1 year in Photography

What’s happening guys? Hope you’re happy and well. 

Last month marked the 1 year anniversary to when I first picked up a camera. Wow, that’s just crazy, honestly where does the time go. I feel I’ve improved and learnt so much in each a short period.

For this blog I thought I just share my photography journey from being absolutely clueless to where I am now. Not as clueless. Haha. 

Why did I start?

As you may remember from my original blog post (Click Me!!!) where I talked about my poor health and I wanted to focus and zone in on my hobbies. Previously in 2018 I completed a marathon which gave the self confidence and belief that I can do anything. Provided you put in the work

Last November, I got an old Nikon D5100 DSLR camera (which probably had around 6 or 7 years of dust on it when I picked it up. However I decided to test out and see if I could take a few photos. I didn’t have a clue about settings, composition or the exposure triangle. But I could remember being told a very long time along that if you put your camera on ‘P’ mode then all the settings with automatic without the flash kicking in. 

So I headed out to my favourite park (If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know the one) to take a few shots. Looking back most of the shots were really poor and of a terrible standard, but there was one photo I liked. I decided to upload it to Instagram and was amazed by the response I received. The whole decision from going out and shooting and the sharing with the very small number of followers I had, was very rewarding. And just wanted to go out with my camera again and again.

Volunteering and Putting Myself Out There

A month after this, an opportunity came up to volunteer at my local Parkrun event to volunteer as a photographer. I was very nervous about doing this as I wasn’t confident about my skill level but eventually talked myself to taking the jump. 

I felt great and received completely positive feedback was surprising but very welcome, in the upcoming weeks and months my photos where improving week by week. All I wanted to was take photos of everything and anything. Photography grabbed a hold of me in way that words can’t really describe.

With this, I knew myself that I needed learn so much so I signed up for an online course Photography Masterclass course  on Udemy (Not sponsored) which was absolutely fantastic. It helped me to learn about the basics of photography. Such as the  exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed and ISO) aswell as composition. As I went through the course I felt myself improving all the time. 

Now and Taking the Next Steps

Looking at where I am at the moment, I’m happy with my first year in photography. The skills which I’ve learnt. I will be looking into expanding my range of lenses to help with different types of photography. I recently done a Instagram collaboration in Edinburgh to help improve my black and white and street photography. Already I have been asked to cover a few weddings. Which completely blew my mind, especially as I’ve not been doing photos for very long all.

Final Note

I just wanted to say a massive thank to everyone who have taken the time to firstly read this blog or any of my other blog posts. Also thank you to everyone who has viewed, liked, commented on my post and followed me on social media over the last year. It means the absolute world to have your support and hopefully you will continue to enjoy my content moving into the future.

Until the next time.

HOW NOT to take photographs.

Hey guys, how is everyone doing?

I know this post is a little later than initially planned, but stay with me on this. I’ve have been mega busy, with work, family, volunteering and the of course the phototog life. Today I’m sharing a with a little accident I had just over a week ago on a recent photography road trip .

A trip up north.

Just over a week ago I decided tag along on the family roadtrip to take in some sights and try to expand my portfolio of images which have been mainly concentrated to to my local area of Fife ranging from Dunfermline to an Instagram collab in Lower Largo.

We set on early as the forecast was simply horrendous with very heavy and prolonged showers expected. Sadly the forecast was correct and we (…..well I) got absolutely drenched. I’ve never been so grateful for my waterproof covers or my camera would of been a goner.. 

After a few hours of driving we arrived at the Falls of Foyers. As the rain persisted it became extremely heavy as I set off down the hills to try and get close to the loch.

All sounds good eh? Well……

Just before I reached the bottom of the woodland paths I lost my footing and went over on ankle, and had this unbelievable shooting pain in my ankle like I’ve never had before. Fortunately I was lucky enough that there was a tree nearby to fall onto after losing my balance.

Despite this, my main concern was my camera gear. Thankfully the camera body and my 2 lenses were unscathed. My tripod bag had however dawned a new colour along with the clothes I was wearing. I really wish I hadn’t of left my phone in the car, so I could of shared the state I was in. #covered

After brushing as much muck and mud off as I could. I tried to stand up, but my ankle was in complete agony whenever I placed any weight on it at all. At this point I decided to abandon the shoot all together and head back up the hill. Each step up the hill was agonising.

Therefore I decided to adopt a hopping technique to get me up the hill. The pain was unreal but I could see that my hopping style was gaining some interest as I was getting a few funny looks from the tourists passing by. To be honest I would have laughed too if I was able to see myself no doubt. 

At the halfway point back up the hill, I noticed there was a viewing sight of a waterfall, so the photographer within me, ( remember I’m on one leg at this point) decided hop over the fence and unpack my camera gear. I not really sure how I managed to get the shot as staying still with a camera and 1 leg in the air certainly was a challenge. 

After getting the shot below I continued up the hill and got in the back of car and iced up the ankle, this did control the swelling for a bit. We decided to head home but stopped for beer and chippy in Aviemore. Which has be one of the best chip shop dinners I’ve ever had.   

It just goes to show photography can we more hazardous than you would think, but totally worth it!!.  Also I seem to have a thing for waterfalls. Just love the sound they make. Anyone else like them or just me?

Fall of Foyers Waterfall

The World Cup and a road trip

What’s up guys?

How are all you amazing people doing? Good? *I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed.

I wanted to start off with saying a big massive thank you for the response from my first blog post. I’ve been absolutely blown away with the comments, tweets and a few DMs. You guys are actually amazing. It really does put a smile on my face. :).

This month started with the excitement of Scotland playing in their first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup. Unfortunately we never made it out of the group stage but so proud of the girls just to qualify. We really do have a good group of talented players and I’m feeling really positive about qualifying again for  the euros. The team are only going to be stronger and stronger from this experience.

A few weeks ago I got the chance for another road trip and it wasn’t raining. (Woop Woop). For this trip we headed west, firstly arriving at Loch Katrine and got a few lovely shots of fast flowing water. This is skill which I’m still learning so the feedback I received mainly on Instagram is so invaluable. Even when it’s just a comment or DM to say the image would off been better with going down 2-3 stops.

Along with bringing down my shutter speed settings. So thank you guys.

After visiting Lock Katrine, we drove on for a few hours then arrived in Inveraray. A place I had never been to before. Which is a little town in west of Scotland. I didn’t realise how much history was within the town. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay as long as I would have liked to and had to leave earlier than I wanted. But I was able to atleast get this image of the Vital Spark (below). 

Now prior to this month I had never heard of the vital spark (I’m sorry, please forgive me), but I was told that the ship that I had photographed was a feature of a book and tv show back in the 1960s. If you’re interested yourself there is the link from Wikipedia (not sponsored). When I got home I absolutely fell in the love with this image of the vital spark and the background scenery of  the hills and the loch. So I decided that I would use some of the skills I have learned over the last few month to enhance the image with Adobe Lightroom Classic CC. Normally the photos I upload to my Flickr/ Instagram or website page have very little editing at all and are pretty much straight from the camera. Maybe a crop or a level here and there. But nothing really more than that.

But for this image I decided to make a few tweaks including adjust the exposure/ lighting and playing around with the HSL settings to bring out the reds and dark blues on the vital spark. Then finally adding 2 graduated filter to bring out the colours from the sky and the sand at the bottom. 

I really like how this image has came out and I’m really excited about sharing this photograph with you guys and hearing your feedback. 

Hopefully you’ve stayed with me. (Yay or nay? Let me know).

I have also been asked to consider submitting an entry for the BBC Countryfile Photographic completion where the 12 best entries from the United Kingdom will be chosen and selected to be used in the Countryfile 2020 calendar with proceeds going to charity.  

Decisions Decisions………..

And until the next time, see you soon.

Many Thanks

John 

Welcome to my website. (My first Blog ever!!!)

What’s up guy’s? Welcome to my blog.

It’s great to see all of your smiling faces. Well I hope their smiling and especially after reading my welcoming words.  I’m super excited and just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is taking a few moments out of their day to read this blog and have a look at my photos, it really does mean the world.

As many you may know my name is John, I’m 31 years old from the Kingdom of Fife, in Scotland. I recently decided to start this website/ blog as way to express my art form and pursuing my passion. This passion dates back to when I was at Lauder College (now known as Fife College) which I began in 2004 then progressing onto Edinburgh Napier University in 2007 when I achieved a BSc in Multimedia Technology. Sounds more awesome than it is.

At this point, I kind of expected to get some sort of job working for a web or graphic design firm, this did not happen. I applied for number positions with number of companies from all over the UK but got rejected every single time for lack of experience in the workplace (catch 22 right?). 

Eventually I did gain employment for a customer service employee out-with by field which I figured out I’d be there 18 months to 2 years tops. Today, I still work their 11 years later.  

After feeling in a bit of rut, last year I decided to run the Edinburgh Marathon and It really is true that it does change your life. The pain was like nothing I’d ever experienced and ‘the wall’ is very real, and kind of scary especially when parts of the stop working. Despite all of that I made to to the finish, slow time of 6 hours and 2 minutes but I was just delighted to finish. Should I do anyone? Slightly tempted. 

A few months after the marathon in late August last year I became very unwell for a 2-3 month when lost feeling and control of the left side of my body, this was really scary. Initially I was expected to have a hemiplegic migraine attack but as issues faded there were no signs of any reasoning to why even after MRI and CT scans. However it was suggested I may have suffered a TIA (Mini stroke) which is scary stuff don’t google your symptoms when ill. I learned the hard way.

Looking forward as I’m feeling a lot better now I enjoy partaking in my hobbies; one which was photography, which really took a backseat for so many years. I decided to get myself an old discontinued DSLR Nikon D5100 (released in 2011) and started taking photos and uploading them to my instagram page (Link here - shameless plug lol). The surprising good feedback was thrilling and everyday I wanted to go out and take even more photographs. It’s become such an obsession where previously I would love to watch the tv, play Xbox or drink with the lads, now my more excited about waiting 20+ minutes just to get one shot, and I love it.

The reason for starting this blog is to share my thoughts aswell as my journey of trying to make it and improve my photography skills. I often see on Instagram and YouTube lots of creators sharing their stories once they’ve made it. This blog and future Vlogs (oops spoiler alert) is to show the journey of trying to make it. From where I am just learning the skills to improve day by day, with the overall goal of turning professional one day.

Sorry to drag this out so long, just started typing and things escalated. I certainly will try my best to make the future blogs shorter.

To finish, I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who took the time to read this. Hopefully you made it to the end. I really does mean the world. Please if you enjoyed this first blog entry please hit the like button and comment below. Also if you didn’t, please comment below as I’m alway on the look out for constructive feedback to improve anything.

Thanks and see you soon.