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In the last couple of weeks I found out that I have been shortlisted in two national photography competitions. The first is the British Photography Awards where I have three images in three different categories this year.

The second is The Royal Meteorological Society Weather Photographer Of The Year competition, this is the first time I have been shortlisted in this one , it is a picture of Stafford during the flooding earlier in 2024.

Click on each photograph to go to the voting pages or click here to see a list of links with the voting links in them.

2025 Calendar For Sale

My annual photography calendar is now up for sale, an A3 sized calendar with 12 monthly images plus the cover image you can see here. You can order it securely in my online shop - https://shop.zort.co.uk

The pre-sale price will be available until the middle of November or until it sells out which it did last year.

There is also a special price for a combination of the calendar and the Five Years book, yes there are a couple left so you can get both and have two Christmas presents ;-)

If you can share the details on social media I'd love you to tag me in, I am @z70photo on Twitter, Instagram and now Threads, on Facebook you can find me on Z70 Photography

The image used on the front cover is one of three images shortlisted for the 2024 British Photography Awards, there is still time to vote in the People's Choice part of the competition. If you have a spare moment then I would be very grateful, for all voting links click here.

Signs Of Covid Book

It is coming up to 4 years since the first UK Covid 19 Pandemic lockdown and I thought it was time to show my view of the pandemic.

I first got the idea when the public inquiry evidence sessions started taking place and the memories of what we were all told came flooding back. Not everyone complied with instructions, not everyone was happy but a large majority did what they were told for the public good.

What this book contains is mainly a record of signs and information presented in the streets and shops. From the empty shelves at the start, warnings on social distancing, to the vaccination hubs, and eventually the restrictions being relaxed. All from our suddenly limited world in and around Stafford, and then slightly beyond as restrictions eased.

Not all of the images are perfect, and quite a few aren't in themselves interesting, but I think they all add up to a fascinating insight and record of the pandemic as seen from a small corner of Staffordshire.

Click on the image to go to the Amazon page with details of the book, or consider the Launch Offer which is £9 less if you can wait a couple of weeks for the book to be sent out, offer valid until the 22nd of March. Click here for the launch offer

Gig Photography

Big thanks to all the bands and venues who have invited me to photograph them in the past year. It has been a fantastic year of live music and I have enjoyed every moment of it.

If you have any requirements for gig photography, indoors or at festivals, or band portraits please get in touch, either via social media or email - info@z70.uk.

Whatever happens in the next year I'll see you down the front.

British Photography Awards Winner

On Friday the 10th of November I won the British Photography Awards top prize in the Architecture category. The winning image of the Ironbridge in Shropshire, given the title “Circle Of Hot Air” it was taken during the annual Telford Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in 2021. The award was presented at a black tie ceremony held at London's Dorchester Hotel.

This was my first win at the British Photography Awards, having been on the shortlist in the same category in the previous year. The awards aim to celebrate the best of British Photography and raise money for charity, the amount raised by the 2022 awards was £21,665.

This image was one of the few times that a planned shot has worked perfectly. I had checked the wind conditions for the balloons launching from Telford and knew they would be heading towards Ironbridge. The river was quite low due to some hot summer days and the gentle wind meant the water’s surface was like a mirror giving a fantastic reflection of the bridge.

The wind conditions were great for the water but meant the balloons took quite a while to get from Telford Town Park to the Ironbridge, there was an anxious wait wondering if I had read the conditions correctly. Eventually the balloons started to appear and this one hot air balloon drifted into the perfect place to take the shot.

2024 Calendar For Sale

After years of attending I decided to enter some images into the Eccleshall Agricultural Show Photography competition.

The Front image of this years calendar won the best in show trophy so I knew it had to be used as the front cover.

Thrawn

After this weeks Star Wars Celebration and the news that Grand Admiral Thrawn is coming to a live action TV show I thought this might get a bit of interest, (if you know you know).

The new Ahsoka Disney+ show looks to be a fairly direct sequel to Star Wars Rebels and I am definitely on board with that.

Direct link to all my Star Wars Designs with a few Ahsoka and Rebels thrown in.

Scottish Nature Photography Awards

Delighted to be chosen as runner up in the Scottish Nature Photography Awards for the Land category and third place in the Sea and coast category

Both images were taken in and around Lossiemouth on the Moray coast.

One on Lossiemouth's East Beach in some beautiful light in June and the other in Lossie forest where the woods suddenly turn into a scene from World War II with bunkers and these tank defences stretching through the trees into the distance.

2023 Photography Calendar For Sale

My annual photography calendar is now up for sale, an A3 sized calendar with 12 monthly images plus the cover image you can see here. You can order it securely in my online shop - https://shop.zort.co.uk

The pre-sale price will be available until the calendar is sent to the printers which will be around the middle of November, after that the price will go up.

There is also a special price for a combination of the calendar and the Five Years book so you can get both and have two Christmas presents ;-)

If that wasn't enough of a bargain, any orders during the pre-sale will be in the running to win a large print from 2022's September calendar page.

If you can share the details on social media I'd love you to tag me in, I am @z70photo on Twitter and Instagram, on Facebook you can find me on Z70 Photography

Trentham Live Photography For The Sentinel

This year I got asked by the local paper, The Sentinel, if I wanted to cover the Trentham Live concerts as a photographer, I couldn't say yes fast enough ! The acts performing over the weekend were, Louise Redknapp, Steps, Nathan Dawe, Craig David, Scouting for Girls and McFly.

I was given a press badge and told to get photographs of the acts and visitors to the shows, I didn't need any more encouragement to do that as event photography is something I love doing.

Hopefully you agree from the images here I got some great shots, there are many many more from the weekend and as soon as I get permission to post them I will, there are a few more on my various social media channels so check them out if you want to see more right away.

As you can see from the top image I got the front cover of The Sentinel, plus a few inside pages on multiple days, and some more printed in the Staffordshire Newsletter a little later on.

Death In Paradise - Etensel

It has been a while since I did any sort of new t-shirt design but after binge watching all of Death In Paradise recently I had to do this one

I wanted a t-shirt with the Beer bottle label that has been consumed by the characters since day 1 of the show as it is Saint Marie's favourite ;-) As there isn't an official product available I made my own !

If you like it as well let me know on Twitter - @zort70

Five Years Book

Five years of calendar photographs all collected together in one book.

I have been producing a calendar for five years now and some of the most asked question about it is where can we see the images and can I purchase previous calendars. Well I decided to combine both of those questions into one answer, a book.

It is a UK A4 sized landscape book with all the images from the previous five years of calendars, plus covers, and extra images not available in print before.

If you like what you see please visit my online shop to purchase a copy.

Thanks everyone who has bought a calendar in the past and everyone that continues to support me on my photography journey.

Event Photography Awards Winner 2020

Fantastic news, I won the Amateur prize at The Event Photography Awards

The second year in a row I have won, this time at a virtual awards ceremony, you can watch my small acceptance video on You Tube

2021 Calendar For Sale

My annual photography calendar is now for sale, it is at a lower price until mid November, so grab one now !

Any money from the sale of the calendar goes back into making more images for next year, so if you do purchase one thankyou for supporting me.

Click the calendar image or go to my online store for more details - shop.zort.co.uk

Event Photography Awards Voting

Last year I was the joint amateur winner in The Event Photography Awards, this year because of the global pandemic, the awards are slightly delayed for obvious reasons.

However the list of photographs nominated for each category has started to be revealed. There is also a voting system that anyone can be a poart of, although it is a little more complex than last year.

The good news is at least one of the photographs I entered this year has been selected in the Behind The Scenes category. This is from the Fully Charged Live Event in May last year, and features Jonny Smith giving a much needed massage to the chief camera man for the weekend, Mark Taylor Hankins.

To vote for my image and to see all the other images from the categories revealed so far Click Here to register. When you register then you will be sent and email to confirm your registration, then once confirmed you will be sent a second email with the link to the voting form.

On the voting form click this image to mark it as number 1 (if you think it worthy of course !) and then click four others you like. You will then be given another link for the other categories.

So far there are only three categories available, but once new once are sent out you will get more links sent via email.

Brooke Competition Prize Part 1

The prize for the Brooke competition win was to spend a day with Matthew Seed the professional Horse Photographer and to have a Hasselbald X1D on loan for a couple of weeks. With the excellent organisational skills of Anne-Marie, the Director of the photo studio it was arranged that the photography day and the start of the camera loan period would take place on the same day.

I actually got up early to go up towards the studio in Cheshire and took some early morning photographs of Jodrell Bank and the lake at Marbury Park, so photographically the day had already been a good one.

Arriving at the photography studio I was made to feel very welcome and after a cup of tea and biscuits I sat down with Matthew to talk through his philosophy on taking his amazing horse pictures and other photography genres in general. I was also introduced to the Hasselblad X1D camera by Nicky, the Hasselblad representative. What was on loan was the first version of the X1D and two lenses, the XCD 30 and XCD 90.

A little wander around the gardens of Arley Hall followed, which is where the photo studio is located, mainly to get used to the feel of the X1D and how it works. Then after a very nice lunch in the Arley Hall restaurant it was time to move to a local stables and start the main photography session of the day.

After looking around the stables and selecting the location for the shoot setting up equipment, lights, power packs, etc. we asked the subjects of the session to take centre stage. Trying to capture the special bond between horse and rider is always going to be tricky, but factor in all of the photographic equipment, calculations of settings and keeping an eye on the rain that was heading our way, all contribute to the reason that Matthew is a respected professional in the field of horse photography. Of course you have to add to all that he was giving me some great tips and information at the same time !

Matthew took a series of photographs first in his preferred style and location. Then it ws my turn to try and put into practice what I had learned throughout the day. I started off using the same position and style as Matthew, but I did have another idea of my own to try and make my shots a little different. Where we were shooting was next to a large hedge which had developed some lovely autumnal leaf colours. I asked if we could swing everything around and use that hedge as a natural backdrop to the images.

I will leave it to you to decide if that was the right decision after viewing the images. After a little more time taking photographs in the new position, unfortunately the rain then started quite heavily and we had to break for cover and end the session.

All that was left was to pack away the equipment and to have a warming cup of tea before saying our goodbyes. I have to thank Matthew and Anne-Marie for a most excellent day I throughly enjoyed my time at the studio discussing photography and the practical session at the stables was a really great experience for me. Especially as I got to work with some professional equipment which make my own setup of a couple of cheap flash guns and soft boxes look a little underpowered !

I will write some more words soon about my experience with the Hasselblad camera, finally for now though my favourite photograph of the session is below, the most interesting thing for me is that this is straight out of the camera (via Lightroom) without any alterations, something I strive to achieve but usually don't manage with my current setup.

2020 Calendar For Sale

My annual photography calendar is now for sale, it is at a cheaper price until late November, so grab one now !

Any money from the sale of the calendar goes back into making more images for next year, so if you do purchase one thankyou for supporting me.

Click the calendar image or go to my online store for more details - shop.zort.co.uk

Brooke Photographic Competition Winner

Back in May I saw the start of a new photographic competition advertised online for The Brooke Horse and Donkey Charity.

This was a new venture by the charity to try and raise some money and highlight the work that is undertaken by the charity. Reports are that from all the entries nearly £3000 has been raised which is great news.

The competition ended at the start of September and the judging announcement came a couple of weeks later. There were two categories, one for "professional" cameras, i.e. DSLR's / full frame and one for phone cameras. You can see in the picture the judges holding my image, they are Olympic eventing rider Gemma Tattersall, Matthew Seed Professional Horse Photographer and Star of Dragon’s Den Deborah Meaden.

Out of the blue in mid September I got a phone call with the great news that I had won the camera section prize. A complete surprise and most definitely a great honour.

The prize for winning is the loan of a Hassleblad Camera and a day of tuition on professional horse photography with Matthew Seed. I am very much looking forward to that day and as always I will put some details on this site as well as on Twitter and Instagram of course.

The news of the win has been shared far and wide, the latest report I have seen came from New Zealand ! Hopefully the competition will be run again next year and if it is, I really encourage you to take part it is fun, has some great prizes and raises money for a very good cause.

Fully Charged Live 2019

The second Fully Charged Live Event was again held at Silverstone in June 2019 and it was a great pleasure to be able to take event photographs during the weekend.

For those not familiar with Fully Charged it started in 2010 by the actor and presenter Robert Llewellyn who launched Fully Charged, a YouTube channel focussing on the future of electric vehicles, clean energy resources and other Ecological modern day concerns. Since then the channel has over 1/2 a million subscribers and over 55 million views of the content.

In 2018 the team behind the YouTube channel decided to set up an event to promote all the things being discussed as there was no other event focused on electric cars and renewable energy.

I was at that first event for one day taking photographs. This year I made time for all three days of the show and loved every moment of walking around Silverstone talking to people and taking pictures of the event.

This year the show was extended to three days and the main presenting team to four, Robert Llewellyn, Jonny Smith, Helen Czerski, and new addition Maddie Moate.

As well as the team expanding the whole event was expanded to fill the Silverstone Wing complex from end to end on several floors, including the pit garages. Great for the show, but my feet were a little tired at the end of day three ! A rough calculation that was theorised by another photographer is that I walked around 8 miles on each of the days of the show.

It was great to see so much going on at the show, there were lots of exhibitors, many that were there last year, and so many new people. That included manufacturers like Renault, BMW and Peugeot who brought a new electric car that was having its UK debut at this show. It was great to see the Formula E representatives and cars, that racing series is only going to grow, and there is a London event in 2020 which will spark a lot of interest.

As well as cars there were many other electric car related products including the pictured BP Polar Network Charger which again had it's unveiling at the show. In fact it was so new I was asked not to post pictures of it before the end of the show as the press hadn't even been shown at that time.

It was great to see how much hands on interaction the show had with guests, not only in the exhibition halls, but also outside on the track. BMW, Kia, Nissan and Renault had electric cars that people could drive out on the small Stowe circuit.

It meant there was a chance for me to get registered with Silverstone and get a photographers bib which allowed me out on the circuit to take pictures (I did say I walked a lot !) There was also lots of smaller personal transportation, bikes, scooters, and more in the garages that had people trying and zooming up and down all day.

There was also the UK Tesla Owners Club organising transfers from the car park to the exhibition front door all for free with any thankful donations going to charity.

The last thing to mention was the special treat on Saturday when Craig Charles bought his DJ show to the Silverstone Paddock on a stage that was Solar Powered ! Also in attendance was Robert Llewellyn of course, and Danny John-Jules which gave us a mini Red Dwarf reunion.

The party was a great way to unwind on Saturday evening especially as the weather on the Friday hadn't been so kind. There were several other bands playing on the Solar Stage throughout the weekend which gave a great background sound to the hubbub of the exhibition.

The last thing to say is how much I enjoyed the show, I have noticed the photographs taken pop up all over the internet which is always great to see. There might also have been some published in a Danish motorcycle magazine, but I haven't fond a copy yet. Which just leaves me to say that assuming there is going to be a Fully charged 2020 I will be more than happy to take photographs again. Even if I don't take photographs I would go to the show anyway as it is a really well organised and informative event with a hugely positive message about the future.

Pennine Pen Animal Rescue Dog Show

On the 27th of May 2019 I was the official photographer for the Pennine Pen Animal Rescue Fun Dog Show at Chadderton FC ground in Oldham. It was indeed a fun day with lots of cute dogs and competitions. Photographs from the day can be viewed on Flickr

If you see yourself or your dog in the Flickr album and would like a high quality copy of the photograph without the watermark, then you can use my online shop to order, if there are any questions on how to do that then simply send me an email - info@z70.uk

There were so many dogs to take pictures of it was great to see them all and meet the owners.

Although I was there to take pictures of the event I had also been asked if it was possible to take studio portraits of the dogs. I hadn't done this out of the studio before so had a think about how to do this in the field (literally).

A pop up tent was provided and I managed to come up with a portable studio solution that fitted in the available space. All of the equipment was stored in a single collapsable Ottoman, bought from Dunelm, for easy transport. The Ottoman also doubled as a bench for the smaller dogs to sit on during their session, which made it just about perfect.

I managed to fit in 11 posed portraits in an hour and a half, which is quite good going for a studio portrait.

Here is one example of the results, which the owner is very pleased with and was happy to let me share here.

If you have any questions about the day or just want to get in touch about future events then see my contact page on the Photography website - http://z70.uk/contact.html

Ride With M.E

On the 12th of May 2019 I was the official photographer for the Ride With M.E event at Stafford Driving Center in Seighford, Staffordshire. It was a great day with lots of cool bikes, music and lots of other entertainment. All in aid of Action For M.E

Photographs from the day can be viewed on Flickr.

If you would like any of the images to download or print without watermarks then you can go over to my online store, choose one of the first two options and create an order. By doing this you will also be helping the charity effort as at least 20% of each sale will be donated back to the charity.

Before you do that make sure you know the name of the image e.g. for the bike picture above (direct link) the name would be DSC08448-14, please add that to the order details notes section so I know which one to send :-)

If there are any issues or queries please let me know - info (at) z70 (dot) uk

Event Photography Awards Winner

I Won !

On the 14th of May in a very glamourous awards ceremony held at 4 Hamilton Place in London's Mayfair, the Event Photography Awards took place. It is fair to say I had no idea of what to expect other than seeing some great photographs, meeting some other photographers and having an evening out in London. It was all of that and more.

After a few canapes and drinks and examining all of the entries to the competition, printed and displayed in the event space we were all ushered downstairs to the main conference room.

In fairly short order the award announcements started and the categories were worked through. Soon the Cultural section, where I had two images shortlisted was reached. As with all the categories that had preceded it, commended images were mentioned first and then the runner up and winner was announced.

To my delight I was the runner up in the Cultural category, and that on it's own was fantastic news, and more than I thought would happen, given this was my first time entering the awards.

The ceremony moved on and the other award category winners were announced, all brilliant images in their own right.

Then the final three awards including the overall winner picked from the individual category winners, plus a peoples choice award voted online and by people at the ceremony. First though was the award for the best amateur photographer, it was announced that there were two people that the judges couldn't choose between, so there would be two winners, and as you can already see in the photograph I was one of those winners !

The other winner was an excellent photographer called Katie Frost who was also a category winner in the Music section.

The good news didn't quite stop there as the next day I was told to look in the Daily Telegraph, and sure enough there was a small article about the awards and three pictures, including the overall winners image and one of mine.

I have already said thanks in person and on the various social media sites, but I just want to say again here how much I appreciate being selected for the prize it means a huge amount, and will give me a big boost going forward. I now have to take some great images to enter into the competition next year.

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