The Blog from Kevin Leighton Photography

LISTEN UP! PAY ATTENTION! BLOG ON THE MOVE!

2012-02-26T21:01:00.000+00:00

Those who follow my blog will know that I've been refreshing my pro website and integrating functionality into it. With the advent of full blog support from my website provider I have taken the step to fully integrate my blog into the website.

In time I will put a redirect in place but for now I'd love it if you'd update any links you have to http://kevinleightonphotography.com/blog and continue to follow the blog there.

If you follow the ThoughtsAndThingsBlog via Google Friend Connect or Networked Blogs then please re-follow me there.

http://kevinleightonphotography.com/blog

EMBRACE THE GRAIN ... AND GO MONO

2012-02-23T13:06:00.000+00:00

Thanks to the power of Twitter I found that the Red Bull Hill Chasers event was to be held in Bristol last Saturday. I thought it an excellent opportunity to photograph a night cycling event which was a double first as I had neither photographed a cycling event or a night time sports event before.

My pre-event banter with another local photographer was about which lenses to use and what ISO would be needed. In a naive fashion I said I'd go for 800 ISO and see what happened. I found I was completely unprepared for the sheer speed of the event and despite the lighting I found I was using 3200 ISO to get anywhere near freezing the action. Due to the crowd, I couldn't see the approaching cyclists, so I just had to setup the camera, use continual auto-focus with high-speed continuous shooting, hold the camera out past the crowd line and hit the button. Needless to say 80% of the shots were empty but as for the rest .. well see for yourselves ...

In a twitter discussion with Maz Hawes from Light And Day Photography I mentioned I was worried about the graininess I'd see when I processed the photos. The response from Maz was 'Embrace The Grain And Go Mono'. You'll see that with some of the shots I've done just that, I hope you enjoy the look, for me it's very different and refreshing.

The full gallery is at http://www.kevinleightonphotography.com/redbullhillchasers

PHOTOBLOG - BACK ON TRACK!

2012-02-07T21:14:00.000+00:00

I've been absent from the blogging scene .. again .. for a while. There always seems to be something else going on ... as you will have seen from the last couple of holding posts I've been working on redeveloping my photography website which is now pretty much complete.

That comes as a sigh of relief as it was starting to take over from the job it was supposed to do which is to act as a shop window for my photographs.

I haven't stopped taking photographs while I haven't been blogging, I just haven't had time to package them up and show them.

It's with great pleasure that I present to you the following which was a quick grab with my camera phone. I think it has great atmosphere demonstrates just what a lovely winters evening it was.

I look forward to getting back on track with the blog, the photographs and of course twitter #photochat .

OPEN FOR BUSINESS - THANKYOU AND WELCOME!

2012-02-07T13:14:00.000+00:00

I've written over the last few weeks about how I've been working on reauthoring the website and I'm pleased to announce that it's pretty much there - HURRAH!

There will be one or two more tweaks to the galleries and content and there are few new features, events and shoots in the pipeline but I'm pleased to announce that we're open for business.

My grateful thanks to those who have helped me along the way. During this process I've learned the value of asking for and taking on board independent feedback, no matter how much you might disagree with it sometimes, and I hope you agree with me that the site is much better for it.

Please have a look around the site and see what's on offer. I hope you'll take in the galleries and enjoy some of the images while you're there.

So ... to all who helped me - thank you! and to all my visitors past, present and future thank you and welcome!

NEW IMAGES, NEW SHOOTS

2012-01-30T14:10:00.001+00:00

As fast as I make improvements to the layout of the Kevin Leighton Photography website my trusted band of advisers give me more to do.

I've read time and time again that it's the reader that should dictate the content, services, layout, etc offered by a website or blog but this is the first time I've managed to put the theory into action.

Every time I think I've got it about right I sit back, smile and say .. 'OK so what about that' to which the response is .. 'well you could do this and you should really do that' ... which in times past I would have found annoying to say the least but now I'm taking it all on board, and if I say so myself, it's really starting to come together.

New images from the The George At Backwell Summer Garden Party have been uploaded, copy is in draft for my services page and I'm in contact with two bands about the possibility of doing some shoots with them.

It's all coming together .. more soon ..

Refreshed Homepage Slideshow

2012-01-24T10:51:00.000+00:00

As the next step in refreshing this website I decided to really try to understand how the slideshow on the homepage works and is implemented. It's not a simple thing to get working properly but I got there in the end and I think the final result from the changes I made is much cleaner.

Gone is the awkward border that didn't dynamically change to adhere to the size of the images and image sizing is now understood and under control. There are new pictures in the slideshow and in time I'll be expanding the breadth of images available.

What's important is to show images that you enjoy seeing and are relevant so in the weeks to come I'll be asking you help to select those which you enjoy seeing the most and I'll add them into the slideshow with a link to the website of one of the participants.

More soon .....

Site Under Reconstruction

2012-01-23T13:43:00.000+00:00

I've been posting to my blog for over a year now and my website has been up and running for about 9 months. What I've noticed in that time is that nothing stays the same. Life, the universe and everything continues to evolve around you and the internet and your visitors expectations are no different.

In the world of web design, content and blogging I think it's important to remember to step back, to take advice and make sure that your design and content is still relevant. You have to remember you're not just designing and writing for yourself. It's the visitors and readers .. your customers, or potential customers .. that you need to bear in mind so I've taken the decision to refresh my pro photography site, to make it simpler and easier to navigate and for you to find photo galleries relevant to your visit.

During this time content may appear or disappear and pages or information may randomly move so I hope you'll bear with me while this process takes place.

For now I believe I have the design I like but let me know what you think via Twitter, send me an email or leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

Galleries have been temporarily removed and content needs to be refreshed but I'm getting there and I'll keep you up-to-date with progress.

I hope you're all having a great January. Back with you again soon.

TIME .........

2011-12-12T22:34:00.002+00:00

Skies Over Bristol

Sometimes time just seems to run away. I've been really excited with the idea of participating in the Twitter #photochat on the 14th being run by Darcy & Kent, started a new Blipfoto series, been taking pictures and blogging.. and then there's Christmas .. how will I fit it all in?

A new endeavour I've started on since my last photo blog entry is a 30+ Blipfoto endeavour. Partly inspired by an idea I had a couple of months ago about wanting to track 'a month in the life of' and partly inspired by my Twitter contact @leena_photo who has set out on a marathon 365 on her Facebook page (yes, a photo a day for a year)!

I hope you'll stop by and enjoy both our sites.

I wanted to share these colourful images with you - in my home city of Bristol this summer there was a street art festival called #seenoevil. Various street art took over the sides of many of the buildings in Nelson Street and gave them a once in a life-time makeover.

These are just a small example of what they managed to achieve.

TWITTER #photochat WEDS 14TH DEC

2011-12-10T18:22:00.001+00:00

Two amazingly talented photographers, bloggers and Twitter contacts in the U.S. have been running 1 hour #photochat sessions in North America to bring together photographers of all standards to answer questions, give advice and swap ideas.

Darcy & Kent have agreed to run a session at a time that fits in with the U.K. & Europe so that a new audience can benefit for their expertise.

If you’re on Twitter (and if you’re not yet you ought to be) then we’d love you to join us at 9pm GMT (21:00 CET) on Weds 14th December to participate from this side of ‘the pond’ using the hashtag #photochat.

For more information on how to participate Kent (@kw_daddio) has a great reference on his site at http://kentweakley.com.

Darcy (@my3boybarians ) says on her site at http://my3boybarians.com/

Also, next week is the twitter photography #photochat. We’re trying something new this time! By request of our friends across the pond. (I love saying across the pond, as if it’s nearby. The internet does make the world seem more accessible.) Anyway – our friends in Europe are always sleeping during the usual #photochat time, so we’re having an afternoon in the US / evening in the UK and Europe time that will allow more people to attend. Several amazingly talented photographers from England, Ireland and Italy have said they’ll be there. Hope you will too!

Twitter: @kevleighton

STORM CLOUDS, SUNRISE and SILHOUETTES

2011-11-29T20:01:00.001+00:00

Well it's a day later than I like to publish but sometimes other things just have to come first.

It never ceases to amaze me how people love to take pictures of the sun. Be that sunrise, sunsets or for me the sun shining through storm clouds and it amazes me even more the feedback photographers get from having taken them.

I certainly like taking the pictures, I think you can get some stunning effects with the sun in the right place even though you sometimes have to play with the exposures the point where your family has got bored and wandered off into the distance.

The joy of the modern camera phone is that it's possible to get very good shots without having to lug your dSLR around with you so I wanted to share a couple taken with my Pentax and a couple taken with my Samsung Galaxy S2.

These first two are taken in Cardiff Bay, Wales and are from the 'mobile' set on my Flickr site taken on my Samsung Galaxy S2.

For me the low sun on both of them gives the opportunity for some nice silhouettes. I liked the sun coming through the light fitment on the top of the lightship and on the other, I was keen to capture the silhouettes of the tree, church and cranes in the background. Neither of these shots used any special settings and were just taken 'point and shoot'.

This shot taken on Brighton Beach, Sussex one overcast and stormy afternoon was the last of a number of images I took in manual mode trying to get the balance between the contrast of the bright sun and dark clouds.

And finally ... this one has been around before and featured in my blog of 11th January based on around Clevedon.

I'd be really interested if anybody has any advice or guidance for me on taking this type of image I'd be really grateful for your feedback.

THE RETURN OF THE PHOTO BLOG!

2011-11-21T22:23:00.001+00:00

It's baaaaack. Well the photo blog is anyway After a break of a few weeks I thought it was high time to get back to the basics and bring the photo blog up-to-date.

So much has happened in such a short while I thought I'd start this week with a brief resume of events. My photo blog may have been quiet but looking back I seem to have been quite busy.

There have been photo shoots and events to capture, air-shows and a news article with my pictures. The Flickr app for Android made an appearance on my smart-phone which has led to some new work on the Kevin Leighton Photography Flickr site and I've been busy with my dSLR trying to shoot ever more awkward subjects in a manual mode.

When so much has been going on it's difficult to know what to concentrate on so I thought I'd just bring you some of my favourite images and just go with the flow. I hope you enjoy them.

Taken in Cardiff Bay, Wales. This was taken with the new Flickr app on my smartphone using the Tokyo filter and is one of a recent set of mobile phone images on my Flickr site.

I've been trying to capture seagulls in flight and have found it and extremely difficult task to get the exposure correct especially with the autumn skys being so changable depending on where you point your camera.

And finally November 5th and the inevitable fireworks displays were another photographic challenge and is one I'll write about in another blog.

So what's up and coming? I'll be writing about some of the photographic challenges I've encountered over the last few weeks and asking for some advice.

I've also been in touch with Darcy from my3boybarians and Kent Weakley from kentweakley.com who run very successful Twitter #photochat Q&A sessions in North America and they have agreed to run one for the UK & Europe hopefully in December. I hope to be able to confirm dates & times for the UK & Europe Twitter #photochat session shortly.

See you all again soon.

INSPIRATION, MOTIVATION, LIFE, LIVING & LOVING

2011-11-14T22:37:00.001+00:00

My more recent blogs have veered away from photography and towards a discussion of different sources of motivation and inspiration and how people use different sources to help them to plan their futures, motivate themselves, become inspired, or just make it through to the next day.

Readers of my blog have placed their own interpretations on why I was writing on these topics and offered me messages of support, sent me links to further information and passed on their general good wishes all for which I'm very grateful.

My reason for sharing these thoughts with you over the last few months is simply because I've become more aware of them and have been in a position to see and hear messages both via Twitter and in presentations that previously I hadn't noticed or had the opportunity to receive which gave me more than just a passing interest in what was being said.

I've read much and learned plenty including how controversial some of the motivational, inspirational and life planning methods actually are, certainly not everybody has agreed with what I've written or discussed with them face-to-face. It's also fair to say that much of what I have read is very subjective as much of my reading about motivation, inspiration and life planning has left me; well ... uninspired!

So I want to finish up this series of blogs with a few sentences on what did get through to me and hope that you might find it useful. One thing I have noticed is that it's virtually impossible to apply these good messages to your life holistically but they can certainly be applied to certain situations.

So .. firstly I'd like to mention the presentation by Neil Holloway from Microsoft at the University of Reading. He gave a beautifully understated insight into life planning that I wrote about in my blog No Regrets . Follow the link back to the blog and you read all about it.

Secondly, I was sent a link to this image which made me smile and with which I agree wholeheartedly.

And finally I'd like to link you to the Energised Performance blog from Kim Ingleby. A lady who I've never met but would love to be able to share some time with at some point in the future. On the blog Kim links to a 'video' featuring insights from Steve Jobs the last few seconds of which I wrote down and pinned to my PC. I have applied the words it in a number of situations in my day job and I've found it to be truly helpful.

It reads ..

Your Time Is Limited

Dont Waste It By Living Someone Elses Life

Dont Be Trapped By Dogma Which is Living With The Results Of Other
Peoples Thinking

Don't Let The Noise Of Other Peoples Opinions Drown Out Your Own

Inner Voice

And Most Important Have The Courage To Follow Your Heart And Intuition

They Somehow Already Know What You Truly Want To Become

Steve Jobs

A CAUTIONARY TALE - WHERE ARE YOUR CAMERA PHONE PHOTOS TODAY?

2011-09-29T08:48:00.000+01:00

Some weeks ago, buoyed up with minutes of research under my belt and a recommendation from a friend I ditched my old phone and invested in a shiny new Android powered Samsung Galaxy S2. From there my relationship with my phone has been a happy one, I've very much enjoyed getting to know it and the Social Media apps I can run on it and we've had some fun times together. I'm typing this blog on the Google Blogger App and until now everything has been rosy in the garden.

So what's changed?

Afew weeks before I got my phone I joined Google + and at some point whilst exploring the Android Marketplace I happened upon the Google + App which I installed and almost forgot about along with Google +. Imagine my shock, when logging onto Google + with a purpose for the first time in weeks, to find a copy of every single photo I had taken and stored on my phone, probably since installing the app, also residing in Google +.

Don't get me wrong .. the photos themselves remained private to me and hadn't been shared but I feel really aggrieved that Google by default enabled an option which allowed the Google + app to upload copies of my photos without explicitly asking me.

There are two issues for me here, one of privacy and trust and one of my phones data plan.

Privacy and Trust
I guess it was probably in the Terms & Conditions somewhere to allow Google to do this and the images weren't displayed in my circles but nevertheless they are mine and I will decide where I upload them to be it for backup, storage or display. Organisations must be aware that not only are the words and images of the people who write and capture them their property but may also be deeply personal to the individual who may not want them shared on any platform no matter how 'private' that platform may be.

Data Plan
Those who know my home city of Bristol will be very aware of the 60ish statues of Gorillas which adorned the city to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Bristol Zoo and it became the summer time challenge of many to visit as many of the Gorillas as possible and have your photo taken with them.

I had been struggling to work out how I was going through so much data on my data plan so imagine my shock when I found copies of dozens of hi-res photos from my Gorilla trail and other adventures on Google +.

It's No Suprise Then .... my view is that Google should NOT be enabling this function called 'Instant Upload' by default. Luckily it can be turned off by doing the following:

Start your Google + for Android App then perform Menu -> Settings and un-check 'Instant Upload'.

NO REGRETS

2011-09-28T23:15:00.000+01:00

In common with many parents at the moment I have been doing the rounds of the Universities to help my son short-list those he'd like to attend when it's time to go. I've been surprised by our reactions to some of the Universities which has ranged from 'just don't get it' to the 'wow factor'.

One such wow visit was to the University of Bath where, building on what had already been a good day, I went to the 'welcome talk', albeit that it was at the end of the day.

One of the presenters was Microsoft Vice President Neil Holloway . Now I'm no Microsoft fan and I envisaged a Microsoft skewed presentation on something or other but Neil presented a well reasoned and understated presentation on his thoughts about University life, life after University and life planning that really made me sit up and listen.

The phrase that really did it for me was 'have no regrets'. Neil qualified this in terms of how when making any decision you need to know your objective, weigh up the options and make a decision. What ever that decision is, whatever the outcome, don't regret it. I thought this was such a bold and brave or maybe even foolish statement to make. Initially I couldn't imagine not being able to make a decision without having regrets if the decision turned out to be the wrong one or didn't provide satisfactory results, but the more I thought about it the more I realised how much easier our decision making processes and lives would be if we didn't have the risk of regret behind our decisions.

I wonder if this state is really possible to achieve?

At this point, as is often the way when I write a piece like this I have taken a few days off from writing it whilst I process my thoughts in the background. I had a concern that what Neil had said in some way conflicted with 'relationships' or family life or whatever label you'd want to put on it.

In my view the answer to that question is 'no'.

The beauty of Neils point-of-view is that he talks about considering the options before a making a decision and having no regrets once you've made it. This is in pleasant contrast to those who talk about life planning as a roadmap to wealth and success but make no room for others and the considerations that must be factored in where relationships are involved.

To conclude, I'd like to thank Neil Holloway for his considered and inspiring talk but I wonder what your thoughts are on the matter. Do you have a life plan? Is it working? Do you have regrets from making decisions? Does it work for you?

A NEW LOOK AND A NEW URL

2011-09-20T14:10:00.000+01:00

In my last blog I wrote about how I was simplifying my on-line presence by integrating my blog page with my photography web site. This makes sense as most of my blogs are photography related although I do wander off into other subjects from time-to-time as the fancy takes me.

All the technical work is now completed and I've matched the look and feel as closely as possible to that of the main site whilst removing the other pages I had on the blog as they were becoming irrelevant.

Whilst my old blog URL will still work the new URL, in keeping with the photography site, is http://kevinleightonphotography.com/blog .

Look out for the next regular update coming soon and I hope you'll continue to enjoy the blog in its new home.

REFLECTION AND RECONSTRUCTION

2011-09-16T19:59:00.001+01:00

It will come as no suprise to regular visitors that my blog has been unusually quiet in recent weeks.

Sometimes in life events happen that make you want to reflect on how best to move forward. Sometimes when these events come along one at a time it is difficult enough but when a number of events come together at the same time it can be almost impossible to reflect and choose best paths because of all the 'noise'.

My friend Paula White wrote a blog called 'What Do You Say To The Person In The Mirror' which tells the story of a networking event we attended which included a motivtional talk from Jim McLeod. Jim spoke about identifying and removing influences which prevent you from achieving your aims and happiness and so I set about identifying what those might be.

Having given it some thought I decided on courses of action I need to take but to take all of them at the same time just isn't possible. The next step I took was to put them in an actionable order.

The first action I have decided to take is to simplify my on-line presence to make it more manageable and effective within the time I am able to dedicate to it. I'll do this by streamlining the relationship between my blog and professional website and effectively integrate the two.

This will give me more time to start to action other steps I need to complete to move forward again.

This work includes changing the colour scheme to match that of my professional website and simplify the page layout and give it an integrated look and feel. It may be a bit untidy for a while but once it's finished I hope it will look so much better.

In the meantime, if you have arrived at this page through the Kevin Leighton Photography website and you can't get back by clicking the 'Home' button please use the 'Back' button on your browser. If you didn't and you'd like to go there then please click here.

Death of a Red Arrows Pilot and unsung hero - Fl Lt John Egging

2011-08-20T23:13:00.008+01:00

In my last blog 'Photographing The Red Arrows' I wrote how excited I was to be going to the Bournemouth Air Festival today and would have the second chance in two weeks to photograph The Royal Airforce Aerobatic Team, The Red Arrows.

What started as an excellent day, presenting the opportunity to photograph a number of different aircraft turned to tragedy when one the the aircraft crashed during a final manoeuvre over the local airport before landing.

I have had the pleasure of watching numerous Red Arrows displays over the years and never fail to be amazed at the skill that must be involved in making it look as easy although it obviously is anything but.

Fl. Lt. John Egging must be counted as one of our unsung heros. It was announced during the display that many of the pilots in today's display had recently returned from tours in Afghanistan and he had certainly served his time there supporting coalition ground forces.

He obviously loved his flying. He transitioned from front line duties to entertaining the public with his flying prowess with the RAF Red Arrows and as such has etched himself certainly into my memory as 'The Egg Man', as was announced in the display commentary.

I don't know which aircraft he flew but I should imagine he has appeared in a number of my pictures from the last two weeks displays. I just want to publish this one from the display in Bournemouth today to say a simple 'thankyou' for for flying with the Red Arrows.

Kevin
Kevin Leighton Photography

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Photographing The RAF Red Arrows

2011-08-17T22:59:00.000+01:00

This week I wanted to get back more to my roots and into the world of photography. Those of you know or follow me that I have a preference for portrait and event photography with one golden rule. Fill the frame and use plenty of colour. This means I often stray into the macro world as well but my golden rule always stands.

Having this rule can lead to some frustrations as well. I read somewhere that in photography you are only limited by two things 'Your imagination and your wallet' and as the contents of your kit bag can be related to either, every now and then certain opportunities arise where you decide the contents of your kit bag just don't fit the bill.

Last weekend I was able to visit the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta which presents some wonderful opportunities for photographs of balloons in various stages of flight but one of the highlights, for me at least, is the attendance of the The Royal Airforce Aerobatic Team, The Red Arrows which never fails to impress the audience.

So I did my homework and got a prime position where I could capture the display head on, the sky was mostly a dark blue, the sun was bright and when the aircraft were highlighted by the sun the were a deep red against the blue sky.

So, perfect position, perfect colour, perfect action though not always able to fill the frame. The individual aircraft make quite small targets for my 200mm lens but the groups shots really come together.

With an aerobatic display team for me you can't beat action shots that show movement, colour and angles.

There is a tendancy for display teams to keep clean lines and perfect formation so I also try to capture shots showing them in transition from one state to another whilst still keeping the shot interesting

But when it comes down to it some of those formations can be absoutely stunning in their own right.

Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. These are some of my favourites from the show. I hope you enjoy them too.

What do you think? Do you photograph action events? What do you like to shoot and how do you do it? I'm off to the Bournemouth Air Festival this coming weekend. What's your advice?

Kevin
Kevin Leighton Photography

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Reflection on the news, Twitter and life in general

2011-08-10T00:22:00.003+01:00

It has been a few weeks since I have written a blog. I'm not sure how many and I'm not going to look because it doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm back and I'm blogging.

So what's been happening in my life? It has just been so busy. The first two weeks in July included a photographic commission for networking group MumsUnltd, organising the first North Somerset and Bristol tweetmeet at The George Backwell and setting myself up on Google+ .

It all seemed so simple on the face of it but it turned out to be quite a challenge and there was no time for blogging what with everything else going on. Then followed a holiday, two weeks in a very warm and sunny Portugal at this apartment, enough to relax and unwind and start to reflect.

It was the middle weekend of the fortnight that reflection kicked. Although I wasn't watching any TV news I was dipping into Twitter and that's when bad news started to filter thru. The death of Amy Winehouse, train crash in China, shooting in Norway. Opinions dashed to and fro across Twitter as to which was the most shocking of the events and which deserved most focus or attention.

I was still removed from it all so I paid no more than a passing interest but still referred to Twitter for updates.

My return from holiday prompted a bout of post holiday reflection. I didn't watch the TV news or read newspapers but the story of a polar bear attack on some students and the riots in London started to break. Even then I didn't watch TV news but referenced Twitter for updates.

So where is all this going? For a start I was interested to analyse the fact that I really wasn't interested in following the news via the TV or newspapers. Was this disinterest because of being super busy and then on holiday, I think so. But then also of interest was why I would turn to Twitter for updates.

I think because Twitter provided me with easily scannable 'throwaway headlines' and URLs to blogs and web pages with detail I was really interested in. I could find opinion and articles from people I trust and value rather than those trotted out in front of me by the news organisations. Whether it's information from a professional reporter or just a regular man or woman off the street Twitter and blogging give the perfect platforms for direct access of information from trusted sources, and thoughtful opinion from experts and laymen alike.

My reading has been varied over this time and has included the wonderful art and colour of rachomini including her blog reference to 'The Seven Deadly Sins of Indoor Photography', the thoughtful analysis from Paula White on Twitter responses to the sad weekend of the death of Amy Winehouse, the Norway shootings, etc,. and reading about life decisions on this blog from John Foster. Add to this the calm reflections on life from journalist Rachel Burden and the man who can even make the weather interesting Ian Fergusson and I wonder why I need to go anywhere else for my daily dose.

What are your thoughts?

Kevin

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Another week, another shoot, beautiful colours and some lampshades.

2011-07-04T22:58:00.000+01:00

Another week (and a bit), another late blog, another self-inflicted challenge but thankfully a successful photo-shoot.

Last Sunday I was lucky enough to be invited to the Tobacco Factory Market in Southville where ace lampshade maker Ruth McAllister a.k.a. Quincy Lampshades set out her stall. Ruth was interested in having some shots she could use on her website, twitter feed, facebook page or other publicity.

I was somewhat unsure of what to expect. After all, I am neither a serial market goer nor did I ever think I would ever be photographing lampshades. Always up for a challenge I was happy to oblige and thankfully the results were good.

Ruth builds a wall of lampshades on her stall that is quite stunning with a fabulous mix of colours and designs all jostling for pride of place.

I really want to thank Ruth for asking me to do this shoot with her and I look forward to some of the images appearing around the internet very soon.

All my favourites are on my web site here. Please come over and check them out. I feel sure you will enjoy looking at them as much as I did capturing them.

Ruth has also blogged about her experience and is showing her favourite images from the selection on her blog here. Please show your support by dropping in to say 'hi'.

Kevin

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Second Day Of My Workshop - and my Sweet Shot Tuesday Post 21/06

2011-06-20T22:50:00.004+01:00

Last week I was telling you about the first day of two day workshop I was attending run by award winning photographer Morag MacDonald of Documentary Image. The first day was talking about how to gain control of your camera through effective use of the manual settings.

Day 2 of the workshop was building on the lessons of Day 1 and really concentrated on how to use the correct exposures to match the type of image you are trying to capture whether the deciding factor is the amount of light available, the speed of the subject or perhaps something a little more special.

I was excited by the opportunity to capture one of those images (it must have a special name) where a subject is static but the world around them is whizzing past.

These were my favourite of the session but the later outdoor shoot provided further opportunity to play with exposure and capture .... rain .. yes rain, there was loads of it. But it provides its own opportunities and it take them where I can.

There are more images from the workshop on my Flickr stream which I hope you'll enjoy.

Kevin

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Revisiting The Basics - My Sweet Shot Tuesday 14/06

2011-06-14T23:53:00.002+01:00

I am lucky enough to be on a two day course run by award winning photographer Morag MacDonald of Documentary Image. In some ways it's quite a basic course but being mostly self taught I wanted a course that would try to break me out of any bad habits I'd got into and make sure I understood what I was doing and why.

The premise of the course is to teach you full control of the camera by the using it in fully manual mode. Today we were playing with one of my favourite photographic toys, depth of field.

I have uploaded my favourite images of the day to my Flickr stream but just wanted to show a couple here because I've really rather enjoyed taking these. They come to you "out of the camera" as we are encouraged to get the exposure right first time and save on the need for post processing.

We went to an old dock side area in Bristol which is still mostly undeveloped from the days when Bristol was a bustling port city so there is lots of old debris still around which makes for interesting images.

Kevin

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Music and Furniture - Quite A Combination For One Week

2011-06-08T00:55:00.000+01:00

Wow what a week - there seems to be no let up in the opportunities I've been presented with in the last few days to update my albums. It has pretty much got to the point where I've started to fall behind with the editing, cataloging and writing so now it's full on to start to catch up some.

Over the last week I was allowed to take a small photoset of keyboard and flute duo Tranquillo as they played and was invited to shoot a Furniture exhibition being put on by a collective called Furnish.

OK perhaps not the sexiest of shoots (the furniture that is) but it was great opportunity for me to get involved in something very different and have the challenge of photographing objects under exhibition hall lighting.

The images below are samples from both of these sets.

These girls busking at Cardiff Bay were a duo called Tranquillo and were kind enough to let me take some shots of them as they played.

There is something about the Black & White of the keyboard that just lends itself to being reproduced in a Black & White image.

Perhaps my favourite shot of the set. Shot with a Pentax M50 lens I love the clean lines of the furniture in the foreground whilst the background start to dissolve away behind it.

Again, shot with the Pentax M50 I think great lines, good lighting and to me the intricate shadowing below the seat just adds to the picture.

As always I hope you have enjoyed these and that you'll visit my Flickr stream to see more.

Kevin

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Colours From A Market - My Sweet Shot Tuesday Link 31/05

2011-05-31T22:38:00.003+01:00

I had the pleasure of flying to Newcastle last weekend, the main objective being to see 'Take That' in concert. The evening was everything it was built up to be but that's just the background to this piece.

Because of the flight times we had a whole day to kill on the day following the concert, so after taking advice we took ourselves off on the tram to Tynemouth.

When we got off the tram we were confronted by the most amazing Sunday market full of all sorts of new and second-hand goods, so while the ladies in the party took themselves off to see what was what I took out my camera and started looking for some images that I would enjoy looking back on.

The beads above were on a stall run by the good folk from Bubbly Beads and they were good enough to let me take some shots for a photo story which I'll publish sometime soon

My objective was to find colours, fill the frame and most of all practice manual focus, yes that's right, practice manual focus.

These are some of my favourites. What do you think?

Kevin

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A review of The 3rd Floor Gallery - Cardiff Bay

2011-05-30T16:32:00.001+01:00

When the day job takes you to the same location day after day it becomes quite difficult to find something different to do when you decide to take a break outside.

It was both a pleasure and a surprise to come across the Third Floor Gallery tucked away by a busy cross-roads in the heart of Cardiff Bay.

The gallery, called that because it is situated in the 3rd Floor of an old office building, can be accessed only by using the entrance buzzer and being buzzed through the front door.

After tentatively making my way up the stairs was greeted by a lovely lady who offered me a cup of tea and I started to look around what was on show.

The gallery is very airy and quiet with just a hint of traffic noise from below. It is in an excellent location and well suits its purpose.

The website outlines a number of activities going on within the space and via twitter and facebook I saw details of a photographic 'show and tell' event where you were invited to take your own images along to show them off.

The collection showing currently, and through to 12th June is 'The North' by John Bulmer. In brief, it is a selection of images taken in the North of England during the 1960's and 1970's .

The gallery is well worth a visit and I certainly enjoyed the images on display in the current collection. If you are in the area then do drop in and show your support.

See my own growing selection of Cardiff Bay images on my flickr stream.