I'm well and truly winding down for Christmas now which is just as well really because I haven't got any more work in the diary until the second week of January!. December is always quiet so it doesn't come as any surprise.

Last week was busy though with the shoot at the Thompson Holidays superstore in Greenford on Monday, the Environment Agency Bristol shoot on Tuesday and a shoot at a primary school in Leicester on Wednesday. I had a meeting in Leeds on Thursday and a day out in London on Friday so all in all quite a busy week.

The Thompson Holiday superstore job went really well and it was interesting as the entire store was lit with LED spotlights made by JCC Lighting http://www.jcc-lighting.co.uk/ . These LED spots are great for retail as they produce very little heat and last for years unlike their old Tungsten Halogen predecessors. They also use less energy so it's a win win situation. Retail lighting is generally on for long periods - sometimes 24 hours - so LED technology really comes into own!. I've included a shot of the store in today's blog.

The Environment Agency shoot went well too and there were two other photographers at work whilst I was there so it's obviously a popular building. The interior was very clean and modern and the Kinnarps furniture (my client) looked fabulous. I'll post a picture in the blog as soon as I've processed them.

The primary school was a tough shoot as the rooms were very small with high ceilings. I was commissioned by the lighting manufacturer but the lights were hard to capture and even with a 24mm Tilt and Shift lens getting a decent composition was difficult. Also there were loads of Christmas decorations everywhere which made things even more difficult. I took a few shots but didn't feel it was worth spending a day there so I'll talk to the client and offer them a reduced rate in return for fewer finished pictures. It's not ideal but I always put my client's first and I'm interested in building long term relationships rather then one off jobs.

I did my final radio show of the year yesterday on BBC Three Counties Radio which I always enjoy and I'm hoping to keep that going into next year. I've been doing the show now for the past 5 years on and off and it's something that I really look forward to!. Radio is really great fun because you can relax in the knowledge that no one can actually see you!. It builds a bit of mystique and I think it's more interesting than TV (although I've never been on TV for very long - just one appearance on a late night debate show many years ago).

I've been out in the snow with my old Canon A1 camera and 35mm lens over the past few days shooting some black and white film which has been great fun and I've stocked up on film for Christmas as I'll be avoiding digital cameras now for a couple of weeks!. I still love working with film and any chance to load up with black and white is eagerly taken. I always recommend that people try the chromagenic films like Kodak BW400N or Ilford XP2 which are black and white films with loads of exposure latitude that are developed in standard colour process machines. That means you can get the films dev'd and printed at Tesco or Asda while you do your shopping.

Lastly I took a picture of a friend and model Annalie a couple of weeks ago next to the London Eye. We wanted to include the Houses of Parliament in the background and I took the shot with my trusty EOS 5D MK2 and 24-105mm L series lens. I used a simple hot shoe mounted Canon EX 550 flashgun with an opal plastic diffuser fitted to soften the light and set the ISO to 1600. I used a relatively slow shutter speed of 1/20th of a second to let some ambient light bleed through and I was really pleased with the results. I've posted one of the pictures in today's blog.