High Key Studio Portrait of Eleanor. Shot with 2 softboxes up close, one high and one low. 2 Background spots bounced off masking boards. 120mm lens at f16.

I wasn’t sure about adding this image today, but after looking at it for a long time, I think it’s a good abstract. Plus, it makes me feel a little bit woozy as the depth of field is so shallow. It’s ale Thursday!

Sorry for everyone who checks the blog regularly, having to see my gormless face two days in a row. But I’ve been having fun playing with some lighting styles the last couple of days, which has been interesting. This one was shot with two low flash heads on low power (1 slightly higher) bounced off of polyboards either side of me. I used boards to mask off the background to keep it dark.

The third self portrait this year (Or is it 4). When there’s no one around to shoot, you have to get in front of the camera and act silly. I used 3 flash heads. one with a blue gel, one with pink towards the camera at the rear to get the flare effect and one soft box for a bit of white light to the face and masked off from the background. RUN!

A photograph of London’s oldest structure. (almost 3500 years old) First erected in 1450 BC Heliopolis, Egypt. It was given as a gift to the UK to celebrate Lord Nelson’s battle victories on the Nile. Not sure what New York did to deserve the twin obelisk though. The scaffold has just come down off the London one again and you can get right up to it and have a touch.

I went to Notting Hill Carnival for the first time on Sunday. I heard music so loud it threatened to detach my retinas and ate a fish so bony that it is still lodged in my throat. It’s totally wild there. I was hanging around this coconut vendor to catch this shot. Out of about 10 frames, I managed to sort the focus out just in time for the milk shot!

Went to the Eagle Ale House’s ale festival on Saturday, and played a heated game of scrabble and sampled some generous halfs of ale. Here you can see a man smirking as he’s about to smack down ‘Quip’ on a triple word, triple letter (Q10) score (eventually winning the game).

A tiny photographer giving instructions… Perhaps. This was shot in the studio on a 100mm lens @f11 with one light bounced of a board to the front right.

Back at the Market Porter at London Bridge last night. I still had my camera set on ‘small jpg’ for the whole night. Silly me. This portrait of Adam had nice natural lighting.

Balanced Rock in the studio. Shot with one main front light and one reflected off of a board in rear.

A tribute to the Holga. Probably the best camera you can choose. £20, Plastic, Leaks Light, but takes great photos. The film aspect makes it pretty hard to used Holga pics on Photo a Day (there aren’t many one hour 120 film places!), So a photo of the Holga will have to do. There are some modifications to this one. Tape is optional.

Guitar shot on the 1D with extension ring. One tungsten light above and to the left. Surprising effect!

Tavistock the Cow relaxing on Elvetham Heath Nature Reserve. She was there with 3 gigantic friends too. I’m not sure what they’ve been eating.

Thyme growing in a shoe at the City Growth project at the Allotment Garden in Regent’s Park to show you can grow in anything. There are a couple of abandoned shoes up on the roof at work, thinking about it. Might get planting…

Apple shot in the studio with Tungsten. One spotlight from behind on full and one snoot to the front right on low power. I hollowed out the back of the apple to get it translucent and glowing. Friday has come at last!