Messenger Appreciation Day

Well then, today is messenger appreciation day.

A day to celebrate your local couriers and thank them for the hard work they do for you on a daily basis. Although being couriers we usually have to look out for ourselves and appreciate each other.

So to do my part I bring you my favourite shots from Robin and Tanja's wedding that I shot (along with fellow courier Selim) last week.

Robin has been a courier for many years and he and Tanja met at the Cycle Messenger World Championships in Copenhagen back in 2002. A hard working courier, father and now husband.

We appreciate you

Enjoy

Can't stop the wedding, don't want to either....

So, I'm sure most of you have now seen the movie Premium Rush by now right?

Well yes, that's what I have been doing for the last 11 years. Speeding around town on my bike, delivering the goods and generally being one coooooooooooool dude ;)

Or something like that.

Actually the reality is a lot less glamourous and a lot wetter and colder. But we do have a great community/family and next weekend one of us is getting married.

So in a courier styleeeee, an alley cat stag race was organised (along with the pub etc afterwards) and much fun was had.
If you haven't seen the film and if you don't know what an alley cat race is I'm sure you can find enough info with a quick Google. It's a street race, couriers have been doing them for decades. I suppose you could compare it to illegal drag strip racing or something like that.
The race kicked off from Warner St EC1, a tip of the hat to a long past but not forgotten era of The Duke of York. London's most infamous 'courier pub' now retired, was just round the corner and Warner St was always the starting point for the races.
With a swift dash down into Victoria and then back up to Islington via Kings Cross the race finished in a little residential square. Before heading off to the pub for some slightly more traditional stag activities, the latest instalment of 'street keirin' was held and the wet surface of the square added to the challenge.

Me and and fellow courier/photographer Selim Korycki shot the event for the groom as I'm sure he won't remember much.


It has been a while since I had shot on a prime lens. I forgot how much I enjoy it and how much I love my 28mm. Less searching through the focal length's and more diving in to grab the shot. Journo style ;)



Here are a few of my favourites and the rest can be found on my Flickr HERE

Ealing Studios & Tony Benn

Ok so the post is a day late, I'm a busy guy. What can I say?

This week I was contracted for two days, shooting unit stills over at Ealing Studios.
It was on a feature documentary about the life of Tony Benn, the retired MP and old school member of the Labour party amongst numerous other titles.
During his career he was, as he would put it, a sign post and not a weather cock. Sticking to his views and beliefs even if it caused him to become unpopular in certain circles, whilst others went with whatever the current popular opinion was.

Whatever your political views are, it is always interesting to sit and listen to the stories from a person who was actually there.
The film is also very much about the man himself as he tries to explain more about how his political position and vilification in the media affected his family and home life. He spoke of his regrets and of his life now.

It was a very interesting set to work on and an honour to meet him.

The documentary is called Will and Testament.

And to add the extra cherry on the top we were shooting on stage 2 of Ealing Studios.
Ealing is the worlds oldest continuously working film studio in the world!!!



Until I get clearance to post any production shots, here are my personal geeky shots.

Enjoy.............

Me, geeking out in front of studio 2.

Up on the grid, way about the sound stage floor. Its is one seriously cool looking grid.

You can really see how old the studios are and can only imagine who has been up there over the years.

Another for my pitch black collection.

Wrap day group photo of the whole team (minus me) with Tony Benn in the middle.

Idol Issue 4 Launch Party

So last night I did a little bit of events photography for the lovely folk at Idol magazine.

It was the launch party for issue 4 of the mag and was held at the private members club 'Apartment 58'
in Soho's Poland st.

The night went very well with an amazing turnout. Faces from across the industries turned up, from fashion to music and design.
It was an interesting job and a nice little excercise in eventw work. As you know from this blog I much prefer ambient light shots to flash. But I was doing the 'pap' pic's of the guests as well so it was a challenge switching between the two all night.
There is nothing like a little challenge to keep you on your toes and remind you to always up your game.

Here is two of my fav shots from the night

and another

Technical Problems

No, I haven't bene re-deisgning the blog :( 

We have had a problem with the Blogger template and so far we cant locate the backup file. This one has been uploaded very quickly just to keep the blog active but you may notice that the follow button do not work properly etc.

We shall have it back to normal as soon as possible. If anyone happens to know the name of the previous template that would be a great help incase we have to start from scratch. 

Thanks for you patience 

In the meantime, if you want to find my twitter it is @12clicksaway