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The simple secret of becoming a first class photographer

I am pleased to announce “The simple secret of becoming a first-class photographer” course. This one-day course will be held at Calumet Photographic in Bristol on Saturday 22nd June 2013 commencing at 10.30 Half of the places have been booked already before I could advertise it on my blog so book your place now to avoid disappointment. For full details of the course please look at my website on the workshops and seminars page at http://www.andybeelfrps.co.uk/Workshops%20-%20Seminars The picture above isRead more

Photography Convention in Wiltshire

Hurry, hurry, hurry get your ticket while you can. Two thirds of the tickets for the fantastic 2012 Kingswood Convention have been sold already. See the work of our internationally respected speakers at http://www.kingswoodps.co.uk/events Date – 7th October 2012. Venue – The Pound Centre – Corsham, Wiltshire. Cost – just £15, amazingly value for a days stunningly good photography. All the tickets are always sold out for the KPS Conventions, so book now to avoid disappointment. Reserve your place byRead more
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Gullfoss – Iceland

This is a repost of the first picture I put on WordPress last July that very few people saw as it was probably uncategorized. This is a picture of Gullfoss waterfall in Iceland I like over others that I have done and have not seen what qualities lies within. I think what I am really saying is we don’t always select the most obviously good from our own work, it takes another eye to select the obvious standout pictures. ForRead more

The Sunday Times Magazine 50th Anniversary Exhibition in Bristol

The Sunday Times Magazine 50th Anniversary Exhibition in at The Paintworks Bristol. The exhibition includes work from some of the biggest names in the photography and writing world. Saturday 24th March to Monday 2nd April, 10am – 6pm | Tuesday 3rd, 10am – 5pm. Free entry. The exhibition willl showcase images from some of the world’s finest photographers who have worked for the Magazine over the years. Photographers featured include Don McCullin, David Bailey, Eve Arnold, Snowdon, Richard Avedon, EugeneRead more
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Dungeness – a hard life

I went to a three and a half hour talk by Joe Cornish & Andy Rouse (Wildlife Photographer) on Saturday evening. For our friends across the pond Joe Cornish is one of the UK’s top-selling and published Landscape Photographers. He generally uses a 5×4 camera with depth of field that goes on forever. On the Sunday I went to Dungeness with David Mills my excellent friend, host and driver. The cold east wind at force 9 made life unpleasant. I shotRead more
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Challenge your photographic preconceptions in 2012

I have been thinking about a new photo project for 2012. One new picture taken each week, that’s worth looking at. I did consider a 365 project but my objective is very specific and different to a usual 365 project. I want to take the opportunity to challenge my photographic preconceptions. If we are going to understand ourselves and reach our highest potential then we all need to think about what we are doing and how we are doing it. Whatever itRead more
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The Beginners ABC of Camerawork

How to decide artistically & technically what your picture will look like before you press the camera shutter release. Unravelling the process of instantly made decisions. Things to think about BEFORE you press the button. The Beginners ABC of Camerawork A Attraction What attracts you to the potential picture is it visually interesting? How are you going to best record that attraction & interest for your viewer to appreciate? Lighting from the side & back makes an interesting black and white photograph.Read more
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For the love of digital Lith Printing

Just a post of Warkworth Castle Northumberland UK with a lot of my favourite picture elements – Wide Angle lens (16mm), Infrared capture and Lith printing. See previous posts to discover the magic of Lith prints. Also see http://www.timrudman.com for darkroom lith printing at its best. Don’t forget to sign up for an irregular Newsletter from me at http://www.andybeelfrps.co.uk/newsletter Thanks for dropping by my little Blog. (c) Andy Beel FRPS  Read more
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Black and white Pictures NOT Grey and white

Here is a little set of pictures to show the stages of taking a colour RAW file to an exhibition quality black and white print. This shot was taken at the Big Pit Collery Museum in South Wales UK. What interested me here was the light tone of the grasses against the darker corrugated iron sheeting. Black and white photography requires a different way of thinking and seeing. monochrome is about lighting, tone, contrast and texture it is not about colour.Read more
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Stinky smelly fingers and Hybrid Photography

I was wondering about doing a bit of hybrid photography. The combination of darkroom and digital. see http://www.dpug.org for more information on hybrid photography. I have some very old darkroom chemicals left. So I tested the effectiveness of the undiluted Fixer this should clear the silver from an old film in less than a minute so the film base is clear. I tried it to no effect. I didn’t think that Fixer could go off. I was think about buying aRead more
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Andy Beel FRPS wins trophy for the second year

Andy Beel FRPS has been announced as the winner of the Frank Thomas Trophy at the Kingswood Photographic Society, for a set of three related prints. This shot of the Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, Lancashire was taken on a rainy afternoon in September 2011 with a Lensbaby Composer and a single glass lens wide open. Lith post production was completed in Lightroom 3 using custom curves. See http://www.kingswoodps.co.uk/news.html for further information. Andy Beel retains the trophy following his win last year with a setRead more
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Andy Beel’s Black & White Photography Tips and Tricks

You may be interested in the Black and White Photography Tips and Tricks page on my updated website. It may even save you money on ink and paper. http://www.andybeelfrps.co.uk Don’t forget to sign up for an irregular email newsletter from me on the website’s new Newsletter page. This shot Lost in France was taken in 2005 – it has a very post impressionistic feeling to it which I like. Just to say to those who may think it lacks contrast – there isRead more
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Deep joy and Inkjet Printer Maintenance Tips

Isn’t life great when everything just works? My deep joy comes from the fact that my A2 Epson Pro 3800 Printer is now working again. Professional Inkjet Printers like the Epson Pro 3800 have a Maintenance Tank to collect all the waste ink. My problem was that the printer would not recognise that a Maintenance Tank was installed, and because of that would not print. You didn’t think that all the ink that costs more per litre than rocket fuel actually getsRead more

Electric Pictures

I have been re-visiting old negatives from around ten years ago. I took to electric pictures around 2001 wondering if digital would catch on. I still have my darkroom as somewhere for the washing machine to live. This picture “Peaches for Sale” was taken in Ansuois in Provence, France on a hot and sunny day in July 2002. I love the lazy laid back attitude of the guy. The 35mm TMX negative was scanned at 3200 dpi giving around a 16 x 10″Read more
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Dyslexics of the world unite

I am dyslexic particularly when typing. I’m great at reading but pushing buttons to make thought public can be a bit tricky. Dyslexia comes from the Greek language meaning ‘difficulty with words’. It’s a symptom of a number of different information processing disorders in the brain. I was just re-reading the former post called “Bin bags & Baguettes” and I noticed words missing and spelling mistakes. As with all posts they are proof read usually about six times (not an exaggeration) toRead more
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Bin bags and Baguettes

Some times things don’t work out as planned. The cunning plan was to go to Devon take a few nice autumn pictures and then give a talk to Newton Abbot Photo Club in the evening. I drove to Devon in the early morning in soft sunshine thinking my luck had changed as  it wasn’t raining. I met up with a friend Paula Graham ARPS who is an excellent photographer and she drove us around Dartmoor in her Landrover. We had lunch at aRead more
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Ethiopia – Land of burnt faces

Ethiopia in greek means the “Land of burnt faces”. I will be giving a talk of the same name to the Newton Abbot Photo Club on Tues 25th Oct at 7.30pm. See the clubs programme at http://www.newtonabbot-photoclub.org.uk/ This shot was taken at a monastery on my first trip to northern Ethiopia in 2006. I was in a party of 8 travellers, and the only photographer in the group on the “Historic Route” trip. We had arrived at the monastery, got out of theRead more
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Who will be the 100th Subscriber?

Who will be the 100th Subscriber to my blog? Unfortunately I can’t give a prize or a voucher. I don’t agree that photographing graffiti is my art as its someone elses original work. With this shot called “Women of the east” at least I have given it my own style and presentation. The original was considerably darker than this. I tend to like the ethereal quality the Lith process has given it. What do you think? let me know post a commentRead more
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Everyone’s heard of Henri Cartier-Bresson Right 2

To quote Henri Cartier-Bresson “For me photography has not changed except in its technical aspects”. For me I take HCB to mean that there is a difference in thinking and operation between creating a photography and the techique of recording the idea with a camera. By may 2007 I had paraphrased HCB’s quote to “Photography has nothing to do with cameras and computers”. This is a follow on post from the previous post of the same name made a monthRead more
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“Let the Purists wail in disgust” – The Heretic

Here is another rant from the Heretic. I call myself a self-styled heretic because I rail against the very reason photography is different from other visual arts, namely its ability to render fine detail accurately. For me the lack of detail allows me to tell a different story to that of a picture with full anatomical detail. Here a large component of the picture is made from digital noise and shadows. Let the purists wail in disgust if they like. DetailRead more
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How slow can you go?

How slow  a shutter speed can you hand hold? The answer to that question depends on a number of factors – the purpose of the picture, equipment used, focal length of the lens, IS / VR. Hopefully by know everybody is aware of the 1/the focal length of the lens criteria for hand-held shutter speeds for lens without Image stabilisation / Vibration Reduction. Eg the slowest hand-held shutter speed for a 200mm lens would be a 1/200 of a second. With a ISRead more
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Ansel Adams revisited

I was in Oxford UK to attend an Ansel Adams exhibition in 2009. Looking back on the Ansel Adams exhibition of prints that he printed, the contrast range of many prints was less than I would have expected from seeing reproductions in books. Therefore you can’t beat seeing the actual prints for an accurate assessment of print tonality. As I am struck on wide-angle lenses, so out came the Sigma 12-24mm full frame to take a snap of the bike withRead more

Andy Beel FRPS The “Untitled” Monochrome Talk

I will be giving a brand new Black and White Photography talk called The “Untitled” Monochrome talk at Gloucester Camera Club on Tues Oct 4th 7.30pm. See  www.gloucestercameraclub.org.uk for the rest of the exciting programme of  Speakers. The “Untitled” Monochrome Talk rounds up pictures from trips from the last three years around Great Britain and across the pond to New Brunswick. The picture above is another of my wet light shots – taken in the rain, hopefully the eye is drawn toRead more