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I've been busy in the Peak District and London this month capturing images for my stock collection. I've managed to find some nice weather to capture a few images I'm really happy with. Here are a couple of images from a very cold and windy sunrise up on Mam Tor Ridge, there was heavy rain and thick cloud on the drive up to the Peaks but luckily the clouds broke to let through some pretty stunning early morning sunlight.

Then I was down in London where unfortunately the weather was a little lackluster, however later in the day as the sun dropped below the horizon the conditions picked up. Although this is a cliched view of London it was one that I didn't have in my collection and wanted to capture for myself.

I'm heading up to Edinburgh for New Year and might be tempted to photograph the hogmanay fireworks whilst there, I will post some images when I'm back if I do. Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm lucky enough to live just 10 minutes drive from Cannock Chase, a 26 mile squared area of mixed woodland and open heathland that was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1958.

I decided to head up to Cannock Chase this morning to see what the sunrise offered, I found a large collection of brown bracken on the open heathland which had an east facing view towards the rising sun. Here's an image taken at 8am as the sun just began to show over the horizon.

I had a 04:30am start this morning for a trip to Hope Valley in the Peak District National Park. I was hoping to catch a nice sunrise shot across the rolling landscape with the changing autumn colours. After a 50 mile drive in thick fog and a clamber up to the top of The Great Ridge I was presented with this scene. I'll definitely be visiting this location a few more times over the coming months.

I recently took a trip down to Dorset to photograph various locations along the Jurassic Coast.
Dorset offers a wealth of photographic opportunities at some really stunning locations, and is definitely somewhere I'll be visiting many more times.
Here are some images from my first visit, taken at Durdle Door and Portland Bill.

Many photographers refer to the “blue hour” as the best time to capture night images, so I thought I'd do a quick post explaining why and show a few examples. The Blue Hour refers to the period of twilight each morning and evening where there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness. Although referred to as the Blue Hour the length of time this period lasts varies greatly depending on the time of year and the location you're in. In reality the optimal conditions usually occur around half an hour before or after sunrise/sunset, and usually for myself these conditions don't last long enough!

The quality of light during this period is the absolute best to shoot night images as the sky takes on a very vivid blue colour, making it much easier to achieve a balanced exposure and an appealing colourful image. The most popular subjects to photograph are usually well lit buildings and architecture, especially those near water! If you leave it too late to shoot your images many structures will just disappear against the dark night sky and most of your frame will be completely black. During this period your exposures are going to be long, usually around 20 to 30 seconds, so you're going to need a tripod and ideally a cable release. The following are a few examples of images shot at Salford Quays during a 20 minute period of the Blue Hour on a late September day.

Just a quick post to say I have lots of exciting trips in the pipe line and there will be lots of new images arriving to my collections in the very near future. In the meantime here is an image from the Lake District taken earlier this year.

I'm now using 500px to showcase some of my work, you can now connect with me and follow my latest images at 500px.

I was recently commissioned by Silva Timber, the UK's leading provider of speciality timber products, to photograph three gardens featuring their wood. The three gardens were show gardens at the 2011 RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park, designed by some of the top landscapers in the country. Below are a few examples of the images taken.

Not so long ago I photographed a couple of friends of mine for my stock portfolio. The photos were simple white background portrait images which you can see below. It's always funny to see where your images end up being used, and on July 4th both photos featured in a social care story on the BBC Ten O'Clock News.

Yesterday I traveled down to London to spend the day with travel photographer Steve Davey shooting some travel portraits around London. Travel portraiture can be a pretty daunting task, approaching a stranger to take their portrait can be quite unnatural, however it's a great skill to have when traveling with a camera! Although it may be the iconic landmarks and skylines that get all the glory as the great images of a location, it's often the people that are the real heart and soul.

These are my favourite portraits of the day and I'm now looking forward to my next trip where I can put everything I learnt to good use!

I'm very excited to currently be planning another visit to India for January 2012, this time to explore the North. Not got the exact route and destinations finalised yet but will most likely be traveling from west to east starting in Jaisalmer and visiting Jodhpur, Jaipur, Agra and finishing in Varanasi. But for now here are some of my favourite images from my first visit to Goa in January 2010.

My image of a stubble field with bales at sunset has been published double page in the latest edition of The National Trust Magazine.
The magazine has a readership of 3.6 million, making it the 6th highest circulation magazine in the UK.

I have just recently returned from a 1000 mile photography trip around Italy, Switzerland and Austria so thought I'd post a few images from the trip. I landed in Trieste, Italy in the evening of Sunday 22nd May and headed straight for Venice. The next day was spent taking in the sites and sounds that Venice had to offer and scouting out some locations to photograph later that day when the light became good. Venice was extremely busy and almost a shoulder to shoulder battle with other photographs to try and get the shots I wanted. I was once told by a fellow photographer not to bother with Venice as it was somewhere every man and his dog photographed, I can safely say that is very true but still very glad I've gone and done it at least once. The harsh mid day sun didn't allow for much photography to take place but later that evening everything began to look very nice in the setting sun and dusk light. Below from right to left; Traditional Venetian Carnival Mask, Grand Canal, Santa Maria Della Salute Church, Gondolas from San Marco.



The next day was an early start and a drive to Milan. After an unscheduled stop in Bergamo because the car decided to stop working I arrived in Milan in time to head to the main Plazza to photograph the iconic Duomo in lovely late afternoon sunlight.



The following day was a 4am start and a drive to Bellagio on the shores of Lake Como to capture the early morning light over the hills and water, and then a ferry across the lake to Varenna before driving up high into the Italian mountains to cross the border to Switzerland.



Just before the crossing to Switzerland I arrived at a small Italian town called Montespluga which can be seen on the right of this panoramic image, surrounded by the still snow capped mountains and Lake di Montespluga with a very low level of water.



After a rather underwhelming border crossing into Switzerland (blink and you'd miss it) there was a short drive before being met with more dramatic mountains above the small town of Splugen.



Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the gray and drab the next day meaning I didn't really produce any noteworthy images, you're always going to have at least one or two days in a trip where the conditions aren't great. However it did allow for some much needed down time after the early starts and lots of traveling from the previous days, so not all bad.

First port of call in Austria was a small town in the Dalaas Valley region, the weather was still very gray and cloudy however the low cloud wrapping round the mountains made for a pretty dramatic looking scene.



After the short visit to Austria it was back over the border and into Italy, this time much further East for a visit to see the Dolomite mountains. My favourite shot from this region was a close up of the snow capped peaks which really lent itself well to a gritty black and white look.



The day ended back in Trieste to complete the 1000 mile round trip and there was just enough time to head into the town centre to grab a shot of the main square before flying home the next morning.

One of my images of hay bales at sunset has recently been used as a studio background for part of the BBC's Russell Howard's Good News show. Fame at last...

I'm just back from a long weekend shooting in The Lake District, decided to stay in Keswick and focus on Derwent Water. Definitely somewhere I plan to explore more, maybe another trip in the Autumn. Here are a few of my favourite images from the weekend:

A couple of my images from The Roaches in the Peak District National Park have been published in the May 2011 addition of GTO magazine. One is a double truck too!

Not long ago I made one of my usual trips to Edinburgh to visit family, and whilst there thought it would be a good opportunity to head down to Newcastle for the evening as it was somewhere I'd not visited or photographed before. Whilst waiting for the light to become good I decided to shoot a short time lapse. The video below is made up of a few hundred still images, I've also included a few of the final images from the evening at the end of the video too.

My image of Liverpool docks has been featured in an advertising campaign by Northern Rail Trains to advertise days out in the North West of England. These posters can be seen at train stations all over the North of England.

I'm now shooting full frame with Nikon's amazing D3 camera! I was previously working with the Nikon D300 which is still a great camera but the full frame image quality from the D3 is astonishing. I also have new glass to go with the camera, the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR and the workhorse Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8. I can't wait to get out and get using them.

I have recently returned from a 7 day trip photographing the beautiful island of Tenerife. I spent 7 days touring the island, starting at 5:15am everyday to catch the best early morning light and not finishing till long after the sun had disappeared. Traveled over 700 miles in the hire car! Tenerife is a great island to visit for photography as it gives such a variety of scenery in such a small area. Here are a few of my favourite images from the tip: