tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67283819151396062592011-09-04T17:14:25.932+01:00Updates and articles from gmsphotography.comGraham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.comBlogger551100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-25124318830304950032011-04-28T21:34:00.002+01:002011-04-28T21:56:17.570+01:00

All future updates in this riveting blog shall be posted directly into my blog page on my website at .www.gmsphotography.com/info/blog.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-52328539545009234972011-03-28T10:07:00.003+01:002011-03-28T20:21:06.289+01:00

The little town of Gruyères is more like a small Disney theme park than an actual town. Sitting atop of a small hill with its quaint houses lined up on either side of a large cobbled market place which in turn leads up to the medieval castle, you could easily expect a horse pulled royal carriage to come trundling out of the gate, or a mob of angry villagers storming the castle to finally do away

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-45208852105315859762011-03-18T11:36:00.000Z2011-03-18T11:36:07.540Z

Last week, Elaine and I celebrated our tenth anniversary. We'd planned to do something special for it since some anniversaries have gone by without so much as a meal out, so we arranged to get away for two nights. Elaine wanted to stay somewhere that she could see a lake and hills from our room, suggesting Ullswater or Windermere as possibilities. Being somewhat a little more adventurous and

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-60048646604771071282011-02-22T15:21:00.001Z2011-02-22T15:22:46.474Z

If anyone is trying to find my website and is having problems, it's due to the fact that my web host, Web-Mania, appears to have gone AWOL. Their own website is still there (of course. Probably with someone else!) but no one is replying to any emails, live chats or phone calls. I've had issues with them before and should have read the signs and moved long ago. Unfortunately, they've chosen to

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-54009305247057992542011-02-15T21:54:00.001Z2011-02-15T21:57:25.493Z

For the past few weeks I have been busy preparing for my first major wedding show, the Scotland Exclusive Wedding Event set in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Being my first occasion to display myself before the public, as it were, I was keen to leave a unique and professional impression, so I built the displays myself, including lighting, monitor screen, leaflet dispenser and even a cupboard to

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-17783415339308185212011-01-13T22:35:00.003Z2011-01-13T22:37:38.944Z

During a brief post-Christmas break in the Lake District last week, I was a little disappointed in the dark, overcast weather, especially after the wonderful winter scenes that had been around just the week before. However, it was a good time to relax and chill with the family. Of course, a photographer can't last a week without getting his camera out at some point so I took off for a few hours

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-70964664217104387912010-12-06T21:13:00.002Z2010-12-06T21:42:18.520Z

There are certain photos that every keen landscape photographer in Scotland has to take at least once in their lives. Buachaille Etive Mor is possibly top of the list. The Forth Bridges are a must, as is the Old Man of Storr, Eilean Donan Castle and the Callanish Standing Stones among others. Another is a small unappealing tree by the banks of Loch Lomond at Milarrochy Bay.There are hundreds of

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-14947841766959552202010-09-17T09:29:00.004+01:002010-09-17T09:54:52.146+01:00

On this day in 1944, 35,000 troops were parachuted behind enemy lines in the Netherlands. The goal of Operation Market Garden was to secure a passage for allied troops to move swiftly towards Berlin after a stall following D-Day and the retaking of Paris.The story is better known by the book and film "A Bridge Too Far", the bridge referring to the one at Arnhem. As a child, I was always taken by

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-51738301422297502332010-09-01T22:19:00.005+01:002010-09-01T22:29:34.507+01:00

I love steam trains. I love nostalgia. I love looking at the past with rose-tinted spectacles, and I make no apology for it. Besides, when you stick your head out of a carriage window and smell the coal fire, feel the ash floating on your face and hear that throaty "chuff chuff", you can't help but feel that some things should not be confined to history.It also gives an excuse to post lots of

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-27493199689567313562010-07-29T22:33:00.005+01:002010-07-29T23:09:52.271+01:00

Greenock is a town that has long lost its glory. Built on the shores of the Clyde Estuary, it was well famed throughout the world for shipbuilding, exporting and commerce, creating some of the wealthiest merchants in Britain. Famous folk from the area include James Watt, William Kidd (or so it's claimed), Mary Campbell (Robert Burns' mistress), Richard Wilson and the great Chic Murray. Oh, and

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-63827415360366622742010-07-22T22:55:00.004+01:002010-07-22T23:06:05.098+01:00

It's typical really. I've been too busy these past few weeks for any outdoor photography, but that's no real loss since the rain has been falling since the schools' all finished. However, this is always a good time of year for those famous west of Scotland sunsets, of which we've been having a few goodies recently.Why typical? Because one evening, I was working particularly late and when I

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-28922664366265384952010-06-21T09:34:00.003+01:002010-06-21T09:44:17.171+01:00

I've often complained on this blog about the awful weather that we continually suffer from in the west of Scotland, so I really ought to balance my moans when we get extraordinary long-term sunshine as we've been experiencing these past few weeks.It really has been wall to wall blue skies with temperatures averaging 20˚C (that's hot for us!) for more days than I can actually keep count. Needless

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-7942545493370939942010-05-29T21:55:00.007+01:002010-05-29T22:35:20.027+01:00

On a recent trip to Oban recently, we took a short drive to Seil Island (technically not an island as it's long had a bridge to it) and the harbour village of Easdale. Easdale has very little in it. On arrival, one is met with a stunning view over to Mull, a small pier, a few white cottages, a restaurant, a putting green, and a rather large building covered in tartan, antlers, deer skins and the

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-56959389012338622522010-05-20T21:48:00.004+01:002010-05-20T21:57:03.075+01:00

Yes yes, I know. I'm forever changing my website. But seriously, this time I think I may have cracked it.I was 90% happy with the last one, for a while, and then realised that it was a tad dull. I had originally intended it to be simple, but looking at it after some period of time later, I realised that it was too simple, too static, too boring.And so with a splash of inspiration, and a further

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-3991973750560081382010-05-11T22:36:00.009+01:002010-05-12T08:12:04.925+01:00

This is a slideshow from my last wedding shoot at Killin Hotel, Killin. I've tried including a little video for the first time, something which is nice to include in a slideshow but it's not a route that I want to go down too much. It takes enough concentration to take photos on the day without worrying about video too.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-52812636478885338472010-04-22T20:50:00.006+01:002010-04-22T21:25:01.432+01:00

During the Easter break, my family had a short visit to the Netherlands. My wife and I had spent part of our honeymoon there and she was keen to return when the bulb fields were at their best.Holland is by no means new territory to me. As a child, my family often visited each year, partly because my parents had friends there and partly because they liked to stock up on various Dutch foods. When I

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-78600446819825234712010-04-03T13:26:00.003+01:002010-04-03T14:11:47.611+01:00

The worst part of working in a creative-dependant career is keeping a continual level of inspiration. The second worst part is when that inspiration drops and you're left with a feeling of "why bother".I've been feeling this way for the past few weeks. I'm well used to inspiration dropping every January/February, due mainly to the short days and gloomy weather in Scotland, but I've also been a

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-55318937968497405362010-03-03T11:02:00.003Z2010-03-03T11:32:42.031Z

The towns of Greenock and Gourock lie on the banks of the Clyde just as the river turns into the Firth of Clyde. Famed for it's shipbuilding days in a bygone era, the area was well known for its engineering skills, enhanced by the fact that James Watt was a Greenockian.Rising above the towns are a series of hill in which several lochs formed, the largest being Loch Thom. In the early 1800s, the

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-12771476356557342672010-02-26T21:24:00.005Z2010-03-03T11:12:29.204Z

We live in such a fast paced world that children grow up learning Qwerty keyboard typing, how to blog, how to play DS games and how to text. They learn about the environment and how they're killing polar bears by simply 'being'. The government are convinced that the best way to combat teenage pregnancy is to teach children exactly how to become pregnant (even I can spot a flaw in that logic). And

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-65453008186667557512010-02-24T12:46:00.004Z2010-03-03T11:13:02.726Z

I've done some tweaking on my website recently. Previously, if you wanted to view a photo in a gallery, clicking on it would have opened a pop-up window, a feature which is annoying at the best of times.Now instead of the window, the image opens as an overlay on top of the gallery. It also automatically starts a slideshow which can be stopped at any time.I've tested this on Safari, Firefox and

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-37345330828315898322010-02-20T19:47:00.006Z2010-02-24T12:46:25.459Z

Well, the London visit came and went, and what a flying visit it was. The problem is that there is so much to see and do that we have so little time to accomplish much in one day.However, we were blessed with superb weather, defying anything that the gloomy forecasters had predicted. We arrived mid morning (the one penalty of using a family offpeak ticket) and headed over to the Victoria and

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-37763045269761480522010-02-12T16:56:00.006Z2010-03-03T11:14:53.170Z

This is the time of year that we visit my in-laws who live near Oxford in deepest, darkest England.This is also the time of year that I hope to get some photography done of the Southern English going about their everyday tasks. Or at least, take some photos of the local countryside. We'll be spending one day in London too, a place where I usually feel like some sort of country bumpkin who's so

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-88354433292034533842010-02-03T13:48:00.009Z2010-02-11T11:12:40.861Z

Venice Slideshow, The Other Bits, originally uploaded by gms.It's nearly a year since my trip to Venice so I'm reminiscing on my photos. I'm posting this mainly as a test to see if videos work okay on my blog.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-18078489346821498162010-01-27T13:58:00.014Z2010-02-11T11:13:57.534Z

Last Christmas, I had a request from someone to create a set of three canvas prints of any landscape, preferably in black and white. I created two sets for choice, one of Stalker Castle and one of Glencoe.Staker Castle was the chosen one and I ordered them through Photobox. The finished result was more than I had hoped for. The blacks were black, the whites were white, and the image sharpness was

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-33472976179131641042010-01-11T09:33:00.007Z2010-02-11T11:14:38.513Z

Helm crag, originally uploaded by gms.I climbed a small mountain last week, the first for about two years. Fortunately, my puffing did not melt the snow too much.I was concerned that the conditions might be too icy. It was, and I slipped a few times. Not on the mountain though but on the road through the village. Mountains are safer.I've also climbed this hill in summer.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-29514444752858691312010-01-10T15:16:00.005Z2010-01-10T15:54:19.099Z

I often moan about the gloomy weather where I live on this blog and after the past week, I can see why. Myself and the family have just spent a week in the Lake District during, what the media love to term, 'The worst winter for decades!"Granted, the temperatures averaged -5˚C, sometimes dropping to -13˚C at night, and the smaller B roads were at times to be taken with great caution, but I'd

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-20691332713922116732009-12-20T21:42:00.003Z2009-12-20T21:45:00.414Z

Normal service will resume in the New Year once I've got past this crazy busy period.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-57548477232452249502009-11-24T22:33:00.003Z2009-11-24T22:41:18.960Z

I'm not actually a big fan of photographs of sunsets. I like them in small doses but too many and they can start becoming a bit repetitive, which is why I rarely post any on Flickr. That, and the fact that I rarely get to see sunsets for one reason or another (and I'm not mentioning the rain here).However, as I idly browse through my archives, I keep stopping at these two, probably because of the

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-80577550902675698752009-11-19T21:22:00.007Z2010-02-10T23:31:51.428Z

I had uploaded this photograph of Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire several days ago onto my photostream in Flickr.I've mentioned before on this blog that Flickr is not quite as exciting as it used to be (for me, that is) but I can't help but admit that I was hoping for a little more comment on this one. Although, in truth, it's probably more because I am pleased with my result rather than

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-11680845337836009672009-11-13T08:47:00.003Z2009-11-13T08:51:23.032Z

Announcing a special new year discount for wedding photography at gmsphotography.com.ALL bookings made before January 31st 2010 shall have a 15% reduction from the package price. See the Prices page for details.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-32992308065100373512009-11-09T20:53:00.003Z2009-11-09T21:15:24.477Z

So I had a crash course in portrait photography at the local craft fair and thankfully, it went quite well. That is, I didn't botch up anyone's photos. I did, however, learn a few things.First of all, if you offer portrait photographs very cheaply, you will be swamped with grateful bargain hunters. I literally did not stop photographing for two hours solid. When I changed batteries in the flashes

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-22094497408226965192009-11-05T19:57:00.004Z2009-11-05T20:15:04.658Z

Having had long experience in landscape photography, and building experience in wedding photography, I now have the opportunity to try out portrait photography.I've often been asked by guests at wedding if I do portraits, to which I have to say no as I neither have the equipment or the studio space. However, my daughter's school Christmas Craft Fair is approaching and I have often had a stall

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-76751000424506745842009-10-28T20:58:00.003Z2009-10-28T21:28:11.954Z

Last year, I submitted several photos to the Take a View: Landscape Photographer of the Year 2008 competition and was fortunate to have two photographs commended and included in the published book, as well as displayed at the Take a View exhibition at the London National Theatre. One photo was "Apocalypse Now", a photo taken from the walls of Tantallon Castle in East Lothian, and the second was "

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-35893411692871750862009-10-16T12:02:00.002+01:002009-10-16T12:08:09.813+01:00

We paid a visit recently to Scone Palace (pronounced 'skoon' just to annoy the English) near Perth. This is a tremendously significant place historically for Scotland, as several kings were crowned here from Kenneth MacAlpin, the first king of Scotland. Originally, there was a large abbey with all the usual adjoining buildings, and a separate complex for the Bishop's palace. Between these

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-90728140346721391012009-10-08T15:29:00.003+01:002009-10-08T15:48:35.108+01:00

I feel that half my posts to this blog are apologies for not actually blogging. Not that I have a following of thousands but I'm hardly going to gain readers if I don't actually post anything. The problem is that I intend this blog to be photography based, mainly my own photography if I may be so selfish. And herein lies the problem: I'm not taking photographs. Or at least, not as regularly as

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-44587608552891088512009-09-16T11:40:00.002+01:002009-09-16T11:43:45.323+01:00

Just a little mucking about with some photographs that were not worth much by themselves. With photoshop, the camera now truly lies.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-49052200514835306542009-09-01T16:16:00.002+01:002009-09-01T16:39:48.658+01:00

I'm not one for chasing after the latest gizmos and trends, so when the all singing iPhone came out, I wasn't first in the queue. However, with enquiries about wedding photography growing and me being away from the internet quite often over summer, I realized that I could not be offline for any length of time, so a new shiny iPhone now accompanies me wherever I go.Of course, the first thing I did

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-58889663053425197232009-08-10T10:16:00.009+01:002009-08-10T10:50:03.267+01:00

Summer is steadily drawing to a close in Scotland despite it being barely mid-August. Scottish summers are so ridiculously short that I have to remember that we live at the same latitude as Moscow. We're north of almost every northern hemisphere city in the world. In fact, we're north of Mongolia, which isn't exactly a country that brings images of sunshine and balmy summers to mind. Actually,

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-10024043813198331302009-08-02T16:12:00.003+01:002009-08-02T16:29:19.519+01:00

Summertime is turning out to be my busiest period, which is unfortunate as a lot of my friends are in education and therefore take a few months off to recover from their weekly toll ;-).Of course, interspersed between various projects, I have to take holidays with the family as well, all of which makes the already short Summer period seem to fly by at a ridiculous rate. Suffice to say, I have not

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-24668197711620356472009-07-29T23:06:00.003+01:002009-07-29T23:10:21.877+01:00

I stopped. I looked. I listened. And the darn thing hit me on the head.I notice that this photo is not too dissimilar to my Eiffel Tower photo in a previous post.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-75022726553306211492009-07-06T22:38:00.002+01:002009-07-06T22:41:52.394+01:00

Hadrian's Wall. Judging by the buttercups and sheep on the right, England is a tad more fertile.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-88316438426637245552009-06-28T15:13:00.005+01:002009-06-28T15:45:00.442+01:00

I love taking photographs when I travel more than any other time, especially in places that I've never been before or have never had the chance to really photograph.A recent short trip to Paris seemed ideal since, although I had been before, I had never had a chance to really photograph it. Unfortunately, between dodging a lot of heavy showers, and having to keep within eyesight of a group of

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-84894930287340095752009-06-15T20:43:00.005+01:002009-06-17T09:08:03.671+01:00

I joined Flickr, the public online photo sharing website, in September 2004. It was still in its fairly early days and I can certainly claim to be "old skool". As an artist, it was extremely difficult in pre-internet days to get any of my work in front of a viewing public, so much so that my career eventually went more commercial in painting murals for hotels and restaurants. Photography was

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-53158226404710160002009-06-03T22:28:00.004+01:002009-06-03T22:38:22.080+01:00

I've not been able to post here recently due to the yearly requirement of burning my pallid skin under the extremely rare intense sun that we've been enjoying here in the Atlantic North. That, and I've been busy on other projects, one which resulted in pulling a muscle in my back.I hope soon to post something that I've been working on lately which is a result of my inspiration as mentioned in my

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-79060242422279230222009-05-24T16:34:00.008+01:002009-05-24T16:44:57.759+01:00

I thought I'd said enough on the subject of Photoshop for a while, but I happened across the website of a photographer called Andrew Brooks. Based in Manchester, Andrew is a photographer, film maker and conceptual digital artist. Now it's not that I particularly like his work, which is just as well as I won't end up copying him, but I am intrigued by what he does. As he states on his About page,

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-25162222383243736112009-05-21T10:12:00.005+01:002009-05-21T10:21:35.229+01:00

During a wedding shoot last weekend, I took this one at the night reception. It was one of those ones that you just snap hurriedly before anyone sees you and either smiles, hides or grimaces. It was only once I was home and looking through the day's shoot that it struck me how much this looks like a Caravaggio painting, with maybe a little Jack Vettriano thrown in. The light is similar to a

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-80699450905916791742009-05-14T15:38:00.009+01:002009-05-14T15:59:27.015+01:00

It's been just over 8 years since I got married. At the wedding, no one had a digital camera. it was all film, particularly those disposable ones that were so fashionable for such a short period of time. I've been to quite a number of weddings since and it was 3 years ago when I saw no film cameras at all. In a few short years, digital has taken over the layman's world of photography. Putting

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-10608453314321092582009-05-09T10:53:00.006+01:002009-05-09T12:50:23.769+01:00

This is something that always amazes me. Being able to stare at something and not seeing it. During a short trip to Venice last March, I took this photo of the Chiesa San Maria dei Miracoli. That just sounds good even before you look at it. It was a small piazza (or Campo, as they call it in Venice) and so I was quite close to the church. Therefore, by using a 10mm lens, I managed to squeeze in

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-58019244960439715362009-05-06T12:21:00.005+01:002009-05-06T12:26:48.801+01:00

The most useful part of photoshop for me is the ability to remove unwanted and distracting elements from a photograph. I would not condone this in every photo, such as removing annoying objects that are fixed pieces of the landscape (buildings, roads, lakes, mountains, etc.), but to remove objects that are not usually in that particular scene, yet take away from a final image, is a feature that

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-17137495980984544002009-05-05T10:50:00.016+01:002009-05-05T11:11:16.574+01:00

Processing digital photos these days is often seen as a sort of "cheating", as though you aren't a skilled enough photographer if you can't get the near perfect look straight from the all-singing, all-dancing thousand pound camera. Maybe, but speaking as a natural artist (and I've been a commercial artist for over 20 years), working on digital photos is one of the most rewarding and creative

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-35390135043431414372009-05-04T11:02:00.009+01:002009-05-05T12:35:53.219+01:00

I thought I would give a run through on how I achieve most of my photography. I'm often asked how I end up with the photos that I do, so I shall use this photograph taken from the London Eye since it is one of the most satisfying results that I've had. The first stage of any photo is the capture of the actual moment, obviously. On this occasion, which was the first time I had been on the Eye, I

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-7203178050543654312009-04-30T22:28:00.001+01:002009-04-30T22:31:03.930+01:00

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-61189712484697284682009-04-29T20:27:00.007+01:002009-04-29T21:12:50.564+01:00

During the Easter holidays, we spent a day at the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore. I highly recommend it for those of you with children as we easily spent the whole day there, plus it's free! The museum shows life as it was in the north of Scotland over several centuries. I was particularly fascinated with the shielings, low cottages built of stones with thatched roofs. The interiors were

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-20310520416189204162009-04-26T20:15:00.004+01:002009-04-27T15:54:06.660+01:00

I'm at the sort of age now where technology is still understandable to me, but moving at a pace that I am finding increasingly difficult to keep up with.To explain: a few years ago when I purchased my first computer and wanted to set up my website, I learnt HTML and the basics of Flash. The result was that I was able to set up a couple of websites that were to my designs but were quickly becoming

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728381915139606259.post-70918067975440889572009-04-26T17:44:00.002+01:002009-04-26T17:51:00.561+01:00

I've moved back to Blogger for posting my blog for the sheer ease and simplicity, the ability to post direct from external links, the ability to post plenty of text (where my last one seemed to be limited), and hopefully so that comments will actually be seen instead of disappearing into the ether.

Graham McKenzie-Smithnoreply@blogger.com0