Journal for the Year 2015

Costa Rica 26 November to 6 December 2015

I have just had a fantastic trip to Costa Rica, visiting several locations to capture images of humming birds, frogs, snakes, monkies, macaws, numerous bird species, king vultures, in fact so many different things and so completely different for me. I learnt a great deal about using flash, especially in the cloud forests at night and fill in flash for the birds that were in contrasty lighting. Quite an adventure and below are just a few images as a sample. I have created a page on my website solely showing Costa Rica images. Click here.

 

Chhaya Collective Dance - Studio Shoot - 15 November 2015

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity of taking images of Contemporary Dancers who belong to the Chhaya Collective Dance Group. The Choreography and dancers Kay Crook & Ajeesh Balakrishnan were able to produce some great moves together with other dancers from their group.

The shnoot was held at a brilliant studio recently built by David Snowden and Pooch Purtill. It is available for hire for individuals or commercial shoots. Please click on the following link Oak Farm Studio, Near Exeter for more information on their facilities and equipment.

Below a sample of the images I managed to get and I am delighted that the group have posted quite a few of my images on their site.

 

 

Autumn Colours at Westonbirt - 19 October 2015

A made a visit to Westonbirt and just about caught the last of the Autumn colours, leaves were dropping fast as it had been windy. Below are a few images from my day of photography.

 

Mythic Gardens, Chagford 20 July 2015

Stone Lane Gardens Arboretum and Tree Nursery holds a Sculpture Exhibition each year called the Mythic Garden Exhibition, some sculptures remain from previous years but there is always a variety of new ones. The Arboretum is famous for its collection of birch and alder trees. Although I took some photos of the sculptures I mainly concentrated on the woodland area which was particularily good because of the grasses surrounding the bases of the birch trees.

 

Military Event Buckfastleigh and Dartmoor 4 July 2015

To celebrate the 70th Anniversary of World War II a Military Vehicle gathering was held in the grounds of Buckfastleigh Railway with all sorts of celebrations being carried out including three girl singers. The vehicles gathered mid afternoon for a drive across Dartmoor to Widecombe in the Moor for a quick pint before returning back to Buckfastleigh via the Ashburton Carnival. I followed them across the Moor for a few different images.

 

Astro Photography 27 June 2015 & Supermoon 28 September 2015

My first time of trying Astro Photography, five of us went to Daymark Tower, Kingswear, Nr. Dartmouth to take the Milk Way. We arrived just after midnight and I set off with my 2.8 Fisheye Lens which was the only suitable one I had to get as much light into the camera plus my sturdy tripod. At the start of the shoot the moon was out so we had different lighting on the tower, we then moved round to another side of the tower by which time the moon was disappearing, so a completely different setting. We gradually moved round the Tower by by the time we had finished the milky way had moved away. We then lit inside the tower with a flash gun to get a different effect. We eventually left the site at 3.30 in the morning.

I think its probably appropriate to include the Super Moon Eclipse which was on the 28 September - Lunar Eclipse, also called Blood Moon with these Astro images. I managed to take them from my garden between the hours of 12.00 and 03.00,

 

International Jet Ski Championships

I spent a weekend in Cornwall in order to photograph the Jet Skis doing their atrobatics in the sea at Fistrel Beach, Newquay. It was extremely windy making the seas quite heavy, very suitable for the jet skis. The weather held, slightly dull on the Saturday but the sun was shining on the Sunday. The wind however made it very cold whilst standing in the sea taking the shots. There were sun bathers at the top of the beach so I felt quite silly walking out to the sea in shorts and five layers of clothing from the wait up, even my gloves. Still I was very pleased with the shots I took, used my newly purchased 400 mm lens but would have benefited having a monopod as I found by the end of two days my equipment got a bit heavy. More images here.

 

Yorkshire and Northumberland 24 April 2015

Eleven of us from Exmouth Photo Group rented a very large house in Skinningrove, Saltburn-by-the-Sea. It was quite a luxurious house it even had its own hot tub. We spent a week photographing quite a variety of landscapes and seascapes, goths at Whitby and various other objects. The weather was kind to us and we managed to get out every day. Then three of us rented another place in Northumberland, again the weather on the whole was very good. One particular day it did rain until late afternoon but we managed to entertain ourselves by photographing objects in the property to form letters to make up our names also did smoke images. An excellent exercise.

Images from Yorkshire

Northumberland Images

 

Steam Gala Bishops Lydeard to Minehead - 29 March 2015

The weather was good on the day trip I took with friends to the Steam Gala and we managed to get a few atmospheric shots of the engines with their steam and in different places. We did do a lot of getting in and out of our car to get to some of the places knowing when the trains were coming through.

 

Bristol - 7 March 2015

A day out in Bristol, starting from the M Shed with the cranes and moving on to Millennium Square. I used my fisheye for some of the shots and some images lent themselves to changing from colour to mono. I just wanted to get something a little different but could not pass the telephone box with the graffitii without taking a shot, nor the graffiti in one of the tunnels I went through.

 

Cornwall - February 2015

In February I took a short triop to Cornwall for a Landscape Workshop. The weather was, to say the least, difficult. It rained and the wind was horendus, but saying that the sun appeared on occasions and because of these conditions managed to get some landscapes I was happy with which are below. Actually wanted the wind at Longships Lighthouse, Lands End as this produced the high waves hitting the top of the Lighthouse. Did some shots with a torch to light the Botallack Mines at dusk and making flares around Langyon Quoit. So all in all quite productive.

Myanmar (which I will always think of as Burma) - January 2015

I took a three week trip to Myanmar with some friends which started at Mandalay then to Mingun, Bagan, Lake Inle, Yangon, Kyaiktiyo, Mawlamyine, Hpa An and back to Yangon. I found Myanmar a very friendly country and really liked the rural areas the best although I did love going into the Fish Market at Yangon very early one morning to watch them trading, very exciting. It was noticeable that there were temples and buddhas everywhere plus monks and nuns. I did try to get them in all sorts of working conditions to show how they lived, They loved having their photographs taken and reversed it by asking, very often, for them to take photos of me. Please visit my Burma page for more images..