During the early part of the summer, I ran a series of Zoom workshops on creating a ‘body of work’,  as opposed to one-off images, for the Frome Wessex Camera Club (FWCC). As a final task, I asked the group to submit a series of up to 10 images reflecting their overall view of the ‘Closing down and Opening up’ on the country during the 18 months of the pandemic so far. The work was diverse and to a high quality, and the group 25 photographers were enthusiastic about the project. Camera Clubs historically tend to focus on single photographs for competitions, which is well away from my pers ..read more

Here’s a fun (though not scientific) test. One of these photos was taken with the Pentax 55mm F/1.8 c. 1976, the other the Leica Summicron 50mm F/2, c. 1969. Both taken using Leica SL2, 1600 ISO, F/5.6, at 1./50th on a tripod. Guesses which is which, A or B? On eBay, an excellent version of the Pentax lens costs less than £60, and the Summicron north of £1000. Click on the image to see it larger. A …. B ..read more

It is fun exploring ‘vintage’ lenses with modern digital cameras. In fact, one of the selling points of the Leica SL / SL2 has always been (for me at least) its ability to handle all kinds of glass – starting of course with Leica’s own M lenses, and including Nikon and Canon. This weekend I purchased an Urth adaptor for Pentax K lenses, which is an absolute steal at £26. It is really well made, and although wide open infinity focus is occasionally a challenge, it performs really well across the range. The Pentax KX was my first ‘real’ pro-level SLR, dating from 1976, and it was my workhor ..read more

I am pleased to have been invited to a book by the RPS Contemporary North group. The idea was to bring together personal, photographic approaches to the coronavirus pandemic, literally with 20:20 vision. I was invited to share some of the work from Coronavirus UK, which I had also published as a limited edition book in 2020. You can find the complete 2020 Vision book on Issuu. Here are some page spreads from 2020 Vision. Click to view larger. Introduction Simon Hill, President of the RPS RPS Contemporary North Mick – pages 1 & 2 Mick – pages 3 & 4 Mick – pages 5 & 6 Mick – p ..read more

One of the great attraction of the SL is that, with the right adaptor, you can use all kinds of other brand’s lenses. I have a manual Novoflex adaptor, and it works superbly. Prompted by a  friend pulling out their vintage Nikkor 70-210mm (F/4 – F/5.6), I thought I’d give it a try. The Nikkor gets really good reviews, and yet is an absolute steal on eBay, at around £100 for a good condition version. The design uses a slide to change focal length, and the lens is quite generous with F-stop, staying at F/4 until around 135mm. You have to move the Novoflex ring to change lens aperture, and a ..read more

Honoured that the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) Journal featured my Fellowship (FRPS) in the July-August edition. And I can’t help but smile at the feature introduction alongside Sebastião Salgado and Richard Misrach           ..read more

I had occasion to write this short piece in a debate about sound systems and in particular ‘spatial audio’. But if you swap hearing for sight, the idea is the same for what we see and the tech we photograph with. Over the years I think we’ve tried most kinds of sound tech, albeit not the extreme in £s but certainly the extreme in approaches. Quadrophonic, DCC or Video Disk, anyone? We had our first DSP (Digital Sound Processing) rig in the late 1980s, which emulated all kinds of concert hall sounds. And now we have three independent Hi-Fi systems at home, all different. Recently, Apple Mu ..read more

I am researching the ethics of photography, and one of the areas of interest is the ‘networked image’. Some time back I wrote about the various ways that we talk about and use the word ‘digital‘, which is related to unpacking how we might analyse what is going on with photographs – from digital capture and processing, to networking and exchange. Well, one thing led to another and I decided to write up a timeline of innovations which all affect today’s networked image. Here it is so far, including a few personal technological milestones. 1913 Édouard Belin’s Belinograph scanned with a photocell ..read more

Very pleased to have my FRPS work featured in the RPS Benelux e-Journal ..read more

I am planning a workshop on creating ‘A Body of Work’ for a local group. In a way, this is my reaction against the over-focus on single images that we see in so many photographic arenas, and especially competitions at all kinds of level, from local Camera Clubs to Pulitzer awards. That is not to say that stunning, individual photographs are in some way ‘wrong’. But I believe that simply producing single images can stymie one’s attempts to develop a personal style, and can also get in the way when one is considering exhibitions or books. If one pursues a degree in photography, or attains a ..read more