2009 - The year in review.

Photographically, 2009 has been my best year. It's been awesome.

I purchased a hell of a lot of upgrades for my kit and the results have really shown. With three new lenses and a new flashgun my photography has come along leaps and bounds this year. It really shows if you put enough money into something you definitely get the results you want!

I managed to do a lot of travelling this year, inside the UK as well as abroad. I was able to visit Ireland (twice) and Egypt. These travels were really beneficial for me and I had awesome trips each time, namely Egypt being the best photographic trip of 09.

Travelling in the UK visiting new national parks such as the Lake District and Peak district have also been great fun, with varying weather though. My love of landscape photography has really began to shine with the purchase of my Sigma 10-20mm.

My Event photography also went down a treat this year, with a series of bookings and commissions, my event business has finally taken off in 09, which I am really pleased about. Hopefully (Fingers crossed) for many more events in 2010.

I'll leave you with one final shot of the year taken just a couple of days ago.

Thanks for following my blog and have a happy new year.

Lake District - Landscapes

Last weekend (5-6th Dec) I spent the weekend in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria. Although initially the trip was for hiking, I was given a chance to experiment with a series of landscapes. The weather was not on my side this weekend, with it mainly being wet and miserable. I didn't manage to see a single sunrise or sunset due to the overcast conditions. However, working around this I got a series of shots I overall am pleased with, despite the heavy clouds and mist.

I have also added all the images to my landscapes gallery : http://www.pbase.com/richardchapman/landscapes

Peak District - Landscapes

I recently took a day trip to the peak district, where I experimented with a series of landscapes. My personal favourites were taken towards the end of the day when the fantastic evening light arrived.

I had a great day and was surprised to bump into world renowned nature photographer Jeroen Stel too. Below I have posted my favourite 6 images from the whole day.

Feedback would be great, so please leave me a message or email with your thoughts.

Also I have added the images to my online 'Landscapes Gallery'.

Sir Al's Visit to Jigsaw4u Mitcham

I was asked to shoot another event for children's charity 'Jigsaw4u'.

Sir Al Aynsley Green, childrens commissioner for england, visited jigsaw4u in Mitcham to find out about their work and talk with employees.

Sir Al then had chats with Jigsaw's children asking them all sorts of questions about personal bereavement.

I have below included a series of photos I took throughout the event.

Sir Al with Jigsaw4u employees

Sir Al greeting Jigsaw's children
Sir Al having conversations with Jigsaw's children about bereavement.

The children even were able to have a colouring session as a reward!

Full photos @ : http://www.pbase.com/richardchapman/siral

Sigma 10-20mm Landscapes

I had been looking in to the Sigma 10-20mm Lens for a long time. I still had yet to get an ultra wide angle lens and the Sigma seemed very fitting. 10mm provides a huge angle of view on my 40D, and some very interesting results. One of the main reasons I purchased the lens was to improve my landscape photography. So I have posted some landscapes taken over the last couple of days. The Sigma really has produced great high quality images that I am really pleased with. Check em out below!

This one is my clear favourite! Such a beautiful sunset over the river wey.

The angle of view is truly amazing and you can really fit loads into the frame. So far I have seen really good image quality and rich colours with the landscapes. I'll be testing it tomorrow at an event and I'll post some thoughts with the photos link.

Battles 25th Wedding Anniversary

I had the pleasure of shooting a 25th Wedding Anniversary of David and Catherine Battle. It was a great fun night and very enjoyable all round. I have posted just a few images of the evening.

Their three boys attended and had a great time entertaining guests...!

A lot of drink was to be consumed so a large amount of glasses were needed it seemed!

A lot of their old friends turned up for a few drinks and reminiscing about old times.

Password protected gallery link here : http://www.pbase.com/richardchapman/battles_25th

Jigsaw4u AGM article

A recent article about the event I shot in the House of Commons, is now online on the jigsaw4u website. http://www.jigsaw4u.org.uk/files/news_articles/2009-09-16-agm-review-annual-reports-08-09.html

The article includes a full summary of the event and my photos, enjoy.

View the rest of my photos here: http://www.pbase.com/richardchapman/jigsaw4u_agm

Nature Portfolio Update

I have updated my 'Birds and Wildlife' Portfolio heavily with some recent images. The gallery is now very varied with lots of British wildlife as well as nature from abroad.

Below are some of the images from my portfolio, enjoy..!

To view my portfolio please visit this link: http://www.pbase.com/richardchapman/birds_and_wildlife

I need some help identifying some of these animals so email me if your sure!

Jigsaw4u AGM

I was asked recently to photograph charity Jigsaw4u's AGM in Portcullis House, House of Commons, London. I was overly happy to be asked and stoked to shoot at the House of Commons. After going through security and collecting my pass I was told I entered at the wrong entrance..! So I had to be transported across from Westminster Hall to .. I then was quickly briefed and ready to shoot. It was a fun afternoon and I really enjoyed covering it.

As per always I have posted some photos of the day.

A full attention was recieved from everyone!

Many different people from different Media were present, jotting away.

Anne Davies, Chief Executive of Jigsaw4u gave a series of speeches on their work in the UK and abroad.

A series of awards were presented for strong participants in jigsaw4u's work and message.

Different people from all over the UK and abroad were present and got to mingle during a coffee break..!

A series of speakers spoke about their work with jigsaw4u with powerful messages.

It was a genuine fun event to shoot and I had a brilliant time doing so. Jigsaw4u are a charity that specialise in helping bereaved and troubled children and have a very strong message to spread and do excellent work. Please visit their website for more info, www.jigsaw4u.org.uk

To view the rest of my photos please visit this gallery link, http://www.pbase.com/richardchapman/jigsaw4u_agm

White Balance - Thoughts and Ideas

I thought that I would write up some thoughts for today about 'White Balance'. I believe white balance to be very underestimated by many photographers. This is because many photographers just leave their white balance on 'auto white balance'. I believe some photographer's do this purely based around the effort of changing it and believing it has little effect when it is changed.

However I play with white balance a lot and believe it is a great tool to improving your photography. I change the white balance based on the conditions and lighting of my surroundings. If it is a very bright sunny day I will shoot with the white balance set to sunny, and if I use flash I will set the white balance to flash etc. I follow the lighting as best as I can. White balance is very easy to change on a DSLR, with my Canon 40D I simply hold a button and spin a dial quickly, its very easy and effective when I do so.

One of my most favourite examples of how white balance can affect your images is shown below.

I was out shooting in a forest when I saw this lovely green moss on the base of a tree. I was shooting with 'auto' white balance to see what results I could pick up. This was the initial shot I produced. (Note, both of these images are taken straight out of camera with no post processing or photoshop techniques applied.)

As you can see the image looks very 'muddy' and would require a lot of post-processing or photoshopping work to make it look more natural to its full potential. The colours look false and dim and I did not like the effect the image produced.

So next I decided to change the white balance from 'auto' to 'cloudy'. It was a very overcast day and this white balance suited the lighting conditions nicely. This next photo was taken moments after the first shot with 'auto' white balance, with the same camera, lens, shutter speed and aperture value. The only thing I changed was the white balance to the 'cloudy' setting.

From this photo you can see a huge difference. The 'auto' settings got the white balance completely wrong. From turning a wheel on the camera quickly you can see the dramatic difference that has occurred. The photo has improved drastically. The colours and warmth of the photo are correct even without post processing or photoshopping.

I highly recommend changing white balance settings in camera as they really help improve your images. My example shows this well and I could not believe how amazing the difference was when I changed it initially. White balance may seen as something you can correct easily when photoshopping or post-processing, but I believe doing it in camera creates more natural photographic results and saves a lot of time too.

For more thoughts on white balance and more detailed explanations please visit this link by Sean McHugh http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/white-balance.htm . It is a really fab article and has very detailed yet simple explanations and examples.

Flickr

I finally got round to getting a flickr account recently, so I thought I would share it with y'all.

I have decided that I will use it primarily for art photography and experimentations, hopefully recieving helpful feedback on how to improve. I feel I am improving all the time as a photographer so this could help me even further.

If you have a flickr account feel free to add me as a friend.

View my account here : www.flickr.com/richardchapman

Me

People have been moaning they dont see enough pictures of me so I thought I would stick a load of new ones up. These fab portraits of me were done by Barney Webster. He is a great photographer and friend of mine so please check him out.

So onto the photos...!

Its rare I like photos of myself, but I think Barney did a great job for this portrait , I hope you agree..Here I am with my biggest piece of glass. What a beaut she is optically and physically.
Here I am playing with the Joby Gorillapod. These things are great when your out as you dont have to lug around a tripod. They are easily usable and can balance on almost anything, as you can see from this shot.Here I am again with my 70-200, this time in monochrome ;) .

I don't think I could have ended this blog post without a shot of Barney. Please do check his work out here: www.flickr.com/bwebsterphotos