At a crossroads

May already, and again I haven't updated the blog much. Work has been very demanding recently as we have lost three of the team and the workload has also increased.

Personally, I have hardly picked up my camera for a while and instead have been painting. The problem is I keep starting new paintings but frequently get bored or frustrated with old ones, and never return to finish them! I've therefore been eager to show new work on here and my Facebook page but it's often 'in progress'. A couple of examples are below, the Lady in Green Sari is from my Saturday painting class at The Nag's Head pub in Walthamstow, and the still life is from my first private lesson with Lee Campbell. The second is from an evening at home last week.

So my question is.. how do I progress? Time for painting is snatched when i can, but often isn't consistent. Maybe I do need to set aside a regular slot for it.. but I'm also trying to study professional exams as well. Hmm time management can be difficult!

Another portrait and some favourite contemporary artists

Here's another portrait I painted a few weeks back - This one is copied from a photo by Lee Jeffries, who received much-deserved acclaim for his series of portraits of the homeless.

I decided to paint this using a very restricted palette - originally I used just burnt sienna, but then added some raw umber and a touch of ultrmarine for the darks, and titanium white for the beard.

As I'm always looking to improve, I have been studying many contemporary artists as well as Old Masters. Its fascinating to see all the different styles of painting, and makes me realise just how much I don't know! I have to remind myself that I've only been doing this for half a year..but patience is not one of my best features ;)

Among my favourite artists are Gregg Kreutz, David A. Leffel and Richard Schmid - these are all widely recognised as some of the best artists living today. I also love Rupert Alexander's work - This talented guy painted the Queen when he was just 23! Can you suggest any more I should look at?

A new style for Amber Glow

If you've been here before you might notice the style has changed. The usual front page with central model photograph has gone (well it's still here, just not at the front) and has been replaced with my blog. I've done this for two reasons. Firstly, as an experiment to pick up more Google traffic, as the page will change regularly -which the original one didn't. This means that the site should become more 'sexy' or attractive to search engines, meaning more people will see it. It's all part of a 'search engine optimization' or SEO campaign that I'm undertaking right now. This means a lot of work analyzing search queries and ensuring my website is structured to be as efficient as possible- a full-time job in itself! Indeed some people make a living helping others to improve their sites. The obvious downside is that only one person can top the Google, Bing or Yahoo rankings so it's a continuous battle to be the top fashion photographer in London, the best make up artist, fish & chip shop..you get my point. Oh well, nobody said it was easy (sorry, Chris Martin) and I'll settle for the Top 10 photographers list anyway :)

Secondly, I can add more photos in this format, and the content may change several times per week. This means I can deliver interesting stories for you the viewer, about fashion photography, the world of art, or even the weather if I like (well, I am British). If you have any good ideas about what you'd like to see, why not contact me or drop me an email at mark@amberglowphotography.com? Of course, you can also do this if you would like a model, glamour or boudoir photoshoot, or even wish to purchase an image.