Desperate times call for desperate measures...

Being someone who prefers to photograph in the great outdoors can be somewhat tricky at times when you have to depend on the Great British Weather to play ball. Well, this past weekend I was down in deepest Surrey to photograph my brother in law, Bill and his family but Mr Rain & his close friend Mr High Wind made one heck of an appearance so that put pay to what we had planned. However, desperate times call for desperate measures so we re-scheduled! ... but I did take some photos.



These shots are of my nephew Ashley; a great little guy who is one mean 'Gamer'. Trust me you do not want to challenge him on X-Box, PlayStation and whatever other gaming consoles there are out there. I tell you, seeing his fingers in action on the controller would make Clarke Kent look like a slow coach!



These photos were taken in the family living room using just one Nikon SB800 Speedlight and my other favourite piece of kit, a 60" Reflective Umbrella. The black background was achieved by controlling the shutter speed on my D3; something I'll be covering in the upcoming InSight Workshops.

Enjoy :o)

Photo Shoot / Impromptu Workshop

Yesterday afternoon I was over in Egham, Surrey with Dave & Michelle-Caton Richards for the second part of their 'Trash-ish' the Dress Photo Shoot. However, because of 'changeable' weather (to put it politely) we decided to re-schedule so I suggested Dave bring along his camera and we all head up to a local beauty spot known as 'Virginia Water' for an impromptu photo shoot come Mini Workshop.

Here's a few images of Michelle taken using a single Nikon SB800 Speedlight and Reflective Umbrella.





More to come this week including details about the new website and blog launching very soon,

Bye for now.

The Atlanta OneLight Experience

Well if I'm honest, I'm sat here with mixed feelings...Motivated, excited but also a little bit flat; only natural I guess when a week you've been looking forward to comes and goes way too quickly. You see last week I was fortunate enough to spend some time over in Atlanta, Georgia USA with photographer Zack Arias and take part in his now world famous OneLight Workshop.


I could go on and on about what an incredible experience it was... and believe me it was! Zack, aside from being a truly gifted photographer and teacher is without doubt one of the most generous, warm and honest people I've ever met.


I first met Zack, his wife Meghan and other team members Sherri and Erik the night before the workshop at what Zack calls a 'Mixer'. This is where he opens the studio to any photographer in the area to pop in for a chat and chill out, but not just that there's also a large spread of food and drink available too, and this is FREE to anyone who wants to pop in. Unbelievable!


Needless to say we had a great night, leaving in the early hours of Wednesday morning, only to return at 9.30am for the Workshop.


The Workshop itself was a packed day of teaching and shooting, full on from start to finish which I hasten to add was 2am the following morning; in Zack's own words "I'll keep talking and teaching until you're done".



I'm a firm believer that no-one knows it all, and we constantly need to keep studying this craft so to get the chance to spend some time with Zack was an experience I'll never forget for a whole host of reasons; how much I learned, the generosity and the new friendships to name but a few.


Thank you to Zack, his wife Meghan and team Sherri and Erik for making me feel so welcome and for an experience I'll never forget; I look forward to catching up with you in 2010.

* Here's a few photographs of some of the other attendees, Sarah McGee and John Shim: