Studio Photography course a success

This was amazing, everyone was incredibly enthusiastic and got an incredible amount from the course.  Thanks to Charlotte who modelled for us today, fantastic results for all!
To see the available courses please click here.

Serious Amateur course completes

We all had a great time on the Serious Amateur course, on the 5 field trips we managed to snap some fantastic images and the photos each of the group produced were fantastic!
For more on the courses available please see here.

Sleeping Beauty comes to Egremont this Christmas

The Whitehaven Theatre Group are running a production of Sleeping Beauty for Christmas 2013 and the promo-shoot was great fun!

Kankku trip in the Lakes

Kankku is an off-road driving experience company based in Windermere.

Fawlty Towers comes to West Cumbria

Promotional pictures for the Whitehaven Theatre Group were taken for their upcoming comedy; Fawlty Towers.

Whitehaven News link

Volunteer work for English Heritage

English Heritage were looking for volunteers for surveying buildings as part of in a national survey – I volunteered my skills and surveyed several buildings within the West Cumbria area.

Hensingham awards ceremony

Another year for Hensingham’s successful students, awards being presented by Gerard Richardson.

Whitehaven Festival 2013

Fantastic photo opportunities all around the harbour presented themselves and I lapped it up.

Troops homecoming parade

Our troops, coming home from Afghanistan, proudly paraded the streets of Whitehaven.

Grease! Promotion photoshoot

Whitehaven Theatre Group are promoting their latest production, Grease!   They asked me to do their promotional photos.

Dance troupe 15 year celebration

Whitehaven’s line dancers are celebrating 15 years at The Civic Hall in Whitehaven.

Commission for an Inn at night

The White Mare at Beckermet is a repeat customer.   The images Phil asked for were to cover the welcoming side of the pub during the winter months for his website.

Model photoshoot with Emma

Emma is a great model, she helped me out with part of my photography course and I loved this picture!

MX5 photoshoot

A great opportunity to shoot a moving car by hanging my camera from it!

Promotion photos for Panto

The Whitehaven Theatre Group are doing Aladin this year so I did the promo photos!

Photography course dates announced (updated)

I’m pleased to announce start dates for some of my courses;

– Digital Photography for beginners; 14th Jan 2013 / 3rd June 2013
– Digital Photography for the serious amateur; 5th Nov 2012 / 15th April 2013
– Digital Photography in the studio; 19th & 26th Jan 2013
More info;  http://www.photographynorthwest.com/photography-courses-whitehaven-lake-district-cumbria/

Please call 01946-595476 to book any course

My 10 tips for photographing fireworks

With the International Whitehaven Festival starting this week I posted in a recent thread on Flickr about some tips on taking firework photos.    I hope this is useful…

10 top firework tips from me;

1. Use a tripod!  And also use a remote shutter release so that you don’t transmit vibrations when you press the shutter button on the camera with your finger.
2. Make sure you have a full battery and lots and lots of memory card space (obvious but you’ll be surprised!).
3.  If your camera struggles to focus in low light, set it up before hand while it’s light and switch your lens to Manual focus and don’t touch it.
4. Don’t use auto modes (including Aperture and Shutter priorities). Use manual.  And turn the flash off 🙂
5. Shooting in raw instead of JPG will give you better pictures. But be aware that raw will use a lot more memory card space and you may need to process each shot individually depending on what software you use.
6. Exposure?  Get the right amount of ambient light with the shutter speed, a few seconds should be enough for each shot. Adjust the aperture to get the exposure on the fireworks right and use your ISO to control the overall brightness of the scene..
7. Don’t use a long exposure because the results will just be a complete mess of whited-out over-exposed-ness. Instead, try to time each main burst from start to finish.
8. Don’t be afraid to blend two or more shot together afterwards to get the shot you need.
9. Don’t get in anyone’s way!
10. Don’t forget to enjoy the show! I’ve shot loads of fireworks where I’ve concentrated so much on the pictures I didn’t get time to enjoy it.

My Photography Courses are proving very popular!

Word about my Photography Courses certainly has got around and the demand as high as ever.  We will be adding more dates for the Introduction to Studio Photography course as we go through the year – the first three studio courses after Christmas were fully booked within a few weeks!

The Beginners course has now concluded and Summer term dates will be announced soon.
The Serious Amateur course starts in mid-April and we only have a few places remaining so be quick 🙂

I have to report that I didn’t expect the large demand for these courses, especially being tucked away in West Cumbria.  I really enjoy hosting them and I know that everyone who attends reports leaps and bounds in both skill and general confidence.

Don’t forget that to book your place on my course or to request an information pack please contact the centre directly;
– Telephone; 01946-595476
– Email; Click to email
– Website; Click to visit

Baby photoshoot

Happy parents loved my pictures of their kids, a nice photoshoot with great results!
Conditions were quite tricky but the baby was very alert and loved the camera. Very cute pictures!

A unique opportinuty

Eclipse Bowling in Workington opened their doors leading to some great photos including a view behind the scenes at the machines making the bowling alley tick. A great photoshoot under difficult conditions went beautifully!