Where did January go?
01st February 2012
January has already past and I cant believe how quickly the time has gone.
I didnt do much actual photography during the month but I kept myself busy, both at work (which has been hectic) and in my "free time".
At the start of the month I had a brief trip to Burryport with my Parents and did manage to take some photos. Nothing overly great, although the dreadful weather and hailstorms did provide some dramatic lighting.
I visited the Societies convention in London and finally bit the bullet and bought a set of Pocket Wizards to control off-camera flash. This is something I have been thinking about for some time as I think one way to really improve my photography would be to control my lighting more. I know that you can do this without the help of hitech gadgetry, but I have always had a bit of a blind spot when it comes to flash (too much math involved in guide numbers and distances...) Recent attempts at using infrared control led to some frustrating issues due to the line of sight restrictions and so I drew a deep breath and went completely wireless. I have only managed to play with it a couple of times so far, but I am liking it so far!
Then I took a trip to the Commonweath Judo Championships that were recently held in Cardiff. A few of the guys from the Bridgend Judoqwai were competing in the Grand Masters and it was great to see then in action. Unfortunately, Leon manged to break his wrist in his first fight - so his dreams of a commonwealth title to go with his British one were short lived :-(
Finally, I have just returned from giving a talk at Wakefield Camera club. I was invited to do this (read that as bullied into by my Dad who is the club's programme secretary) over a year a go but as usual I left it to the last minute and had to quickly throw together a talk. I was really flattered that a number of people from other clubs came along specifically to see me. I think it went OK.
I didnt do much actual photography during the month but I kept myself busy, both at work (which has been hectic) and in my "free time".
At the start of the month I had a brief trip to Burryport with my Parents and did manage to take some photos. Nothing overly great, although the dreadful weather and hailstorms did provide some dramatic lighting.
I visited the Societies convention in London and finally bit the bullet and bought a set of Pocket Wizards to control off-camera flash. This is something I have been thinking about for some time as I think one way to really improve my photography would be to control my lighting more. I know that you can do this without the help of hitech gadgetry, but I have always had a bit of a blind spot when it comes to flash (too much math involved in guide numbers and distances...) Recent attempts at using infrared control led to some frustrating issues due to the line of sight restrictions and so I drew a deep breath and went completely wireless. I have only managed to play with it a couple of times so far, but I am liking it so far!
Then I took a trip to the Commonweath Judo Championships that were recently held in Cardiff. A few of the guys from the Bridgend Judoqwai were competing in the Grand Masters and it was great to see then in action. Unfortunately, Leon manged to break his wrist in his first fight - so his dreams of a commonwealth title to go with his British one were short lived :-(
Finally, I have just returned from giving a talk at Wakefield Camera club. I was invited to do this (read that as bullied into by my Dad who is the club's programme secretary) over a year a go but as usual I left it to the last minute and had to quickly throw together a talk. I was really flattered that a number of people from other clubs came along specifically to see me. I think it went OK.