http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <$Language$> simon@hyde-end.com © Simon Kemp Tue, 23 May 2006 15:06:01 +0100 Tue, 23 May 2006 15:06:19 +0100 iBlog 1.4.5 <$AuthorName$> <$ChannelSubtitle$> <$ChannelSummary$> <$AuthorName$> <$AuthorEmail$> Hyde End Web Log <$ChannelCategory$> <$ChannelSubCategory$> http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060523124739/index.html Tonight I travelled to Portsmouth to see the genius that is Richard Hawley (!) in concert. I went with my friend Will, a talented music photographer who wangled a photo pass to the gig for me. It was great to be able to have access to the stage to get some nice angles on the performance. Will is writing a gig review for the Reading University student magazine and for the BBC Radio Berkshire website which will be accompanied by my images.

The support act was Micah P. Hinson, a gravel voiced Texan who performed a superb short set on acoustic guitar, accompanied by harmonica.



Richard Hawley was in fine form fronting a 5 piece band who were all superb musicians. He hails from Sheffield and musically speaking he wears his heart firmly on sleeve. The influences of American music from the forties through to the sixties are clear but there is a depth to the music that shines through and bears repeated playing. Thoroughly recommended if you get a chance to catch them on the current UK tour promoting the latest album 'Coles Corner'.










Guitarist 'Shez'







Support act Micah P. Hinson from Abilene, Texas.


I think the singing got in the way of his smoking sometimes...



Sidekick Oliver on harmonica.
  ]]> Mon, 22 May 2006 23:59:59 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060523124739/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1229300453/E20060523145753/index.html Celia and Carl got married today in Addlestone and afterwards at the fabulous Great Fosters in Egham. A good time was had by all and it was nice to meet Anna & Greg, a couple who's wedding I shot two years ago. They have a brand new tiny baby boy called Ethan. Anna and Greg were good enough to refer me to Celia and Carl for today's wedding. Miraculously the weather held off in the afternoon which was great as Carl had arrived a surprised dove release for Celia. The look on the two pageboys faces were priceless as they opened the basket containing the doves! You'll have to wait until the bride and groom get back from honeymoon in Mexico to see these and the rest of the pictures. As always, let me know if you want to be notified by email when the wedding images get uploaded. In the meantime, here are few of my favourites from the day.


  ]]> Sat, 20 May 2006 14:57:53 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1229300453/E20060523145753/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060512170233/index.html My daughter Evie (aged 5) is spending some time gardening today. She's five and loves to be outside planting and generally getting her hands dirty. I shot some pictures (it's fascinating watching work going on :) ) and they looked really nice as a collage. This way of laying out images works really well - it's something we do for our wedding albums and increasingly for outdoor portrait sessions. There is a stronger storytelling element this way and I like to think it will be nice also for her to look back on when she's grown up. If only to think "Why was my Dad just taking pictures instead of helping me!?"


  ]]> Thu, 11 May 2006 17:02:33 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060512170233/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1229300453/E20060508084707/index.html Here's a slideshow of some of my favourite images over the last 9 months or so - let me know what you think ! Turn your speakers on and click here. (It will take a few seconds to load).  ]]> Sun, 07 May 2006 08:47:07 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1229300453/E20060508084707/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1229300453/E20060508084437/index.html Congratulations to Kate & Peter who got married today at Pennyhill Park Hotel. The ceremony was in the beautiful Library at the hotel and against all odds the weather held off for drinks on the terrace afterwards. The evening was rounded off with a black tie dinner and the bride and groom are off to Mauritius for two weeks. If you were at the wedding and would like to know when the full gallery of images is being posted, drop me an email and I'll let you know.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite images from the day.


  ]]> Sat, 06 May 2006 08:44:37 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1229300453/E20060508084437/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C51556360/E20060508191649/index.html Up at Thrive (the national horticultural charity) again today finishing off where I left it last week when the heavens opened. It's a beautiful time of year to be outside, life springing up everywhere. I've tried to reflect that in the images.

If you would like to see a slideshow of the garden images I photographed, turn your speakers on and click here.



  ]]> Fri, 05 May 2006 19:16:49 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C51556360/E20060508191649/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060503155815/index.html OK, I admit I'm a total iTunes junkie and although I resisted for a long time, I finally gave in to temptation and bought the new iPod Hifi . It's amazing how quickly times have changed and now that I have around 1500 tunes on my iPod (modest by some standards), it's so much easier to use than hunting down an obscure CD. It's great you can have different playlists for different times and I also a playlist for my kids (aged 8 and 4) to keep them happy during teatime (anything for an easy life).

The sound quality is pretty good, fills the room and has a very clear feel to it. Like all speaker systems of this kind you don't get true stereo spread but it's a very impressive sound none the less, and the bass is nicer than I expected as well. The little remote control you get with the system is great although I know I'm going to lose it very quickly :(






  ]]> Wed, 03 May 2006 15:58:15 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060503155815/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1073919935/E20060502122744/index.html
Here's some images we shot of little Isabella who has just turned 5. I love the energy children of this age have, they don't sit still for 5 seconds ! This is great because you can get some images which are so full of life and they seem to reflect their characters so well rather than the posed, static pictures of years gone by.

My daughter is the same age as Isabella and it didn't surprise me that she turned up with several changes of clothing, including the red party dress ! Turn your speakers on and click here for her slideshow.









  ]]> Tue, 02 May 2006 12:27:44 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1073919935/E20060502122744/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060425192846/index.html I was up at Thrive's Garden Project at Trunkwell in Beech Hill today. The plan was to shoot some nice images to update their image library and have some new pictures for their reports and newsletters. Unfortunately the weather was against us and it rained...and rained...I bravely took refuge in a greenhouse until it finally stopped. I made a slideshow of some of the images shot today and you can view it here. The staff and fundraisers at Thrive do a really good job for a worthwhile cause. If you get a chance please visit their website to see if you can help. If you're a keen gardener they have an Open Day on the 2nd of July. You can read about it here.


I plan to drop by again at the end of the week to carry on where I left off today when the beautiful spring weather kicked in :)  ]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2006 19:28:46 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060425192846/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1073919935/E20060410145456/index.html Caleb is a young violinist and brother of Elias who I photographed last month. His Mum brought him in after seeing his brother's pictures and requested a similar style. Again the idea was for a variety of images for different uses. Here's a few of my favourites.


  ]]> Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:54:56 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1073919935/E20060410145456/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060409195814/index.html We took the kids to the Science Museum today and on the way back I decided to shoot some images in the underground in the big tunnel that leads from South Kensington tube to the museums. Shooting at slow shutter speeds is a bit hit and miss and the images you think won't work sometimes do (and vica versa :( ).

These pics were taken at around a 1/15th of a second and although I usually strive for sharp images, it was cool just to go for the blur. To make it more fun I didn't look through the camera viewfinder.

I think the sense of movement complements the subject matter quite well and they seemed to work so much better in black and white.



  ]]> Sun, 09 Apr 2006 19:58:14 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060409195814/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1229300453/E20060409193231/index.html Hannah and Nick got married today at Greyfriars Church in Reading. The rain held off (unlike yesterday) and although it was a bit blowy, it stayed dry until the meal which was held in the conservatory at the Mill House Hotel. The couple are off to Edinburgh for their honeymoon (hopefully they'll get good weather there too) and as usual we will post all their pictures in our online gallery when they get back. Let me know if you wish to be notified of when that happens.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite images.

  ]]> Sat, 08 Apr 2006 19:32:31 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1229300453/E20060409193231/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060404192500/index.html I often shoot pictures of the sky (I know, I know...) but I think like a lot of things you see everyday, you take it for granted and stop noticing it. Anyway I thought these four images looked really nice together as a collage. For some reason they worked better with a sepia tone here than in plain black and white, kind of peaceful.




  ]]> Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:25:00 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1913349969/E20060404192500/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C51556360/E20060329220011/index.html I was at Pennyhill Park today photographing a series of meetings for a major multinational brands company and on the way out of the building I noticed for the first time this year that spring was on the way. It wasn't as warm as it could be, but it definitely looked to me that winter is behind us.

I shot this image in the pond at the back of the hotel on the way to the car park. The pond is only a few feet across but I used the incredible Nikon 10.5mm fisheye lens and corrected the verticals later in Photoshop. The perspective of the lens makes the little pond look like a lake.


  ]]> Wed, 29 Mar 2006 22:00:11 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C51556360/E20060329220011/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1073919935/E20060329215359/index.html I photographed young Sidney today. I shot his parent's wedding a couple of years ago at Windsor Guildhall and Ascot Racecourse and, as always, it was a pleasure to welcome back an ex-bride and groom and their first child.

Little Sid is only a couple of weeks old here and it's really nice to photograph babies at any age but especially when they're so young. They change so much during their first months that it's difficult to remember how tiny they were when they were born. I'm pleased to say Sid's parents are coping well, they were up with him several times the night before the portrait session but didn't look any the worse for wear !


  ]]> Mon, 27 Mar 2006 21:53:59 +0100 http://homepage.mac.com/simonkemp/iblog/B1253112809/C1073919935/E20060329215359/index.html