An ambition realised. I have always wanted to photograph London Fashion Week. This fabulous opportunity came with the kind invitation from Paul Costelloe.
Paul was designer to Diana, Princess of Wales, and has been showing at London Fashion Week for 35 years. His is a family owned and run business and I received a warm welcome.
They use the beautiful Palm Court at London’s Waldorf Hotel as their catwalk. A great venue as it has a glass ceiling with daylight pouring in (ideal for photography)!




This was a golden opportunity to use some different effects to capture the movement of the models and clothes. Blurring being the obvious one which is especially suited to closer work.
Where I have used blur, which often helped to blur out the audience and give focus on the subject, it was with a variety of shutter speeds to give different looks.
The primary method being to blur almost everything to varying degrees except one clear part (usually the model’s face) by tracking that particular point – a form of freeze/blur.


Being unable to move position during each show I chose to use a zoom (24-70mm f2.8 L series) so that I could vary my take on the events unfolding.
The Court was beautifully lit with natural daylight from above. They supplemented this with continous light. So no flash needed.
I used the best of my Canon 5d’s for this (mk iv) to make sure I could make the most of the clothes, models and event.
Comments welcome below, I will respond as soon as possible.
Particular thanks to Jessica at Paul Costelloe.
Have a look at their site: paulcostelloe.com
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