I've added another date for a 'Photography in the Park' workshop, which will guide you through the pitfalls of composition, exposure and technique, with a slideshow and discussion in the morning and an afternoon of photography, putting theory into practice.

Once again at Thorndon Park, a superb venue with fabulous woodland surrounding the Visitor Centre, this workshop is in just two weeks time on Sunday 9th September 2007. There are already participants booked on, so don't delay, book your place today, spaces are limited.

Ring the Essex Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre on 01277 232944.


While I'm here, I'll just mention that I will be displaying my prints in the EWT Visitor Centre at Hanningfield Reservoir next Sunday 2nd September at their Family Fun Day, running from noon until four o'clock. Hope to see you there.

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 15:25  ~  1 comments  ~  Links to this post

I've mentioned it before, but I thought I'd give a few more details about the private one-to-one tuition I offer, which is based on 4 hour sessions, at a cost of £75, and are loosely along these lines...

1/2 hour chat to see what you want to learn (no obligation, if you decide not to go ahead, that's fine), then we go for a walk to try out and/or explain different techniques.

One gentleman was interested in the way that I took pictures, so he basically wanted to see how I would frame and expose the shots, rather than actually take them himself. But I would normally expect us both to be taking pictures and comparing them to see how different viewpoints, lens choice etc has an effect on the outcome. But whatever you want to address is fine, whether it's just the basics of what you camera does, or looking at specific techniques.

The best places for these are really Essex Wildlife Trust Visitor Centres, where we can sit down with a cup of tea for a chat, then have plenty of subjects to seek out once we're outside. Thorndon Park is a good one as there's plenty to shoot once we're out and about, but Hanningfield, Chafford Gorges or Bedfords Park are also more than suitable.

I can do weekends or weekdays (I work 3 days a week for Essex Wildlife Trust, but am usually available Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and one day at the weekend), and any 4 hours during the day.

If that's of interest, let me know and we'll see when we can schedule you in!

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 19:03  ~  6 comments  ~  Links to this post

I've just updated my 'Buy' page to reflect the new pricing structure for my Limited Edition Prints. Rather than offering the mounting and framing options that I did before, I have decided that it's better for the customer and myself if I supply prints that can be popped straight into a ready-made frame by the customer if desired, or they can pass the print on to a framer who will do a better job than I at mounting and framing.

So the new style prints look like this:



Sized so that they fit most ready-made frames, I have reduced the number of potentially confusing options for the customer, with three of the most popular sizes of print available. Alternatively, any image can be printed to canvas, pricing of these is also shown.

This also means that at future exhibitions I can have a selection of prints ready to take away, rather than all of them being printed to order.

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 20:02  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

I mentioned on my previous post the Pentax SMC FA50mm F/1.4 lens that I recently got hold of, just before I spent a week in Wales. I'd previously had a manual focus 50mm lens (f/1.7), but having heard how superb the autofocus 1.4 version was, I couldn't resist any longer.

On a couple of days when I was away, this was the only lens I used, and I had great fun shooting with a wide aperture (usually f/2.4 or f/2.8), and relishing in the super-shallow depth of field it gave. The out-of-focus areas are beautifully smooth ('nice bokeh').

Here are a few examples from the scuplture park at Lake Vyrnwy, Powys.


Pentax K10D, FA50mm f/1.4 @ 1/125s, f/2.8, ISO100


Pentax K10D, FA50mm f/1.4 @ 1/350s, f/2.8, ISO100


Pentax K10D, FA50mm f/1.4 @ 1/30s, f/2.8, ISO400


Pentax K10D, FA50mm f/1.4 @ 1/60s, f/2.8, ISO400

The more I use the lens, the more I love it.

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 18:37  ~  1 comments  ~  Links to this post