Cairo revisited

Whilst searching for a file on my computer I came across a folder of images taken on a college trip to Cairo ten years ago. I hadn't seen the images for years and had forgotten about them since a friend (who is an Egyptologist) had asked me for some prints and I had scanned a few images for output - hence the border.
These images were not on my previous site and have never really seen the light of day (digitally speaking) so I thought it was a nice opportunity to post them here. Coming across the images I had a hunt and found all the original prints that I had kept in a little display book (from Muji), in the back of it are odd scraps/tickets/cards aswell as a few pictures - not taken by myself - of those who were on the trip. With everything being digital these days it was so nice to come across a book of prints and found/borrowed/stolen souvenirs, whenever I'm away traveling I always seem to keep hold of such items and it's shame to not display them in some way.
Going over the images has got me thinking about how it was to shoot then, I was shooting on film with a Pentax ME Super (you can see it round my neck in one of the small photos) with one prime lens, no zoom, no autofocus. Nowadays I'm out shooting with two camera bodies with a 24-105 and 70-200 lens and although I have a prime 50mm it very rarely gets used. Zooms are great when you are in a situation when you can't move but I've always felt that relying on the lens to get you closer takes a certain something away from the act of taking photographs. Plus the size and weight of these lenses can mean you're not as mobile or discreet as you would be with a small prime lenses. So coming across these images has really given me a reminder to use prime lenses more, I may even look into getting a focusing screen for my bodies to have the option of manual focussing to return to keeping things really simple - as they were in those days.

Three Mills Lock, Bow

A shoot for Construction Manager magazine focusing on the recent investment in British waterways, the canal routes in East London are being given a new lease of life thanks in part to the waterways now being increasingly used to ferry goods and materials to and from the Olympic site. This overlooked waterway also has the added benefit of offering an environmentally attractive alternative to the road network.

Malta edit

I'm going through my shots from Malta at the moment, as it's personal work i've therefore got the luxury of taking my time with the edit. I thought i'd also use the opportunity to experiment with some new image treatment techniques and i'll post up a selection of them shortly, here's one for now that was shot in the Maltese capital Valletta

After a lot of effort and hard work my new website is now live. I'm really pleased with the end product and the feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Initially a lot of time was spent on the design process of the site as it was important that it should be straightforward for visitors to navigate, it was also important that the site would load images quickly whilst also being fully updatable. I found a web developing company to realise my ideas for the sites navigation (I don't have a clue about code) and they did a really great job which I'm very grateful for. The new site will mean that this 'latest' section can now act as more of a blog, I originally started this 'blogspot' out of frustration at not being able to update my previous site with new work and used it as an outlet to show clients my recent commissions. Now that my new main site is fully updatable via a content management system it means I can use this 'latest' section to include more random and behind the scenes content to act as a kind of diary for my everyday working practices. Enjoy

Trouble on my doorstep (again)

Some shots here taken late last year during a second demonstration by right wing groups opposing the building of a new mosque in Harrow. The police had learned from their failure to control an earlier demonstration on the same site and closed off the area to the public only allowing protesters onto the site once searched for weapons.
The two sides were also kept apart thanks to the use of a line of 'wapping boxes' (crowd control barriers formed into squares and linked together in a line, you can't reach the person on the other side but a policeman's reach extended with a truncheon can certainly reach your head - so called after their use at the Wapping dispute - when News International moved out of Fleet Street to Wapping).

More pictures from the story can be seen here

On a jet plane

I'm recently back from a short getaway to Malta which was great, I'll post some pictures from the trip in the next couple of days. Here are some pictures taken on the outgoing flight with the travellers friend, the iphone. I've only had it for a short space of time and I'm loving the built in camera. There are many photo apps available to edit pictures, ones that I've come across and use all the time are: PS Mobile, Mill Colour, CameraBag and Photogene, the later being my favourite. It was a really early flight so once I'd finished playing with my phone I spent the rest of the flight looking like this guy below:

Christmas in Normandy

A few photographs here taken over Christmas spent with my family at my parents house in Normandy. Even though I try to switch off while I'm over in France for Christams I always have my Canon G9 with me, the mixture of wide open countryside and light (when the sun is out) always seems to have something to offer photographically

New Earth Solutions recycling plant, Bournemouth - Property Week

Photograph taken at my office (Silva's cafe WC1) with friends iPhone - thanks Denesh

Public realm study of Digbeth, Birmingham - Atkins Engineering

Franny Armstrong, head of 10:10 climate change campaign - Time Out Magazine

Accessible Retail conference, Royal Institute of Great Britain, Mayfair - Property Week