With the festive season clearly upon us, I could think of nothing better than doing a festive-themed Shooting Challenge for you to do over the next week and a bit. Actually, that's a lie; I could think of a better theme, but I needed to bang this challenge out pretty quickly. Read More >>

Last week's Shooting Challenge was all about the camera in your pocket: the mobile phone. The brief was simple and gave you masses of creative freedom -- shoot an image on your mobile phone and if you so wish to, edit it using one (or many) of the apps available for your camera phone of choice. And let me just say, you didn't disappoint.. Read More >>

There's an old adage; "the best camera is the one you have with you" and it's a saying that is 100 per cent true. What use is a Canon 5D Mark III if its sitting in a camera bag in your cupboard when the 'decisive moment' presents itself to you? Realistically though, I know it isn't possible to have a 'proper' camera with you all the time and so for most of us, the best camera we have with us is our mobile phone, smart phone, or God forbid, tablet. Read More >>

In our last Shooting Challenge we gave you a simple brief; one that was open to a lot of interpretation and gave you scope for oodles of creative goodness. The task of shooting stairs or components of was the perfect opportunity to see things from another angle; and many of you rose to the challenge. Read More >>

Stairs -- unless you're in a wheelchair, bedridden or suffer from bathmophobia (a fear of stairs or steep slopes) they're something most of us use everyday and probably give no thought to whatsoever. But stairs can throw up some fantastic photo opportunities if you allow yourself to see them as something more than just stairs. Read More >>

To tie in with Design Week, the last Shooting Challenge was all about Modern Architecture and many of you took the opportunity to photograph buildings around you. What was great about this challenge was that some of you chose to shoot using mobile phones -- with some great results. Read More >>

I was sitting outside my office in Portsmouth (a lovely place with views over the Solent) thinking about this week’s challenge; flicking through my little black book of ideas wondering what fiendish photographic challenge to set. My original plan was to do something Halloween themed, but given that it’s Design Week, I thought it would be more fitting to do something more designer-y. But what? Read More >>

It's getting exceedingly difficult to pick the winner of each fortnight's Shooting Challenge, and this one was no different. Thanks to everyone that took the time to create their images; I can see that many of you went the extra mile. This involved the ‘borrowing’ of their wife’s underwear; stealing children’s toys (may not be true,) and lots of spillage. Read More >>

In art, genres, movements and styles go in and out of fashion quicker than you can say antidisestablishmentarianism, and photography is no exception to that. Current ‘flavour of the month’ seems to be Street Photography and this is something I’ll cover in future shooting challenges. However, this week’s Shooting Challenge is about a genre of photography that has faded in popularity these past few years. Read More >>

You know Summer is over when you find yourself thinking about which cardigan you’re going to wear while settling down in front of the tellybox to watch the new series’ of your favourite TV progs that have all magically appeared on your TiVo box in the same week. Not only do we have the Autumn/Winter TV schedule to contend with, we have the fact that there’s less daylight to take wonderful snappy snaps. So we find ourselves moving out of our comfort zone and into the twilight zone to find inspiration. And by jove you did! Read More >>

I was looking through some holiday snaps of a recent trip to Paris (I’m an old romantic) and some of the most striking images captured by my now fiance and myself were while walking along the River Seine on our last evening. From carousels and bridges, to boats and empty streets (and yes, the Eiffel tower), we took a number of different images, many of which were connected in one way; artificial light. Some of the images reminded me of celebrated Hungarian photographer Brassai (1899-1984) who is probably best known for his work on the nightlife of Paris. Read More >>

The last Shooting Challenge was all about the 'Rule of Thirds', and you rose to the challenge and submitted some absolutely stunning images, so thanks for taking the time to capture the world around you. Read More >>

Here’s a simple question for you: What makes a great photograph? The answer isn’t as straightforward as you may think because photography, like any form of art, is subjective; one critic may think an image is a masterpiece, another will think it looks like a cat has done a crap on the lens. Read More >>

After our last Shooting Challenge, I had almost given up all hope of getting you lot to step away from your screens and capture the world around you. But step away you did, and I must say, you captured a lot of bloody great images; so thank-you to everyone that took the time to capture their silhouette and send it in. Read More >>

Due to the sheer volume of entries and, quite frankly, lame excuses as to why you lot failed to submit entries for the last Shooting Challenge, I’ve decided to make things a lot easier with this week’s challenge. It’s still a lot of fun; there’s room for plenty of experimentation, but the challenge doesn’t require as much time and effort on your part. Perfect for this heatwave, you could say. Read More >>