21/5/2013 2 Comments New Look & New (ish) ImagesWelcome to the new look! I felt like it was time for a change! So over the next few weeks I will continue to tweak both this site and my Portraiture site to make it look the best I can. New areas to check out: I have created a new gallery called 'PROJECTS'. This is where i will post my larger scaled projects of which there is so far only one. However, I am currently working on my next project around Conservation in the UK which I shall keep you posted on via my blog! Until then, please do check out the project I have currently uploaded, 'A PORTRAIT OF A FALCONER' by clicking HERE. Slimbridge April 2013Here are a few images that I took in WWT Slimbridge back in April that unfortunately got pushed aside due to Uni deadlines!
2 Comments
13/5/2013 2 Comments Grebes, Cygnets, Badgers & more...
Great Crested Grebe, Burnham
It's been a little while since I've posted a blog, so I thought I would share a few recent images and experiences. I have recently found a new love for the Great Crested Grebe; a wonderful bird that has adapted to living in reservoirs and small canals in and around urban areas. They have a tremendous grace about them that is equaled in both style and character. They wouldn't seem out of place in such countries as Africa with their vibrant orange heads and piercing bright red eyes - so it a truly wonderful thing that they are British birds. I have had the incredible experience to get to work in close proximity with a family of Grebes in Cardiff, gaining their trust, which allowed me to be close enough, even to watch as one parent taught their young to fish only a metre or so away from the tip of my lens. You have not been able to truly appreciate these incredible creature's splendor until you have not only witnessed their famous mating rituals, but also watched them catching fish in relatively clear water - clear enough to see the action! More images of the Grebes and more below. Canary Wharf - Cardiff |
When at Slimbridge I was very lucky to spot a fair few species I hadn't yet had the pleasure of seeing as well as getting a breathtaking sight of seeing three common cranes back in UK, strolling across the countryside thanks to The Great Crane Project (http://www.thegreatcraneproject.org.uk/). Among others, I was lucky enough to see Black-tailed Godwits, a Water Rail,a Snipe and a Whooper Swan. |
Below are just a couple images from the day.
Click images to enlarge.
Click images to enlarge.
Conservation
I mentioned The Great Crane Project earlier and thought I would share a little more. The project was to try and reintroduce the common crane back into the UK after it became extinct from our wetlands hundreds of years ago. There are now about 52 cranes back on the Somerset Levels and several based at Slimbridge where they are being monitored at all times and should hopefully be breeding in this country again very soon.
I have taken a great interest in this whole endeavour and am intrigued by the process of bringing the eggs over from Germany and then the incredible work that Slimbridge staff do to raise them before releasing them onto the Somerset Levels.
During my final year at University I have decided to base my major project on a small percentage of the conservation and protection of wildlife in the UK as well as the introduction of species and their effects. I am hoping to document part of the process of The Great Crane Project as part of this project as well looking into the fight between red and grey squirrels in the Highlands of Scotland, the morals and ethics of feeding wild Red Kites in Wales and the danger Peregrine Falcons face because of their liking for racing pigeons!
I will try and keep this blog updated as I go along and I am very excited to get started so I hope you will enjoy the images as much as I will enjoy taking them!
Many thanks,
Tommy
I mentioned The Great Crane Project earlier and thought I would share a little more. The project was to try and reintroduce the common crane back into the UK after it became extinct from our wetlands hundreds of years ago. There are now about 52 cranes back on the Somerset Levels and several based at Slimbridge where they are being monitored at all times and should hopefully be breeding in this country again very soon.
I have taken a great interest in this whole endeavour and am intrigued by the process of bringing the eggs over from Germany and then the incredible work that Slimbridge staff do to raise them before releasing them onto the Somerset Levels.
During my final year at University I have decided to base my major project on a small percentage of the conservation and protection of wildlife in the UK as well as the introduction of species and their effects. I am hoping to document part of the process of The Great Crane Project as part of this project as well looking into the fight between red and grey squirrels in the Highlands of Scotland, the morals and ethics of feeding wild Red Kites in Wales and the danger Peregrine Falcons face because of their liking for racing pigeons!
I will try and keep this blog updated as I go along and I am very excited to get started so I hope you will enjoy the images as much as I will enjoy taking them!
Many thanks,
Tommy
23/3/2013 0 Comments
2nd Cardiff Based Exhibition
Hey there!
It's been a long while since I've made a post because as is usual, life's been busy with essays and deadlines looming! However, me and some very talented photographers have had a second chance at exhibiting more of our work!
This exhibition is not unfortunately open to the public but if you happen to work or study at the University of Glamorgan then please do take a look on the 2nd floor of the ATRium!
I thought I would share some images of the exhibition as we have all really enjoyed getting the work ready and mounting it on the walls and I think I speak for us all when I say I am really proud of what we achieved.
Here is what our lecturer and mentor, Tim Collier had to say about the work...
Four Photographers - Four Perspectives on Natural History
Four photographers, four pieces of work, each responding to aspects of the natural world and chosen to compliment each other and celebrate the diversity of form found within the discipline of natural history.
Each piece has a simplicity of both form and content and the studio has become, for all of them, a significant element within the work.
For Daniel McNeil the scanner has acted as both camera and studio with each piece of fruit being meticulously sliced and placed on a flat bed scanner giving an extraordinary depth of colour and a very high resolution image, allowing us to move into and through his subjects.
Miriam Brythonig has taken feathers all of a similar hue and photographed them under studio lighting. The delicate structure of the vane and each barb emanating from the rachis, which run vertically across the whole set of images is central to the work and ties the piece together.
Tom Campbell has taken the studio to the birds of prey, setting up in their own territory and producing a set of images showing the birds at ease with both himself and their surroundings. His work looks at the relationship between man, the owls, falcons and hawks and explores the role falconry has had upon our perception and understanding of these imperious creatures.
Jessica Davies sees the outdoors as her studio and controls the lighting and structure of her images as if she were in a traditional photographic studio. Her acute observations of moments within the natural world coupled with an understanding of the fauna she is photographing are key elements to her body of work.
Click images to enlarge
It's been a long while since I've made a post because as is usual, life's been busy with essays and deadlines looming! However, me and some very talented photographers have had a second chance at exhibiting more of our work!
This exhibition is not unfortunately open to the public but if you happen to work or study at the University of Glamorgan then please do take a look on the 2nd floor of the ATRium!
I thought I would share some images of the exhibition as we have all really enjoyed getting the work ready and mounting it on the walls and I think I speak for us all when I say I am really proud of what we achieved.
Here is what our lecturer and mentor, Tim Collier had to say about the work...
Four Photographers - Four Perspectives on Natural History
Four photographers, four pieces of work, each responding to aspects of the natural world and chosen to compliment each other and celebrate the diversity of form found within the discipline of natural history.
Each piece has a simplicity of both form and content and the studio has become, for all of them, a significant element within the work.
For Daniel McNeil the scanner has acted as both camera and studio with each piece of fruit being meticulously sliced and placed on a flat bed scanner giving an extraordinary depth of colour and a very high resolution image, allowing us to move into and through his subjects.
Miriam Brythonig has taken feathers all of a similar hue and photographed them under studio lighting. The delicate structure of the vane and each barb emanating from the rachis, which run vertically across the whole set of images is central to the work and ties the piece together.
Tom Campbell has taken the studio to the birds of prey, setting up in their own territory and producing a set of images showing the birds at ease with both himself and their surroundings. His work looks at the relationship between man, the owls, falcons and hawks and explores the role falconry has had upon our perception and understanding of these imperious creatures.
Jessica Davies sees the outdoors as her studio and controls the lighting and structure of her images as if she were in a traditional photographic studio. Her acute observations of moments within the natural world coupled with an understanding of the fauna she is photographing are key elements to her body of work.
Click images to enlarge
I'd just like to add that all four of us are very grateful to Tim Collier for securing us the space, inspiring us to produce the work and giving up his time to encourage us in making this an exhibition and a series of work to be proud of. It was hard work but we finally got every image straight, most of the pins in straight and most of the walls perfectly white!!
Hope you all enjoy :)
Tommy
Hope you all enjoy :)
Tommy
2/3/2013 1 Comment
Birds of Prey Studio Session 2
Hey there!
It's now March and the exhibition, 'Golau' that I was involved in is finally taken down and we are now working hard on an exciting new, bigger, better exhibition to be displayed in the ATRium, University of Glamorgan in the next few weeks. So watch out!
Alongside that, I have been continuing to work with falconer, Gary Lawrence and his wonderful birds of prey to develop and finish my final falconry documentary project. This project has been ongoing for the last month of so and now I am very excited to say that the final product will be in the form of a book! So I am really looking forward to creating this, but in the meantime I thought it was about time that I finally shared a selection of my final studio shoot.
I hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave me a comment on what you think!
Thanks!
Click images to enlarge.
It's now March and the exhibition, 'Golau' that I was involved in is finally taken down and we are now working hard on an exciting new, bigger, better exhibition to be displayed in the ATRium, University of Glamorgan in the next few weeks. So watch out!
Alongside that, I have been continuing to work with falconer, Gary Lawrence and his wonderful birds of prey to develop and finish my final falconry documentary project. This project has been ongoing for the last month of so and now I am very excited to say that the final product will be in the form of a book! So I am really looking forward to creating this, but in the meantime I thought it was about time that I finally shared a selection of my final studio shoot.
I hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave me a comment on what you think!
Thanks!
Click images to enlarge.
Again, a massive thank you to Gary Lawrence and the rest of the brilliant team at Puxton Park Falconry who have been so incredibly helpful, friendly and accepting of my constant visits!
Tommy
Tommy
15/2/2013 0 Comments
'GOLAU' Exhibition
Hey!
Over the last few weeks myself and two of my best friends and fellow natural history photographers, Daniel McNeil (Daniel McNeil Photography) & Miriam Brythonig have been extremely busy working with our lecturer, Tim Collier (Go check out his wildlife/landscape/ documentary photography and brilliant blog! http://www.timcollierphotography.com/) to prepare for an exhibition that Tim had very kindly secured for us in Cardiff Central Library.
We have been having great fun choosing photos, deciding just how big we could blow them up in print and cutting everything to size.
It was a real hands-on experience that has taught us all a great deal about preparing and printing for exhibitions. This week we were in Cardiff early till very late most days, painting the boards we would be exhibiting on and hanging our work up.
I am very happy and proud to be able to say that 'Golau' is now OPEN!!
Over the last few weeks myself and two of my best friends and fellow natural history photographers, Daniel McNeil (Daniel McNeil Photography) & Miriam Brythonig have been extremely busy working with our lecturer, Tim Collier (Go check out his wildlife/landscape/ documentary photography and brilliant blog! http://www.timcollierphotography.com/) to prepare for an exhibition that Tim had very kindly secured for us in Cardiff Central Library.
We have been having great fun choosing photos, deciding just how big we could blow them up in print and cutting everything to size.
It was a real hands-on experience that has taught us all a great deal about preparing and printing for exhibitions. This week we were in Cardiff early till very late most days, painting the boards we would be exhibiting on and hanging our work up.
I am very happy and proud to be able to say that 'Golau' is now OPEN!!
The ‘Golau’ project is an exhibition of a variety of natural history photographs created by three photography undergraduates. Daniel, Tommy and Miriam met in their first year of Photography at the University of Glamorgan in Cardiff, building a friendship on a combined love of wildlife and landscape.
Now in their second year they have, through guidance from natural history photographer and lecturer, Tim Collier, compiled a broad spectrum of natural history imagery for public display.
14/02/13 - 28/02/13
Now in their second year they have, through guidance from natural history photographer and lecturer, Tim Collier, compiled a broad spectrum of natural history imagery for public display.
14/02/13 - 28/02/13
Cardiff Central Library The Hayes, Cardiff, CF10 1FL |
Click images to enlarge.
Here is a few example images on the posters we made for the exhibition...
Thank you for all the support from everyone who has been involved; in particular Tim Collier whose guidance and expertise has given all three of us such a beneficial experience and knowledge of exhibiting work, as well as an in-depth insight into the world of natural history photography.
Please come along and have a look!!
And in the meantime I will be preparing the 2nd shoot of the Birds of Prey in the studio! I cant wait to show them!
Tommy
Please come along and have a look!!
And in the meantime I will be preparing the 2nd shoot of the Birds of Prey in the studio! I cant wait to show them!
Tommy
30/1/2013 8 Comments
Birds of Prey Studio Session 1
Hello there!
I'm sorry for the lateness of this entry! Due to the majority of England shutting down to a flurry of beautiful white stuff and large amounts of University work - I have not had much chance to make a post.
Saying this however, I have been up to lots of exciting stuff and I couldn't wait to get some of my latest images up on here. I have recently been very very fortunate to go back to Puxton Park Falconry and have been graciously allowed access to several incredible species of birds of prey. All the birds, in the impeccable care of Falconer, Gary Lawrence, were unbelievably happy to fly through and pose within a four light studio set up - until they got bored!
I'd like to take a moment to send out a huge thank you to Gary for his effort and time in this project that is still currently unfinished! He was not only great with getting me the shots that I have only ever dreamed of, but also left me with some great knowledge of each bird which to me as a wildlife nut was priceless information.
I'm sorry for the lateness of this entry! Due to the majority of England shutting down to a flurry of beautiful white stuff and large amounts of University work - I have not had much chance to make a post.
Saying this however, I have been up to lots of exciting stuff and I couldn't wait to get some of my latest images up on here. I have recently been very very fortunate to go back to Puxton Park Falconry and have been graciously allowed access to several incredible species of birds of prey. All the birds, in the impeccable care of Falconer, Gary Lawrence, were unbelievably happy to fly through and pose within a four light studio set up - until they got bored!
I'd like to take a moment to send out a huge thank you to Gary for his effort and time in this project that is still currently unfinished! He was not only great with getting me the shots that I have only ever dreamed of, but also left me with some great knowledge of each bird which to me as a wildlife nut was priceless information.
For those of you interested, I used cheap portable background stands with a bed sheet for a backdrop! (You really don't need to break the bank for great results - especially if your a skint student like myself!) I lit the birds with two Bowen studio lamps (around 500 watts each) borrowed from Uni and two speed-lights with portable pop-up 40x40 softboxes (Nikon SB600 & Neewer TT520).
I changed to a black background as I preferred the effect and simply turned the two Bowens around to create back-lighting.
Meta Data:
Bowens & Speedlights: Quarter Power
ISO 200 // 1/200th Second // around f/11 - f/16 throughout shoot
I changed to a black background as I preferred the effect and simply turned the two Bowens around to create back-lighting.
Meta Data:
Bowens & Speedlights: Quarter Power
ISO 200 // 1/200th Second // around f/11 - f/16 throughout shoot
And now finally...the images! This is just a small selection of what I took.
Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Please do leave me a comment about what you think and if you have any ideas for improvements!
Many thanks,
Tommy
Many thanks,
Tommy
14/1/2013 0 Comments
Backwell Heath
I have finally managed to get out and about with my camera over the weekend thanks to a pleasant but very cold break in the weather! I decided to go to a little location 15 mins walk from where I live in Backwell, a nature reserve with a reasonably large lake. The majority of the place is consists of a large population of mute swans and black-headed gulls, however, a few migrating species turn up to spice things up and as usual for places with these quiet lakes...there is always the elusive kingfisher hiding somewhere!!
Here are a few of the shots I got over the weekend - I decided to convert the really vibrant and colourful Carolina Wood into black and white for the first image purely because I was intrigued to look past the colour and not get held up by it. I was glad I tried because you really don't notice the strong lines of white and textures as well as you do in the conversion!
Click images to enlarge.
Here are a few of the shots I got over the weekend - I decided to convert the really vibrant and colourful Carolina Wood into black and white for the first image purely because I was intrigued to look past the colour and not get held up by it. I was glad I tried because you really don't notice the strong lines of white and textures as well as you do in the conversion!
Click images to enlarge.
4/1/2013 0 Comments
Latest Images & NEW Calendar
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Its been wet and horrible unfortunately this holiday season, so plans to get out on a shoot have been washed away so far! I did however, manage to get out briefly before the sun disappeared today, so I thought I'd share a few images I took today! Mainly only silhouettes and botanical imagery but I liked them...
Click images to enlarge.
Its been wet and horrible unfortunately this holiday season, so plans to get out on a shoot have been washed away so far! I did however, manage to get out briefly before the sun disappeared today, so I thought I'd share a few images I took today! Mainly only silhouettes and botanical imagery but I liked them...
Click images to enlarge.
Before Christmas me and my family decided it might be nice to make a calendar for some close friends and family for the new year! So I thought I would share the final product here!
I made it on Vistaprint and was very pleasantly surprised with both the print quality and the quality of the finished product.
Make your own here!!
Click images to enlarge.
I made it on Vistaprint and was very pleasantly surprised with both the print quality and the quality of the finished product.
Make your own here!!
Click images to enlarge.
Thanks!!
Tommy
Tommy
17/12/2012 0 Comments
WELCOME TO NEW SITE(S) & latest shoot!
Hey!
Welcome to my new site! Over the last few weeks I have been working hard to try and cut down on pointless content and generally make the site more accessible. I hope the changes I have made work (do shout at me if I've made some obvious mistakes!) and that you enjoy the images.
I will continue to try and keep it updated as much as I can!
One of the main changes I have made is to split the 'wild-side' of my photography from the more generic/commercial portraiture side, in order to keep images better organised and easier to find.
You can find my Portraiture right HERE!
http://tommycampbellphoto.weebly.com/
Welcome to my new site! Over the last few weeks I have been working hard to try and cut down on pointless content and generally make the site more accessible. I hope the changes I have made work (do shout at me if I've made some obvious mistakes!) and that you enjoy the images.
I will continue to try and keep it updated as much as I can!
One of the main changes I have made is to split the 'wild-side' of my photography from the more generic/commercial portraiture side, in order to keep images better organised and easier to find.
You can find my Portraiture right HERE!
http://tommycampbellphoto.weebly.com/
FALCONRY PORTRAITS
Recently I was set a brief in my documentary module at Uni, to photograph a day in the life of someone in employment. I decided I would prefer to photograph someone involved in my main passion of wildlife and I was extremely lucky to find a local falconer who kindly agreed to let me follow him around with my camera. Not only did I manage to get the shots I needed but I had an incredible time learning all about Falconry and about some of my favorite birds of prey.
I have put my 3 best images up on my Portraiture site (here!) but I thought I would like to share the entire series on the blog!
Click images to enlarge!
Recently I was set a brief in my documentary module at Uni, to photograph a day in the life of someone in employment. I decided I would prefer to photograph someone involved in my main passion of wildlife and I was extremely lucky to find a local falconer who kindly agreed to let me follow him around with my camera. Not only did I manage to get the shots I needed but I had an incredible time learning all about Falconry and about some of my favorite birds of prey.
I have put my 3 best images up on my Portraiture site (here!) but I thought I would like to share the entire series on the blog!
Click images to enlarge!
Thanks,
Tommy