Is Instagram Dead for Photographers?
4 things Instagram taught me A few months ago, l wrote about quitting social media. I was unsuccessful. An active Instagram group chat drew me back, and addiction kept me there. Nevertheless, despite still spending some time on Instagram, I have progressed with my goals for leaving. During a few days of annual leave, I redesigned my website, […]
A Somerset Landscape Photography Guide
What is there for a landscape photographer in Somerset? With rare birds in the wetland marshes and red deer roaming the hills, wildlife is perhaps the most natural draw in our county. Yet, despite lacking charismatic mountains and rugged coastline, after watching light rays through the mist of the Levels, rambling over purple moorland and […]
Stop Chasing Sunrises
I’m an early riser. I naturally wake between 4 and 6 and a lie in sees me up no later than 7.30. As a landscape photographer, this can be a strategic advantage. However it can also be exhausting. For a few weeks each year, the sun rises so that from a clearing on the Polden […]
The Motorway to Pen y Fan
Last week I had the pleasure of walking up Pen y Fan with a couple of fellow Bristol photographers. Oddly, although over the last year I have explored the Brecons a fair amount, this was the first time I have summited Pen y Fan. I think a mountain looks better from lower down than from […]
Scared of Direct Light?
Early after first picking up a camera, photographers learn to recognise of good light. As landscape photographers we wake up early and stay out past sunset in search of the perfect golden hour light. I used to return to locations again and again to understand how the light interacts with my subject. This was good […]
Contrast is Relative
I used to think that for a image to have strong contrast, the histogram needs to looks like this: That is, good portions of pixels must inhabit both the black and the white zones. But images like this have changed my mind: Here the blacks are dark (solid black, in fact) but the brightest portions […]
How Much Should You Edit Your Photos?
Debate about how much you should edit your photos can get heated. This conversation is common within the photography community, but I have found the aversion to overediting is perhaps even stronger from those who do not take photos on any serious level. I can sympathise with both sides of the argument. Photography seems – […]
Quitting Social Media
A landscape photographer’s perspective on Instagram and your art and business I love social media and – out of all the time sinks out there – Instagram is my favourite. In my early days of taking photos, IG was where I got feedback. Through comments and likes I could see how my photography was going […]