Why I bought a Canon 5D mk II

Okay, there isn't much justification for buying a new camera but pictures like the one above are a start! This was actually captured on my camera with a 70-700 f4 lens I borrowed from my friend Jo (who is a fantastic source of photographic information ... as well as lenses and other kit). The original is on my deviantART page (where you can download the full resolution version) and the full set of images from the afternoon out are on my website.

I need to do alot more photography to really make the purchase of the camera worth it and hopefully have a chance with an event this week, photoshoots at the weekend and then there are also holidays and days out where I can keep practicing. I even started taking pictures of things around the house to get different shots and effects! Might need to start getting a little more organised and disiplined about what I shoot otherwise I'm just going to have loads of images to process (which is the most time-consuming bit).

More Photography

It's been a rather hectic week, and in fact I can't believe so much has been squeezed into it. Mainly work-related activities for me and that seems to have been taking alot of my concentration and time, but Rachel had her interview with Blackpool for a place on the photography degree course and I'm sure there were other things going on aswell (I must *try* and keep this blog up to date then I have a record of what has been happening in my life).

This weekend was equally packed with two photoshoots on Saturday in York. One of these was to give Rachel's new sword an outing and the other to get some images for the webzine. Of course both were intended to be fun, and they were, both models, Freya, and Lizzie were fabulous to photograph, they both look amazing and are so friendly, chatty, and just wonderful to work with.

I should say that I don't have anything to do with organising the shoots or the styling on the day; all of that is down to Rachel; she sets everything up for the shot and I'm just so lucky to be there at the time to be able to take advantage of the opportunity and get take my own pictures! Really, I have such a long way to go with this, but it's so much good fun that it's worth doing all the practice necessary to get better.

I need to do more practice now since I went and purchased an upgrade to my existing camera (a Canon 350D) I've now got a Canon 5d which is going to take me a while to get to grips with. Rachel got some amazing pictures with it on Saturday afternoon and I also managed to take some of Lizzie which I'm very happy with.

Here's links to the latest pictures I've taken

• More spring related images
• Scenary around York University campus
• Picture of Freya, barbarian princess
• And finally Lizzie looking fabulous
  

Spring has Sprung

The gorgeous, clear, and sunny weather that we've had over the past two days has really lifted my mood, not that I was particularly down but I definitely was in a winter, rather than summer mind-set. So today I decided not to waste this fantastic weather and took a few photos on the walk from the office to Heslington. I've just been processing them now and I'm really, really, pleased with the sharpness and colour - all this with some random compositions and standard lens.

I really want to do more photos this week (subject to weather) and again, I'm really going to have to get my image gallery sorted so I can host all these (might have to use deviant Art in the meantime).