30/365 - Yes Dad.

Got a random call from my dad today asking if I had seen the surf. Apparently to his untrained eye it was good. By the time I got down there the light was fading fast but I managed to sneak a few shots in. Fading light, overcast conditions just screamed iso400 leave the grain and convert to black and white. So here is the final product.

Best viewed at full size.

29/365 - Velator Linhay

Originally took this shot a quick snap shot as reference for a future 365 image but when I got it onto the computer it work well as a shot on it's own so thought I'd do some PP work to it. Made it look like an aged photo in Lightroom, then made two layers from it in CS3, darkened the sky in one and lightened the foreground in the other, then using layer masks I blended the two together. Have a lost a little detail in the roof but think the final image works ok. Not my best bit of PP work but I'm happy with it.

28/365 - Best view around.

Took this whilst driving home tonight.
Only had limited kit as I was travelling light today but managed to expose for the ambient light and balance the flash output to expose the hut.

ISO 1600 1/6 sec f/7.1 Strobe camera left on hot shoe cord.

27/365 - Just the one then.

Had one of those days at work, need I say any more.
Also was unable to upload this last night as I feel asleep in the chair trying to watch the new series of "Lost", what is that telling me..?

26/365 - Which way is it??

Went out for a quick walk this afternoon in the hope of catching some of the big swell that we had today, but the heavy sea spray didn't make for good clear photo's, so grabbed this one of a sign post as on the way back tot he van, the PP work is intended to make it look olde worlde for a potential client I have interested in using me.

25/365 - Hold on tight

Had the pleasure of shooting one of my most relaxed and fun family portraits today down on Saunton beach. Just a simple family walk with me snapping away as they went. Only stopping for a couple of semi posed ones. Had an amazing time, with around 250 shots to show for it. Just need to sort through them all now.

Site Updates.

Am slowly starting to do some major updates to my main site. No major graphical changes just updating the galleries and hopefully trying to sort out my SEO so Google and such like can see me better. Fingers crossed I have it right.

I am also going to be adjusting all my current package prices too. My portrait work will be coming down in price slightly and I have listened to feedback from potentials clients and my wedding packages will be simplified and expanded upon. Updates hopefully finished by valentines weekend but please feel free to mail me if you want to know beforehand.

Also available dates for 2009 wedding season are fast running out.

24/365 - Hush little baby

Yes, a very random tittle for the image but I grabbed this one whilst trying to get my boy to sleep yesterday. With the joy's of teething I took him over to see his grandparents in Woolacombe. This was taken over looking Combesgate beach with Morte Point in the background.
I should have uploaded this yesterday but time eluded me and before I knew it it was too late.. But it was taken yesterday.

23/365 - That's me that is.

Self portrait of yours truly, taken in the bathroom mirror. Converted in Lightroom with a split tone high contrast effect added. Image tweaked in PS. Not telling what. Can you guess..
No more than the L coloured red.

22/365 - This old house.

Went out for a drive this afternoon to find a fire call I missed today, but all that was left was a burnt out shell of the barn and loads of farmers milling around, so thought better against trying to sneak some pictures in, but found this old house, no security but with police and and stuff only 500 meters away thought a cheeky shot from the garden gate was all I could risk, do plan on going back one day though.
Ran it through Photomatrix for a little tonemapping.

21/365 - Our house order.

A very tedious link to the way our house works. There's three of us, the boy and I always swing between two or three cards the wife is always just the one.

20/365 - Honey I shoot our boy.

Getting to spend lots of time with my boy after work now the wife has gone back to work, today i treated him to 20mins floor time whilst I shot him. With my camera that is. Think he enjoyed it.
Not the best I have taken of him, but it is so him. Full of laughter and smiles.

19/365 - It makes her feel better.

Do I need to add words to this picture. Didn't think so.
But on a side note has every man and his dog decided that this weekend would be a great one to get their wedding plans sorted. Have done nothing but answer emails from potential clients. All I can say is good on you guys. If 1/10th of the replies I sent out in the last 72 hours turn into paying work I will be a happy bunny this year..

18/365 - Get out, run.....

Went for another walk today down at Saunton beach, thought it looked a bit black out yonder as we started out walk, then spotted all the kite surfers getting off the water, about 2 mins after this picture was taken the storm front let loose it's best, got caught in a serious hail / rain storm with strong micro busts of wind. Good fun though... Forecast is for snow tomorrow.

17/365 - The storm cometh.

Well the storm finally arrived, it was forecast for early morning but it wasn't until this afternoon that it really started to get up. Took a drive along the coast road over looking Saunton and this was the view, had to shoot from inside the van as it was too windy even on the tripod to be outside, the black line blur in the bottom right is actually a bush blowing in the wind.

This was shot through the 30% vlt tint on the sliding door of my van and a CPL filter. No PP work has been done, yeah I know it's a rubbish shot but just loved the way the filter and tint acted with the light on the water / sand.

16/365 - The look out.

A couple of minutes from my house is this old building overlooking the point between Croyde and Saunton, with the impending storm coming this weekend I thought I would get out try to get at least one shot outdoors this weekend, so here it is.
Overlooking down end point and oysters reef.
Tweaked in Lightroom only, curves, saturation and contrast tweaked with now almost trade mark vignetting added.

15/365 - Me helmet

Another Thursday comes around and it's another image from the Fire Station.. This time it's of me helmet. Oh, er. Have taken a load of others which when time permits I will get them uploaded to my flickr account.

14/365 - Can't stop...

.....Even if I wanted too. Got a shed load of post pro work on this week now in preparation for some up coming wedding fairs, so very busy getting everything ready. Bit of a poor excuse for not getting out and taking a decent shot today but I promise to try harder tomorrow. Honest.

13/365 - Don't stop me now.

I had today's shot all planned perfectly, a nice stereotypical shot of a cup cake with a lit candle in in it to symbolise the wife's birthday, and just before setting the shot I am down on the floor teasing my boy and only starts to crawl. Not very well mind, but there is forward motion now. So sorry wife dear, as much as I love you and it is your birthday I felt today needed to marked as the day Jack started to crawl. Or the day Daddy lifted all his camera gear off the floor.

12/365 - My new toy.

Finally found 5 mins to put this beauty down and take a picture of it. I always thought my previous lenses were good but having used this for just over a week now it makes my previous Sigma lenses look like kit ones. She's lovely, she's so lovely.

Shot with Sigma flash gun 1/2 power on camera through stoffen. Over exposed slightly to give that dreamy glow to the edges.

11/365 - One of my titles is missing.

Either I have become a photoshop god over night or today I made rainbow bread. Am well pleased with my culinary efforts. It was pretty simple really but very effective. Simply make your normal bread dough mix either in the machine or by hand, just before you leave it to prove for an hour divide the mixture up into as many bits as you want depending on how many colours you want, add some food colouring, the more colouring the stronger the colour, then layer the bits together and cook. Simple...

10/365

This was taken on Saunton beach this morning, car temp read about 1'c but with a stiff offshore breeze it felt more like -10'c. That's one very brave soul walking back to his car after a surf.
On a side not I am loving my new L series len. This was shot into direct sun and there's no obvious lens flare, how cool is that, but for the price I would expect it.

I posted this on Flickr where all my images are hosted and different crop was suggested by c@rljones, I'll be honest and admit I haven't given this image too much thought tonight so will come back with a sober mind tomorrow and re-crop it, so check my flickr page tomorrow for a re-edited version.

9/365

For Socks.
This is a real convoluted way getting my picture to tell a story but it's there trust me.
If I said it had to do with a guinea pig dying would you believe me.
Honest it is. My Guinea Pig died today and it was called socks, thought this was a fitting shot, rather than post an image of the dead animal itself. So socks heading into a tunnel with the light at the end of it. In black and white, because I hear you only see in b&w on the way up. Also we all know the sock monster lives in your washing machine eating your socks so you never see them again.
See this shot relates to my dead guinea pig so much it's scary..

8/365

Thursday nights are always drill night down my local retained fire station, so what better subject matter than that.
Image was converted in LR, the tone mapped in Photomatrix, then run through PS to add a few other tweaks. Also shot on new lens 24-105mm f/4 L with iso @ 1600, it was handheld at around 1/8 sec. Am pretty pleased with the way it has turned out to be honest. Can't wait to seriously play with this lens over the weekend.
Check out the full sized version here on my flickr pages

7/365

Brrrrrr... Chilly......
Thought it best not lug my new lens around today in the -5'c temperature we had first thing and typically today was a prime day for capturing a shot you don't see that often. Oh well at least the camera on my mobile is reasonable. This was taken on the Strand in Barnstaple looking out towards the new bridge. The last time I saw the river freeze like this was well over 15 years ago.

6/365

From feeling blue to be being blue. Chuff it is cold tonight. Just sat here going through today's images from a cracking walk at Westward Ho! watching the surf as I trod on frost on the beach at midday!, as I noticed the outside temperature. -4.5'c when the picture was taken but as I upload this picture and type these words it has dipped to -5.5'c. So had to change the shot to this one. It never gets this cold in Braunton. At this rate we could see some snow. Here's hoping.
Today's top news. My new lens has arrived. I am the proud owner of a 24-105mm f/4 L piece of glass from Canon. Can't wait to get out and start playing.. Oh and my boy is much better and the wife is a happy bunny too. So peace is once more upon the house.

5/365 - Feeling blue.....

Feeling blue..... I am a little today. My wife went back to work after a year off , my little boy is not well and none of us are very happy, so I thought a shot of caffeine, sweet bread and my favourite mug all tinted blue courtesy of Lightroom and PS would suit today's current feeling. Here's hoping for a brighter tomorrow.

4/365 - Two pictures!

This is my original image for today's entry into my 365 blog, I know christmas was 11 days ago but today we took down our decorations and I couldn't help but feel a little sad that we have to wait another 11 months to see them again.

I know I said only one image per day but just had to add this one of my boy up to no good in the kitchen. Turned my back to put the tree outside, looked around and there he was with contents of the bottom cupboard all over the floor.

As ever all these images are hosted on my Flickr Page

3/365 - New Pan

Not just tonight's tea but my new griddle pan. How cool, more sad really.
Had grand plans of sneaking off to Tesco's and strapping my Jobi gorilla pod and 40d to a trolley and getting some great shots from on top of the trolley but never made it there just had to cook things.

2/365 - Churchyard

Spent most of last night working out what shots I wanted to get for my 365 project and have drawn up a sort of list, but for today's shot I hit a wall, not that I struggled to get a shot, but which one use. Finally settled on this one. It wasn't my planned shot but as I pulled up visit a client I looked over the wall from their car park I saw this graveyard. From my vantage point and the lighting I knew a black and white conversion was on the cards.
I ran the original through Lightroom, giving it a little crop to remove dead space, added a b&w low contrast filter and some personal tweaks.

1/365 - The first day.

Well the first pic is here. Taken on Saunton beach this afternoon, the wife and good friend Lizzie showing off their Bugaboo's. Got loads of strange looks as we put our into 2 wheel mode.

All the images are hosted on my flickr site, check out the link on the right to view all my images not only on my flickr page but also my own site too.

New Year, new blog and first post.

Not going to get all newbie and say welcome to my blog blah blah blah as that's pointelss.
My personal photography project this year is a 365 of my life. I will take one shot everyday of stuff I'm doing, working on or involved with and post the results on here. The post might be infrequent but I will take one shot everyday.