I think this is my favorite shot of DJ at work, he often sticks the front of his glass in places most would shy away from, including holes in the sand, puddles, the sea, and over the edge of sea walls as in this shot. That said the mans technique, and visualisation of a scene prior to releasing the shutter is second to non. This image along with one other recently posted on Chromasia has made me rethink how I look at a scene when Im out and about shooting.
The image by the way, was made up of 6 adjustment layers mainly concentrating on black and white conversion a vignette, and some work on straightening to the background layer, and a curve to the blue channel to tone it. About 20mins work and I was pretty satisfied with it.

Whilst out walking in Blackpool we struggled to stay dry in-between huge waves and rain showers.

I took the high road whilst others took the low road, and whilst I was walking I happened upon the Summer Breeze Rally and a few characters in and around the event. This chap ‘Sherlock’ according to his buddy, whose portrait I’ll post soon, said, ‘ere Sherlock this chap wants to take your photo!’ He mumbled something along the lines of ‘he can call me what he likes’, and I managed to get a few frames before his attention went elsewhere. I was quite pleased with this conversion, it was 7 adjustment layers in the final PSD, using the Blue Channel for the skin tone, and some work on the detail and contrast in the eyes, and hair. As always im interested in your opinions, thanks again…. C

A great evening, spent painting with light under the North Pier at Blackpool. The tide was out, but approaching, and we all knew how quick that can whip in behind us, we stood under the pier shooting in total darkness, and I decided to use the Canon 580EXII to paint some light under the structure, I’m not totally convinced I nailed it, it could have been a lot sharper, but I was pretty happy with it as a 30 sec night shot… Thanks to Olivia / Steve / Carol and Claire for the photo fun that evening.

A quick rain check, and a duck under cover, on the North Pier Blackpool during a photowalk, and a break from proceedings whilst assisting @chromasia, David Nightingale on his recent ‘Creating Dramatic Images’ workshop. I saw this scene unravelling and as the rain poured down, this family just marched down the pier, almost as if they owned it. From their expressions, I’d say that the end of the pier didnt meet with their expectations, but dogged persistence will prevail, and I’m sure they will find what they are looking for elsewhere. The rain really did hammer down. nice hat, whoever you are!, oh and the rain gave me time to duck into the pier sweet shop and treat the kids to some ridiculously huge lollipops.

Did a lunchtime dash to the Ballroom at the tower, @snapsequence had informed me of the process by which to jump the queue, and head off to a good vantage point inside the ballroom, up several flights of stairs.

Wow what a place. Lots of old timers enjoying the dance, and spinning around. And several more just sat watching. Apparently this happens day in, day out, I had no idea. Olivia Wooldridge Photographer, came along for the ride, and the Taxi driver was good enough to wait outside for us as we made a mad dash from venue to venue. A great memory from a great weekends post production training / tutoring and photographing with @Chromasia, cheers Dave.

I spent a fantastic weekend away assisting @chromasia on his brilliant / technical and insightful’Creating Dramatic Images‘workshop in Blackpool. The delegates were fantastic, some really great photographers and lovely lovely people. I had a brilliant time, if I could live a life, meeting people like this everyday then I think I would be happy everyday. Although the course was interesting and mind stretching for some, it also enabled some down time to just go out and shoot some shots freestyle. We painted with light under the North Pier using my 580EXII, we ran a mad taxi dash to the Ballrooms to shoot dancing ghosts and architecture, and generally had a fantastic time, sharing ideas, and sparring off each others work. I really can only say that I wished I could spend longer with these folks. I had a really great time, albeit a 10hr / 640 mile round trip. I know others flew from farther a field but it was well worth it.

This is an image I’d forgotten that I’d shot with djn whilst up in Blackpool a few weeks back. I think we both marveled at the chance of drinking a cup of Bovril, it warmed me up just reading it. Hence the photo.

We had walked for about 20mins along Fleetwood in the rain, which is what normally happens when I visit Blackpool. I guess that comes with the territory. It’s about the company a lot of the time.

A beach to my right, dunes to my left, clouds and a seascape to the right, searing sunlight and contrast to the left. Which way would you shoot?

So we “finished” the game of Conkers tonight. Fin won of course . My puny effort of a conker split under the power of a 4 year olds swing (with a little help from Dad)….

This Image was an intentional attempt at shooting in the opposite direction to djn on our beach wander a few weeks back. I seem to get some mileage out of shooting with him, for some reason I end up with quite a few images I am happy with. Strange really, because I often go out alone and never release the shutter.

I guess that the images I create aren’t really most peoples “cup of tea” but there is always a single element that caused me to shoot the image, some obvious, some not so. In this instance, in my head at least, It was an ironic statement that our usual coffee stop was neither to the left nor to the right, from my standpoint at least, but was simply over the brow of the dunes, and was literally 200yds from where I was stood. Nothing especially amazing, but for some reason I felt the need to record it. Don’t ask me why….. I really can’t articulate why……

Oh but to bring this image to the fore, I did however use the video of Black and White conversion Part 2 from Chromasia’s Tutorials for Photographers, take the link to the right to see it, or click here. I followed djn’s video through the method of Black and White conversion that involved using the Black and White adjustment layer and biasing the image towards the red channel, but I also pulled the Blue channel back to around -148 to bring out the sky. If you play with this method, it really can help you properly master B&W conversion, something I regularly bust my head over when I get it wrong (which is quite often!!!).

When I go shooting with Dave (@chromasia) from Chromasia, I have a sense of freedom that I don’t really experience in any other walk of my life. I switch off from anything and everything around me, something I think only my wife Mel knows helps me to relax…. I am very lucky to have that understanding in her to be honest.