An opportunity presented itself this weekend to take my camera and a trusty, nearly 20 year old tripod down to Brighton and get a shot or two whilst there. What joy I felt as I dragged my sleep deprived self out of bed at 06:00 (it was still dark) to see a very overcast sky. Checking the dawn time I decided to grab 40 winks on the couch and wait for at least a touch of light.

The gloomy sky began to relinquish a mild glow, and optimistically I set out toward the sea front and pier. As I got there it the drizzle had started and a fog began to come down. At this point it is easy to think "blugh, there is no point even getting out of the car", turn around and head back to the comfort of the couch. I however have made a decision to follow the mantra of, and I quote the late great Roger Hickman, "a photographer makes a photograph, everybody else just takes one". I had an idea of what I wanted to achieve, with this in mind stepped out of the car, got my gear, set my alarm to get back before I'd get a ticket and set off. I looked at the Brighton wheel, set up a shot and made a 3 minute exposure. Looking at the result I was none too impressed so packed up and moved on.

"Stick to the plan Duncan, better one good shot than two mediocre".

I trudged across the wet pebbles and was surprised to see two swimmers in their trunks walking up the beach. Well I assumed they were swimmers, that or it was a good night and perhaps they need to find new friends!

I found a spot near to where I thought the shot would be. Getting out my camera I started to have a look at the best way to work the scene. The sea was murky and fairly flat, the sky totally white and flat and the fog was almost covering the far end of the pier, splendid.

Feeling glad that I brought my sturdy Brembo monster tripod I set up, composed the shot, locked everything down solidly and put my hat on the camera to protect it from the rain. to a casual observer it must have looked like the worst scarecrow in the world built strangely to protect a pebble beach. I didn't have long, maybe enough time for two exposures. Not wanting to make any errors and miss my chance I ran through the checks; iso 200, f16, view finder shutter down, bulb, remote shutter release connected and no rain on the lens. Stopwatch ready and click 8 minutes.....

It is exactly the photograph I had imagined and set out to create, thank you Roger, you are and always will be a great inspiration...

Well I hope, like us you had a lovely Christmas and New Year. So here it is 2013, the noughties have now become a teenager, are we to expect hormonal unrest? With our plans to head east and all the hard work hopefully starting to pay off I expect a few ups and downs, hopefully more ups though.

I am thinking about a list of goals to achieve this year, nothing extensive, maybe 10 things. The photographs I have been mounting from Yangon only need one more window mount cut and they are ready to show, just need a space or willing coffee shop/pub. Chef Alex and his crew are all set for a shoot on Monday the 21st so hopefully we will call pull hard together and get a stack of shots made for the book. If I can get those things done then that would certainly be 2 ticks off the list.

The real pressing issue for me now though is getting my website updates up and running and making my self portrait for the home page. I think I can shoot that this weekend so that will be another tick. At this rate maybe I should add a few more things to the list......

With my new darkroom (Photoshop) skills I have been revisiting some earlier work, there is plenty to get through. I hope you enjoy these three, I think I may look to shoot enough shots around London over the next 2 months for a good collection which I may print and release as a limited self published book.

As ever, remember to spread the word and keep watching....

Along with my Chef friend Alex I have been working toward putting a cookbook together. I am interested in shooting more food photography and Alex being such a larger than life character I thought who better to work with. Having got to the folks house for Christmas on Thursday I was away first thing on Friday to Bury St Edmunds to see Alex. I just wanted to get a few background shots in the bag of Al doing his kitchen shuffle, a quick hour shooting him during a busy lunchtime service has got the ball rolling, sadly I didn't have more time but will be back for longer in January.

On the way back from Bury I saw his wonderful piece of grafitti and couldn't resist getting ankle deep in a muddy field to make a photograph. Using the big stopper nd filter to great effect, bluring the cloud movement over a 3 minute exposure I may hae the cover shot, I'll have o see what Al thinks but knowing him, he'll love it...

For us Christmas begins today starting with a ride in the rain to our friend Hannah's where I brilliantly left my bag containing Dad and Camille's presents..... Doh!
As ever though I have been fairly busy during the start of the week, on top of having some interesting and promising conversations, which I look forward to continuing in the new year I feel that I have perfected a new lighting technique I have been trying out. Very kindly I was leant some jewellery to practise with, the results of some of the pieces are below, if you like the jewellery then go to: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beaniki/154442651288365?fref=ts to see more and make your orders. If you have product you want shooting and like the style I am using then you know to drop me a line 0044 (0) 7957388248....

Right time to jump on my bike and buzz over to Southfields and collect my bag (shame it is pooring down) then pack my bags and off we go across town and to the Midlands. I have my list of shots to make whilst there so don't worry there will be postings over Christmas...

As promised here are some of the shots I made at Scoverston Fort....

See you soon....

Coming back from a long weekend visiting an old friend and fellow photographer over in Fishguard, I was welcomed by a freezing fog on the platform. I watched the train head of into the misty gloom and was very glad to walk through the door of a warm house to be greeted by my wife.

I got back on the case today contacting some interior designers, with whom I had positive conversations and am looking forward to catching up with them in the new year. If any of you know any interior designers please send them my way, I am looking to build my portfolio in that area so deals can be done and agreements made.

I wasn't sitting on my bum doing nothing while out in Pembrokeshire, Ed and I had a couple of adventures. The first was to Abereddi, where the recent Red Bull cliff diving event was held. The sun was out and although a little windy it was a lovely place to visit, I could have happily pottered around the cliffs for hours....

Having recently invested in a big stopper 10 stop nd filter I was itching to use it and can't wait for a good day to get some buildings and fast moving clouds, hopefully not long until the opportunity presents itself for that.

Continuing my new found interest in venturing into derelict places, I had done a bit of research and found Scoverston Fort. We went there and after walking around the lip of an overgrown abyss having failed to see the path in where we had started (believe me this place is thick with brambles and matted growth). We finally made our way to the rusty gate, through this and into a long tunnel through witch we found what remains of the fort. I have some pictures and will post soon, you'll just have to wait a day or so for the rest of the tale.

It has been a long time coming but I have started a bit of a new hobby. Urban exploration, all a nit hush hush and that as it involves sneaking around empty buildings. Here's an example of the first adventure...

I guess it is in-keeping with my move into Architectural photography and also lets me have fun with my 24mm pc-e tilt and shift....