Light pollution: Increasingly a challenge for city dwellers and photographers alike. Those deep, dark skies that I’m lucky enough to see full of stars out in the countryside are becoming an endangered species in their own right as the world’s population continues to rise and urban areas inevitably expand. The problem is, with all that light bouncing around, our view of the night sky (and ability to capture it) continues to diminish on a daily […]
Updated – only 24 hours to go before entries close at 23:59, 23rd April 2018 (CEST)! Once again, Phase One have pulled some huge prizes out of the bag for their latest Capture One Pro competition, and all you have to do to win is show them an image which is really special to you as a photographer… The top prize? An all-inclusive workshop with me, to your choice of either California or Shanghai later […]
There’s a new kid on the block – well, triplets, actually : The Rollei Lion Rock Mark II series of tripods, made by FotoPro, with three different heights and capacities of up to 20kg, 25kg and 30kg. So, having used tripods from Manfrotto, Really Right Stuff, Gitzo and many others – after years of them trying to convince me to switch from my existing “old favourites”, could this finally be “the one”? Last year, I […]
Glass filters are an essential part of many landscape photograpers’ kit bags, but what happens when there simply isn’t the perfect filter for the scene before your eyes?
Paul guides you through how Capure One’s advanced masks and dynamic range recovery tools can help bring that image back to exactly what you saw.
Surrounded in prior secrecy, today marks the launch of Phase One’s latest version of (in my opinion) the best raw image processor available today – Capture One 11. But beyond the fantastic new features, this launch is a little more special from my perspective – as my Dubai photographs are being used as one of the Press Pack’s “hero series” of images. So what do we get in the new version of this phenomenal image […]
Arriving into bad weather wasn’t on the original plan, but it had taken us long enough to get to Løkken so a determination to shoot took over – I was there to shoot the hidden lighthouse, and that’s precisely what I was going to do, rain and sand storm or not. Set almost as far north as you can go in Denmark, Løkken has become somewhat of a local tourist-trap for its beaches more than […]
Well, the news is now official – the brand new lineup of Phase One & Capture One Brand Ambassadors has landed, and I’m very pleased to be counted among this amazing group of 13 photographers from around the world. With the website launched this month, we’re bringing an entirely new presence to the post-production software space with a mix of photographers who use Phase One hardware as well as those who utilise cameras from other […]
Over $50,000 for a camera system that only shoots Black and White images? Yes, say Phase One, and that’s exactly why the iQ3 100-Megapixel Achromatic Medium Format Digital Back is that price – because it does purely that, exceptionally well. While my original intention was to capture sunsets, sunrises, and everything in between on my trip to Ilulissat, in Greenland – the opportunity to collect a demo unit from them in Copenhagen on the way to […]
The brand new ultra-light Mark II version of Rollei’s fantastic 100mm filter system holder is about to land, and to celebrate its launch, they’ve given me a complete setup to give away to one lucky reader at the bottom of this page. But hurry – entries close at 23:59 GMT on the 10th October 2017! Having tested the new system recently, it’s a major leap forward in terms of functionality and styling, from their already […]
Stepping out onto the scorching hot ground of the Red Sand Desert, I was reminded (rather cheerily) by our guide of the one thing I should be grateful for in this midday sun : “at least it’s not last month, it was at least 10 degrees C hotter!”. It was quite a contrast to where I’d been sat just hours before, being looked after in BA’s Concorde Room at London Heathrow – getting pampered (in […]
When you’ve been testing a new series of filters for a while, it’s easy to forget that one day they’ll actually become real-life products – that is, until the final versions arrive in their shiny new packaging at your door. Say hello to the brand new “Mark II” Rollei square photographic filters, and finally I can talk about some of the amazing features on these German-engineered sheets of glass. And they’re not just any glass, they’re now […]
Stood in the crisp air of a spring morning, enjoying the view through Stonehenge across the Wiltshire countryside; it was all too easy to forget for a moment that what I was photographing had been built over 4,500 years ago – by our Neolithic ancestors – out of 25 tonne “sarsen” stones transported for over 20 miles to be here. It was a morning that had been planned for a while – with weather that seemed set to disappoint. The nearer I […]
For the briefest of moments, the sound of cracking had stopped – the huge iceberg formations that feed Iceland’s iconic Jökulsárlón (or “glacial river lagoon” when translated) had steadied and the tide was turning. While often full of baby icebergs which have fallen away from the surface of the Vatnajökull glacier, finding one of this size in isolation resting in still water (with very few people around to distract) was quite unusual. Even better, the stillness […]
It’s a truly amazing feeling – that moment when you walk up to a location that’s taken ages to get to, having planned it for months, with doubt all along the way that you’d even arrive – to find the exact scene you were hoping for. With a mix of relief, awe and then urgency; it was time to shoot the stunning Aldeyjarfoss waterfall, in the North-East of Iceland, before the weather closed in after our ice-bound […]
Chicago. “The Windy City” – home to some of the finest architecture, food and (now!) baseball teams in the USA. Stood on the rooftop of the Carbide and Carbon Building, now the home of Chicago’s Hard Rock Hotel, it’s easy to see why people are so fascinated with this city – looking out across the skyscrapers, neighbourhoods and river as it weaves its way through the juxtaposition of historic stone buildings and sleek modern towers. And what […]
They can be the difference between a nice picture and a “wow” photograph, but I’m always amazed by how many people still seem to believe the phrase “photographic filter” means nothing more than an Instagram effect on their iPhone. The use of filters forms a significant part of my landscape photography workshops around the world, along with talks and presentations I deliver for manufacturers and camera brands, as they’re often the most misunderstood addition or tool in any photographer’s kit bag. In […]
The doors are closed, the lights are off, last night saw the end to another fantastic Photokina show for another year. And what a fantastic show it was – surrounded by the latest innovations, technology and knowledge from some of the industry’s leading brands and experts – it’s easy to see why Cologne consistently retains the title as hosting the largest photographic show in the world. This year, I had the absolute pleasure of supporting Rollei […]
Six years in the making and after a lot of hard work we can finally announce the launch of our fresh, vibrant, colourful new series – “essence”! Inspired by cities and countries around the world, these meticulously crafted, contemporary fine art prints are designed to represent the character of some of the finest locations across the planet. Check out our exclusive video below, showcasing the brand new collection: Abstract in nature, we’ve pulled together a total of […]
For all the weather forecasts and cloud cover tools that exist out there, one element of each day still remains completely unpredictable to all of us photographers: Sunset. We might proclaim “it’s going to be a good one tonight” or “there’s on point, nothing’s going to happen” with a knowingly convincing tone every now and then, but the truth is nobody can really say what will happen in the sky from one evening to the next. Our […]
Seeing the northern lights (aurora borealis) in the sky above us is becoming an increasingly popular to-do list item, but despite being fortunate enough to have seen them a few times now, the lure of seeing the southern lights (aurora australis) during our time in New Zealand was just too tempting to ignore. We’d been lucky so far, really, when it came to night sky photographs. While not my favourite subject, hunting for the right location, angle, […]
(Don’t) Look down! At around 1,000ft above the ground, Menara Kuala Lumpur (or the “KL Tower” as it’s also known) isn’t a record-breaker by any means, but hey – it’s still the highest place you can get to across the city. My usual plan when shooting nightscapes tends to specifically exclude photography from the iconic towers for one simple reason : that icon can’t be in the shot if you’re stood on it to take the photo! This […]
I need a tripod – but which one? In a market which is saturated with manufacturers and all their unique solutions, choosing the right tripod can be almost as tricky as the decision making process that went in to buying your camera. There are so many confusing options out there and I’m often asked “which is the best tripod?”, but the answer is never a simple one. The tripod that is best for me is […]
This week saw the arrival of Harmony of the Seas into Southampton – the largest cruise ship in the world – but this ship also contains something extra special: 9 of my images from around the USA in ultra-large format. What started as a small project with a few images onboard one of Royal Caribbean’s other ships – Anthem of the Seas – turned into a huge display of my work at up to 10 metres […]
Say hello to our next video portfolio – this time, “landscapes in motion”. Following the successful launch of my “cityscapes : out of this | world” portfolio video, together with the guys at ToInspire, we’ve managed to create another – giving a whole new feel to my landscape images from across the planet. This time, we’re featuring images shot in California, New Zealand, China, Iceland, Australia, Arizona, and of course my home in Dorset. As […]
