Daniel's Blog

Typically, I haven't had a chance to take any photos this week, other than ones of my daughter, so here's another from last week's visit to my local park.


Pentax K-5, Sigma 105mm Macro lens @ f/9.5, 1/30s, ISO400, tripod.

Labels: Feather, Macro, Photo Friday

posted by Dan @ 20:46  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

Chatting to my artist friend Paul the other night (you can find his website here), he was telling me he'll be producing one painting a month from now on. It's easy to get sidetracked by work, family and other commitments, and not make time to do the thing you love, for your own benefit.

I've certainly found that this last year, since the arrival of my daughter. Although I have loads of photos of her, it's been rare that I've got out to take photos of my 'normal' subjects, unless I'm running a workshop or some private tuition, and even more rare for me to actually get any images uploaded.

Many people will do a 365 project, where they post a photo every day, taken on that day. I congratulate them, as I really don't see me being able to achieve this, so I've decided to make Fridays 'Photo Friday', and post a picture that I've made during the preceding week. It's good to have goals, but it's also good to have realistic ones! As an example, I started this post at about noon today, and it's now gone 8pm; sorting photos, ringing customers, changing nappies and playing peek-a-boo are very hard things to time-manage, I find.

So here's the first of my Photo Friday series, taken at Hutton Country Park on Tuesday, the last shot I took after a lovely few hours exploring the frost we had. This moss had been in the sun for a while though, so the frost was now reduced to a few droplets.


Pentax K-5, Sigma 105mm Macro lens @ f/5.6, 1/15s, ISO200, tripod.

It was quite tricky trying to decide on a photo from the dozens I took, and I was in two minds about this one, as it's similar to others I've taken, but I liked it, so why not? :-)

No idea what next Friday's Photo will be, so keep your eyes peeled and see what I come up with!

Labels: Macro, Moss, Photo Friday

posted by Dan @ 20:26  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

Merry Christmas to you all and wishing you a very happy New Year.

Many of you will have received One-to-One photography tuition gift vouchers for Christmas, and may be wondering about the best way to go about using them. Now, assuming they're for tuition with me, here's what you do...

The voucher entitles you to a 4 hour tuition session, at a location of your choice. If it's in the Brentwood/Billericay/Chelmsford/Romford area, there are no further costs involved, if you'd like to meet outside these areas, I will make a small charge for travelling.



Have a think about what you would like to cover during your time with me, and start making notes of any questions you may have, to ensure you get the most from the session. Decide what time of year would suit you best, don't feel you have to use the voucher straight away. If you want to wait until Spring or Summer, that's fine - there's no expiry date for the voucher.



Give me a ring, or email me, to arrange a date, time and location for your session. Note that the voucher is valid for 2 years, so don't feel rushed into using it. Feel free to discuss anything at this time, as it's better that we both know what you would like to get out of the tuition before we get started. I am available any day of the week, but please be aware that I run workshops and also work for Essex Wildlife Trust on certain days, including weekends, so you may need to be flexible with your chosen date.



I can cover all sorts of requirements during these tuition sessions, whether it's getting to grips with the basics of your camera, or how to approach composition, or more specific themes like close-up or macro photography.



The whole point about 1-2-1 tuition is that you should get as much as possible from the time you have with me, so make sure you ask lots of questions, take lots of notes (even if they're just taken mentally), and above all enjoy yourself!

posted by Dan @ 23:34  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

If you're considering buying a Private Photography Tuition Gift Voucher for Christmas, but think there's not time for me to post it out to you, don't worry, as I will email a voucher to you, as well as put one in the post.

So just pop along to the Gift Vouchers page, pay through Paypal, and be guaranteed to receive the voucher in time for the big day, even if you order at 8pm on Christmas Eve! :-)

Have a great Christmas, and I look forward to seeing you in 2012.

posted by Dan @ 09:08  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

I'm busy designing a new website at the moment, simply because my current one is somewhat out of date, with several areas that are less relevant to my business today, but also because my tuition leaflets bear little resemblance to my website.  I remembered this was the reason for changing to my current design about 8 years ago, my business cards were a new design, and they looked nothing like my website, so I spent the summer of 2003 have a major redesign.

My new website will be much smaller, with about half the number of pages, with much more emphasis on my photography tuition.  I'm having 'fun' getting to grips with HTML and CSS again, with the added joy of jQuery this time too, but it's coming together, and is now getting to the stages where I'm ready to fill it with content.

Anyway, here's a little sneaky peek at how the home page will look...

posted by Dan @ 15:28  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

For the last time this year, I'll be at Cameraworld in Chelmsford, Essex, for another free advice day.  Taking place on Saturday 12th November, I will be giving you the chance to try your hand at macro photography, as well as having tuition gift vouchers for sale.  Details can be found here

posted by Dan @ 14:41  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

I'm running another free advice day at Cameraworld in Chelmsford, Essex, on Saturday 8th October.  Details can be found here!

posted by Dan @ 23:05  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post