Matthew Oldfield Photography

Daisy and the rest of the GB Eventing team with their bronze medals… Fantastic! Picture from Reuters.

August 13th, 2008 | Category: General | Leave a comment

I completely forgot to mention.  My article about the Intha of Inle Lake in Myanmar was published in the Tribes Edition of Asian Geographic, issue number 55.  I don’t think the article is on the magazine’s site but take a browse.  The magazine is getting and better in my opinion - not just because they publish my articles of course…

August 13th, 2008 | Category: General | Leave a comment

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I have recently sold my soul to the corporate devil, doing some serious hours but making some good money as well.  Hopefully, I’ll earn enough from this job to get out of the UK and work on a few ideas I have in mind.

Doing this sort of work really brings it home how much I want to get going.  I am NOT an office drone - it drives me up the wall sitting in front of the computer all day, or dealing with phone call after phone call.  I need to be out and about, exploring somewhere with camera in hand.

Having said that, I have had quite an interesting time over the last week.  My job is to summarise the work of charities that have been nominated for funding from a large telecoms company here in UK.  I interview someone at the charity to get some background for the application, whilst a colleague interviews the people that have actually made the nomination.  I’ve come across a few charities that in my eyes, are doing some very good work:

• Rory Peck Trust
• War Child
• Sail 4 Cancer
• Alive and Kicking
• Street League
• SolarAid
• MapAction
• African Prisons Project

The story behind the African Prisons Project is extraordinary.  A student on his Gap Year travels discovers his life’s vocation - helping inmates of some of the worst prisons in the world.  Very inspiring to be honest.  If you have the time, take a browse.

I spent yesterday afternoon sitting on the sofa, laptop on lap, watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics.  I was hoping to see my friend, Daisy, but she is based in Hong Kong and I don’t think she would have gone to Beijing.  I’m still quite amazed that she is actually there and has a serious chance of a gold - an Olympic Medallist!  Very exciting.  I’m a complete sucker for the Olympics anyway, got to go one of these days…  Maybe 2012.

I’m also looking forward to seeing Dave Black’s photographs of the games.  He is an incredible photographer and has developed some really clever ways of using strobes.  I shall be expecting something spectacular…

August 9th, 2008 | Category: General | Comments (1)

Three generations - Brian Oldfield, my father, Joseph Jenkins, the birthday boy and Ed Jenkins, Joseph’s father…

July 28th, 2008 | Category: General, Photography | Leave a comment

Jo will be four next week but will be heading away on holiday on the actual day, so this weekend my sister and Ed had a birthday party at a ‘Wacky Warehouse’ - a lot of fun….

July 28th, 2008 | Category: General, Photography | Leave a comment

It was suprisingly cold on Inle first thing in the morning. Not surprisingly really, given how far north it is and that I was there in winter. Still, it caught me unprepared. The only piece of warm clothing I had was a very thin fleece - not quite enough when we were heading out on the boat first thing. Peter and our boatman, Soe Soe, would be wrapped up in coats whilst I sat and shivered until the sun rose high enough to warm me up. By noon however, it would be hot hot hot, hence the shorts! Picture from one of the few other tourists that I met on my trip to Myanmar - Peter, a fellow photographer. Check out his flickr stream here.

July 14th, 2008 | Category: Photography, Travel | Leave a comment

… Of sorts.  A friend from university who was at Worcester and read Biology with me has been called up for the British eventing team at the Beijing Olympics!  Take a look here and here.  Real shame I won’t be there, be great to see it live…  I will be shouting lots at the television instead!

July 8th, 2008 | Category: General | Leave a comment

The D3 produces fantastic images straight out of the camera, but there is always plenty of room for a tweak here, a fiddle there, and my recent wedding photographs went through quite a bit of processing.  Shooting RAW give you a huge amount of leeway, but post-processing is no substitute for getting the image right in the first place, something I really need to work on…

I know I have a huge amount to learn about processing images but that’s one of the reasons I love photography so much - you NEVER stop learning!

Straight out of the camera. Pete with baby Lara peeping out…

Ramp up the contrast. I’ve done this by adjusting the sliders in the tone curve window in Lightroom to the following: highlights +60, lights +20, darks -15, shadows -50.

Desaturated to -35 and a vignette added.

Correct the exposure making sure to avoid any clipping. I’ve also warmed the image up slightly to give it that ’summery’ feel.

Crop slightly to remove the strap in the bottom left. All that’s left to do is sharpen.

July 7th, 2008 | Category: Photography | Leave a comment

Polly was three yesterday - what more do you need to celebrate other than ice cream and a trampoline…?

July 6th, 2008 | Category: Photography | Leave a comment