A couple of weeks ago I got the blog email of dreams when Nokia emailed me and asked me if I wanted to be an ambassador for Nokia Mobile and the 7 Plus.
I remember my first ever phone being the blue, industructable Nokia 3310 which let me call, text and play snake until the *finally* died. It was an awesome phone, back then of course.
After that, I went from Motorola Razor, to Blackberry, to iPhone, to Samsung, to iPhone again… but never back to Nokia. I guess to me, I didn’t really see them as a competitor to the smart phones that were already making a name for themselves.
So, when I got the email the first thing I did was research the phone, naturally.
The first thing that I fell in love with was that the phone had a 16MP camera, including a mode to go ‘pro’ and changes things such as the ISO, white balance and shutter speed. On top of that the phone has a sleek black and copper design, a full HD screen, 64GB space and the option to use a SD card.
Of course, knowing the camera rivaled that of Samsung, I said yes to the ambassadorship – meaning I was invited to their first ever ambassador event – a lifestyle and street photography masterclass with Oliver (olvh) and Ope O (greatarsenal).
As I made my way to Stour Space in East London I could see why they picked this area for a street photography masterclass. There was street art EVERYWHERE and it was super quirky in comparison to the rest of city. I finally found the cafe, grabbed an iced tea and made my way up to the green house studio area with the rest of the fabulous ambassadors.
After a quick introduction we were split into two separate teams, with mine being chosen to do the lifestyle workshop with Oliver first. I don’t shoot *as much* lifestyle anymore, so I used it as an opportunity to get advice on setting up a shot that includes me, as that is what my Instagram focuses on now.
I learnt that it’s all in the details both in the front of the shot, and the back. Whether it’s a bicycle creeping into the shot or a cup of coffee on the table, absolutely everything in shot makes for a better photo. We moved literally EVERYTHING around to get these amazing shots of my sitting in the very photogenic window, which was very difficult as we were fighting against the light to find the perfect angle.
After we’d taken a million photos and learnt how to use some of the settings on our new camera phones, it was time to head out to the street photography masterclass.
I loved this bit as it’s definitely something I want to get much much better at and I have one MASSIVE takeaway from the afternoon walking around Hackney. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ANGLES.
I’d never have thought that shooting from the literally lying on the floor would be a flattering angle for me but I ended up absolutely loving the photos. The same goes for the ones where I’m sat on the floor, and Ope O was practically lying in the road to get the perfect angle. They’re probably some of my favourite photos ever.
It’s definitely taught me that I don’t need to shoot straight on ALL the time, and that a little bit of variety in angles can be incredible. That and a bit of super Instagramable street art.
I can’t wait to carry on exploring my new Nokia 7 Plus and to get more incredible shots like these!
Kirsty Leanne
xoxo
