SNOW TIME - WITH CAT SLEIGH

 Twelve months or so ago I shot some winter images with model Cat Sleigh out in the snow. We had had 3 inches of powder over night and was the perfect opportunity to work on a winter clothing fashion look book. Taking a walk up and over the hills towards the canal and beyond we hunted for a nice area to shoot some images in. Borrowing some hats, scarves and gloves to use during the shoot we carried everything across to the field. It was a really fun shoot to do, experimenting with different clothes and having a laugh with the snow. We put some snow in Cat's hair and lay on the ground in snow to create the ulitmate winter effect. I've recently re-edited some of these images with the new presets I have within Lightroom 5 and discovered some nice styles.Boosting the blue colour hues and brightening the whites has helped to lift the photos in the edit.

LIGHT UP THE NIGHT - WITH LUCI FISH

It may be dark outside but you still want to look good and keep warm in the process. I teamed up with model Luci again to create some fantastic night time fashion inspiration. Warm fur coats and hats mixed with autumninal colours create a great fashion style for this time of year. Taking a short break in shooting we grabbed a cup of tea in the Lowry Theatre and waited for the light to fade so we could begin our night time shoot.

Night time photography is a tricky thing. The low level light is a problem for capturing images properly without blurring or you need an awful lot of external light sources to provide adiquate light. Flash guns are great to lighting up a situation but often leave the scene blown out and as an unflattering light source. This is where Front and Rear Curtain Sync flash come in.

Rear Curtain Sync makes your camera fire the flash at the end of the exposure. So when you press the shutter the lens open and starts collecting light and just before it closes the flash will fire to light up and freeze your main subject. Conversely Front Curtain Sync makes your camera fire the flash at the start of the exposure. For example when you press the shutter, the flash will fire immediately and the shutter will remain open afterwards capturing ambient light. Both of these methods are used in night club and action sports where the light levels are particularly low. We experimented with both of these settings and eventually having to stop due to a down pour of rain. The idea was to get the flash to highlight Luci and the ambient light of the traffic passing and city scape to create light streaks behind her.

GOING PRO - WITH THE GOPRO HERO 3

The worlds most versitile camera just got a whole lot better with the new updated GoPro Apps for smart phones and tablets. By connecting your smart phone to the Hero3 over a wireless connection gives you full control of cameras functions. The best function is by far the live preview so you can see exactly what the camera is capturing. This isn't the most in depth review you'll find on the web and I wont go in to detail about the camera features only the app itself. This is normally a very difficult thing to gauge as the GoPro cameras are too small to fit a digital screen to display the output so you are reduced to just guessing if the position/framing is correct for your shot. GoPro do manufacture a LCD backpack screen optional extra to tune of approx £80 if you wish to have a screen attached, however the new app does away with that necessity.

Another feature of the app is that you can control the camera remotely making changes to the settings now couldn't be easier. Every option is available from adjusting the frame rate, checking battery life or stop start recording. This is so much easier on a large touch screen phone than messing around with the buttons on the front of the camera.You can instantly review whatever you have just captured in the instant playback option so browsing your footage is nice and simple away from a computer. The app now gives you the option to copy or download content directly to your smart phone for instant sharing online. If you can't wait to show the world what you are up to it's very easy to download a GoPro snap shot to your phone and upload to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for example.

Aesthetically the app itself is simple, slick and easy to use just like everything made by the GoPro company. It comes with website enabled Photo/Video of the day features too or go to the online shop which are all standard features of apps these days.

I've experimented abit with the features on the app and I'm very happy with how it all works. The remote features and live preview are by far my favourite and will be so useful when rigging the camera to a kayak, climbing helmet or cars as you can check the shot straight away. There is around a 1 to 2 second time delay with the live preview because of the wireless connection from camera to phone but this really doesn't matter in the slightest.

WINTER FASHION LOOK BOOK - WITH LUCI FISH

Heading out to the Media City UK area of Salford Quays we shot the set on the dock side for an urban twist. The cold colours of the metal, concrete and water accentuated the clothes Luci was wearing, a blue metal studded denim jacket, blue leggings and beanie hat accessories. We were dodging the elements whilst shooting these as the wind was a big factor constantly blowing Luci's hair and a light sprinkling of rain threatened to stop us all together. In the end though I think the photos convey beautifully the colour tones of the area, clothes and style we wanted to achieve. Autumn/Winter chic at its best.

IF YOU FALL, PICK YOURSELF UP AND TRY AGAIN

''If you don't reach out and commit to it you'll never get there'' came the immortal words of wisdom from one of my friends recently sortly followed by another jem ''if you fall just pick yourself up and start again''. This could have been one of those cheesy life coach quotes but it actually relates to rock climbing at the time. I might have only been 3 foot off the ground but suspended on a 45 degree overhang was no time to delve deeper in to the meaning of those words other than to try not to hit the ground. We'd come to an indoor climbing centre to have a laugh and I'd brought my camera long to get some shots. Now first off I'm going to be honest taking good photos of people rock climbing is very hard. After several attempts you either end up with a lot photos looking up at peoples bums and backs or as the name suggests, alot of rocks. Indoor climbing usually has its own problems of low level light and so images of people climbing can blur easily. The challenge then is to capture the climbing but without photographing the actual climbing.

From an artistic point of view climbing equipment is vibrant in colour and there are plenty of things to focus on from hand holds and chalk bags to ropes and climbing shoes. The climbing itself was good fun and I managed to get a few good images from the day too. As it turns out despite the wise words of wisdom I still have some way to go before I master the overhang climb. Somethings need patience, confidence and abit of experience. Not unlike photography really. You don't know what will happen unless you try.