Tag: ‘Behind the scene’



Its been a while but…….

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Since my last blog entry I have moved into the that category of people who tick the ’30-40 years old’ box on questionnaires, yep after years of waiting I’m finally 30, and everything still feels exactly the same – except my knees, ohh and my back too and my hearing is not what it used to be either.

So to make me feel young again Im sharing an image of the oldest looking person I can find in my collection, Im going to look for it now.

Here it is and boy does he make me feel young. I don’t actually know his age, and he probably isn’t the oldest person in my library but…

1/400th second, f/4.0, ISO125 @160 mm. Shot in Uttar Pradesh, India. Feb 2007

Nothing against this guy he was actually really sweet and insisted I sat with him and had a cup of chai, despite two facts

1) That he didn’t speak a word of English and  2) I didn’t (and still dont) speak more than 6 words of Hindi.

Trying to comunicate using hands and facial expressions (and my camera too), it’s moments like this that really make me smile and I will remember it for years to come.

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Morals

Saturday, December 20th, 2008

Ok so I promised I’d get back to you with my favourite images from my recent trip to Morocco and here it is. my recent trip to Morocco and here it is.

(1/2000th sec,  F/5 @40mm, ISO-320, Dec 2008) – although I’d like to have shot wider but the street was pretty cluttered and busy.

The images was taken at a rest point in a small town on a bus journey from Marrakesh to Essuira, so I didn’t have too much time. I wasn’t actually going to get off the bus but when I saw this woman I knew I should be out there shooting.

I don’t normally like taking images of people begging, I feel its taking advantage of a unfortunate situation. However I was desperate to get shots of the locals (I did give her 2 boiled eggs in exchange) and this woman’s stance reminded me so much of a shot from the great Steve McCurry (View here). I actually met the woman in McCurrys shot in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, India just 2 years ago. I didn’t get any shots of her, again I felt uncomfortable taking images of an elderly woman just because of her physical disability. One of those moral questions we all ask ourselves every now and then, sometimes we come up with different answers.

On a totally different subject starting next month I will be releasing a free desktop wallpaper for your PC or Mac, I will be releasing a new design every month through this blog so keep your eyes peeled.

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Posted in Travel |

Meanwhile back in UK

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

OK so Im back from the UK and I’ve been looking back even further through my pile of digital images looking for even more stock images to submit to my agent. when I found this one shot in the town I grew up in, Eastbourne. Its on the south coast just directly South of London. It has a reputation for being a bit of a retirement town and the population of over 80′s used to be the highest in the UK (perhaps it still is). Most of these folk spend there day walking up and down the seafront, this chap was doing just that and I was waiting for someone just like him. For anyone under the impression that the sun never shines in the UK – think again! (no idea where you got that impression) This shot was taken in March (!!) on a very sunny morning and the light was beautiful.

Just an old man (1/25th sec,  F/4 @24mm, ISO-160, Mar 2007)

However over the last 10 years or so there has been a change and a younger generation are taking over, changing the entire atmosphere of the place.

Im off to Morocco in just over 2 weeks so Im starting to plan and get ready for that, I’ve never been to Africa but Im sure this will be the first of many trips.

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4 men and a bench

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

4 men and a bench (1/00th sec,  F/5,6 @70mm, ISO-160, Dec 2007)

Ok so a slightly lighter week here on the blog and back to the ‘Behind the scene’ feature that you missed out on after lasts weeks epic Burma marathon.

This shot was taken here in Barcelona where I have been living for the last 18 months and I really love this place. This image sums up how many people (mainly English) spend there time here in Barca, all 4 men in this shot are obviously recovering from a heavy night (this shot was taken at 2:30 in the afternoon!). So many tourists (particularity the English it seems) come here and party hard and sleep during the day in preparation to party hard again the next night. For me this is such a shame as the city has so much more to offer than cheap drinks and drugs. Often when I’m in the city centre I do my best to appear Spanish, for me the way many English tourist behave here is quite embarrassing.

On that note I’m off for a drink.

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Behind the scene #2

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

This weeks behind the scene image comes all the way from the Bangkok

Boy in a bucket. Bangkok, Thailand.

(1/200th sec,  F/2.8, @35mm, ISO-160, April 2008)

This photo was taken in April of this year in Bangkok, after wandering the streets for a few days shooting the lives of Bangkok’s many residents I stumbled across this little chap playing with his toys in a big blue barrel of water on the  pavement. After spending some time with him and his family he began to relax and I got some great images. Its one of my favourite shots from the entire trip, the expression on the young boys face really catches the essence of  childhood joy and innocence. This moment could have been easily been missed and reduced this image to just a boy in a bucket, you should never under estimate the difference a split second can make. I returned the next day with 3 prints of this image for his family, they were greatly received and it gave me a certain amount of satisfaction too.

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Behind the scene

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Every week I will be adding one of my images, old or new, and give you as much information about it as I can, Im starting with this one shot just 2 weeks ago.

Corre foc, Barcelona, Spain. (1/200th sec,  F/3.5, @20mm, ISO-400, Sept 2008 )

A long ago someone had an idea and from that idea came corre foc (don’t ask me how, I haven’t got a clue). Basically what happens at corre foc is local community groups come together one evening ,dress up in strange customs and walk down a big street carrying fireworks. Sounds crazy and dangerous, well it is! participants literally walk, run and dance through a tunnel of fireworks – needless to say small burns are inevitable. This is all part of the annual Merce festival here in  Barcelona.

So off I set with my gear and an vague idea of the shots I was wanted. After a couple of hours of ducking, diving, snapping and trying to avoid horrific burns I was happy with what I had,it was a great event, despite the moment when I dropped my 1ds MKII and snapped my EF 28-70 2.8L (OUCH!). A word of warning: If you are thinking of shooting at this event be sure to protect yourself (long sleeves, glasses, hat are essential) and your gear (UV filter, lens hood, I even made up a denim firework proof cover for my camera).

For me this shot really sums up the evening, sparks flying everywhere, people trying to protect themselves by crouching on the floor and a strange array of costumes. For those of you who don’t know I really like to shoot like this to get in close at these types of events often I get burnt, soaked, covered in paint or what ever but these are the lengths I go to to get great shots.

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