AJP

2012-02-08T21:58:00.001Z

Sophie

NPR is Dangerous

2012-01-07T16:17:00.001Z

Have been listening to the All Songs Considered podcast from NPR and they play a huge range of music (with a very heavy American bias) - some great stuff which I have never heard of before and a chance to listen to some bands who I knew the name but not the music - a 10 CD order later we can officially declare the podcast as dangerous to your wallet.

In other news finally gave in and paid up to use a professional theme for Wordpress and so have moved all my photography to http://www.tppix.co.uk

MA and stuff

2011-11-29T14:53:00.001Z

Been a fair while since I posted - have seen Wild Beasts at Oxford and was disappointed, maybe not in the mood but no one really seemed that much into it - just a lot of noodling and inaudible vocals. On the other hand me and what seemed like 50 other people crammed into the Jericho tavern to see Summer Camp who were just great, small venues and bands - lot to be said for a venue where the lead vocalist just walks past you to the bar to get a drink before starting the set.
Tonight it is the Vaccines and expect greatness.
In other news as they say have passed year 2 of the (maybe) MA so really chuffed.

Patrick Wolf

2011-11-02T13:35:00.000Z

Relatively late decision to go along and see him (and CockandBullKid) but very pleased made the effort. Great two hour set - would have been good with some more space on stage I guess and maybe not so many changes of instruments - hopefully gets to graduate to the main stage downstairs at some stage.

Another blurred photo from a new camera phone.

Too Heavy

2011-10-23T21:39:00.000+01:00

So after looking many times at buying a Kindle I have finally succumbed - and the reason - trying to read Diarmaid MacCulloch's A History of Christianity in bed and its just too heavy. The price drop helped of course :-)

Its a big pile

2011-09-24T18:03:00.000+01:00

So the final piece of OU work (for this year at least) has been sent away, expect results some time in mid-December and then can start to press the refresh key every 5 minutes to see when they are posted. It has been interesting - I have read a lot more on photography and identity than I thought I needed to at the start and much less than I probably should have. On the other hand it has been pretty much all the spare time for 6 weekends - did we have a summer - not sure.

Still really struggle with much of the identity stuff and the language is obtuse and opaque to common understanding - not sure if is is emperors new clothes, the way that academics need to speak to each other in print or a genuine requirement in order to explain oneself. Certainly getting to grips with this again to do the final year is a good reason not to!

And so it begins and maybe ends

2011-08-20T11:22:00.001+01:00

Today is start of writing final project for year 2 of MA - have a subject, large pile of notes and books - just need some inspiration now. Maybe the last TMA I do - said that a few times. Deadline 21st Sept, 5000 words - hummmm.

Red is best

2011-08-20T11:02:00.002+01:00

One from the archive :-)

New bikes may be faster but rarely prettier.

Tomahawk and Midsummer Night's Dream

2011-07-18T21:12:00.000+01:00

Tomahawk theatre put on a very funny and clever performance of Midsummer Night's Dream at the Oxford Castle - its a good venue and its the second performance we have seen from them there. Even better after a day of downpours the sun came out for the evening.

TMA and Texas

2011-07-18T20:30:00.002+01:00

So final TMA finished and emailed off -as always we now wait and see what the outcome is. Now just project proposal and the project itself to complete and that's another year of study done.

Sunday was Texas in the rain - they were good but the show was far too short - £35 for an hour felt like a rip off when compared to Simple Minds - can understand an hour if you are one band in a big festival line up but ...

TMA 2 and The Project

2011-06-30T20:13:00.000+01:00

So 65% on TMA2 - means that I have scraped through this section without the need to do TMA3 but with some advice from the tutor I have decided to use TMA3 as a starting point for the project which will be on Nan Goldin with some Cindy Sherman for good measure - cue buying loads of books - need more bookshelves!

Good tutorial at Birkbeck - feeling like this may just work out although tutor has given dire warnings about success rate in previous years.

Simple Minds

2011-06-30T20:05:00.000+01:00

This years Simple Minds gig was at Westonbirt - not a bad venue though why anyone would sit down for this stuff I have no idea and would have been a nightmare if we had needed to move in a hurry. Anyway after a day of solid rain it stopped just in time for Jim and the boys and they put on the usual great show.

Grouplove

2011-05-18T21:37:00.002+01:00

Monday was NME Emerge night - several bands at the Academy with Anna Calvi as the head liner. Missed the first two bands but then Grouplove came on and were just amazing - sounded great and just looked like the whole thing was so much fun. They played through broken guitar straps as far as I was concerned could have just played on.

Then on to Anna Calvi who clearly is something of a guitar virtuoso but after 20 mins I left as was bored, no energy, sounded like the CD to a large degree, had a band member on what I am told is a harmonium (shades of Arcade Fire here) that was completely inaudible so pointless and so on.

Next up Naked and Famous - suspect/hope that they will fall into the Grouplove camp.

Wonderful Warpaint

2011-05-14T11:48:00.001+01:00

Best gig of the year - just magical. Played 90 mins and for me could have played another 90. No posing around - just playing the sounds.

Next up Anna Calvi and the NME mob.

A week of loafing

2011-05-02T16:48:00.001+01:00

A glorious week of loafing around in wonderful weather. Starting with the next in a long line of fuzzy concert shots commemorating Metronomy's gig in Oxford:

Got 58% in first TMA so happy with that and think I understand what is needed for TMA02 and the project - even have a colon in the title! Visit to London and Dulwich - great gallery, nice area. Walked back from Victoria to Paddington by way of Buck Palace - full wedding fever and the amount of media just amazing - including:

This kind of stuff - with an outfit that bright not sure we needed a reflector! Hunters for some dressage and walks to find bluebells.

Week 2 - London for Miro, Christchurch for lecture, TMA2 and the big photoshoot to finish off!

No events

2011-04-20T13:40:00.000+01:00

The plan today was to go to the Nuffield for a day to get bolts taken out of right leg as a possible cure to occasional pain. Arrived at 07:30 - straight to ward, all good and then it just went down hill. No one really seemed to know if I was there for the day or longer, surgeon did not visit so no idea if nerve blocks needed or whether I could walk out. Eventually called time and left - will I try again? Probably not.

On a positive note TMA01 came back with a shocking 58% - I was expecting 35% if lucky so that was a surprise and means I may have to actually try and complete the rest rather than bailing on the basis of being useless.

And of course I get to go the gig tonight :-)

Clare Maguire

2011-04-09T21:35:00.001+01:00

Not very busy and I think she tried too hard to get the crowd going rather than just letting the music work but songs were good and I guess it was a mark of how empty the place was that she could walk around the audience with a radio mike and no issues.

The Big Shoot

2011-03-27T18:43:00.000+01:00

We have it all booked - now just need some arrangements, more notes and what to shoot plus talent - last bit might be a stretch. We have babe in arms, couples, singles all in 4 hours of studio fun in Wokingham. Lets hope we don't disappoint the punters and if it goes really well a repeat.

In other news it has taken a weekend to write just 700 words for the latest TMA - all very hard going. Ho hum...

Mona

2011-03-13T14:17:00.000Z

Mona played the Academy upstairs and were great, VERY loud and worked hard. Show a bit disjointed as they seemed to have the odd technical difficulty. Next stop Metronomy!

MA Tutorial #1

2011-03-01T21:47:00.001Z

A truly frightening affair - concluded that vastly out of my depth - as Joey would say ." You're so far past the line, you can't even see the line. The line is a dot to you.

We have people who took 6 months out to go to France to do some research on a painting and still failed!

Oh well - as usual do TMA 1 and see what we get and go from there.
Nice lunch with Lynda to compensate - lots of talk about metanarratives over a pint - god knows what we must have sounded like to anyone else.

Tickets Galore

2011-03-01T21:41:00.000Z

Upcoming:

Mona
Simple Minds
Texas
Clare Maguire

The Barbie Shoot

2011-02-22T19:54:00.000Z

Taking fashion to a whole new level for Barbie. Amazing amount of work to produce these shots - just look at the modelling - probably a bit easier to fit this into your living room than the whole of Kings Cross and a real live model though.

The Go Team

2011-02-16T21:01:00.000Z

The Go Team once again at Oxford - smaller crowd but still the same great show. New material sounds good.

Creation Theatre strike again

2011-02-13T12:31:00.000Z

Great theatre in a bookshop where you can do a little shopping in the interval - one day all theatres will be built this way.

Wedding anyone?

2011-02-09T12:08:00.002Z

I now have a new job title - the grandiose sounding Professional Services Engagement Manager - does what it says on the tin - unless you link engagements to weddings in which case I sound like some puffed up wedding planner!

Joan as Policewoman

2011-02-01T23:03:00.002Z

At O2 Academy Oxford - excellent show. Time to buy some CDs!

Back Again

2011-02-01T11:18:00.000Z

So after a year or so on my own WordPress site I am back with Blogger - every WordPress upgrade needed a couple of hours unpicking - just not worth the grief for the limited use I was making of the wealth of features and custom design that it allows.

It starts again

2011-01-30T09:34:00.000Z

OU starts again - have tutor, tutorials and a pile of books to read. First TMA due in April.

Also new job - still getting into things as a big change but feels like it will work out!

It's cold outside!

2010-12-26T17:19:00.001Z

Xmas 2010 style

2010-12-25T21:13:00.001Z

Happy Xmas to All

Finishing Up

2010-12-19T09:41:00.000Z

So last day in Chippenham with old company - said goodbye to a bunch of people and did exit interview. Still have one week to go in Lewisham but given road conditions that may prove a challenge!

Good news is passed OU course with surprising (for me) exam result. Now have mental torture as to whether to go for year 2.

Heaven and Hell

2010-11-30T14:36:00.001Z

Saw Heaven 17 last night in Oxford - excellent show, played all of Penthouse & Pavement plus a great acoustic Don't You Want Me. Definitely better than being in Lewisham for the evening!

Feeder

2010-10-31T17:15:00.001Z

Somewhere in that white haze is Feeder - great show :-)

London (again)

2010-10-28T19:11:00.000+01:00

Spent 4 days in London and the weather was great. We saw a huge range of stuff , from Gaslight Anthem at Hammersmith to ENO doing La Boheme plus Canaletto at NG, Cezanne at the Courtauld and Jason Bell at the NPG. I also got to try out the new toy.

I'll have more memory with that please

2010-10-28T19:04:00.000+01:00

How much memory is too much for a Mac - short answer is there is never enough but certainly all the sweeter for 14GB - nice "payday" for a photo shoot :-)

Photofusion with Innocent

2010-10-19T20:39:00.000+01:00

A strange and occasionally succesful day with Innocent shooting Elodie and Ben at Photofusion. Still not good with the lights so more practice needed but the models were great and Innocent did his style thing.

OU Finished

2010-10-12T23:14:00.000+01:00

Today was the exam for A840 - the first year of an MA - if I ever get that far. Exam questions were just what I wanted them to be but still think i did a poor job. As ever walking out you immediately think of a dozen other things that you should have mentioned.

On a positive note have nice new f1.4 50mm lens and we are just 4 days away from the big studio experiment - 5 models, hair and make-up - fun and terrifying. 7 hours to get 10 portfolio quality shots is the target.

Reading

2010-09-26T19:20:00.000+01:00

Have been asked to take a few pictures of Reading - a town that I pass through every day to work but never stop to look at. The Forbury gardens are a delight - especially at 8am on a Saturday morning when no one else is around.

I was pleased with the following shot because for once it actually looked like I was expecting it to and I was patient enough to wait for some people to come along to make the photo.

[caption id="attachment_656" align="alignleft" width="492" caption="The Oracle, Reading"][/caption]

Pip gets married

2010-09-10T12:12:00.000+01:00

And I get to take a few photos and watch another wedding photographer in action.

Oxford on a sunny Sunday

2010-08-29T22:35:00.000+01:00

It's a beautiful city

Outdoor Wedding Shoot

2010-08-29T22:33:00.000+01:00

First Meetup for ages, new group for me - well organised with lots of models and good people. A few shots:

Ghost Trees at Oxford

2010-08-16T19:19:00.000+01:00

Went to see Private Lives at Wadham - very good and somehow we picked the right night again weather-wise. Then off to Pitt-Rivers to see the Ghost Trees and take some pix - hard to know how to shoot - had hoped that the lights would be turned on but no luck.

and then back to the car park via the Martyr's Memorial

Oxford at night is wonderful as long as you can avoid boorish behaviour.

Midsummer’s Night Dream

2010-08-08T20:14:00.000+01:00

Globe company on tour presenting a great night out (and it stayed dry) - the Bodleian Quad as always a magical setting for these sort of events and front row seats!

All this and an enchanting Puck dressed as Lisa Minelli from Cabaret!

Tim Flach - Part 2

2010-08-02T20:49:00.000+01:00

The afternoon with Tim really broke down into 3 parts - he started by showing us some of his large format prints - amazing quality and attention to detail in terms of both overall composition and the care of each element. With help from Sebastian (Tim's assistant) we then got to try out the H4D-60. The camera was very easy to use and the balance was really nice with the 100m lens. One thing that I really noticed is that I could shoot with my glasses on - usually I take them off and dial in some diopter adjustment.

The lighting was simple but gave a very nice effect - Tim had a large circular sort of key light - not sure exactly the right name for this, two lights onto the background and as an extra kick was using a ring flash (all Bron) straight ahead.

The final part was Tim talking about image composition and that can wait for part 3.

Romeo and Juliet

2010-07-25T22:14:00.000+01:00

Saw a tremendous, fairly modern, interpretation by Creation Theatre at the Said Business School in Oxford - what more could you want on a warm summer's night.

TMA04 - 65%

2010-07-19T16:00:00.000+01:00

Much more than expected and most importantly that means that I have passed the essay component for the year. So now need to decide whether or not to do final 2 essays or concentrate more on the exams.

Tim Flach and Hasselblad

2010-07-18T12:24:00.000+01:00

Don't ask - don't get, so I decided to sent Terry Hope at Photo Pro Magazine some information about myself in response to an article in the magazine asking for volunteers to have an afternoon shooting with Hasselblad cameras. Was amazed to get the call and even better to get the opportunity to spend an insightful and illuminating afternoon in Tim's company. Tim had set up a simple studio lighting rig, walked me through it and then the gents from Hasselblad handed over the only H4D-60 in the country for me to try. It's just beautiful to use, instinctive and functional. Tim stepped in to have his portrait taken along with a few other shots.

Much more to report on coming soon...

London Baby!

2010-07-05T18:38:00.000+01:00

A few days in London to see a huge number of exhibitions, including Sally Mann, Wolfgang Tillmans, Grace Kelly, Walpole and Strawberry Hill and the BP Portrait Awards - bought a print of one of the pictures so something else that needs to go on a wall.

A few pictures

Twenty Years and Twelve Nights

2010-07-05T18:18:00.000+01:00

Our 20th Wedding anniversary on Wednesday and we went to see a marvellous Twelfth Night at the Oxford Castle - for once the weather held and outdoor Shakespeare prevailed.

TMA03

2010-05-31T15:47:00.000+01:00

Just about done - this is getting more of a slog each time - still this represents the half way point for TMAs. Time to start worrying about the exam instead.

Feeding the Young

2010-05-23T19:56:00.000+01:00

Our next door neighbour has a nest of sparrows under one eave and starlings under the other!

TMA02 – 65%

2010-05-19T22:41:00.000+01:00

Deja-vu all over again - another 65%. Occasionally baffling comments but some made sense. Main thing is now 1/2 way towards completing this element.

TMA02

2010-05-03T13:39:00.000+01:00

Is done - so 4 more to do!

Went to see Michelangelo's Dream at the Coutauld - just amazing and frankly impossible to comprehend how anyone could do work like this. Also quick call in at the NPG to buy a poster / book and a run around the Irving Penn (longer trip planned on Monday)

Tigers

2010-05-03T13:36:00.000+01:00

Got to see Leicester Tigers Vs Harlequins at Leicester as part of a corporate thing - great tickets which meant a great view. Just need to find a way to get onto the pitch now for a few close-ups -)

Dartmoor

2010-04-21T17:26:00.000+01:00

A great couple of days with amazing weather, up hill and down dale - or in Dartmoor's case up Tors and down into some lovely streams.

Jeter TV

2010-04-12T21:39:00.000+01:00

I have signed up for MLB TV - Alexis calls it Jeter TV - and us being a Red Sox House!

Sackler and Summer

2010-04-12T19:37:00.000+01:00

Summer seemed to be round the corner - Saturday was great - walked around Oxford taking a few pictures and got my card for access to the Sackler library - for all of two weeks - still chance to see how the other half live - amazing books and folios in a deathly quiet environment - I could hear someone typing 10 yards away!

TMA01 – 65%

2010-03-30T23:59:00.000+01:00

Quite chuffed, could be better but was expecting much worse. Time to knuckle down to TMA02 - few days off and typical bank holiday weather should help.

NYPC

2010-03-20T18:31:00.000Z

[caption id="attachment_469" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="New Young Pony Club at the O2 Academy, Oxford"][/caption]

Colour Temp and Ratios

2010-03-17T23:21:00.000Z

An evening reminding ourselves about the impact of colour temperature and lighting ratios - colour temp stuff good to see in the flesh but lighting ratios did not work really.

MA TMA01 - Done

2010-03-15T18:34:00.000Z

So after much agonising TMA01 on Caravaggio and the use of contemporary sources is nearly in the bag - just the usual check on references and English to go through. Now feeling slightly more positive about the whole experience as it seems that I really could do a final year thesis on some aspect of photography.

A day off for good behavior and then back to the grindstone - still just 5 more to go!

St Pauls by Day

2010-02-26T23:45:00.000Z

Finally they have removed the scaffolds and you can see what a great building this is again, the light helps of course.

The National at Night

2010-02-20T16:36:00.000Z

Sara Paretsky

2010-02-20T16:33:00.000Z

Came to Abingdon to do a reading and of course sell some books - she was a very engaging speaker and was great to hear her read some of the new book which sounds fairly vintage stuff. She talked a lot about what to do with the age of the character - V.I. Warshawski - V.I. was originally written as just a couple of years younger than Sara but over time Sara has had to allow the gap to grow - they are now 12 years apart - still that at least seems to ensure that there will be more books before character is retired.

Update

Mostly books used some of my pictures :-)

Laura Veirs

2010-01-24T11:32:00.000Z

Saw Laura again at the O2 Academy - excellent concert, was really busy which I wasn't expecting. New songs are great - time to buy the CD. A very amusing interlude about the differences in English and American - what does "My bad" mean and how long are donkey years?

Hollywood

2010-01-21T16:13:00.000Z

Hollywood style with Katherine

Spent the evening at the Camera Club working with new versions of old fashion studio lights (continious source) - large, hot and heavy but a very different quality of light and a chance to try and recreate some classic Hollywood star portrait style shots.

Oxford Sky

2010-01-11T19:56:00.000Z

Oxford sky

Went to talk at Ashmolean by Stephen Greenberg, the designer of the new layout. Facinating to hear the kinds of things that they took into consideration. For sure will be looking at the way that you are guided around the museum in a whole new light and then walked out into a great sunset!

More Snow Shots

2010-01-06T19:04:00.000Z

Berries

Having fun

Snow

2010-01-05T23:42:00.000Z

Snow at last

They predicted it and they were right! WfH tomorrow I guess.

The new Ashmolean

2009-12-28T19:48:00.000Z

[caption id="attachment_390" align="alignleft" width="640" caption="The Ashmolean"][/caption]

Went to the new Ashmeolean - really nice. I did not realise that they had any Turners so thats good news and may help with any longer term plans to do a dissertation.

Xmas Lights

2009-12-28T12:56:00.000Z

[caption id="attachment_384" align="alignleft" width="600" caption="Abingdon at Xmas"][/caption]

A Year in Pictures

2009-12-23T16:47:00.000Z

So here are my top 12 shots - as chosen by me

[caption id="attachment_379" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="South Bank Night Shot"][/caption]

2009 Portfolio

Warning - these are 1024*768

Better than the rest

2009-12-16T08:58:00.000Z

Photo PA

Went to see Dressage at Olympia - half empty hall but great seats and a chance to see Mr Dorito again. This is a contest with two levels - the Dutch and then the rest of the world (normally Dutch and Germans but they did not bother turning up). Top 2 Dutch scored more than 80% next up 70% for Carl Hester.

Should have taken the camera - Doh!

Music for Oldies

2009-12-11T20:07:00.000Z

Simple Minds at the LG arena - definitely a step up from the NEC itself, great tickets and a good show, plus for once we did not spend 90 minutes trying to get out of the car park.

Photo from http://www.dunfermline-music-scene.co.uk

A much smaller affair at the O2 Academy in Oxford - but a great night out, the "not Paul Weller" was excellent and Bruce Foxton was on fine form. Any band that can start with Going Underground and still have better stuff to play is onto a winner - close to a perfect set as far as I was concerned.

Posing Practice

2009-12-01T09:04:00.000Z

[caption id="attachment_358" align="alignleft" width="640" caption="Lydia"][/caption]

Four hours of fun with Neli and Richard working with Lydia to try and capture some classic poses. Simple two light set-up - two softboxes at f/11 and f/8. Few IT glitches but overall learnt more about how to pose, being careful about stray hair, shadows and making sure that the light was not being blocked by hands to face and so on. Confidence is growing but still need a huge amount of help / ideas / shapes from the model.

Stargazing

2009-11-26T22:21:00.000Z

Great evening at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Get a planatarium show of the night sky you are going to see, then looking at the moon through the 28" scope and then finally hot choc and a look at Jupiter and its main moons. Got the bug!

One or two eyes

2009-11-21T23:02:00.000Z

My favourite shot of the last fashion group was this:

[singlepic id=97 w=320 h=240 float=center]

but Charley suggested one eye was better - so here is what you get with my limited photoshop skills:

[singlepic id=103 w=320 h=240 float=center]

I think she was right

Fashion Group Show

2009-11-20T10:59:00.000Z

Well for the first time I have seen one of my photos on someone else's wall. In this case its the Camera Club's little exhibition of Fashion Group shots - we all have to start somewhere.

We then went on to work with Rochelle and do the usual sort of stuff.

28 inch telescope

2009-11-20T09:09:00.000Z

Off to see / use the telescope at the Royal Observatory on the 26th!

Greenwich

2009-11-16T19:01:00.000Z

Had a great day walking around Greenwich's historic buildings. Was good to see the H's in the observatory - I never realised that they were so large. Need to go back and

Go to the gallery in the Queen Anne Building

Go on one of the stargazing sessions

We walked under the tunnel to Island Gardens and this scene presented itself:

[caption id="attachment_305" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="On The River"][/caption]

One of those always have a camera with you moments - no idea what these people were doing but looked interesting.

London Baby!

2009-11-12T21:41:00.000Z

Off to London for a weekend of theatre / talks (Martin Parr) and exhibitions - Jane Bown, Sacred made Real - just need the weather to play its part.

MA - one book down 5 to go

Stonehenge and Video

2009-11-08T22:58:00.000Z

Weather looked good so on Sat PM we drove down to Stonehenge - things went slighty awry when an accident delayed and so we only got 15 mins to see a monument that probably took a couple of hundred years to get to its final fashion. Still it's close enough to go back.

Sunday - note to self - autofocus does not really work on long shots.

Photosense

2009-11-04T14:21:00.000Z

On a photo meetup I met Innocent - someone with creativity pouring out of him in all directions. We had a lot of fun and got some interesting shots - to date my favourite session. He has now started his own gatherings which you can read about on his site. Being Innocent it has to include more than just photography - music, happening - STUFF!

Mind MAde up

2009-11-02T16:46:00.000Z

Have signed up for first year of MA!

Time capsule is misbehaving (or more likely user is being a bit thick). Got the camera working tethered - just need a VERY long USB cable now.

More physio - start resistance work now

The Blog Has Moved

2009-11-01T11:42:00.001Z

To www.tonypresland.co.uk

Time Off and Time Capsule

2009-10-29T23:37:00.000Z

Couple of days off to recharge batteries and also to get new backup in place - design and convenience win over do it yourself bodgery - Apple 1 Rest of World Nil (again)

Need to work out how to shoot tethered as well for next workshop

Edging Closer

2009-10-26T08:07:00.000Z

Well I have now purchased 5 out of the 6 books for the OU MA so I think I am getting closer to flexing the credit card. If I am going to do the course it will be a bit easier and much more fun doing it with my OU buddy who is already booking in for 2010.

Decision time - so lets make a decision by the end of the week.

The First Post

2009-10-23T21:02:00.000+01:00

So now the WordPress site seems to be coming together and I will post here rather than at the blogspot.com site. Have transferred all the posts - via wordpress.com - which means that they need a bit of a tidy at some point.
Plan for the weekend - get the rest of the site looking my way :-)

The Shoulder

2009-10-16T14:27:00.000+01:00

Has now been attacked by the surgeon and arm is black and blue (with 4 holes to allow keyhole access). Lots more movement (can now scratch my back!) but still pretty painful.

Cody at Greenwich

2009-10-10T16:59:00.013+01:00

Spent the day at Royal Greenwich in the company of Richard Liston and Cody - learning more about using studio style flash in the outdoors.

Things to remember

Posing

1) Contraposto

2) Movement!

3) Direct - what shape / emotion do you want

4) Eyes are always the focal point

5) What are the fingers doing

6) Don't have the model cover his/her mouth - looks terrible

7) Look around - can the model stand / sit / hang off of something?

Flash

1) Where possible bounce rather than direct - have flash point backwards into a reflector

2) If you move the flash head around but subject to flash distance stays the same probably don't need to re-meter

General

1) Keep checking the background - has grannie just wanted into shot

2) Shot wider and crop later - you can't widen a shot later

3) Pay attention to how the shadows are falling on the model (esp. eyes and neck)

4) Chimp occasionally but not so much you break the flow

Good End to Good Day

2009-10-03T16:57:00.004+01:00

Good day - Chorister travelled to Hunters and all went well and pre-op was a breeze so now to the knife!

Indian Summer - Oxford Glow

2009-09-26T20:44:00.004+01:00

Magdelan College - Evening Sun

Dartmoor

2009-09-26T20:26:00.006+01:00

Wonderful weeks gentle walking and photography finished off by Rick Stein Fish and Chips for my birthday (which also included a new camera!). The puppies of course tried out their mad Hound of the Baskervilles impression (I miserably failed to get a picture of the one misty moor day!)

Lighting Lessons

2009-09-26T20:22:00.003+01:00

Our latest Portrait Group lesson was to look a picture taken by a pro and try to work out how it was lit. The basics seemed reasonably OK to identify but the real nuances that made it great were so much harder - as always the devil is in the detail. Somewhat hampered by a lack of light modifiers but even with a pile I don't think we would have got the full picture.

He is after your nuts

2009-09-04T22:05:00.002+01:00

4/09 - Dessert Course

He is after your nuts

2009-09-04T22:05:00.001+01:00

4/09 - Dessert Course

Complementary Colours

2009-09-03T22:08:00.003+01:00

03/09 - The South Bank

Complementary Colours

2009-09-03T22:08:00.002+01:00

03/09 - The South Bank

Coming to a camera bag near me :-)

2009-09-02T12:56:00.005+01:00

Not really a shot of the day since I didn't take it but it will be shots of the day from this at some point!

01/09 - Canon 5D

Coming to a camera bag near me :-)

2009-09-02T12:56:00.004+01:00

Not really a shot of the day since I didn't take it but it will be shots of the day from this at some point!

01/09 - Canon 5D