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I recently completed a a task of identifying a photographer that i liked and respected (Brassai!) and copying one of their images, specifically thinking about light... harder than you think!! The first picture is the original by Brassai, and the second is my copy - what do you think?! After 3hrs, I know these is still room for improving the direction of the lighting but it was a fun project!

I don't often venture out into the night lugging a gert big tripod with me but this evening I was in Bath shooting with the Royal Photographic Society. To be perfectly honest I found it all a bit dull :-/ there was the promise of light painting and adventure but instead it was an Abbey in the rain. The others were excited by this and whilst they were busy taking 'lovely' pictures of the royal crescent, I was laying on the floor shooting pictures of a red bucket and a skip! I will do more night photography but I will pick my subjects, locations and comrades more carefully in futures. That said, I did meet some locvely people but I just don't see what they see (or is that the other way round?!)

I went to the NEC and those in the know with know why! (It was Focus on Imaging). Now I don't normally mind a crowd but for some reason this lot, this year, were just a bit too much for me so I bought a Fuji X100 and left.... Yes that's right, the gorgeous, lovely, much coverted Fuji X100!! It was half price, I couldnt resist its beauty. Basically, it was a pure want not need... can't wait to take it out for a spin :)

right, it's a new year and it's a new look coming soon! i have new images from China and from Barcelona to spatter across my site so i might as well take the opportunity to get going on sprucing the whole thing up... keep checking back as there are lots of exciting opportunities coming VERY SOON :) x

I have just found out that I have been nominated in this years International Black & White Spider awards! 8,233 entries from 72 countries and mine was nominated for an award. Official press release here

well last week was the first beginners course I ran in Bristol and what a wonderful course it was! again I met some really lovely people, all eager to get off that dreadful auto setting and start exploring what their camera can really do. I had 8 dslr users and 1 point n shoot so a BIG thank you to that lady for her patience and continued enthusiasm, you were a star!

again, some people emailed me their best shots from the day and I was thrilled to looked through them. so far my favourite is the one below which was taken using the brief of 'reflections'

Wow what another cold day it was yesterday! WELL DONE EVERYONE! The enthusiasm of the people on the course in Weston was amazing and certainly kept us warm for the most part of the day :) I am always so impressed with people and their ability to take up the challenge and get stuck in, regardless of their age or ability or equipment! It was a pleasure to deliver the course again and the weather was kind (although cold). My favourite image from the course yesterday (as I've only seen 1 person's so far!) was this one;

I am now offering beginners training course for DSLR and Point 'n' Shoot users in Weston-Super-Mare and Bristol. These were launched just before Christmas with a Groupon voucher for £29! Bargain for a 5hr course! Obviously these sold out REALLY quickly and I have already booked in 55 people and look forward to meeting them in the coming months.

I am going to be working on a much improved search facility for the website so that you can search for images by keywords. So far I have only set this up on one gallery but more will follow suit. You can now also buy any of the images in my personal galleries, prints, framed, canvas or acrylic pricing is available by default but if you are after something more special, get in touch!

WOW... I am exhausted!! The doors have finally closed on a fantastic 2 days in my own front room! Such lovely people I have met - a very big and warm thank you to everyone who came to see my work this weekend, I have enjoyed meeting you all and sharing experiences and stories. I keep feeling a little overwhelmed by all the lovely comments and by the amount of pictures that people wanted to take home. I am honoured to have my work in your homes - thank you x

Had a really good day in Birmingham working with a lovely model and stylist who deserve a medal for being totally abused for more hours than necessary today by a lot of snap happy people! My favourite shot from today is below and I think I'll be visiting the studios again in the future to try out some more techniques and triangles! Thanks James for a great (but long) day :)

I have decided to donate some of my framed prints to the Totterdown Arts Trail charity auction at The Start & Dove pub on 2nd Novemeber. I haven't decided on the exact piece(s) yet but if anyone want to support a good cause and get some of my framed work from the current exhibition - get down to the Star & Dove and get bidding!!

Having just looked through my gallery... this weekend I intend to 'out with the old' and freshen it up a little. I want my latest and favourite images only and it's getting a bit bulky in there! I have 3 shoots booked for the weekend and the homepage is going to get a revamp as well!! ..it must be spring

Holiday over :(

I spent a wonderful 7 days on the island of Sao Miguel in the The Azores and managed to click my way through 630 frames! I am sure that I won't be keeping all of them, and I have already decided what my favourite photograph is after about 10 minutes of flicking through.

It was a tough decision what equipment to take and I still think I should have taken everything, but it was still a holiday! I plumped for the Canon 500D with a 10-20mm, 28-105mm and a 50mm lens. I also took my tripod, remote cable release and a couple of filters. I really enjoyed using the Sigma 10-20mm lens for some great wide angle shots and discovered home much dirt is in the second hand 28-105mm lens I bought when I was 5+ minute exposures early one morning. Nothing Photoshop couldn't sort out this time but I think I will need to have a serious reconsider about this lens and what I use it for. I suppose that's the risk with second hand lenses from eBay!

I've a trip to Cornwall coming up in the next few weeks and still lots of Groupon portrait photo shoots taking up most of my time. Trotec laser commercial shoot this week too so lots of exciting things planned still and I will certainly be updating the gallery sections again soon with some more photographs from recent adventures.

Working on some ideas for personal projects at the moment too and looking at more exhibitions venues but have to plan for the Totterdown Front Room Arts Trail coming up too! Still busy!!

Well it's been a while since I wrote a blog post and that's because it's been really busy (which is a good thing!). My photography exhibition at The Southville Centre came down today and after 3 solid months of exhibiting myself I am happy to have had a few sales and lots of interest. I have done a fair few Groupon photo shoots this month too and I have met some really lovely people and families and I truly hope that they enjoy the photographs I have taken for them. I also bought a Canon 7D camera and couple of new lenses so look out for my new images in the galleries soon!

So my first exhibition is over at the Bocabar.. cant believe it's been 2 months already! I took it down yesterday (a damn sight quicker than it went up I can tell you!) and today I put it up at The Southville Centre in Bristol where the photographs will stay until the end of August.. then I'm going on a very exciting trip to the Azures, to take more photographs! :)

So I have been working out of a very lovely photography studio at the Paintworks but more recently I have been considering buying some reasonably priced lighting equipment and transforming a room in the house. This would probably just be for product or stock photography and for personal projects as the Paintworks studio is much more professional looking for clients but it does mean that I would get more time to experiment with the lighting for future projects! This would mean loosing a guest room but gaining a studio space, I think this the benefits of the studio win :) (in my opinion anyway!)

Wow what a week it's been! I've had dogs, industrial machinery, naked men, medical students, a young male model and for some relaxation today... fish! All in all its been a hugely varied week and I have met some really lovely people who didn't mind demonstrating some interesting medical techniques up on the Clifton downs (just prior to a tornado in Bristol apparently!).

I now have a mountain of photographs to sift through and upload onto my website but first I have a photography competition to enter for The Kennel Club :) ..then there's the photograph that I need to submit next week for my top secret competition that I have told absolutely no one about yet! I am usually rubbish at keeping secrets but I have done well with this one, probably because I am convinced I don't stand a chance and don't want to embarrass myself!

I also bought a new, well new to me, Canon Lens from eBay yesterday and saved myself over £300 on the cost of the shop bought one that I was looking at :) Still sniffing after that tilt shift lens but at £800 it can wait a little bit longer! I also decided to back out of buying the Canon 7D body at this stage as I still wasn't 100% so I am still waiting on the potential of a Canon 5D MkIII next year maybe?!!

I will be at the Love Food Festival this Sunday at the Paintworks. Not sure what the day will bring but I am excited about it and will be offering up some very special deals for studio portrait sessions!

I really do! ..and just to prove it I have created a new gallery just for pet portraits and I hope that it starts to fill up some more really soon. So to try and help it along, I am cooking up some ideas for special offers on pet portraits :)