Landscapes. I dabble, I will be honest, I don't spend the time on them that I should. Commercially they are quite hard to make any profit from them, unless you happen to be called Peter Lik (Google him). Worst of all, though, is that as the summer gets closer, the mornings get even earlier. So every once in a while, when work allows, I will get out there and capture a landscape or two, or just go and look for a possible future image for when the light is better. Mark-2016-04-04--42 I know I should do more, I know I should, but that is where we must try to balance our lives. There are times that I wonder how some photographers manage to make their photography the sole purpose (or certainly give the impression). Life does not seem to be in the way for some. 22608538936_448323f4e3_o I contemplate offering framed landscapes to clients who book a particular wedding package, but struggle with this too. Who would want one of my Landscapes on their wall? Lets face it, I don't even have any of my own hanging up. [caption id="attachment_1949" align="alignnone" width="3000"] British Army assist the Environment Agency with floods.

Bookends and a year of imagery

February 27, 2015

From the Archive, Military work, Sport / Action, travel

1 Comment

I realise that in the last couple of years I have not fulfilled the commitment of a BLOG properly. Now I could make every excuse in the world, but who am I kidding.

I sometimes wonder what is the point of this blog? Am I trying to reach anyone? No, not really. This is much more of a diary really, an opportunity to put some thoughts down, ideally thoughts I don’t mind others knowing about, that is.

So after a relatively poor show for some time, where do you go to try to kick it all off again?

The last twelve months have been busy with one thing and another. There have been some really interesting trips away, a lot of mundane work, but then that is the lot of essentially being a staff photographer.

Here are some images taken pretty much in the last year, I will add a notation explaining them.

The year has tended to start with covering the Divisional championships in France.

An unusual trip to Cyprus and the last European divided city, here the tour piper uses the solitude of the roof to practice.

The military do occasionally do this kind of thing from time to time.

The summer saw the spectacle of the Queens birthday reception in Hannover, with all the pomp and ceremony you could imagine.

Sport and competition is and always will be a big part of the military experience, this was from the British Forces Germany athletics finals.

The final pomp in the small spa town of Bad Oeynhausen.

Army restructuring brings with it new training opportunities and part of that is seeing exactly what the kit is able to do.

Poland has been a big part of this year, with two exercises being covered.

‘Green eyes’, or Night vision can make for an interesting shot.

This year has been a whole lot of ‘last one’s’, here is the last British Army Polo competition in Germany before the withdrawal.

A second visit to Poland saw our largest armoured deployment for an exercise for decades.

The feet on the ground, every conflict needs them.

A soldier moves as quickly as he can over open ground during the exercise.

A British Challenger 2 can move very quickly over rough terrain, one of the fastest.

Army boxing is in good form and an amazing experience to see.

The last bookend, back to skiing, this time an Army snowboarder makes some shapes against a dramatic backdrop.

Best laid plans and chomping on a bit or reality

August 7, 2013

Development, Portraits

2 Comments

With a blog comes great responsibility…….or does it?

I look here today and realise that it has been almost two weeks since my last post. Me bad! Wait though, there is a reason for it. I have been really busy trying to rush those last bits of work before I go on a break with my family on Friday. I know, I hate hearing myself say it. Busy just seems like a lame reason.

So what have I been doing? Well the fact of the matter is babies, or new born’s. A particular genre that really is a skill and there is no substitute for experience. Well photographically I have committed a cardinal sin, in my eyes out of necessity. These shots have to be done in a very small window of opportunity at a time when a new family scrambles to get used to the tremendous upheaval. So the plan was to offer a few (small number) new families the chance to get some portraits of their new baby at absolutely no charge. There will be photographers now swooning at this as the something for nothing situation is what has got this industry into it’s condition.

In my defence, I had not shot babies this young before, my studio was not equipped for it and I really was not sure what to expect. All facts that I ensured the parents were made aware of before hand. You can’t exactly tell a ten day old baby what to do can you?

A chance to play with new ideas, new colours, new styles was amazing, a recent trip to the UK meant I could pick up some simple supplies like wooden flooring and some really amazing blankets.

The end results? Well after all they are subjective and I fully understand that not everyone will like them but the response from the parents has been amazing. I have another string to my bow and I do feel that my photography has made a step too.