Love Summer Festival

Just back from the fantastic Love Summer festival, a small, family orientated festival at a secret location in Devon. I was asked to be the official photographer for what turned out to be an absolute blast, the crowd were some of the most receptive and happy people I’ve ever had the pleasure to photograph, I will definitely return next year. 

 Here are a few of my favorite images from the weekend’s festivities.

Camden Market Trader

Camden Town has always held a special place in my heart, I worked for Disney there in the 1980’s, partied there in the 1990’s and even bought a house there during the 2000’s. Yesterday, I got an email, from Camden Market management to say that my market trader application had been accepted and I can now set up my photography stall, it seems Camden is well and truly in my blood.

Although Camden has become a bit more commercial and a little less raw than during the late 70’s and 80’s, I believe it still has the same energy and creativity. Camden market also remains one of the most vibrant areas of London, as well as one of the top most visited tourist destinations, I’m really looking forward to becoming a part of such a fantastic place.

My stall will be set up in the Camden Lock area, just next to the canal, I’m hoping to get a spot inside, out of the cold, but I wont know until the day, stalls are allocated based on what you are selling, traders selling their own goods/crafts are prioritised the best pitches, so hopefully I’ll get a good spot.

I’ll be selling signed prints, prints and mounts, limited edition prints, as well as framed photographs of London and my travels. If you’re in the area, please come and say hello, I’d love to see some of you there, maybe even sell you a print or two ;0)

Marcus...

Please come inside...

So, today saw the grand opening of my new photography shop, the Mayor of London did the honours by cutting the ceremonial ribbon, before a crowd of baying customers all desperate to buy some of my much sought after limited edition prints of London. After selling out of all my stock and counting the days takings, I woke up and realised it was all a silly dream.

Not to be too disappointed, I decided I would make it the days task to set up an online store, linked to my website. So it is with great pleasure, that I open up my new store, in the hope that one of you may want to purchase one of my super dooper limited edition prints.

The shop window is on my website, you can view all the available prints and information here.

My new photography emporium 

If something in the window takes your fancy, please step inside the shop, via the link at the bottom of the page, this will then take you to Etsy.com, where you can complete your transaction.

Here are a few of the limited edition prints available, please let me know what you think of the pictures and my store, I'd love to get your feedback.

Empire of Dirt Photographs.

Empire of Dirt was an awesome event to watch and shoot. Over the two days, over 20,000 people watched 36 of the worlds best riders take on the incredibly challenging and technical BMX 'Slope Style' course.

Monster dirt jumps, ramps, rails and other obsticles pushed the riders to their limits, some huge tricks were pulled, but it was the UK's Ben Wallace that took this years title.

Ben Wallace.

Arriving early, I walked the course to find some of the better areas to catch the action. Although there were plenty of good places to shoot from, there were also quite a few challenges to overcome to get really great shots. My aim was to try to capture the rider, at the apex of the trick, while trying to get as much of the course, scenery, crowd, the backdrop of London and the iconic building itself. To accomplish this, I had to pull quite far back to get the shot, making the rider look quite small, sometimes getting lost in the busy backgrounds.

Leonardo Forte

I submitted my images to a few magazines, but it was Daniel Benson, editor of The Albion, who provided me with the most constructive critique. While my incidental photos were deemed good, it was my action shots that were not quite hitting the mark, essentially this was because the photographs were not telling the full story, i.e. they didn't always show where the rider was taking off and where they were going. Another valid point was that the riders sometimes got lost against the busy backdrops, which, due to the nature of the course layout was quite hard to counter.

In the photo below, all the elements are nearly there, however, you can only see where the rider is going to land, not where he's taken off from. Also, if I'd have come in a little tighter and swung round to the left a little, it would have made a better photo and the rider would not have been bang centre of the picture.  

Ali Whitton

As you can see, in the image below, if I'd got down on my knees, this shot would have set the rider against the sky and not the building. I still love the shot, but it doesn't quite cut the mustard!

Unfortunately none of my pictures made the magazines on this occasion, but I learnt a great deal and can only become a better photographer for the experience and positive critique. Thanks Dan.

You can view the rest of the photographs here, I'd love to get your feedback.

Red Bull Empire of Dirt.

Welcome to my new blog, it's been a long time coming, but it's finally done, I hope you enjoy my first of many posts to come.

As some of you may already know, I was once a pretty good BMX rider, winning a couple of British Championships back in the 1980s', I raced all over Europe and the rest the world and took part in many European & World Championships. So, it is with great excitement that my first blog entry should be about the Red Bull BMX event I'll be shooting on the 19th & 20th of May, at Alexandra Palace, London.

I have a photographers pass to shoot one of the most exciting BMX events to take place, not only in the UK, but the world, The Red Bull Empire of Dirt. If you've never seen or been to a BMX 'dirt' event, let me tell you' it's pretty awesome to watch. Take a quick look at the video below, for a short taster of what you can expect. This will be the most progressive & seminal BMX event, since it's birth in Southern California in the 1970s'.

Red Bull Empire of Dirt, was first held in 2008 in Newton Abbot, Devon, UK. The event was the brain child of UK rider Kye Forte. Kye developed the event with Red Bull, with the intention of pushing the boundaries of BMX. The track is probably the most challenging and demanding course I've ever seen and will push riders to the absolute limits, the jumps are more reflective of an MX Supercross track, than a BMX course, it's insane!

There's more info, details about the course and riders, as well as ticket sales, at the link below. I hope to see some of you there.

Empire of Dirt 2012