#India #photography #streetphotography

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough” Robert Capa I travelled to India three times in the 1990s spending about 8 months on the sub-continent without taking a photo. My philosophy: that life was for living not recording and about the moment largely revolved around a romantic notion that one did not need […]

In the bag & pocketses #techtools #edutech #mobile

Thinking back over the last five years about tech tools that have been in my bag or pocket there are some proven stayers and some other, more recent essentials that make my life connected, pleasant and productive.* Hardware My MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 comes most places with me […]

Mobile Storytelling and Documentary Filmmaking

Documentary Australia Foundation (DAF) is Australia’s only independent, non-profit initiative bringing philanthropists and filmmakers together to create social change. Storytelling has an undeniable power to engage empathy, raise awareness, and inspire action in social change initiatives, and as such commands a growing interest from the philanthropic sector. By forging new pathways to audiences through collaborations […]

The Solitary Traveller IV: The South Downs Way

The name ‘Sussex’ derives from the Kingdom of Sussex, according to legend it was founded by Ælle of Sussex in 477 AD, then in 825 it was absorbed into the kingdom of Wessex and the later kingdom of England. The region’s roots go back further to the location of some of Europe’s earliest hominid finds at […]

The Solitary Traveller III: York and Durham

York is a ‘Scandy‘ town but not Durham. York & Durham Arriving in a very old city is a strange and wonderful experience. Often one may have relatively little knowledge of the geography, history or people but on arrival, there’s always a gut feeling one has about the place or at least a response as […]

The Solitary Traveller II: Isle of Man

I have read many times, in brochures, books and websites that the Isle of Man is a microcosm of Britain. Mostly, this is said in reference to the natural environment but it applies to history, architecture and many other features of life on the island. My trip to Mannin, voyaging aboard the BEN-MY-CHREE, was about walking […]

Photography: what’s in my bag?

He who would travel happily must travel light.       Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Although this blog has no product sponsorship deals or affiliations with companies, I am going to write a ‘what’s in my bag’ post for the simple reason that my kit for long-distance walking pleases me greatly. Over the years I have enjoyed […]

April 2015: My Reading

Italy A full two weeks of the April were spent in Italy – most of the trip was spent in Perugia, a town located in Umbria before having a few nights in Rome – and I tried to read appropriately for (and during) the experience. River of Shadows by Valerio Varesi is not my usual genre, […]

Lee Filters on my Fujifilm X100T

“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept”    Henri Cartier-Bresson I always enjoy using Lee Filters, especially the Big Stopper on my X100S. Since upgrading to the X100T I have had limited time to experiment but am enjoying my new Little Stopper and have been stacking these two neutral density filters for 16 stops of goodness. The featured image above, […]

iPhoneography #2

Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.                                                                          Henri Cartier-Bresson Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.     […]

Travelling Norse

It was a wonderful autumn day, cold and bright; as we drove inland from Bergen in the morning, frozen mist was lying over the fjord. The trees on the mountainsides were displaying red and yellow leaves, the fjord below was like a millpond, the waterfalls immense and white.      Karl Ove Knausgaard We are […]

My tools

Two years ago I posted about the tech tools I use daily. Many I continue to find essential, others have fallen by the wayside. What follows is a brief update to close 2013. Best wishes for the New Year! Reading, writing, saving & sharing WordPress: my blog records some of my professional thinking and life. Often I share […]

Lee Filters: on my X100s

I’ve been experimenting with the Seven5 Micro System by LEE Filters and my FujiFilm X100s along the coastline near my home in Kiama, NSW. My first dabblings with this light-weight, nifty gear during recent walks in Cumbria and Spain, certainly whetted my appetite for playing around more with these handmade filters. I am enamoured with the SW-150 kit and filters for […]

The solitary walker: travelling and learning

Walking, ideally, is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord. Walking allows us to be in our bodies and in the world without being made busy by them. It leaves us free to […]

Lee Filters: with my 14-24mm lens

Trey Ratcliff spoke so glowingly about the Nikon 14-24mm wide-angle lens that I lusted after it for two years before managing to buy one for my Nikon D700. The lens is oddly shaped, heavy and one does feel a little nervous about transporting it while travelling. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful lens, especially for landscape photography. […]

The Cumbria Way

My walk through Cumbria, in England, has been everything I hoped and the weather smiled benevolently for the whole journey. Unbelievably, my goretex remained in the pack for the whole 8 days as the temperatures soared and the country experienced a heatwave (by British standards). Mostly the walk provided reflective time alone, as well as extended exercise […]

How do you manage your photos?

Managing and storing photos, especially online, can be challenging if one has limited time to assess the many excellent possibilities. There is much to consider, including: privacy, flexibility, sharing, copyright, capacity, access, affordability, mobility and simplicity. Many use Facebook, the largest photo-sharing platform on the web and dabble with Instagram, especially if their phone is […]

A brief beginner’s guide to contemporary photography

Chase Jarvis’ quip, “the best camera is the one that’s with you” resounds in an era where anyone who wishes to take photographs is spoilt for choice about how they capture images. A few still opt for a battered, much-loved film camera and send their pictures to the photo lab to be developed but a […]

Reflections: FujiFilm X100s

The promotion of the new X100s FujiFilm camera enticed me to buy for a number of reasons but one wonders why this advertising campaign worked where so many other cleverly designed attempts to empty my pockets left me cold? I have a few reflections about this and briefly review my newest camera in this post. […]

Workflow II: ShutterSnitch, Revel & Eye-Fi on my iPad

Since posting Workflow: X100s and the iPad experimentation has led to a number of initial decisions about processes and tools. Although, not completely happy with all aspects of what follows, I suspect that a month of travelling in July-August will help me road test these ideas. Workflow ideas Firstly, I have everything working now but need […]

Pressgram and Kickstarter

“Your filtered photos on your WordPress blog, right from your mobile device. Simple. Smart. No privacy or licensing issues to get in your way.” As an educator, WordPress blogger, photographer, iPhoneographer and social media enthusiast the recent funding of Pressgram via Kickstarter truly fascinated. It is why the World Wide Web is still so often an inspiring daily part of our lives with the potential for each […]

Workflow: X100s and the iPad

A digital photography workflow is an end-to-end system of working with digital images, from capture to delivery. It is comprised of a series of inter-connected steps developed by photographers to simplify and standardise their work.     SOURCE I purchased a FujiFilm X100s compact camera for a range of reasons and am now grappling with some […]

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