News and Autumn Colours

Hello,

It's been a while as things have been crazy busy over the last few weeks with the webinar, which was a great success and for anyone that wasn't able to join us I will post the link to the recorded version as soon as it is available for anyone that did join us thank you so much for making it fun and asking lots of great questions and I must say a huge thank you to Dave and Giorgio from the School of Xcellence for a great webinar.

I have just announced the first two dates for my Creative Nature workshops which will take place in April in Somerset, I will be covering many different aspects of getting creative with your subject and awakening your more creative side. The workshops will take place on Saturday 26th April and Sunday 27th April (both days are exactly the same) and the day costs just £80 per person with a maximum of 6 people per day. This price includes a full days tuition plus lunch, teas, coffees and biscuits. For more details or to book your place here's the link, I'm hoping to announce the dates for autumn soon.

Workshops

In other news the Christmas craft market season has started! Unfortunately due to other commitments the dates are limited this year, but as some of you know I do these markets with my mum and we combine our talents to create some truly unique gifts made with love perfect for that special someone many of which are only available through the craft markets. So here are the dates for the remaining markets this year:

Friday 29th November

Lady's Pamper Night, High Littleton Church Hall, 

High Littleton, BS39 6HF, 8pm - 11pm

Saturday 30th November

Warminster Civic Centre, BA12 8LB

Warminster, 10am — 5pm

Saturday 7th December

Bath Guildhall, BA1 5AW

Bath 10am - 4pm

Sunday 8th December

Salisbury Guildhall, SP1 1JH

Salisbury, 10am — 4pm

I now have just a handful of 2014 Borneo calendars left in stock and once they're gone they're gone, I will be taking them to the craft markets but they will also remain available through the shop on my website as are the last remaining packs of Christmas Cards featuring dormice. I do have a few small and large gifts sets available through my shop as well. 

I have also added three brand new canvas sets to my shop, these are sets of three full wrap high quality 10 x 10 inch canvases featuring either British wildlife in sepia, poppies or frogs from Borneo. Each set is made to order and costs just £130 which includes courier service and I will have the British wildlife and poppy sets at the craft markets, so here they are:

I'm looking to add more sets in the coming months along with different sizes, as soon as these are available I will let you know. There are going to be some big changes over the coming months with a complete re-vamp of this blog and website and the way that prints will be available. I'm working on this now and hoping to launch it all in the New Year with other exciting news for 2014. 

Everything is still going very well in Transylvania with the research, footage is coming in thick and fast and I am busy going through it all and putting together another article for my Explorers Journal. You can keep up to date my clicking on the link to the left of this page. So that's about it for news at the moment, I have started a brand new project which will be kept under wraps for now but what I will say is that it is based right here in Somerset! 

Despite being crazy busy, I have managed a couple of outings with my camera to capture some wonderful autumn colours, so I will leave you with just a couple of images to wet your appetite and will post more very soon including fungi and the odd bird. Whatever you get up to in the coming weeks, have fun, stay safe and hope to see you at one of the craft markets.  

Liquid Gold - A lone leaf drifting along among the golden reflections 

Green to Rusty - the changing colours of the leaves

The Mighty Oak - Taken through the branches and leaves of an ancient oak tree

The Colours of Autumn - Acer tree with beautiful red colours to encompass autumn

Artistic Autumn - variety of colours in just one tree

The Colour Gold - Sun lighting up the beautiful golden yellow colours of the leaves

Christmas Craft Fairs

Hello, 

Things have been just a little crazy here recently with gearing up for the Christmas craft markets and preparing to completely re-work my whole website and preparing for a re-launch in the New Year along with brand new workshops. First of all, below if the list of events for this year where you will be able to buy some fantastic handmade items and original photographs, all these events are a collaboration between me and mum so there is a great mixture of items, don't forget many are one offs so once they are gone that's it and they start this Saturday. During this time you will also be able to buy many of the gift sets and card collections through my website although there will be some items that will only be available at the craft markets. 

Saturday 2nd November

Warminster Civic Centre, BA12 8LB

Warminster, 10:30am - 1pm

Saturday 16th November

Doulting Village Hall, BA4 4PL

Doulting 10am - 4pm

Friday 29th November

Lady's Pamper Night, High Littleton Church Hall, 

High Littleton, BS39 6JD, 8pm onwards

Saturday 30th November

Warminster Civic Centre, BA12 8LB

Warminster, 10am — 4pm

Saturday 7th December

Bath Guildhall, BA1 5AW

Bath 10am - 4pm

Sunday 8th December

Salisbury Guildhall, SP1 1JH

Salisbury, 10am — 4pm

Just before I move onto news of changes, I am running another webinar for the Manfrotto School of Xcellence on Thursday 14th November at 4pm (GMT) all about creative nature, I will be covering light, composition, monochrome and also taking photos at night all the time following the theme of creative images. If you would like to register for this webinar here is the link: 

Creative Nature Webinar

So, away from the craft markets there have been many changes that have been discussed and the ball is now rolling on these. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have decided (after much discussion) to completely re-vamp my website with a brand new design and layout, only my artistic and creative images will be on show and alongside this I will be launching a brand new series of workshops for 2014 based around creative nature photography. Fear not you will still be able to see many more of what I call my standard images through my Flickr and Facebook pages. More details on these and brand new talks later in the year when they are finalised along with some other very exciting news so stay tuned! All these changes will include my blog as I will be making everything come into line with each other in terms of design, but the web address will remain the same. 

I am also very honoured to announce that I have been awarded as a nominee in the professional category for wildlife in the Black and White Spider awards with my image of an Atlantic Grey Seal titled "The Yawn" and here it is:

Aside from all the exciting changes, I have managed a couple of adventures out and about with my camera to capture Autumn and I will share some of these images with you in the next post.................

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! 

The Last Month or So & some very cute Dormice!

Apologies for being a bit quiet over the last month or so not sure where the time has gone, November already! Things have been busy though with a couple of photo shoots and a whole lot of computer work in preparation for a webinar that I am giving for the Manfrotto School of Xcellence called "From Spiders to Sifakas: How to Capture Unique Wildlife Images". It has been quite challenging picking different images that show different techniques and the use of both colour and black and white, but I'm there and just finishing off the text to go with it which includes some tips and tricks to help capture different images and over coming practical obstacles of working in the field. If you want to register for the webinar that is on Thursday 15th November at 4pm UK time, here is the link:

Victoria Hillman presents From Spiders to Sifakas: How to Capture Unique Wildlife Images

The webinar and wedding planning have taken up a lot of my time, but have managed a couple of trips out in between the rain and have started work on Project X, trying out different techniques and settings, the main bulk of this project will actually take place next year after winter but here is a small taster of what I have been working on.

I have been lucky enough to be asked to take some photos for Secret World Wildlife Rescue of foxes, hedgehogs and dormice and had a very enjoyable day and even had a little help from the foxes! Some of these photos are now available to purchase through my website in the Majestic Mammals with 10% of sales being donated to Secret World to help feed and care for all the animals at the centre. Below is my favourite foxy moment from the day taken from very low down to get at the same eye level. 

So, onto the dormice. Earlier in the year some baby dormice were taken to the centre after being found, three of them survived thanks to the wonderful love and care they have been shown are doing well but will stay at Secret World until after Christmas, so we did a Christmas themed shoot using decorations and a teapot, I've now uploaded these to my website. If you are looking for unique and cute Christmas cards to send whilst helping to care for rescued wildlife you can purchase the following images as Christmas cards in packs of six or just as single cards, I have left them blank inside so you can add your own special message Just follow the link below the image for more details. 

Dormice At Christmas

I have also been working very hard with my mum to create lots of wonderful very unique handmade gift ideas for Christmas which will be available from all the following craft markets where we will have our Christmas and animal themed stand. 

Christmas Craft Markets

Saturday 17th November 

Craft Market at St. Aldhelm’s Church, Doulting 10am - 4pm 

Saturday 24th November 

Crafts at the Cheese & Grain, Frome, Somerset 10am - 3pm

Sunday 25th November

Warminster Christmas Market, Civic Centre, Warminster 10am - 4pm

Friday 7th December

Nunney Christmas Market, Village Hall, Nunney, 5pm - 10pm

Saturday 8th December

Christmas Bath Craft and Gift Fair, Guildhall, Bath 10am - 4pm

Saturday 22nd December

Crafts at the Cheese & Grain, Frome, Somerset 10am - 3pm