Paris is a city I have visited many times, specifically when my friend Gene from New York travels there. It is a splendidly ornate city, and every road and alley has something interesting or photogenic of note. I have posted my photos here of the most recognisable sites, but there are just as many places not represented. It is a city that has more tourists than any other, and it is easy to lose oneself in its beauty. Paris is photogenic both at day or night, and the selection of photos here reflects this. It is a city seeping with history and politics, but also boasts many modern designs and buildings.To capture these images, I used The Nikkors 35mm AF-D F/2.0, 18-200mm VR, and Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8.I hope you enjoy this tiny snapshot of the city.
If you’ve looked at my gallery and blog posts, you’ll have seen that I rarely shoot people, preferring instead to shoot other, more compliant forms of wildlife! But last year and this year, on my trips to Bulgaria, I took some shots of my dear friend Genka, who very helpfully happens to be very photogenic! Last July in particular, we did a sort of modelling shoot around the Old Town in Plovdiv, and the sunshine and bright colours gave us some nice shooting opportunities. This year, we took advantage of the lighting offered by the setting sun at the Assem Fortress. Genka is a natural model, and I hardly had to pose her at all; most of these poses are her own initiative. She is also an exceptional salsa dancer, and I managed to get a couple of shots of her dancing. Rather than shooting close-ups, I wanted to present Genka within the beauty of her historical surroundings, as I felt that they contributed much to the images. Furthermore, and as you can tell from the images, I like the tilted angle, as this gave an added dynamism to many of the shots. I used 35mm and 50mm fast primes, as well as the Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8 for a couple of shots. These primes nicely defocused backgrounds while retaining sharpness at wide apertures. The lighting was completely natural, being very sunny on all occasions. All images were shot RAW and then converted using Nikon’s NX software, and then any editing was done in Adobe CS5. Enjoy!
It's the middle of springtime and the blossom is nearly all but fallen. I haven't been doing much photography this spring so here is a selection of images from springtimes past. These were captured with a variety of lenses, from the Nikkors 50mm F/1.4 AF-D (sold) to the 70-200mm F/2.8 VRII to the Sigma 120-400mm F/4.5-5.6 (sold). Spring never loses its vibrance or generosity of colour and beauty. Enjoy.
A few years ago I had the privilege of visiting the great state of Alaska, and I have presented a few of my images here from my archives.Alaska is probably one of the most spectacularly beautiful places I have ever visited, with every terrain imaginable. There are glaciers and forests and beaches and rivers and even the smallest desert in the world. The scenery was incredible, and much of it resembles that of Norway. There was also an abundance of wildlife, with eagles and bears and whales and chipmunks etc.I hope to visit there again one day, but for now, I will allow the images to speak for themselves.
On this glorious day, just a few short years ago, a legend was born in that great republic of freedom, the last best hope of Man on Earth, The United States Of America. This living human awesomeness would later award me the privilege of her friendship and kindness, and become the nicest friend anyone could ever hope to have.I wanted to pay tribute to Lisa on her birthday today by posting some photos of San Diego from our amazing vacation from two years ago, although it feels like just the other day.We graced the great lands of both east and west coasts of the United States, but the sunshine and beaches of and around San Diego seemed appropriate to celebrate this day. I have also included some pictures from the Coronado Island, and from the magnificent and nearby Soledad Mountain.The last image is from a restaurant in New York, where we went to celebrate her birthday last year.Wishing Lise an awesome day, and infinite thanks for all these memories and more! :))
Wolves are apex predators and as such evoke fear and awe in those who encounter them. I find them to be highly intelligent and fascinating creatures, and of course, very photogenic. I selected some of images from my archives and presented them here. Hopefully they provide a sense of the magnificence of this animal. As ever, I try to elicit eye contact whenever I photograph an animal in order to engage the viewer. The intensity of their expressions and the thought impulses that must occur behind them are always so impressive.
Macro photography is not something that I ever spent much time on, and I have no shattering insights to offer into undertaking it beyond what is already available on the net. I have simply presented some of my efforts here.These images were all taken one lazy, sunny afternoon in the garden with a Sigma 150mm F/2.8, with or without a 1.4x TC, but I have since sold this lens as it simply wasn't getting much use.I do sometimes miss the sharpness of that lens, and its focal length gave the ability to shoot from a decent distance and defocus backgrounds nicely at most apertures. But no point in having superfluous kit, and so it went. Perhaps in the future, if my appetite for macro photography is whetted again, I will seek out a new macro lens.
Gardens Of The World. This is a terrific place to visit in the east of Berlin if you like gardens, and particularly garden styles from around the world. I am always surprised when I ask people who have been to Berlin if they have visited this place, only to be told they'd never heard of it. With a Berlin Card admission is only 2 Euros, and yet you can spend an entire day there enjoying the scenery.I used a variety of lenses to capture these shots, including the Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8, and the Nikkor 50mm F/1.8G and 18-200mm VR. I have applied a Fuji Velvia 100 treatment to some of the images to enhance the colours.These pics are from my visit to Berlin a few months back, so I may not recall all the appropriate labels. But if you visit this great city, please visit here and enjoy!
On our last full day in Bulgaria, Jena and I again left the group behind and set out to conquer the Vitosha mountain overlooking Sofia. Well, not so much conquer as visit the Boyana Church nestled on the mountainside. The Church dates back to the 10th or 11th century, and benefitted from a restoration project which was completed a few years ago. On the way to the church, we passed the Boyana Film Studios, host to such film productions as Conan and Expendables 2. Our very kind bus driver pointed us in the right direction of the church, and we also stumbled across a beautiful river descending the mountainside and traversing through the forest. Snow was still present next to it. We spent a long time by the river taking long exposures, and also enjoying the elevated view of Sofia where we could, mostly now obscured by the countless construction projects on the mountainside.Well, it was another great day and a rather fun adventure that we weren't expecting to have, but as usual, our industry and perseverance helped us to win through. All in all, a great trip to Bulgaria for both of us.
Jena and myself left our hotel early last Friday morning to catch the bus to Plovdiv, where my dear friend Genka was waiting to meet us. Some of the group from our hotel would later embark on their own tour of the city, but it was never going to be as exciting as ours!I have been to Plovdiv and seen its sights many times, and I have many photos here; but this was a first for Jena, and Genka very graciously took us on a tour of the main attractions. My friend Petar and Genka's brother Encho also joined us in the afternoon, after lunch at my favourite Plovdiv restaurant. We stopped at the hilltop of Alosha overlooking and providing a 360 degree view of Plovdiv; then onto the Olympic rowing canal. After lunch we took in the historical old town and amphitheatre, and more modern town centre. Then Genka drove us out of town to see the amazing Assem Fortress at Asenovgrad. This structure has been perched on a rocky hilltop overlooking a ravine since the 9th century, and the views are truly stunning. Jena and Genka, both photogenic, posed in front of it providing a mini modelling session!Once again, Both Jena and I used our 35mm and 50mm primes, and our Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8 (mine a Nikon mount and hers a Canon). I have treated many of my photos here with a Fuji Velvia 100 filter to add vibrancy. I will add Jena's photos on a separate post once they become available.We extend our heartfelt thanks to Genka, Petar and Encho for their wonderful kindness and friendship, and for providing us with an amazing day in a great city, undoubtedly the best day of our short trip to Bulgaria.
This was my sixth visit to Bulgaria, one of my favourite destinations on account of my dear friends in its city of Plovdiv, but this was the first time that I had stayed in its capital city of Sofia, travelling as part of a large group. After being perpetually referred to as the "youngsters" in the group, my friend Jena and myself managed to discharge ourselves from rest of the "elders" and concentrate on our photography, capturing the city sights by both day and night. Each of us mainly used our 35mm and 50mm primes, and the Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8. We waited for the right light, or if the available light was too harsh or not enough, we changed our tactic and tried to be more creative.Sofia's main attractions are all in proximity to each other, and taking them in didn't take long. Dominating the sights is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, its namesake also to be found in Tallinn, Estonia (my photograph of that cathedral is here.) Sofia is quite a multi-faith city, boasting a mosque from the 15th Century, still in use today, and also Europe's largest synagogue. There was an old church and ruins curiously cradled in the square behind our hotel, and another old church in front of the building.On one of the days, there appeared to be a massive motorcycle rally, with a seemingly endless stream of bikes parading around the city. The noise was unbelievable!An easy city to walk around, and with more stray cats and dogs than I have seen anywhere! Jena and I made time to visit my friends Genka and Petar in Plovdiv, who gave us a truly excellent day, and we also hiked up the Vitosha Mountain. Those photos will appear in separate posts in the coming days.On my last visit to Bulgaria last July, Genka, myself, Petar and others enjoyed horse-riding in the mountains and swimming in the lagoons of Kalofer National Forest.Jena's photos of Sofia can be seen on a separate page here.
Jena and myself recently decided to give the architecture a rest and shoot some activity in London, of which there is a lot. We made our way along the Embankment, which is always teeming with street artists, then onto Covent Garden before dinner. The notable thing about this shoot is that we each only used a 50mm F/1.8 lens, mine a Nikon and hers a Canon. So it became an exercise in composition and imagination, rather than lazily zooming in and out and capturing whatever was there. I have presented my shots here, and will post Jena's on a separate page when she gives them to me.
I photographed all these grey seals on the east coast of the United Kingdom. The coastline of the UK is host to the largest population of grey seals anywhere on Earth, reflecting the terrific biodiversity on this island.Photographing seals is tremendous fun, if only because they have such anthropomorphic expressions. They enjoy playing together and communicate loudly, demonstrating their intelligence.Many of the shots below could easily invite captions!These shots were mostly taken lying on the beach from a distance with the Nikkor 70-200mm and 1.4xTC, and are from the archives of the past few years.Enjoy!
I'm not usually given to black and white photography, although I have nothing whatsoever against it. B+W photos often have an impact in their starkness that colour photos lack.Well, a friend recently asked me for some B+W photos of London in order to make some fine prints, and I found myself digging a few images up and converting them to B+W. The results are what you see here.Some are images posted on previous blog posts (in colour) and some I have not posted before.
Another night shoot in London with Jena, this time shooting St Paul's Cathedral and Southwark Cathedral. I used my lighter Nikon D40 again, manually focusing with the Nikkor 35mm F/2 AF-D and the Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8, and autofocusing with the Nikkor 50mm F/1.8G AF-S. Tripod and remote for long exposures, obviously.I tried a variety of compositions, and there were some interesting shots to be had despite all the construction work going on in the vicinity.Again, I shot RAW, and even images at ISO 3200 from a 6 year old camera had plenty of detail. Enjoy the images below.
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