Rocking it again in Bermondsey Village | www.gavinconlan.com

If you’ve been following my journal over the last couple of years you may have noticed that there’s one place in particular I love to shoot, since first visiting back in the summer of 2008 I have been blown anyway by it’s potential as a location.  It’s got everything you could wish for plus it’s extremely quiet so you can just get on with shooting without any distractions and the odd tourist getting in the way….

This shoot with the stunning Dina was a follow up (http://gavinconlan.xanga.com/720596087/photoshoot-with-dina/). The first shoot was cut short due to the weather being so damn cold and you know what women are like they can’t handle it as well as us men ;) seriously though I remember getting to a point where I thought my eyeballs were freezing over so I was well chuffed when we decided to call it a day ....

The weather this time around was a lot kinder to us (thank god) and apart from a heavy downpour an hour or so before we couldn’t have asked for more.  As I love shooting in the village I am always on the look out for new interesting locations places I haven’t used before, we definitely found a great one in particular with the tunnel shots…

I love photographing Dina, frame after frame we were rocking out some wicked shots, the camera was working overtime on this one.  We had a great laugh which made the shoot really easy and if it weren’t for the fact we both seemed to find it impossible to direct ourselves to the meeting point it would have been the perfect 10 :)

Right enough of my ramblings lets have a look at some of the shots we produced, I hope you enjoy..!!!!!

So if your ever around the London Bridge area then I’d recommend you take a stroll down to Bermondsey Village, they have a pub there called the Woolpack which has the most amazing art decor upstairs… 

Have a good day!!!!!

photoshoot with Sabrina in Halstead, Essex | www.gavinconlan.com

Over Christmas I was out walking my dog when she discovered a hole in the fence leading into the grounds of what used to be an adult education college... I had walked past this building loads in the past wishing I could get in there to shoot, it never looked possible as security was really tight until now. Finding the way in I've now promoted Holly (my dog) to chief location scout, i'm not sure she's that bothered by the promotion though ...lol...  

I decided to run an advert via the starnow website & get a shoot planned for sometime in January, you'll see by the images below the shoot went ahead and I loved the results Sabrina and myself achieved.

Another location we used was the church at the bottom of town, it opened recently for people to visit, its no longer a working church but the interior is still stunning.

The day of the shoot we started in the Church and finished in the derelict building, I loved the shoot it was a great day even though it was bitterly cold we produced some great imagery that I love...

For your enjoyment (hopefully :) I have selected a bunch of favourites to give you a flavour of the shoot ....

Michelle & Jon's Wedding at SS Peter & Paul's Catholic Church & Marygreen Manor Hotel, Essex

On the 19th February I had the great pleasure of shooting Michelle & Jon's wedding. The ceremony took place at the SS Peter & Paul's Catholic Church and the Reception at the Marygreen Manor Hotel in Brentwood Essex. Whilst I'm producing their online slideshow please enjoy viewing a selection of my personal favourite's from their amazing wedding day, I hope you enjoy ....

Update

on 2011-04-05 09:49 by gavin conlan journal

Please enjoy their slideshow, showcasing the amazing Wedding of Michelle and Jon.

blast from the past - London Eye

Back in the summer of 2007 I took a gamble and entered a major photographic competition by the then sponsors of the London Eye British Airways, the competition was in celebration of hitting it's 25 millionth customer to take a ride on the Eye - Tracey Emin was the guest judge. Before this competition I had only entered local competitions which I was lucky enough to win also. My point is that entering competitions is a great way to measure the level you are at and to get your name out there. Recently on a workshop I had a couple of images critiqued it was such a great learning tool because it has made me more aware of the fine details of the image which I honestly had never noticed before, you should never be scared to have your work critiqued as you'll learn a great deal.

The reason I am writing this is because I am a definately going to enter work into the SWPP and WPPI print competitions next year, I am going to push myself this year to improve and development my skills and will use these competitions to gage how my progress is going heading into 2012.....

I've attached below my London Eye shot which won me regional winner, it was on display outside the London Eye for around two months, I did at the time visit the Eye loads to watch people looking at my image, it was such a buzz ...lol...

January = An educational month for me.....

So it's February already, this year has started off at a wirlwind pace, it's crazy how fast these years are going....

I dedicated January to learning and improving my skills, I attended two location seminars and the trade show run by the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) as well attending the awesome Adam Alex Workshop last week.  I met so many wicked people on the workshop and learnt so much in the three days, I've come away with a massive to do list, a more focused approach to lighting and posing which I can't wait to implement in future shoots.  The way Adam works with light is stunning and anyone who has an interest in portrait photography should study his work and if you want to take your photography to the next level then book yourself a place on his next workshop.

The two seminars I mentioned were run by John Denton (see images below) and Damian McGillicuddy, two outstanding photographers and great teachers in their own right, this was another great investment and I learnt so much just by watching how they work. 

The closed London Underground station - Aldwych, was the location for the John Denton seminar, the location really intrigued me as it was like you were stepping back in time.  The station closed in 1994 due to lack of passengers and at the time they needed to replace the lifts so it was deemed to expensive in relation to the income generated by the station therefore the decision was made to close it.  The station is now a popular filming location and has been used in such films as Atonement, 28 Weeks Later, The Krays, Patriot Games, The Good Shepherd, and Creep.

I would love to do more shoots in the station, as a location you really couldn't ask for more it just oozes creativity - a photographers paradise....

I hope you enjoy the images I personally love all the old posters on display....