Rural Decay

Well hello friends, it's been a long time since I updated this blog. I am hoping to breathe new life into it now and while I cannot promise to be as regular as I once was, I do hope to add the occasional article.

After my third Winter slump in Canada which seems to kick all the creativity out of me, Spring is finally here and I have thrown my heart and soul into finding a new genre of photography for me to explore. I have already dabbled in Abandoned places and things over the last couple of years, but now it is becoming an obsession. I have been lucky enough to find some great subjects in the last couple of weeks and here are just a couple of my favourite images.

Praying for Time

Skyfall

Footsteps on Old Floors

Home and the Range

Portraits

Now as you may have noticed I have never been one for taking people pictures, the world of landscapes and postcard pretty images is where I feel most comfortable. But just lately the opportunity arose for for me to get out and about with fellow photographers from my club with some models. The event was called 'Trash the Dress' where we had models in wedding attire and photographed them in unusual locations. It was great fun, so much so I recently did a second one. Lighting and exposure was definitely a challenge not to mention the endless editing and re-touching, but so worth it, I learned so much and if you do get the chance to expand your horizons and sneak out of your comfort zone I would strongly recommend it! Top tip: Buy yourself a reflector, they don't cost much and they make a world of difference.

Left: Jessica Right: April Jumping


Left: Happy Right: Rebecca


Postcard Girl


Rebecca looking fierce and demure


Happy presenting the perfect model pose

Oil and Water

A flickr contact of mine recently posted some cracking shots created with a little bit of cooking oil and some water. He had followed a tutorial on You Tube by a very talented chap called Brian Peterson. The process is so simple and so easy to do and the results make such a fun and colourful abstracts. Here's one of my results. If you want to give it try yourself why not check out Brian's tutorial.

A Right Royal Photo

It's been ages since I updated this blog, apologies for that. There just doesn't seem enough hours in the day!

Just thought I would share a little bit of exciting news. One of my recent images from Stonehurst Cove in Nova Scotia has just been chosen by Canda Post to be featured in a book they are putting together to present to the newly wed Wills and Kate on their upcoming Canadian tour. I was of course thrilled at knowing that my image will be sitting on a Royal coffee table in the near future :o)


Stonehurst Cove

Urban Acid Action

A contact of mine on Flickr just mentioned an action that I thought might be worth a look.

Here's the description of the how and what the action does:

This action tries to mimic a cross-processing technique used in some glamour, fashion, and urban photography. It skews and saturates colors, while dramatically increasing contrast. The action does all this by creating an aggressive curves adjustment layer (which is user adjustable). Secondly, the action creates a black layer which can be used to desaturate/mute the colors. This can be accomplished by changing the opacity of the layer.

Respective credits and this description are included in the zip file.

Now personally don't really have any urban or portrait shots so I was eager to try it out on something different. So here as you can see is the result on one of my Beach Hut images.

The action is fully customizable at each step of the process and I really liked the results. Of course it's not for every photo!

If you wish to download it you can do so here

Getting Settled

So I have moved from the UK to Nova Scotia now as some of you who follow me on Flickr will already know. It has been hectic to say the least but things are starting to settle down. I have been lucky enough to get out and about seeing some new places and of course some of my old favourites from past visits.

I hope to bring you a few of these as I take more and of course in time I shall be adding them to my online shop at Red Bubble.

I have joined a local camera club here, and for those of you following the blog that don't belong to one, I urge you to. I was and still am, also a member of my local club back in the UK. I left on a high from that club having won both the trophies for prints and digital images which was a big thrill.

You can learn so much from other members and it's a fun way to expand your hobby!

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Moving

Just to let you know that due to my moving overseas, this blog may be a bit of a dead zone for a while until things are sorted the other end. Hopefully I will be back blogging before too long!