Travel Shooting: Thai Sunsets

I'm just back from a couple of weeks travelling around Thailand with the family and very glad to be back in the UK before the volcanic ash cloud hit (as no doubt, are my wedding clients!).

I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a "proper" camera on my travels, but didn't want to risk using any of my current kit - which is a good thing when I look at the sand ridden state of the kit I did take (and that's before we get to Songkran!).

So I packed an old Canon 350D with its 18-55 kit lens and purchased a variable aperture Canon 35-135 lens on eBay which gave me a good spread of lens lengths without taking up too much space or weight in my rucksac. The 35-135 lens will be back on eBay later this week!

I'll attempt to post a few interesting shots over the next week or so and avoid boring you with too many "holiday snaps". I thought I'd start off with a few pictures of various sunsets that I grabbed over the course of the break.

The long exposures that these need meant that I was often reliant on a combination of finding a flat, unmoving surface to balance the camera and the self timer to get sufficient sharpness from the shots, but nonetheless as someone who doesn't usually take much in the way of landscapes, I'm pleased with some of these:



We start in Bangkok and a view over the Chao Phraya River & the Phra-Pin-klao Bridge.


On to Kanchanaburi now and a longer exposure taken later in the sunset gave me this lovely image of the Maenam Khwae Yai river from our hotel restaurant.


At Ao Nang on the coast near Krabi I employed a model* and artfully posed her removing sea water from her shoes to get this shot of the early stages of the setting sun.


With my budget for live models exhausted I was forced to turn to a still life, with these discarded coconuts lit by the on camera flash whilst exposing the background for the ambient. I had to jump up to 200 ISO in order to get a little more coverage from the 350D's tiny flash (oh for a 580EX!).


Shortly after sunset on the same night, and for literally a couple of minutes maximum - the sky turned a vivid red behind the clouds and I took the opportunity to grab this shot.


Now on to Koh Lanta where I took the opportunity to combine my passion for long distance running with my passion for photography by sprinting through this shot(!) as the self timer elapsed.


Typically the best sunset of our time on Koh Lanta came when I was relaxing in the pool you see reflecting the sunset here. Undeterred, this shot was taken with the camera precariously balanced on a sun lounger late in a sunset on the next night.


Finally for today, a last sunset on a clear day at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok as we prepared to fly home and I burned the last space on my memory card.


Well I hope you enjoyed something a little different from me. Back to work properly tomorrow!

Dan Davies.

* - or possibly just took the opportunity to grab a shot of a passing traveller at the appropriate moment.

FA Youth Cup Semi Final - Chelsea 4-0 Blackburn PHOTOS

Chelsea's Under 18's comfortably secured their place in the FA Youth Cup final for the second time in three years with last night's 4-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Stamford Bridge following on from a 1-0 victory at Ewood Park a week ago.

My full gallery of pictures can be seen here; but first of all, scroll down for a few highlights from what turned out to be an exceptional performance from 1 to 11.



Right from the start, Chelsea looked up for the battle. Kaby's attacking flair and defensive hard work typified the whole teams performance on the night.


Captain Connor Clifford showed early determination before injury got the better of him and and saw him substituted.


Marco Mitrovic begins his celebrations as he knocks the first goal home on the half hour


Jacapo Sala was first to congratulate Mitrovic. Sala would be celebrating his own goal within four minutes of the opener.


This looks like it's going to hurt!


Milan Lalkovic, an early sub for Connor Clifford made the most of lots of good ball down the right wing.


Gokhan Toure makes the game absolutely safe with the night's third goal...


... turning sharply to make space in the box before striking past Swann in the Blackburn Goal.


Celebrations at the final whistle amongst the ball boys as the stadium enjoys the team's success.



To see much more of last night's excellent performance, click here to view the full night's slideshow.

The most comprehensive report of the night's action is always on www.cfcnet.co.uk. Read last nights by clicking here. I'd also highly recommend following the report's author, Philip Rolfe on twitter for the best, most in-depth coverage of Chelsea at Youth and Reserve level that you could ever wish for.

Finally, don't forget to follow me on twitter

North London Corporate Photographer - House of Lords Reception

Catching up on old posts now and a chance to see a few shots I took when covering a reception & luncheon for a charity in the House of Lords. The charity is celebrating it's 50th anniversary and were invited into the Cholmondley (pronouced Chumley) Room for a luncheon to mark this occasion.



Attendance was strictly limited and the official invites only part of a series of security steps necessary to get in


Ahead of lunch, the atmosphere builds


Viscount Tenby sticks to the soft drinks as he meets & greets


Following lunch, he signs a commemorative card to mark the charity's half centenary


Time to relax as the celebrations wind down


A last few minutes and time to grab a quick group shot on the balcony



At Daniel Davies Photography we pride ourselves on our ability to expertly cover events like these, offering a professional, flexible and unobtrusive service. All of our clients receive both colour and black & white copies of every photograph, ready prepared for use both online and in print at a variety of useful sizes. We pride ourselves on our ability to turn around these photographs on the same day where necessary - often useful when a press release is set to follow these events.

Contact us for more details of our service and make sure that your efforts in building a memorable event are matched by our memorable images.

North London Photographer: Tariq & Rebecca - Pre-Wedding shoot in St. James's Park.

This morning I spent a very pleasant couple of hours with Tariq and Rebecca who are getting married in May. Here's a few of the shots which immediately jumped out at me as being special.

Tariq is in the Household Cavalry, so a trip around St. James's Park seemed entirely appropriate with his barracks situated just across Birdcage Walk. As the morning progressed I was pleased to discover just how appropriate a choice it was.


I love this first shot, not only for how comfortable Becky and Tariq are together but also as it shows both Horse Guards Parade, which is almost Tariq's second home and also the London Eye in the distance, where Mr Romantic proposed to his fiancée.


We of course had to get a ring shot, and this lovely one was taken in the shade of Buckingham Palace


The famous "Blue Bridge" was the location for this shot. Tariq and Becky are really very natural together and I loved how easily they ignored the many surrounding distractions to create a sense of intimacy between each other.


We next moved to the tea rooms, where a stairway to the upper floor gave us a breather, some peace and the chance to create this lovely shot.


Moving to the steps in front of the tea room, all I had to do here was to ask Tariq & Becky to stare deep into each other's eyes and wait for the magic to be created.


I also took another opportunity to photograph the beautiful ring again - this image is toned so that you can't see precisely how cold it was this morning!


With the departure of the guards imminent, we moved to the top of The Mall. Again this shot was taken as the two of them just relaxed together - suffice to say that a kiss followed very shortly!


The guards duly arrived. Tariq was a little concerned at the ribbing that he would recieve should he be recognised by his collagues but being the professional he is he carried on manfully.


Back to Horse Guards parade for this shot, as I again looked to create an image that showed some of their shared history.


Finally as we walked back to the barracks I hovered behind the couple and enjoyed capturing some spontanenous moments of togetherness, like this.


This pre-wedding shoot is an example of something I offer to all of my wedding couples at no additional cost. Firstly, it's great fun and gives an opportunity to relax away from the stresses of wedding preparations and it's also a great way for the couple and I to get to know each other, and find out likes & dislikes so that we can create some memorable and relaxed images on the wedding day itself. Tariq and Rebecca will be able to choose their favourite image from today to have printed out for them to keep. Visit my website for more details of my wedding service and benefit from this level of care for your own wedding.

Chelsea Reserves 1-2 Arsenal Reserves, 15 February 2010

I was at Griffin Park last night to see the Chelsea Reserves narrowly go down 2-1 to Arsenal.

As Phil's excellent report describes, Chelsea had the better chances, but a combination of bad luck, poor finishing and a pudding of a pitch meant that we didn't capitalise on these and fell to two good strikes from an equally strong Arsenal reserve XI.

As ever with my Chelsea photography, I've picked a few highlights out for this posting. The link to all 50 photographs from last night's game can be found below:


Striker Borini's pace & power would cause problems all evening for the Arsenal defence. Unfortunately his finishing wasn't up to his usual high standards


Borini bringing the ball down before unleashing a powerful volley that smashed against the crossbar



Fabio curses his luck as the crossbar still vibrates


Gael Kakuta well markshalled by the Arsenal defence


Perhaps Borini's best chance - a clearer contact here would have rendered the arguments about whether this crossed the line irrelevant


Borini again, rounding the keeper before finding the woodwork for the second time of the night


Kakuta is tripped as he comes more into the later stages of the game

A full gallery of the nights photographs can be found here, or you can view a slide show if you prefer.

North London Photographer - Corporate Portraits

I spent a little time on Saturday with Xen, a solictor who is looking to polish up his website and to have some images that he can use to promote himself with.

We worked for around an hour and three quarters, using his lovely offices to give us some environmental context to the shots, before quickly heading to a local canal for a few outside shots.



As well as some very "corporate" shots, we aimed to show the solicitor as a human being and so worked through a variety of outfits and made subtle changes to the way we shot to make sure that he didn't (always) appear too intimidating!



Using his office meant that we were also able to get his logo subtly into some of the shots.



The photographs from the shoot will be returned on DVD to Xen within a couple of days, in both colour and black & white and ready sized for various uses - we really do make it easy for you to always look your best, whether that be on the web or in a wall portrait.



Oh, and incidentally, if you need a really good solicitor then let me know - I'll put you in touch with one of the best!



Daniel Davies Photography - Passionate about Perfect Pictures.

North London Photographer - Pet Dog Portraits

A break from a run of corporate work yesterday gave me a little time to get back to some portraits and a chance to capture Valerie, a young cross-bred Jack Russell/Chihuahua.

Valerie is completely deaf, which posed particular challenges in terms of getting her attention so that she'd pose for me, but with some perseverence we did, I think, hit the jackpot.

Working in a small bedroom, I used my flash on a ETTL cord, but switched to manual mode for both exposure and flash so that I could control the background to get these.



This first photograph captures a vulnerability in Valerie that I think is quite appealing. Her single visible dark eye staring hopefully forward shows the kind of trust that she has to hold for those around her as a small, disabled dog.


By moving the flash to fire behind Valerie, I created this lovely, near silhouette, which appeals to me as I think she looks almost Fox like.


Here by shooting from above, and feathering the flash so it illuminated her face but not the ground around her, I feel a sense of vulnerability along with a slight ridiculous note of the size of the ears of this deaf dog.


This final shot is a more conventional portrait and shows more dignity and a stillness, which is rare in a dog who is constantly reliant on her sight to sense opportunities for fun, love or even threats.


If you'd like similar images of your pet captured then please contact me by clicking here.