I'm Back..Again

Wow. So I'm back. Moved up north. Trying to focus on one thing, make more stuff.

OK, so that's a little, maybe a lot of an exaggeration. I'm at a point where I'm losing focus as I have Ideas that are flowing but at a rate too fast for me to complete any of them. I need to switch off for a while and reboot the system. Zap the PRAM or something.

Focus on the one, not the many.

Stick with me and you'll get some things to look at, Hopefully, have an opinion about and comment.

We'll see. 

Losing focus is like procrastination for the energetic. Just need to start and finish one. If I can get fifteen done I'll make an evening or afternoon of it somewhere.

Chase Jarvis, thank you. You'll never know how you impacted my mind.

It doesn't matter. I might have got to the party a little late, but I'm at the party, I just gotta get noticed. 

A real late start for 2016

For all I do and say, this is or has been a long time away. The cause? Too many social media channels to update. I've yet to become effective at blogging across all the available avenues.

I've just got into (finally) Instagram and Twitter, actually making a few post, not just reading others.
FB has always been my main area for posting, but even that seems to get a little boring of late. I guess I need to 'create stuff' that's important to me, hopefully showing others interesting things which gives them a reason to 'like'.

I've actually not been doing much in the way of making photos, building a list of projects to undertake. The idea is to be able to set them as if they were jobs. I've been collecting the bits and pieces I intend to use like props and new lighting modifiers.

I'm not going to make the list here of what I've got to do, but use this as the place to do the BTS stuff.

This Saturday (16th April) will be the official start. Stay tuned if not already.

Looking up to the sky at night

I'd obtained a 400mm f5.6 Sigma lens. Not great, just ok. The thing is its a Sony A fit. For those of you that know, I generally use Nikon or occasionally Canon. Anyhoo I picked up a Sony A350 for less than I spend on lunch each week, just to try out this lens.

I decided on photographing the Moon, as my mum had mentioned one evening how lovely it looked. You know what, it is a lovely thing.

Ideally I'd have gone out to somewhere there isn't too much ambient light such as street lights and traffic, but I'm only messing around with a cheap camera and a 'free' lens. So the garden was just fine.

I had to wait till the Moon rose over the rooftops, it's surprising how fast the moon appears to travel when you're wanting to take a photo of it.

I'd been going out every night this week watching it, waiting for the sun to set, offering me nice contrast (the lens suffers with poor contrast as well).

So last night I think I got some images that are 'not bad'.

Let me know what you think. 

Weekend in Kent

A visit to Kent was required as I'll be shooting a wedding at Lympne Castle in June. So a recce was the intent of the visit.

Yes, I did manage a little chill time and managed to record a couple of iPhone videos. The theme is 'tunnel'. The first is 'Nature made because of man' , followed by a 'Man made because of nature'.

Hope you enjoy them.

on the way to Lympne Castle

Blackwell tunnel

The pesky state of procrastination

It may seem I've not had anything to say or that I haven't allowed myself the time to post anything. The truth is, there's so many avenues of social media to try to keep up with, it becomes an issue about making less noise. So I decided to create two pages on Facebook, one for my photography and related business, the other as a 'stuff' place. Both ran in conjunction with my personal FB page.

Here's the list of social media outlets I currently have;
dnlkphotography (FB) - http://on.fb.me/1QpVzrA
Stuff (FB) - http://on.fb.me/1QpVDr7
G+ (Google+) - http://bit.ly/1QpVIer
Blogger - http://bit.ly/1QpVO5U
Pinterest - http://bit.ly/1QpVUuc

They all hinge around my photography. I've attempted the approach of 'being out there' with posts that people may find interesting and therefore wish to know a little bit more about me, as in what do I actually do. Hopefully a few of you have found your way to me via one of those. If not, it doesn't matter, you're here now.

I'm planning to have a post here this weekend, so please stay tuned.

Allen and May's 50th Anniversary

It was a glorious weekend in Manchester this past weekend. Celebrating at the Millennium Copthorne. Great fun had by all Karens friends who joined us as did my mum who is now a regular to our journeys.

The weather was fine for the whole of the weekend which made quite a difference.

A special thanks have to go to our friends Karen and Gordon, spending their time with our kids, taking them shopping.

Personal project - kit list

I know it's Tuesday and I've already started the week, but I wasn't sure of the weight, as a few times a week I go to the gym in the evening straight from work. I carry one bag, everyday. On gym days my gear has to fit in with my gym kit and clean items of clothing. On other days its on its own, however Monday to Friday I also pack some lunch (Tupperware protects that).

So here it is:

This is almost all I need - going with the strobist school of thought. One DX camera body, 18-200mm lens (with rubber hood), a manual speedlight, a flash bender (rogue copy), a pack of rosco gels, batteries and charger for the flash. 

Here's why. I like the 18-200 is not a prime, but out at 200mm it's only f5.6 so at minimum focus distance I can knock the background out nice and soft. It's also a great all rounder and can double up for most situations of my day-to-day.

Now the DX body has a popup flash, which in a pinch can make do as a on axis fill. If I want some directional light that's where the speedlight come in. It can be a slave or I'll use a cheap pt04 remote if needed. It'll definitely have the flash bender attached. Once you use it you'll love it. The rosco gels are a impulse. Not sure if I'll get the chance to use them but they take up a little more space than a pack of gum. Now you might be asking 'what's gonna hold up the flash?', a V.A.L of course! If I've the need to use the flash, I'll have had to do a little planning so they'll be some one to act as a light stand.

I nearly forgot, I've also a bunch of 'moo' mini cards with my details just in case!

Next post will be some results - hopefully!