Saturday 2 January 2016

2015 - My Photography Highlights

As usual, here's a summary of my photography highlights from the year.  2015 was the first year I haven't traveled overseas for many years, and with all sorts of other things happening to keep me occupied, photography has taken a back-seat.  The selection below hopefully shows that the UK has so much to offer, even for the time-poor!

Mammals

In April, a very obliging fox visited our garden, and seemed happy enough to strike a pose for the camera:

Fox


...a baby rabbit was seen on the top of our local hill...


Rabbit

...and a Fallow Deer was photographed nearby in Sussex


Fallow Deer


The Moon

Having missed out on the eclipse last year courtesy of cloud cover and with my new 500mm lens bought second-hand, I was keen to get a photo of the 'Super Blood Moon'.  It meant getting up at 02:30, but was worthwhile:


Super Blood Moon


As it happened, I went out the previous evening to see which settings would work best.  I managed to get a shot with a small aeroplane flying in front of the moon, which has come out quite nicely:


Moon and aeroplane

And whilst we're on the subject of night-time, here's a shot of Guildford Cathedral, with an obliging firework nearby:


Guildford Cathedral

XH558 Vulcan

2015 was the last year which the iconic Vulcan was allowed to fly, so I was keen to get a few shots of it.  I tried a couple of times whilst it was flying in the South (living near Dunsfold helped my chances!), and managed to get a shot to remember her by


XH558 Vulcan

Birds

Here are some of the highlights from birds I've been able to photograph this year.  A return visit to Gigrin Farm in Wales meant I could get a Red Kite photo I was happy with, plus towards the end of the year, two separate Barn Owl viewings were very special.  Elsewhere, an OK shot of a Great Grey Shrike was good, but still not in good light.  Finally, my local swans gave birth to NINE cygnets, so an early walk along the canal treated me to some special moments.  And then there was the Buzzard 'caught in the act'...


Red Kite
Barn Owl (very low light)


Great Grey Shrike

Swan with two cygnets
Buzzard


Instagram

I'm now on Instagram, and use it to showcase some of my favourite wildlife images from trips over the years.  You can follow me here.

Microstock

Finally, I earn a little income from a back-catalogue of stock images, which are for sale on various microstock websites.  Earnings are way-down again this year (£126.91), partly as I haven't uploaded any fresh images, but also a symptom of the changing industry dynamics.