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BLOG – John Maher’s Photography Blog

22 Aug 2011
Lance Keimig

US Photographer Lance Keimig Visits Harris

US PHOTOGRAPHER LANCE KEIMIG VISITS HARRIS Back home after an afternoon trekking around the south west corner of Harris with Massachusetts based night photographer, Lance Keimig. Lance is conducting one of his annual tours of the Scottish islands. Since 2004 he’s been alternating visits between Orkney and the Western Isles. This year it’s the turn of Lewis and Harris. I first came into contact with Lance after seeing his amazing night photo of Calainis, taken during his tour of the […]

21 Aug 2011
Night photography beginners guide, part 4

Night Photography Beginners Guide, Part 4: Useful Accessories

The best tool I’ve found so far for lighting my night photographs (apart from the moon!) is the Lenser T7 LED torch (note: torch = flash-light in the US).  For it’s size, the T7 is an incredibly powerful torch. I’m sure there are others capable of getting the job done but having used the T7 for more than a year, I see no need to go in search of anything else. It operates off 4 x triple A batteries and […]

05 Aug 2011
The Devil is in the Detail, poster, exhibition, an lanntair

Anatomy of an Exhibition Poster

Anatomy of an Exhibition Poster How two classic mid 1970s punk albums, a raven’s skull and the lighting techniques of  Phoenix based photographer Joel Grimes provided the inspiration for an exhibition poster… Back in February, An Lanntair, the Western Isles’ premier art gallery hosted an exhibition centred around my involvement with high performance aircooled Volkswagen engines, entitled: ‘Muscle: Anatomy of a Racing Engine‘. The plan, according to exhibition director Roddy Murray, was to attract a new group of people into […]

03 Mar 2011
Cuishader, ness, shieling, red door

Cuishader Shielings, Isle of Lewis

CUISHADER SHIELINGS, ISLE OF LEWIS I was hoping for a break in the weather during last month’s full moon (Feb 2011), so I could travel north to Ness again following the previous month’s visit. The plan was to find the shielings at Cuishader. I’d seen several daytime shots of these great little buildings and was keen to give them my night photo treatment. Thursday 17th, the night before the full moon looked the safest bet for the week. The forecast […]

23 Jan 2011

Night Photography Beginners Guide, Part 3: Essential Accessories

Before venturing out on a long night shoot session, three items I find indispensable… tripod battery grip shutter release cable On my first night shoot, I tried getting by without two of the above but very quickly decided I needed all three before my next attempt. 1. Tripod I already had a budget tripod purchased from Jessops many years earlier. It worked OK for fast exposure snapshot type pics but for long exposures it wasn’t sturdy enough. I needed something […]

06 Jan 2011

Night Photography Beginners Guide, Part 2: Choosing a Lens

Two words: “Go Wide!” No, make that three words: “Go Ultra Wide!” For outdoor night photography, a wide angle lens is my first choice. A wide lens gets more stuff into the picture. You can get up close to your subject and still capture an expansive background, whether it be the sky, trees, hills, whatever. As in this shot: Like most of my night photos as of December 2010, I used a Canon 10-22mm lens set to 10mm. You’ll notice […]

03 Jan 2011

Night Photography Beginners Guide, Part 1: Choosing a Camera

I’m often asked about the techniques and equipment I use to create my night photographs. Most enquirers assume it involves lots of expensive equipment. It doesn’t have to. This first chapter in the series is aimed at the absolute beginner;  the person who possibly doesn’t even own a camera yet. I’m going back to the place I was at in early December 2009; no digital camera,  no experience of night photography, no clue how my attempts would turn out but […]

27 Dec 2010
Future Ruin, scarista, isle of harris

The Flying Monk Blog is launched!

THE FLYING MONK BLOG IS LAUNCHED! Making use of the xmas holiday to create this brand new blog. It’ll take time to fill up the various sections and categories but I had to start somewhere! All the best to everyone for the coming year.  

26 Dec 2010

Long exposures during daylight hours

LONG EXPOSURES DURING DAYTIME Cloud and  water movement are transformed when using a neutral density filter, allowing you to take long exposure photographs in bright sunlight without the risk of blowing out the highlights. The technique takes a little effort but once you figure it out, you’ve added another useful photo technique to your skill set. As this category takes shape I’ll explain the theory, technique and practicalities of shooting dramatic long exposure photographs.  

26 Dec 2010

Portraits: strobist style with off-camera lighting

BANG! Low budget strobist techniques explored – flashguns, wireless triggers, shoot through umbrellas, softboxes etc. This shot used 2 x Yong-Nuo 560 flash guns. One at camera right, in front of subject into reflective umbrella, the other bare at camera left, 45° behind subject.