how do you spell 'phaffing'?

Photography was good fun back in the good ol' days of film. Way back then I even had a real honest to goodness dark room, with real proper chemicals, trays, tongs and an enlarger. Yes! An enlarger!
The thing about shooting with film and making prints in a dark room was that for a hobby, it was pretty damn expensive, quite time consuming and just a tad anti-social. And it wasn't good for the dog. The dog used to get yelled at to 'go away' quite a bit, such was her insistence that she wanted to be in the dark room! with me! helping! now!
So it wasn't easy, making the time and the commitment required for a dark room (or yelling at the dog. It made me feel pretty bad). And then when we moved, our new place didn't have a room suitable. In the end I freecycled my equipment and concentrated on renovating the house. Because with the big fat profit we were going to make from selling it on after the renovation, I'd decided I was going to go digital.
And I did.
It's about one of the only things I've ever said I was going to do and then gone ahead and actually done it.
Well, that's not strictly true, but it is one of the better follow throughs I've had.

I went SLR digital in 2006. Not so long ago, really. At the same time a friend made a copy of PhotoShop 7 'available' to me. And practically overnight my world changed.

These days I run a totally legitimate copy of PhotoShop CS3 Extended and when you combine interest with skills, equipment and the Internet, you get a photographer who can think of nothing better to do then...phaff about!

When I want to try something new in PhotoShop, I turn to Google. Yesterday I wanted to find out how to achieve the '300' effect; that overly bronze look, with depth to the shadows and an accent on the colour red. You know the one. Like this.



A quick Google led me to a forum, to a link, to someone who hasn't just written up a tutorial on the 300 effect, but has actually recorded an action set and made it available for free on the Internet. And that's the bit that always gets me, the generosity of people with their knowledge.

This afternoon found me in the garden with my tripod, remote shutter cable and my husbands daughters red chair. With a remote shutter cable to hand you've always got a willing model to work with, and you can't go wrong with Ikea kids furniture.

Here's my favourite shot, unedited.



Which I cropped, tilting it in the process. Because I like to live life on the edge, you know.



And I thought I would just apply The 300 Colouriser from the download. Except when I did that, I actually didn't really like the result that much.



Don't get me wrong, it's a great look, but it doesn't really grab me. Lucky for me there was more than one action set in the download. Oh yeah, baby! Beau Hudspeth isn't just generous. He's really generous. There were several other actions in the group, but most notably there were a couple called 'Lomo'. And I think we're onto something.



But you know how I've already said that I marvel at other peoples generosity with their knowledge? Well, because of this generosity, I've got a whole bunch of fantastic actions in my bag from this lady, too. And I'm thinking, I wonder what happens if I apply Pioneer Woman's 'Fresh and Colourful' action first, then Beau Hudspeth's 'The 300 Colouriser' and 'Lomo'?



And just like that, because people I have never met are unbelievably sharing and kind, I've got something pretty special. I really like these last two, and there is no way I would have thought to try and achieve these effects without having them at my fingertips.

And I also wouldn't have wasted an ENTIRE AFTERNOON. But for that I shall forgive them!

Shooting in Northumberland: Part II

Where: Northumberland Coast, UK. Stopping at Housteads Roman Fort (Hadrians Wall), Bamburgh and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

When: 19th-22nd September, 2008.

Kit: Canon EOS 5D, EF 24-70mm L USM lens and EF 75-300mm lens, lots of memory cards (shooting RAW I filled an 8.0GB, a 1.0GB and had moved onto a 2.0GB), a 5D shutter cable (genuine Canon model. Don't waste your time with the false economy of the cheap after market brands) and a sturdy tripod. Mine's a Calumet model, bought at an impressive discount as it was ex floor stock.

One of the things that I admire in some landscape photography is the saturation of colours. My eyes like to see deep contrast and rich hues and these effects were traditionally achieved using filters at the time of shooting. You know, the ones that actually screw into the end of the lens and designed to do more than just protect your glass if you should so clumsily drop it. Like me.

I explored filters very early in my photography days, mostly with unsatisfactory results. It seems there is some skill to using them and I didn't have the patience at the time to acquire those skills. With the advent of digital photography and the quality of the image manipulation software available, some would say filters are almost obsolete. Others would argue against this rather passionately. Personally I still don't use on camera filters, mostly because my interest hasn't been with the kind of landscape photography that lends itself to them and the expense can't be justified.

But when I do go out and take a landscape shot, I still want to try and achieve effects that only filters or digital post production can produce. I'm very rarely content with what comes straight out of the camera. So, because I don't have a bevy of filters at my disposal, PhotoShop post production is how I enhance my landscape shots. I mostly like to emulate how the sky would have looked had I had a graduated or polarising filter on camera, giving the sky rich blues and any clouds deep greys.

On Sunday we travelled across the causeway to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. The weather on the day was amazing, and while there could have been a few strategically placed fluffy white clouds in the dazzlingly blue sky, it was pretty much 'picture perfect'. Access to Lindisfarne is affected by the tides and the causeway floods at high tide, making the island inaccessible by vehicle at certain periods of the day. If you are planning to try and get sunrise or sunset shots of the Lindisfarne landscape, you will be at the mercy of the tides and perhaps will need to stay on the island overnight, depending on the timings.

Something that I am painfully aware of with photography of such significant landmarks such as castles and other famous structures is that thousands of decent photographers have been before me. Brochures of the area are saturated with amazing photographs taken by equally amazing and talented photographers. Unless I feel particularly passionate about a landscape, or I feel I can do something amazing myself, I tend not to even try and outdo those who have gone before me. Instead I try and concentrate on the things that I imagine only I see or might find interesting/endearing.

Like sheep.

Despite the only sheep I ever really knew that well being a real nasty piece of work, I still like sheep. This sheep happened to have a big castle behind it.

And because I like sheep and will point my camera at random sheep who are minding their own sheepy business, I will sometimes capture them doing something cute. Like jumping. Look at those prissy little hoofs! The concentration on her sheepy little face! Clever sheep.

One of my more signature moves with big famous things is to point the camera at something in the foreground and to allow the big famous thing to fall into a lovely blur. This one was shot at f4.5 with my 24-70mm lens. And because it is unrealistic to expect to have such a beautiful landscape all to myself on such a fine day, I have learnt that people in the frame can enhance an image, not detract from it. Those three ladies rambling past really make the image and without them the photo is 'missing' something. I know. Because the previous frame didn't have them in it and well, that photo lacks interest.

Sometimes when you're out and about at such a lovely location, it's hard to tear yourself away from the main attraction, but I am really glad I did. Down on the rocky beach I fell in love.


With this rock (insert gags about a heart of stone here).

Talk about focusing on something interesting in the foreground and putting the famous thing in back. Stand back, Lindisfarne Castle, I've found me one hell of a rock.

Parking in the large pay and display car park on the edge of Lindisfarne is preferred by the locals and with the sheer volume of traffic, it can be understood why this is. Some people didn't heed this request and parked along the green space that follows the roadway that leads out the castle, and while that is the pejorative of the folk that do that, if everyone was as inconsiderate, then the green space would not be very green. So don't be a dick about it; parking in the pay and display is for three hours or all day. Take pound coins and twenty pence pieces.

There is a shuttle bus that runs from the car park, the coach park and the disabled car park (in the centre of town), out to the castle. Single or all day passes are available for purchase. The driver is a local man who appears to have lived his whole life on the island. And I guess with views like this, why would you leave?



Dogs are welcome on the island and it seems that some locals actively encourage it, if the water bowls in front yards and at cafes are anything to go by. I even met a pure bred Irish Wolfhound, named Paddy (of course).

And let's not forget the rock.

There are other things on Lindisfarne to photograph, like the ruins of the Priory. There are entry fees for both the priory and the castle. We did not go into either, and I might imagine it's quite annoying for some to be members of say, the National Trust and to be able to use their membership for the castle but not the priory, which is manged by English Heritage, and vise versa. Why there are two organisations which appear to do similar things is any ones guess. Now I imagine someone is bound to set me straight on this...

If you are interested in the meta data for any of these images, they can be found on my flickr account in the Northumberland set. Meta data on flickr will tell you what the image was shot on, at what appeture, shutter speed, ISO and more. Meta data for an image on flickr can be found by clicking on an image so that it's the only one on the page you're looking at, then going to 'more properties', found on the right hand side of the browser page. If they're not all there to look at yet, they will be by the end of the day.

Shooting in Northumberland: Part I

Where: Northumberland Coast, UK. Stopping at Housteads Roman Fort (Hadrians Wall), Bamburgh and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

When: 19th-22nd September, 2008.

Kit: Canon EOS 5D, EF 24-70mm L USM lens and EF 75-300mm lens, lots of memory cards (shooting RAW I filled an 8.0GB, a 1.0GB and had moved onto a 2.0GB), a 5D shutter cable (genuine Canon model. Don't waste your time with the false economy of the cheap after market brands) and a sturdy tripod. Mine's a Calumet model, bought at an impressive discount as it was ex floor stock.


View Larger Map

If you are planning a photography trip of Northumberland, you are going to need a private car. While there are coach tours and the like operating in the area, one of the more simple rules of photography is not to be at the mercy of other people. There is possibly nothing more frustrating than wondering what shots you could have gotten if you had arrived at a location an hour earlier or stayed an hour or more longer.
Having said that, I travelled to Northumberland for the weekend from Nottingham with my non-photographer husband, but the trip wasn't strictly business. It was our first wedding anniversary, but it's hardly fair to take a photographer somewhere so picturesque and not expect them to get a little carried away. I only managed to throw one tantrum over the course of the weekend, and my frustration was squarely aimed at myself. I'll spare you the gory details.

We would have taken this trip even if the weather had been less than welcoming, but lucky for us Northumberland managed to pull a bit of a clever little trick out of its hat and supplied us with a generous three days of fine weather featuring blue skies and not a single drop of rain. Not even a shower.
If you're planning on tripping to Northumberland strictly for photography purposes, then be smart and check the forecast before you go. There is no point in making the trip if the forecast is for unrelenting rain (unless unrelenting rain is your photographic 'thing').

After staying the night at Hexham (just because) we found our way to Housteads Roman Fort, which is on a remaining bit of Hadrian's Wall. Because this is not a history blog I'll leave it up to you if you want to explore the ins and outs of Hadrian, the Romans and the Scots. Me, I like old stuff. It looks great in photos.

For details on how to get there, I shall furnish you with this linkage to the English Heritage web site visitor info for Housesteads. What they do fail to mention is how much the parking costs. If you are a member of English Heritage, it's free. Otherwise, take pound and twenty pence coins with you.
Fancy just looking at the wall and not paying to go into the fort? You can do that! There are access points all over the place for ramblers and while we were at the fort, plenty of folk were to be seen walking along the wall. The gates from the fort to the wall are locked (English Heritage claims 'erosion' as the reason. I cry 'bullshit', as if the gates were unlocked, any old rambler could wander onto the site for free from the adjoining sheep paddock), but any nimble type can pop over the fence for a better view of the wall when coming from the fort.

Although all the signage indicated that this is Northern Europe's bestest ever Roman fort, I didn't actually take any photos of it because only aerial photography would do it justice. I did take some of the bogs, though.



And this one of my pretty husband in an oven.



From Housesteads we went on to the Alnwick Food Festivus, where we purchased Food! and More Food! and Damson Gin!. Apparently Alnwick has a castle, which we drove past on the way out of town. It's really very pretty, so I pulled into a lay by to have a look at the vista, but didn't bother pulling out the camera. Or, er, getting out of the car. Or stopping the engine...
I'm sure Alnwick Castle is fantastic. It just wasn't the main attraction for us.

What was the main attraction? Bamburgh and Bamburgh Castle, and later, Holy Island.

We stayed the Saturday and Sunday nights at a Hotel near Bamburgh. Now, I have a confession to make.

Drum roll please...

I hate getting out of bed in the morning. That is, I really hate it. Meaning that sunrises and dawn photography are currently not part of my repertoire. While that's set to change in the near future, it certainly wasn't going to happen this weekend. Which relegated my shooting time to during the day and evenings. These shots of Bamburgh Castle, for example, were shot over a couple of hours on Sunday evening.


For better or for worse, I am exceptionally critical of my own work. It means I am always certain I could have taken a better photo if I had somehow been magically more prepared. Or if I had a real camera bag. Or if I paid heed to the God I really don't believe in. Etc.

What I can say with some certainty, though, is that better photos could have been taken by me on Saturday afternoon and evening if I hadn't left my run too late. Not only did I leave my run too late, but I also failed to check out the proposed area before turning up. This meant I wasted a lot of time just finding somewhere to set up and I was properly punished for my mistake by losing a lot of the sunset.

I am never going to know what I could have captured if I had arrived earlier and had given some real thought to where I should set up. The images I did capture are fantastic, sure, but what if...!

We went to the Holy Island of Lindesfarne on Sunday, which I will cover in part II of "Shooting in Northumberland".

Right now I have to go and do some real work.

you can stand under my umbrella

It's amazing how the attitude of the bride can affect the wedding photos. Thinking about it, it becomes obvious that the emotions of a bride will show through in the photos, but it becomes even more obvious when faced with an end result as seen here.

Despite it raining for here entire wedding day, Amy said that she didn't care that it was raining. And she meant it. Her smile says it all!

Thanks for being such a beautiful good sport on the day, Amy.

The pet photographer

Last week saw me out and about at a park in Nottingham, doing one of my most favourite things; photographing someones much loved pet. I love it when these jobs come up and wish they did more often!

The doggy in question was a weimaraner named Oscar and boy, was he full of life. He was non-stop the second I met him and I had to pull every trick out of my book during our two hour shoot to ensure I captured the amazing images that I aspire to offer pet owners when they hire me to work with their pets.

But what a stunning animal! I think the results speak for themselves and Oscar is welcome to pose for me again any day.

whatever the weather

After a couple of weeks of glorious weather here in Nottingham, last Saturday morning loomed very bleak indeed weather wise. But the sun isn't the only thing that is allowed to be radiant and a spot of rain wasn't going to ruin Lee and Jenny's fun.
As you can see, rain can try and ruin your wedding day, but it WILL FAIL.

Congratulations Lee and Jenny!

Playing favourites

You would be excused for thinking that as a photographer, I like photos. And you'd be right! I love photos, especially images that evoke a real sense of emotion. Being an animal lover, my favourite photos are invariably of animals, both domestic and wild. I really love National Geographic.

On any given day I will have a favourite photo from my own collection and as I progress as a photographer new photos that I have taken will become my 'favourite photo'. It doesn't have to be of an animal, but it frequently is.

At the moment my favourite photo is one of my pet cat Monkey. For a long time it was a photo of my pet cat Pussle. For a while it was a photo of my pet dog Lil. You might see a pattern emerging here...


No doubt in a while I will have a new favourite photo, but for now this one stands.

mental post-it note

When I am out and about in the world I will often see something that I find visually compelling. I don't take my camera everywhere I go so if the thing I have seen is something I can revisit, then I make a mental note to return another day and try to capture the image.

So it goes with this door. It has been courting me since I moved here in December '06 and I have finally met our long anticipated date. I think that we will see each other again, such was our likingness* of each other.




* Not a real word.

ring ring!

Enquiries for my photographic services have been coming thick and fast, currently generated from the Internet alone. Once I have my fliers and business cards out there in the world as well, who knows what the limits will be!

Talking to photography clients has always been something I have enjoyed. From recording their wedding day to photographing the car they might be trying to sell, photography clients always seem to be happy to see you and that big scary camera becomes a tool from which conversation seems to flow. Even strangers often feel compelled to comment, like the musician who struck up a conversation with me at the train station recently.

While I am glad that the barriers come down when talking to people about photography, it doesn't mean you need to be an overly gregarious or domineering person to be a good photographer. And it especially isn't true when you are working with certain animals or small children. While a bouncy Labrador retriever might be ecstatic that you want to give him a cuddle, a shy chihuahua might not feel so enamoured.

My own personal approach is one of quiet confidence.

At least, that's what I like people to believe!

SWPP Trade Show 2008

Attending the SWPP 2008 Trade Show was an inspiring move. A fantastic collection of all sorts of suppliers, from album and framing solutions right through to computer programs and photographers insurance. I spent several hours at the show and came away with some excellent ideas and a much better sense of direction when it comes to servicing the budget wedding photography client.

I'm looking forward to trying out some of the products I saw, especially the fantastic Proline self-stick albums and the affordable bookstore quality photo books availble through Blurb.