Onto some photographs… after a quick drink and introductions in a bar near Waterloo Train Station we set off in groups for a ‘fun photo challenge’. There were some rules and guidelines to follow, but nearly everyone abandoned them in favour of shooting whatever we wanted! The goal of the challenge was to get people out with their cameras and shoot things that might be outside their usual field. Everyone agreed that it was a great challenge and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. The best images from everyone were put into a slideshow and shown on a projector screen the following day. Here are some of mine from the challenge, all taken with the Canon EOS 5D MKII, 24-70L and processed in Lightroom 3 Beta:

Pete Lawson is uncompromising when it comes to getting the shot he wants

Simon Fazackarley wanted a shot of our shoes (as you do) so I took one from an alternative angle

Pigeons are fun to shoot

Back at the bar for a few drinks and to submit our images

I was demonstrating my shoot-from-the-hip “technique” which shocked Abby a little as she thought I was shooting something dodgy!!

Day two and we’re in the ‘boardroom’ for some serious discussions, coffee and Krispy Kremes!!

Phill Allen and Simon discuss their topic:

Stewart gives his ‘The Power of Social Networking’ talk

Then here’s me on the quiet train heading back to the Scottish Borders after a brilliant couple of days in London – thanks again everyone; you’re amazing people to know!

Here are a couple of superb blog posts of the get together with great photos from fellow Randall Network family members:

• Phil Barber – London Baby! – Randallmania
• Randall Photo Network London Get Together – By Barnaby Aldrick
• London by Lawson Photography

Skip this paragraph if you’re not interested in photography techy stuff! I decided to process the images in the Lightroom 3 Beta to give it a try. I’m currently using Lightroom 1.4 and doing most of the processing in Photoshop. Lightroom 3 is brilliant, I can do pretty much all of the processing I need in there, which is much quicker than going into Photoshop. The new film grain feature is absolutely wonderful and it really enhances the noise from the ISO 6400+ images that were taken at the night shoot. The colour noise reduction is amazing too and makes ISO 12800 and ISO 25600 really, really useable and that’s without any luminance noise reduction (which is currently disabled in the Beta version). Adding film grain to an image with heavy digital noise absolutely transforms it into a lovely image. Who needs noise reduction!?

Here we are congregating outside the hotel ready for the evening shooting in the dark:

Stewart Randall brought a very cool box of lighting to try some off-camera flash:

We head down to the beach, Olivia volunteered to be our model since the one we organised had to cancel. In the photo; Laura Lawson, Susie Lawrence, Hayley Ruth, Rebecca Honeywell, Olivia Brabbs and Pete Lawson

A typical retaliation from a photographer about to have his photo taken is to return fire, here’s Pete Lawson:

Heading towards the beach; Stewart, Barnaby Aldrick, Mark Lenik, Neil Matthews, Chris MacKenzie, Phil Barber and Rob Booker

The 3B Media guys did their off camera flash thing down on the beach:

As well as being excellent photographers, Rebecca and Hayley make very good light stands!

Mark Lenik, an amazing film maker (the only videographer in the group of photographers) put together a superb video from the two days.

Olivia Brabbs volunteered to be on the other side of the camera and model for us and did a fantastic job:

Susie Lawrence decided to have a go and was an excellent model too:

Pete likes what he sees:

It was getting really dark at this point, but the 5D MKII low light capabilities are AMAZING. This shot of Laura Lawson standing in the dark was taken at ISO 25600, 1/25s, f/2.8 – I think the colour rendition is amazing considering the high ISO (and the mixture of light sources – it was Blackpool after all!)

Here’s Susie Lawrence and Mark Byrne practicing a bit of POINT and SHOOT:

Here’s Mark again creating his video masterpiece with two of the stars: Laura and Pete

Phil Barber and a bit of chimping:

A dodgy pair in the back streets of Blackpool

The next morning, I tried out Laura and Pete’s 50mm 1.2 lens, Chris MacKenzie was one of my victims.

I think Rebecca spotted me…

Hayley tried out Laura’s Lens Baby:

Then I gave Laura’s 85mm 1.8 a go, this time Susie Lawrence was the test subject:

Here are a few of us in a deep discussion about the photography business and album manufacturers… or maybe we were just trying to decide whether to stay for another coffee

It was brilliant to see everyone again and meet a whole bunch of new people too. Can’t wait for the next one!

Here are a few more excellent posts from the trip:

The Lawson’s Blackpool Write-up

Barnaby Aldrick

Phil Barber (you need to scroll down a bit)

Rebecca Honeywell

Mark Byrne

Eight of us met at The Brooklands hotel in Barnsley conveniently situated just off the M1. It was a real pleasure to meet such a friendly and enthusiastic group of people and to get to know each other, talk about the industry and discuss how we can help each other. Perhaps unsurprisingly we all share a similar philosophy when it comes to our business and networking with other photographers – much of this is thanks to the [b] school, which brought us together and instilled such a good ethos.

We had a really good chat and started to devise a plan for the next meet-up in Blackpool, which will probably be in October. Rebecca, Pete, Laura and I brought some sample albums for people to look at – this was helpful for those looking for alternative album suppliers. A group photograph outside followed lunch and the end of a great first meet-up. I can’t wait for the next one, and I hope many more members can make it too!

Here are a few photographs I took:

Rebecca (left) shows us some of her sample albums. Also in the photo: Laura, Peter, Susie, Stuart and Stewart (from left to right)

Stuart James:

Stewart has a look through the sample album I made from Andrea and Ron’s Wedding. I really appreciate the supportive comments from everyone!

Hayley buys Stewart a beer – don’t worry Stewart, we’ll be joining in with the beer drinking at Blackpool when we don’t have to drive!