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The How To See (Photographically) Workshop

Learn > grow > flourish in Southern Spain. o Gain new photographic core strengths and realise your aims – by investing in your own progress as a photographer. o Discover an excellent blue print for photographic advancement – understand and use The ABC of CameraWork Method of Seeing. o Pick up the ways of a master at the art form with a powerful Mono Workflow in Photoshop and Lightroom. o Refine your picture style with the colour magazine look in aRead more
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Free Steelworks Shoot – all places taken

If you were thinking about coming along to Port Talbot for a free Photo Shoot with me, sorry all the places are allocated. The spot for this view of the steelworks isn’t very big and parking is a bit of a nightmare so the books are closed. However, I am doing an Intermediate ABC of CameraWork Course in Tiger Bay, Cardiff on the 24th Jan 2015. Click http://www.andybeelfrps.co.uk/ABCofCameraWork for details of the one day course. (c) Andy Beel FRPS 2014Read more
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MonoChrome course discounts

I have spent the last few days updating my website with new MasterClasses, Workshops and Courses based in Bristol throughout 2015. There are new early bird discounts, introduction discounts and buy one get a second course reduced offers on the ABC of CameraWork Courses and a Lightroom 5 for beginners course. I have place emphasis on grouping participants with similar learning needs together. To facilitate this many of the learning opportunities are described as either Advanced, Intermediate or Beginners coursesRead more
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Course availability update

Photo Masterclass and Printing Masterclass next Spring in South Wales – fully booked. Get a 10% discount when booking the ABC of CameraWork Course and the Lightroom Beginners course together. There are still places available on the one day Intermediate ABC of CameraWork Course in Cardiff on the 26th January 2015. Why is the ABC of CameraWork course relevant to photographers of all levels of experience? – There are three courses levels Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced – The knowledge andRead more
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Just got back

Just got back from the FOTO Alpujarras Workshop in the Sierra Nevada – Southern Spain. A really good time was had by all. Workshops are about providing a safe place for the participants to learn and try out new ideas and techniques, with explanations and guidance from the workshop leader. This shot is a little out my normal style – deliberate de-focussing, grainy saturated colour. The next workshop will be 22nd to 27th April 2015. Updated details will be onRead more
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FOTO Alpujarras Workshop

I am excited about the FOTO Alpujarras Workshop that takes places next week in the beautiful authentic Sierra Nevada. The workshop is based around the south west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains National Park, the coastal region around Salobreña and the city of Granada.   The workshop offers a wide variety of exciting pictures taking opportunities in the real Spain. For example we will have a rare chance to see and photograph the culture and customs such as flamenco dance,Read more
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Lest we forget

Here is a shot I took before the one day ABC of CameraWork Course on the first of November, in Bath Abbey Courtyard – called “Lest we forget”. Best viewed full size. I didn’t take very many pictures that day because I was concentrating on the group of participants I was leading, not on my own photography. I will be updating my website and blog with pictures taken by the participants on the course shortly. In the main I workRead more
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Master Photographers worry about appropriate lighting

You may think that the light is the light, because its all you have when you have your camera to hand. Time of day and year makes a huge difference to the direction and angle of light and hence its appropriateness to the picture. Think about the direction and quality of lighting and the shadows it will create in your pictures. The direction and quality of lighting is everything to a master photographer. Do you need to learn about theRead more
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The pictures are rubbish but the stories are all mostly true!

This weeks talks are at Devizes CC in Wiltshire tonight with a presentation commonly known as “Every picture tells a story”. The pictures are rubbish but the stories are all mostly true! A catch up of some of the locations I have photographed in the last two years. Then tomorrow evening I am down in Dorset at Sidmouth PG on the Jurassic coast doing “The Digital Monochrome Print”. This is a teaching presentation explaining with prints and a laptop demonstrationRead more

A lighter camera bag – 3

I like the composition of this picture taken the other evening down in Bristol docks. I am still getting to grips with the vagaries of the X-T1. Fuji claim world beating focus speed for this camera – how true that is I can not comment. I did find however that the accuracy of focusing will be improved if the focus area is made as small as possible (50% smaller than default) and the focus assist button (zooms to 100% atRead more
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A photographers heart

If you are a musician first base is playing all the right notes in the right order. Second base is playing all the right notes in the right order and putting a personal interpretation on the piece. Camera operators get correct exposure and focus and record the scene. Photographers record the scene with an personal interpretation that’s individual to them. Interpretation reveals perceived significance and the heart and soul of the photographer. A big hello to all the new followersRead more
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How to automatically select pictures in Lightroom

The digital age of photography means that there is a proliferation of frames taken suggests that its easy to forget what you have done and not take the picture to it’s rightful conclusion. In my case taken to conclusion might mean that a picture ends up here on my blog, on my website, as an A3 sized print or an A2 sized print if the picture is exceptional. To help me bring order to the editing process I use variousRead more
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Shadows

Photography is essentially drawing with light. Every type of light – hard, soft, damp, wet – has a suitable photographic subject and situation. The point is – is the light you have appropriate for the picture you are making? When thinking about making a picture I consider the time and place to get the light that I need for the picture I am making. Pictures are made – (thought about and planned), not just taken. The picture above – BathRead more

9999 Frames

Remember when DSlr’s were very slow to boot up and focus? This shot was taken in 2004 with my then new Canon 20D. The first digital camera I had that worked semi-like it was supposed to. So who are Anna and Jack in the picture on the right, are they a real couple, are they still together, why are their names carved in to the stone paving in Millennium Square in Bristol? In the ten years since I have hadRead more
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Henley Royal Regatta

A punter at the Henley Royal Regatta reading the Evening Standard 1987. This shot was probably part of my LRPS panel. It was specifically selected as it met the criteria about understanding light. I used to use this print in a talk entitled “just Me” years ago. I made comments in the talk about the expensive cars such as Mercs and Jags at the event and how gallons of Pimms was drunk. A big hello to all the new followersRead more
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Infra-red inspiration

In the past week I have had cause to talk about infra-red photography three times. So feeling inspired after re-reading a book called “Infra-red Photography – a complete workshop guide” by my good friend Hugh Milsom MFIAP I thought I would have a go. The book is about film based IR photography but with lots of tips and great portfolios of pictures. As there was strong directional lighting yesterday evening I took my IR converted camera body to an areaRead more
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Use it or loose it

When composing pictures there is a truism that all photographers should cling on to for dear life. Use or loose it. I tend not to include skies in my pictures unless they add something to the composition. Here I have used the brightest area of the sky to create a virtual triangle of composition between the bicycles, wind turbine and Sky, the three dominate areas of brightness in the picture. (c) Andy Beel FRPS 2014 http://www.andybeelfrps.co.ukRead more

No 1 The Circus, Bath

Hi just to prove that I am still around as I have not put anything up on my blog for a while! Here is a shot from the ABC of CameraWork Course I ran at No 1 The Circus in Bath yesterday. The one day ABC of CameraWork course looks at all the decisions knowingly or unknowingly made in the process of raising the camera to the eye, composing a picture and pressing the shutter release. As a taster theRead more
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Richmond Bicycle Repair Man

This shot was taken on a two day Pixels to Print workshop I ran in Richmond, London last week. I was inside the shop at Active Cycles on Mortlake Road with a 24mm lens at f4. On the workshop we were looking at depth of field and the four controlling factors: Sensor size, lens focal length, Aperture and distance to the subject. If you are interested in photographing strangers but are a little nervous about approaching them see the weiry.com/100strangers Read more

New FOTO Alpujarras Workshop

I am pleased to announce the full details of the FOTO Alpujarras Workshop in the Sierra Nevada, Southern Spain are now on my website. http://www.andybeelfrps.co.uk/FOTO_Alpujarras_Workshop Here is a brief extract. Date 23 – 28th April 2014 – 6 days / 5 nights Book before the 31st January and receive a £50 discount Key features – First class photographic locations in the authentic Spain – Learn, grow and flourish as a creative photographer – Structured learning – Tutorials and demos byRead more