blast from the past - London Eye

Back in the summer of 2007 I took a gamble and entered a major photographic competition by the then sponsors of the London Eye British Airways, the competition was in celebration of hitting it's 25 millionth customer to take a ride on the Eye - Tracey Emin was the guest judge. Before this competition I had only entered local competitions which I was lucky enough to win also. My point is that entering competitions is a great way to measure the level you are at and to get your name out there. Recently on a workshop I had a couple of images critiqued it was such a great learning tool because it has made me more aware of the fine details of the image which I honestly had never noticed before, you should never be scared to have your work critiqued as you'll learn a great deal.

The reason I am writing this is because I am a definately going to enter work into the SWPP and WPPI print competitions next year, I am going to push myself this year to improve and development my skills and will use these competitions to gage how my progress is going heading into 2012.....

I've attached below my London Eye shot which won me regional winner, it was on display outside the London Eye for around two months, I did at the time visit the Eye loads to watch people looking at my image, it was such a buzz ...lol...

January = An educational month for me.....

So it's February already, this year has started off at a wirlwind pace, it's crazy how fast these years are going....

I dedicated January to learning and improving my skills, I attended two location seminars and the trade show run by the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) as well attending the awesome Adam Alex Workshop last week.  I met so many wicked people on the workshop and learnt so much in the three days, I've come away with a massive to do list, a more focused approach to lighting and posing which I can't wait to implement in future shoots.  The way Adam works with light is stunning and anyone who has an interest in portrait photography should study his work and if you want to take your photography to the next level then book yourself a place on his next workshop.

The two seminars I mentioned were run by John Denton (see images below) and Damian McGillicuddy, two outstanding photographers and great teachers in their own right, this was another great investment and I learnt so much just by watching how they work. 

The closed London Underground station - Aldwych, was the location for the John Denton seminar, the location really intrigued me as it was like you were stepping back in time.  The station closed in 1994 due to lack of passengers and at the time they needed to replace the lifts so it was deemed to expensive in relation to the income generated by the station therefore the decision was made to close it.  The station is now a popular filming location and has been used in such films as Atonement, 28 Weeks Later, The Krays, Patriot Games, The Good Shepherd, and Creep.

I would love to do more shoots in the station, as a location you really couldn't ask for more it just oozes creativity - a photographers paradise....

I hope you enjoy the images I personally love all the old posters on display....

The Wedding of Emma & Scott at the Haymarket Hotel, London

Finally their wedding day had arrived, I had been looking forward to this for what seemed an eternity.... The dinner suit had been hired the camera kit prepared and the wedding day was upon me, with hindsight I should of tried on the dinner suit before the wedding day to make sure it fitted well, to my disappointment I'd given the hire company the wrong neck measurements to say it was a little snug on the old adams apple was an understatement, once I got used to the feeling of being strangled I was all good to go....

Their wedding had to be one of the hottest days of the year and to say I was a little warm was an understatement haha, anyway my problems aside the day was truly amazing.... Every part of the hotel is a photo opportunity, if I ever win the lottery I will definitely be hiring the place for a future photoshoot :)

Weddings like Emma and Scott's makes me love this industry so much, it's a great honour to be given the responsibility to capture the imagery that will last for generations of their future families, pushing myself and working as hard as possible makes all worthwhile when you exceed your clients expectations.  Their slideshow is the biggest I've ever created for a wedding and I believe it captures their wedding perfectly, oozing the love, emotion and style that was in abundance on the day.....

The highlight for me was their first dance as they had some great rhythm on the dance floor I can't wait to see the video, it was like a movie scene, their first dance was to Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" an absolute classic and it had all the smoothness of a Tarantino movie.... I had to keep reminding myself to shoot as I was enjoying it so much, it's definitely gave me ideas for my first dance if I ever get married haha...

I really hope you love viewing the images and slideshow below as much as I've loved creating them and If you haven't seen Emma and Scott's Pre-Wedding shoot then you can do so by clicking here.

I look forward to hearing all your thoughts....

Have a great day.....

(if you are reading this on facebook then you can view their amazing slideshow by going directly to http://www.gavinconlangallery.com/slideshow/halsey)