London Urban Portrait Photography

A couple of weeks back my sister had a rare day off from work so fuelled by Star Bucks caffeine treats and some wintry determination we took to the streets of East London. It always amazes that in the heart of one of the busiest cities in the World you can duck down a deserted street and feel like the last person in an abandoned city. Angie writes the fabulous blog The Awkward Blog and she worked her magic here on Justgivemeacamera until i get my site up and running in the new year.

It was a chance to play around with my 45mm Tilt Shift lens, my favourite lens but not one i get to use often - with it's manual focus it's not the easiest lens to use when photographing children. Most photographers will tell you it's a luxury rather than a necessity and i debated on whether to buy it for a long time. I clocked up quite a few hours reading reviews and trawling through the Flickr Canon 45mm group. I worried that i wouldn't be able to figure out how to use it, most reviews came with a tonne of techy jargon which left me  asking so how do i focus? how do i expose? erm which knob do i twist? how do i rotate the lens?? - but this Vimeo video, in plain English, clarified things for me. So i bit the bullet and have not lived to regret it.