Shut up Rowan, it's a flippin' telephone

I simultaneously hate and love the camera on my iPhone. As far as cameras go, it's a bag of crap, but for god's sake, it's a telephone, what do I expect?

We're dog-sitting at the moment, and we took her out for a walk in the mist this morning. I was going to bring my regular camera, but I decided that I couldn't be bothered; I was likely to be holding a dog lead in one hand, and anticipated holding a small bag of poo in the other for about 50% of the time. I figured my phone would have to do.

They say the best camera is the one you have with you, and in this case that was the phone - I really like these shots that I got, but I hate them too.

I took this one last night - same story; without my phone, I wouldn't have this shot. But I wish it were better, you know? If it's not obvious, this is a whale's skeleton...

Weddings

I had a very busy weekend last weekend, thanks to two weddings in three days. One of them was a last minute booking, after the couple's original photographer bailed on them with less than a week to go. It's that kind of behaviour that reminds me that some photographers can be real idiots, and how important confidence in your photographer can be on the big day.

Anyway, thanks to the bank holidays and easter breaks, I've been able to process the photos in double quick time, so here's a little taster. I'll get the discs sent out to Sarah & Aaron and Sarah & Ed this week. I hope they like them!

Sarah and Aaron:

Sarah and Ed:

Poking Around the New House

As you can see, it is still a bit of a building site...

Landscape

Wow, it's been a while.

A couple of weeks ago I went down to London, and on the way took some snaps out of the train window whilst moving a fair old lick. Some of them turned out not half bad:

Competition Time!

Happy new year, all. This year, I'm going to try and enter more competitions. Ranging from local things to win a tin of beans, all the way up to the Taylor-Wessing Portrait prize (seriously).

Anyway, to kick things off, I've entered another portrait prize in Black and White Photography magazine. The prize is a studio lighting kit, which I would love to have.

Anyway, my four entries are these:

Long time...

...no see.

Haven't blogged anything for some time here. To be honest, I haven't taken many photographs - the winter weather has meant that I go to work in the dark, and it's dark before I leave. Anyway, here's a shot from recently, just to keep things ticking over.

Halloween Party

On Saturday I went to a marvellous party:

holiday shots

went on holiday to the artistic city of aarhus in denmark, and all i got was a shot of a massive model boy...

Gear

New Lens! New Flash! Woo!

Black and White Photographer of the Year

This very morning, I have sent off my entry for Black and White Magazine's Photographer of the Year competition. I don't expect to win, but then again, you have to be in it to win it, apparently. I've sent in prints that are about 11x15 inches, which is the largest that I've printed my shots in some time. They looked pretty good! I get the prints back afterwards, so I think I'll try and sell them.

Anyway, the 4 shot portfolio that I submitted was made up of the shots below:









Results announced in December, so fingers crossed!

Magazine Submissions

Ellen convinced me that I should submit some images to a magazine for publication. I've sent a selection to Black+White Photography, and hopefully they'll feature them and send me a voucher for something I don't want! The exposure would be good though...

The Falconer

Took this shot at the weekend, it's one of many, and the only one without the falcon in it, but I think it has an unusual atmosphere...

Recent Wanderings

And the dark

After the levity of the previous post, here's some more usual fare...

New software

Last night I downloaded Nik Software's Silver Efex Pro, which, amongst other things, emulates a number of traditional black and white films. I think the shot below is Delta 3200. Its a great program, making conversion to black and white in Photoshop much easier, and more authentic looking. It also has a number of presets that emulate things like tintypes and pinhole photos, which are fun, but have less long-term appeal for me.

Don't Mess With The Chicken....

Or The Chicken Might Mess With You...

Popular

This shot has proven to be quite popular on my flickr page these last couple of days.

I like his face...