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Today I got a great opportunity to go up in a cherry picker about 40 feet up to take some photos of a friends farm from above. This was my first attempt at a HDR image combining two images exposed at two different ends of the exposure. Im happy with it, see what you think :

The rest of the images I took are available here

So its 1:58am on monday morning, Im listening to myspace music tracks from performers I've just been photographing, I find it helps me concentrate when sorting through hundreds of images that I've just taken.


This weekends been a funny one, I was scheduled in to photograph an air display at Coventry Airport but I later found out from my insider that it was just classic flights that enthusiasts had booked so that was a disappointment.


My first photo of the weekend was an opportunity pointed out to me by a friend who rang me telling me to look out of my window so I did and behold...

Beautiful isn't it, if only the sky looked like this every night. 


My next job was covering a couple of bands at Rosie Malones the first being Light Cascades and the second being Electric Slim who I have photographed before. Both sessions turned out nicely and I had no problems apart from immense smoke from light cascades but hey it added to the look they were going for.

The highlight of this weekend has to be The Music Against Racism Festival at the Albany Club. The festival brought the local community together using the form of music, the whole weekend had a brilliant line up including The Beat, back after performing in coventry 20 years ago. The Beat managed to fill the room to full capacity with the crowd cheering at every beat. But this festival didn't just welcome large bands, it encouraged local upcoming musicians such as Carly Ryder with her funny yet uncanny lyrics. This festival is a great addition to the local music scene in Coventry and would be nice to see once every 2 months or so. Overall this festival gets 8/10 in my books with lots of variety and a fun atmosphere; a great couple of nights out!

All photos taken on the night viewable here

So I arrived home tuesday at around 8:30pm and went straight to bed!


The trip overall I thoroughly enjoyed, Its the first time I have endured proper hiking. We departed Coventry at 6:30am heading north for the Lake District, we travelled light with only necessary kit being packed. When your hiking up a mountain the last thing you want is a really heavy backpack on you.


 The journey there took us around 4 hours which wasn't bad at all. Once into the Lake District your driving becomes at lot more interactive as your changing gear every 30 seconds as you climb yet another hill, once we found the site we pulled up and went to book our pitch at Castlerigg Farm, we were turned away as they didn't accept single sex parties due to an "incident" on the site. So from there we ventured to Castlerigg Hall who had the same theory, our next chance was a campsite called Dalebottom, which really wasn't a campsite at all it was a field on a farm with 5 caravans, but at least he agreed for us to stay!

So the tent was pitched and we set off straight away to our first hike... Spout Force, which is a 10 mile hike over about 4 hours if your quick, so because we would be stopping to take photos we said compensated for maybe 5 or 6 hours. We set off at 1200 hours with slight northern wind but no rain.


At first you hit the pain barrier and trust me it hits you like a hammer hitting you in the nuts but after the first two hours you start to enjoy yourself you settle into the walk and you start to appreciate the views like this one:

Looking up at the peak your about to climb it feels intimidating and monstrous but the incredible feeling you get when you reached the peak with 50mph winds rushing past your ears and the vast views its amazing. The weather worsened once we were at 1600 feet and to get the cameras out these conditions would have been pretty stupid so unfortunately we have no photos from the highest peak.


This break was not only great for photos but also gave us a great sense of freedom. 

The hike overall took 6 and a half hours over 12 miles. The behind the scenes film will be online soon!


More pictures online here

So I've finally managed to arrange it, Im off to the Lake district on Monday to shoot hopefully what will be some beautiful landscapes, and some nice macro shots of some wildlife. We've planned a 2 day hike up over Walla Crag  and Skiddaw near Derwent Waters. The best thing about the camp site is its near a pub!


So I will update you all when I return.

Waveform the UK's leading sustainable dance music festival, returned this year at Long Marstons Airfield with yet another fun filled enviromentally friendly event. 
The whole weekend was full of great live performances with everything from Live Drum n Bass band "Dead Silence Syndicate" and mixes from "Bare Noize feat. Zed", right down to trance mixes from "Sabretooth".


Waveform plans to reduce the carbon footprint that festivals leave. The festival offers tips to its visitors on how they can do this, along with having Eco warriors, solar heated showers, and using Eco friendly soaps and shampoos. All the energy on site is produced from renewable power-sources including biodiesel, solar power, wind power and pedal power.


Its my first experience of the Waveform Festival and my first impressions were that everyone was really friendly and welcoming, I'd like to say thanks to Steve and the "Gang" for being so welcoming!


This festival attracts real festival goers and if your looking for an amazing weekend with some mates and you fancy listening to God's DJ skills as he mixes the dance tents beats with the trance tents beats then this is the festival for you!

More Pictures Online HERE

Well done to Rider who performed a brilliant kick ass set at Rosie Malones on Saturday night. The first time I've listened to their music and I must admit I've already downloaded all of their free albums : www.riderband.co.uk
They're an alternate rock band who display confidence and character within their performances. Jay the lead singer really has a lot of fun up on that stage.

Congratulations to Natalie Smith-Phelps on putting on a great Jazz set at the Earlsdon cottage yesterday. Photo's are now online. Just Click here

So I previously talked about the importance of research, I obviously didn't listen to myself because I missed the coventry car run through Coventry and Warwickshire and then the gathering on the Memorial Park. This event happens every year and is on the same date every year. I have no idea how I didn't hear about this, but thanks to Karl my mate who phoned me I managed to get there when everybody was leaving the park, so I managed to get some nice shots of the Classics leaving the park.


Heres one photo from the day:

If you wish to see more pictures taken on the day just click here 

So today I went and did a Recce for an upcoming shoot, I'm planning to produce some dramatic looking shots of some aircraft. Inspiration taken from David Bracher. This shot I took on the recce with no flash gun or any tripod, it looks like the final shots will turn out really nice.

Just a quick congrats for Electric Slim on their latest Gig in Coventry...well done guys keep it up!