Hi Everyone

Here is a quick post with a simple question, person in the photo or out. The choice and challenge is yours to decide. Both photos are nothing special and are edited slightly differently but.... I was resorting through the France folder and decided to split it into France and the French Alpes... then I noticed these two photos and thought which one. I tend to like a person in a shot to give scale and size to a building or scene. But then sometimes people just get in the way and distract. So when you have a scene you want to take make the decision, do I want people or not. You might not have the choice, but generally if you have enough time people either arrive or move on. 

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Hi Everyone

Today my site is 11 years old. Thank you to everyone for your interest and support.

I was taking some photographs of a climber and it was all going well. However when I got home the drama of the day was missing. There was no edge or feeling of risk. Now I cannot go back and take them again so my only option, or at least my best option was to go black and white.... It adds more drama and moves closer to the feeling I had when taking the photo. However next time I want to try being on the rock face looking down!

Until next time

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Hi Everyone

Here we have two photos taken from roughly the same spot. The question is people in the shot or kept out? Try and forget the slight crop differences and the failure to have a gap between the cable and the top of the mountain. Which one do you prefer and why. I did aim to have the cabins on the thirds and this does feel correct.

So you are taking the shot today, what will you do differently. Learn from where I get it right but also learn from where I get it wrong. As I always say "together we will take better photos", its a team effort.

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Hi Everyone

Every now and again you read about the "Lost Songs of x" or the "Lost Episode of Y", well I have the "Lost Photos" issue to highlight.

I've been using my compacts and mobiles for years and as I travel a lot frankly I often forget to keep up with my downloading. Another trip arrives and although I may have captured some good images mentally I've moved on. So the moral of my experiences is have another look in your phone or cameras and check that you have downloaded EVERYTHING!

Below is a photo I forgot to download from my phone of a lake in the centre of Hamburg. Its wonderful to walk around but it takes longer than you think!

Hi Everyone

Well here is an interesting lesson for this months BLOG entry. There you are about to take the photo, but stop. Lets get it as right as possible in the camera and not require editing after the event..... so try these steps;

1. Look around the edges of the shot and ensure nothing is included you do not want or missed out.
2. Try and be roughly level
3. In the example below try and keep the subject in the centre.... eg the same amount of roof on both sides, assumption being this is what you are trying to achieve.

Even after trying to follow these steps the photo is not exactly correct. So this is where a little editing can help. But its easier to get it as close as possible to correct in the camera!

I am sure I can add a few more things but these 3 will help.

All the best

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Hi Everyone

Jersey, the small Island is somewhere I have always struggled to photograph. I don't know why, I keep trying but the journey for me has only just started. The lesson is keep trying.

Below is a photo from the beach and I bet you can see what I was trying to do, but missed. The light is not strong enough or the reflection quite right. However I like it and from a place I struggle its a good start. This is another lesson, don't be too hard on yourself. Every photo is not great, not that 1 in a million. Most are weak, often terrible and some OK, some good and the odd one great. Its not all Instagram perfect lives, its wet, its cloudy, it's people in the wrong place, camera on the wrong settings...you get the drift. So enjoy what you do capture, keep learning and never give up hope that the next shot is a Great Travel Photo :)

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Hi Everyone

After many years I recently spent a few days in the wonderful Hamburg, Germany.

Below is not a photo of the cannels, the lake, interesting side streets, port or the shops... instead the light caught a great reflection in a curved building. I just like it and so I have decided to share. I took a few shots and had to wait for a break in traffic and position myself to avoid the clutter of the ground level surroundings. This is the opposite of what I normally do, get some low level info to "ground" a shot. But these rules are meant to be broken and this is a great example of how removing the ground helps a shot. It's the same with my Christ the Redeemer in Rio, avoid the ground clutter of all the other tourists, helps massively.

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Hi Everyone

When in a new location it's quite nice to do something that captures the spirit of the country. In Argentina, see a Tango, in London or New York maybe see show. And so in Madrid consider seeing a Flamenco Show. I will caution that often these sorts of things can be very touristy, expensive and the quality could be questionable. But do your research online, avoiding the adverts, or better still get some advice from friends.

Most of these shows do not allow photos and I have to admit I support this as it does detract from the show. However this show in Madrid did allow photos. I was in the back row of an intimate theatre so my camera screen did not disturb others and using a few different modes I was able to capture a little of a great show. The key for me is to get some movement but also enough sharpness to get a drift of the subject. But this is art, you can do whatever you want. Try a slower shutter speed, maybe a filter, maybe not, experiment and see what you get. Enjoy the experience....and on that note I do find that if you are taking photos you can get so engrossed in the photo process that the experience of enjoying the show is missed. So sometimes just don't take phots, just enjoy the moment.

Until next month

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Hi Everyone

So there I was, walking up Mount Etna, at least the first part, the second I took the bus. And boom...smoke rings like you have never seen before.

It turned out that they are a natural result from what is a live volcano. The perfect circles were really quite distinct and able to be captured on a basic camera. The same day I was taking this shot it was covered on International News with an article on the BBC. Now a smoke ring, or three as below is easy to take but trying to get it with some foreground to give some idea of scale is a bit more tricky.... for the record these things are quite large. I would estimate 50 - 100m diameter, but my first photo does not convey this very well. I know because my mind remembers when I took the photo and this is the learning point. If you have a subject, try and get something else into the shot to give is scale. This is just the same on a big building, a few people walking by really helps to give the person who has not visited it before a feeling of size.

So my second photo I tried hard to get some foreground even at the expense of the quality of the smoke rings. The cable car cabins can be seen as really quite small and thus the size of the smoke rings is really a lot clearer.

All the best

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Hi Everyone

What I have learned recently is taking the time.

Over the last six months I have taken photos in Italy, France, UK & Sweden on various trips...but I have waited until the last few days to edit. And when I say edit that's download from the camera onto my laptop, delete the obviously weak photos and then select those to share. This is usually about 5 - 10% and these are edited at speed. I crop, level, adjust the colours a little and then boom its done. I have found a few issues with my editing software not linking with my oldish camera...the result was some shooting modes eg HDR not being usable....and this was the downside of waiting to edit. However the upside is massive....I was able to be much more critical about my shots...time leads to a mental distance from the shooting experience and therefore it was easier and quicker. I have heard Tom Way, the brilliant wildlife photographer, talk about this so its not just my idea.

Below is a shot of a building taken in Stuttgart Germany. A town known for its awesome Mercedes and Porsche museums, its also a great town to wonder around.

See you soon

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Hi Everyone

If you are able to get to the same position at different times of the year why not challenge yourself to taking the same photo. I have an example below and it shows that it's not actually that easy to get to the same spot or composition. You really need the first photo to hand to get to exactly the same shot. In this example I was also beaten by ice underfoot and needing a better set of crampons, yes it was getting tricky. But the general feeling from a similar view is still interesting to compare.

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Hi Everyone

The weather was closing in with visibility dropping. I just felt the drama of the moment and took a quick photo in the general direction of the light.... and boom, for once I managed to get something I liked. So often this fails, but for me this caught the feeling. Again it's not massively edited, taken with an old action camera, but you know I like it. So if you just feel a bit of drama, take the shot and if it works for you then that's success!

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Hi Everyone

Well this photo is all about the person. Without the skier it would be nothing. So next time you have a landscape or city scene consider waiting for a person. You will be shocked, yes shocked as I find it only takes a few minutes for the someone to be where you want them, OK not always but generally it works out. Again without the skier this photo would not have even been kept let alone published.

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