One thing I will not make excuses for!

I have to admit to getting a little tetchy with some photographers these days. Not everyone, just some. The ones in question are of the opinion that it's OK to attempt to shoot a wedding using equipment that is totally unsuitable for the job and that you don't really need any skills or training to do so. The "Give it a go" brigade. It's just not acceptable to be encouraging someone who has neither the equipment nor the skills to do the job, in fact it's downright irresponsible.

I make absolutely no apology for attending training courses, I make no apology for going to work with other more experienced photographers so I may pick up some ideas from them. These people have a lifetime of experience and if I can walk a few short steps in their footsteps and learn something from the experience then why is that such a bad thing?

I take training seriously and I go on as much as I can find time to do. It does not have to cost a fortune but from Mark Cleghorn's Monkey Business tours to travelling all the way to Edinburgh for a day with Trevor and Faye Yerbury, I will put myself out to do it. I have a week's residential training with some very knowledgeable folks from the MPA next March already booked.

And if I pick up one skill, one tip, one bit of experience passed on from each and every training opportunity then it makes me a better photographer. Each skill goes into my own toolbox and it allows me to pull them out when I want to use the technique. That develops me as a photographer and allows me to offer my clients a better product. And for that I make no apology at all!