June 17th - There are no poor conditions, just poor decisions.

June 12th - Great to be home again after a month of mini adventures and great to play guitar again - excursions into the Cotswolds, Chilterns, Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, Jersey for a complete one off , a workshop (yes you did read that right) and now off to Northern Ireland next week for more coastal creativity which seems to have been a little lacking in my processing. New lenses are on their way; Canon 17mm f4L TS-E is up for review first in the next few weeks. I am that close to selling the Canon 1DsIII, despite my affections for the 'brick', but I feel a Canon 5Dmk2 would suit my sponteneity better and I could bank the left overs or perhaps fund a full suspension mountain bike to get me deeper into the heart of the moors. A lightweight alternative lens kitbag would go down very well in the saddle. Finally, steer your ears towards Animal Collective and the utterly incredible Grizzly Bear, two bands that have me spellbound right now. My music tastes firmly lie in the US; the UK scene seems literally laughable, come on twangy boybands, its the 21st century!

May 15th - Many new images from Krakow, Poland. Click here to go to the gallery...I went there nearly a year ago this week; I vowed I wouldn't let trips linger more than a year on my hard drive but it was close... :) , so I as it's been crap weather I processed a mammoth three hundred from this trip. Saying that, I still have so much work to process I need to clone myself; the captioning, accurate and inventive keywording, the admin this generates and submissions to associated agencies is just ridiculous... the down side of photography believe me.

May 11th - I am pleased to annouce the affilation of www.davidclapp.co.uk with Park Cameras. As one of the largest UK camera retailers in the country I am very excited at the possibilities that this partnership will uncover. Expect some seriously exotic lens testing to begin this year, in particular a definitive 24mm Shift shootout alongside 16-9.net to end the head scratching and speculation once and for all. ** Canon 24mm f3.5L mkII vs Canon 24mm f3.5L mkI vs Olympus Zuiko 24mm f3.5 vs the Nikon 24mm f3.5D ED PC-E **. A full review of the new Canon 17mm f4L TS-E both for architecture and in the landscape. I am currently testing the Canon G10 and Ricoh GX200 P&S cameras, both with RAW capabilities and wide angle lenses in the landscape. All reviews will be published through Ephotozine and Park's own website as well as published in my own Articles section.

Apr24th - TRAVEL THINKTANK New article on the how to travel abroad with your camera gear. If like me you have been looking for a' tardis' over the years, then look no further than the ThinkTank Airport Acceleration v2.0 It handles the glut of kit I carry around with me with ease. I cannot recommend it enough.

Apr 18th - An encounter with a young Turkish Muslim and his mother stopped me in my tracks last week. After visiting the tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent, I professed my love for Istanbul to them both, of its treasures, architecture and marvellous people. "You should visit England one day, its a beautiful place" I said, to which he looked down and replied, "I cannot go, I am misunderstood in your country", and sadly I knew exactly what he mean't. I walked away full of emapthy; he's just as affected by negative media sensationalism as we are I thought. As I reached the gates he caught us up and handed both Rachel and I a big handful of spiced nuts each, melting my empathy into humility. This simple gesture coupled with a glowing smile, his mother waving goodbye from the mosque just like my gran does from behind her net curtains, transcended all misconception. I had nothing to give back, but a reciprocating smile, and that's all he needed. It left me deeply moved and full of hope that global suspicions and misconceptions of Muslims will one day be buried forever.... it is encounters like this that stay with you all your life.

Apr 4th - All herald the lastest lens to the fold, the Olympus Zuiko 35mm f2.8 Shift. This gem of a lens is so ridicuolously sharp right across the frame even when shifted to 10mm, its a dream come true, even on 21mp. I managed to pick up a copy of the multi coated version on Ebay (better at controlling flare) and tests have shown this to be a superb performer, as 16-9.net highlighted recently. Not only great for architecture as it has very low distortion, it is also possible to stitch 32mp landscape format panoramas and 40mp square images by 'shift stitching' as I call it. More on this in the articles section and over on Ephotozine very shortly.

Apr 1st - As you walk your photographic path, consider this... good imagery becomes less to do with cameras or technical skill, it's fundamentally about the ability to put yourself in the right place. I spend more time researching, planning and organising where to go next than I will ever do behind the camera creatively, that's the easy bit.Then there is testing testing and more testing, knowing those lenses and equipment inside out. When all these roads meet, then it is time to press the shutter. :-)

Mar 20th - Another new machine is built, with now a total of 10tb of hard drive space, automated to back up as I work so I no longer have to think. An unlikely trade of skills with a local slaughterman brought this fortunate circumstance to complete the 'ultimate paranoid backup' PC. Running on dual UPS power supplies, its a dream come true. All bases covered. Loads of new work being processed, lots of admin, its not all its cracked up to be. Thankfully some great music keeps my mind in the stars... new Royksopp single "Happy up Here" (unbelievable chords), MGMTs Oracular Spectacular, Caspars humorous remix of TC's "Where's my Money", Doves epic Kingdom of Rust and the superb Eagles of Death Metal album which berings me to Nosaj Thing... thank you Radio 1 for allowing Mary Ann Hobbs to do the Experimental show, its what I have longed for....

Mar 3rd - Back from a week long Non-Workshop stint in Ireland with my new friend Alan, which involved many hilarious discussions about 'the sweet light' or sunshine as I like to call it, good music in the car and out, and impecable Guiness or course. I spent two nights in a row playing bongos, bohdran and beer bottles with a teaspoon accompanying a traditional Irish band and singing songs until the early hours, what an experience. The English just seem to punch each other after a few too many. We have a lot to learn from the Irish. Now back to processing, writing and playing until Istanbul in April....

Feb 1st - a long stint at the computer and on the telephone is nearing an end. I am off travelling to the Italian Alps on the 7th of February for a much needed therapy with the camera and simply to get some exercise. Then back home for my first talks as a photographer - The Kingsbridge Camera Club and then to Bristol for the Nature Photographers conference at Slimbridge, where I am talking about exposure blending and why you should throw your graduated filters in the sea.

29th Jan - Sponsorship. A milestone in my photographic career. I am now endorsed by Think Tank (bags and carry equipment), Lexar cards, Aaduki Multimedia Insurance and Ephotozine. I will shortly be writing online reviews of some new products that they manufacture. Have a look in the Articles page and on Ephotozine. This will also include some old favourites of mine including the two products from the Zork line up that I use extensively, the Zork PSA and MFS.