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Drakensberg from Mikes Pass I saw pictures of the Drakensberg mountain range in South Africa twenty five years ago. The skyline of spectacular peaks and exotically-fertile foothills made a big impression, as did the evocative name (Dragon's mountains). So I didn't need persuading when Denis Hocking, friend and long term South African aficionado, suggested a trip for November of this...
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It is a well-known code among artists and photographers (of a certain age) that striving for perfection is a pretty pointless, hopeless and ultimately futile exercise. Indeed it is cautioned against in many cultures, for perfection is 'the exclusive domain of the gods'. However, that doesn't stop us looking for it in our photographic equipment. And there is no harm...
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It really is difficult to elicit any sympathy or argue that life is hard when part of one's portfolio of tasks, labours and responsibilities involves travelling to California to lead a photographic workshop in Yosemite valley. David Ward and I have co-led tours, mainly for Light and Land, for many years and when Charlie Waite suggested “in the footsteps of...
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Around ten years ago, when (from my point of view) shooting 5x4 inch film was the only show in town, I was one of a number of photographers asked to participate in a BBC series about digital photography. The presenter, Tom Ang, asked me to use a phone, to see how I got on with it and how I could...
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I have now had a Linhof 3D Micro tripod head for over two years. I had used the Manfrotto geared heads 410 and 405 for at least a decade before this, but had become frustrated with their vulnerability to minor knocks and was in search of something more robust and reliable. http://www.linhofstudio.com/products/Linhof-Heads In truth the 3D Micro is not really...
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“We don't make a photograph just with a camera, we bring to the act of photography all the books we have read, the movies we have seen, the music we have heard, the people we have loved.” - Ansel Adams In this memorable quote, Ansel Adams distills the idea that photography is truly an act of self expression. He urges...
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Once Upon a Time, before the internet and Amazon, there were bookshops that specialised in Photo books, and the best of these was Beyond Words in Edinburgh. Neil McIlwraith still runs Beyond Words as an excellent online service; nevertheless, it is hard not to feel a sense of loss for the sheer indulgent pleasure of browsing in a place devoted...
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A few years ago I wrote an essay for Lee Filters on composition. Regrettably it was more a rant against (what I perceived as) an over-use of rigid rules that prevails in some photographic quarters. I might have said what I thought composition isn’t, but maybe didn’t attempt to explore enough what it actually is. This series will attempt to...
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I’d be the first to admit that writing about a (very) recent picture is fraught with danger. I suffer from the fool’s assumption that my latest work is my best…except I know from bitter experience that it isn’t. Yet in this instance I am willing to risk it, while the memory remains fresh. The story is simply of a local...
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...Some with a Lee Big Stopper. All on a tripod. For those interested, they were initially processed in Lightroom CC, then converted in Silver Efex Pro, then back to Lightroom for final tweaks. Joe Rainbow Mountains in the Mind Having spent many hours taking photographs of the Cornish coastline over the last decade, I gradually found my appetite for...
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