• Composition,  Creative Photography,  Macro,  Mobile

    Just look around you.

    As we move into the darker and colder days of winter it’s easy to fall into bad habits and stop looking for images, or say, “It’s all a bit grey, so I’ll leave my camera at home”!  Remember though, even if you don’t go out much, there are still loads of photographic subjects, some even right at your feet. One birthday gift I had was a fabulous cheese selection with vintage port and an olive wood cheese board.  The wood looks to have been “spalted”.  That’s where it’s been attacked by fungi and developed fascinating patterns in the grain.  I looked closely at the wood and found areas that resembled…

  • Abstract,  Bokeh,  Fine Art,  Macro

    Sharpness is overrated

    Now that Autumn is very much here we are getting dewy mornings and low-angle sunlight.  Photographically that combination is too good to miss, so today I popped out into the garden with an unusual lens combination on my Olympus E-M5 Mk3; a Sigma 30mm f1.4 and a 10mm extension tube.  My idea was to set the lens on f1.4, completely defocus and see what happened. My first subject was a lovely red maple tree.  The sun was shining on the water droplets on the leaves, and the defocusing gave fabulous complexity to the highlights, especially in the lower half of the frame.  I’ve bumped up the saturation as bit to…

  • Abstract,  Bokeh,  Fine Art,  ICM,  Movement,  Snapseed

    It’s show and tell time soon.

    In August I am taking part in Worcestershire Open Studios (WoS) for the first time.  In WoS artists of many types open their studios for everyone to come and look at and to talk about their work.  I’ll be open from 11 am to 5.30pm on the 19th/20th and the 26th-28th.   It would be great to see you there!  Take a look at the WoS website here. I’ll have examples of my Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) work, (like the image above), my Bokeh work (like the image below), and many more.  ICM is a method of producing images that are abstract and impressionistic.  I’ll be more than happy to talk…