I have the good fortune to live near some outstandingly beautiful walking trails and when the weather is nice its fantastic for taking some nature shots and, of course, loads of photos of the dogs in my life.
The light at this time of year is always fantastic and when we walk by the river the water reflects makeing everything look even more magical.
Following a hiatus, where I have been eating, socialising and taking lots of photos in some really lovely places I though I would resume blogging!
Below is a small selection of beach, dog, brickwork, river and cemetery shots. There are so many more… but I will save them and use them later.
As I have mentioned in a few of my other posts we borrow dogs from our parents, my Mum’s dog Millie and my Father in Law’s dog Henry.
It is always wonderful to walk these two but it is especially wonderful when the the weather is nice and the ground is dry. This bank holiday has been full of these walks, the temperature is fresh but the sun is shining and there isn’t a drop of rain in sight (well maybe that is an exaggeration.. We do live in the UK!) The only down side to walks like these is the sheer number of photos I end up taking, of the dogs, of the trees, of the flowers, of the moss… The list goes on. It means I then spend the rest of the day working on all the shots I have snapped.
This weekend has been spent walking in a copse near to our house, we are very lucky to have this right on our door step. It has a good mix of woods, meadows and playing fields and at this time of year some truly beautiful Bluebells. The woods give some great light and shadow whilst the meadow hosts beautiful open sky’s and room for the dogs to run.
Blissful!
I love a field, the wonderful open vista of the British countryside. I think they are beautiful what ever the weather, in the rain the light bounces off the puddles and when the weather is fair the light and colour is radiant.
So often we Just walk or drive by, but the texture and contrast, the light and colours are often really lovely.
Scotland is one of my most favourite places on Earth, my Dad was Scottish and something about the area sings to my soul. I have lots of family who live in Glasgow and I am close to them all, which I am sure helps fuel my love. When my father died last year he wanted to be scattered in Loch Long, but well before that it had been somewhere I feel like I’m home.
When we went to visit family my Dad would take me on a Loch tour and tell me about all the holidays he had with his Dad in the ‘hut’ on the banks of the Loch and tell me stories from when he was a boy. The scenery is rugged and beautiful, there are waterfalls that flow down the hillsides that surround water. Boulders are strewn across the landscape and everything grows lush greens, purples and yellows, it is windswept and tough but rich and earthy, absolutely stunning.
There is just something wonderful about photographing an animal in the great outdoors, it feels exciting, scary and right.
Exciting because you are desperate to get the right shot, knowing the animal could move at any second, scary as they are unpredictable and right because when it goes well it can be glorious.
I recently visited the New Forest and was lucky enough to stumble across a couple of herds of wild ponies. Whilst the ponies are not completely feral they arn’t your run of the mill riding ponies, so this was quite exciting.
The ponies were skittish with each other, but realitivly calm with me allowing me to get some beautiful movement shots. They all looked so different in colour to each other making the composition of the photos off balance and somehow more interesting. Combined with the beautiful, wild landscape it was an awesome afternoon.
There are some glorious sights hidden in our towns, cities and country sides. Things we take for granted and over look. I spend a lot of my time travelling round new places trying to look at things differently. It doesn’t often take long to find something special hidden beneith the everyday.
Often it is something simple and something hiding in plain sight. Everyone can find something beautiful to photograph.
There is just something glorious about birds, I love the way they move when they take flight. I try to get the perfect shot each time but often find it’s the imperfect shots that make the better photos.
What Tor Saw 