My Photography is Not a Priority
In the blog this week I tell you why photography is not a priority for me!
Burnt Out?
I love creating videos for my YouTube channel. I was already passionate about landscape photography and creating videos about my time out with the camera was a natural extension of my desire to share my photography.
However, there is no doubt it is a lot of hard work. Sometimes my ideas are a bit grand and a little over adventurous. These ideas sometimes pay off, but I normally have to put in a lot of extra effort. It was after one of those "go the extra mile" videos that I decided I need a little rest.
Landscape Photography Not a Priority
I wasn't burnt out. I just needed a rest. I had spent the previous day driving all over the country taking photographs, but I still had the following day free. I wanted to use that spare day to create another full-on landscape photography video, but I decided that I would benefit more from not making photography a priority.
So I headed out for a walk up Conic Hill near Loch Lomond on a beautiful summers day. I still took my camera, but it wasn't my goal to even get it out of the bag. Relaxing from the photography got me thinking and I decided to share my results in this video:
So just a short video. A bit of a brain dump and a chance to try my hand at some cinematic style video. I hope you liked it. Did the message resonate with you? Let me know in the comments below.
Loch Lomond Panorama
As I said in the video, I did take one image and here it is:
Loch Lomond from Conic Hill - Super Wide Panorama on a Super Sunny Day: Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 52mm, 1/160th sec @ ISO 64, f/11, 12 image panoramic stitch.
Friends, Fun and Landscape Photography
In the blog this week I share with you my latest video where I head out with a couple of landscape photography friends to capture sunrise photographs of Start Point lighthouse on the south Devon coast. Those 3am alarm calls don't seem so bad when you are having fun with friends!
A Solitary Pastime
For me, some of the things I love about landscape photography are the early starts and the solitude. This may sound like an odd thing to say but those unsociable hours mean that my photography generally doesn't interfere with my other commitments. Though I'm a very sociable person, there aren't many better things than watching the start of a new day with nothing but the sound of the breeze and the birds singing.
Don't get me wrong, if you see me one morning out taking photographs, come over and say hello. Many a trip out with the camera has been enhanced with a good old chat.
Photography Friends
One of the unexpected benefits of publishing videos on my YouTube channel is that I've made a few friends along the way. People that not only share my passion for landscape photography but people I can have a bit of a laugh with.
When two of my photography friends Gareth Danks and Chris Sale decided to visit me on my home turf I was delighted. I knew that even if the photography turned out to be challenging, the spirit of friendship and general attitude towards fun would make the whole experience more enjoyable.
You can see how we got on in my latest video:
We did a lot more larking about than was showed in the video, but hopefully, I've shown some of the collective spirit we had that morning. I'm not sure I would have driven all the way to Start Point at that time in the morning if it had been for Chris and Gareth!
If you have time, you should really check out their videos from our little adventure as well:
Is landscape photography something you prefer to do on your own? Do you have any friends that also share your passion? Let me know in the comment below.
Those Photographs
Here are the photographs that you saw in the video.
Sunset at The Daymark - Devon: Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 @ 20mm, 1/5th sec @ ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.
Dawn Light on Start Point Lighthouse - Devon: Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 @ 19 mm, 10 secs @ ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters 6 Stop IRND.
Happy 1st Birthday to My Blog
My blog is celebrating its 1st birthday! Read about why I started the blog, what has happened over the last 12 months and what the future holds.
Starting Out
On August 30th, 2016 I published my first ever blog post, We All Have to Start Somewhere. It was very much an introductory article in which I talked about why I had started the blog and what my goals were.
I had been thinking about starting a blog for some time. I wanted a place to share my stories and images so a blog seemed the best place to do it. I already had my website so adding the blog was relatively easy. The challenge, of course, was going to be writing interesting and engaging content for it.
Like a musical artist delivering his first album, I'd had plenty of time to think about my first collection of tracks, or in this case, articles. The real challenge would be to keep the momentum going. I had watched plenty of Fro Knows Photo's Rapid Fire Critique's to know that a blog that isn't regularly updated is a dead blog.
Momentum
To keep my blog alive I made a personal commitment to write a new blog post every week. At first, this was easy as I already had a few article ideas but as time progressed the pressure started to build.
It would have been all too easy to let the idea drop, but I'm not that kind of person. Not only was the blog helping me grow as a photographer, but people were actually reading my content! As soon as people start leaving comments I felt duty bound to continue with the blog. More than that though, and despite the challenges, I was enjoying the process of writing.
Benefits and Growth
So a year on and I'm pleased to say that I have managed to publish a new blog post every week. Some have been short, some long. Some have had videos, some have been opinion pieces. Whatever the nature of the content though, the commitment of writing something new every week has greatly encouraged me to get out much more with my camera and shoot.
The natural progression of this increased time with the camera is that my photography has improved. The action of taking pictures and then writing about it can really make you think about what you did and why. By learning from my successes and failures I have grown as a photographer.
To help get my blog posts and photographs seen by as wide an audience as possible I made sure that each new blog post was shared on Facebook, Instagram, Google Plus and Twitter. This approach has really driven traffic to my site and I have seen a 20 fold increase in visitors to my website. It's very encouraging to know that people want to see your photos and read your blog.
One final benefit of all this writing is that I was recently asked to start writing articles for Improve Photography. This was a fantastic opportunity and one that I have grabbed with both hands! Improve Photography is a great source of information, training, tips, reviews, and articles so if you've never visited be sure you do soon.
My Favourite 3 Blog Posts
Over the last 12 months, I have written about a wide variety of photography topics, but the three blog posts below are some of my favorites. They might not necessarily be the most read, but for me, they are possibly the most important as they either represent significant topics or were a story about moving forward with my photography.
The Future
So what does the future of the blog hold? Well, I'm going to continue with my commitment of posting every week. I'll carry on telling stories of my photography adventures, including all the failures! I'll also share my opinion on various photography topics and share any advice and tips I have. So lots more of the same but I also have some exciting plans for the future so stay tuned!
Do you have a favorite blog post of mine? Is there something you'd like me to cover on the blog? What other photography related blogs do you read? Let me know in the comments below.
Finding a Gem in My Back Catalogue
In this blog post I talk about the value of looking back at your catalogue of images and how you might just find a little gem in there.
Super Dad 1, Photography 0
As I mentioned in last weeks blog post the winter months are playing havoc with my ability to get out and take pictures. However, last weekend it wasn't the weather or the short days that stopped me getting out with the camera. My wife was away for a well deserved break so I was left holding the fort with the kids. So unless you count some family snapshots as photography it was a shutter free weekend.
Competition Time
Not one to let the lack of camera action stop me from scratching my photography itch I decided I would get together my entries for this year's South West Coast Path photography competition. This is my first year entering this competition and it looks like a good place to hopefully show case one of my images. It's also good to see that they have respected landscape photographer Adam Burton on the judging panel.
The Power of the Catalogue
Fortunately a lot of my photography takes place along the South West Coast Path so I had a good range of images to work from. It was also really easy to find them. I'm a Lightroom user and I like to keyword my images. I don't keyword all my images on import, but any image that I complete editing on gets a full set of keywords. So when it came to finding all my 4 and 5 star images taken on the South West Coast Path it was a matter of just creating a dynamic collection and there they all were.
Creating a dynamic collection allowed me to find all my images from the South West Coast Path.
Finding A Gem
Winning images from the competition will be published in the South West Coast Path 2018 calendar and while the rules didn't preclude the inclusion of vertical orientation images I thought I'd stick with horizontal orientation. The slight problem was that I had a series of images from Trevose Head that I had taken earlier in the year and while I was very happy with them, they were all of vertical orientation.
I had a couple of options. I could either submit a vertical orientation image or bypass my Trevose Head images all together. I knew I would have taken images in both orientations so I right clicked the one the Trevose Head images and selected the collection it was in. (I add each photo shoot to it's own collection so it was easy to find).
Almost immediately I found what I was looking for. Best of all though the image had been mostly processed to completion. It only needed a bit of dodging and burning in the sky and it was ready to go. At the time I must have done a basic edit on it and then ditched it in favour of the vertical version. With a few clicks I had a new image and the competition entry I was looking for.
This is the image I found in my catalogue and have now entered into the competition.
Check Your Catalogue
Finding this image has made me think about what other images I might have lurking in the depths of my Lightroom catalogue. How many other images were culled during the editing phase in favour of a different composition?
What about you? Do you have a back catalogue of images with some hidden gems? Do you process your images straight away or leave them for a bit and come back to them at a later date? If you cull an image is it culled forever? Let me know in the comments.
My New Winter Friends
In this blog post I discuss the importance of having a close by location that you can shoot so that you can scratch that photography itch during the winter months and why it's still important to do a bit of discovery.
Winter Restrictions
Landscape photography in winter has a few advantages. Sunrise is later, sunset is earlier, and it might just snow. (Oh please let it snow on Dartmoor this year, please, please, please!). However, while sunrise and sunset are at much more sociable hours the days are very short and so are my windows of opportunity for photography. During the summer months I can spend all day at work, casually jump into my car, drive to Lands' End and still be there in plenty of time for sunset. I can go out photographing virtually any day of the week.
With winter things are very different. I still have to work and I still have a family life, but now I can't just pop out in the evening to go out and take photographs. The shorter days that come with winter are no different from any other year but this year I'm feeling the restriction more than any other year. I think this is largely due to the level of commitment I have given my landscape photography this year. This year I have committed more time than any other year to improving my art. Now all of a sudden I can't get out as much and if the weather is very bad I sometimes don't get out all in a week. I'm starting to find it frustrating!
My Old Friend
It's not all doom and gloom tough. It's not as if I can't get out with a camera, it’s just I can't get out as much. As with most working parents I have the school run to do. My responsibility is to get the kids to school every morning, except Friday. So if I'm organised and the weather is looking favourable I can just about get out for a dawn shoot on a Friday and still be back in time for work. This means that I have to go somewhere local and this is where my trusty old friend Dawlish Warren beach comes in.
Dawlish Warren is only about 25 minutes' drive from my house and as I said in my video My Top 5 Locations to Shoot in Devon, it's also one of my favourites. I've photographed the beach and the groynes many times but each visit offers something different. With variable weather conditions, changing direction of sunrise and tidal waters, each time I go I need to think how I'm going photograph it that morning.
When I visited Dawlish Warren last week it was probably at the lowest tide I had seen so I had access to shoot some of the groynes I've never been able to access before.
Given the proximity of Dawlish Warren and my desire to still practice my photography as much as possible during the winter, I expect to be visiting my old friend a lot this winter.
My New Friend
While visiting on old friend is all very good, particularly when I'm really short of time, I also need to stretch my photographic wings a little. Though time at the weekends is really family time there are windows of opportunity and they need to be put to good use. There is the temptation to visit locations I've been before but winter is also a good time to go out and do a bit of discovery.
Last weekend I got up early and went to North Tor and Bench Tor on Dartmoor. These two tors are very close together and offer all round views of Dartmoor. I actually discovered this location by accident. I was looking through some old issues of Outdoor Photography and came across Bench Tor in the Locations Guide section (which is a great source of inspiration and ideas). I knew roughly knew the area as it's very close to one of my other favourite Devon locations to photography, Venford Falls.
Arriving at the car park in the dark I put on my head torch and began the relatively short walk up to Bench Tor. As with most dawn shoots in the cold I questioned my sanity but a blast of hot black coffee soon put me in the correct frame of mind. As most landscape photographers know it actually starts to get light around an hour before official sunrise so as I wondered about Bench Tor and nearby North Tor I could start to see lots of possibilities for compositions.
Very much an exploratory shot but as this was a new location for me I wanted to try and get a few shots for reference.
With so many possibilities, including options for sunrise and sunset shoots I think I have found a new friend for winter. Though I expect the best photographs will be had during spring and autumn months I think I will spend a bit of time up there working out how to make the most of it when winter finishes. That is unless it snows in which case the big views up there will be amazing.
So do you struggle to find time during the winter to get out with the camera? Do you have a go-to location that is nearby? Do you use the winter months to get out and discover new locations? Let me know in the comments below.
Inspiration and Influence
In this blog post I discuss my personal photographic influences. These are the photographers that have not only inspired my creative style but also given me encouragement to publish my work, write this blog and even create videos.
A Source of Inspiration
Inspiration is a powerful thing and for landscape photographers it can come from many sources. It could be from seeing in image in a magazine you were reading over a coffee one morning, or from a visit to an art gallery to see the work of some of the greats. Either way, I'm not sure many of us would have become photographers if we hadn't been inspired by someone or something.
As a landscape photographer (who is still learning his craft), I gain a lot of inspiration from the work of other landscape photographers. In particular I have been heavily motivated by the inspiring photographs in competitions such as Landscape Photographer of the Year. (Read my thoughts on photography competitions here). Images like those found in Landscape Photographer of the Year have driven me to shoot more and improve the quality of my work. Without the influential and inspiring works of others I probably would have chosen to ignore some of those 4am alarm calls or have chosen to open a bottle of wine in the evening.
In this blog post I discuss my personal photographic influences. These are the photographers that have not only inspired my creative style but also given me encouragement to publish my work, write this blog and even create videos.
Thomas Heaton
I first discovered the work of Thomas Heaton on the Improve Photography podcast where I pleased to hear a British photographer being interviewed. Not only does Thomas Heaton produce stunning landscape images but he produces fantastic YouTube videos on how he goes about his photography. It was content that I could connect to and relate to.
His stories are wonderfully told and though I'd been thinking about blogging and vlogging for a while it was definitely the viewing of Thomas Heaton's videos that gave me that final inspiration to just get on and do it. His images also are a great source of inspiration. So much so that I've purchased his 2017 calendar which you can see here and purchase here. That calendar should encourage me to see a few more 4am alarm calls.
And if you ever need some motivation or inspiration for you landscape photography check out this wonderful video by Thomas Heaton called Wake Up.
Not only is this video by Thomas Heaton inspiring, but it is a great example of how to produce engageing content.
Jared Polin - Aka FroKnowsPhoto
As with Thomas Heaton I discovered the work of Jared Polin on a photography podcast, but this time it was TWiP. It's hard to describe Jared in words but larger than life seems apt. His work has influenced and inspired me in two ways. Firstly his photography has greatly influenced my music work (see my blog post on My Other Photography Life). Through his YouTube channel I have learnt not only how to go about shooting live music but how to work my way up from shooting local venues to music festivals run by national broadcasters.
He has also been very influential in how I style the content that I'm writing now and will be in the future. If there was ever a great example of how to produce compelling and entertain content it is him. His free video guide to branding is well worth a download and I recommend you subscribe to his YouTube channel.
My first landscape photography video. I'm trying to make engaging content, something that Jared is a master at. I have a long way to go, but we've all got to start somewhere.
David duChemin
David's work and videos have been inspirational in developing the artistic style of my images. His YouTube channel has a wonderful series of videos in which he delves into the art of photography. Topics such as intent, composition, processing and printing have all influenced my approach to photography and how I output my images. It inspires me to improve my process and approach to taking images in the field.
Though I will probably never visit some of the locations David has photographed, images like the those found in his Portraits of Earth collection inspire me to improve my artistic skills and develop my own personal style.
When I shot this image I had a vision in mind. It also didn't need much post-processing. This kind of approach to my photography has been influenced by the approach taken by David in his videos.
Ross Hoddinott
Ross has probably has probably inspired me the most in my journey as a landscape photography. This will be largely due to the regular contact I have with him (see my post on Tuition and Mentoring). Through the many 1-2-1 tuition sessions I've had with Ross I have learnt a great deal about photography and how to approach and shoot the landscape. With each new photography skill learnt from Ross my confidence grows and it is with that growing confidence that I find myself being even more inspired to not only shoot more but to drive up the quality of my images.
Furthermore I find his images inspiring as not only is a lot of his work local to me but I find he produces images of a style and quality that I wish to aspire to. Just check out his wonderful image of Dawlish Warren in this link.
I created this image of a groyne on Dawlish Warren after being inspired by the work of my photography mentor Ross Hoddinott.
Always Look for Inspiration
While all these photographers have inspired and influenced my artistic style, each one has also influenced my photographic journey in other ways. Photography is so much more than just taking images and through following the work of others I have been inspired to extend my skills as a photographer by taking on challenges such as writing this blog.
I continue to find new sources of inspiration and influence, and hopefully one day the pictures I take or the content I create will inspire a photographer to produce something special.
Which photographers inspire you to get out of bed in the morning? Do we even need inspiration or should we try to find our own direction from the start? Let me know in the comments.
1 Location, 2 Cameras, 3 Photographers and Force 4 Wind
In this blog post I write about a recent trip to The Valley of the Rocks where I nervously flew my drone in strong winds and shared a cliff top perch with two other photographers to photograph Ragged Jack.
Last of the Midweek Shoots
Autumn is open us and though the amazing autumnal colours haven't reached their peak yet in Devon, the nights are closing in rapidly. During the spring and summer months my photography benefits greatly from the long evenings. Photography during the week becomes practical as I can grab my camera and head out straight after work and travel all over Devon and Cornwall and still make sunset.
Over the last few weeks though that window of opportunity has been shrinking and my ability to travel long distances before sunset reduced. So when I was looking at my location map and decided to go to The Valley of the Rocks, I knew this could be one of the last of my longer mid-week trips for a while.
1 Location, 2 Cameras
With my one location locked in for the evening I got to checking out the conditions and planning my shoot locations (see my blog post on Planning). On my last visit to The Valley of the Rocks I took some time to have a walk about to see if I was missing anything. (Check out my blog post on Location Scouting to read why I do this). Well, I was glad I did as I discovered a whole new aspect to The Valley of the Rocks and was inspired with some new ideas!
My plan was to not only take out the big guns (Nikon D750) but to also take out my DJI Phantom 3 4K so that I could get some aerial shots of the dramatic coastline and rock formations. I've recently been discovering the joys of drone photography and I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to do some more work in that area (see blog post on Drone Photography). My plan was to shoot with the drone while the light was good, and then switch to the DSLR for last night. So with my one location locked in and my two camera's packed I set of for the north coast of Devon.
Force 4 Wind
The drive to my location wasn't exactly inspiring as the rain continued to come down and as I reached some of the higher parts of the route the fast moving cloud got lower and lower. However, I had checked the weather forecast and it had promised to clear up around sunset so I was remaining optimistic. By the time I had got there things had much improved so with a sense of excitement I got to my first spot and got the drone out.
It was at this point that I did get a little nervous. If anyone has been to the north Devon coast will testify it can get a little windy. I've had to extend my planning routine recently to take into account flying the drone, particularly along the coast. I now check the coastal weather forecast to see how strong the wind will be. The drone does have a maximum horizontal speed and flying in wind speeds that exceed that could see my drone drift out to sea!
I had done a number of calculations and worked out that I could safely fly it in the predicated conditions of a force 4 wind. However, what is OK on paper may not actually be OK in real life. So while perched on a cliff side with a very long drop I cautiously started up the drone. Hovering at 1.5m I could see the drone working hard to stay in one place. Putting caution to the wind (excuse the pun), I decided to fly it away from the cliff side as I thought it might be a bit less blustery. Though the drone was still working hard, it had settled down a bit and my confidence grew. I still had a worry that it was going to get caught by a gust of wind and go out to see or crash into a cliff, but I was feeling bold (or daft) and managed to capture some dramatic images.
3 Photographers
After about 45 minutes with the drone I had got the images I had come for. Well, most of them anyway. There were a few shots of some rock arches that I wanted but I really wasn't brave enough to get them given the conditions! So with sunset approaching rapidly I headed off to a spot that I had noticed earlier with the plan of shooting Ragged Jack with my DSLR. As it was a Tuesday evening in late September I thought I might have the place to myself but as I turned the corner I found another photographer setting up on the cliff side.
The spot we had both picked to shot was relatively small but Steve (the other photographer), kindly let me share it and we got chatting. It was the normal stuff, gear, technique, processing, but all very enjoyable! Just as we got shooting another photographer turned up. So two became three and we all waited for that magical sunset moment….which to be honest never actually happened. I took a handful of frames trying different combinations of filters but sometimes the conditions just aren't quite right. The third photographer soon walked on and I continued to enjoy my chat with Steve. We both continued to take a few frames but soon we were packing up also.
Time Well Spent
Though my final image taken with my DSLR isn't one for the portfolio I still count my trip to The Valley of the Rocks as a success. Firstly I managed to capture some nice images of the location with the drone. I really like the extra dimension that the drone has brought to my photography. I try and take the same approach to composition with the drone as I do with the DSLR, but this doesn't always work so I'm still learning how to compose when shooting at 200 ft!
It's also good to just get out and practice the art of photography (see my blog post on Practicing). Sure the conditions didn't turn out to be perfect but just getting out with the camera is always a pleasure.
It is the unexpected that can also make these trips worthwhile. It was great to meet and chat to a fellow photographer. Landscape photography can be a solitary pastime, and while I greatly value the solitude, it's also great to meet people, especially other photographers.
So overall it was time well spent. Any time with the camera is time well spent! I might still squeeze in a couple of mid-week evening shoots but I'm already starting to plan out my dawn shoot locations for the next few months. During autumn and winter my opportunities for photography are limited to weekends and sunrise shoots minimise any impact to my family commitments. But do you know what, I kind of like those cold mornings perched on top of a tor on Dartmoor, freezing cold, drinking coffee, waiting for the sun to rise and bath the world in light.
Planning a Landscape Shoot at Dawlish Warren
In this video blog post I show you some of the planning tools I use to help increase the chances of a succesfull trip out with the camera. After that I take you on a trip to shoot seascapes at Dawlish Warren to see if all the planning was worth it!
Plan, Plan, Plan
I like a plan. Plans are good. Plans don't always go to plan, but I like having one none the less. As a private pilot I definitely like to have a plan when I head out to the skies. And though photography is arguably less risky than flying I still want my trips out with the camera to be worthwhile and successful. After all, there is no point in heading out for sunrise only to arrive at your location as the sun comes up. This has happened to me before and trust me, after the hour and half it took me to get there it was a painful lesson.
So to prevent missed sunrises, badly timed tides, and gale force winds, I like to plan my shoots so I can maximise my chances of success. In this video I will use:
These are the tools I use the most and I've found them to be very effective and accurate in the past. So let's see them in action along with my shoot down at Dawlish Warren beach:
Success
As you can see from the video, I had a successful trip and I've come away with an image I was very happy with. By checking out what the conditions were going to be like before I headed out I could be reasonably confident that my image would meet my vision for that location.
Not as calm as it looks. Nikon D750, Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 VR, 195 secs at f/11, Lee Filters ND Grad, Polariser, and Big Stopper. Processed in Lightroom CC.
Audio Quality
As I mentioned in the video, though the photography went well I had a few problems with the video. When I had the camera facing into the wind I lost all the audio of my voice over the wind noise so I had to ditch a lot of the clips. Being a landscape photographer this won't be the last time I will have to deal with this issue so I have purchased a Rode smartLav+ external mic (and some added furs for extra noise reduction). Though I will have to sync up the audio in post using Premiere Pro CC (my Sony RX100 M4 doesn't have a mic input), the improvement in audio quality will be worth it. So expect to hear my dulcet tones much improved in the next video!
Do you plan?
So do you plan your trips out with the camera? Or do you chuck the camera in the car and go for it? Let me know in the comments. And if you have a couple of minutes please like and share this blog post. Till next time....
Location Scouting in the Teign Valley
In this video blog post I head out to Fingle Bridge and the Teign valley to scout out some locations for an autumn themed shoot.
The Importance of Scouting
The time I spend with the camera is precious. I have a full time job and a family that keeps me really busy so when I do get out I like to make the most of it. Sometimes I just go out to practice with my camera (see my blog post on practicing) or I'll go out to scout out a location. For me scouting out a location can be a really good use of time. For locations such as the upper Teign valley near Fingle Bridge in Devon, having a number of spots already picked out means that when the golden hour comes I'm only worrying about composition and not finding a good location.
In this short video I take you on a recent trip to the upper Teign Valley where I spend some time walking the path looking for locations that I can use for some autumnal shots that I want to take there. I'm travelling light with my Sony RX100M4 and a Manfrotto BeFree Carbon tripod but it allows me to quickly take shots from locations as I move along the valley.
Here's the video:
Mission Successful?
Here are the images that I took from the locations I scouted:
Now I'll be the first to admit that these aren't award winning images. The composition was setup up quickly and the light not exactly at its best but it does give me some really good ideas on where I want to shoot when I do go up there when the autumnal colours are in there full glory.
I also originally had this location down as a sunrise only location but because of this scouting exercise I'm fairly sure I could get images at either end of the day. So was it worth while? Well yes. Anytime with the camera is good but I feel more prepared to shoot this particular location now.
Do You Scout?
Do you spend time scouting out the locations you want to shoot? Or do you just turn up and see what takes your eye? Let me know in the comments.
Starting Out With Drone Photography
In this video blog post I decide to leave my Nikon D750 behind and spend the evening shooting photographs with my DJI Phantom 3 4K. You'll see me head out to the south Devon coast to Peak Hill near Sidmouth on the South West Coast Path where I will experiment with using a drone for landscape photography. The results are rather interesting!
A Evening with DJI
Since buying a DJI Phantom 3 4K a couple of months ago I've been really interested in the photography capabilities and opportunities this amazing bit of kit delivers. In my first video / vlog I leave my DSLR at home and head out to spend the evening shooting with the drone.
Check it out below.
The Results
If you watched the video you would have seen the final images, but just in case you missed them or you want to see them a little larger (by clicking on them), here they are again.
Let Me Know
Did you enjoy this video? Do you have a drone? Has it expanded your photography horizons? Let me know in the comments below.
We all have to start somewhere...
In this blog post I introduce the blog and myself!
Why?
When I decided that I wanted to start a blog one of the first questions I asked myself was does the internet need another photography blog? Looking at the number of photographers blogging and vlogging on the internet my answer would probably be no.
But then I realised I was probably asking the wrong question. The question is do I have something to say and do I want to share it? Well the answer to that is yes. This hasn't always been the case though. Though I've been interested photography for a long while I've probably had little that is worth while to share on the subject
However, I'm now at an interesting point in my photography journey. I still not sure where my end point is, but I am at a place where my photography really means something to me and I have a need to not only share my images but also my thoughts and aspirations. As with any blog I will be starting with zero readers, and do you know what, that might be as good as it gets. However this blog is partly for me so even if nobody reads it I'll at least be left with a photographic journal.
Who?
It's me!
To give this blog some added context I should be probably tell you a little something about me. However let's start with what I'm not. I'm not a famous photographer. I'm not someone with 100K followers on Instagram. I don't earn my living as a photographer either. I'm just dedicated and passionate photographer with a love of the outdoors. And it's that love for the outdoors that drives some of that passion for photography.
I live in Devon with my wife and children and I have a full time job in IT. So as you can imagine spare time is at a premium so when I do have some time there is nothing I like better than to go outdoors. I see so many wonderful things when I'm out and I'm driven to photograph them. Most of my time is spent exploring Dartmoor or walking the coast, but I'm also lucky enough to have my Private Pilot's License (PPL) so I am able to take to the skies to access the landscape in a very different way.
Having worked on my skills as a landscape photographer over the last few years I'm at a stage where I'm starting to be confident enough to share my images and my views. I've still got much to learn, but I'm hoping that this is going to be part of the appeal of my blog. It's not going to be written by a full time photographer with decades of experience but by me, someone with a bit of experience, lots of passion and stories to share. Most of all I hope the stories and the information I share here will be read by similarly passionate photographers and together we can all move forward with our photography.
The Name
Every blog should have a name. Shouldn't it? I don't know but I'm going to give this blog a name anyway. Not as easy as you think though. How can I be original, witty, or even clever? So while the name Exposed might not win any awards for originality it does actually mean something.
It’s a photographic term - a fairly obvious one really!
I'm going to expose myself. Not in a naked way of course, but I'm going to be sharing my photographic experiences to the internet. I'll be exposing the good and bad bits of my journey so you can see that it's not all 5 star images and international expeditions.
I like being exposed to the elements. In other words I like being outdoors, either on the ground or in a plane.
I might change the name eventually but at the moment Exposed just seems right and relevant.
What To Expect
The decision to write a blog hasn't exactly been a spur of the moment thing. I've been thinking about it for a while. What will my blog say? What would people find interesting? All valid questions. Much like my skills as a photographer I'm not sure where this blog will eventually lead me but I have already decided on a number of topics I want to cover in future posts. These include:
So please join me on my photographic journey and like, share and subscribe to my blog!