Lastest blog posts
Free ebook - Toys On Tour
You read it correctly, there's a free ebook on offer with this post. I've had an ebook making app sitting on my iPad for a few years and I've only just got round to completing a book for distribution to the world. Download your copy now... Read post
The seaside staple
For some reason, just about every time I go to the seaside on a sunny day I buy a toy windmill, the more colourful the better, and take a set of blurred motion pictures. Once I've finished I give it away - usually to a family with a young kid in tow... Read post.
The return of the animated gif
Way back in the 1990s, when the internet was new, animated images - usually cute or comic - became incredibly popular. They died out as video streaming became more popular but over the past year, the animated gif has been making a comeback... Read post.
Zooming in on the subject
Dull conditions are common if you live in Britain and there are times when you just have to make the best of it. However, low light is good for working with zoom burst, the process of twisting a zoom lens during a relatively short exposure... Read post
Camera shake in the woods
For me, woodland photography is an exercise in coping with low light. If I feel strong, I carry a tripod for long exposure work. If not, I slow the shutter down anyway and indulge in a little intentional camera movement (ICM)... Read post
Beautiful to see and hear
When I encounter musicians playing in the street, the former musician in me starts judging the quality of their musical performance - or lack of it. However, these days I also find myself considering how I might like to photograph them... Read post
Lumen printing - catching the sun
When people think of photography, they generally assume a camera will be involved. However, the strict definition of photography is the creation of a durable image by recording light either on an electronic sensor or on a surface treated with light-sensitive chemicals. Although a camera makes the process of capturing an image more efficient, it's possible to work without one... Read post.
Front window exposure at The Arterie
I've recently had the very good fortune to have some prints accepted by The Arterie Gallery and Picture Framers in East Dulwich. It was exciting when they first went into the display rack but when I heard two of them were on show in the front window I had to run down, take a photo and shout about it.... Read post
Spring beauty with jagged edges
Every spring the web becomes flooded with pictures of trees adorned in pink and white blossom. It's a welcome relief after the misery of winter to see the spring blooms but how to make your picture stand out from the rest? I tried going lo-fi with a plastic camera, a roll of cheap film and a bit of fooling about with Photoshop... Read post
It's pinhole derby day
Toys are excellent for pinhole photography subjects - they don't mind sitting still for hours on end and they don't complain that you've made them look fat. Pinhole photography lets you get really close up on the miniature world...Read post
Marching with stop animation
Stop animation has always interested me and I had the idea of creating an animation using toy military bandsmen to illustrate a track by the great guitarist and composer Billy Jenkins. I set about photographing a mixed bunch of toys and pieced them together to produce a minute of animated musical anarchy using simple iMovie software. It took a bit of patience but it was fun...Read post
Impressionism with a Lensbaby
The world is full of razor sharp, perfectly-exposed floral pictures - you have to put in a lot of careful work to compete with these at the best of times. If you're working in a crowded space, poor light and a tripod is right out of the question, it's time to try a different way of getting the picture... Read post
Winding back to film
When I bought my first digital camera it looked like I'd given up film for good. If someone had said I'd be using film again within five years I would have laughed at them until they cried. It turned out film was far from dead... Read post
Motoring with flash
For years I thought flash was simply something you used to compensate for bad light. Flash guns cost money and on-board flash seemed to make people look startled and turned their eyes red. However, all that changed when I finally read a book about flash techniques and began to unlock their creative power... Read post