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Leisurely Gallop around the various routes for the Photowalk today and just catching up on any new photo opportunities and looking for a place to all meet up afterwards. My er...how do I say it 'Masterclasses'...alright me passing on some knowledge will be as follows Wide angle panoramas Intentional Camera Movements Angles, Reflections and Viewpoint I'll put a page on here with all the times and stuff later today plus all the health and safety and a public vote on which of the many bars will be the final meet up place. I've now got a new sub genre of image taking...Tramoramas and here's one I did earlier.. 
Okay this is wide angle panoramas...one of my tutorial sessions on the Photowalk..if you want to know how they are done..then book yourself in... Right lots of faffing to get through have a look here for all the latest images..I'll be adding more during the day..try and stay dry if you're out and abo
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Me playing at Mr Thicky McThick again as I missed that I can create e-books from my published materials. So here are the 'Another Place Portraits' in their e-book glory http://store.blurb.co.uk/ebooks/325201-staring-at-the-horizon or just be a cheapskate and look through the full preview of the printed one....I see a flaw in all this..why buy an e-book when you can see a full preview of the printed one...hmmmm...answers on a postcard. Looks like a day of domestic bliss smattered with a few photographic bits and bobs today, got all the stuff to finish my Beauty Dish and a few more to post on tut net and then I'm all up to date. Even gave my D700 a once over and sensor clean, cleaned all the lens glass. If you clean your sensor don't forget to give it a few test shots at tiny apertures before you nip out and do some snapping, I learnt that one by experience..grrrrr. Maty even do some food based snapping today, something I really havn't done and I'll get the Photowalk stuff all together...hmmm...that's it...move along now...nothing else to see. 
Mad busy few days over the weekend, new chicken house up so we can now boost the flock, will wait until I come back from South Wales. looking forward to getting on the coast down there, 5 years since I last went and the way I see and photograph things has changed so much. Must dig out some of those old shots, I say old but really 2007 was when I started taking and creating images rather than the family snaps I was churning out then, seems like yesterday... 5 years of being 'serious' about photography..time flies. Right Yongnuo 560II flash guns on the way apparently, I did it through ebay, yep I know they will probably come from China but it did say UK supplier and all the reviews said 'speedy fast delivery'..should be here before I go on Saturday, I've some blue hour/night stuff I want to try using a mix of ambient and flash, I'll use the Nikon's if not, just get them in Plastic bags to keep off the Welsh Mizzle.. I've also started to load some of my images onto 500px, been a bit one eyed recently, only uploading to my library site, need to spread things about a bit. Not got the Photowalk stuff together, so much going on, I'll do it this week, maps and stuff. Right have to crack on, busy, busy...  ..that Beauty dish that is. I've all the stuff but never got around to nailing it together. Reason being is that I think now is the time to finally throw my hat into the portraiture ring, I've all these ideas and they all seem to involve portrait/headshot people so rather than have them rattle around in my head I'm going to gear up and get started, as ever I'll post the stuff on here so you'll be the first to know. Well I've had the big feather duster out and given the big old Dell a complete clean and tickle. Another 4GB of Ram in there, emptied the desktop of all image files onto another portable drive, added another 1Tb of portable drive , signed up to Google Drive for some online space as well as document sharing and gone into Chrome and cleaned up a load of old tosh that was lurking about. Amazingly nothing has caught fire or ground to a halt, only problem was i hadn't loacted the new Ram into the slots so a lot of very informative warnings flashed up but quickly cured. If I needed anything else doing it would be a new graphics card, CS6 crashes when I try and do some warping and I think my un accelerated card dosn't help, besides that crunching pixels is now a doddle. Back to the beauty dish I've been looking at these here Yongnuo flash guns that seem to be as cheap as chips and do the job a SB-900 can do, at that price they are almost a disposable flash!!! and pretty powerful as well...in fact I'll get one and try it out next week, see if it works well with the SU800. Okay away down South tomorrow for a day, Sun has just come out so maybe out for a bit of wide open aperture shooting..I'll see y'all on Saturday. 
I suppose if we stand back and take a big gulp of air and then look at the explosion of image making that has happend in the last 6 or 7 years we'd probably think that photography didn't really exist until the advent of digital capture. Not since Mr Eastman launched the easy to use Point and Shoot Brownie cameras has there been such an explosion. But there is one thing I've noticed and that's the amount of image makers that burn brightly for a short while and are then gone. Now I'm not talking top end photography, but trending and being in vogue has it's own pitfalls for them and there will always be a conveyor belt of new talent pushing them on..no I'm talking about contacts, photographers I've followed, the ones who have embraced digital image creation and produced unique personal work who then just as quickly are gone. I only have to think back to the late 'noughties' and all the folk who no longer post images. I suppose getting older, having different circumstances, moving on to other areas of modern technology all play a part but what intrigues me is this MOJO thing .Now I'm lucky, I'm not in the first flush of youth so I know the clock is ticking and the number of heart beats I've been allotted are reducing by the day so time drives me along plus I shoot in so many 'styles' that I can go back to the same place and 'see' it differently anyway that's me but I've come across a lot of folk who invest in all the gear and then put it all away..unfinished business, so here are a few tips to getting your Mojo for Photography back Photograph something out of your comfort zone Sign up for a course and learn some new techniques Get a project started Find a shooting buddy Go back and photograph things you've done before but do it differently Make a list of subject matter and go and snap them Ignore the lack of comments on your images Join a group or club Steal some ideas and make them your own I could go on, but probably one of the things that kills off a lot of photographers is posting work and the only thing that happens is the distant sound of a church bell and the rustle of desert grass rolling across the screen, if you crave love and attention, join the bling groups, harvest 10,000 followers and don't forget to tell everyone how wonderful you are otherwise, create some great images, build on your skills, go forward, don't be afraid, if you build it they will come. Image making comes from you, great images come from within you and not through a stranger hitting a like/fave button.  ..both in my knee and in my photos. I can now approach stairs without the trepidation of an old style Dalek...result... and I had another one of those emails asking why all my stuff is photoshopped....??? So here are the galleries and I think there is a fair old mix of everything photographically, okay no shots of girls with their vests off or kittens in brandy glasses but a fair old smattering of what I do and a lot of it is 'in camera' or with the addition of filters...most of my computer based image faffing these days is centred around key wording, archiving, uploading and adding to websites...if I spend 10 minutes faffing with a picture then that's probably 5 minutes too long and it rarely happens these days. It's not laziness or sloppiness just that my workflow...well it works!! A lot has to do with thinking before I go out on a shoot and 'seeing' yes that open toed sandal pre-visualisation thing of the final image. When I'm out I usually have an idea of what the finished image will look like and that is how I process and shoot so many images, by planning and visualisation, sounds easy, I do know it's not but if I can pass on just one pearl of wisdom it is just that, planning, pre visualisation and knowing how you are going to show the world that image, the simplest thing is pressing the shutter release, the jobs already done beforehand and if it happens to involve a wee bit of photoshop then so be it Still rattling about the Photoshop/Digital thing I still scratch my head and wonder why there is still a core of photography that is in denial about it. I have no problem about how people with cameras (I've avoided saying photographers there) capture their chosen subject matter, old skool, new evangelists, iphone hipsters, polaroid pushers...digital is here and now. I'm sure wet plate collodion guys shook there heads at the new fangled sheet film snappers and at some point there will be another revolution in the way images are captured, yes there will... and all the digital guys will shake their heads and mumble it's not proper photography...nothing endures but change...everything changes but change itself. I'm lucky enough to have been trained as an old skool view camera sheet film photographer many decades ago and would I change and go back to it....no...digital will never have that magic moment of a latent image emerging in a developing dish but it is here, it is now, everything has changed, nothing has changed. 
Just remember where you were when I told you this...'Don't grow old...' my knackerty knee is now smothered in Voltarol after having a weekend of electro shock treatment, all that kneeling crouching standing and repeat ad nauseum on friday really kerbobbled the poor old thing. I still havn't loaded in the images from that shoot, so if you can as you rattle along to the inevitable part of your life where you become stardust once again without age grabbing you then do it, mind you I still have the mind of a 25 year old , it's just the outer casing that is hurtling towards decrepitude... Morning all, I blame the Voltarol..so wither photography, well I'm really pleased with last weeks work, new stuff going on here, a proper dose of Marmite images, but this is where I am at the moment and I really like what I'm doing, it'll get to a stage where I'll question what on earth I'm shooting in a certain style for and then maybe, move on. Had a coffee and a chat with Mike Brown , nice to meet up and chew some fat, Mike has a Mitsubishi instant printer that produces proper photographs on the spot, talk to him about it if you are doing Black Tie or Weddings... Right I've got a page to build with a buy it now button for the Autumn courses, here's one from friday  2 cups of coffee in and I'm starting to buzz, welcome to the weekend. Did a different sort of photo project yesterday, love and remembrance in an odd sort of way, I'll make a slideshow of it as it'll make more sense. Lots of ICM and 'Rotational Multi Layer' (I can't think of a better term to describe them) shots and a trip to Another Place which I've probably done to death now for some wide angle panos, motion, ICM and Rotational.... yep. So lots in the can and I know that there's a lot of 'Marmite' in there but it's the way I see things, true to myself that's the way I'll shoot, unless of course someone comes up with a wodge of dosh and I'll shoot how they want me to shoot. As I said late last night, I now have a snug , warm , comfy venue for all the Photoshop/Lightroom/Elements courses and all the details for the first of these intensive mind expanding events will be out late Monday, so busy, gone from thumb twiddling to 'OMG, my crystals cannae take it captain...' in the blink of an eye meh..... nice way to be and I'm also off to Pembrokeshire to get more of the Welsh Coastal path in a couple of weeks... yoicks I'm now officialy busy!! So maybe time to show you something new, remember I have a latest images gallery over here ,just click and go but come back why dontcha... 
Okay I'm moderately excited which for an old fella of my age is something. Got the deposit down, and this Autumns courses have got a home to go to. Digi HD projector and High def sound with comfy big chairs in a swish modern setting...details out on monday and I'm really impressed with the place, guess what, it was the first place I looked at.... So my promise was to keep it all affordable and by getting this place I can keep the cost down, 2 hour sessions, Cafe in the breakout area, all I need to do is get the advertising out and I'm off and running. So full details cost and a buy it now button by late monday and I'll be annoying everyone across multi social platforms for the next few weeks.....
So been out and about, just back from the Brunswick Dock area of Liverpool and a short session at Another Place for a try out of some new shooting styles, had terrific session getting burnt to a crisp up at Clevelys and North Shore Blackpool, So lots of new stuff to PP, the courses to sort and the Walk to get organised, yay proper busy. No picture today on the laptop Ahhh Seaside Special and the Nigel Lythgoe dancers, Saturday Night entertainment, usually had Canon and Ball on...we were easily pleased back in the '70's..right off to the coast, moderately successful shoot yesterday, that thin covering of wafty cloud came down and knocked all the banging hard reflections out of kilter..best laid plans eh! Off to the coast in a wee while, weather set fair and some hardcore ICM action is on the way...here's one from yesterday 
Nip over here for a bigger version ....... So I'm off looking for light on water and metal today and I know where to find that!!
So on the courses front, another knock back on the venues means I'm down to one possibility so I will be down there tomorrow and hopefully can get these here courses out there, It's all going to be very affordable btw besides me that will be my USP...well alright it will be my only USP, right bit of brekkie, see if the chicken has laid an egg, make sure the tortoises So early start to beat the rush and 1st day back at school traffic to get to MRI for Mrs Max to finally get the go ahead for a new hip, first in sit down and then get told that everything is running half an hour late....well we're not ....mehhhhh.. so now running 3 hours late which in many ways is not too bad a thing as it's all been a bit ca-ca yack drizzlefest..in fact very Autumnal. Now yesterdays planned high contrast banging sunshine shoot was curtailed by the arrival of a thin layer of cloud that rendered everything as flat as a pancake(I'm doing some ICM water reflection stuff this week and I need some banging sunshine) so it was more of a walk with a camera rather than an afternoon shooting, now if the BBC weather folk are to be believed I'm off into the hills for some reservoir based shooting that I hope will get some workable image files...now here's one from yesterday...  Yeh getting there and although I was shooting in Shutter priority I was using the EV dial to compensate or over ride what the cameras metering system was giving as the correct aperture. Today will be totally manual and again I'll be using the aperture as my variable and keeping the shutter speed constant... I'd do these as a practical course but as I can't book the weather there really is no point, this is shooting at high contrast and often into the light source. So off to West Yorkshire today then Derbyshire, Blackpool tomorrow and Liverpool /Crosby/Southport on friday, good thing I've got another Tb of space to fill and as I said yesterday, get squirrelling those files away for winters short day/lack of light times....News on the training courses tomorrow as I've had yet another knock back on a venue...this is starting to get a bit silly...until tomorrow folks
I know it's not everyone's cup of Chai but I like the simplicity of a black and white image, stripped of it's colour, no distraction, it's underlying structure exposed and shimmering....morning all, no not too much caffeine yet but I've got to say I'm not a great fan of these new fish oil tablets...lets just say..reflux... So here we are at a mono only site, click here if you want a dose of colour otherwise stick with it and I'll let you know what's going on. Well I just really want to put all the techniques I use, ICM, LE, WA panos and the rest through the mono ringer and see what pops out, so there may well be a lot of 'Marmite' images flitting about, they never bother me, well the indifference usually attached to them as it's part of my learning process, I know what your thinking, 'Max, you old toss pants, surely it's time you planned for a bit of pipe and slipper action...' Well I've got to say a diet of Japanese Noise Music and Glove and Boots whilst lying on the settee peeling grape and lighting up my clay pipe have a definite draw to them, I find that photography is an area where I still have so much to learn that I'll have to park the pipe and slipper kit for a wee bit longer. So to start with I'm just trawling through and binning as i go shots from the last couple of months to see if I captured anything of use..and I have. But as the BBC kindly inform me it is going to be bright and sunny for the rest of the week I've planned a lot of 'shoots' yep quiet week again, may have to flog something on ebay again...so time to go out get a bucket load of giga bytes on the cards and be prepared for those dingy winter months that are about to flop over us like a grey enveloping duvet. I've said it before but get squirrelling with those image files, have something for faffing with, ca-ca light and weather is just around the corner..here's a few I prepared earlier...and no sooner do I type sunny then it's ..sunny..who hooo, filters packed batteries pumped time to get out there   |
What's all this then????An unyeilding torrent of Photo babbel full of unconfirmed facts and manufactured photo drivel.. take from it what you like, it won't change the world but may leave you feeling nauseous... Categories
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