It’s amazing where your photos end up… and stock photography is a great way of getting worldwide exposure for your images. I believe this site is a Norwegian travel information site
I’m currently submitting to 5 different online stock agencies and receive a good monthly income which I use for mostly photographic purchases (lenses, tripods, studio lights etc)
My most lucrative site has been Shutterstock and i’ll be writing more about the land of Stock Photography in future postings. In the meantime – feel free to ask me any questions you might have regarding blowing the dust off your old hard drives and making cold, hard cash from images you may have lying around!

Same sunrise as the one shot below – just a minute or so earlier.
This is one of the most dramatic cloud formations i’ve ever seen…

for the sunrise… which is not really saying much as the sun only gets up at about 7:30am this time of year in the UK! Still in Wales – out in the countryside, surrounded by farmland, the sun started creeping up over the distant rolling hills… I looked to the east to see some brooding storm clouds ominously rolling their way towards me… the perfect formula = dramatic clouds + sunrise.

This black and white HDR image – edited with Adobe Lightroom initially – 3 blended exposures (-2, 0, +2) tone-mapped in Photomatix 3, then back into Lightroom to convert to Black and White. Phew!

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T’was a rather wet weekend in Wales…but all was not lost as I went exploring this morning. Actually some of my favourite photos have been shot in the rain. Today was no exception. I’ve driven past this stream before, deep in the heart of North Wales. And all it’s ever been is just a stream, but today, it upgraded itself to a full-blown river… thanks again to the rain! I grabbed the Manfrotto, Nikon D300 and a couple of wide lenses in the old backpack and made my way down to the “river” – as some nice long exposures were on the cards. I set up the tripod in the actual river to get close to the action and set up a few shots.

And here’s the results…

Nikon D300, Nikkor 17-55mm F2.8 4 second exposure at F22

Sigma 10-20mm 5secs at F22

Lovin’ the lead-in lines in this shot… if I was standing at this spot last week… there would be barely a trickle of water coming down… God bless the RAIN!

And just to confirm the time of year… the golden maple leaves have fallen in this magical little place.

Beer o’clock would have to wait… it’s 5:30pm on a Friday evening and i’m at the Dolphin Dance Studios – Liverpool City Centre. Some of the team are off to France to dance at Disneyworld and need some photos taken! Armed with my portable studio – I get set up and decide to use my white background. The good old versatile white background. I’ve used it frequently over the past few weeks. Great for corporate shots as you can easily turn your backlight down a stop or two and you’ve instantly got a nice light grey background. Crank up the backlight a stop or two and you’ve got pure white. I’m always conscious of getting this right, and sometimes there’s a bit of tweaking involved. Getting it “right” can depend on what your definition is. In my case, i’m talking about not overexposing and not blowing out highlights. Check out the photo below and you’ll see that the direction of the backlight is obviously from the right. The front is lit by a soft box from the left hand side. The fact she’s wearing a white shirt is definitely a challenge, and not something I would recommend by default – unless you’re going for that sort of look.

Next photo we have the same background, with the light stopped down to give a different look and feel – a slightly grungier look which I prefer.

So again – the bonus of using a white background is the freedom to choose which look you want to go for. Once the model/subject is cut out, it can be placed on any different background you like. As you can see from both my blog and website, I like a nice uncluttered, clean background, so there’s less distraction from the image. So that’s my little spiel on white backgrounds! Possibly my most informative post yet! Stay tuned for more shots in the future when the “dolphins” are actually dancing!

And they go by the name of Synergy PT. They have some of the most highly qualified and sought after personal trainers around. Synergy PT are holding fitness camps in the greater Liverpool area… and I got to photograph some of their personal trainers.

I’ll be up, crack of dawn tomorrow morning to photograph their first free fitness camp in Aigburth. Stay tuned… these guys are on the UP!

…was the headline in the Liverpool Daily Post today.

And yep, that’s my boys! In the few hours a week i’m not taking photos – i’m coaching the Caldy Rugby Club’s Under 12 team. And in the first tournament of the year (in Mold, Wales), we came back with the trophy! Well done lads, you played your hearts out and thoroughly deserve the victory.

Here’s a couple of shot of the victors (taken with my camera phone, so apologies there)

More awards, more architecture, but this time with a few flowers thrown in for good measure.

The 2008 RIBA Stirling Prize at the Echo Arena was held last weekend and also had some of the most creative and dynamic flower arrangements i’ve seen for some time – and I was there to capture them!
The chaps over at Verdure are certainly pushing the creative boundaries in floral design.

Was quite interesting shooting the table arrangements whilst the celebs were practising their speeches for the evening – namely Kevin McCloud from Grand Designs
Anyway – here’s a selection from the arrangements…

Over the next month or so i’m going to be posting a selection of shots from my last 2 trips back home to New Zealand. Obviously the scenery it’s world famous for – is one of the reasons it draws me back time and time again. But the main reason is family and friends.
So i’m going to start off with a couple of shots of my two Nephews. It’s amazing to see the difference each time I go back. It’s great to just hang out with them and spend time and snap off the odd shot.

A lovely sunny day (finally!) led me out to Ormskirk (just outside of Liverpool) for the annual Fraser Wealth Management Golf Day. Joining the guys was Liverpool football legend David Fairclough. A great day had by all!

Then on the way home, I spotted some haybales that had been recently dropped into a farmer’s field. I couldn’t help myself and to pull over and grab a couple of shots…

Have recently been notified one of my stock images is being used to promote London on the National Geographic website. Has been a childhood dream to work for the National Geographic with my natural love of photography and travel. This might be the “foot in the door” i’ve been looking for!

The stage was set in the amazingly majestic St. Georges Hall, slap bang in the centre of Liverpool – for the inaugural awards. What a great night it was too… with the BlueCoat chaps picking up the top prize…

For more images from the night – view the gallery here