AJOPhoto RSS Feedhttp://www.focusphotos.com/index.htmlAJOPhoto News...eninfo@focusphotos.comCopyright 2009 Andrew Johnstone Photography.2012-06-15T15:00:25+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:02:06 +0100Residential Photography Course - October 2012info@focusphotos.comPhotography Courses2012-06-15T15:00:25+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/3aded58a6296e4c692968d841a23b5bf-19.html#unique-entry-id-19http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/3aded58a6296e4c692968d841a23b5bf-19.html#unique-entry-id-19I am really pleased to announce that I have a new photography course coming up this autumn.
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I have teamed up with the great people at Mazzard Farm in East Devon to produce a 3 day residential course. The course is based just outside Ottery St Mary, just North of Sidmouth on the renowned Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most fabulously beautiful stretches of coast line in the UK. We'll be visiting a number of different locations, including Dartmoor too.

The accommodation and food will be first rate and there will be lots of opportunities to take great pictures and to hone your post-production skills on the computer.

For more details about the course and for all the booking information and payment details, please visit the Mazzard Farm website here:

http://www.mazzardfarm.com/residential-photography-course-at-mazzard-farm/

If you'd like any further information from me about the course, please get in touch using the e-mail link below.
]]>New Masters Bloginfo@focusphotos.comFilmDocumentaryEducation2012-03-09T08:30:40+00:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/844e786f36ff94776196b546c9dacc96-18.html#unique-entry-id-18http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/844e786f36ff94776196b546c9dacc96-18.html#unique-entry-id-18Masters degree in Documentary Film in International Development. The course is through De Montfort University in the UK.

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To help gather information on the next phase of the project I have set up a new blog for the project and at the moment I am focusing on the work produced by UNTV, where I worked as a documentary cameraman during the war in the former Yugoslavia in 1994/5.

Here’s one of the snaps from those days of me cozying up to a Serbian checkpoint guard called Snjezana, with whom we have made a little film as part of UNTV’s Video Letters series. Needless to say Snjezana was very different to most of the checkpoint guards we came across - most were large blokes with guns on a power trip, very often drunk and always on the scrounge for cigarettes. Read more about that story here.

]]>Film on BBC1info@focusphotos.comFilm2011-11-23T14:30:52+00:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/f34e84d693208bbe0d87d931e3143d7f-17.html#unique-entry-id-17http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/f34e84d693208bbe0d87d931e3143d7f-17.html#unique-entry-id-17BBC Inside Out is scheduled for transmission on Monday 28th November on BBC1 at 1930hrs.

For all those that miss the transmission time (or for those of you that live outside the South West), you will be able to watch the film on the BBC iPlayer.
On location with Norman Croucher in Cumbria. (Photo: © Jude Croucher 2011)

The film follows 71 year old mountaineer and double amputee Norman Croucher from Devon. Not content with having scaled some of the world’s biggest peaks, including Cho Oyo in Tibet at over 8000m on his two tin legs, Croucher has decided to learn to paraglide.

Shot on location in the Lake District in Cumbria and in Dorset and Devon, the film follows Norman on his journey. But at 71 is this a challenge too far for the intrepid adventurer?

For more information on Norman Croucher, please visit his website here.

]]>Documentary Film Courseinfo@focusphotos.comFilm Courses2011-07-15T09:15:40+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/7e833190a6aa137ba2a59c569fd141a1-16.html#unique-entry-id-16http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/7e833190a6aa137ba2a59c569fd141a1-16.html#unique-entry-id-16For any one interested in developing their documentary filmmaking skills, filmmaker Andy Johnstone is running a new course at the Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre in from the 22-26 August 2011.
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The course is aimed at anyone with an interest on documentary film and is based around a ‘live’ project to be produced in Exeter as part of the course. The film will be planned, scripted, shot, edited and produced by the students during the week. The final film will be uploaded to Youtube and Vimeo and, for those students hoping to go on to make a career in film and TV, this project will make a valuable addition to their screen credit list.

During the course, students will learn about the key practical elements of documentary filmmaking, about the editorial and planing process, about project preparation as well as learning valuable production tips and techniques on documentary camera skills, audio and post production.

The course costs just £300 for a full week of tuition. For more information and to book a place on the course, please call 01392 667 066 see the Exeter Phoenix website here:

http://www.exeterphoenixdigital.org.uk/courses.php


]]>Rocket - a new theme for Rapidweaverinfo@focusphotos.comRapidWeaver Web Design2011-04-13T15:24:16+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/67ce6ea9fe00b3bb359c9a3e648e48ab-15.html#unique-entry-id-15http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/67ce6ea9fe00b3bb359c9a3e648e48ab-15.html#unique-entry-id-15RocketRocket is a brand new theme or RapidWeaver. Making use of super-space technology and whizz bang this and that, Rocket whooshes about the web with extra astro-fizz!
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There's an animated JQuery menu, a customisable sliding box, a Twitter snippet, 6 ExtraContent areas, integrated Google fonts, a Searchbar and more...
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Rocket - to the edge of the web and beyond!

You can find out more about Rocket on the theme’s demo site here.

Rocket is available for just £12.50 from my web store.]]>Ottery Tar Barrelsinfo@focusphotos.comPhotography2010-11-06T08:35:52+00:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/614690961fcaa468e13497ea31eabeb0-14.html#unique-entry-id-14http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/614690961fcaa468e13497ea31eabeb0-14.html#unique-entry-id-14Had a great night out at the Ottery Tar Barrels last night with the family! Managed to burn a hole in my brande new Gortex jacket which was not amusing, but got some great pictures of the event and filed them to Demotix and and to the Telegraph and others...hoping for a bite!”

The Tar barrels event
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has been running for hundreds of years, but with “health and saftey” scrutinising the event and the rising cost of insrance, the Carnival Organising commitee has to raise substantial funds to run the annual show. More on teh Tar Barrels here..

To buy prints from the event , please visit my archive here.



]]>New Stacksinfo@focusphotos.comRapidWeaver Web2010-11-02T13:50:01+00:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/b512db42f0745bda1c0b9ace6fc7d41f-13.html#unique-entry-id-13http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/b512db42f0745bda1c0b9ace6fc7d41f-13.html#unique-entry-id-138LogosI was recently working on a new website for a client and we needed to add a lot of corporate logos to illustrate their client base.

I was using a Stacks page from Yourhead, but to create a flow of 8 mini logos along the bottom of the page. To achieve this I had to end up nesting 2 image stacks inside a "2 column stack", nesting this inside another "2 column stack"etc, and it was all getting very complicated and messing up the HTML code. "What I wouldn't give for a simple 8 image stack that would run along the bottom of the page", I thought to myself. I did a bit of hunting and could not find solutions, so I built my own stack and now I have a created a handy bundle of image stacks that solve this little layout problem quite nicely- check out the previews here.

If you want to see a live demo of the Logo Stack in action, click here.

There are 5 Stacks in the Logo Stacks Bundle and it is available for just £5.00 from my web store.]]>Big Move!info@focusphotos.comhome photography2010-08-19T15:36:42+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/80f970276c853a3120b4705059000075-12.html#unique-entry-id-12http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/80f970276c853a3120b4705059000075-12.html#unique-entry-id-12Well the big news is that after nearly 10 years here in France we are set to move home to Devon in the UK. Really looking forward to making the change though it will be sad to see the last of our beautiful house in the Tarn, but it is time to move on!
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Our son Robert (11) is starting ‘big school’ next term and the opportunities that school in the UK have to offer are fantastic - drama, sport, music, art, technology and design and computing - all aspects of the curriculum which are issing from French schools as far as I can see. There was a really interesting feature on the BBC about the French school system - so your don’t just have to trake my word for it. See http://bbc.in/8YIUEB

I’ll still be available for assignments in SW France - I have a base in Toulouse with friends, but otherwise I’ll be working from Devon for the forseeable future!






]]>Boxes Pro and Decorateinfo@focusphotos.comWeb Design RapidWeaver2010-07-03T06:29:49+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/6fac1406a872b2267b2aeb09589e7e50-11.html#unique-entry-id-11http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/6fac1406a872b2267b2aeb09589e7e50-11.html#unique-entry-id-11I have two new themes for RapidWeaver available via my Web Store - Decorate and Boxes Pro.
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Both themes include animated JQuery Menus, sliding boxes and my own home made Twitter snippet, as well as a host of other handy features. I have worked hard to make both themes standards compliant and they work neatly across all broswers.
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Check out the demo websites for more information or if you cannot contain your excitement any longer, why not head straight to the web store and buy!

]]>Simon Blake's New Siteinfo@focusphotos.comWeb2010-01-26T16:56:23+00:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/347a952b8ee80f78007c281c34ae1dd2-10.html#unique-entry-id-10http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/347a952b8ee80f78007c281c34ae1dd2-10.html#unique-entry-id-10My latest web projecty has just gone live. I just finished a new site for my mate Simon Blake, film and theatre director and screen writer. Please check out the link at:

www.simonblake.co.uk
]]>Nile film Updateinfo@focusphotos.comFilm2010-01-26T16:48:03+00:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/be13bcfc5659f3ca99b951c4be514dd8-9.html#unique-entry-id-9http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/be13bcfc5659f3ca99b951c4be514dd8-9.html#unique-entry-id-9The hot news is that Death of the Nile? as been picked up by NHK in Japan. The film has also been screening on the guardian website for the past month or so, racking up 11,000 views, which is double the normal viewing figures for films on the Guardian's site! I am very excited and I hope we'll get the chance to finish the project if we can get a bite from one of the major networks.

The link to the Guardian site is here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/jan/15/climate-change-nile

Please take a look if you have the time.]]>Two3Five released!info@focusphotos.comWeb RapidWeaver2009-09-01T07:47:00+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/bb8aa9179067edbe939d8785f0cdefe7-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/bb8aa9179067edbe939d8785f0cdefe7-8.html#unique-entry-id-8
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Two3Five is fresh for the new season and has several unique features including Cornerflagz and Handy Note. Check it out here.

Two3Five]]>Grant for Nile Filminfo@focusphotos.comFilm photography2009-10-20T06:42:44+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/d2db07ebb4272249049a2b1d34c3e98c-7.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/d2db07ebb4272249049a2b1d34c3e98c-7.html#unique-entry-id-7I am really please to annouce that I have been awared a development grant by the Commonwealth Brodcasting Assocation CBA, as part of the DIFD funded CBA Media Development Scheme for my new film project "Death of the NIle?" documentary film project.

The CBA DFID funding is aimed at journalists and filmmakers develop projects and programming
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focusing on development issues in Commonwealth countries and in these tough econmic times, with TV and media budgets being cut, the scheme is more important than ever in helping to produce films that raise awareness on develpoment issues. You can read more about the CBA Media Development Scheme here:

http://www.cba.org.uk/CBA-DFID/index.php

The funding means that I have been able to do further research and development work on the film project and also fund a trip to Uganda for several days shooting. We'll also be shooting several key interviews in the UK and to day I am in Aberystwyth in Wales to interview Dr Henry Lamb about his current project work on Lake Tana in Ethiopia.

We plan to post regular updates on this blog about the film project and the forth coming trips.

More later!]]>RapidWeaver Themesinfo@focusphotos.comWeb2009-06-26T08:13:05+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/eb8a9ed8af4547b17d0b2c2d6e37aea2-4.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/eb8a9ed8af4547b17d0b2c2d6e37aea2-4.html#unique-entry-id-4

Searching for a great new look for your website? Then what about trying out one of my new themes for Mac web design software RapidWeaver.

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Ice Cream is a fresh new theme, on the market just in time for the long hot summer and Boxes is specially designed for displaying photography on the web.


Both themes are now available at my new Web Store and you can grab yourself a super deal as I am offering a bundle deal - two new themes for the price of one and a bit! Nice one!

]]>New departures - Web Designinfo@focusphotos.comWeb2009-04-10T11:13:06+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/5538935d3890fbd13e773829a0123d9a-3.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/5538935d3890fbd13e773829a0123d9a-3.html#unique-entry-id-3
sites



As some of you may know, I’ve been messing about with web sites for an awfully long time now and at the last count I had redesigned my own focusphots.com site no less that 5 times in the past 5 years. So for better or worse here we go with Focusphotos v6.0!

The new design has been made possible by my switch to using Rapidweaver from Realmac Software. Now don’t get me wrong some of the other software I have used in the past is very good, programmes like Freeway from Softpress are excellent design tools and are better for some projects. But Rapidweaver is a delight and much more flexible than it seems when your first open the tin. It has allowed me to have my own blog for a start - which depending on how you look at things may or may not be a good thing!

In these trouble times, adding strings to your bow is what it is all about. I’ve already started to offer courses and begun shooting weddings and the upshot of my acquisition of Rapidweaver is that I am now able to offer my own web design service. The sites I produce are all fairly simple, highly geared around photography and what is more I can bang them out quickly and inexpensively. The average website can take weeks to build using other authoring tools, but I can turn projects round fast - depending on the levels of complexity of course ad on the quality of the clients content! I am also now able to offer web hosting on my own dedicated, secure servers so frankly its all pretty whiz bang!

If you are interested in a new website, give me a call.

Andy

]]>WD films on The Water Channelinfo@focusphotos.comFilm2009-04-14T10:58:09+01:00http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/7c4d19e8aa3be9e1ac30a2a36c6ba5b9-2.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.focusphotos.com/Blog/files/7c4d19e8aa3be9e1ac30a2a36c6ba5b9-2.html#unique-entry-id-2NB poster

Hot news, the full length versions of three of my previous films for Wild Dog Limited have now been added to the Water Channel.

Follow these links to the following films:

The Nile, our river (Development and civil society in the Nile Basin)

Money into Water, Water into Money (Access to water for the poor in Ethiopia)

SecureWater (Water and sanitation for the poor in Kenya, Sri Lanka and India)

The films are all presented as flash videos so they are viewable on most computer systems. Please take a look and if you like please regster with the Water Channel, log in and rate the films!

Enjoy!]]>