Every year Oxford University holds its Encaenia ceremony where honorary degrees are handed out, this year this included Sir George Martin, producer of all but one the Beatles albums and the Italian prime minister, His Excellency Giorgio Napolitano. Photographed for Oxford University events department.

At the start of February I took photos of The Oxford London Lecture for Oxford University. The lecture was held in Church House, Westminster London. The hall really is stunning and was a great venue for the lecture on ‘The Gene Revolution’ by Professor Peter Donnelly. I was glad that I had brought my Sigma 10mm fisheye lens to capture the grandeur of the hall.

Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times led a discussion on the implications of the Gene Revolution after the lecture.

Working on events such as this you have to try and make yourself as un-noticed by the audience as possible. Despite there being very little ambient light I didn’t use flash, which meant in order to get sharp shots I was generally using ISO 1600+ and lenses wide open at F/2.8 or F/1.8. Using a tripod or monopod is really helpful when trying to get sharp shots when shooting long shots such as the one above. (ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/90 second with Canon 70-200mm L lens). Flashes can be very distracting to the audience, and using only available light keeps the ambience of the room.

Just a quick picture from a ball I took photos at on Saturday. I will do a proper update with ball pictures when I have edited them.

The above shot was handheld, resting on the table with the Sigma 10mm fisheye lens. The Cardiff Hilton has some really interesting lighting for taking photos, the abstract looking glass objects on the table are actually the awards prior to being given out.

In July I went along to a local acting group to take some photos of them in action and also some portraits of the members of the cast. For those interested there are many more pictures here: Performance on 17/8/08, Performance on 19/8/08 and Portraits taken on 17/8/08

For those of you not familiar with The Canterbury Tales they were written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th centuryand are actually pretty funny. Always nice to take photos of something that makes you laugh too! Here Bible bashing is taken in the literal context.

I also took portraits of some of the cast members. For those of you photographically minded out there; I used two shoot-through umbrellas and Canon Speedlites to light them. The rather beautiful wooden background was part of an old barn on the stage site. Always nice to find something like that to work with.

Again there are lots more images which I have split into three galleries for those interested.

Performance on 17/8/08, Performance on 19/8/08 and Portraits taken on 17/8/08

Friday 13th June was the Cardiff University Summer Ball in Coopers field, Cardiff. Thousands of students turned up to enjoy massive tents featuring artists such as Pendulum, Scouting for Girls and Kids in Glass Houses.

Galleries

For ease of viewing the photos have been split into into three galleries:

• Groups of students

• Students around the site

• Overview of site and acts etc

Prints

Prints are available of all the photos, the photos shown in the gallery are of reduced size and quality. For a small charge additional correction work such as removal of bottles etc can be done. If you would like a print, please contact me quoting the image number from the galleries above.

Prices for high quality lusture (matt) or gloss finish are:

• 6×4″ (one copy) £6
• 6×4″ (two copies) £10
• 9×6″ (one copy) £10
• 12×8″ (one copy) £14

To order please send me an e-mail quoting the image number displayed in the gallery below the photo, I can post them to you for a small charge or I am based in Cardiff where you can pick the photos up from locally.

Overview of the massive tent where Pendulum among others played

I have put a couple of samples on the site here, there are several hundred more in galleries listed further down the page.

There were fairground rides to enjoy alongside the music

If you have another request such as poster sized prints, or want framed photos feel free to e-mail for a quote. I am also available for future events of this kind, again please contact me.

Once again here are the list of galleries:

• Groups of students photos
• People around the site
• Overview of site photos, and acts etc

I had a great time, I hope you enjoy the photos

Some of the finely dressed students enjoying themselves

Overview of the main tent

The student media awards were held in the Cardiff Hilton hotel, celebrating the best in student media.

Amy Harrison the current edior for the Gair Rhydd newspaper and media at Cardiff.

IMG has been a long running tradition for Cardiff university students, each year teams from Cardiff University compete in netball and football. This year an event was organised to celebrate their achievements at a ceremony. I was asked to go along and photograph the winners and the event setup.

The football winners

Netball winners

Pre-arrival of guests in Solus

There are many more images below please click a thumbnail image to view bigger. If you attended the ceremony and would like a get hold of prints please contact me or leave a comment in the post.

A bit thanks goes out to Dave Green for assisting me on this at such short notice, legend.

There are also photos of the Varsity Rugby match itself here.

The Cardiff snake charmers put on a good show, and there were hundreds of them!!

The Cardiff crowd was massive and loud. The biggest cheers of the night were given to the numerous streakers.

Cardiff celebrating a well deserved victory, lets hope they continue with the success into the future!

I had been looking forward to taking this shot, finally getting to put the fisheye to use on something other than BMX and skating… I have handed my dissertation in finally, so expect updates to be a little more regular.

There are more photos below, click on a thumbnail to see the rest of the gallery.

Cardiff soon found their form though and took the lead.

Some stunning penalties ensured that Cardiff stayed in the lead. The crowd turn out for Cardiff was massive!

Swansea put a great fight but Cardiff continued to dominate.

The end score was 19-9 to Cardiff, crowning them Varsity the Varsity winners. Cardiff also won overall in the others sports winning 17 games, drawing 1 and losing just two!

The pitch was invaded by celebrating Cardiff fans at the end… The score was up on the screen for all to see!

A few weeks ago, for two weekends in a row I took photos of Fun Runs. The course was exactly the same, but for different causes. Saturday’s run was for the Cardiff SVC (Student Volenteering Centre). Above is the winner of the race.

It was the first year it has run, and there was a great turn out, many opting for fancy dress! Always good to see people really putting the effort in to getting dressed up! The Welsh judges hearts were stolen by this outfit, and this was the winner of the fancy dress competition.