Nick Lewis

Walk #1 - St Martha's Hill

2012-01-09T08:23:00.000Z

Yesterday I was talking about embarking on challenging walks and +Martin O'Flaherty put it all in perspective by talking about Coast-to-Coast and the Three Peaks Challenge! I've got some serious practice to do but I want to do it. So to get "warmed" up for the bigger challenges ahead, I am setting out to complete a load of short hilly walks to get used to doing it and improve my fitness. I feel that my desk based lifestyle hasn't helped me in recent months. I've got a lot of work to do in order to get back to where I was fitness wise.

Today we headed for St Martha's Hill which is in the Surrey Hills a part of the North Downs. It has been absolutely gorgeous albeit a little bit chilly. I took some photos but the light has been very strong so the pictures are a little bit on the contrasty side.

Getting there

There is a car park at the foot of the hill located at http://maps.google.com/maps?z=6&q=51.227800,-0.585332 which you can reach along a beautiful country lane, although it is a bit tricky to find, so make sure you study a map beforehand to find it easily when you get there!

There is a footpath from the car park which leads straight up to the church on top of the hill. It's quite a steep path in places and it is mainly sandy under foot due to the sandstone geology of the area. The church is located at http://maps.google.com/maps?z=6&q=51.224600,-0.528739.

This little walk is part of a much bigger route you can follow which I hope to cover another time...

Journog

Letting you into a secret here - My web project is under way and I shall be revealing little pieces of it soon. It will certainly help me to share these walks in an easier way via Google+

2011-12-31T19:15:00.000Z

2011 is on it's way out

2011 is just about out of fuel, it is on it's way out and tomorrow, 2012 begins. Exciting! A whole load of new opportunities await, some that I know about already, some I have no idea about at all. So just to outline some of the things I am planning for this year

Blogging

I am going to split my online writing between my original blog and here on Google+. 99% of it will be here of course because this is the place I love!

Walking

I plan this year to do a big walk for my charity, well the one that I support called "The South West Thames Kidney Fund" or simply SWTKF for short. I got some walking poles for Christmas and shall be doing some training over weekends to build up my fitness.

Web projects

I have long been working on some secret web projects, well I call them secret because I haven't really fully designed them yet! LOL! Hopefully I may get something out there to share with you all.

Write a book

Have you ever fancied writing a book? I have and may have a stab at it this year.

40th Birthday

Yes - I will be 40 this year.....

Read more books

Got a fantastic present this week, a Kindle and I love it. So going to play catch up on a whole load of books. Any recommendations?

Travel

Paris and Portugal are definites. New York maybe not sadly.

Photography

Always time for that of course!

How about you, let's hear a little bit about your plans? :-)

Playing with Blogger for Android

2011-12-16T19:16:00.001Z

Just a little test peoples, shall write something more later!

Discovery of the day - Mixcloud

2011-10-27T21:38:00.001+01:00

Transitions with John Digweed - Live from Circus pt.2 by John Digweed on Mixcloud

Photo of the day

2011-10-27T12:53:00.000+01:00

Having a play with blogger and I really like the fact that I can grab photos from my existing Picasaweb library as I've done with the photo above.

2011-10-25T15:22:00.000+01:00

My blogger blog is seriously out of date and now it is high time that I updated it. I have more and more being depending on Google+ for writing online but now the two products are being bough closer together, I shall be playing!

Dig the new Blogger

2011-10-07T16:10:00.002+01:00

Blogger has evolved a great deal recently, dynamic views look to be a cool new way to the tired old template format perhaps? Anyway gives me an excuse to play with it and to start thinking about some constructive blog writing once more.

Does this feed into Google+????

Weirdly...

2011-03-31T21:04:00.001+01:00

...I stopped writing this blog just before my transplant in 2008. I started up another one on http://www.nicklewis.net after that.

The first post in a long time!

2011-03-31T20:56:00.001+01:00

I have been playing with various blog platforms over time and now re-trying Blogger, since I have been finding Posterous to be rather slow.

Farnborough Airshow

2008-07-23T14:07:00.001+01:00

http://www.nicklewisphotography.co.uk/gallery/farnboroughairshow08

Myplaxo

2008-02-06T14:55:00.001Z

I have just discovered that I have the following URL http://nickeblewis.myplaxo.com

This is fantastic, as I do post a lot of stuff on the web and this gathers all of these things together! I have added it to my email sig. Well done Plaxo!

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | BBC to shut gates on Grange Hill

2008-02-06T14:30:00.000Z

Never knew it was still going!!!

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | BBC to shut gates on Grange Hill

Google approaching world domination | The Register

2008-02-01T09:44:00.000Z

Google approaching world domination | The Register

Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection: Principles and Guidelines for the Modern Photowalker

2008-01-03T13:54:00.000Z

Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection: Principles and Guidelines for the Modern Photowalker

Very well written! Totally agree!

2007-07-24T11:23:00.000+01:00

Plans for the nicklewis.net domain are being made to expand it further but to break it down into a series of micro sites that will make it easier to find the services that are of the most interest to you. We are for example definitely going to be setting up a concerts.nicklewis.net and an alamy.nicklewis.net. The current site will remain as it is and we may not necessarily link the sites together for the simple reason some people will be looking for music photography, wedding, events or stock services specifically. Breaking them all down into their own sites will prevent confusion and will also lead to more accurate search engine indexing.

Facebook apps in development

2007-07-21T21:43:00.001+01:00

I am close to completing my first facebook app! It ties www.nfolio.net Up with the social networking world that is Facebook.Its fairly simple - you can add it to your profile to view random images selected from Nfolio. You don't even need to be a member to use it.

You can view the original photos via a link to www.nfolio.net And critique them, plus you can visit the main site. I am planning to write some other apps in the future and I shall write about them here.

I hope to wrap up the new app very soon and make it available to all facebook users. The aim being to promote nfolio in the process. Watch this space for further developments.

Pownce

2007-07-20T12:33:00.001+01:00

I have discovered an interesting new site/app that's being developed called Pownce (www.pownce.com). It is currently only open on an invite only basis but you can add your name to the list.

It allows you to send stuff, literally anything to other people. Check it out.

Alamy sale

2007-07-20T11:20:00.001+01:00

This week I sold an image that I took years ago via Alamy. A $200 royalty free sale. I would post the alamy ref here but I am writing this entry on my phone, so will edit this later!

Most of my images are Licensed rather than Royalty Free, the reason being that I am never too sure which is best to go for. Interesting to note that this year my RF sales seem to have slightly exceeded my licensed stock but only by a fraction.

I would be interested to know what your thoughts are on the two pricing models?

Phone blogging is cool, may do it this way more often!

Stock library update

2007-07-20T10:48:00.001+01:00

My image count on Alamy has now exceeded 1000 and is steadily growing. You can view a smaller selection of our images at www.nicklewis.net. My collection of images at Filmmagic (in fact they have well over 2000 of my images I believe) are gradually been transferred to Getty Images who recently acquired them as part of a massive deal. Its all starting to take shape but a lot of hard work is still required to make more money out of it!

I also have images with UPPA, Fotolibra, Retna, Nevstock, The Imagefile and Loop Images. Sales with these guys have been rather slow. Alamy and Filmmagic/Getty are far better and thus I am going to spend more time building these two up.

Supergrass @ Guilfest 2007

2007-07-19T22:33:00.000+01:00

This image is of one of the Supergrass band members, I think its DannyGoffney the guitarist. The light was tricky. I have done a little bit of work on this one in Lightroom and I kind of like it. It didn't go up to the agency, as the person in the shot isn't recognisable.

I shall post one or two more of Supergrass over the weekend, once I have had a chance to pick out the highlights from last weekend.

I must have taken close to 1000 images in total and only a small number are chosen to send to the agency, who then in turn pick out the ones they are most interested in!

Photo copyright Nick Lewis Photography

Jimmy Cliff @ Guilfest 2007

2007-07-19T20:35:00.000+01:00

The legendary Jimmy Cliff was without doubt one of the highlights of Guilfest this year. He started off with a nice slow build up on percussion and vocals then launching into "Rivers of Babylon". He was then up leaping around the stage and really playing the audience. It was great to hear "I can see clearly now" a song I could remember from years back.

I really enjoyed his performance and to then eanjoy listening to his music whilst editing and uploading the photos from the press tent that was just behind the main stage.

Photo copyright Nick Lewis/Filmmagic/Getty Images

Lightroom 1.1

2007-07-19T16:18:00.000+01:00

Since I upgraded my copy of Lightroom 1.0 to 1.1 I have noticed a big improvement in its performance. Applying keywords and other such meta data is no longer flawed as it was in the previous version. I can recall having to wait 10 minutes for the application to unlock after applying one single keyword to an image. Looks like this problem has been ironed out because its not there anymore! Great stuff!

Castle Poggibonsi Tuscany: Profile

2007-07-19T15:26:00.000+01:00

Castle Poggibonsi Tuscany: Profile

I quite fancy the idea of staying in a Tuscan castle :-)

Live Earth: what was the carbon footprint?

2007-07-11T12:36:00.000+01:00

Live Earth was all about conserving energy and being more resourceful but I just could not help but wonder...

How much power those giant screens consumed during the day?

The scrolling message screen telling us to use low energy light bulbs that was displayed on a screen that must have consumed a lot of power.

Where the hundreds of lights that formed the backdrop energy-saving light bulbs?

What was the carbon foot print of all of the artists and their production crews combined?

Hmmmmmm

New site

2007-02-28T16:02:00.000Z

My new site has now been launched at http://www.nicklewis.net. I haven't decided on what to do with the other domain just yet (the one thats in the links panel). I am also proud to introduce a new subdomain images.nicklewis.net

Tim

2007-02-20T12:03:00.000Z

I am going to introduce you to my Brother Tim.

He has recently joined Nfolio and has been out and about documenting his home town, London. His collection of work can soon be viewed on the Gallery section of my website as we set up a joint, collaborative thingy-me-duke!

Tim is the founder and company director of Handcrafted Films.

Lightroom is here

2007-02-20T11:06:00.000Z

I have been eagerly awaiting the launch of Adobe's new product with a mixture of expectation and excitement. Last night I received an email from Adobe to let me know my order was ready for download and I rushed back home to grab my copy.

I played with it for many hours last night and what can I say? I am impressed, really impressed.

I had problems with the beta version and its performance issues but I am glad to say v1.0 has no problems of the sort, it runs very smoothly and the new features that we didn't see in the Beta are worth it.

I shall be writing more about LR over the coming weeks and possibly putting a few tips together.

In the meantime go visit http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/ for more info!

Photo: Copyright Nick Lewis - Taken in London and processed using Lightroom.

New images are up on fotolibra

2007-01-09T13:50:00.000Z

I have decided to start sending some stuff back out to Fotolibra again and you can view my stuff at - http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/user/?user_id=2209

Damn! Why didn't I have my camera on me!

2006-12-22T09:35:00.001Z

This morning whilst travelling to work in the beautiful Berkshire town of Slough (sarcasm), I passed through Windsor Great Park which is a stunning location on any day but this morning it looked amazing that I nearly lost my concentration on the road!

We've had fog for the past week that's barely lifted but last night temperatures dropped below freezing and the combination of fog and frost conditions had quite literally frozen the trees. It looked magical and at this time of year, just like a Christmas card.

The sun was just about breaking through the fog and its when I saw my "photo"!!!!

Describing what I saw is quite difficult because a) You should have been there b) I don't have a bloody photo to show you because I didn't have my camera (arrrghhh!). The trees were frozen in a fine layer of ice that made the whole scene almost look like an infra red photo and behind the trees was a white sun and the grass was totally frosted with hoarfrost. I imagined what I would have done if I'd had my camera - I would have mounted it on a tripod, fitted a grad filter to the lens and exposed at f/16 - Its the kind of shot that Alamy would have sold and probably very well :-( sob sob.

If I am lucky it may be like it again tomorrow but I doubt it.....

The moral of the story is...

Yeah I know...

Merry Christmas all!!

Book

2006-12-20T12:10:00.001Z

http://www.lookatbook.com - Genius...............

John "Hoppy" Hopkins

2006-12-20T10:13:00.001Z

If you have heard of Hoppy, check out this website, if you have no idea who the hell he is, check out his website anyway!

http://www.hoppy.be/

John "Hoppy" Hopkins is a legendary photographer with some 45 years under his camera strap and has worked with many of the legends such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and many many more. His website mainly focuses on the 60's when music was at its peak in the world of Rock & Roll and Jazz. Its a testament to this amazing era which sadly I never experienced myself, simply because I wasn't even born then! If only I could go back in time and photograph The Rolling Stones back in their heyday, what an experience that would have been!

I have met a number of the people on his site (Ringo and Ronnie Wood for example) but only in recent years and not in their really wild days. They are now just enjoying their time, writing their memoirs and narrating childrens TV programmes! I would have loved to have been there back in the 60's and documenting their lives.

Its also interesting to see how the music business has changed in relation to photography and audiences. In the 60's their obviously wasn't much in the way of security and pretty much anything was allowed to happen. Nowadays concert photography is far more regimented and has become harder to capture classic documentary shots in the way Hoppy used to.

It makes me sad as in 10-20 years time, we will have nothing to look back on and smile about unless we loosen up!

technorati claim

2006-12-15T16:15:00.000Z

Technorati Profile

I have just joined Technorati, so please ignore this post!

Talking to strangers

2006-12-15T15:44:00.000Z

I really enjoyed reading this article on the BBC site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6176235.stm

It just goes to show that more often than not people are all too willing to talk to you, if you talk to them and you can find out a lot about them.

Thoughts on Stock libraries

2006-12-15T13:35:00.000Z

My main library is Alamy but I have also done a lot of work for Filmmagic and UPPA/Photoshot plus a tiny bit for Nevstock and Loop.

I am beginning to think that maybe I should work with more libraries including those who specialise in certain niches (like Loop and Nevstock) do for example.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this?

Photo of the day: Termini

2006-12-15T11:35:00.000Z

Termini is a tiny, tiny, weeny little village on the Sorrentine peninsular and perched high atop a hill overlooking the spectacular coastline of the region with an amazing view of Capri to boot. We travelled to Termini on one of those tourist hop-on/hop-off buses which was worthwhile as we got to see the entire coastline of the headland. They stopped in termini for awhile giving us the chance to take a look around.

We stopped here twice and I managed to get this shot on the first occasion just before the light became too harsh. Next time we visit the area I may well hire a car just to go up here at the crack of dawn for even better light. Its a stunning location and worth a re-visit.

Taking stock (pardon the pun!)

2006-12-15T11:00:00.000Z

I don't know about you but have you been looking back over the year in your mind and thought about what you've achieved? What has worked for you and what hasn't? The successes? The disasters? The good news? The bad news?

I have!

Yesterday I saw my first article in print and this has really spurred me on to do more. I am now itching to write another article and then more.

I also want to pursue some different photographic channels this coming year and to branch off in a new direction. I have up until now been cutting my teeth mainly on Press photography (including concerts) and this has been reasonably rewarding but its proven not to be a financial success. This hasn't been a major problem since I do have a normal full-time job but my aim has always been to move on from being semi-pro to pro. I think I am getting closer to this goal now and next year could be the big test.

In recent months I have been moving more in the direction of setting myself up as a travel photographer and interestingly enough this blog seems to reflect that.

I am trying to put this into perspective - writing, travel, photography? Well!!

Article published!

2006-12-14T23:26:00.000Z

I received my copy of FPME in the post today and my article is in there on concert photography and most importantly it looks great, the Editor and his team have done a very good job indeed. You won't find FPME on the shelves of your local shop though, as its entirely subscription based.

Go to www.fpme.co.uk to find out more about the magazine and how you can order copies. At the time of writing they haven't yet updated the website to show the latest issue (which is issue 8).

The mag is very new and is aimed at freelance photographers and written entirely by those who work in the business. The articles are very informative and the design is bold and crisp.

I hope to write more for them in the future.

Longing for AlamyUpload

2006-12-14T17:13:00.000Z

I have been submitting images to Alamy for quite awhile now, well to be honest, a year at a serious level and have in the past two months sent them something every week or thereabouts. Sending CD's is fine but the ability to upload will be great because as soon as I have even just a few images to send out, I can just do it, add them to the queue and await the verdict of their QC department.

AlamyUpload as far as I believe is in its final testing phase but problems were manifesting themselves in relation to bandwidth issues. I hope they overcome these in the near future as the new feature is long overdue. Us Brits are the worst people to promise new features to, maybe Alamy would have been better off keeping it quiet for a little while longer?

I am posting like mad today but this is the last one for today!

Lightroom

2006-12-14T17:05:00.000Z

It was back in September that I first came across Lightroom and I have been beta testing it ever since, in fact I have been using it for some of my proper work and found it to be fairly reliable if a little slow at times.

I look forward to seeing the finished product in 2007.

You can get your own copy of the software from:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/

LR is striving to be be an all in one workflow solution for digital photographers allowing you to import images into a library ready for tweaking and so on. Its kind of like a mixture of iView, Rawshooter, Adobe Bridge and some of the main bits of photoshop blended together.

Watermarks!?

2006-12-14T17:02:00.000Z

You may be wondering why there are watermarks on some of the photos that appear here?

I have linked the photos to my online image library under www.nicklewis.net and they are watermarked at the moment....

I may upload images using a different method, just to ensure clarity and sharpness of the downsized versions. I am still getting to grips with the new version of Blogger but so far I am highly impressed.

Danish panorama site

2006-12-14T16:38:00.000Z

Discovered this great site today that features a set of 360 degree panoramas that you can explore, check it out....

Always look up!

2006-12-14T15:16:00.000Z

We often walk around gazing down towards the pavement, path, corridor or whatever it is we are walking along. This is all very well if you are commuting to work after all you travel that way every day and see the same old things.

However when you are out with your camera, there is no excuse for this slovenly approach to life, you need to keep your eyes wide open and to look up, yes, seriously ;-)

The above photo is very simple, in fact its a strong abstract and that was why it caught my eye, twilight had just turned the sky to that gorgeous blue hue and the shot was there for the taking.

See if you can guess where it was taken!?

Le Brusc, Provence

2006-12-14T10:47:00.000Z

The sunsets in Provence are often stunning and especially wonderful if you are staying right on the coast as we were on this particular trip. I always think sunsets work best when there is some form of foreground detail, whether a building, landscape feature or as in this case a boat. Sunsets look great to the eye and the "being there" factor adds to their drama but on film/JPEG/RAW they just don't looks so powerful, unless there is an interesting focal point of some description.

When I spotted this scene I didn't initially have my camera on me, we were taking a stroll along the beach near our villa. I hastily dashed back to collect my camera kit. I mounted my camera on a tripod with a Sigma 70-200mm attached as the boat was a fair distance away from the shoreline. In doing this it also helped compress the perspective of the shot to create a nice graphic image. I took a dozen different shots of the scene but this one was the best of the batch.

The only quibble I have about the image, is that the sun would have looked far better had it been more to the right of the frame but never mind!

If you ever get the chance to visit Le Brusc and its surrounding area, go there its very nice indeed and there is plenty to photograph around there. Places worth visiting are Bandol, Sanary, Le Cadiere and Castellet for example.

Street photography in Sorrento

2006-12-13T12:30:00.000Z

I have come to the conclusion that my blog needs some form of direction, so for now on I will be sharing a few stories, tips and tricks regarding my own photography by sharing with you a different photo each time. I will occasionally blog about a great website I have found but I shall keep them brief. I plan to strike a balance between photography and writing, well I am going to give it a shot.

Today I am going to share with you a photo I took whilst in Sorrento several weeks ago. Its of a bunch of people sitting down eating ice cream ("gelato" in Italian), I am not sure what their nationalities are, they look like tourists, since they don't strike me as being members of the local populace.

Why did I take this photo?

Having been to Sorrento before I had already photographed the main sights there such as the magnificent Duomo, Churches, Marinas and so on, I decided to try shooting from the hip to see what I could achieve. It was also a great way to try out my fairly new Sigma 30mm lens with my new Nikon D200 that I had only bought a few weeks before we travelled to Italy.

My first efforts were not great, mostly blurry and in some cases I had completely missed the subject, its a tricky technique and I realised it would take a few attempts to get something worthy of submission to my stock library.

We were walking around near Marina di San Francesco (for those of you who know the town) and it was here I discovered these people. I had my camera primed, manually focused, aperture set to f8 and hanging near my belly more than my hip hence perhaps the technique could be renamed! I pretended to be looking at something else and fired the shutter. I am not sure whether they twigged that I was photographing them or not!

The original image was in fact much larger than this and I had to crop it to get what you see here. I was pleased with the results of this shot as it tells a story of some kind, it has a kind of documentary appeal.

Sale to Marks & Spencers

2006-12-12T16:54:00.000Z

I recently sold the above image to Marks and Spencer for sale as part of their canvas wrapped prints range. I visited my local M&S to see if I could find one and I succeeded. I am very impressed with the reproduction and its now hanging above my desk!

Online Ipod

2006-12-12T14:53:00.000Z

If you don't own an ipod or have left yours at home, check out BlogMusik to instantly access some music online.

Phone sheep!

2006-12-12T14:31:00.000Z

I have never seen anything quite so bizarre but it works so well because at a glance you think they might just actually be a flock of sheep, however look closer!

A day in the life of several locations in Italy

2006-12-12T14:22:00.000Z

Time lapse photography has always been an interest of mine but I have just discovered one of the simplest and cleverest sites I think I've seen in a long while at The Circular Life, its very clever indeed and you must take a look to see what I mean...

This is good...

2006-12-12T12:20:00.000Z

Just discovered http://www.asa100.com/ photographs mixed with some chillout music, highly impressive. The work of Scott Stulberg...

2006-12-12T12:06:00.000Z

One of my own taken from my main site at www.nicklewis.net.

I took this in the delightful Italian city of Sorrento, a place that Tina and I have fallen in love with, have been to twice in 2005 and 2006.

Will we go back again?

Yes, 2008!

You may view more of my Italian shots where I have a mixture of straight travel shots, people and more.

Loop Images

2006-12-12T11:51:00.000Z

I have teamed up with my fourth stock library, they are none other than Loop images. Loop are based in Woking, Surrey and specialise in images of contemporary Britain.

My plan is to supply them alongside Alamy whom I use for distributing general and European travel images.

I will keep you posted on how this new partnership goes...

2006-12-12T11:49:00.000Z

Nick Brandt's site is inspirational and features a very strong set of images of fine animals from various parts of Africa such as the Masai Mara etc.

The images are all black and white and very powerful indeed.

2006-12-12T11:41:00.001Z

Now thats what I call ice!

I discovered a great new web 2.0 tool today called StumbleUpon which adds a toolbar to your browser, clicking on "Stumble!" will take you to an interesting site.

This is one that I found - It caught my interest as I am planning to visit Geneva at some point in the future on my travels, I was due to go last month but had to cancel.

Would I have seen scenes like this??

The Wayback machine

2006-12-07T12:41:00.001Z

Take a look at the "Wayback Machine" its quite amazing.

Article in FPME magazine

2006-12-07T11:31:00.000Z

I recently wrote an article on my experiences in Concert photography for FPME ("Freelance Photography Made Easy") a new subscription only magazine thats designed for people who want to make a living out of photography.

The article will be published in the next issue thats due out soon.

Back to blog...

2006-12-07T11:24:00.000Z

My blog has been a bit sporadic over the past months and I feel a bit awkward about it but now is the time to get it going again.

I have been busy recently, having got my new site up which you can find at www.nicklewis.net plus I have been working hard on my Alamy collection which you can visit at www.nicklewis.net/alamy.

Travel, Writing and Photography

2006-01-17T22:08:00.000Z

How many three word combinations can you think of that tie so well together?

Gin, tonic and ice?

Or in the words of Cleese, Palin et al:

Spam, Eggs and Bacon?

How about Travel, Writing and Photography?

They work well for me and I've been dreaming up a few ideas of late to kick start a few projects into life that involve these three well suited ingredients.

Later this year (as already mentioned in this journal) we shall be travelling to Cornwall and then much later, Italy. I shall certainly find time to explore these wondrous locations, capture their essence and then write a few words about them to share with the world. OK, they are in fact holidays but the great thing with holidays is that you can find time to really detach yourself from the rigours of daily life and let your mind truly relax. I often take a big pad of paper and a pen, just to write stuff. I did so last year when we visited Sorrento whilst Tina (my fiance) read a good book. I would write about anything I could think of such as the walk we had made that morning, the drink I had just enjoyed or the view I was currently admiring.

It was also quite liberating to write with a pen and paper, to scribble things out rather than to drag, select and delete! I felt like a real writer. I still have the notes I made last year but just haven't got around to doing anything with it. Its something I hope to put right in the near future when I publish the text somewhere (including here). I didn't take any writing material with me last year, so managed to get hold of some letter headed paper from the hotel (Grand Hotel Royal) in which we stayed.

I have always thought that the best writers of our time were really just great holidaymakers who made a few bob out of their jollies.

If you've never tried it, give it a go. Take pen and paper when you pack for your next holiday and write something whilst sunbathing on the beach. Just don't forget the suntan lotion!

Photographers Direct

2006-01-15T15:45:00.000Z

I was pleased last week, as I made my first sale through Photographers Direct and not long after I signed up with them either. The shot will appear on the photoblog sometime next week so keep your eyes peeled. Its not been updated much recently but I do have some shots in the archives that I want to put up there.

Anyway I have digressed!

The photo I sold was of a nice scene near Walton on Thames and it will be used as a half page opening shot for an article in a magazine for the Ramblers Association.

Jamie Cullum and booked two holidays

2006-01-15T15:03:00.000Z

www.nicklewis.net | Jamie Cullum #3

Please visit my other site to see the photos.

Jamie Cullum was excellent last night (even though I only saw him for 3 songs) and I came away with better shots than I thought. We had to shoot from the aisle last night as there were no photographers pits. We also had to crouch down which I don't particularly like doing as it makes it hard to keep the camera stable. I was also feeling a bit rough yesterday and was worried that I wouldn't be on form.

I was totally shattered by the time I got home, downloaded my photos from the flash card and decided to leave my editing till the morning. There is nothing worse than trying to process a hundred or so shots when your eyes feel like they are going to pop out of their sockets.

Woke up with a fresh head, feeling better this morning and did my editing. Job done.

Also booked two holidays for Cornwall and Italy. Wallet is a bit lighter but who cares...

Jamie Cullum

2006-01-13T14:35:00.000Z

I am going to be photographing Jamie Cullum in concert tomorrow night, just had confirmation from Filmmagic. A photo will go up on the photoblog sometime during the weekend.

The Million Dollar Homepage - Own a piece of internet history!

2006-01-12T11:41:00.000Z

The Million Dollar Homepage - Own a piece of internet history!

What a novel idea! Just proves you still can make a lot of money out of nothing! Bear with me, its my turn to do something similar now... hmmmm.... what shall I do?

Tech Digest: CES 2006: Sony to debut Blu-ray player in early summer

2006-01-12T11:33:00.000Z

Tech Digest: CES 2006: Sony to debut Blu-ray player in early summer

In todays round up - I have just found out about the new Blu-Ray technology that Sony are due to launch later this year. Discs will come in 25 and 50 gig capacities. Thats truly amazing.

Sony MemoryStick Duo 4 and 8 GB: Digital Photography Review

2006-01-11T11:13:00.000Z

Sony MemoryStick Duo 4 and 8 GB: Digital Photography Review

If like me you are a proud owner of a Sony PSP, this is great news. Later this year we shall be able to buy larger memory sticks. I think this will be rather useful for photography too.

Finding tripod holes

2006-01-04T12:29:00.000Z

I came up with the idea to start collating a database of co-ordinates to help fellow photographers find great locations outdoors. The data will be compatible with GPS systems and could be installed as POI (points of interest) overlays.

Sometimes its hard to decide where you want to go for a photographic trip. Just imagine how cool it would be if you were able to look up a number of places on your Satnav and get it to calculate a route to them?! You may even be able to fit in more than one place in a day out depending on how close they are together and how far you are prepared to travel.

You would also be able to add your own locations to the list and help it grow and become an increasingly useful tool for photographers around the world.

I quite like the idea of a list of "Tripod Holes" but this guy isn't so sure.... Check out the following website....

Finding tripod holes

iPod FM transmitters could soon be legal in UK

2006-01-03T13:59:00.000Z

iPod FM transmitters could soon be legal in UK

At long last these transmitters are looking set to become legal in the UK. I would love to be able to listen to my ipod in the car. I could of course use one of the cassette player adaptors that you can buy but the problem is my car only has a CD player!

Happy New Year

2006-01-03T13:18:00.000Z

I am back from my break and time to update this blog of mine. Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years Eve?

I have discovered the wonderful PSP. What a piece of kit hey?! The graphics are superb and I can see myself spending many hours playing with it! The beauty of it is that you can play it anywhere and it also resolves the old issues of not being able to play the Xbox because the family are watching Coronation Street or the PC because someone is using that too! Its all mine and nobody is going to touch it! They can all get their own but hey, then we can play multiplayer games!!

In fact I can even use it to Blog! Mind you it is fiddly for typing with.

I've now also got a Navman (satellite navigation) for my car and have had fun with that finding places I wouldn't have got to otherwise. In the long term this is going to prove an invaluable tool for work and leisure.

Pic of the day - www.walkonmountain.com

2005-12-23T11:49:00.000Z

landschaftsfotografie,reisen,outdoor,natur,wandern,berge - A stunning collection of mountain landscape photos. Well worth a visit.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2005-12-23T10:23:00.000Z

This is going to be my last post before Christmas. So have a great one, don't get too drunk or over indulge too much!

Is Google "The One"?

2005-12-23T10:06:00.000Z

I have been having fun playing with some of Googles new features. I must admit it amuses me the way Google sneak new features into their system and manage to keep it all hush hush. Thats until some bright spark finds it and publishes it on their blog!

Search History is now available to all users and enables you to bookmark the pages you've visited through search. Its almost "Tagging" but not quite the same as del.icio.us or shadows. Google have used the terms Bookmarks and Labels instead of Tags. Will they make this data available in their general search pages? Yahoo have done it with myweb2.yahoo.com.

Have you seen Google's new RSS reader? Its very good indeed.

Will there be a time when Google runs my life??? Hmmm, a little bit disconcerting perhaps?

Well Web 2.0 is all the rage now and I shall be keeping a very close eye on it.

Next year should be good for concert photography

2005-12-22T11:34:00.000Z

I am looking forward to next year in terms of concert photography. Recently interest and sales of my collection at Filmmagic have shown promising signs of picking up. Its a hard market to master but once you've built up a library of good images, people start to notice them and the sales start to increase. Filmmagic is also a young agency in this country but have started to make really good progress this year. Their contributors with a large collection, I am talking of 3000+ images, even 5000+ have been seeing regular cheques landing on their doormats.

I currently have 1,831 images on their library which is not bad but if I were to at least double that, I would certainly see a better return over many years. Its hard work getting to that point and can be quite costly but I think its worth it.

Wembley Stadium is re-opening its doors after many years of re-development and to celebrate 3 major acts will be performing there - Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones and Robbie Williams. I have got tickets to see the Robbie gig.

Thing is - Will I be able to get a pass? I have already put in a request :-)

I am sure the queue for photo passes will be long but hopefully they'll let photographers in on each night for the usual first 3 songs. So there is a chance but then again will they let in more than one person per agency? Not sure.

Royal Ascot also re-opens this year after a massive re-development too. Just before it closed for the past year, I covered 2 or 3 great gigs there. I think they will do the same this year.

I can recall shooting two gigs one night. Sugababes at Ascot and then up to London to shoot Beverley Knight at Somerset House!! That was a great night and I had shots used in the Times later that week.

www.nicklewis.net | David Gray

2005-12-21T20:18:00.000Z

I have posted some more photos of the David Gray gig I did last week on my photoblog.

www.nicklewis.net | Greenwich Observatory in Black and White

2005-12-21T17:22:00.000Z

www.nicklewis.net | Greenwich Observatory in Black and White - I run two blogs, one dedicated to photography (which has been going for a little while) and this new one which is more dedicated to being a journal. Have fun :-)

I will in future tie this together more with Nfolio and my Photoblog, keeping you up to date with whats going on at these sites.

pic-a-day

2005-12-21T17:12:00.000Z

pic-a-day - I like this one. Nice simple images and generally strong compositions.

Vietnamese God

2005-12-21T11:58:00.000Z

Vietnamese God - I have been spending a lot of time (too much perhaps) looking for quality blogs and this one is brilliant.

I don't know the guys name but he has put together a nice set of reportage about his home of Vietnam. The site comprises of great pictures and some interesting insights into the region in which he lives.

Blogging is the new Journalism and I am getting seriously hooked on it. Doctor!

Moving to a new location

2005-12-21T09:53:00.000Z

Its highly likely that I will move this blog from Blogspot to my own webserver space and will tie in with a new site I am planning to create at www.nicklewis.net at some point in the new year. The new home for the blog will probably be either blog.nicklewis.net (ideally) or www.nicklewis.net/blog.

Christmas is almost here and things are winding down

2005-12-21T09:26:00.000Z

I am now looking forward to the Christmas break and everything is slowing down a bit. I will be taking next week off from work and putting my feet up. I may or may not be posting much to the blog during that time. Its hard to say as it depends on how much we go out over the holidays. I may have time to think of something more thought provoking and post some interesting stuff. Quite often a few whiskies, glasses of wine, cans of beer or whatever help to stimulate my imagination!

The blogging bug has really bitten me. I have always enjoyed doing a bit of writing and its a great way of sharing one of my greatest passions - photography.

Pre-dawn visit by gas repairman

2005-12-20T17:30:00.000Z

BBC NEWS | England | Bristol | Pre-dawn visit by gas repairman - What is the world coming to?

I would be a little bit hacked off had this happened to me. They must have been heavy sleepers too, as the doorbell in our house would have woken up the entire street!

Concert Diary for 2006

2005-12-20T13:51:00.000Z

Concert Diary 2006 shows the gigs that I am planning to cover next year. As new gigs are announced I will add them to this list and request a pass for each.

I covered less gigs than I did last year but mainly because I have been more picky than I used to be which is the way I plan to continue.

Planning for the New Year #1

2005-12-20T12:06:00.000Z

Its that time of year when you start to look ahead into the next year and plan how things should go. I have been doing a lot of this recently and trying to get my head around the best way of making things work to their best advantage.

The following businesses represent my work The Imagefile, Filmmagic, Alamy, UPPA, fotoLibra and Nevstock. Imagefile and Filmmagic are currently my main libraries (since my current work fits in with them the best) and I am concentrating on these guys, leaving the others in limbo for the time being. I am currently planning where I wish to take my stock projects next year.

Its often a case of identifying subjects which sell, a crucial factor in freelance photography is in understanding the markets and shooting for them rather than your own imagination. Some friends of mine reckon that its a case of "Numbers", the more you throw at your stock library, the more they will sell. I agree with this theory.

A glance through my image collection (see link on the right) will show that I have a diverse range of interests in my photography, although the main ones are probably to be honest, are concerts and travel.

A nice surprise

2005-12-20T10:54:00.000Z

I covered a running event back in May. The sales were very good and it kept going for a couple of months as the final orders trickled through. I wouldn't have thought that this far down the line in December would I make any more sales on this event. Well I was wrong as someone ordered a large 16x12 print through the website today. How good is that?!

This is a little bit of a plug:

Book me for your event and buy your photos online! All kinds of events are covered - Balls, parties, sports and the more diverse oddball stuff like, well, I can't think of any right now. Suggestions please? :-)

Pick of the Day - MyPublisher

2005-12-20T10:53:00.000Z

My pick today is Mypublisher. Have you ever fancied creating your own leather bound coffee table book, containing your favourite photos?

I bet you have, as I have been looking for this kind of thing for a long time...

This is a brilliant looking product and I am going to give it a go when I get the chance. The Mac users amongst you may already be famiiar with this as it integrates with iPhoto but now PC users can benefit from it too with the launch of "Bookmaker".

A full review will happen at some point once I've had the opportunity to try this system out.

2005-12-19T22:35:00.000Z

I have been posting like a nutter today but have been going through some of my archives this evening and decided to share just one more thing with you today before I call it a night and hit the sack...

I rarely take pictures in my immediate locale mainly because I see it every day, its too familiar for my liking. On this occasion however I gave it a chance and ventured around the corner (literally) to take some abstracts of an empty office building.

The architecture is quite modernistic and I find that kind of thing as appealing as the older buildings that grace are finest towns and cities. I have a few more of these shots but you will have to wait till another day to see them.

Perspective

2005-12-19T22:20:00.000Z

Every now and again myself and some of the guys from Nfolio get together for a day out with our cameras. Our last trip was to Greenwich in London and we had a wonderful day out. We even stopped for lunch at the famous Goddards Pie and Mash shop.

I spotted this scene in the backstreets of Greenwich. The perspective of the doors simply appealed to my eyes and I took the shot.

Up to 500GB storage for your home network!

2005-12-19T17:20:00.000Z

What a cool device this sounds like. You can read up more on the Freecom website but in short its a router, USB hub and storage device rolled into one. The entry level FSG-3 is 160GB and the top of the range model packs a staggering 500GB into its unit!

This would be very useful in our home for storing everything from photos to mp3 files, all in one place. Phenonemal!

Nikon Capture 4

2005-12-19T17:07:00.000Z

I received my copy of Nikon Capture 4.3 this weekend. I haven’t yet installed it but will tell you more about it in my subsequent posts here. I was impressed with the trial product for the older version, so this one should be a vast improvement.

Classic moment #1

2005-12-19T13:20:00.000Z

I hope this doesn't sound too egotistical but I am really proud of some of the shots I have taken over the years and the one above is no exception. Its of Supergrass performing live at The Forum in Kentish town.

Its always a deeply satisfying feeling when everything fits so well together in a shot and it sure does in this case.

More in the "Classic Moment" series to come over the forthcoming weeks...

Pick of the Day - Complete Digital Photography

2005-12-19T13:13:00.000Z

My pick today is - Complete Digital Photography which is run by the Author Ben Long. Its packed to the gills with useful tips and insights into the very core of digital. I shall be visiting this one quite often for ideas and inspiration.

Thought of the day - Too many stock libraries?

2005-12-19T11:56:00.000Z

Since the digital revolution burst upon us we have seen a proliferation of online libraries come to fruition. The question I have to ask is - Are there too many? What can they seriously offer the discerning photographer over traditional libraries?

Many of the old libraries had to go digital a few years back for fear of being driven out of the game altogether. Big names like Getty, Magnum and Reuters whom all have been in the business for a very long time.

I hear of a new library every week these days and will often get an email from them trying to gain my interest. I must admit I am happy with the ones I already use and in building up a big collection of images with them. Why would I want to sign up with every single new one that appears on the market?

You have to ask yourself the question - What can they offer me thats special? Do they have a new untapped client base that none of the others have touched upon yet?

I think not...

West Wittering

2005-12-17T20:24:00.000Z

All images ©Nick Lewis Photography

This has to be one of the finest beaches in the UK. Whenever I go down there I take my camera, a tripod and a bundle of filters.

The sky was wonderful and the tide was about a mile out.

The conditions are never the same and they were perfect on this occasion. The sky was wonderful and the tide was about a mile out. I took a number of exposures over and below the recommended options the camera calculated for me and wondered around quite a bit. This was the best of the bunch.

Up against a Brick Wall

2005-12-17T20:10:00.000Z

I am going to share some of my older photos with you for my next few posts.

I took this one from a Pub table! We had met up with a few friends (two of them also photographers) and after a couple of pints my creative eye became active and I spotted this shot.

I didn't need to go far. In fact this sign was right next to where I was sitting, so I simply took the camera out of my bag and took it. Simple as that!

Sorrento

2005-12-17T12:06:00.000Z

This shot was one of many I took earlier this year when we stayed in the Italian town of Sorrento. This really sums up the place, time just slows down there and life is very laid back indeed. These guys didn't mind me taking their photo although one of them didn't seem so keen.

I took this shot whilst we were on a tour of Sorrento. The tour guides were showing us various bars (I'm convinced they get a commission for this!) I ventured off track briefly to take this photo :-)

Pick of the day - Dan Chung @ The Guardian

2005-12-17T11:14:00.000Z

I was leaning over the edge of the tallest building in Shanghai and all there was for safety was a small man holding on to me by my belt.

This is great stuff indeed. Dan Chung is one of the Guardian photographers and my oh my has he covered some awesome stories. You can see some of his work on The Guardian website. I liked the one about the Hyatt Hotel window cleaners, as it goes to show what lengths some photographers go to in order to get their pictures. He is braver than I am thats for sure, full credit to the guy.

Mugshots!

2005-12-16T14:11:00.000Z

I am proliferating over what to use as my profile photo or shall I just post a picture of something that isn't me, to wind you all up?

It seems strange to think...

2005-12-16T11:02:00.000Z

Way back in '97, I went to a Jean-Michel Jarre concert, which was at Wembley Arena. We had front row seats and a great view of the stage. In my pocket was my beloved Ricoh compact camera which my Dad had given to me as a present when I was about 13 (thats 20 years ago!).

I was fascinated by the press photographers who had assembled in front of the stage and decided to get up from my seat and join them! JMJ had just started his performance and I was standing in the aisle (behind the official photographers) firing away.

It didn't last long as a security guard grabbed me and tossed me back into my seat waggling his index finger at me with a very angry manner. I did get some really good shots though but I did consider myself lucky not to have been kicked out!

So it may not be much of a surprise that some years later (September 2003), I found myself for the first time standing in the photographers pit with an official pass stuck to my jacket waiting nervously for the band to take to the stage.

My first official gig was at Shepherds Bush Empire, covering the "Mavericks" ("Dance the night away" being their biggest hit). I had no idea what I was doing and guessed my camera settings completely. Since that night I've covered hundreds of gigs and its all become second nature.

I often wonder if any of the older photographers I work alongside nowadays were at the JMJ concert all of those years ago and if they remember the stupid idiot who tried to join them on that particular night???

Pick of the day - Chromasia

2005-12-15T14:48:00.000Z

Every now and again I come across a website that leaves me speechless and continues to do so. I have been visiting www.chromasia.com for some time and David Nightingale is still impressing me with his photographic exploration.

Blackpool must be a great place for a photographer to live (mind you the same could be said of any seaside town).

Lets see those pictures...

2005-12-15T14:28:00.000Z

I shall soon be posting some photos on this new virgin blog (including my concert work) but in the meantime you may like to take a look at the two sites listed over on the right hand side of this page.

David Gray - Hammersmith Apollo

2005-12-13T20:16:00.000Z

Apart from getting someone elses pass, it all went very well. David Gray was brilliant, the lighting was strong and good to work with. I was very pleased with my shots and also got to try out my new Sigma 30mm lens on its first professional outing. It captured some great shots and I will use it more often for this kind of work.