Highnam Court

Had a cracking day out with my chums from the Royal Society to Highnam Court

I’ve uploaded a few random shots from the house which you’ll see in this set on Flickr.


Highlight of the day for me was getting access to Highnam Church where I managed to sneak in a few minutes before the place was swamped with photographers and I was able to get a handful of HDR shots including the one on the right here.

Although the house isn’t generally open to the public, if you’re interested in exploring the amazing grounds you can visit on the first sunday of the month, when it’s open for charity as part of the national gardens scheme. I’m certainly planning to visit again very soon!

Scratch N Skate..

Nice little random afternoon down at the skate park in Cam this afternoon. For the past couple of years they’ve been organising a little music/skate/bmx event called ‘Scratch N Skate’. There were loads of kids on bikes & boards, and a few of them actually looked like they knew what they were doing too!

I’m going to add a proper sports/event gallery on here soon, but in the mean time here’s a quick peek at a few of them from myScratch N Skate set on Flickr

Practice Makes Perfect…

For me, one of the most satisfying aspects of being a teacher is when I see a student making real progress. That’s why it’s especially nice when I get repeat bookings for training as then I can see how they are putting their new skills into practice and then help to take them futher forward still.

[frame_right src=”http://www.richardolpin.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/GayGilmourTrainingDay-0262-240×300.jpg” href=”http://www.richardolpin.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/GayGilmourTrainingDay-0262.jpg” rel=’gallery’]Gay Gilmour[/frame_right]I had a great day out today with one of my regular students, the very lovely Gay Gilmour who’s making excellent progress over the past month or so.

As she’s been out with me a couple of times recently I thought I’d step it up a notch or two today and put her in a rather more challenging setting to get her out of her comfort zone a little. Suffice to say she more than rose to the challenge and came back with a super set of photos. Well over 50 really good shots a dozen or more that would look great in a portfolio.

At the rate she’s going we’ll get her up to Royal Society standard soon (shh.. don’t tell her I said that, it’s a SECRET ;-)

Here’s a small selection of Gay’s shots from today..

[button size=”small” href=”http://www.richardolpin.co.uk/training/gaygilmour/” bg_color=”#aaaaaa” text_color=”#ffffff”]Gay Gilmour’s Training Gallery[/button]

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Bristol Harbour Festival

Had a great day yesterday down at the Bristol Harbour Festival. I met up with some of my friends from Bristol and watched the excellent Pete Josef in Queens Square, then a little later I met up with one of my forum chums Mark Knight as he was playing with the excellent K-Passa who were headlining over on the Cascade stage. I think the last time I saw them must’ve been at least 10 years ago and they didn’t disappoint. Cracking good show, the only downside is trying to whittle down some 750 shots to a slightly more manageable number!

Anyway, here’s a few pics as a taster:
[flickr flickr_id =”83021873@N00″ set=”72157627329799300″ items=”30″]

And the main set is up on flickr. I’ll pick a few choice favourites and make a proper music gallery soon.

Training Update..

Just a quick update for those not on the mailing list.. (by the way, if you’re not, and you’d like me to add you, please just drop me a note using the contact page)

One-to-One Training

Wow, July was a busy month of training! I had at least a couple of students every week, including both new clients and some who were returning for some additional training.  It’s always nice when I get to see people for a repeat visit, especially to see how far they’ve progressed.  If you are one of my previous students then do please keep in touch and let me see some of your photos as I love to see how you’re getting on!

I had a suggestion from one student that it might be nice to see some of the others photos, and as we’d been to the same locations with a few different people it was nice to compare results. Click here for a few from the past week or two..

Availability

Getting pretty busy through August so if you’re interested in any training, please get in touch ASAP to compare diaries. Weekends are always the first to book up of course and at the moment the only slots available are 6/7th and 20/21st.  Weekdays are still pretty flexible at the moment through until the 21st, but after that I’ll be in Paris for a workshop until the end of the month.

July Special Offer – Last Few Days!

Don’t forget – if you want to take advantage of the July special offer for mid-week training at a reduced rate you’ll need to book your training by the end of the month, Sunday 31st. I’ll hold the offer open for training dates through August too, providing the booking is made this week, after that it’s back to normal prices from next monday..

August Special Offer

August Special Offer – Bring a friend for half price!

Book a training session between now and the end of August and you can bring a friend for half price. Book before the end of July and I’ll even let you combine that with the mid-week offer. I must be mad!

Recent Pics

Here’s a quick snap from a nice walkabout I had in Bath a couple of weeks ago.  Had a great afternoon there with Hannah and Tom.

Bath in Black and White

You can see a few of my snaps from the day in this flickr set.

Bath

Busy day today, great fun though.

I had a meeting at the Royal Society in Bath this morning so I took my camera gear and met up with some friends this afternoon to spend a couple of hours mooching around the city taking photos, see:

Bath-0588_89_90

Bath in Black and White

I’m exploring this grungy black and white stuff at the moment towards a possible project for my next RPS distinction but it wasn’t all gloom!

I did meet a very friendly cat along the way, who lived on a boat – see:

Bath-0701

A busy week of training..

Over the past week I’ve had three new clients for my one-to-one training days, and what a cracking week we had with all three of them taking their photography forwards in leaps and bounds.

I’ll put up a gallery of some of the students work soon, but in the meantime here are a couple of the comments they said afterwards:

[frame_right src=”http://www.richardolpin.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/GayGilmourTrainingDay-0262-240×300.jpg” href=”http://www.richardolpin.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/GayGilmourTrainingDay-0262.jpg” rel=’gallery’]Gay Gilmour[/frame_right]
[quote]Hi Richard, I had a really inspiring educational day out and about with you yesterday. It has boosted my photographic confidence, taught me a lot and I can’t wait to continue further. Thanks for all your expertise, encouragement and patience[/quote]


[frame_right src=”http://www.richardolpin.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/MikeLowe-0578-200×300.jpg” href=”http://www.richardolpin.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/MikeLowe-0578.jpg” rel=’gallery’]Mike Lowe[/frame_right]
[quote]Thanks… I really had a great time, learnt alot and hopefully with practice the things I learned will become second nature.[/quote]


I’ve got several more clients lined up for the next few weeks but still have a few slots available. If you’re interested please take a look on the training pages and get in touch asap!

Look what the postie brought..

Book - Understanding Exposure

My first book - "Understanding Exposure"

Yes, I know it’s only the draft version and still very much a work-in-progress but it’s still great to see it in print.

Needs a bit more work yet as there are still a few errors in the text and I need to sort some more photos and make some illustrations for some sections but I though I’d get a few copies printed for my current training clients and to have one to scribble my notes and corrections into just like a proper author.

Really quite inspired by actually holding this in my hands. This is definitely the first of many books to come!

Watch this space..

Training Courses – Update..

I’m getting very busy with training requests at the moment so first item on the agenda is availability.

Weekends

For weekends through July I now only have four days available:
Sunday 3rd,
Sat 23rd
30/31st
If you’re interested in booking a training day please get in touch ASAP!

Midweek Training

With the weekends being super busy I’m trying to shift some of those bookings to week days.

So, through July 2011 I’ve got a special offer on my one-to-one training days. If you book a mid-week session (mon-fri) before the end of July you can get £25 discount on the full day rate, which means you can get a whole day for just £150. These are filling up quickly so please get in touch ASAP if you’re interested.

Bookings

As I’ve been messed around a little recently with last minute cancellations etc. I’m going to have to introduce a couple of conditions on workshops and one-to-one training with immediate effect:

  • Payment will be due in advance, with a completed booking form to secure your place.
  • Cancellations made more than 28 days in advance will incur a cancellation fee of £25
  • Cancellations made with less than 28 days notice will forfeit any fees paid.
  • We will only reschedule due to inclement weather if this has been agreed in advance.
  • If you need to reschedule due to illness or circumstances beyond your control you will not be penalised providing the course is re-scheduled within 28 days of the original date.

Payments

Advance payments can be made by cheque, bank transfer or paypal.

We will be adding a payment page to the site very soon to handle paypal payments for courses, books etc.

Getting busy…

I’ve had quite a few requests for individual training days coming in recently so my calendar is filling up quite fast for the next couple of months! Midweek slots are still looking pretty good but the weekends in July and August are filling up quite quickly so if you are interested in booking a day do please get in touch ASAP.

To encourage the mid-week slots through the summer I’m going to extend an offer through July and August. if you book a full day’s training midweek I’ll discount it by £25, so you can book a whole day for just £150. Strictly for bookings in July/August only.