Last week I did what some guys will puzzle over even more so than The DaVinci Code: I turned an invitation to spend the evening indulging in perfectly free food and drink and playing video games, into a full on photography job. Well, it’s not like me to miss an opportunity is it?

Nintendo were launching five new games to the market and throwing a party to mark the occasion at the very trendy Oxford Art Factory. The venue had been brilliantly converted into five themed worlds to represent the new games, including Mario World, a huge make up room, and a steam train, all organised by my friend Louise and her company Impact. And of course there were Wiis and DSis all over the place so people could try the games out for themselves. All that was lacking was a photographer to record the fun and frivolity of the evening. Step forward yours truly.

My brief was to shoot all the zones, people playing, enjoying themselves, typical event stuff. Plus getting shots of the celebs that had been invited along to say nice things about Nintendo. Shooting anyone vaguely famous was something I hadn’t really done before (unless you include my mate Rob who allegedly looks like Jason Statham), so I was going to have to step my event photography up a notch. And in a show of self belief rivalling David Blaine I decided to keep the 5D2 in manual mode.

The talent arrived throughout the evening and, while not quite Hollywood A list, were certainly a pretty decent crowd. Captured on CF card in all their RAW glory were Rebecca Gibney and Angus McLaren from Packed To The Rafters, comedian Pete Rowsthorn, Nickelodeon presenter Maude Garrett, former Australia’s Next Top Model contestant Jordan Loukas, the Ch 7′s gadget guy Peter Blasina, and on screen and real life partners Luda Kroiter and Luke Jacobz from Dancing With The Stars.

The event went really well, the photos behaved themselves, and I did manage to get through a few glasses of red in the process. Well, photography’s thirsty work right?