To mark the occasion I’ve created a mosaic from the hundreds of images that have been published – available as a wallpaper (right click and download).

Many thanks to all of you who follow the blog and for those who leave comments.

Thanks to Stuart Cooper for taking the photo – sorry if you felt a little nauseous having to use a Canon, even if it was a compact.

Whereas most people are sensible enough to have a website built for them, I’m unfortunately a geek at heart and couldn’t resist designing and coding it myself.

As part of the new website redesign I’ve decided to separate the wedding photography from the portrait photography – kinda made sense. So if you head over to www.randallphotography.co.uk you will find a new landing page with links to weddings, portraits and this blog. You’ll have to wait until the spring for the relaunch of the portrait site, but you can be one of the first to check out the new wedding site at www.randallweddings.co.uk

I’ve managed to test the site on numerous web browsers but if you find any problem please drop me a line. All feedback welcome.

I have loads of images to post so expect the blog to resume normal service from next week.

A special thanks to Susie Lawrence for all of her help with the copy for the new site.

It seems as if ‘twittering’ is the new ‘blogging’. I’m not entirely sure myself although I do remember thinking the same about bloga couple of years ago. I couldn’t do without my blog now… perhaps it will be the same for twitter in another couple of years?

Anyhow, I thought I’d give it a go so if you fancy an insight in to my rock and roll photography life ;-) you can follow me at twitter.com/stewartrandall. See you there.

For anyone who follows me I’ll return the favour by adding you to my list.

p.s. For the non-twitters… I plan on adding a twitter status box to the new blog theme so you too can follow along.

• I was woken by Julie and my 1 year old daughter with a card that Harriet had made at nursery – see photo below
• I had an image placed in the quarterly WPJA competition! Very proud of this – image below
• I was awarded licentiateship by the SWPP and encouraged to quickly move on to associateship

Like I said, a pretty good day.

The girls at nursery are incredibly creative. Best card I have ever received!

 

WPJA competition placed image

Let me explain. In December 2007 Fiona and 3 other girls begun a 74 day adventure rowing across the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for cancer research and charities caring for cancer sufferers. Although they raised a ton of money I remember Fiona swearing that she would never do it again. I guess the lure of spending another 74 days with 3 people in a very small boat was too much as she’s at it once more. This time the girls are going to row 3,100 nautical miles across the Indian Ocean with the aim to raise money for Breast Cancer Care whilst making history as the first women to row across the Indian Ocean!

Fiona continues…”we need a rowing theme but with a difference so we’re thinking little black dresses and high heels, what do you think?”

“When and where” I replied.

Please help the girls reach their target by heading over to Ocean Angels – www.oceanangels.co.uk and donating some cash to have your mug shot put on their boat! How cool is that!

Below are just a few of the images from the shoot. Feel free to send the girls a good luck message using the comment link or if you’re a blogger please tell your readers about them or link here.

A special thanks to David from Leeds Rowing Club who let us use their boat house and oars.

The course is designed for those photographers who have a passion for taking photos but also hate the time they spend in front of the computer in post production. Either they don’t fully understanding how best to use the tools available in the digital darkroom, or they struggle with staying organised, or in most cases… both.

During the day I explain exactly how I manage the process from shoot through to final print. It’s a fun day that starts with a photo shoot with a model followed a digital darkroom session back at the studio where I demo how I import, sort, edit, process, tweak and print my images. By the end of the day we have some fantastic images and hopefully a bunch of photographers who feel the computer is now their friend.

Our model for the day was Kirsty who travelled down from Scotland for the shoot. Not only was Kirsty fun, energetic and fantastic to work with, but having recently qualified as a makeup artist she knew exactly how to use professional makeup to give herself a beautifully natural look.

Thank you Kirsty for being a fabulous model.

If you fancy coming along to the next course simply contact the team at Annabel Williams.

So… as the previous post mentions, I’m going to be out for the next 2 days. This week I’m teaching my Digital Photography for Beginners course here in Yorkshire. It’s a course I wrote after years of wedding guests asking me questions about their new digital SLR (DSLR) camera. The course is ideal for people who still have their cameras stuck on auto, for people who are just starting out in digital photography or for those who want to get back to basics. It’s a two day course at an amazing price.

If you want to learn how to use your DSLR, the next course will be run just outside London at Royal Holloway University on the 8th & 9th of November 2008. For more information see www.dslrtraining.co.uk or call on 0800 043 3405.

Concept to Print – Annabel Williams

For those interested in more advance digital workflow and digital darkroom skills you can join me at Annabel Williams where I teach the Concept to Print course. It’s a one day course where, with the help of a model, I demonstrate photographic techniques on location and then how I work the image in the digital darkroom to achieve fantastic and consistent results. This course is especially useful for people struggling to get the best from their digital images.

For more information and details no how to book see the Annabel Williams site.

Below are a few images from the last Concept to Print course.

The show was a huge success and I was very impressed with the organisation and attendance. I’m very much looking forward to the show next year… note to self, have a word with the lighting crew to get some better spots covering the runway. :-)

Congratulations to Debbie and other organisers, all the back stage teams and of course the models on a fantastic show.

Clothes by Number 10, Horbury, West Yorkshire
Lingerie, Swimwear and Nightwaer by Oo La La Boutique, Barnsley
Shoes by Heels & Co at Number 10
Hats by Chapelier, Ossett
Make up by Harmony Health & Beauty, Thurgoland