Sunset Ceremony

Yesterday I had the honour, although not in very good circumstances, to photograph the sunset vigil ceremony for two soldiers recently killed on operations in Afghanistan.

The ceremony was a very somber one, with several members of the same regiment in attendance.

As the sun went down, and the bugles played the last post, hundreds of soldiers from Camp Bastion bowed there heads in honour of these two men, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Thoughts go out to their families and loved ones.

"When you go home tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today."

Alfie

I recently took these pictures of Alfie, my friends young baby.

I wanted to create a nice soft effect on the images, so they were all shot at 50mm f1.8, for all those spotters amongst you.

With a quick crop, levels, sharpen and desaturate, here they are.

Wedding of Richard and Jane Boyd

A fellow photographer, Tom Robinson, and I, recently had the opportunity of gathering imagery for the wedding of Richard and Jane Boyd.

It was a reasonably small ceremony in Basingstoke, followed by the wedding breakfast in Andover. 

The day provided us with some good pictures that the couple were very pleased with. Despite the long day, and the mammoth edit afterwards, we both walked away with a good set of stills, and a happy couple.

Cassie Jack - *Contains Nudity*

Last Saturday I did a shoot with Cassie Jack a model from Portsmouth.

With a bit of help from Adrian Harlen at VertuImages I had the perfect location for the shoot.

The location was right up my street and suits my style of photography well. We had arranged to shoot some clothed, lingerie and nudes on the day, and the setting I had was ideal.

For the shoot I used a 50mm F1.8 prime lens and a 14mm F2.8 lens fitted to my Nikon D3 cameras. Lighting was simple, 2 x SB900 flashes both on lastolite softboxes. On many occasions I was only using one light for the subject. All images were shot on manual exposure for both cameras and flash.

After a bit of editing, I am quite happy with the results.

Steve

Duncan Bannatyne & The Pilgrim Bandits

(From Left-Right) Former Miss UK and Miss Galaxy, Hayley Mac, Duncan Bannatyne, Lance Bombadier Ben Parkinson, 27 from Doncaster, Trooper Jamie Hull, 35 from Leighton Buzzard and Rifleman Chris Parks, 23 from County Durham.

DRAGONS’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne will be taking to the skies with Doncaster’s Ben Parkinson on Sunday to try to raise £30,000 for the charity Pilgrim Bandits, to provide adventure training or confidence building trips for amputees.

Duncan invited Ben, aged 27, and some of the other wounded servicemen to his flat in Covent Garden, giving them a day out, and the chance to speak about the skydive event.

Former Miss UK Hayley Mac, a patron for the charity, was also there to show her continued support.

“Pilgrim Bandits is a fantastic charity that works with guys that have lost limbs or been burned,” said Duncan. “They work together and bond together. Everything they do is fantastic.”

Around 30 people will jump, and The Bannatyne Group is doubling money raised, to around £30,000.

Queens Birthday Parade

Soldiers of the Household Division were on parade to mark the Queen’s Official Birthday today at Horse Guards Parade, at the ceremony known as Trooping the Colour.

This year, the Colour being trooped in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen, was that of the 1^st Battalion Scots Guards. The Duke of Edinburgh and the Royal Colonels (the Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge, The Princess Royal and the Duke of Kent) were also on parade.

Over 1,300 Officers and Soldiers were on parade in the traditional uniforms of the Household Cavalry, Royal Horse Artillery, and Foot Guards.  Many more were working behind the scenes to ensure all goes smoothly.

There were a total of 241 horses on parade, 327 musicians from 10 Bands, and the Corps of Drums will march and play as one.  The famous Drum Horses of the Mounted Bands were also be on parade.