Member since 2018
Motorsports: One of the earliest techniques I tried to master when starting photography was panning – following the subject with the camera in order to avoid motion blur on the subject but conversely, add motion blur to the background to give the image a sense of movement and speed. Motorsport has been a subject I have revisited many times over the last 11 years since starting photography.
Still Life: “Memento Mori” is Latin for “Remember you will die”, it is a common theme through the sub-genre of still life known as ‘Vanitas’. It may sound morbid but to a deeply religious 17th century Dutch society this was really a call to live a good and virtuous life. Think of it more as “Remember you will die one day and meet your maker”, it’s a subject that inspires me when doing still life photography.
(Land/City/Water/Sky-) Scapes: Separating the holiday snaps from the keepers is one of the first things I do when I come home from a trip.
Animals: I don’t have the patience to be a wildlife photographer. Sitting in a bird hide for hours isn’t my idea of fun, although I do have enormous respect for those who do. That said, I do occasionally like to snap animals when I have the (almost guaranteed) opportunity to do so.
Portraits: When working with a model, I feel the photograph is somewhat of a collaboration; you’re looking for a specific shot but so is the model. Both parties need to be in-sync to execute the idea.
Street: My introduction to street photography was the workshop with Stewart Wall in 2019. It’s not my usual thing but it certainly was fun. Whilst some went for the (probably more sensible) covert approach – taking photos on the sly or with mobile phones – I took a big bulky tripod in order to drop the shutter speed.
Composites: Some take an unkind view to composite shots and refer to it as “graphic design”, as someone who has actually worked in graphic design, it is definitely not the same thing – if the shots were taken with a camera it’s fair game as far as I’m concerned – unless of course, you’re entering a composited shot into a competition whose rules forbid it. Composites have been around since the 19th century, it didn’t start with Photoshop believe it or not.
Analogue: Despite popular belief, analogue is not dead! In fact, it is experiencing somewhat of a resurgence. Prior to the first national lockdown I experimented with the wet plate collodion process – a process invented in the 1850’s. I had varying degrees of success whilst trying but was happy to get some shots in the end. Here are some of the good, the bad and the ugly.
Inspiration Board: a few images that have influence what I do.
My Posts
- Photography in Lockdown – PodcastHello all! Over the weekend myself, Brian and Mike got together over Zoom to record a podcast talking about what we’ve been up to during lockdown and our opinions on the recent Religion photography competition. Here’s a wee snippet: I hope this is enjoyable listening to have on in the background as you’re preparing your still
- Macro Photography – Attempt 1I treated myself to a new macro lens last week. After doing a bit of research I decided to buy the Laowa 2:1 100mm f/2.8. They also do a 5:1 and you may have seen those funny looking ‘probe lenses’ that they do. Anyhoo, here are a few shots I got over the weekend: These are
- Look North FeatureICYMI some our members’ photos were featured on yesterday’s Look North. Thanks to everyone who sent in pictures at such short notice. Unfortunately, the club doesn’t get a specific mention but photos from; Steve Mercer, Daniel Firth, Diane Seddon and Mike Stringer do feature in a montage of photographs taken in the region.
- Photography Quiz #3In this quiz, you have 43 questions to answer in a rather generous 12 minutes! Thank you to those who have submitted questions to be added to this week’s quiz… if you thought my questions were hard, just wait until you read a few of these! I’ve padded it out with a few nicer questions that
- Photography Quiz #2There is a range of questions again in this quiz, so something to suit everyone. It’s still pretty tough and aims to test you in all areas of photography. 50% or more is pretty good! You have just 10 minutes to answer these 40 questions…
- Photography Quiz #1Hello, everyone! Just a quick something to quench the boredom. Your challenge if you should choose to accept it is to answer 50 (pretty tough) questions on all things photography. You have only 10 minutes from when you click ‘start’, so no time to Google the answers! If you enjoy it or have any suggestions for