Travel Photographer of the Year 2021

March 22, 2022 in Awards

Continuing my blog posts about Convention 2022, I am delighted to have won Photographer of the Year in the Travel category.

I had received several nominations across five categories but knew I was up against some serious competition with really strong images, so I had resigned myself before the awards evening that I would likely walk away with no Photographer of the Year awards for 2021.

My winning image was taken at the Open Sky Memorial in New Jersey, looking back to the Manhattan skyline where the Twin Towers once stood.

There was heavy rain just before I took the photograph and that had left a slightly flooded area along the floor which gave a mirror like reflection, the moody sky also added drama.

The judges commented
”An unusual perspective that is incredibly captivating. The way it pulls your eye from the foreground into the image to the New York skyline…. it makes you want to go there and see it in person.”

IFSWPP - Illustrative Fellowship 2022

March 20, 2022 in Awards

IFSWPP - Illustrative Fellowship 2022

With the return of Convention 2022 at the London Photo Show ran by The Societies, I decided to apply for a second Fellowship with the Societies based on my Red Squirrel Project.

My Red Squirrel Project had started as a personal photography project, but took on a much more important role in highlighting species decline of the Red Squirrel in the UK. From an initial pool of over 3 million, it is now believed that less than 120,000 Red Squirrel remain the UK, and with current rates of decline, the Red Squirrel could be extinct in the UK within 8 years. The work was published in magazines and national press, attracting film crews from ITV and the BBC, broadcasting on news channels and nationally broadcast TV programs.

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales commenting in a letter that he was heartened by the work and my passion for the species and my conservation efforts for the Red Squirrel.

Due to the use of props in some of the photographs, and after taking advice from the Qualifications Director, Terrie Jones, I applied in the category of Illustrative.

Judges and Chair at the end of the Assessment

Then followed countless hours of image selection and paneling arranging, which was helped by my mentoring sessions with Steve Allen. It is important that the work sits well as a cohesive panel, so a few of my personal favourites could not be included as they were of a different colour palette and composition.

With a print submission, the paper choice needs to suit the content and printing needs to be of the highest standard it can be. So after trying several papers I decided on Fotospeed PhotoSmooth Pearl 290. A white paper with a slight sheen that gives crisp colours and bright whites while holding blacks well and supporting faithful colour representation. Tim Jones, Vince Cater and Toby Herlinger at Fotospeed offering great support as always.

The panel was printed in A3 size paper and mounted in 20x16 double mounts from Cotswold Mounts.

The panel was judged by 5 qualified judges all having a minimum of one Fellowship and all working professionals.

After around 20 minutes of assessment which seemed to last much longer, the result was a successful one.

Qualification and Distinction applications are one of the greatest personal development activities one can be involved in. A time of deep personal development that can only be gained by partaking in the process and one I would encourage everyone to consider.

Camera Equipment
All the work was photographed in Sony A1, A9 and A7riii cameras, with a variety of lenses including Sony G Masters 400mm, 70-200mm, 85mm, 135mm, 24-70mm and 16-35mm.

Lighting
Some pictures required lighting and for this I used Rotolight AEOS continuous lighting.

Printing
Printed on Fotospeed Photo Smooth Pearl 290 paper for best results.

The Societies
Sony
Fotospeed
Rotolight

A Compact Trio - Sony launches 3 compact prime G lenses

March 28, 2021

FE24mm f/2.8, FE40mm f/2.5 and FE50mm f/2.5 G lenses.

FE24mm f/2.8 , Alpha 7C. ISO200, f/2.8, 1/3200sec.

Prior to launch date, Sony supplied me with their trio of new lenses so I could offer my feedback on the way they perform and thoughts on where the lenses sat in their line up.

My initial reaction when I first opened the boxes containing the lenses and saw each one was one of pleasant surprise. The lenses are really lightweight and compact, especially when you consider the widest aperture settings of f/2.5 on the 40mm and 50mm and f/2.8 on the 24mm. All three lenses are beautifully crafted from a metal construction with engraved markings that give the lenses a real quality look and feel in the hand. Each lens features an aperture control ring, which can be set to either 1/3 stop click steps or to a smooth transition making the lenses a great choice for either photography or video applications, a manual focus ring, an autofocus manual focus switch and a focus hold button. Each lens offers a high level of control without the need to access camera menus and offers professional control and reliability of use.

The lenses are all similar in size and weigh between 167g and 174g and work well as a set. Each one offers something different in terms of focal length and optical look, but they offer a consistent switch layout which makes using each of them and changing between them very easy.

The three lenses are ideal for people on the move who want to travel light with compact kit. With any one of the three lenses coupled to the A7C for example provides a lightweight compact solution that delivers professional results. The operability and superb build quality of the lenses all adds to the enjoyment of being able to travel light with an A7C and the three lenses fitting into a small camera bags. Lenses with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 are widely used by professionals so these three lenses having maximum apertures of f/2.8 and f/2.5 really live up to professional standards and expectations.

The three lenses all have high quality optics and have fast, quiet, accurate focusing and tracking. The 24mm being a wide angle lens lends itself naturally to landscape and cityscapes or any situation where I may want to include the environment as a narrative to the main subject. The 40mm perhaps is not a common focal length which bridges the gap between the 35mm and 50mm focal lengths and I found it to be an ideal portraiture lens that offered a different look to my existing lenses. The 50mm lens is traditionally a great focal length when wanting to produce images that are close to the view the human eye sees and is an extremely popular focal length for a lens in any photographers kit across many genres. All three lenses can be used interchangeably and offer between them many creative opportunities.

FE40mm f/2.5 coupled to Alpha 7C. ISO100, f//2.5, 1/1600sec

The autofocus system on all three lenses is fast and accurate on stills and video with great tracking accuracy. Each lens features double linear motors which operate silently making them ideal when capturing video. The image quality from all three lenses is excellent. They produce really sharp images throughout the aperture range even when using wide open apertures of f/2.5 and f/2.8 respectively, with the out of focus areas being smooth and creamy.

The small form factor and light weight make using the lenses enjoyable, especially if using and carrying them for prolonged periods of time. The compact lightweight form factor, in particular when attached to an Alpha 7C offers a really great solution for when I want to travel light but still have full frame quality and ability to work with quality glass for both stills and video. The ability to be able to shoot street and travel photography with such a small compact combination has many benefits including being less conspicuous in public areas and being able to travel lighter but still be able to obtain incredible quality.

Sony 20mm f/1.8 G Lens Review

February 25, 2020 in Reviews

The Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens is a wide angle prime lens designed for use on Sony’s full frame Alpha camera system. It is light in the hand which makes it ideal as a carry around lens for holiday trips or landscapers who want to travel light. The Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens though is a very capable lens and should be considered for many more reasons than just its weight and compactness. It is a very capable lens in many instances and genres of photography.

I have used the Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens in a number of situations attached to my Sony A9 and Sony A7R3 and found that it handled faultlessly as you would expect a Sony lens to handle, with tactile switchgear and aperture ring giving intuitive control over the lens.

The Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens has a fast widest aperture setting of f/1.8, making it ideal for when working in low light conditions. The wide aperture also helps with subject / background separation by creating a shallower depth of field that we don’t usually associate with such a wide angle lens and generates beautiful circular bokeh.

The lens features a physical switch to turn on and off autofocus which is easy to locate and operate even when wearing gloves. Aperture adjustments can be made via the lens aperture ring, which is a feature both photographers and videographers will appreciate. The aperture ring can be used with a click option, which adjusts aperture settings in 1/3 stop increments, from f/1.8 to f/22 when changing apertures settings. Or without the click option for a smooth transition between aperture settings. The aperture ring also has an ‘A’ for automatic aperture selection. The aperture can also be changed from the camera body control wheel or in the cameras menu system.

The Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens has a function button to the side of the lens which can have a selection of functions assigned to it for the user to customise to their shooting preferences, for example, Eye a/f, white balance options etc.

There is a manual focus ring which is easy to find and turn which has a slight resistance and intuitive feel to it, this was easy to operate even when wearing gloves. The lens does not extend during focussing and remains the same physical size and the lens hood is small, making the lens an overall compact solution.

The sharpness from the Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens is impressive, it is extremely sharp throughout the different aperture settings including when wide open at f/1.8. I was more than confident to shoot this lens with a wide open aperture or to fully stop it down and be happy I would have a sharp image.

When shooting against brightly lit backgrounds I could see no evidence of chromatic aberration from the lens. This was the case regardless of the aperture I used. Whatever Sony has implemented into this lens to control CA they have done a remarkable job. The vignetting I observed during my use of the Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens was minimal.

Although the Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens is a wide angle lens I didn’t notice obvious lens distortion and thought the lens performed well in a variety of different scenarios. The autofocus was also fast and accurate and extremely capable during the time I used it even in low light conditions.

Sony 20mm f/1.8 G Lens with A7R3. ISO100, 20mm, f/22, 30sec

The Sony 20mm f/1.8 G is a prime lens that occupies a unique position in the current Sony lens line up. It is a wide angle lens with a wide aperture. While some may consider and use this lens as a ‘fit all in’ lens, I have found it to be very versatile and useful to be able to draw more of the environment into the shot when shooting a portrait. I have found the level of detail the Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens renders to be of a high quality with no evidence of CA and high levels fo sharpness when viewed at 1:1. The ability to shoot a wide angle lens with a wide aperture opens a whole new world of perspective and photographic opportunities and the 20mm f/1.8 G lens is an excellent addition to the current Sony lens line up and will be a firm favourite for astrophotographers, concert photographers, landscapers and travel photographers.

Becoming a Sony Europe Imaging Ambassador.

July 31, 2018

Becoming a Sony Europe Imaging Ambassador………………….