Street photography workshop in Cardiff

On Wednesday, I drove up to Cardiff for a street photography workshop run by Kevin Mullins. It was a long drive from Padstow but I'd never been to Cardiff before and this was the only workshop that was in the half term holidays. Despite the trauma of being in a bus lane, with nowhere to go and a bus hooting loudly at me, I survived city centre driving and parked up~only a 'mere' £20 for just over 6 hours parking!

We met in one of the main shopping areas then headed for the nearest coffee shop for introductions and a run down of the day. Along with Kevin, there were 6 of us with a range of experience, both amateur and professional photographers. And yes, with the exception of Mark, we were all using Fuji cameras! The first lesson was how to optimize battery life as Fujis are notoriously poor for this; you might only get 400 shots. I did take 5 spare batteries just in case! The second lesson was just enjoy the day.

Cardiff has a very welcoming feel and is quite attractive with the castle walls nearby. I didn't realise the Millenium Stadium was right in the city centre! We warmed up by just taking some images then we had to look for the colour red.

Checking our settings...

How close can you get and take a photo without being noticed? Lots of techniques to try like resting the camera on your lap or using the tilt screen...I do like this image because I want to know what's in the bag but I'm also interested in all the people in the background too.

Just before lunch we were experimenting with spot metering on a line between light and shadow. Whilst the others disappeared into a coffee house, I grabbed a pasty and got a bit carried away with shadows!

The panning technique...

Random ones....

I'd stopped to make a fuss of a dog and this gentleman also stopped; what a fabulous character!

Back in the coffee shop, we had a quick tutorial on processing images then it was the long drive home. Thoroughly enjoyed the day, learnt lots of new techniques and now need to get out and practice. Now, where are all the crowds in Cornwall?