Bing Your Britain Photography Day

I was fortunate enough to recently be invited along to a photography day in London organised as part of Bing's Your Britain photography competition. The day kicked off with coffee, cupcakes and a workshop with the wonderful Jackie KIng. I've always wanted to be a better photographer and Mr C has been trying to teach me things for a while, but it's rare that I get the chance to concentrate on it for a whole day, but luckily that's exactly what I was able to do on Saturday. Jackie's tips at the start of the day helped me to focus on what I should be thinking about when I take a photo, rather than just grabbing the camera, pointing and shooting.

If you've not been on the Bing homepage (as I have to admit I hadn't before last week!) then it's definitely worth a visit. They have a photo of the day on their homepage (and some brilliant facts about that photo) and these pictures are excellent. The competition that they are running is to get people to send in pictures of their Britain with the prize of getting your photo on the Bing homepage. The competition we took part in on Saturday meant having just a few hours in London to take photos to be entered into five categories: Local Britain, Natural Britain, Secret Britain, Britain at Night and Urban Britain. There were a few other rules to contend with; the photos were not to contain faces, had to be in landscape format and also not contain any sort of branding or advertising. Have you any idea how difficult it is to take photos in London that don't contain people's faces or advertising?

After setting off from Great Portland Street Mr C and I headed towards Regent's Park as we thought that would be the best place to find subjects for the Natural Britain category which seemed to be the most obvious one for us. We had plans to move on from there after a while, but the London Green Fair held us captive somewhat and that was certainly no bad thing.

We were also lucky enough not only for me to be runner up in the Natural Britain category on the day, but also for Mr C to win it! My photo was captured on a stall selling plants as part of the Green Fair while Mr C's entry was taken on the edge of the park where deck chairs were available to hire. A perfect end to a great day out.

If you're interested in having a go at the competition yourself, or just having a look at the other entries, then head on over to Your Britain. And also don't forget to see Bing's photo of the day.