• New Edits for 2023

    While the images in this post are edited to be used in 2023, I am still working on originals taken in 2022, with more shoots that I haven’t yet got around to fully appraising and working on. One of these day’s I’ll try to catch up! Continuing the Medieval, Tudor and Chinese themes of last year, some of the images may also look a little familiar, as they have previously been posted unfinished (without context) in a previous blog. Others are entirely new. Visits to two Tudor Halls in October and November provided some authentic looking backgrounds for some of them and hopefully those additions have helped the story-telling aspect…

  • Damsels and Dragons

    At our local quarry, a number of species of damselflies and dragonflies make their appearance during the summer months. The site has several shallow ponds (some of which dry up entirely in dry weather) and plenty of heather. With patience, it’s possible to photograph insects in the heather and in the reeds at the edge of ponds. The quarry closed in the 1990s and now provides space to allow the development of habitats for wildlife. Fifteen different species of damselflies and dragonflies have been identified in recent years, though they are not often in great abundance. I think I’ve seen 10 or 11 of them over the last two years. Yesterday…

  • Cumbrian Spring

      Most of my friends already know that I don’t manage to get up for a dawn shoot very often…I can think of three or four times is all. Last week I was lecturing in Cumbria and a photo-friend, who lives in the area, offered to spend time with me photographing the northern lakes. No surprise that it was almost 12 noon by the time I was ready to leave Cockermouth. All things considered, we were very lucky, with some lovely mild weather (for March) and calm waters on Buttermere and Crummock Water. The Buttermere pines are a favourite subject for many photographers but it is probably 20 years since…

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