Simon Coates Photography Blog

SWPP - a waste of time and money

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-08-11T19:31:25+01:00

Enough is enough. The apathy, inflexibility and down-right obstructiveness of the management has resulted in my resignation.

High Cross Show Jumping

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-08-02T20:59:57+01:00

The photographs from today’s High Cross Show Jumping are online here

Rebound 10th Anniversay

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-08-01T11:02:24+01:00

The photographs from the Rebound/Rainsbrook 10th anniversary party at Draycote Hotel are now on line.

High Cross Dressage

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-07-26T17:11:37+01:00

The photos from today’s dressage competition at High Cross Equestrian Centre are now available on line. Please take a look in the gallery.

New events gallery

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-07-19T18:58:09+01:00

We have made some changes to the way in which our online sales are carried out.

High Cross Show Jumping

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-07-19T18:55:55+01:00

The photographs from the High Cross Show Jumping event from the 19 July 2009 are now available in the recent events section of the site.

Midland Irish Draugh Horse Show

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-07-18T19:00:00+01:00

The pictures taken at this year’s Midlands Irish Draught Horse Show which was held at Solihull Riding Club are now available on line for viewing. Please take a look in the recent events section.

Princethorpe College Leaver's Ball

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-06-27T11:49:21+01:00

The photos from the Princethorpe College Leavers’ Ball are now available here. You’ll need the password from the flyers that were available on the night. If you haven’t got one, then please let us know.

New Trailer

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-06-09T22:31:19+01:00

I am fed up with the back breaking task of loading my car. Here’s my solution....

What a trip!

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-04-29T18:11:06+01:00

I’ve just returned from a wonderful trip to Mexico (without flu I might add!) Apart from a dreadful bout of sea-sickness, it was a wonderful trip. Take a peek at the gallery for a sample of the images.

Accreditation

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2009-01-01T00:00:01+00:00

I am delighted to say that I have just been awarded my Licentiateship within the Society of International Nature & Wildlife Photographers. The video below contains the images submitted, set to music .

Charity Event

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2008-10-01T21:27:23+01:00

What a busy day! On the 29th September, the children’s charity Children Today organised a fashion show at the Leamington Bar and Grill in Leamington Spa. The event proved to be very successful and was well attended and raised almost £2000 to help handicapped children.

I’d like to thank Emma at Children Today for inviting me along to the event. Some of the images from the event can be found in the gallery.

Succesful day at Mallory

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2008-06-29T21:31:08+01:00

After a complete wash out at last years British Superbike meeting at Mallory Park, it was great to have a good day’s shooting there yesterday. I think I was perhaps a little trigger-happy, coming away with over 1100 images, but I am really pleased with the shots. Some of the results are in my gallery.

New Online Store Available

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2008-06-02T21:39:52+01:00

I am very pleased to announce that it is now possible to purchase a selection of my images, in a variety of different forms, directly from this website. These include greetings cards, matted prints, framed prints and posters are available from via the “Print Store” button on the top menu.

These prints will be produced by RedBubble.Com, a well respected print fullfilment centre and will be shipped directy to you. RedBubble provide a full satisfaction guarantee, so you can order with confidence.

Uncomfortable Airlines

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2008-04-29T14:50:52+01:00

I just don't understand why airline seats are so uncomfortable. I am writing this blog entry somewhere north of Nova Scotia at 33,000 feet, having been stuck in this seat for 4 hours, with another three to go before I land in New York. Once there, I have to clear customs and then wait for another 3 hours before sitting in another airline seat for 2 1/2 hours.

I think that whoever designs these seats needs shooting. Wouldn't you have thought that one of the design criteria for a seat is that it should be comfortable for those poor fools who have to sit in them for hours on end? I know that they have to be hard-wearing, but do they need to be hard-wearing on my bum too?

While I am ranting, how come I always end up sat behind the pillock who thinks that it is OK to put their seat into the reclined position before we've even left the runway?

So why am I putting myself through this tedium and discomfort? Well, I am currently on my way to Florida for a spot of wildlife photography. For the next couple of weeks I am going to be sitting in a swamp, surrounded by alligators, photographing whatever I can find. I will try and update the website whilst away. Watch this space......

Black Point Compensation

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2008-04-21T19:35:40+01:00

Having done a considerable amount of reading and research into this, it seems to me that there are basically two schools of thought about the use of Black Point Compensation (BPC). I guess that it shouldn't really come as a surprise, given that there are two possible settings!

BPC is controlled from within the printing dialogue within Adobe Photoshop and is provided to allow you to ensure the range of colours that your printer is asked to create falls within those offered by the printer/ink/paper combination you are using. This means that if, say, your printer profile reckons that the deepest black is 15% black, then setting BPC on makes sure that to tonal range is adjusted to fit in from 15% through to paper white.

If you turn off the BPC then there are three possible consequences

1) Nothing happens
2) The print becomes lighter. This will happen if the black point in the image is higher than the one offered by the printer. This results in a low-contrast, washed out, thin print
3) The print becomes darker. This happens if the black point in the image is lower than that offered by your printer combination. This means that the shadow areas of the image will block up and become solid black.

Clearly the last two results are far from ideal, so why run the risk of encountering them? Just leave BPC on!

Revised Website

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2008-04-21T19:26:25+01:00

Over the weekend I revamped this website again - this time I think I am happy with it. For quite some time now I have been using RapidWeaver from RealMacSoftware to edit the site, but I have struggled to come up with a design I liked. A few days ago, that all changed when I discovered the Film Plus theme pack from Henk Vrieselaar. I simply love the feel that this theme gives, and when combined with BannerZest, I think the results look great. Henk also very kindly spotted a slight problem with one of my header graphics, which I'd missed. Thanks for that, you are a star!

Poor Proof Reading.

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-12-29T18:09:24+00:00

For Christmas, I'd asked Santa for a copy of Vincent Versace's book "Welcome to Oz - A cinematic approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop". I'd clearly been a very good boy all year and as a result, the book arrived on Christmas day!

The book consists of a DVD with sample images and a series of tutorials to work through. So far, I've tackled the first two lessons and have been appalled at the number of errors contained within the text. I'm not talking about nit-picking errors like dodgy punctuation, I'm talking about errors in the narrative of the lesson. There are conflicts in the names of layers, figure numbers are wrong, and there use of filenames is wrong - just in the first two chapters! The content of the book looks very interesting, but it is almost entirely useless. The purpose of such a book is to enable the reader to follow the steps and reproduce the work shown, thus educating them on how a particular effect is achieved. When the user has to work out what is wrong with the narrative, learning is impeded.

I've emailed the publisher's, Peach Press, as well as the author, to ask if there is an addendum available. I'll let you know the answer!

Leaving Dunchurch Photographic Society

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-10-28T15:24:50+00:00

It is with considerable regret that I have reached a point where I have felt it necessary to resign as President of Dunchurch Photographic Society. Over the last few months I have become increasingly exasperated in the way in which the Society was being run. There has, to my mind at least, been a concerted effort to "dumb down" the Society, supposedly in an effort to encourage new members. There seems to be a belief that just because a member is new to the Society, that they do not know what they are doing photographically - which is not a safe assumption to make.

I also feel that the current chairman has a tendency to treat the membership as though they were in infant school. A few weeks ago he sent an email to the committee members about "Competition Etiquette" which he planned to deliver to the general membership as no one had told him how to behave during competitions. I said that I thought that it was unnecessary because it as simply "common sense" how you should behave. After a flurry of emails, the chairman agreed that he would not deliver the sermon. Yet, after I had judged the Society's "Novices Trophy", the Chairman got to his feet and delivered his "Competition Etiquette" lecture, despite the fact that absolutely no one had done anything wrong. Everyone had behaved impeccably.

During the email conversation that I had had with the Chairman, I also expressed concern about the fact that he intended to fill the remainder of the evening, after the judging of the Novices Trophy, with a discussion and example of how to mount prints and how to resize images for competition. This struck me as being particularly useless, since it would have made more sense to do it at some point prior to the competition. I also felt that it was of no use at all to the majority of the membership, as they already know how to do these things. The Chairman's response of "the more experienced members can leave at half-time" was unbelievable. The more "experienced" members pay the same membership fees as everyone else and yet the content of the evening is being pitched at such a level as to exclude them.

The Chairman has also made numerous jibes about the "awkward people with Macintosh computers", which he now claims were just examples of his sarcastic sense of humour. These comments were even made, during a guest lecturer's presentation, which I feel was completely out-of-order.

After I tendered my resignation, the Chairman sent a reply to all of the committee saying that he had "gone out of his way to ensure that Macintosh users were not disadvantaged". This is a bare-faced lie. The reason that the Society purchased extra memory for the laptop was not for the benefit of Mac users, it was because the laptop could not run PicturesToExe presentations correctly. Indeed, the minutes from October's committee meeting state that the Society would have to rely on hardware provided by myself (or another member - not the chairman) in order to run the AV evenings.

In addition to the "jokes" at my expense, the final insult came on the opening night of the Society's annual exhibition. The chairman was taking full control of the proceedings and was welcoming everyone as they arrive. After I had chatted with him amicably for a few minutes he ushered me inside as he was "waiting for the Mayor to arrive". As the evening proceeded, the Mayor was introduced to numerous members of the Society, but she was never introduced to me - the Society's President. I felt that this was a deliberate act on behalf of the Chairman.

After I had decided that the only option available to me was to resign, I sent my letter to the Society's Secretary and then on to the members of the committee. Since I had been elected to the position by the membership of the Society, I thought it only right and proper that the membership be told why I was leaving. As a result, I posted a message in the "news" section of the Society's website. A few hours later, the Chairman rang me up to demand that I remove the article, as it may deter potential new members from joining the Society. I refused to remove the article as I felt that it was in the correct place and I suggested that if he wanted it removed, he should do it himself - which he did.

Given the dictatorial way in which the Society is currently being run, and the seemingly incessant drive to lower the aspirations of the membership, I feel that there was no option but for me to leave. I certainly bear the Society no ill-will and I wish them every future success.

End to a successful Exhibition

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-09-10T19:08:13+01:00

Well, that's the exhibition put away again after a successful couple of weeks. During the exhibition, I had 409 visitors through the doors and I managed to raise over £90 for the RSPB's Save the Albatross appeal.

I'd like to thank Bob Mercer, John Hughes, Judy Longthorn, Eddie White and Richard Anthony from Dunchurch Photographic Society for generously giving up their time to sit in during the mornings. I would also like to thank my Mum for helping putting the exhibition on the wall as well as taking it down. Finally, I would also like to thank Tina, my better-half, for all of her support.

"More intresting (sic) than we thought"

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-09-07T14:56:52+01:00

The exhibition is going reasonably well, with over 300 people having visited so far which is great stuff! Picture sales have been lower than I had hoped, but the bookmarks have been a great little money-spinner for the RSPB's Save the Albatross Appeal. I reckon that I've sold about £60 so far which means that it was definitely worth the effort in producing them.

The comments that have been written in the Gallery's comment book have been very nice indeed. It is always nice to read what people have to say about my photographs. The comment that tickled me the most was "It was more intresting (sic) than we thought". I can just imagine that it was written by some poor child who'd been dragged in here against their will..... :)

Good food in Rugby???

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-08-31T16:07:42+01:00

...there's somewhere good to eat in Rugby at last!

Following the opening night of my exhibition, my fiancee and I went to celebrate along with a couple of friends. Whilst Rugby town is blessed(??) with a wide variety of dining establishments, including all of the usual chain eateries, there has been a serious lack of fine dining in town. That is no longer true with the opening of the "Winter Palace", which is at the end of High Street, opposite ASK. The restaurant has only recently opened and the decor inside is very nice - quite restrained. Initially we were all rather unimpressed with the menu as it didn't seem to be particularly spectacular. That said, the food was simply stunning - cooked to perfection!

Possibly the best thing, however, was the fact that the wait-staff didn't keep hovering, asking if we were enjoying the food. All in all, we thought that it was an excellent meal, served in pleasant surroundings and at a reasonable price. I hope that the restaurant becomes the success it deserves.

Exhibition Opens

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-08-30T16:35:29+01:00

Well, we managed to get the exhibition up onto the walls in record time on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon - 2 hours and 56 minutes! So far the comments have been very positive and everyone who has taken the time to speak to me has been very pleasant indeed. As I have previously mentioned in this blog, the exhibition is trying to raise funds for the RSPB's Save the Albatross appeal. The RSPB kindly sent me a collection box and some appeal badges but the Gallery refused me permission to put out the collection tin.

In order to get around this restriction, I decided to produce a selection of different bookmarks with a retail price of £1.25 - at least a pound of which will be donated to the appeal. If the Borough Council do not insist on their 25% +VAT slice of the bookmarks, I will donate all of the proceeds to the appeal. As of the time of writing I have sold 24 bookmarks - time to print some more: I made 40 of them and more than half of them have gone inside two days!

Fame at last!

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-08-14T20:47:00+01:00

Thanks must go to the excellent job done by the Rugby Times! Another full-page spread about the exhibition in today's issue. A copy of the article can be found at www.wildsnaps.com/press/rugbytimes.pdf

Exhibition Prints complete!

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-07-30T20:02:00+01:00

At long last! I've completed mounting all of the prints for the exhibition. I now have 48 20x16" prints that just need labelling, cataloguing and fixing to the wall. I also need to design and print the advertising posters. Still, there's still 27 whole days before I need to have everything done. I am sure I'll be ready. Well, pretty sure anyway. ;)

Exhibition work goes on...

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-07-17T12:14:35+01:00

Work is progressing well on producing the images for this year's exhibition - Antarctica. I have now completed approximately half of the required work. This time around I am working with Permajet's excellent Fibre-based gloss paper, which is wonderful paper to print on: it really does give the feeling of a traditional print. All of the photographs have been printed using an Epson Stylus Photo R2400 which has been modified to use Permajet's Eco-flow system. This means that instead of using loads of ink cartridges, the printer has been modified to use larger bottles of ink, which is fed to the print-head via direct injectors.

I was apprehensive of fitting this to my shiny new printer, but it is just so much more cost effective. Previously I had used the Lyson Continual Ink System with my old Canon S9000 printer and found it to be messy and problematic at times. So far, with six months of use, the Permajet system has yet to cause me any problems at all.

For more information about both the Ink-flow system and the Fibre-based gloss paper, please take a look at Permajet's website.

Welcome to the new site

simon@wildsnaps.com — 2007-07-14T17:42:04+01:00

Well, after many aborted attempts, I have finally found something that seems to work reasonably well when it comes to building websites on the Macintosh. Over the years, I have tried numerous applications both on Windows and on the Apple Macintosh and have plumped form Rapidweaver to build this new-look site. :)