Hello readers,

First of all apologies to those who have been asking why I haven't posted for a while. Quite simply I haven't had time to keep you all updated with my chaotic life. I hope to try and remedy that now.... Be prepared as I may ramble somewhat:

Firstly,
I recently had the pleasure of a working for Becky Patterson and Iain Richmond of Black Isle stud in the The Black Isle, Scotland. Black Isle stud is located on a peninsular near Inverness, the Cairngorms acting as a backdrop to this wonderful location.
The brief was to photograph a selection of their astonishing horses in preparation for the launch of their new website.
I won't bore you with details of the 8 hour train journey to get there, but on arrival I was given a warm welcome by Becky and Iain, and after a fish supper and a guinness or three I retired for the evening. (sub note: I had thought about setting my alarm as to be up for the sunrise... However on realising that far north the sun came up at around 3.40am I canned that idea and decided sleep was more important)
The next day started early (ish) with location shots and images of the buildings and stables. Followed by a hearty breakfast and then onto the main order of the day... The horses.
One by one they were led to a schooling area and allowed to run and play whilst I tried my best to capture their poise and movement. Some of the more frisky beasts negated being actually in the schooling area with them, so I shot some from outside the perimeter fence, others were of a more placid nature and I could actually be in there with them. That said, I still firmly believe there is not better cure for constipation than having an Arab stallion run at you then swerve so close that you feel the wake in the air as it passes! Here's me having a poo and trying not to scream whilst Becky simply stands there with a long schooling whip, laughing and telling a leviathan of an animal to stop being a silly boy.... And it actually listens and does as it's told! The bond between these animals and their owners is something to behold.
Over about 13 hours I photographed, and I saw in each animal an intelligence and character that I only hope I managed to capture. As with any photography job north of the border weather is an important factor, and we were blessed with fair weather most of the day. The constantly changing light presented it's own challenges in a technical sense, but only added to what was an already fantastic shoot.
I have posted one or two pictures below (nearly 1800 were taken in total and around 500 were selected in the final edit)
Becky has a blog which she now promises to keep updated.. Read it HERE and you can also follow Becky on twitter HERE Once again, thanks to Becky and Iain for there gracious hospitality and giving me the opportunity to work with them. Once their website is up and running I will post a link.

Ok, next on the agenda is my mate Simon Hart, a brilliant poet and wordsmith. You may recall a picture I posted whilst talking about emotive subjects and Mr Hart created a poem based on that picture. You can read it HERE also take a look at his other work whilst your there. Simon is on twitter too and you can follow him HERE. 
Anyway, I decided to turn the tables and post a picture based on one of his poems. The poem he chose was this:

There is a pause before he starts,
Before the music he imparts
Leaves his fingers, a sweet refrain,
No expectation, there is no strain
To create perfection through the strings,
To force, amongst so many things,
The song, the frets, to have one voice
He’ll let it flow, he has that choice,
There is no need to narrow down
The tone, the key, the first clear sound.
He takes a breath, clears all thought,
Adjusts the strap so it’s not caught,
Closes eyes, feels it there,
Knows he does not need the prayer
But says it, one last time
Before he plays, and starts to shine.

I started by envisioning a scene which would do this piece of work justice and relate to it's content. I spent several hours creating a backdrop, lighting effects, spot lights, textures and numerous other photoshop mastery... The final result was appalling and rapidly ended up in the recycle bin.. Where did I go wrong? Easy... I simply overcomplicated it and tried to hard.
However, I did stumble across a picture I took whilst up at the aforementioned Black Isle Stud. One evening we were sat chatting and Iain pulled out an old guitar and I took a picture as he was playing. Side by side my photoshop monstrosity and this image have nothing in common. This picture to me represents a lot of what Simon wrote about and the relaxed atmosphere in which it is set adds a personal touch that holds pleasant memories too. So here is my offering to your exquisite words Mr Hart:

And finally,

My daughter seems to be taking an interest in photography and on a recent walk she told me she wanted to take a picture with my camera... This is nothing new, I could show you memory cards filled with pictures of ducks, her own feet, the sky etc etc..... However on this occasion she was very specific about the image she wanted to capture.  She told me and I set the camera up based on her specifications and let her shoot to her hearts content.  This is the final image she chose and I have got to say, it's pretty damn good.

"Daddy in a Tunnel" - by Grace (age 9 and 3 Months):

Well thats just about it from me, thanks for reading. Please leave a comment or I will hunt you down etc etc.

Final thought, should you have an idea for an image and you want me to have a go at creating it please just let me know.

Bye for now.

Matt

Out of my comfort zone.

Ok, Short blog entry but wanted to share something with you all.

Its quite simple really, I had a particularly tough day yesterday what with one thing and another and I also had quite a lot of editing to do from a shoot earlier in the week.  It dawned on me that my interpretation and 'gut feelings' for the images I was working on had changed from the day before.  When I felt happy an image would look totally different to when I was feeling low and emotional, I just never realised 'how' different the same image could look depending on my ememotional state. 

We all know that the film industry used sound and musical scores to emphasise the emotion of a scene, galleries often arrange works of art to take the viewer on a specific journey of the mind and heart, yet as photographers we have to rely on a single or series of prints to convey everything we want to say.  Yeah ok we could do a slide show and add some music but that's not my 'thing' to be honest, I still like to hold a print in my hand and look at it in my own time.

Its a tough thing to do.... To tell a story in one shot. 

Try it.... Let me know how you get on.

A few pictures (just Snaps)

Rather than loads of boring writing here's some pictures I took at the skate park whilst out with the kids.

A little insight into my workflow.....

OK, you may have noticed my new avatar on twitter... I thought I would share how I made this image with you.  Its not in any way a tutorial or anything like that... Simply a chance for you to see what can be done at a fairly simple level.

Actually, when I say simple it's not simple, its really quite complicated, but I meant that it is simple compared to some of the stunning photoshop work that's out there...

So this is what we ended up with...

So to start with I loaded a background image into photoshop:

Then I loaded a picture of me sitting on that same bench (except it was an iPhone photo taken by my son this time) into the same document and adjusted the size and colouration, I also cut out sections so that they images would blend together, I also added a few extra components to give the image a little more interest:
(in this image you can see the extra bits I added to the original photo):

Then bring all the components (the Background and the additional bits) together into one flattened layer. I will call this flattened (this just means all grouped together) layer BASELAYER, as I refer to it later:

So that look OK but its nothing special... I wanted a misty surreal rays of light image so..

I firstly added a gradient map, this is a way of converting to black and white except it gives me a little more control over the contrast and 'punch' of the conversion, you'll notice that I have left some colour in the lily in this next image. I did this using a Layer mask on the gradient map, as I didn't want to lose the lily in the background:

Next a Colour fill layer with a sepia or warm tone:

Right, I want a little of the original colour to com back through, so I took a copy of the 'BASELAYER' and added it to the top of my layers stack, then reduce the opacity right back to around 15%.... Once I did this I then flattened the whole thing down into one layer again ready for lighting effects... ((Actually I didn't, I merged visibles into a new top of stack layer by using ALT+Merge visible so i could retain my layers beneath but it was easier to explain it that way.))

OK so now the light.... I made a copy of the new background, added zoom blur at max from top left corner, set blending mode to 'Screen' and removed any unwanted effect using a layer mask:

Finally, in a new layer i added some mist by simply painting on some white with a reduced opacity brush and fiddled with it in the layer mask.

Ta Daaaaaaa:

Its not a super sleek pro job, and its wouldn't stand up to much criticism if viewed too closely, but you get the idea right??

Also, the chances are that non of that made much sense to you... but here's the thing, there are loads of tutorials on YouTube to get you working with the basics of photoshop. Go have a look and give it a try..

Tip of the day: A bland snapshot can suddenly look amazing by simply converting it to black and white.

My brain hurts now from too much typing, have a great day.

So it comes to this.....

Clearly I have been banging on about photography in here for the last few posts, and when I started this blog that certainly wasn't my intention.... I thought of it more as a place to vent my thoughts, because I tend to let them bubble up in my head until they spill out of my ears, and even a simple conversation becomes a tiresome affair with those who engage me.... I tend to flit from subject to subject and my attention span is about 3 and a half seconds.

So anyway, heres just a three of the things that have been buzzing around in my head.... I'm really sorry but they do.

1: "What is the worst that could happen?"...........
Um, I hear this said a lot, and to be honest I don't know why we say it. It focusses on the negative and even if we try to imagine the worst, I promise you it's no where near as bad as what could 'Actually' happen.....
F'rinstance, a bloke who worked as a maintenance engineer in a newspaper printing factory was asked to remove a jam in the machine.  He thought to himself, I'll just pull it out without interrupting the process........ Go on, ask yourself, "whats the worst that could happen?"... What did you come up with? Injury? disciplinary? Death????
Let me tell you... He leaned over a safety barrier to remove the jammed paper, the barrier prevents people getting anywhere near the 40 foot wide ream of paper that is moving at 30 mph at waist height.... He slipped and the edge of the fast moving paper cut through the crotch of his overalls and put a 1 1/2 deep inch paper cut in his bell end... right across the japs eye!!! (men reading this will right now be sat cross legged, wincing and biting the backs of their hands) He needed 45 stitches and now has to stand sideways on to the toilet when having a pee just to hit the bowl.
So the next time you ask yourself "whats the worst that could happen?" remember this tale of a man who very nearly lost his.....tail.

2: Why is childrens TV so crap?
Yeah I know I'm gonna sound really old now so I shall apologise to my own kids in advance, but really, what has happened to kids TV?  BTW my kids have watched all my dvd box sets but still insist that current childrens tv is much better.....so...
The only way I can think to settle this is all out war, I am assembling (in my head) an army, a fighting force so undeniably awesome that the modern childrens tv would not stand a chance.  At the head of my army would be the supreme commander 'Bagpuss' who always thought of the right thing to do in a tight spot.  The infantry would be a combination of He-Man, Thundercats, Terrahawks, She-Ra, The entire cast of Dungeons and Dragons, Transformers, everyone from Fraggle Rock and Dogtanian and the three Muskerhounds.  Specialist units would be 'Intelligence' - Dangermouse, 'Operations' - Supergran, 'Internal Post' - Postman Pat (and I mean proper postman Pat.. Not the new crappy computer generated ginger tosspot'), 'Technology and Satellites' - Mr Spoon from Button Moon working in partnership with Inspector Gadget and finally 'Covert Operations' - Worzel Gummage.
So come on you young pretenders..... What can you bring to the table huh? Yeah I didn't think so!!!

BTW: Click on each of these links for a nice trip down memory lane:

Here Here Here Here Here Here Here Here Here and Here


3: Fatherhood!
I'm a Dad a Father and a Daddy, three very distinct sub-roles within one, my two kids are the most important things in my life, and I know that pretty much every parent reading this will feel exactly the same way in relation to their own children.... My own two suprise me, make me laugh and bring sunshine to my life every day.  Recent changes in my life have meant that I may not have been as attentive as perhaps I normally would be, and I have to plan my days just to spend some quality time with them, but they are coping really well and they are still being so amazing....  So this bit was just to say to them:

Callum and Grace, I love you both, and thank you for making me so proud every day.

Now stop reading this waffle and go and hug your kids or tell them you love them or something m'kay?

Thanks for reading.... Now comment or I'll subconciously plant the Agadoo song in your head and IT WON'T GO AWAY FOR HOURS.

Guest blog post from an expert....

Greeting my lovely readers....

This next post is has been written by Jude Middleton, a fantastic wedding and portrait photographer, so if you are serious about improving your skills please have a good read.

I asked Jude if she would write some guidance notes for the absolute beginner, a "where to start" kind of thing... As per usual she has come up trumps.

After reading please visit her website HERE and her own superb blog HERE

Thanks again Jude.....

Hi! My name is Jude and I’m a professional photographer. I spend most of my time working on weddings and portraits. One thing is for sure about photography – you can never stop learning.  With that in mind, Matt has asked me to write a few words about tips for beginners, so here goes –

Tip one –

Light and composition make images, so learn as much as you can about them both. 

Controlling light means not over or under exposing your images, having the subject well lit and defining the focal point of your image with light.  Sound confusing? It can be, to the point where very large tomes have been composed on the subject. Don’t let that put you off! Buy a beginners book and learn how the settings on your cameras affect the exposure of your images.  Decide how you want your image to look and take a few pics of the same thing, using different settings and see what is different about each one. 

Composition is how the components of your image are arranged so that they are pleasing to the eye and interesting to look at. Rule of thirds, S bend, Centre... Google the subject – it’s pretty in depth but again, an integral part of your images. 

You can set your camera to auto and put all your subjects into the centre of your picture and every now and again you will get a good shot.  Learning to manage these components gives you greater control and means that you will get great images more often than not and they will be your art, not an accident.

Tip two –

Depth of field affects both light and composition.  Learn what it means and how to use it to enhance your photography.

I won’t go into this further than to say this is your ‘f’ number.  It’s an in depth subject, but also vital to understand.  Google is your friend here.

Tip three-

Learn about your equipment.

This means making friends with your instruction manual and/or buying a companion book for your camera.  The first time you read your manual, it may just go over your head, or a few things might be recognisable to you.  Don’t panic.  After you’ve used you camera a few times and taken a few pictures, you should pick the manual up again and read the sections about the parts of your image you want to control.  You should be able to relate a little better to the language. If not, buy a companion book.  They usually use more friendly language and relate technical points to everyday situations.  If you have invested a lot of money in your camera, you owe it to yourself to understand how it works.  Modern SLR’s are very sophisticated, even at entry level.  To get any kind of value for money, you need to understand your equipment.

The same goes for your lenses J

Tip four-

Buy one lens with an aperture of at least f1.8, probably 35mm. 

Once you understand about depth of field, you will know why.  They are not incredibly expensive (usually around £150 or less), but they enhance your creative potential infinitely.

Tip five-

Find some photography friends.

Go on twitter, join a local group, follow some blogs.  Talk with other photographers of all experience levels about your craft.  Chat about your equipment and ask questions about things you don’t understand. Analyse each other’s work and use the critiques to hone your skills. Give your opinion freely, but make sure you base what you are saying on sound concepts and always be constructive.  Think about how you would like a particular opinion expressed to you. Peer groups can be your best and most effective way of growing as a photographer, so long as you keep them constructive and always about the image.

Now, what are you waiting for?  Get out there and take some pictures! This time, the pictures you want to take, not just the ones you end up with.

Jude xxx

(Many thanks again Jude.... Matt)

In answer to Christines question....

Greetings,

Thank you all for your kind comments on the last entry, one of those comments from 'Christine' asked a question about HDR (High Dynamic Range) and so I will try to answer it in my usual rambling way...

"Christine said...

I love this blog!! After reading this last post, and can I say the portraits are stunning, I have enrolled on a basic camera skills night school course. Thank you.

If you have time can you explain "HDR" in terms I can understand? It appears a lot on photo websites and my iPhone even has a HDR function but no instructions as to how to use it! All I know is that the images in HDR seem to have a surreal quality to them.

Thanks in advance, and please keep your entertaining and informative blog alive an kicking.

Regards Christine "

Right,

Dynamic Range refers to the amount of contrast (light and shadow) detail we can see in a single image, so "High" Dynamic range refers to images where we can see a bigger range of detail in shadows and highlights....

The human eye is an amazing piece of kit, when we look at something we can see all the details in the shadows and all the details in the brightly lit bits at the same time. This is due to the awesome design of the eye itself and also the fact that our Iris (pupil) and brain are working to continually adjust to the conditions and fill in the details. All this happens so fast that we just see a complete correctly exposed and detailed image.

Ooooooh, before I go on I must mention 'Exposure' (the amount of light the eye/lens/film/sensor is exposed to)... So, we see things because of light being reflected back into our eye yes? Well exposure is just how much of that light we let in, and this is controlled by the iris (pupil) opening and closing to either let in more or less light. A camera is the same, we control the exposure by adjusting the lens aperture (an iris within the lens), or the amount of time we let the light in for (shutter speed). If something is too bright we can say too much light is being let in (over exposed), if its too dark then we are not letting enough light in (under exposed) and when it s just right we can say it is correctly exposed.....

So we agree that the eye is awesome and can see a huge range of detail in shadows and highlights at the same time....

Now lets apply that to a camera. Unfortunately the camera can not see such a massive range of contrast at the same time (The Dynamic Range is not as big). As a rule we have to, as photographers, when taking a picture of a high contrast (Very dark and very bright bits at the same time) scene, pick our settings so that the most important part of the picture is correctly exposed, knowing that we will lose detail in other parts of the picture which fall outside of the cameras range. Eg:





The majority of the picture is correctly exposed, but we have lost details in the areas I have circled where the camera cannot record the detail as it falls outside of its dynamic range.

The other extremes would be to set our exposure to record just the highlights or just the shadows like in these next two pictures (I have this time circled the areas I want to be correctly exposed in green)






So we now have three images with different correctly exposed parts and that's where High Dynamic Range comes in. Its either a piece of software on the computer or built into your camera that allows these three (or more) images to be brought together in one balanced image. Where we can see details in the highlights and the shadows all at the same time.

The result looks something like this when it comes out of the processing stage.....



You can see that the whole image is fairly well exposed, from the shadows to the highlights, with details within all of those parts.... It does however look a bit "painterly". This is because when we look at this scene in real life we can see the brightness and the shadow and everything in between, but the HDR processing darkens the bright bits, lightens the dark bits and messes about with the bits in the middle... what we are left with is not actually a high range, but the same range with Highlights and shadows adjusted to fit in with it.

If you are processing an HDR image on the computer with a program like Photomatix you can play with different levels off effect, to make the image appear more natural or even a psychedelic grungy mess, its very easy to over process as even the lightest processing still has a slightly painterly quality to it.

So that's basically HDR in a nutshell, I'm sure the purists among you will notice that I have over simplified this a great deal and missed out a lot of technical crap. That was my intention, if you want to read about differential light pattern encoders and reflected luminescent prismatic correction I will be happy to discuss it with you at www.don't_be _so_frikkin_dull_and_get_out_and_take_photos.com (<that's a joke).

Thanks for reading half of this then getting bored and having a sandwich.

Here's a picture of a blackbird that pissed me off by sitting outside my window and singing at 5 am this morning!!!!!



Until next time.... Byeeeeeee
(p.s. Leave comments or you will grow a boil on your bum!)

Headshots.... With a camera not a gun!!

Hello again,

I had a thought last night... (yes I do have them occasionally)! I shall try and keep this simple because I don't know many long words, and to be honest I am pretty damn tired due to a certain someone keeping me on the phone until gone 3am (yes you!!!)... Anyway, I just wanted to ask you all to try something, and as I know a lot of you (Why do I always think thousands of people read this?) will not be comfortable with it, I went out myself today and did it, just to prove it can be done....

Its often the case that we sit around and observe people, we have a fascination with strangers (I certainly do anyway) and we love to watch them (big brother? I rest my case) but rarely does the average photographer stop a person in the street and take their picture... Why? Because we feel as though we are intruding? Being rude? Terrified of what exactly?.... The thing is that people make fascinating subjects and we let them pass us by every single day, content with the thousands of pictures of our cat on our hard drive instead. So here's the challenge..

I want you (hopes someone is actually gonna do this) to hit the street with your camera, and when you see someone who looks interesting, take their picture.

Now before you rush off can I please try to impart a few bits of friendly advice:

1: Get up close and personal:
 I used a 50mm prime lens which means I had to stand right in front of them, which also means asking them if you can take their picture.  The temptation is to go out with your kit zoom lens and try and take covert shots... DON'T. Firstly you are likely to get arrested and secondly you will not get a great shot.
I simply went up to 'Interesting looking person' and said "excuse me, I'm taking pictures of interesting looking people living in or visiting (insert name of location), would you mind if I take your photograph?".
Now here's the shocking bit... every single person I asked said "um.... OK". Now the reason they all said Ok is because you have already said they are "interesting looking" and they are a little bit flattered.

2. Keep it casual:
Point your DSLR at the average 'Joe' in the street and they are under your spell... You have to direct them, tell them what to do, remind them to breath in and out etc... Now my personal style is kinda natural, so I don't like posed shots. What I did was simply have a chat, "where you from?" "what brings you to this neck of the woods?" anything to get them chatting, use open questions (one that are impossible to answer YES/NO to) to keep them talking, and once they are, they will relax in front of the camera.
"so your daughters at university?" click click "you must be very proud, just look this way a bit" click click "and whats your dog called" click click..... It's not easy, and to be honest you have to ooze confidence even if confident is the last thing you feel, but swallow your nerves and have a go.

3. Be prepared and keep it short:
Try to have your kit set up and ready to go before you approach someone.  People generally are prepared to spare a few moments with you, however it won't last long. Particularly if you're buggering about Umming ans Ahhing and trying to remember where the 'On' button is (Trust me I have done this! It makes you feel like a right pillock). Have a look at the lighting available, the background, the conditions and set up accordingly. Then approach someone and wow them with your professionalism.

4. Get details:
When someone agrees to be snapped make a note of their name and if possible email address so that you can sent them a copy of the picture. They will thank you for it and personally I think it's just polite. Also, if you publish the pics anywhere (eg Blog) you should name credit them.

Do Not!!!!!
Go anywhere isolated if you are alone, that kit round your neck could be sold in the pub within a few hours whilst you wait to be seen in casualty (I am speaking from personal experience). Just stay safe, work in pairs if you can, and if you can't.... stay in public areas.

So anyway... that's my challenge.

Here's a few of my photos: (as usual please open the photos up fully to see them properly)

 Sue Pemsel (walking dog (called Meg) with husband Mike Pemsel, Just returned from a holiday in Turkey)

 Mike Pemsel (See Sue Pemsel)

Stan McCarthy (aged 86, in town for some fresh air, a war veteran and hoping to be "immoralised" in my photograph, a very lovely man)

Ben McCart (Skater dude in town to ride the new skatepark, doesn't have internet or email at the moment but will be getting it soon)

So there you are, half an hour and I have 4 street portraits and I didn't have to try too hard.

Give it a go, you might surprise yourself.

Matt

Canal walks, Dog shit and Shape and Form..

Hello my faithful blog followers *stares at a empty room* - Ah crap.

Right, I'm going to make an appeal to those of you who read this who are thinking about improving your photography skills...

I went out to the cinema today with the kids (they feature a lot in my photo's and blog entries: I have no other life.) which involves a short walk along the canal towpath which we can access from the end of the garden. 

Actually before I appeal to budding photographers could I first appeal to dog owners... You know those signs that say "clean up after your dog"? they're for YOU!! I am sick and tired of doing a dogshit slalom every time I want to walk somewhere because you think that its OK to ignore the fact that your dog has just laid a stinking brown egg in the middle of the path... I am seriously considering doing a stake out and everytime someone's dog has an ignored crap I will follow you home and return it to you.....!

Where was I ... ?

Oh yeah, so we're walking to the cinema and I have my old D700 (that's a Nikon Slr type camera) slung over my shoulder (as per usual I always have a camera on me, it's always when you don't have one that you miss something awesome) and I am snapping away like a crocodile in a swimming pool (does that analogy work?... Whatever) and I've seen a particularly interesting leaf of something that I'm focusing on, when a bloke says "'scuse me mate can I ask you about your camera?". Turns out he is carrying a Nikon D80 and he asks me where he can get a good deal on a better camera. Now here's the bit that I'm appealing to you about, this fella, nice as he was, already has a few hundred quids worth of camera weighing him down, yet he was of the firm belief that by spending hundreds more, he will suddenly become the next great name in photographic circles, with his work adorning the walls of the best galleries on the planet.... Wrong. It's quite a simple principle,but the difference between the hardware that we use is not that great, a few extra pixels here, a better lens there, but the greatest tool to anyone can have is a little knowledge and experience. So before you plan on remortgaging the house to buy a Hassleblad, buy a few photo tutorial type magazines or even do a weeks worth of night school classes in photographic basics. Ask yourself the following question "What is the rule of thirds, Shutter speed, Aperture and Sensitivity and how do they affect the photos I'm taking?", and if you can't answer it then find out, because a few simple tricks and that little bit of knowledge will change how you take pictures forever....

To illustrate my point, and this may backfire if you hate the picture, I was doing a Shape and Form study

this weekend and I took a few shots using my iPhone, just the camera, no fancy apps or anything. Hopefully it demonstrates that you can take a good (ish) quality photo using the most basic equipment.

Before that though, 2 pictures I snapped whilst out and about, I'd post more but to be honest i can't be arsed...

As per usual, click on the images and open them up for the best quality.

The first is Callum, just before I pushed him in the canal (joke!), I think the reflection is kinda cool....

Next is a Heron mid flight, it very nearly shat on me!

And finally an iPhone picture, just an iphone picture, not £1000's of pounds worth of kit.

Thanks for reading, I hope you don't feel like it's a waste of time.

And PLEASE PLEASE leave comments or questions.

Matt

Welcome to the first entry on my new blog.

As you would expect, I am completely at a loss as to what to write, and considering that my brain usually works at 200 mph I guess this is a first for me.

I suppose I had better start with a little about me... Born in Bradford, England I was raised by a pack of feral chickens in a disused nuclear reactor.... OK, sorry, just born in Bradford!

I have been a train driver for the last 11 years, and I have been making a second living from my photography work for a while now too.  This this blog is simply somewhere for me to write down some thoughts, and if you are daft enough to be reading them then thanks, but please leave comments for me. If you're gonna pop by... at least say "hi".

Now listen very carefully.... I will talk about photography all day long but please know this, I WILL NOT TALK ABOUT TRAINS!!!

Sorry, but I just wanted to be clear on that... If you have ever met a trainspotter you will know exactly what I mean. They are all a bunch of weird nice people but we don't share the same interests.

I have just been out in the garden taking some photos of random bits of greenery to use as stock photos. When I say stock photos that's just general crap that I keep stored on the hard drive in case I ever happen to need a picture of a twig on a particular image (note to self: Clear a load of crap off computer) and I got into a discussion with a neighbour who is quite an accomplished photographer himself..... The jist of the discussion was that nature is flawed, and sometimes nasty, and should we just photograph the pretty stuff and edit out the "brown" bits, or should we create images that reflect the true nature of... errr... nature?

EG:

If a lady has a bit of a stubble should I clone it out in photoshop?

If a pretty flower has got a bit of a brown leaf do I pull the offending leaf off, or capture nature as it is, brown leaf included?

If a tree falls over in the woods does the pope shit on it? (ermmm sorry...)

If you are looking for me to answer these questions or want to know how the discussion ended I am afraid I am going to disappoint you because (a:) decisions about what to leave in and out of an image are made at the time of taking or during the editing process, and each case needs careful consideration and (b:) the discussion ended about three minutes in because we got distracted by bacon!

So heres some of the pictures I took instead... (if you are going to look, click on the pictures to open them to full size)

So I have waffled on now for long enough.... I'm off to make chilli for dinner and get ready to watch Doctor Who..... I can see that you are bowled over by my relentless rock and roll lifestyle already.