Hi {name},

Welcome to Lenscraft in Focus for April 2022.

It’s been a little over 2 years since the world was changed by the COVID pandemic. Looking back to the early days of the lockdown, things have changed radically again. At the time, those first few months of lockdown were hard and uncertain for everyone but also offered an opportunity. One person who seized this opportunity was a photographer from New York called Ed.

Ed had dreamed of publishing a book of his photography but never had the time to start the project. With COVID and lockdowns in many places across the world, he now had the time he needed. Whilst I’m sure he was tempted to binge-watch Netflix like many, he chose to work on his project.

Then I came across Paul who also used his time well and who I want to introduce you to.  He recently launched the Photography Chronicle website, featuring some wonderful and powerful photography. You will find out more about Ed and Paul’s projects later in this month’s newsletter.

I hope you enjoy it.

Robin

Free Affinity Photo Course

I’m often asked if I have a beginners video course for Affinity Photo and I don’t. I know that I should probably create one but it’s a huge investment of time. I also often end up losing money on courses as I won’t charge what I consider to be high prices. So instead, I’ve decided to produce a course for free which I’m publishing on YouTube. The course will still lose money but at least the time I invest in YouTube is accounted for and it might grow my channel.

There’s a new lesson every 3-4 weeks and I’ve already published the first two:

• Lesson 1: The Basics (https://youtu.be/RChxuWyjaYc)
• Lesson 2: Exporting & Adjustment Layers (https://youtu.be/KBqq1gNHVlw)

If you don’t subscribe to my YouTube channel, then this may be a good opportunity so that you don’t miss future lessons. And if you know anyone who’s struggling to learn Affinity Photo, please share a link with them.

Newsletter Missing Images Update

After mailing last month’s newsletter, I had 10 subscribers contact me to say they still can’t see the images. All also agreed to help me investigate the problem and we had 100% success with a possible fix. I’m using this new method to construct this month’s newsletter with the hope that you will be able to see all the messages. If you find any are missing, please reply to let me know which ones you can’t see.

As well as the initial 10 contacts, I received two others where the new solution failed. In both instances, they said that they were able to see the images when they viewed the email on their phone or tablet. It was their desktop computer where the problem was. We haven’t been able to resolve this.

So far, everyone reporting a problem is using a Windows computer. If you are an Apple user and you can’t see the images, I would be interested to hear from you. I want to get this fixed or find a workaround for everyone.

New Lenscraft Content

Over the past month I’ve focused on publishing new tutorials and updating old ones. Here’s the list of what you can find on Lenscraft.

From Around the Internet

A selection of interesting photography related resources from the internet.

Cole Thompson – Ukrainians, with Eyes Shut

I’ve featured Cole’s work in the past, but it was his recent newsletter that caught my attention. In it he shared images from one of his older photography series, “Ukrainians with Eyes Shut”. Not only are these wonderful portraits of the people of Ukraine, but it takes on a special meaning with recent events. I’ve spoken to a few people about his work, and each seems to have their own interpretation. Personally, I look at the images and wonder what’s become of these people and feel terribly sad for them.

Please do take some time to view the work on his blog post (https://colethompsonphotography.com/2022/03/12/19083/) and the other excellent work in his portfolio (https://colethompsonphotography.com/portfolios/).

Photography News 97

Issue 97 of Photography news is now free to view online at

https://online.bright-publishing.com/view/594765746/

I don’t tend to keep up with the new camera developments unless I’m thinking of changing equipment, but I did notice that Panasonic has launched the GH6 with a new 25.2Mpixel sensor. I suspect there will be an update to the G9 along shortly given the similarity between the G9 and GH5. It’s also great to see the development of a new micro four thirds sensor.

Photography Chronicle

Every so often you find a gem of a photography site that no one else knows about. I’m pretty sure at least 99% of people reading this won’t know about the Photography Chronicle site because it only launched very recently.

Photography Chronicle features a wonderful collection of photography from a wide range of photographers. My personal favourites in the collection are “The Ted Project” and “The Inbetween Places”. More new projects are being added all the time, so it’s well worth bookmarking for a return visit.

I contacted Paul who set up the site, soon after it launched. Following a long and very interesting conversation, he shared this summary which now appears on the site's About page.

"Photography Chronicle was launched in March 2022 as a free resource for people who love photography and its ability to tell stories.

We are committed to featuring projects, stories and photo essays of the highest calibre by emerging young talent, alongside more established photographers in search of an outlet for their work.

Personal photography projects are a vital way for photographers to create work and explore new subjects or techniques. Photography Chronicle celebrates the sheer depth and breadth of skill, curiosity, creativity and insight that exists in this community of people, who choose to tell their stories with a camera.”

If you love photography, this is well worth visiting. As there are many talented photographers amongst you with your own passion projects, I expect we might see some on there in the future.

https://www.photographychronicle.com/#content

Photographers You May Not Know – Dan Hawk

Dan is an Outdoor and adventure Photographer based in Portland, Oregon. On the About page of his website he describes his style as direct, clean, classic, and true. He also says that he loves authentic moments with beautiful light, and this shows in his photography. His images have a very authentic and honest feel to them, quite different to many of the popular images in recent years. His website is well worth visiting.

https://danhawk.com/.

Books & Course News

Latest book and course news.

What’s Next?

First let me say thank you to everyone who has purchased my recent Lightroom and Adobe Camera RAW books. Your support is most appreciated and allows me to continue publishing free tutorials on this website as well as videos on YouTube.

Some of you did respond to my email to say that you don’t use Adobe products and could I keep a record. Unfortunately, I can’t as GDPR rules don’t allow it, people change their software, and this newsletter is circulated to thousands of photographers around the world. It’s simply too large a job for me to manage.

Now for my next book project, which I’m not 100% sure about. I have a few options I’m currently investigating. I’ll do some thinking over the next month and hope to announce a decision in the next newsletter.

Until next month, stay safe and enjoy your photography.

Robin Whalley

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