Category Archives: landscape

Saving for a Rainy Day

Posted on by
1

Bamburgh castle from the sand dunes

I’m currently reinstalling everything back onto my laptop. Great fun! After around 18 months of flawless use, the laptop finally started freezing on me in critical situations, so i decided to do a factory reset. A drastic move, i know, but it means a fresh, clean laptop ready to go soon. It’ll just take me several days to put all the software back on it.

Fortunately there was nothing on the hard drive of great value. I backup to DVD-ROM and memory stick, and now DropBox, as often as i can, but it never seems quite enough. The fear of losing digital content has increased each year as i realise how much I rely on files just being there. To complicate matters, the laptop DVD-RW would no longer burn discs due to a software issue. The factory reset has removed this problem too. Phew!

Just recently I started using an online service called CodeGuard after i realised how much blood, sweat, tears and man hours had gone into the main website redesign. The idea of someone wrecking all that work with a hack [shiver] terrified me! CodeGuard simply backup your website (all the files on your server) so you have a fall-back (or several!) should the worse happen. So far it looks like a great service.

Seeing Everything

Posted on by
1

OK, OK, I admit it. I severely underestimated the amount of work needed putting together the Norfolk project book. This week i added more images to the gallery for the project on my website, and it suddenly dawned on me the task that lay ahead. It’s pretty damn big.

I want to do a good job on this book. No, actually i want to do a fantastic job on this book, and it seems only right for me to take my time doing it. I have hundreds of images to go through, and i have to choose a total of 100 for the book. I can’t really do that without having some idea of what i’ve actually got. The images i’ve shown so far are just a fraction of what i shot. I haven’t really gone through the work in detail, apart from the occasional quick scan through the negatives and digital image files. I really need to collate all the work. I thought i could do it all in 3 months. Ha!

With that in mind,  i’ve decided to delay the release of the Norfolk project book until early 2013. It will give me this year to thoroughly go through the work and see everything, every last bit of the project. It seems pointless to rush the book, and I already have a book planned for later this year with images of Scotland, so i will produce a book in 2012.

I’m looking forward to exploring and producing images in an area of the UK i’ve never been to before. Scotland looks fabulous. I’ve already started using the impressive power of Google Earth to help me spot the best shooting viewpoints, check out the surrounding area and plan what images i want to take.

Retrospective Book

Posted on by
Reply

I’m about to start on another photography book release via blurb.com that should take me most of the winter to put together. This is going to be a big project and an important landmark book (at least for me!) that completes the first phase of the Norfolk project.

Ten years ago, i decided that i needed a long term photographic project. What began as a loose kind of photography exercise in Norfolk, ended up gathering pace and direction. After ten years, it’s time for a break and some contemplation of where to take it next. I have lots of options open, plenty left to photograph in the county, and after a year or two i’ll return.

Over the next few months I’ll be putting all of the photography  together, around 80 images or possibly more, to make a retrospective book that , I think, will be the perfect way to present the first ten years of work. The majority of the photographs that have been released online have focussed on the landscape side of the project, however, the book will stay true to the original idea with a broad mix of landscape and documentary photography. I aim to release the book on March 21st 2012.

Book: Sea, Sky, Sand and Street

Posted on by
1

It’s with a great deal of pleasure that i can announce the launch of my first photography book release called Sea, Sky, Sand and Street available from blurb.com.

Based on this year’s Solo Photo Book month project, this brand new 7×7 inches (18×18 cm) photography book has been completely redesigned from scratch and features a new layout design, over 70 photographs including a number of new images and more.

For the next sixteen days (check out the book preview to spot why it’s 16 days) the soft cover version of book will be available to buy for the introductory price of £16.95 plus £4.99 postage. The sixteen day period will end on midnight September 10th when the price will return to £18.95. A hardback edition of the book is also available.

The new Sea, Sky, Sand and Street book in softcover and hardback can be purchased HERE

Through the Gate

Posted on by
Reply

So there we have it. The final Baldixette photograph taken from the roll of film shot in North Wales in 2004.  I love this remarkable little camera. It’s simple to use and importantly it  puts you firmly back into the driving seat as a photographer, delivering great results with a bit of effort. You have to think and work with the camera to get an image. That’s not a bad thing for a photographer to experience in this auto-everything world.

Over the Hills

Posted on by
2

Another shot taken using the Baldixette camera. The camera was purchased in North Wales back in 2004, although sadly I can’t exactly remember where i found it. I think it may have been a charity shop in Conwy, but I could be wrong.

I’ve only ever put one film through the camera (in North Wales) just as an experiment and to see how the camera performed as an image making tool. It was easy to use, however you had to prepare yourself before carefully clicking the shutter as it seems to fire only as quickly as you can press and release the button. There is no set shutter speed from what i can gather, making the film exposing process an interesting one.

It was fun going back to a basic camera like the Baldixette. It is a true photographer’s camera; no gadgets or software to get in the way of the picture taking. The photographer controls the whole image taking process. Hmm I may just put roll number two through the camera this summer just to see what I can get.

Closing the Book

Posted on by
Reply

I buried my Facebook pages today. Enough is enough. I never did like the interface or the sterile look of the pages. 47 followers in six months is pathetic even by my low standards.

So here we are… Long live the blogs because the Facebook update is dead! Or is it? I have a love/hate relationship with the social networking website.  We argue, break up and then get back together again. I may return… maybe