29 August - Whitby for dawn

Although it was windy at least it was not raining. Long exposures require robust gear and I have a great carbon fibre tripod and am happy that it is rigid. I wedged it against a fence as well to decrease the chance of the wind blowing it over - this happened 2 years ago and broke my Canon 1DS3.

Across the harbour

I took a few shots today, all of which I am happy with. The exposures were upto 16 minutes, although this one was a mere 240 seconds (4 minutes). I converted it to black and white in Photoshop CS5 and tinted it in Lightroom.

I have put another shot from today on the main website.

29 August - Captive/Wild

Cheetah

My latest project to be aired publicly is the above. It is now on the website mainprize.net, where 32 of the 72 images are displayed and available for purchase as 40x40cm limited editions. All the images will be collected in a book that will soon be available.

Black rhino

The project's main aim was to capture creatures in their native freedom and also locked up for our benefit, and perhaps in some cases for theirs. I did not set out to make tis a political project as some zoos undoubtably contribute to conservation.

View the images

Let me know what you think about the photographs.

Starling

27 August - How to relax

Sometimes it can be so relaxing to just sit and watch the sea. This is a 150 second exposure of the sea at Bridlington.

Bridlington peace

23 Aug - Folkton field

The patterns and light on this field often attract my attention as I drive passed. It has lots of undulations, and the bushes at the top always draw my eye. So today I stopped and captured the green lines of the field. This was converted to black and white infrared and levels were adjusted using Silver Efex Pro. I then tinted it in Lightroom to produce the image below:

Folkton field study 1

21 Aug - impressionism

Ghost ship

The above image was shot in March this year and shows one of the tourist boats out of Bridlington harbour. It is one of my impressionist photos created by moving the camera during a slow exposure and is taken towards sunset to get the colour in the sky.

The images below are 2 of my favourite Monet-esque photos which are also created by shaking the camera during the exposure. With this technique you never quite know what you are going to get and the image depends on the speed of movement, amount of light and the length of time the shutter is open. Experimentation is paramount.

Rhodedendron wood

Through the wood

Here is one of my monochrome landscape taken on the recent trip to Argyll. It was taken at sunrise as a long exposure to get the dynamism of the sky and to smooth out the water.

Loch Etive

It is part of my 'Obsenity of Filth' project, in which I am documenting what I feel to be man's negative influence on the landscape. In this image there is the pylon and wires stretching across this gorgeous view. Other images I have displayed so far from this project include Double desecration on 2nd May.

16 August - Returned from Scotland

Returned with hundreds of images to process. Needless to say most are of the kids, however I believe I have some excellent landscape shots that I am very happy with. here is the first of Loch Etive looking down towards the Connel Bridge:

Loch Etive study 1

West coast of Scotland trip

I am currently in my second week of a trip to the west coast of Scotland. My present residence is a cottage attached to Toward lighthouse. This location is fantastic as it looks out on the sea from two aspects and e garden is straight out onto the shore. I have many long exposure shots and some beautiful sunrises to share. However it is currently pouring, which is good in a way as it gives me chance to go through some of the images.

The first week was spent on a caravan site at Bridge of Awe. It rained a lot and There was only one decent sunrise in the whole week. Unfortunately I got up every morning at 04:00 to check that the weather forecast was correct. Asa soon a I get chance I will post a few pics and expand the details of the photography week and the lessons learned.

Location:Toward lighthouse

29 July - Some photos from the last month

Common woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) flies over

Here are a couple of shots from my 'Captive and Wild' project. This aims to show nature in its wild state and that that is held captive by humans, sometimes 'for it's own sake' and sometimes for ours. I'll let you choose which when I put the gallery on the mainprize.net website in the next month or so.

Wild - mandarin duck (Aix galericulata)

Captive - Hornbill

Red kite (Milvus milvus)

Art? - Go and express yourself

Common woodpigeon (Columba palumbus)

I continue to explore photographic art. I much prefer the impressionist style as it allows me to create more than just a photograph. I appreciate this style is not for everyone, but as I surf many photographers sites I ask what is different? What is unique? Many take the same view with just slightly different light.

This weekend I visited The Red Bus Gallery at Burton Agnes Hall, to see a friend's photographic exhibition. He has taken some gorgeous images of the Yorkshire coast at the extremes of the day, and has started experimenting with movement and dynamism within his shots. I had told him about a programme called Fractalius that I had been impressed by, but cannot use as it is PC only and I use Macs. He had sold a great photo of Roseberry Topping to  a couple who had appreciated photos by Joe Cornish and others, but bought Ian's shot because it was different to all the others. Check the image out on his website.

Whilst I appreciate straight photos are for some, why not experiment and put a bit of yourself across in your creations.

Check out Ian Meek's site here - Clearview Photos.

My return

I have been doing photographic projects and the first has just been added to my website:
www.mainprize.net

This depicts an abstract view of the mountains and valleys in Switzerland. We stayed in Lauterbrunnen, having driven there from Geneva. Interestingly the Swiss transport network is so good and reliable that we did not use the car at all until we returned to the airport.

The photos were processed in Lightroom and Photoshop. If you want specifics just let me know.