Spent about six days in and around northern Wales in early June, which included Snowdonia National Park and the Island of Anglesea. Beautiful part of the UK and had some luck with the weather, because although it was cloudy each day in parts, we did see the sun too and it only rained for one morning, just a soft drizzle for a few hours. I have posted a small selection of images I took during this time here.

A six page article on the magnificent Lord Howe Island has just been published and I have uploaded it into my Articles section (in Print) of the diary too. I have visited the Island twice now and it should be on all serious outdoor photographer’s lists! Future workshops will include  bird Photography and my good friend David Burran will most likely lead workshops to this spectacular destination. Details are in the Article.

Although I have visited this wonderful historic Mansion and gardens before, The late spring blooms, pasture and flowers in the warm weather was an irresistible pull to re-visit. England on a warm sunny spring day is a great experience, the light is fine, no contrast for photography… and it conjures up thoughts from childhood stories our parents read to us at bedtime.

I was asked to provide a small insert to go into the UK Digital Photographer Magazine May 2014. I am often asked to supply Images for the magazine and look our for Issue 150. It will be an extra special Magazine because of the number, and I have been interviewed for an article for this particular issue!

Just wanted to share a particular walk that I did the other day…. Set off with my wife’s cousin Lee on a spectacular 11 km hike up  in the Peak District of Staffordshire. We knew that some rain was forecast, but what eventually happened was totally awesome. Our hike started in the beech forest along the banks of the Dane River and we slowly climbed up through the forest canopy through to the amazing Lud’s church. This is actually a canyon, totally natural, where Christian secret meetings were held in the 16th century when the “new” faiths were spreading….legend has it King Charles the 1st hid here at one point too…. dark and foreboding, it started to rain!! Up we climbed to the to the top of the hills… to an area that is known as Roaches Ridge, a magnificent part of the Peak district with Tors jutting out into the void, with the greenest valley’s and farmland below. What made this walk so good, was the weather! We experienced 3 thunderstorm cells in the space of 40 minutes… unbelievable, with Thunder and lightning as we sheltered under a Tor and then continued on watching the next front whirl its way towards us.

England is just so amazing in the late spring… I posted a photo I took a few weeks back on facebook, taken near Piddletrenthide, and have now posted it here…. lovely afternoon light in Dorset….it doesn’t get much better than this… I could spend a year here in this country and only scratch the surface!!

Situated in a quiet Valley near the village of Chard in Somerset is a magnificent 12th century Cistercian monastery, now privately owned. Over thirty acres of gardens with magnificent ponds are an added attraction. My goal is to visit more out of the way historical houses and gardens that I have not previously done. The light was beautiful with wonderful cloud formations and I spent some time wandering the grounds.

Every time I visit Dorset I love to explore the Jurassic Coastline and the beautiful bays that are an integral part of this area. Lulworth cove is one of my favourite spots. It is an incredibly pretty cove and I never tire from visiting it. However, to find a day that suits colourful images is quite hard. There are many sunny days at this time of the year, but most of them are extremely hazy due to the moist air that the sun pulls from the ground and then mixes in the atmosphere. It rained the day before and there was some wind as well, so I knew the next day would be great…if the sun returned, and it did. I had a two hour window to work the scene and walk around both sides of the bay and get these shots before cloud came in and the lovely light disappeared.  Most photographers love the first light and dusk as I do, but I have these kind of photo’s from previous trips here and I just wanted colourful bright sunny images that just simply sing and show it off! The 30 second image was just an added bonus… it was the last one I did and it worked as cloud cover moved in and gave me the time and light that I needed.

In the next issue of the Australian Digital Photography Magazine (volume 38) I have written a four page article with photographs of my review of the latest micro four-thirds camera from Olympus. I took the Camera to Norway in mid-winter and as the article explains, it performed beautifully. A really fantastic camera with so many options, bundled into a very small body. This camera comes highly recommended to any photographers who are starting to have weight issues with their gear, particularly older and female gender enthusiasts! I use this gear on any serious walk or hike and its my first choice for all street and photo-journalistic photography.

If you would like to read the article in larger format, just click on the PDF here:   094-097_DP38_Olympus EM1_GB

All 25 participants of the Photographic tour through the Central Otago area of the South Island of New Zealand said it was a huge success! We were blessed with wonderful weather as the group travelled and photographed their way through the Autumn colours, Lakes, mountains and Coastlines for 11 days. The weather even turned it on for us in Milford Sound. Almost too blue a sky day, we were extremely happy never-the-less  as our morning had proved totally amazing, stopping at the Mirror lakes in time to see the Sun kiss the tops of the mountain range in a deep red glow. The autumn colours especially, were at their best and Arrow-town the stand-out as the damp conditions made the tonings even richer. I would like to thank all participants as we had such a great time…. and I hope everyone came home with loads of beautiful images. I have not had time to process many of my images, but I have posted a few to give all an idea of the splendid images that we all saw and captured.

Four days of wonderful weather, breezes and magnificent cloud formations were just some of the subjects we chased during our workshop to Flinders Island. Seven participants thoroughly enjoyed the company of each other and the amazing locations we arrived at each day. My special thanks to Greg and Marg Dempster for the Van hire and lovely un-suite cabins which made our stay so comfortable. Once again my thanks to Ken and Caroline Stockton for the great food and scrumptious muffins, picnic lunches and outdoor Bar-b-que at Trouser’s Point. Thanks too, to the Interstate Hotel in Whitemark for those huge meals ( country fare at its enormous best) Our highlight, chasing startrails one night at Sawyer’s Bay with the only sound…. the gentle lapping of an incoming tide and the hoot of an owl that seemed quite interested in a mad bunch of photographer’s sitting in the dark at a picnic table while a continuous clicking sound of camera’s whirred away in the night!