Panthers, Deer and Geese.

The one benefit of not sleeping is it’s really easy to get up and get out of the house before sunrise. So, this morning (Saturday) I found myself at Hatfield Moors at 7am, a full forty five minutes before sun rise. Thankfully I have a very good head torch that turns night into day, and the early morning sky was starting to turn into a plan blue.

I had the fright of my life walking through the woodland as a fairly large deer burst from the bushes to my left and cleared the pathway in a single bound before disappearing into the woodland. That will wake anyone up quicker than the strongest espresso. Once I’d got my breath back and realised I wasn’t about to be eaten by a panther (this is the kind of stuff that goes through my head walking through the woods in the dark – don’t read crap online) I made my way to my first point I wanted to photograph.

I’ve been trying to get a decent photo of this location for ages now, and this is my favourite so far, although I still think there’s a better photo there with the right sky or perhaps a bit of mist. I’ll keep trying. I stood at this point for about 15 minutes waiting for the light. During that time there were thousands (!) of geese flying in hundreds of flocks of V formations. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it was worth going early just to see it. Unfortunately, it was too dark to get a photo.

My next plan was to get onto the moors. I wanted to get the marsh land with the sunrise. I had the photo in mind, but again – the light and cloud had different ideas to me. I did get this nice photo of some fungus.

I also go this shot, but it’s very noisy after being edited. If I get back there next weekend I’ll bracket the same photo and see if that works better. I might run this through Luminar and see if that does a better job than Lightroom.

So, only one photo I really like – out of 60-odd taken. There were a lot more that made it to editing, but felt grey sky and flat landscape make a challenging location for photography. I also ran out of time as my wife was picking me up. But, that’s ok. I enjoyed my time out of the house and that’s the point really.

A Quiet Month

The dark nights are here and so is the rain. Unfortunately, that means photography time is now limited to weekends if they’re dry. I can’t remember the last dry day we had but I think it was October? I got up early Saturday morning to go and catch a golden hour at Hatfield Moors, but by the time I got half way there the rain was coming down hard.

On the bright side we’ve planned lots of trips for next year and they’re all going to have brilliant photography locations. Back to North Yorkshire, Northumberland, a first trip to the Lake District since I was a kid, and a winter trip to Snowdonia.

In the mean time, Friday and Saturday look dry so fingers crossed.

I Hate Rain

A weekend months in the planning, every camera checked, battery charged, drone charged, bags packed. Then rain. Not just a bit of rain, which I would have worked with – but 24 hours, three days worth of sideways rain. I’d been checking the weather, so I knew it was coming and had accepted it, so I managed to enjoy some quality time with my wife and our dogs, the most important thing is we got them away from the fireworks which absolutely terrify them (they need to be banned, so made to be quieter). But, I still hoped it would clear, and it did – just as we were leaving. Typical.

So, just the one photograph.

Do I love it? No. Did I forget to lower the ISO? Yes. Did I learn anything? Absolutely. And, that’s the thing. If I can go somewhere, have a nice time and learn something, then I can only improve for next time.

We loved this place so much that we’re going back at the start of May. This time I’ll have some knowledge of the area, and hopefully the weather will be better.

It’s Almost Time

This time next week I’ll be loading the car for our trip to the Dales. I cannot wait. We’ve had this trip planned for a while and it feels like it’s taken for ever to get here. Where I live is flat in all directions for about 25 miles, so finding interesting landscapes to photograph is something of a challenge, especially without a car. Going to somewhere new with hills and peaks is exciting. I miss hills. My head I filled with plans, so I hope the weather gods are kind.

This week has been mostly wet, but I did get one trip out to my local moorland. I didn’t time it quite right though, which was a lesson – golden hour is relative to your location’s topography, not just the clock. As soon as I got into the woods the good light was gone. Another lesson I learned, handheld doesn’t cut it in this light.
I did manage to take this photo though (well, I actually took lots, but this is the only one worth keeping).

A New Camera

I’ve had a Lumix TZ80 for a few years now. A great compact camera, full manual controls, fantastic zoom, but I found the low f-stop insufficient for my needs, and it was getting a bit old. My real issue with it was the viewfinder. It was small, and not great, especially for someone half blind. So, time to upgrade.

I wanted something that would work with my Lumix G lenses but small enough to go in a pocket or a smaller camera bag and with a good viewfinder. So, I went for a Lumix G100. It’s aimed at Vloggers, so has a lot of great video features, but they don’t really interest me. As a photographic camera it’s pretty much on a par with my G80. The only thing missing is in body stabilisation, but using it with my stabilised lenses I haven’t missed it. It’s also not weather sealed, again my G80 is, so not an issue for me. The viewfinder is excellent. As someone with 40% vision, I really need a good, well positioned viewfinder. The screen is also really good, I think it’s the same as my G80. I just wish it had a few more physical function buttons. It won’t replace my G80, (which to me is a more well rounded photographers camera), but it’s a perfect camera for taking anywhere, and along with the kit lens (12-32mm) it’s a powerful package in tiny form.

A Good Walk

My wife asked me what it was about photography that I liked so much. The shortest, most honest answer was ‘it gets me out of the house’. Really, (for me) photography is just a bi-product of going for a walk. Let’s be honest a lot of the time going for a walk can be boring, especially if you walk in the same places fairly regularly. Some people listen to pod casts, some people to music – I take a camera, which I think makes me pay a lot more attention to where I am. I’m constantly looking around me looking for something that (I think) will make a good photo. Views, trees, animals, plants, birds. If I was just going for a walk I don’t think I’d see half as much.

On Sundays walk I had a particular photo in mind, which was looking up into a tree canopy. I’ve been thinking about it for a while but I can’t quite find the right tree so far. I got one shot, which I’m fairly happy with, but it’s still not ‘the’ shot. I need to get the right f-stop and the right tree. So, I’ll keep looking. It gets me out of the house.

Working Around Me

Not everyone is lucky enough to live in the Lake District or the Dales, or the numerous other stunning places in the UK. We can’t all take regular trips to fantastic places to photograph either. I can no longer drive as I’m visually impaired, and life’s too busy for my wife to be driving me all over the country. So, I’m exploring what’s on my doorstep.

Luckily for me I’m in a rural village and I have some protected moors and wetlands within walking distance, but even though I grew up here I’ve never taken time to explore them until this weekend. I decided to scout for potential photography locations on Sunday afternoon, and I’m really pleased with what I found. There’s an abundance of potential here which will change with each season. It was too windy and bright for any decent photos, but I still managed to take over 120. Of those, six looked like they could be edited into something half decent, of those only these survived…..

Editing Photographs

I am not a big fan of over edited photos’. I don’t mind cropping or straightening, they’re simple fixes that don’t change the look or the tone of the photo. But, when it comes to changing exposure, contrast, black point and all of the other changes we can make these days I think you can always tell when a photo has been over-edited and it looks unnatural. My dad (who I caught the photo bug from) and his generation shot on film, which meant they had to get everything right there and then, and what they captured was usually what the eye would see – which, to me seems a much more artistic and skilful process. So, am I missing out? Am I not making my photos’ the absolute best they can be? I’ve just downloaded Lightroom on my Mac and iPads and over the next few months I’ll see which I think is better.

A Break from the Norm

Four days in Amsterdam. Not the relaxing time I was hoping for. It’s a manic city with cars, bikes, buses and trams coming at you from all sides at breakneck speeds, so for someone with limited vision it’s not the best place to visit. As it was a boozy trip and my luggage space was limited I didn’t take an actual camera, so I did what I could with my iPhone when I was sober enough.