Journal for the year 2011

I have decided to try and create a Blog/Diary/Journal and hopefully keep it up to date. My biggest problem is I seem to find so much to do, travel considerably or as is most often get side tracked into doing something else. The main reason for doing this Journal is to keep some sort of record of my photography during my travels and explorations. Sometimes I will have few words and images if it is just for a very short trip. Hopefully on my longer journeys I will be able to provide more information and images.

11th to 14th December 2011 - St Just, Cornwall

Four of us took a short trip to St Just and took images of Botallack Mines, St Michaels Mount, Lands End, Lanyon Quoit and Logan Rock at Porthcurno. We packed a lot in as it was a workshop solely for photography getting up before sunrise and not returning to our Guest House until well after sunset. See my Cornwall 2011 link for more images

14th to 20th October 2011 - Slovenia

My fifth trip to Slovenia, a beautiful country and I also seem to get something different on each trip. As usual I travelled around with six other photographers and we packed a lot into the trip. We stayed at Kranjska Gora which is in the North of Slovenia nedar the Italian Border. Staying here means we have to travel up and down the mountain passes quite a bit as we visited Lake Bled, Piran, Ljubljana, Kokra plus a considerable amount of Triglavski National Park. Please see the Slovenia Autumn 2011 link for some of the images I took.

29th September 2011 - West Somerset Railway Steam Gala

A few of us went to the Steam Gala which is held twice a year between Bishops Lyeard and Minehead, Somerset. We stopped at a few stations on the lines and took images of the trains, engine drivers, bits of engines and steam. It was a good day out as the sun shone and we managed to get a good selection.

16th to 18th September 2011 - Sennen, Cornwall

A group of us from Exeter Camera Club had a few days in Sennen Cove. We rented a few caravans, eat out and took photographs of in the surrounding areas. We all thoroughly enjoyed the trip, good company and fun. We tended to stay out until the sun set and in particular wanted to get the sun setting behind The Brisons, Porth Nanven. I have put some images on my trips to Cornwall this year on a link called Cornwall 2011.

18th August 2011 - Chagford Show

A day out at Chagford Show proved to be very enjoyable especially as the day started with heavy rain but the sun shone after a couple of hours. It was a mixture of animals and people having fun and Kirsty Allsop making a visit. All very enjoyable.

23rd to 30th July 2011 - Ploubalay, Brittany, France

On this visit I went with my daughter and her family so I took more family photos and we tended to visit the attractions some of which I have put below.

6th to 8th May 2011 - The New Forest

I went on a trip with the WCPF to The New Forest for a long weekend. On the way we stopped at an Avenue of Beech Trees in Dorset but what I most remember about the visit to the New Forest was my visit to the Beaulieu National Motor Museum and in particular there was a section of an old garage which brought back many memories as my father used to have a garage. Below just a sample of the images I took of the garage and trees.

20th to 27th April 2011 - Ploubalay, Brittany, France

My son lives in Ploubalay so I took the opportunity of visiting him for a week and took the opportunity of visiting the surrounding areas. Dinan is a lovely town with its cobbled streets and old buildings; I would certainly recommend anyone visiting Dinan, a place to go is always behind the Basilique Saint-Sauveur where you get a fantastic view of Dinan Port.

There are some lovely beaches very local to Ploubalay, Lancieux, Saint Briac-sur-Mer, Saint Suliac to name just a few. A must is also Cap Frehel and Pen Guen plus a visit to Fort de la Latte. I always take the opportunity of visiting St Malo a lovely old walled city but found it difficult to get the spirit of the place through photography. I also went to Mont Saint Michel a rocky tidal islandand wandered around the streets visiting the shops, abbey and of course climbed to the top to see the views.

To see the images I took please go to the France 2011 link

1st March to 3rd April 2011 - Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

I was really looking forward to this trip and went with a group of twelve photographers led by Ian Wright. The notes will be a very brief outline of the visit as there was so much to see. In time I will be uploading some pages to the main part of my site with photographs The flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia went without hitches.

Cambodia: We certainly arrived to a great deal of hustle and bustle. It wasn't long before we were amongst the markets and trying to avoid the motorbikes which seem to take over the streets. We also managed to visit Angkor Wat for sunset and get our first photos of the many monks that we were going to see throughout our visit to Cambodia.

Angkor Thom the ancient walled citty, Bayon with its many carved faces in stone, Phiminakas, Preah Paillay, Preah Khan with its many tree roots around the old temple ruins and walls were some of the many areas we visited. I think though my favourite part of Cambodia.

Laos: We visited Luang Prabang, saw the Mekong River, drove to the Kuang See Waterfalls, visited Vang Vieng,the Nam Ngum Lake and Vientiane. We saw some spectacular scenery, beautiful lakes, had a boat trip, saw temples, such a lot to see.

Viet Nam: A vast country with a kaleidoscope of wonderful people and picturesque landscapes. We explored beautiful lakes, interesting cities, stayed in homestays, esperienced historical temples, delicious banquets and lively cities. Places visited were Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Mekong Delta, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Halong Bay and finally Sapa.

It was a a fantastic experience, holiday, trip, had good company, something not to be missed.

11th to 21st February 2011 - Isle of Skye and Glen Coe Area, Scotland

Three of us went on a Guy Edwardes Photographic Workshop to the Isle of Skye, Glen Coe with quick stops at Loch Lomond on the way up and a stop at the Falkirk Wheel then on to West Burton, Yorkshire on the way back. The bed and breakfast stop at Glen Coe was very comfortable and some of the places visited were the Loch at Glen Coe, Glen Etive, Buachille Etive and Stalker Castle. I got some different images at Loch Lomond in that the colours were very unusual. Glen Coe was very photogenic and we often visited the Glen Coe area whilst staying in Skye in order to get night shots of Eilean Donan and Stalker Castle. The moss covered trees we found in Glen Etive were quite spectacular and quite a few deer in the Glen.

We stayed in a self catering cottage whilst on the Isle of Skye which proved to be a very suitable place. Because of the many Peninsulas that Skye has we seemed to be forever going up and down the different promontories, but it was well worth it. I really liked the road to Elgol with views of Black Cuillins and Red Cuillins, but Niest Point Lighthouse proved to be quite different to photograph because it was raining at the time, getting dark and the wind was blowing rather hard. I was the last one to leave the site having managed to get the Lighthouse with its light on and movement in the sea. Talisker Bay was a new find and I particularly liked the incoming sea going over the pebbles, not an easy shot to take as I was standing in the sea, trying to hold the tripod and at the same time doing a longish exposure to get the feeling of movement but still being able to see some of the pebbles below. I attempted to climb the Guiraing but didn't quite get to the top but such a beautiful view with the sun rising over the mountains.

At the end of my trip I was completely exhausted having made many very early morning starts and finishing the day well after sunset. A had a most enjoyable time though with plenty of images to show for it and the lighting was fairly good, had a little rain, but of course you can never please photographers when it comes to weather. Please see my Isle of Sky and Glen Coe link for more images.

16th January 2011 - Point to Point Kenton

I was invited to a day out at the Point to Point at Kenton, Near Exeter, all expenses paid with plenty of food and wine to sample. I was also able to take along friends, fellow photographers and we enjoyed a good day of photographing the crowd, bookmakers, jockeys, horses and of course the racing. The weather fortunately was reasonably fine and I didn't have to use my gift, an umbrella!!