Blog Archives
Edale was the first place I visited in the Peak District and it remains a favourite. There are lovely valley walks which I particularly enjoyed a few years ago when I came back from the Pyrenees. No climbing, no heavy rucksack, and gentle slopes not steep mountains. You can reach the Kinder Plateau (above) quite […]
It sometimes happened this way, that the animal was born knowing it was in the wrong place, that its body was wrongly situated, that it was ruled over and defined by another creature – Polly Clark Freedom do I love, and the air over fresh soil – Nietzsche Some years ago I decided to note […]
Edale was the first Peak District area I knew. Initially with a post card, then for my first trip. The picture was exquisite. Not the big hills of the Lake District, but different curves with their own beauty. You have to approach the Peaks differently for photography, and light is particularly important. I prefer bigger […]
A marvellous walk in snowy winter conditions – although it was April. Buttermere is a beautiful lake which you can walk around in a few hours. The surrounding hills are some of the best in the Lake District, partly because it’s an area of ridges and plateaux. You stay high – and the dramatic views […]
Which camera is best is a good question to ask. Although there is no such thing, but rather a series of technical parameters you have to apply for yourself. In college situations my students had many different cameras from small compacts to DSLRs and so called bridge cameras. It’s what is best for you, on […]
As a teenager I read The Amateur Photographer at the library. It was a weekly magazine, and I liked going there on Saturday. Meanwhile I was studying photography at school and built a darkroom at home. I didn’t have the money for expensive equipment so used my father’s Zenit camera, bought a cheap Praktica, then […]
Surely if wind can, if rain can. But which cannot be held never be held and is no flower – Cormac McCarthy And a river runs through it – Norman Maclean Who made the world, asks Mary Oliver in her poem The Summer Day. It’s a simple line I return to. She changes the usual […]
Do I dare Disturb the universe? – T.S. Eliot There’s a little known Canadian film called I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing. I watched it many years ago. A friend, who was a Buddhist, said “it’s a nice film” in an emphatic way which caught my attention. I’ve watched it perhaps eight times since, and […]
As a walking photographer, you find shots where a tripod isn’t needed and which are not achievable if you’re using one. The view above is from a mountain called Le Petit Vignemale in the French Pyrenees. It’s a hard climb getting up there, and as part of a two or three week trek a tripod […]
When you teach photography in college there’s a background plan. Students don’t see it but it’s the shape of what they learn, when they learn it, and why. On a PGCE training it’s called the scheme of work and lesson plans. You are examined for this, because it’s an essential part of teaching. If Ofsted […]