Edinburgh Festival street performers

On a trip to Scotland I fought against my instinct to take the digital camera and took two film cameras instead. A 1980's Nikon SLR and a 1950's Zeiss 120 folding camera, both of which I hadn't used for ages.
It was a great experience to go back to using film and especially shooting manually again. I took a few photos at street level in Edinburgh where the fringe was in full swing - the Zeiss Ikon really was a dream to use and has inspired me to shoot manually more often with the digital SLR to capture the decisive moment more spontaneously.
The first chap was handing out flyers and when I raised the camera in his direction he threw this impromptu pose. Not long after I glanced round and happened to see the girl stood on the bollard cheerily handing out fliers as though she was on an island in the torrent of tourists passing by.

Dungeness in the evening light

I've been to Dungeness before - two photographer friends introduced me to the area about a year and a half ago. This time I looked out of the window on a Friday afternoon, checked the weather forecast and agreed that it would be a particularly good weekend for the weather. So, the bag was packed, tent lobbed in the car and off I went.
Dungeness has a unique feel to it in the day time but even more so in the dusk. I took time waiting for the light to mature - the nuclear power station caught my eye unlike it ever had before when all the lights started to come on. It took up a rather pleasant appearance compared to how it looks in the day. However, I was specifically interested in getting some low light shots of the boats on the foreshore and I succeeded in the brief spell of perfect light before I went off to pitch the tent in the darkness.

Sleeping

Hampton Court Palace in the mist

Welcome

Welcome to my photo blog. This site is for me to store and display recent work. If you would like to see more work please use the links to the right.

I've been photographing since 1999 while studying Architecture and Conservation. In this time I've gone from helping at a photography club right through to the faced paced world of wedding photo shoots. Commissions include architectural photography for Latham Architects based in Derby, photography for the National Trust and Historic Royal Palaces.

I continue to use 35mm and medium format film and have a passion for using and repairing classic cameras. A large part of my photography is now produced using digital cameras and the digital dark room.

Work is available for purchase and commissions can be considered. You can get in touch via my website http://www.sjsphotos.co.uk

Sam