portraits.

As always when you are trying something new, it doesn’t always go to plan and the challenge that I discovered was trying to get two studio flash lights (Bowen Gemini 500R lights) to both fire in sunshine.  It is great to continue to learn which happens to me every time I take pictures.

During the shoot, I also used my new reflector so I had to enlist the help of my wife, Helen, as my new assistant (see right).  Every time that I have previously suggested, she has point blank refused but I think that that has much more to do with not wanting to carry my equipment around.  I don’t blame her for that … it is very heavy!

The gig that I went to on Friday evening in Chiswick to photograph Frank the Cat, a great 10 piece soul/funk band, was amazing … if you get the chance I strongly recommend seeing them.

I think that I have got some good images in quite difficult conditions both in terms of lighting and navigating myself around load of dancing fans.  All in all this created the great atmosphere so it was very worth while.

I am looking forward their website being updated with some of the photographs and to seeing them again soon.

I have just created a new gallery from my recent fashion shoot with two amazing sisters, Carolyna and Magda.  The images in this gallery are my favourites from the shoot which was great fun with a great team. 

The other member of the team was Carolyna’s make-up artist, Erika Thomas, who was created some amazing matching eye make-up and hair styling based on a concept that Carolyna had.  I look forward to working with Erika again and if you are looking for a top make-up artist I would recommend her.

This was the second shoot that I have done with Carolyna but the first one with Magda and I hope that I will have the pleasure of working with them both again.

If you like my work and would like to work with me or need a photographer for a shoot then please feel free to get in touch with me via email with your proposition.

Today, I was back in the studio with sisters Carolyna and Magda for a fashion shoot  … it was a very successful shoot and great fun.  Carolyna had picked out a stunning eye make-up design which was brilliantly executed by her make-up artist, Erika Thomas, along with some great hair styling.

So ever, I now have to post process the images from today’s shoot and will be posting some more images when I have completed this.

It was a great pleasure working with all three of them … thank you!