So what's this all about?

My name is Stephen O'Leary and SLOclick.co.uk is my photoblog. I live in Crosby near Liverpool in the North West of England. I have not been taking photos seriously for very long, in fact this is my first ever "real" camera apart from focus free 35mm's and the odd disposable. I have managed to take the odd good photo with some of those though which prompted me to try actively going looking for something to take a picture of. After looking at several sites such as Chromasia , Skinny Buzzard and a few others i decided, i can do that, and off i went.

The main purpose of this photoblog was at first just to have a gallery of my pictures so i could show my friends without having to send out e-mails all the time, then i found out about Haloscan and decided it would be a good idea to get some feedback from people to help me improve, i can definately say that this feedback has been invaluable and i think if you look back through my archives you can see a noticable improvement in the pictures i take (with some exceptions obviously, everyone has off days)

My Equipment

  • Canon EOS 300D + BG-E1 Battery Grip - A great camera with a few missing features and very annoying autofocus niggles
  • Canon 580EX Speedlite - A great and powerfull flash, im still learning how to use it properly, also adds FEC to the 300D, a strange feature to leave out
  • Canon EFS 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 - Dont use it anymore due to too much barrel distortion and general cheapiness
  • Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L - My replacement for the above, its in a whole different league of quality and is dust-resistant, important for the beach
  • Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L - The first extra lens i bought, couldnt afford the f/2.8 but the quality of this zoom is just incredible
  • Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 MkII - My first step into the world of primes, very sharp but a niche lens, indoors with no flash is its main use for me
  • Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 MACRO - My latest lens, ultra, mega sharp, easily the sharpest i own by a mile i would reccomend it without hesitation
  • Manfrotto 679B Monopod - A recent addition, makes life a hell of a lot easier, highly reccomended
  • Manfrotto 055ProB Tripod - A very solid (and heavy) tripod, much better than the old Velbon i had, bought a really decent one because i never intend to buy another one ever again. This one will hold a 1Dmk2 body with any Canon lens up to the 500mm f/4
  • Manfrotto 322 RC2 Joystick Head - A fantastic head, so easy to use and versatile, holds the camera perfectly steady even at the weirdest of angles

 

Links

Below is a list of links that you may find are useful in getting your blog up and running:
Favourite Photoblogs (in no particular order) :