Post 4 - Walking the dogs Feat. Mylo & Chester

This weekend the wife was away in London so have been babysitting all weekend. Opportunities for getting the camera out were few and far between.

I have bought a bird feeder to see what photos I can get in my own backgarden. See future posts....hopefully!!

On Sunday I went for a long walk through the Chase with a mate and his dog, my daughter and my dog. We were spotting for future shots on our next mountain biking photo shoot. But having the pushchair meant we couldn't venture far from the paths. I think mountain bike / sports photography is my favourite style i've tried so far.

I've posted a few pics below of the ''kids'' out on todays expedition....

As always any comments welcome.



Lily with a bit of post production on her eyes...

Introducing Mylo Newman....

Lily watching the dogs running around....

Get set go....

Chester playing fetch...

Chester will do anything for what he thinks is a biscuit...Mylo needs more proof before he sits!!!

What's slowing me down?? Maybe the ton of mud you carry when it is wet Mylo!!!

Ghostly Mylo...

Mr floppy ears!!!

How cold is the floor Mylo???

"When i'm big I wanna be as fast as Chester"

Got a second wind..Coming through...

Post 3 - Trip to Paignton Zoo..Devon

Another weekend down in Devon and a trip to Paignton Zoo was on the cards.
I don't know who was more exited Sair, Lily or Myself.
Although most of our stay it was overcast and wet, the weather was surprisingly good on Saturday so off we went, wife baby and camera ready!!

Got some good pics. Let me know your thoughts.

Im looking forward to doing some photography courses as I struggled with light and finding a good shot. Most animals were behind glass or nets/cages....Most cases for safety of course....But made the picture taking challenging...

Pair of baboons having a snooze....

Emu with bad hair day.....

Alan.....

Red Pandas....ah......

 One monkey about to make the other one Grumpy!!!

Rare picture of the near extint ''grumpy monkey lily''....

Couple other nice shots taken on Sunday whilst on a walk along the coastal path between Thurlstone and Hope Cove.

View from Thursltone Sands with tide out.

Picnic at the top of the cliffs.... 

View of Thurlstone Beach....

Post 2. Cannock Chase with Rich Newman...Still Learning...

I need to find a style of photography!!!

With so many different types of photography out there I want to try out as many as possible to see what I like the most!! So today I talked Rich Newman a good friend of mine to take his mountain bike into Cannock Chase for some ego boosting photography...Not that he needed any convincing!!! Shame the weather was damp and overcast however we found a suitable downhill with a jump not far from the car park!! I tried many different typs of shot, from panning to zoom burst, using both my standard lens and my telephoto lens...Ten runs later I had bagged loads of good shots. I really enjoyed this outing and look forward to another go. Maybe i'll even take my own bike so we can venture further from the car park!

Maybe mountain biking / sports photography could be the way forward. 

I think some of these shots have turned out really well...as always comments welcome...

http://www.grumpymonkeyphotography.co.uk/ is registered but until I decide which direction i'm taking it, will just forward to this blog....

Airtime...

More air...

Even more...

View from the bottom of the hill...

Zoom burst effect...

Picking up speed...

Learning panning skills...

More panning...

How fast?...

One dirty bike...

One dirty bike and rider!!!...

I need to practice so if anyone wants to borrow me for free, to photo anything, give me a shout....

My First Blog Post!! - Learning how to use my new camera.....

My name is Elliot Sampson and I live in Lichfield, Staffs in the UK.
I have recently become very interested in photography after buying my first DSLR camera, and thought a blog would be a great opportunity of showing some example of my best pics.
I am only a begginer and welcome and comments.
My first pictures are from last weekend where my wife and I took our daughter (Lily) and dog (Chester) to our log cabin in Devon.
On the Saturday we woke to gale force winds and decended to Bantham Beach to discover 10 or so people kite surfing. This gave me a great opportunity to try out my new telephoto lens for my Canon 500D EOS DLSR camera.

These guys were getting some amazing air!!

How they didn't get tangled up with each other still amazes me!!! 

 Hoping to catch the dog jumping up at my wife but actually snapped him dissapearing into a deep puddle in the sand!!! Took me 5 minutes to stop laughing!!!

Chester enjoyed the beach time more than anyone!!! 

Learning to walk on the sand!!!

A view of Thurstone Beach.

Then the windsurfers arrived!!!