Music Publishers Association - AGM

The Music Publishers Association held its Annual General Meeting on Thursday 25 June and I was commissioned to cover it.

Stephen Navin as Spock introduces the speakers

As stated on the MPAonline website “Reaching for the Stars” gave representatives of twelve different sectors of the music industry 3 minutes each to make the case for their ticket to join songwriters and artists on a shuttle heading for a new musical universe. Having listened to all speakers - see below:

The audience of MPA members and invited guests voted for the six representatives who they felt had made the most compelling case for the importance of their sector in connecting songwriters and artists with music fans.

Voted on to the shuttle were the music publisher (of course), the broadcaster, promoter, educator, online service provider and record label. Left behind in the departure room were the collecting society, artist manager, trade association, tastemaker, record retailer, and the lawyer.

Whilst the votes were counted Daniel Ek, co-founder of Spotify, gave some clues as to his future plans for the service in conversation with Emmanuel Legrand (editor, Impact magazine).

Daniel praised the new streaming rates announced by PRS for Music in May as part of its new Online Music Licence and stated his opinion that “the future of the music industry is in an access model”. He also raised the prospect of a Spotify app for the iPhone. Asked to give his own thoughts on “Reaching for the Stars” Daniel responded diplomatically: “There are a lot of brilliant people in the music industry. There’s a future for all of them in different shapes and forms”.

Formal business of the AGM

Earlier in the afternoon the formal business of the AGM had included reports from Nigel Elderton (chairman, MPA), Stephen Navin (chief executive, MPA) and, in his capacity as executive director of the MPA’s subsidiary company MCPS, Steve Porter (CEO, PRS for Music) and much else besides.

A selection of the pictures appears as a gallery on the MPAonline website and others will be shown in IMPACT magazine.

A corporate photoshoot: for Car leasing made simple

I recently completed a photoshoot for Car leasing made simple (Automotive Finance & Leasing Ltd), photographing their directors, staff and offices, with a brief to shoot both head and shoulders shots and images of people at work, with a look that reflected the professional yet informal style of working and quality office space that supports a successful business.


A clear brief from Paul Fagan, Sales & Marketing Director and with very helpful co-operation from all management and staff, made the shoot go easily.

South Kensington, light, mobiles & a bear!

This Saturday, I spent an hour with my Leica M8 and a 21mm F.2.8 lens walking round South Kensington, along the Old Brompton Road, Gilston Road, the Boltons, marveling at the light and leafiness of it all!



Then someone drove by talking on the phone and the turquoise of the mobile, on inspection matched perfectly the ladies bag on the left, again with this luminous light.


A few minutes later, two men talking on their mobile created a slightly surreal scene.


The need to look where one is going, when having a camera in-hand made it self apparent with a classic banana skin, waiting to send me flying, and blackened by the sun presented itself on the pavement.

Later that day in a different part of town and by then, on the hottest day of the year, I sympathised with a bear! trying to entice recession bound parents to spend their cash in the Fulham Road, Polo Ralph Lauren store for kids!


All in all - a nice little outing for the M8 and me.

Eating at St John with the LondonEater

Last week I had the privilege of trying out a new (for me) restaurant with Kang Leong, foodie, photographer and restaurant guide who tells all through his blog the LondonEater.

As Kang says "LondonEater is a London foodblog which writes about the best places to eat. It is an online restaurant guide which helps you keep up to date with the latest developments in the London food scene. New restaurant reviews are released every Tuesday and Friday. The Must Go List is updated on the 15th of every month and lists eight great places for you to try. If you love food, you’ve come to the right place. "

We went to St John in Farringdon which as Kang states in his blog is "currently the 14th best restaurant in the world. Opened by Fergus Henderson in 1994; St John restaurant at St John Road has since been awarded a Michelin star and is well-known for utilising offal and neglected cuts, in what he calls the ‘nose to tail’ concept."


His description of the restaurant and the delicious food we ate there is far better than anything I can write. I took my camera and captured some details of what I had. Marrow bones with Parsley salad - simple but delightful.

Roast pigeon with courgettes, was a bit too rare for my taste, but the simple but robust flavours blended well.
The apricot crumble was quite simply amazing, with a hint of bitterness from the apricots that adding zing to a sublimely sweet dish. Sharing the experience with Andy and then reading what he wrote about it was a bonus and confirms in my mind that he is a food critic and guide to watch out for.

Artisan No 3 Wes Maebe - Sound Engineer

Yesterday, I photographed Wes Maebe at the legendary RAK Studios as the 3rd Artisan in my project to celebrate excellence through portraits of British craftsmen whose hands turn common stuff into something special. In this case - a massager of sounds!


We were joined by guitarist Elliott Randall, session musician par excellence and lead guitarist of Steely Dan and to be remembered for ever with his guitar solo on Reelin in the years.


A selection of images from the shoot can be seen in a slideshow. I used my trusty Fuji Finepix S5 Pro and my Leica M8 and Elinchrom lights along with some handheld Nikon flash and we were ably supported by Rob. Thanks to RAK Studios for letting us do it and to enryone involved for making it so much fun! cool music included!!

A very red flower - Amaryllis

We recently were given an Amaryllis, which was about to blossom.

It now has, magnificently and I tried to capture some of its magic, using my camera hand held, as it was tricky choosing the right viewpoint and used the Nikon 85mm F.1.4 lens wide open to capture one detail at a time. On looking at the resultant images I then felt that I wanted the best parts of two different shots and thanks to PhotoShop's layers, blending options and Smart sharpening, I got the effect I was looking for.

Next time I will use a tripod and take advantage of the latest merge layers tool.

Battle @ Kruger Game Park

An absolutely incredible film of a wildebeest calf attacked by lions, then a crocodile tries to take it away and then the whole herd of wildebeest attack and get the calf back!



Fact is stranger and more wonderful than fiction.

Artisan No 2 - Richard Wilson - Bowmaker

I went up to Cambridge on Wednesday to photograph Richard Wilson in his studio, where he makes and repairs bows for a wide variety of clients and their stringed instruments. This was my second Artisan shoot, the first being the cabinet maker Keith Platt who is based in the Cotswolds.

Richard spent many years as a musician, traveling constantly before settling down, first as an apprentice bowmaker, and then setting up on his own, and now has twenty years of experience in this specialised and fascinating craft.

I learned that the body of the bow is carved from a single piece of really heavy wood (so heavy it sinks in water!!), which needs to be seasoned for years before use. The five main stages of the process are shown above. Other materials used are ebony, ivory, horsehair and brass.

Richard makes every element by hand mainly using a small plane and a tiny chisel/knife - it is amazing to watch.

I used both my Fuji S5 Pro and Leica M8, two Elinchrom Flash units, one with a softbox, the other with a honeycombe grid, supplemented by a small Nikon SB24 flashgun to give interesting highlights. I show more of the pictures taken in a slideshow.

Other Artisans, I am due to photograph include a Wood Restorer, a Violin Maker, a Stone Carver, a maker of Stained Glass, a rock music sound engineer ( yes! they too craft sound with their hands!!) and a master butcher.

I am seeking more Artisans, based in London and further afield, who are known and respected by their peers and all of whom embody excellence in their craft. Please do contact me if you would like to propose such a person. I plan on building up a portfolio of around twenty Artisans and then exhibiting at a central London Art gallery later this year, and publishing a book as a celebration of the excellence of craftmanship in this country.

Cornwall - The Eden Project & The Lost Gardens of Heligan

This Bank holiday weekend we visited St Austell and the Eden Project on Saturday

and then the Lost Gardens of Heligan on the Sunday

and St Mawes in the afternoon.

a resting canoeist summed up the weekend! as does the slideshow!

Speedy service - The Wheatsheaf Pub Garden

Yesterday, at 9am I got a phone call from the manager of a local pub, the Wheatsheaf, stating that I had been recommended by Bruce, the master butcher at the Parson's Nose , as a photographer who could take some interesting images of the pub's garden that were now needed, for promoting it, now that summer or at least spring appears to have started! Speed was of the essence!

I popped in to meet Ali, to agree a brief and was able to quote him my fee on the spot. Hands were shaken, and half an hour later, I came with my photo gear and took a variety of shots with a wide angle and a fisheye lens, to capture it all. The sun was shining and there were strong shadows, so taking and processing the pictures took some care.

By 3pm I had downloaded the pictures onto my computer and using Adobe Lightroom 2 and PhotoShop CS4 created a slideshow of my selection of processed images that best matched the brief, which I uploaded onto the web and fired off an e-mail with the link to Ali.

At 8pm I had a response from Ali who had selected 8 pictures which he needed as 300dpi tiff files at A3 size which were to be handed over to ProntaPrint on the Fulham Road for inclusion in a large poster to be put on a stand outside the pub shortly. This morning at 10 I delivered the DVD with 800mb of high definition images and left with the cheque.

Eyefully good for all concerned!

LIP Trial Greenwich Sunday 19 May

The Laban Centre - an amazing building.




On Sunday 19th a hardy group of LIP (London Independent Photography) members gathered at the Viewfinder Gallery in Greenwich at 10am, where John Levett our host read out one of his splendid prose poems on a theme of of urban decay and renewal, which we were to use as an inspiration for a photographic odyssey around the nearby streets and riverscapes of Greenwich and Deptford, after which we would meet for coffee and a discussion of our adventures. On another day we would compare our favourite images and see how 12 different people would interpret a common theme in the same part of London.

I have made a slideshow of my take on the theme.