Don't believe a word I say!

In my last blog from way back at the start of January, I promised that I would start summarising the remainder of 2022 so that I could quickly resume writing about events that were actually up to date and relevant. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan, and I haven't really put the work in to my website that I had anticipated. That is in part due to the fact that viewership of my website has remained very low, but more so, I just haven't had the time!

Work and family life continue to be my number one focus, but in the UK we have also seen some epic photography conditions, and so when I've had free moments, I've been filling my boots taking photos of some wonderful hoar frosts, and late Autumn mists. In between all of this I've finally dusted off the old Canon Pro-300, and have begun the process of learning how to print - just what I need, another expensive hobby, gulp!

However, as I have just about caught up on my editing backlog, I thought I should resume the process of updating my website. I may also add a print shop to my home page, but I will hold back on promising anything concrete as I am not always that confident in putting myself out there (fear of failure innit!)

I think it's safe to say 2022 started off slowly for me, but from September onwards it got much better, and I managed to capture a good number of photos that I'm really proud of. Here a couple that aren't necessarily my favourites, but that I had available to me at the time of writing this blog...

In October Lord Margadale kindly gave me permission to view an area of Fonthill Lake that was not public access and I chose my morning very well with EPIC mist and light on display...

Throughout Autumn I made multiple trips to Dartmoor to try and get the right conditions at Dewerstone and Wistman's Wood. I never quite got the exact opportunity I was after, but nonetheless, I was very pleased with some of the pictures I took...

For a brief moment I got some fog at Wistman's Wood, but it didn't stick around for more than 15 minutes or so. However, after multiple visits I began to get to know the place and I know where to stand should I get the thick fog this place needs...

I've also been very pleased with the progress of my prints - this image in particular has worked really well and now sits front and centre in my living room. (I'm afraid I'm that guy that in addition to boring anyone who will listen about the virtues of woodland photography, will now chew your ear off about the virtues of art papers and ink quality...)

Autumn looked like it was going to pass us by without delivering any fog, but then at the end of November we had a bunch of the stuff. It was a huge boon after a very frustrating year!

2023 has certainly kicked off in style with days of Hoar frosts and icy conditions. While it has been difficult to really get out an take advantage of this because of work commitments, Fonthill Lake has been a great little bolt hole at weekends.

The problem when you have epic conditions over a period of time is that it quickly becomes the norm, and therefore it is hard to manage expectations accordingly when regular weather returns. That perspective might be hard to manage for the remainder of 2023, but with talk of a polar vortex (and a potential Beast from the East Mark 2) - maybe things might get a whole load better! Regardless, I expect I'll be out with my camera most weeks (not the summer though) and I hope more people will join me for my musings this time round...

Tschuss!