Riveting Riffs Webzine

I am pleased to say that I am now a contributing photographer at Riveting Riffs webzine and two of my galleries are featured this month, Van Morrison and Corrine Bailey Rae. You can view Van Morrison on the home page and Corrine Bailey Rae on the Interviews page. The webzine is best viewed using Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Sample Wedding Album

I have photographed weddings for the last 30+ years in all kinds of locations from St. Pauls' Cathedral to small (almost minute) parish churches, and over that time I have seen a great many changes. Now the digital revolution has swept through photography people anticipate a different, freer approach then when a standard 'coffee table' album of 30 prints was all that was offered. Today the approach is far more relaxed than the traditional concepts, and I can shoot unobtrusively to capture many more 'moments' and put them together in a bookshelf style book rather than the bulky leather-bound coffee table version, thus keeping prices lower. Thanks to the Internet I can now also share a sample album with you as a Quicktime movie at http://ping.fm/RXJfE - please feel free to download and look!!

Tram Tracks & Cycle Wheels

I remember as a very young boy travelling through the streets of Southampton with my father, and watching a cyclist get his front wheel stuck in the tracks of the tram we were on. He had little choice but to keep peddling down the track furiously, all the time hoping not to fall off before the tram caught him up. So what has this got to do with my photography? Well, before I changed to digital I used to shoot a lot of black and white, an important component of which is what photographers call 'previsualisation' - the art of seeing the final image before pressing the button, or being able to see the black and white image whilst looking at the colour one nature gives us. I found this immensely difficult with digital capture because it is necessary to previsualise twice, once prior to capture and then again when you see the image on the computer screen. It even took me a long time to realise what the problem was but carried on shooting stock in colour. Well I am pleased to say that I think I have finally managed to get my head around the problem and can now 'see' again in black and white! What has all this got to do with the man on the bike? Well, he eventually managed to get the wheel out of the track and go off on his own way! You can see my black and white gallery here.

Honshu to Hindustan

Last weekend I took another foray into my increasingly interesting world of what is known in the UK as 'World Music'. I worked at the Asian Music Circuits' Summer School at Kingston University in south London. This great summer school is now in its 12th year, and this is the first time it has been residential, giving a diverse range of students the chance to interact in a way that only residential schools can. The atmosphere was tremendous, with an international group from as far away as Canada and Austria taking lessons from Masters of various genres of music including classical Chinese and Hindustani singing. There was tremendous energy from the Japanese drumming group (which included a rock drummer looking for new expression) tempered by the gentle melodic sounds of Indian stringed instruments, with the teaching being in very small groups, sometimes even at a one on one level. One non-residential Indian lady told me she had set the alarm at 4.30 a.m. just to get in to school in time for a private 'concert' from her tutor, and another confessed to missing a major family event just to fulfil this chance of a lifetime! Me, I just had a great time interacting with some great masters and photographing musicians from a world apart from the norm.