Fontaine de Medicis in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris

I’m really pleased with this photograph of the Fontaine de Medicis in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris. Taken last autumn on the wonderful little Fuji X-10 compact, when converted to black and white the image takes on a sombre moodiness that perfectly matches the almost gothic look of the subject and oozes with texture when printed.

After experimenting with various tones in Lightroom and Nik software I settled on a simple vintage cream look…for now at least – my ‘own recipe’ Lith effect and grainy versions looked pretty good too!

The Medici Fountain has a long and interesting history, well documented on Wikipedia (I’m sure there will be more authoritative sources if you care to research further).

Pleached Lime Avenue at Mottisfont Abbey. Nikon D300s, 105mm Micro-Nikkor, 125th at f8.0

The pleached lime avenue at Mottisfont Abbey is one of the major features of this outstanding National Trust owned garden at Romsey in Hampshire. I wanted to show the starkness of the trees in their winter uniform and the overall scale of the avenue but I was concerned about the yawning hole in the centre of my symmetrical composition. So, I positioned myself as far back as I could, mounted my camera on a tripod with my longest available lens in order to compress the perspective a little, and waited…

I’d spotted the gardener busily going about his work and knew that he would be the final element I needed. Sure enough, after a few minutes he made his way down the path and, after a couple of frustrating stops with his back turned to the camera, I had my shot. Very often it’s the preparation that makes the difference, even in candid photography…

…to my new blog. Actually, it’s not new at all, just the old one with a makeover!

Over the past few months I’ve been establishing a new business called Art In The Garden and making a new home for my photography training and workshops alongside other specialist tutors. If you’re interested in garden and flower photography workshops and inspiration you can find out more at www.art-inthegarden.com.

In the meantime the Turner Photo Training website, now renamed www.photogardener.co.uk, will continue to be my own personal photography blog and will reflect my passion for photography and my favourite subjects, including garden photography, documentary portraits, street photography and reportage. You’ll notice a distinct change in style too, as more of my favourite black and white comes to the fore, alongside tinting, toning and vintage techniques. My colour photography will continue over at Art In The Garden.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say – I hope you’ll pick up the thread of my blog once again as the posts start to flow and follow me on the next phase of my photographic journey.

Cheers

Michael

Next month Janet and I will be heading for the warm seas and blue skies of the Aegean Regatta, starting on Lesbos Island at the Eastern end of the Aegean. Although we’re both seasoned Aegean sailors this is only my second time at the regatta and Janet’s first. We’re getting quite excited now…the anticipation takes me back to 2007 when I first raced in this event, courtesy of our good friend Jonathon Chandler of Athens Sailing Academy. The 2007 edition also started from Lesbos so it will be a trip down memory lane for me when we arrive in the island’s capaital, Mytilini.

On that occasion I raced on on Koralia3, Jonathon’s 55′ ketch, with an itinerant crew of British, Dutch and Americans on board. The gallery of photographs above are from the 2007 event. This time we’ll be having our first experience of ‘formula one style’ racing on a Volvo 60 stripped out race boat called Spirit of Poros. We’ve been promised a much faster and much wetter ride than we’ve ever had before. Here’s a link to some video footage of Spirit of Poros from an early season race this year http://youtube/cO01RCx-rZ4 As is often the case with yacht racing, many of the crew will never have met before the race but, as last time, I’m sure that Jonathan will hone us into a finely drilled unit in the two days we’ll have to prepare. All good fun in the sun!

It’s not all hard work of course, there’ll be lots of shore time, tavernas to sample and Greek hospitality to enjoy. Can’t wait..

My next mini-tour is less than a couple of weeks away…..I’m at Tewkesbury, Exeter and Southampton on consecutive days 14th-16th May. You can find out more on The Societies website. In the meantime, here are a couple of montages from my March seminars…..

Contact the SWPP Head Office asap if you’d like to book for the May events. See you there!

I set the photo-ramblers the task of capturing ‘texture’. It’s easy to take the everyday things around you for granted – having a project to work on, even a broad-based topic such as this, helps to focus attention and give a purpose to your photography. Here are a few of my images from the morning….

Styal Country Park is very popular with walkers and joggers, and of course, dogs….

I’ll leave the last word with photo-rambler Sandra, who didn’t realise that she was being watched as she concentrated on capturing the textures of this tree. You never know when Secret Squirrel is watching…

The 100 mile crossings in gale force winds and heavy seas were certainly ‘interesting’ and the Easter celebrations in Patmos didn’t disappoint either. The festivities start in sombre tone at dusk on Good Friday, as Christ’s bier (a mock coffin decorated with flowers) is carried ceremoniously through the streets. The accompanying flares and firecrackers create an unforgettable spectacle.

Throughout the build up there are numerous church ceremonies and a period of fasting, reaching a climax at midnight on Saturday evening when, during long and intense services in every church, Christ is declared to have risen. The celebrations and fireworks take over, accompanied by feasting and dancing….and more firecrackers.

A light-hearted tradition is that hard boiled eggs are dyed red, to symbolise Christ’s blood, and then bashed together in a top and tail family table game at mealtimes. The winner is the person whose egg is still intact at the end of the challenges. All good fun.

With it’s mix of Roman ruins, industrial heritage and modern city architecture this particular area of Manchester is alive with photographic opportunities so there was more emphasis on ‘photo’ than ‘ramble’….we didn’t stray too far from our start point (and the coffee at Dukes 92).

This was one of the most enjoyable rambles we’ve had so far – fantastic company, photos galore and all in a good cause too. Our current season of charity walks and talks is in support of Beechwood Cancer Care in Stockport and the next ramble is on Saturday 21st April at Styal Country Park. Why not join us?

Here are a few of my images from the day…..sometimes it’s just good to play :

Arriving in Zion National Park I spotted this information board that summed up perfectly the challenges of landscape photography and of being able to do justice to such breathtaking scenery in a two-dimensional image….

Entitled ’You Make The Picture’, the board simply says this…

The Great White Throne challenges photographers, amateurs and professionals alike. Changing light and shadow change the mountain’s mood and the pictures you can get. Let your imagination guide your lens. Remember that your camera only records what it’s pointed at – you make the picture.

Quite a challenge then. Unlike nearby Bryce Canyon where you are on the rim looking down, in Zion you’re in the bottom of the canyon looking up. Some parts of the valley floor rarely see the sun whereas the mountain tops, including The Great White Throne, are bathed in bright sunshine most days of the year.

One of the challenges of landscape photography is to know the prime locations, the best seasons and the optimum time of day -professional  landscape photographers will make every effort to get these elements right. As a casual tourist, just passing through, the knack is to work out the path of the sun and figure out when and where it will appear. That’s the theory anyway, but quite often, especially when you’re travelling with family and friends, it’s sometimes just a case of making a best guess and hoping that you manage to be in the right place at the right time!

One way to give yourself the best chance is to get up early – it nearly always pays off and so it proved for us on this occasion. Arriving at Zion Lodge late in the afternoon we managed a quick recce of the valley before dark. As magnificent as the scenery was, the sun had already deserted us and the light was relatively flat and uninteresting….

Staying in the heart of the valley, with the mountains on our doorstep, we were optimistic that the light would be better first thing in the morning and we weren’t disappointed.

Zion presented me with two major photo-opportunities during the course of the morning. At first light the rising sun kissed the mountain tops with an electric glow and the best vantage point was, conveniently, the balcony of our lodge. Minute by minute the light was changing and the sliver of gold on the top of the ridge got bigger and bigger. After an early breakfast and a speedy checkout we drove half a mile or so further into the valley where sunshine was gaining in strength and picking out the silvery bark of the aspen trees in spectacular style. As intimated on the board, trying to capture the majesty of this scenery in one shot is challenging, if not impossible, so rather than trying to photograph the whole grand vista I concentrated on the areas where the light was at it’s most magical.  I used my imagination and ‘pointed my camera’ into the light to bring out the sparkle….

Entering competitions is a great way to tax your creative mind and and improve your photography. Even if you don’t win, your photography will still have moved on as a result and I encourage all photographers, whatever their speciality,  to enter competitions whenever they can.

Here are my two commended images, both of trees as it happens. The first image is of an urban forest in Almere-Buiten, Netherlands and the second, closer to home, is of Mellor Churchyard near Stockport.

There are some stunningly beautiful winning images this year. You can view all of the winning and commended images on the International Garden Photographer of the Year website at www.igpoty.com  Details of Competition 6 have also been announced – garden photographers take note and get your creative thinking caps on!