CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

MacLean Photographic workshops and tours have been well received in 2016 with satisfied clients traveling home with some great images and an improvement in their photographic knowledge. On Monday 28th November the dates for the 2017 season were released on the MacLean Photographic website.   Also available on the website are MacLean Photographic Gift Vouchers to the value of £25, £50 or £100.  If you are stuck what to get that special photographer in your life for Christmas then look no further. As a special offer, all vouchers bought before the 31 December 2016 will have no expiry date, then can be used in 2017, 2018 or even 2025 should the recipient wish.  Also for all vouchers bought before the end of the year, MacLean Photographic will keep the price of the workshops and tours at 2016 prices for bookings made with those vouchers.  That way the vouchers never lose their value! To book a MacLean Photographic Gift Voucher visit the website HERE To rev...

Yesterday was the first MacLean Photographic workshop of the 2016 season and after a quick presentation we headed down to the harbour to put into practice what had been discussed indoors. A beautiful sunny day in Dunbar provided the perfect conditions for some photography with the boats, both in and out of the water, providing colourful subject matter. I was on hand to provide one-to-one tuition and don't take that many images when teaching, but I also had my camera handy to take a picture to illustrate a point about exposure or composition. Here are some of the images from the photography workshop, all taken on the Fujifilm X-T1 and 16-55mm f2.8. If you are interested in finding out more about a MacLean Photographic workshop or you would like to book a one-to-one lesson  CLICK HERE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ...

I have finished putting the final touches to the first promo video for the 2016 Photo Workshops and Tours. This was put together using iMovie on my iMac and the music is by Adam Selzer, the music obtained from FreeMusicArchive.com  I hope you like the video and I am now working on the new videos for the Beaches and Castles and Woodland Exploration workshops. CLICK HERE for more information on the Tours and Workshops, with the 2016 dates also available to view and book. CLICK HERE to see this video on the MacLean Photographic YouTube channel ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE ...

New Photographic Workshop dates in and around Dunbar now available with a choice of three workshops to choose from.   Each workshop costs £150 for a full day.  With a maximum of just three photographers on each date you will be assured of maximum amount of attention.  One to one workshops are also available on request for an extra £75. Beaches and Castles A one day tour showing our guests some of the best locations in East Lothian for wonderful beaches and fantastic historical building.  With its location close to the English border, East Lothian and the Scottish Borders has many examples of 13th and 14th century fortresses that stood guard against English incursions. We will take our guests to one inland castle, one clifftop fortress and one of the several beautiful sandy beaches on this stretch of Scotland’s coastline.  The itinerary depends on the tides on the day the tour is run.  Guests will also be given a choice of the venues we ...

Do you like the pictures on this blog?  Do you want to know how to take pictures just like them?  Would you want to explore East Lothian with a photographer who knows his way around one of the best counties for landscape photography in the UK?  Well we are launching the MacLean Photographic Tours and Workshops for 2015 which are suitable for photographers of all ages and abilities. We are also launching a one day Beginners in Photography workshop in and around Dunbar aimed at novice photographers who want to get more out of their camera, whether it is a DSLR, Compact or Smart Phone.  At the end of the workshop you will have a better understanding of how a digital camera works, getting the right exposure and being able to arrange the elements within the frame to improve the overall composition.  Prices start at £75 for the Beginners in Photography workshop, with the Tours and more advanced workshops at £150 per person.  The beginners workshop is lim...

A brand logo is a difficult thing to get right and it has been a long journey to get to the point where I have now found something I am happy with. And this is the result of the hard work by John Rourke Creative . The journey started three years ago when I needed a separate brand identity for MacLean Photographic from my PR business MacLean Communications but it also had to reflect the fact that the photography side of my business was an extension of, and not separate to, the PR business - as a professional photographer it was an extra service I could offer my clients. In 1996, when I set up MacLean Photographic and Sporting Images, the first logo I adopted was a MacLean tartan background with a big 'M' in a old fashioned font.  I don't have an electronic copy of that logo in my files but it was too complicated and too fussy, but at the time I didn't know any better. Fast forward to 2009 and the new logo was a take on the existing MacLean Communication...

The MacLean Photographic website has been given an early spring clean with a new carousel of images on the front page, links to the new MacLean Photographic 500px web pages and updates to the gallery section, including a new 'Travel' gallery. The gallery section now reflects the four main areas that MP is known for - Landscapes, Wildlife, Travel and Automobile - and these will be updated on a regular basis throughout 2013 and beyond.  The final change is a fresh new font style - comic sans - which has given each page layout a fresh look. If you have any comments, good or bad, please let us know. Visit us at www.macleanphotographic.co.uk ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION If you like what you see on this blog please visit our  Facebook  pa...

After the sights and sounds of the Souk in Marrakech we had the opportunity to spend a few hours exploring the edge of the desert from the saddle of a quad bike and what fun we had.  I have only been on a quad bike once before but I have sone plenty of off roading in 4x4 vehicles when I was in the Royal Air Force and felt quite at home. All of the images in this blog post were taken on my Fujifilm X100 using either the standard 23mm f2 lens or with the wide angle converter fitted to make it a 19mm f2. The Fujifilm coped admirably with the dusty conditions and produced a memorable record of our day in the desert. Quads and Buggies are the mode of transport in this part of Morocco We were picked up at the hotel in Land Cruisers and taken out to our start location around 15km outside Marrakech.  After a quick briefing and demonstration we saddled up with most of our party on quad bikes, with three others in buggies. We set off in two groups,...

The brand new MacLean Photographic website home page The new website for MacLean Photographic was unveiled at the weekend after several weeks of behind the scenes work.  Websites are difficult things to quantify but one thing is clear, in this day of instant communications your website is the shop window for your activity, whether it is business or pleasure. I have been a professional photographer since leaving the military in 1996.  While the vast majority of my income now comes from MacLean Communications (ie the writing and organisation side of the business) being a competent photographer has enabled me to secure work over other highly experienced PR professionals.  It certainly doesn't hurt to have that extra string to the proverbial bow. Websites are also a personal thing that reflect your business and brand values.  I had investigated the template website option that are available from some very good and reputable firms.  While they offer a quick,...