Blossom and Bluebells

Hello! Sorry it's been a while, I'm not entirely sure where the last couple of months have gone, can't believe it's mid-June already! Time to play a little bit of catch up with my blog posts from the last couple of months, first up is blossom and bluebells.

Things have been busy and I've been out making the most of the good weather when we've had it trying out lots of new ideas and techniques for photographing nature. I've been challenging my self to come up with something new and different from the normal images you see of blossom and bluebells so here goes! I'm going to start with blackthorn blossom before I let you into what I've been trying out.

I always like to spend time with one subject and this really pays off whether it's a day, week, month or longer (as is the case with my green hairstreak butterflies coming in the next instalment). If you challenge yourself to work with just one subject you start to see more possibilities and photographs. I've stopped using flash in my work and instead have been looking at using other ways to increase light to specific areas of my images and for both the blossom above and the bluebells to follow I have been having a play with using a reflector in different ways to create a soft light and also harsh light. I'm still working with these and trying them in different ways and situations.

Ok, so I have let you into one of my little secrets, time to show you some bluebell photos.

That last photo is actually a multiple exposure (using two images) taken and combined in camera, something I will be playing with a lot more over the next few months. If you are interesting in learning some of my tips and tricks first hand or just want a little bit of help being more creative with your photography I have now confirmed more dates for my creative nature workshops with the option of Somerset or South Gloucestershire (in conjunction with Clifton Cameras in Dursley). For more information and to book here is the link you need:

Creative Nature Workshops

You may also notice my website has had a bit of a re-vamp! It took a few days but got there in the end, and don't forget you can also follow me on instagram: Instagram

Right, time to get back to some image processing and other work! Have a great week, next instalment will be dedicated to the stunning little green hairstreak butterfly.

Bye for now x

South Africa Part 2

Hello and welcome to part two of our South African adventure! At the end of the last post I left you with a few photos from our last few quiet days in Cape Town, after which we jumped back on the plane and headed back to Jo'burg for a couple of days before heading off to Meagen and Matthew's wedding.

After gathering some food, it was time to head off to the Blue Moonlight Lodge for a couple of days to celebrate the wedding and take a game drive, so here are a few photos from the game drive and the beautiful wedding, where I took the photos of the girls getting ready.

You can see more of the photos from the day here: Victoria Woolley Event Photography

After a wonderful few days of celebrating, it was time to say good bye to the family for a few days and head of to Mongena Reserve for a few nights with mum and dad, and chance for the four of us to celebrate our respective wedding anniversaries together. On arrival we had a bite to eat and discussed activities for the next few days, then after a quick unpack it was time to head off on our first game drive and what a way to start, rhino, elephant and even a caracal!

We decided as well as the drives we should take a bush walk and tracked a rhino and find some cool bugs, which led to a conversation that would see myself and Chris take off with Jessie the following morning for the best part of four hours in search of the smaller things, insects, small mammals, reptiles, basically whatever we could find and we were certainly not disappointed. Top of my list was a chameleon, but having no luck we set off to the dam and found some damselflies, butterflies and even a mother mouse and her babies but still no chameleon. But our luck was in and as we got back to the vehicle there it was small, cold and covered in dew drops right in front of the adapted land cruiser, not entirely sure my excitement was fully understood but I could have happily spent the next couple of hours with this little fella! So, here are a few photos of that encounter and some of the other cool critters we found on that fantastic morning in the bush.

Not one to miss an opportunity, I also wandered around the grounds looking for anything else of interest and managed to find a few lizards that were very obliging when it came to having their photos taken! Here are just a couple of them.

If you would like to see more of the images from this amazing trip just click on the link below which will take you to the album on Facebook.

South Africa 2014

I would like to take the time to extend a huge thank you to the amazing, dedicated and enthusiastic rangers at Mongena and in particular Jessie and Dafnika for all their help in finding everything that they did, it was an incredible morning and thoroughly enjoyed! I think that often when people go on safari, be it to South Africa or any other part of Africa they don't take in all the smaller species that are so vital to the ecosystem, we all love lions, elephants rhinos etc, but the invertebrates, reptiles and small mammals are so fascinating I cannot wait to have the chance to go back and spend more time looking for and photographing these smaller animals.

For now though, I am back home and there is no rest for the wicked as in less than a week I will be opening up a pop-up shop with my mum in Frome and there is lots to do! More about that in my next post, for now time to go and get wrapping and pricing!

Thanks for reading, hope you have enjoyed my instalments from South Africa. In my next post I will be sharing my thoughts on the Sigma 120-300mm lens with images.

Bye for now!!

Last post before the Wedding

Hello everyone, 

Well this is my last post before we get married on Sunday, keeping everything crossed for a fine day so the ceremony can be held outside. We are all ready to go with final preparations done and everything ready to go to the venue tomorrow before family start arriving on Thursday. Then it's a week at home to pack for two weeks in Borneo! 

It would seem that spring has finally arrived though, blossom on the trees, birds singing a a bit of warmth in the sun (when the wind isn't blowing!). I have managed a few daffodil shots over the last week but that has been about it as wedding plans have taken over. So, here are a couple of lovely daffodils to brighten your day:

Things are hotting up now with the Transylvanian Wildlife Project and I hope to bring you more information and links in the near future. And just before I go, a dragonfly that I photographed last year in black and white. Really looking forward to a lot more insect work this year. So for now that is it, I will post again after the wedding if I can and if not definitely on our return from Borneo!!! Have a wonderful couple of weeks and enjoy the sunshine. 

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). 

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.

Webinar

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!