A few photos from tonights jazz night at Fargo Village Coventry
Wedding Photographer
On Friday I was the second photographer at a wedding supporting Russell Whitehead photography.
Being second photographer gives you a lot of flexibility to move around looking for candid photos and taking the usual wedding highlights from a different angle.
I love using a long zoom for this as it enables you to pick out individuals and situations and get a close tight shot without people being aware so enabling you to get some very natural photos, which give a contrast to the necessary staged photos which are the staple of wedding photography normally.
As well as looking for the candid shots you are also free to take some video of the wedding to produce a short highlights film if the couple haven’t hired a videographer.
So if you are hiring a photographer for a wedding I recommend that you request a second photographer for candid shots and a highlights video.
https://youtu.be/IOmweu7T8rc
https://www.flickr.com/gp/lozzom/001M45
The Zoo
A few weeks ago Russell Whitehead and I went to Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens where there’s a great choice of animals to photograph.
Both Russell and I are Nikon mirrorless camera users and we wanted to compare a variety of lenses to see which performed best for this type of photography
We have set up a YouTube channel which has been gaining some momentum over the last few months in the Nikon community; we just added a video about our zoo visit to that channel.
Moskito - Super Yacht
This super yacht called into Vathy harbour today. According to Google, it is owned by the richest man (£3bn) in Liverpool, Tom Morris, who started the Home Bargains chain when he was 21. It now has more than 550 stores employing 22,000 staff.
When he’s not using the boat it can be hired out for EUR350k per week, plus expenses!
Vathy harbour at night
Vathy is close to where we are staying on Meganisi and has the best selection of places to eat.
As well as being a centre for leisure boats it is very much a working harbour and if you are there in the evening you will see working boats going out night fishing.
We are here in September and it is quiet during the day and in the evening.
It is particularly beautiful at night which I have tried to convey in these photos.
Website tweaks
As I’m on holiday at the moment I’ve been able to find time to bring my website up-to-date, get rid of some of the older stuff and hopefully make it easier to navigate. If you’ve got any comments or feedback I’d love to hear from you!
Dennis comes out of retirement
I bought my first drone at the beginning of 2017 and named him Dennis. It was very addictive using him, as a drone gives you a unique viewpoint. It was great fun takng both video and still photos and I would think of places to go each weekend to use him.
I also took him with me when I went on holiday. He has visited Vietnam, Spain and Greece.
Then over time I used him less often, only bringing him out when people asked me to for specific reasons such as checking the rooves of a building etc.
Partly the reason for using him less was because the rules surrounding drones were getting tighter and tighter as a response to people misusing them around airports, for example, which generally gave them a bad press with members of the public and the authorities.
There have been a couple of times in the last couple of years when I’ve gone on holiday and wished I had him with me so this year when we decided to visit a small quiet island in Greece I decided to bring him out of retirement, and I’m glad I did.
Here are some photos that I took early this morning when the air was very still. I’m happy to say that the old guy worked perfectly even though he is now 4 1/2 years old and has been surpassed by many newer models.
Vathy, Meganisi
We had a wander around Vathy harbour in Meganisi this morning; had a nice breakfast and got some supplies in before returning to our accomodation to chill out!
View from the Meganisi Ferry
Standing on the small car ferry which takes you to the island of Meganisi from Lefkada provides you with beautiful views; lovely to see mountains combined with the gorgeous Greek landscape
Greece!
On our way to Greece for 4 weeks 😃
3 weeks on a quiet small island called Meganisi and 1 week on Lefkada. We fly to Preveza airport, pick a car up then catch a ferry over to Meganisi.
Spent sometime deciding what cameras and lenses to take! Decided on Nikon Z50 with both its kits lenses, Nikon Z6ii with 24-200 (great light travel lens) and 50mm 1.8. Also had to take the Leica Q2 of course.
In our hold luggage is Dennis the drone which I haven’t used in ages!
Hopefully that will keep me going for the 4 weeks with my laptop !
Godiva Calling heats
Local Coventry musicians get a chance to play on the main stage at the Godiva festival. To win that place they take part in heats around the city in the weeks leading up to the festival.
I have judged a couple of them which was good fun. We’ve got the finals of the indie category tonight at the Albany pub.
Here’s a few photos from past heats and category finals.
Out and about during COVID (socially distancing)
I have been going out to take photos, when allowed, during the COVID pandemic, using the opportunity to test new lenses and new types of photography from those I would normally have been involved in, pre-pandemic.
Dhigali in the Maldives
Take a look at my video of our recent holiday to Dhigali in the Maldives
Socca World Cup 2019
Last October I was engaged by the International Socca Federation (ISF) to go to Crete to cover the 2019 6-a-side World Cup; it was an even bigger occasion than the previous year when we went to Lisbon. Here are a few photos that hopefully show how exciting the whole event was. Really sorry that this year's has had to be postponed.
Music video
Last June I filmed The Subterraneans (‘The Subs’) premiering their tribute to the 70s called ‘Let’s Rock The 70’s at The Albany Theatre in Coventry.
We had 10 cameras with a couple of other camera operators helping me out.
It was an amazing gig; here’s a couple of tracks I’ve produced from it so far.
Heron
Its not everyday you see a Heron flying over your house
This website
I’ve just changed my Squarespace template - what do you think?
Sri Lanka and The Maldives
We were lucky to have a great holiday just before we were locked down due to Covid-19. Here’s the first two videos I have put together from our trip.
Testing the Nikon Z50
IzZie
I enjoyed taking Izzie’s photo for this great review of her latest single
http://www.lockmag.co.uk/single-review-in-a-year-by-izzie-derry/
The photo was taken during a session at the grammy award winning RoLo studios in Coventry run by Roger Lomas, well known for his work with 2 Tone bands such as The Specials, The Selecter and Bad Manners.