I'm writing this sat outside under the shade of a pear tree, its 26 degrees Celsius, cloudless and the hottest day so far this year.  What really makes it unusual is that it's a Bank Holiday Monday also known as a public holiday here in the UK.  Its tradition that Bank Holidays are always wet and windy.  Something is very wrong!

My trusty go-to lens for the last few years has been a Zeiss ZE 21mm f/2.8 T* Distagon and in many cases this is still true.  Its a joy to work with as focusing is smooth, easy and importantly accurate - even wearing big gloves.  But as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm shooting more panoramic's with a 50mm lens.   A few years ago I purchased a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM for some street photography on a Paris trip.

On my first visit to Dartmoor I recall thinking it was boring open moorland with nothing to make a good photograph apart from the odd rocky Tor!  Well, that was quite some time ago and since then I've grown to really appreciate its shapes, subtle colours and rugged looks.  Dartmoor is, I guess, one of those places that grows on you. :-)  Nowadays its one of my favourite places in England.

A short while ago we had the first dusting of winter snow over Dartmoor.  The weather forecast had promised a couple of days of cold temperatures with a strong likelihood of snow.   That was all the justification I needed to throw the tent in the truck and head towards Princetown with little planning.

Where has this year gone?  Winter is as easy as it gets for wilderness landscape photography; sunrise is at 08:14 and sunset at 16:03 where I live.  Its possible to have a late start and still be on location in plenty of time for the sunrise :-)  Unfortunately, the weather isn't playing ball tho, its warm with boring overcast skies.  Anyway, its provided the opportunity to overhaul my workflow, tools and to catch-up on some much overdue processing.

Looking at this image you could be forgiven for thinking it was a warm summers evening.  How wrong that would be!  I took this only recently (November 2017).  There was a 20 to 25MPH wind blowing, the air temperature was about 3 degrees Celsius and the afternoon had been pretty much dominated by very heavy dark clouds and rain showers.

After my previous post, I thought I'd share another photograph from the Yorkshire Dales trip earlier this year.  Compare it with the photograph in the previous post and the differences between the high moorland and the lower-level stone walled fields are stark.

It's not somewhere I've photographed before but I have been there climbing and so had a vague knowledge of the area.  Considerable advance research was still needed, if only to identify a good location to stay!  Such research is always hard, no amount of looking at maps, Google Street View etc can surpass actually visiting an area.  I normally prioritise the review of maps to assess topography and sun rise/set angles over looking at images and photographs captured by others.  

Sometimes photography is essentially luck.  And this photograph is just that :-)  I had set-out from home earlier in the day with the specific intention of exploring the coast just South of Bristol.  I was aware of a pier having seen 'pier' on a map but had no intention of going to Clevedon let alone photographing the pier at sunset.

One Autumn a few years ago I stayed at Kingshouse on the Eastern end of Glen Coe.  Over the years its somewhere I've stayed on several occasions.  Initially camping at the back by the stream, later in the bunkhouse then more recently in the actual hotel.  I recall on some of the early trips occasionally seeing the odd deer just before sunrise.

I'm hoping this photograph makes you go Brrrgh, followed by, he's not that old is he? ;-)  Well, no, I'm not thank you :-)  Its a photograph captured at Toddington on the Great Western Steam Railway (GWSR) not too far North of Cheltenham one winters day in 2008..

The North coast of Somerset and Devon have some great photographic spots.  Exploring the area a few years ago I found Porlock Weir. It didn't look that interesting on the map or on arrival but actually its got some lovely spots.  So if you live in the area I recommend a trip.

OK, so perhaps this is getting a little repetitive!  But Buttermere is a wonderfully photogenic location ;-)  The tree in this photograph is pretty famous now but I didn't know that at the time.  Its been a few years since the photograph was taken and, with the benefit on hindsight, I now realise the lake was very full making the tree look as if it was growing quite far out in the lake!

A few years ago I decided to spend a few days photographing Scottish castles.  Quite why, I cannot now remember but my thinking was probably something like:  I like Scotland; Castles are usually found in nice locations; Castles would make an interesting subject!  This led to some research and the identification of a number of castles, some famous like Eilean Donan and some not so famous.

Or is it Balamory? Well the answer to that depends on how much telly you've watched ;-)
Tobermory is the main town on the Isle of Mull and the traditional view is of the three brightly painted buildings, one of which is the Mishnish hotel.  I wanted something different for this photograph, but something that was still very much Tobermory.

Hearing the news that the UK government is reducing the tolls on the new Severn bridge by 20% and plans to abolish them completely from 2019 got me to thinking about the bridge.  Its something I've photographed a few times and despite its size and the muddy brown waters of the Severn its an interesting architectural feature.

Puffins are such cute things!  I'm writing this from a hotel bar in Lerwick, Shetland whilst waiting on some light for costal landscapes.  Now, I associate Shetland with ponies and hand-knitted woollen jumpers.  Not with Puffins!  Anyhow, they are clearly a tourist attraction and the local shops are filled with them.

Like some unseen magnetic attraction I find myself drawn to Buttermere.  Due to the fine clear skies the light was very harsh at all times apart from the early morning and late evening. So it was that I found myself part way along the Northern edge of Buttermere just before sunset watching how the last rays of light lit the hills and the lake.