General Archives
Red squirrels at Shap Wells
As a teenager living near Warrington, I used to explore the northern parts of Cheshire on my bicycle and clearly remember seeing red squirrels around Dunham Massey, on the fringes on south west Manchester. I’m sure they are long gone and like almost everywhere else in England, they were wiped out by the larger grey …read more
Cherry blossom time, South London
At this time of year my daily walk often takes a left turn down Winterbrook Road in Herne Hill for the spectacular cherry blossom. The Yoshino trees were planted less than a decade ago as an experiment – Yoshinos are usually for parks – but they have been such a success and I doubt I …read more
The day before
With only one day to go before the UK leaves the EU, Remainers from all over the country gathered for a final, well final-ish, protest against Brexit. SODEM intend to keep protesting and holding the government to account. Although Brexit will have been “done” in the sense of leaving the world’s largest free trade bloc, …read more
BJ forced back to Parliament
The day after the UK Supreme Court’s 11-0 verdict had ruled Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament to be illegal, BJ had just arrived to face the House of Commons.
Whitehall Watch
Parliament has been on its summer break since Boris Johnson moved into Downing Street. The new government’s planning for a kamikaze Brexit is being conducted at the Cabinet Office in Whitehall, and the SODEM protesters have started a daily “#Whitehallwatch” protest in that area. Whatever the weather, they are there – and yesterday was very …read more
Another 6pm shout
Last Thursday a far right mob had walked from the Old Bailey to Parliament after their leader had again been sent to prison, this time for activity that endangered the trial of child abusers. Some thugs went straight for the anti-Brexit protesters and forced them to flee. Flags were burnt and poles were broken, but …read more
Daily protest
Every evening the SODEM pro-EU protesters go to the gates outside the Houses of Parliament and tell MPs what to do with Brexit. This is with the Fuji X-T2, shot at 4K, and yes, I know I overcooked the sound. As I have been doing more video, I acquired a Rode VideoMic microphone last week …read more
Yellow vests in Whitehall
On Saturday I was in central London just as a protest march approached the Cenotaph in Whitehall. It turned out to be a “yellow vest” protest mixing chants about Lee Rigby (the soldier murdered in Woolwich by Islamist thugs), prosecution of soldiers for alleged crimes, and in favour of Brexit. Once you’ve got the idea, …read more
The British way
This morning I was idly recording close-up clips of flags fluttering in the sunshine outside Parliament, filler material for other videos, when I heard the angry Brexiter. Maybe some words had already been exchanged between them, but I think he had recognised the elderly former Conservative MP John Gummer and was directing his rant at …read more
Guy Verhofstadt visits SODEM
On Friday May 10, 2019 the former Belgian PM and now head of the EU Parliament’s Brexit committee Guy Verhofstadt was in London to help kick off the Liberals’ campaign for the EU elections. Hold on a second, I thought the EU was supposed to be undemocratic? Anyway, as part of his trip, he arranged …read more
Extinction Rebellion
I’ve just added a couple of new collections of pictures to the site – one on the Brexit protests and another on Extinction Rebellion. A year ago I remember telling a German friend how I have never really felt at home in London, even after 30+ years and how I’ve always thought that in 5 …read more
Musical Monday
Almost three years after making the country an international laughing stock, the Brexiters still don’t agree what Brexit means and Theresa May has failed to force through her “Brexit means Brexit” on March 29. So protesters remain outside Parliament, Brexiters alleging betrayal and treason, Remainers more hopeful that Brexit can be reversed. It’s busier when …read more
1640s timelapse
After experimenting with the iPhone’s standard timelapse feature at the Brexit and Extinction Rebellion protests here in London, I thought it might suit a historical re-enactment that I was going to over the Easter weekend. The phone was left on the tripod while I carried on photographing, and the files were automatically imported into Lightroom …read more
Another day in Brexistan
The scenes outside Parliament continue to fascinate me, and on a nice day it’s too tempting to continue my daily walk round Dulwich and carry on the 4-5km into central London, or I’ll just catch the bus up to Westminster and spend an hour or two there. This was a Wednesday, usually more busy thanks …read more
Brexistani Times
The video does have a few rough edges, but I hope it gives a good impression of the scenes outside Parliament every day. It’s a combination of stills taken on my Fuji X-T2 and video from my iPhone.
Ploughing on….
One morning last week I got home from a brisk walk around Dulwich, pleased to have done my daily exercise and ready to spend the rest of the day working. But I was straight back out of the door soon after turning on the computer and seeing that a local pub had tweeted a video …read more
I often post new pictures to Instagram and odd videos on YouTube. Don’t take this as evidence of any burgeoning or semi-coherent social media strategy, let alone of any ambition to become an “influencer” or whatever. It’s partly a demonstration that I am still alive, if anyone out there is kind enough to wonder.
2017 has been and gone
I knew I was struggling to keep the blog going, but I just realized that I hadn’t made a single “real” post in the whole of 2017! I am still alive, I do tweet, quite often, I still help people in forums, occasionally exchange harsh words too, and Facebook a little too, which I am …read more
#2016top3 3/3 – Grange Crags
The third of my #2016top3 favourite images, a birch and bracken on Grange Crags, has in fact already been on the blog. The photo was taken in mid January, and what I like so much is that the scene was completely different when I first noticed its potential but developed exactly how I imagined it. …read more
#2016top3 2/3 – Honister Pass
You’re looking up the Honister Pass from the Buttermere side, and the lights at the top belong to the quarry. It’s a scene I’ve shot in daytime with the light coming down the valley and picking out the curves of the wet road, but the idea of shooting it at night has been in the …read more
#2016top3 1/3 Rainbows
In the last few days there’s been a Twitter hashtag going round, #2016top3, for your favourite 3 landscapes of the year, and as I had joined in I thought it was a good excuse to get myself back into posting to this blog. I like to get up to Borrowdale early each November. It can …read more
Fuji XT-2 – an easy camera to like
I can’t be the only photographer whose head has been turned by the new Fuji XT-2, and this week I had a great chance to play with one at Fixation in Vauxhall. So if anyone else is wobbling or wondering – and if anyone still reads this blog – I thought I’d jot down my …read more
Locktastic
Locktastic is a simple plug-in for Lightroom 2/3/4/5/6 that: Marks read-only or “locked” files with the red label Selectively imports read-only files from a folder, bypassing LR’s standard import dialog When photographers review images in the field, it’s common to “lock” those that they particularly like. This simple procedure makes it that little bit harder …read more
Syncomatic
Syncomatic (available here) is a Lightroom (3 or later) plug-in that synchronises Library and Develop settings between groups of files: names are identical or differ by a suffix like “-edit” from the top item of a stack to the other stacked items capture times match for processing jpeg files in Lightroom Mobile and updating raw …read more
Bridge scripts
These scripts are all cross platform JavaScript: Copy iView colour label iView_ExMedia _File_Info_Panels_for_CS4.zip iView MediaPro scripts Pseudo ratings for Lightroom contact sheets.zip Set filename to metadata CS2-CS6.zip
Expression Media & iView Mediapro
Scripts – Windows only Browse to custom field url Copy User’s HTML Theme Filename to title Get_MS_Office_document_properties IPTC from first item to rest Keywords from first to rest People to keywords Place as Smart Object in Photoshop Place finder to keywords Run a Photoshop action Search_and_replace Select modified files Select yellow label Sync_files_with_same_names Update records …read more
About the re-enactment project
about the historical re-enactment project What I think makes my historical re-enactment project different is that it combines photography with my long-suppressed aspirations to be an academic historian, specialising in the English Civil War. In a sense, I’m trying to report and explain the war and its lasting impact on British history. Too much Don …read more
Books
I’m a writer who can take good pictures and a photographer who can use words effectively – a combination that doesn’t always go together – and so I hope that my publishers don’t waste time or money correcting grammar or spelling, or sourcing the images that help make the book jump off the shelves. On …read more
Open Directly
Open Directly is a plug-in for Lightroom 2/3/4/5/6 that opens images directly in another program. That other program may be another raw converter, or any program the user chooses. In either case, the plug-in simply sends the original file and invokes the other program. Other raw converters Some Lightroom users want to manage raw files …read more
Search Replace Transfer
Search Replace Transfer is a Lightroom (2 or later) plug-in designed for bulk changes to text in Metadata Panel fields. It searches through the chosen metadata field looking for a word or phrase, and then replaces all its occurrences with alternative text. Searches and replaces text like a word processor Appends text before or after …read more
LR etc
As one of the leading experts on Adobe Lightroom and on DAM systems such as iView and Extensis Portfolio, I work with leading photographers to help them establish robust and efficient workflows. Lightroom pro training Based in London and the North West (elsewhere by arrangement) One to one or small group Screen sharing over the …read more
Contact
You can contact me by email. Please make your subject line obviously human or leave it as set by the link. My Italian is good, and I am OK in French and German. Please don’t blame me for Brexit – it’s really not my fault. Seven years on, that still makes people laugh (and cry). …read more
Photography
I’m not sure one should ever describe or rationalise one’s photography, and categorising it into projects, landscape and historical re-enactment is obviously crude but at least it offers a few signposts and hints. As a teenager I remember seeing the work of photojournalists like Don McCullin or Robert Capa in newspapers and magazines, and was …read more