Good old English weather

HOT!!!! 

Blimey, it seems that the two week annual British summer has arrived! The temperature is currently in between "Hot" and "The whole country is downing tools and going to the pub"...

Yesterday looked like it might yield a fairly good sunset and with there being absolutely no wind about gave me the perfect opportunity to have a bash at Hatchet Pond.

I've been there a few times over the years, but there's always been too much of a breeze to get any kind of decent reflection, so last night seemed like to good an oppertunity to miss! 

Looking at the pond I was trying to find something that would act as a decent foreground interest and help lead the eye into the image and up to the sky. Normally I'd look for a log or something but this time I spotted a small cluster of Lillies.

The only issue was that they were about 15 meters into the pond! Oh well, needs must! So off came the shoes and I waded out into the pond to spend a very enjoyable couple of hours standing on increadibly uncomfortable stones, in luke warm water whilst having my feet nibbled by fish!

The image unfolding

Not the most comfortable of positions  

Good things come to those that wait....

For roughly 4 weeks a year, the earth will be tilted far enough away from the sun so that it  will rise through the arch at Durdle Door.

 I've wanted to get a shot of this happening for a good couple of years. I've had at least two failed attempts... perfectly clear skies on both occasions, but a nasty band of cloud on the horizon stopped it from happening.

The first time I was running late (I live a 45 minute drive away), discovered that the car park was full, and had to park at Lulworth Cove and run up the hill ( 1.5 miles with 20kg of kit on my back) and along the coastal path, to be greeted by the site of cloud on the horizon, a high tide and crashing waves that were on occasion hitting the cliff face... great! 

The second time, myself and around 20 other photographers all managed to suffer the same disappointment as once again cloud on the horizon put paid to our hopes.

Which brings me to this week! I tend to check the weather forecasts for sunrises and sunsets every couple of days, Monday had looked good, but it was my sons birthday.. I did contemplate having a go, but I don't think he would have appreciated waking up to find me out taking photos. Looking at the forecast though, Thursday also looked good... we're getting to the end of the window, but a quick check on the Photographers Ephemeris showed that it was still possible.

Driving past Lulworth camp I could see what looked like a band of cloud on the horizon... flipping 'eck! Not again!... I parked up at Durdle Door and started walking down... as I got closer to the beach the band of cloud was retreating further and further... RESULT!

There were a couple other photographers on the beach, and we had a quick chat and worked out a system so we could all get a shot without getting in each others way... I find it's much easier in these situations to just talk to people and come up with a sensible plan instead of just blindly wandering around doing what you want...

The resulting shots can be found in the Dorset section. In addition to the sun through the arch shot that was after, I also managed to get a nice couple of shots looking the other way towards Bats Head. The only problem with these was that I ended up being stood in the sea up to my knees and I'd only brought the one pair of socks with me, which meant I had to spend the day at work with soaking wet feet....

Take a View - On Display at Waterloo

So my award winning (I'll stop going on about it, I promise!) is on display at Waterloo station on the digital signage board by the prints. Apologies for the slightly glazed look in his photo as I may have imbued a few Christmas drinks prior to the photo. 

Wet feet!!

So once again I find myself with soaking wet feet... well, to be accurate, I should say soaking wet legs and feet..... as I find myself stood in the sea on a stormy November afternoon... my walking boots and jeans are submerged, whilst my family enjoy a few hot chocolates in the cafe!  

45 minutes later and I'm done. Images captured I make the slow trudge back through the shingle with the sea spray and rain removing any dry patches that might remain.

It's all part of the trade when it comes to Landscape Photography and if I'm being honest, for me personally it's part of the attraction. I've always been an outdoors person and I weirdly enjoy being outside when the weathers at its worst... something about it just makes me feel alive! 

Award Winning!

Blimey! So the last week or so has been pretty interesting... first off I made the front cover of this months "Hampshire Life" magazine, with one of my Lepe Astro photography images... it's very weird walking into a shop and seeing your image staring back at you!

But I guess the big news is that I picked up a Judges Commendation in the "Take a View - Landscape Photographer of the Year" competition!!! 

To say I am chuffed is a bit of an understatement! 

I'd known I was on the shortlist since early August but wasn't expecting to go much further. I had only decided to enter on the closing day and my winning image was my last choice!

The net result is that my shot is featured in the awards book (£20 from all good and some not so good retailers)

Hampshire Life November 2016

Take a View volume 10

My winning image

Here it is! 

Not quite what I was after...

The Plan : Get up early and head to Corfe Castle for some misty sunrise shots

Checking the weather the night before it all looked good... the previous few days had been misty and the Met Office were forecasting a nice sunrise. I'd get up early and head to Corfe before work. The clocks going back would give me an extra 30 mins or so before I'd have to be in the office which should be plenty of time.

Leaving the house I could see it was a nice clear night.. hopefully there would be some clouds to add a bit of colour to the sky, through the forest mist was clinging to the ground... everything was looking good...

And then I got to Corfe...the mist had gone..... bugger!

Do I make the quick run up the hill anyway or try something different? I've got plenty of Corfe shots... the mist was still strong around the back of Poole harbour, which meant there was a very good chance Wareham would be misty... so I swung the car around and headed to Wareham...

So Instead of spending an hour looking down on Corfe I spent an hour stood in the freezing cold River Frome...the bacon and egg sarnie when I got into work helped...

Taking the shot

Website redesign

A new design! Some stuff will go here.... this is just a placeholder until I either do something interesting or at the very least have something interesting to post.