Nicole & Tyrone say "Thank you"

I was absolutely delighted to recieve a very generous testimonial over the weekend from Nicole & Tyrone. I photographed their wedding party at the Bushey Country Club at the end of September after they had been married in the Maldives, and put together an album of photographs from both events. This is what they had to say:

16th January 2011

Dear Dan

I am writing to say a massive thank you for your photographic services leading up to and on the day of our wedding party. We were thoroughly impressed with your professionalism; and Tyrone and I thought you were brilliant in making us feel relaxed on the day of our pre-wedding shoot which really helped us know what to expect at the wedding party. We feel that you truly captured the spirit of the day and the finished product; the storybook album is absolutely stunning; something we will be able to treasure forever.

Our friends and family also really enjoyed receiving the cool thank you cards; and being able to view the pictures online!

Many thanks again

Nicole and Tyrone

It's always a huge pleasure to recieve such a generous testimonial from such a lovely couple. Their Wedding party was fantastic, with a great venue, beautiful surroundings and a bunch of really fun people. In turn I wish them both a long and successful marriage. Given how happy they looked on their wedding day, I have no doubt that they'll acheive this!

Dan

Professional Corporate Headshots: Mike Varney Physiotheraphy

Just before Christmas, I had the pleasure of visiting the lovely people at Mike Varney Physiotherapy at their superbly appointed practice in Harlow, Essex. Amongst other things they had asked me to create some corporate headshots of their staff.

A scout around the practice showed me a suitable out of the way place to set up, and so at the end of a corridor, sandwiched between the Sports Hall and the Fire Exit, I set up my lights ready for my subjects.

I spent between five and ten minutes with each member of Mike's team, running through some simple variations on poses and taking maybe 20-30 shots of each of them. These were returned to the practice the next day, and I invited them to select 2-3 shots each for final retouching.

I completed the retouch the week after Christmas, delivering them on DVD in a range of resolutions, and sending a copy to the excellent Dean Vale, who manages their website.

The practice made their final selection and Dean has now uploaded these to their website.




Take a closer look here and see how a consistently exposed, professionally shot and finished headshot can help lift your website, and your personal profile above the mundane.

Because Mike and his team have my images on a DVD they can also use the images for any other promotional purposes - pay once, use many times - in a shrinking economy that's the kind of offer that no one can afford to ignore.

DAnalogue Photowalk - My results

Saturday afternoon, and despite the bitter cold and grey skies I found myself amongst four exceptionally talented photographers for the first ever. "DAnalogue" photowalk.

The aim of the walk was to get us all to slow down and think more about composition and exposure by taking us back to the 'analogue' days of 36 exposures, a fixed ISO speed and no LCD display giving us instant feedback.

A roll of tape was used to blackout our displays and I have to say it felt immediately uncomfortable not to have the 'crutch' of seeing your results straight away. In fact I wasn't alone in instintively going to check the display after taking my first few shots.

Like most of my friends, I decided on 400ISO, but with the light levels low and dropping throughout the walk and with the 5D's great handling of noise, I probably should have gone to 640 or 800. Hindsights a great thing isn't it?

This meant that much of my time was spent looking for props to wedge the camera or my body against, so that I could get away with the lower shutter speeds necessary.

Here's a few of my favourite shots from the day:



































Some of the other guys on the walk have also published their results. Check out Callum Winton's, Mark Hewitson's and Quoc Huy's.

Let me know if you're interested in joining me the next time I do something similar (although I reserve the right to wait until the weather improves!).

Dan

TODAY'S DAnalogue Photowalk Final Details

A previously mentioned the talented @GlynDewis and I will be putting on the first DANALOGUE (That's Digital Analogue) Photowalk in London THIS AFTERNOON



The walk will start at around 2pm from the Market Porter pub in Borough Market - nearest tube is London Bridge. Glyn and I will be there from around 1:30 if you wish to partake of some pre-walk sustainance.

Central London "Danalogue" Photowalk, more details:

A previously mentioned the talented @GlynDewis and I will be putting on the first DANALOGUE (That's Digital Analogue) Photowalk in London in a couple of weeks.



I can now announce further details:

The walk will start at around 2pm from the Market Porter pub in Borough Market - nearest tube is London Bridge. Glyn and I will be there from around 1:30 if you wish to partake of some pre-walk sustainance.

A stroll through the market ought to give us the opportunity for some shots of the shoppers, stall holders and colourful stalls before we begin wandering down the South Bank towards our Tower Bridge destination (where the River Bar will await our arrival.

To join in you'll need a Digital SLR which - by dint of a clever set of rules and some tape will be transported back to it's analogue equivalent. These rules are

* Before starting on the walk, you will be asked to select a single ISO setting, which you should stick to throughout.
* A maximum of 36 exposures are to be taken whilst on the walk.
* We will supply some electrical tape which will temporarily cover your LCD, taking you back to the pre-digital days of NO INSTANT FEEDBACK!

At the end of the walk we’ll meet up, and with the help of a couple of laptops can compare results and discuss our experiences. The aim is to remember the often lost skill of thinking before pressing the shutter, and upping our "shoot it right first time" rates.

If you’d like to take part, meet a few new friends and polish up your skills, then please fill in your details below or contact me via my website and we'll be in touch.

Dan

Blowing my own trumpet - I'm Published!

Time for a little "trumpet blowing" if you don't mind.

I've just received my copy of Where are they Now - Chelsea, a lovely book detailing what's happened to a number of players since retiring from the game and no longer pulling on the shirt of the mighty blues.

It's a perfect Christmas present for the Chelsea supporter in your family (and shouldn't every family have a Chelsea supporter in it!

Here's a few samples from the book:









Finally, a couple of reminders about recent blog entries:

With Bonfire night upon us, check out my post on how to take great fireworks photographs and;

Why not check out my DANalogue Photowalk at the end of November?

Happy shooting!

Dan

Announcing the first Central London "DANalogue" photowalk with Glyn Dewis

Digital Photography is easy eh? All the technical advances of the past 15 years coming together to make photographing anything almost 'Childs Play' right?

Well – there’s some truth to the above statement, but it’s really no more than part of a bigger picture (pun intended!).

If you can get your exposure spot on first time, if you can frame quickly and effectively, and if you can get the right shot the with the very first press of your shutter button then you’re going to spend more time creating great images and less time rescuing average images with the help of hours of expensively acquired Photoshop skills.

As an aid to developing those “right first time, every time” skills and as a fun way for a few committed photographers to get together and spend a couple of hours in a supportive environment; I’ve got together with with good friend and all round photographic guru, Glyn Dewis to put together an “analogue” photowalk, which will take place in London on Saturday 27th November 2010.

Those of you who took part in any of Scott Kelby's World Wide Photo Walk’s last summer will know what a photo walk is – if you don’t then have a look back on the walks that Glyn and Dan hosted earlier this year

Of course DANalogue is a (pretty weak) pun on my name and the word "Analogue". When I say analogue, we’re not going to ask you to throw away your shiny new Nikon’s and Canon’s in favour of something from the ark, but we will be introducing a set of rules that will (almost) turn your DSLR into its pre-digital equivalent.

These are:

* Before starting on the walk, you will be asked to select a single ISO setting, which you should stick to throughout.
* A maximum of 36 exposures are to be taken whilst on the walk.
* We will supply some electrical tape which will temporarily cover your LCD, taking you back to the pre-digital days of NO INSTANT FEEDBACK!

At the end of the walk we’ll meet up, and with the help of a couple of laptops can compare results and discuss our experiences.

If you’d like to take part, meet a few new friends and polish up your skills, then please fill in your details below or contact me via my website and we'll be in touch.