Desktop Wallpaper for March 2012
Crikey. Yet another month has flown by, so it’s time once again to liven up your computer desktops with a new wallpaper calendar. This photograph of Barton Bridge on the M60 motorway around Manchester was made late last summer. I was on my way for a game of squash with my squash buddy and I [...]
It’s all about the vision
Thankfully last week, I finally finished the audio book of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina that I’ve been listening to for the last two months, and so decided to move onto something a little less weighty. I’ve had Steven Pressfield’s “Do the work” on my Audible wish list for a while now, so felt that this would [...]
My favourites from 2011
It’s that time again…. In keeping with the last couple of year’s reflections on the year that was (2010 here, and 2009 here) below are my 12 14 favourite images from 2011. Slightly different from these previous entries though, I haven’t picked one image from each month, I’ve simply tried to pick my 12 (which [...]
European Christmas Markets, Manchester
Earlier last week, I took a trip into Manchester to shoot the Christmas markets, of which there are now so many it wasn’t easy deciding where to start! In the end, I plumped for the main European one in Albert Square presided over the an extremely large illuminated Santa perched over the entrance to the [...]
Worldwide Photowalk, Manchester
Last weekend was the fourth annual Worldwide Photo Walk and as this was the first year that someone’s taken the initiative and decided to lead one in Manchester, I thought I’d give it a whirl. In fact there wasn’t one, but two this year! A bit like buses, or policemen…. Anyway due to commitments on [...]
John Ryland’s Library revisited
As part of the reworking through my library I’ve found quite a few images of Manchester that I had initially discarded which looking at now, with a slightly older and more informed taste, I think are most definitely usable photographs. Both of these images were taken inside John Ryland’s Library in Manchester on one of [...]
A glorious afternoon at Old Trafford
The Sunday before last was a glorious afternoon…. The weather was decent, and the prospect of a decent game of football against Arsenal had me in a tip-top frame of mind. I had a little time to spare before the game, and this time instead of heading straight for the boozer, I went armed with [...]
Jenson Button hits Manchester
On bank holiday Monday, the Vodafone McLaren team along with Formula 1 2009 World Champion Jenson Button paid a visit to Manchester and just happened to bring along their 2008 mp4-23 car with them. Several of the main roads in the city centre were closed for Jenson to take his wee motor for a little [...]
Manchester – stitched panorama
A couple of weeks ago I found myself in the car park in the old Great Northern Warehouse accosted by a couple of security guards inquiring as to what I was photographing. Remarkably, they were quite amenable and just left me to get on with what I was doing. That has to be a first. [...]
Like a moth to the setting sun
As I tweeted the other day, once again I found myself in Manchester chasing the setting sun like a moth round a dying light bulb. I arrived I guess probably around 45 minutes before the sun was scheduled to set with nothing specific in mind. I had a loose plan to shoot the tops of [...]
Manchester… once more….
Having found my feet again after my little jaunt to Portugal last week (more images here), I’ve been going back through my images of Manchester that I’d shot so far this year after a request from a client for a particular image. It turns out that I have over 1500 frames still waiting to be [...]
Manchester, May 2008 – Champions League Final Celebrations
In light of the small matter of the forthcoming Champions League Final at Wembley tomorrow between Manchester United and Barcelona, I felt I needed a little flashback.
Looking up in Manchester
The other morning I went for a stroll around Manchester city centre again, but this time I set myself a slightly different constraint; I could only shoot up. So no street shots, macros of handrails or puddles, and generally no people either, unless they were sporting a blue and red cape.
Lena part 2
A couple more images from a recent shoot with Lena in Old Trafford. Another manic week so another brief post….. Both images using natural light only. Have a great weekend TTFN…..
Lena
Shot with Ukranian model Lena at sunset on a cool location I’d scouted in Trafford Park a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for a setting along an industrial theme and must have driven round the whole area 4 or 5 times, before I discovered this setting. It’s West facing and I returned a [...]
Manchester… devoid of life
So this has been a hectic week, what with the bank holiday, trying to re-shuffle a terabytes worth of data around to improve my workflow and just general crap – thus the missed post on Tuesday. Apologies. However, now that I have additional storage hooked up and ChronoSync schedules amended, things are now cookin’ [...]
Quick and easy portrait shoot
These are a couple of simple portraits I did on Monday. The location was a city centre flat, which had a lot of reflected sunlight coming in through a very large floor to ceiling window. There was no direct sunlight, so the result was a lovely soft and diffused light source. A great start from [...]
The uniforms spoil another shoot
A couple of weeks ago, an image that I’d like to make took shape in my mind. One of numerous on a daily basis. This one in particular was of a musician seated on a wooden chair playing a guitar with a cityscape in the background. I spent a little time working on the details [...]
One light portrait in Castlefield
I thought I’d do a brief description of the process right the way through on this image.
Why I love my Lastolite Ezybox
Quick post this morning… The images contained in this post were shot on location in Castlefield, Manchester late one sunny but very cold afternoon towards the end of January. The original shoot had been planned for two models with a make-up artist, but when first one model cancelled, then the make-up artist cancelled (all for [...]
Best of 2010
Once again, I’ve gone through all my images shot during 2010 and selected what I feel to be my best images. Thanks to my revised Lightroom workflow and organisation it was a significantly less painful task than last year, and when I compare the final selection to last year’s post (see here) I definitely feel [...]
Selected from the web – November 19th
It’s a while since I’ve done one of these, so I’ve a few worth sharing and as it’s Friday….. The Poetics of Pictures – Chris Orwig : John Paul Caponigro Blog Fantastic presentation from Chris Orwig James Appleton Photography Inspirational landscape photography Reduce Noise With Multiple Shots Simple yet effective for reducing digital noise in [...]
Manchester sunset shoot
Last week I had the pleasure of shooting the delightful Amy once again. I predicted that we were on for a pretty decent sunset, and as such wanted to shoot in a location where we could use the colour of the setting sky as a backdrop. Our planned location had been turned into a temporary [...]
John Rylands Library
The other weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to get into John Rylands Library in Manchester on one of their occasional photographic tours. This means that you’ve got an hour to go pretty much where you like and shoot with whatever you like (lights, tripods etc). Normally you are allowed to take photographs [...]
