Harley-Dee

Here are some of the shots from my first go at using my new lights... exciting stuff! For a first attempt I'm very happy with the outcome, I learned the things I wanted to learn and had a go at a few different styles with different setups... I'm sure at least half of my audience will like these too...

After our initial date being snowed off, Harley-Dee was amazing in being flexible enough to shoot the next day (maybe 2 days later, can't remember) even whilst being quite seriously ill - so whilst we did have to cut the shoot short I still think there's plenty here - so thank you to her for that!

To the photos...

Waist Deep On Higger

A couple of weeks back, on the morning of the thaw after over a fortnight of snow (and after another night of heavy snow) myself and Keri headed out on the early train to Hathersage to climb up to Higger Tor for sunrise. The overnight snow had closed many roads in the area so we knew that for once there would not be many, if any, people up there in comparison to a usual Saturday morning.

As usual, any photos you see here are available as prints on http://www.matrobinsonphoto.co.uk/ either directly or via the 'contact me' form.

When Land Meets Sky

A couple of weeks back I  headed off out into the Peak at my usual time of 6.20am with the aim of a full day's photography - taking in the forecast good weather both at sunrise and sunset. However, much like my last post, and much to the annoyance of someone like me who defends meteorologists (and their complex task) endlessly, they got it wrong... badly wrong. The forecast blue skies not only didn't happen at sunrise, but then throughout the day not one glimmer of real light around me. I could see on the horizon to the west that it was brighter over Manchester-way and had faint hopes that the sun may pop through at sunset but it never happened so I was left to just enjoy my walk for walking's sake... which certainly ain't all that bad! As a result of this, most photos in this blog certainly won't have the stunning golden light that traditionally makes a good photo - but I think the results are interesting in their bleakness... showing a calmer, more lonely view of the Peak.

First Snow Walk Of 2013

It seems like ages ago now, but in the first week of snow we had who could have guessed it would last for so long? It took me until towards the end of the week to finally get out and enjoy it - on what was forecast to be a perfect, crisp, sunny day. As you will see, the meteorologists failed miserably on this one... but still, as usual I had a lovely walk.

Before I go on, remember prints of some/many of these photos are available right here. 

Due to both the lack of nice light, and the many dirty footprints that had been placed in the snow by that time in the week, I don't class many of these photos as among my best (I'll start depressing so you can only be impressed!) but I hope you'll appreciate them anyway and perhaps be inspired to take this walk... as parts of it are certainly less traveled than many.

On A Cold And Frosty Morning

This has been a long, long time coming... I took these photos way back in November/December in some of the first cold weather we had this winter. I have no idea what this area of Sheffield is called, some wilderness/parkland to the north of the city centre, but it's one of my favourite places in the city. There are stunning views to the west over Hillsborough and the impressive skyline of the city centre to the south - and in the summer an amazing array of colours in a hidden section filled with wildflowers - more than I've ever seen in the countryside. So, perhaps not my favourite, or best blog post ever - but hopefully I can just share a wee bit of one of my favourite spots...

This first picture is actually one of my favourites - nice in it's obvious imperfection:

Available to buy right here.

The Peak District, From Dawn 'Til Dusk

On Wednesday I took a day off to make my first Peak trip since the cold spell at the start of December. After such miserable weather over Christmas I'd been desperate to get out and test my new 17-40 lens, which had only had one half decent outing before (which resulted in this shot, HERE) and this was the first forecast clear sunrise we'd had. So up at 5.30, quick bowl of cereal, 6.20 train to Edale - the usual. I'd decided that I was going to wait until I arrived to make my mind up on where to go. One option was, if there were obvious signs of an inversion, to go up Mam Tor again - but what with the distinct lack of mist around Edale I headed up Grindslow knoll instead as my last attempt up there had ended with a murky, cloud covered sunrise. On the way up I stopped a few times to capture some of this lovely soft predawn light above the frosty valley...

The Best Of 2012

This seems a natural time to have a quick look back over the year. I'm not about to bore you all with what I've learnt and what I now want to achieve and all that... I'm just going to, quite simply, look back at what I think are my best photos of the year. I would love to know if you can think of any glaring omissions (I may just add some in) or if you disagree with any of my choices.

So, in no particular order, here goes...