What is a day trip from Parga to Corfu Town like?

We love Greece, and we love exploring new places. We also love going back to places that we like.

So in this post I will tell what a day trip from Parga to Corfu Town is like, and how to get the best out of what is a long but very enjoyable day, including top tips for the boat! I will tell you what I think are the best things to do between arriving at 11am and getting back on the ferry back at 4pm, and how to make the most of this time.

Where does the ferry go from?

Here is a map showing where the ferry picks you up from, at the end of the main jetty in Parga. X marks the spot.

Where does the ferry from Parga to Corfu go from

Who did we book the trip with?

Location of the TUI office in Parga

We booked the trip with TUI at their office in Parga, which is in the centre of the town. It is within Synthesis Travel by the way – here it is on the map (roughly).

And I am now a TUI Affiliate so if you book anything using my affiliate link I get a small, as of yet unknown commission.

At the time we went on this holiday we were paying customers by the way.

How much does it cost?

€45 each return. Which I think is quite a lot, especially considering that the trip to Antipaxos, the Blue Caves and Gaios in Paxos cost €20, with two swim stops included.

Still, it is quite a way to travel, taking 2 ½ hours each way.

So maybe it is not expensive, more like the trip from Parga to Antipaxos and Paxos is a complete bargain!

Which boat did we travel on?

This boat. It is actually a ferry.

Parga to Corfu ferry

What time does the boat leave?

8.30am, returning to the jetty in Parga at 6.30pm. Yes, that is five hours on a boat in a day. You need to think about that if you are not keen on boats!

What time do you need to get there?

Well this is the queue at 8.05am.

Waiting for the ferry from Parga to Corfu

Not great. Basically the end of the jetty is filled with people, some with manners some without. It is just a case of shuffling forwards in the crowd until you get to the front.

Hardly the most pleasant experience, so the earlier you get there the better.

I would get there at 7.45 with breakfast and sit at the front if I were doing this trip again.

What’s on the boat?

Toilets, a bar, two sundecks, and two air-conditioned lounges, one on each level. All facilities I have to say in very good order for a boat, which is good.

Is it easy to get around the boat?

Yes apart from people sitting on the stairs the circulation space is not too bad. Why do people insist on  doing that, and then looking inconvenienced when you try to get past them?

Where are the best places to sit on the boat?

It depends what you like.

Secret Sunbathing seats

The secret seats are at the at the front. Small deckchairs on the upper front deck. There is no sign to this area, which I noticed through the window of the upper internal lounge by chance.

You are in shade for a lot of the time though, due to the location of the morning sun and the direction the boat is travelling.

There are also seats at the back, but this was a bit crowded for me going out. On the way back it was nowhere near as full though, I guess people had had enough of the sun for the day.

But the plastic seats do get a bit sweaty!

Air-conditioned space

There are two lounges, which were both rather noisy being filled by the chatter of large groups of holidaymakers.

So this is the story of the day

Alarm 6.30
We have a cuppa, then a quick coffee, then walk down to Parga. We bought breakfast from the bakers consisting of croissants, coffee and a sausage roll (Greek style). This little lot cost 8 euros which is good.

Getting on the boat

I mentioned this earlier, but I will say it again – get there early to avoid disappointment!!

On the boat

We sat on the secret deckchairs on the upper front deck. And this was an experience I have to say.

To start with the deckchairs are in rows secured quite sensibly with ropes. They are small deckchairs, sized for medium sized children, certainly not adults like me!

And this is such a secret place it is about 10% full as we leave Parga.

People on the boat

There are some interesting people on the boat. There is a family of three. The daughter cannot sit still, and goes through at least three costume changes on the way there.

The Dad seems more than happy chucking his rubbish onto the deckchair behind him. I am so incensed I have to clear up.

But Mum seems fine!

And then there are the two blokes wearing very tight shorts who decide to stand right in front of us.

And all the people who climb the stairs and stand right at the front blocking the view for those of us sat there.

I’m cold!

For the first time I am cold in Parga. That is apart from when I fell asleep right under the draught from the air-con on full blast that is!

Sat in the shade with the wind from the sea I am feeling a tad chilly, which is rather bizarre!

Don’t sit at the back of the boat

Another top tip – do not sit at the very back of the boat on the lower deck. Why not? That is where people smoke. If you smoke then sit there. I do not smoke and the smell was rather off–putting as we waited at the back of the boat as it at arrived in the port so we could get off nice and quick – we had places to go after all!

And for all the folk sat/ stood at the very back of the boat you are moved a good3 metres inside the boat to give the crew space to do their work so bear this in mind!

Our return visit to Corfu

At 11.00 we arrive at the new port of Corfu. We know it well, and know exactly where we are going.

Top tip – if you do not know where you are going, and do not want to walk into Corfu Town, walk out to the front of Sette Venti, go to the roundabout and wait for a taxi – this is where they drop people off for the ferries so you should not wait too long.

Walking into Corfu.

If you are happy to walk into Corfu Town you can be at the Liston in 20 minutes. This is a great place for a drink and watch the world go by.

What is the Liston?

The Liston in Corfu Town

The Liston is a famous meeting point in Corfu Town. The Liston is actually a pedestrianized street with a lovely building, which is an excellent example of the architecture of the time, being constructed during the French rule of Corfu in 1807.

The building contains bars and cafes on the ground floor with apartments above.

The Liston in Corfu at lunchtime

It overlooks the Corfu cricket ground to the front, and to the rear is the start of the shopping district of Corfu.

The cricket wicket in Corfu Town

So a great place to start a day visit to Corfu town.

Time for a beer

We have a lovely chilled beer, large for me, small for Nickie. 9 euros including crisps, which is not bad considering the location.

And I am not going to lie to you – I was a sweaty mess sat there after that 20-minute walk in the baking lunchtime heat.

Wear Sunscreen

I have my factor 30 in my backpack. I do not apply any. Why? I have no idea. SO we walk around the shops, which today appear to be endless, and do not sell anything that we are looking for.

Lunchtime

We lunch at McDonalds. I know. But it did make a change from what we have been eating for well over a eek now. And it is nice and cool in that air-conditioned environment.

Top tip – keep your receipt for your meal, as it has a code on it, which you need to access the toilets which are upstairs.

I didn’t to my cost!

We eat our food on a large communal benched area, with a teenager sat next to us eating each fry one at a time incredibly slowly.

And staring at our food…..

Time to split up (for an hour)

Nickie goes of shopping. I go off to take some photos.

I start with the Old Venetian Fortress. I ask if I can go to the middle of the bridge and take a photo without paying at the barrier – the nice man lets me do just that.

All done with gestures and pointing to my camera which is miraculous if you think about it!

The Old Venetian Fortress in Corfu Town by Rick McEvoy

I get the photos I want then move on to my next destination

The cricket pitch

Yes there is a cricket pith in Corfu Town, which you can find in between The Liston and the Old Venetian Fortress.

Here is my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2 with 12-40mm lens on the cricket pitch in Corfu Town!

On location with the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2

I sit at the end of the wicket and listen to the cricket in England. I photograph the wicket and send a photo and some witty words to BBC sport in a bid to gate crash the Live Text commentary.

Without success.

Architectural photography with the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2

Next stop is the Museum of Asian Art of Corfu, which I have photographed before. I wanted to have a go at architectural photography with my micro four-thirds camera, the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2.

Here is one of the photos I took. I enjoyed playing around with Jpeg, RAW, HDR and high-resolution shots.

Museum of Asian Art of Corfu by Rick McEvoy

Not bad eh? Part of my experimentation in architectural photography using the micro four thirds Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2 with 12-40mm lens

The problem with people

People don’t seem bothered if I am taking a photo. They happily look at me and then stand just where they are, in my shot. I am used to waiting these days, which is hat I do patiently. There was the 20 minutes waiting for the yellow boat to move when I was trying to take a photo in Parga – this is the post where I write about photographing the sunrise in Parga.

Reunited with wifey

One hour later we meet in the shopping area. I managed to find Nickie who was down near the port end of the shops.

We have not got anything other than a key fob, which is not a good return for a day trip to Corfu, now is it?

Time for a pint

We decide to give up on the shopping and have a beer instead. It is at this moment that I decide to put the sun cream on my head in the toilet at the bar. Obviously putting sun cream on in a hot unventilated toilet is far from ideal, and I came out looking a sweaty mess with cream all over my head – not a good look!!

Walking back to the ferry

We find some lovely shops on the way back to the port. There is a ceramic shop with a very nice chap sat there happily playing his guitar (one of 5 guitars on display no less). We buy two very nice tea lights holders, which he has made, which cost us 20 euros.

And also a leather shop where I spend all my time under the air conditioning!

Water!

Still struggling with the heat we get a bottle of water from the Shell station we pass for a paltry 1-euro.

Ferry timetables

When we get back to the port I need to get timetables for ferries to Paxos from Corfu and also from elsewhere for my Paxos Travel Guide website.

Back at Sette Venti

We don’t stop at Sette Vento this time – we go straight to the boat and get in the queue. I am at the front of the queue, not that it matters, until a lady very un-subtly pushes in in front of me. Like I said not important – rather baffling if anything!

This is what Sette Venti looks like from the boat by the way.

Sette Venti viewed from the boat

We have to wait a while to get on the boat, stood there in that blistering heat. Me – not Nickie – like a true gent I queue while she sits in the sun.

And then it is time to get on the ferry.

Back on the ferry from Corfu to Parga

This time we choose the upper deck seats at the back. There is loads of room as presumably people have had enough sun for one day.

But not us!

No – we share a couple of beers (3 euros for a cold can of Mythos) on the way back and watch Paxos and Antipaxos over to the right.

Other people

We are the only Brits again. It is rather strange.

There is a lady sat at the back of the boat who talked pretty much talked for the 2-½ hours of the return sailing.

I could not identify her nationality but she could speak!

She was creating lots of laughter amongst her fellow passengers – I would have loved to have been able to listen in as it sounded very funny.

What’s it like on those plastic seats?

In a word – sweaty.

But wait – the sun goes behind a cloud. We have a three-minute respite from that blistering afternoon Greek sunshine.

Clouds in Greece!

And the clouds are gone!

And what is it like inside?

Full of tired people. Packed. We are better off where we are.

Our return to Parga

For our return I want to video Parga from the boat, so I spend the last 20 minutes in what I consider to be he best seat on the boat – the one at the very front of the boat.

I get there to find the costume change girl sat there, but thankfully she moves so I grab the small wooden seat and prepare my phone for a video f the arrival into Parga.

And I also shoot the sea as we travel over it – here is a 5-minute video on my You Tube Channel.

And here is our arrival back in Parga, courtesy of Paxos Travel Guide.

This is what it looks like arriving back in Parga on the ferry from Corfu

And it is here where I work out that you can take stills whilst shooting video on the iPhone XS – the shutter button goes white when you are filming video – just press that and voila!

I found this out by mistake by the way.

And then we are back on dry land on mainland Greece.

Here are my top 10 things to do in Corfu on a day trip

1. Liston for a drink

2. Old Venetian Fort

3. Temple

4. Asian Museum

5. Church in centre

6. Lie on the cricket pitch

7. Shopping

8. Explore the side streets off the side streets

9. Get away from the crowds

10. McDonalds

Yes really. It is the only McDonalds for miles and miles, and as bad as it sounds a familiar burger makes a welcome change from all that lovely Greek and Italian food. Plus McDonalds in Corfu has decent air conditioning. Don’t throw away your till receipt though as I did, as this has the code for the toilet on it.

And this McDonalds is just up from the Liston so you will probably be in the vicinity anyway.

Shopping

My Top 7 Shopping Things from Corfu Town

1. Belts

2. Shoes

3. Flip-flops

4. Leather bags

5. T-shirts

6. Ceramics

7. Olive oil

8. Burgers!

Summary

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my experiences of Parga - next week I will be writing about my favourite photos of Parga, which I am looking forward very much to working on. Yes after that series of travel posts it is back to photography!

Rick McEvoy - photographer, writer, website creator.

Waiting for the sunrise in Parga on mainland Greece 30 minutes of morning loveliness in Greece

A 30 minute video of the time before the sun rises shot one morning when I was photographing the sunrise. I put my iPhone on a tripod and left it to record for 30 minutes while took photos.

Just sit down and stare at this and let your mind take you to mainland Greece - this is what I do!

Rick McEvoy Photography

#sunrise #parga #greece #video #rickmcevoyphotography

Parga Greece Reviews – Part 2 of 3

Welcome back to my story about a holiday in Parga.

I thought about the title of this post. Parga Greece Reviews – Part 2 of 3 – this works for me. After all, I am writing an in-depth review of Parga, telling you what it is really like holidaying in Parga. So this actually is a review of Parga. OK lets get back into it.

Whats in this post?

Part 2 includes the day of the trip from Parga to Paxos and Antipaxos and me doing some actual photography!

Now where was I?

This is where last week’s post ended. We were leaving Stefanos Taverna being serenaded by loud reggae music. We had to investigate.

Mike’s Bar

Mike’s Bar was the culprit. As you walk out of the lower level of Stefanos you walk through Mike’s Bar to get out!

So lets have another drink we thought.

Now I need to say here that we are pretty lightweight when it comes to nights out – we are not used to it anymore so anything after dinner is a big adventure to us!!

Our big night out

The music was ace. We had a great hour getting our favourite music on, drinking and dancing. We asked Mike for our favourite songs, and he ended up letting us select the songs on YouTube, as we were the only ones dancing.

And when I say drinking I mean 2 beers each – bottles of Mythos that is.

Two small bottles of beer at that.

The walk back to the hotel was a bit of a trauma but we made it back in one piece!

Mikes Bar - steps either way!

Day 4 – 15th August

Alarm set for 7, it is our wedding anniversary! We exchanged cards and laughed about the night before, such a good time with my best mate.

Breakfast in Parga

We got the morning shuttle bus from the hotel to the bus station in Parga. Well I say bus station it is a sign on the road!

Very rustic and most excellent.

We walked down to the front ending up in a very nice café bar called The Old Garden, where we had a cooked breakfast and a freshly squeezed orange juice – 22 euros was good value for a café overlooking the town beach, which was filling up rapidly as we ate.

And this is what it looked like.

Breakfast at The Old Garden in Parga

And this is the view from our table

The view from The Old Garden in Parga

There was also a constant procession of people walking over to the jetty to get their day trip boats. Ok I know there is no one in this photo!

Booking excursions to Paxos and Antipaxos

After breakfast we had a lovely walk around the far side of Parga, ending up at the TUI office where we booked excursions to Corfu Town and also Antipaxos and Paxos.

Yes we are doing the reverse of previous trips, which should be good.

I cannot wait to get back to Gaios to spend a couple of hours there – I have unfinished business with Paxos, and also things to attend to for my website Paxos Travel Guide.

For the map showing the TUI office check out last week’s post Parga Holidays – What Is Parga Really Like?

Shopping then back to the hotel

After that we got some shopping (wine, beer and water) and got a taxi back to the hotel – again this is 5 euros from the taxi rank in a lovely air-conditioned Mercedes.

This is the very nice wine that we enjoyed, for sale for 5 euros 50 cents.

Wine from the supermarket Dallas in Parga

Yes the supermarket have their own wine!!

Hot on the balcony

It is very windy today; I am writing this on my balcony not melting but worried that my drink might blow off the table! And all the time I can see Antipaxos and Paxos shimmering in the late afternoon sunshine – lovely sights they both are.

Back down into Parga

For the map showing the TUI office check out last week’s post Parga Holidays – What Is Parga Really Like?.

We walk down to the old town of Parga, walking past a restaurant that every night is packed – we must give that a go. We go for the restaurant called Romantica, which is another restaurant with a balcony sticking out of the face of the cliffs giving magnificent views of Valtos Beach and the surrounding hills as the sun sets in the background.

An evening at Romantica

We share a lovely bottle of wine and enjoy a grilled halloumi starter. Mains are oven baked spaghetti carbonara for me, while Nickie has grilled prawns with vegetables.

Grilled halloumi at Romantica in parga

Our cunning plan

This time we order the starters and hold back on ordering the mains – we find that there is a tendency to get your main course before you have finished starters, spoiling the relaxing experience we crave and making things awkward.

This works a treat – when the starters come we order the mains. Starters accompanied with lovely bread that is.

Bread

Which makes me think – we have had some truly wonderful bread with our meals which is good, tonight being no exception.

A very nice meal in a nice restaurant with lovely views. Meal cost 49 euros.

A word about Trip Advisor

I am noticing that the Trip Advisor reviews are of limited help -places that are fantastic when you read the reviews are often average – Trip Advisor is after all an independent collection of individual views all lumped together to give an overall rating.

Back up the hill to the Alea Resort

We walk back up the hill melting as we go and have a night cap before turning in.

The bedroom is boiling so we go to sleep on the sofa bed filling the living room, and then have to find the blankets in the night to keep warm. I did check but the bedroom still is not cool enough to sleep in until the morning, which is not good.

Day 5 – 16th August

We surface at 7am ish. Well I don’t, I had a very disrupted nights sleep. So I slob in bed a bit longer and Nickie heads off up to the pool.

Pool etiquette – or the complete lack of it

I arrive at the pool to the joyous sound of the person sat next to me having a face time call on the next sun lounger – why do people do that?

I had a few phone calls today and found a quiet corner way from everyone else. I should have stayed where I was and it them on speaker phone – that is what everyone else seems to do!

But politeness always gets the better of me. How typically English!

The close proximity to inconsiderate strangers on the fixed to the floor sun loungers is beginning to gnaw away at me.

No breakfast

We decide not to have the buffet breakfast and hang on till the pool bar service starts at 11.30am, having a cheese and bacon toastie and cheese and ham omelette – both with chips!

Very nice all the same!

An afternoon by the pool reading and dozing.

It is not as hot today thankfully – still hot but we are back to the more regular temperatures this time of year.

Late lunch

We have a late lunch, a very nice Greek pizza, keeping two slices for snacks for later.

Back on the balcony writing

I find myself back on the balcony at 6 writing my days thoughts in the still hot but no so melting temperature, with a hot wind too keep me company. I have to tell you that I am wearing my darkest Oakley sunglasses, and can barely see the screen so I am pretty much typing as though my eyes are closed!

As long as I get the main points down I will be just fine.

Tonight we are getting the courtesy bus down to Parga Bus Station. I must get a photo of this tonight before I forget!

And photograph it I did! – here it is.

Parga Bus Station

Why is that man hiding?

Time for an Italian – when in Greece after all!

We have a drink and then go to Delizi, the number one rated restaurant in Parga according to Trip Advisor.

We are thankfully not disappointed.

Delizi - The number one restaurant in Paxos

The wine is excellent, if a little strong at 14.5%. But very nice. Not cheap either, but we like to treat ourselves.

Wine at Delizi in Parga

Service is very friendly, and the food is excellent.

For starters we share a baked feta in honey – it is good to try the same thing at different places!

And for the mains I have a very, very nice spaghetti carbonara, and Nickie has pasta with shrimps.

So how was Delizi?

An excellent evening with lovely service and the bill with tip came to 75 euros.

And we are given a complimentary dessert, pitta bread with chocolate and squirty cream no less!

We head back to the taxi rank and that is another day over.

Day 6 – 17th August

Today is the trip to Antipaxos and Paxos. I have been looking forward to this for a long time now. Check out my website Paxos Travel Guide to find out all that you need to know about Paxos! And also for the full blog post about this day trip called What Is A Day Trip From Parga To Paxos Really Like? - this is the brief version of the day.

Captain Hook 2

The boat we are booked on is Captain Hook 2, which leaves Parga at 10am. We get there nice and early with breakfast bought at the bakers.

First stop Antipaxos

The fully loaded boat leaves Parga bang on 10am, and our first stop is Voutoumi Beach on Antipaxos for a one-hour swim stop. And when I say fully loaded I really mean it – this trip sells out!

I end up jumping in the water – the masses in the water are all in one place leaving the front of the boat and the deeper water all for me!

I take my iPhone with me in my waterproof case and have a go a bit of underwater videography.

This is a 360 video from the sea showing Antipaxos and the Captain Hook 2.

And this is a video showing the view from the rocks I swam to

This all I got that was fit to publish on my Paxos Travel Guide YouTube channel!

The famous Blue Cave of Paxos

The captain takes the boat into the cave, and everyone applauds. The water is lovely crystal clear aquamarine blue.

The Blue Caves of Paxos

All rather stunning.

And then there is a 45-minute swim stop, which we could have done without to be honest.

Tripitos Arch

We sail back past the Tripitos Arch which none else notices, and then head into Gaios. Here is the video of this on my Paxos Travel Guide You Tube Channel.

You can find out all about the Tripitos Arch on the post I wrote all about it.

Gaios

And finally we return to Gaios on my favourite Greek Island Paxos

We moor just after the port. Here is the video of us approaching and arriving in Gaios again courtesy of my Paxos Travel Guide You Tube Channel.

We know were we are going, and quickly get a seat at the manic grill house at the back of the tiny but lovely Church Analipsi. Chicken gyros is 3.50 euros - great value even if the restaurant is a maniacal whirlwind of people going in an out.

We go to our favourite jewellers, and then buy t-shirts before I go off to shoot some videos for Paxos Travel Guide.

We have a drink on the waterfront in the shade, I have a large Mythos and Nickie has a very nice Mojito.

Much too soon it is time to get back to the boat leaving Paxos at 5.15 back to Parga.

Back in Parga

And here is a video of us arriving in Parga Greece by boat - this is what it all looks like!!! And very lovely it is too!

Back to the hotel

We arrive back at 6.30pm, wind swept and sun battered and not a little sweaty, then have to battle through the crowds and get a taxi back to the hotel with essential shopping.

We share the taxi with a very nice Norwegian couple who are staying at our hotel.

We left the shopping on the boat!!

We get back to the hotel and realise we have left our shopping on the boat. That is 130 euros worth of clothes no less.

I put my walking shoes on and head straight back down to the town – I made it to the jetty in Parga in 15 minutes, which is not bad going for an old man!

Nickie has in the meantime had the most innovative idea of phoning Delizi and asking if they could get our bag off the boat for us!

We speak on the way down and I collect the bag from Delizi, reserving a table for the next evening.

Back up the hill

I walk back to the hotel – 21 minutes to get back. Well it is uphill all the way!

Back down to Parga - again!

A quick change and then we walk down to the Old Town of Parga where we have a very different menu to enjoy – the restaurant is just up from Sakis and is called XX.

We share for a starter, and for the mains I have Mongolian Beef and Nickie enjoys a prawn dish which is very nice.

We make the short walk down to Mikes Bar for a couple of beers before heading back to the hotel tired but having had an excellent day.

Day 8 – 18th August

After a busy day out today we are at the pool for the day taking it easy.

And after the drama of leaving the bag on the boat we have to return to Delizi to say thank you to the very nice chap who retrieved our shopping for us.

Doing nothing

After a lazy morning we have brunch at the hotel, which consists of a club sandwich (with fries). This makes it easy to justify afternoon snacks at 2pm, a very nice Greek Pizza.

Both accompanied by Corfu Town Beer of course.

Back down to Parga for the evening

After a quiet afternoon we walk back into Parga, having a drink at Geoker (12 euros for a beer and a Mojito) before returning to Delizi for our 8pm table.

Dinner at Delizi

We have the same wine as the other night, just as lovely, and for starters I go rogue. I have the mushroom fricassee, and Nickie has the bruschetta. All very nice, and after the starters we are full.

And for our main courses?

For our main courses I go for the pappardelle with beef (or buff which is what I actually typed in that blinding heat!). Nickie has shrimps with pasta.

Pappardelle with beef at Delizi

Can’t eat the dessert!

We are unable to eat the complimentary dessert, but happily pay the bill - 75 euros (again?) with tip before heading back to the carnage which is the taxi rank.

The taxi rank in Parga

The taxi rank is quite literally chaos any time I have been there. People seem to love driving into this small dead end, which is not really big enough for the taxis to turn around in. Once in the dead end they either

• Stop looking confused

• Just sit there waiting for someone

• Struggle to turn round

• Block taxis who beep their horns

They add to the problem that the taxis have to do a three-point turn avoiding the numerous tourists seemingly oblivious to the taxis.

Getting out of Parga

There is also the recurring theme of the queue to get out of town, where every night we have to wai for the cars queuing to get into the car park, turning left from the right hand lane (of course) blocking the road.

Which reminds me as I sit here writing this – why do the taxi drivers not turn left up the hill – that takes us straight back to the hotel after all?

Day 9 – 19th August

We head down to the beach in the morning and have a change of mind so go back to the hotel.

No beach today!

We get the water taxi from Valtos Beach to Parga. 5 euros for 2 which is pretty good I have to say, and then call in at the bakers and get some lovely food. A croissant for breakfast, and some very nice smoked turkey and cheese salad sandwiches, one on a bagel and one on a baguette. And a cinnamon doughnut.

This we got from a bakers right in the centre of Parga, for the princely sum of 7.80 euros!

Taxi time

We get a taxi back to what is a very quiet swimming pool area pool as lots of people have gone home today. A nice quiet day by the pool reading and dozing before our return to the old town for dinner this evening is just what we needed.

Learning how to use my camera

In the afternoon I get out my book about how to use the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk2 – yes it is time to go out and take some photos and there are things that I want to learn about my excellent camera.

OK – enough about the camera

After a lazy afternoon we return to our room, shower and brave the melting evening heat again.

Dinner in the Old Town

We walk down to the old town and have a drink in the very nice Hotel Avra with a stunning view of Parga from the cliffs above. It is just down the steps from the castle overlooking all of Parga from on high.

One beer and one mojito later we are done and ready to eat.

Dinner at Sakis

We walk back up the hill to Sakis where we manage to get a table nestled quietly in a corner. A quiet if not level corner it has to be said!

The menu at Sakis restaurant in Parga

What to do in a queue?

Now this place really is popular – there are people queuing for tables.

A very sweet touch is that they give people in the queue an Ouzo to ease the pain of standing in that evening heat waiting to be seated – we timed it just right this time!

Wine time

We have a carafe of red wine and share the Sakis Special starter, feta cheese and peppers and onions cooked nicely. Very nice indeed.

And now for the main courses

Mains are sausages in a sauce for me and Nickie chooses meatballs. The waiter gives us the wrong meals and it is so dark where we are sat we have to use the torches on our phones to work out that we have each other’s dishes!

Both mains are nice and we depart nicely full, helped by a basket of lovely bread. And the bill for this little lot? 27 euros no less!!

Mike’s Bar revisited

We are very tired but decide quite illogically to go to Mikes Bar for a couple of beers and to enjoy some music – All I Want Is You by U2 is tonight’s dance!

After leaving Mikes we have the hideous uphill walk back to the hotel.

No air con tonight

We make it back and get to sleep with fresh air for a change – still took me a while to get off though. Not before packing my bag for a sunrise shoot in the morning – yes I am going for it.

I set my alarm for 5am. I want to be down for sunrise in Parga, and also to get all the buildings lit up at night.

I have spent a week looking at the location and know exactly what I am after – planning is always good.

Plus I know my camera a bit better after a bit of research today.

Day 10 – 20th August

You can read the full story of my sunrise shoot in the blog post Photographing Sunrise In Parga With My Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2.

Here are the highlights.

5AM on holiday!

My alarm goes off at 5am. I put it on snooze. I make it up at 5.45; having spent some time debating do I really want to do this? Not really is the answer, but I force myself out of bed.

I get so much material from a sunrise shoot and have been looking forward to this – once I am up it is not that bad.

The moon is out so I get down to the front quickly.

My photography gear

I sit down on the jetty and assemble my gear in the moonlight. This is all I am using

• Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2

• Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 Pro Lens

• Three Legged Thing Universal L Bracket

• Three legged thing Corey tripod.

That is it – I do not need anything else. This gives me all the tools I need.

I even take the time to connect my camera to my iPhone again – the missing piece in how I am going to take the photos is that.

What do I want to photograph?

This morning I am after two shots – the first one is in the post mentioned above. The second one - well you will have to wait and see!

But this is what part of the scene looked like.

Sunrise in Parga Greece

Things they don’t tell you in photography school!

There were a few things that I had to contend with.

Sunrise in Parga Greece

• Well there were a lot of delivery vans around.

• Bins being emptied.

• The odd drunk.

• Bins being washed out with the arisings flowing around me and my tripod feet, which was nice.

• Sunrise swimmers – two ladies turned up and stood in the sea chatting slap bang in the middle of my composition!

• The bloke on the yellow boat – right in the way of my headline photo.

• And the odd drunk.

• And where the sun rises – not where I wanted it I can tell you!

All good in the end

Photos done

I met up with Nickie and we headed back to the hotel for a day by the pool.

This is how I can get up so early on holiday – I have a cheeky beer and catch up on sleep so everyone is happy!

An afternoon by the pool

Lunch was a club sandwich and a beer then back to the pool to read/ doze/ sunbathe

After a hectic afternoon it is time to return to the room for me to sit on the balcony and melt writing this whilst enjoying a Mythos.

When in Greece eat Chinese

Tonight we are going to have something different for dinner – Asian/ Chinese at Shanghai.

We have pre-dinner drinks at the Rock Bar, a pint for me and a Mojito for N, and then we walk along the front to the end under the castle.

Don’t sit where we did

We get a table at the front, which is nice at first. You know those menus in display outside restaurants? Theirs is right next to your table, so we spend the evening with strangers standing right next to us, which was, erm nice. Not.

The crispy duck starter was not great, but the hot Asian beef main was excellent, with egg-fried rice. We found a nice bottle of wine to go with it. Nickie tried the noodles as well, but I declined as these days I have textural issues with Chinese restaurant noodles.

With the bottle of the wine the meal cost 49 euros.

Back to the taxi rank carnage

We walked back to the taxi rank – we thought it had got quieter this week, but it was absolutely heaving this evening. We made it to the taxi rank for more cars driving into the dead end and then trying to reverse back out onto the busy main road.

Quite a chaotic scene and a constant frustration for the taxi drivers.

Back at the room we crash straight away.

Thats it apart from the video

I nearly forgot - I have recorded a video which you can watch on my You Tube channel imaginatively titled What is Parga in Greece really like? FInd out in this splendid video!

Me on location in Parga with my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2

Next week

And that is part 2 done. Next week I will conclude my Parga holiday before moving onto the photos that I took.

Oh yes, here is a photo of me on location in Parga with my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2 on my Three Legged THing tripod.

Check out my gear page for more info on the photography gear that I use.

Rick McEvoy - travel photographer, writer and website creator.

#parga #greece #pargagreece #rickmcevoyphotography #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travelblogger #travelwriter

Photographing Sunrise In Parga With My Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk2

Hi all. I have recently visited Parga on the Greek mainland for a well-deserved break.

Whilst I was there I got to do my favourite thing – photographing the sunrise. So this post is quite simply about photographing the sunrise in Parga with my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk2. I will tell you what it is like photographing the sunrise in Parga, and how I got on with my new Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2.

And I will talk about my favourite photo, which is the only photo that I have edited so far. The photo that I wanted to get.

And here it is!

The buildings of Parga at sunrise by Rick McEvoy

And there’s more!

I recorded a video live in Parga where I talk about what it was like photographing the sunrise. I will add a link to this video on my YouTube channel later in this post.

And there is my usual video which accompanies this blog post which is also on my YouTube channel.

Who am I?

For those of you who don’t know me I am Rick McEvoy, a photographer, writer, blogger and website creator. As well as this website I have a website called Paxos Travel Guide, and another website called Photos of Santorini.

The content of these websites should be self-explanatory!

As well as my love of travel and photography, back in the good old UK I specialise in architectural photography. Well the photographing of buildings at any stage in their life cycle.

That is enough about me – check out my website if you want to find out more, but I suggest you read this post first! Here is a link to my travel photography portfolio.

Where is Parga?

Parga is here on mainland Greece, across the Ionian Sea from my beloved Paxos and Antipaxos. Check out my other website Paxos Travel Guide to find out all about these two wonderful Greek Islands.

Here is Parga on a map – X marks the spot!

Where is Parga?

Have I been there before?

Yes. On a holiday to Corfu we went on a TUI excursion from our hotel to Parga and Paxos. That was our introduction to Paxos. This led to two holidays in Paxos and a fortnight in Parga, with a day trip to Gaios.

That excursion has a lot to answer for!

Where did I take the photo?

Here is the exact location that I took the photo featured on this blog post. I have not worked out how to use the get-tagging feature on the Olympus App yet, so am relying on the locational data from my iPhone.

Where I took the photo from

I know – its such a struggle these days!

Basically this photo was taken from the main jetty in Parga, the one that the boats pick up and drop off all those eager holidaymakers from.

What time did I have to get up?

Early. This is the extract from my journal. Yes I write a daily journal on holiday!

“My alarm goes off at 5am. I put it on snooze. I make it up at 5.45, having spent some time debating do I really want to do this?

Not really is the answer, but I force myself out of bed. I get so much material from a sunrise shoot and have been looking forward to this – once I am up it is not that bad.

Honest.

I put on my Salomon walking shoes which I have promised myself I am going to replace when I get home -the soles are worn out now (and there is a hole in the side), and head off into the darkness, kissing Nickie goodbye before I leave the room.”

Once I am out of the room that is that – I do not have a spare key.

What is it like on holiday at that time?

Warm and quiet. “The moon is out so I get down to the front quickly. I told myself that I would not take any photos on the way down to the waterfront but can’t resist taking a photo of Valtos Beach and the bay in the darkness illuminated by the moon. My photos are rubbish as I am rushing things, so I abandon that and get back to my plan, cursing myself for allowing me to get distracted.

I have decided on the two shots I want and need to get them before I do anything else.

I get down to the front to join all the early morning activity, passing a bar that is open on my way down.

People still out at this time?? Well I guess I am a bit old for that now ha.”

What gear was I using?

(Please be aware that the links below are Amazon Affiliate links – if you buy something having clicked one of these links then I get a small commission).

ricmcepho-21

Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2

Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 Pro Lens

Three legged thing Corey tripod and Air Neo ball head

Three Legged Thing Universal L Bracket

That is it – I do not need anything else. This is all I need.

I sit down on the jetty and assemble my gear on a bench in the moonlight.

I even take the time to connect my camera to my iPhone again – the missing piece in how I am going to take the photos is that.

What camera features was I using?

I decided to trial the high res feature on the EM5 Mk 2.

What was I trying to capture?

Well I wanted the famous Venetian styled buildings of Parga illuminated by the sunrise. Not a sunrise shot per se, but a shot taken at sunrise.

And rather than capture the whole scene I went for this tighter composition.

Later on in the day the sun obviously gets higher in the sky and the buildings are in shadow long before sunrise, so this is the best time of day to get this photo.

This is the photo that I wanted the most, from my first sight of Parga on that day trip from Corfu three years ago.

And I love the effect of the water, which the camera has done taking the eight exposures. More on this later.

What time was this photo taken?

About 8.30. Long after sunrise. I write more about the trials and tribulations of travel photography and photographing the sunrise later on in this post.

But this was the moment when all the buildings in the scene were illuminated by the sun, the shadows to the right still present as the sun rises above the hills behind.

What camera settings did I use?

This is a single image capture using the high-resolution feature on the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2.

The camera takes eight pictures, moving the sensor very slightly for each shot. The camera then puts the images together, creating a 40 mega pixel image!

Cool eh!

More on this in future posts – I don’t want to get down in the tecchie weeds in this post!

So the camera settings were

• Shutter Speed – 1/640th second

• Aperture F8

• ISO200

• Focal length 30mm

• Aperture priority mode

The exposure was assessed using the wonderful EVF – Electronic Viewfinder – I love the fact that I can assess live the changes exposure compensation makes to a composition.

I focussed using the touch screen about a third into the scene.

All I needed to do then was hit the shutter button on my phone. I used the Olympus Share WiFi app as a remote release for my camera, to make extra sure that there was no movement of the camera.

I had also preset the delay to four seconds to allow the camera to settle down and minimise movement.

Small margins that can make a big difference.

And then I was done!

A bit about high resolution mode on the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2

This is a single JPEG image created by the camera. I did not know that I had to tell the camera if I wanted a RAW file as well – I worked that out during this morning shoot. I had forgotten to change that setting!

With the camera in high res mode the image stabilisation is automatically switched off which is a great little feature.

What processing have I done to get this image?

Basic processing in Lightroom only to be honest, taking me a couple of minutes tops!

This is what I want – great high resolution images that I can process quickly.

What problems did I encounter?

Not problems, but things that I had not thought about until I got down to the waterfront.

Firstly, there were a lot of delivery vans around.

And a lot of bins being emptied.

Well they have to do this sometime don’t they! And this is when they do it as I found out!.

Oh yes, and earlier, before the sun rose, I was on the steps on the outside of the waterfront harbour wall. That was when someone started washing out wagons - the water was flowing around me and the feet of my tripod which was nice!

And there were the inevitable sunrise swimmers, two old ladies who turned up, waded out about 10 feet and stood in the sea chatting slap bang in the middle of my composition!

A word about Parga at sunrise

Because of the topography of Parga these buildings did not all see sunlight until about 8.30.

I returned the next morning as I wanted to take photos using the high-resolution feature and get RAW files as well as JPEG.

So the next morning I returned, and this is when the yellow boat appeared. I was stood on the harbour wall with my camera sat on my tripod waiting for the boat to go – it must have been pretty obvious what I was doing, and my body language must have oozed “can you get out of the way please I am trying to take a photo”.

There is a single gap between the moored boots which gives me two shots, one of the buildings of Parga including the castle, and a close up of the buildings with their colours reflected off the water.

But the yellow boat was there in the gap, hanging about.

20 minutes later another man appeared and walked down the steps giving the man driving the boat a carrier bag with supplies in – he dutifully went away again, but for more supplies as it turned out.

The bloke driving the boat kept looking at me but was not for moving, so I just had to wait. Another 5 minutes and the other man reappeared with more supplies and thankfully this time got on the boat, and off it went. I waited another two minutes for the wake to settle and got the photos I was after.

How was the sunrise shoot in Parga? Lessons learned.

Well to be honest it did not start well. I was not as well prepared and more out of practice than I would have liked to be. So I sat myself down and got everything sorted, like the Wi-Fi.

I had words with myself.

I have to remember that I have not spent anywhere near enough time with my new camera, and this was me getting back into it.

But once I had taken 10 minutes to get everything how I wanted it the camera was an absolute joy to use.

What to I think about the OlympusOM-D EM5 Mk 2 now?

I like it more than before I went to Parga, which is of course good.

There are so many things that I like about this camera, but these are my standouts of this morning.

The fully articulated screen.

This was just excellent, especially once I had fitted the Three Legged Thing L Bracket the wrong way round so is did not conflict with the screen. It worked just fine then, just the other way round.

And the screen is so bright and clear that I used it for most of my compositions, and I could even review images properly being able to see them on the screen, and read the data on the screen.

Remarkable with my ageing old eyes!

The EVF

The EVF is a truly wonderful thing – I still freak out at being able to look at an image that I have taken through the viewfinder, so bright, sharp and clear.

The Wi-Fi

I have had bad experiences with Wi-Fi and cameras, but with a bit of time and practise I was absolutely loving it, getting around the issues I had with HDR and high res modes and the self timer.

I got very quickly into a very productive and enjoyable groove using the App on my iPhone.

HDR Mode

There is a button on the top of the camera that I press to go into and out of HDR mode – very very helpful and useful.

I will assign another button to High Res and then I will be good to go. Well I say that – I haven’t found a way of being able to do that yet. A question for my contact at Olympus.

The Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens

I love the sharpness of the 12-40mm F 2.8 lens. I love using this lens, it is a joyous piece of equipment.

The Three Legged Thing Corey with ball head.

I have used this tripod to record videos for my YouTube channel. I have not used it that much in anger, and have not taken to it to be honest. Until today that is – I have never used a ball head all the time before and have been using other tripods for so long all it needed was for me to use it.

The combined weight

The camera and tripod form a wonderfully compact and lightweight combination which I loved carrying around and using.

My Peak Design Everyday Backpack

Still great after many many uses and even better with the smaller gear in.

So all in all, after a bad and grumpy start an excellent sunrise shoot.

How to keep up to date with what I am doing

I already mentioned my other websites, Photos of Santorini and Paxos Travel Guide. The only thing I wanted to add here is that you can subscribe to my photography blog from my home page, and also subscribe to my You Tube Channels which are

Rick McEvoy Photography

Paxos Travel Guide

And you can follow me on Pinterest where I have a few different boards showing a selection of my stuff as well as other people’s photos.

And there are also two videos that accompanies this post

Photographing Sunrise In Parga With My Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk2

On location in Parga talking about photographing sunrise with my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk2

which you can watch on my You Tube channel

And next week on my blog?

Next week I am going to publish something completely different for me, a travel blog post all about our holiday to Parga. I have not tried this before so let’s see how this goes.

Me and my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2 on location in Parga

And after that I am going to get stuck into the photos I took on Parga. I am looking to get 12 photos for a new page on my website called, erm Parga. It will go with the other web pages that I have featuring photos from my travels.

As well as publishing my favourite photos of Parga (taken by me) I am also going to have a go at processing photos Luminar.

And this will take me nicely into October, which is going to be Luminar Month – a month dedicated to me learning how to use Luminar, which I am excited about.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP – Photographer, blogger, writer, website creator

My first Lightroom photo slideshow - now on my You Tube Channel!

I had a moment of inspiration. How do I do a video for my YouTube Channel in the dark? Simple. A video containing the 10 photos I want to talk about taken with my micro four thirds Olympus OM-D EM10 Mk2.

Now this is a great idea, and one for me to work on.

I need to work out how to add audio so I can talk through the photos but this is a great begninning. I want to do new stuff but do not want to vary from my plan - this works nicely.

Let’s see how this is received.

This is the video for the blog post 10 Best Olympus OM-D EM10 Mk2 Travel Photos – This Time With Descriptions! published yesterday.

Here is a link to the slideshow on my Rick McEvoy Photography YouTube Channel.

Rick McEvoy - Photographer, blogger, website creator.

An inspiring photo created by nature for me to photograph

After all that talk about serious stuff time for something less serious and much more enjoyable.

This is my favourite photo taken with my Olympus OM-D EM10 Mk 2 (Amazon affiliate link by the way) camera of natural wonders in a forest in British Columbia, Canada.

Rick McEvoy Photography - sometimes it is just about the photos!

Find Photos Faster And Cheaper In Lightroom Classic With Excire Search

A summer message from those nice folk at Excire

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Use my affiliate link and I get a small commission but you do not pay any more honest!!

Further information about Excire Search can be found here.

Enjoy this summer and the memories thereof in your Lightroom catalogue!

Your Excire Team”

And the same from me Rick

Rick McEvoy Photography

Hotel Photography – 10 Practical Tips For Hotel Owners

OK – so you are a hotel owner and you need some photographs taking.  Great – I can help you with this.

In this post, Hotel Photography – 10 Practical Tips For Hotel Owners I will give 10 actionable things that you can do to get the best photographs of your hotel. Great quality images are vital for a hotel as the vast majority of bookings are made online, and photos displayed on your own and affiliate booking websites play a big part in the selection of a hotel.

Sandbanks Hotel by Rick McEvoy Hotel Photographer

Who am I?

I am Rick McEvoy. I am a photographer and I specialise in architectural and interior photography. I photograph buildings, nice places and buildings in nice places. And also spend lots of time in hotels.

I am professionally qualified in both photography and construction, so photographing buildings is a logical combination of my two professions. And add to that my travel photography work and hotel photography is absolutely my niche! I cannot claim to be solely a hotel photographer, but certainly an architectural photographer.

This is not an advert for me though – I just wanted to show you that this is something that I know about and am able to offer excellent advice on.

Cap Negret Hotel, Altea. Hotel Photography by Rick McEvoy

So you want some photos taking of your hotel?

The starting point here is that you know what you want the photos for, and what you want photos taking of. OK – so where do you start?

As you will gather reading this post finding the right photographer is crucial so I will spend some time on this before moving on.

1 – Find the right photographer for you

How do you find a suitable photographer? And the right photographer for you?

Well I would advise that you appoint a professionally qualified photographer, one belonging to a recognised organisation.

After all, you wouldn’t appoint an unqualified architect to design a new hotel for you would you?

2 - Finding a qualified photographer

Well speaking for the BIPP, which I am an Associate Member of, I can tell you that I have had my work critiqued by high-level photographers. I am talking prominent photographers in the UK, one being a Hasselblad Master no less!

BIPP qualified logo ABIPP

I had to submit a portfolio of my own commercial work, and was then interviewed by board/ senior members of the BIPP.

You can see some of my architectural photography portfolio work on this web page imaginatively called Architectural Photography Portfolio.

So using a BIPP qualified photographer you will know that you are using a photographer who has produced high quality photographic work that has been scrutinised by industry experts.

And BIPP members have to prove that they are properly insured so you don’t need to worry about that either.

I am sure that the other bodies that I am about to mention operate in similar ways.

There are a number of professional bodies in the photography space – these are reputable institutions that I know of that are relevant to hotel photography in the UK.

• BIPP – British Institute of Professional Photography

• RPS – The Royal Photography Society

• MPA – Master Photographers Association

There are of course other professional photography bodies, but I do not have personal experience of any of these so it would be wrong for me to recommend them.

And I am not too familiar with professional photography bodies abroad.

As I said, I am proud to have the qualification an ABIPP and to be an Associate of the British Institute of Professional Photography.

Cap Negret Hotel Altea Spain at sunrise

3 - Select a photographer who photographs buildings.

You want your hotel photographing. Now you wouldn’t hire a wedding photographer to do this would you?

Nothing against wedding photographers of course but taking me as an example I get approached from time to time to photograph peoples weddings, and also to do portrait work.

I always politely decline such approaches. If I was looking for a photographer to photograph my wedding I would not choose me! I would choose a wedding photographer of course. Which is exactly what I did.

In my opinion you should be looking for a photographer who specialises in photographing buildings. And no I don’t necessarily mean me, just someone who does this stuff all the time.

If you go the BIPP website you can search for photographers by type of photography.

Architectural/ building is the relevant category on the BIPP website.

That is what you are after – an architectural photographer, sometimes known as a building photographer.

Nissaki Beach Hotel, Corfu, Greece

4 – Personal advice from me on choosing a photographer

I would strongly advise that you meet the photographer that you are going to use if at all possible. The process will be much smoother if you get on with the photographer. It can be a long day spent with some grumpy git who hates what he is doing and arrives just wanting to get away.

Or if you engage a photographer and have a big time personality clash – that can make for a long and difficult day.

If this is not possible then the next best thing is to give the photographer a call and chat by phone.

And if that is not possible there is the modern way of doing this. If the photographer you are thinking of has a YouTube channel you can find out what they are like there. I have a YouTube channel (of course I do) where I waffle on about the content of my weekly photography blog.

Yes by the time you have read this my video should be up on YouTube for all to see!

And this will give you a better insight into someone, especially someone as unskilled in filming himself as me! But you get to see the real me!

Another thing to consider is a photographer’s style. If you check out my architectural photography portfolio you will see 12 commercial images which I have taken for architects.

This is my style of work.

If you like my photographic style great.

And if you do not like my style of work no problem – I am not the photographer for you.

Style is a very subjective and personal thing – we all have different preferences – if we all liked the same things it would be a dull world now wouldn’t it?

So find a photographer that you like, whose work you like and you should be just fine.

Once you have chosen a photographer they will be able to help you through the rest of the process.

But please read on – there is lots more good stuff honest!

Travelodge Hotel by Rick McEvoy

5 – Agree the brief with your photographer

I have been told by clients that the hardest part of the process is getting a photographer on board.

I do this all the time so once I am appointed I am able to help my clients through the rest of the process.

This is what I am here for – to help clients get the photographs they want.

After all if I wanted some electrical work doing I would appoint a competent electrician, and once the price was agreed I would be guided by him/ her about the best way to get the work done.

Once you have a photographer on board the next thing to do is to agree the brief.

Choose the right photographer and he/ she will be able to help you, as you are using a photographer experienced in that line work now aren’t you?

The brief is very very important by the way – get this wrong and problems will arise.

Get the brief right though and things should flow smoothly.

The brief includes the following

• Shot list – very important – see below

• Number of images required – see below

• Purpose of images/ intended use

• Cost  - see blow

• Inclusions – what is included

• Exclusions – what is not included (such as sky replacement for which there will be an additional charge)

• Deliverables – what will be issued to the client

• Timings – when photos will be taken and when images will be issued.

I confirm all these things to my client to make sure that I have got everything covered and that I fully understand the brief.

Sandbanks Hotel in Poole Dorset by Rick McEvoy

6 – Shot list

This is the list of photos that have to be taken. Producing this list will help you as the client focus (no pun intended) on the photos that you actually need.

For a hotel you will want each different room type photographing from a variety of angles.

Each room will need photographing, and the intention is that in say 5 images a visitor to your website can see enough about a room to make further enquiries or just book the room.

People are always in a hurry these days it seems, and those headline images will help someone to quickly decide if they are interested in a hotel or not!

As well as the interiors of the various room types there are other essential photos which need to quickly tell the story of the hotel from arrival to departure.

Whilst this all sounds rather daunting the good news is that a quick photographic walkthrough is all that suffices these days.

The shot list is the cornerstone to the shoot – this can make the shoot or break it.

And of course whilst there are mandatory photos to be taken I try to find different angles and views go give something a bit different – this is of course in addition to the mandatory shots.

The shot list will also tease out how many images are required to be taken – the last thing you need is hundreds of photos to plough through, so I give you what you ask for plus a few extras and that is that.

Travelodge Southampton West Quay

7 – How much will you pay?

I price each job individually as every client has their own very specific wants and needs.

I am not cheap – if you want your hotel photographing for £100 then I am not going to be working with you I’m afraid.

Hotels are quite large undertakings to photograph as they have a range of rooms that all need photographing.

Everything in a photo has to be right, with realistic, technically accurate and correct images with the colours all as seen by the human eye.

There is also the matter of timing, which I will come onto later in this post.

So decide on your budget, accepting that it will be more than £100, and do a deal with a photographer!

8 – Work out the best time of day/ year

Timing is an issue, especially in the UK with our variable weather. This is less of a problem with interiors of course, as even on a drab day I can give the windows naturally looking light.

Exteriors are a problem though – no-one wants their hotel photographing in the rain!

That is why sometimes the interior photos can be taken at a different time to the exteriors.

Another timing issue is guests, especially in bars, restaurants and communal areas. Exteriors are fine, as these are in effect public spaces.

Travelodge Southampton West Quay

9 - Prepare the rooms

It might sound obvious, but the rooms should be prepared before being photographed. Hotel rooms need to be presented to their best, but this has to be realistic.

Don’t have pink flamingos in the bathrooms if that is not what guests actually get.

The following can help to get the best photos of a room

• Rooms cleaned

• Clean fresh bedding

• Clean fresh towels

• Complimentary accessories

• Cables/ TV remotes hidden

• Curtains clean, crease free and presented as intended

• Windows cleaned internally and externally

• Toiletries well presented

• Loo rolls folded over nicely

• Fresh flowers/ bowls of fruit etc (if normally provided)

Last but by no means least – make sure all the lightbulbs work, and that the lightbulbs are the same colour and brightness!

I will photograph your hotel rooms with the lights on as this gives a nice homely feel which is what we want to convey after all.

The same principle applies to the other communal and external areas.

Moving on to the outside, things that can detract from the external appearance of a hotel include

• Cars

• Vans

• Bins

• Debris on paths and footpaths

• Skips

• Signs

• Hosepipes

Basically get rid of everything that you do not want in a photo – it is much quicker and cheaper to move stuff than to get me to remove it in Photoshop (and there are limits to what I can do in Photoshop).

Travelodge Southampton West Quay

10 – People or not?

People or not – that is the question.

Rooms are fine without people in them communal areas, bars etc sometimes look soul less if empty though. Though the shot above looks fine to me.

This is an issue that I am constantly facing with my architectural photography work – I photograph lots of buildings immediately after they have been built or refurbished, and they never have people in them.

This is fine for architects but for hotel owners this might be an issue.

Thankfully there are a few ways of dealing with this, depending on the budget available amongst other things.

The ultimate solution is to hire in models, but this never happens to be honest.

Next best thing is to get the staff involved as paid (as they are in work) models.

The other way is to put signs up all over the place advising guests that they will be in photos at a certain time on a certain day in a certain place, and that if they do not want to be in the photos please can they go somewhere else.

This can work, especially in circulation space.

I hide in clear sight with my high vis on and my camera mounted on a tripod, so no-one can ever say that they did not know that I was taking photos!

Technically, for what constitutes a public space such as a hotel bar or lobby, consent is not needed to photograph people, so lots of notification normally is all that is needed.

A combination of guests in public spaces and staff for closer shots should be fine in most circumstances.

But some hotel owners insist on no people in shots which is absolutely fine.

Summary

I hope that you have found my Hotel Photography – 10 Practical Tips For Hotel Owners post helpful, and that this helps you choose a photographer to photograph your hotel for you.

You can watch the accompanying video to this post on my YouTube channel.

Get in touch with me

If you would like to speak to me about photographing your hotel then please get in touch, preferably by giving me a call so we can have a chat to kick things off.

This is me taking photos on Santorini by the way!

Rick McEvoy Photography – Hotel Photographer

25 Really useful Photography Accessories Costing Less Than £20/ $25/ €22.32

Photography can be an expensive business. But it does not have to be all the time!

Here are 25 really useful photography accessories costing less than £20. See, photography accessories do not have to be expensive, and in this little lot are some absolute gems of bits of cheap kit that I use to help me create my images, videos and online content. And some stuff that I am going to buy.

Before I go on, I need to tell you something.

I have added a link to the Amazon page where you can buy all these bits of kit. These links are all Amazon Affiliate Links – if you buy any of these products using one of these links I get a small commission, but you do not pay any more - Amazon just makes a little bit less which seems fair to me!

And one further thing - the product descriptions are taken from the particular product pages on Amazon.

Now that is out of the way let’s get straight into the list.

1 – Photo Studio Tent With Lights!

Yes I bought a photo studio tent for a product photography shoot. I had to photograph coloured corner caps for a customisable table for a client. I had never done this before so having made two bad goes at it I bit the bullet and bought this little gem of a piece of kit. It cost me £19.99, but at the time of writing is going for the amazing price of £8.99!

Here are a couple of photos that I took using this tent.

Product Photography at home by Rick McEvoy

Product Photography at home by Rick McEvoy

And here is the link to the tent on Amazon.

Photo Studio Tent, Mini Foldable Photography Studio Portable Light Box Kit with LED Light, LED Light Tent (22.6cmx23x24cm)+ Two Backgrounds (White and Black), Shoot Amazing Pictures Like a Pro by EDIFON

Oh go on then - here is the tent in action!

2 – Manfrotto Pixi tripod

I use one of these for my travel photography. I have been on foreign trips and only taken this as my tripod. I have used it to take long exposure images using my Canon 6D and Canon 17-40mm lens which were perfectly sharp. And it is even better with my mirrorless cameras, the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2 and EM10Mk 2.

Here it is!

And the cost for this little marvel?

£17.99!

I know – ridiculous.

Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod with Handgrip for Compact System Cameras, Black

I did not know or think that this could also be used as a hand-grip until I saw the full description writing this post.

3 – Op Tech Wrist strap

Optech Wrist Strap - photo from Amazon website

I hate camera neck straps. I used one for years until I realised that there is another way, wrist straps. There are other clever things too that slide and do all sorts, but less is more for me. And less means less bulk filling up my bag.

I like having my camera in my right hand with the security of a wrist strap just in case I lose my grip.

I use wrist straps on my Canon 6D and also my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2 and Olympus EM10 Mk 2 mirrorless cameras.

And the price- £8.99!

OP/TECH 6701062 SLR Wrist Strap – Black

4 – Lastolite Grey Card

Why do I need a grey card? Simple – to get a good white balance. In difficult lighting conditions all I do is plonk this in the scene in a logical place. Then I take another photo without it and when I get back to my office to edit the photos I use this as my grey point for custom white balance.

Works a treat in Lightroom and I can copy and paste the correct white balance to as many photos as I want to.

All for £19 and very little space in my camera bag.

Lastolite by Manfrotto LL LR1250 Ezybalance Grey Card - 30 cm, Grey/White

5 – Pec Pads

Pec Pad - photo from Amazon

These excellent disposable cleaning cloths are what I use to clean my lenses and anything else that needs a delicate clean.

Used with the next item this is 50% of my day-to-day photography gear cleaning stuff.

These packs last a surprisingly long time too!

You get 100 of these for £17.99 – an absolute bargain!

Photographic Solutions 10x10cm Pec Pad (Pack of 100)

6 – Eclipse Lens Cleaning Solution

Eclipse Lens Cleaning Solution - photo from Amazon

The other half of my day-to-day camera cleaning kit is this stuff. Two drops on a Pec Pad and off you go cleaning stuff for fun, in particular the most delicate front and rear lens elements.

You can use this stuff to clean your camera sensor, which I have not done since I had a bit of a problem many years ago.

These bottles seem to last forever.

£16.98 including free delivery!!

Photographic Solutions Eclipse Lens and CCD Cleaning Fluid

And I also buy a small bottle for travel use.

7 – Head Torch

Yep this is me wearing my head torch. Dead handy to have in my camera bag for a few essential uses.

First one is getting to where I want to be for sunrise if it is super dark out there.

And once I am there, whilst I can use my camera with my eyes closed I do need help changing my camera lenses – not only that but also finding them in my bag.

Less than a tenner too!!

Xiancai USB Rechargeable LED Head Torch, Super Bright LED Headlamps, White & Red LED, 5 Modes, Best Head Lights for Camping, Hiking, Jogging, Running Fishing, Kids

8 – Micro fibre towel

Photo from Amazon

Micro fibre towels are so useful. What do I use them for?

Protecting my camera in light rain is one use, not that there is that much rain in Greece!

I also use them to clean down my camera body and lens, removing sea salt and general coastal debris.

They are also useful providing extra grip if my hands are particularly sweaty.

And I have used one as an improvised hat on a particularly sunny day.

And finally they act as padding in my camera bag when I am travelling.

So much for so little.

£6.46 for a pack of 10 400mm x 400mm cloths. Another bargain.

Lint Free Microfibre Exel Super Magic Cleaning Cloths For Polishing, Washing, Waxing And Dusting. Cleaning Accessories, Blue (Pack of 10)

Filter wrench - photo from Amazon

9 – Filter wrench

A handy thing to have just in case a filter gets stuck. This has happened to me in the past, I once could not get a filter off as it was so hot I just could not grip the filter to remove it. Of course the cloth above would help, but for an investment of £2.47 (for two) I always have one of these in my bag just in case.

Doradus 48-58mm/62-82mm Kood Filter Wrench Spanner Camera Lens Filter Removal Tool Black

Photo from Amazon website

10 – Hot Shoe bubble level

My cameras have spirit levels built into them. That is all well and good. But there is a problem. Sometime I cannot see the LCD screen, especially when I have placed my camera down low and cannot get down to it.

I know that the accuracy might not be 100%, but I do know that it gets me close enough that I only have to make minor adjustments after.

And for less than £3 it is more useful than a coffee.

TRIXES Professional Camera Spirit Level Flashbulb Flashlight Hot Shoe Cover for DSLR

11 – Filter step up/ down rings

Filter step up ring - photo from Amazon

I have a 77mm circular polarising filter. It cost me £100. It fits my Canon 24-105mm lens, and also my Canon 17-40mm lens.

My new Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens has a filter thread of 62mm.

So what I need is a step up ring from 62mm to 77mm. And how much will this cost me?

£6.11 for this neat item.

Ares Photography 62mm to 77mm Step-Up Lens Adapter Ring for Filters, Made of CNC Machined Metal with Matte Black Electroplated Finish

Taking this a step further. My Lee Big Stopper filter and holder cost me nearly £200. It comes with a 77mm ring. I can use the adaptor above to add this filter to my Olympus lens.

Sweet. I said gear does not have to cost a fortune – this adaptor costing less then £7 has saved me hundreds of pounds.

12 – Vertical grip for my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2

I am used to a Canon 6D, which has an excellent hand grip which I use all the time. When I bought my smaller Olympus camera I struggled with the smaller grip to be honest, so wanted something that I could grip more easily.

And this is the first thing that I tried, and it worked a treat.

This is the most expensive item in this post, costing a princely £19.99! And as a bonus it is also an L Bracket, with Arca Swiss compatible plates on the bottom and the side, which I use all the time.

What is not to love for less than £20??

QR Vertical Shoot L Bracket Plate With Hand Grip For Olympus OM-D E-M5 EM5 Mark II

13 – How Do I Do That in Lightroom Classic? Book by Scott Kelby.

How Do I Do That In Lightroom - photo from Amazon

This is a book I can recommend from the biggest selling author of books on Lightroom and Photoshop - Scott Kelby. I do not have this book, as I have been using Lightroom since it first came out, and am happy with my knowledge of Lightroom.

Currently for sale on Amazon for £17.74.

How Do I Do That in Lightroom Classic?

But having said that, Photoshop is a struggle for me. So I do have this book.

14 – How Do I Do That in Photoshop?

Here it is on my bookshelf. And yes there are quite a few other books written by Scott Kelby on there.

This book is great, as it explains one thing on a page, telling you how to do it. Nice and simple and has helped me many times work out quickly how to do something in Photoshop.

Currently for sale on Amazon for £15.98

How Do I Do That in Photoshop?: The Quickest Ways to Do the Things You Want to Do, Right Now!

15 -  Hurricane blower

What do I use this for? Blowing the dust off my sensors. I don’t clean my sensors myself, but I do get rid of the big bits using one of these things. And I use it to blow stuff from the lens mounts and anywhere else on my camera.

I have the Giottos one that costs £13.47 at the time of writing. There are other cheaper ones available though that do the same thing.

Giottos GTAA1900 Rocket Air Blower - Black

16 - Waterproof Phone Case 

I have an iPhone XS. It is water resistant to a depth of 2 metres for 30 minutes. But is has never seen water.

I want to do underwater videos using my iPhone, and also take those cool photos half under the water and half above the water.

So I bought this case.

I used it once, to protect my phone on the beach, but I have not been brave enough yet to actually use it underwater with my phone in it.

 I have however tested it in the bath and it was fine!

How much? £5.99. I know. And how much is an iPhone? £949!

Waterproof Phone Case YOSH IPX8 Watertight Sealed Underwater Waterproof Phone Cases Pouch Bag Dry Bag with Lanyard for iPhone X XR XS 8 7 6s Plus Samsung S10 S9 S8 Huawei P30 P20 Mate20 Pro up to 6.1

17 – Spare rear lens and body caps

These are must have accessories. If you lose one of these spares are needed. They are small, weigh nothing, cheap and protect two of the most important parts of a camera, the exposed rear lens element and the camera sensor.

And they also serve another purpose.

When I travel I separate my lens and camera body – this means they take up less room.

And to do this I need these two bits of plastic.

Cheap but invaluable!

And don’t worry if they are made by your camera manufacturer – they all fit just fine and after all are only pieces of plastic!

You can get these for Canon cameras for £4.25

JJC L-R1 Rear Lens and Camera Body Cap Cover for Canon EOS & EF/EF-S Lens – Black

And for Olympus these cost £6.99

Fotover Micro 4/3 Body Cap and Lens Rear Cap Cover Replacement Set for Olympus/Panasonic M4/3 Cameras and Lens,2 Sets

18 – Memory card holder

I take one of these with me in my camera bag wherever I go.

Actually I have two of these which I take with me. One is yellow, and holds my empty memory cards, and the other is red, and holds memory cards with photos on. On a trip I keep the red case in the room safe, and at the end of every day I put that days memory card n the red case. I put a new card in the camera for the next day.

This means that if I drop my bag off the side of a cliff all I will have lost is that days photos. And as my gear is all insured I am covered.

I am very fussy about how I look after my memory cards, which are very important to me.

Each of these costs £8.99 from Amazon.

Beeway® Tough Water Shock Resistant Protector Memory Card Carrying Case Holder 24 Slots for SD SDHC SDXC and Micro SD TF with Storage Bag & Carabiner

19 – Memory card holder

Memory card case - photo from Amazon

Yes, I have another card holder. When I get back from my trip, or indeed from a days shoot, I store used memory cards in this soft wallet which lives in my desk drawer. I import the images into Lightroom, and then put the card in this wallet until I have completed a physical back up of my hard drive to my off-site hard drive, which I do every month.

And this costs less than a fiver – actually £4.69

Memory Card Carrying Case - Suitable for SDHC and SD Cards - 8 Pages and 22 Slots - ECO-FUSED Microfiber Cleaning Cloth Included (Black)

20 – New SD Memory card

SC card - photo from Amazon

I have a lot of memory cards. As you will see above I only use one card per day, so for a two-week trip I could need 14 cards. Ok on a two week trip I will probably use a card for a couple of days, but I still need a lot of cards.

And I do not use emormous cards that hold thousands of photos.

No, I like to use smaller cards and change them every day/ couple of days.

This reduces the chances of a card failure, and also of losing images as I explained before.

I also rotate my memory cards, and replace them every couple of years.

So I am about to buy a few of these and bin the older cards that I have.

These are £18.99 each, and plenty big enough for my needs.

SanDisk Extreme 64GB SDXC Memory Card up to 150MB/s, Class 10, U3, V30

21 – Phone tripod holder

This is currently living on one of my tripods in my office, as I am recording weekly videos for my YouTube channel using my iPhone. A very simple piece of kit, simple but very useful.

iPhone tripod holder - photo from Amazon

There is not a lot more to say about this – it screws into my tripod head and can be mounted in landscape or portrait mode.

And it only costs £6.09!

Universal Smartphone Holder Mount Monopod Tripod Adapter of Selfie Stick with Double Screw Head for iPhone 6Plus 6, iPhone 7Plus 7 Samsung Galaxy (Screw Mount)

22 – Haofy Tripod Umbrella Holder

I do not have one of these, but this seems like a great accessory for me. When it is raining I just attach a brolley to this device fixed on my tripod and I am sorted! Time to get one ordered.

£8.99

Haofy Tripod Umbrella Holder, Outdoor Camera Tripod Umbrella Holder Clip Bracket Stand Clamp Photography Accessory

Yes - me with a brolley.

Well it had to happen at some point in my life!

 23 - THE NORTH FACE Men's Salty Dog Beanie

This photo of me I took on the top of the caldera on the wonderful Greek Island of Santorini. As featured on my website Photos of Santorini.

Yes I have a red hat. The red North Face Hat featured in my profile photo is a tad old now, so this is the one that I am replacing it with.

This new one goes for £18.95.

THE NORTH FACE Men's Salty Dog Beanie

Now for two items that are not available from Amazon – yes there are things that you have to buy from other places!!

24 - 2 month Photography Creative Cloud subscription

I know that this is a 12-month subscription, but I reckon that if you sign up for the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan currently £9.98 including VAT per month you will be happy that you did. You get Lightroom and Photoshop for less than a tenner per month.

This is the plan that I use – it gives me all that I need.

And you can trial all the Adobe stuff for free for 30 days, so for less than £20 you can have 3 months of Lightroom and Photoshop.

And having had these two simply amazing photo editing packages for three months I reckon that you will stick with this just like the rest of us!

Check out the Adobe website for more details.

https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/plans.html?promoid=6NCS7DGT&mv=other

25 - The Photographer's Ephemeris

This is a great App. This is the only App that I use on my iPhone to help me plan my sunrise photo shoots.

It tells me where the sun rises and sets, and lots in-between. I use this whenever I get to a location, find the composition I want and then I can drop a pin just in case I forget where the perfect location for a shoot was.

As I usually do this the day before I can normally manage to remember but it is great to be able to record the fact!

£9.99 on the App Store

And you can find out more about this wonderful tool at the Photographer’s Ephermis website

https://www.photoephemeris.com

It is a bit fiddly to use at first, but a bit of practise and you will be up and running and loving it just like I do.

This is a screenshot taken on the wonderful Greek Island of Rhodes. While I am on the subject of Rhodes why not check out the page all about my photos of Rhodes.

OK - that is the 25 things done - a few more bits before I finish.

What camera bag do I use?

I use a Peak Design Everyday Backpack. This costs more than £20, but I wanted to mention this as this is the bag that I put all of this good stuff in.

Here is my bag in action.

Peak Design Everyday Messenger

Currently available on Amazon for £258.99. That is the 20 litre bag. The 30 litre bag, which I am about to invest in, is £259!

And to finish off here is a photo of my Canon 6D on the Manfrotto Pixi.

Canon 6D and Manfrotto Pixi on Paxos

This photo was taken on a morning shoot working for my website Paxos Travel Guide.

That’s it.

Yes its me!

I hope that you found this post informative, and that you are inspired to get some new gear costing less than twenty quid!

You can check out the rest of my photography gear on my page called gear!

And you can now watch the accompanying video on my YouTube channel.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP - Photographer, writer, website creator

#photographyaccessories #rickmcevoyphotography #canon6d #olympusem5 #photographyaccessoriescostinglessthan£20

Where Are The Best Sunrise Locations In Rhodes?

I have an ongoing love of the wonderful Greek Islands. And of photography of course. And sunrise is my most favourite thing.

So where are the best sunrise locations in Rhodes? My favourite location to photograph the sunrise in Rhodes is the area between Pefkos and Navarone Bay 5 minutes south of Lindos, half-way down the east coast of the island. In this post I will tell you all about the three places to go to and show you some of the photos I have taken from this wonderful location.

First things first – who am I?

I am Rick McEvoy. I am a professionally qualified photographer based in the south of England. I specialise in architectural, landscape and travel photography. Basically anything that does not move or breathe! No animals, people and definitely not weddings!

No if it is still then I will photograph it.

I have this website that you have found, Rick McEvoy Photography, and two other websites, Paxos Travel Guide (which is nearly finished at the time of writing this) and Photos of Santorini (which is not finished at the time of writing this!).

Yes I really am a huge fan of the Greek Islands!

If you want to know more about me, and why wouldn’t you, please check out my about me page and my blog where there is lots of good stuff to read.

Back to the subject, sunrise locations on the wonderful Greek Island of Rhodes.

Why am I writing about Rhodes?

Simple. It is one of the Greek Islands that I know the best. Rhodes is the Greek Island that I have visited the most. And out of all the places on this wonderful Greek Island I have narrowed down my sunrise photography to the places I will talk about in this post.

What about sunsets?

I take the odd sunset photo, but not that many. Sunset I find is a more sociable hour, sunrise is early, and I love getting up early to witness the start of a new day. No-one else does, it is just me!

And on a good day I can be back at the hotel and get a bit more sleep and get up with everyone else.

So that is why.

Where is the Greek Island of Rhodes?

I thought I might as well start with a bit of background to the locations I am talking about, starting with where the island actually is!

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese Islands, and is a circa 4/ 4 ½ hour flight from the south of England away. The flight distance is just over 1700 miles from London Gatwick to the airport in Rhodes Town.

Here it is on a map, using the Greek spelling.

Where is the Greek Island of Rhodes?

Where are Pefkos and Navarone Bay?

Once you get to Rhodes it is a drive of less than an hour from the airport to Pefkos, which you get to after driving past Lindos and the spectacular Acropolis.

And here it is zoomed in on a map, courtesy as ever of Google Maps.

Where is Pefkos on Rhodes?

I have to say that the stretch of road from Lardos, the next village after Pefkos travelling south, to Lindos is one of my favourite stretches of road. I can happily drive along there any time enjoying the very special views.

How do I get there?

You need to either be staying locally in Pefkos or have a car to get there for the sunrise. I had a hire car so the drive from the hotel in Lardos was a quick 5 minutes to the base of the hill where the church is, a few more minutes on to the beach at Navarone Bay but much longer to the tops of the cliffs.

When I say much longer it takes an extra 10 minutes to get around the headland and on to the tops.

Where exactly are the locations?

Again I have marked an extract from Google Maps.

My best sunrise locations in Rhodes revealed!

1. On top of the hill at the where you will find the Prophet Elias Church

2. On top of the cliffs overlooking Navarone Bay

3. On the beach and the rocks around Navarone Bay

Are these locations easy to get to?

1 - Prophet Elias Church

Prepare to give your lungs and your legs a good workout. There is a car park at the foot of the steps up to the church. All you need to do is follow the 200 plus steps all the way to the church and the cross at the top of the hill.

The steps are excellent, having been recently rebuilt, and there are handrails to help you up the steep bits. I have done the climb wearing flip flops no problem, but there is one word of warning I will give you.

Goat droppings.

These can be many in quantity, and all over the path, so flip flops are not the best thing to be completely honest.

Once you get to the top there is a level paved area with a very low perimeter wall, a church, a Greek flag and a large cross.

And those amazing views.

2 - On top of the cliffs overlooking Navarone Bay

You have to drive around the headland and drive as far up the gravel path as you dare. You can see this just below the cross and the number 2. I stopped a good way short of the actual location, giving myself a good 10-minute walk up the hill, over the top and then a scramble down to the plateau immediately above the main cliffs.

And the big drop!

Do not wear flip flops for this. I wore actual walking boots, some lovely lightweight ones that grip the rocks wonderfully well.

The path is very lumpy and bumpy, and once you are on the tops you need good quality walking shoes, or it will be a slow, painful, miserable experience. And you will be putting yourself at risk if you go the cliff edge.

These are serious cliffs so be careful – you would not survive the drop.

OK – that’s you told!

3 - On the beach and the rocks around Navarone Bay

To get to this location you have to drive to the Lindos Memories Resort & Spa. There is a car park there that I park at. I know I am not a guest but at the time I am there it is very quiet.

Ok completely silent apart from the goats.

Anyway as a thank you to this lovely hotel for letting me park there here is a link to the hotel.

Park at the car park and walk down the path to the beach by the side of the hotel immediately off the car park. On the way back you will notice the smells of the spa which is nice.

Walk down to the beach and turn right. I go all the way to the end of the beach then navigate the rocks to get to the point where I want to take my photos from.

Which is basically at the very bottom of that massive rock face.

This is obviously up to you, but I have shown you on the map one of my preferred locations.

Again, flip flops are not recommended. You are not going to kill yourself falling off the edge here, but the rocks are very sharp, and I always manage to get some impressive cuts and scratches on my legs.

If you are happy staying on the beach then that is just fine – you will still have an amazing sunrise experience.

Is there parking nearby?

I think I have covered that.

What time does the sun rise?

Well this varies of course on the time of year and if there is a band of cloud on the horizon. According to my camera metadata the sun started to appear about 5:50am. There is of course the time before the sun rises which is amazing, so ideally if the sun were to rise at 5.50am I would like to be in position and ready to take photos and videos by 5am.

But I like being nice and early so I can sit down and just enjoy being there.

Sunrise is such a special thing that I love experiencing.

And I would stay for a good hour afterwards as well to make the best of that fantastic post-sunrise directional light.

Are there other people there?

At the church on the hill it is very common to find people there witnessing the stunning sunrise on the hill. You can after all park at the bottom of the steps and walk up there in normal shoes.

I have never seen anyone else on the rocks or the beach in Navarone Bay though. And as to the top of the cliffs overlooking Navarone Bay? Only goats. I have never seen another person up there.

So yes and no. And you can guess which I prefer?

Splendid sunrise isolation. Just me and the elements.

What camera gear do I use?

Time to talk photography briefly. Don’t worry I won’t go on too much I promise.

And by the way, the links I have added to these items are Amazon Affiliate links – if you buy them or anything else within 24 hours of visiting Amazon via that link then I get a small commission.

Disclosure done – best to be open about these things!

Back to my gear.

I have been using a Canon 6D for a few years now, but this year I have changed my travel photography gear. I am now using an Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2 with Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens, and also the excellent Olympus 40-150mm lens.

I am loving my new smaller gear.

Which is slightly smaller and not that much lighter even it has to be said,

I use a Peak Design Everyday Backpack to carry my gear to these places that I find myself in – a backpack is an essential for me as I need both hands free to get to where I want to be.

My tripod of choice is the 3 Legged Thing Punks Corey, which sits nicely in my camera bag. And I am loving the Arca Swiss plate.

I have bought an L bracket with grip for my Olympus camera, the QR Vertical Shoot L Bracket Plate With Hand Grip, which cost me £19.99 from Amazon which worked quite well.

That was the main gear that I used. Sorry there was my iPhone which I used to take videos.

Gear done – on to the photos taken at the three locations.

My sunrise photos of Rhodes web page

I have created a gallery page on my website where I have added 12 sunrise photos taken in these three locations in June 2019. This is called Rhodes. I know – where do I get these names from?

I will talk about one photo from each of the locations, which will hopefully give you an idea of the view from each location.

1 – The photo from the top of the hill near the Prophet Elias Church

Sunrise view from the hills above Pefkos looking towards Lindos

This photo shows you the scale of the scene, photographed from the edge of the rocks. Immediately below the sun is the Acropolis of Rhodes, too far away to be clear. And to the right you can see part of Navarone Bay.

This is a magnificent sunrise view, which I have loved every time I have made the effort to climb up those steps in the dark to be there for this special time of the day.

2 - On top of the cliffs overlooking Navarone Bay

Tree at sunrise on Rhodes Greece

This is the tree on top of the cliffs. You can see this tree from miles away. Every time I drove along the road from Lindos to Pefkos I would look up at this tree and smile to myself.

Again, a stunningly gorgeous location to witness the sunrise from.

3 - On the beach and the rocks around Navarone Bay

OK -this photo does not appear on the web page I mentioned earlier. I love this photo, such a simple composition, such lovely warming colours.

Sunrise in Rhodes by Rick McEvoy

So relaxing and peaceful. Which is exactly what the sunrise is like.

As I said before, you can see more of my photos of the sunrise on Rhodes on the Rhodes page of my website.

And there is only one thing better than a stunning sunrise photo, and that is a nice, relaxing video showing the sun rising.

Video time!

I wanted to video the sun rising. There were a few problems with this.

On the first try my alarm went off stopping the video which was infuriating. Next time I ran out of memory. Equally annoying but entirely my own fault.

But I did manage to get a 30-minute video of the flag flying at the church, and 30 minutes as the sun rises from the cliffs above Navarone Bay.

These are the links to the videos on my YouTube Channel

1 – The Greek Flag Flying Proudly As The Sun Rises Over Lindos

2 – Stunning 30 minute Sunrise Video From The Cliffs Above Navarone Bay Looking Towards Lindos, Rhodes

I got there in the end, and to be honest I have not done this before, well not recording 30-minute videos. This meant that I had to take photos handheld, which was a joy with the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2, which has in-built image stabilisation.

So a change in the way I work, but a good change at that so after these morning shoots I had developed, and all was good in my photographic world.

My YouTube Channel

And finally please may I ask for your help?

I hope that you found this post interesting. Please subscribe to my photography blog to get notified when a new post is published.

If you have enjoyed reading this post please check out my YouTube channel, where there is an accompanying video for this blog post.

If you could subscribe to my YouTube channel that would be great and most helpful to me.

And one last request – please follow me on Pinterest where I have boards all about photography and travel.

None of this costs you any money, and I will not inundate you with rubbish – it just helps me and gives me a warm cosy glow knowing that people are reading and watching my stuff.

Thank you!

Next week on my photography blog

Next week on my photography blog I am going to continue my series of posts about the exposure triangle. This will be a follow up to the post The exposure triangle explained in plain English. But will it be aperture, shutter or ISO?

Check out my blog next week to find out.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP - Photographer, blogger, website creator

Sunrise scene in lovely Lindos - taken and edited on my iPhone!!!

I took this photo on my iPhone during a sunrise shoot in Lindos. I thought I would have a go at processing it on my iPhone using Lightroom Mobile, and this is what I got!

Loving the quality of photos my iPhone takes and also the powers of Lightroom Mobile.

Tomorrow I will look at the “real” photo taken with my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2.

Rick McEvoy Photography

More Than Half A Million Unique Monthly Views On Pinterest!

I wrote previously about the staggering number of unique views I was receiving to my Pinterest account.

At the time of writing this post I was receiving 373,000 unique monthly visit.

Please check out my Pinterest account by clicking right here - please follow me if you like the stuff that I am posting and sharing there. 

This blog post was titled Pinterest For Photographers Explained (By A Photographer). This was published on 14th May 2019.

Today check out the screenshot above - more than half a million monthly unique viewers. Now I know that this number is not that significant, but the amount of increase is significant! 

Blimey - where is this number going? 

Pinterest, as I explain in the blog post above, is a long term investment. Pins have a longer life than posts to Instagram and Twitter for example. 

I will keep an eyed on this number and post another update next time omething big happens! 

Rick McEvoy Photography - Pinterest for Photographers

New Videos On My Photography YouTube Channel

There are weekly videos now appearing on my photography YouTube Channel for which I am getting some really nice feedback.

Here are links to a couple of my recent videos.

10 Travel Photography Blog Tips Helping Make My Blogs Better - And check out my funky shirt!!

10 Travel Photography Blog Tips Helping Make My Blogs Better - And check out my funky shirt!!

Very Quick Photography Tips - 105 Things Worth Knowing - One Line Photography Tips

Very Quick Photography Tips - 105 Things Worth Knowing - One Line Photography Tips

JPEG Explained In Plain English - The video that goes with my blog post

JPEG Explained In Plain English - The video that goes with my blog post

I am now producing videos to accmpnay my weekly photography blog posts. Coming up in the next couple of weeks are the following.

• 15 Practical Tips To Help You Work Faster In Lightroom Classic - 12 Years Of Knowledge in 1 video

• What Is Photography? 15 Fundamental Questions Answered - Sort Of!

• 15 Really Useful Tips To Help You Take Better Photos - Now This Is Good Stuff!!

I hope that you find these videos interesting and helpful - if you do please subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

Rick McEvoy Photography - photographer, writer, website creator and now video producer!!

Do you have targets for your photography business? Here is my update.

In this post I will be providing an update on my photography business targets for 2018. We all need to plan our businesses, and also review progress and modify plans when needed, without going all over the place that is!

Anyway, this is all about me and my photography business.

On the 3rd February 2018 I published the targets for my photography business in 2018.

I was going to review progress and provide an update halfway though the year, but forgot. So here we are with my update after 8 months of 2018.

And quite a bit has changed!

Original text in italics.

1 - Stock photography

The average UK salary is £27,600, which equates to £2,300 per month. I want my stock photography to achieve 50% of this monthly level of income by the end of 2018, and 100% by the end of 2019.

Is this achievable?

I’m not sure, but there is one thing I can guarantee – I will not achieve this if I don’t try.

I made about £2 through Adobe Stock in 2017! And cannot tell you how great it was to get an email saying I had sold an image, even if it was for 53p!!

That is very ambitious aim number one.

I have had a complete change of mind and plans on this one. I have created a new website, photos of Santorini. This change of direction was inspired by some information from Jim Harmer, owner of Improve Photography, and also from earning 53p selling an imge on Adobe Stock.

And it goes on. I have joined Income School, and am learning all about niche websites. This is all Jim's fault. This is what I am working on right now. And I mean right now.

It turns out photos of Santorini might be a bit too niche, so I am exploring something a little broader. I hope to have this new website completed by the end of September. I might do the Santorini website later, but for now have a better idea thanks to feedback from the income school community.

So the big change is that I am not targetting stock in any way shape or form, other than selling stuff myself. I have actually removed myself from all the stock sgencies I am registered with.

Funnily enough I am getting more enquiries via my website from people wanting to buy prints from me, that and take photos to order which is good. This is really good news, and I look forward to more growth in this area. I thought that this was a dead sector in the market - I will add this into my targets for 2019, which I have just started working on.

I do not want to sell images for a pittance. In fact I will go further than that - I will not sell images for a pittance.

“2 - Commercial sponsorship

I want to have one commercial sponsor by the end of 2018. One company, a manufacturer of a product I use and value, whom I can work with promoting their products and at the same time my use of their products.

Another challenging target!”

Unfortunately no further solid news. I have made a few more industry contacts, and am awaiting responses from a number of big companies.

I still need to grow the traffic to my website to make myself more appealling comemrcially.

See 4 below for the news on people visiting my website.

3 – Freelance writing

"I already have one freelance writing contract, on the excellent Improve Photography website. I really enjoy this work, as well of course as the massive exposure. Writing for Improve Photography has made me change how I write, and what I write about.

Both in a positive way.

I want one more freelance writing commitment in 2018. Just one."

No progress - I have not looked at this yet with other things going on. I have changed the structure of my blog though, adding one very long post per month, a couple of medium length posts and then shorter daily posts. This has incresaed my workload on the writing front but should help with my website findability.

And with the other things I am looking at I will not be actively pursuing this so this will not be a target for 2019.

“4 – Website

I have spent a lot of time and effort on my website in 2016 and 2017. In 2018 I am going to do very little to my website other than the following.

Image refresh – 2 pages per month.

Home page – an update on the text and images.

Travel photographer page – this needs to be produced in February 2018. You will find one image on there at the moment – a photo of Santorini.

And there is the outcome of all this work. By the end of 2018 I want to achieve 1000 visitors per month to my website. I was averaging just over 300 visitors per month before I started my writing on the Improve Photography website in late October 2018.”

Ok - progress update.

And a lot has changed.

My new URL is this.

https://rickmcevoyphotography.com

As a reminder, it was http://www.rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk

Much more global, secure and shorter.

This is the Google Analytics data for August 2018. Well for the first 30 days of August

And this was the Google Analytics data for July 2017 for rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk

And this is July 2018 data for rickmcevoyphotography.com

hat does this tell me? The number of visitors, ie sessions, has more than doubled which is of course good. I made the switch from .co.uk to .com just as my web traffic was on the up, not the best time I know, but things look to be back to where they were before I made the change.

I have to give this more time, and will certainly not be unpicking this change of URL.

I will schedule monthly updates on my analytics and see what the long term trends are.

But I have to say that the growth of the traffic to my website is a big disappointment - lets hope that the changes I am working on will bear fruit in the next six months.

“5 - Website

I want one source of income achieved solely from my website. This will of course be directly related to the number of visitors to my website, to the value my website has on the World Wide Web.”

See 4 above! 

“6 - YouTube

I want to have achieved 10,000 views by the end of 2018. 10,000 views triggers more possibilities in YouTube, which I want to get to. And hopefully the quality of my videos will improve over the course of the year to the point where I am able to produce videos for commercial clients that they want to buy.

And I want a drone too! Just thought I would throw that one into the mix here.”

At the time of writing this post I have managed to get 2430 views. Not good enough progress, but progress all the same. 743 views have come in the last 90 days, 2157 views in the last 12 months.

So the growth is there.  

And I have discovered on the app You Tube Studio that you can pull up this information instantly. I had been counting the number of views on each video, adding them to the calculator app on my phone. A very long winded process that was! 

And as for the drone, not something I have progressed. 

This target stays and will be slowly worked on in the background. 

“7 - Portfolio

I want a high quality printed portfolio of 30 prints for

• Architectural photography
• Landscape photography
• Travel photography

Interchangeable in a lovely high quality folio holder.

Actual high quality prints that I can present at meetings.”

Done. Sort of. I have a set of 40 architectural photography prints in a very expensive box. I did not get the landscape and travel folois done, and will not be getting them done.

This target will drop off now.

“8 – Qualifications

I want to achieve my ABIPP in 2018. I never submitted my portfolio in 2016 as I was not happy with it, even though my BIPP mentor was happy with it. There is a lesson there in just going for things that I have definitely learnt.”

"Issued: June 2018

For Immediate Release

Local Photographer Gains International Qualification with BIPP

Rick McEvoy ABIPP is a specialist architectural, construction and industrial photographer based in Dorset, who has recently achieved his Associateship (ABIPP) in Commercial Photography.

Rick joined the BIPP in 2013, gaining his Licentiateship in Commercial Photography in 2014.  As well as commercial work, Rick is an independent writer on the Improve Photography website, has a daily photography blog, and has been published in a variety of publications in the UK and further afield. He also produces fine art prints that are for sale on his website.

Rick is a keen travel photographer, with examples of his work featuring on his website, with lots of new plans being worked on for 2018.

His portfolio submission consisted of 40 architectural photography images, 20 interior images and 20 exterior images.  All bar one of the images were from commercial commissions carried out for architects and property owners.

You can view Rick’s complete portfolio at www.rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk/portfolio

When we asked Rick how he felt about achieving his Associateship, he said: “I feel honored, proud and I don't mind saying relieved that I was successful in achieving my Associateship. It has taken me a couple of years to get together a portfolio that I was happy with. I am pretty much self-taught.”

To see more of Rick’s work please visit – rickmcevoyphotography.com"

##Ends##

"Notes to Editors:

Contact: Jack Goward, 01296 642020, jack@bipp.com

The British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) is an internationally recognised qualifying organisation with over 100 years of experience in qualifying and supporting photographers. The core aims of BIPP are to qualify and support professional photographers, through a network of meetings, awards, training and benefits.

The BIPP is a not for profit body, run by photographers for photographers.

The BIPP has been fighting for and protecting photographers’ rights since 1901. 

The BIPP has over 2,800 members worldwide covering all disciplines of photography.
Rick McEvoy ABIPP, sales@rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk , rickmcevoyphotography.com"

Enough said! All done. And I am still smiling about this all this time later!

Target achieved. And no plans for any more qualifications in 2019.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP

“9 - Travel photography work

I want to achieve one commercial photography booking overseas in 2018.”

This was a bit of a dream job for me - now it is looking like the travel I have done recently is going to form the basis of niche websites in the future, so I will leave this target in and see where other things I have already talked about fit in.

It might be that I produce travel photography websites based on trips abroad - one to think about over the winter.

“10 – One shop to sell my photos

Last one. I want my work in an actual shop being sold to actual people. I will get my portfolios done and get out there and see who wants to sell my work.”

Not done. I guess I need my portfolios first! OK. I have done my portfolio but have gone down different roads and am focussing on the online market for the reasons highlighted above.

Summary

A lot has changed. My plans for stock have been completey overturned, as has my entire business strategy.

This is my end of August update - I am going to start working on my targets for 2018. 

I will provide a further update at the end of September 2018 - the next update will include my new targets for 2019 - no point looking at things now if I am not going to be working on them in the future.

Rick McEvoy ABIPP - Photographer, photoblogger, writer

7 weeks since I switched from .co.uk to .com - what happened?

It is 7 weeks since I changed my web address from

http://www.rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk

to

https://rickmcevoyphotography.com

I am going to write about this more next month, but here is the Google Analytics stats - this is the last 30 days

And this is the last 30 days before I made the switch.

And this is my old URL for the last 30 days!

4 visitors. 100% bounce rate.

It is a good job I worked out I needed to switch my analaytics to .com - the plummeting website traffic was a bit of a shocker I have to say!

And as to the volume and quality of web traffic - the volume is getting there after 7 weeks, and the quality of traffic is improving judging by the contact via my website.

Lots more data to write about, I just wanted to get the headlines out there and say this about top level domains- I think the right way to go is to go .com if you have a global audience, and stay .co.uk if you are only trying to reach people in the UK.

I write about photography, which is a global subject, hence my switch to .com.

RIck McEvoy Photography - Photography Blogger

Adding metadata to images in Lightroom - note to self

I have to remind myself that I need to revisit the metadata that I have added to my Santorini photos.

The metadata added to the photos

I added some metadata this last year, in a not very scientific way.

And since then I have added to the selection of images that I am going to edit, and I have also added additional metadata to images that I have published along the way.

So time to start again methinks. The metadata I add to images is very important.

This is boring but important.

I have an amount of keyword research as well, and the content of my website photos of Santorini to think about.

Keywords added to my Santorini photos

A job for later on I think - I will schedule this in now.

Rick McEvoy Photography - How to use Lightroom

How to edit images in Lightroom - photos of Santorini

OK. Things are not going quite to plan. I was meant to have completed editing my photos of Santorini by now but that is not the case. Recent publication deadlines, work and life have got in the way. 

Today I am back to it. I need to complete the editing my photos of Santorini in Lightroom. 

Before I embark on this task I want to explain how I edit images in Lightroom.  I have started work on a major new post, title to be decided but something like

• How to use Lightroom
• How I use Lightroom
• My step by step guide to editing images in Lightroom. 

Back to last Friday I published this image last Friday. I posted the three RAW files in the blog post which you can get to here.

Santorini caldera by travel photographer Rick McEvoy

I am now going to edit this single image, and I will explain what I have done tomorrow on my photography blog.

Rick McEvoy Photography - Photography Blog

Publication day on Improve Photography - a Greek sunrise

Every two weeks I have an article published on Improve Photography - and today is that day.

Todays article is titled "How I got the shot - A Greek Sunrise". The article is about this image.

I will post a link to the article in the morning.

Rick McEvoy Photography - Photography Blogger