Katariina's Photography Blog

Autumn colours in Sheffield Park

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:46:00 +0000

Last Friday I went to Sheffield Park for the first time in my life. I'd heard many times how beautiful it is, and finally I got to see it for myself - and the best time of the year for it, too! It was a little drizzly but very very pretty indeed. Here are some of the photos I took.

Autumn colours at Cissbury Ring

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 23:12:00 +0000

My niece visited me today in Worthing and she joined me and Zebedee for a walk to Cissbury Ring. It was a very foggy day to start with, but towards the end of the walk it started getting sunny. We also met a lovely couple with a couple of lovely Ridgebacks during our walk.

New Year's Eve at Komedia Brighton

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:55:00 +0000

A year ago on new year's eve I happened to hear from a friend that Brighton Ballroom are looking for a photographer to shoot their NYE event. I sent them an e-mail and they decided to 'hire' me (it was a freebie, no money exchanged hands either way) for the job. I had a great time photographing the event - it was something I'd never seen or photograph before, which I love.

Little did I know what this event in my life would lead to. I have photographed numerous burlesque and cabaret shows since and made friends with some of the best performers. It's been marvellous!

Exactly one year later, another event organiser was looking for a photographer to shoot their new year's eve event later that day (for some reason, the photographer they had hired couldn't do it any longer). I hadn't planned anything for the evening as I was going to have a quiet night, but after having had a look on-line to see exactly what kind of event it was going to be, I decided to do it, especially after having talked to the lovely Kitty Peels on the phone and agreeing on the deal, including the fact that it wasn't just me, but Miles as my second shooter so that we could spend the evening together like we had planned.

And I'm lucky I did, as it was a great, fun event! It was called Trailer Trash presents...NYE Trash Vegas!! - you can see from that page all that was going on. And here are some of the photos I took....

What a great way to spend new year's eve.... working, yes, but also having a good time with some fun, lovely people. Kitty sure is a fantastic performer and event organiser (with Rosy Carrick) and I wouldn't mind working with her again!

If you fancy going to the next Trailer Trash event yourself, go and join their Facebook Group here: Trailer Trash!

I hadn't thought about it before seriously, but when I started writing this blog post I realised that I have to put together a website for my burlesque/cabaret photography. I shall be looking into that today. I have also been wondering what I should do with my various blogs now... whether to continue this blog on Blogger or move it to Wordpress, whether to combine all my blogs to the same place... Does anyone have any recommendations, tips from experience? Anyone running a Worpress Multisite, for example?

Answers on a postcard. I mean, in the comments section below!

Sunset from our window

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:59:00 +0000

My non-wedding photography has reduced to this: a sunset from our window! Mind you, I think it was quite a sunset, so I forgive myself.

I did post another blog in my other blog earlier today, though - have a look! http://www.blog.lighttrick.co.uk/2011/07/23/wedding-venue-scout/

And that's all for today...

Mobile phone photos...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 18:15:00 +0000

I amused myself today by inventing a new way to play with my mobile phone camera. I have no idea whether anyone else has done it before, but my guess is that at least 1000 people have. I was walking our dogs in the woods as usual and I saw this scene of sun shining through the leaves... and I thought "I have used soft focus filter in a situation like this before". I only had my mobile phone with me, though - no proper camera. So I thought I'd see if I can create a soft focus filter for my mobile phone camera.... by blowing hot air on it. And what do you know - this is what I got! (Ignore the intruding dog in the foreground)

So then I started trying it on different scenes as I walked along with my dogs.

Cool, huh? Well, at least I thought so, as I was getting more and more excited about playing with breathing on the camera... and taking the shot just at the right moment before the glass in front un-fogged completely.

I knew that the soft focus effect would work best with some specular highlights in the scene, so I had to wait around for the sun to come out at this spot.

Next, one of my favourite trees in Stanmer Park - and not only because it is a source of water for the dogs whenever we walk past it.

Here they are... my walking companions... As crazy and silly and fun as usual...

Getting back to photos of trees... thought I'd do a black and white conversion just for the fun of it.

And when I did that, I thought back to some other photos I'd taken recently and did a B&W conversion on another photo taken in the woods. Not that I like trees or anything...

And this last one... another favourite tree of mine in Stanmer Park.

Same in old fashion slightly tinted black and white.

I am still amazed just how much one can do with mobile phone cameras nowadays! I mean, seriously - if someone showed me these photos three years ago and said they'd been taken with a mobile phone, I would have laughed until I cried.

But not anymore!

New Weddings And Portraits Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:43:00 +0000

Apologies for having been so quiet for so long! I have been working my little socks off and created a new blog for weddings and portrait shoots only. If you are interested, have a lookie here: http://www.blog.lighttrick.co.uk/

If the photos or the blog in general raises any thoughts, please do leave a comment in the new blog somewhere - just so that I know I haven't done all that work for nothing, and that at least someone has seen it!

Wedding photo edit

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:18:00 +0000

I have been too busy to do blog posts about weddings recently! One reason is that I'm planning on creating a new blog for weddings and portraits... so I'm kind of holding back on them until I have the new blog up and running.

In the meantime, I just edited one photo from my cousin's recent wedding and thought I'd post here what I did. See, sometimes, to get natural shots (especially of people who don't like their photo taken!), you have to grab one when it happens, even if you don't have time to frame the shot well. This is one of those times... The groom kissed his bride and I had to shoot even though I knew the shot wouldn't be well framed. One of those 'blink and you miss it' moments.

This is how I would have wanted the shot to be framed:

I had already edited the above photo to take off the distracting blue sign on the wall, so I took the kiss shot and placed it on this edited photo.

But then, of course, I realised that I need to edit out the groom from the background! I hoped that I had a shot without anything obstucting the doorway on the left... and I did!

So, using the area on the left from the above shot, I placed it on top of the groom...

A few tweaks of levels and tidy-up of lines, and here is the final image:

So there you go - bit of trickery pokery to get the shot I wanted, but I really wanted to capture the spontaneous, natural kiss as it happened rather than pose one, so I was happy to do the editing afterwards. If you have read my previous blogs about my camera shy cousins, you will know why I was so keen on grabbing any spontaneous, natural shots. ;-)

Another flowery field to run in...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:37:00 +0000

I've taken quite a few photos of our dogs running in fields of flowers this year. And I'm not going to stop just yet! I went to find another poppy field near Devil's Dyke today. Yes, I did.

Let's do a fine, romantic edit for that one... Awww...

Oh, yeah, Tigger was there, too!

Have a look at Tigger's sideways leap on this one:

Zebedee tasting some of the grass...

I think it wasn't that good...

I was getting a little nervous in this field as it was right next to the road and there were sheep on the other side of the road, so I wanted to go somewhere else for a little walk where I didn't have to worry about the doggies being run over or mauling the sheep, so I drove to Devil's Dyke. And there was a cute little 11 month old Field Spaniel to play with there.

Close-up of the above. The Field Spaniel's face cracks me up.

As usual, Tigger was just watching from a distance...

...and doing his own thing.

Windy fields

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 May 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Boy was it windy today!

And it's not easy to run in a field of long grasses when you are only small...

You have to spring like a proper springer spaniel to see where you are going!

Zebedee was feeling the wind in his hair, too.

One last spring from Tigger.

How to use polarising filter to reduce window reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 May 2011 14:39:00 +0000

Have you ever tried to take a photo of a shop or a restaurant from the outside, and instead of getting a glimpse of the venue through its windows, ended up taking a photo of the reflected houses on the other side of the street? I have.

While I was waiting for the sun come out in order to take some sunny terrace garden photos for a local restaurant, The Old Bank, I thought I'd take a couple of shots to demonstrate the effect of a polarising filter and how you can use it to reduce window reflections.

So, standing outside in front of the entrance, I took a photo of the window on the left.

Then I put a polarising filter on and turned it slowly until I saw through my viewfinder the window go dark, and took another photo.

See what difference it made? Now that the distracting reflections are missing, you can actually see the indoor tile wall of the restaurant through the window. You can still see the sky reflected at the top of the window, but look how much more clearly you can read the notice board in the middle of the window!

Turning to the right, another window - first without a filter.

...and then with a polarising filter.

Again, the bright reflections are greatly reduced and you can actually see through the window, and especially you can see clearly what is written on the notice board.

To get the best effect of the polarising filter you need to be in a slight angle to the surface - in this case, the windows. But basically it's a very simple tool to use for this purpose: all you need to do is screw the filter on, then - looking through your viewfinder - turn the filter slowly and see when the window looks darkest, and take your shot.

Here's another thing I had to do while waiting for the sun come out today: eat a delicious cheese & bacon beef burger. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

My cousin's engagement shoot

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 May 2011 22:58:00 +0000

Last year I took some photos of a cousin of mine and his fiancée. I didn't tell the whole story at the time, but this cousin of mine has a brother, and by a complete coincidence, both these brothers proposed to their respective girlfriends on the same day - in different countries, without knowing anything about each others' plans. So basically, when one of them announced their engagement to the parents and then parents called the other son to tell him the news, there was a stunned silence before he could say that he had just got engaged, too! What great news and celebration for the parents! Well, as well as both couples, of course.

A few months ago the older brother contacted me and asked whether I could shoot their wedding. Of course I said yes, and immediately after, I was contacted by his happily excited fiancée saying that as soon as she had seen the photos I had taken of the younger brother last year, she knew immediately that she wanted me to be her wedding photographer! You see, these brothers are both very shy and really, really don't like their photo taken. So, apparently, I had done a little miracle and impressed everyone who know these brothers (and how few photos there are of them) by getting the relaxed and beautiful photos that I did.

So, today we met up with the older brother and his fiancée for a little casual photo shoot and lunch. My cousin had told me that the last time he has had his photo taken by a professional photographer was for his passport photo, and it was so horrendous that even the photographer had said that he looked like he was in serious pain in the photo. He just couldn't relax and look natural, and hated the experience. So he really wasn't looking forward to our shoot! And thus, my main aim was to make him feel as relaxed as possible so I could get at least a few nice photos of them. And so I started taking some photos...

OK, the first one wasn't that great, but not too bad for a start. We were just getting warmed up. I had to come up with some ideas for poses and ways to keep the shoot fun and relaxed.

And after a little while it was starting to work! Look how relaxed he looks in this one!

Not like he is in pain at all - just happy, right? Next I had them take a little walk while I took a few shots.

My darling dogs were there to run around them and generally getting in most shots...

And then, I think I got the best shot of the whole shoot:

Cue some messing about.

This next one is not a genius pose or anything, but I really like the natural feel to it. They look like they are having fun, and I could just fall in love with the pair of them just looking at this photo.

Steady on! Haha. Aren't they sweet? I can't take credit for much, to be completely honest. Both girlfriends of these brothers did a sterling job of making their man relax and be OK about being in front of the camera. It's thanks to them that I got the photos I did.

So I'm going to be both couples' wedding photographer this year - the first one is in a couple of weeks, and the other one will be in August in Finland. And I'm really looking forward to both weddings!

More action shots

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:37:00 +0000

Went for a walk on the South Downs again with the dogs today. Canon 7D is performing fine! :-)

The rapeseed were a bit too tall...

Here's Tigger with his crazy tongue.

Lovely days! I love summer.

Water games

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:59:00 +0000

So we're back in England, and we got to see our gorgeous little doggies again today. :-) We went for a walk in the woods at noon, and in the evening I thought I'd take them to have a swim in the sea as they were a little smelly from all the dust they had been collecting in their coats all week, due to different walking area from their normal.

As usual, Zebedee loved fetching the ball...

Hey - didn't you throw it?!

And a couple of photos from our walk earlier today on the South Downs... such a lovely summer's day.

France Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Let the sightseeing begin!

After a nice sleep-in and a delicious breakfast at the hotel, at noon we started our tour of the most famous sights of Paris. A certain someone said we should take a metro to Concorde in order to get to the first one, The Eiffel Tour. We got out at Concorde, spotted the tower in the distance and started walking towards it. And we walked... and walked... and after a while lost the sight of the Eiffel Tower and weren't sure which way to walk. We were in between two grand buildings, Grand Palais and Petit Palais. Both were grand, really, but this is a detail from the building of Grand Palais.

Another detail nearby.

We found ourselves on the map, realised that the Eiffel Tower was actually on the other side of the river, and started walking towards one of the bridges. On the bridge we saw a wedding couple being photographed. I got so excited about the prospect of a random photo opportunity of a bride and groom on a bridge with the Eiffel Tower in the background that I smashed my camera into my face and broke my specs. Not that I broke the glass, but I did drop one of the lenses, and I lost the little screw that holds the frame together and the lens in its place.

So there I was crawling on the pavement looking for the screw, and in the meantime, the photo opportunity was over.

Oh well. Let's carry on...

I can see without my glasses, but not that well, so we thought - whilst still heading towards the Eiffel Tower - we'd look for an optician and get my glasses fixed. On the way we saw a cool car...

...Erik Satie conservatory...

Some quality Parisian parking...

I was getting sore feet (my plantar fasciitis is quite bad at the moment) so I sent Miles on a mission to find an optician, and he found one! I got my glasses fixed and could see well again. So we carried on walking...

And finally! There it is!

Miles had brought along my comedy lens (Sigma 8mm fisheye) and offered me to use it... Can you guess my exact location where I took this photo?

Yup, directly below the tower. Same with a normal wide angle lens.

There were huge queues for both the lift and the stairs, so we decided not to go up, and just hung around for a while and took some photos.

Then we started walking towards the next location. But not before I took some photos where I could fit the whole Eiffel Tower in.

One with the comedy lens...

Both the above and the next photo have been HDR processed with Photomatix Pro. In the next one, quite a lot of stray light got into the lens barrel (because I was pointing the lens straight up into the sky light) and the HDR software decided that more detail should be revealed in the barrel area. I quite like the result, especially as the photo itself if mainly green and I liked the contrasting colour the HDR processing gave the barrel part of the image, so I left it as it is.

Some street scenes on the way...

We stopped for a light lunch and came across this nifty invention:

After lunch, across The Seine again.

And we carried on walking... past pigeons...

Past flowers...

...and arrived at the Jardin de Tuileries (place of the famous Manet painting Music in the Tuileries)

I fell in love with the shape of these leaves.

At the end of the long gardens we approached the next sight...

Le Louvre.

Lots of triangles.

Detail from the above photo.

Miles had booked us for dinner in a different part of town, so we started our way there.

We were early (and thirsty) so we stopped at a café for a Mojito. I never knew Paris cafés do cocktails... but they were sooo tasty! This one sure counts towards my five a day?

Dinner! At Ambassade d'Auvergne. Yum.

Miles had booked another thing for today - a live gig. So after dinner we travelled to the next venue... past Centre Pompidou...

...into Duc des Lombards.

The Kandinsky Effect. They were completely fab!

And that was the end of the long and fun day!

France Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:59:00 +0000

We took the Eurostar to Paris today! Early train to Euston, London, then a couple of hours from London to Paris. I was completely pooped from lack of sleep so we didn't do much in the evening. After we arrived in our hotel, we just went for a drink in a nearby café and that's about it.

See? Here we are: Café Atelier, 97, Boulevard Montparnasse.

Merci de respecter nos voisins. Thank you for respecting our neighbours.

So, this was basically our job for today: a couple of drinks and making a few plans for the following days in Paris.

The story of my ARPS distiction

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Ever wondered what it is like to apply for an ARPS? Read on.

I have been a member in the local Brighton And Hove Camera Club for about three years now. At the club I have learned about The Royal Photographic Society, and the fact that they give internationally recognised distinctions for photographers who demonstrate a certain level of skill in photography. I got my LRPS last year, and as soon as I received it, I wanted to get the next level of distinction for my photography. I don't have a straight-forward reason why; I think it's just some kind of "proof" for myself that I have learned something during these five-six years that I have "done photography". I haven't taken any formal studies nor training in photography so I haven't had a recognition from "an authority" before - just positive comments from some people who have liked my work.

The Royal Photographic Society is open for all to join, and they offer three levels of distinctions. ARPS - Associateship - is the second level, which is roughly equivalent of a Degree in photography (as is evident from their list of exceptions). This is what the society say about the ARPS:

...to be successful at Associateship level you need to demonstrate a high standard of technical competence as well as provide evidence of creative ability and the development of personal style. You also need to be able to show that you are in complete control of technical aspects which allows you to produce quality which is entirely 'Fit for purpose' i.e. suits the subject.

So, as soon as I'd got the LRPS last year, I had in mind to go for the ARPS next. Due to travels and other general busyness, I didn't get round to thinking about it seriously until February this year. I went to a BHCC distinctions evening on a Thursday in February with a stack of postcard size photos I'd printed of photos I'd taken in Bhutan in March 2010. From those photos, Bill Wisden (Hon. FRPS) picked 15 photos for a panel. Not just like that, mind you - there was some shuffling and swapping of images; for example, Bill tried including some animal photos but couldn't quite fit them in and anyway he wasn't sure whether animal photos are appropriate in a Travel Panel... I (secretly) wanted to have one photo in that Bill said was a snapshot, was surprised by one that he included as I didn't actually think it was a great photo (but it's all about making a panel work as a whole, so I trusted his opinion) etc etc. So, as Bill's and others' comments about my photos seemed quite positive, I went ahead and booked a place for a travel ARPS assessment on April 27th. That would give me a couple on months to work on the panel.

Then came the day before the distinction assessment in Bath. Yup. The day before the assessment date. I hadn't done anything about the panel. Nothing like last minute to get something done, right? I was hoping that a local art supply store would have enough mounting boards for the 15 images - if they didn't I would have had to cancel going to Bath the next day, basically. I went to the shop first thing in the morning, and lucky me, they did have enough white mounting board in stock! I had planned to start cutting the board straight away, but ended up faffing with the images instead. You see, Bill Wisden - along with other extremely talented and experienced photographers at the distinction evening - had helped me put together the panel of images, but to my shame, I'd lost the little prints that were used for the purpose! I remembered most of the photos that had been chosen, but not all. So I had to make up the panel anew. I printed about 20 images in size A4 and tried to make the panel work.

After having worked out the photos I wanted in the panel, I finally started cutting the mounting boards in the early evening.

Word of advice here: if you cut A2 size boards on your floor, make sure that you are cutting them on a very even surface. I didn't realise this first and cut across our floor boards (on another sheet of mounting board, i.e. not cutting straight into our floor boards) which are not very level, and ended up having to push like mad on the cutter to actually cut through the board the whole length. This meant that I very soon I had a very sore thumb and quite sore back, and had to take many breaks and, eventually, pain killers, just to keep going. At some point I realised I should cut along one floor board instead of across floor boards to keep things level, and when I did that, it was a lot easier. Nevertheless, cutting the 15 boards to size (40x50 cm) and then a window in each 15 of them took me hours!

In between cutting and being in pain, I made a hanging plan for the panel and worked on my Statement of Intent (max. 150 words) - both required for the distinction submission. I finally cut the last mounting board window at 3 AM.

Two hours later, after a wink or two of sleep, I woke up to make finishing touches and then drive three hours to Bath for the 9:15 AM start of registration for the assessment at the RPS premises.

When I arrived I found out that there were only 12 applicants on this day. I chatted to a couple of them while we waited for the judges to get ready for the assessment. The judges kept us waiting for an hour... an hour of "Are my photos good enough?!?!" going through my mind. Then, we were finally called into the assessment room.

The assessment room could well also be called The Room of Anxiety, or The Room of Sheer Terror, depending on one's disposition. Mine started with slight anxiety and surprisingly quickly turned into sheer terror. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me explain. When we entered, we were greeted by a simply fantastic example ARPS panel of travel landscapes displayed at the front of the room (not shown in the above photo as I wasn't sure whether it was OK to take photos in there). It was terribly impressive, and looking at it in awe I felt very inadequate indeed. "My panel is nothing compared to this!" I thought, and was getting pretty sure I'd fail the assessment I turned in my seat to say to a lady behind me "Are they trying to intimidate us with that panel?" and she replied "They are succeeding!"(This, by the way, was the lady who had the best panel of the day, in my opinion, I later learned).

The assessment day started with two panels on CD, projected on the wall, twice through the 15 images shown one after another, and then all of them left projected on the wall in thumbnail size so that the judges could refer to them when voicing their opinions/judgements on them. There were four judges in total - each with a vote for or against the panel being recommended for the distinction, and apart from the simple vote, the Chair of the day gave them all a chance to say something about each panel being assessed. Two of the judges were fairly lenient in their assessment -- the two others, definitely not. The latter two didn't spare their words! Don't get me wrong, all of them were requiring a high standard of photography, but it was like good cop, bad cop - and while I respected the bad cops' assessments, I did think one of them didn't need to be quite so disparaging to make his point.

I could almost hear all of us applicants shaking in our boots listening to the bad cops ripping the images apart. We heard how wonderfully composed, atmospheric (in my opinion) images were ruined by highlights (not even burned highlights, I might add) in the background and were just "plain bad photography". Others were snapshots, soft, over-sharpened, etc. I am in general pretty picky about sharpness in images, but from my seat in the room, I didn't see any of these problems in the images in question. Just saying, to explain how harsh it all sounded to me, as I couldn't see for myself what was wrong. The first panel got a divided vote from the four judges and was saved by the Chair's deciding vote. The second panel got a divided vote and was failed by the Chair's vote. Judging by the silence and tension in the room, I wasn't the only one who was starting to feel terror about their chances of passing!

After the two projected CD panels had been shredded to pieces, the first printed panel was brought out, and it was my panel! It looked horrendous after the beautiful, fantastic panel that had greeted us when we first entered the room. I had no chance.

The four judges stood up and walked to the prints to stick their disapproving noses into them. Or so I felt. They were mumbling something I couldn't hear, hovering from one photo to another, like four bees hovering over a flower whose nectar wasn't quite good enough to suck. I heard one of them laugh at one of my photos... "Are they THAT crap!!" I thought. "They are laughing at my photos, for goodness sakes! Can the floor just open and suck me in right now, please..." After a few gruelling minutes of this, the judges were asked to sit down and cast their vote. And of course we at the back can't even see how they vote!

(the hanging plan of my panel)

The Chair asked whether any of the judges wanted to speak, and one of the bad cops stood up. Oh no! He started listing all the things he didn't like about the panel. There is no engagement with the people in the photos (which is true), yet he complained that some of the young monks look into the camera, i.e. it's posed. Well, perhaps he meant that all the people photos should have a connection between the person and the photographer or all not have a connection, but not a mixture of both in one panel. Photo no. 7 is posed, same with photo no. 13, and there seems to be a problem with the printing of no. 13 (didn't specify what kind of problem). Photo no. 8 is boring and there's something strange going on at the front of photo no 5. I couldn't even hear everything he - and the other bad cop after him! - said due to the fact that I was repeating "I'm not going to pass, I'm not going to pass, I'm not going to get the distinction, they hate it, I stayed up all night for nothing, my photos are rubbish, I'm not going to get the distinction, the panel is a disgrace, it's not going to pass...." in my head. To be honest, the critique I wrote above could well be a muddle of the things that the two bad cops mentioned. I was too nervous to focus.

After the torturous judgements from the two, the Chair stood up and said that he feels he needs to speak his mind and started by saying that he really likes the panel! What? Do I have a chance after all? Oh my god, I was a nervous wreck by now and I wasn't sure who I was (being usually a very laid-back person who doesn't get anxious or nervous). The Chair went on saying that the panel definitely gives a sense of place, culture and people of Bhutan in the variety of photos, said how he loved no. 6, and how wonderful the character is in photo no. 15 (and I realised that the laughter I had heard earlier was good-humoured laughter between one of the good cops and the Chair as they were looking at this photo). He said that there's a little story even in photo no. 8 (the one that was deemed boring by a bad cop just earlier). He said other things, but - even though I felt extremely relieved as I realised that the Chair was basically saving my panel with his deciding vote - I was still a bundle of nerves from the bad cop treatment, and couldn't hear or take in everything that was said. Anyway, while the Chair was talking it seemed that other people in the room were holding their breath with me, and feeling the relief with me when it started to sound like I was going to be recommended for the distinction. And when the Chair finally announced just that, I got a big applause and lots of "Well done!"s from others in the room. Phew!! What an experience.

A few more comments about the photos: regardless of some of the comments, all of the judges seemed to think highly of the young monks photo no. 3, and surprisingly photo no. 9, which is the one Bill Wisden said is a snapshot (what does he know, haha ;-). It is actually a snapshot in a sense that I snapped it from a moving car, but I did especially intend to get a photo like that where I could have people in the foreground and a Dzong visible in the background. It's not a fantastic photo by any means, but to me, at least, it tells a story of father and son walking back home after having spent the day at a festival at the Dzong. I saw people walking on the road all along the way when I was being driven back to the festival town that evening, and at every bend of the road I was hoping I could get something like that in the frame. I was really glad to hear that someone else thought the photo tells a story, too.

So there you go, a roller coaster of a distinction assessment experience for me. Not just me, though... one other applicant actually had a little cry to herself after her panel was assessed. She had a unanimous vote for the distinction and hardly any negative was said about her photos, but I think the nerves got the better of her.

All in all, about half of the applications were successful on the day, which is a far better ratio than usual, apparently. There were 15 panels in total - three of which had been sent from abroad. Only three panels got a unanimous for vote from the four judges. The criteria for a successful ARPS distinction has been tightened considerably in the recent years, I have heard. I do think I was lucky to get the distinction, as my effort was quite half-hearted and rushed. I can't say that I'm 100% happy with my panel - I think I could have made it better by investing more time in preparing it, but at least it wasn't a completely failed effort. Last year I got only praise at my LRPS assessment and passed with flying colours, which was a much nicer experience than this year's roller coaster. If I ever decide to apply for an FRPS, I will make sure that I take plenty of time to prepare, and apply with a panel that I'm completely happy with and proud of. (Yeah, famous last words!)

My favourite tree of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 22:59:00 +0000

I took some photos of trees again while walking the dogs in Upper Lodges of Stanmer Park today. Here is my favourite shot.

A few Lightroom preset edits...

The following with reduced 'Clarity'.

Lastly, 'Old Black and White'.

That's all for today, folks!

Bluebell pooch shoot

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:48:00 +0000

I tested my Canon 7D's autofocus today on our two crazy springers in the spring bluebell woods.

I have to say I was happier with the results of the 7D compared to my Canon 5D Mk II, but I'm not sure whether that is due to the fact that I got better at taking these action shots, or that I wasn't taking as challenging shots as last time (with the 5D Mk II).

I tried the 'leap shot' only a couple of times today as it was quite hot and Tigger was panting and looking not so enthusiastic about the idea of running back and forth jumping over a tree trunk.

The shot above is not tack sharp on the eyes and Tigger is in the shade and everything... but I think it's a fun shot, anyway.

As you can see, Tigger is constantly on the move.

Sometimes the sun is so bright you have to run with your eyes closed.

Zebedee used to be running around like a crazy thing two years ago just like Tigger now, but he is an adult now and much more sensible... after an hour walking in the sun, he started looking for a shade for a rest every now and then.

I felt a little sorry for Zebedee as I was mainly taking photos of the headless chicken (Tigger), so I thought I'd take a few more shots of Zebedee. He seemed to enjoy the attention!

Isn't he handsome? Sweet little thing. (when he's not being naughty!)

I will keep taking more action shots with both cameras to test which one's auto focus is better. Hopefully at some point I will have an opinion.

So, that's it for today... it's bye from me, and bye from Tigger's rear paws!

Local networking: Fish Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 22:59:00 +0000

I went to a new local business networking event called Fish Friday this evening. It was held at the premises of The Grand by the Brighton seafront, and was organised by My Girl Friday and Alice Reeves. When we arrived, we were directed to a rather gorgeous, sunny room with a beautifully decorated long table.

After a bit of informal socialising, we were asked to sit at the table next to people we didn't know from before - in order to make new contacts, of course.

Despite the high-brow setting, the atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly.

Those who wanted to introduce themselves and their businesses to the others in front of everyone, got a chance to do so. Here's one of the organisers, Zoë, reading a business card to announce the first one.

Just a reminder of the fab location - right by the West Pier.

The lovely Ebonie of My Girl Friday.

Alice Reeves with Zoë.

Thanks to the organisers....

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that we all had fish and chips for dinner while networking? Haha. That's why it's called Fish Friday!

After dinner, those who wanted to carry on networking, moved... via the main entrance...

...past the reception area...

...into the beautiful lounge/bar area!

As a side note, there were no less than five (5!) Alices present. Of course I had to take photo of them posing together. Wonderland must have been very quiet tonight!

The lounge/bar was a large room which was not too noisy, so the venue was perfect for having a relaxed and friendly chat with all the people who stayed on.

The bar...

All in all, it was a great evening. I think networking events like this are a really good way to meet local people and businesses, make friends and refer work to each other, and sometimes find people to collaborate with. Fish Friday is one of the most relaxed (yet slightly structured so that you actually get to meet and talk with many people) networking event I have been to so far. I met some great people and will definitely go again as soon as I get a chance.

Come for a walk with us

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 22:04:00 +0000

Just a little walk with the dogs today. Starring Tigger.

An eager model. Occasionally.

Always on the move.

Stops only to eat grass.

Zebedee was there, too, of course.

A running competition.

We came across a puppy dog.

He's name is Jack.

A very cute 9 month old schnauzer.

We played with him for a little while...

And carried on our walk for another hour in the lovely woods.

We've had at least a week of looovely sunny weather in Brighton, but today was very grey. Hopefully the sun will return again soon.

Blossommm

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 22:59:00 +0000

I just realised the other day in Stanmer Park that I hadn't taken any cherry blossom photos this year. In fact, I've hardly noticed the blossoms anywhere, and certainly hadn't noticed that the lovely blossoming trees of Stanmer Park have already bloomed and withered! There was only one tree left that was still in full blossom, and I couldn't resist taking photos of it today.

A couple more that I applied some Lightroom presets on.

There you go. All blossomed out in one go. Phew! I'm kind of glad in don't feel so compelled to take photos of flowers anymore. It means (to me) that I have got so many other things that I want to photograph nowadays, which is great.

Local networking: Sugar Group

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:59:00 +0000

I went to a Sugar Group evening today held at the local boutique hotel Pelirocco. First, we were shown a couple of hotel rooms by the lovely and efficient duty manager Amy.

I wasn't prepared to take any great, well-lit hotel photos, really, so I just snapped some dark ones. ;-)

There were plenty of un-hotel-room-like beautiful details everywhere you looked.

Amy, probably thinking "don't take a photo of me"... haha, but she was caught by the wide angle of my lense.

After the hotel room round, we returned to the bar.

It was sugar group member Nikki Anderson's birthday and she had brought a cake for all of us to share!

Rather nice of her!

*Hope she didn't forget to make a wish.*

There were interesting and inspiring talks by businesswomen.

Our host Rachel Gedney.

Sugar Group founder Geri Brooks, and Jane Plouviez, drawing one of the fab prices!

Although I didn't have time to talk to all the ladies this time, I met some very interesting and inspirational people and I look forward to getting to know them better in future.

Fashion shoot

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Do you remember Bethan Moyse? The amazing model we had at the Brighton Rock'ed Photo Shoot a week ago? Well, of course you don't remember as I didn't even mention her name then, but you will remember what she looks like, I'm sure.

Ring a bell?

We had a fantastic shoot today - Bethan has so much beauty, so much talent. My initial idea was to do kind of a fashion shoot, but in post processing it seemed to turn into vintage look.

Or maybe it was vintage all along.

I thought I'd use some fabrics again - just for fun.

Not sure if that one works, though. Perhaps more sinister edit?

Or different fabric?

Maybe this has little bit of a fashion feel? What do you think? I'm so new to fashion that I don't really know, I'm mostly guessing.

Or something like this?

Haha, that one's like OMG, my head! I can't take this any longer! I was trying to throw some interesting shadows on the background, but it wasn't easy to work with paper backdrop. Would probably be easier to work with shadows on a wall that the model can get close to, or touch and lean on, even.

More play with fabrics...

As I was editing some of these photos just now, I started to question myself whether I have gone completely Lightroom preset crazy. Am I over-doing the editing? I don't know. I'll see how I feel in the morning. Or next week. Would love to hear some comments from others... do let me know if you have an opinion. Put it as bluntly as you can. I don't get offended.

Such a great shoot, everyone enjoyed it hugely - including my lighting assistant.

Did you notice what I just said? I had a lighting assistant today! Haha. First time ever! Her name is Becca and she did such a wonderful job that I don't know whether I'd want to have a shoot without an assistant ever again! :-)

Steampunk Hidden Taxidermist

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 22:59:00 +0000

We went to a marvellous evening called Steampunk Hidden Taxidermist at the Marlborough this evening. What on earth is that, I hear you ask? Well, it's "a Neo-Victorian Cabaret featuring stuffed strange animal artefacts, mostly deceased by 100 years, live music, bizarre burlesque and interactive malarkey." What an earth is that, I hear you ask again... haha. Well, here's a sneak view into the evening: (Warning, there will be some near-nudity)

The wonderful Tarik Elmoutawakil

First act, the enormously talented cellist/singer of The Moulettes. (I didn't catch her name... she performed instead of another act that was cancelled)

Followed by the malarkey bit.

Then the hauntingly beautiful Billie Rae came on stage.

If you read my New Year's Eve blog post you might remember that Billie Rae is also a fire performer!

Then a true character, Marianna Harlotta, who performed strangely familiar songs in her unique way and had everyone laughing and whooping.

Enter The Iron Boot Scrapers.

As you can see, it's a tiny venue, really. Very fun and friendly one.

To finish, Bille Rae performed another marvellous act.

Apparently this was the last Steampunk Hidden XX event of the season. When they return in the autumn, I'm very much tempted to attend again. I recommend you do, too!

Today is even mistier

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:34:00 +0000

Wonderfully misty day today. Had to take a proper camera with me when I went for a walk with the dogs.

Thought I'd go to a different part of the woods today so that I'd get photos of different kind of trees from my usual.

Loved the bright green new leaves!

Visibility about 100 yards or less...

This tree is great. Look how it has grown a massive root across the path. Wonder what it does with those who trip over it?

Here's Tigger gracefully springing over the root.

It's so difficult to get any photos without at least one dog in it. Whenever I stop to take a photo, they come over and enter my shot. They are such hams.

See?

It was a great walk. So spooky in the woods when it's this misty.

Even spookier in black and white! ;-)