Some Days you just have to give up

Well the plan for this morning was quite simple, head down to my nearest bit of coast (Leigh-on-Sea) and take a few photos as the sun comes up. Sometimes the best laid plans, just don't work out.

It all started well, as the night before I dropped my camera into the camera bag I hadn't bothered to unpack from my last coast trip. As I had only taken the camera out of the bag - if I put it back in I should have everything I need. Wellies & tripod were left by the door ready for an early start...so what could possibly go wrong.

Well, first of all the central heating went completely mad, so instead of a good nights sleep I ended up getting about an hours hot & fitful sleep. Undeterred I was up at six and chucked all my gear in the car and headed for the coast.

On arrival at Leigh, I headed down to Two Tree Island and got the gear out of the car. As I started to set up I realised I didn't have a tripod quick release plate anywhere in the bag. I turned the bag upside down but it was nowhere to be seen. I now have no way of mounting the camera on the tripod. After a bit of tinkering I worked out a way to use my super stretch camera strap to lash the camera to the tripod.

So undeterred I set my camera up & I start to wait for the sun to come up. Immediately the sky became completely obscured by thick cloud. I Decided I could still work with the strong wind which would cause some nice motion in the sky.

Leigh-on-Sea (on a better day)
(Click to view large)

No sooner had I set up my shot than the carpark behind me filled with cars. As hundreds of fishermen descend on the place for a fishing competition. My carefully composed scene of peace and tranquillity was suddenly filled with fisherman moving boats about and wading through the mud. Time to try another spot I think!

I headed back to try the view from the bridge over Leigh creek. I had to prepare my shot (with the camera still precariously balanced on the tripod), whilst avoiding being run over by the stream of fisherman's cars crossing the bridge. I position the camera carefully, when there was a sudden "ping" and the Lee filter holder and filters dropped off the front of my camera into the creek below. Luckily the tide was on its way out so the filters embedded themselves deep in the mud. I struggled down the bank and waded into the mud to retrieve the filters.

I finally decided to give up and head home in a huff - unfortunately a huff wasn't available so I used the car instead*. Arriving home I searched the house top to bottom and couldn't find the missing Tripod QR plate. After searching for 3 hours, I finally found it...attached to a telephoto lens - in my camera bag.

What a day!


*Sightings of this joke date back to 1933

The moment it Clicks

I have just finished reading Joe McNally's book The Moment It Clicks.

And a very enjoyable read it has been too. It bills it's self as "one foot on the coffee table & one foot in the classroom", so does it manage to please both audiences?

I think I would say that it does a pretty good job of doing both, the images are of stunning quality. Each presented with a story and then some text on how the image was created for me the most moving image was of Phan Thị Kim Phúc (The Napalm Girl) holding her baby:

Phan Thị Kim Phúc
by Joe McNally

For each scene he offers some words of advice about how he took them - mainly how they were lit. The use of strobes and diffusers (like a white sheet nailed over a door) have really fired my imagination. Perhaps the odd- diagram of how the shot was set-up would help but that is a bit nit-picky.

The advice in the book has made me resolve to learn about (and use a lot more) flash next year and try some people shots. This may be come essential as having pretty much said I would never shoot a friends wedding - I have volunteered to just that!

Highly Recommended.

Lemon (Limited Edition Managment ONline) - now available for those without MS Access

It seems that quite a few people who wanted to use my Limited Edition management system were put off by the need to purchase Microsoft access to run it. To get round this, I have created a version that uses the free Microsoft Access runtime.

You can download the latest version of Lemon from here.


The current release features:

• Keep track of editions and sales easily from one screen.
• Block Allocate ~ reserve a group of prints for a particular customer.
• Certificates of Authenticity.
• Print Run ~ Mark a group of prints as printed and generate the appropriate certificates.
• Sales reports.
• AutoAllocate © ~ When creating an edition numbers can be automatically allocated.

Stop Playing with Yourself

Landscape photography has always been a bit of a solo hobby. Getting up before the dawn, traipsing round the countryside in the dark and standing motionless in the cold by a tripod has never been much of a spectator sport.

But that has all changed...

No we have the forum, email and even websites with dedicated meeting calendars, there is really no need be a lonesome shooter. It's a great learning experience, you can find new locations, new ways to approach familiar subjects and new techniques just by observing how others approach things.

So I was really glad to meet up with some of the greatest Photoluminists* in Essex on Sunday.

Shelling Out
(Click to view large)

The plan was to meet at Frinton for a morning shooting the sunrise. Unfortunately the light decided not to turn up! Still I got a chance to play with some close ups laying on the freezing beach. And, as ever it, was a real joy to chat with other photographers over a big fried breakfast.

Why not try meeting up with fellow photographers - you never know where it might end up.


*The expression Photoluminist is ©Copyright Ian Flindt 2008

More Christmas Gifts for photographers

Yet more things I want for Christmas you could buy your favourite photographer for Christmas.

Clothing

Craghoppers Kiwi Trousers
The trousers with a leg pocket big enough to take a full set of Lee filters.


Craghoppers Winter Lined Kiwi Trousers
I have raved about these before - great for cold winter mornings.

Printing

Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk
I've been meaning to try this out for a while, reports are that it is excellent.


Falcon print positioner - Available from Silverprint
looks like it will save some time mounting prints

Courses
It's always a good idea to send your favourite photographer on a course with a master photographer. Companies I recommend are:
Northscape - Keith Henson
Visions of Britain - Jon Gibbs & Adam Burton
Landscape Photography Workshops - Kate Barclay and John Duckett

Christmas Gifts for Photographers

Here are a few ideas of what to get your photographer friends for Christmas. I offer this as a public service to all those looking to purchase a gift or stocking filler for the photographer in their life and definitely not a big hint to my wife as to what I would like for Christmas.

Books
A couple of good books have come my way this year that I can recommend to photographers of all abilities:

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
by Michael Freeman
This is a great book to help you really start thinking about composition.

The Moment It Clicks: Photography Secrets from One of the World's Top Shooters
by Joe McNally
Either enjoy the great pictures in this, learn how they were made or do both!

For beginners I will as per usual recommend Understanding exposure:

Books I haven't read but look like they might be of interest (if someone was to buy them for me) are:

Fine Art Printing for Photographers: Exhibition Quality Prints with Inkjet Printers


Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3


Mastering Landscape Photography: The Luminous Landscape Essays (Paperback)
by Alain Briot


Light in the Landscape

Accessories

SanDisk CompactFlash 4GB Extreme III Memory
You can't have too many memory cards!

Op/tech Rainsleeve
I have been rained on a lot this year & some of these would have come in very handy!

Spudz Cleaning Cloth
Ideal for wiping sea spray off filters - though the camo print one does seem like a good idea ...drop that & you'll never find it again!

That should be enough to get you started, I'll be posting another blog on this subject as soon as I find some more goodies I fancy that make good presents for photographers.

Camera Simulators

Just getting to grips with your camera? Not sure about the relationship between f/Stops and shutter speed? Want to know more about ISO speeds and camera shake?

Well why not try a camera simulator. We have had flight simulators for years, so a camera simulator was an idea waiting to happen. I have recently come across 2 rather good simulators that may be of interest.

Camera Simulator by Paul Cheney
The SimCam by Photonhead


For a full understanding of what these simulators are teaching you, I recommend a good read of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson or even my exposure cheat sheet.

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Related Posts


Shadows and Highlights
Preflight Check List
Exposure Cheat Sheet

Take A View - Award Presentation

I was fortunate enough to be asked to cover The Landscape Photographer of the Year award presentation on monday for Ephotozine. You can read my journalistic efforts here.

What a difference a photographer makes (part 2)

In part one I discussed an evenings photography I had enjoyed with Ian Flindt and Kevin Goodchild. There I discussed the difference in our approaches to creating an image of Tower Bridge.

This time, I'd like to show the images we produced when left completely to our own devices in Central London.

Click on the images to view them large.

As the clouds came over and the more interesting light was lost, Kevin made use of his excellent observational skills. This image of a contemplative figure sat lost in thought, with the financial centre of Canary Wharf behind him really sums up the day for me. When you know that this was taken on the day that a couple of banks collapsed and the financial markets were in turmoil, it makes you wonder what the person in the shot is thinking.

Contemplation
by Kevin Goodchild

Ian managed to arrive well before Kevin and I and (quite characteristically) seemed to magic up some fantastic light. He then managed to wait till the people were in exactly the right positions to achieve this interesting and very beautiful composition. Shortly afterwards I arrived bringing my own personal rain-cloud with me!

City Hall, London
by Ian Flindt

As the sky clouded over the saturation of certain colours increased quite dramatically, and I found interest in a fountain right near tower bridge. The rust on this figure emerging from the water produced some great colours and helped me produce my very first nude abstract.

The Back Side
by Chris Shepherd

I find it fascinating that we were all using similar equipment and spent most of the evening quite close to one another yet we produced such different images. It really shows that it is the photographers eye, not their equipment that makes the picture.

What a difference a photographer makes (part 1)

I always really enjoy getting out and taking pictures with other photographers. Recently I had the pleasure of getting out with two excellent photographers, Ian Flindt & Kevin Goodchild.

We decide to spend an evening around the Tower Bridge area of Central London. I thought it would be interesting to show how different photographers can interpret the same themes. This is a two part post. In this first part, I'd like to show how the three of us interpreted the same scene within a few minutes of each other.

Please click each image to view a larger version

Kevin produced a beautifully constructed image which uses the dolphin fountain to full effect. The eye is lead round the curve of the fountain, past some lovely reflected light, up to the bridge itself and then you finally notice that huddle of 3 figures, which add an element of scale and interest that would otherwise be missing.

Tower Bridge
by Kevin Goodchild

In characteristic style Ian elected to show as much of the context of the bridge as possible. He was able to find a new viewpoint and use wide angle to maximum effect, to bring the gates of St.Katherines Dock into the composition. The Gate, river wall and bridge work to create a dynamic zig-zag through the image.

Tower Bridge
by Ian Flindt

My images tend to have as little in them as possible and I felt I would be happier if I could get a clear view of the bridge. I found my way (through a gate that is normally locked at this time of night) down on to the lower pier. This gave me a chance to take the shot from river level with tower bridge towering over me.

Tower Bridge
by Chris Shepherd

In part 2 I'll look at what we produced when given a completely free reign.

Take a View - Take A Bow

I see that the winners for the 2008 Take A View, Landscape Photographer of the Year have been announced. Just looking through the images that have been chosen is a treat for they eyes and I can't wait to visit the exhibition at The National Gallery.

Two friends and fellow Painters with Light have been Highly Commended:

Summer Storm, Cromer, Norfolk
by Kate Barclay

Snowy pier, Southwold, Suffolk, England
by Chris Calver

Big Congrats to you two.

Mickey Smith is Photographer of the Month for November

I really enjoy the surf photography of Mickey Smith. There are some really great prints there, I especially enjoyed the images of surfing in Icelandt.

Iceland
byMickey Smith

Why not visit his website and give your eyes a treat.

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Previous Photographers of the Month

Kersten Howard is Photographer of the Month for October

I was fortunate enough to spend a week last month in Pembrokeshire. It's a beautiful part of Wales and we even had good weather whilst we were there!

When ever I got the chance, I took the opportunity to catch up with the work of some of the landscape photographers of the are. I'm a little biased against photographers based there. It's a beautiful part of the world and the sun sets on that side of the coast, so getting a good shot is fairly easy and you don't have to get up early.

Having said that I was really excited to see the work of Kersten Howard in print. There are some really great prints there, I especially liked the triptych of Church Rock - which really works as a print. Why not visit Kerstens website and take a look at the quality of work on offer.

Driftwood
by Kersten Howard

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Previous Photographers of the Month

Wat Tyler Gallery

Award winning photographer Darren Chaplin has opened a new gallery at Watt Tyler Country Park. It has quickly built a reputation of hosting some inspirational images which are available to buy as prints or framed images.

Darren's mission is to showcase the best photography from local photographers and as part of this he has been kind enough to showcase some of my work.

Depth of Field
(Click to view large)

If you fancy a visit the gallery can be found at:
Wat Tyler Gallery
Unit 7
Wat Tyler Country Park
Pitsea, Essex

It is open Saturday and Sunday 10am-5pm and Tuesday and Thursday 2pm-4pm.

If you are in Central London next week.....

..why not visit my latest exhibition?

I have an exhibition of pictures on display in the foyer of Daiwa Securities SMBC, 5 King William Street, London EC4N 7AX. The foyer is open from 8:00am - 6:00pm.

My pictures are on sale at specially reduced exhibition prices with the profits going to the companies' two charities War Child and Demelza House Childrens Hospice.

Chocolate Orange

(really would look good on your wall)

With only 98 shopping days to Christmas, now is the time to pop down and bag yourself a bargain present whilst helping charity at the same time.

Visions of Britain - Photographic Workshops in Southwest England

Two of my favourite landscape photographers, Jon Gibs and Adam Burton have got together to create a new company - Visions of Britain. They are specialising in photographic workshop breaks in the South West of England.

The workshops are dedicated to landscape photographers and take place in a wide range of spectacular locations throughout Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.

Coastal Devon
by Adam Burton

These two brilliant photographers will guide and assist you to photograph the rugged coastlines of North Cornwall and South Devon, as well as the beautiful Exmoor and rugged Dartmoor National Parks.

What a rubbish summer

In these days of climate change, it seems that I hardly ever seem to hear a weather forecast without them using the words "since records began". It's always the wettest, hottest, coldest month since records began. This year it was the turn of August to be the most rubbish since records began.

August in the UK usually has a few days of blue sky and sometimes the sun even pops out, If the sun appears for 3 days in a row it is traditional for The Sun to run the headline "Phew What A Scorcher". This year was different, a blanket of cloud seemed to cover the entire UK and didn't shift for the entire month.

Leigh Creek
(Click to view large)

So it was a triumph of optimism over experience when I headed down to Leigh-on-Sea for Dawn on Bank Holiday Monday morning. Even though metcheck said it wouldn't be cloudy, I was convinced I wouldn't see the sun as I got up at 4:00am that morning. So I was absolutely amazed as the sun came up and there was no cloud cover. I got plenty of shots as this little fishing port came alive due to high tide coinciding with dawn.

tttl
(Click to view large)

As I drove away the cloud cover came back & we reverted to "Claggy August". I was lucky to get these shots, but sometimes you make your own luck!

I Read the News Today....

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I usually find that when I watch The News on TV it has little to do with me. Some politician has said something stupid, someone has produced a report stating the bleeding obvious or someone you never met has died.

So it was a real shock to see that Ken Campbell died on Sunday. It would be going way too far to say I knew Ken, but i did meet him on quite a few occasions. In the summer I would take the dogs for a walk and often as I approached "The Lost Pond" in Epping Forest it seemed three dogs would come crashing through the undergrowth closely followed by a pair of bushy eyebrows....with Ken attached. He would always say hello as his dogs jumped in and out of the pond.

I hope he is off enjoying walkies in some better place.

Jill Greenberg is Photographer of the month for September

Jill Greenberg - The Manipulator has an amazing style that really brings her portraits to life.

Dog by Jill Greenberg

A visit to her website is well worth it, if only to see her John McCain ads on her splash page.

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Previous Photographers of the Month

Anna Booth is Photographer of the month for August

I'm a huge fan of abstract landscape photography, particularly the work of David Ward and now I have come across the work of Anna Booth who is exhibiting with David at the moment.

Trunk anchored on rock, Keetmanstoop
by Anna Booth

A visit to her website shows (an unfortunately way too small) sample of her work. If you can catch her exhibition it would be well worth it.

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Previous Photographers of the Month

Painters with Light featured in Suffolk Magazine

I have just been sent some scans of an article in http://www.suffolkmagazine.co.uk/ about The Painting with Light Photographic Society, of which yours truly is proud tobe a member.

The scans are not perfect but I thought I would share them with those of you who are too far from Suffolk to buy yourselves a copy of the real thing:

Page One (pdf)
Page Two (pdf)

They are pdf files so if you don;'t have it you will need to download the Adobe Accrobat reader.

Photographers - You should be ashamed of yourselves..

Is there no depth you weirdo photographers will sink to. It now seems some perverts (for want of a better word) have been out taking pictures of an empty swimming pool - they should be locked up!

Some of you have been assaulting defenceless young children with your cameras and even upsetting the mayor of London.

You aren't even safe with ducks these days:


www.whattheduck.net

Fun in the Park

Is there no depth you weirdo photographers will sink to. It now seems some perverts (for want of a better word) have been out taking pictures of an empty swimming pool - they should be locked up!

Even ducks arn't safe these days:


www.whattheduck.net

Adobe Rumours

Being the sort of chap who has his ear to the ground and his shoulder to the wheel, I am picking up a few rumours about Adobe:

Word on the street is that the full version of Lightroom 2 should be released next week. This should be a very exciting release, now that Adobe know how the system is actually used and that there is a huge market for it this should be a release well worth paying for. I might even move over to lightroom myself....if I can ever get a decent result out of ACR :)

I am also told that photoshop users should invest in a decent graphics card. Photoshop CS4 seems to be tuned for good cards and is blisteringly fast off a decent one.

Further rumours abound about other surprise announcements that the imaging giant has up its sleeve. It is certainly an interesting time for Adobe as they use their base in imagig and web tools to go head to head against Microsoft in the battle of AIR versus Silverlight.

Photographing your own kids makes you a pervert

Yet again the "Big Camera = Big Pervert" meme hits town. This time a man taking shots of his own, fully clothed, children is accused of being a paedophile.

Oh dear.

New Forest Location Guide

As Editor of the photo locations section in Ephotozine, I am always on the look out for new location guides. I have just come across The new Forest Explorers Guide being produced by Andrew Walmsley.

Pony in Snow
by Andrew Walmsley

It includes walks from village centres, and loads of information on wildlife and the landscape.
Well done Andrew looks likes its becoming a great guide to the area.

Epson Stylus Pro 2880 vs Epson Stylus Pro 3800

So having decided to continue printing my own photos I have been waiting for a replacement of the Epson 2400 to appear on the shelves. Finally the Epson 2880 has appeared.

Is it any good I hear you ask? Well the best place to see a full review is photo-i - I have to say it looks pretty good to me. But, knowing the volumes of printing I do, I started to wonder about the costs of those tiny ink cartridges and how it compared to the Epson 3800 Stylus. First I checked out the review, well it looks good and robust with high print quality and it does A2!

Hmmm, A2 now that's a nice-to-have but how much extra will I be paying for a feature I am unlikely to use very often. Time to do some maths.

Isle in the Storm
(Bet this looks good in A2)

So before we launch into the comparison, let me say that these are the prices I found first when doing some Googling. They probably aren't the cheapest around but I think the comparison is still valid.
In addition I have not included P&P, if you order your print carts on-line or, the cost of money when you buy a lot of ink up front. I leave you to decide if these elements will affect your pricing decisions.

	2880	strong>3800
Purchase price with additional 2 year Warranty	£629.00	£1,062.18
Epson Trade Up Discount	£-	£150.00
Purchase Price	£629.00	£912.18
OK so its an extra £290 of the queens pounds which is not to be sniffed at (even if it does do A2), but out of interest I thought I would take a look at the price and size of ink cartridges.
Cartridges
Individual Cartridge Price	£10.95	£35.80
Price for a full set of cartridges	£87.60	£286.40
Cart size in ml	11	80
Price per ml	£0.9955	£0.4475
Well that gets a little more interesting 2880 ink is twice as expensive as 3800 ink (and the 3800 does A2).
Now here is a thought - each printer comes with a full set of inks. If we subtract the cost of the inks provided we should get an indication of the actual price of the printer. This gives us:
Price without ink	£541.40	£625.78
So in effect you can go from an A3 printer to an A2 for only £83!
I'll assume that ink usage on both is pretty much equivalent and I will pick 100ml worth of to represent my usage for a year or so.
Prices for 100ml worth of printing
Price for a full set of cartridges	£87.60	£286.40
No of sets in 100ml	9.09	1.25
100ml price	£637.09	£286.40
Total price to print 100ml worth of prints	£ 1,266.09	£1,198.58

So it seems that when I take into consideration my normal running costs the more expensive printer is cheaper! Oh and did I mention it does A2 as well!

Why Print your own work?

I've been looking at buying a new printer to replace my ageing Epson 2100 Stylus, and I started wondering if its worth printing my own shots at all or should I just use a lab?

Back in the days of film comparatively few people used to print their own shots at home or in their studio. Of course there were many enthusiasts who converted a spare room in to a dark room, but few had the facilities for colour work or large formats and these were usually left to the professionals.
Now you can buy a simple printer that you plug the camera into and out come your pictures as if by magic. Larger formats are simply a question of buying a bigger printer and reading the manual.

So now we have all this flexibility - but should we use it? Is there still a place for professional printing or should we run everything off on our own ink jets ?

Well as I think about it, there are advantages and disadvantages to either method.

Chocolate Orange
(Click to view large)

Using a Print Lab
Generally for most print runs a lab will be cheaper. They have the economies of scale that you can't achieve unless you are producing fantastic volumes of prints.
There are no start-up costs associated with using a lab, before you can print yourself you have to purchase A printer, paper and all those ink cartridges.

On the negative side you have a less control. If the lab starts printing your shots darker than you think they should there is little you can do about it except complain or go elsewhere. Lead times can be a pain. Print something large, spot a fault with it, get it printed again and you could lose a few days (more if the post office are playing up) on a tight schedule.


Print your own
Printing your own works takes you into a whole new world of printer, ink and paper choices. Allows you to fill whole cupboards full of different types of paper that "really work well with this shot". All the learning opportunities about profiles and sharpening for output. Hours of endless fun printing with the wrong profile or spending a happy evening trying to retrieve the tiny bits of paper out from the rollers after a nasty paper jam. The joy of discovering you have just printed that 42 page spreadsheet on fine art paper instead of plain.

But when it works you do get complete control. If I spot a flaw in an image I can easily fix & reprint it in a few minutes. I can choose from a vast range of papers exactly the paper I want my image to appear on and use a completely different paper for the next shot.
I suppose I print stuff myself for the same reasons I mount pictures myself. I really like the idea that what I have produced is all my own work so that when I hand someone a signed limited edition print that I captured, printed and mounted it's all on my own. It gives me no one else to blame if it all goes wrong............but I can live with that.

Oliver Blum is Photographer of the Month for July

Every two years, Luminale takes place in and around Frankfurt during the light & building trade fair. Oliver Blum seems to have made it his mission to capture this festival of light.

Rochuskapelle in neuem Licht
by Oliver Blum

A visit to his website is well worth a look as he depicts all aspects of Luminale and the artworks created by the lighting engineers that range from simple to surreal.

Node 08
by Oliver Blum

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Previous Photographers of the Month

Nikon D90 Specifications Revealed

I see the Nikon D90 Specifications have been leaked. I can't wait to try one, that in-camera editing function may make me switch from Canon.

Union Station Security - Oh Dear, Oh Dear

You've just gotta love this video. Just as a spokesman explains that there is no prohibition on photography in Union Station a security guard turns up and tells them to stop filming - priceless! Looks like this sort of stupidity infects both sides of the Atlantic!

via The Online Photographer

Luck and the Landscape photographer

I was talking to another photographer the other day about Jon Gibbs winning shot in The Landscape Photographer of the year competition. And they were of the opinion that he was just "lucky to be there when the lightning struck".

Storm over Scroby Sands wind farm, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England
by Jon Gibbs

Well to an extent it was true had he just happened to be there at the right time. A landscape photographer has no control overt the lighting or the weather, so it must be down to blind luck....

...or is it? How many times was Jon out on the shores of Norfolk when the lightning didn't turn up? How many times did he walk away with no images worth printing? In landscape photography there really is no substitute for perseverance. As someone once said - "The more I practice the luckier I get".

The Landscape Photographer of the Year 2008 competition is now open to entries, so its well worth seeing if you too can be lucky by being in the right place at the right time.

The Romantic Norfolk Coast

Good friend, and fellow Painter with Light John Duckett, has just released his first book "The Romantic Norfolk Coast". Its full of his stunning images from the and well worth a look.

Are you talented?

Talent is a strange concept really, is it "god given" (pick your own god) or is it just the result of hard-work and dedication?

People seem to use the word talented as though there is no effort involved "she's a talented singer" seems to mean that the person in question was born able to sing anything put in front of them instead of having spent years of dedication, determination and practice to get to the stage she is at.

At exhibitions I have been called talented (yeah I know..go figure) and it always throws me to know what to say about in response. I mean it's easy enough to get similar pictures: learn how to use your camera, learn what images work, take an interest in your subject, practice, get to the right location at the right time with the right weather, compose the image, take the picture, learn how to PP and print it....simple - if you are motivated to do it.

Ginger Smiles

No one is born knowing the relationship of aperture to shutter speed, the first time you use a macro lens or a wide angle a new world is opened up to you that you had never seen or imagined before.

If you are interested in a subject and you really want to get better and you are prepared to work hard and practice - you will get better. Natural talent doesn't really enter into the equation. Craig M. Tanner sums this up far more eloquently than I do (well he is a naturally talented writer) in this article entitled The Myth of Talent (click on the pdf link on the right - of course those who are naturally talented with web pages will have worked that out).

Since I took up photography I notice so much more in the world from butterflies to gingerbread men. Are my eyes talented or have they just been trained?

Mark Tucker is Photographer of the Month for June

A friend recently directed me towards the work of Mark Tucker. His website shows some stunning images, I really love the imagination he has shown in his "dreams" gallery.

Rabbit Hole
by Mark Tucker

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Previous Photographers of the Month

Southwark Location Reports

As I may have mentioned once or twice I am the Photo Locations Editor for Ephotozine. The idea of the Locations Section is for people to share their favourite photographic location with other photographers, whether it is ideal for Landscapes, Architecture, Wildlife or anything else.

I have just uploaded a couple of reports from Southwark on the edge of The Thames in Central London. The first report covers Soutwark Cathedral and the second Borough Market.

Curves and Shadows - Southwark Cathedral

(Click to view large)

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Related Posts

• Widemouth Bay
  
• Leigh-on-Sea
  
• Southwold
• Durdle Door
• Elterwater
• Shoeburyness
• Roding Valley Meadows
• Epping Forest