Solihull Lecture - Fabulous Print Stands!

I love printing and I produce a print of every image that I’ve worked up to the standard necessary to feature on my website, but it’s rare to get the chance to display more than about 20 at any lecture I deliver. Well Solihull changed all that - they had enough print stands for me to be able to display every underwater print I had with me!

It gives me a great sense of pride and happiness when I can see them all at the same time. It really reminds me how super lucky I am to have had so many fantastic underwater encounters :-)

What a Print Stand!

I take around 35 prints to all my lectures (even though my delivery is via projector using Powerpoint) for two reasons;

• I’m sponsored by PermaJet and Pinnacle so it’s only fair to display the superb papers and mounts they offer

• I love printing and always print any image I’m happy with - for me it’s the final, but absolutely necessary, step in my workflow. So given I have so many it’s a shame not to use them

However, it’s rare I turn up at a venue and there’s the means to display them all - sometimes they just have to be laid flat on tables. This is a shame because ideally a print needs to be displayed vertically. This is because it makes a massive difference how the light is reflected by the ink and consequently how the colours are perceived. They just look less vibrant when laid down.

Well, lack of a means to display them vertically was certainly not the case at my recent Leicester Forest PS lecture - what a print stand they had! As you can see below it took all my prints with room to spare. And it was all assembled (and taken down) in less than 10 minutes by just a few members.

Thanks guys :-)

First Outing for SPORTS IMAGES WITH IMPACT 2

I delivered my new talk at Nottm & Notts Photographic Society this week - SPORTS IMAGES WITH IMPACT 2 – getting the iconic shots.

As my sports photography has developed I‘ve become a little frustrated because I’m not getting the really dramatic shots I’m after. It’s often difficult to capture a powerful sports shot during competitions because the chances of it happening are slim and even if you do there’s often just too much going on in the background for it to be a clean shot.

To get around this I’ve developed a mobile studio approach to photograph the iconic poses. Working with the club or sporting body we plan a staged shoot in great detail, specifically to capture the dramatic shots. I find that the clubs are really enthusiastic and co-operative because, of course, they want the shots too.

In this talk I show how I go about it by using “Behind the Scenes” videos and stories. Sports covered include; weightlifting, table tennis, swimming, fencing, high board diving & several more.

The talk was well received and I really enjoyed delivering it. Watching the behind the scenes videos takes me straight back to the shoots, all of which were great fun to do.

An image from the Fencing shoot - click on the image if you’d like to see the video.

Click on the image if you’d like to see the video.

Creating Engaging Lectures

I delivered my part of the Creating Engaging Lectures session for the first time yesterday to 44 delegates. It was commissioned by my federation (N&EMPF) with the aim of encouraging more members to create and deliver lectures.

I’m really passionate about lecturing (having done it most of my adult life) so it was great to pass on a few of the hints & tips I’ve learnt over the years.

We covered my complete workflow from concept, planning and creating building blocks through to assembling in PowerPoint. Every delegate received a USB stick which contains lots of bonus material;

• a PDF copy of the lecture

• an editable version of the lecture (that can be used as a template for a quick start to creating their own PowerPoint lecture)

• a video guide to using PowerPoint

• a video guide to creating slideshows in Lightroom

• a video guide to creating Photoshop workup videos

• a video guide to shooting and editing your own videos

A short video showing examples of the content can be seen here

It was great fun to deliver & I genuinely hope it will encourage a few people to have a go :-)

Underwater Special for Bromsgrove - what a blast!

Jan Harris is the Programme Secretary at Bromsgrove PS and also a scuba diver - so she has a particular interest in underwater photography. When I delivered a Zoom lecture on my sports photography for them during lockdown Jan noticed I was an underwater photographer and asked me if I’d be interested in doing a special lecture for them for which they’d sell tickets. Needless to say I didn’t hesitate to accept - I love talking about my underwater adventures!

The lecture took place last week and was attended by around 50 people. I combined the best bits of my three current underwater lectures into two one-hour sessions - you can watch a taster video here.

The audience were fantastic and judging by the feedback enjoyed it. You can read all the feedback here but here’s a few snippets;

• A truly remarkable and enjoyable presentation by David. Superb photography and video which provided a real insight into the lengths that he and Libby go to, to produce such high quality work.

• David’s presentation was spectacular in every way.  It was great to see video of how he achieved some of his images.  You almost felt you were experiencing his trips with him.

• What a superb evening, David's photographs and video footage were stunning. His commentary took us through his incredible journeys and was captivating. 

• I thoroughly enjoyed last nights event - it was fascinating to see the world that exist in our oceans. The images were dramatic, well composed and pin sharp with wonderful lighting that brought out the colours beautifully. Telling us how he got the images was honest and candid of him. Some photographers prefer to keep the so 'called tricks of the trade' to themselves. Thank you for sharing David.

Thank you for the invite Jan - I enjoyed every minute!

"Creating Engaging Lectures"... a new lecture

I have been asked by my photography federation (NEMPF) to deliver a lecture on… giving lectures!

I really enjoy lecturing, for me it's one of the most rewarding aspects of my photography and in this new 2 hour tutorial lecture I'll tell you how I go about putting my lectures together.

We'll cover my complete workflow from concept, planning and creating building blocks through to assembling in PowerPoint.

There's a USB stick that accompanies the lecture containing lots of bonus material;

• a PDF copy of the lecture

• an editable version of the lecture (that you can use as a template for a quick start to creating your own PowerPoint lecture)

• a video guide to using PowerPoint

• a video guide to creating slideshows in Lightroom

• a video guide to creating Photoshop workup videos

• a video guide to shooting and editing your own videos

The date is 22nd May and tickets are free to NEMPF members and £10 to everyone else. Details in the flyer below plus a short taster video.