Peter came on the DSLR course at Shugborough a couple of months ago, and decided to come along to the Landscape course at Severn Valley. Rachel and Peter took their time and used a tripod, long exposure and F32!
The results speak for themselves. Well done Peter (Nikon D60).
Last week Phil and Rachel drove to Norfolk to attend the funeral of Mike Graham-Cameron. His funeral service packed a huge church in Sheringham with people who all agreed he was a “lovely bloke,” all-round good chap and petrolhead. Mike co-founded the Illustration Agents GCI (see their website). Rachel is one of their illustrators under her maiden name Rachel Annie Bridgen (see herportfolio of illustrations). She is currently working on a series of kids books featuring a superhero labrador.
Rachel also drew the illustrations for this website.
RIP Mike.
Phil taught six people at the “New Shoots” photography course at Stourhead, arranged by the National Trust. A great day, beginning with a really informative talk by Anne Butler, Education Officer at Stourhead. We often say in courses that landscape photography is like walking around with a picture frame under your arm. It appears at Stourhead they actually did, “taking views” of the landscape using something called Claude Glasses, a portable tinted mirror that would frame your view. Here’s some from the V&A museum:
The poet Thomas Gray (1716-1771), was so fond of the glasses he is quoted as saying the view could sell for 1000 pounds…if only one could fix the image! What would Gray make of cameras now, where an image can be captured, sent across the world and reviewed within seconds. Witchcraft!
Stourhead is a remarkable place to photograph (whether you’re on a course or not), because the gardens are designed as a series of vistas that are effectively copies of paintings of the time. So the composition is largely arranged for you, with foreground interest, variations in colours and tones all thought up hundreds of years ago. We are thrilled to be teaching photography courses for the National Trust at Stourhead. There are more courses later this year, though sadly the children’s courses sold out within days.
Exciting News! …Calling all Nikon Owners!
We are really chuffed here at Photography Made Simple …we have been asked by Grays of Westminster to run the Midlands branch of the Nikon Owners Club!
We have arranged the first meeting for Saturday, 3rd July at the Malvern Hills Hotel at 7pm where we?ll all get together and see how we want to take it forward. We think that we will meet at a different venue every month to make it fairer for those people further away. Obviously we know a few venues!! We think that it will be really great, and that we can all learn from each other, as well as organising photographic events etc.
If you?re interested in joining the Nikon owners Club get in touch Gillian Greenwood on 0207 828 4925 at www.graysofwestminster.co.uk There are all sorts of benefits / discounts for Nikon owners as a member.
Do get in touch with us if you have any questions, and we hope to see you there!
The monthly group that meets in Worcester had the title “Temptation” to work to. It’s nice to not work to a particular agenda as part of a photography course, and to just have a go at being creative.
As always, the variation was amazing:
Aimee could see the temptation on this chip-eating hound.
Phil just went with the obvious.
Bob sacrificed numerous chocolate flakes in the name of art.
Jacqui noticed that the snooze button is always a temptation.
This month’s title is Technology – if you’d like to come and bring a picture, see you at the Plough in Fish St. Worcester at 7pm on 2/6/10.
The Liberal Democrat battlebus rolled into sleepy Malvern, and we were there to record the event. Even the BBC crews who’ve been following him reckon that Nick Clegg is a good bloke. A few more pictures ended up on Lib Dem candidate Richard Burt’s website. Notice that as always, the pictures divide into portraits and landscapes.
