My journey up and down the country continued today with a photo shoot in Tonbridge Wels down in Kent. I photographed a newly refurbished BP garage for a lighting company and got some good shots of the forecourt lit up at night with lots of car headlights trailing past.
I'm working in the office tomorrow and need to catch up with this weeks post processing as I'm off to Bury St Edmunds for a shoot on Friday.
I'm planning a location shoot with a great model called Rhian for the weekend. I've photographed her once before and posted a picture of her in a blog entry a couple of weeks ago. I've found some derelict buildings and a heavily graffitied railway bridge on a disused piece of line near Winslow and we're going to shoot some fashion shots down there if all goes to plan.
My eBay adventure is still going on and I've sold some more of the Mamiya kit today to a guy in France. I've also had some enquiries from Lithuania and one from Canada so my kit could end up spread around the world.
I'm going to attempt a new self portrait tomorrow for my web site. I hate being photographed but I need to keep the web site up to date and I will post the new picture here tomorrow.

I'm sitting at Corley Services on the M6 on my way up to Macclesfield for an interiors shoot at a new office block. I can't believe how warm it is today - I'm sitting in the window and it's so hot. Long may it continue after the summer we've had.
I spent yesterday in the studio finishing off the photography of a new LED floodlight then working through a stack of post processing work. It's always a good feeling to get up to date and I'm almost there but I still need to finish the solar panel post processing from last week.
I'm still feeling sad about selling my Leica gear and I also posted out the Mamiya kit this morning so it's a double blow in the respect of selling kit. To be honest though I just don't use it anymore so I don't regret the decision to have a clear out.
I'm now looking to buy a new camera for personal stuff and I'm tempted by the Panasonic G1 or Canon G10, I can't decide for sure though and I'm now thinking about the Olympus E range so I need to give it some more thought.
Most cheaper cameras are just too small and lightweight compared to my pro kit that every time I make my mind up to buy a cheaper camera I go into the store, look at them and change my mind!!.

Wow it's been quite a busy few days. I drove to Aberystwyth and back on Thursday for a photo shoot at the new Ceredigion Council HQ for one of my very best clients, then I was in London on Friday to shoot the Natural History Museum at night to show the new energy efficient LED lighting on the main facade which can change colour for events etc if required. I've attached a detail shot from the front of the building which I think is my favourite angle from the shoot.

I sold all my Leica camera gear whilst in London which was a bit of a wrench but I've decided to only keep cameras that I use regularly for work as I have accumulated so much kit.

I've put all my Mamiya kit on Ebay and some of it has already sold which has surprised me to be honest. I know film is making a comeback but I didn't expect so much interest so soon - I only listed the gear this morning.

This afternoon was spent in the studio shooting a new LED floodlight for a design client and I'm having tomorrow off to spent some time with the family.

I was supposed to have a shoot in Bury St Edmunds for Monday but that looks like it's been postponed until Friday so that will give me some time to catch up with all my post shoot processing.

It's been a good week so I'm happy and to cap it all off Arsenal won away at Fulham!.

Another good day in the studio today. I spent the morning post processing the pictures from The University of Surrey job and posted the CD out to the client, then I did some more work on the solar panel kits. One of my clients popped in for a coffee and cake and dropped in a new LED floodlight product for me to photograph.
I'm just preparing all me gear for a trip to Wales tomorrow as I'm off to Aberystwyth to photograph a new college building. I reckon it's a 5 hour drive with stops for tea so I'll be off at 7.00am for a 12 noon start.
Friday's job at the Natural History Museum has been confirmed and I had a new job in today for Monday - an office block interior shoot in Bury St Edmunds.
When I'm in London on Friday I will be popping in to Aperture - the camera shop and cafe in Museum St in the West End. They stock loads of quality used kit and they make great cappucino too so there's two good reasons to pop in.
I haven't had time to put the Mamiya kit on Ebay yet so I reckon it will be a job for Friday morning. That should fetch a few quid but loads less than I paid for it a few years ago as medium format film gear has really taken a dive (apart from Hasselblad kit).

I spent most of today at the studio shooting the solar panels and components that were delivered yesterday . It was a challenge as the panel is 6ft x 4ft and very heavy as well as being very reflective.

I also photographed a whole load of Mamiya medium format kit that I don't use anymore and I've decided to put it all on Ebay. It's a shame as the kit is top quality but it's just gathering dust and I'd rather sell it on in the hope it will all get used.

On a positive note I spoke to a company in Milton Keynes today about some regular studio work with models for a website that they run which could be pretty lucrative if it comes off. I'm meeting them tomorrow to discuss things in more detail and will let you know if it comes to anything.

I'm back in the studio tomorrow to finish off the solar panel work and for a meeting with one of my clients re some more product photography.

Earlier this year I had a photograph nominated for an international award - The Masters Cup - in the architectural section and the certificate arrived in the post from America this morning so I've scanned it and attached it to the blog.

I've spent the morning so far working on marketing stuff. You can be the best photographer in the world but if you don't market yourself properly you'll go bust!.

I use a company called CAOS design for my graphic design etc and they always produce superb results and I've got a part time marketing lady called Maureen who works closely with them to make sure all my adverts etc read well. Everyone should have a Maureen in my opinion!.

I've got a van load of solar panels turning up at the studio today and I've put tomorrow aside for photographing them. I did one last month and although technically they're straightforward enough the problem really comes from the fact that the are huge and really heavy. The last one I did was 6ft x 4ft and I had to man handle it on my own around the studio.

I've just enetered some pictures into this years International Masters Cup awards. Last year I was nominated in the architectural section which was great as it was the first competition I'd entered in ages. I've attached the picture that gained the nomination which was taken in an office block in Central London. The blurred figure on the right is me - the camera was on the 10 second self timer - and the lady on the right was taken in a seperate shot and I merged the two pictures together in Photoshop.

I've had a great day off today but also managed to shoot a stack of pictures with the newly acquired Epson RD-1 rangefinder camera. I took my little boy for a walk in the woods with the dogs and took some pictures of him with the RD-1 and my Leica 35mm summilux lens. The results from the camera are fantastic especially considering it's 3 years old and only 6MP. The lens was made in 1966 but is top drawer in terms of optics. I've attached one of the pictures of Harry chasing some bubbles in the woods at Aspley Heath that I took this morning.

These were taken in RAW mode and converted to Jpeg in Lightroom.

I've spent an hour or so tonight tweaking the website and doing some admin but other than that it's been a relaxing day.

I'm back at Surrey Uni today taking shots of the newly refurbished lecture block and a couple of other areas. This is the job that I turned up for a couple of weeks ago but that wasn't ready so it's great to finally get it done!.
The second hand digital rangefinder I bought earlier this week is turning out to be a real star. It takes all my Leica M lenses and even though it's only 6MP the pictures are really detailed. It's called an Epson RD-1 and I can highly recommend it on it's performance so far!. They were discontinued around 2 years ago and it cost me £850 second hand (it would have done but I traded in two cameras for it!) but it's worth the money as the quality is so good.
We had a lovely enquiry yesterday for 6 new location shoots and also a new job in the studio next week photographing solar panels. Things are hotting up nicely so long may it continue.

I've got loads of post processing to do over the weekend so I will end up having a couple of late nights to enable me to fit in some family time during the day. I hate getting too far behind with the post processing so I'd rather keep going at night at keep up to date.

Digital photography has helped in many ways but the post processing required to get the best quality pictures is extensive.

I've attached my latest picture of Rebecca taken in my studio last week. She's so versatile as a model and we go from beauty shots to rock chic in minutes!.

Had a slower day today although I'm still working at 11.45pm so I guess not that slow!. I took a portrait of a guy this morning in the studio for his website then scanned some old black and white photo's from the 1930's for a mate. The unit directly opposite mine has turned out to be a goldmine for me (and most men I reckon) as they sell Scalextric and train sets. I popped in to see Ally (the lady that runs the place) for a chat and ended up buying an N gauge train set!!. I'm hoping to get some time this weekend to set it up and play with it - what a big kid I am.

I wanted to try out my new digital rangefinder camera today but just didn't get time. I'm taking it out on a shoot tomorrow at a Post Office in Essex that I'm shooting for an interior fit out contractor.

I've attached a picture of Rhian - the latest model to visit the studio. She's a natural model and is very relaxed in front of the camera which makes my job so much easier. She didn't even need much directing and looked confident and relaxed all the way through the shoot. We're hoping to catch up again next week for another shoot so I need to come up with some concepts ready to try.

I had another 2 new jobs in today so thats always great news. One is at an exhibition photographing a stand and some display areas and the other is at the Natural History Museum in London which will be fun!.

I will shoot some pictures tomorrow on the RD-1 digital rangefinder I mentioned above and post a shot or two tomorrow night in the blog.

It's now 1am and I'm still going!. I had two jobs in London today with a great guy called Mike Jankowski who is working freelance for Illuma Lighting - a good client of mine. The first shoot was in Chelsea and I got totally soaked walking from the tube station. The job was a small designer fabric shop but the lighting was great and picked out the fabric displays really well. The second shoot was at Imperial College London at a new building they've just completed. I got soaked walking there too!.
I had time to pop into my favourite shop - The Camera Cafe - and part exchanged one of my Leica cameras for an Epson RD-1 digital rangefinder body. Now I can use my Leica M lenses on a digital camera - cool!.
I'm just updating my new studio website but I need to get some sleep as I've got as busy day in the studio tomorrow. Time seems to fly past at the moment and I never have enough time spare to get everything done!.

I was supposed to be up in Macclesfield today for a shoot in a new office block but my client called at 8.30am and postponed the shoot for a week. That's given me a chance to really catch up so I've been post processing the yacht race pictures and a civil ceremony that I shot last week.
I'm working in London tomorrow with two jobs - one a fabric shop in SW London and one at Kings College. In between jobs I'm going to visit the Camera Cafe in Museum St which is my favourite shop of all time. The guys that run the shop - Richard and Patrick - know loads about used kit and they specialise in Leica and Hassleblad gear which is fab. They also have a cafe in the shop and do great toasties and cappuccino and to top it all off the have 2 computers and charge 50p for 30 mins on the internet.
I'm very tempted to part exchange all my Leica M kit against a Hasselblad medium format set up as I don't use the Leica's as much as I should and I could eventually get a digital back for the Hasselblad and use it in my studio. It's a real dilemma as I love my M6 and M4 but I hate seeing them gathering dust and I don't have time to use them properly. I've also got a mint Mamiya RB67 kit and a Mamiya C33 which I don't use and I want to cut down on the amount of stuff in the studio.
I'm putting a link to their shop on my studio website www.redshift-studio.co.uk as I like them all so much!.
I had another new job in today - to photograph a BP garage in Kent for the lighting design awards so I'm guessing it's a super dooper new one with lots of feature lighting.
I'm going to finish off the civil partnership pictures now then batch up some more model portfolio shots to run overnight.

I've managed to avoid working today right up until an hour ago. I just couldn't help batching up a load of RAW files from the yacht race on the Isle of Wight that I photographed on Thursday. I've attached a picture of the Kinnarps racing yacht that I took from a Sunseeker power boat which was bobbing about as much as the yacht (hooray for Canon's image stabilisation system).

I've also just edited all the pictures from my two studio shoots this week and although I've tried to be ruthless and delete loads of the not so good shots I've still got too many left so need to take another look tomorrow. I like to edit pictures over a couple of days with say three of four viewings as this helps to really pick out the stand out shots and delete the others.

On a personal level I've had a lovely day. I play in a brass band (we do pop style music rather than old marches etc) and we played at the Stewkley village picnic!. Before that I took my dogs for a walk with my little boy Harry and we had a lovely time walking through the fields behind Little Horwood church. The hay has just been cut into those huge round bails and the dogs loved sniffing around in the freshly cut grass.

Next week is looking busy up on my wall planner so that's great news. I hate to mention the R word but the past three months have been a bit quieter than normal (although still pretty busy so can't complain) so here's hoping the economy is on the up.

I'm sitting in the sunshine outside the Sutton Scotney service area on my way home from the Isle of White shoot. The traffic is at a standstill on the A34 so I thought I'd have a quick cup of tea and update the blog.
Yesterday was a great day and I will post up some pics when I get them processed. I went out with my clients last night and we had a great meal followed by a disco - then a band came on called "may contain nuts" made up of musicians from within the construction industry. The lead singer looked like the bloke that used to play Rebus before the current guy - but with longer hair. He was trying to look a bit too cool as he was probably 40+ (they all were in the band) and wore a black DJ with red trainers!. The bass player looked almost dead but was hanging in there and sounded better than he looked. They were doing really well (we even forgave the singer for jumping off the stage and singing from the dance floor!!) until they buthchered a version of Child of Mine by Guns and Roses. I think we egged them on a bit with loads of applause and they tried something they probably hadn't rehearsed enough - over confidence is a bad thing!.
I took some party shots of every one with the 5D and 24-105 combination with the 580EX flash fired through a diffuser to reduce the harsh shadows in the pictures.
The battery life on the Canon lithium batteries is so good these days that one battery pretty much saw me through a whole day - until an hour from the end anyways!.
We all took in a full english this morning at a cafe in East Cowes that had a large train set running around the top of the walls - superb - I wanted it.
I hope to be home for around 5pm then I've got stacks of pictures to process over the weekend.
Right now it's time to try the A34 again!.

I'm writing this entry on my Blackberry from the Isle of Wight where I've spent the day working for one of my best and favourite clients - Kinnarps a Swedish furniture company. They are a major sponsor of the little britain yacht race and have a team in the race.
We spent a great day in the sunshine following their racing yacht on a sunseeker power boat with me taking pictures like mad. Tomorrow I'm up in a helicopter photographing their boat from above!M
I used my old 5D mk1 today as I wanted to protect my mk2 from any spray etc. The 70-200 2.8 IS lens really came up trumps today and at one point I had a 2X converter on there too.
Yesterday's shoot with new model Rhian went really well - she's a natural in front of the camera and I'll post some pictures here once I've retouched them.
I hate turning down work especially at the moment but another regular client offered me a shoot tomorrow in London but I didn't feel happy that I can make it back in time which is a real pity.
Fingers crossed for more great weather tomorrow!

Well the day went well today after a rocky start. I spent over an hour on hold trying to speak to our bank this morning which felt like a waste of life. Then a couple of new jobs came in!. One from a new customer who'd found the http://www.redshift-photography.co.uk/ commercial site via Google and the other a two day trip to wales from one of our regular clients.

I then headed off to Bedford where I photographed one of my best friends daughters civil wedding ceremony at Pilgrim House Bedford. Then back to the Embankment pub in Bedford - not surprisingly on the river! - for a bloody lovely lunch and some more photo's.

I used the EOS 5D MK2 throughout with the 24-105mm L lens and the camera is so good in low light at a high ISO setting that you almost don't need flash indoors. I did use some fill flash and the pics look good on screen although I haven't worked them up yet from the RAW files.

I spoke about Rebecca yesterday - a new model I'm working with - and I'm about to try to attach a picture of her from our studio shoot last week. It's the first time I've added pictures to my blog so here goes.

I've got a new model coming in to the studio tomorrow so that should be fun too although I've got loads of post processing to do before I go.

Well the picture of Rebecca has now popped up on the screen here in the blog so hopefully you'll be able to see it!.

I'm just off to watch Only Fools and Horses on UK Gold so catch let's catch up again tomorrow.

The shoot with Rebecca this morning went really well. If you log onto our studio website www.redshift-studio.co.uk she's the one in the fashion gallery wearing a red polka dot dress.
Today we managed to fit in four costume changes into a 4 hour shoot. My favourite was the "rock chic" look which I thought suited her so well. I should have some of the pictures on the website by tomorrow. We used a white backdrop that I left unlit so it graduated off to grey but for me the best backdrop was the steel shutter roller doors on my studio - they gave a really hard look to the pictures which worked so well.
I kept the lighting simple with either just one flash with a beauty dish, standard reflector or softbox depending on the look required, but also at times adding in a second head with a snoot attached to lift areas of the picture along with a white reflector to lift the contrast.
I'm having a breather now then off to Crayford near Dartford tonight for a dusk and night shoot in a public park which has just been re-lit with funky lighting.
Just got a new job in for next Monday up in Macclesfield so that's great news too.

Well it was a relaxing day as I'd hoped for. We all went to the annual village picnic and I've walked the dogs twice today too - it helps me think.
I can't stop thinking about ways to promote the studio business and also about how to improve the new web site. I'm also obsessed with studio lighting techniques and can't wait until my shoot tomorrow with Rebecca. I photographed her last week and she is great to work with. we're definately doing the rock chick pictures tomorrow along with some beauty head shots for variety - it is the spice of life after all.
I've got another new model coming in to the studio on Wednesday for a test shoot. She has a very different look to Rebecca so it will be good for the portfolio.
I bought another photography book yesterday to add to my already huge collection. This one is Annie Liebawitz (I think I've mis spelled that - sorry Annie!) at work and I'll post my thoughts once I've read it.
On the subject of books the best photography book I've ever seen is The Fashion Photography Course by Eliot Siegel (I've spelled that right believe it or not!!). The best "how to" book ever on photography.
I've just eaten a huge dinner (it's now 9pm so quite late) and I'm stuffed and trying to watch Miss Marple whilst writing this at the same time so I'm signing off now to solve the murder.

I'm judging the photography section of the Mursley Horticulral Show this morning!!. I don't do this kind of thing as I always want everyone to win and I don't like putting one picture ahead of another - not a great mindset for a photo competition judge. I was first asked to judge the competition three years ago as their usual judge apparently disappeared off the face of the earth and they've asked me back ever since.
I'm going to be planning Monday's studio shoot with Rebecca - a model I photographed for the first time last week - over the weekend. I'm looking to produce some head and shoulder beauty shots of the type you see advertising Swarovski jewellery in glossy magazines. We're also looking to do a "rock chick" style scene as well - probably out on location at a derelict barn I've found but that's time permitting.
I also need to tweak to new website again at the weekend www.redshift-studio.co.uk to make sure Google starts to pick it up in searches.
Next week's looking busy so tomorrow will be a relaxing day with the family - hopefully!.

Left home at 5.15am to get to Guildford for a photo shoot at 7.30am.
Unfortunatley when I got there the university had put up scaffolding and stuff which my client didn't know about so the shoot's postponed for a week!.
It's now 8.30am and I'm drinking a large Starbucks Tea at the services on the A3 towards London. I could do a night shoot in Dartford tonight that's an open booking but it means hanging around all day......still it means I haven't lost a whole day and at least that means I've had a paid job today.
I've put in loads of hours this week setting up my new website and brochures etc but not much in the way of paid work this week. I feel knackered but seem to be obsessed with working on the studio business and setting up all my marketing for it and can't leave it alone.
Check out www.redshift-studio.co.uk for my latest studio work which has been well recieved on Model Mayhem in the gallery section.
To top it all I left home thinking - no sure - that I had my phone with me. I haven't of course and can you find a phone box these days?.

After a lovely weekend of shooting fashion and working through beautiful pictures it's back to reality today. I'm in the studio shooting a small white sensor that goes in the ceiling and switches lights on and off!. And it's been a real pain to keep the thing in the right position!.

At least it hasn't got issues about it's waistline and skin complextion though!!.