We still have spaces on this Sunday's Close-up and Macro Photography Workshop at Fingringhoe Wick, give the Visitor Centre a ring on 01206 729678 to secure your place.

Details of all my photography workshops are here.

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 18:55  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

I have added a new 'Close-up and Macro Photography Workshop' date, at a new location - Chafford Gorges Nature Park.

I've chosen to run a macro workshop there because it's a superb location for Dragonflies, Damselflies and Butterflies, as well as having excellent wildflowers.  The workshop will be taking place on Sunday 24th August 2008, 10.00a.m. to 4.00p.m.

Here's a few shots from the park, showing the visitor centre, and a couple of dragonflies.







More details of this, and all my photography workshops, can be found here.

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 18:35  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

On friday we took a trip up to London, and paid a visit to the Geffrye Museum in Shoreditch, which "shows the changing style of the English domestic interior in a series of period rooms from 1600 to the present day".  It was very interesting, and allowed a range of opportunities for photography.  The Anti-Shake feature of the Pentax K10D really helped here, as exposure times were around a half to one second, and I was hand-holding, with only a wall or two to help.













There is a garden room, which has a beautiful mural painted by Jonathon Early, but I can't find any details about him.  If anyone knows who he is, and where else he has painted, I would be grateful if you could drop me a line - I'd like to link to his work from here.







Later, we ended up crossing the Millenium Bridge, so I got some shots while I was there, ideally the sky would be clear, giving a deep blue rather than the murky look here.






It was a very nice day out!

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 19:21  ~  2 comments  ~  Links to this post

If you've seen the listing for one of my workshops in the latest (April 2008) Outdoor Photography Magazine, you'll find that it doesn't match up with any of the workshops that I'm actually running.  This is because I sent through details of two workshops - the 'Photography in the Park' one at Thorndon Park, Brentwood, on the 30th March, and 'Close-up and Macro Nature Photography' at Fingringhoe Wick on the 4th May.

Unfortunately, these two workshops got combined at OP so nothing really matches up.

Oh well, never mind.  There are plenty of dates to choose from, so you will find something to suit you, and there are more in the pipeline for later in the year too.

Don't forget, there's always the option of One to One tuition fi you want to learn something specific, or just have the luxury of my undivided attention for 4 hours.

Lastly, if you saw the listing in OP, you may be wondering why some of the other workshops cost £80 - £150 per day, whereas mine are £30 (£35 at Fingringhoe, which includes lunch).

The simple answer is one of numbers and what's included.  My workshops can have up to a dozen participants, others may restrict numbers to 2, 3 or 4.  Also, if it's a residential course, this should include accommodation and food.

Above all, I want to give you a enjoyable day, for a reasonable price.  I make a reasonable wage from the day, Essex Wildlife Trust (the charity that hosts these workshops) receive a good donation, even better if you Gift Aid your course fee, and you go away at the end of the day feeling that you've had excellent value for money.  Everyone's a winner.

See you soon,
Daniel

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 12:15  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

The Pentax Photo Gallery is an online gallery, run by Pentax, for Pentax SLR users. I'm very pleased to have had some images accepted into the gallery, and I intend to expand on these in due course.

You can see my images (and a slightly scary self-portrait, might change this) here.

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 17:48  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post

I was at Weald Park in Brentwood yesterday running a 1-2-1 tuition session, concentrating on animal photography - Weald has a decent lake with a good supply of ducks and geese, so I thought it ideal.

I rattled of a good number of shots myself, but as ever with moving subjects and my manual focus long lens, many were not sharp.  We were especially trying to catch some good wingflapping poses from the ducks, and I did at least get one good sequence.



However, it did make me think more about getting an autofocus 300mm lens, and Pentax have just brought out a new one, which is tempting...



I was particularly pleased with aspects of this shot, although the branch top right was unfortunate, but I like the action as these ducks had a squabble - there's three of them, but the right-hand one is underwater!



The Graylag geese were as bold as usual, so some good close-ups could be had.




It has left me with the urge to go back and try some more.

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 19:18  ~  1 comments  ~  Links to this post

I've checked with the staff at Thorndon Park and Fingringhoe, and the Photography Workshops (both 'Close-up and Macro' and 'Photography in the Park') are getting booked up - just a few spaces left on the March 30th PITP at Thorndon for instance.

If you want to be sure of getting on the workshop of your choice, book today!

Details of my photography workshops are given here.

Details of the One-to-One tuition I offer is here.

posted by Daniel Bridge @ 16:16  ~  0 comments  ~  Links to this post