"Jim typically does not like to talk equipment but thought we should share some exciting news with you. After shooting with Nikon equipment most of his professional career, then being lured away to become a Canon Explorer of Light, Jim has now gone back to his 'photographic roots' and is proud to announce that he is once again - a Nikon shooter!"

Excerpted from Jim Brandenburg's Quarterly Newsletter

About Jim Brandenburg
Jim Brandenburg travelled the globe as a photographer with National Geographic Magazine for several decades. His extensive body of work has been published throughout the world and his photographs have won a multitude of national and international awards. He was the recipient of the ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ award by the Natural History Museum-London and BBC Wildlife Magazine, and twice was named ‘Magazine Photographer of the Year’ by the National Press Photographer's Association (NPPA) for his National Geographic work. Brandenburg was presented with the ‘World Achievement Award’ from the United Nations in recognition of his use of nature photography to raise public awareness for the environment.

BBC Lincolnshire Radio's Melvyn Prior regularly talks to Mike Maloney OBE about his experiences as a celebrity photographer. During his on-air chat on 10 Jan 2010, he happened to mention Grays of Westminster as follows:

"...nip down and get a Nikon ... from Grays of Westminster"

Mike, we're honoured! Thanks very much for the mention!

Following his sold-out evening talk on Friday, 10th December at the Grays of Westminster and Nikon Owner magazine Christmas dinner at the Institute of Directors (IoD) on Pall Mall, Jim Brandenburg, one of the world's greatest nature photographers, visited Grays of Westminster on Saturday, 11th December to collect his new Nikon D3S, 20mm f/2.8D AF and AF-S 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G VR ED lenses. He is pictured here to the right of Gray Levett, founder of Grays of Westminster, which he described as “the greatest camera store in the world”.

Jim Brandenburg travelled the globe as a photographer with National Geographic Magazine for several decades. His extensive body of work has been published throughout the world and his photographs have won a multitude of national and international awards. He was the recipient of the 'Wildlife Photographer of the Year' award by the Natural History Museum, London and BBC Wildlife Magazine, and was twice named 'Magazine Photographer of the Year' by the National Press Photographer's Association (NPPA) for his National Geographic work. He was also presented with the 'World Achievement Award' from the United Nations in recognition of his use of nature photography to raise public awareness for the environment. In addition to publishing several books on wolves, a few years ago he set himself the unique photographic assignment of shooting only one picture per day for an entire autumn season. His book and DVD Chased by the Light followed, as well as the sequel Looking for the Summer.

Jim Brandenburg's presentation at the Grays of Westminster and Nikon Owner magazine Christmas Dinner explored the full circle of his career with highlights starting with his early days and subsequent years with National Geographic Magazine where he worked on assignments all over the world for the magazine, book division and television. He showed the audience a selection of his outstanding work which included breathtaking images of wild arctic and grey wolves.

Jim Brandenburg was part of the production team for the 'Plants' section of the BBC LIFE documentary series with David Attenborough. Jim Brandenburg and BBC Wildlife Producer Neil Lucas spent months filming Minnesota's north woods at Ravenwood, Jim Brandenburg's home near Ely and the prairies of Southwest Minnesota.

His philanthropic work entails saving the remnant native prairies in the land where his ancestors settled after immigrating from Europe and Scandinavia.

London – The exclusive London-based Nikon-only dealer, Grays of Westminster, together with Nikon Owner magazine are to hold their Grand Christmas Dinner at the Institute of Directors, London on 10th December 2010.

The evening will be spent with one of the world’s greatest nature photographers, Jim Brandenburg and with Neil Lucas, David Attenborough's distinguished television producer. Following the superb three-course Christmas dinner, served in the IoD’s magnificent period restaurant at 116 Pall Mall, there will be a unique opportunity to listen to Jim Brandenburg’s extraordinary stories as he presents some of his breathtaking images. This promises to be an extremely special never-to-be-forgotten experience.

The IoD’s grand Regency building with its sweeping marble staircase and vast walls covered in 18th and 19th Century canvases provides a spectacular backdrop for the evening, and the period restaurant is a most fitting venue for such an elegant, traditional Christmas celebration.

Venue: Institute of Directors (IoD) at 116 Pall Mall.
Date: Friday, December 10th, 2010
Champagne reception: 6.30 p.m.
Dinner (Traditional Christmas Dinner with a Vegetarian Option): 7.15 p.m.
Presentations in the morning room: 9.15 p.m.
Cost of the evening: £155 per ticket (only £95 for current Nikon Owner subscribers. If you are not already a Nikon Owner subscriber, and would like to attend the event, you may subscribe to Nikon Owner and receive the special discount on the price of the evening.)

Grays of Westminster’s events are extremely popular so early booking is recommended. To book, please call Gillian Greenwood or Katrin Ruckert between 12.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. Monday to Friday on +44 (0)20 7828 4925.

About Jim Brandenburg
Jim Brandenburg travelled the globe as a photographer with National Geographic Magazine for several decades. His extensive body of work has been published throughout the world and his photographs have won a multitude of national and international awards. He was the recipient of the ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ award by the Natural History Museum-London and BBC Wildlife Magazine, and twice was named ‘Magazine Photographer of the Year’ by the National Press Photographer's Association (NPPA) for his National Geographic work. Brandenburg was presented with the ‘World Achievement Award’ from the United Nations in recognition of his use of nature photography to raise public awareness for the environment.

Jim Brandenburg’s presentation will explore the full circle of his career with highlights starting with the early days at a small rural newspaper. From there, he went directly to National Geographic Magazine where he worked on assignments all over the world for the magazine, book division and television. He will show a selection of his outstanding work with wild arctic and grey wolves. After publishing several books on wolves, he set himself the assignment of only shooting one picture per day for the entire autumn season. His book and DVD Chased by the Light followed, as well as the sequel Looking for the Summer. He will tells us about his philanthropic work that now entails saving the remnant native prairies in the land where his ancestors settled after immigrating from Europe and Scandinavia; the land where their new lives began by plowing up that native prairie – thus completing the circle.

About Neil Lucas
Neil Lucas worked for the BBC Natural History Unit as a producer for over twenty years. During that time he worked on many internationally acclaimed and award winner productions, including Sir David Attenborough’s ‘The Trials of Life’ ‘The Private Life of Plants’ The Life of Mammals’ and ‘Planet Earth’, as well as the latest outstanding BBC landmark Series ‘Life’ where he produced two of the most technically challenging programmes within the whole series.


About Nikon Owner
Nikon Owner magazine and its interactive website, www.nikonownermagazine.com is considered by many to be the world’s number 1 user group for Nikon owners. It was initially founded with the purpose of assisting Nikon users to make full use of the Nikon equipment they own, to give advice on a wide spectrum of photographic queries and problems, and at the same time to offer ideas to bring about an increase in photographic skills.

For more information, please contact:

Gillian Greenwood
Features Editor and Events & Training Coordinator
Nikon Owner magazine
40 Churton Street
London
SW1V 2LP

+44 (0)20 7828 4925
info@graysofwestminster.co.uk
http://www.nikonownermagazine.com

Neil's presentation took the audience through his career, from the moment he realised he wanted to work in television (when he saw a 1960s episode of Blue Peter explaining how it was filmed), right through to fascinating time-lapse behind-the-scenes details of the BBC documentaries 'Life', 'The Private Life of Plants' and 'Frozen Planet'. Neil also covered the history of time lapse photography itself covering the work of the pioneers of this highly specialised field, including Dr John Ott.

About Neil Lucas
Neil Lucas worked for the BBC Natural History Unit as a producer for over 20 years. During that time, he worked on many internationally acclaimed and award-winning productions, including Sir David Attenborough’s 'The Trials of Life', 'The Private Life of Plants', 'The Life of Mammals' and 'Planet Earth'. In the outstanding 'Life' series, he produced two of the most technically challenging programmes, and many of his programmes have been nominated for BAFTAs and EMMYs. Neil is now working as a freelance film director and photographer specialising in challenging and technical shoots, using the same filming and photographic techniques he has mastered throughout his career.
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For a number of years, Grays of Westminster has presented and hosted a number of comprehensive photographic events and seminars, covering a wide variety of subject matter including Mike Maloney’s recent historic House of Lords Photographic Event, an evening with best-selling author Graham Hancock, a Christmas event with photographer and celebrated mountaineer, Jo Gambi, another event featuring Simon Marsden, wildlife and natural history weekend workshops with Heather Angel, as well as training sessions with Simon Stafford.

Neil Lucas will take us on a journey from his earliest photographic passions to his discovery of time-lapse techniques and how they developed throughout his career, leading to the first real time-lapse programme 'The Private Life of Plants'. He will describe the problems and successes and demonstrate the techniques, culminating to his recent work for the BBC series 'Life' and beyond.

Neil Lucas worked for the BBC Natural History Unit as a producer for over 20 years. During that time he worked on many internationally acclaimed and award-winning productions, including Sir David Attenborough’s The Trials of Life, The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Mammals and Planet Earth. In the outstanding 'Life' series he produced two of the most technically challenging programmes, and many of his programmes have been nominated for BAFTAs and EMMYs. Neil is now working as a freelance film director and photographer specialising in challenging and technical shoots, using the same filming and photographic techniques he has mastered throughout his career.

Venue Details
Fitzroy House, from 2.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. on Saturday, June 19th 2010 - presentation starts at 2.30 p.m..


Fitzroy House
37 Fitzroy Street
London W1T 6DX

Google map: [maps.google.co.uk]

Tickets are available at £25 for Nikon Owner subscribers and £85 for non-subscribers. English afternoon cream tea and refreshments will be served during the break. To reserve your tickets please call me, Gillian Greenwood, on 020 7828 8971 or email: gillian.greenwood@nikonownermagazine.com with your full name and daytime mobile and landline. Please note that limited seats are available – please book early to avoid disappointment.

We would like to thank Mike Eleftheriades, who runs the Nikon Owner London Group for all his hard work in setting up this unique event.

Please note that subscribing to Nikon Owner Magazine and Interactive Website allows you a £60 discount off this event and many of our other training sessions.

About Nikon Owner:

Nikon Owner magazine and Interactive Website is considered by many to be the world’s number 1 user group for Nikon owners.

Nikon Owner was initially founded with the purpose of assisting Nikon owners to make full use of the Nikon equipment they own, to give advice on a wide spectrum of photographic queries and problems, and at the same time to offer ideas to bring about an increase in photographic skills. As a subscriber to this group, you will receive an array of offers and assistance, which includes:

• Nikon Owner magazine

• Nikon Owner magazine is a superb, glossy full-colour 60-page quarterly magazine that is 100% Nikon. Each issue delivers bench-mark technical reviews of the very latest Nikon equipment, thought-provoking interviews and articles with world-class images.
• Private user name and password to subscribers’-only website which includes a lively forum, message board, technical equipment reviews, events’ page and use of a photo gallery.
• Simon Stafford’s Technical Helpline: free technical consultation and support from Simon Stafford who is widely recognised as one of the world's foremost Nikon experts; you will be able to benefit from his formidable knowledge and have all your technical questions fully answered by email. This service is exclusive to Nikon Owner subscribers.
• FREE 3-year warranty on all new Nikon products from Grays of Westminster within your year of subscription.
• FREE 18-month warranty on second-hand Nikon from Grays of Westminster within your year of subscription.
• 10% off Think-Tank bags purchased at Grays of Westminster.
• Special trips: past visits have included a two-week trip to Japan and a personal tour of the Nikon factory, as well as a visit to Nikon Thailand, Angkor Watt, Cambodia.
• Substantial discounts on events and training sessions such as Mike Maloney’s House of Lords Photographic Workshop, Heather Angel’s Wildlife & Natural History Workshops, Chris Weston’s Photographic Courses, Simon Stafford’s Definitive Flash, Portraiture and Macro Seminars.
• 10% off any training courses run by Nikon UK.
• A range of complimentary meetings and outings organized by local Nikon Owner Groups.
• Nikon Owner Grand Christmas Dinner at the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London.

To subscribe to Nikon Owner at the special price of £59, please email me at gillian.greenwood@graysofwestminster.co.uk as before, with your name, daytime landline and mobile telephone number or call and speak to any of our staff between 10.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Monday to Friday on 020 7828 4925 or for International calls, telephone + 44 (0)20 7828 4925, and 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on Saturdays.

With best wishes,
Gillian Greenwood
Features Editor, Events’ and Training Coordinator

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