Feeling the chill in Scotland

I am writing my first post of the year from a hotel lobby situated in the rather cold Scottish Highlands.  As chilly as it may be, the dumping of white stuff which has been disrupting the whole of the United Kingdom has transformed this already spectacular landscape into something far more beautiful - and I honestly did not think that this could be possible.

I am currently back up in the highlands working on a book to be released later this year by my long standing publisher - Halsgrove. This book, The Spirit of the Highlands, will be my third book, out of a total of five, to be released during 2010. Work is also being undertaken on a another two books for release during 2011 - Someone is going to be busy over the coming months!

Working in sub-zero temperatures does have its disadvantages. The actual means of reaching the locations are often limited. Car travel is possible but the icy roads are making it a dangerous proposition and upon reaching the location, finding a suitable viewpoint is both a laborious and time consuming affair as the the thick blanket of snow makes the smallest of hike feel like a major expedition.

Luckily some of the locations can be photographed from viewpoints close to the roadside such as the image of the Pass of Glencoe below.  So far this trip has been very productive so I thought I would share a couple of shots with you. Enjoy the snow!

Photography workshops for a xmas gift

The 2010 workshop dates are proving to be a very popular choice of a Christmas gift for the forthcoming festive season, with the South Tyneside workshop being now fully booked and only 1 place left on the Hadrian's Wall workshop.  There are however a few places left on the Whitby, Northumberland Coast and the other workshops running throughout the year.

Apart from being outstanding value for money, all group workshop participants attending during 2010 will also receive a copy of the first book by Jason Friend - Photographing Wilderness. Published by GMC Publications in 2003, it was released to positive reviews throughout the UK photographic press and led to his images being showcased throughout the world.  With a recommended retail price of £19.99, a free copy of Photographing Wilderness for every participant clearly makes the group workshops a fantastic gift! (Please note that the books will be distributed at the actual workshop. However if you would prefer the book in advance, this can be arranged for a small charge of £3.50 to cover postage and packing. The last postage date for Christmas is the 21st December).

So if you are finding it hard to decide what present to buy the budding photographer in your family, why not take a look at our range of workshops?

E-Cards are back!

Just a quick post to let you know that we have reintroduced our popular e-card service - Just in time for Christmas!

Click here to send your friends an electronic postcard.

Touching Base

December seems to have arrived without any warning, bringing with it the promise of a new year just around the corner.  I am starting to consider my forthcoming projects for 2010 which include a number of new book commissions to work on, alongside my own personal projects such as the Fungi image featured here.

The last couple of months have found me using my Canon EOS 50D more frequently than I ever expected when I purchased it as a back-up camera for my main workhorse, the EOS 5D.  I have being using it almost exclusively for my macro images alongside another relative new piece of equipment - A Canon Speedlite flash gun.  This partnership, combined with a lot of experimentation, has allowed me to start capturing images that look like they have been shot in the studio although they have been totally captured in the field. This shot here was captured by setting the 50D to ISO 100, with a shutter speed of 1/250 second and a aperture of f18. The fast shutter speed / small aperture combination allowed me to render the background black, whilst the subject was illuminated by the strobe placed to the rear and below.  A gold reflector was used to bounce the light back into the subject.

Whilst I enjoy the freedom to express myself through my artificially lit Fungi compositions, you just can't beat the feeling of standing on Scottish mountain, capturing the play of light on a distant peak.

This image again is testament to the image quality available with the 50D. Whilst the image quality is not as good as the 5D, and it really does need the finest quality lenses to get the best from the 15MP sensor, it does prove to be a relatively small camera to use hand held whilst hiking up the hills. I will still carry my 5D for the forthcoming work on my forthcoming Cairngorm Trilogy, although I fully expect that the 50D will be used to capture a number of shots, such as this one of storm clouds above the mountain known as Stac na h-Iolaire and the image below of the frost covered ferns, again within the Cairngorms National Park

In between these projects, I will also be sharing my knowledge of these techniques, alongside many others, during the forthcoming 2010 Photography Workshop schedule. Both the January and February dates are nearly fully booked, but there are a number of places left for later in the year - And I'm always available for private '1 on 1' photography workshops.

Finally, I now have a Facebook page and I'm also starting to Twitter, so hopefully I will be able to keep you posted on everything that is happening over the next few months - and also share some more of my favourite images!

Blackpool Rocks

I have recently been on a stock photography trip to the north-west coast of England to capture images of a stereotypical seaside resort. The destination? Blackpool of course! I timed my trip to coincide with the annual Blackpool Illuminations display, an event which would excite any photographer who enjoys capturing images during the hours of dark.

There were a handful of obvious subjects which I needed to photograph, such as the tower and the pleasure beach, but I was also looking for alternative shots which captured the essence of this infamous resort.

This trip also happened to be my first chance to try out my newly acquired Canon Eos 50d. I purchased this camera to ultimately be my 'back-up' body to accompany my full-frame Canon Eos 5d. I must admit that I am really enjoying using the 50D and whilst the image quality may not quite be up to the standards of the 5D, the 1.6x crop factor on the sensor and the impressive 6 frames a second shutter burst is allowing me to capture some images that I may have missed with the 5D.

The new Blackpool images are now online, follow this link to be taken directly to the seaside!

Highlands Revisited

It has been nearly a year since Lynette and myself braved the wet Scottish weather to walk the West Highland Way. We vowed to never visit the West Highlands during the autumn months again… but you know what they say - Never say never!

So we have just returned from a family trip to the Isle of Skye and the Western Highlands, and for once the weather was on our side! As I was actually up in the highlands for a holiday, I had no intention of shooting loads of images. I did however religiously check the weather forecast and when the conditions were looking good, guess who was out of bed and up in the hills way before sunrise?

I have waited years to get a good shot of Rannoch Moor. My own requirements were quite high - I needed a good viewpoint, an interesting sky and fantastic light. Not a small order when you consider that it seems to rain whenever I visit the highlands!

But here it is. One of my favourite shots from a sunrise session last week. To be honest I was greeted by rain when I first arrived at Lochan an Stainge on Rannoch but I waited just in case. Then I started to see a break in the clouds and a sudden flash of light on the infamous Black Mount. What followed was a typical race against time to capture the image before the light disappeared. My 5D was already on the tripod with the filter holder in place on my 17-40mm Lens so it was simply a case of creating a composition which made the most of the light, placing a 3-stop hard grad in the holder, checking the focus, locking the mirror and then taking the shot.

The light lasted just 5 minutes before returning to the kind of weather I have grown to expect from the Scottish HIghlands!

Dunstanburgh Delights

We were blessed with some fantastic weather during the recent photography workshops held at Dunstanburgh Castle situated along the Northumberland Coast.

The 'sunrise shoot' on the Sunday morning provided all that attended with some great opportunities to capture a number of images of the spectacularly beautiful Embleton Bay. The ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle on the headland proved to be an atmospheric backdrop to all of our images.

I captured a number of frames, whilst trying to avoid getting wet feet, in order to capture the convey the movement of the tide. This really is one advantage of capturing images digitally - I couldn't help but recall in horror the days when I used to shoot roll after roll of film to capture the perfect wave.

Later in the day, the remaining members of the group workshop joined us as we explored the harbour of Craster and the coastline surrounding the castle. Blue skies and white clouds provided a perfect backdrop for our compositions throughout the day.

We have four places remaining for our forthcoming 'Allen Banks and Staward Gorge Estate' photography workshop on the 17th October. This will be our last workshop of the year... so if you fancy joining the group to capture some autumnal shots please do not delay booking your place!