Work in Progress*

has been and gone so quickly… Tonight, I am sitting wondering where the time has gone, I have been organising my scattered files. I did manage to go out and take some photographs and even experiment with some illustration. So all in all quite a productive weekend.

Horses along the bypass between Whitehaven & Distington

Birdies

I am back in sunny Whitehaven this evening. Toby and I were enjoying the nice warm rays of light from the sun at 8pm, it was really peaceful and so serene. I love this time of year!

I have a fond love of illustration, I love looking at it, but actually doing it is another matter! Of an evening, I think this is something which I’m going to focus on over the next couple of months. Who knows, I may even get at least one good piece in that time, God loves a trier!

Ian Moreton is a student from the University of Cumbria, he kindly emailed me his blog link. Ian is due to start his third year on the BA (hons) Graphic Design course this September, a talented conceptual designer and illustrator, he is certainly someone worth keeping your eye on!

Ian is currently available for freelance work. See his visual diary at ianmoreton.blogspot.com

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT is a new feature, showcasing talents of students and/or recent graduates.

Want to be apart of it? Contact me.

Whenever I buy a new font - the first place I look is at the glyph pallet to see what other variations are available for the seductive ampersand &. I have created a small graphic - which I’m going to print onto a tote/canvas bag.

This week has been one of learning and experimenting!

There are many many shots I’ve taken which are just no good, I am lucky if I have one good photograph out of a possible 500 I’ve taken this week. But it surely is a learning curve and I am certainly not discouraged.

I am going to add, photoshop is a wonderful piece of software, but if you tamper with an image too much it does start to become grossly surreal. Although, saying this, I have been using a new piece of software called Light Room which does do justice to the images - with more controlled subtle settings. The only worry with Photoshop is finding when to stop editing! At least with Light Room you cannot over-do it! (although Light Room does not allow you to re-touch in cloning terms)

Most of my images are saved to my Mac back in Grasmere - I hope to upload more to my flickr account soon. Here is a small selection of images taken this week.

Langdale, edited with Photoshop as you can see there is a halo effect between the sky and fell

Edited with Light Room here I edited the levels and sharpened the details

Edited with Light Room then into Photoshop

Edited with Photoshop using black and white

I am currently looking to buy a new tripod, which is a must have with any kind of photography - so I have recently learned this week.

I have not had my camera very long today - but here is a taste of whats to come - the quality from the Nikon D5000 is outstanding!

Owen France

Owen France, sleepy

Owen France, blue eyes

Clover (Trifolium)

I have decided that tomorrow is the day I get my new camera! A stunning Nikon D5000 - saying I’m excited is certainly an understatement! I won’t be selling my little FujiFilm FinePix S9500 as there are some key features I just love.

Here are just some of my most recent photographs from the beauteous Lake District:

Ambleside

Patterdale near Glenridding

Thirlmere

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