imagetheearth.co.uk - Brand new, revamped website.

I'm pleased to finally share with you all my brand new, revamped website, that has just gone 'live' - http://www.imagetheearth.co.uk

All flashed up the site boasts a smoother navigation the site is more user friendly. If you're into social networking, there is a link to the 'Mark Coughlan Photography' Facebook and Twitter pages.

As always any feedback and suggestions are gratefully received.

Please have a look (it took bloody ages) - http://www.imagetheearth.co.uk

...and the winner is....

After some research and some much needed advice I am now the owner of the Canon 24-70mm f2.8L Lens.
Finally I got hold of a virtually brand new lens, in absolute mint condition all for the very resonable price of £550. Cheap in comparsion the the listed price of just under £900 and the average Ebay price of £650.

To finance (in part) the cost of the new lens I've parted company with my Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens.

Canon 24-70 mm f2.8 L or Canon 24-105 mm f4 L IS Lens

Another trip beacons, so it's inevitable that I must purchase a new camera lens. It's what I do.
I've been looking for a new general purpose medium focal length zoom lens and have whittled the choices down to two possibilities:

Canon 24-105 mm f4 L IS Lens
Canon 24-70 mm f2.8 L LensRoughly the price difference is about £100, with the 24-105mm the cheaper of the two costing roughly £600 online.

I've read plenty of reviews, but I guess the best people to answer this are other photographers with one or both lens to point me in the right direction.

Thoughts, comparisons, recommendations - anyone?

Yak to the Future in the Surrey Advertiser!

Our lunacy is now common knowledge to all the (old) folk of Godalming and Surrey. Splashed accross page two of the local rag we are pictured in what will no doubt be a regular, worried looking pose throughout central asia, or on the hard shoulder of the A2 on the way to Dover. For those with bad eyesight, here is what the paper had to say on our forthcoming trip as we don't do our bit for the evironment!

To Mongolia in 'umbrella on wheels'
On 19 July, three young men from Godalming and Haslemere will depart from Hyde Park, to race 10,000 miles from London to Mongolia in a twenty-year-old Citroen 2CV, to raise money for charity.

Mark Coughlan, Joe Turner and Tim Hopkin, will compete against 200 other teams taking part from all over the UK. They will head east passing through countries such as; Iran, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan on their way to Mongolia.

The two charities they aim to raise funds for are the Pashupati Briddhsshram Home for the Elderly, in Kathmandu, Nepal, a government run home for 236 residents in urgent need of resources. The second, the Mercy Corps Mongolia, is an organisation that supports rural communities and herding families through economic, educational and agricultural programmes.

The team is looking for sponsorship in the form of donations from individuals, items from their wish list that they will need for the journey or corporate sponsors. They hope to raise a total of £5,000 for their chosen charities.

Mark, said: “We are all very excited about the trip and passionate about our chosen charities. The money that we raise will make a huge difference to so many lives. We have already received some corporate sponsorship from The Great Big Event Company, Witley, Polaris Consulting Limited, Guildford and ShareNow.com but we need more to hit our target.

If you are interested in sponsoring Mark and his team and would like to find out more, please visit the website at www.yaktothefuture.com.

Vote for me! - Canon, The Assignment photography competition

I've just entered a brand new photography competition and need your help to be in with a chance of winning it!

The Assignment is a new European photography competition from Canon which challenges amateur photographers to submit their best work. There are four categories - Portrait, Landscape, Sport and Macro - and 19 European countries are taking part.

My chosen photo which is part of the portrait category, is of the young girl traditionally dressed I took in Cochin, south India. She was one of a number of dancers who were waiting nervously back stage before performing a traditional dance to the onlookers at an New Year's Eve celebration.

The initial part of the competition seems more a popularity one than one based on actual talent, as only the most popular photos as voted by the public will get as far as the judging stage.

To be in with chance of getting that far I need the help of you good people. If you can, please visit the link below and vote for my entry. The only set back is you need to register on the site before you can vote.

Click here to vote for Mark Coughlan in The Assignment competition!

Thanks a bunch and I'll buy you all a drink!

In the beginning....

I've always rejected the idea of having a blog, so I'm starting off small... unwilling even, and see how I get on. Don't expect massive enchanting novels, for that you can point the finger of blame at my time spent at Kris Akabusi High School in West London.

Unsurprisingly, the foremost of thoughts at present are pretty much in getting everything in place to tackle the Rickshaw Run 2008. With less then two weeks before we hit India and start racing the length of the country in the equivalent of a lawn mower, things are slowly coming together.

So far its a case of:
Nepalese Visa, tick.
International Drivers Permit, tick.
Indian (and now Nepalese) flag bought on ebay for 96 pence, tick.
Map from Waterstones, tick.
Extra batteries and memory cards, tick.

I'm slowly working my way through the 6 hours of the highly recommended DVD "The Story of India" by Michael Wood. You may have seen the series on BBC2 a few months back, if not you can pick it up on Amazon. It throws up potential places of interest to pass through that even we haven't thought of. Watching it only makes you realise that you could spend years backpacking/travelling India and still only scratch the surface.

All this does is further ignite the desire to spend a few years in the Indian Sub-Continent to do it justice. With its size, clamour, sensual overload and diversity, India is the most intriging, facinating country on earth, where you quickly develop an abiding passion for it.

Lots on the agenda before Christmas. I eagerly await the delivery of a new (bloody expensive) camera lens, yet another day of pushing and shoving at the Indian embassy and trying to gain a bit more sponsorship.

Posted 16th December 2007

About me.....

Two of my great passions in life are travel and photography. I believe that travel broadens our view of the world. Experiencing other cultures, meeting people from other communities and other countries and seeing the beauty, and sometimes ugliness of the world drives me to capture my experiences through photography.

Through my photography I strive to document my own personal experiences, to capture scenes and events as I see them and to share with others the beauty and diversity of the world I've seen. As the images of other photographers have inspired me to explore the world, I hope my own contributions will inspire others to do the same.

I feel privileged to have visited some of the most inspiring countries this world has to offer including Myanmar (Burma), Mongolia, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bolivia to name but a few.
I keep my images simple and contemporary and use bright, vivid colours, interesting shapes and textures to bring my work to life.

Of late I've gone down the 'Adventure' route, participating the the Rickshaw Run 2008 and this summer I've assembled a team to tackle the Mongol Rally.

I hope you enjoy the website and reading the blog.

Mark
Image the Earth Photography