Hello! Welcome to my website. I’m Rick. I photograph buildings, nice places and buildings in nice places. And I write about photography on my blog.
I am a professionally qualified photographer based in Dorset. I specialise in architectural, commercial, landscape and travel photography. And that is all!
I am an all round nice chap. Please get in touch so we can create some great photos.
A stunning natural scene
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.
A summer message from those nice folk at Excire
Excire Search Summer Offer
“Dear photographers,
Summer time is travel time with an ever growing amount of photos brought back home. For you to not worry about how to handle the flood of photos, we now offer until the end of August Excire Search as a summer special for only 29€ instead of the regular 49€:
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
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
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
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.
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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!
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
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Oh go on then - here is the tent in action!
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.
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
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
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)
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.
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!!
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.
Filter wrench - photo from Amazon
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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
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!
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
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.
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
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
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!
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
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!!
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
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.
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.
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.
#photographyaccessories #rickmcevoyphotography #canon6d #olympusem5 #photographyaccessoriescostinglessthan£20
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Again I have marked an extract from Google Maps.
My best sunrise locations in Rhodes revealed!
On top of the hill at the where you will find the Prophet Elias Church
On top of the cliffs overlooking Navarone Bay
On the beach and the rocks around Navarone Bay
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.
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!
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.
I think I have covered that.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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!
Tomorrow I will look at the “real” photo taken with my Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2.
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!
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!!
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.
In this post I am going to provide advice for clients on how to commission architectural photography. I will share my experiences as a working architectural photographer, which should help you as clients successfully appoint the right photographer for you to photograph your buildings.
Read MoreIn 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.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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!
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.
I want a high quality printed portfolio of 30 prints for
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.
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"
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.
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.
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.
It is 7 weeks since I changed my web address from
http://www.rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk
to
https://rickmcevoyphotography.com
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Sunrise in Rhodes by Rick McEvoy Travel Photographer
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.
This is one of the new images that I am going to process and include on my new website, photos of Santorini.
These are the three images that I took with no editing at all - and just look at that view of the Santorini Caldera! I will explan more tomorrow!
The correctly exposed image
The two stop underexposed image
The two stop over exposed image
Has it worked for me?
Which is the best top level domain?
I guess it depends.
Time will tell. I will provide an update on Bastille Day - this is 6 weeks after the switch to .com. That is the 14th July. And my birthday!
Well why not - check out this brand new web page with 20 photos of Santorini.
Rick McEvoy Photography - Interior Photographer in Dorset
We have all been receiving lots of emails about GDPR compliance. I do not have a mailing list, so have not needed to send out such emails.
I am however GDPR compliant. Rick McEvoy Photography is regsitered with the ICO.
A bit about me and how I comply with GDPR.
I am the controller of all data for Rick McEvoy Photography.
Personal information is held in email communications and also written correspondence.
This personal information is used with regard to commercial and contract matters and general business communication
Information is not passed to third parties without the individuals written consent.
Personal information regarding locations of private houses photographed is not disclosed. The information published states the county within which the property is located only. This is even with written consent to disclose information.
Rick McEvoy Photography holds no information relating to children, and photographing education establishments and public areas care is taken to ensure children are not included in photographs. If this is unavoidable faces are blurred to prevent identification of individuals.
Please contact me if you require any information on the data I hold, or if you want me to delete you personal data.
All my data is secured using current appropriate internet security software.
Rick McEvoy Photography is a sole trader entity and fully compliant with GDPR, registered with the Information Commissioners Office.
If you have any questions please get in touch.
Rick McEvoy ABIPP, MCIOB - Rick McEvoy Photography