Island Hopping In The Peat Bogs

As some of you may well know, yesterday we planned to walk up Kinder Scout via Grindsbrook - over to Kinder downfall and back to Edale via Jacob's ladder. Turns out it is harder than previously thought... to find out why you'll need to keep reading.

We took the 09.14 train from Sheffield to Edale to provide plenty of time for the walk followed by some sitting around in a cafe - and for the first half hour of the walk it seemed as though escaping to the Peak District was what the entire population of Sheffield had decided to do. Admittedly, at the lower end of Grindsbrook clough the path is very easy going and this clearly attracts the crowds. 

Walking through the woodland at the top end of Edale

Exhibition!

Hello!

As some of you will probably know (whoever read the last post!), I had some of my photos in my first exhibition this week - and if that doesn't deserve a post all of its own, then I don't know what does. This all came about when I finally got my act together and joined the Physics and Astronomy Art  group a week last Tuesday - and I was kindly invited to this exhibition. Unfortunately, due to the cost of getting prints made and mounted and framed and blah blah blah... I don't have any stock images that I keep around for just such an occasion - but I did have two large, cheap, frames from Wilkinsons and a 4 smaller mounts - which was just enough to lure me into pushing my luck and going for it.

A History of My Photos

It has been 2 weeks again since my last post - I had a busy weekend last week out and about in the Peak District, as usual, so didn't get the chance to put any effort in and update you all. However, in the next week I have a few things coming up, so you may get an extra post or two to make up for last week! Hurray for you! 

So, coming up I have my first exhibition with the Physics and Astronomy Art group... it looks very good, with lots of people... except I found out late about this and am still waiting for my prints to be delivered. They have until Tuesday. I am worried. After this, on Friday, it is 'International Photograph Your Day' day - so I'll spend the whole day camera in hand, photographing every little detail. I took part in this for the 3 years from 2008-2010 but forgot all about it last year, so I'm quite excited for it to come round again!

Now, onto the topic of the day... how I got interested in photography...

My first memory of anything to do with a camera was a small book of my Grandma's which I loved when I was a wee lad - an Ansel Adams postcard book. It should have been obvious from this point that in 15 years time I'd be where I am now - with his calendar on my bedroom wall. Fortunately for me - I am now the proud owner of this (now somewhat worn) book.

Mat + Fashion =

Well hello again everybody... It has been 2 weeks since my last post, but I have been very busy preparing this one alongside my actual work, learning a whole new genre of photography and staring out of my nice new high up windows that overlook everything (or just the carpark - but a lot goes on there!).

Two weeks ago I found out that I could be of use to a fashion student who needed some photos taking for their final project - obviously this was very exciting news so I got preparing straight away. It's quite amazing how much there is to think about, from lighting, to poses, to composition, to equipment, to technical bits and pieces...etc. The list is endless. So in what spare time I found/created I had a lot to get my head around in order to be prepared for this one.

First came some general research around the styles that I like - I already had quite a collection of favourited photos on my various online accounts to browse through, but a lot of researching had to go into the specific styles that were in mind for this shoot. On the day before the shoot I put a collection together, of just the basics, so that if anyone was stuck for ideas then we would at least have a reference point to start from regarding posing and composition...

Whatever Next?

Well, as you will probably all know, last week it snowed up here in the lovely north of England... which was just typical as I was spending a week in Essex at the time. However, I did manage to make it up whilst there was still some snow remaining on the hilltops of the North York Moors and Dales... so we rushed out as soon as we could to make the most of it. 

The bulk of the snow had fallen on Tuesday night, and I arrived on Thursday afternoon - so it was quickly decided that it would be a good idea to travel up the dale around sunset to make the most of the nice light and leftover cold stuff. 

 We set off from Richmond and carried on up Swaledale past Reeth, before stopping right before the road drops down into Langthwaite in Arkengarthdale. The following few pictures are what we found a few yards from the car.

First Class - Just the sort of chap I am.

Hello all my lovelies! Here is this weeks blog post... nothing as stunning as last week's Essexian sunset but this is something I got very excited about - travelling first class!

So here are a few snapshots of my journey...

Tea - not a bad start to any journey...

Staring At The Sun

It's been a while since my last post (over a week!) so I thought I'd put up some of my photos from Essex. These are all taken in the fields around Wix from a couple of evening walks. 

The best thing about going for walks down in these southern lands, is that you can walk randomly off across the fields and never get stuck as a result of crumbling dry stone walls, rivers or cliffs - the worst you ever have to struggle past is a slight ditch between fields... easy.