As a London Musicians Photographer I was delighted when Emmanuel got in touch about a musicians photography session. He is a violin student at the Royal College of Music in South Kensington. This is actually where I studied violin a fair few years ago, in the days before I became a photographer. I hadn’t revisited the College for a long time so it was lovely to meet up with Emmanuel on the steps of the RCM. These were steps that I had gone up and down so many times in the years before becoming a London Musicians Photographer.
Photos for a CD cover and other projects
Emmanuel was still studying at the Royal College and wanted to get a range of images, from formal portraits to some more fun photos. He wanted to be able to use the images for various projects he had coming up. He was entering many violin competitions and was preparing to record a CD, which I hear is now very close to being released. After hearing him play during the shoot I’m very excited to listen to it!
The area around the Royal College of Music in South Kensington is a great area for musicians photography. It stands opposite the Royal Albert Hall, which provided a wonderful backdrop for some of the images. We started with some musicians portraits in the park and then made our way to the Royal Albert Hall.
I love finding interesting backgrounds – including pubs!
We got a fantastic variety of images using the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal College of Music (also a very beautiful building) as backdrops. We then walked around the streets of South Kensington to find something a bit different. I found my feet naturally leading me back to the little mews street where the College pub was (and still is!) Obviously I must have made that journey too many times in my early days! The pub itself actually made for a really fun location for some more photos. These images are some of my favourites of the day. We had such a fun time comparing notes on College Days and how things had changed over the years. We then headed back to the Royal College, where Emmanuel had booked a practice room and we finished our musicians photography session with some more playing shots.
It was an absolute pleasure to meet Emmanuel. He is a wonderful musician and it was lovely to get to know him. I hope you enjoy seeing some of my favourite images from our morning in South Kensington.
Please do get in touch if you’re interested in a musicians shoot on location. I offer a special deal to students, so you can get some professional photographs taken to help you start you on your road into the professional music world.
