Alphabet Travel

I just wanted to let people know about my and Lu's new project, AlphabetTravel.com, the site we've launched to keep track of our trip around Africa, which starts in March. We're starting in Agadir, Morocco and hoping to end up in Zagazig, Egypt 6 months and an alphabet later. Sign up to our site there to find out what we're up to.

Getting ready for Christmas!


I've really decided to change things up this winter, introducing new pictures and new products left right and centre. First off I've introduced new sizes: instead of just getting the standard 100 x 23.3cm prints, I'm now offering 75 x 17.5cm, and 60 x 14cm. This means if you're looking for something a little smaller, but can't stretch to a canvas, there's something here for you. The smallest ones might even fit into a stocking!


It's not just about sizes though; I've also introduced a completely new product, the awesome floating frames described here. These are fantastic (I have one on my own wall). The picture is mounted onto a 5mm thick white PVC board, which is then mounted on a hidden wooden bracket, so the picture just leaps off the wall. These are incredibly cool, and at prices from just £39.99 (small) to £59.99 large, there is no more affordable way to frame your print. I'm going to roll them out across the site as I get time to do so.


Another new product on the cards for Xmas: vouchers. If you know someone who would love one of my pictures, but want to let them decide for themselves, just pick up one of these and you're sorted!


I also recently took advantage of a special offer from one of my printers, and had a number of Greetings Cards made. These unique cards are the perfect way to stay in touch this Christmas, and as they are blank inside you'll be able to keep using them through the year. Pricing starts at £7.99 for 10.



If you're looking for something even fancier, I've decided to drop the price of the gallery wrapped canvas prints down to £79.99. This is unbeatable value for money, just check against leading websites like Photobox; you can rarely have your own photographs printed to these sizes, on these materials, so affordably, let alone have a unique art print for your wall. Finally, my posters, which include work from Northumberland, as well as Oxford in Mist and Silhouette, are available starting at a brilliant new price ofonly £7.99.




I'm also running periodic special offers; some of them are running on Facebook, where I have a group which you should definitely join (click here). I have a 20% discount with a secret code; just sign up for my newsletter here and I'll email it to you.




Enjoy the site!

New Autumn Panos

I've finally managed to edit my recent shots of Oxford's spires in autumn. Lu and I were moving house (we're now in Abingdon), and we took advantage of the van to head out to South Parks and Hinksey Hill for a glorious morning. The early morning light was catching the sandstone spires beautifully, and the yellow and red leaves glowed, it was really something. If you'd like to see the shot, just click on one of the links here.

As ever, you can visit my website to see all my panoramic pictures of Oxford's spires, now in wintry snow, autumn leaves, and with spring daffodils. All I need is a summer shot and I'll have the set.

Oxford in Orange

One thing I could use this blog for is to draw attention to some particular photographs, from time to time. One of my most popular panoramas of Oxford features the dreaming spires beneath a bright orange sunset. I thought I'd tell a little about how that was made.
The distinctive thing about this picture is the radical dynamic range between the brightest part of the sky and the darkest part of the town. Ordinarily, this would be far beyond the capacity of standard cameras to resolve--though our eyes, capable of seeing a far greater range of shades, have less difficulty. To recreate that natural and balanced look, without losing either the highlights or the shadows, requires a special technique, which has become quite popular in recent years, whereby you take one exposure for the shadows, one for the mid-tones, and one for the highlights, then recombine them on the computer. But bear in mind that this is already a panoramic picture, composed of a number of pictures stitched together horizontally. Moreover, the sun is very low in the sky here, and moving fast. So I basically had to take about 27 photos (9x3) to get this one picture at the outset, and that fast enough to ensure there were no significant changes in light and colour between the first and the last. Then there's the job of putting all these together, ensuring that exactly the right blend applies across the board. Altogether I think this was probably the most complicated of my panoramas (with one exception, which I will write about at a later date). Anyway, you can click on the above image, or here, to see this panoramic picture of the dreaming spires, available as an art print from my gallery.

New Blog!

So I thought it's about time that I started doing a bit of blogging; really I'm just going to use this to keep people posted on new developments in my photography and philosophy. In particular I'll be telling you about how Oxford Panoramas, my website selling panoramic art prints of the Oxford skyline, is doing. I'll also report back on new galleries going up in my travel photography website, and occasionally on developments in my philosophical career as well--as and when they happen.
Thanks for dropping by!
Seth