Michael Rammell 13/09/2015 Michael Rammell 13/09/2015

Event: London Street Photography - October 24th

Come and join me in London on October 24th for another great, FREE event!

On Saturday 24th October I'll be joined by a group of photographers from the Ready Steady Pro and Guild of Photographers community as we host the next annual Free Annual London Photo Walk, capturing the sights and sounds of one of the worlds most multi-cultural and colourful cities.

This walk is open to absolutely everyone, it's a public event and you're all welcome to join. I would however ask that you simply register so that we don't set off without you on the day and so that we can exchange contact information should anyone get separated from the group, which does happen. (registration details at the bottom)

In what will be the 3rd year in a row that we've hosted this photo walk in October we are making a few slight changes to the format and the locations we take in as part of our route.

Those wanting lunch may want to get something to eat from Camden before the walk begins. The Worlds End Pub, where we are meeting seems to serve food and is open from 11:00am. You can of course arrange with others in the Facebook Group to meet up early among yourselves, if you'd like?

The Details

Meeting Place: The World's End Pub - Camden
Meeting Time: 12:00
Walk Start Time: 12:30
Coffee Break: Circa 4:30pm
Dinner: 6:30pm - 7:30pm

The Route:

1. Camden Market and Camden Lock

Starting at (ironically) The World's End Pub in the vibrant & busy Camden area we'll start with a drink and a meet and greet. I'm sure we'll do the "Ooh what are you shooting with" conversation before moving on outside to Camden Market, heading slowly north towards Camden Lock. We'll go at a very steady pace with those wanting to speed on ahead welcome to do so. Camden will give us a great opportunity to get some shots right off the bat in the busy area. It's renowned for it's alternative culture and so should prove to be something slightly different, particularly for those not familiar with that area of London.

After an hour or so at Camden we'll back up again at The World's End Pub to get the group back together before jumping on the tube (which is right outside) before making our way south to Leicester Square using the Northern Line of the Tube:

2. Leicester Square & China Town

Just 6 stops away from Camden we'll find ourselves back on the surface at Leicester Square, heading towards China Town; a bustling and compact area of London that is always sure to provide a photograph or two. Being nearly all on one street, China Town is likely to give around 30 minutes or so of photo opportunities before we're itching to move on. That is of course unless there are some real 'fisherman' among us: those who prefer to sit and wait for that all elusive storytelling moment.

3. Soho

When we get through China Town we'll be heading towards Soho, specifically Berwick Street, which hosts a market every day except Sunday Market: and giving us yet another great chance to photograph people as they buzz around the market unaware of us as we photograph them. Market's always provide a great opportunity and a market in Soho is even better!

4. Carnaby Street (Coffee Stop Circa 4:30pm)

Conveniently, after an hour so in Soho we'll be close to Carnaby Street , which is not only another good spot for photographs, but also, as previous attendees of this walk will attest is an ideal place for our next coffee stop as we take up residence in the basement of 'The Deparment of Coffee and Social Affairs'. These guys sell some amazing coffee and their cakes aren't too bad either. The basement of this little coffee shop offers us a chance to all pull chairs around a table (or rather to pull tables together and completely re-arrange everything!) and take stock of the day so far, talk again about cameras and what else it is we do with our photography.

The length of our stop will be totally determined by the conversation, weather and what the group wants to do.

5. Piccadilly Circus

For those wanting to continue on we'll then head south towards Piccadilly Circus - an area popular among tourists. There will no doubt be selfie sticks aplenty here as visitors to the Capital try to get a photograph of themselves with the famous Picadilliy Lights (or, 'The Curve' as it's now being referred to).

6. Options: Covent Garden, Embankment, South Bank

Our ultimate end destination will be The South Bank, south of The River Thames. If at this point the group would prefer to make a bee-line and head directly to that point we can. Alternatively, we can make our way eastwards towards Covent Garden before heading to Embankment and then over the bridge to South Bank.

7. Food

At this point in the day, which will be somewhere in the region of 6pm - 7pm you are invited to join us for a meal on the South Bank. We'll put it to a vote to decide where to eat.

Interested? Register your place:

You can register your place many ways:

Those who are a member of the Guild of Photographers can confirm their place using the event in the Guild Facebook Group. (The Guild of Photographers is a member organisation requiring registration)

If you'd prefer you can join Ready Steady Pro on Facebook, completely free of charge of course and register your place using that event page

Alternatively, if you're not on Facebook or would prefer not to join either group you can simply complete the form below:

Michael Rammell 24/04/2015 Michael Rammell 24/04/2015

London Photo Walk Ready Steady Pro & The Guild of Photographers

Twice a year I put together a photowalk in London. I love the place and am there every week, but there is nothing quite like getting together with a group of like-minded creatives and walking the streets with your camera!

On April 18th this is exactly what we did, with members of the Ready Steady Pro and Guild of Photographers communities invited we had 26 participants on the day, making for a relatively large crowd!

We lost half the group for a short while and decided to make a coffee stop. This was about half of the cameras that were there on the day! (Interesting to see so many mirrorless cameras eh!)

Thanks to everyone that came, I had a blast and loved meeting so many new people and making new friends. Of course, it was great to also catch up with some more familiar faces too.

In terms of photography it probably wasn't a vintage day for me personally as I spent so much time chatting with other people on the walk. Settings, gear, creativity and tips: so many people wanted to know so many things! To see my photographs scroll to the bottom of this post, but I really wanted to share some photographs from some of the photographers that attended on the day. Be sure to check them out online and show them some love!

(All of these photographs have been used with the permission of the respective photographer. Please respect copyright laws and do not use, reproduce or modify these photographs in anyway without first seeking approval from the photographer in question):

Copyright Glenn Parker — Copyright **Glenn Parker**

Copyright Paul Gray — Copyright **Paul Gray**

Copyright Imelda Bell of Catching Rainbows Photography — Copyright **Imelda Bell of Catching Rainbows Photography**

Copyright Imelda Bell of Catching Rainbows Photograhy — Copyright **Imelda Bell of Catching Rainbows Photograhy**

Copyright Tony Jones of Oakhouse Photography — Copyright **Tony Jones of Oakhouse Photography**

My Photographs

Here are a small selection of my own photographs from the day:

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If you're interested in joining a future photo walk or want to know more about these events please do get in touch. The best way to stay up to date is to subscribe to this blog and I'll email you to let you know when future dates are announced!

Michael Rammell 08/04/2015 Michael Rammell 08/04/2015

Gear for Street Photographers

On April 18th I'll be hosting another great photowalk in London! If you're a subscriber to the blog then you may have already seen that this walk will be something slightly different to the usual walk.

Previously, walks have started in the morning with us stopping for lunch, however, this walk will start at 1pm and see us take in quite an extensive route. We'll make a 4pm stop in Covent Garden, whereby those wanting to join the walk at a later time can meet us then.

The idea behind the later start is so that we can stay out later and photograph London at night! The sights and scenes change when the sun goes down and of course the way you shoot will also have to change: higher ISO's, lower shutter speeds and pockets of illuminations. There's more though: long exposures and cityscapes.

After the sun sets we'll stop for a bite to eat before heading back out into the city to photograph some long exposures of The River Thames

Tripods

With this walk starting at 1pm, so the idea of carrying around a large and heavy tripod for the entire day may sound very unattractive indeed, so I wanted to propose that those of you joining us have a good look at the Gorillapod's from Joby.

I've got the Gorrillapod with a ball head for my Olympus and it's excellent: fits neatly into my bag and has a ball head too. It's incredibly light and superbly useful! I've tried a few other solutions, but to be honest the Gorillapod is the best of them all.

They come in different sizes and there options with and without ball heads. If you're interested in picking one up you can get them reasonably priced through Joby's shop on Amazon, right here:

Gorillapod for CSC's (Fuji, Sony A7's, Olympus etc)
http://bit.ly/joby-gorillapod-csc-ballhead
£23.66

Gorillapod for DSLR's
http://bit.ly/joby-gorillapod-slr-ballhead
£39.99

Join Us

If you're interested in coming along for the walk simply register your interest over on the events page. Or, if you're a member of Ready Steady Pro, or The Guild of Photographers you can confirm your attendance using the events page for those Facebook communities too.

See you on April 18th!!

Michael Rammell 04/02/2015 Michael Rammell 04/02/2015

Olympus Street Photography with Rob Pugh

Olympus have a great event schedule available for photographers to attend. Many of the events are free and others are available for a small fee, depending on the sort of event. If you're an Olympus photographer, or even if you're not, you can check out the Olympus Image Space website for the calendar of events and get your name on the list if you want to attend an event.

The great thing about these events is that Olympus usually have an Ambassador and an Olympus rep present on the day, so if you're curious about features and functions on your existing Olympus camera, or want to know more about the Olympus range you'll be in safe hands at an Olympus event. And yes - you can usually try out the cameras and lenses too!

Streets Ahead

On Saturday 24th January I attended my second Olympus Image Space event, this time with Rob Pugh in Reading for an event titled 'Streets Ahead'. As you can guess it was Street Photography related.

Myself and another 13 other Olympus Photographers, who were in attendance by invite after applying to go, met up with Rob and Jez from Olympus in Reading at the newly (re-)opened Jessops store before setting off on our route around the Berkshire town of Reading, which is just a few miles away from where I live.

An Education

From the get-go it was easy to see why Rob was selected by Olympus as an Ambassador: Rob not only knows the Olympus cameras inside and out, he was also able to professionally demonstrate and explain his vision, settings and ideas as we walked. From reflections in puddles and the angles on buildings, to the colour filters available within the OM-D's and how they'll affect various scenes in the end result. Furthermore Rob explained these methods and techniques in such a way that all of the participants seem to understand the reasoning behind them. I was very impressed with Rob's aptitude for information sharing and enabling others.

Rob had us all switch our EVF's into Mono mode and then make some adjustments to the level so that we were seeing a nice contrasty rich view through our EVF's. It made the experience of shooting much more fun!

Local Knowledge

Being a local Rob also knew Reading pretty well too. It's a town I visit a couple of times a month with my wife and children, but usually for a spot of shopping or lunch. It was great to see what else Reading had to offer in terms of photographic opportunities. We walked through alleys and pathways I never even knew existed in a town I've been visiting for some 15 years now! As part of the walk we also stopped for at the Handmade Burger Co as well for a bite to eat and a catchup on all things Olympus. For many (myself included) this was a golden opportunity to ask our two hosts about forthcoming Olympus gear and releases. Rob and Jez remained tight-lipped though and refused to confirm or deny anything we were asking or suggesting, of course, but exciting things are coming by the smiles on their faces :)

Gear used on this shoot

I got caught up in conversation with Rob and Jez so much that I guess I was distracted somewhat from the scenes around me. Whereas I'm usually shooting the scenes and goings-on around me, I was more focussed on the conversation and the shapes and structures rather than the people and that reflects in the series of photographs below.

I spent the day with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 and trusty Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8. I tried the 25mm f/1.8 for a short while too (thanks Jez) as it was a lens I wanted to buy, but also wanted to play with before hand to see if it was as good as people say it it. I can confirm it's a great lens and as part of my move over to Olympus after selling all my Canon equipment, it was indeed one of the lenses I had in my shopping basket. Both of these primes are sharp and fast to focus! Which is exactly what is needed for Street Photography.

The Photographs

So, here is my small selection of photographs from the day. The EXIF and Camera / Lens details are below each shot. Comments are more than welcome, of course!

Enjoy!