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CORNWALL WILL IT GET ME BLOGGING AGAIN? Written June 2018 by Clive W Photography

It has been a while since I have got around to putting my thoughts down on this blog. I have not been out doing much photography recently, and as this is a photography blog have not had the material to work with. However I had a recent break spent in Cornwall which I was hoping was going to be enjoyable to say the least and at the same time let me do some photography when I had some time.

Not everything went to plan, as with all good holidays, we had to make some adjustments to our expectations as over the period both my wife and I came down ill with very chesty colds. This meant that neither of us felt like doing the walking we had planned and the walking to photo locations in Cornwall is hardly ever easy due to the coastal terrain. So not wanting to stay at our accommodation we chose locations where we could appreciate the scenery by not venture too far from the car.

Godfrey beach, a National Trust Site, is always a good choice, with large car park overlooking St Ives Bay, and the light house and seal beaches a few steps away.

We did keep returning to Sennen Cove as the harbour car park is right on the front and charges are very reasonable. In addition there is access to refreshments and fish and chips just along the front.

Another location to sit and enjoy views from a car is Cape Cornwall accessed through St Just. This is a National Trust Site so if you are a member parking is free.

Penzance harbour parking is another option. Looking at the harbour and observing the comings and goings of users especially early evening can be entertaining however parking charges do apply, in theory.

IT IS ALL ABOUT CONDITIONS AND........... by Clive W Photography

It is the second time the UK has been hit by the so called 'Beast from the East' with cold winds and snow being dragged in from Scandinavia and Russia. The snow started falling in this part of Berkshire on Saturday morning but it was not a substantial covering until the additional snow fell through Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Conditions - This time there was a consistent covering of snow and the minimal wind meant that most of the trees also had snow on the branches so photo opportunities were looking good.

Timing - The weather forecast on Saturday indicated that there was a chance of some sun breaking through in the afternoon on Sunday, but also the possibility of more heavy snow fall. This forecast changed Sunday morning advising the snow had past through to the West Country and there would be no more snow fall in this area.

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Location - I did not want to return to the canal my normal local photo location, this time I wanted to go somewhere different. However there is nothing within walking distance so this would require me going out in the car. If you listen to the advice given by the authorities when snow falls in the UK, it is essential journeys only. The local roads although not good were passable with care, and the added benefit it being a Sunday was that not many people were venturing out so there were less cars on the roads.

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So lets recap -

Conditions, timing and location were my three considerations for the day. I was not convinced the conditions would last beyond Sunday morning as it was getting windy and there was a slight thaw to be seen around the house. Although the forecast had shown a chance of brightness in the afternoon it may not come (it didn't) and by then there may be no snow on the trees.

The timing would be important, I could not wait for the afternoon, the snow had stopped falling so I decided to go out at around 10:30 to make use of the conditions I had.

Location was tricky, considering the weather conditions I did not want to travel too far. The cloudy skies did not suit open fields and panoramas, even if there was one in this area to tempt me. I chose to go to a local wood, with all the snow on the trees and the possibility of the snow clearing up the scenes and foregrounds meaning I may be able to find some simple shots.

So after pushing the snow off my car off I went, up to the local wood for a couple of hours of photography. To be fair there were not many compositions to be had, most were just too cluttered to provide good images. I came away with these pictures and my lungs full of fresh air, so not too bad a trip. It was then home to a log fire and a cup of coffee.

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AN EVENING IN LONDON by Clive W Photography

A Thursday evening trip to London, Holland Park to be precise, resulted in me walking for six miles (eight in total for the day) and taking a few photographs on the route. I had decided to accompany my wife on a visit to London, I would have an hour and a half to wander around and take my pictures while she saw to the reason we had travelled up. Luckily the weather was on my side; it was dry and relatively mild but due to timing of our visit the sun had all but set and Holland Park itself was about to close for the evening. Due to limited time available I decided not to travel far from our destination and try and find some night time architectural shots in the neighbourhood hence the six mile walk.

I have to admit finding pictures in built up areas is quite a challenging for me, I have an engineering background but capturing shape and form in pictures, well........ difficult to say the least.

It was some time until I found a possible picture, then came my next challenge I would have to deploy my tripod, it was already quite dark, and set up the pictures with people walking past and looking at what I am doing. I find it unsettling with reports stuck in my mind around photographers being moved on and asked questions when taking pictures in towns such as London. This does not usually happen in the countryside or on the beech. The first couple of shots I found are rushed and not very good but I carried on, nobody approached me, just some funny looks as people walked past or entered into the buildings.

I was in Royal Crescent when I land my first shot worth keeping, it is a long exposure 20 seconds to enable the addition of some light trails from a passing bus putting the aperture at f20 also give the star lights.

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It is not far from Royal Crescent to Shepherds Bush and the Westland Shopping Centre, so I found myself crossing over to look down onto Shepherds Bush Station and after a while managed to get a composition with a train moving out, keeping the shutter to 1/5 second was long enough to give the train some blur to show some movement.

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Just around the corner from here is the Westland Centre, it is not possible to take pictures in side the centre as it is private property but sitting outside I took this shot, showing some of the hustle and bustle around this area in the early evening.

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It was time I was heading back to meet up with my wife, I also needed a drink so headed back to where we agreed to meet and on the way grab a drink from a local supermarket. I always forget to pack a drink when I am going out, each time when I forget saying next time I will bring one with me, oh well next time.

If you want to see more of my photographs visit website clivewphotography.co.uk. Thank you.

THE BEAST FROM THE EAST by Clive W Photography

Well it has been a while since I've managed to blog, indeed I have not even been taking pictures but I have now got a replacement lens for the kit lens that was broken when I was in Lyme Regis during November, so a new toy to try out and the truth be told I do like a bit of snow. The beast from the east met up with storm Emma and created a bit of chaos across the UK, even in West Berkshire where I live, an area of the country that typically misses out on snow events when they hit the UK but this time it left us with a covering of snow and, fortunately for some, a couple of extra days off work the two combined inspired me to get out and try and take some photographs.

Ended up having two trips out, well by trips I mean walks, not wanting to add to the chaos already being experienced by road users. So I would have to head for my local photography spot, the lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal. I put on my hat and gloves picked up my camera equipment and ventured out with a brief hope of seeing sunset through breaks in the clouds, well the weather forecasters are not always right and there was a layer of snow right? Well they were right on this occasion no breaks in the cloud, the snow continued to fall making it difficult to keep the lens clear of snow spots, not helped by the gusting winds supplied by storm Emma. On the lookout for possible compositions for the following day I made my way home, surprised by how long I had been out and enjoying the walk.

There are a number of ponds, old gravel pits, that I pass going to and from the canal, most fenced off as they 'belong' to the local angling association and access is restricted to members only via gates and padlocks; that stop the likes of me getting to what look like some interesting compositions 😒. I continued to consider my options, while sitting in front of the fire, for the next mornings visit to the same location. The weather forcast at least did show a chance of seeing some sun at sun rise following additional snowfall overnight so who knows.......

One of the locked gates, not sure if this one is controlled by the angling association?

It was disappointing waking up to see that only a few extra centimetres of snow had fallen overnight but off I went heading to the lock on the canal, stopping at the gate again, nobody around do I climb over to see if the promise of a good composition could bear fruit in these conditions? Well I did not get any pictures there but I'm not admitting if I did go over to check 😁😁😁😁. What would you have done for the opportunity of a picture you did not know would be there?

The scenes at the lock were to give me a couple of opportunities to take some pictures, however the weather forecasts predictions of clearing sky's did not materialise and the slight breeze meant that there were no reflections on the water. The main advantage of the morning shoot was that as no snow was falling I did not get water drops on the lens when exposing the frames.

Kennet and Avon Canal lock number 89

Sometimes it is not about getting the great pictures, I still enjoyed my walks in the fresh snow, even it was not 20cm deep and conditions did not go my way, next time???🙄

One from beginning of November A MORNING WALK IN THE FOGGY WOODS. by Clive W Photography

So another weekend, fog was forecast and also clearing sky's so an ideal time to get up and look for some compositions in the woods nearby, in order to continue my photography journey, and also allow me to share that trip with yourself by overcoming my reluctance to Vlog right? Well in my excitement to get some pictures taken I started of by forgetting to take some video footage 😔 The fog however was changing the way the woods looked, making them feel very mysterious, with the visibility altering the depth of vision within the scene. Walking around finding a composition that will provide impact in a picture is not easy so venturing of the normal tracks as I follow likely pictures is the order of the morning.

After taking a few photographs, some of which looked quite good on the cameras screen, it occurs to me that I have not taken any video footage so I start, and manage a couple of clips, unedited version below.

Standing in the middle of the woods allow the you to stand still enough for the wildlife to start doing its thing, a couple of deers were having quite an 'argument' barking away to each other, however I only had to move a bit and they stopped. Unfortunately I did not get to see them but from the response when I tried to move towards the sounds, they were certainly 'seeing' me, probably wondering what I was doing in the middle of the woods in those conditions😁.

I managed to get a few more pictures of trees (see below) but none of any deer😞, not that I went out to photographs of deer.

The trip was soon over as the fog started to lift and the thought of a bacon and egg breakfast beckoned me home 🤗🤗

LYME REGIS, DAY 7, Friday by Clive W Photography

Today was another sunrise shoot, weather forecast clear skies, but hopefully not too clear as I need some interest in the sky to make a better shot. My problem again today was going to be the broken lens. Oh and how did I struggle I had a promising sky, although in a narrow band and the horizon to the east did not look too dense with cloud, the long lens 70 to 200 was just too long to capture the Cobb and they sky above so it had to be the 10 to 20 however this leads to a very dominant expanse of the Cobb but that is aĺl I had. Setting up the horizon just below the top third was the only option.

I think the pictures do not do the sunrise justice but there was only the narrow band of cloud which gently glowed red from one end spreading along its length until it was like a fireball this only lasted a few seconds as the sun rose beyond the horizon so did the glow move along the cloud until nothing. But then as the sun came above the horizon it started to give the cloud a golden underbelly so two shows in one morning, a very pleasing sunrise but not, I would say, the best and definitely not captured the best it could have been.

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A few shots from the Cobb later I was on my way back for breakfast with the better half.

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The rest of the day did not result in any more pictures but we did have coffee and lunch out followed by a walk along the cliffs to the west enjoying our last whole day spotting fossils along the foreshore befor heading into town to settle down for drinks and dinner in the local hotel bar in front of a open fire.

LYME REGIS, DAY 6, Thursday by Clive W Photography

A tail of no sunrise

Well after the rest day yesterday we promised ourselves to get up for sunrise there was hope in the forecast that we would have partial cloud with heavier stuff coming in soon after sunrise. Never fully trust the forecast, after the alarm clock went off we headed down to the Cobb at Lyme Regis to try and get the sunrising over the headland to Portland it was not promising it looked like the cloud had already set in.

Sure enough the clouds looked stormy and although there was a slight glimmer of the sun breaking through on the horizon it never did. What we did have was a another very calm day as were the previous five days we have had here at Lyme Regis , the sea was all but a mill pond.

I did take some photographs from the Cobb but I prefer the pictures I took a bit after sunrise as we made our way back along the front heading back for a breakfast coffee. These pictures were very minimal and a bit abstract which makes very moody pictures. But best of all we were out by ourselves most of the time enjoying the peace and tranquillity that you get when you are up as daybreak begins. What was even better the clouds did break up which ended up as another lovely day in Lyme Regis.

Failing to find out expected breakfast cafe open, we were half hour too early we disappointingly returned to the pad and made our own, which turned out to be very good, bacon, brie and cranberry panini.😁 Followed by some downloading and editing of some of the shots taken recently.

Making use of the afternoon sunshine another trip to the beach was decided as the best option and also if we got out after a quick lunch the tide would be out far enough to do some more fossil hunting along the foreshore as well as take some fresh photos if the scene showed itself. Plenty of fossils were spotted but photography wise I did not have much joy. The sun was causing a lot of glare even with a polarizing filter I was not happy with the results. In addition I checked the lens that was dropped the other day and unfortunately cannot focus on any mid range objects confirming the lens is no longer usable I now hove nothing between 20 and 70mm focal length. My problem now being that this broken lens was my mid range, so probably most used lensin my bag. Although it was the kit lens brought with my Canon 7D I do not have anything to replace it with, maybe father Christmas will sort me out. NB Father Christmas I would like a upgrade on my busted one ☺.

As we missed our morning coffee out it was decided after our walk afternoon tea was called for, so off we went to find a cafe. At this point we also remembered that we had not put the diner on for tonight so decided fish and chips was going to be on the menu. Finding an open fish and chip shop at five o'clock turned out to be beyond us on a November afternoon😯 so it ended up with us cooking chips and buying a pasty to eat with it from the Cornwall Bakery, in Dorset it is indeed a hard life.

LYME REGIS, DAY 5, Wednesday by Clive W Photography

Another cloudy start today which did not give me much enthusiasm, the plan being to walk along to the west of the Cobb taking photographs, looking for fossils and just chilling out, similar to yesterday. The day started as per any of the previous days but from there it went down hill, both of us were very comfortable just relaxing, so it ended up with coffee and biscuits in the pad, this then turned into lunch then dinner.

Having been very lazy all day we decided a walk out was in order and we also needed a few supplies we therefore walked into town in the evening and did the chores. We continued right down through town to the beach to have a look to see and try to identify the various light spots along the coast, a bit of a discussion ensued around Portland Bill and its lighthouse and if we could see the light tonight?

No Photography today but planning on being up in the morning to get a possible sunrise before thicker clouds come in, if the forecast is correct??

 

LYME REGIS, DAY 4, Tuesday by Clive W Photography

Weather forecast for this morning was cloudy so not promising for a sunrise however I did get up to have a look out of the window, we can see the bay and cliffs to the east from the pad bedroom window, and sure enough it was very cloudy so no way we were going to get a sunrise shot. We had planed of cause to get up and go take pictures but decided to roll over and get another hour in bed. Our morning routine continued, had some breakfast a bit of a chill out then a walk into the town for coffee and cake, we are trying to go to a different coffee shop each day. todays lady who came to collect our order talked us into having cream teas as the scones had just come out of the oven, who could resist?

The tide was coming in but the plan for today was to go for a beach walk under the cliffs to the east I would do some detail photography as the skies were not playing ball and providing interest, the picture were close up, long exposures of the rocks and sea.

As  we walked along you just have to look out for fossils, think this is part of a large Ammonite?

Old fossil

After the walk it was time for a much needed cup of tea and of cause a tea cake to keep hunger at bay before dinner. There was to be no sunset tonight but managed to get some pictures from town and out over the cobb.

As dusk descended it was time to return to the pad to light the fire and have a delicious  curry for dinner and then to finish of the evening editing the photographs.

LYME REGIS, DAY 3 Monday by Clive W Photography

Weather forecast for this morning was partial cloud however I did not get up, after a long day 2 I felt like sleeping in therefore no sunrise shots, looking out the window when I did get up there was minimal cloud early on so told myself any photos involving the sky would not have interest so was happy with that decision. Mornings have a familiar routine if I do not get out for sunrise, leisurely breakfast and chilling before we wander into town for coffee and a snack, that was followed by a look around shops, now this break was for both myself and the wife so enjoyed spending some time with her :-)

After a spot of lunch we had decided to pop into Seaton as a certain item was left of the packing list which need a visit to a larger shop than those in Lyme Regis.

We returned in time for me to pick up the photography equipment and head out for the evening sunset - I settled for a spot to the east of the town shooting along the wall and town promenade to the Cobb, can someone advise the difference between a Cobb and a harbour wall?

The picture went from this

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To this within a few minutes

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The light changes so quickly, but in my rush to change position between these shots I left a zip open on my camera bag resulting in my kit lens falling onto the floor. it had a filter ring attached, which came out buckled. I did manage to screw the ring off but may have damaged the thread, as to the state of the lens I will find out next time I attempt to use it :-(

When the sun was fully down I wandered around and managed to find a subject which I took with a long exposure.

Lyme Regis Dog legg

It was then becoming too dark so it was back to base for dinner which went down a treat.

The clouds had rolled in so the overcast skies, meant night in eating, drinking and editing the photos taken to publish to social media.

LYME REGIS, DAY 2 by Clive W Photography

It was a clear start to day 2, but not really knowing where to shoot any pictures from so I decided not to get up for dawn, the sky was clear so not very photogenic anyway. The decision was to further explore Lyme Regis and have a walk around town, so a leisurely breakfast and a bit of relaxation it was time to go into town and find that important shop, somewhere to have coffee and a snack. being a Sunday not everywhere was open but enough to keep us occupied until returning to the pad for lunch.

The afternoon meant it was time for Photography I wanted to take a picture of the Cobb, there were a lot of people about but using long exposure managed to get some photos.

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It was then back to the pad to complete the roast dinner, chill out and eat. the forecast for the evening was clear skies, now the UK have very light polluted skies and only previously managed to see the milky way years ago when I was in the middle of nowhere on a very dark night. This evening was a new moon so dark as I was going to get, carrying compass I knew the direction the milky way should be found so set out to find a location on the foreshore to do some Astro Photography.

The back of the camera did not look too promising but when I got the pictures downloaded and watched a number of processing videos on YouTube I painstakingly went about editing some of the more promising shots - I have included this one for now but will be working on the others so may be improved. I will post any new ones on my website clivewphotography.co.uk or my Facebook or Instagram feeds - or search for clivewphotography

Lyme Regis astro

LYME REGIS, BY THE SEA by Clive W Photography

Have booked an apartment for a break by the sea, visiting Lyme Regis in Dorset. Booked for a holiday / break before the Christmas rush and also hopefully to do some photography. First day travelling, weather was changeable, sunshine and showers with promises of better to come so I had my fingers crossed. Arriving in good time we had a drive through of Lyme Regis, identifying where we needed to pick up the keys for our accommodation then driving out to a farm shop we had identified on the internet to pick up some fresh local supplies to keep us going.

It is surprising how quick my other half starts finding additional items to purchase other than food when we enter a shop, but hey, we are on holiday so go with the flow😁.

The car park for the farm shop overlooks the sea so could not resist taking a picture when we were greeted by the sun coming out while we sat in the car drinking a cup of tea. I had to use my phone as my camera was buried in the boot of the car with all the other 'necessities' we had brought with us😉.

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Once stocked up we picked up the keys for our pad for the duration and 'moved in'. SO initial feelings were this will be very comfortable, having a open fire for those cold dark evenings. Once settled it was time to get our bearings and look for a nice fish and chip shop in order to purchase our dinner, had not planned to cook the first night. Dusk drew in we decided on a drink (Dorset Gold Ale) and a packet of peanuts and crisps to finish our tour before heading for the chip shop and back to the lodgings to eat, it was too warm to light the fire on this occasion but that will come, near freezing temperatures forecast for day 2.

 

Finding time! by Clive W Photography

Don't know about you but I find it difficult to find the time to get out there and do the photography I love. Am I lazy or demotivated or is there just too much going on? Surprisingly I have managed to get out at the weekends taking pictures, even if once was walking around town (Newbury) having arrived early for a meet up and not having my camera so using a cell phone I have taken pictures and enjoyed doing it, thanks to my wife for hanging around waiting while I was sorting myself out.

However none of those weekend outings, not classifying them as trips as they were within a couple of miles of home, were undertaken at sunset or sunrise and were not very productive in terms of pictures I was happy with.

Motivation - def - a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.

Lazy - def - unwilling to work or use energy.

Actually inspiration is what I am looking for. I watch vlogs and feel inspired but then realise these locations are not around where I live, not having high peaks, tumbling waterfalls or long sandy beaches close by, well at least somewhere I can get to within a small window I am free. Now don't get me wrong I live in a beautiful part of the country, but finding compositions for photographs is challenging so that should stretch my photography further right? Yes it does but again it comes down to that word that we don't get enough of 'time'.

Finding a window to scout out compositions is not easy, I just want to take pictures so it is all a balance. I know I should go out without my kit and look and consider the landscape finding those elusive compositions and going back when conditions are right. But hey why not just go for it and take pictures as you go? I think it does work for me specially when I only have the odd hour to spend, especially now we are into the short daylight hours of winter.

So to answer my question, time is precious, whatever we have to fill it up with we could enjoy and in our spare time that is especially true as it is ours after all right? I will therefore continue to get out when I can to do whatever photography I can and share some of those pictures with you, here on my website, on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter 😁😁

Oh yes and here is one from and outing to the wood on a foggy morning this week.

Keep an eye open for more of my photography journey as I have a small break planned soon and will be taking the camera with me.

DO YOU VLOG AS WELL AS BLOG? by Clive W Photography

As I sit here writing this blog, well actually when I sat down to write a blog, it went through my mind do I need to both vlog and blog as part of my web presence or could I get away with doing one? Not wanting to stand in front of a camera has always made blogging the easier of the two in some ways, but getting ideas and thoughts written down doesn't come easy either. Bogging

The writing of blogs eats up time I say to myself, but it can be quite relaxing typing away if of cause, I can put into words what is in my head, if anything.

If interative, i.e. feedback if received then bloging, I can imagine could get very rewarding for both, or more parties as long as it remains positive. This is based on what I intend to do which is but my ideas down, no political statements and photography centric, and we all know not one way is right, that is part of the creative process of photography so why would you criticise?

Blogging also has the advantage if you can not get out, as in my case last week, you can still interact with you audiance simply but putting a thought down.

Vlogging

The filming of vlogs puts the added dimension of vision into the mix you can show what you can see, show what you are doing through the medium itself not having to describe everything. It does also raise your profile if you film yourself infrontof the camera making the interaction more personal?

However vlogging does take planning to produce entertaining content, unless you are a natural. The filming also can take time when you are trying to also take pictures especially when you have a beautiful scene and do not want to miss it. The few attempts I have had so far have resulted in patchy content where I have forgotten to film certain aspects of the shoot so when I put it together it does not make sense.

Appeal

In today's world media of all types is king, I believe there is still a place for the written text as well as the documentary video each one may draw a slightly different audience but if like me you want to share what you do, in my case landscape photography you can appeal to a larger audience if you do both. I need to work harder on the vlogging side overcome my reluctance to film myself and just keep at it.

HAPPY PHOTOGRAPHY!!!

A Very Non Photographic Weekend. by Clive W Photography

Yes, the man flu has well and truly hit home this weekend,  no or very little sleep coughing and sputtering so was not able to get out and take some fresh photos. Some would say that no matter what you should pick up the camera and take pictures but here I am sitting by an open door looking at a very grey sky here in the UK thinking ????? No not me, guess I am still feeling sorry for myself. My photography is what I do when I have completed the jobs around the house done the shopping and am not working, I would really like to do it more often but life does not allow and unfortunately illness can sometimes get in the way, luckily for me this cold should pass in a couple of days so I can start taking those opportunities again. I will at this stage of the blogg just put a thought down here, most of us are healthy can get out there and enjoy the scenes that are out there in this world to varying degrees , the taking of pictures and sharing them can help everyone appreciate the beauty of the world we live in. For me the looking at pictures from the more extreme locations gives me a buzz as I get older as these opportunities are more difficult to achieve but do still give me a window into those locations. My point being if we all share our images everyone can at least get to see these areas and appreciate the world more.

Plan for the week ahead, hoping to blogg mid week, with the nights drawing in I struggle to get the time to do landscape photography but as my mid week ramblings have been how and why I am doing this the post will be along similar lines with a photo shoot blog at the weekend if things do not get in the way 😁

Speak to you soon, bye.

Social Media and Your Web Presence by Clive W Photography

First off bad week this week come down with a cold (man flu) so not felt like doing much, been some awesome skies this week, but not had the will power to get out there also being at work does not help but been editing more of the pictures taken during the sunrise shoot at the weekend. _MG_9901-Edit-2

My initial edits were put up on my social media sites, so why did I do this after the photography shoots, well if you read my bio my main reason for setting up a web site and my social media pages was to share the pictures I take with a wider audience. So to increase that audience of my pictures I need to post across a range of media sharing sites. I chose Facebook, Instagram and twitter but the choice is yours, I may choose to increase or change the ones I use to spread the word or in my case my pictures further depending on the hit  rates I have. I have also set up a YouTube channel with the intention of recording my photography trips, sharing my views and knowledge of the areas I am in and passing on advice and tips that I have or indeed have picked up by following other peoples media channels.

I don't know about you but I hate having my picture taken and standing pointing a camera at myself currently does not appeal to me so I have started off with a point of view POV approach to my video making, not sure if this is going to work but it is what I am more comfortable with at present. There is the added challenge of finding a suitable video editing "app" to use for the editing process, I may cover this in a later blog.

You may hear that the continued updating of you online presence is very important in maintaining a following, as I am just starting off I can not advise from a producer point of view, I currently have a small following, but I know from a consumer of content I can easily forget channels when you see little action in terms of content. This was why when I was not getting out taking new pictures I started sharing pictures taken in the past, to maintain that interest in my work. A refresh or adding of photographs to your web site will also do the same if people are interested in what you produce they do want to see that evolution else why come back?

Just to let you know maintaining that ever changing presence is not always a speedy thing to do, it takes time, so I would advise not to overstretch yourself if you are going to take the steps to an online presence chose sites that best suit your content, look at those already out there, what do they do? keep following and learn from them but also evolve into the producer you want to be so, as is my dream, people will start looking to you to lead.

My final statement on this post is I admire the daily posters,  those who post regularly and the ones in between as it takes determination and belief to be able to keep going. I applaud you and hope I can join you as a regular provider of content that is followed by many and most of all entertains those that look.

 

Mist at Sunrise by Clive W Photography

Got up this morning but at first it did not appear to be very promising, cloudy overhead but to the east were signs of clear sky's, but where to go? Everyone says planning is essential so fell at the first hurdle, decided to try a wood just to the north by Hermitage. As I drove up the hill things started to get more promising, there was mist in the area. Heading towards a known parking area only to find it had been taken over by the landowners as a temporary log store as they were logging in the area. It was by now approaching sun rise so made a decision to carry on to find another area the next turning brought me to the scene that I ended up taking pictures. I was looking down onto misty fields with two trees taking my eye, there was also a number of horses in the mist that could add to the pictures if they were in the right area. Between me and the field was an area of recently planted trees which I had to try and shoot over or through as there was some dense undergrowth that I could not get through. In my haste to get the camera out to photograph the scene I was only wearing shoes, the wellies were nice and dry in the car.

Finding the location to take some shots I set up and started taking photographs what do you think is best with or without the horses? My only worry was the the sunrise was more to the left so was not getting much colour in the sky, there was no clouds to speak of so it is only the glow around the rising sun that can be seen to the left of the frames. Moving location to try and enhance the sky proved pointles as I had to go down a dip and lost sight of the trees, but there was a lot more horses in the field than I had first seen and they came over to see what the mad photographer was doing scrambling around outside their field, with the looks I was getting and the colour fading in the sky decided to call it a day and head home for a cup of coffee and some breakfast.

Picture when the horses arrived -

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Picture before horses arrived on the scene -

Setting up a website by Clive W Photography

Thought I would start by describing the process I went through to put my presence online. Stage 1 Do you want to pay or have a free website? I believe that if you have no intention of starting to sell your 'products' the best option would be a free site. If your aspirations are to one day sell you should find a provider that will allow you to upgrade the functionality of your site to meet those aspirations. A base hosted site with no selling functions are rearly quite reasonable prices.

You do not need to be a website designer or have programming skills you can select and customise templates provided by the hosting companies, many have a wide selection of templates to choose from but the templates do have differing functions so go through and check layouts etc. to confirm the template will suit your needs.

I would suggest you play around with the templates before committing to the final one. However I am still changing mine as l learn about the capabilities of the site and what looks good and suits your products. One consideration is branding if you chop and change the look entirely you may deter people coming back, but changes to content can work in your favour as people are more likely to return if there are new things to see.

Branding also brings be on to the domain name of your site, a domain reflecting your brand will be a more professional window on you products. You can purchase domain names at a very reasonable price if that are not already in use. Just be aware a .com domain will probably be more expensive than the .co.uk equivalent.

With these two items, a website and a domain you will be able to put your product out the for the world to see reflecting your pride and belief in what you are, essentially marketing.