There has been a lot of discussion in the blogosphere about doing work for free. For good causes and self promotion, that kind of thing. I just had a commission that was demanded of me, for no payment of any kind except the honour of being the chosen photographer. I just couldn’t turn it down, the intangible cost would have been too high…so I caved, and took the commission stoically, delivering finished prints at no cost, praying the client found my work acceptable. Who was this client who could command my meagre talents for the...
read moreThis was my first trip to Algeria, flying into the city of Algiers. Getting in was tricky, as my company has travel restrictions in place because of the security situation there. I was met at the airport and driven to a compound were I would be staying for the next few days. On Saturday, I was kindly allowed a driver to do some exploring. It quickly became apparent that the driver was also my security detail, which was a bit disconcerting. Normally, I’d have hopped a taxi and gone for a look around, but my driver wasn’t having any...
read moreAfter Abu Dhabi, I went to Doha, Qatar for the night. This was a forced layover due to flight connections, so not much time to get out, but I did manage to nip down to the Museum of Islamic Art. I din’t have time to go in and enjoy the museum, I hit the ground running to find a spot for a blue hour picture. The museum is a beautiful modern design, and given that most of Doha is newly built, this is a striking design. It is built on an island close to the Dhow port, which provides an interesting contrast. After a hurried scoping of the...
read moreA new year brings new challenges. The first trip of the year brings me to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. For this trip, I took the risk of only bringing the Fuji X10 with me. I need to learn, not just how to use it, but how to get the very best image quality from it. It’s not close to the D700 in image quality, but the question is, can it be good enough? This trip takes me through 3 middle east countries and one north african country. Given recen instabilities, and the fact I’m going to be running through these countries...
read moreFor Christmas, my wife bought me a new camera, the Fuji X10. I’ve been wanting a smaller camera for those times I just can’t take the big rig on a trip. While I love the X100, it’s fixed focal length and price tag really made it not the right camera for me. I love the style and the big sensor, so next best thing is the X10. I wanted a camera that records raw frames, that had some zoom capability, could stack frames for HDR and could remote trigger a flash if needed. I would have loved the APS-C sized sensor as well, but the...
read moreLast year I had a short and sweet trip to London. I wasn’t happy with the results, but I did take some pics through the sunset. This one was buried in the take, and this is why I like to run through old material to discover hidden nuggets. This is not the only pic I’ve found again. Last years visit to Tuscany (possibly my favourite place) yielded this one……. I’m going to spend some times working through older pictures, reprocessing and mining for lost gems until I get back on the road and work up...
read moreTrey Ratcliff, over at Stuck in Customs, has released a new app for the Ipad. It’s called Stuck on Earth and is a free download from the iTunes store. I downloaded and started playing. After a couple of hours I needed rescuing, as this is probably the most addictive app since Angry Birds. Well, at least for me. The basic premis for the app is to be able to explore new areas and destinations, by looking at existing work done by other photographers. I love the potential of this app, as one of the challenges I face when going to a new city...
read moreWandering northwest from the Castello Visconteo I came to the Piazza Sempione and the Arco Della Pace. I was early for sunset, so I took the opportunity to explore angles and viewpoints. The first image is a straight shot with the 24-70mm. I made adjustments in Topaz Adjust to make it pop and I’m quite pleased with the results. As the sun headed down, I tried a panorama. Again, shot with the 24-70mm, 7 shots merged in Photoshop. The image was then tweaked in Topaz Adjust. I was impressed how Photoshop merged the frames, handling the...
read moreFrom Poland, I nipped down to Hungary. I’ve been to Budapest before, but this trip took me down to Szeged. It looked like a pretty town, but I didn’t get a chance to explore as I arrived Sunday afternoon and left Monday morning. It didn’t help that the weather was awful, socked in foggy. My next stop was Budapest. The weather didn’t improve and my time was tight. I’ve shot some images in Budapest before, but there is so much more that I really need to spend some time here to do it justice. I didn’t get a...
read moreLondon and Warsaw I’m travelling again! The first stop was London. I’ve been there many times, lived there for a while, but never attempted to shoot anything there. As I need to get more material for my Cities Project, I thought I’d have some time to devote to adding London to my portfolio. Usually, when I know I’m going somewhere, I do some research as to what and where to shoot for the project. I know London somewhat, and had something in mind. London is tricky as there are so many iconic landmarks, it’s a case...
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