'Olympic Golden greats' featured in the 'Sunday Times' with a little help from the Fuji X100

The Olympic Golden Greats show in London Stratford centre has been sponsored by Manfrotto and supported by some fine companies.

When you are lucky enough to have attracted sponsorship, it is important to get as much exposure as possible for the project that they have backed.

So, on the Saturday morning after the private view we held a press call, where local school kids could meet Olympic Gold medalist Anne Packer.

We were hopeful that national papers would turn up and we would get coverage.

In the event not one turned up, which was disappointing.

So, it was down to Lucinda and I to shoot some images to submit to the National papers.

I picked up my Canon 5D MkII and to my horror I saw the battery was all but flat....the spare was some distance away too( bad, bad Drew...but as I say to anyone who will listen, if there is a photographic mistake to be made, I have have made it)

What to do?

A change of tack was called for and I switched to the Fuji X100 which calls for a somewhat different shooting style....fast it is not.

Am I complaining?

No way.

It did the job, we filed the pictures and we got a 4 column pic in the Sunday Times.

A PR dream come true.

We did it! Olympic Golden Greats opens at John Lewis Stratford City

It took Lucinda and I two years to pull it together but we made it.

Last night we had our private view of the exhibition which is on show at John Lewis in the stadium suite at Westfield Stratford City until 20th March.

With the passing of my Dad it meant that I had not seen the installed show until I walked through the door 15 mins before the party started.

It was only possible as Lucinda took the helm and with the help of my good friend Justin Sutcliffe, the show was hung in record time.

They did a fantastic job.

Never underestimate how long it takes to hang a show......

After Andy from John Lewis introduced us, I gave a short speech thanking all the people and companies who made it happen.

Manfrotto have sponsored the show and without them it simply would not have happened.

At all.

The images were printed on a Canon LFP printer by Velmex, if you are wondering why Canon LFP you could do a lot worse than have a look at the installed prints.

My good friend Brian mentioned on twitter that this show is a great place to see the difference between medium format and DSLR's

I will be posting specifically about this later this week, but if you go to the show before I do you might like to play a little game.....one of the images is shot on a DSLR, can you tell which one? I was surprised to note that EVERYONE got it right!

Not only are there prints on display but we have 4 videos on giant screens where some of the medalists talk bout their experiences and what it means to compete and win gold.

You will be able to see these on my blog next week.

Lucinda and I were also lucky enough to have 3 Olympic Gold medalists there too.

Judy Grinham, who won Gold for backstroke in Melbourne 1956

Terry Spinks, who won Gold for flyweight boxing in Melbourne 1956

Ann Packer who won Gold for the 800m in Tokyo 1964

Ann also came along to the press call where she spoke to kids from the local school about her achievements.

I will be blogging all this week as time allows, I'm in Holland speaking at the Professional imaging show along with Dave Black, Frank Doorhof and many others too.

I could not think of a more fitting way of closing my speech at the private view than by dedicating it to my Dad, he would have been so very proud.

What next after this two year long adventure?

Well, I have already done it, it's just a matter of when it will see the light of day.

This time I did not sell a car to make it happen, but a house.

The stakes are high, but the glittering prize is worth it.

Dark Days

My Dad died two days ago.

He was the very reason I took up photography aged 14.

We used to make temporary darkrooms in the kitchen, even a on school night.

Which did not particularly help my performance at school.

But my Dad got it.

He knew.

The most important thing is to nurture interest in your child, and watch the enthusiasm grow and the rest would follow, with luck, opening up whole new possibilities in their lives.

Without his encouragement I would never have been a professional photographer and had such a wonderful life.

As he passed away I told him he was my ladder to the stars.

And he truly was.

Sights and sounds from Focus on Imaging

A somewhat smaller show than last year.

With a whole hall closed off, no presence from Sony or Panasonic after their large stands last year.

Sunday was a little subdued but Monday was busy.

I had a somewhat hectic schedule on the Manfrotto and Phase One stands so I did not get a chance to look round a great deal, so consider this a snapshot.

I popped along to the Fuji stand to see the X1 pro.

Once again for sheer feel and build Fuji have hit the target, but then again they needed to at the price point, which is quite high.

I'm pleased to report that the autofocus is better than the X100 but by how much it is difficult to gauge just messing about on a show stand.

I am somewhat concerned but the time it seemed to take to write a RAW image to card though.

Perhaps I had it on some obscure setting, but it seemed to take an age.

Because of its interchangeable lenses Fuji has opted for a focal plane and not a leaf
shutter which gives the X100 it's stealthy abilities.

I did consider this to be a deal breaker but it was actually pretty quiet.

I can't see myself buying one of these but that is what I said about the X100 and then I went out and bought one.........

Speaking of quiet Camera's I did get a short amount of hands on time with the Canon 5d MKIII.

And my impression is WHAT A CAMERA!

Ok, followers of this blog will know I haved used Canon forever and know it is my DSLR of choice but from my very brief hands on time with it I did get the idea that this camera is a cut above.

Firstly build quality is in my opinion better than the MKII and that was never bad anyway, it felt a little 'tighter' with no flex whatsover around the memeory card door.

I tried out the AF in both oneshot and AI focusing mode and it was a revelation compared to the MKII or any other AF system I have used. It did not struggle focusing on low contrast and solid black objects, tracked moving objects with great precision. Not that this should come as a surprise at all as it utilises the AF system from the 1D X, but good to see all the same.

I tried the 'silent' setting too and it was really very impressive, not silent my any means but some people will buy it for this feature alone.

Overall one can only be impressed by the sheer responsive nature of this camera, somewhat reminiscent of a 1 series, dubtlessly down to the big fat Digic V processor.

One small demerit point,in some people's books at least, will be the weather sealing which though improved is still not the same extreme spec as the 1DX.

To be clear I have used both versions of 5d's extensively and have never encountered any water ingress issues at all, but I do know people who use the 5D in extreme situations and they would welcome 1 series weather sealing for peace of mind more than anything.
Canon have relaxed a little and finally let 1 series features to be used on the 5D (such as AF, Metering and a decent frame rate.
I just wish they had the confidence to let full weather sealing make it to the MKIII.
Doubtless they were concerned that it could steal sales from the 1dx, but I think they need not have worried, the 1Dx will never be used for the same type of photography.

But Canon should consider that due to its great form factor and sheer versatility the MKIII will see more extreme action in harsh conditions than the 1dx ever will in my opinion.

Drifting by the Olympus stand I saw the OM-D and it looked a tidy little package, though I'm not sure if the styling is quite as sweet as the original.

Finally another product which I have been eagerly awaiting is the Gitzo Systematic GT5562LTS tripod.

Why is that?

It is a Carbon fiber light weight but substantial tripod which will take all the really big lenses so beloved by bird watchers and wildlife shooters with ease.

Nothing special about that I hear you say, but the really clever part is just how small it is thanks to the 5 section legs which means it is a full sized heavy duty tripod which will fit in my small backpack, meaning amongst other things that when you fly you will not have to check it into the hold.

Film makers take note, as it is from the systematic range it will take the Gitzo fuild head (probably others too I suppose) and you will be able use a substantial full sized tripod in places you never have done before.

A game changing tripod like this does not come cheap but it well worth looking at as it could pay for itself in a few flights where you do not pay excess baggage for that tripod bag.


I have had to leave the show a day early due to a family emergency and my very good friend Justin Sutcliffe will be standing in for me on the Manfrotto stand, if you are interested in World Class photojournalism look no further. I'm sure his presentations will be riveting.

Australian Workshops with Shutterclass

In my 47 years I have never been to Australia.

That is all about to change.

In April I will be doing 2 workshops, one in New South Wales, the other in Victoria.

Think girls, animals, smoke and you will not be far off.

These are not going to Drew 'Light' either but each will be a two day download of my heart body and soul which attendees will be able to take forward into their own sphere of photography, what ever that may be.

Think of it as a tool kit to get the best out of your photography.

On every level.

I will be holding nothing back, as any previous attendee's will tell you (I hope!)

Not only will it be a great chance to unlock potential in your own work but L&P will be along and you will get a chance for some time with the simply stunning IQ Phase One system and state of the art Profoto flash.

I apologise for not announcing this workshop on this blog, I see from my Google Analytics I have followers in Aus.

The bookings site went live a couple of days ago and I'm pleasantly surprised by the number of bookings already.

If you want to get my take on taking your photography to the next level and adding a certain wit and sparkle to your photography that your competitors will not have please do join me.

I do not intend to repeat these workshops in Australia at any point in the near future.

Canon 5D MkIII announced - Evoloution not revolution

Readers of this Blog will know that when I'm not shooting with a Phase One, my camera of choice is the Canon 5D MkII, a camera which sees such use that I have all but worn the shutter out according to an advisory note from the Canon service centre.

In many ways I regard the 5D MkII as contender for the title of 'Greatest Camera of all time' due to its size, weight, form factor, resolution and ground breaking video capability, all at an accesable price point.

But it did have its downsides, sleepy autofocus(compared to other offerings) a relatively slow stills frame rate and a rather less than ideal video codec, as good as the video is.

I have been keenly awaiting the new 5D in its third ittineration, which made an unshecduled and notable appearance in Kenya some weeks before we were meant to see it.

So let's have a look at some of its key features.

A new 22.3MP sensor - with Nikon going to 31mp with the D800 some may have expected more megapixels from Canon but interestingly Canon refer to it being the 'ideal resolution for shooting stills and HD Movies' I feel that they could well have called this right.

61 Point Autofocus from the Canon 1D-X - Now to be honest this one surprised me, Canon have traditionally retained the best AF systems for the flagship 1 series Camera's but I'm pleased that Canon have listened to feedback from users, in this highly competitive market sector improvement in this area was sorely needed on the AF system which the MkII had inherited from the MkI.

6FPs stills frame rate - I'm not a big fan of fast stills frame rates, but I welcome this, the outgoing frame rate of just under 4 frames a second was never really enough for this fine 'multi role' camera.

Digic 5+ processor - with greater performance demands, the heart of any new camera is the processor, and though I am no expert I expect this to be class leading processing power, which will mean a responsive camera.

8.11 cm high resoloution LCD screen - once again a pleasant surprise in that it again comes from the 1D-X.

Dual card slots - Canon have added an SD card slot, with which you can back the CF card up, or use it as an 'overflow' when the CF card is full.

Improved weather sealing - once again something I never really struggled with, but when you make such a small and versatile package it is sure to end up in some extreme situations.

Shutter life extended to 150,000 cycles - nice one. Would have meant my shutter did not replacing....

Built in HDR - if HDR floats your boat you might well like this, I tend to think that overdone HDR has the look of the Sci-fi end of the world and a bit of a pollutant on Flickr, if this feature can be harnessed subtly it could be very useful.

Locking Function dial - unforgivable that Canon did not include this on the MkII, though it can be retrofitted at a Canon service centre. No longer will you raise your camera to your eye and find it on 'B'....Once again they listened to the feedback.

A new Wireless flash system - excellent! I'm not sure quite how they have managed to navigate all the international frequencies

Headphone socket - this small but significant feature means you can at last monitor your audio if you are a video shooter.

24-60 fps video frame rate - 60p is most welcome, though I have not yet seen if it is 720 or 1080. no mention of the codec either.

Silent shooting mode - lets see just how quiet this is, but any noise reduction will be a boon to wedding and wildlife shooters alike.

You can read the full release here

As my headline said 'Evolution not revolution' and that is no bad thing.

Canon have headed away from ring fencing the best features for the 1 series, and this can only be welcomed, and by not being so afraid of stealing 1 series sales, will give competitors a hard time.

A confident approach.

But I don't think Canon really had much choice.

The Canon 5D has always been an important camera for the company but it has never been more important to them at this moment.

DSLR sales are rising at around 10-15 percent a year, pitch that against a compact camera market which must be severely impacted by the rise and rise of the smartphone, leading one would imagine to a big fall in revenues.

Have Canon done enough to carry the MkIII through its in all likelyhood long product cycle? (Remember the Canon 5DMkII would have been 4 years old this Autumn...)

Time will tell, but I think they have.

Olympic Golden Greats Exhibition Dates

Anyone who knows me will know how important personal projects are to me.

This one more than others as it is my very first joint one, with my partner Lucinda Marland.

Our society is so obsessed by by youth, and we wanted to celebrate the achievements of the often overlooked senior citizens.

So we set out to photograph every British senior citizen who has an Olympic Gold Medal, that is anyone who will be 60 and over this year.

It has been a wonderful experience and we have leaned so much from these remarkable individuals.

The show has been sponsored by Manfrotto to whom I'm eternally grateful.

Please come along and visit the show.

It is running from the 9th-20th March in the John Lewis store stadium suite overlooking the site of London 2012.

It is a spectacular location.

Here is a panorama of the location shot by Lan Bui on an iPhone....

If you would like to know more about the project I will be talking about it at Focus on imaging on the Manfrotto stand.

You can also meet me at the Phase One stand where I will be talking about the benefits of medium format.