Picture from a trip to Portugal last October

Found this whilst out riding a few weekends ago.

I spent about an hour wading around with a tripod in knee deep water to get the shot. Quite a few people were watching me from the beach but I didn’t think much of it until I got out of the water. Someone then pointed out the sign warning of crocodiles living in the water. Luckily nothing took a fancy to my legs but it gave me quite a stir!

The following day we went on a crocodile spotting tour and came across this lovely fellow. He was about 6 foot in length, but pretty passive at this time of year as the water is cold for them. I learned quite a few interesting facts about Crocodile that day, here are some of them:

• Male crocodiles never stop growing! They can live to over 100 years old…
• During the mating season male crocodiles vibrate their backs so fast that it boils the water above them
• Males have also been known to eat females instead of mating with them
• Females keep their eggs warm by building a nest which rots and produces heat. This has to be controlled within a few degrees or the eggs will die
• They can slow their heart rate down to a few beats per minute, cutting off blood to everywhere but their brain and sensory functions

It was a good tour and amazing to see them in their natural enviorment. They have remained essentially un-changed since the dinosaurs walked the earth!

I am back from travels in Asia, I went with my girlfrind Fiona for a month and visited Singapore, Thailand and Laos. I took a lot of photos, and I am hoping to have some kind of exhibition later in the year. In the mean time I will put some up here once I have edited them!

Before going away I had a portrait session with Anthony Whitehead. Anthony is a man with a story to tell. Having survived cancer in his teens he has gone on to perform in a variety of settings for the Teenage Cancer Trust, including the Royal Albert Hall. His first album is coming out in the next few months.

He is originally from Oxfordshire, but is currently living in Brighton. I have known him since I was 5 years old so it was fun to do a portrait session with him. I picked a location in the Oxfordshire/Berkshire Downs to show his country side up-bringing. For this shot no flash was used to get silhouette from the sun.

One flash from the left was used with a tight beam to catch just a thin strip of grass.

This is the setup shot for the photo below, though slightly later in the evening when the sun had dropped lower. Canon 580ex mk II and 430ex flashes on full power triggered by skyport radio triggers. I used Canon 70-200mm F/2.8 for nearly all the shots as it gives lovley out of focus backgrounds and is very sharp. Out in the open countryside space there is plenty of room to stand back and shoot from a distance.

Two flashes were used for this shot, one for the main light and one to give a slight rim light to his left as described above. I am also just finishing off a website for Anthony, I will post about it when it is finished.

It’s been a while since my last post, right now I am sitting in my girlfriends dad’s appartment in Singapore where despite being 7am it is 30+ degrees. The last couple of weeks before I left last weekend were pretty crazily busy. I had a big project with Oxford University for a fund raising brochure which involved shooting 7 completely different photos.

I have also been working on several websites for clients, the main one for a musician which isn’t quite finished yet, but I am really happy with! I will put that up as soon as I get back as I am waiting for final copy from the client.

I go to Thailand tomrrow for a couple of weeks, then onto Laos getting back into England on the 14th July. I have been taking loads of pictures, Singapore is a really interesting city, and the food is amazing!