Red & White Appeal Day

I met two of the ladies behind the Red & White Appeal at a Business Southampton networking event at Yuzu Lounge Bar just a week or so before their big 4th March appeal day.  With my Dad having recently spent a month at Southampton General Hospital, it was something I could relate to.  The effects of cancer have really hit home in the last year.  Anything that can be done to make the life's of people suffering from this bastard condition has only to be a good thing.  So earlier this week I decided not only to donate my time to photograph their event but also to make the Red & White Appeal my chosen charity for 2011.

The day started early with a business networking breakfast at Dockgate 4 Bar & Grill.  A year ago I'd promised myself not to do any more networking breakfast meetings, but there is always the exception to the rule.  After raising £££'s at Dockgate 4 it was onto the main event taking place at WestQuay Shopping Centre throughout the day.

Events kicked off at WestQuay with TheCoast106FM's Matt Hopper presenting his show live from the shopping centre.  Over the next 3 hours amongst other things Matt interviewed Duncan Preston who is currently appearing in To Kill A Mockingbird at Southampton's Mayflower Theatre, and we were also treated a little bit of live music in the form of up and coming singer / song writer Josh Bray.

A quick thanks to Bob Hoad, managing director from TheCoast106FM for buying everyone tea and cake.  Cheers Bob!

We did promotional shots with the "star" outside various WestQuay stores, including John Lewis, Clinton Cards, Krispy Kreme (yes we did get some free doughnuts from them!), Pumpkin Patch, and Millie's Cookies.  When else am I ever going to get to photograph a "star" on the escalator in the middle of John Lewis again?!

There were also Las Vegas style showgirls (kindly provided by Abi @ Daze Entertainment), and two wonderful dance troupes entertain and amuse shoppers thoughout the day.

Having spent the day with the people behind the scenes at the Red & White Appeal it's clear they are passionate about what they do.  I was proud and happy to have been a small part of their big day.

These are just a very small collection of the photos taken on the day.  If you were involved and want any of the images for PR use, please contact Amy @ Red & White Appeal.

Sunset over Southampton

After all the rain we had on Sunday the last thing I was expecting was a beautiful sunset, but that's just what we had.  I took these photos from the town quay, arguably the best place in Southampton to watch the sunset from.

Old Walls of Southampton

It had been raining for most of the day and I nearly decided to stay home, but I forced myself out and went out on a little photowalk around Southampton this afternoon.  Although cold, the skies cleared a just enough.  We were treated to a wonderful sunset from the townquay.

These are a few shots I took of  the old walls of the city, photographed a little differently than I ever have before.

Camera used: Canon S95.

Chinese New Year Celebrations in Southampton

I arrive at Southampton's Guildhall Square as everything was finishing, and just before the march through town. That'll teach me to find out what times things are running.

I'm not particularly happy with the photos I got, but considering I arrived late, the wind was blowing a gale and the lighting was "kinda meh" at best, they're not so bad.

Anyways, enjoy, or not.  :-)

Happy New Year!

Event Photography in Southampton

Event photography is a different sort of photography.  It's about being a fun addition to the evening and of course to help them remember the event, in this case a New Years Eve party at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club.  As you can see the photo, quality kind of goes out of the window for my event photography.  Normally I'd never "sell" a client a photo with the background all over the place like this, but event photography is about capturing a moment, not so easy when you have 6 slightly drunk subjects!

For most of the events I do, I pitch up without charging the organiser, and then charge party guests on the night for printed photos to take home with them.  It's a bit of a gamble for me, more-so because I'm rubbish at selling.  If I don't sell prints, I go home empty handed.

The other way of doing things is to charge the organiser a set rate for a package of a certain number of prints...  The latter approach works best at events like weddings where charging the wedding guests isn't really the done thing.

If you're looking for an event photographer in the Southampton area please think of me.

Worst weather I've ever had to shoot in

Last Wednesday I had a fitness photoshoot with Henrik scheduled.  The day before I checked the weather forecast, it looked bad.  I gave him the chance to re-schedule, but he'd been dieting and training hard for Wednesday, and was travelling at the weekend so re-scheduling wasn't an option.

The day came, and the weather was indeed awful.  Cold, wet, and windy.  It's at times like this I wish I had a studio.

So to plan b it was.  We started the shoot in the Bargate Centre multi-storey carpark in the centre of Southampton.  This time instead of holding a reflector, my assistant was holding an umbrella over the camera.  A couple of outfit changes later and we were ready for a hot cup of tea.

Next location was under the car park at the East Street centre.  It was a little odd for me because my Gran used to live right opposite, and I can imagine her looking out of her kitchen window and enjoying the sight of Henrik!

The last location, and the coldest, wettest and windiest of all was near the Itchen Bridge.

Shoot over, we battled through the worst than normal traffic to the DeVere Grand Harbour Hotel where all three of us enjoyed a big fat burger!

It was easily the worst weather I've ever had to shoot in, but strangely I still enjoyed the challenge, and I really rather like some of the moody photos.

Netley Marsh Steam Show

I've been meaning to go for years, but never quite got around to paying the Netley Marsh Steam Show a visit until today.

Arriving a little later in the afternoon had two benefits., most people were leaving, and unexpectedly there was no one on the gate to collect money so we were able to walk on in for free.  Bonus!

A floating block of flats

It's never going to win any awards for beauty, but you still have to be impressed by the sheer size and general ugliness of the Celebrity Eclipse.  Pictured here as it was leaving Southampton a week or so ago.

Photos from the Mayflower Park

I was concentrating more on filming the events on Saturday evening than taking photos, but here's a few anyway for your viewing pleasure.

These were all taken during the celebrations in Southampton's Mayflower Park on Saturday evening to coincidence with the naming of the new P&O boat the Azura.

Celebrations for the Azura naming in Southampton

So, my first ever properly put together movie.

It's the first time I've gone out with my Canon 5D Mark II with the sole purpose of putting together a short film from the footage.  My subject was the celebrations in the Mayflower Park, Southampton for the naming of the P&O boat Azura.  As I couldn't get near the boat I was concentrating on the goings on at the park and the firework finale.

I shot everything except the fireworks hand held and I know I'd have been better off using a tripod.  I'm quite pleased with the results, and very pleased with the amazing quality from the 5D.  The quality of this little camera is so good even the professionals are starting to use it.  The season finale to House has apparently been filmed exclusively with the 5D.  Interesting times indeed.

If there are any proper film makers reading this, I'd quite like to pick your brains.  I feel my editing is kinda "meh"...  "so so..." at best.  I'd like to improve it, but I really don't know how.

Update:  Yes I'm aware the music is kinda awful.  It's all I have.  If anyone would like to donate me 3 minutes of music that would work for this film it would be muchly appreciated.

Photowalk in Southampton

Okay so it wasn't exactly much of a walk, from one end of the Town Quay to the other and back again, but I managed to sneak a few photos in, and even got some that I rather like.

I've played around with some HDR on some of them, and the lead photo with the Red Funnel ferry in is one I particularly like.

Azura in Southampton

I don't think its ever going to win any beauty contests, but it is rather impressive.  The P&O Azura arrived in Southampton on Wednesday and its going to be officially named on Saturday evening.

Saints got hammered

So having been offered a couple of tickets I pick the Saints vs Pompey FA Cup game in 2010 as my first ever football match. Many said I was crazy, and yes I admit I did first check to make sure the seats were as far away from the Pompey fans as possible.

Okay so Southampton FC got their arses well and truly kicked with the 4-1 result, I ended up with very cold feet, but it was kind of fun.  Not exactly sure I'd be in a hurry to go to another game, if I ever did I'd want to be sitting on the touchline with a big lens and able to take more than a few snapshots.  However it's something to check off the list.