Site New Look

I decided to do some Spring cleaning, and ended up doing a new website to make things a bit easier to navigate, and some nice ways to show off shoots that I've been doing recently.
So I hope you like the new look and please feel free to share with others, as its much appreciated.
AndyD

March Update 2015

It’s been a busy few months, what with one thing and another, so what’s new?

Well I've been investing in some new lenses and now the proud owner of Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD and Tamron 24-70mm f2/8 VC USD lens, these are the real workhorses in photography when doing portrait etc.

I'm in my second year of my FDA degree in Professional Photography and still enjoying the course and learning more and more and getting to know new students that have joined the course.

I spent sometime in the Brecon Beacon’s in Wales and got some great landscape images that you can see in the gallery. I hope to pay another visit in the coming months to get a different look to how it was in February.

I've been working with a local male model; PJ Paul Walker who is a great guy and a lot of fun to work with and is extremely photogenic and if your reading this, you can find him on Facebook in the group page ‘Bristol Models’.

Its time for me to move up a gear and so I've been looking at charities to offer my services and please to announce that I'm now going to be doing work for Penny Brohn Cancer Care. Its amazing work they do and one of the largest charities in the South of England that offer help and care not just the victims of the dreaded disease but family members as well. I hope to heighten the attention of the organisation through images that are created with them and their events.

I also have other work in this area and waiting to meet other organisations shortly.

We’re coming into the warm weather and looking for anyone that’s wanting to commission me for some work. Working freelance means just that, in that I don’t just work in one area and willing to look at all sorts of work that’s with in my reach of being able to do. So if you or someone you know is looking for images to be taken, I would be pleased if you decided to put my name forward and give them my details.

So as soon as I have more to talk about, I will update the blog, so until then have a great day! J

A New Year Begins

It's a new year and loads to see and do.

Winter in the UK is somewhat an unknown entity, as you don't know when or if it will snow. Living in the South of Bristol, I can see the hills of Dundry, which is on the outskirts of Bristol and see if snow has laid or not.

The great thing of living in Bristol, is that your not far from Wales, South Coast or the countryside of the Cotswolds. So as the weather had dropped and the weather report for a few days was snow, I decided to venture over the Severn Bridge and head up into the Brecon Beacons, which is only an hour and half from Bristol. There wasn't any snow really on the roads and as I entered the A roads towards the Brecon's, the mist started to form and you could just make out the snow caps of some of the mountains.

I was heading for a particular place where there was a large reservoir called the Talybont reservoir, as you headed into the area the weather had changed to a beautiful mist covering the hills of the large forrest's that are in the area. When I got to the reservoir, you just had to sit and take it all in, mo cars, no people and no sounds of birds. For someone that spends most of their time in city, you don't notice so much the sounds that are all around, but when you end up in s place like this and turn off the car engine, and there's nothing, it seems so surreal.

I grabbed what I needed and headed along a small lane along side the top end of the reservoir and as I got to the centre, the lake went on for ever and there was hillsides opposite each other with lush green forrest up the sides.

I hit a bit of a snag in that the wall was quite high and had to set up the tripod so the camera could see over the wall, so I was dependent on the LCD screen to show me the image, after a few attempts the images were coming together. But the quietness didn't last long as a couple drove slowly along the lane towards me and stopped. When your in these opens areas, people actually stop and say good morning or afternoon, something that you just don't get living in a big city, it's like it's a whole other world and there is a certain decorum, if that makes sense. 

They had been out with their camera but at the other end of the reservoir taking photos, we had the normal chitchat as to what gear I was using and what he was using, it must be a photographer thing. 

Anyway they moved on their merry way and left me to it. I must of spent about an hour in the one spot, because the mist changes as it comes down the hillsides. I was glad I had taken my winter coat and hat as it was print fresh and when I got back to the car, I sat there for some time with a cup of coffee from my flask.  

The misty hillsides of the Brecon Beacon's
(click to see image full size)

I then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area by traveling along lanes that I had no idea where they would lead me. For me this is whats exciting about doing this kind of location work, because you don’t know what gem could be round the next bend. You don’t have to travel for miles to find something, even down a lane that you've travelled along in the past, but you have to look from the perspective as a photographer trying to find an image thats interesting.