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Sunday, 8 June 2008 

The Romantic Norfolk Coast


The Romantic Norfolk Coast



Good friend, and fellow Painter with Light John Duckett, has just released his first book "The Romantic Norfolk Coast". Its full of his stunning images from the and well worth a look.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 12:49 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, 3 April 2008 

Big Prints

There are few times in my life when I have unrolled the contents of a cardboard tube and exclaimed "wow" but this weekend was one of them!

I have just had some large A1 sized prints made of some of my favourite pictures and I have to say I am very impressed. Up till now I have not bothered getting large prints done as finding a supplier who can reliably reproduce images at a reasonable price can be a bit of a pain, I often have been disappointed with the results…but not now!

My prints were produced by Dave Newton of Photopositive, for those of you who don’t know Dave he is the technical editor of CPN (Canon Professional Network) and EOS Magazine and more importantly he is very, very picky. Years of testing cameras and lenses means that he knows "pin sharp" from just "sharp" and he knows a good colour rendition from a bad one. Dave’s site features printing services, which uses a simple 4 part process to produce your prints:

  • Preparation - simply sort out the pics you want printed and create a text file explaining what you want printed.
  • Upload - either ftp or snail-mail the files.
  • Payment - The site features a rather wizzy javascript calculator that works out the pricing for you. You then click the paypal button to pay (using either your paypal account or a credit card).
  • Wait - for your prints soon your prints will arrive through your (or even your customers) door.
Defences at Dawn (looks great printed large)
(Click to view large)

Now I have a reliable supplier, it won't be long before I am offering large prints of some of my more popular shots.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 13:00 0 Comments Links to this post

Wednesday, 2 April 2008 

Fotoritim Photo Magazine

I am rather chuffed that the Turkish web based photography magazine Fotoritim have just done a feature on me. If you don't read Turkish the English translation is further down the page.

A big thank you to Levent Yildiz at Fotoritim for taking the time to produce such an excellent magazine.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 07:49 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, 20 March 2008 

Painters with Light Gallery Owners Presentation

The Painting with Light team get quite a few enquiries from gallery owners about exhibitions and being visually orientated folk we decided to create a presentation about the group and its work. Dave Peck did all the hard work, designing and building a powerpoint presentation to showcase our work.

The thing is, powerpoint is not really a format you want to stick on the web. So I have used authorPoint Lite to convert the presentation to flash and then stuck it on some spare webspace. If you get a spare few minutes, why not take a look at the Painitng with Light Society Gallery Owners Presentation and let me know what you think.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 11:34 0 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, 26 January 2008 

Robert Capa - Lost Negatives Found

I see that Robert Capa's Lost Negatives from the Spanish Civil War have been found.

Having recently finished The Battle for Spain, I can't wait to see what comes from them. Lets hope this wasn't his "ones I got wrong" box!



Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death
1936 Robert Capa

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:29 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, 17 January 2008 

Giving the place a polish

I'm slowly working through my jobs to do list and have got round to updating some of my galleries.

Please take a look at my updated 2007 portfolio and London Light/London Life galleries, hope you find some images their that you enjoy.


Mountain Light
(from the 2007 Portfolio)

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 22:33 2 Comments Links to this post

Monday, 7 January 2008 

One Year On

Well It seems I have now been blogging for a whole year, and what an adventure it has been. When I started I got excited if I had more than 3 visitors to my site a day, now I get disappointed if the daily visitors drop below 150 and amazingly 400 of you think that my random ramblings are worth subscribing to!

A huge thank you to all of you who read this stuff. Those of you who comment and send me emails about the blog are much appreciated too.

So what have we learned over the last year?
I try to keep this blog fresh by leaping from the technical, to the humorous, to the philosophical to the just plain ranting. Hopefully I will be able to keep up the standard for 2008.

I wish you all a very happy 2008.
Chris

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 08:00 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, 13 December 2007 

Do you suffer from TAM?

Territorial Artistic Myopia (or TAM) for short. Is a terrible disease that can affect the photographer when he/she leasts expects it. This informative article by Harry Nowell allows you to identify the symptoms and administer the treatment to stop TAM blighting your life.

Personally I have found that my Friday Lunchtime Project has gone a long way to alleviating the symptoms of TAM. Here is the result of last Fridays trip and a strange attraction to air conditioning vents:

Going Up
(Click to view large)

Keep looking at the world anew and you should be able to banish TAM from your life.


Related Posts

Life Round Lloyds
A New Years Resolution
In the City
The Friday Project Update
Another Friday Project Update

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 08:00 0 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, 24 November 2007 

Painters With Light Exhibition opens in Norfolk

Regular readers will be aware that I am a member of The Painting with Light Society - A group of Landscape Photographers from East Anglia. There are eight of us in the group including such talented folk as Jon Gibbs who won Landscape Photographer of The Year and Ian Flindt who had five pictures Highly Commended in the same exhibition.

Our latest exhibition has just opened at The Stable Gallery, Kelling, near Holt. The Exhibition runs from 24th Nov - 23rd Dec.

Happisburgh Dawn
(Click...or visit the exhibition to view large)

The exhibition will feature the work of all 8 members of the society together with prints from a guest photographer, Kate Barclay. In total over 40 framed prints will be on display.

Framed or Mounted prints will be available for purchase so why not pop along for a look if you are in the area.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 17:48 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, 2 November 2007 

Lemon ~ Limited Edition Management ONline (an update)

It has been pointed out to me that version of my Limited Edition Management system Lemon that could be downloaded from the download page, was not the version stated.

Well it turns out I was caught out by a case sensitive webserver, it should be sorted now so those of you who need it can download Lemon version 1.1 here.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 08:00 0 Comments Links to this post

Monday, 22 October 2007 

The Friday Project - Another Update

Autumn in the City (Southwark Cathedral)

Being a successful blogger is all about giving your readers what they want. Hardly a day goes by with out an email arriving asking how my Friday Project is going. So for all of you who need to know here is an update.

Wood and Glass (Near City Hall)

I'm no longer heading out into the city on my own as I am now often joined by my friend Steve. Steve is new to photography and it's great to go shooting with someone for whom it's all new. Also Steve is a security guard magnet so whilst he is explaining to the security guard that he is not a professional/terrorist/pervert I can get on with the business of taking pictures.

Ropework (St.Katherines Dock)

The exercise of creating images in harsh lighting with limited time is still very stretching and pushes my creativity much further than turning up somewhere that is very photogenic and having all day to shoot it.

Instrumental (Royal Festival Hall)

Related Posts
Life Round Lloyds
A New Years Resolution
In the City
The Friday Project Update

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 13:00 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, 19 October 2007 

Starving a dog to death for "Art"

[[off-topic alert]]

A Costa Rican "artist" has captured a street dog then tied it up and allowed it to starve to death in the name of art. The full story can be found here.

[[rant alert]]
For a while now "conceptual" art has been the big thing in the art world. The trouble is most of the "concepts" on show are banal in the extreme, so artist move towards shock as a way to provoke a reaction. I am sure that the art intelligentsia are already moving to defend this "work" as provocative, ground-breaking or some other load of old tosh. It seems to be in their interests to push the idea that it's really just that detractors don't understand the art and if you were as clever and educated as they are you would understand and appreciate it. This smacks of the Emperors New Clothes to me.

On his blog the Artist/Animal-abuser points out that the dog was sick and would have died sooner or later anyway. Well wouldn't we all! It's the bit between birth and death that makes the difference. We all have the capacity to act as devils or angels and it's the choices we make that are important. But of course offering comfort, medical care and food to a dying animal wouldn't have given him the column inches he craves.

Apparently the abuser asked that people did not feed the dog or give it water and the visitors to his exhibition complied. Their appreciation of "art" apparently out-weighed any humanity they had. This art diminishes the humanity of all those who come into contact with it - how can that be of benefit to anyone?

The apologists will make claims that we shouldn't interfere with the artists vision...what complete b*****ks. If the artists vision had been to nail poor/sick children to the wall of his gallery - would we allow that? after all they were going to die any way.

The final thing you hear trotted out is that the important thing is that the art "provoked a reaction". Well whoopy-dee, provoking a reaction is easy - if you don't believe me next time you are in work, take a dump on your boss's desk!

As far as I am concerned there is no justification for this sort of abuse as art and I sincerely hope that Guillermo Vargas starves to death sometime soon.
[[\rant alert]]

I have not linked directly to Guillermo Varga as hell would freeze over before I help someone like that improve their pagerank.
[[\off-topic alert]]

Related Posts
Puppy Farms
14 Months On

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 09:50 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, 28 September 2007 

Journalist killed in Burma


It's just mazing the dedication shown by this photojournalist as he carries on recording the police violence in Burma as he lays dying. Lets hope it helps the people of Burma gain freedom.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 07:49 0 Comments Links to this post

Monday, 24 September 2007 

Jon Gibbs - Take a bow

I am really pleased to see that Jon Gibbs (previously a shepherdpics photographer of the month and a fellow member of The Painting with Light Society) has won the prestigious Landscape Photographer of the Year 2007 competition. With this stunning image:


Storm over Scroby Sands wind farm, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England
by Jon Gibbs

In the same competition another shepherdpics featured photographer (who says I don't know class when I see it) and fellow Painter with Light Ian Flindt received a Highly Commended for this shot:


 The Old Pier, Walberswick, Suffolk, England
by Ian Flindt

Big congratulations to both of them.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 11:38 0 Comments Links to this post

Tuesday, 4 September 2007 

We got an award!

Well September has only just started and it's a pretty fine month in my opinion. After an August where events conspired to stop me taking hardly any pictures at all, I managed to get down to Leigh-on-Sea for the dawn on Saturday morning and capture some interesting light.


Moonlight Fossett
(Click to view Large)

In addition I am chuffed to bits that this site has been awarded "website of the month" by Outdoor Photography magazine. It's actually for the October issue but magazines being what they are the issue is out now. A big welcome to all those hundreds (indeed hundreds, I checked my logs) of people who saw the article and decided to check out the site. Hope you will stick around.

The final piece of good news is that I have a gig. Yes a gig, not an exhibition. I have been invited to exhibit my pictures as part of a charity concert. More details real soon.

Yup, September is a good month.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 08:00 2 Comments Links to this post

Monday, 30 July 2007 

Life round Lloyds

Judging from the constant barrage of emails I receive, for many of you hardly a day goes by without you wondering how I am doing with my new years resolution. Well here is another instalment.

Last week I visited the area around Lloyds of London to get myself a few shots of the new Willis Building. Unfortunately its still surrounded by hoardings at the ground floor level, so I had to content myself with what shots I could get giving the beautiful sweep of this building.

The Willis Building
(Click to view large)

After that I decide to try an abstract of a nearby tower.

Pyramid
(Click to view large)

and then tried to capture the hustle and bustle of the city.

Steps
(Click to view Large)


Related Posts
A New Years Resolution
In the City
The Friday Project Update

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:00 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, 13 July 2007 

Thieving Swine

Its not an uncommon event for people to steal images of photo sharing sites and pass them off as their own work. Usually it is just a kid who enjoys getting the adulation from their piers on the site. They are usually caught out by other photographer who notice a sudden improvement in the quality of their work or just recognise other peoples shots.

Whilst annoying for the photographer who actually took the shots, the disruption doesn't last long as most sites have staff and moderators who are well experienced in dealing with this sort of thing. But today Paul Indigo brings us news of A stolen picture winning a prize in a photo competition. The brazen cheek of the thief involved is amazing - how did he think he would not go undiscovered.

It begs the question how do you prove that you took a particular image? All I can recommend is that you keep hold of your raw files and make sure they are backed up and archived so that you can get your proof if you need it.

Update

Stephen Baker, the same member of the Fuji website has stolen yet another photo from Trekearth and used it in the current Fuji competition. The photo belongs to TrekEarth member: Antonio (aznegrao) and the photo is named 'The Capoeira'.

Stephen Baker has posted the photo on the competition entry page as seen on the Fuji website.


Related Posts

Archiving

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 07:02 0 Comments Links to this post

Sunday, 1 July 2007 

Seeing are Photographers of the Month for July

The Seeing Group are a group of 8 nature photographers from the South East of England who consistently produce the most outstanding Natural history images.



Quoting from the Seeing Group site:

This website has been set up to display wildlife and Nature images of Britain from a group of photographers who wish to put something back into the wildlife conservation efforts of our various charitable Trusts.

To achieve this, the photographs on this website are available Free of charge to registered charities and Organisations working in the spirit of Wildlife conservation and education for use in their media. All other use will be charged at commercial rates.
Great to see nature photographers respecting their subjects and giving back to the groups who look after them.

Previous Photographers of the Month

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 07:03 0 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, 23 June 2007 

Only 186 Shopping days to Christmas

Now that we are past the summer solstice and the nights have started drawing in thoughts inevitably turn to what to buy our loved ones for Christmas. Well why not go for the very personal and desirable gift of a watercolour painting of a loved one.

My wife, Maria, is a rather talented water-colour artist who paints water-colour images from a photo. She will produce an individual A4 size painting from a photograph for £75, but be warned she gets very booked up near to Christmas so now is a good time to order.

Below are some examples of her work. If you are interested then please use the Contact Form and she will be in touch to discuss your requirements.



Original


Watercolour



Original




Watercolour

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 16:01 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, 24 May 2007 

Hay you, hope you are well

Well May has been an absolutely rubbish month for me. At the beginning of the month I was hit by the flu from hell, weeks of feeling completely lethargic meant that updating my blog or playing around with Lightroom just seemed too much like hard work. I'm better now, so I will try to resume normal service and catch up with all the things I promised people I would do.

So here is a quick update on what has been happening in my world:

My confinment left me with a laptop as a companion and I spent most of the time on Ephotozine. In April Ephotozine (Epz) had a major make-over with a new codebase and look, the changeover to the new system was quite a rough ride and to help guide users round the system and deal with the problems raised I was elevated from Photo Locations Editor to the status of moderator...a bit of a poacher turned game-keeper thing I think. If you are not a regular visitor to Epz why not pop over and have a look round the refurbished pad.

Many mails have been flying back and forth between the members of the Painting With Light Society and some very exciting developments are afoot. I can't tell you much at the moment but when we have something to announce you will be sure to see it here.

Over at Chapter Thirteen a group of talented photographers have put together what is starting to become a very exciting and useful site. Why not check it out.

Finally I felt so miserable over the month that only one thing could cheer me up - a new lens! I treated myself to a 300mm f/4 L EF and the x1.4 converter. I only got to use it for the first time on the 22nd May but I am already impressed with the results. It's dead sharp and produces beautiful bokeh and it's white and very long...what more could one want?

Here is one of my first attempts with my new toy:

Smudge 14 Months On - 20D, 300mm f/4 L EF and x1.4 converter
(Click to view large)

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 11:46 0 Comments Links to this post

Wednesday, 31 January 2007 

Puppy Farms

[[off-topic alert]]

I know this mainly a photographic blog, but hopefully you will forgive me this small divergence.

Smudge, who is one of our two cocker-spaniels, was rescued from a puppy farm nearly a year ago. Puppy farms are really horrible places that make battery farming look pleasant. "Rescued" doesn't mean that she was removed from the place by force, but rather that a dog rescue organisation had managed to convince the puppy farmer to hand over any "used" or "worn-out" dogs, rather than shoot them or club them to death.

When we got her, she was little more than skin and bones - because feeding her well would have reduced profits. Huge lumps of her coat were bald and she was terrified of human contact.

Please sign this petition (and forward on to anyone else you think would sign).
We need to stop this evil trade, and the horrendous treatment of dogs like Smudge.

Thank you for reading

[[/Off Topic Alert]]


To bring this (kind of) on topic, here is a picture of smudge as she is now; fighting fit, with a glossy coat and slightly less fear of people...oh and a cracking Clement Freud impression.

Smudge: Canon 20D 17-85EFS
(Click to view large)

The shot was taken in the garden on a bright sunny day. To achieve the black background effect I simply painted it in in Photoshop and applied a levels adjustment so that the black points in the coat matched the black I was using.

I got the idea for this technique from The Ephotozine Guide to Great Photography, highly recommended and full of inspiring photographs.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 13:25 6 Comments Links to this post

Sunday, 14 January 2007 

I made the papers

I have had a picture in The East Anglian Daily Times yesterday. As part of a three page feature on the exhibition at The Basement Gallery, Ipswich.

The picture chosen was "May in July", taken at sunset on Derwent Water. I haven't actually seen the paper myself as I am well out of their circulation area, but I am told it looks good.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 16:45 2 Comments Links to this post

Friday, 5 January 2007 

I'm a Blogger

Well I've finally given in and joined the blogsphere. I've just converted all the existing shepherdpics news feed to a blog format and though there is still a bit of work to do, I thought I would release my random ramblings on the world.

Hopefully you will find my musing on digital photography and anything else that catches my eye of interest. Please feel free to comment on my blogs as I love getting feed back.

Chris

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 08:04 0 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, 16 December 2006 

Sharpening Actions

Sandra Myers has supplied some actions to help with sharpening of digital images in Photoshop. As Sandra was kind enough to make them available to people for free - we have been kind enough to host them here for her.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 19:55 0 Comments Links to this post

Wednesday, 13 December 2006 

Dave Peck is Photographer of the month

Dave peck, is the shepherdpics featured photographer for December.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:06 0 Comments Links to this post

Digital Velvia Actions

I thought it was about time I made available to everyone the actions I use to emulate the effect of Fuji Velvia. You can find them on this page.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 19:53 0 Comments Links to this post

Wednesday, 6 December 2006 

Painters With Light Exhibition opens at The Basement Gallery

A small exhibition by The Painters with Light Society, opens at The Basement gallery, Ipswich. The work displayed can be found here

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:08 0 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, 2 December 2006 

Landscape photography pre-flight checklist

Landscape photography involves getting up so very early in the morning that it's easy to forget equioment and that can create disasterous results!

To help forgetfull folk like myself I have created a checklist to help the landscape photographer arrive at a location with all the right gear.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:10 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, 24 November 2006 

Digital workflow article (Part 1)

Efficient workflow is the key to managing your digital photography. I have just added the first article detailing my digital workflow which deals with the first part of the process.....capture.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:16 0 Comments Links to this post

Sunday, 5 November 2006 

Painters With Light Exhibition opens at St. Helenas Hospice

The first permanent exhibition by The Painters with Light Society, opens at The St. helenas Hospice. The work displayed can be found here

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:20 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, 27 October 2006 

Lemon Release 1.1 is released

I know quite a few people have been after this so I've finally got round to releasing a version of my Limited Edition Managment software ~ Lemon. Heare are the release notes :
  • First Release used in anger :)
  • Added ability to generate single certificate
    Added Image path rename form
    Added version History
    Added new certificate Format "Shepherdpics"
  • Recreated the reports to provide useful info!
    Various minor fixes
Got to the Lemon Page for more information.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:23 0 Comments Links to this post

Monday, 23 October 2006 

New Recommended Photographer of the month

The Painters with Light Society, are my featured photographers for November.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:22 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, 5 October 2006 

I've joined The Painters with Light Society

I am really chuffed to have been invited to join The Painters with Light Society, a group of fine art landscape photographers from across East Anglia. Look out for some exhibitions comming soon from the group.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:27 0 Comments Links to this post

Wednesday, 20 September 2006 

New Recommended Photographer of the month

Ian & Sue Flindt, are the featured photographers for October.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:32 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, 15 September 2006 

At last The Book is released!

If you only buy one photography book this year make sure its the Ephotozine Guide to Great Photography, it is just the most inspiring photography book I have ever read. Beautifully designed and illustrated with a mass of fantastic photos (and a few of mine). It would make an ideal Christmas present for anyone interested in taking better photographs.

P.s. I'm not just saying that because it has some of my pictures in it.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:33 0 Comments Links to this post

Tuesday, 22 August 2006 

London Light/London Life updated

posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:41 0 Comments Links to this post

Recommended Photographer of the month added

John Duckett, is the first photographer to be featured in our show case of talented photographers.

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posted by Chris Shepherd at 20:41