Thomas Heaton's Blog, page 2

Hasselblad X-Pan in Budapest

In Today’s PostA Weekend in Budapest. All 21 frames of Cinestill 800T from my X-Pan.Video of the Week.

Read Time: 5 mins if you glance, 20 mins if you view each image.

To see larger versions click on the images and if you’re reading this on your phone, rotate it for the images.

All 21 Frames

This is it, this is why I bought the Hasselblad X-Pan; a beat up, old, over priced film camera. Not to shoot landscapes, but to take with me on my travels and capture the day to day. 

This has to be one of the coolest cameras out there and throw in a roll of Cinestill 800T and it supercharges the X-Pan from cool to sub-zero.

What is the X-Pan?

It is a film camera that shoots 2 x 35mm frames side by side, giving you a cinematic panoramic image.

What is Cinestill 800T?

This is a tungsten balanced ISO 800 film. This makes it a great choice for low light street photography where the main light source is artificial. But what makes this film special is the halation around bright areas such as street lights. This is very noticeable on my images.

One of my favourite YouTube videos is where I shot this combination in Hamburg, Germany. You can watch the video below. I highly recommend adding it to your watch list.

Unfortunately, my Hamburg shoot didn’t go too well as most of the images were under exposed, so this time I added in +1 stop of compensation. 

My first frame. An empty underground station with a lone figure. This gritty, dark image is exactly the style I was hoping to achieve on this trip.

Here you can see a great example of those halations. I was waiting in line to board an evening sightseeing cruise down the Danube. I looked up and was drawn to the lone figure standing on the bridge. It was a quick snapshot, but it came out much better than I thought it would.

My first of many photographic encounters with the yellow trams of Budapest.

Entering the subway. The escalators feel impossibly steep in Budapest and seem to go on for miles. I quite like this image, but it lacks any mystery. It’s too busy.

I was disappointed not to catch one of the speeding cyclists who came whizzing through this underpass. Fortunately, my wife was happy to walk ahead so I could get a shot.

A poor attempt to get another version of my first image. I should have had more patience, but I felt very self-conscious lurking with a camera. To add insult to injury, the film is damaged. It’s very old stock.

A less than average shot of a tram between the iron girders of the Liberty Bridge. The white bus and silver car ruin what is already a weak composition.

I crossed over the road for a much more successful 2nd attempt, but another silver car just creeps in to frame.

Another poor attempt. The problem is timing the trams with the traffic, and of course choosing whether or not to press the shutter. I should have waited for the traffic to clear.

I really do like this shot and almost lost an elbow when taking it, however on reflection, I really should have had my wife seated on that bench. This would have completed the scene.

This is ok, I suppose. I like the graffiti and the motion blur of the tram. 6/10.

You can clearly see we are deep into my Yellow Tram Phase. This is similar to the previous shot, but feels cleaner and has a little more mystery to it.

Back to the Liberty Bridge for dusk. This film really does come to life at night time.

This version of a tram rushing over the Liberty Bridge is better than the previous one. I pressed the shutter much sooner to fill the left side with the tram and the exposure is brighter. I’m pleased with this.

When I shot this, I was furious at the cyclist on the left-hand side who photobombed my frame just as I pressed the shutter. I vividly remember a loud snort of laughter coming from my wife as I had been waiting for about 15 minutes.

But, the more I look at this image, the more I begin to like it. The dog is cute too.

I quite like this image of ‘Man Waiting for Tram’. The composition works well with the tree, the people, the lamp, the passing boat and the parliament building.

This is a shocker. It looked beautiful in real life. It’s under exposed, muddy and does not suit the X-Pan Cinestill combo. Fail.

By this point, I’d had enough of yellow trams and wanted to finish off my roll of film as I started, on the creepy subway.

One thing I am learning is that people are vital when it comes to good street photography. A lone figure can change the entire dynamic of an image. For example, this frame feels incomplete.

This is a much better version of the previous 2 images. The girl waiting for the train adds so much to the image, creating context and intrigue. 

I really am learning a lot, it’s just a shame I feel like such a creep when loitering in a dark underground looking for lone females. 

This is a much better version of the previous 2 images. The girl waiting for the train adds so much to the image, creating context and intrigue. 

I really am learning a lot, it’s just a shame I feel like such a creep when loitering in a dark underground looking for lone females. 

To Summarise

I’m seriously considering dedicating the X-Pan to only shooting blue hour & creepy underground scenes on Cinestill. I effing love it & would like to make a project out of it. 

The X-Pan-Cine combination works so incredibly well with this genre and I am itching to go and do it again. 

The images are far from perfect, but that’s why I like them. There are light leaks, grain and grit. Some of the halations are excessive, but all of this adds the character which compliments the genre so well. This type of photography is all about feeling, and the film certainly gives the images a feel.  

Budapest is a wonderful city and I highly recommend it for a short break, especially with your camera. 

Watch this space for more creepy grit. (Maybe that’s what I could name my project).

Video of the Week

shooting with X-Pan + CineStill film by EduardoPavezGoye

I feel like it’s very appropriate to share this video. Here is a fine example of the X-Pan-Cine combo, shot by a pro. I envy this guy’s confidence around people.

I have 2 landscape photography books available. Learn, get inspired and indulge in landscape photography.

Thank you for reading and please feel free to share this post with a friend.

Look at These Fakers

In Today’s PostPhotographers who tried to pull the wool over our eyes.Video of the week.

Read Time: 5 Minutes

With the rapid advancement in computing technology and the incredible ability we now have to alter our photographs beyond reality, it can be difficult to know where the line is.

In fact, is there a line at all when it comes to processing our images?

Even I, the biggest critic of A.I. am beginning to soften. Heck, I think Generative Fill is one of the best things since the tripod was invented.

I suppose it all comes down to the photographer’s intention. 

Are they simply trying to bring the best out of their RAW file & create a piece of visual art or are they trying to trick the viewer into believing something that isn’t real?

The grey area in this is HUGE, and ultimtely it doesn’t matter… until it does.

Whenever I find myself in the company of photographers, especially when the fire is on & the drinks are flowing, the conversation always turns to Photography Competition Fakers. 

I love this subject & find it quite amusing.

Winning a photography competition can do great things for ones career; the prestige, respect, fame and of course, fortune. 

It’s no wonder then, that some photographers have tried to cheat their way to victory.

Here are the best & most audacious photography fakers.

1 – Nikon, Look Up!

In January 2016 Nikon was forced to apologise to photographers after it emerged it had awarded the winning prize spot in their monthly ‘Nikon Captures’ photo competition to what turned out to be an obviously composited image. 

Eagle eyed photographers quickly spotted that the winning photo of a plane flying above a building was edited and the plane had in fact been added into the shot at a later time.

‘Look Up’ by Singaporean photographer Chay Yu Wei was disqualified after being dishonest about his image. Mr Chay originally stated he ‘chanced upon some ladders while on a photo walk of Singapore’s Chinatown and thought it would make an interesting shot’, telling people he did not have to wait too long for a plane to pass overhead.

After being forced to reveal his image was faked, he admitted the plane had been a “playful edit” and was “not meant to bluff anyone”. He said he had been joking about being lucky to catch the shot but that he crossed a line entering it into the competition.

Read more about this image here.

2 – Get Stuffed!

The Natural History museum which administers the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award has taken down its winning entry of the ‘Animals in their natural environment’ category after it was found to show a stuffed taxidermy specimen. See the winning image below.

Following a thorough investigation involving two mammal experts and a taxidermy specialist from the museum, in addition to two South American experts, it was concluded that the winning photograph features the dead anteater that greets visitors at the entrance to Brazil’s Emas National Park. See image below.

Despite the image being stripped of its title and removed from show, photographer Marcio Cabral has always maintained the integrity of the image stating he ‘spent days frustrated by rain in Emas National Park before a giant anteater ambled out of the darkness.’

Read more about this image here.

3 – The Lynx Effect

A photographer has been caught out faking images after a hunting expert spotted that an image of a Lynx cat that photographer, Terje Helleso, claimed he took in summer was wearing its winter coat.

After investigating further, it was revealed that Helleso had faked hundreds of images over several years by manipulating stock photographs from the internet into new images. 

He was later stripped of his 2010 Swedish Photographer of the Year award as a result.

Helleso, the humbled cheat, explained: ‘I was under pressure, mostly from myself, and I gave in to temptation’. He added: ‘Looking back, I’m surprised that I got away with it for so long, and that I managed to keep up appearances to my wife and everyone else.’

Read more about this image here.

4 – Wolf of Wall Gate Street

Photographer José Luis Rodriguez was stripped of both his title and £10,000 prize money in 2010 after the judges of Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year award became convinced he hired a tame wolf to use in his winning shot, despite rules prohibiting the use of trained animals.

The organisers were first alerted to suspicions about the image by Spanish photographers. They recognised the wolf and its location as the Cañada Real wildlife park. Wolf experts also questioned why the wolf would jump the gate when a wild animal was more likely to squeeze between the slats.

Rodriguez could not back up his narrative with any evidence and the competition organisers say he continues to strongly deny the wolf was tame.

Read more about this image here.

5 – I.A.n’t Buying It

The image that won an Australian weekly photo competition, run by DigiDirect, has been revealed as being entirely generated by AI. Showing 2 surfers paddling out to sea at sunrise, photographer Jane Eykes was said to have taken her shot using a drone.

However, just a short time after the winning announcement was made Eykes made her confession and stated she had entered under false pretences. 

Eykes said she wanted to prove that ‘we are at a turning point with artificially intelligent technology by passing the ultimate test’.

Read more about this image here.

6 – A Plot Twist

Suzi Dougherty was shocked to discover that a simple image taken on her mobile phone, for a photography contest, had been disqualified. Judges of the contest, held by the print shop Charing Cross Photo, deemed it suspicious and believed it may have been generated by AI.

The photo was actually taken on Dougherty’s mobile phone and showed her son Casper standing alongside 2 mannequins as they posed and positioned for no more than 10 minutes. Dougherty has seen the funny side of the mix up however, later saying she has no hard feelings for the store despite them admitting her photo did not contravene the T&Cs.

Read more about this image here.

My Thoughts

In all honesty, I find all of these stories amusing & have no hard feelings towards any of the photographers. Although, I might feel differently if one of my images had missed out on a winning spot.

With regards to Suzi Dougherty’s story; this concerns me more than any of the above. We work tirelessly to create the best work we can, and it is a big worry if peoples first thought is: A.I. 

I have 2 landscape photography books available. Both will fill you with ideas and inspiration for your next landscape photography adventure. Take a Look.Video of the Week

Move by Will Gadd

It’s an oldy, but still a video I find myself watching time and time again as I fight the urge to sit on the sofa & watch Top Gear all day. This video highly motivates me to get up, get out & keep moving.

Your Images Don’t Need to be Perfect.

In This PostDo I complain too much? Some readers thought so.Do images have to be perfect?

Read Time – 5 Minutes
Click on Images to see larger versions

Do I Complain Too Much?In last week’s newsletter, I received a few replies expressing that I should ‘Stop Moaning’. These were valid replies, but the problem is that I love a good moan. I’m British and I’m a cynical person, and as a reader called Larry put it – “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way…”  

On occasion though, I do catch myself moaning too much. My wife calls me a fun sponge, and this is something I have been addressing for a long time. Each week, I try to take on more of a positive attitude and practice gratitude regularly. 

As I’m writing this, storm Ciaran is raging outside. It’s cold, wet & very windy. This morning, I needed to walk to the cash machine to pay a tradesman. The cash machine is 10 minutes away, the next cash machine is 25 minutes away.  

Whilst struggling to walk upright in a 60mph wind and with rain battering my face, which was tought and turned sideways as if I had just sucked a lemon, I thought to myself – “I hope this cash machine is working”. 

Predictably, the cash machine was not working. I felt the rage begin to build inside of me, but before I let it take over, I reminded myself that I was actually enjoying this morning’s walk. I had full waterproofs on, I was warm and dry, and a 50-minute morning walk is much better than a 20-minute walk. Suddenly, I was happy and content. 

I was gleaming at my victory. Wouldn’t life be amazing if I could see the positive in everything. Yes, but it’s probably not overly healthy. A balance of positivity and scepticism is the way to go. 

What has all of this got to do with photography? Everything. 

The best way to enjoy your photography is to lower your expectations. If you wake up in the morning expecting to see low lying mist and a burning sunrise, and all you get are flat grey skies and gusty wind, you will be unhappy and disappointed.  

If this happens too often (which it will because we can’t control the weather) you will fall out of love with photography. 

You can’t control the weather, but you can control your expectations.  

If you pack your bag with the goal of going for a nice walk and experimenting with a few different compositions, your expectations will always be met and more often than not, they will be exceeded. You will be a much happier photographer. 

A great example of this is my video from Wednesday. The conditions were unbelievably terrible, but I adopted a positive attitude, removed any expectations and came away with a set of images that I was happy with (2 of 3 images below). Does It Matter If Your Images Aren’t Perfect?There’s nothing wrong with striving for perfection and mastering our field craft, but here is a question I would like to pose: Is there room in our portfolios for imperfect images? 

Would you discard an image if it was a little soft, or had visible water drops on the lens?  

What if despite these flaws, you still loved the image?  

What if these flaws made the image? 

What’s more important; the technical perfection of an image or the feel of an image? Ideally, both, but this isn’t always possible. 

Henri Cartier’s Man Jumping Puddle is an example that comes to mind. 

Technically, this image is not perfect. The man is soft and out of focus. 

A guest judge in a local camera club competition might say “What a shame the man isn’t sharp”. 

But, I see a decisive moment captured beautifully. The motion blur of the man tells a story and gives the image so much ‘feeling’.

In last Wednesday’s video, my ‘Trees in Rain’ image was a technical disaster. I missed focus and my lens was saturated, but I didn’t care.

Although I missed focus on the trees, I nailed focus on the rain (Total accident) and the result is an image full of feeling. 

I want to go and get my umbrella just from looking at it. 

If my goal was to capture the elements, I certainly succeeded here.

I have a second version below, which nailed focus on the trees, and you can see it’s not as atmospheric and lacks the feeling of the “Rainy” image even though it is technically more of a success. 

I thought the subject was the trees, when in fact, it was the rain.

Thank you for reading this week’s post. I hope you enjoyed it and perhaps got some value from it.

To help support the channel and to offer some inspiration for your next photography adventure, I have 2 Landscape Photography books available below.

I’m No Longer a Landscape Photographer

I am no longer a landscape photographer, I am an ‘Everything Man’ who has to deal with things I never thought I would, such as: dealing with 2 pallets of useless calendar packaging, bad Feng Shui advice and water damaged cameras.

Read Time: 4 Minutes

I am no longer a landscape photographer. I used to be, until I decided to do it professionally. Now, I am an Everything Man. 

As an Everything Man, about 5% of my time is spent in the landscape. The rest of my time is spent ordering new printer toner, filing monthly EU VAT returns, filing quarterly UK VAT returns, installing new toner cartridges, checking, replying to & deleting emails, packing book orders, cleaning my camera gear, cleaning new toner off my trousers, editing videos, explaining to brands that I don’t have time for a 30 minute Zoom call, so just tell me about your new A.I. editing software in an email. The list goes on… and on.

As an Everything Man, I am learning new things every day. Unfortunately, these are not very exciting things, however they are none the less important.

3 Mundane Things I’ve Learned this Week

1 – Buying the cheapest packaging will save you money but cost more in time & stress.

Every year I pack and ship thousands of calendars and books. The protective packaging is a vital part of the process. If the boxes are not strong enough, the calendars & books get damaged in transit. 

The packaging also needs to be affordable & ergonomically designed to make packing the books & calendars as easy as possible.

Last month, for the 8th year in a row, I ordered 2 pallets of book wrap mailers (boxes for books & calendars) from the same company. The company shall remain unnamed. They have always been good quality & affordable, but it’s clear that with rocketing inflation & oil prices, the unnamed packaging company have had to do some cost cutting.

This year, the calendar boxes were 10mm shorter than they should have been. My photography calendar did not fit. I now had 2 pallets of useless cardboard sat on my driveway. Disaster! The same happened a few months back with my bubble wrap pouches and last year the book wraps seemed to be made of paper rather than carboard. ‘Unnamed’ have a serious quality control issue.  

The unnamed company in question accepted my complaint and I returned the pallets for a full refund.

1 of 2 Pallets Being Returned

I found myself with thousands of calendars to ship, but no packaging. 

I had to put on my ‘Everything Man’ hat & find a new supplier. This was not an easy task. Finding the correct size at a reasonable price proved difficult. Once I had received many samples, I went with a more expensive, but far higher quality packaging company.

Packaging supply issues should not be a problem of the landscape photographer, but such is the way of the self-employed.

2 – Turning my desk around by 180º makes me work more efficiently and improves my photo editing. 

Thanks to reading an article about Feng Shui, I had it in my head that I wanted my desk to be facing into the room rather than facing a wall, I also wanted a seat with a view, which I would have when my desk was in this position.

This Feng Shui thinking caused me a couple of problems, which impacted my photo and video editing.

Desk facing out with a view.

Problem 1 – By having my desk face the room, my back is to the wall which is a terrible backdrop for making YouTube videos. Yes, I could film a video elsewhere in my office, but 90% of the time I need to be seated at my desk. 

Now I have flipped the desk 180º, I have a more visually pleasing backdrop when sitting at my desk. Keep an eye on my YouTube channel for this minor and not very interesting change. 

Problem 2 – Having a view is nice, but it is distracting and on bright days it renders my eyeballs useless, and I can’t see my screen properly, so I close the blind. The view is gone. What a pointless thing it is to have a view when trying to work at a computer.

Now that I have rotated my desk I am no longer tempted by the view and the light is not falling on to my face and burning my retinas. I can see my screen better and the view is still there, I simply need to turn and look at it.

Desk rotated 180º. Nice backdrop & no burning retinas.

3 – My Fuji X-T4 has phantom power drain. 

This is a very mundane problem to have, but after 6 months of observation, I can conclude that a full battery left in my X-T4 will be empty after a few days of sitting in the unused camera. (My X-T4 is my main YouTube video camera).

I believe this is the result of me carelessly dropping my X-T4 into a river in Iceland back in February. It took me a week to dry it out as I was off-grid, and I forgot to bring my sack of basmati rice. The X-T4 also does not charge from the USB-C port anymore and has a slightly broken flippy screen. 

Wait though, that’s not the most interesting part of this story.

Despite my knowledge of the phantom battery drain, the broken USB-C port & the damaged flippy screen, for reasons I do not know, I have not yet switched to my back-up XT-4 camera, which is in mint condition and hardly used. Why do I force such suffering on myself?

RIP X-T4

[Last minute addition] – My XT4 is now dead. With all of the complaints above, a recent rain storm on a trip to the Cairngorms finished off the camera, which now has a broken mic socket as well as a busted internal camera mic. She served me well and did hold out to the bitter end, but our last moments together involved her flickering on & off as she fought for her life. I have not yet checked the last recorded footage to see if it survived, I’m still drying myself off.

My Recommended Video of the Week

My First Solo Photography Exhibition by Nick Carver.

This is part 4 of a series and I highly recommend watching it all. The main takeaways from Nick’s videos are his attention to detail and the pride he takes in his work. Every time I watch Nick, I want to try harder and do better.

Sit back, relax and get inspired with 2 landscape photography books filled with inspiration, ideas, tips, gripping stories and comedic photographic anecdotes. Available now.

Chin Fluff & KFC Crisis

If you watched my video from Wednesday (18th Oct 2023), it will have been hard to miss the large piece of white fluff dangling off my chin towards the end. This was akin to having baked beans in your beard, egg on your shirt, lipstick on your teeth or toothpaste around your mouth. It’s cringe. You can watch the video here.

So, imagine my reaction when a week after filming, I sit down to edit and see that odious piece fluff clinging on to my chin like parasitic leech. It was bad enough that I already look like I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards. I buried my face into my hands and wailed like a banshee. 

Unfortunately, in my line of work, things like this happen all the time. Sleeping rough and waking up at 5am every day for a week means that personal hygiene can slip. If it’s not fluff on chin, it’s an unzipped fly or bad hair.

What’s done is done, and how we react to it is what’s important. This goes for all mistakes when filming in the field. 

Here were my options:

Try to re-shoot the scene in my van weeks later and make everything look the same.Ignore it, nobody will even notice.Use it my advantage and poke a little fun at myself.Delete the clip and use voice over to end the video.

My thoughts:

No. It won’t feel authentic, and my hair has been cut.People will definitely notice, and an internet meme may come out of it.Yes. I don’t have an ego, so I am very happy to make fun of myself and it will let people know that I am well aware of the chin fluff. It will disarm people.No. I don’t have any b-roll for this and people will click off the video.

Whenever something goes wrong in the field, my policy has always been to ‘keep it in’. The benefits of this are huge! I believe that the most important quality of anybody is honesty, integrity and being humble. 

I don’t like to watch people who are too polished, I find those people difficult to connect with. I want to be watching the real person, not an Autocued version of that person. If you trip over when filming, keep it in and laugh at yourself. If you can’t get your words out, keep it in until you get it right. If your video camera is blown over by the wind, keep it in and show people how challenging it is to film alone.

My response to the chin fluff was to magnify it by zooming all the way in. By doing this, I am letting the viewer know that I am aware of how ridiculous this thing is, I am disarming everyone, and I am amplifying the humour. Now, people are laughing with me instead of laughing at me. 

The 2018 KFC Crisis

When KFC ran out of chicken in 2018, leaving over 500 outlets in the UK without their most important ingredient, they turned that monumental mistake into an award-winning advertising campaign that won the hearts of a nation. The people of the UK do not take kindly to empty, corporate apologies, but humour, honesty and humility we love.

You can see how KFC changed their logo on an empty chicken bucket above. Genius. Their apology went as follows:

“The chicken crossed the road, just not into our restaurants. A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It’s not ideal. It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re making progress, and every day more and more fresh chicken is being delivered to our restaurants”.

KFC’s clever PR showed how best to deal with a crisis. Admittedly, fluff on the chin is not exactly a crisis, but the principles are the same.

Recommended Video of the Week

The truth about photography YouTube channels that no-one tells you by Chris Orange

This is a great video that discusses some of the difficulties faced by photographers who want to grow on Youtube. It makes for a great debate on creating videos for yourself and what you love vs what will perform well on the platform.

Landscape Photography On Location Volume 1 & Volume 2

Sit back, relax and get inspired with 2 landscape photography books filled with inspiration, ideas, tips, gripping stories and comedic photographic anecdotes. Available now.

10 Must Have Items to Took to Iceland

In This Blog
10 Items that Helped me in Iceland.
My Recommended YouTube Video of the Week.

Read Time: 9 Minutes

1 – Fjällräven Vidda Pro Trousers

I have a wealth of expensive outdoorsy jackets, a collection of hiking boots big enough to sustain an army, more rucksacks and camera bags than one man could ever need, but I have never invested in a good pair of trousers… until now.

I believe that if you spend any amount of time in the outdoors, you should own a pair of these trousers. They’re rugged and stylish and make me feel like a cross between Ray Mears and Ant Middleton. They’re comfortable, wind proof, water resistant and can be waxed to ensure complete waterproofness. They’re tough and sturdy. They’re practical with an abundance of pockets available for every gadget you could ever wish to carry. 

I wore them every single day of my Iceland trip and the dirtier they got, the better they looked. You know how when you put on a nice suit, you want a splash of Hugo Boss aftershave to finish the job? Well, with these trousers I found myself wafting the smoke from a burning campfire all over my legs just so I would smell as good as I looked. Expect to see these trousers a lot on my YouTube channel in the future.

2 – Notebook and Pen. 

I do not like the term ‘Journaling’. To me, it sounds pretentious. In the UK, we don’t really use the word journal. Just like we don’t use the word ‘trunk’ to describe a car boot or ‘fanny’ to describe someone’s bottom. It’s the same with the word journal. Here we would say ‘diary’ or simply ‘pen and paper’. 

Suggesting to my working-class friends that they should ‘Journal’ would be met with the same cynicism as asking them if they fancy a flat white rather than a cup of coffee. Do you get me? So, let’s forget ‘Journaling’ and instead let’s say ‘writing stuff down’. Ahhh, that sounds so much better.

Writing stuff down is incredibly powerful. This is how I manage to produce unique and original videos week in, week out (Ok, they’re not all original, but where do you think I came up with the idea of making a landscape photography video that was audio only?). See that video here

On my road trip to Iceland, I was forever writing down ideas for videos, ideas for titles, keeping track of where I was up to with my filming, which sponsor was being assigned to which video, the release dates of those videos, ideas for newsletters, ideas for how I want my future to look… all sorts. 

The notebook is practical as well as inspirational. I found myself starting with jotting a few notes about my day’s filming; “Make sure to get B-Roll of filters on lens” etc, but I soon found that I was pulling over on the side of the road to scribble down moments of inspiration that had hit me when daydreaming about lens cloths. 

The notebook and pen combo is a way of spewing ideas out of my head and on to a page, which seems to then stimulate the further growth of that idea. Apps don’t work. I need pen and paper. I try to keep mine with me at all times, just in case that moment of inspiration hits, which is almost always when doing a monotonous task such as packing books or driving. 

Seriously, try this: Get a nice little notebook and set aside 15 minutes in a completely silent and comfortable space (I like my van, parked somewhere nice) and just write stuff. Write ideas about photography projects, write YouTube video titles, write down lists of places you want to visit, write top ten lists of things that can benefit readers. Before you know it you will have enough content to start a YouTube channel, write a book or begin that photography project you never knew you had in you. And remember, it’s not journaling, it’s just writing stuff down ????.

3 – Photography Guidebook

A few years ago, my ego would not allow me to enjoy a good photography guidebook. I (wrongly) thought that it was cheating and that only the honey pot locations were included in such books. 

Since then, I have realised they are a great resource. Nobody can expect to intimately know every area they visit with a camera, so a guidebook can help point you in the right direction when visiting a location for the first time and offer inspiration when stuck for ideas.

I have a collection of these pocket size books by Ellen Bowness. Highly Recommended. Here is an affiliate link to see the collection on Amazon.

4 – Scrubba Bag

When on the road for a long period of time, dirty laundry can begin to build up. My solution to this was simple: a Scrubba. This is a great thing to have when camping or travelling. It is a dry bag with an air valve and a washboard-like surface inside. Throw in a couple of items of clothing (a shirt and underpants) add warm water, a little detergent, scrub it for 3 minutes, rinse and your items are as fresh as a daisy. 

I only took a handful of clothes with me to save on space, so used the Scrubba every few days and I can’t speak highly enough of it. Top tip: only wear fast drying, synthetic clothes. They wash and dry so easily. Chuck in a wooly jumper and you’ll regret it. Here is an Affiliate link to the Scrubba Bag.

5 – Padlock and Cable

Simple, cheap and effective camera security. I had no choice other than to leave lots of incredibly expensive camera gear in my van when out hiking, or simply popping to the shop to buy milk. Obviously, my van was locked and so was the internal storage cupboard in which my gear was stored, but still a thief could break in in seconds.

My last line of defence was a simple cable and padlock which would act as the final deterrent to the would-be thief. If someone was to gain access to my bags, they would grab and run only to find that the bags would be snagged. This gave me additional piece of mind when out and about.

6 – DJI Air 3

When filming a journey by yourself, you need automation in your life and the DJI Air 3 is like always having a drone pilot with you. The automation of this thing is incredible. During my road trip I was able to: launch the drone without ever worrying about battery life or ‘fly aways’, lock on to my van, place the controller out of sight and just drive. The drone would follow me every time and it would follow me well. There was no risk of object collision because of the many sensors on the drone. I could instruct the drone to follow me from certain angles, thus making for more dynamic footage.

I had 2 lenses to choose from: a 24mm equivalent wide and a 70mm equivalent long. The image quality has come along way and is quite frankly mind blowing. The remote control has a built in screen so I never have to faff on with my phone. The batteries are incredible and will last up to about 40 minutes. If all batteries are depleted to an unusable level, you can transfer the remaining power from 3 batteries in to 1 now usable battery.

The most impressive thing for me, however, was the photography from this thing. 48mp RAW files, an array of panoramic options, so steady it can shoot long exposures, 2 lenses to choose from. Honestly, for the price of a lens, this is a serious bit of kit. Here is an Affiliate link to the Air 3 Fly More Combo.

7 – Laptop case

This may seem like a trivial item, but whilst driving thousands of miles, editing hours of video and images on the road, I was constantly playing Tetris with all my kit in my tiny van. 

This laptop case was appreciated more than it will ever know. It offers a reassuring amount of protection to my overpriced Macbook, which is good for when I shove it in the back of my van when leaving for a hike.

The laptop case also has space for my charging cable, 2 SSD drives and USB-C cables. This meant that I could keep everything I needed for an editing session in one easy to access place. Here is an Affiliate link to my Laptop case.

8 – Insta 360 X3

I have seen so many sponsored videos about this camera and it seems, in fact, that every single review video just happens to be sponsored by Insta 360. Hmmm… But, I trusted the reviews anyway and went ahead with the purchase, leaving a £500 hole in my pocket.

The main reason for this purchase was to save on ‘faffery’ when getting those in-vehicle driving shots. I wanted a one button system that I did not have to think twice about. The Insta 360 X3 met this brief perfectly. In one shot I can film myself ranting about the autobahn whilst simultaneously showing the traffic flying past at 130mph. I can film timelapses and pretty much capture anything that happens on my journey. It even has a ‘dashcam’ mode where it will record on a loop. This is great for making sure that you don’t miss anything exciting whilst on the road. 

What nobody talks about in the reviews is the fact that all the ‘faffery’ you save whilst filming is simply transferred to the editing suite. The software has many bugs and the editing process is not smooth. I use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit my videos and the Insta 360 has a plug in, BUT you also have to use a GoPro plug-in to make it all work (It seems a bit cheeky that Ista360 recommend this to its customers rather than make their own). That’s 2 plug-ins. 

Here are 3 examples of the bugs and faffery:
1 – Proxies do not work. Remember, you’re dealing with 6k video footage so if your computer is not a megatron, it might struggle. The solution: proxies. But, yeah, I’ve just mentioned, they don’t work. You create a proxy, edit the video, export the video and all the 360 clips are a car crash because the 360 framing has only been applied to the proxy files and not the actual 6k video files. 
2 – The 360 camera produces 2 video files per clip, so it’s easy to get bogged down with a million video files, all with stupidly long file names. 
3 – Key frames do not work when you apply Spatial Interpolation to anything other than point A to point B. If you try, the clip completely malfunctions and spins around a million times. 

Insta 360 is a great tool, but it is far, far, FAR from perfect. Here is an Affiliate link to my 360 camera.

9 – Monopod

This is used for getting the most out of filming in a tight space such as my van. I used to use a tripod, but the footprint is far too large. 

It made manoeuvring the camera difficult, I would often kick the tripod or inadvertently include one of the tripod legs in shot when filming with a wide lens.

With a monopod, the footprint is about 10x smaller. I am able to get so many camera angles which was not possible when using a tripod. If you film content in a small van, I highly recommend a monopod; below is the one I use, it’s great and I have included an affiliate link. However there are so many on the market to choose from. Just be sure that you get one with feet. Here is an Affiliate link to iFootage Monopod.

10 – A Misting Bottle

This is the least sexy item on the list, however when spending time off-grid in my van, this thing helps me keep on top of the washing up. 

Instead of boiling the kettle and filling my washing up bowl with hot, soapy water, I would use my misting spray bottle. It contains soap and water and if used immediately, the soapy mist is enough to clean any dishes in a matter of seconds with little to no mess. I can’t stress this enough though, if you’re planning to use this method in your van, be sure to purchase a misting spray bottle, otherwise you will make a mess.

My Recomended YouTube Video of the WeekSocial Media Has Ruined Photography by Peter Mckinnon
Then this video popped up and I to my surprise, it was an utterly thoughtful piece about the expectations we put on ourselves as photographers. Well worth a watch. 

Seduced by my Drone

My Driving to Iceland series on YouTube is complete, however there was so much that was not shown in the video series, mostly, my new found love of the drone.

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For this road trip, I purchased a DJI Air 3. Initially I thought this would be used for video only due to it’s incredible ability to fly ‘hands free’ as well as the fact that it has a larger sensor and 2 lenses: 24mm & 70mm equivalent. However, the photography capabilities of this drone are limitless as you can see in these images above and below.

Here is an Affiliate Link to the same drone I use.

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Having now met up with a group of other photographers, I was seduced by the photography potential of the drone because I was surrounded by so many drone enthusiasts. It wasn’t long before I was shooting 48 megapixel RAW files, and even larger panoramas.

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With the use of one of Nick Page’s ND filters, I was even able to shoot a slightly long exposure of this waterfall. The above image is 1/15 seconds, which isn’t bad for a flying camera. If nick hadn’t been hogging the 6 stop, i could have gone even longer.

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I even began to use the drone to create my video thumbnails. This image above is one of my thumbnails in a video where I drive to the best campsite in all of Iceland.

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But nothing could quite prepare me for how much I would appreciate the drone when I found myself in the most incredible conditions without my main camera. This was an oversight on my part as I went on an afternoon scouting hike. Little did I know the light would be this good.

Watch the full Iceland adventure below.

Shooting Film Today

I loathe the question ‘why shoot film?’.

The answer I give people, and if I’m honest, the answer I routinely give myself, is one of purpose. Are we only making images for technical perfection and stunning clarity? Or are we looking for a deeper experience, one of connection with nature, exercise for our body and mind, or a deeper understanding of light, shape, form, and composition? If we do photography for the experience, then the camera we use shouldn’t matter.

Ilford Delta 100

At the beginning I wanted total sharpness, clarity, and perfection with my images. But over the years I have evolved to care less about the technicalities and more about the experience of shooting and the overall impression of an image. If I cared only for the final photo, the social media likes, and immediate impact of a photograph, I would probably look towards introducing AI into my workflow.

The reason I dislike AI is because it steals from me the very essence of what I seek with my photography. Where is the fun in taking a photograph only to have a piece of software create the light and atmosphere for you?

Velvia 50

If I am to be completely honest with you there are three reasons why I was drawn to film in the digital age:

1: Validation. I suffer with imposter syndrome and by shooting film (successfully) I hope to validate my skills as a photographer.

2: The relentless barrage of technology makes me want to turn heel and run. This includes new cameras and especially new software. But the film in my Hasselblad 501CM will never need an app to release its full potential.

3: Sometimes my digital camera leaves me feeling disconnected from what I am shooting. Having a live view with a histogram is incredibly helpful, but I find myself looking at the back of my screen so much more than at the landscape. I take a shot and immediately judge it before moving on. With film, I am forced to study my subjects and understand the light and tonal range of the scene. I am far more cautious when taking an exposure. Film photography is slow, and the photographer must be deliberate and considerate. This improves my photography.

Is This Camera the Future of Film Photography?

With all of the above being said, it was an interesting experience to shoot a film camera, built and designed with 2022 technology in mind. Watch the video above.

There is great satisfaction to be had by shooting analogue. The tactile feel of a mechanical camera is magnificent. If you have never experienced the ‘click clunk’ of a mirror slap followed by the manual progression of film as you wind on to the next shot, you haven’t lived.

My Hasselblad 501CM. Used to photograph the image below.Velvia 50

Let’s talk more about satisfaction and fulfilment with photography. When I capture an image I am happy with, that I worked hard for, that I struggled to achieve, then I feel incredibly satisfied and fulfilled, no matter what camera I was using. But, when I set off on foot in the dark with my film camera, analyse a composition, take a meter reading from corner to corner to ensure that I fully understand the tonal range of the scene, load a roll of film, wind it on, choose my focal point not based on a 100% magnification view on a three million dot LCD, but based on the reflection of a mirror or the DOF scale on the lens, make an exposure, wait two weeks for the film to be developed, open my envelope which was delivered by the postman, and place my strip of developed film on a lightbox to see that my exposure was perfect and the image is everything I wanted and more—that is true satisfaction and fulfilment.

Portra 160

Film photography is limiting and is nowhere near as versatile as digital, but this must be looked at as a good thing. When I go out with my film camera, I know that there are only certain scenes that I can shoot and because of this restriction, I start to see and engage with the landscape differently. I am convinced that when out with my Hasselblad I see things that I would not see when out with my digital camera.

A cynical thought in the back of our minds when we see an outstanding photograph is: ‘Photoshopped’. I’m sure we’ve all reacted this way to images. There are photographers out there who manipulate photos far beyond reality and well into the genre of digital art, even combining various locations to make a single image. The debate about digital art and photography is endless, but these techniques have created a certain cynicism within the landscape photography community.

Ilford Delta 100

Film has a look of honesty to it that a lot of people appreciate. When I see an outstanding image that was captured on film, my first thought is that of admiration for the photographer, their skill and the craft. I feel like those who realise a photo was created on film have more of an emotional response to the image. This is anecdotal, of course, but people appreciate craft.

Portra 400

I hope you don’t think I’m a purist; I’m certainly not. I’m simply trying to articulate to you (and myself) why I am drawn to film. I still shoot 90% of my work on digital, and if I had a paid commission, I would always choose the versatility and reliability of my mirrorless system. Think of film more as a hobby. Yes, film photography is my hobby. Imagine a woodworker creating a cabinet on a CNC machine. It’s fast, precise, and efficient. Now picture the same design of cabinet being created with hand tools. The outcome would be similar, but different. I bet the handmade cabinet would have a little more charm and character but may not be as perfect as the CNC version.

Provia 100f

To shoot film, you must be immune to doubt. The internal struggles I face when exposing film can be painful. Not once have I been certain of success. Most of the time I convince myself that I have royally messed up, but with each shoot and each success, these feelings of doubt become weaker. I am growing, I am learning, and I am expanding my comfort zone. This is a joy.

Shooting Film in 2022

I loathe the question ‘why shoot film?’.

The answer I give people, and if I’m honest, the answer I routinely give myself, is one of purpose. Are we only making images for technical perfection and stunning clarity? Or are we looking for a deeper experience, one of connection with nature, exercise for our body and mind, or a deeper understanding of light, shape, form, and composition? If we do photography for the experience, then the camera we use shouldn’t matter.

Ilford Delta 100

At the beginning I wanted total sharpness, clarity, and perfection with my images. But over the years I have evolved to care less about the technicalities and more about the experience of shooting and the overall impression of an image. If I cared only for the final photo, the social media likes, and immediate impact of a photograph, I would probably look towards introducing AI into my workflow.

The reason I dislike AI is because it steals from me the very essence of what I seek with my photography. Where is the fun in taking a photograph only to have a piece of software create the light and atmosphere for you?

Velvia 50

If I am to be completely honest with you there are three reasons why I was drawn to film in the digital age:

1: Validation. I suffer with imposter syndrome and by shooting film (successfully) I hope to validate my skills as a photographer.

2: The relentless barrage of technology makes me want to turn heel and run. This includes new cameras and especially new software. But the film in my Hasselblad 501CM will never need an app to release its full potential.

3: Sometimes my digital camera leaves me feeling disconnected from what I am shooting. Having a live view with a histogram is incredibly helpful, but I find myself looking at the back of my screen so much more than at the landscape. I take a shot and immediately judge it before moving on. With film, I am forced to study my subjects and understand the light and tonal range of the scene. I am far more cautious when taking an exposure. Film photography is slow, and the photographer must be deliberate and considerate. This improves my photography.

Is This Camera the Future of Film Photography?

With all of the above being said, it was an interesting experience to shoot a film camera, built and designed with 2022 technology in mind. Watch the video above.

There is great satisfaction to be had by shooting analogue. The tactile feel of a mechanical camera is magnificent. If you have never experienced the ‘click clunk’ of a mirror slap followed by the manual progression of film as you wind on to the next shot, you haven’t lived.

My Hasselblad 501CM. Used to photograph the image below.Velvia 50

Let’s talk more about satisfaction and fulfilment with photography. When I capture an image I am happy with, that I worked hard for, that I struggled to achieve, then I feel incredibly satisfied and fulfilled, no matter what camera I was using. But, when I set off on foot in the dark with my film camera, analyse a composition, take a meter reading from corner to corner to ensure that I fully understand the tonal range of the scene, load a roll of film, wind it on, choose my focal point not based on a 100% magnification view on a three million dot LCD, but based on the reflection of a mirror or the DOF scale on the lens, make an exposure, wait two weeks for the film to be developed, open my envelope which was delivered by the postman, and place my strip of developed film on a lightbox to see that my exposure was perfect and the image is everything I wanted and more—that is true satisfaction and fulfilment.

Portra 160

Film photography is limiting and is nowhere near as versatile as digital, but this must be looked at as a good thing. When I go out with my film camera, I know that there are only certain scenes that I can shoot and because of this restriction, I start to see and engage with the landscape differently. I am convinced that when out with my Hasselblad I see things that I would not see when out with my digital camera.

A cynical thought in the back of our minds when we see an outstanding photograph is: ‘Photoshopped’. I’m sure we’ve all reacted this way to images. There are photographers out there who manipulate photos far beyond reality and well into the genre of digital art, even combining various locations to make a single image. The debate about digital art and photography is endless, but these techniques have created a certain cynicism within the landscape photography community.

Ilford Delta 100

Film has a look of honesty to it that a lot of people appreciate. When I see an outstanding image that was captured on film, my first thought is that of admiration for the photographer, their skill and the craft. I feel like those who realise a photo was created on film have more of an emotional response to the image. This is anecdotal, of course, but people appreciate craft.

Portra 400

I hope you don’t think I’m a purist; I’m certainly not. I’m simply trying to articulate to you (and myself) why I am drawn to film. I still shoot 90% of my work on digital, and if I had a paid commission, I would always choose the versatility and reliability of my mirrorless system. Think of film more as a hobby. Yes, film photography is my hobby. Imagine a woodworker creating a cabinet on a CNC machine. It’s fast, precise, and efficient. Now picture the same design of cabinet being created with hand tools. The outcome would be similar, but different. I bet the handmade cabinet would have a little more charm and character but may not be as perfect as the CNC version.

Provia 100f

To shoot film, you must be immune to doubt. The internal struggles I face when exposing film can be painful. Not once have I been certain of success. Most of the time I convince myself that I have royally messed up, but with each shoot and each success, these feelings of doubt become weaker. I am growing, I am learning, and I am expanding my comfort zone. This is a joy.

Photographing Iceland From the Air.

April has been jam packed with photography adventures including some beautiful hiking in the Lake District in glorious weather, being blindsided by a spring snowstorm and conquering my fear of flying by taking to the air in a 4-seater light aircraft.

In April, I took to the skies over Iceland to photograph the beautiful river deltas. Photographing Iceland’s river deltas from the air has been a long held dream of mine.

The rivers carry volcanic sediment down towards the sea and as a delta is formed it creates a painter’s palette of shapes, texture and colours as yellow, green and blue water runs over the black sand and into the sea.

As we took off, I could feel every single pitch, roll and yaw of the plane. My palms were sweaty, and I was keen to get back on the ground, but after a few minutes my nerves began to settle as the conversation flowed and I became distracted by the landscape we were flying over.

I soon realised that I had chosen the wrong seat and was struggling to compose my images. Try this exercise: take your camera, sit down and with your hips facing forward, turn and shoot 90º to your left. Easy, yes? Now try the same thing to your right. It becomes far more difficult. My back-button auto focus was difficult to access in this twisted position and I suspect this explains why I missed focus so many times, but luckily, I came away with a few sharp images and the flight was a success.

Watch the video Here To See All Image s .

Video Transcript:

If you ever been packing for a

photography trip and realized oh sugar

all of this gear is not gonna fit in on

my carry-on and the only bag that will

accommodate all of the gear that i need

is my massive shimoda action x 70 liter

it’s ridiculously big but luckily if

packed correctly i can roll and cinch it

down small enough to go unnoticed by

most airlines at least that was my hope

because i would be knackered if they

asked me to check this bag

you just want to pop your bag on the

belt and then that’s it

thank you

although i had gotten away with my

overweight carry-on my problems were far

from over you see i am a nervous flyer

on the best of days and i can just about

handle a large passenger plane

[Music]

but the thought of flying in something

like this makes me sick to my stomach

but still

i climb in and carry on regardless

driven only by the jaw-dropping beauty i

am about to photograph

okay so this is it

i’m going to the wrong side of the plane

i’m in this side

oh gosh right this is really tight can i

give you this guys how you doing

[Music]

oh so once you’re in it’s not too bad

[Music]

zero one in use

expect rnp approach runway zero one

runway zero one condition report at zero

six zero zero utc runway condition codes

six six six

drive

transition level seven five weather at

one three zero zero utc wind three zero

zero degrees one zero knots travel okay

[Music]

oh i have to admit i was incredibly

nervous when getting on this airplane

but the the pilot it’s just been so

smooth so immediately my nerves have

gone out of the window and now i’m just

incredibly excited to see what we’re

gonna have the opportunity to photograph

we should be at our first location which

is quite funny that we’re calling it a

location in about five minutes but i

mean just looking out the window it

already it looks

incredible so i’m

very very excited to see what’s going to

happen here

[Music]

bloody led i thought was going to get

sucked out of the window i tell you what

the fuse down to the ground was

something to behold

and this is an experience i will never

forget but it wasn’t easy freezing wind

motion sickness almost no room to

maneuver and an autofocus system that

didn’t want to play ball this was a far

more difficult photo shoot than i

thought it would be but look at that

view you know what i’m gonna say i don’t

even care i’m going to say it it’s

absolutely stunning

[Music]

[Music]

okay so we are we are coming back up on

the river delta the most vibrant most

colorful one the one where we all get

excited i’m in the back now i’m gonna

switch with 35 millimeter prime lens

because i’m slightly worried

about the quality of the kit lens that i

was uh previously using on the fuji so

we’ll give this a go and

yeah i mean this is what else to say but

amazing aerial photography

35 millimeters right should we open the

windows

ready

yeah go

[Applause]

so we continued to do more of the same

filling our memory cards and being

hypnotized by the landscape below but

all good things must come to an end and

soon we landed in reykjavik but i had a

feeling of uncertainty as i wasn’t

entirely sure i had any sharp images or

in fact any good compositions so make

sure you stay to the end of the video

where i will show a slideshow

of all of the images from this flight

that were indeed a success at least in

my mind anyway you may disagree if so as

usual let me know in the comments so

welcome back down to earth everybody a

pokey hotel room in iceland but that

flight was incredible i have mixed

feelings about the photography like

i felt i felt very much as though it

wasn’t me creating the images i was very

much relying on autofocus and where the

pilot flew the plane if that makes any

sense at all you know but as an

experience

absolutely out of this world and we do

have

well over

well over 500 images

so i was praying and praying and

spraying and praying but i’ve put a few

of them on my ipad to check you know and

i thought it’d be interesting to look at

the processing

of some of these images because i know

when i look at this type of photography

the colors the vibrance everything is

is well it’s unbelievable it’s

incredible and i question it i’m like is

that like legit how it looked well i’m

going to show you so here on the ipad

i’ve got a raw file i particularly like

this image it is

sharp

certainly sharp enough and i suppose the

beauty of this type of photography is

it’s abstract photography so sharpness

doesn’t matter as much as form contrast

color shapes that kind of thing but this

to me this one stood out because of the

colors the golds the teals and this

lovely

division of contrast or division of

texture so i’ve got smooth one side

patterns the next so the first thing i’m

going to do is go for a crop i’m going

to try this as a 4×5

and that’s just going to give us a

lovely nice divide between the image so

always start with a crop i do anyway

because i like my aspect ratios and now

we’re just going to go in and we’re just

going to play i’m going to play with a

contrast

and make this very quick my contrast

looks great lift the whites pull back

the blacks which is going to give even

more contrast and detail

i mean already that’s improved that’s

looking fantastic i’ll have a look at

the clarity slider because i think that

is going to

bring out a lot of a lot of detail and

texture so just increasing the clarity

makes everything pop if i increase the

saturation the vibrance just a little

bit don’t want to go overboard i don’t

want it to look fake

and now i’m just going to play with the

temperatures like oh yeah there we go so

just by warming up the image a tiny bit

really really brings out the vibrance

and saturation one final thing that i

will do is add a graduated filter like

so and i’m just gonna just darken down

this left portion of the image just

because it looked a little bit tiny bit

washed out

there we go so as a very very quick go

on the ipad here like just a couple of

minutes in the hotel room

that looks pretty good obviously i’ll

finesse this when i get back home on my

big computer but i think i thought it

would be valuable to see the images from

raw to a somewhat processed image

because it does look unbelievable and

hopefully by watching this video and

seeing how it’s done

it gives you a bit more perspective when

you see these type of images because i

know they are very popular

[Music]

then

[Music]

well there you go

guys i really hope you’ve enjoyed this

video something a bit different from me

and with a bit of luck you’ll join me on

the rest of this uh adventure

in iceland as we head to the west fjords

an area that i’ve never been to before

and we’ll be shooting film so until then

thanks for watching and

yeah bye for now.