Ive been away learning..........But im back

     So its been a few weeks from my last post but hopefully i have some interesting stuff to share over the coming weeks. June 15th was Farthers day here in the uk and as a surprise my lovely wife booked me in for a photography workshop in Kilkenny Ireland (i did not have a clue about it).
     As ive said before ive learnt everything i know about photography by myself so the idea of being taught by someone who actually knows what they are doing was strange, i was looking forward to it but didnt know what to expect i was entering a part of the photography world i did not know it was going to be interesting.
     The workshop was held on a lovely farm in a small village called Bennetts bridge, the teacher Susanna had travelled the world as a photographer and was now a shepherdess looking after flock of zwartble sheep and twice a year she holds two photo workshops.

A close up of some of her sheep who weren't bothered by us one bit

they just wanted to be nosey and see if we had any food.

    The workshop was to be based on composition, we all sat and talked about the basics to see how advance others were (i was a bit more in the know than most which gave me confidence) then we got sent out into the garden to take photos..... of anything....... just try and work on the composition and pay attention to the background. Well man is it hard to just go and take a photo on demand and she was walking round checking on what we had taken and then giving us tips on what to do and not to do (scary stuff).

A macro of a cool looking flower, i havent a clue what its called but i

 really liked the shape and colours so used a wide aperture for an 

abstract feel.

All was going well i was getting some good shots and i was learning along the way, little things like getting a tighter crop, making sure the background added to the shot and didnt distract from the subject also try to avoid RED! it draws the eyes attention away from the subject so if you can keep it out or make it a main part of your shot, id never noticed before but since she told us this its the one thing i notice more than anything else while out shooting.

Probably my favourite shot of the day, a busy bee

collecting some pollen with more flowers blurred behind.

     The rest of the day was spent shooting some of the other animals she had doves, a horse and foal, hens, Alpacas and of cause sheep, photographing animals is something i enjoy but never find easy so it was good to get some tips on how to approach them in an unintimidating way and it allowed us to get close really close as my photo of the sheep shows.

     Overall it was a fantastic day with some very nice people, i had fun and leant more than i expected but most of all i found it reassuring i was doing things the right way its just the little changes that can make a big difference.