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I’m pleased as punch to donate my time as one of Festinho‘s official photographers. Festinho is a simply marvelous little charity music festival, where all proceeds raised go to support the ABC Trust and their amazing work with Brazil’s underprivileged children. I think Festinho is pretty special: I don’t think there is any other festival in the UK which is run entirely by volunteers and also gives ALL of its profits to charity. And even if there is, I am pretty darn sure that they could never put together such an incredible event. Every year I have the most fantastic time – and it seems so does everyone else, from the punters to the performers to the hard-working volunteers. Working hardly feels like work when you are surrounded by awe-inspiring English nature, great music, fantastic food and sunny smiley people.

This year the festival was at a new location called Hinwick House in Bedfordshire, so I was on a mission to capture the new site in all its glory – and believe me, there was plenty of glory to be found… from the secret woods, to the rolling hills to the beautiful house itself. I also managed to capture a few pirates (the fancy dress theme was Peter Pan), some of the stage acts and of course the general chilled-ness that was the croquet lawn. Have a look at the full set of photos that I took here on Flickr.

A huge thanks to all the members of The Camera Club who came out last night to attend my workshop. We even had to pull in a few extra chairs – I had no idea it would prove so popular. I look forward to running additional workshops in future, so if you have ideas of topics you’d like to see covered, please leave a comment. (Click here to get to the comments form).

For all the attendees last night, here are the notes on what we covered:

Photoshop for Portraits in a Nutshell PDF
(right-click to download)

Thanks again!

Next month I will be running a free workshop on using Photoshop for portrait photography. If you are just starting out with Photoshop or Elements and are confused by it all, or you’ve had a play around and want to tighten up your skills, this workshop is for you. It is designed to cover all the bases of standard photographic post-processing, allowing you to take your photography to the next level. I’ll be demonstrating how to use the core tools of Adobe Photoshop CS specifically for portraiture (most of the techniques also apply to Photoshop Elements).

You will learn how to:

- Use levels, curves and contrast adjustments to fine-tune your images
- Retouch like a pro (conceal wrinkles, smooth complexion, white teeth, make eyes stand out, etc)
- Use creative cropping, dodging & burning to create drama and enhance lighting
- Use creative blending modes to simulate ‘wet’ darkroom effects (ie sepia toning, cross-process, etc)

The event takes place on Monday 26 July from 7-9pm, and is free for all members of The Camera Club, so if you’re a member, please call the Club to sign up. If you’re not a member, you can join the Club for only £99 per year (£66 for seniors/students). Not only will you be able to attend my workshop, but you’ll also be able to take advantage of all other Club events and facilities.

I’ve been a member of The Camera Club for a little while now, and I have now been nominated to serve on the Committee this year. How exciting! I think this means it’s official that I am a photography geek, though it’s a title I welcome. I will mainly be helping make sure the Club runs smoothly, and who knows, I may even be able to offer some help to them in the online area, combining my two passions (my other job is as a web consultant).

The Camera Club is one of the world’s longest running photography clubs, having been established in 1885. It’s certainly one of London’s best kept secrets: as a member you can hire studios or darkrooms for incredibly reasonable prices, plus they run all sorts of events to help you improve your photography skills. You can learn about lighting, shooting better portraits, join group fashion or dance groups, or come along to a free photography talk – just to name a few. They are a lovely bunch of people, so if you are interested in photography, I reckon it’s definitely worth joining.

I was very honoured to qualify as a Runner Up for the 2009 Photographer of the Year competition, run by Practical Photography Magazine / sponsored by Jessops. Practical Photography is the UK’s longest running photography magazine, and they received tens of thousands of entries, so to make it as a runner-up is really rewarding, even though I didn’t win all the fantastic kit and prize money that the winner received.

My (almost) winning photo above is a shot I took late one night at the Shunt Vaults, which used to be one of London’s best kept secrets: an underground lair filled with art, music, dance and performance, tucked away beneath London Bridge station. Entry is through a secret doorway from within the station, giving the place an air of mystery from the outset. The folks who operate the Shunt performance group were lucky enough to turn the place into an amazing bar/art space, but sadly, the council decided to repurpose the space, so it’s now in the process of being converted into yet another bland shopping area full of chain stores. It’s really sad to see the place go, so I spent a few weekends there photographing everything I could.

I took this photo on a long exposure as someone walked past one of the arches under the railway bridge. I think it really captures the dark mystery of the space.

View the full-size image in my Arts & Events portfolio