I’m off to Berlin to embark on a new audiovisual project and combine travel with art; a creative city break. The project is a collaboration between myself and electronic music composer Sam Hanlan. We’re going to be taking and making art from within the City, him with the sounds and me with the sights It’s a voyage into the unknown and we’ll be crafting the concept as we go. If it goes well, the plan is to make a whole bunch of these long weekend trips to different cities, making cool audio visual…thingies. Hence the name, audiovisual postcards.
An absolutely massive deal for me personally is having the support of the London Camera Exchange on this project. They’ve given me a few second hand lenses to take with me and review. Lens heads and tech nerds probably won’t get too excited and might even get snobby about this but like I say, for me, this is pretty wonderful.
I like to shoot on a Frankenstein system combining a Canon 5DmkII body with Nikon glass. Don’t ask why, it just works and I love it. So having these lenses to add to my arsenal really adds an extra range. The width of the 24mm means landscapes galore, the speed of the 85mm means ethereal, shallow DoF portraits of people and city lights captured in Bokeh and the 135mm gives me a bunch of legroom to pick off details off in yonder distance and stay incognito from my subject. These combined with my 35mm and 50mm gives me a great range. Oh, and I’m keeping my Canon L 24-70mm at home. It’s prime time baby!
I have a small, dedicated kit so having these extra paint brushes is great. I never let my kit dictate me, always making it work with what I’ve got, but having these will let me get more of what I want and far easier. The guys at the LCE, Guildford branch, are lovely and I buy a lot of my kit there, so I’m hoping to give something back by promoting them and their services. In a time of huge digital retail, it’s important to remember that these camera shops are there for a reason, because the folks that work there really know their stuff. So look out for some reviews of the lenses!
Not sure what the internet sitch will be like out there, but be sure to follow the old Instagram and Twitter feeds to see what we’re up to.
Peace & Muffins xoxo