THIS is why I do what I do ❤️

A few weeks back I took the portrait of the wonderful Di Edwards; wife of the late David Edwards ( World War 2 Veteran) and a family that, thanks to my 39-45 Portraits Project I have become very close to.

Well, yesterday ( 31st July 2023 ) I popped over to Abergavenny, Wales to see Di and her son Chris and to take the printed portraits over to them and I simply could noty have wished for a better reaction.

As the title of this post says … THIS is why I do what I do❤️

Here’s the portraits that I took; both of which were using natural light coming in through a large sliding patio door that leads out onto Di’s garden …

Di and her son Chris

When leaving, as always we had a hug but I’ll forever cherish that she said “I’m blessed to have you as a friend”

Ditto that Di ❤️

Di and her late husband, David Edwards … the best of human-kind right there !

WW2 Veteran David Edwards photographed in April 2019

Squarespace makes it easier to add Photographs

Now THIS is a great update from Squarespace, making it so incredibly easy to add photographs to your website from a phone or tablet without having to import, export etc …

LIGHTROOM UPDATE (June 2023)

It’s June 2023 and Adobe have just added some updates into Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Cloud which includes Lightroom Mobile.

So, here’s a quick run through of the main bits 👍🏻

Here too is a link to the Official Adobe Lightroom Website giving full detail including all the mior updates including new cameras and lenses added …

Guest Blog Post on Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider

Really proud to be a Guest over on Scott Kelby’s Photoshop Insider website today ( LINK )

I followed Scott’s blog when I first started out and still do to this day. Back in the day Scott used to run a ‘Motivational’ post every Tuesday and I’ll never forget the morning I started reading as usual and saw that his Tueday post was about me.

We’d not met and become friends at that point but Scott was telling his readers about my work and recommeding they go check it out. That meant a lot!

So much has happened since then and a big motivator of that was and is the support Scott has shown me over the years, so to be back on his blog today is something special for me … it’s kind of where it all started.

Thanks Scott and thanks to Brad Moore for reaching out.

PHOTOGRAPHERS ... STOP USING HDMI to connect your Monitor / Display 😳

Photographers ... who knew that connecting your computer to your display with a HDMI cable actually be the reason you're colours look bad and your prints look nothing like they do on the screen?

This video explains all why

IMPORTANT NOTE:
This video is NOT refering to the HDMI cable but the HDMI settings. In some systems for example with an NVIDIA Graphics Card it is possible to dive in and alter the setting so give the Full Range (0 - 255) however this isn’t possible on some other systems including Mac. In this case, amn alternative connection between computer and display is advised e.g. USB-C

NOISE REDUCTION ... Which one is the BEST?

Now that Adobe has released Denoise AI Noise Reduction in Lightroom and Camera Raw how does it compare to other Noise Reduction Software by Topaz, DxO, On1 and Luminar?

Adobe release A.I. Noise Removal in Lightroom and Camera Raw

April 2023 and Lightroom gets some updates with the release of Denoise A.I. Reduction, A.OI. Masking Enhancements, Adaptive Presets and Workflow Improvements …

🎬 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎
00:00 - Introduction
00:24 - Denoise
02:31 - A.I. Masking
04:09 - Adaptive Presets
04:31 - Workflow
05:12 - Scrolling

Things that Dave has learned from Teaching

My Best Mate Dave Clayton recently flew out ot the USA and the KelbyOne HQ to record his 10th Class!

Incredible!

But even more so is that Dave didn’t even start teaching / presenting until he reached 50 years of age!

Check out his recent Guest Post over on Scott Kelby’s blog as he explains … Things he has learned from Teaching ( LINK )

It’s a fantastic read; heart warming but also very honest as Dave explains some of the feedback and advice he has had from folks who clearly didn’t mean him well, but in true Dave form he’s dealt with it and moved on, and man … has he moved on!

I recently sat and watched through Dave’s 10th KelbyOne Class … The Ultimate Guide to setting up your Photoshop Workspace ( LINK ) and apart from learning lots, just seeing how incredibly confident, engaging and comfortable he is on camera, is well, an absolute joy!

Having been with Dave when he first presented to a LIVE audience and also when he first recorded to camera, I was literally beaming from ear to ear seeing how much he has grown into the presenter role … it’s just so ‘him’ and so good to finally see him getting the attention he so richly deserves.

I couldn’t be more proud!

R.I.P. Sam J Walker

R.I.P. Sam J WAlker

Shocked and Saddened to just this minute learn that Sam made the ultimate decision to escape the extreme sadness in his personal life.

We met a couple of times, both when I was photographing him and had the occasional conversation on messenger; a gentle, warm, kind, friendly guy with a wicked sense of humour.

He will be missed by many!

Damn ... this is so incredibly sad for his family and friends.

The 'Friends' Portrait Project

Yesterday … a great day with friends which also saw the start of our ‘Friends Portrait Project’ which, over the next couple of months is a project that will intentionally mean we get to know each other way more than we currently do.

Back Row (L to R): Ian Munro , Gerwyn ‘Gez’ Williams , Anthony Crothers

Front Row (L to R): Brian Dukes , Dave Clayton & Yours Truly

This is to be a very personal project that’s going be quite a ride with the conclusion seeing us each revealing a portrait , composite , design … whatever, that visually describes and explains who the person is, what they mean to you, and how you ‘see’ them.

What really makes that person tick? Why are they like they are? What is important to them? What is there in their past and present that makes them the person they are? Their values. Their motivations. Likes, Loves, Dislikes. Life events.

There are no rules. There’s no competition. This is a project with the sole purpose of not just knowing, but understanding each other, and an exercise that will make close friends, even closer.

Each and every part of the process is being filmed, with the final part bringing us together and revealing to each other, the pictures we’ve created.

The first part today … Who will Photograph Who?

And so it begins …