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Top viewed this week
Awesome underwater save the date wedding cards! »
The Smoking Monk - Angkor, Cambodia »
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Stranded on a desert island off the coast of Fiji »
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Awesome skull bone carvings - Bali, Indonesia »
Close up with a beautiful Sumatran Tiger »
Crazy jewellery stealing Macaque monkeys in Ubud, Bali »
Awesome beaten up Scooter in Rhodes »
New set of portraits: Reanne – Dance teacher, actor & model. Great results!
Posted on December 14, 2011 | No Comments
I’ve totally become obsessed with portrait photography in the last few months and I have another set of portraits to show you this week, of dance teacher, actor and model Reanne. Very chilled and fun photoshoot, Reanne was super relaxed in front of the camera and very easy to photograph, and I’m really pleased with the final set of images. If you would be interested in some portrait photography please get in touch. Portraits taken on location in Norwich, Norfolk, UK. 
Tags: actor > dancer > female > model > portrait > portrait photography > portraits
Portraits: Captain America , featuring the gun show!
Posted on December 8, 2011 | No Comments
A recent portrait photo shoot, great fun as ever and came away with a few great shots. A serious rugby player and the emphasis of the shot couldn’t help to be highlighting the gun show. I couldn’t help trying to get that hero / comic book style colouring and lighting, and think we got what we were looking for. Matt randomly just happened to bring the best shirt he could of for the shoot, it works so well – captain America style!
For the lighting techies: 22″ gridded beauty dish as main light close/high, gridded head side left, and snooted/gridded flash directly behind head for tight rim light.
Tags: male > portrait > portrait photography > portraits
Portraits: A favourite portrait & a fantastic moustache to be proud of!
Posted on December 2, 2011 | No Comments
A recent portrait photography session in Norwich this week – featuring the famous beard of Mark Scott, a great fun photoshoot with an excellent guy. Definitely a couple of photographs I’m pretty happy with! Gotta love that tache.
For the lighting nerds – 4 lights used here on black seamless. Elinchrom head shooting through a honeycomb 17″ BD about 2ft in front of subject.. one gridded head back left as a rim light / hair light, one small speedlite with red gel for background, and one gridded speedlite for his arms. Also a gold reflector to give a little edge to the side of his right arm. Canon 5Dmk2, Canon 24-70 2.8L, Elinchrom DLite4s, 430ex etc.
Tags: portrait > portrait photography > portraits
A Mysterious rainbow haze on the horizon & a storm brewing… Thailand
Posted on November 30, 2011 | No Comments
I totally forgot about these photographs until I stumbled across them today and remembered I never did work out quite what was causing the rainbow like haze in the distance. It’s not camera related as I could see it with the naked eye, does anyone know what could be causing it? I’m guessing it’s just the approaching rain & storm clouds causing a low rainbow effect, but I never seen it quite like this before. You can see in the next photo along that the rain clouds were very close, within about 30mins. Pretty cool though! Location is Koh Yao Noi, Thailand.
The last few sunny days in the Angkor Complex, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Posted on November 29, 2011 | No Comments
Time to get back with some of the travel photography I am well behind on, I’ve not posted many images since the last travel photography blog post, which was in the Angkor Complex in Cambodia. Just to finish up that series, I found a few more images that I love. This first photograph was taken of a resident nun at the Pre Reap Temple, handing us incense sticks as we entered.
Pre Reap Temple – Click here to view this photo larger
These friendly kids were photographed at the Little Angels Orphanage Shadow Puppet School within the Angkor Complex, they currently live here creating hand cut, punched and shaped leather puppets.
Little Angels Orphanage Shadow Puppet School – Click here to view this photo larger
Photographs taken with my Canon 5Dmk2, I think here I used my Canon 16-35mm 2.8L lens for all of the photos. If you would like to see more photographs from this worldwide trip, please have a look here: Full Travel Photography Archive.
Brand Evolution & new markets – a review of the new plan from Manfrotto.
Posted on November 22, 2011 | No Comments
Last Friday I had the opportunity of being invited to the press & blogger morning of a new worldwide touring event by Manfrotto, a pop up interactive photolab entitled ‘Imagine More’ which was about to open for the weekend in the idyllic setting of Covent Garden in London. The event has already been to Berlin, Hong Kong and Beijing and has had a great reception so far.
Over the weekend the event allows the public to get creative with two pre-designed photo sets on site ready for the public to get involved and have some great photo’s taken. These photographs are all uploaded to their facebook page which in turn gets people connected, sharing and enjoying the photographs and experience, and ultimately leading to brand promotion and awareness.
Brand evolution
To complement the social event, Manfrotto have launched a new range of products aimed at this new group of users, which have been named as the ’social recorders’. Up to this point, Manfrotto has targeted the professional and advanced amateur user group, so this signifies additional markets rather than divergence away from the pro crowd – I’m assured by Manfrotto they will always continue to make premium professional equipment.
Manfrotto are tapping into a crowd that are currently enthused and experimenting with photography in a social way and the new products launched complement these users – products include a new style of messenger style camera & laptop bag, LED lights and great looking light tripod range, I’ll get to these later on and how they fit with the brand.
Some images from the weekend from the event facebook page
To me, Manfrotto products have always been part of my studio & grip setup right from the beginning when I was just an amateur photographer and these same products have stuck with me over time, it’s definitely kit I can always rely on, it just works. Every professional knows Manfrotto, a brand renowned for creating professional level photographic supports, stands and heads, Manfrotto has created a constant good reputation because of this.
Manfrotto is part the much larger Vitec Group plc, who “provide vital products and services that support the capture of exceptional images” – and I got the chance to speak with both the Imaging Sales & Marketing Director and Supports Managing Director Marco Pezzana, and Communications Director Simona Colombo. Marco talked about having identified a new niche of consumers, which they have named ’social recorders’ – which as I understand, to be the iPhone / compact camera / social user that want to just explore photography in a social way, IE using pocket sized cameras or smaller entry level DSLRS capturing fun and daily photographs for social and personal use, rather than a professional creating image for commercial use.
Some of the new products that caught my eye:
1. Messenger style bags. (Unica V Messenger Red Limited Edition) I have one of these now, and as you probably know I have more photography bags than I know what to do with as there is not a bag on earth that ever ticks all the boxes. I’ve been a fan of LowePro bags for many years, and recently added a big Vanguard Skybourne to the collection – but this new style bag from Manfrotto changes it again. When I’m not on a photoshoot, I generally just carry my Macbook Pro & Canon 5Dmk2 in satchel / rucksack type bag for day to day use, so this new Messenger style bag just fits in perfectly into my current ‘offline’ useage. Although Manfrotto have had messenger bags out for a while – to have such a good looking, bright and modern bag rather than the usual black bag that account for 90% of all photography bags.
The messenger bag is colourful, well made, and definitely a premium product thoroughly thought out for the DLSR & Laptop user, with a padded inside sleeve for a laptop (fitting my 13″ Mac Book Pro perfectly) together with separate padded areas for my 5Dmk2, alongside a 24-70 2.8L as well as fitting in the 16-35 2.8L with loads of room to spare for batteries, cards, flash unit etc. One of the best features of the bags is that it has a dedicated space underneath with a zipped area where you can fit one of the new awesome looking white travel tripods. This bag is going to be my new favourite – and it doesn’t even look like a photography bag which is even better for walking around London with.
2. New white tripod. This is a genius idea – it’s almost like the white iPhone idea, break away from the usual black colour of tripods and supports and make a easy to use, compact and light, but still uber premium product in white and grey high quality metal & plastics. Looks great, and extends to a whopping 130cm, I was shocked considering it’s packed size – I had assumed it’d just be half the size. A great product that can be slung in a travel bag for quick use in a non pro environment. It has a smooth compact ball head on it too – allowing you to use both video and stills on the same head – as you can move it to both landscape and portrait positions and anything else in between, great for an quick and light all-round solution.
3. LED Lights – these are great, little battery operated bright LED lights that have a hot-shoe mount (removable) so that you can add some extra light to your photos and videos without having to use a big flash unit. Surprisingly powerful, and properly pocket sized. My biggest excitement with this was that you can use it is a video light for your iPhone, great for videos when you are out and about and the light just isn’t quite bright enough to light a face. I’m looking forward to testing the full range later in the month so I’ll let you know then. Looking pretty promising so far.
Conclusion:
I love the direction that Manfrotto are headed, using the existing pro level premium product ranges twinned with a brand carrying an excellent reputation and quality, extending a hand into a more dynamic and wider audience of this new developing niche of social recorders. I have a great feeling that they are about to take a big market share imminently.
I’m sorry if I’m coming across a little obsessed – but it’s not often I meet a photography company that have such a genuine enthusiasm about their products and the industry, especially considering they are at such a premium and influential level. It’s great for the photograph industry as a whole and ultimately great for the hobbyists and amateurs that might just become the next pro’s – in my opinion I really do think a rising tide floats all boats.
More information:
»» Manfrotto product range & website
»» Imagine More Facebook Page
»» London Event Press release
Tags: business > industy > Travel
New portrait of BBC Gardening expert Will Giles in Norwich
Posted on November 1, 2011 | No Comments
A few more photographs of the very awesome Will Giles, this time a couple of portrait photographs of him for an American magazine and some new editorial. Always a pleasure photographing WIll in his wonderful Exotic Garden, you can always be assured of a constant stream of tea and laughter!
Film Obsession – Art of Flight Snowboarding Movie
Posted on October 31, 2011 | 2 Comments
My new obsession and I can’t stop watching it, talking about it and sharing it with friends. The new Art of Flight movie from Brain Farm is just a total senses overload, some of the most incredible snowboarding footage I’ve ever seen. Featuring incredible footage shot on the CineFlex HD, RED, Panasonic AJ-HPX3700, and Phantom HD Gol, the incredible Cineflex stabilising gimbal hanging underneath the Red Bull makes for some super incredible imagery. Awesome slow mo and great use of polygon effects, you won’t be dissapointed watching it. Highly recommended- just download it from iTunes and see for yourself!
Here’s the trailer on Vimeo:
Tags: brain farm > cineflex > red > snowboarding > video
Incredible Highlining & Base Jumping Video – Beautiful Filming.
Posted on October 29, 2011 | No Comments
An amazing video I have enjoyed in the last few days enough to share, a wonderful example of amazing footage shot high up in the world, beautiful colours and great choices of lenses… and obviously amazing content – those guys are just properly mental. If you’re scared of heights you may need something to grip onto…! Thanks to Ben for sending the link my way. Enjoy. View full screen and in full HD (scaling off)
Portraits: Looking out over the beautiful Indian Ocean.
Posted on October 10, 2011 | No Comments
I’ve been spending quite a while over last week trawling through my photographs, especially some of which I had almost forgotten about. These two very similar images I took in the Seychelles a couple of years ago, and love them very much, the colours, the movement in the dress from the warm Indian Ocean winds. I would love to go back there again, I miss it terribly!
Portrait Photography in Norwich – a colourful collaborative project.
Posted on October 7, 2011 | No Comments
This week I have a couple of portrait photographs taken for a client on location in Norwich, Norfolk. I love the beautiful colours in these photographs, she was great fun to photograph and thanks again to Hannah & the team that helped make this happen. If you would like your portrait taken, please get in contact for more details. 
Tags: norwich > portrait > portrait photography
The Smoking Monk – at the Bayon Temple in Cambodia
Posted on October 6, 2011 | No Comments
Time for some more travel photography I’ve been meaning to post here for a while. This photograph was taken at the beautiful Bayon Temple in the Angkor Complex, Cambodia. A wonderfully magical place, I hope to go back there again someday. To view this image larger please click here: Monks at Bayon Temple – Cambodia
Review – Vanguard Skyborne 51 Laptop & Camera Backpack
Posted on October 5, 2011 | No Comments
Gear bags – my arch nemesis. I can never find the right bag to carry my photography kit around with me, and I feel I’ve tried a million bags so far and nothing ever is quite right. I’ll be honest, the majority of bags I have used in the past have been LowePro bags, great bits of kit assuming you can find the right fit for your gear. This new bag from Vanguard certainly helps fill a void in my gear bag conundrums. For most of my photoshoots I take a fair amount of flash kit, both small flashes like speedlites as well as studio Elinchrom lights – so I’m always taking around 2-5 bags of kit to the smaller shoots. My standard bag that I use more than any other is the Lowepro Vertex, which has a decent 
laptop pocket to take my 13″ Macbook Pro that I always take on location. The Vanguard Skyborne 51 certainly is a much bigger bag than it seems, loads of space, 2 main compartments with ample space for most kit. I won’t go overboard listing every specific about the bag – you can find that online.
Main compartment: You can easily fit a decent sized DSLR in there with a couple of lenses and enough kit for day to day use, although it has foam dividers, once you get your main camera in there you’re pretty limited to other arrangements, but that is pretty standard across similar camera bags. Pretty deep though, which is a great advantage for carrying multiple lenses or flash units.
Second compartment is a bit odd, a great open size, but the lack of any dividers rather limits what you can put inside, but I guess it’s designed more for putting day to day stuff in, like a raincoat, bottle of water etc or food inside, as the backpack is definitely designed for walking around with, rather than just moving kit around. The bag is very comfortable to wear, and I definitely recommended it for people who have just one camera body and a couple of lenses, with a load of accessories & a laptop (It comes with a decent sized laptop carry case which is excellent) – but who will actually will be moving around with it their back.
Overall I think it’s a great bag, very padded and feels pretty rugged – I think this bag is perfect for someone who is outdoors a lot, and perhaps doesn’t just want to carry around ONLY camera equipment, but also day to day based clothing / food / drink / hiking equipment in a very comfortable and protected back pack. The bag feels well made and will keep up with my pretty tough usage of bags, I’ll definitely be adding this bag to my collection, and will probably become part of my primary setup going forward. For worldwide travel it could be a great bag to use, it’s on the bigger side – but will still fit in overhead baggage lockers on most planes, but double check your airline as it’s always changing. The bag has a great heavy duty Tripod strap system on the back which is very useful. It’s great to see all access is from the back (your body side) so that nothing will be able to be stolen, or fall out as you’re walking around – a great touch.
More information:
To find out more about the Vanguard Skyborne 51 please have a look at their website here, and there is a video here which helps put it in perspective too.
A great new addition to my wall!
Posted on September 29, 2011 | 2 Comments
I need to have a quick shout out to Canvas Dezign in Lancashire for sorting me out with a massive canvas of a recent photograph taken in Cambodia earlier in the year, the canvas looks awesome on our wall. Great quality canvas, solidly made frame and quick postage, I chose to have full colour print (you can get black and white or sepia too) and the image not wrapped around the edges, personally I prefer this look in most situations. Highly recommended! You can find them on twitter too. @canvasdezign
Portrait: Will Giles – Botanical Expert at the Exotic Garden Co. Norwich
Posted on September 23, 2011 | No Comments
I finally managed to get Will Giles (of the fabulous Exotic Garden in Norwich) to sit still for a few minutes so I could take a quick portrait photograph of him. I’ve been wanting to photograph Will for a while now, so it’s awesome we finally made it happen. He has an incredible home, his lounge looks like a custom made studio set so it was great to be able to photograph him there. A wonderful chap, I recommend you go and check out his amazing tropical garden out too. If you are interested in having your portrait taken, please get in touch.
Tags: portrait > will giles
