Now you're probably wondering why Monoprints would be on a photographic blog but stick with me. Over winter I've been exploring different ways of making images, some success but outweighed by a bin full of failures. a good way of learning, best not to dwell on them rather learn from those that work.
  So from Linocutting to Acrylic painting to Monoprinting and besides some good images produced with Lino cutting, rank failure with normal Acrylic work and then onto Monoprinting. Well the University of Youtube provided me with some great material to learn from Dan Tirels  who through his videos showed what is possible using old shopping bags, pizza boxes and an immense amount of talent. I could muster 2 out of 3 and in my own way worked on my own style of mono printing which does involve old shopping bags , torn paper a Gelli plate and a bin full of failures.
Throughout all this artwork I've been listening to a constant stream of music not least Nickel Creek and  Punch Brothers
Now in doing this abstract layered imagery it got me to think about what could be possible with photographic images if treated in an abnormal fashion which led me on to all the recent 2019 images I've been posting on this website. So if you are out there and creativity is giving you a wide berth get those synapses pinging by trying something different and maybe that will lead you on to seeing and producing things in a different way

Never mind the trees, seaside and fluffy image content I've worked on, what about applying this technique to some architecture and why not some Mancunian stuff, rendered unrecognisable to anyone but my closest confidants although if you guessed Mancunian way student flats mashed together with that curved acrylic on Deansgate Station footbridge then...very well done.
I've started using Black and White files with color layers in various states of opacity and blend mode and masks...yes, it's snowing/ raining then snowing so no chance of getting out and about, now it's raining again.
First real shoot I want to do is Huelgoat Woods which is just down the road from me so lots of bare trees gushing streams, waterfalls and fallen leaves and then I'll be zipping around the UK collecting image files from all over, best to get across now before all the ferries are commandeered for essential lettuce/tomato/cheese/drugs and wine that post you know what, will never be available ever ever again
Anyone remember the Millenium bug that was going to wipe out the world....hmmmmm
​So some Manchester based imagery...

Next up lots of Tree based stuff.

It's that grey area where photography has a schism with image making. Above is an image created from 2 photographs and I'm not too sure if the result can be classed as a photograph, kick me hard if I mention 'Fine Art Photography' it's out there and it's a moniker applied to all manner of photographic image creation but for me it makes me raise my shoulders and give a little shake, but I suppose in this all inclusive social media mobile society we inhabit then calling, yourself and what you create absolutely anything,  fits in with our hashtag based influx of information and media #dontcallmeafineartphotographer
Now what I really wanted to show was the 2 images that were welded together in Photoshop CC, lets just pause here and say 'OMG Photoshop CC 2019...well it's the Dogs....' I've been rummaging around in Photoshop for nigh on 25 years now and this latest iteration is simply awesome...right back to the subject matter.
2 images forced together in an uneasy alliance to create something that wasn't there before, all the images created so far have had a lot of in-camera work beforehand and a minimal amount of time in the Photoshop microwave, then...bing...finished so here are the 2 images that made up the one above with the result next to them

So there you have it...create ICM and multi image files in your camera, spend an absolute age learning everything about layers in Photoshop, dive in have a go shed tears of despair at the stupidity and complexity of what you are trying to achieve...find a breakthrough then go for it...and maybe your photographs will morph into images...but what ever you do #dontcallmeafineartphotographer...

It appears to be another year...2019 and I know I left you alone for most of last year, probably the biggest reason was getting started in Linocuts, monoprinting and acrylic abstract work. One of the reasons I do photography the way I do it is because I have convinced myself over the years that my drawing and painting skills are quite honestly ...non-existent...but it appears there is more to creating art than pencils and brushes... I may start another web site to host the images I've done but it's very much baby steps time...anyhow on to what I'm doing this year
Seasoned viewers , I've put your comprehension of what is photography to the test on many a blog post or set of gallery images and now I think it's time for me to mash all the techniques I have in my quiver into one big block and pulverise my image files into something...well something that goes beyond quirky, past eye brow cocking and well into orbit around planet Good Grief Matron!! The image above is the frankenstein birth of one ICM, one in camera multi exposure and a wide aperture shot of a poppy filed..tickled with vigour in Adobes 2019 incarnation of Photoshop...and this is the way it will be this year. I could be shouting into the wind with this but I will be hitting this technique with my largest rubber mallet until I get what I want, or the mallet breaks
​So bonne chance mes amies, You may want to sit further away from your screen , you may not want to turn up at all, but it will be different, in a good or bad way but not in any shape or form will it be normal. 2019, I've started so lets see how this finishes.

The First World War Infantrymen of La Feuillee  commemorated in these life size drawings placed on the walls of the village on Armistice day as a representation of those men sent away to fight. 

 So a move away from 10 x 10 but again using the old Nikon D700 but in conjunction with a flash/strobe unit. Now there are a few technical difficulties to overcome in using this combination of Intentional Camera Movement and a flash gun....with one you are trying to add motion and movement with the other you are trying to freeze things. One of the first things is to turn the flash and camera into full manual modes, with the camera it's the lowest ISO setting with the aperture set as tight as possible and just varying the exposure using shutter speed, the flash set to the same focal length as being used on the camera, starting off at 1/64th power...so for example this image above is set to 100 Iso at F22 for 1 second with the flash on 1/64th power. Now the best way to do this is to actually give it a try, I shot these outdoors in grim grey autumnal rain so there was no need to add any ND filters to the set up, if you have banging sunshine you'll have to experiment or maybe just wait until the light fades in the evening....
​So here's a little gallery of ICM and Flash images shot outdoors in the grisling grey fug of raininess have a go, you may surprise yourself.

If you are sticking with me on this...well done.........newbies this is all about taking 10 in camera multi shots with my 10 year old D700..today it's very windy, also very autumnal and not raining and so I've strapped on the 105mm Micro Nikkor  and am about and about at one with autumnal nature.
So the thinking is and was to adopt a stationary position with the camera set for 10 multi shots, aperture priority ISO at 200 and shooting at about F 11. Processing is about +50 clarity in Lightroom with a crop ,if needed and a bit of a pull back on the shadows to counteract what happens when clarity is introduced...that's it...almost straight out of the can, 90% in camera with the minimal amount of faffey on the computer...spend time making images with your camera, not with a computer...so have a look , Don't confuse these with ICM images, I have  had a go at combining the two and it does need a bit more thinking applied to it but something for a later date..anyway until the next time. (That's ICM and in camera multi shots, I do it so you don't have to)

Continuation of my 10 x 10 images, 10 in camera multiple shots on my 10 year old D700. Out at the Abbaye du Relec and on the coast close to St Pol de Leon on a bright warm autumnal day, doing this in conjunction with landscape work shot on the D750 but more of that later.
The images are generated inside the camera with a tweak into mono and a scritch of clarity plus of course a nod back to my days shooting with a Bronica so chopped into Square format, getting to the stage where I can get a Gallery together.
More news , cracking on with the 10 x 8 DPP pinhole imaging still going through the hit or miss phase of exposure setting, also waiting for a flat grey day to see if the contrast in the image can be controlled that way...if not back to relearning how to 'pre-flash' the paper, other news and my trusty dear old friend the Canon Pixma 9500 pro mk11 has decided to fold it's arms , stamp it's feet and flash any number of amber warning lights at me, I've had a trawl of this interweb and taking out the cartridge carriage and giving it a scrub behind the ears may solve things....something else to do...
Had an experiment using an ND110 and trying to get long exposure ICM work to fit in with the 10 x 10....no....but I tried..
The weather seems set to fair for the next few weeks so out and about doing ND110 long exposure Landscape and Seascape stuff with a few video clips thrown in.

The vagaries and peculiarities of life eh....I used to upload all manner of images to Getty that had a tenuous grip on being actual photographs, taken with a camera of course but with added jiggling, flummery and a dash of artistic licence. Invariably the computer said no...the strap line most often used was 'Quality Issues'  it's supposed to look like that..anyway I ceased and desisted and plumped for mildly stretched normality and video clips of obscure things, and both parties settled into a state of mutual affection and now this happens. 
If you are a 500px member you'll have had an email outlining the proposals to sell your images through Getty off of your 500px portal as long as you agreed...well as most of the images on my 500px site were the ones previously deemed bin fodder by Gettys algorithmic shed of QC,  what had I to lose...seems they like them now so looking forward to even lower % returns once 500px have a chomp on my 20% and please be grateful commision from Getty...be safe out there children, todays bin fodder may be tomorrows fortune

Photographers, as a whole we can resist anything except temptation itself and as a collective at some if not all the time we get the Gear Acquisition Syndrome that's right GAS...the need to acquire large volumes of photographic kit creating the paradox of having too much to use at once and thereby creating a fine collection of shelf queens to wink at us slyly whenever we set off on our next photographic mission of utmost importance,,dust gatherers, on trend, the mystifying 'why did I buy that' oddity, the piece that 'doesn't feel right when I'm using it' and the vanity object...
  I hold my hand up, at this gathering of Photographers anonymous I too have suffered from GAS...and most recently I find irresistible temptation is flowing like warm honey across my computer screen.. The new Nikon Mirrorless Z series  and it's promise of 0.95 Noct aperture lenses... the Mavic pro 2 from DJi...with a Hasselblad lens and huge megapix still shots and a 1" sensor...Edelkrone sliders and doohickeys all powered by a phone app...I think I'm on the verge of blacking out... no harm in looking, serious harm to your paypal account if you are buying..
   So what to do if you are on the verge of suffering from GAS...well the advice from Doctor Max is simple...go on, treat yourself, we are here but once and I quite like the look of my photographic oddities gathering dust on shelves, (never mind those back in their original boxes) and at some point you will have an 'A HA' moment and that shelf Queen will emerge blinking not winking into the light infused moment of your next photographic mission of utmost importance.

Carrying on with the 10 in camera images in a 10 year old Nikon...on the beach at Carantec and close to Meneham on the Northern Brittany coast, Weather for shooting this kind of image has been exceptional with lots of bright light whilst not being oppressively hot. One above is 10 in camera shots from left to right with a tweak in lightroom...now then it was so bright I had to stop right down and in doing so uncovered a sea of boulders on my sensor, time for a deep clean methinks. 
Thanks for all the visits from around the world, China in top spot for the last 3 weeks, many thanks.
last quarter sales  were passable  with book cover sales throughout Europe and Video clips going to Japan , America and France, mind you I have discovered that the best way to make money out of Photography is not only to sell all your gear on that Ebay but be a Photographic agent and harvest the commission...until the next time.

Jobs done early today so a bit of a continuation of shooting 10 multi images in camera on a 10 year old Nikon D700. Bright and sunny so I strapped the 105mmf2.8 micro Nikkor on  and had a try at a few shooting techniques, twirling, walking towards or away from just to get a better idea of what works in camera as opposed to stacking up layers in Photoshop.. So shooting aperture priority and varying the ISO I shot these....with the aperture shut right down the one thing that stood out was a few blodges of muck on the sensor so I'll have a waft and try and clear them. Straight into light room for a mainly 16:9 crop and a touch of clarity with some shadow lightening...yep that's it no eye ball aching computer sessions...mind you if I use these for anything commercial I'll have to titivate the sensor dust but for a blog post....meh.....

10 years on since the Nikon D700 was introduced, technically a museum piece but even after dropping mine several times , having it launched off various car seats, having to replace all the rubber grips and countless eyepieces...well it's still going, so why not a project based on 10 and the ability of my Nikon D700 to shoot 10 multiple images in camera....now for those who have been here before you probably know that I will push at a cameras creative boundaries and see what happens, sometimes it's a sack of files for the recycle bin and then at others...well. So there will be a Gallery for these but as this is my first day I thought I'd share a few from the Summer market at Guerlesquin and on the coast at the Roches d'Argent across the bay from Locquirec on the North Breton coast.
So most of the work in camera with a reframe and tweak in Lightroom, but the minimum I can get away with, I'll throw a minimal amount of Photoshop at them when it gets to the publishing stage but this lot are hot out of the camera, enjoy, leave a comment or shake head in despair, until the next time.

I'll go into camera settings later and also publish some close up detail from these files...eye popping.

I wanted to convey the speed and action of the bikes (and entourage ) flashing past so I turned the ISO down to it's lowest went to shutter priority and set at 1/30th shooting RAW with the Nifty Fifty no filters just trying to pan as the action flew past, opened from Lightroom into Photoshop as a layer stack and a bit of opacity faffling with the top layers with a copy layer desaturated in multiply mode...
​and masked in where I need it...phew...Photoshop waffle...sometimes it hurts....here are some more

Now then I usually do this with a bog standard studio style one flash/brolley tethered to a laptop plonk people down and blat away system, but hey let's go all 'on trend' this year with a loose free and easy instagrammy style. So aperture priority using the on camera flash set down to 100 iso and of course the irreplaceable nifty fifty...aperture from F4 to 5.6 shoot into the sun at most opportunities.... just a mere waft in lightroom and good to go.

Tour de France came flying through the Breton countryside yesterday, blink and they've gone, but there is a huge entourage of vehicles that come piling through before hand, most chucking promotional material in a scattergun approach to marketing, so before I post some bike shots here's a taste of the speed and mix that came through.

So panning with a nifty fifty, iso as low as it would go and shutter priority set at 1/30th, photoshop bits are copy layer desaturated in multiply mode and masked out...back with the bikes soon.

In a world full of blogs I always welcome the folk who spend the time to bob in , have a look around and leave muttering and shaking their collective heads.. and with the tools available I can always see where folk are bobbing in from and it's usually a fair old mix, lot from China, all the western european states and USA with regular callers from Nigeria and the middle east and then... all of a sudden there are visits from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Romania, all from referring website and also with an increase in  3 letter acronyms  in the search results now it could be nothing, I've contacted my website provider to see what they say but there is also the possibility of crypto currency mining.
​Now here is a link to Quartz about how to spot anything happening in the dusty bowels of your computer...I'm off to have a play with Task manager... be safe out there folks, you may never know who is creeping in unannounced through your back door!!

I was at Pont Aven shooting some video clips and this strong winter light was causing all kinds of exposure problems, 1/50th at 25fps even at the lowest video iso of 100 meant I was still over exposing fully stopped down...so a quick rummage in the crusty bits of the camera bag to find the ND10x filters which meant some work was done although it's an almighty faff with screw in NDs to focus, screw them back on and get filming ( I know get some Lee ones) anyhow after filming I took a trip to Trevignon and as the tide was out did some rock clambering to get a bit of seascape clips and then thought meh...why not some Long exposures...and here they are, well just a few..I've probably bored you to tears with all this previous waffle ..may your visit from the beast from the east be brief but full of Photo opps...

There are so many photography apps out there and I do admit to downloading far too many in my search for something that I could find useful...don't get me started about light meters though..I've got  a full screen of those little blighters..anyhow I've used this one before a few times it's LogExPro   
Now all the next images are done with this...I'm using either 2 or 8 seconds for the exposures and as they are on the iphone I've given them a tweak in Lightroom Mobile or whatever they've named it now..puled them off the icloud and walloped them on here...the trick is getting the movement you want matched to the time that you are using..now there are tools in LongExPro that enable you to wind back time and I'm sure if you wanted to you could combine various 'saved' states of the images and bring them together in Photoshop or whatever flavour of imaging software you partake of..
​Now all these images are from a coastal walk I did at Carantec over looking the Chateaux de Taureaux yesterday so a lot of bare trees and picket fences in this strong winter light we are having at the moment...here are some more.

2 things got me working on this...the awful weather..okay easily combated with the right clothes but it's been so cold and so wet...we've had a tanker here to pump out lying water..the wells are all full and there is nowhere else for it to go...and the reception that  Retrograde  got...many hits from all over the place. So I've reworked and standardised a clump of mono images but with hardly any thematic discourse...just stuff I've done over the years and to be honest...mainly with my hard working and totally reliable Nikon 20mm F2.8 and all these conversions have been done in Photoshop CC...sometimes the 20mm had an ND110 screwed on and sometimes not so if the weather is grim with you I hope looking at these may pass a bit of time..