Tuesday, 18 March 2008

Outdoor Photography Magazine

If you've seen the listing for one of my workshops in the latest (April 2008) Outdoor Photography Magazine, you'll find that it doesn't match up with any of the workshops that I'm actually running.  This is because I sent through details of two workshops - the 'Photography in the Park' one at Thorndon Park, Brentwood, on the 30th March, and 'Close-up and Macro Nature Photography' at Fingringhoe Wick on the 4th May.

Unfortunately, these two workshops got combined at OP so nothing really matches up.

Oh well, never mind.  There are plenty of dates to choose from, so you will find something to suit you, and there are more in the pipeline for later in the year too.

Don't forget, there's always the option of One to One tuition fi you want to learn something specific, or just have the luxury of my undivided attention for 4 hours.

Lastly, if you saw the listing in OP, you may be wondering why some of the other workshops cost £80 - £150 per day, whereas mine are £30 (£35 at Fingringhoe, which includes lunch).

The simple answer is one of numbers and what's included.  My workshops can have up to a dozen participants, others may restrict numbers to 2, 3 or 4.  Also, if it's a residential course, this should include accommodation and food.

Above all, I want to give you a enjoyable day, for a reasonable price.  I make a reasonable wage from the day, Essex Wildlife Trust (the charity that hosts these workshops) receive a good donation, even better if you Gift Aid your course fee, and you go away at the end of the day feeling that you've had excellent value for money.  Everyone's a winner.

See you soon,
Daniel

Monday, 10 March 2008

Pentax Photo Gallery

The Pentax Photo Gallery is an online gallery, run by Pentax, for Pentax SLR users. I'm very pleased to have had some images accepted into the gallery, and I intend to expand on these in due course.

You can see my images (and a slightly scary self-portrait, might change this) here.

Monday, 3 March 2008

Ducks and Geese

I was at Weald Park in Brentwood yesterday running a 1-2-1 tuition session, concentrating on animal photography - Weald has a decent lake with a good supply of ducks and geese, so I thought it ideal.

I rattled of a good number of shots myself, but as ever with moving subjects and my manual focus long lens, many were not sharp.  We were especially trying to catch some good wingflapping poses from the ducks, and I did at least get one good sequence.

Male Mallard duck having a good old flap.

However, it did make me think more about getting an autofocus 300mm lens, and Pentax have just brought out a new one, which is tempting...

Female Mallard posing nicely.

I was particularly pleased with aspects of this shot, although the branch top right was unfortunate, but I like the action as these ducks had a squabble - there's three of them, but the right-hand one is underwater!

Squabbling mallards

The Graylag geese were as bold as usual, so some good close-ups could be had.

Greylag goose portrait.

The belly of a wet Greylag Goose.
It has left me with the urge to go back and try some more.