Recently Published: Saira Hunjan for the Financial Times

Back in June I was commissioned by the FT to photograph tattoo artist/artist, Saira Hunjan for the FT's Working Lives section. I have a few friends that are tattoo artists and have a few pieces myself so I knew this was going to be a good shoot right away.

Saira now lives in Wales, after working in studios in London she is now preparing for her first solo art show. I've said it before but one of the best things about being a editorial photographer is being allowed a glimpse into other peoples lives for a short while. It becomes even better when that glimpse is into a subject or person that you are already interested in.

I knew I didn't want to over complicate things on this shoot, I wanted to just use mostly soft, natural light and let the subject carry the image. Fortunately, Saira had a great looking room with nice light pouring in through large windows. All I added was a large Lastolite white reflector to bounce some light back and that was it.

After we had shot a few frames and chatted about similarities in our work, we went outside to shoot a few more frames. As I occasionally work as a picture editor I know how useful having different options can be, with page layouts sometimes in flux until the last minute, giving a pic-ed a few options is always the way to go.

Below are a couple of frames plus the image as it was used. You can view more of my editorial photography here.

Fuji X100S - A few months in kind of review.

Lets get something straight, I'm not a pixel peeping, chart posting reviewer kind of guy. Those sort of reviews make my brain feel like it's splitting in two.I'm more from the real world, how does it "feel", does it work in actual working conditions vibe.

Before taking the not insubstantial step of committing to buy the Fuji X100S I had done my own, not so scientific research. Reviews posted by Zack Arias and David Hobby (Strobist) had both got me stupidly excited for this camera, and I'm not usually interested in getting hyped over gear.

Short background info before we continue: I started off shooting on film, b+w, hand developing/printing then got seduced by digital. Went and studied photography at university where film once again became dominant in my work. Fast forward a short while after that and I tend to shoot most things digitally with a small amount of personal medium format work on a Mamiya 7ii.

When Fuji released the original X100 my interest was sparked. I loved its look, the appeal of having something that aesthetically looked and felt like a 'real' camera was a huge factor to me. I remember at the time looking at reviews and the things that are quite important to me such as focus and speed seemed to be its limiting factors which basically put me off.

Homage to Greg Funnell, he took a similar shot here and it's better. - Fuji X100S

Which brings us to the new model. It's been written by other dudes with larger readerships and more years in the game than I, that Fuji seem to be a company that listens to it's customers and for the most part, addressed all of the concerns and issues surrounding the original X100.

Riders in Ogmore - (This is a massive crop by the way) - Fuji X100S

Within a couple of days I knew this was now the main camera I would reach for when leaving the house, and here's why;

• Size/Weight - I never used to bother taking the 5D anywhere, it's a pain the ass. The X100, you barely even notice it's on your shoulder, at times I need to touch it to make sure it's still there

• Image Quality - It's as good as the Canon 5D Mkiii. To be fair I haven't done any serious lab comparisons here, just that I've used them both on jobs and can't tell the files apart. the X-Trans sensor has a quality of its own. It also feels easier to get sharper images with the X100S, which brings us onto the next point.

• Focusing - With all the noise about the previous models focusing issues I was at first a little sceptical  I needn't have been, the X100S barely ever misses focus and the manual focusing, something that was apparently near impossible on the previous model works like a dream. Having said this it's not on a par with high end DSLR's for all out speed.

• Appearance - It looks amazing. It feels like a proper camera. I don't need to elaborate on this, if you don't what I mean maybe it's not for you.

• The THING - This is what a camera does that can't be easily explained. It's just how this camera makes you feel, right now I'm sat here typing this and I can see it out of the corner of my eye, sitting on the scanner.....you know what I mean.

Boss dude, London. - Fuji X100S

Dog, not happy. - Fuji X100S

River vibes, Wales. - Fuji X100S

Yes it's fixed lens, but 35mm is a good workable focal length, without the fixed lens you're then into XPro-1 territory. I've read about other photographers starting to switch over to using the Fuji system cameras exclusively, not something I'm thinking of just yet, but this is on my shoulder and in my bag when im out on jobs thats for sure.

I'm still a little precious with it and as such haven't taken it out to any pubs/gigs etc and I still need to pick up a decent leather case, but I can see this camera being a firm favourite of mine for some time to come.

You can see more daily snaps taken with the Fuji over at my tumblr by clicking here.

Recently Published

One of the things I love most about working as a freelance editorial photographer in Wales is being able to go places you ordinarily would have no chance entering.

Earlier this week I was commissioned by the Financial Times to photograph the Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint. As you can imagine, this isn't somewhere you can just stroll into with a camera!

I didn't really know what to expect before the shoot, which is one of the biggest challenges with these kind of portrait assignments. I knew I wanted to show elements of the work alongside making a strong image.

Aside from some annoying issues with misfiring flash triggers (Note to self - buy proper ones!) the shoot went smoothly, once I had unleashed the life saving super large Lastolite reflector (seriously the best thing I've ever bought as a photographer!).

Below are a couple of my favourites and also how it appeared in print.

Band Photography: The Phantom Light

I've shot for the Phantom Light, a band from Swansea a few times in the past but this time they wanted me to shoot some new promo images to coincide with the launch of their latest E.P.

My main problem with band photography is how to make it interesting and not cheesy, but when your location resembles the kind of room you'd have a wedding function in and the band your shooting are wearing suits.....

I knew I wanted to give the band two different looks and so with that in mind I set about thinking how best to use the great view of the lighthouse in the background, without making it look like a wedding group portrait.

For the second set up I had an idea of some kind of criminal group/mafia meeting, this was my favourite of the two.

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