Monday 31 August 2009

242/365 - I'm in ruins.



I have passed this old ruin loads of times but never stopped to photograph it. Well today I did. The weather was pretty miserable and dull so thought a mono conversion would suit it best. Like this version because of the isolation of the ruin against the bleak backdrop.

View On Black

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241/365 - Hello is there anybody in there?......



...... Just nod if you can hear me...

Having to stay on call all this weekend I had a few good shots planned for this afternoon, but a trip to Tesco's and an over filled trolley with my boy in it made for a much better shot.
No groceries or small children were hurt in the making of this shot. Honest
Although I mis-packed my soreen and it is now a funny shape. Gutted.

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240/365 - Feeding time.



Whilst on a trip out to feed the ducks today my boy thought it would be a good idea to attempt to feed the semi tame duck. He wasn't fazed by it one little bit when the duck got a little to close for my comfort.

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Saturday 29 August 2009

239/365 - Vintage Ale..



Managed to get hold of some limited edition ale this week. Don't normally go over my 5% rule but this beast has been matured in oak whiskey casks and it would have been rude not to try it.
My verdict. I love it, well the small amount that I managed to sample before getting call out was lovely. Got back after the shout to flat warm beer and cold food. Lovely.

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Thursday 27 August 2009

238/365 - A senior moment?



Been a very busy week and was happy to just come home after work tonight and crash out. Then remembered my daily shot, so took a detour down past Velator Quay on my way home to capture this last ditch effort for today. Light was fading fast and the clouds were a little uninteresting so found the right spot to add the water into the shot. Pretty pleased with the shot, annoyed with myself for nearly missing today's 365 shot.

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237/365 - Poser or....?



Been doing a lot of reading these last few weeks on various photography subjects. One that I want to try at furutre weddings and portrait sessions is shooting using natural light behind the subject then ramping up the exposure comp till the camera screams then knocking it back a stop. My test subject for tonight was my boy. Didn't come out as hoped, so pp'd the heck out of in lightroom then added fake polaroid frame to make it look half decent.

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236/365 - Hello!!



Got stuck in the middle of Sheepwash today because I broke the lorry. Well I say break, I got a puncture. Took about 1 1/2 for ATS to come fix it so Morris and I challenged ourselves to get 10 shots on our mobiles from around the village sqaure. Iphone v's Viewty Smart. Rest of 10 shots can be found here.

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Monday 24 August 2009

235/365 - Corrupt card?



Started backing up the images from this weekends wedding yesterday only to encounter a corupt memory card. 302 images potentially lost. AGHHHHHHHHHHH..
Panic set in, fear, dread and a lot of anger.
Left it over night and tackled the problem head on today, turns out the the card is fubar but a handy little prog from these guys, DataRescue, saved the day. It was well worth the $29, as it saved all but 3 images from the very corupt card and from looking at the ones off the card those lost are only chimp shots. Tonight I can rest easy. Seriously though if you have the spare $29 buy it today you may never need it but the one time you do it will pay for itself. Today it saved me, I tried loads of "recovery progs" but not one came a patch on these guy's prog. Simple to use and quick with very impressive result first time. Cheers guys.
Think I might frame this defective card as a timely reminder to be prepared and only use quality cards. (This one wasn't, it was a refurb brought cheap - that will show me)

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234/365 - Come by.



Having worked hard all week on various projects etc etc I took the day off from everything today and took a little family time. So we went out for a picnic at Castle Hill near South Molton to the country fayre and sheep dog trials. The sheep dog trials didn't interest me that much but the boy loved it going "baa" eveytime he saw a sheep. Personally I preffered the real ale and food tents..

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233/365 - Secret garden.



Had the pleasure of shooting a lovely wedding today in a small village near me called West Down for a lovely couple. Church service followed by reception in a marque in a field but managed to sneak off to a private garden nearby for a few shots. A top day and a wonderfull couple who I wish all the best to. Congratulations guys.

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232/365 - Hartland Quay



Visited Hartland Quay againt his monring, lovely place with the most amazing rock formations and contours. Very pretty place. Took this shot from the car park looking south.

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231/365 - Wild horses.



Bit of a random one today, as I was driving through the Valley of the Rocks in Lynton I happened across these horses outside the local village bandstand / sheltervthingy. Very random. Just had to snap a few shots, unfortunatley being wild ponies I had about 5 seconds to grab a shot before they bolted.

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Thursday 20 August 2009

230/365 - Wedding Album



know it's not the best shot today but some wedding albums arrived for some clients. THe company were supposed to send them direct to the bride and groom but they arrived with me. Annoying really but I did get to see the finished results. I am over the moon with them. Just hope Shane and Jess are too.

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Tuesday 18 August 2009

229/365 - A sea of yellow.



Put a little more thought into todays shot as I bimbled around the North Devon and Cornwall countryside. Thought it would be a shame to only get one shot of the corn fields this year so made it my mission to find a decent one today. Think I did well. I know one Mr Jones may comment on the 50/50 split of horizon and sky but.. Hey ho...
Only processed in Lightroom using custom levels, colour and saturation tweaks.

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228/365 - Old Boat



In an effort to get a decent picture today i took a stroll down by the local quay just 5 mins from my house. Totall unprepared I was armed with my 30d and nifty fifty and failing light. This was the result., not a total disater as i think it certainly has given me ideas for futures shots, providing I take the right kit next time.

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Monday 17 August 2009

228/365 - Time for bed!



I am so tired and ready for bed. Today is not a good day pulling a 14 hour wedding shift then driving home has left me a little tired to say the least. I could quite easily curl up to sleep right now. But can't got potential clients to talk to, albums to design and images to back up.. Red bull it is then,

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227/365 - Tender moment.



Had the immense pleasure of shooting a lovely wedding in St David Hotel, Cardiff today. Possibly some of the most challenging light conditions to date, going from a well lite white open plan foyer for the group shot, to outside in overcast, sunny and murky weather for the formals to very dark and low ceilings in the reception room. But with a plethera of fast lenses and flash guns I made it through ok. However it eneded up being a long 14 hour day as I was invitied to sit in for the 5 course meal as a guest. Congratulations guys.

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226/365 - Todays lame shot - Sorry.



Bit of a rubbish excuse for a shot today and I am ashamed of myself to be honest. But I was in a rush today, finished late from work and wanted to spend some time with my boy before heading off to Wales for this weekends wedding. This is just some of stuff I took, the rest like lights, stands and clothes had already been packed into the van.

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Friday 14 August 2009

225/365 - Promo material.



am like a child at christmas today. My new promo material has arrived. 5000 A6 flyers printed and delivered in less than 5 days. These are flyers are going to be used at weddings to direct guests to the private gallery of the bride and groom. Was using business cards originally but with the bargain price of these babies it was a real no brainer to be honest. All of these printed and delivered from Germany for £43, yes £43. Print quality is good and they will do the job. Result, and they arrived just in time for this weekends wedding in Cardiff.

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Thursday 13 August 2009

224/365 - It better do.



Still trying to get mobile uploads from my phone to flickr sorted but no luck. Several hours of reading later and it looks like I'm not alone. Anyway have a clue???
So todays shot is what's keeping me going at present, got a loads of photography work on and Red Bull is keeping me going.

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223/365 - @Da Beach.



Still playing with me new toy this time trying to get mobile uploads sorted. Fail. Just can't seem to get it to work right now even using m.flickr. Hmmmmmm. Oh this is Instow beach on a rare hot and sunny day.

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Tuesday 11 August 2009

222/365 - New toy, new toy...



Been playing with my toy this evening, no not another polaroid camera but my my new iphone. One of apps I have installed already is a funky polaroid film emulator, it even makes you shake the phone to develop the film. Managed to sneak a shot of my unimpressed wonderful wife as todays shot.
Don't worry it won't become a habit, but mobile uploads might be as I have a flickr app for it too.

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Sunday 9 August 2009

221/365 - Hey smiler.



Had some good friends around for a bbq this afternoon, very chilled, very relaxed. This is their daughter playing in our boys sand pit. Again this was shot with my trusty Nifty Fifty and 30D, not much done other than a little tweaking in LR and one of own black and white presets added. Ideally would have liked to add a little fill flash to remove the shadow from the bonnet but it was a spur of the moment shot. But still pleased with it anyway.

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Saturday 8 August 2009

220/365 - Duck on a lake.



Had a lovely lazy day today, meet with some wonderful clients this morning to discuss their wedding album, then off to lake this afternoon with my wife and our ,mad as a bag of badgers, son. Whilst they were feeding the ducks some bread I managed to sneek a few shots in. This was taken on my Tokina 12-24mm @12mm!! Was about 6 inches from the duck who is obviously not camera shy.

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Friday 7 August 2009

219/365 - Wear are ewe all going?



Out and about again today over Exmoor. Got stopped by a farmer to say a flack of sheep were heading my way would I mind waiting. Well 15 minutes later and 1600 ewe's and lambs had passed me by. Was hoping to get some shots of the sheep running towards me but that meant shooting into the sun and as I didn't have my flash the shots came out horrid.

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218/365 - Little Switzerland?



Looking back over my year so far I noticed that I haven't done many landscape shots. That's mainly because I'm not a huge lover of it, I appreciate a good view and a great landscape photo when it is done right but it's not my bag. So I thought I would go out today and get a landscape shot just to add some variety to my 365 blog. Took this overlooking Lynton and Lynmouth looking out towards the Bristol channel. Only a cpl filter was used and a little level and saturation tweak in lightroom. Oh and it was handheld too.

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Thursday 6 August 2009

217/365 - Beer with the barbie?



Looks like my prayers have been answered, finally a day without rain. So to celebrate we had our first bbq in our new house, oh and I had a beer, well what's a barbies without beer? Fingers crossed it stays for a few days now as I have some other forgien beers to sample..

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216/365 - Oh what a day.



What a miserable day today. Started my day in Appledore, where this photo was taken and ended up in Minehead, it pretty much rained all day. Not nice. Where's summer gone?

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215/365 - Lemony lovelyness.



Mother in law brought me some of her home made lemon curd over with her from jersey. It is to die for and I have pretty much polished off a pot in 2 days. Well she did say it doesn't keep that long.

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Monday 3 August 2009

214/365 - His first photo.



Now sure if I can really claim this to be one of my shots or not. But whilst sat on the floor this afternoon holding my camera, my boy grabbed the 30d and pressed the shutter button. I then helped steady the cam for him and held it up to his eye for the next few frames, so technically I sort of helped with the shot he just pressed the button, so I am claiming it as mine, besides I'm bigger than him.
Will be keeping this one though to show him in a few years time. His first digital image online.

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213/365 - Tea on the beach.



Went to a mates beach bbq birthday party this afternoon was going to get a few sneeky shots of the bbq but the rocks around the beach seemed far more interesting. Nothing personal G.

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212/365 - Local PYO.



Mother in law is great to us, she came home from the village with a punnet of local strawbs ready for our pavlova on Sunday. Couldn't resist using the black worksurface for a few reflection shots.

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