Well I did say I was going to be away this week, but as usual, my plans changed. So while I'm stuck at my computer today, I thought I'd upload this portrait.

Shot in Pushkar, a sacred city in Rajasthan, in January of this year, I made a black and white print of it this week which I felt was very beautiful. So this spurred me onto loading the negative into my trusty Coolscan 9000 to see what it looked like in colour. It was a complete shock to see all those vibrant colours in the lady's clothing. Such a different interpretation from a black and white print. If I can manage it at some point, I'd love to scan the black and white print - there's hints of silver in the highlights which I feel are not possible with inkjet prints.

I feel I'm moving into the realms of traditional black and white printing. There's something organic about this process and many friends who have seen the results so far have commented that there's 'something special about a real black and white print'. I agree.

Shot on 645 Contax with 80mm lens at f4, it has a nice shalow depth of field - the background is nicely isolated. I love Portra film, it does tend to have a warm tone to it - slightly reddish, but hey - that's the beauty of film, each one has its own character and it would be folly to fight it.

A friend of mine has just published his own book and this week I finally got round to getting a copy of it and having a read. The book in question is 'Within the Frame', by David DuChemin. I'm sure some of you will know David's work from his site the pixelatedimage.com.

I met David pretty much by chance. He'd stumbled upon my site and had written a very kind review of my work and we got talking. He's very enthusiastic but I didn't really get a chance to meet him until I was in Nepal this year. I've since kept up correspondence with him and I find him to be very inspiring: when you're busy trying to make a go of being 100% professional, it's always good to surround yourself with people who are positive, forward thinking and inspiring.

So David has published his first book, and although he is predominantly a 'people photographer', what I found striking about his book was that I feel the contents apply to anyone be it a landscape photographer or a street photographer. The text is engaging and if I didn't know better, I'd say that David is a very talented writer - end of story. But his images are very beautiful too. He's got an innocent charm in how he approaches subjects and I personally felt I could draw a lot of parallels to how he approaches his photography to my own.

This book is not a technical book. And I'm grateful for it. The last good read I had was Galen Rowell's 'Mountain Light', an inspiring book about being out there and 'connecting' with what you see. David's book is similar in that respect, but it's more aimed at the enthusiast who wants to improve his skills. he talks about 'Vision' - something that the late Galen Rowell brought up, as did Ansel Adams, but what David does is break vision down into it's integral parts. It's a nice book which makes you *think* more about what it is you are trying to do with your photography, rather than what gear you want to buy. And for that, It's rather refreshing.

David used to be a stand up comedian. I only bring this up because each time I pick a paragraph to read, I can't help being reeled in. It's nice writing, humourous, humble and engaging.