I absolutely love photographing bluebells! While they are not my favourite flower, (that’ll be the Snake’s Head Fritillary), bluebells are my favourite flowers to photograph.
Tag Archives: flora
Bluebell Retrospective
Bluebell season this year, for me, was a bit of a mixed bag. I didn’t get any “out of this world” shots, but I did manage a few I’m happy with.
Bluebell Scouting
At this time of year, I quite often head out into the Surrey Hills in search of bluebell woods that I haven’t been to before. When I’m there, I try to find compositions that I think will work well when the bluebells are flowering.
Westonbirt Arboretum
A few days ago I travelled over to Gloucestershire to attend a one day autumn colours workshop at Westonbirt Arboretum run by Light & Land and led by award winning photographer Andy Farrer. It was a good day at a lovely, colourful location with a nice group of people. Weather was a bit grey but at least it didn’t pour down!
Autumn Colours
Autumn is taking hold and colours are changing, so I thought I would post a few of the images I have made over the last few weeks from visiting several local woods.
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!
In English, Happy St. David’s Day!
Being Welsh, I thought I would mark St. David’s Day with an image of a daffodil, the national flower of Wales. After all, I can still remember having a daffodil pinned to my jumper before heading off to school in the 1960s!
I didn’t want just any type of image though, I wanted to try a technique I’ve known about for a long time but never managed to get around to using before – creating a black background without actually using a physical background.
This technique uses nothing more than the absence of light. It’s quite simple really, once you understand the principle. You don’t need a studio or any fancy lighting gear (I certainly don’t have any), just a flash that you can fire off-camera.
A wander in the garden
The garden in question belongs to my friends who live near Vinhedo, which is about 50 miles (80 km) outside of São Paulo. They have a truly wonderful house and garden and this is the first time I have visited.
Background is King
If there is one thing I have learned since starting in photography it’s this – the background is more important than the subject.
Happy St. David’s Day
Surrey Bluebells
Seems like all I’m doing lately is photographing bluebells, but I suppose it is the season for it.
This year I decided to travel further than my back garden in search of bluebells. Internet research showed a couple of promising locations in Surrey within about 45 minutes drive from home.
So I started exploring in late March and weekly thereafter to check on progress. Places such as Ranmore Common, White Down, Leith Hill and Hatchlands Park.