The First Four Months.

When I first started taking photos five years ago this month I decided to go for a mid range camera.  This camera was the Canon 40d and I got some great photos from it, like this sunset over Buchaille Etive Mor.

This June I decided to upgrade my camera and was split between the Canon 5d Mk 3 and the 6d.  In the end I chose to go for the 6d and this is the result of the first four months of using it.

I received the 6d on a wednesday and had to wait until the friday night to get out and use it properly.  Unsurprisingly my first trip was down to North Berwick to get a sunset shot (I really need to do a sunrise shot one day).

The next day I was off to Linlithgow to take photos of the Leon Paul Junior Fencing competition that was organised by by fencing club ( www.wallacefencing.org if you want to give it a go).  Luckily for me the hall is very well lit as flash photography is not allowed, however I did have to crank the ISO all the way up to 25600 ( the 40d went up to 1600 and had lots of noise).

All of the photos shot at the competition were at f4.5 - 6 and around 1/800th - 1/1000th of a second so I could capture split second  action.  To be honest I was amazed with the results.

My next photographic trip was down in to the Scottish Borders to shoot Smailholm Tower and then head back up to Dunbar.

After these photos I had to wait for a bit to get out again for a variety of reasons, luckily for me I was on holiday in Exmoor and I really got to try the 6d out in a new setting.

I was staying between Porlock and Lynmouth, so had a lot of lovely scenery to play with.

This photo was taken at the end of the car park in Lynmouth at the end of a day that had seen lots of rain followed by broken cloud leading to an amazing sunset.

I was also close to The Valley of Rocks which is an amazing place to visit ( the cafe there is also worth a visit).  As you will see I have one or two photos from here.

Due to lots of cloud cover I missed the Perseid meteor shower, however the sky cleared on the night after their peak so I thought I would do a star trail shot.  I will admit tight now that I was 100% lucky in getting North Star in to the photo giving the fixed point in the left of the shot.

 Watersmeet is another lovely place to visit and I was happy to get this shot below.  My shot on the other river ended up with me ripping my new Fat Face Rip-stop ( My arse!) shorts down the right leg when I was getting out the way of a photography tour.

The shot below was taken just after sunset at Porlock Weir and it was my fall back location to shoot as I could not get to my first choice.  I am so glad I went there instead as I love this shot.

 And, these two shots need no introduction.

When I got back to Edinburgh I had to have a minor operation so wasn't able to get out for any shots.

I did book a shoot with the lovely Zara Watson at Pavilion Studio in West Lothian.   I would love to shoot with Zara again.

As I have been unable to fence for the last 5 weeks I was asked to go out (well I was told nicely) and shoot the foil 48'er competition at my club.

Shooting the 48'er was good as some of the best fencers in Scotland were fencing and It allowed me to capture some great shots in a restricted environment and I am now hoping to be allowed to shoot at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships next November (fingers crossed).

So that has been the first four months shooting with the 6d and I am very happy with the shots it takes.  Here's to the next few years with my amazing camera.

Whoa

I have been thinking about writing another post for a while now.  Especially after removing my last one as I didn't feel it was well written.

Luckily for me I decided to have a play with a photo that I thought could be edited better.  The photo in question (below) was taken at about 11am on a cloudy day on the road between Lairg and Laxford Bridge.  It was processed in Lightroom 4, however I felt I hadn't really managed to make it sing and kept going back to it.

On One software have the Perfect Photo Suite package and I have version 6.  To be fair I haven't used it that much as it seemed to be a little fiddly and I didn't get it.

I have no idea why, but I decided to open the photo and run it through the effects part.  This allows you to add a variety of pre-set layers to the photo adjusting the opacity before compressing them and saving the end result as a psd (photoshop) file.  These pre-sests are essentially shortcuts to save you spending hours in photoshop getting the same results

 The photo below is my first attempt and whilst I feel it is a bit over the top I was amazed at the detail and colour that came out.

As many of you will now be well aware this got me thinking (never a good idea) about my other photos as I am my harshest critic and always feel like I could do far better.  Needless to say I started going through previous photo edits and others that I discarded for a variety of reasons.

First up for the edit was a photo of Laxford Bridge which had been lacking something.  The result below left me happy with it and made me think even more.

I then decided to experiment on a photo that I couldn't do much with. It was taken on a very cold, wet and windy day in Glencoe and I was stumped.  Whilst the photo probably won't win any awards the time spent tweaking gave an atmospheric photo.

Now, I have several photos of The Falls of Falloch that I felt I could do better with.  The results below speak for themselves.

I went through a lot of photos and re-edited a most of them, but I was in for a surprise.

This photo of Edinburgh from Calton Hill as taken in May 2009 and after some editing I left it as I didn't think I could do anything with it.  I was wrong.

Last Monday I opened up Perfect Photo Suite 6 and loaded the photo.  After several attempts I had a result I was content with.

To save syncing my Iphone (lazy ass) I loaded the photo to Facebook and then saved to the phone so I could post to twitter.

I posted the photo to Twitter and have had the most retweets of any photo I have ever put on it.  It also got a lot of likes on facebook as well.

What has this taught me?  

I need to keep pushing and trying new things so that I can get better at what I do.  Also, that sometimes I do get it right first time.

St Columbas Hospice, Edinburgh

As some of you will know my mum died on the 4th of November 2012 and had spent the last two weeks of her life being cared for by the wonderful staff at St Columbas Hospice in Edinburgh.

In the three weeks since her death, my sister and I have been clearing her house and giving a whole load of equipment that is no longer needed to the hospice as they can use it.  However, it really needs cold hard cash to provide what can only be described as amazing care through the worst period in anyones life and then support that persons family afterwards.

To raise some funds for them I am organising a sale of my calendars and 7 one off prints (two gallery quality framed prints and 5 canvas prints) at my home on the 1st of December between 1.30-6pm. During this afternoon 25% of the price paid will go to the hospice.  

However, if you are in or around Edinburgh and would like one of my calendars I will deliver it to you and 25% of the cost will go to the Hospice.

Here is the link to my site if you wish to order the calendar. 

http://www.jamiestoddart.com/photo_9727175.html

Please buy this calendar for you or someone who will appreciate these fine photos and to help raise funds for a truly amazing service.

January

July

 

September

November

Edinburgh Goes Boom

I had this long post all planned out about the hard part of photography, the rejection and how I dealt with it.  Luckily you can all thank my friend Steve who texted on sunday morning to say he was buying tickets for Princes (not Princess) Street Gardens so people could watch the end of festival fireworks.  After spending several years down in Inverleith for them I naturally jumped at the chance and said yes.

7.45 comes along and we all meet up and find a space to settle down in.  As the gardens fill up I take photos and before I know it I'm trapped with a sappling in the way but I decide to make the best of it and catch this photo before the fire works start.

The fireworks were spectacular and the obligatory setting fire to the castle rock was good too.

Anyway with out further ado here are the photos, thanks for reading this nice and short post.

A Confession

My name is Jamie Stoddart, I'm a photographer and I have a confession to make.  I spent a week on Skye, visited Elgol and did not take a photo of The Cuillins from the beach.

I know, it is against the photographers code, but I was heading out on a fast rib trip to Canna to try and spot some basking sharks, sea eagles and puffins.

As you can see below we found sharks, lots of sharks.  It was amazing to see over 30 of these huge fish close up, although the teenage boy next to me seemed oblivious to the spectacle of so many of them feeding all around us.

When the trip returned to Elgol I did consider getting a photo, but it looked like rain was coming and EVERY boat trip was returning at the same time.  In this scenario there is only one option and that is get in the car and beat everyone up the hill.

For those who have never been the road from Broadford to Elgol is single track with passing places.  That's not so bad I hear you say, well no it is not, but when you throw in lots of tourists in hire cars who lack the understanding of what a passing place is then things get interesting.  I found this out when I came nose to nose with a tourist car and they would not reverse to the passing place.  They pulled in to the side and after some very slow (and silky smooth) driving the car got past.

Skye is a wonderful place to visit and whilst I struggled to get a good sunset there were lots of stunning photo opportunities throughout the day and I took advantage of them.

The Quiraing (top) and the Trotternish Ridge(above) were high on my list of places to visit and photograph, however the evenings and mornings were not that good so I manned up and took these at about 2pm.  As you can see the results were stunning.  Another thing about these places is you shoot The Quiraing from The Trotternish Ridge and vice versa.

I discovered Neist Point through flickr and decided to head over one evening to see what I could get.

Neist point is the most westerly point on Skye and if you set off heading west you either hit The Western Isles or some part of North America.  Here there is a light house and lots of cliffs as you can see below (I did actually walk out on the path another day but regretted it as the steps back up are steep and long).

Whilst the photo above is the standard shot you see of Neist Point there are some amazing cliffs to the south east and they can be easily over looked which is really scandalous.

Midway through my week on Skye I took a day trip to the Western Isles and whilst I screwed up a big beach shot I did find this little gem which shows that sometimes the smaller shots are better.

If you follow me on twitter you may have seen my tweets with @landscapes365 and @portraitskye, well I was lucky to meet Andrew and Rosie Woodhouse whilst up there.  They are great people and I spent a couple of hours with them resulting in me taking their photo with their lovely 5d mark 2.  I haven't seen the photo yet, so either I suck or got a good one and they are keeping it hidden.

They also showed me a great spot on the River Sligachan to get a photo up to the Black Cuillin and I stopped on the saturday as I headed up to Lairg to grab this shot.

Following on from Skye I spent a week in Lairg which really is in the middle of nowhere.  On the plus side it is quiet and the scenery is amazing.  However, I must point out that whilst a screaming golden eagle outside your window in the morning is amazing it does lose its charm after the third day.

So, what's there to photograph up that way?

lots.  On the sunday there was a trip up to Durness in what can only be described as a little wind and rain.  On the plus side The Smoo Cave looks great with water flowing in.

Durness is also home to Cocoa Mountain which serves amazing hot chocolate and makes great chocolate.

Naturally one should go to John O'Groats whilst so far north, I'd recommend skipping it and going straight to Duncansby Head as the views are breath taking.

The beach at Dunnet Head is also pretty spectacular on a windy day as the waves are funnelled in from the west.

Below is a burn I discovered as I was driving to Ullapool before driving up through Assynt,  past Stac Pollaidh and Suilven before turning back to Lairg

The bridge below is Laxford Bridge and believe it or not, it serves as the main route from Ullapool to Durness and beyond to Thurso.

On my final day I decided to head up to Kinlochbervie and check out the beaches.  Below is Oldshoremore Beach with a lot of rain heading my way.

I should add I did get a sunset and it was from a lay-by on Skye as the light just became perfect.

Thanks for reading and I hope you like all of the photos from my two weeks up north.

Taking a Chance

So, it has been over a month since my last post.  What can I say the photography was quiet.


Anyway, last Saturday night I'm at home and thinking about heading out to get a sunset shot (7.30pm for those of you who require all the details).  As usual I have no idea where to go, although there are a few options.  First up head down towards Biggar (25-30 miles away) and find a shot there as I am going to be exhibiting in the BiggART festival as part of the Biggar Little Festival (first big plug, pay attention as you may miss the second).  Second option is to head over in to Fife(another 25+ mile trip) and get another seascape sunset.


What do I do then?


I go for the complete outside option and decide I am going to drive 90 miles up to Glencoe to see if I can capture a sunset there.  Now at this point in my decision making process it is the best idea ever, but by Callander I'm having second thoughts as the cloud has thickened up.


For those of you who have never been to Glencoe the drive involved motorway driving followed by lots of driving on an A road along with the lorries, camper vans, cars with caravans and the annoying slow drivers (which there were a lot of).


Sorry, just had to pop away there as it sounded like the washing machine was taking off, turns out it was just a seriously heavy downpour of rain that's flooding the farm track.


Where were we?  Oh yes, Callander.  


By 8.45 I've made it to The Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum and it is still cloudy, but all of that is about to change.  Well I lie, it is going to take a further 15 minutes of driving to change.


I head up towards Bridge of Orchy and beyond to Loch Tulla.  Now the drive from Tyndrum to Glencoe village is about 30 miles of stunning landscape that evolves from forest to mountains to moorland and to top it all off a drop down from the moor to what can only be described as Lord of the Rings country.


Back to the drive.  I head past Loch Tulla and get to the hill leading up to Rannoch Moor,  I look in the rear view mirror and see a Ford Transit Camper Van gaining on me so I do the only thing I can, accelerate.  No!  I am not petty honest.


As the road levels out I start to see a hint of golden light on a little hill to my right and my luck is improving.  This small beam of light gives way to this scene below at Locan Nah Achlaise.

I see a layby and as there is no traffic around pull in and leg it across the road to get what I called my back up shot. Once this was in the bag I returned to the car and headed on towards Glencoe itself.

I got round to Glencoe to see the glorious sunlight fading fast but decide there is still something special to shoot and continue driving.  

Just after the Kings House Hotel there is a bridge over the River Etive and I decide I am going to park up and get a photo from beyond the bridge and down by the river.  It seemed like a good idea to park on the east side of the bridge and walk across it and then down the banking to the river.  It was not a good idea as cars heading east would suddenly appear and I had to be quicker than Ussain Bolt to cross the bridge.  Mental note, park in the layby on the west side and walk back.

Anyhow, I get down to the river and select a spot to set up and take another shot of Buchaille Etive Mor (I told you I like it in another post.  If you have not read it why not????).  The end result was this shot.

On the right you can just see a faint hint of red light as the sun drops behind the mountains and all that is left is the fading light.

Well, having got the shot I pack up and head back to the bridge and prepare to cross.  However I look up the hill and see a car coming down it fairly quickly so I leg it across safely.  I park myself on the grass verge as a Honda NSX roars past me in the fading light.  Ok I'm a car geek and I'm proud of it, I just wish I had got a shot of it.

Back at the car I pack my kit away and head home not quite sure what the end results will be and as I got home at 12.10am I wait until the morning.  Safe to say I am more than happy with the results and on Thursday enter the shot of Buchaille Etive Mor in to the Take a View Landscape Photographer of The Year (and yet another subtle plug).

Do I think I can win the competition?  No I don't, however I love this shot and think it is very special and want people to see it along with the other 6 I have entered.

To sum up it is good to take a chance and stick with it as the end result can be amazing.  Also, choose your parking spots wisely as running like a muppet is not good when avoiding cars on the road.

Thanks for reading and take care.

What do you get?

Last week I received an email from someone through my site recommending I drop my prices as they liked my photos but felt my prices were too high.  Why were my prices too high?  Because they could get photo canvases a lot cheaper from (insert any generic shop here)!

Naturally I replied pointing out that they could buy a canvas from said shops but they would be buying a higher quality product and the knowledge that thousands of people around the world did not have the same photo if they bought my work.  This did not work as the person said I should drop my prices to match these shops as they were OBVIOUSLY making money from their canvases.

Firstly, these companies buy photos from stock sites for pennies and then send them off to a printing company somewhere far away to be run off in its thousands.  These printing companies will invariably use cheap materials and not properly stretch the canvas.

So Why don't I do that?  Economies of scale is the simple answer as I do not have thousands in the bank to pay for such an order.

As I mentioned before the standard of materials used will not be of a high quality (cue fading, sagging of canvas and so forth) and it will show.  I bought a canvas print of one of my photos from Jessops and the quality is no where near as high as the canvases I sell.

Linking in to this, the person said I should reduce my quality so that the prints would become cheaper.  Not surprisingly I said no to that idea as I want to provide a high quality service and products to my customers.

If you have seen my website you will know how much my canvases sell for, but what are you actually paying for?

You are paying for the printing of a high quality product and the associated costs of supplying it (fuel for me to get the shot, food, maintenance and purchasing of equipment, delivery from a local company and so on).  What you may not know is that I do not make a huge amount of profit from these sales.  This is because I want to make my products as affordable as possible and to encourage people to buy my work.


Anyway, enjoy the photos below and I hope you will consider paying a little more for your photographic art so that you will support the person who worked hard for the shot you like.