Soggy London

This was my first course booked with Melen courses.
It was a night time and low light course on location in London starting out at Paternoster Square behind St Paul's Cathedral and walking around nearby locations taking advantage of endless opportunities of lovely sunsets and clear skies...well that was the plan.

The reality was quite different, a light drizzle was followed by persistent showers,followed by torrential downpours.But a good number of people turned up and we started out undeterred taking shots of Friday night commuters racing home in the rain.We used panning techniques and the rain gave some great reflections and different effects.

We moved on across Millennium bridge and took shelter underneath.Phil gave us some great instruction on slow shutter speeds and long exposures resulting in some terrific shots of the underside of the bridge and London skyline across the Thames. The weather began really testing the group but my enthusiasm was soggy but remained strong!
After continuing along the embankment via a much welcome pub stop we headed off to the Southbank trying out some off camera flash techniques under the Southbank skate park.
The colours and light were amazing in the reflections of the puddles,vibrant reds and blues on the graffiti walls of the skatepark.
I learnt some great skills in a short space of time using off camera flash shots using reflectors and a very patient but great model Ellie who was on the course.

Before I knew it was 23.00 and time to dry off and go home. It had been a challenging introduction to an outdoor photography course but I came away feeling much more confident in my abilities with a camera.


I found Phil's teaching style clear and easy to follow.His enthusiasm in teaching is obvious and made my ability to take on board the skills he was teaching very easy.

This was my first photography course with Melen but I don't think it will be my last...

Here are some of my photos of the evening.....