Fera is a beautiful restaurant inside Claridges, the famous London hotel. When you arrive you pass through a tunnel of red curtains, Twin-Peaks style, emerging into a cavernous room arranged around a tree. In the far corner behind heavy sliding glass doors and privacy curtains lies a wood-pannelled private dining room, the perfect venue to celebrate Loïc’s thirtieth birthday with Fera’s famous tasting menu.
It was a very enjoyable, sophisticated and intimate evening, and a pleasure to photograph; there was only the twelve diners and me, plus the occasional waiter, so although I kept as discrete as possible I also felt very welcome. And although it’s a slightly geeky thing to say, I really enjoyed the cameras I took with me – my Fuji X100S and X-T1, both fantastic for documentary-style work where you don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself and the camera.
The X100S has a fixed 35mm-equivalent lens but it’s practically silent and so discrete. Meanwhile on the X-T1 I mostly stuck with my all-new favourite lens, the 56mm f/1.2, perfect for getting closeups in an intimate space and low light without the intrusion or weight of a long lens. And that depth of field… ohmygodiloveit.
The X-T1 flip out screen is also really handy for getting the camera to waist height or other interesting angles without the fuss of kneeling down or climbing on a chair, plus the electronic viewfinders on both let me get my exposure much closer in-camera, so there’s even less work to do later. I use this combo for my private event work almost exclusively now, they’re so light and fun to use – check out a couple more events I used them at here and here.
Enough talk – here’s my favourites to enjoy, and if you’re more of a ‘video’ person there’s a great slideshow as well. You can find out more about my event photography here. Thanks for visiting!
