Secret Diary of a Seasoned Snapper
All photos ©Al Macphee/Miraclepr.com Ahead of Super Bowl 2023, I covered a Torbay Trojans training session for my blog post on photographing American Football in the UK Last weekend, I caught back up with the Trojans and took some training shots at the Foxhole Community Centre. The Paignton-based American Football side are on a rebuilding mission … Read more
All photos ©Al Macphee/MiraclePR With Super Bowl 2023 coming up this weekend, I decided I would shake things up a bit and cover some American football. Now, the UK season doesn’t start until April, so I got in touch with the Torbay Trojans, our local American football team, who happened to be training in Plymouth … Read more
If you’ve wondered why things have been a bit quiet on the blog, then I can now reveal the reason. I have been working hard to get my first book (and the first in the ‘So You Want To Be A Photographer’ series) launched before the end of the year. I can now confirm that … Read more
Taking Presentation Pictures: ©Al Macphee/MiraclePR One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to always tell yourself that there are several ways to take a picture. Whether it’s medals, trophies, cheques or a bunch of flowers, we’ve all seen standard presentation pictures in newspapers and online. There is lots of advice out … Read more
Know Your Camera: ©Al Macphee/MiraclePR Apart from a few of the most advanced models (Nikon F4, F5, etc.), the old cameras didn’t have the ability to set shutter speed, etc. Most of them were very basic, and delivered similar results. Today, with so many settings to adjust, there is more variety between cameras. There is … Read more
Documentary photography: All photographs © Al Macphee/MiraclePR Documentary photography is capturing the atmosphere using fly-on-the-wall photography. It covers anything that moves naturally and is related to the subject you want to record. Documentary photography at weddings and sports events I work with the documentary photography style at weddings. I sit down in a corner where I … Read more
How to photograph horses jumping. All photographs © Al Macphee/MiraclePR General tips on how to photograph horses jumping It’s mainly about timing so that you catch the perfect shot of the hoofs up over the fence. If you get the horse just as it takes off with the fence looking nice and high then you’re well … Read more
South Devon Football League action from Coach Road. As a club photographer, make sure you contact the venue in advance for permission to take pictures. © Al Macphee/MiraclePR Protecting your equipment – and yourself! Let’s start with something that a new club photographer might not think about: keeping their equipment safe. It’s not just a … Read more
Donut Duathlon. All photographs © Al Macphee/MiraclePR Over my time in the photography business, I have collected a fair few contacts: from newspaper editors and radio DJs to community leaders and event organisers. Ever so often, the opportunity arises to ‘rally the troops’ for the benefit of a good cause. With Children In Need coming up … Read more
FA Vase: All photographs © Al Macphee/MiraclePR The FA Vase challenge Working with the local press in the 21st Century is very different to how it used to be. Things have changed a lot even in the last ten years. Many local newspapers now come under the umbrella of large commercial publishers and editors have responsibility … Read more