Well, that wasn’t a bad little “haul” – 6 images credited in this year’s Epson Pano Awards 2015 🙂 On the list of award-winning images, some of my favourites: “Alone“, gaining a silver award, along with “Reveal” from New Zealand, “Bonsai” from California, “Settle” from New Zealand, “The Morning After” from Sydney and “Financial Freedom” from New York. I guess that makes it a truly International spread of awards, and adds to some of the fantastic […]
Well, that’s it! After 3 long years being based in Shanghai, this is one of the last images I captured of this amazing skyline. In the illuminated cityscapes I’ve now shot so many times, it’s easy to forget about all the problems, issues, health effects and frustrations that come as a downside to living in such a rapidly expanding metropolis – at least the view’s amazing! But stood on top of yet another amazing rooftop location, I […]
“Malaysia, truly Asia” – The jingle on the TV ad, plane intro’s and travel programmes that I’ve been hearing for years and years really did come true last week – and not only for all the good reasons they intended… I’m sat writing this blog beneath bright blue skies and a fresh breeze in Bali – and with all of that above me, it’s too easy to forget the horrendous conditions I left behind in Kuala Lumpur last […]
“Welcome to W Doha, we saw you had a good flight” – was my welcome as I entered this amazing hotel. Granted, W Hotels are unique in the way they really take time to get to know their guests, but I was still surprised. “Oh, we saw your instagram post”, was the response when I looked back at him slightly puzzled. Ahhhh, I get it… Entering in to the lobby (or “Living Room” in W speak), you’re […]
From the tallest buildings in the world to the largest permanent video screen on earth – My “Tiny Planets” series has managed to make it on Broadway! At 7 storeys high, the MarketSite Tower on the corner of Times Square was broadcasting my images on Thursday to millions as part of NASDAQ’s celebration of WPP’s “Brandz Top 100” 10-year anniversary. With their CEO, Martin Sorrell, in attendance for the occasion this was a big day for […]
At the time of writing, this is literally the highest platform that a Phase One system has ever been in the world – pretty cool! Being able to capture the view below in 80 megapixels of definition is amazing, and the level of detail I managed to record (despite the circumstances you’ll soon read about below!) still surprises me. This might even become my new desktop background for little while 😉 Looking down on two of the world’s tallest […]
Note: Updated August 2016 after a year of using NiSi filters, click to read below. “What filters do you use?” – It’s the question that most landscape photographers ask just after they’ve probed into what camera you’re using. And in the same way as the ongoing “Nikon vs Canon war” (which is amusing to watch in itself!) the so-called brand allegiance is fun to explore when you start asking exactly why a photographer has chosen a […]
Night/Astro/Star/Star-trail Photography – whatever you want to call it, this is a genre which has become increasingly popular over the past couple of years (partly connected with the increase in sensitivity of reasonably-priced camera sensors over the same period). The irony being, it’s also one of the easiest forms of photography that yields some of the most impressive results if you get it right. Given the chance for some downtime while travelling around the New […]
What an amazing view! I’ve seen many sunsets during my time shooting in the Maldives, but never have I seen it in context of the entire island of Huvafen Fushi from above… Granted, my title is a little wrong – by definition a “drone” is “an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond line of sight”. But then, bearing that definition in mind, none of the so-called drones out […]
It’s vacation season! (Well, “holiday” season when you grew up in my part of the world, but let’s not split hairs… 😉 ) And it seems my “Top 10 tips” have made it into a few publications, including today’s update on ShutterBug. With that in mind, I figured it would probably be a good idea to put a copy of them up on my own site too, so – here goes…! 😉 1. Don’t Let the Camera […]
It’s that time of year again – the “WPP Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands” has just been released for 2015, and this year (their 10th anniversary) it features a subset of my Tiny Planets series. Contained within the 100-page publication, there’s analysis on every section of the world, along with insight into which brands are making headlines and commanding huge value. In between each section, you’ll find an introduction featuring a subset of […]
Per Aquum Huvafen Fushi – A surreal Maldives luxury resort in the North Malé Atoll. They call this place “a waking dream” – and having had the pleasure of shooting with these guys many times over the past couple of years, I can tell you it’s an accurate description! Not only is the island a hideaway of perfection in the middle of the Indian Ocean, but I can honestly say the guys there are some of the most […]
It’s been a crazy and exciting month, May 2015 – for many reasons, and most of which are the excuse for not updating my blog often enough (sorry!). Still to come, I have images to upload from Tokyo, Beijing, the Great Wall of China, Dubai, Maldives and much more. For the next few weeks, however, I’m going to focus on my California road-trip photography workshop as well as the most recent Instagram takeover I did for […]
That’s right – we’re looking for models to shoot a set of brand images in the Maldives next month 🙂 We’re shooting in two of the most luxurious Maldivian resorts in April, and are looking for two faces that can represent each of the properties. Sadly, we’re on a bit of a tight timescale, but for those interested in expanding their book and/or adding a campaign to their portfolio, this is a great opportunity. If you […]
It’s every photographer’s nightmare: “That email” from somebody telling you they’ve seen your work published in a place you didn’t know about. Usually this results in a sunken heart, some stern letters and frustration that yet another person has taken your work without permission. So, when I clicked the message from Joey yesterday, it was not only a huge relief – but also a pleasant surprise. It seems an agency I’ve been working with has […]
It doesn’t matter how many rooftops I’ve photographed from, whenever I’m in a new city I always get that “wow” moment when I look across the skyline for the first time – and this was no exception. From the top of a building (which was, in fairness, extremely tall in its own right!), I set up on the ledge and started clicking. Sadly, jpeg compression doesn’t do this image enough justice on-screen, but the tones of the sky and detail in […]
Well, it’s official – I got the news today that I’ve been awarded a Fellowship by the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) 🙂 By their definition, an FBIPP award is “attainable for distinguished and exceptional ability and creativity” and my panel of landscape and cityscape images that were submitted evidently hit the mark! A Fellowship is considered as the highest qualification that there is within the professional body and the fact I’ve been awarded one is quite […]
“Hey Paul, would you like to take over our official Instagram account for a week in January and publish some of your images as well as behind-the-scenes shots?” (Said Phase One to me a few months back). “Ummm – Yeah! Sure, that sounds cool!” was (of course) my answer. So, here we are on “Day 4” of my takeover, and I have to say it’s going pretty well. Everything you’ve seen on their Instagram account so […]
You may not be aware, but 2015 is the International Year of Light (or “IYL 2015”) – a global initiative adopted by the United Nations and UNESCO to raise awareness of how light and optical technologies can promote sustainable development and provide solutions to worldwide challenges in energy, education, agriculture, communications and health. Along with over 100 scientific bodies spanning countries all around the world, SPIE organised a photo contest some time ago, and to my […]
What an amazing view – and what a privilege to be able to photograph it during a one-off event at such a special hotel location. I’ve always been a fan of the Shangri-La in Sydney, the views from the Horizon Club floor and Altitude/Blu Bar at the top of the hotel are simply the best panoramas you can get of the harbour. But this was an unexpected (and very gratefully received) honour to be allowed up onto the […]
Well, we’re definitely heading into the “awards season”, and what better news to receive today than the email that came in informing me that I’d made the shortlist for The Societies’ Photographer of the Year 2014 award – Europe’s largest association for the serious photographer. Against some of the worlds most renowned photographers, my image of Huvafen Fushi‘s Spa Jetty – “Overwater” – will compete for the award of Travel Photographer of the Year and The Societies’ overall Photographer […]
For those that remember, I switched to Phase One’s iQ280 / 645DF+ medium format system last year, and have never looked back. The image quality is simply stunning, and I can honestly say it is the best camera system I’ve ever used. Since then, a few more technological advances have been made by Phase One, most recently including the introduction of their 1.3x crop 50 megapixel CMOS iQ250 digital back. One thing digital Medium Format […]
I remember writing this blog post in 2010 as if it were only yesterday. It was about the relaunch of my website after upgrading from an Adobe Flash based system to a more device-friendly one that met a lot more standards on the Internet. Well, 4 years fly by and since then a lot has changed. HTML5 is now prolific, as are the demands of 3G/4G connections and devices instead of desktop, broadband, viewers. More importantly, however, […]
It’s been a long time in the planning, but we’ve finally managed to pull together an itinerary that allows me to take 6-8 people “out on the road” for a journey across some of the most distinctive and impressive landscape views available in the USA. I’ll be offering an Asia workshop later in the year too, but for now it’s all about California with my “Going from Hot to Gold” photography workshop in May 2015! […]