Hey there!
Because I now have my own redheadwondering website, I’m going to be doing my blogging on there from now on!
If you’d like to read more about me and my journaling and creative journey, you can check it out here!
I am so excited … hold the front page … This week I launched my first creative commercial venture … an Etsy shop where I can sell my handmade books. I’ve been making handmade journals, commonplace books and sketchbooks for a while now and this week I finally took the leap of faith into the world of setting up my own online shop.
Journaling has always been so incredibly important to me and having beautiful books to write in makes keeping a journal even more special.
So, what is a journal?
It’s your story, your history, your present moment. It’s a gateway into who you really are and how you really feel. It’s a place to play and a place to get down to some serious work. Keeping a journal, whether you do it every day, once a week, or only in moments of strong emotions, good or bad, can be so many of these things, and so much more. Keeping a journal is meditation, it’s a place where you can open up a dialogue with your inner self, or your inner child, or your inner crazy-person-who-just-needs-to-rant!!
For me, keeping a journal has always been my link to myself, a place where I can be my true self, and a space for me to explore what I might become. I believe that keeping a journal has, quite literally, saved my life; it’s allowed me to face my fears; it’s allowed me to recognise and move out of toxic situations; it’s allowed me to come to a place of acceptance of the things I cannot change; and it’s allowed me to celebrate the good stuff.
My home has always been filled with notebooks that I use as my journals. I confess, I’m an unashamed stationary addict! A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to do a Coptic bookbinding workshop with an amazing local artist, Isa Carmona, and I was totally hooked on making my own, completely personal and unique journals.
Trouble was, once I started, I just couldn’t stop, so all of my friends started to receive gifts of journals and commonplace books and sketchbooks! Then people wanted to buy them, to gift to their friends… And so, the idea for this Etsy shop was born.
I started off by making the covers from upcycled wallpaper samples, old maps or handmade paper. All of the cartridge paper for the pages is recycled, mostly from old paper cups, and it’s all hand torn.
Coptic binding
I use Coptic binding to hold my books together. Coptic binding was used by early Christians in Egypt, the Copts, and was used from as early as the second Century AD all the way up to the eleventh Century. Coptic bindings were characterized by one or more sections of parchment, papyrus, or paper sewn through their folds, and (if more than one section) attached to each other with chain stitch linkings across the spine.
The modern-day tradition is to have 7 sections or “signatures”, each of which has 8 pages, and this is the layout I use for most of my books. But I have made some much thicker than that, which people have used for diaries and bullet journals.
The fantastic thing about this method of bookbinding is that the finished book lies flat when opened, which is really great for journaling.
Commonplace Books and Journals
I’ve also been turning some of my books and journals into “Commonplaces”, which have a secret little pocket in the inside back covers, so that the writer can keep things … tickets and photos, letters and mementos. I have always loved Commonplace books myself, and it’s great fun when I pick up a notebook that I haven’t used for a while, and find a poignant little reminder of a wonderful day.
“Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas. Commonplaces are used by readers, writers, students, and scholars as an aid for remembering useful concepts or facts. Each one is unique to its creator’s particular interests, but they almost always include passages found in other texts, sometimes accompanied by the compiler’s responses.” (Thanks Wikipedia!)
Creativity
My other creative passion is photography, and my camera is never far from my hands. Early in 2020, I got interested in exploring alternative photographic development techniques, and I was so inspired by the work of an artist friend of mine @redeartharts, that I thought I had to try cyanotypes or “sunprints” (what a great name!). I bought my first small bottles of cyanotype chemicals, and hey presto … a new passion was born and lots of experimenting with cyanotypes began. It seemed an obvious next step to use my cyanotype prints for the covers of my journals.
I use local wildflowers or flowers from my garden as the subjects for the cyanotype prints; I sometimes use dyes or salt or even coriander and pepper in the development process. Each print is completely unique, which means that when someone gets themselves one of my cyanotype books, they are guaranteed to be getting something that no one else will ever have.
Exciting Times
So, these are exciting times for me. I hope that people will like what they see if they chance upon my Etsy page … I hope that they will like their books and journals, should they be kind enough to buy any … and I hope that they will spread the word. Most of all, I hope that having a beautiful handmade book will encourage people to write … and write … and write … because truly there is no better way to find yourself than in your own words.
So … unashamed bit of advertising now ….
As well as Handmade Journals, Commonplace Books and Sketchbooks, you will be able to find Cards created from original prints or photographs on my Redheadwondering Etsy shop. Please feel free to contact me if you’d like to request a special book for a special someone (or just especially for you!).
You can find me on Facebook or on Instagram as well as on Etsy.
It may be a heavy lump of glass, but it’s an awesome lens! One of my all time faves!
About 10 years ago, one of my oldest friends died. He kindly left me a sum of money to play with. I’d just got back into photography, and was at that time using a Sony R1. I liked the interface, and the handling. Around the same time, Sony released the A850 as a cheaper alternative to the A900, and that, and a couple of lenses, were within my reach because of my friend’s kindness.
So, an A850 went on the shopping list… But what lenses? Well, I only needed a couple, I thought. And who needs a bagful of prime lenses? A nice wide angle zoom, and a long-ish telezoom. The Sony 70-300G had been well-reviewed, and who needs anything longer than 300mm, right? The wide angle presented a bit of a dilemma, but after reading a few reviews, I settled…
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“I don’t feel as if I have taken enough photographs this year”. This was my first thought when I decided to start writing my Year in Photographs blog. But then I counted them on Flickr … 671 … and that’s just the ones I’ve uploaded so far. You can probably multiply that by four or five, and you’d be closer to the actual number of photographs taken!
The year began with a trip to Wylye Down, so much closer to home now that we’re down in deepest South Wiltshire.
This year has also meant a whole new commute to work. I usually took the road through the Woodfords – much less traffic, much more lovely countryside to enjoy – and January’s frosty mornings were a real treat. I’m leaving my current job soon, and I shall miss this morning pootle by the river Avon.
… that must mean it’s time for a trip to Devon! For a change we stayed in Bovey Tracey, in a lodge on a lake. What fun … if you don’t mind noisy geese waking you up! The great thing about staying here was having Dartmoor on the doorstep …
… yet never being far from the sea. Boy, was it wild weather down in Dawlish …
March arrived with snow and general chaos. Having grown up in Scotland, where it snowed every winter, I’m no fan of this sort of weather. Still, the closure of roads did mean a day off work, a walk to the shop, and sighting of the rare Wiltshire Snow Pig!
the rarely seen Wiltshire Snow Pig
Thankfully the foul weather didn’t last for long, and I was able to start doing a bit of exploring in my new neck of the woods. I discovered the most delightful coffee shop in Stockbridge (Coffee Lab). Fabulous coffee and rather scrumptious brownies. It gave me a chance to use our great new Sony F1.4 lens. Not a macro lens, but still fun for close up shots …
So April came around and I really started to see my garden come together. We live in a new house, and the garden was a blank slate. It’s a lot smaller than my old garden used to be, but that is no bad thing. It’s so much easier to manage than an acre of wildness was! As I worked away in mid-April, and looked at my lovely Anemones, it felt like Spring had come around. So welcome, after the previous month’s snow.
The spring sunshine got me in the mood for exploring more of my new local area. I discovered the delights of Grovely Wood. This is one of the largest woodlands in southern Wiltshire. It stands on a chalk ridge above the River Wylye within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (I’ve left the Wikipedia links in here, because this is a part of the country crammed with beautiful places and steeped in Iron Age, Bronze Age and Roman history, and you just might want to find out more!)
in the woods ….. so many paths and tracks to explore ……
I’m taking this path … it’s got bluebells!
Oh! I love May. The days are stretching out and the sunsets on Salisbury Plain are gorgeous, especially when we’re right at the start of an amazing summer …
And of course, the wild flowers are starting to carpet the Plain in colour ….
But May was not just about our gorgeous Wiltshire landscapes … there was city-life too when I headed into Bath for a day trip down memory lane, and a spot of people-watching ….
a most splendid moustache pixie
And so the summer really begins. The world is starting to ripen and turn gold, poppies spark with scarlet colour amongst the barley stalks. Good subjects to experiment with Steve’s home-made Zeiss Ikon Talon 85mm projector lens.
In June we had a trip to the South Coast, to celebrate Steve’s birthday. Keyhaven is always a delight, with its great variety of seabirds; but this year there was a real treat in store for us. We saw Avocets – a first sighting of these beautiful black and white birds, too far away for me to photograph, sadly. What I was able to capture though was another first for us … two Spoonbills standing in one of the lagoons. Wow. Just. Wow!
As the days stretched out into long, rosy sunsets, Salisbury Plain was awash with wildflowers and all the land was golden. The wild grasses were spiked with Vipers Bugloss and vivid purple thistles ….
…. and I fell in love with Wiltshire all over again ….
all the things I love about Wiltshire are here …
…. Salisbury Plain; roads and tracks, both ancient and new; copses and crop lines; a hill fort and soft, gentle landscape. Just about as perfect a place as you could hope to find. I will never get tired of taking photographs here!
Oh, July, hot and sultry. It was a summer of love and much socialising for us (the people who never socialise!), with two weddings and a party. The first wedding was down in Devon, so naturally, it was an excuse for us to have a little mini holiday in one our favourite places.
I could fill a whole blog with the photos of all the beautiful people at Fern and Jack’s wedding, but here are just a few of my favourites …
those bridesmaids again HG (joke for Friends’ fans and Stevie) photographer in a hat
My garden was a delight all through the summer. It was worth the work, as it filled up with flowers and bees and butterflies …
my summer garden bee on lavender getting near the end
When I took the picture of the bee on the scabious, I really thought that it was getting to the end of summer, but I was wrong. Everything had another month or so of blooming loveliness!
Another trip around the local highways and byways, and we were back up on Wylye Down, with a spectacular patchwork valley below us, and layers of fluffy clouds above.
And of course, if it’s September, it must mean another trip to Devon. Once again we stayed just outside Brixham. There was still plenty of sunshine around for morning walks down to the harbour. This is one of my favourite views of Brixham; for me, this is exactly what an English seaside town should look like …
The national flag of LizzieLand …
Not every day was sunny, but the grey sky lent a certain something to the blues by the beach …
I was lucky enough in this photography year to have a few photos that got lots of views and likes on Flickr. One shot that did well was of a little coombe I’ve photographed many times, in different seasons and different light. It’s my “Inshaw” place, and makes me think “Wiltshire”. In this shot, I cropped right in to show the copse, just starting to show its autumn colours, and the barn. A bit of searching on the NLS maps told me that there’s been a barn here since at least 1873 …
there’s been a barn here since 1873
In October I finally did something I’ve wanted to do since I first moved to Wiltshire, and that was take an autumn trip to Stourhead. I got there for the gardens opening, but I still had to battle my way through photographers!! This has got to be one of the most popular autumn photo locations in the South of England! I did manage to capture a few shots without other photographers in them …
If you ever get the chance to go to Stourhead, then you should take it. Legions of photographers aside, it’s a really beautiful place. I’ve been advised that spring is also a good time, with all the bulbs, so that’s on 2019’s To Do List!
In November I continued my “autumn colours” theme when we took a trip to The Malverns. This was a first for me, and I loved it. It’s a very pretty part of the world, and the trees, well, they are pretty spectacular with all their golds and reds and oranges. I like the way that Little Malvern Priory, with its red-tiled roof blends so perfectly with its environment.
Of course there was no shortage of autumn colour close to home. We went to a particularly lovely little copse on Salisbury Plain to mess about with manual lenses. This shot was taken with a Pentax 110 18mm lens…
If you want to see a few more of the experiments, you can look here!
The first few weeks of December flew by, with short, grey days, where hardly a photo was taken. In full “bah-humbug” mode, we headed to the Plain on Christmas day, even though it was misty (and grey – no surprise there, then!). Still, when you’ve got one of the fabulous Charlton Clumps as a subject, “mist and grey” can be good.
We were up there again a couple of days later. Luckily not so grey, so there was glorious sunset light, with the mist creeping across the Plain and into the hollows …
What a very nice way to end my photography year. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing some of my favourites from 2018. It would be lovely if you visited my Flickr page and looked at some more!
What a wonderful set of photographs!
I was going to create this blog post back in January. But I became so involved in editing one of my books, trying to get it ready for July, that I never did get around to writing this. Until now. I can hardly believe it’s September already.
Back in January, I thought it might be interesting to look at the photographs I’d taken during 2017, and select my favourite from each month. I did that at the time, and I’ve since reviewed them again while writing this post. Turns out, only two have been replaced in my affections.
In January, I had to pick my son up from Grateley station, in Hampshire. I arrived early, so thought I’d take some shots of the station platform and lights. I also caught a very bright Venus.
Grateley Station — Sony RX10
In February, Lizzie and I went on one…
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A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to be asked if I would like to put some of my photos in an Open Photography Exhibition at the lovely Sheep Shed Gallery in Weyhill. It’s very exciting (and kind of scary!), to think of my photos being on public display …. “what if people don’t like them?” …. “what if all the other photographs are brilliant and mine are not?” …. “what if no one buys any of them?”! Jeez, what must it be like having a solo show?!
As the date of the exhibition approached, I was feeling more and more nervous, and then I had the loveliest note from a friend of mine, an artist whose work is completely wonderful, and it bolstered my confidence. I’m sure that she wouldn’t mind me sharing some of her thoughts here …
No one can possibly know the pain of exposing yourself and your innermost ideas to the general public. It used to be agony for me, but I have gradually got used to it, and you tend to dismiss the negative remarks you overhear, but are completely over the moon when someone who looks and sounds discerning says quietly, “I really like what you have done there”.
And as for not selling : unsold work is the basis for the next show … what a bonus … all framed and ready to go, all you have to do is add some more and you have a body of work for a solo show!
And last of all, just because you don’t sell everything this time, doesn’t mean there isn’t someone out there who is a perfect fit for this or that photograph : people have different favourites … I have shown pieces over and over again (oh I’ll shove that in to bulk it all up a bit, but I know no one will buy it ) and then suddenly it is the thing someone has been longing for all their lives!!
So I have girded my loins, taken the plunge, leapt off the cliff and stepped right out of my comfort zone (and any other cliché you care to think of!), and there are five of my photographs currently on show. Will I sell any? Who knows? Will people like them? Who knows? But I like them, I’m proud of them, and that is all that matters. I’m “exposing myself”, and even if just one person makes just one nice comment, that will make the agony worthwhile.
If you’d like to know more about the Sheep Shed Gallery, you can visit their site here. I can highly recommend a visit to the gallery. They have some exquisite work on show and for sale, and they do a marvellous job of showcasing local artists. (The home made cakes in their cafe are rather wonderful too!!).
If you’d like to see more of my photos, please do visit my Flickr page.
2017 … My Year in Photographs
When starting to put this blog together, I read last year’s “My Year in Photographs” …. Oh dear! I did NOT achieve my aim of taking more photos this last year; in fact, 2017 was probably my worst year yet for photography. Huge upheavals in my personal life, some amazing, some devastating, meant that my photo-mojo took a heck of a battering. But I hung on in there, and I managed to end the year with camera in hand (although the tail-end of a stinking Christmas cold meant that most of the shots on the last day of the year were taken through the car window!).
So here is my year in photographs; I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them!
January, Ianuarius, door to the year …
I shall open the door to 2017 with a shot from Salisbury Plain, by far our most-frequented place for photography. And this spot, one of the Charlton Clumps is one of my favourite places. There are several small copses on Salisbury Plain up above the hamlet of Charlton, hence the name the “Charlton Clumps”. Me and Steve have probably taken at least a thousand photos of them, in various lights, at various times of the year, and they never disappoint. I don’t often go for a close up, but when I spotted the little owl in his hole, I had to go for it!
owl in a hole in a bole in a tree
February, shortest month of the year and meteorologically, the last month of Winter …
February can often feel like the harshest month of Winter; bleak and cold and wet. But one bright spot in this melancholic month is the appearance of the snowdrops. So many of the winding Wiltshire back roads have swathes of them on the verges. We came across this sweet bend on just such a winding back road near Easton Royal.
February was also the month when we had our first jaunt to the seaside. We stayed in Axminster, just up the road from one of our favourite places – Seaton. We always try to stop off in Seaton on our way back from South Devon, and it was nice to be based quite close to this lovely little seaside town. We are particular fans of the Axe Estuary, a fine tidal river for spotting wild fowl and waders and gulls …. Lots and lots of gulls! And of course, no trip to Seaton is complete without a shot of Sarah Jane!
March, named for Mars, God of War and guardian of agriculture, beginning of Spring …
March was kind of dull … weather-wise and photography-wise. I was working long hours and didn’t get out with my camera nearly as much as I would have liked. Still, I did manage to catch Martinsell Hill on one rather lovely early spring day.
April, it did put a spirit of youth in everything …
At last! April swung around and I got a spring in my step! And I got out there with my camera. There were walks around the local paths, early morning sunrise photo-ops and, of course, trips to Salisbury Plain. Here is one of the lovely Charlton Clumps again, this time with a bit of selective colouring, to show the mysterious red box in its best light….
In April we headed down to Devon again, this time back to one of our other favourite spots – Brixham. We stay in Fishcombe Cove when we go to Brixham, and it’s just about as perfect as a holiday spot can be. There’s Marridge Wood on the doorstep, there are great walks along the South West Coast Path, and there’s a lovely walk down in to the town itself. Yes! I did do a lot of walking on this particular trip! On one early morning perambulation, I decided to venture out onto the Breakwater. Now there’s bracing for you! Brixham looked just grand in the morning sunshine, all pretty colours and interesting contours …
May, month of potent blood …
One of the many wonderful things about living near Savernake Forest was the great abundance of bluebells we were treated to each May. There is something rather enchanting about walking through a swathe of bluebells, with the spring sunshine making the new leaves on the trees glow.
June, when Summer begins and the world is all green and blue and yellow …
There are many awe-inspiring landscapes to photograph on Salisbury Plain. It is always changing. No two days are ever the same. The quality of the light, the clouds, the sun (or lack thereof) … these make every view look somehow new, even if you’ve photographed it a hundred times before. Just so with the views from the edge of the Plain across the Vale of Pewsey; this is Wiltshire; this is why I love it here ….
Now, we don’t usually manage a whole weekend away in June, but fortune favoured us this year, and we had an “extra” trip, this time to Ilfracombe in North Devon. Sadly the weather was really grim. Wet and dull days meant we spent a lot of time in the car, driving around, jumping out every now and again to take a shot or two of something interesting, diving back into the car for cover. We headed down to Fremington Quay again, and I was quite pleased with my “tilt shift” on this little red boat, pulled up on the bank of the river.
July, with its evenings stretching out to allow long meanders home, is usually good for some sunsets and interesting skies …
We are writing a book, Steve and I, about the roads which crisscross Salisbury Plain; this is a shot of the old road from Salisbury to Marlborough. The clouds were almost as beautiful as the landscape, and I like the way they seem to lead the way home, a perfect balance to the leading line of the byway.
August, Lammas, time to start harvesting and feasting …
Summer on Salisbury Plain means FLOWERS! Lots and lots of wildflowers. With a carpet on yellows and pinks and mauves at your feet, and dreamy, fluffy white clouds above you, you could almost feel as if you were walking into an Impressionist painting.
September, when Autumn begins and the skies are still blue
September is one of my favourite months, not least because it’s our anniversary month! It’s also the beginning of Autumn, when the world starts to take on golden hues, yet still feels “summery” with its blue skies and bright days. We normally head to the seaside in September, but there were big changes afoot in our lives, so we stayed close to home in Wiltshire for our photographic outings. Of course, this meant trips to Salisbury Plain, and journeys along the old roads. This is another favourite spot of mine, the finger post … one way to Lavington, the other to Devizes…..
October …
Loss. I can say no more about this month. There was only one photo, for the photo-mojo was subsumed by other, more urgent needs.
November, when Autumn is in full swing and Winter is just around the corner
Autumn has painted Salisbury Plain with a golden palette, as the grasses and the leaves have begun to die. It is no less beautiful.
This year was turning out to be one of extremes of emotions … highs and lows … and by November, I was completely exhausted! So my love took me to the sea, to give me room to breathe and space to just be.
December, Winter time and short days …
… and at last, the mojo is returning … a new life is beginning …
My final shot of the year is, quite aptly I hope, a sunset on Salisbury Plain. Happy New Year! Here’s to health and happiness and lots more photography in 2018!
If you would like to see more of my photos, please do have a look at my Flickr page!
At this time of year, the most ubiquitous blue to be found is in the woods … the bluebell woods, of which there are many in this part of the world. The woodlands of the South West of England are awash with these deliciously scented flowers during April and May. And of course, it is impossible to resist taking photos of them ….
I should warn you though, it’s not all blue in here! Occasionally, one happens upon the white amongst the blue …
Sometimes, blue is the only colour you want …
This blue house in Torcross in Devon, with its blue moped, was just perfect for taking a picture of.
Along the coast to Seaton we shall go, where they like blue boats …
A bright blue spring sky, peppered with fluffy white clouds, backdrop to the rolling hills of Dartmoor … it’s a happy place to be …
Another blue boat, chugging out of Brixham Harbour on a bright spring morning ….
“Now listen to me, young man, for I know a thing or two about this fishing malarkey”, said the man in the blue hat and apron …
And finally, another shot of the sea, again from the lovely little Devon town of Seaton, one of our favourite places …
If you would like to see more of my photographs, then please pay a visit to my flickr page. I hope that you like what you find there.
A fascinating journey through a fellow photographer’s year.
I was going to do this back in January. I can hardly believe it’s March already. How time flies. And other cliches. I thought it might be fun to look back at my photographs over the past year, and select which of them are my favourites for each month. Or, at least, the favourites as I select them now. After all, I might prefer others in a couple of months time.
In January, Lizzie and I went on one of our bi-monthly wanders. We washed up, as we often do, on the Jurassic Coast, flitting between Seaton, Sidmouth, Budleigh Salterton and other small bays and river mouths in that area. Here, we were at Sidmouth on a grey, showery day. We wandered around light, with our small cameras for a change. I was struck by the misty distances and the softness of the light on the red cliffs. Yes…
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I didn’t take nearly as many photographs in 2016 as I would have liked to. A promotion early in the year had rather a big impact on my Redheadwondering-photograph-taking-alter-ego …. Partly good …. I gave myself a present of a new Sony camera to celebrate …. Partly bad …. Work became so busy and intense that the time and energy I would have liked to devote to photography was sadly curtailed.
I am now, thankfully, well-settled in to my new work role, so my New Year’s Resolution is to redress the recent work-life imbalance, and spend a lot more time having fun, and part of that will mean spending more time taking a LOT more photographs!
I also hope to do more blogging, and I thought I would start off by “rounding off” the old year just gone, and share my year in photos, one for each month.
January, Ianuarius, door to the year …
January saw us start the year in travelling mood, with a trip to Sidmouth in Devon. It was chilly, but fun! Dark brooding skies abounded, yet we managed to take quite a few photos. I particularly enjoyed the colours of Devon, as the dullness of the days seemed to throw the red, earthy tones into sharp relief. For my first shot of the year, I’ve chosen an abstract rendering of a reflection I saw on Budleigh Salterton beach.
in mourning for drowned Cypresses
February, shortest month of the year and meteorologically, the last month of Winter …
Ah, February – the month that I was offered the promotion at work and, not being of a particularly patient bent, I decided that I couldn’t wait for the first pay cheque, and immediately bought myself a new camera to celebrate! (Thank you, Mastercard!!). At the first opportunity, we were off to Salisbury Plain. This delightful barn owl kindly posed on a fence post for me.
March, named for Mars, God of War and guardian of agriculture, beginning of Spring …
One of the very enjoyable Flickr groups I am part of is “12 Months of the Same Image”, and this year, like the one before, I decided to use as my subject one of the lovely routes I can take to work. Consequently I took lots and lots of shots of this road to Rudge. I didn’t actually use this one for the March entry to the group, but I rather liked the other-worldly feel of this Kodak Ektachrome 100VS rendering from DxO Filmpack.
April, it did put a spirit of youth in everything …
In April we took a trip to Devon, but this time we ventured to the north coast, rather than to one of our usual, more southerly haunts. After a trip to Woolacombe a while back, I became enchanted by the name of a nearby town – Westward Ho! (yes! It really DOES have an exclamation mark!!). We knew we’d have to visit there one day, and in April we did just that. We had the most glorious view from our apartment, which could not have been more of a “beach-front property” if it tried!! This is the view from the bedroom window. It was a fine sight to wake up to!
May, month of potent blood …
Of the two of us, my husband is the one who most often photographs birds, as we wander around Salisbury Plain. He is so much better than I am at manual focusing quickly enough to catch the many lovely birds we see in our travels. In May this year, however, I too seemed to capture many of our feathered natives and visitors. (Note that most of them very obligingly sat on fences, or stood still in fields, long enough for me to get them in focus!). I managed to capture several swallows at rest (and lots of swallow-shaped blurs in flight). There were yellowhammers and goldfinches galore. I even had the good fortune to see a couple of great bustards and got close enough to get photos of stone-curlews, two species which are extremely rare. The bird I’ve chosen to share for my May picture though is very common: a corn bunting. Common it may be, but that does not detract from its loveliness. It’s a jaunty kind of bird, whose jangling song is an absolute delight to hear.
June, when Summer begins and flowers bloom …
June was the month of wildflowers on Salisbury Plain. All around us, the Winter-etiolated grasses were replaced with greens of every complexion, and the flowers began to carpet the landscape. Blues and pinks, purples and yellows, reds and whites. There was one particular day in the middle of the month that was my “Wildflower Day”! I simply couldn’t stop photographing the flowers, and for a change (for me) the Sigma 28mm miniwide manual lens stayed on the camera, and macro after macro was taken. There are many flower shots on my Flickr photostream for June, but what is uploaded there is but a fraction of the hundreds of photos I took that day. The Umbelliferae in particular captured my eye and my imagination.
like a Victorian wedding bouquet
July, hot and sultry, my favourite Summer month …
We tend not to go on our travels in the Summer months, preferring our “holidays” to be quiet affairs, not interrupted by other tourists (or children on their school hols). July and August are usually the preserve of Days Out Locally, rather than Nights Away Further Afield. This July though, we couldn’t resist a sneaky trip to Dorset, just for a night, just for a two-day blast of seaside and sunshine. On our journey down to the coast, we wandered the roads of the New Forest. We stopped now and again to take photos, of course, and on one of these occasions, I put on our Sigma 50mm lens, because the heather and flowers looked so enticing. One of my favourite macros ended up being this close-up of one of the New Forest Ponies. These docile creatures are so accustomed to people getting up close and personal, that they barely bat an eye.
August, Lammas, time to start harvesting and feasting …
Although this year we didn’t have the hottest of Summers, come August, the world was turning golden, as fields of barley and wheat stretched all around, and mellow sunsets made the world feel warm and welcoming. One hazy evening on Salisbury Plain, my eyes were drawn to the lines in the barley, as they snaked off through the gold to the blue beyond.
September, when Autumn begins and love blossoms …
This is our anniversary month and we like to mark it with trip back to Devon. This time we stayed in Brixham, overlooking the sea. We were blessed with fine weather and there was no shortage of photography, nor interesting subjects. I even had the opportunity to do some experimenting with night photography, which was great fun. One of my personal favourites from this particular trip was a shot I took in Torcross, of the gift shop and the house next door. I couldn’t have set up a more pleasing shot if I’d tried. The combination of colours and shapes was, well, a gift.
October, the month where all the world turns red and gold and brown and the days grow shorter …
By October, I was really beginning to notice how little photography I was managing to squeeze in around the long days at work. I did manage to get out a couple of times to take advantage of 2016’s glorious Autumn colours. There’s another blog post all about Autumn in Wiltshire this year, if you care to read it! For my October picture though, even though it is of trees in all their Autumn glory, I’ve decided to share a black and white version. This little copse is one of the Charlton Clumps, on the northern edge of Salisbury Plain, and it’s one of our favourite subjects. There is something extremely pleasing about this little stand of trees – their shapes and symmetry provide no end of inspiration.
November, November, a time to remember …
And so we come to our final trip of the year, this time to Shropshire. Thirty years ago, my husband took me to Shropshire to visit his oldest friend. In 2016, we returned to this very pretty county, and spent a wonderful weekend by the banks of the River Clun. We saw our first snow of the year up on the Long Mynd, a wild and desolate place of such beauty, that I don’t want to wait another thirty years to visit it again.
December, Winter time and short days …
My final shot of the year is, quite aptly I feel, a sunset on Salisbury Plain. Happy New Year! Here’s to health and happiness and lots more photography in 2017!
red white and blue
