Thursday 28 March 2013

Snowdrops my way!

Hello and welcome to a post completely dedicated to that lovely first flower of the year the humble snowdrop, Galanthus, from the Greek meaning milk flower. The following images are of the common snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis, also known as the flower of hope and are listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Redlist, are included in CITES Appendix II and in some areas are under threat from collection and habitat destruction.

The following photographs are of a small patch of snowdrops in Somerset taken over a few days in varying light conditions but with everything being done in camera with no post processing, I have even used a 6-point starburst filter for some of the images which are both colour and black and white. If you look really closely at one of them you will even see a tiny money spider (Linyphiidae). 
















Monday 25 March 2013

Roses, Austria & An Update

Hello, I hope everyone is ok and not too fed up with the good old British weather!

I will start with a bit of an update, Focus On Imaging went very well with both seminars being very well attended and received with plenty of great questions and here is me in action!


The good news is that for anyone that wasn't able to make it, I will be giving a free webinar on Thursday 4th April at 4pm UK time which is based on the very seminar I gave at Focus with a slight twist in that I will be talking about the importance of not missing an opportunity, how to use a starburst filter creatively and why concentrating on just one subject at a time really can pay off. If you wish to join me for this seminar just click on the link below and follow the instructions to register.


With one thing and another I have not been able to get out and about much with my camera, but this doesn't mean I haven't been taking photos! I was given some beautiful red velvety roses which had the most wonderful textured petals, so armed with my misting spray I decided to re-awaken my creative side and here are just a couple of the images from that shoot:


At the beginning of the year I actually took off for a couple of weeks to Germany and Austria for a bit of a break in the mountains, I of course took my camera and managed to get some shots I'm very happy with, so here are just two of the mountains both in black and white and one of a line of very snowy trees.















If you want to see more from that trip including sunrises, sunsets and even some birds just pop over to either my website or Flickr page. I've had to hit the ground running since being back getting ready for Focus and also a certain forth coming wedding. In amongst all this I have also been starting to plan for Romania and a couple of other smaller projects which are in the planning stages as you read this as well as some exciting bits and bobs which I hope to bring you more news in the coming weeks. I hope to get two more posts in before the wedding and honeymoon, the first of which will be dedicated to that very beautiful flower the snowdrop and then one last one before I switch off for a few weeks with all the latest news etc. 

Don't forget you can keep up to date with little snippets via Twitter or my Facebook page as well as regular postings of photos from both the archives and my latest work.

Well, that's it for now, don't forget to register for the webinar and keep a look out for my snowdrop post in a few days time. Just before I go, if anyone is in the area I will be at the Easter Craft Fair at Upton Country Park in Poole this Sunday and Monday (31st March & 1st April) with loads of great offers and the launch of a brand new product! 

Take care and stay warm!