South Africa Part 1

Hello, I'm a bit late in posting from our trip to South Africa, but things have been a bit hectic and I only had a short time at home before I had to re-pack and head out to Romania to put the Nat Geo research to bed. But now I am back home I am playing catch up with a few things before the pop-up shop opens in just a couple of weeks time here in Frome, but more about that later.

So, South Africa was calling and although I have visited many times, this time I was going with a new perspective on my photography, as well as for a special celebration for our 1st wedding anniversary and the wedding of Meagen and Matthew and to catch up with all our family out there. As mentioned in my previous post I had a new companion with me on this trip, the Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 lens, many of the images were taken with this lens (except the lizards in this post and the chameleon and butterflies in South Africa Part Two) and in the next post I will include the link to my thoughts on this incredible lens.

After a brief stop over with family, Chris and I jump back on the plane and headed for Cape Town for a week to see some penguins and visit some vineyards and to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary. I have to say it was a very much needed week and we were very lucky with the weather with only the odd bit of sea mist in the early mornings. First up were the penguins and anything else we could find, here are just a few images for that first day!

Next up we headed off to Table Mountain in search of some lizards and great views, we were certainly not disappointed especially as there was not a cloud in sight until we were back down in Cape Town to visit the aquarium and find some dinner. I haven't been to the Two Oceans Aquarium for a few years now and I have to say a lot has changed but for the better. Everywhere you looked there was information not only about the species but also the threats they face and what is being done to conserve them, there are certainly a fair few places that I can think of that would benefit from taking a leaf out of their book in terms of informative displays! Here are just a couple of photos from Table Mountain.

We had a few more days left to explore and relax which included spending a day visiting vineyards for our anniversary and some very yummy food! So I will leave with a few last images from our adventures in Cape Town and in the next post will share our adventures back up north near Jo'burg and Pretoria.

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). 

Foxes, a whole post dedicated to foxes!

Hello, hope you are all well and managing to stay dry! So, we've had hedgehogs, next up is foxes and a whole post full of wonderful images of these creatures. But just before I start with the photos just a quick update on the webinar, it went very well and was a lot of fun so a huge thank you to all those that logged. If you missed it don't fear it is now available to watch/listen to on the archives in your own time, just follow the link below and scroll though until you get to me!

Webinar

So, on to the foxes and a whole selection of different images to celebrate this animal.

These are truly beautiful animals with such wonderful expressions, behaviours and colours! Hope you've had fun looking at the foxes. Not sure what will be next you'll have to wait and see! 

Just before I go though, don't forget the Christmas craft fairs for some wonderful and unique animal themed Christmas presents and cards, we'll be at the Cheese and Grain in Frome this Saturday (24th) 10am - 3pm and at the Warminster Civic Centre on Sunday (25th) 10am - 4pm so why not pop along and pick up something special and say hello! 

Competition Success

Hello, 

It seems that Autumn is well on it's way now here in the UK and rumour has it the autumn colours are going to be spectacular this year due to the weather we've been having, that is if the leaves aren't blown from the trees before they start turning! Things have been hectic the last month or so, but I'm slowly catching up. I have some fantastic news however with regards a competition I entered earlier in the year run by The Zoological Society of London. Firstly here is a little more about the competition: 

The ZSL Animal Photography Prize aimed for more than just pretty pictures, they were looking for images that would form part of the exhibition and ongoing collection of work which would challenge the viewers' perception of and relationship with the natural world and its inhabitants. 

The competition attracted entrants from around the world and the calibre of the work entered has been truly remarkable. The winning and highly commended images in each category of the junior and adult divisions will now form the basis of an outdoor exhibition to be displayed in the heart of ZSL London Zoo.

Now for the news:

I entered several images and two of them were short-listed, a few weeks later I received news that one of the images (The Weevil and the Fern) won its category and the second image (Mating Bubbles) had been highly commended and that both of these would now be part of the exhibition in the grounds of London Zoo until the end of the year. Both images are of insects and both taken in Somerset, they are available as prints via my website or as keyrings and magnets from craft markets (details later in this post). So here they are, the images and photos of me standing next to the images at London Zoo. 

The Weevil and the Fern - Winner in Size Matters category  Green nettle weevil taken at Westhay Moor Nature reserve on the Somerset Levels. 

Mating Bubbles - Highly Commended in Birds and the Bees category. Mating yellow dung files silhouetted against the sky in Shepton Mallet

In other news, I am now very much gearing up for Christmas and starting to prepare winter and Christmas themed products to sell at the craft markets, new dates and venues are been added all the time so keep checking the list on my website and why not pop along and pick up some wonderfully unique presents, cards or stocking fillers! 

Craft Markets

Right back to work on some very exciting projects which I will bring you more news about in the coming months but just to wet your appetite one involves tigers and India and the other insects!

Take care and keep safe

Exhibition

Hello and welcome to a post dedicated to my current exhibition at the Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury, "The Natural World Through My Lens". 

The exhibition has now been open for just over six weeks with six weeks remaining and has been a great success thus far. If you haven't been to see it yet, why not?! The last day is Saturday 9th June and it is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am - 5pm with free entry. 

The exhibition displays three aspects of my work, including studies made over a period of time in Somerset, images from a trip to Madagascar and a selection of photographs from around the rest of the world.  There are also panels with lots of information on where it all began for me, my equipment, the Somerset Levels, Madagascar and some of my plans for the future and booklets that contain all the technical details of each image and also the stories behind them. 

With over fifteen years experience behind the camera I have a real passion for the natural world and the exhibition promises to bring to life both familiar and unfamiliar creatures in a whole new way along with some special landscapes. I have printed al the images on Ilford Gallerie paper, hand mounted and framed with a wood frame made in the UK using wood from sustainable forests. Each image has an information sheet on the back (same as that which is in the booklet at the exhibition) and is titled and signed on the front of the mount underneath the image. 

All the images are available to buy for £85 each, there is a selection of 11 note cards at £1 each (images from the exhibition), a 2013 Madagascar calendar at £10 and a wide selection of magnets and key-rings at £2 each available from the front desk for the duration of the exhibition. All the proceeds from sales go straight back into future projects. 

In addition to the exhibition, I am running free lunchtime illustrated talks about the what, where and why of what I do including video footage. The first one was a great success but hugely over-subscribed so I am now running a second talk on Saturday 5th May at 12 noon. The talk is completely free but you will need to book as places are limited due to the size of the room. If you would like to book a place please call the museum on 01458 831197. I will be around both before and after the talk to meet people and answer questions so why not pop along. I hope to see you there and just before I sign off I am going to leave you with the walk through video to wet your appetite, but don;t forget it's much better to see the exhibition in person for the full impact! 

Walk Through

A Dream Come True

Well, it has been a long time coming but the time has now arrived for us to pack and head off to Madagascar tomorrow.

Since I first visited Jersey Zoo as a young girl I have wanted to go to Madagascar to see lemurs in the wild, this is a dream that has grown with phenomenal passion and even resulted in studying the behavioural responses of captive ring tailed lemurs to visitor numbers and noise levels in relation to their enclosure design for my MSc thesis. Finally last year we went ahead and booked this trip which will take us to four reserves around the island during what promised to be two of the most exciting weeks of my life. I cannot express how excited, lucky and privileged I feel to be able to be making this trip and I look forward to sharing the experience, stories and of course images and videos from the trip. If there is internet access I will try to post an update, but if not see you all in two weeks.

A brief update and images from work!

Well, the summer seems to be drawing to a close if the weather is anything to go by, definitely a good catch-up day today, with the schools have gone back so I am finally getting some time to get on top of all my work. Over the last month or so I have been busy re-vamping my website, although it has to be said not without some problems along the way, but I am almost done and will be live by tonight so do pop along and have a look at the changes. I have re-organised the galleries and changed around some images, not mention making plenty of space for Madagascar! But it hasn't all been computer work, at the beginning of August I photographed the Bath NTS tournament which was a lot of fun and good chance to work on my sports photography, if your interested please have a browse here: Bath NTS, I have also been carrying my small compact camera around with me at work and have found some pretty cool stuff so here goes, WARNING contains a spider and a really cure mouse! 

Found this little girl running around on the path to the cave entrance, nibbling away at crumbs dropped by customers. 

But it's not just cute mice, found a couple of really cool bugs as well:

A bloody nosed beetle, a little camera shy this one.

A cave spider with her egg sack

And last but by no means least, the monster bug of the wall! 

I'm now down to only working a few days a week at the caves, but this is giving me chance to get everything ready for the big adventure to Madagascar which is now less than 4 weeks away, very exciting and just can not wait to get out there, in the meantime I am now regularly writing gear reviews on a panel for Practical Photography Magazine, although there are occasionally gear reviews I can't quite help with, for example portrait photography! I also have a new toy which I am still getting used to but will really help with macro work but have to say I am absolutely loving it already! Not going to let on with what it is just yet, I'm afraid you will just have to wait! So until the next instalment, happy snapping. 

Successful two weeks

Well, I am now back in a very rainy and not so warm UK and catching up on processing images and emails. The last two weeks have been an incredible experience, a lot of fun and meeting the rest of the TWP team was great, already looking forward to heading out again in September. After a full on morning and late afternoon/evening of walking and photography, we were treated not only to a wonderful sunrise through the trees in the forest but also to the eclipse on Wednesday night which is the first image for this instalment.

I am gradually uploading images to my website with details of the equipment used and going through the invertebrate images working on identification, if you can provide any help with the identification process please let me know! I have now finalised the details for the 2012 Natural Europe Calendar which will cost just £12 including first class postage within the UK, images will comprise of mammals, birds, plants, insects and landscapes and there will be space for writing. I am just going through choosing the images and as they are selected they will appear on my website here along with further details: 2012 Calendar I am also having a sale of existing stock over the weekend of July 30th and 31st (Saturday and Sunday) with up to 50% of some items, for full details click here: Buy Direct from the Photographer. One last bit of news, my Corryvreckan whirlpool image is being published in a new book coming out in October about the Earth. This last image is one of my favourites from the last two weeks of the sun coming through the trees, taken in black and white.

Well, that is about it for now, back to the washing and selecting images for the calendar and hoping that the sun will come out sometime in the next few days!