My latest gadget! - the Lightsphere II

Having seen several of these items being used at a recent trade show and being impressed by the results, I plunked down my cash at BJM Imports website and bought a Lightsphere II, a light diffuser system which provides a large, soft source without creating flare on the front of your lens. I also bought an Amberdome to use when combining flashlight with tungsten light and as a warming feature.

I show below, my very first use of the Lightsphere II taking pictures of a stall holder in a local market on a gloomy day - today! I think the quality of the light is lovely, not at all like the usual "rabbit in the lights" look you get with on camera flash. I have still to assess what happens with varying levels of fill flash, rear curtain sync etc. and may post more examples in the future. I will still use my Elinchrom flash on location most of the time because it allows me much more control, but I think on many occasions the Lightsphere will give me studio like light straight out of the camera bag!


The Lightsphere was invented and produced by an American photographer called Gary Fong who is quite a character and has made lots of money from photography, the Lightsphere, a number of software and album products, vacation property rental and lecturing - it really shows what can be done by hard work, positive thinking and talent!

Strange goings on @ the Estorick Collection

For some reason I keep coming back to the elements of this picture: a room at the Estorick Collection, a small museum in Islington and two girls I photographed in the King's Road Chelsea.
This time what emerged was a Dali-esque confrontation of the two girls with themselves, perhaps triggered by the flying picture which may absorb their image/souls?

Happy Christmas to all my readers

A white Christmas in Fulham a few years ago! What will this year bring? and with global warming 10, 20 years from now?

Best wishes to you all for this Christmas and the New Year.

Two recent portraits - Adam Zamoyski & Caroline Michel

I recently photographed Adam Zamoyski, the historian and writer of many books including The Polish Way - a Thousand Year History of the Poles and Their Culture and most recently 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow.

A few days later I photographed Caroline Michel, Managing Director of the William Morris Agency (UK) Ltd. when commissioned to photograph key staff for press relations and internal communications purposes. Founded in 1898, the William Morris Agency (WMA) is the largest and most diversified talent and literary agency in the world, with principal offices in New York, Beverly Hills, Nashville, London, Miami Beach and Shanghai.

The Agency represents clients in all segments of the entertainment industry, including Motion Pictures, Television, Music and Personal Appearances, Broadway Theatre and Theatrical Touring, Book Publishing, Commercial Endorsements, Sports Marketing and Corporate Consulting.

Caroline began her career in publishing at Chatto & Windus, before becoming part of the team that launched Bloomsbury Publishing. She then moved to Orion, after which she ran Vintage paperbacks at Random House for ten years. Then became the Managing Director and Publisher of HarperPress, a division of HarperCollins Publishers before moving to WMA. Caroline sits on the board of the British Film Institute and on the Man Booker Prize advisory committee.

Face on a phone box

I liked this bit of graffiti on a phonebox in Knightsbridge, London, snapped with my Leica M6 on a rainy day. The sticker for "design brighton" seemed to fit.