A Year Out

The last year has been one of ups, downs and changes for me. One thing though has remained constant; my photography. I’ve always had it to turn to when I’ve needed to get away from everything and switch off from the rest of the planet.

I’ve had a trip to the Peak District, where I had a whole ½ hour of light in the 3 days I was there. It’s an absolutely stunning area of England and I really have to go back there again, hopefully when the light is better, so I can explore some more too. I barely scratched the surface. It’s not like Dartmoor at all. It has deep, steep sided valleys and long sandstone edges that go off into the distance for miles where climbers can perfect their own art. It has huge, flat heather covered plateaus that must look stunning when in flower. I was just a few weeks too late so may have to plan my visit a bit earlier next time.

I’ve had many, many visits to Dartmoor in many different conditions. Some productive, others not so, but this is the nature of the area. Even in the depths of winter when it’s misty and raining there’s a beauty to it that is hard to express unless you’re there to see for yourself. I’ve had great sunrises and sunsets, fog, mist, frost and snow. Just simply wonderful.

I’ve changed camera too. I now use a Nikon D7000 and accompanying lenses. I changed mainly for the build quality and weather sealing that was missing on my Sony, but the image quality is a tad better too. It was a hard and well thought out decision but I think I made the right choice. I hope it reflects in my images?

I’ve had a fair bit of coverage in some national magazines too. I got 2nd prize in a snowy image competition in Advanced Photographer Magazine winning myself a new bag and was also asked to contribute to the next issue of the magazine as part of their winter photography feature. That entailed a number of my images being used (including the cover image) and words from some questions they asked me. It was a great feeling being asked and I hope to do more of the same sort of work.

I have also been in collaboration with Dartmoor Magazine, providing them with the cover and contents page images and wrote a feature about myself and my work within the pages of the Spring issue. I’m looking forward to seeing how it looks in print.

So what next?

I have no definite plans but am hoping for a few more trips away this year and many more to Dartmoor and hope to collaborate with a few more magazines to share my work to the wider public. There will be workshops and courses to run as well as all the other work that goes on behind the scenes. It’s not all waiting for the light.

Until the next blog…