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

One of my Favourite subjects

Before things get too hectic with planning and packing for Romania, less than 3 weeks now, I decided to take myself off for the day to spend some time with and photograph one of my favourite subjects........swans down at Abbotsbury in Dorset. At this time of year the cygnets are hatching out and once they have dried off there really isn't much cutier baby birds, all fluffy and not quite able to walk! Despite the wind I had a truely wonderful day and with the freedom to be as creative as I like I came home with some shots that I have fallen in love with, not to mention feeling privileged to be able to see newly hatched cygnets still wet. Here is the first image, two cygnets snuggled up close to mum, these are only a day old at most.  

The second photo is a little more arty. A few years back I tried an infra-red black and white 35mm film on a trip to New Zealand and fell in love with it and the real magical feel that it gave to images. This film is now very hard to come by with most things being digital and I have long investigated a way to optain the same effect. Well..... with a new computer and new software I can now achieve the same effect. So the second photo is again of a cygnet, in black and white and processed to look like it was taken with 35mm infra-red black and white film, it gives a really soft, fluffy and dreamy appearance to the image.



This was the first time I had ever visited Abbotsbury and would definately recommend it, one thing to bear in mind is that all the swans are wild, it is a sanctuary not a captive environment, we should feel very humbled by the fact that these swans feel safe and comfortable enough to nest in such close proximity to humans and allow us to share these moments.