Chasing the Wind - Les Voiles de St Tropez

At the start of a new year I often find myself looking back over the shoots from the preceding 12 months and in 2014 one in particular stands out: Les Voiles de Saint Tropez.

Les Voiles - literally "The Sails" - take place from April to October across the French riviera.  Each race brings together some of the most beautiful traditional wooden yachts alongside the most extraordinary modern sailing boats for a week long regatta in beautiful ports such as Antibes and Saint-Tropez.

Forever blowing bubbles...

Another set of pics from last months Marylebone Summer Fayre - this time of Lucas Wintercrane and his fabulous bubbles...

Lucas is a professional juggler, British champion unicyclist and lifelong all round circus performer who charmed the adults and children alike with his myriad of bubbles.

Blurring the Lines - Twisting with the X-T1

Dance is one of the most brilliant and yet most difficult things to photograph well.  It involves split second timing, precise technique and a deep understanding of your subject.

So sometimes it is much better to throw away all the rules and try something completely new...!

Shooting in the dark...

X-T1 / XF55-200 at 200mm / 1/40s at f/5 / ISO6400

Photographing Classical Music often involves shooting in low light levels - especially when the concert involves multimedia and projections - and just such an event took place at London's LSO St Luke's earlier this month when the Aurora Orchestra, conducted by Nicolas Collon, performed "How Pure The Sky" with the countertenor Iestyn Davies and projections by Stanton Media.

LSO St Luke's is one of my favourite venues.  An 18th century Grade 1 listed Hawksmoor church, it has been beautifully restored to become a state-of-the-art concert hall and is a regular performance venue for the Aurora Orchestra - one of London's most innovative young chamber ensembles.

I have worked regularly with Aurora over the last 10 years and their events never fail to provide photographic opportunities - capoeira dancers, 3D printed miniature players, and Wallace & Gromit have shared the stage with them.  But on this occasion it was light - or lack of it - that gave the photographic challenge.