Happy Christmas

Christmas greetings to all friends and clients; here's to a successful 2011.

Boatwhisperer video

Shooting linking sequences with Steve Cockerill from Rooster Sailing for his tactics video that we started earlier in the year in the Dominican Republic.

Big freeze

The temperature is down to -8C. First time I've had to use snow chains to get home from a shoot in London.

First snow

Just a light dusting compared to the rest of the country but with more to follow tomorrow apparently.

The Boat Project

The Boat Project is a living archive of people's stories and lives, a 30ft seafaring vessel made from donated wooden items. It is the winning commission for Artists Taking the Lead in the South East and is part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and funded by Arts Council England. Boatbuilder Mark Covell will be working with Lone Twin, Gary Winters and Gregg Whelan, the duo are widely regarded as leading artists in the field of contemporary performance.

Berry Place - O2

Had a lot of fun shooting this while the guys from Berry Place installed their signage at the corporate HQ of Telefonica/O2 in west London. Shot on Canon 5Dmk2 and GoPro.

Berry Place - O2 from michael austen on Vimeo.

Airports

Where did Gatwick go so wrong?

Chichester Harbour

Westward Cup

After the near biblical floods yesterday, a reminder of one of the best days last summer when 4 classics yachts were racing in the Solent for the Westward Cup.

EADS

Fascinating shoot for EADS UK in Bristol where they are 'growing' parts for aircraft construction, saving weight and money and adding strength and longevity.

SOVI Video

SOVI - Sailing Opportunities for the Visually Impaired from michael austen on Vimeo.

Shot on a Canon 5D Mk2, sound from a Zoom H4N and edited in FCP, this is the first film I've been happy to show.... and it was a total pleasure to shoot, these guys are remarkable.

Kelkoo

Corporate portraits commissioned by the Red Consultancy for Kelkoo. Absolutely nothing glamorous about the location, one end of their offices that were being refurbished, but bare plasterboard makes a good background.

HMP Chelmsford

Haven't been inside for a while! So a recent shoot for the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse in HMP Chelmsford was both interesting and unusual. Time was limited, the guys still spend a large part of the day locked in their cells, but they were genuinely interested and eager to participate, for which I'm very grateful. Over 600 inmates, more than a third have drug problems... Images processed using bleach bypass in Lightroom.

SOVI

Sailing Opportunities for the Visually Impaired, in case you were wondering. Back from a short trip with Nick Pomfret who uses his yacht, Toucan, to take visually impaired sailors cruising for a few days. We headed west to Poole, back to Yarmouth, Bembridge, had a great night in the Folly in Cowes and then home. Shot some stills and video for his new SOVI website, editing it now and will post soon. An amazing, humbling experience.

Damaged iPhone

I guess it finally had to happen. After more than a year of cradling it like a baby, I finally managed to drop my iPhone, face down onto concrete. The glass looked like it had been hit by a bullet. I initially thought it'd be an insurance claim but then found Lovefone. You send them the phone, they replace the screen on the day it's received and then sent it straight back by RMSD. Fantastic service!

Clients

If you're in the business you've got to take a look at this site, Clients from Hell, and it's all true...

From the air

There's not a lot to shoot from an Airbus at 36000', except stunning skies like this. Helped to pass the time on the way back from the Dominican Republic.

Shooting video??

Working with Steve Cockerill from Rooster Sailing shooting some fresh video for his next DVD project. I'll post some clips once the editing's underway. We shot at the Laser Training Centre, Cabarete in the Dominican Republic, big swell, extremely hot and humid and great people. Working with a Sony EX3 and amazing GoPro HD's placed all over the boats, a whole new skill set required but the footage looks great and the cameras stayed dry!

Windy lake

The 'Windy Lake', our favourite windsurfing spot in France, stunning scenery, reliable(ish) breeze, what else do you need? Hipstamatic still proving addictive, planning to print a Blurb book of images from the trip to see how they transfer to the page.

Heading South

Taking some time with Ruth and the boys, heading first for Brittany and then down to Grenoble to meet up with friends and family for our annual windsurfing odyssey.

Cannes Lions

Just back from shooting in Cannes for Microsoft Advertising, creatives out partying in full force, some fantastic campaigns on show.

Travelling light?

About as much as you can get on a BA flight without getting hit for excess baggage!

Kelly Coppice

Quick dash to Cornwall for a wedding, managed to catch up with friends who live overlooking the Tamar, simply stunning.

Mark Covell

Been helping Mark Covell edit the thousands of images he's brought back from his time as media crew on the Oman Sail A100 trimaran racing in the Indian Ocean 5 Capes Race.

Good times

if you work in the credit industry....

Small is beautiful

Interesting assignment shooting small machined parts for an engineering company; made a change from shooting people. When viewed so close I thought they looked quite sculptural.

Dell Small Business Excellence Awards

Warren Bennett & David Hathiramani, co-founders of A Suit That Fits, the world's first online tailors, were winners yesterday of the Dell Small Business Excellence Award and met Michael Dell.

Open skies

Vapour trails in the skies again. The estimates for the number of people stuck abroad have risen to 400,000, one elderly couple I heard were in Singapore and had been given a return flight date of May 11.....

Hipstamatic

This is a new app for the iphone. Hipstamatic adds an analogue look and feel to images and with the variety of simulated lenses and film types available there are great creative possibilities. These and 'Spring' image below were shot using the Vericolor film option and the Jimmy S lens. I was a little surprised that the initial file size produced was only 525 pi square but discovered that there is an option to produce larger files of about 1500pi square on the 3Gs, although this does slow the processing considerably. Huge fun.

Spring

....has finally sprung!

BBC Advertising

Another shoot for BBC Advertising on location in the BBC Media Centre.

Alamy

I've been contributing images to Alamy, an online picture library, for a while now and you can search by keyword or location here.

Revision

Work has started at home for this summer's exams and while the boys are distracted it's providing an opportunity for some good stock images.

Poll Tax Riot

It's been twenty years since the Poll Tax riot in Trafalgar Square, and rather to the surprise of my kids, I was in the thick of it. I had just finished a photojournalism course at LCP and was picking up occasional freelance jobs from the Independent and the Mail on Sunday. I'd only gone into town to buy some film and got off the tube to see if anything was happening. This was published and looking at it again today, I still think it's a strong image that conveys the chaos and anarchy.