Laowa 15mm f4.5 Dreamer

So I have been using the Laowa shift lens for a week or so now, and used it in anger on a few jobs too - and largely speaking it has been brilliant.

Being able to raise and lower the image circle, and hence the relative position of the camera, once it is set up and level is so useful, particularly on tricky close positioning and, although not yet tested, on tall buildings (I am hoping to pop into town next week to try it out on a challenging block that I have to photograph on occasion).

That said, it isn’t without it’s Achillies heals. The large front element is prone to damage, and it also creates some crazy lens flare. Some is quite artistic and pleasing, sometimes it manifests as a washed out image that, although largely fixable in post, is a challenge that I could do without on these short turnaround jobs.

Whilst I have been enjoying it this week, the manual EVERYTHING is good for slowing down and taking some time over composition… the Nikon 14-30S has the edge over it for straight forward shots. I suspect I will go back to using the zoom more often than not, but this little power house will remain in regular service - at least until Nikon bring out a Z mount tilt/shift with a wide angle (14 - 16mm or please!)

Things have continued to be quiet on the work front of late so I am going to re-evaluate my marketing and have a chat with a few people to gain advise and, if I am lucky, perhaps an introduction or two. But I also want to start concentrating on some of my other work - I have some ideas in the fine art direction, I have some ambitions in the landscape field with workshops and publications for instance. Perhaps there may be some more video work too.

Loads going on, the sands are shifting… and tomorrow is another day.

Game Changer?

I bought myself a new lens yesterday… and I think this could be an absolute game changer! At present when angles get tight I have to tilt the camera introducing crazy perspective distortion and then correct it in post production, which works well enough… but it loses a lot of detail and often a lot of the image. There is another way though - the Shift Lens - which creates a much larger than necessary image circle which the sensor can be positioned within to negate the need to tilt and keeps those verticals exactly that, vertical.

There is something of a learning curve with this, and I am on it already - and have already found alternative applications in landscape photography for this fully manual beast. I hope to have some real-world examples for you soon!

SOLD IN A DAY

Considering that the market is currently so hard, and considering that we live in the Highlands, this was an astonishing feat - and I uncharacteristically have to admit that my photographs played no small part in that! To get buyers in you need top quality sales materials, with sub standard pictures you are onto a lost cause before you even start… with good pictures you have a fighting chance. With exceptional pictures you are going to win.

These were exceptional.

I always work hard to produce strong photographs of anywhere I shoot, from a tiny bedsit right through to a high end mansion - and yes, I have shot both ends of that spectrum and I do so with equal commitment to doing the best possible job.

And I am currently looking for new partners to take their businesses forward and build my brand, I see it as an entirely symbiotic relationship and am looking at my future clients more as colleagues than customers as I strive to build your business and your success in order to see my own business grow.

The Summer Lull

Summertime… and the living is easy….

Or not - as every year things go quiet over the summer - although it has been quiet since November of last year it has become almost entirely barren now. This would normally be a cause of worry, but this year… less so.

Why?

Well, we have been having one or two “technical” issues. My laptop has reached “end of life”, it still works, but a full edit is taking several hours longer due to crashes and reboots. It should be okay for fieldwork moving forward, at least for another year or two, but the heavy lifting will be moving to a new desktop machine next week. Getting that installed and set up how I like it will probably take most of the week from delivery (the build date is this Friday).

This lull has given me a little space to think and plan though, the workshops are coming - I have been working on ideas whilst also testing some concepts out - we have the first commercial one in the Autumn down in the Trossachs that I am putting together the itinerary of at present, then I may put a few one-day workshops together as well as offering 1 to 1s. There should be a load more videos coming as well as I am planning to dip my toes into some other creative avenues as well as looking at the good and the bad of Highland life, being a professional photographer and exploring some locations that I find as I go.

So, despite a lack of “work” I have a lot to do! Hopefully as the harsh light of summer starts to soften I should be ready to get cracking!

Quiet June

It has been a pretty quiet month on the work front. A few bits and pieces have rolled in, and there is a hint at some other work but I am not sure that is going to progress which is frustrating as it has gone very quiet following an initial approach.

The RNLI official letter dropped this morning, so that is me - starting out as Shore Crew with a progression plan in place to move further into the organisation over the coming weeks/months. I really want to get out on the boat too, but at this time I wouldn't be able to pass the medical. However, it is a goal, and goals are something I can use as motivation to work towards achieving them so that is what I will do! I have been shifting some lumbar over the spring and dropped down to my pre-crash weight again, then stalled. The sciatica is improved by this, but not resolved - however the level of improvement gives me hope that perhaps shifting more of the weight may give me enough relief and mobility that I could start living my life more completely again.

So… 12kg down so far… I am going to shoot for the same again and then re assess how things are feeling and decide if I need to carry on. My smart scales kicked in yesterday and that loss has equalled about 6% body fat reduction, which is great! If I can do the same again I will start feeling an awful lot better about myself.

So… stage 1 - weight down and sciatica under control

Stage 2 - get on the boat crew

Stage 3… who knows!

I am working on a load of ideas for the photography as well, speaking to some people with perhaps a little insight and trying to get myself back on track to building the business up. The first half of the year has been very much a consolidation phase, I think the second half is going to be a big push to build on that. I have the skills, ability and creativity to make something of this… I am just not very good at telling people about myself!

The Big News (Part 1)

So there are a few things going on in the background at the moment between University applications to boost my skill set in a different but related direction on the one hand, building the business and perhaps increasing focus on something a little more special on the other… but just now there is one change in my life.

I have applied to join the RNLI.

This is a big shake up in many ways, I have worked alone for the last 18 years or so as both an engineer and as a photographer. I have always been used to my own company and I have always been self sufficient to the point of being incredibly stubborn about it. But there are aspects of working with people that I do miss, and I am aware that I have been pushing people away a fair bit lately as I get some degree of social anxiety and dress it up in different clothes to try and justify my avoidance of even my closest friends. Joining a team will act, to some extent, as a foil to this lonesome nature - I will have to interact with people and drop my agrophobia, and I will also be moving towards taking on a fairly responsible and managerial type of roll over time which, again, is going to be testing but… I think… beneficial to me.

The idea of joining the lifeboat service did grow out of a desire to “put something back” into the community, it isn’t really so much about me gaining something from it - but I see this as a massive bonus. I do think that I am a fairly selfless person by and large, although I think this can, at times, become too dominant a trait that I put everyone else above myself - if I was going to get hugely pschological about this I would say that I am probably going to extremes to punish myself for past mistakes or shortcomings of which there are many.

The tasks themselves are probably fairly straight forward. I have turned my hands to many things over the years and generally done okay or better at them. I have a modicum of intelligence I think, certainly enough to make decisions and take other factors into consideration as I do. The challenge is going to be to ask for help when I need it, to learn a new process and to apply rules appropriately rather than just winging it and hoping for the best.

I am quite excited about all this. Extremely nervous because… you know… people (and as someone whom has always felt that they belong on the fringes of groups this is amplified hundreds of times over), but excited for what this whole experience will do to me!

Anyway, on the photography front, I am working on some ideas. I think I may start to put more emphasis on the fine art side of things again - including workshops and tours - but also projects of my own with an aim to publication and exhibitions. I have several ideas of “themes” to pursue, some beautiful and some highlighting the difficulties that we face in the Highlands. I need to spend a little time once summer is done developing these themes further and perhaps looking to submit some concepts to some publishers along the way.

For now, and aerial shot of Drumnadrochit taken last night.

SLPOTY

The results are in from the 2022/23 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards, and considering that I have really put my landscape work on the back burner this last 12/18 months to try and build the commercial side I did okay with 2 “Commended” photographs.

I had only entered 8 in total, so pretty pleased with those two being selected for such comment. The second is probably my favourite shot in the last year.

So… I think once summer is out the way it is going to be time to perhaps turn a little more attention to the fine art landscape side of things again! But for the next few months it is a big push on the commercial photography!

Big Day!

Three things have happened today that I wouldn’t have anticipated not so long ago.

Firstly, I have applied to go back to University for my 4th time. I don’t know if I will get in this year or if I will re-apply next as there are some areas of omission on the form, mainly due to the fact I have been out of formal education for a long time and all my non-related work bosses have died since I was last in a traditional job! If my second thing comes off that should resolve the issue for me of not having a work reference.

So the second thing - I have applied for a high level voluntary position (relative to my usual comfort zone) in a pretty prestigious organisation (to say the least)! I didn’t do this because of point one above, it has been on my mind for some time to get involved… but after I submitted the application I thought “you know what, if this were to come off that would really help me with a re-application next year!”

And thirdly… and probably most improbably… I have signed up to give Elon Musk money. Yes… rubbish internet and a flaky 4G connection have finally become too much as I have spent the last three days battling to upload work files and with an eye to the future (and point one) I am going to need a faster and more reliable connection - and since there is an offer for low rate rural connections from Starlink, and I have been hearing some favourable reports, it seemed like a good time to make the change. Even if I have to keep paying EE for a while yet!

I will divulge more about the other two points later if there is any chance of success with either!

Progress Report

As you may know we are building a second business, or my wife is, which will to some extent overlap with the Photography business as time goes on. Things are slowly… very slowly… progressing on this front and we have submitted the latest proposals to the council to try and free the log jam that will allow us to proceed with building the site in the lower field which will, in turn, allow us to get the shepherd huts moving.

There is still a LOT to do before we get there, but if we can get this piece of the puzzle sorted out then I am on more “comfortable” ground as the next phase to sort out is water and waste water - both of which I worked in for 15 years.

How does this tie in? Well, our plan is to offer photography workshops, tours and holidays particularly in the “off” and “shoulder” seasons when the light is better and the scenery is more dramatic! I may work these in to the quiet periods on the commercial photography calendar so far as possible too as I am building a reputation for my work in the wider area of the Highlands and Islands and want to continue pushing that forward. I am also looking at perhaps running some culture and heritage tours over the main holiday period for our guests - using Drumnadrochit as a base gives us ample coverage of the whole of the Highland region for day trips, and potentially into Moray for Whisky tours. Jen has plans for other events of her own and with some friends in the area too, so it should be a pretty varied and interesting crowd coming up to see us as the annual cycle moves on.

The other advantage of this plan is that it will allow me to focus a wee bit more on the more “artistic” side of photography and really get into the local landscapes again rather than just rushing between properties and commercial shoots!

Anyway, we have a busy week ahead - I am working with a school tomorrow, commercial shooting on Tuesday then hopefully get a couple of days mid-week to finish my application to go back to University in August (for a 4th degree!) and start getting my head down to studying for a drone licence upgrade to the latest spec. There hasn’t been a great deal coming in on the property front lately and I know I have a glut of holiday lets coming imminently (locally) and perhaps later in the year (Cairngorms) so should probably try and get this all wrapped up whilst I have the time!

Latest Photographs Gallery

It just occurred to me - the Latest Photographs Gallery changes REALLY fast, with some days seeing the entire gallery changing on a daily basis - it depends on how much work I am producing, either commercially or privately at any time. This last week has seen the entire gallery shift to new material since Monday I think, and with another job on tomorrow morning in Inverness more will change again.

So this is just a note to say, if you are interested to see my work as it comes along then keep checking that gallery regularly. Some will migrate on to the more permanent galleries which change much slower as they represent some of my favourite shots as I go along, but they are worth keeping tabs on too since they are ever evolving of their own right, and I am trying to keep gallery sizes down to a manageable volume! Eventually I will bring on the prints gallery for some direct sales too, but at the moment I don’t really have the capacity in terms of stock and time to do that.

So here is a photo from Lairg today, just for variety!

Is it worth having a professional shoot of a wreck?

Sometimes professional photography of a property seems obvious, you want to show off the property to it’s best advantage - be that for a commercial venture, a holiday property or business, or even your own home. You are attracting the right clients and showing it off to it’s best. Amateurs and estate agents often don’t have the experience to really give the best possible representation of a place and pictures sell, particularly on the internet.

But what if your home is not all that great? Perhaps it was bought as a “doer upper” and the doing up just never really happened, or it is a neglected inherited property that needs moving on.

I think what I do will still add value in those situations - I try and find the quirks, the character even, of the property and sell the possibility.

This week I had just that kind of job out in the stunningly beautiful township of Nedd in Assynt. An unfortunate name (for those of a Glaswegian disposition particularly) but drop dead gorgeous non-the-less. The house… however… needed someone with vision to see past the dead birds and general feeling of abandonment. A small house like this would usually be shot pretty quickly, but I took a little more time, worked with natural light and HDR photography to try and catch the nuances and hopefully to attract a buyer that will “get” this property and really make something of it.

The house really deserves that.

The end of this week is going to be a top up shoot of a B&B, some video editing and then the long weekend! I am quite excited to see what May brings as the Spring is finally getting underway up here in the north of Scotland too, and I have a few projects on the boil for the month which will keep me pretty busy, particularly with some potential work down in the Cairngorms on both the residential and holiday side of things.

Internet Woes

I had written a couple of updates as to the goings on up here in Glen Coitlie, but our Internet kept dropping so they never posted!

Spring is in the air, finally and work has been quiet but with a little more direct work that has shifted the balance favourably. I much prefer doing fewer jobs that pay a better rate (and that I can then justify doing “properly” than the rush job agency work that pays low rates and involves a lot of charging around the place!)

The transition to the EV has gone well, other than a puncture picked up near Gairloch last week, but should contribute to keeping ongoing costs down a fair bit and improving my carbon footprint. We still have the solar/battery system to install and a home charger for the EV, but things are progressing in general.

I will try and do a proper update soon!

It's been a while!

Sorry for the lack of updates in almost a month!

We have been busy, between Easter visitors and the holidays plus a few big projects all rolling together I haven’t had much time to update everything!

The workshop at Daingean went well with plenty of enthused families that got a taste for photography, history and archaeology all in one neat drop in workshop which I organised and ran with “The Gathering”. There is another workshop as part of this project to come in May, but that is a private one for a school and I am taking a slightly different approach - we are going to run it as a full photography project with them coming up with the concept (with a touch of guidance) and execution and I will help them along and teach them some basic photography fundamentals as we go!

The next project was some photography for a local B&B looking for some high end photography to reflect the luxurious accommodation that they offer their guests. The previous photographer had not managed to capture this essence of the place, they were not bad pictures - but they were just a little sterile. The owners are delighted with what I have produced as it just conveys that sumptuous feel that they are offering.

I kept everything dark with loads of chocolatey tones in the images to try and give that enveloping luxurious feel to the rooms and think they worked well. We are going to do a few more shots on an evening at some stage to try and work more with the atmospheric lighting and candles as well as shooting their holiday cottage and do another exterior video for them once the leaves are out.

Next up it was some more work on the Polmailly House video, which is coming on really nicely now - we have been shooting sections each season and will finish off with a summer shoot in a few months. We may add in an evening shoot too, mainly stills I think, to try and give it a little extra presence on the websites.

The housing side of things has been a little quiet of late so it has been nice to be working on something a little different whilst I am waiting for that to pick back up again. I am also looking for new clients to drive that side of the business forward through this year whilst also developing the hospitality industry side of things which is more likely to arise from word of mouth and reputation building.

Then we have the big fine art projects that are slowly starting to come together, my professional qualification submissions to build up, an upgrade to my drone licence to work through and some workshop offerings to develop for later this year and into next!

Busy times, I hope!

Trossachs Autumn Workshop - with Gartur Stitch Farm!

I am really excited about this!

We have arranged to run a weekend workshop in The Trossachs, an absolutely beautiful part of Scotland which is very close to my heart, in association with the Harrison-Goldins of Gartur Stitch Farm - who are very dear friends of mine and absolutely lovely people too.

Bookings are via their website: Gartur Stitch

This is going to be a fantastic event, exploring the autumn colours of the Trossachs, some lochs… even Scotland’s only lake! We have forests, mountains, rivers and burns - it really is a smorgasbord of opportunities with enough variety that we can work with the weather no matter what it throws at us to make something really special!

Head on over and check it out!

In Development

I am just working on a collaboration with some good friends of mine to offer a workshop weekend which could be pretty exciting. I will let you all know when there is something a little more concrete to work with, but just now it is in the early concept phase.

Today is pretty miserable outside, wet and windy, so I haven’t got a great deal done beyond chasing car folk - between insurance companies, repair companies, car dealers and potentially car buyers it has all been a bit crazy. I am waiting for another call back to finally get that all in order so that Friday should see the change from the Jeep back to a Toyota… which will be handy should I be in Glasgow or Edinburgh any time soon with the imminent congestion charging (and my Jeep being the antithesis of environmental transport). Tomorrow I have a meeting about electricity and then probably knuckling down to drawing up technical planning documents and/or evicting the chickens and ducks off the driveway and onto the grassy patch by the ruins so that the driveway can become just that once more and we can stop churning up the front apron.

My work on new property photography techniques is going at pace and the results are starting to look REALLY good. I still want to up the ante a little more however, but getting all the kit charged up and then into a Fiat Panda is proving more tricky. Once the new car arrives that should give me scope to really start doing something interesting though! I am going to start out using the twin Honeybadger studio lights, but I really need a third unit and my options are to add another Honeybadger or change that whole system to Godox which is much lighter and more versatile.

So loads going on and about to go off, but it has been a very quiet end to the financial year with only 1 week left and only 1 job booked in for that week at present. Hopefully the 2023-2024 FY will be much stronger as the foundations laid this year begin to be built on!

Roll Up, Roll Up

I am running a FREE photography workshop, designed as a drop in session for anyone, of any age - bring your kids, your parents… your friends and neighbours. All welcome.

We will be based up at Daingean Settlement in Glen Garry on Sunday 2nd April 2023 between 10am and 2pm working in conjunction with An Cruinneachadh and Invergarry Heritage Centre to lean a little or brush up on your photography skills (any equipment is encouraged, from a phone camera up) and learn a little about the history and cultural heritage of this corner of Lochaber. If you have youngsters in the family with an interest in history, archaeology or photography I would be delighted to see them - speaking as both a professional photographer and also a former archaeologist!

This is being funded by the community grants from the windfarms so there is absolutely no cost to yourselves other than getting to the site itself!

The location is HERE and will be clearly marked at the entrance, the road up is not particularly long, but is passable even in a Fiat Panda, but please take care as it is a raised forestry track, and there is plenty of parking both at the site and just before in a large layby on the track just before the carpark if it is full.

It Continues

I have been experimenting more with the new techniques that I have been working on, and I have started to develop them into something else… something new… something more “Highland”!

This is one from today, a pretty ordinary rental flat, but a good canvas to just experiment on a little.

Once I have my own car, rather than the teeny Panda, I can start taking my studio lights with me which should allow much greater control of the artificial light that I add to the room which will, in turn, get the highlights on the floor under control a little more. I am looking at a lighting upgrade though to really make the most of things as I want at least 3 light sources, perhaps more, so that I can get really creative and minimise the number of exposures that need to be blended.

This was 4 exposures. I am thinking a fifth may have been useful.

Always Learning

One aspect of the work I do that is hugely satisfying is the constant learning experience. Over the last few weeks I have been working on a set of popular techniques utilised by our well-paid brethren in Australia, the US and Canada - where paying good money for the best real estate photography is considered entirely normal practice. The UK is a strange market where you have some agents and clients willing to pay decent rates, some using agencies that pay poverty rates and some using their own skillset and equipment… with varying results (and rarely all that good).

The latter are a special breed at present as they have all been buying into drones and I have seen some woeful footage recently in terms of flying skill and editing skills, but also flagrant breaches of aviation law which I strongly suspect is going to see a huge enforcement clampdown soon and some stinging repercussions.

Anyway, back to the point (and away from critiquing the output of others)… I have been trying some of the techniques out for myself to see how they translate to my work and my locations. The results have been pretty interesting, and they certainly work well on more modern properties… but something more traditional or less “clean”… I am just not sure as yet. I need to work on the technique as they operate it a little more, but I have also started working on a variation of their ideas and created my own workflow that is a hybrid of their system and what I had been doing previously. Early results are really quite favourable too!

This house belongs to an elderly couple and has that lived in look about it, using a super clean technique lost the homely warmth, whilst using my standard technique left the windows blown out for one. I wanted to retain the view out the door but also that natural light! This technique seems to work well for both, but it is time consuming… with a little more refinement and streamlining though I think it could be a winner!

The Cull Begins!

I hate this part of a photography competition campaign - the cull. Yesterday I shortlisted about 80 photographs from the last year or so (I try to cut off each year at competition time and then start a fresh batch, there is a little overlap but not too much). This morning I have taken that 80 down to 40 and over the next couple of weeks I need to take that 40 down to a final 20.

Without adding too many more in.

The hard part is putting all emotional connection to the photograph aside, whether that is the place, the time… whatever…. and try to judge it purely as someone else would. So the photograph needs to tell something of a story to pull the viewer in and hold their attention long enough for it to be passed on to the next round of judging. Last year I felt I had put forward a pretty strong batch and got nowhere much with it as I think I failed to distance myself from the individual shots enough, but I have learned more about the whole process since then so fingers crossed! The knowledge of how these things are assessed is pretty fresh though so I plan to shoot more relevant material over the coming months which will also make my landscape photography stronger and fits in with the projects I am working on just now too!

Busy Bee

Had a crazy few days, and on for a pretty busy weekend and week I think. The Gathering project is rolling along nicely and about to start building towards the first event… which is mine! A free family photography day out in Glen Garry which is being funded by the windfarms. Really exciting stuff that one. I have also just quoted for an intriguing job shooting commissioned landscapes which would be fantastic if it comes my way, put in an application for some freelance car work which would be an interesting change in direction and then next weeks tasks are starting my campaigns for LPOTY 2023 and a load of submissions to Outdoor Photography Magazine which have been sitting waiting for completion for some time.

Oh… and I have a day photographing houses booked in so far too!

The Jeep should finally be back from repairs on Monday after being off the road since November 5th, and my new eco vehicle is in the country and working it’s way to the Highlands on the back of a truck too so that is going to be a massive change coming very soon!

Going to be a full on few days I think!