Lastest blog posts
A Long Road Back
Lockdown was hard and recovering it has been even harder - having spent the best part of year on the sofa reading, learning to teach through Zoom calls and writing lecture notes, I'm finding it very hard to leap up and get outside unless I have to go somewhere. It's really sapped my energy levels and I'm going to have to walk a long, hard road to get back to pre-lockdown energy and enthusiasm. Getting out to photograph bluebells for the first time in three years or so was a good excuse to get myself out and revisit pinhole photography... Read the blog post.
Quick Snaps on a Sunny Day
It's May 2020 and the UK remains in lockdown against the vile Covid-19 pandemic. The general rule of thumb is travel as little as necessary so I'm still restricted to photographing stuff in the immediate neighbourhood. It's a bit of challenge finding fresh things in streets you've walked down thousands of times but that doesn't mean you should stop looking... Read post.
New nonsense from old wisdom
It's the middle of May 2020 and the UK remains in lockdown against the cruelty of Covid-19. Social media and comment forums seem to be awash with danger denial and political division which is not good for the mind. It's better to do something creative. It should come as no surprise to see me returning to cut-up poetry that makes very little sense - it reflects the confusion of these strange times... Read post.
Words going wild
It is the beginning of May 2020, the UK lockdown against the Coronavirus is entering its sixth week and the free time has allowed my mind to explore fresh corners of curious creativity. The latest things to come into fruition are a short, but very strange, piece for theatre based on Antonin Artaud and a small collection of cut-up poetry... What will the lockdown bring next? Read post
An e-zine bonanza
During the April 2020 UK lockdown I've become intrigued by zine making - I've helped to keep myself sane by making three ezines for anyone who would like to download them and lift the lockdown blues... Read post
Once Round the Park
Social media friends have been encouraging me to keep taking photographs while the UK is in lockdown. So I took may camera around my nearby park and shot some of the things I noticed while walking. When I got home I put the 12 best into an ebook to share with the world... Read post
A Zine for Lockdown
With the UK in lockdown against coronavirus I've had a lot of time on my hands and a lot of that time has been spent absorbing digital media. However, too much screen time can lead to want to scream time so it's good to step away from the digital world and produce something physical. What did I do? I made up a silly poem, devised an even sillier design and printed it out to make myself a zine. Best of all, I'm sharing it - you too can download a copy to print out and fold into your own little mini booklet... Read post
Toys Salute Real Heroes
I wanted to create something to honour the centenary of the Armistice that brought an end to fighting on the Western Front on November 11, 1918...Read post
Pants in the name of protest
Some of the greatest works of art have been inspired by real events and a protest over washing lines in the town of Colyton, Devon, has inspired me to produce some artwork... Read post
Playing along with the world
Since 2001, the last Sunday in April has been Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. The idea is that pinhole photographers across the world take a photograph on the day and upload it to a huge online gallery... Read post
A Ghostly Challenge
What's the dream of a photographer who loves music? Apart from producing an expensive book that sells millions of copies and rakes in obscene wads of cash? Simple: a commission to take an album cover photo... Read post
Music for Christmas Past
Every year I think I should get myself organised to create a festive photograph and print out a few cards. Usually I don't think of it early enough but this year a chance find gave me an idea... Read post
The seaside staple
For some reason, just about every time I go to the seaside on a sunny day I buy a toy windmill, the more colourful the better, and take a set of blurred motion pictures. Once I've finished I give it away - usually to a family with a young kid in tow... Read post.
The return of the animated gif
Way back in the 1990s, when the internet was new, animated images - usually cute or comic - became incredibly popular. They died out as video streaming became more popular but over the past year, the animated gif has been making a comeback... Read post.
Zooming in on the subject
Dull conditions are common if you live in Britain and there are times when you just have to make the best of it. However, low light is good for working with zoom burst, the process of twisting a zoom lens during a relatively short exposure... Read post
Camera shake in the woods
For me, woodland photography is an exercise in coping with low light. If I feel strong, I carry a tripod for long exposure work. If not, I slow the shutter down anyway and indulge in a little intentional camera movement (ICM)... Read post
Beautiful to see and hear
When I encounter musicians playing in the street, the former musician in me starts judging the quality of their musical performance - or lack of it. However, these days I also find myself considering how I might like to photograph them... Read post
Lumen printing - catching the sun
When people think of photography, they generally assume a camera will be involved. However, the strict definition of photography is the creation of a durable image by recording light either on an electronic sensor or on a surface treated with light-sensitive chemicals. Although a camera makes the process of capturing an image more efficient, it's possible to work without one... Read post.
Spring beauty with jagged edges
Every spring the web becomes flooded with pictures of trees adorned in pink and white blossom. It's a welcome relief after the misery of winter to see the spring blooms but how to make your picture stand out from the rest? I tried going lo-fi with a plastic camera, a roll of cheap film and a bit of fooling about with Photoshop... Read post
It's pinhole derby day
Toys are excellent for pinhole photography subjects - they don't mind sitting still for hours on end and they don't complain that you've made them look fat. Pinhole photography lets you get really close up on the miniature world...Read post
Marching with stop animation
Stop animation has always interested me and I had the idea of creating an animation using toy military bandsmen to illustrate a track by the great guitarist and composer Billy Jenkins. I set about photographing a mixed bunch of toys and pieced them together to produce a minute of animated musical anarchy using simple iMovie software. It took a bit of patience but it was fun...Read post
Impressionism with a Lensbaby
The world is full of razor sharp, perfectly-exposed floral pictures - you have to put in a lot of careful work to compete with these at the best of times. If you're working in a crowded space, poor light and a tripod is right out of the question, it's time to try a different way of getting the picture... Read post
Winding back to film
When I bought my first digital camera it looked like I'd given up film for good. If someone had said I'd be using film again within five years I would have laughed at them until they cried. It turned out film was far from dead... Read post
Motoring with flash
For years I thought flash was simply something you used to compensate for bad light. Flash guns cost money and on-board flash seemed to make people look startled and turned their eyes red. However, all that changed when I finally read a book about flash techniques and began to unlock their creative power... Read post