The Chinese park offers you more space within your overcrowded life. It is a dedicated space for the populace to enjoy, yet people just cant help themselves assembling together. . .
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Haunted House - A Photo Essay for Halloween →
Even if you had not heard some of the stories circulating about these peculiar, abandoned baroque-fantasies, a visit to them confirms any suspicion you may have had, that something terrible may have happened here.
I'm not normally so susceptible to bad vibes from places but this location has such a surreal, deserted fantasy - land quality, which is both dreadful and compelling in equal measure.
Read MoreBlur is Beautiful
in Travel, Still Life, Nature
The arrival of a small 50mm f1.4 lens in my life was a big thing. (It represented some kind of photographer's rite of passage at the time) . Not only do you get to discover a secret weapon for low-light photography - suddenly you find yourself able to shoot just about anything in all kinds of dubious light with only hand-held shooting.
Read MoreEvolving With Photography
Photographers these days need to be “more”. They need to be “more” than simply a creative who is able to operate their device and process their images. Photographers need to evolve with their craft. Maybe this means unlocking another skill?
Read MoreThe GUANGZHOUNAUT at Xiaozhou
Contemporary art is making its way here but it is doing so at a painfully slow pace which is far behind the development of other aspects of the city.
Read MoreRevisiting the Past in Malacca, Malaysia
Repeat-visiting a location like this is always good for one's photography. Not being too hard on oneself is another lesson I learned from returning to Malacca.
Read MoreGraduation Portraits
One of the challenges of this kind of job is consistency with lighting (especially if not all the subjects are there on the same day of shooting). Then again keeping that consistency is also important during post production. Another challenge was putting these nervous young people at ease and to try and catch a glimpse of their natural personalities during the last week of their exams. . .
Read MoreA Year of : "Photo of The Day" with an iPhone
I didn't buy an iPhone to keep up with the Joneses or to become more of a slave to Apple Mactintosh products than I am already. This miniaturised, 2001, Kubrick -obelisk appeared in my world in March 2013, simply because I couldn't bear the idea that I might be losing out on an opportunity to seamlessly integrate more photography into my life.
Read MoreMilano Diary - Lessons Learned from a Location Shooting
Fashion is a topsy-turvy world by necessity. The world's fashion show calendars present us with autumn and winter collections from January -February and summer and spring collections from the end of June -September, in order to establish the chain of events which lead to the sales campaigns and have the clothes on the markets by the appropriate times. You will find yourself shooting spring and summer outfits during autumn and winter. This means that, unless your client's budget can fly you to the Moroccan desert, you are going to need to settle for something similarly sandy-but nearer to home. . .
Read MoreMilano Diary - Fashion Shoot in the IIF Studio
My take-away advice here is to find a Stylist, Hair Stylist and a Make-up Artist at your level (of your career) and get to know them well. Making this happen seems a little like one of those story lines in an action film, where the concept of putting together "a team" for a bank-job or some such endeavour, seems similarly tricky.
Read MoreMilano Diary - The Streets are Alive
I simply cannot resist approaching people who, to me seem to be real characters, as well as typifying a certain Milanese and / or “Italian-ness”. There is a warmth and friendliness to people here and these encounters are nearly always good humored. . .
Read MoreMilano Diary - Instituto Italiano Di Fotographia
Fashion photography is as much about selling a life style as is it is about a piece of clothing, so it offers the photographer a lot more room to explore their creative side. As a portrait and travel photographer, I felt the best way to develop my existing skills was to enroll on a course with Instituto Italanio Di Fotographia (IIF).
Read MoreMilano Diary - Three Hours in Venezia
On my rapid visit, I was anxious to not only find my way around this ancient city successfully but also to find interesting subjects or scenes. This would mean reining- in that inner headless-chicken-photographer and trying to apply the Five 'Fs' of street photography:
Read MoreMilano Diary
It's been many years since I have been back in Europe on a trip like this. In the following postings for this journal I look forward to sharing my purpose for coming here to Milan in Italy. . .
Read MoreHigh Tea in Wuyishan
A photographic "treasure-hunt" became what was on order. One in which I was to follow in Lucy's footsteps and attempt to match her experiences with my images. I knew she wanted images to support the concept of a: "5 things one must do when in Wuyishan " feature, and I was emailed a proposed list. As the publication date drew nearer, it was clear that this was to be a sort of "Amazing Race Wuyishan", where I rushed around this gorgeous landscape and ancient town, ticking off the '5 things' as a series of photographic opportunities. Great fun! I wouldn't have traded this opportunity for all the tea in China.
Read More10,000 Monks and 10 Things You May Not Know About Buddhist Monks in Thailand
I had been tipped off about this ceremony by a local shopkeeper, who had handed me a leaflet a few days before, which proudly proclaimed a gathering of 10,000 monks and I must admit to being dubious about whether that would be true or not. I had trouble envisioning what 10,000 monks, let alone everyday people, would look like assembled in one of Chiang Mai's ancient streets, far less imagine how they would organise themselves. Yet here I was confronted In the dawn twilight with this surreal sea of saffron, orange and yellow robed boys and men.
Read MoreThe GUANGZHOUNAUT at Lingnan Tiandi Foshan
Just as we Edinburghers celebrate Sir Sean Connery as one our most famous city's sons; so too do Foshaners with their immortal son: Bruce Lee. As here is where he grew up. For Foshan is truly the ancestral home of kung fu .
Read MoreMaking a Rube Golberg Effect Video
A Rube Goldberg effect, machine, contraption or device; in a nutshell- is a comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation.
Read MoreCompleted Encounters
I decided to think of my camera as a kind of 'talisman' to help my situation. I wanted a ready-made solution to help overcome my fears of approaching strangers to photograph.
Read MoreWhen Life Gives You Parasols - Stay Cool and Shoot Smart
The sausage machine experience of a tour, gives us little time to dally and get creative but it is worth hanging back and getting away from your group, being the last one to leave and waiting for other groups to pass through. . .
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