In September I shall be mostly...

...cycling 470 miles from Dubrovnik in Croatia to Thessaloniki in Greece! As you do...

I will be raising money for the charity that looked after my dad throughout his battle with cancer, Yes To Life, and helped him to survive for many more years than had been expected by doctors. They are an incredible charity, that have helped, and will help so many people and families who are suffering cancer in their daily lives, just like my dad was.

To read the full story of the charity, my dad, and the ride itself please click on the widget below, and please donate if you can, no matter the amount. My target is £3000, with a minimum target set at £1500 (meaning I need to raise at least this amount before I am able to participate in the ride) - so as you can imagine, everything counts, no matter the amount!

Thanks for taking the time to read - I will be setting up a blog specifically for the ride, to keep everyone updated on the progress throughout the year, with photos, words and maybe even videos! I can't wait to be helping out the charity again, please check them out when you have the time.

New 85mm f1.4 lens...

Total geek out!  I got my brand new 85mm lens yesterday - and it's gorgeous!  The best thing is it is made by a lesser known Korean manufacturer called Samyang, who make third party lenses for big manufacturers, and I heard a lot of good things about this lens - especially via a big review in the BJP.  Which made me want it.  A lot.  What made me want it even more is that it's a fraction of the price of the Nikon equivalent - only £200!  Ok it's only manual focus - but this hardly matters when you are doing portraits.

So, I ordered direct from their distributors in Poland and it arrived a few days later...half expecting it to be plastic and not as good as they said, but, it's heavy, well made, and stunning.  The bokeh is amazing.  And I am going to stop before I look like a total nerd.

Enjoy...

New work coming very soon...

I can't believe I haven't posted anything for almost three weeks!  I have been manically busy - setting up the studio, shooting Quality Knitwear's new look book, testing in the studio and working on my new (and currently on going) project, which is really fun to work on and I am sure something people will love...more on that soon!

When I get a moment to get the edits ready I will start posting - expect Quality Knitwear photos to be hitting the blog on Monday.

Until then I hope everyone's out showing their opaque skins to the sun...

A beautiful find...

I was just going through some old photos and I found this scan of an image I took back in 2008.  This was in Mulmur, Ontario, and the truck was stationary at the side of the road - with no one around.  It was eerie and beautiful and an incredible piece of machinery.

I had my big old Pentax 67II with me and took some shots... when I just opened up this image in Photoshop my heart fluttered, I realised I really need to take out my Pentax again and shoot some medium format film.  Nothing compares to the depth that you get on film, and on a big negative, on a 6x7.  Well, at least digital doesn't compare...

I can't wait to get shooting on film again, I've really missed it.

A walk on the Heath...

The weather took a turn for the better last night and I went for a walk on Hampstead Heath to clear my head after staying holed up all day shying away from the damp outside, what a beautiful evening it was.  In my rush to get out into the outside world I neglected to bring a "real camera" with me, but, to quote Chase Jarvis, the best camera you have is the one you have with you.  Amen.

Here's to my iPhone and it's rather average camera (it's a 3Gs), for being there and enabling me to capture the beauty of the Heath in silhouette...

New studio test shoot, going back to the 80's...

Last week I went back to the studio with some friends..........and some wine.... and this is what came out (there will be more to come as I get through the edit).  We had so much fun, except for when we realised we are subconsciously stuck in the late 80's / early 90's...

Hola my beautiful friends and thank you for being such great and willing models!

A nice little nod on the All Walks blog...

Thanks to the lovely ladies at All Walks for the little intro on their blog piece about the Snapped event a couple of weeks ago...

http://allwalks.org/?p=1932