Funded By The Local Arts Office

Back in November, I was delighted to receive financial assistance from the local Arts Office in the form of partial funding towards the purchase of equipment as part of the Arts Act Grant 2009.

The partial funding has helped me make my recent purchases; a Nikon Speedlight Sb-900 flash unit and an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer.

The Nikon Speedlight Sb-900, my second flash, will help me to develop my skills using the strobist style of photography. Using both my flashes through wireless remote triggers will give me a sort of mobile studio set-up.

Whilst I still need to get some softboxes and stands, I can’t wait to spend the next few months experimenting with double flash set-ups and coming to grips with the ridiculous amounts of settings possible between my Sb-800 and Sb-900. I really think it’s going to have an amazing affect on my photography.

Getting the Epson Stylus Photo R2880 photo printer means that for the first time ever I can offer printing services to anybody I shoot with, able to provide prints as large as A3 size. It also means I will finally be able to exhibit my work in print form. I’m currently working on a plan for my first ever exhibition, which will hopefully take place later in the year.

I began doing print tests during the week, I’m still trying to tweak variances between colour settings on my monitor and the printer, but it’s really awesome to see my shots in large print form for the first time.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be making some adjustments to the website to allow for print purchasing. Details on the exhibition will be announced in due time and hopefully the results of my new flash set-up will start appearing online soon.

All that’s left for me to say is thanks very much to all the staff in the local Arts Office and the independent members of the panel who approved my application, the support is very much appreciated and will be put to good use in the coming months.