30th BIRTHDAY

Right, I'm going to come clean, I have posted this under my birthday date of 30th of March. Truth is, its now nearly June so that's almost two months since my last post and I have back dated the post! Still, never mind and lets get onto the post...

My Birthday was celebrated with family in Birmingham and then followed by an awesome trip into Snowdonia National Park.

My parents had hosted the meal and we had a top-notch Chinese meal with all the trimmings. I wanted a few bits to set the party atmosphere so ordered a few paper lanterns and joked with my Dad about making a table decoration. But my Dad being the creative guy he is delivered a stunning paper dragon made of 100's of pieces of paper and it was amazing! A true talent.

The night was great and everyone enjoyed themselves. A big thank you to my parents for a great meal and Birthday and thank you to everyone for the gifts.

Anne and I then ventured across to wales to the Snowdonia National Park camping and exploring. Below are a few pictures from the trip and its clear to see that the weather and mountains were spectacular. We also explored along the coast on the Lleyn Peninsula. An all round great trip and memorable 30th Birthday!  

PICTURE PERFECT PART 1 - FEATURE

This is the first of four features I am writing for the Bushcraft & Survival Skills magazine based on a beginners guide to photography. The first issue covers cameras and equipment. I will post the others as and when they are complete.

LIVE IN LEEDS

Willy Mason

Ventured up to Leeds on Friday night to see singer songwriter Willy Mason over from the US. 

Held at The Wardrobe in central Leeds, being a very compact venue mixed with this genre of music made for a very civilised gig.  

I decided to take a tricky and light camera setup to see if I could grab a couple of nice shots and challenge myself with this awkward setup. 

Using a fast f1.4 manual focus lens to make use of what light was available resulted in a good few shots that I was pleased with. The large aperture resulted in razor thin DOF and the manual focus was ultra tricky. 

I love the mood and ambience captured shooting in such an environment and I couldn't help but indulge in capturing some nice bokeh patterns from the lighting at f1.4.

30 DAYS to 30

I am 30 years old at the end of this month. I wouldn't say I was too bothered about getting to 30 but it does hit home how fast life flies past! I think its time to really focus and get that further list of achievements nailed. First on the list... up my game on the blues harp?