New Tuition Leaflet

I've finally completed the update for my new tuition leaflet, and they've now been printed (all 2500 of them) and will be with me on Monday, all being well.  First to receive them will be Cameraworld in Chelmsford, as they've run out of the old version, and I don't have any more myself now.  I'll pop some into Hanningfield Reservoir on my way back from Chelmsford too.






The hardest part about the design was choosing the photos for it, and although some, such as the driftwood shot and beetle, were quite easy choices, others were a more drawn out affair, especially that of the cover image.  As I'd spent so much time choosing them, I thought I'd run through what I'd picked, and why I'd decided on these ones.


Pentax K10D, Pentax DA16-45mm @ 26mm, 1/250s, f/4, ISO200, handheld.

This silver birch trunk, surrounded by ferns, was in the Birkett Long Millennium Walk at Marks Hall, near Coggeshall.  The estate at Marks Hall is wonderful for photography, with formal planting, woodland, a walled garden, lakes and a river.  I like the rich colours and the stark contrast between the tree and the surrounding foliage, and the composition fitted the placement in the leaflet.  It was the last of the three 'inside' shots to be chosen, so the colour was a factor for me too.



Pentax K10D, Pentax DA*300mm, 1/90s, f/5.6, ISO100, tripod.

Shot on the beach at Minsmere, this was taken when we stopped over whilst on our way up to Norfolk last Spring.  It was a very wet day (you can see the rain in the photo), so it limited me to using just my 300mm lens, the only weatherproof one I had at the time.  I like the simplicity of this image, and I can almost see an odd figure in the wood - it just appeals to me.



Pentax K10D, Sigma 105mm Macro, 1/250s, f/3.5, ISO200, handheld.

Taken at Colchester Zoo last year, this has been converted to a high contrast black and white image, with the background burned in quite strongly to concentrate the view on the Lion.  I wanted one monochrome photo on the leaflet this time, and this is one of my favourites, and fairly eye-catching too, I think.



Pentax K10D, Sigma 105mm Macro, 1/10s, f/6.7, ISO200, handheld.

Whilst running a macro workshop at Thorndon Park in May 2009, I noticed there were several of these Longhorn beetles around.  They had the advantage of freezing whenever you got close to them, making composition and focusing relatively easy.  I like to include at least one high magnification macro shot on the leaflet, as that's particularly relevant to what I do.



Pentax K10D, Sigma 105mm Macro, 1/2s, f/11, ISO100, tripod.

Again, shot at Thorndon Park, this time whilst I was providing some 1-2-1 tuition, I was attracted to the hole in this fallen leaf, and knew it would record as a deep black due to the contrast range exceeding the capabilities of the camera sensor.  Choosing this image was largely due to needing one that would make a good background for the text whilst remaining interesting in itself.



Pentax K10D, Sigma 105mm Macro, 2/3s, f/13, ISO100, tripod, polariser.

The choice that caused me most problems, I was keen to have something other than an insect or an animal on the cover of this leaflet, so spent a lot of time looking through fungi and plant shots before finally settling on this fern.  I particularly wanted a clean, simple image for the cover, yet some of the choices (including this Orchid) seemed too stark.  I eventually remembered this fern photo, taken by Llyn Geirionydd in July 2007.  It has been one of my favourite images ever since, but for some reason, didn't immediately spring to mind when I was picking a photo for the leaflet.

So those are the photos and why I chose them - keep an eye out for them in a camera shop or EWT visitor centre near you!