News/Blog

I will be visiting the Blue Canadian Rockies in the very near future on a photographic trip, though it's been heavily disguised as a celebration of our 25th Wedding Anniversary! (don't tell the missus).

I'm hoping to get some really good sunrise or sunset shots of the jaw-dropping scenery in and around the National Parks with emphasis on the Lakes Louise, Agnes, Moraine, Vermilion, and Maligne & Spirit Island. Not forgetting the City of Vancouver which will also throw up some great photo opprtunities.

Ever since I heard The Byrds singing "In the Blue Canadian Rockies...... on the banks of Lake Louise" from the album Sweetheart of the Rodeo back in 1968, I've always wondered and wanted to know what it would be like to stand there, take in the views & soak up the feeling of the place; I now have the chance to do just that, to be there and record my impressions & images of the banks of Lake Louise and the other lakes through the lens of my camera. Wow!

Just need to avoid the bears, especially BIG bears!

My first ever exhibition kicked off on 22nd July to a rather slow start but once the first weekend arrived it really got going! The sales and comments exceeded everything I had hoped for and I met so many new & friendly people and they have all been very kind & generous in the praise of my photographs and exhibition, as well as putting their hands in their pockets, it's been simply...mind blowing!

Any self-doubts about what I was doing and all those hours standing in my wellies in the North Sea in freezing conditions waiting for sunrises with people saying 'You must be mad', and 'Why are you taking that?' have gone with all the positive comments, a number of sales and reaching well over 166,000 hits to my website today!

I would just like to thank everybody who came to the Red Bus Gallery and who took the time to look at the photographs and the exhibition and gave me so many positive comments...........but a special thanks must go to a lovely girl called Sophie (part of the battle re-enactment group) who kept sitting & chatting to my wife & I on & off over the Battle Re-enactment weekend... she really made our weekend. Thanks Sophie...hope you like your surprise B&W photograph, I know you liked it....Happy 13th Birthday!

If you didn't make it I hope I'll see you at the next exhibition......... you don't know what you missed!

A couple of 'snapshots' of the exhibition on the Red Bus :)





...& a few comments from my visitors book :)






Thanks again to everyone who made it a great success!

Great news.. I've been accepted to exhibit work at the Red Bus Gallery at Burton Agnes Hall. I will be there for 2 weeks from 22nd July - 4th August 2010. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase some of my work and hopefully sell some as well!

The Red Bus Gallery is an old converted London double-decker bus...which I think is great, quite quirky...not the usual space you expect from a gallery and it will be demanding to get the hanging and display of the prints & canvases right. In the background I will be playing the lovely, hooky, mellow music of Tinderbox which sits well with moody B&W and serene scenes and impressionistic work.

This is my first exhibition and 'squeaky-bum time' so it would be brilliant if you are in the area to call in and view the exhibition and lend your support. The Gallery & parking at Burton Agnes Hall are free and for all other details about the Hall, gardens & opening times of the Red Bus Gallery log on to the link below.


Hope to see you there!

www.burtonagnes.com
www.tinderboxacoustic.com

From the wilderness of Rannoch Moor to the Pap of Glencoe are some of the finest wild mountain & moorland scenery to be found anywhere in the UK and towards the end of May I will be up in this spectacular area to hopefully photograph & capture the beauty & magical atmosphere that this place has!

It's a bit of a 'rites of passage' this shoot as every well known and many lesser photographers at some point feel the need to have a shot of the striking Bauchaille Etive Mor in their portfolio...and I'm no different. I should have gone in January but the freezing winter with temperatures down to -20c put paid to that but I'm still hoping I'll be lucky enough to see it with a light covering of snow or hard frost on and bathed in a warm, low-light sun...I've been told it's simply breathtaking!

To make sure I get the most out of this photographic trip I will be going under the guidance of Dimitri Vasiliou whose knowledge & experience of the area will be invaluable.

Check out his website & workshops at www.dvattika.com

As a 25th Wedding Anniversary present my good lady Suzanne, booked a one day one-to-one course with local professional photographer Chris Ceaser, whose work I have admired for a long time.

Having chatted with Chris and identified certain areas I feel I can improve on I'm hoping he will be able to fine tune those particular aspects of my photography.... and no I'm not saying what they are!

http://www.chrisceaser.com

I've recently been experimenting with a more dynamic, gritty, impressionistic style of photography mainly in monochrome or black & white. This is in total opposite to what I normally do...long exposures on a tripod, and care taken in setting up the shot...this is much more immediate, a gut feeling rather than reflective.

It feels good to throw the 'shackles' of rules, filters & tripods away, for a short while, and take a walk on the wild side!

I've had a few favourable comments and quite a few 'umms' so I would be really interested in your comments through the Guestbook.

All the new impressionism work were taken using the Panasonic DMC-LX3 compact camera

With the recent bad weather I've been looking through my back catalogue of images deep in the archives of one of my hard drives and uncovered, what I feel, are hidden gems!

For what ever reason they have been sadly overlooked; so with a quick dust down in Lightroom they can come out of the basement and into the light.

I've called this gallery 'Basement Tapes' and anyone with any knowledge of Bob Dylan will recognise the reference and if not....google it!

I will add to this as and when I unearth anymore unsung heroes.

view Basement Tapes

Apologies to everyone viewing the website and clicking on recent work and finding no new images or body of work since the beginning of January! 2010 has not been the best of starts for me. There should have been a set of exciting photographs from a weeks trip to Glencoe but this was cancelled due to the extreme winter conditions even for Scotland with temperatures down to -20 degrees.

Another trip to Spurn Point last weekend was cancelled, with bags packed, at the last minute as I fell victim to the winter vomiting bug which left me in bed for 2-3 days and has taken me a full week to recover.

Now the good news; the trip to Glencoe has been rescheduled to May: Spurn Point is just a matter of timing, waiting for the weather, tides & sunrise to turn and come together and hopefully this time I'll be there to catch the light and get the shot!!

I have also managed to upgrade my camera to the Canon 5D MK2 with 17-40mm L lens & the 24-105mm L lens + an extra Giotti tripod as back-up, as my present Manfrotto had to be repaired last year and I was down for well over a week clicking my heels not my camera!

I have other projects in mind this year, but more about that later, for now normal service will be resumed asap!!!

I spent the day learning & shooting reportage photography at Crich Tramway Museum with the Going Digital team under the watchful eye of professional & master photographer David Muscroft.

I'm usually happiest with my wellies on with waves lapping around my feet with no-one else around, so to be out among the madding crowd and to react at a moments notice and nail the shot meant I was well and truly out of my comfort zone..... but I didn't just enjoy it....I really loved it...brilliant!


View portfolio

Images from a photographic course I attended, based in the Murcia region of Spain, with Ron Walsh from Cargill/Walsh Photography. As you will see the views & locations there were simply stunning!

I would really like to hear your thoughts & comments on them via my Guestbook.
View portfolio

Images from a photographic 'holiday' in Jersey, where mornings began at 4.00am & sunset or night shoots went on until after 10.30pm, you would be forgiven for thinking it wasn't much of a holiday..
but I enjoyed every minute of it!

View Jersey portfolio


I would really like to hear your thoughts & comments on them via my Guestbook.

Please keep watching the sight and enjoy the views!