LCPU Knockout Competition Winner!!!

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The LCPU - Lancashire and cheshire Photographic Union consists of many camera clubs throughout the region. The annual knockout competition was held on 28th November 2009 with some 37 clubs entering 5 images each. By my calculations that's 185 entries.

My image, "Urban Directions" managed to battle through 9 rounds to fight off the other 184 images to win the competition. This photograph won me a nice shiny gold medal to keep and a trophy to take pride of place on my mantle piece for the next 12 months.

I am over the moon!

Natural History or Nature

I dont particularly care at this point in time if people want to class it as Natural History or Nature. All i know is that i have achieved another acceptance in a national exhibition competition. This one hosted by Dingwall Camera Club.

I give you the Azure Damselfly.

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Click on the image to take you to my website for a better view.

Shutlinsloe - The Roaches

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It seems like ages since my last post.

After heading up to The Roaches again, (but this time for sunrise) I made my way down towards Roach End to capture the brightness of the grass in the fields below as well as the light hitting the green trees at the bottom, with Shutlinsloe peaking up in the distance.

Trying to concentrate was hard because I was constantly being attacked by little tiny midges with teeth!!!

Ill be glad when it has cooled down a bit and they wont be there!

Urban Directions does it again!

PepperArt

I received another acceptance into a national exhibition for my image, Urban Directions, this weekend.

Each acceptance into these BPE accredited exhibitions count towards recognition in the ability to produce photographs of great quality. After recieving 25 acceptances i will be awarded the BPE* designation - so still some way to go but i'm definitley off the mark.

There were over 1400 entries into the same category, out of which only a certain percentage can be accepted so i am pretty pleased with this result.

The actual exhibition will take place Saturday, 12th September, 2009 at the Washbrook Village Hall, Suffolk, IP8 3JD, starting at 2.30p.m The Village hall is on the old A12 opposite the Elizabeth Hotel at Washbrook apparently.

Dont forget to check out my latest images on the main website.

More of The Roaches - Peak District

Last night's sunset was amazing!!!!! I was just walking down from doxey pool back to the car when the sky suddenly came to life!

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Doxey pool - should be called poxey pool! Its tiny! No disrespect to it though as i gather there is an unfriendly inhabitant of the pool - Jenny Greenteeth - A seductive mermaid or water spirit who lures travellers to a watery grave..... Spooky!

The area seems to be very popular with rock climbers. I think a return visit to try and capture some action on the rocks is on the cards...

Never buy cheap equipment!

My bloody card reader fused last night and smelt like it was burning. So i whipped the card out of it as soon as i physically could! Luckily it didnt damage the card or images! Phew! That will teach me to try and save money and buy a card reader for £3!.. False economy!

The Roaches

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Last Thursday evening saw a trip out the The Roaches in the Peak Disrict. Having made the trip the previous week in the pooring rain, and visited the site prior to this whilst fell running, I had a pretty good idea of what kind of images i wanted to capture.

The colourful heather and the gorgeous setting sunlight made for some amazing results. Take a look at the main website for more images from this trip.

Prees Heath

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Wow! What a lovely little area to visit!

This place had loads of beauty to offer my 'black box'. I arrived at about 6.45pm last night. The temperature was cooling as the sun was slowly dropping out of the sky and the Silver Studded Blue butterflies were just roosting atop the Bell Heather.

As the angle of the sunlight was getting lower and lower, I had to position my body accordingly, and ended up lying down on the ground with my ear in the heather and my legs sprawled across the rabbit holes (something you need to look out for at this spot if you don't want to break your ankles). This position was surprisingly comfortable actually!

There were quite a few different species on the site; Ringlets, Small Heaths, Meadow Browns (where aren't these guys!), Common Blues, and 5 Spot Burnet Moths. The different wild flowers made the place look especially beautiful. I think I will return here again soon.

Wild Sex

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It seems there is nothing to do for insects in the wild except mate! Ive been shooting butterflies/moths and things this season for a good few weeks now and all they ever want to do is mate, mate, mate, lay eggs and mate some more!

There is an advantage to this for the photographer though...they stay still a bit longer!

Fresh New Look Website

Hey all,

The main website now has a bright, exciting, fresh, new summer look!

I think it has a more modern and appealing feel to it. Let me know what you think..

PepperArt

Butterfly Mania

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This is my favourite type of butterfly (Common Blue) that i've seen to date. They are so small and really fast. They seem to hover over the smaller flowers closer to the ground. They kinda sprint up and down the meadow until they are knackered then finally perch themselves upon a flower such as the buttercup above. The suckle on the pollen for a second or three then bugger off again!

I had to act really quick whilst trying to remain stealth-like in order to capture this shot. Shooting butterflies is a lot of fun.

Loving the macro

Another trip to meadows and fields chasing after butterflies and damselflies was how I passed one of the bank holiday weekend mornings. I think I am a bit too early to see and real action at the moment and things will heat up in a few weeks when average temperatures are warmer. I haven't yet seen a dragonfly and most if the butterflies have been white. I have seen a couple of Peacock butterflies but not managed to capture any yet. Snails seemed to be about in abundance though, and a LOT of mating going on with other insects!

The macro lens is permanently on the camera at the moment and trying to capture the little critters has been kinda fun. I never thought I'd be that interested in insects and the like but it's actually a skill to get all the subject sharp at such close range so there is an element of competitiveness with my own abilities as well as learning new techniques.

I'm sure I'll also get the wide angle lens back on the camera soon to create some landscapes. But for now... Bring on the dragonflies! :-)

More little Critters!

It supposed to be coming up to the time of year when Dragonflies and Damselflies are 'on the wing' and start to emerge from the depths of ponds to flutter about and nurrish in the surrounding fields.

So last night (evening), I headed out to Sandbach Flashes to see if there was anything about yet. After scanning the water reeds and the water area itself, i soon realised that all this wet and miserable rainy weather we've been having this week has frightened the little buggers off! They've probably all decided to hybernate for another week or two!!

So, without wanting to waste a trip out with my camera, i decided to get some nice close up shots of the flowers in the field...how nice! Whilst photographing these flowers, i noticed that there were lots and lots of daddy long legs hopping floating about like they do! Trying to capture these little fellars is pretty difficult because when you get close they scamper off!

Anyway, whilst tracking down the daddy longlegs in my sights, I finally spotted something that looked like what i came for... A Damselfly!

This was a more relaxed creature who was quite happy to pose for me and my camera. Please meet the Azure Damselfly.

PepperArt

What to find in a meadow

I went on a trip this morning to Swettenham Meadows - part of the Cheshire Wildlife Trust. I headed out intending to get some nice macro shots of the flowers or maybe a nice landscape shot - more of a reccy than anything though really, as i'd never been before.

When i got there, i soon realised the potential for this place was pretty big as far as beautiful nature shots go. There is potential for landscape, flower, macro, and insect photography. Today though, i was hooked on trying to photograph insects, namely butterflies and bumblebees.

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The bumblebees were a bit more friendly and less sporadic than the butterflies. The butterflies didnt seem to want to stay still for too long.

I'm looking forward to going back to discover the dragonflies!

Solihull BPE Exhibition

I am happy to announce that 'Urban Directions' was accepeted into Solihull's Exhibition of British Photography 2009 and will be displayed at The Old Schoolhouse, Churchbridge, Oldbury, West Midlands, England, UK at 5.15pm on 13th June 2009.

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This is the 2nd time this image has been accpeted in a BPE accredited exhibition this year. To read more about how I created it, please visit my website here.

Powis Castle & Garden, North Wales, UK

A coach trip out with my camera club to Powis Castle & Garden National Trust site in Wales last weekend proved fairly fruitful as far as image results were concerned.

Weatherwise though... What a wet day! It pee'd it down for a lot of the day but that didnt stop me getting some good shots and enjoying myself.

The castle itslef what a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting some big really old rustic building and was presented with what looked like a mansion house. The attaching gardens however, were definitly worth the visit.

With high trimmed hedge walls and various colourful plants and flowers it was a spectacular sight.

I think my favourite images of the day are as follows: -

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Newest Committee Member!

I have been accepted as a new member of the committee for my Photographic Society.

After joining the club in September 2008, I have met some great people and learned a lot. My photography has changed slightly (for the better) and I am definatly more critical of my own work than ever.

I have a lot to be thankful for and it will be great to have the chance to give something back next season.

Here's to 2009/10 season - starting in September 2009. :D

With the current camera club season nearly over, I am already thinking of what kinds of images to aim to shoot for entering into next season's competitions. There are a lot of natural history/nature shooters in the club and as such, a special section for these photographers has been created for the next season. I may try and compete with these guys as well as continue to enter stuff for the general section. Although, I am not going to specialise too much at this stage because I find thats how things become stale too easily and I get bored.

As summer approaches, I am sure more day trips will be organised! :D

Whats in a name?

Thinking about the judging of my last print competition, which was a portrait only comp, it was becoming clear to me that people didnt really put much effort into naming their prints. They'd just title it 'jane' or 'joe' or whatever.

Some people did come up with strong single word titles like 'defiance' (this was a brave self portrait by one club member) which i liked but nothing that really told a story like 'The 5am Fisherman'.

This guy wasnt really a fisherman. He was a fellow photographer from the local area. But if i had just titled my photograph 'Colin' (no offence to colin and his name or other people that share it of course :) ) I dont think it would have had the same appeal.

The judge very kindly spoke about how this image had some great features such as the beard, and textured skin and spoke about the clothing being his fishing outfit. This wouldnt have happened had i just given my image a human name.

I dont think the result would have been any different as far as scores were concerned, i just think it made the judging more interesting because the viewer is invited into the subject's world - whether its real or ficticious doesnt matter. As long as there is a reaction and perhaps some thought provocation.

What do you think?

The 5am Fisherman

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This photograph was rewarded 19/20 in my camera club's annual portrait print competition last night amongst some fierce competition!

'The 5am Fisherman' - History: -

Out on a trip to Heswall, on the Wirral, photographing the stranded boats in the estuary, I met a lovely chap named Colin who happened to be a member if the local camera club. This guy lived nearby and told me he comes out every morning to try and capture that 'perfect shot' of the estuary. He had such a classic face that I feel is brilliant for a portrait, lots of texture. So I thought it rude not to ask.

Colin kindly agreed to show us around the local area for the rest of that morning, introducing us to Perch Rock Lighthouse as well as some other great locations which i may return to for future shoots.

I wanted to give the image a more interesting name than just the guys actual name so I chose 'The 5am Fisherman' because of his wirey white beard and the fact I photographed him next to the boats.

You can see more of my work on my website PepperArt.

Hello and Welcome!

Well, this is my first post for PepperArt.

As it says on my website, I am an enthusiastic photographer and love to learn (and share) new techniques with friends. I guess I will be replacing my old blog Captured Little Moments eventually, when everyone knows about this new beast! So be sure to bookmark or 'follow' me.

I love photography! I love most aspects, especially the trips I get to go on, the things I see and create. I love to 'make pictures' rather than just record what is in front of me. As you browse through my gallery, you will start to see what kinds of subjects interest me most.

Anyway, this was just a little post to get the blog up and running. Keep an eye out for new and exciting news.

Have a read of my old blog Captured Little Moments to see the expeditions and what else I have been up to this year but be sure to bookmark this replacement for future posts. :)