Miss England 2009

Miss England 2009
Originally uploaded by edopix

Here's a quick post to let you know that I have posted a selection of images from the Miss England 2009 contest. You can find a small edit on my Flickr page and also a much larger edit with opportunities to buy prints and downloads for publishing on my Photoshelter page.

It was an interesting job lasting two days; a day of rehearsals followed by another morning of rehearsals and the evening's competition. Surprisingly tiring though. I shot the rehearsals with a couple of Canon 5D MkII bodies, 16-35mm f2.8L II, 35mm f1.4L, 85mm f1.2L II, 135mm f2. When the contest began I added a Canon 1D MkIII and a 70-200mm f2.8L lens. All the spare lenses were carried in a ThinkTank Photo Skins pouch set attached to a Belly Dancer harness. Made the job so much easier!

The hardest thing was to get natural shots of the contestants when they were off stage. They have been taught to be so aware of the camera that they would immediately pose. After a while though, as they became bored, it became easier and I managed a few nice candid moments.

The 5D MkII surprised again; the light backstage was so dim, that I thought even with my f1.2 and f1.4 lenses I was going to struggle; as you can see, the camera helped me make some rather nice images. Amazing.