Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

F8 and Be There The phrase 'f8 and be there' is an old press photography adage explaining that the sure-fire way to get a great photo is to set your camera aperture to f8, and make sure you're in exactly the right place when that dramatic something happens!  Although 'f8 & be there' is a simplistic aphorism, a witty joke giving you only two parameters to get a great shot, those two central ideas can be used by photographers of all skill levels to achieve a good result.   For landscape photographers this means finding the right spot to set up your camera & tripod, at exactly the right time of day.  As you know, sunsets happen over the last half hour of the day, so you need to time your photo trip to be in place and ready for that half-hour.  An hour early and the scene is too bright, an hour later and you've missed all the fun.  Timing is key. As is being in the right spot. The luxury of planning where to be is something that press...

Someone must have put something in the tea because it's been a very productive month at Ocean-Image towers, and consequently sees the release of three new products. Firstly, the new 2013 Waves desk calendar, which sits in its own fold-out display case, simply change to a fresh image each month. This year again it is in aid of clean seas charity Surfers Against Sewage . A healthy donation from the sale of each calendar will go towards monitoring and challenging the polluters of one of our greatest natural assets.  Due out at the end of this week,  you can pre-order yours here already. Secondly, as mentioned on my Facebook , while drinking a cup of tea and listening to one of those brilliant Cornish storms rage outside, a punny idea came into my head, heralding the creation of ..  'A Storm in a Teacup' OK, OK, so it's a mug, but 'Storm in Tea Mug' didn't quite work. Using this Sennen Storm photo printed onto a solid white ...

In case you're wondering where I've been, I've actually been here, sat at my computer, struggling to learn strange languages over the dark winter nights. The finer points of HTML and PHP are still miles away from my conscious mind, but the end result will be the new Ocean-Image website, which is readying itself for launch in the near (or not so near) future. Having learnt the equivalent of 'Dos cervezas, por favor' in these languages, I have been able to mould, shape and buff the new site into a multi-paged click-fest of visual pleasure, albeit at a snail's pace. The end, or rather the start, is now in sight (site, geddit?) and a bright new dawn of sumptuous oceanic photography will be upon us. The good news is that it will feature not only seascapes from yours truly, but also offerings from some of the UK's best and biggest names in surf and water photography. I have seen these pictures already, and believe me, there is a lot of pleasure to be had. Here...