I'm not the center of the universe!!?!

"To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." 

Bertrand Russell

The thought of photographing strangers on the street has always terrified me.  I have looked at professional travel photography with awe, thinking that I'll never have the confidence to photograph people that I don't know.  Steve McCurry's 'Afghan Girl' is always the portrait that springs to mind when I think of such photographs and how far I am from being that kind of photographer.

So when I saw a tweet from Digital Photographer magazine asking if anyone wanted a street photography tutorial, I jumped at the chance.  As I was waiting for Carlo (my tutor from The Round Peg) and Claire from DP magazine to turn up, the realisation of becoming a London Street Photographer for the afternoon dawned on me and I thought about doing a runner!!

When Carlo and Claire arrived, they were so nice I couldn't think about leaving (also they had wedged me in, so I would have had to leap frog one of them!). We spent the first half an hour discussing some of the theoretical side, such as the legal position and image rights.  In short (and having trained as a lawyer, this does not come easily to me) it seems (another lawyer favourite: never commit to anything) photographing people on the street is permitted as long as it is not for an excluded reason, such as for commercial photography purposes or it amounts to harassment.  There is a great article on Siromo Photo's website here that summarises the law.  Although from a bit of research it seems that the UK courts are taking a slightly more relaxed stance to the European Courts, and so we may see a shift in the UK towards furthering an individual's right to privacy.

Carlo gave me loads of other great tips (which you'll have to go on his course to discover!), but the main ones were really to smile and not to think that everyone is looking at me.  He pointed out that I am not the center of the universe (errr what!?!) and that most people hadn't even noticed me taking their portrait.

There was one situation where the people being photographed got a little angry (see the picture of the nice man putting his finger up at me!) but generally people were more amused than anything.  The people that noticed that I was photographing them, smiled or gave me quizzical looks; some thought they were in my way, so quickly moved.  I had a great time as a street photographer.  It is easy to capture relaxed and interesting photographs in London as there is such variety in people, places and attitudes.  

I got to put my training into action at the Balham Street Festival.... more to come on that in the future blogs....

Joss and Ed's wedding photographs

What can I say?  This was such a magical day and so lovely of Joss to ask me to photograph her wedding in Guildford, Surrey.  Joss spent the day telling her guests that we used to play post offices when we were little.  I'm terribly embarrassed that she remembers, because I was pretty strict about my post office and not letting anything get out of order.

I hadn't seen Joss for about 20 years (when we last played post offices!) and she had changed a little.  Aside from being taller (!), she was the most beautiful bride and so easy to photograph.  Joss and Ed got married in Guildford Registry Office which is a lovely little venue, with great light falling in through the window onto the bride and groom to help make the wedding album look even better.  

The day began with a couple of hiccups: the hairdresser missed her train, so off I dashed in the car to grab her, and bride's brother getting locked in the car and an emergency rescue mission being launched (i.e. his mum dashing back to unlock said car and whisk him back to the waiting registrar and bridal party).  But other than that, the day went smoothly.

The wedding breakfast was held at Gate Street Barn wedding venue in Bramley.  The Barn is tucked in the Surrey hills to give a very intimate feel, but with enough space to take lovely relaxed wedding photographs.  Fortunately, I grew up in the area so was able to be a Guildford Wedding Photographer for the day without getting totally lost on the lanes that aren't even on the map!!!

So as usual, I've posted a selection of the Guildford wedding photographs above, but the full album is here.

Wedding photography at All Saints Church, Putney and the Star & Garter

Juliet and Guy's wedding was superb and I hope you can get a glimpse of that from the wedding photographs.  This is just a tiny selection; the full set are here.  It began with the preparations at Juliet's parents' house in Putney, before moving to All Saints Church on Putney Common.  The weather was beautiful, Juliet looked lovely, and the champagne flowed.  The service was give by Revd Chris Eyden.  It was a really interesting service about the symbolism of hands in marriage.  Revd Eyden talked about the exchange of rings to be worn on the ring finger of the left hand.  The reason, he explained, was that traditionally the right hand was the stronger, fighting hand, and the middle finger is the strongest, the pinkie is the weakest, the wedding ring sits in between the two.  Revd Eyden suggested this might be to symbolise the protection that marriage can bring and the strength your partner can give you when you are at your weakest.  What a lovely and comforting thought.

Interestingly, there is some disagreement about which hand the wedding rings should be worn.  The belief that the ring should be worn on the left hand can be traced back to ancient Egyptian times.  Egyptians represented eternity with the sign of a circle, and they chose the left ring finger as they believed that the vein came straight from the heart and was therefore known as the 'vein of love'.  This belief then seems to have been adopted through the ancient Greek times to current times as we know them.

Way back when the symbolism began, the ring would have been made out of reeds, or other biodegradable material.  It wasn't until much later that precious metals were used.  Interestingly Irish folklore says that it is bad luck to have a wedding ring made of anything but gold.  So remember that one girls, when he tries to give you a Haribo ring instead!!!

The wedding breakfast was then held at the Star and Garter in Putney.  What a fab location!!  It is right on the river, with a beautiful room and lovely staff (who went out of their way to find me some delicious grub!)

Sun, Clapham Junction and Olives, what more could you ask for!!?!

Dani and Janet Signori make the best olive oil I have ever tasted.  I'm not far off believing it must be the best olive oil in the world!!  The Corte del Signori sells olive oil all over the UK, selling in various farmers markets in and around London.  Dani and Janet, husband and wife, are some of the kindest and most giving people I have ever met.  (Dani is also slightly bonkers - when I first met him he was wearing his ripped Ugg boots in freezing snow whilst concocting new and exciting adventures for how to finish refurbishing his idylic olive grove properties in Italy).


Dani asked me to photograph the Clapham market on Lavendar Hill.  As an event and portrait photographer I jumped at the chance to document his stall and the customer experience that he was offering.  He sells his award winning olive oil (judged 4th best in the country by the Daily Telegraph) together with honey, fresh bread, cheese and a delightful mixture of other delicious delicacies. 

The Corte del Signori's olive oil is also good for you!  Here's why:
- it lowers cholesterol
- lowers the incidence of heart disease and cancer
- and whilst I was at the stall, one of his customers swears by rubbing it on their skin!!!

York Wedding Photography

Albert Einstein said that "Imagination is more important than knowledge".  Who am I to question Alby, but even with that little gem, I felt that knowledge and imagination could be a great thing as a wedding photographer.  Instead of being a London wedding photographer for the weekend, I grabbed my passport, camera and cassette tapes to learn northern phrases and headed for York where I was scooped up by Hull Wedding Photographer, Andy Crozier.  Andy and I worked together many moons ago as portrait photographers in Canada.

I had a great day, learning about different ways of doing things, from little things such as coordinating the confetti shot to larger and more important things like always carrying a pen knife in your bag for whatever emergency arises.  Amy and Dan, the bride and groom, were really, really lovely people.  So happy and friendly (I think it's a northern thing). I've attached a couple of the wedding photographs I took on the day for you to take a look at.

Andy is such a great photographer and always has a great rapport with his clients so it was lovely to see him in action.  If there is one thing that I have taken away from the day, it's that being a wedding photographer is more than just taking photographs.  It's a about putting all the pieces of the wedding day together; co-ordinating all the parties, the reception staff, the caterers, calming the bride and groom, moving the day on at the right time, keeping guests informed and most importantly, knowing how to attach the wedding buttonholes!!!

Fitness Photography

 

www.alexharrisoncripps.co.uk/prince

Prince by name, body building Prince by nature!

I met Prince in the magistrates court in Kingston (no I hadn't been naughty - it was back when I was training to be a lawyer!) he was one of the security guards looking after a prisoner I was working with.  In his spare time he worked on his body.. and a lot of work he must have put in too!  To photograph muscles it is important to get your subject to warm up first to wake up the muscles to make them more prominent.  I felt guilty making him do endless press-ups, but he seemed happy enough.

These are just a few of the pictures I took in the studio that day.  We used a mixture of light sources, but I found that one hard light was enough to give him a mean angry face and defined muscles.  This kind of lighting wouldn't work so well for female portrait photography but it worked well with Prince's muscular body.  The problem is that Prince's character is so charming and quiet it didn't seem to quite suit him.  It was all I could do to get him to stop giggling and grinning!

Faye the beautiful actress!

Faye came to me to take some headshots for her acting applications and her agent.  She was such fun to work with, telling us hilarious stories as she was getting her make-up done and then being a great sport in front of the camera.  We worked on several different lighting set ups.  I used natural light from one of the windows for some of the headshots and then added a reflector for fill light.   We then moved over to the studio set up where I used a couple of soft boxes and a variety of backdrops.

It's all in the eyes for actors' headshots, and Faye's eyes were beautiful.  The most interesting thing about photographing Faye is that she looks so different in different poses, hairstyles and backgrounds.  Above is a selection of shots from the day, the rest of the photographs can be found here.