claonaite's photostream

***New***
You can follow me on Facebook as well as on Flickr - I sometimes post images to Facebook that I don't post here.

www.facebook.com/claonaitephotography

***Old***
I've had this account for a year and a half, so I suppose I should fill this page out at some point. So - what would you like to know? A quick flick through my photos will tell you a lot about me. I like landscape photography, and I'm still very much a collector of moments and a fan of the big vista, but I'm trying harder to get into the more abstract, minimalist, and intimate kind of landscape shots. I've heard you can take them in bad weather, and without hiking to the top of something or other in the dark on the off chance that sunrise will actually happen (while technically it happens once every day, it doesn't happen photogenically every day). That's seductive.

Commenting and Contact Policies
Some of my contacts have one of these, so I thought I'd have one too. I love comments - pile them on. Tell me how cool my pictures are and that you like the colours. Hell, just way "wow" if that's all that comes to mind - there's no need to write a book. Feel free to leave sparkly things as well. There's a certain buzz launching Flickr in the morning before work and seeing lots of new sparkly things. It reminds me of Christmas. I'll also happily accept invites to groups.

However, I'd really appreciate some constructive criticism on my work. If you like/dislike one of my photos, and have a few minutes spare, then let me know why you like/dislike it. I'm ultra hard to offend.

In terms of leaving comments, I try my hardest to wax eloquent about why I liked your image, but I consistently fail to get beyond "wow" and "I love the colours". It's my engineering side. If it helps, I only leave comments on pictures that I think are really good, so please accept that my thoughts are good even if the actual words are poor. If I think your photo is better than really good, I'll fave it so I can find it again.

If you have so many photos that are better than really good, then I'll add you as a contact to avoid getting RSI clicking the fave button too many times. I hope this explains why I'm so poor at commenting on other people's photos.


Equipment
Some of my contacts have lists of this as well, but I've decided not to bother. I thought it was all important until I saw someone's mobile phone shots that were simply far better than anything I could produce, so I'll quietly announce that I use Canon cameras and lenses, and leave it at that.

I did stupidly promise myself recently that my photography would have to be self funding, and since then the bottom section has fallen off my tripod legs, the center column is lying on top of a hill in Assynt, and my 10-22mm wide angle lens only reliably shoots at F3.5. On the plus side, my gear is lighter to carry, and I have no choice but to get closer to the subject and use shallow DoF. On the down side, it means I actually have to make an effort to sell some photos now. To that end, I've created Claonaite Photography which I populate with pictures when the weather's too bad to go and take the camera out (I can't risk anything else breaking!).

If you're interested in using any of my images, then please get in touch. Don't just take them. That's theft.