Saturday 30 April 2016

What next?

I had steadily improved and gained more confidence; but where now?

I decided I wanted to try portrait photography. I have talked about this is a previous post. Family and friends. I wanted to push forward and gain as much experience as possible. I booked a portrait photography course. It was a good introduction to photographing people I hadn't meet before. How to quickly break the ice and have both sides of the camera relax. I'm sure Jade was way more relaxed than I was.

Here a few of my favourites from the two days.




Those two days convinced me I liked portrait photography, But I needed more experience. Different people, locations and styles, so I started to hire models. I mentioned this in my First Post.


The next few shoots were home based. This meant limited room and having to check the backgrounds for distractions. There is nothing more annoying than getting home, and realising you missed something that could easily have been cleared away at the time.

I was using speedlights, okay for smallish rooms but they take some time to recycle and if you do fire off too many shots in quick succession they overheat.

Some of my most liked pictures from the early days are:

Jessica



Jasmine


Jodie



TR





Check the blog for more updates These early shoots were in houses. I'll post my first studio shoots and my thoughts on them later.

For more of my work, go to my Facebook page.
and 

Saturday 23 April 2016

Getting more serious

I was getting consistent results with my photography. The number of pictures I was satisfied with was rising.

I wanted to push my photography, see what I was capable of.

I contacted an event photographer, Jenny from Fresh Orange Photography. She was offering an opportunity to work with her at track days. I could improve my photography and learn how to delivery what the customer wanted. It gave me the chance to photograph at some circuits I had been to before and some new ones. Goodwood is a particular favourite. I also had access to the parts of the circuits members of the public can't get to.

It taught me a lot. I must have been doing something right, Jenny asked me to do a track day as the only photographer. And I really enjoyed it.

I did a track day at an RAF base. There was a demonstration of flying skill from a Chinook.




I very grateful to Jenny. I learned a lot and got some great pictures.

As a result of the help I got from Jenny at Fresh Orange Photography it gave me more confidence. I approached an Autograss club about photography at their meetings. Concord Autograss

They said come along, be our official photographer. A very friendly bunch. I did two years photography with them.

Supplying many racers with pictures. Again I learned a lot about sports photography.

in the beginning

I had a film camera.


But I only used in holidays, and special occasions. Christmas, birthdays etc. So it had very little use. Having to wait for the film to be used completely before taking it to be developed. It was good in a way. Especially if the film had been in the camera a while. It was like a trip down memory lane when you finally got it back, and you opened the envelope to see what you had photographed.

Then a few years ago my wife bought me a digital camera. I could now take pictures and see them immediately. I started to use it more. Just to experiment. And I took more interest in how the picture was taken. It was a nice camera, but really it was a point and shoot. I want more control so I bought a DSLR. That really opened my photography.

I had always followed motorsport. Growing up I lived near Brands Hatch. Now with my new camera I went there with a new purpose. I have also been to Silverstone. But it's not really a track for spectators like Brands is, or at least was. Silverstone is so big, and the fencing so far from the track, photography isn't very rewarding. Brands use to be great for spectators. Don't get me wrong it is still one of the best. But the building on Clark Curve. Before then you could see pretty much the whole short circuit from there. Just sitting on the top of the small mound. It is still a good place to watch racing. I remember the cars parked in the car park next to the Cooper Straight. As the winners did their parade lap, flashing their lights and sounding their horns.

If you want to get close to the racing though. Lydden Hill is the place to go, or Canada Heights. You can get very close to the racing, I really recommend these two. Low fencing, close to the track means you don't need a long lens, and you don't have to shoot through fencing. They are very relaxed venues.


Lydden Hill






Brands Hatch.






Canada Heights.






Silverstone






For more of my work, go to my Facebook page.
and 





Sunday 17 April 2016

Why I cycle.

Cycling lets me get away from it all. I get to switch off. I think that's why the pictures I take whilst cycling tend to be of the view, my bike and not me. I rarely use the self timer. I don't know, I just don't appear in many of the pictures I take. My cycling cohort; Matthew and I have been cycling around Surrey and Kent for years. And again the majority of the pictures are missing either or both of us. 

Here are some examples. You'll see what I mean.








For more of my work, go to my Facebook page.
and 


Saturday 16 April 2016

Now for something a little different.

My other passion is cycling. I have cycled to Paris. Two friends and myself did this in 2011. Totally unassisted. We organised the accommodation, ferry crossing, and the Euro tunnel for the return trip. We even carried our luggage The route was online but we still had to improvise in places. It was brilliant. I was very glad I did it. There was a great sense of achievement as we rounded the last corner to see the Eiffel Tower in front of us just across the river.




The next year we cycled the South Downs Way. A whole different challenge. A much shorter distance, but so much harder, and muddier. But again a great achievement.





For more of my work, go to my Facebook page.
and 


Head shots anyone

A friend of mine, had a change of career. He took his amateur dramatics to full time actor. It's going very well. I hope my pictures helped.



I was asked to produce some company head shots for their website. I realised from it that this type of shoot needed to be quick, so as not to inconvenience the participants. And to produce consistently framed and lit shots.



Another side to my photography

I want to expand into family photography. I have completed a few shoots.

This picture is from one my first shoot. They produced a calendar for the grand parents with the pictures we produced.




Feedback would be great and always appreciated.

First post

I have really started to push my photography over the last year. I have photographed a few models. They helped me experiment with different locations, lighting setups and styles. I'll be posting pictures of the other model shoots I have done. They have all been great to work with. So please come back to this blog.

This is one of my favourites.


Here is a link to my photography site.