Next Workshop - Carsington Reservoir, Derbyshire 21 January 2012

Places are still available on our next workshop - this time a Saturday, so it should help those of you who are hard at work during the week...

Carsington is a brilliant location with plenty of opportunities to capture, landscapes, wildlife, water sports, walkers, cyclists and it has an excellent cafe where we will be based! Oh and they have some shops!

Feedback from our workshops has been fantastic so hopefully you will get a great deal out of our time together, but this is just a start once you have been on a workshop we try to keep in touch to help you progress - we love to see your images.

Reflections on Asia

Well..........Hong Kong was great as ever ...........lots of photo opportunities as ever in interesting local markets, amazing restaurants and large national parks to hike in.

And the side trip to the Philippines was an insight into living on white sand/ palm tree islands where you saw differences between the lives of the islanders and those of tourists staying in 5* plus luxury (not us I must add !).

And yes Andrew, the last image probably has a wonky horizon, but sometimes a jaunty angle adds character (though I do think I have one leg shorter than the other !!)

As you dear readers might have guessed, planning is underway for travels in 2012  - watch this space.  Canada is beckoning for a family wedding in June (I'm not down to do the photos thankfully) and we may well venture to see other parts than just Toronto !

Talking of weddings......I covered a wedding in central Sheffield late summer, and this is one of my favourite images of that sunny day.

Our next project is to get a photo gallery set up in the Nosh cafe on Division Street in Sheffield - it should be up by the end of next week.  If you do see the images there (will be changed every month) do let us know.

And finally.........a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year to you all.

Cheers - Andy

Newark, Night Shoot and Nosh!

Well Andy is still reviewing the overseas images and mulling over the RPS panel selection. Speaking of which Newark was enlightening! We learnt a lot and are reasonable encouraged by the Advisor's feedback. One lesson - don't submit a digital panel, stick to those excellent prints.

The most recent workshop was a night shoot in Sheffield, all lit up for Christmas. The weather was kind and despite it being a little chilly (the hot chocolate was a winner) we managed to get some excellent shots, brilliant feedback and a couple of eureka moments which is always great. Night photography is always a bit of a challenge but ultimately can be very very satisfying. You really must try it!

If you want to see the result of an earlier night shoot in Sheffield then pop into NOSH on Division street and with a bit of luck you should be able to see our new gallery of images adoring the walls thanks to Jonathan the forward thinking Manager who has kindly allowed us to use their walls as a gallery. New acrylic frames have just arrived and look very cool. Now all we need to do is mount and hang the images. The intention is to change the prints on a very regular basis - so do pop in an check the latest offerings. All feedback welcome - or suggestions for new themes would be good.

2012 Workshop Details Now Available

We are glad to announce the first set of dates and venues for the 2012 season. We expect to add more in the coming months. If your interested please get in touch as places are limited.

Andy has returned from Hong Kong and - he assures me - is working through his memory cards!

On top of this we are both reviewing our hundreds of  files to put together a panel of images to be put foward to the Royal Photographic Society as we are off to Newark on the 20th to have these assessed at an advisory day. We will have to wait and see what they think. Nervous.....

Chatsworth Workshop - hardwork but rewarding (for everyone!)

So you think photography is point and shoot? Well yes it can be and there's nothing wrong with that but... there is so much more that you and your camera can do if you explore a bit. Six eager participants joined us at Chatsworth Garden Centre on the 14th to take on the challenge of moving off auto mode and into the dark arts of aperture priority, shutter speeds and the unfathomable links with ISO, not to mention getting creative and seeing things differently. I think it fair to say we all found it a bit of a challenge (for varying reasons) but without exception I'm pretty sure well all got a lot out of it and the excellent feed-back seems to back that up. The enthusiasm of all our guests was an inspiration and both Andy and I (having finally recovered our voices) really enjoyed meeting and helping everyone through the day. 

Next workshop will be a night shoot on 30th November in Sheffield - exploring the challenges of long exposures and chilly evenings!

Anyway I've got to mind the shop for a couple of weeks whilst Andy jets off again - this time Eastwards to Hong Kong, global family visiting. Wonder what music you can listen to in a Rikshaw?

  

Portugal, North Wales, California ..........

Even though Andrew scoffs my choice of music, I still believe that singing 'The Boxer' while cruising around California in an open topped Ford Mustang is just one of those sublime life experiences !

Anyway, music apart, so far this year I've been fortunate to travel yet again on a couple of short trips to  favourite haunts of western Algarve and North Wales......both with great beaches.

However the big trip has been to California where the epic 3,500 mile road trip meant some fantastic landscapes, amazing food (wild king salmon fresh from the Klamath river) and brilliant wildlife.

And as the above images from California show, it was a great trip.......and you can imagine it was hard to come home.

Roll on Hong Kong in a few weeks time - it helps having a global family !

Royal Photographic Society

Forgot to mention that we are now fully signed up members of the Royal Photographic Society and with a bit of luck (and skill!) will be working towards our Licentiateship in the coming twelve months. Will keep you posted on our progress.

* A recent visit to a local field.....really needs to be viewed in large format. An example of slow shutter speed emphasising the movement in the Barley.

About time for a catch up!

Well 2011 has been somewhat busy! So apologies for not updating the blog as frequent as we would have liked. 

Good news is that our new Photography for Beginners workshops are underway and places are booking up fast... see details on the main site.

As for us well visits to the Lake District, North Norfolk, Powys and Waddington Airshow have yielded a number of new images - not to mention international photographer Mr Child and his visit to Portugal and most recently a tour of the Eastern American seaboard, but I will let him update you with tales of open top Mustangs, amazing vistas and dodgy choice of music!  

Photograph for Beginners - Now available.

At last and long-time in the planning, f22 are pleased to announce the new Photograph for Beginners workshops! Covering most aspects of  basic image making and taking and based around several stunning locations in the Peak Districts the four hour workshops are small, practical and friendly. If you want to know more just drop us an e-mail or give us a ring. There are some places left on the workshop on the 14th October - but hurry they are going fast! 

Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year to everyone from f22! Hope you all had a great festive break and managed to find sometime to get out with the camera?

Just managed a couple of family related trips out (camera discretely hidden). Only worthwhile shot taken at Carsington Water , a local reservoir. Still more to come and it's a promising start.