Event: London Street Photography - October 24th
Come and join me in London on October 24th for another great, FREE event!
On Saturday 24th October I'll be joined by a group of photographers from the Ready Steady Pro and Guild of Photographers community as we host the next annual Free Annual London Photo Walk, capturing the sights and sounds of one of the worlds most multi-cultural and colourful cities.
This walk is open to absolutely everyone, it's a public event and you're all welcome to join. I would however ask that you simply register so that we don't set off without you on the day and so that we can exchange contact information should anyone get separated from the group, which does happen. (registration details at the bottom)
In what will be the 3rd year in a row that we've hosted this photo walk in October we are making a few slight changes to the format and the locations we take in as part of our route.
Those wanting lunch may want to get something to eat from Camden before the walk begins. The Worlds End Pub, where we are meeting seems to serve food and is open from 11:00am. You can of course arrange with others in the Facebook Group to meet up early among yourselves, if you'd like?
The Details
Meeting Place: The World's End Pub - Camden
Meeting Time: 12:00
Walk Start Time: 12:30
Coffee Break: Circa 4:30pm
Dinner: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
The Route:
1. Camden Market and Camden Lock
Starting at (ironically) The World's End Pub in the vibrant & busy Camden area we'll start with a drink and a meet and greet. I'm sure we'll do the "Ooh what are you shooting with" conversation before moving on outside to Camden Market, heading slowly north towards Camden Lock. We'll go at a very steady pace with those wanting to speed on ahead welcome to do so. Camden will give us a great opportunity to get some shots right off the bat in the busy area. It's renowned for it's alternative culture and so should prove to be something slightly different, particularly for those not familiar with that area of London.
After an hour or so at Camden we'll back up again at The World's End Pub to get the group back together before jumping on the tube (which is right outside) before making our way south to Leicester Square using the Northern Line of the Tube:
2. Leicester Square & China Town
Just 6 stops away from Camden we'll find ourselves back on the surface at Leicester Square, heading towards China Town; a bustling and compact area of London that is always sure to provide a photograph or two. Being nearly all on one street, China Town is likely to give around 30 minutes or so of photo opportunities before we're itching to move on. That is of course unless there are some real 'fisherman' among us: those who prefer to sit and wait for that all elusive storytelling moment.
3. Soho
When we get through China Town we'll be heading towards Soho, specifically Berwick Street, which hosts a market every day except Sunday Market: and giving us yet another great chance to photograph people as they buzz around the market unaware of us as we photograph them. Market's always provide a great opportunity and a market in Soho is even better!
4. Carnaby Street (Coffee Stop Circa 4:30pm)
Conveniently, after an hour so in Soho we'll be close to Carnaby Street , which is not only another good spot for photographs, but also, as previous attendees of this walk will attest is an ideal place for our next coffee stop as we take up residence in the basement of 'The Deparment of Coffee and Social Affairs'. These guys sell some amazing coffee and their cakes aren't too bad either. The basement of this little coffee shop offers us a chance to all pull chairs around a table (or rather to pull tables together and completely re-arrange everything!) and take stock of the day so far, talk again about cameras and what else it is we do with our photography.
The length of our stop will be totally determined by the conversation, weather and what the group wants to do.
5. Piccadilly Circus
For those wanting to continue on we'll then head south towards Piccadilly Circus - an area popular among tourists. There will no doubt be selfie sticks aplenty here as visitors to the Capital try to get a photograph of themselves with the famous Picadilliy Lights (or, 'The Curve' as it's now being referred to).
6. Options: Covent Garden, Embankment, South Bank
Our ultimate end destination will be The South Bank, south of The River Thames. If at this point the group would prefer to make a bee-line and head directly to that point we can. Alternatively, we can make our way eastwards towards Covent Garden before heading to Embankment and then over the bridge to South Bank.
7. Food
At this point in the day, which will be somewhere in the region of 6pm - 7pm you are invited to join us for a meal on the South Bank. We'll put it to a vote to decide where to eat.
Interested? Register your place:
You can register your place many ways:
Those who are a member of the Guild of Photographers can confirm their place using the event in the Guild Facebook Group. (The Guild of Photographers is a member organisation requiring registration)
If you'd prefer you can join Ready Steady Pro on Facebook, completely free of charge of course and register your place using that event page
Alternatively, if you're not on Facebook or would prefer not to join either group you can simply complete the form below:
My top 3 Inspirational photographers...and why
When I started looking at mirrorless cameras I naturally looked to find the best work that was being produced with the technology and looked for photographers using the system almost exclusively (or in some cases completely exclusively). I wanted to see what was possible with these cameras.
Having opted to go the Olympus route, I started looking specifically for Olympus photographers who were pushing the OM-D's to their limits and beyond. I found a few photographers who still today remain quite inspirational to me, but all for very different reasons.
In this post I want to share with you some of my favourite photographers shooting with the Olympus OM-D range of Micro Four Thirds cameras today. These guys were the proof, in my eyes, that this was a system capable of producing professional work. The photographers here in this post confirm what a great set up the Olympus OM-D system really is.
Here are my top 3 Inspirational Olympus Micro Four Thirds Photographers:
1. Neil Buchan Grant
Neil is a photographer who I found by accident and whose work I love more each time I look at it. With the other names in this post I went actively seeking their work on the internet, Googling 'Best Olympus Photographers', but Neil's was a body of work I stumbled across long before I had my heart set on Olympus, but Neil's work was also what set Olympus apart from the mirrorless competition.
Clean, beautiful and mesmerising. Neil's is a portfolio I go back to look through frequently and I always stop to admire each photograph in detail, rather than skip through quickly as is so easily done nowadays.
Neil was the first Olympus photographer whose work I can remember coming across as it was a portrait of his being used to promote the Olympus OM-D E-M5 in many magazines and on many websites. At the time I hadn't realised it was Neil's, but after picking up an E-M5 and continuing the research I found the portrait again in a blog post titled 'The Olympus E-M1 takes Manhatten!'. This was the portrait that stopped me in my tracks:
Photographer: Neil Buchan Grant
Model: Irina Sosnova
As you may know I host the Ready Steady Pro Photography podcast and after making contact with Neil online I knew I just had to get him on the show for an interview. I interviewed Neil for the Ready Steady Pro Photography Podcast back in 2014, in which Neil shared a great insight into his success as a travel photographer and his work photographing models and people in general. Don't get me wrong though, Neil does not make it into this list purely because he is a friend. Neil Buchan-Grant was always going to be the first name on this list!
For me, Neil is a photographer who is setting the benchmark and is a shining example of what is possible with Olympus Micro Four Thirds cameras. That said though, hand this guy any camera and I'm sure he'd produce gold every time. Which, is why I see the fact that Neil uses Olympus cameras as a seal of approval for me.
Website: http://buchangrant.4ormat.com/
2. Steve Gosling
Landscape photographers typically go for larger sensors and lots of megapixels, but that naturally means bigger gear and more weight. The Olympus OM-D range lends itself neatly to shooting landscapes and no-one proves this better than Steve Gosling.
Steve seems to have a knack for the 'epic': his work and his portfolio is simply outstanding and full of photographs that are executed to a masterful degree. Technically and creatively Steve Gosling is a photographer I look to, to be reminded exactly how a photograph should be made and also how a black and white should be processed! Steve's work without doubt could be considered as fine art, with his portfolio containing some very unique and very captivating mono landscapes, featuring contrasty and impactful scenes.
I'm mad for black and white, as anyone who knows me will attest, which is likely one of the reasons why I'm drawn to Steve's striking and stellar landscape photography:
Photographer: Steve Gosling
Another feature of Steve's work is a beautiful sense of film that is rare in todays digital age. For me Steve's style and approach produce landscape photographs with a wonderful sense of atmosphere. There is so much to love about Steve's work, but at the end of the day it possess a special ingredient that I just can't put my finger on. A je ne sais quoi if you will (if I'm allowed to be so cliche).
Steve's is a portfolio I can stare at for a great length of time and who's work I would love to have hanging on my walls as large prints.
3. Thomas Leuthard
I'd go as far to say that Switzerland-based Thomas Leuthard is a modern day great in the realm of street photography. A name I think that will be synonymous with the discipline in decades to come.
Just as with Neil and Steve's work, Thomas Leuthard's photographs have impact and posses the ability to make you stop to look closer and inspect the scene. Sillhouettes, low key and beautful deep shadows are a feature or Thomas' portfolio, but expect to see some impressive street / candid portraits too:
Photographer: Thomas Leuthard
When you're out on the street with the camera it's not always the case that all of the right elements will fall into place for you to just capture a great shot, but Thomas seems to have a sharp and well trained eye for a story within a scene. Making use of textures, shadows, framing and reflections: there is always some more than just the image at first glance in Thomas' portfolio.
With an almost Ansel Adams-esque feel to Thomas' work you'd be forgiven for thinking that work on Thomas' site wasn't produced by the man himself: it seems as though the scene is set and Thomas is waiting for his character to walk onto that set and he does...every time. The difference between Ansel and Thomas though is that all of Thomas' work is clean, sharp and crisp: a testament to the innate skill that Thomas has no doubt developed after hours and hours on the streets with his camera.
A true talent with a body of work I find myself returning to on a regular basis. A benchmark for modern-day street photography has been set and Thomas Leuthard is the photographer who has done that.
Website: http://thomas.leuthard.photography
What do you think?
For more work from Neil Buchan-Grant, Steve Gosling and Thomas Leuthard be sure to visit their sites using the links in this post. Subscribe to the blogs, follow them on social media and keep an eye out for their work: these guys never fail to impress!
Copyright
Please note that all photographs featured in this post have been used with the express permission of each photographer. I would like to thank Neil, Steve and Thomas for their generosity in allowing me to use their photographs here on the blog!
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London Photo Walk Ready Steady Pro & The Guild of Photographers
Twice a year I put together a photowalk in London. I love the place and am there every week, but there is nothing quite like getting together with a group of like-minded creatives and walking the streets with your camera!
On April 18th this is exactly what we did, with members of the Ready Steady Pro and Guild of Photographers communities invited we had 26 participants on the day, making for a relatively large crowd!
We lost half the group for a short while and decided to make a coffee stop. This was about half of the cameras that were there on the day! (Interesting to see so many mirrorless cameras eh!)
Thanks to everyone that came, I had a blast and loved meeting so many new people and making new friends. Of course, it was great to also catch up with some more familiar faces too.
In terms of photography it probably wasn't a vintage day for me personally as I spent so much time chatting with other people on the walk. Settings, gear, creativity and tips: so many people wanted to know so many things! To see my photographs scroll to the bottom of this post, but I really wanted to share some photographs from some of the photographers that attended on the day. Be sure to check them out online and show them some love!
(All of these photographs have been used with the permission of the respective photographer. Please respect copyright laws and do not use, reproduce or modify these photographs in anyway without first seeking approval from the photographer in question):
Copyright Katy Memon
Copyright Katy Memon
Copyright Joseph Zee
Copyright Glenn Parker
Copyright Paul Gray
Copyright Paul Gray
Copyright Paul Griffiths
Copyright Tony Jones of Oakhouse Photography
Copyright Tony Jones of Oakhouse Photography
Copyright Eric Pang
Copyright Eric Pang
My Photographs
Here are a small selection of my own photographs from the day:
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If you're interested in joining a future photo walk or want to know more about these events please do get in touch. The best way to stay up to date is to subscribe to this blog and I'll email you to let you know when future dates are announced!
Gear for Street Photographers
On April 18th I'll be hosting another great photowalk in London! If you're a subscriber to the blog then you may have already seen that this walk will be something slightly different to the usual walk.
Previously, walks have started in the morning with us stopping for lunch, however, this walk will start at 1pm and see us take in quite an extensive route. We'll make a 4pm stop in Covent Garden, whereby those wanting to join the walk at a later time can meet us then.
The idea behind the later start is so that we can stay out later and photograph London at night! The sights and scenes change when the sun goes down and of course the way you shoot will also have to change: higher ISO's, lower shutter speeds and pockets of illuminations. There's more though: long exposures and cityscapes.
After the sun sets we'll stop for a bite to eat before heading back out into the city to photograph some long exposures of The River Thames
Tripods
With this walk starting at 1pm, so the idea of carrying around a large and heavy tripod for the entire day may sound very unattractive indeed, so I wanted to propose that those of you joining us have a good look at the Gorillapod's from Joby.
I've got the Gorrillapod with a ball head for my Olympus and it's excellent: fits neatly into my bag and has a ball head too. It's incredibly light and superbly useful! I've tried a few other solutions, but to be honest the Gorillapod is the best of them all.
They come in different sizes and there options with and without ball heads. If you're interested in picking one up you can get them reasonably priced through Joby's shop on Amazon, right here:
Gorillapod for CSC's (Fuji, Sony A7's, Olympus etc)
http://bit.ly/joby-gorillapod-csc-ballhead
£23.66
Gorillapod for DSLR's
http://bit.ly/joby-gorillapod-slr-ballhead
£39.99
Join Us
If you're interested in coming along for the walk simply register your interest over on the events page. Or, if you're a member of Ready Steady Pro, or The Guild of Photographers you can confirm your attendance using the events page for those Facebook communities too.
See you on April 18th!!