Water Dancers

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The Water Dancer project started in February '20 & has been severely delayed due to Covid, but we finally managed to get a production shoot done in October. This video documents the development of the project from initial concept through to final images. It took 4 shoots in total, each one building on the previous as we overcame problems and worked out the best angles.

A big thank you to my assistants, Jane Riley & Marlies Chell, my video producer Alex Beck... and of course my dancers, Lily, Dan, Alisha & Jo.

Zooming Straight into a Club Meeting Room

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My recent presentation to Masham PC was a first for me. I presented via Zoom from my home and the lecture was watched live by socially distanced members in their club room.

It was very simple to set up; the host’s laptop was connected to the room’s projector and he then logged into Zoom using the building’s WiFi broadband - everything went very well. Even if WiFi broadband had not been available it would still have been possible by using 4G internet on a mobile phone. It’s very easy to connect a laptop to a phone by bluetooth so you can use the phone’s internet signal.

This offers real possibilities post Covid. We can have the social interaction that face-to-face club meetings afford, but still use speakers from anywhere in the country, or indeed, anywhere in the world, time zones permitting.

Maybe there will be a few lasting benefits that arise out of this awful pandemic. Let’s hope so.

Masham members watching my Zoom presentation

Masham members watching my Zoom presentation

FIAP News Article

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FIAP (Fédération Internationale de l'Art Photographique, founded in 1946) is an international organisation of national associations of photography. More than 85 countries are members, comprising nearly one million individual photographers. So, in the amateur photography world FIAP is a pretty big deal.

Each month they produce a lavish newsletter which is distributed worldwide - and I’ve been asked to write an article on my underwater photography for their November issue. I’m pretty chuffed TBH.

My Diving Gannets image took the top award in the FIAP World Cup this year, so in that respect it was crowned top nature image in the world. It made the front cover of the December FIAP news and I thought that would be that.

But those gannets are the gift that just keeps on giving - I’m so very grateful to them and the fact that all the stars aligned to let me capture that photograph. I’ll publish the article here when it goes live.

It's Time to Recall Thranduil!

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One of the most ambitious projects I have running is to create & photograph an Elf Lord, Thranduil. Our model is Bear, Elaine Searston is our make up artist & the super multi-talented Marlies Chell built his regal costume - it really is something.

So far we have only done one studio shoot and using Photoshop I’ve superimposed him into several landscapes like the one below - but the intention was always to take him out into the real world.

His next outing will be to a ruined 14th-century church at the end of October (Covid & weather permitting). Last night we did a quick test shoot to check out the location & lighting - thanks to Matt Wade for being the Thranduil stand in. Matt & Alex will be creating a video of the shoot on the day.

I’m excited and nervous about this shoot but that’s often the best combination isn’t it? I find being too comfortable can lead to a lack of effort & creativity. I have a great team around me, so I’m not alone, but inevitably I feel under the greatest pressure to deliver. Fingers X’d it goes well, either way you’ll hear about it here.

Thranduil - shot in the studio last year & inserted into a landscape from Asynt, Scotland (castle from France)

Thranduil - shot in the studio last year & inserted into a landscape from Asynt, Scotland (castle from France)

Matt stands in as Thranduil on our recce shoot last night

Matt stands in as Thranduil on our recce shoot last night