I’m having a bit of a clear out, and I recently stumbled across my 6 cameras in the Canon A-series. They’re all different and a complete set, but realistically, I don’t use them all regularly enough to keep them, so I’m getting rid of 4 of them (whilst keeping the AT-1 that used to be my grandfather’s and the A-1…just because it’s cool)

If any of you are interested in purchasing a Canon A-series camera, then feel free to bid on the items on eBay!

• Canon AE-1 with 50mm lens
• Canon AE-1 Program with 50mm lens
• Canon AL-1 (may not work…but may just need new batteries!)
• Canon AV-1 with 50mm, 80-200mm lenses and Cobra 160 flash

Happy bidding!

Just over 2 years ago I decided to make a foray into the world of 3d photography…and what a journey it’s been over the last couple of years, including:

• Buying a 3d lens for my film cameras and learning about stereoscopic photography
• Taking 3d photos at 4 weddings and receiving feedback
• Going old school with a digital camera and a lightmeter
• Playing around with creating anaglyph images from the stereoscopic images
• Seeing the return of 3d films at the cinema
• Seeing 3d tv coming to the high street
• Trying to source lenticular prints (3d prints without the glasses)
• Buying a 3d digital camera (Fujifilm W1)
• Writing a script to split a “.mpo” 3d digital file into anaglyph and stereoscopic “.jpeg” images

So it may come as a bit of a surprise to some of you that I’ve decided to take a break from 3d. It’s just not advancing at the speed that I thought it would, and actually I don’t think 3d is appropriate in all situations. Certainly at weddings I’ve just found it to be a bit of a distraction to have my 3d camera with me, and actually, I’m not convinced that 3d photos give much more than standard wedding photos. Couple this with the fact that you have to be close to your subject to get the best 3d effect, it’s all a bit intrusive for not much gain. 3d doesn’t work particularly well for landscape photos, and I don’t really do much in the way of portrait or still life work…so it’s kind of the end of the 3d journey for me.

I definitely think that 3d video is going to be big (well, it’s already getting that way), but I’m going to bow out of the 3d photography world for now. Keep an eye on eBay in the coming weeks for a Fujifilm W1, and do bid for it (if you haven’t been put off by the previous paragraph!)

One of the things that I often get on my high horse about is the cost of passport photos in little machines. Yes, it’s possible to do them yourself, with a neutral expression against a blank background, but it’s a lot of hassle and for the £5 it costs to get them done in a little booth, I’m normally happy to go for that option. Well, I was, until my requirement to get some done recently.

My driving licence needs a new photo as I’ve had my current one for 10 years. So…simply find a photo machine and have the photos taken. Here lies the first annoyance; there doesn’t appear to be anywhere that I can get a list of locations of said photo machines. This would not have been a problem in the age where every underground station and Boots had a photo booth, but that time has passed, and now they are tough to find. Eventually I located one at a nearby Tesco…with a dime (yes, a dime…not even a penny) wedged in the coin slot, rendering it useless. The customer services personnel had no interest in getting it fixed. And so to Victoria Station.

At Victoria Station I located a machine which immediately demanded my £5 which I duly provided. Upon choosing the option for 5 photographs to be taken, it once again demanded that I provide £5. A little perturbed, and indignant, I looked for an option to cancel and start again, or even get my money back. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. No option. With a choice to call Camden Management Services, complain about poor user interface design and wait for a response on a Sunday afternoon whilst lamenting my money…or the option of feeding more money in, I chose the latter.

£10 for 5 passport size photos? In future I’ll be doing them myself.

This Christmas was a shared affair with Christmas day in London with my parents, then Boxing Day (and a couple of days afterwards) down in East Sussex with my fiancée’s parents. Unlike the last few Christmases where I’ve been very snap-happy with my camera, I was more reserved this year; mainly so that I could just appreciate the time with family rather than be separated from it by a few bits of glass in front of my eye. There were, however, some moments that I just had to capture.

The light down in East Sussex this winter was so beautiful and although I was a little disappointed by the lack of snow, I soon got over it and was able to appreciate the warm afternoon glows (even if it was a little chilly).

View gallery of Christmas photos

In other news, I’m aware that I haven’t been blogging here regularly…in fact there’s been a bit of a gap between blog posts. This is partially due to my time being taken up with my wedding planning for next year, but also because I’ve been re-writing our church website (stmarkskennington.org) in my spare time.

Have a happy New Year and I’ll try to blog a little more in 2012!

“Has he finally gone mad?”, I hear you ask? Well, that’s a distinct possibility I have to admit, but actually this blog post is about a website called “moo.com”. Ever since I started up srphotos.co.uk as a business, I’ve been using moo.com in some way or another for my printing.

Those of you who have ever received anything in the post from me will have had a little srphotos.co.uk sticker attached to the envelope – that’s printed by moo. If you’ve got one of my business cards – that’s printed by moo. If you’ve bought anything from the site and had a little note accompanying the purchase – that’s printed by moo. If you’ve had your wedding covered by me, and received cards to share with friends and families containing details of your private gallery on – they’re printed by moo. If you’ve ever received an engagement card from me – that’s printed by moo.

They have been absolutely fantastic as a one-stop shop over the last few years for my printing needs, and the quality has been great. Only once, when they began to offer black backgrounds and white text did I have need for complaint when the black was too grey for my liking, and they resolved that quickly and professionally.

So why am I telling you this? Well, they’ve given me a promotion code to share with people that gives 10% off your first purchase, whilst also giving me discount off my next purchase. If you’re interested in it, then check out my facebook page at facebook.com/srphotos.co.uk to get the promo code.

Last Friday, after a long week at work, I met up with a few friends at Leadenhall Market, then at 10:30pm set off on a 25km walk around London, that ended at about 5:15am. It’s not my usual idea of fun, but it was for a good cause – it was the Big Issue Night Walk; a chance to raise money for the Big Issue by going on a sponsored walk through the night. Those of you who have been reading this blog for over a year will know that I did the same last year too.

The Big Issue Foundation really does fantastic work with people who are sometimes ignored and seen as on the edge of society. It’s therefore a great honour to be able to do my little bit (as well as buying the magazine from vendors) to support this charity. At the time of writing this, we are at 84% of our target sponsorship – it’s not too late to help us reach 100%.

Last year I lugged my D700 around with me to document the event, offered the photos to the Big Issue for their use, and it turned out that they chose to use a few of them to advertise for this year’s walk which was quite cool. However, last year it was a bit of a weight to carry, and part of me wished I had not taken it. So, being the sensible person that I am, I decided to take it again this year!!! OK, it may be heavy, but it’s got fantastic low light capability. With which other camera could you take a handheld shot of the Millenium Bridge or a handheld shot of Tower Bridge at night? Well, certainly no other camera that I own!

Gallery of photos from the Big Issue Night Walk 2011

With 29 weddings under my belt and a few more booked for next year, now is the ideal time for me to announce that I’m taking a short break from wedding photos. Is it because I’m bored of weddings? Is it because I’ve had a bad experience recently at a wedding? Nope and nope. It’s because I’m getting married! I got down on one knee to my girlfriend a couple of weeks ago, and when I got up from my knee, she was my fiancée (and still is!).

With all of the preparation that will take, and the honeymoon afterwards, I’ve decided that I’m going to take a break from the wedding photography. Taking photos at a wedding doesn’t just involve turning up on the day and taking a few photos then going home; there’s quite a bit of work either side of the day, even without me doing digital post-processing. It’s quite a time commitment considering I have a full-time job during the week.

I’d like to thank all the couples that I’ve had the pleasure to photograph over the last few years (and those I’m going to shoot next year too) – it’s been great to share your special day with you. And don’t you worry – I’ll still be putting photos on this site; it’s only the weddings I’m taking a break from, not the photography!

Yesterday I had a great day photographing the wedding of David + Sian in Royston, Hertfordshire. The venue was South Farm; a picturesque country house with beautiful grounds. The weather was a little changeable, but the bride had planned well so that the outside parts of the day were bathed in sunlight, and it only rained once we went inside.

Of all of the weddings I’ve covered, surprisingly this was the first proper outdoor wedding (although one I did in April was semi-outdoors) which presented its own challenges. Much as the sun was welcome, as it is drawing in towards autumn, it was rather low in the sky, rendering my lens hoods all but useless. I therefore had to improvise, taking photos with one hand, whilst shading the end lens element with the other! It was a great day though, with lots of laughter and fun and great photo opportunities.

Congratulations David + Sian

On Sunday I lead the evening service at church, and spoke briefly on the subject of our creation in the bible, and how it is intricately linked with our creativity.

It wasn’t really a standard 3 point sermon, as I think it’s more important to have just one point (in this case that we are made by God, in the image of God. God is a creator, therefore we are creative), however I touched upon the fact that God’s creation is good. As I was preparing for the talk I became a lot more aware of the beauty of everything around me, even in an urban environment. When I take photos I obviously take time to properly see what is around me, but without the camera in my hand I can sometimes “forget” to see. Time to open my eyes!

Full talk that I gave on creation

…the tough get going…however the wise retreat!

My girlfriend’s parents are the wardens at a wonderful retreat centre down in East Sussex; Penhurst Retreat Centre. It’s an oasis of calm to escape to away from London life and a great place to be, however the current photos on the website don’t do it justice in terms of communicating how amazing it is. So, as part of a general facelift for the website I was asked (along with my girlfriend) to take some new photos for the site.

We strayed a little from our remit as we went for a wander in the surrounding countryside (I’m guessing they won’t be using the one of the cow’s bottom!) but we know that we’ll have plenty of opportunities to supplement the set of images. The set of photos that we took show Penhurst Retreat centre in one afternoon in July and although that’s great, it will be good to add photos through the seasons.

Gallery of a wander around Penhurst