2017 - My Photography Highlights

For various reasons, 2017 was a year with minimal travel and holidays, so any photographic opportunities were never far from home, in Guildford, Surrey.  In fact, one of my most satisfying moments, was capturing lightning for the first time, taken from my house.  A few of the shots were picked-up in some of the online editions of UK newspapers, earning me a somewhat underwhelming £20 in commission!

Lightning Storm over Guildford, July 2017

Guildford Cathedral

My primary focus has always been on wildlife, and with minimal time on my hands, birds took a front seat this year.

Wildlife

Various interesting birds made appearances (clear highlight being the Red Footed Falcon), alongside some common species.  Here are some of my highlights:

Cuckoo, Thursley, April 2017

Kestrel, Titchfield Haven, May 2017

Buzzard, Guildford, August 2017

Redstart, Thursley, April 2017

Hawfinches, Dick Focks Pond, December 2017

Blue Tit, not looking its best, June 2017

Juv. Blue Tit, July 2017

Avocet, Titchfield Haven, May 2017

Red Footed Falcon, Frensham Common, June 2017

Little Egret, October 2017

Garganey, Shalford, March 2017

 

Peregrine Falcon, with prey, November 2017

Fallow Deer Rutting, Petworth Park, October 2017

Best of the Rest

Red Arrows, Wings and Wheels, Dunsfold, August 2017

2014 - My photography highlights

2014 has been another year where photography has had to take a bit of a back seat for me, for various reasons.  However, there have still been some incredible highlights, including going on a trip of a lifetime, which is where this blog starts.

[Photographs and videos are best enjoyed full screen]
Himalayas

In February, I was lucky enough to go on a expedition to the Himalayas to try to photograph the elusive snow leopard.  It involved camping at altitude with a night-time temperature of -30 degrees Celsius, so not a trip to be taken lightly.

Camping in the Hemis High Altitude National Park

 


There's more details on my original blog post, and here's a short video with the highlights, including, if you look very closely, a mother snow leopard, with her two sub-adult cubs.

Lake District

In April, I went to the Lake District, and had some luck with some nocturnal wildlife, as it were.

Badger

Fox

London Marathon

 

Fly-Mo

Istanbul

In July, Istanbul beckoned for a long weekend.  I could not recommend it more highly as a city break, with so much to see within a compact area, and an easy-to-use tram service.

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Istanbul Old City, Sultanahmet

Iceland

In October, a trip to Iceland was coupled with some extremely challenging weather conditions - 120mph winds meaning one day was a complete write-off.  I'd wanted (again!) to photograph the Northern Lights, but cloud cover/rain meant this was very difficult.  In one brief opportunity, we managed to get out into the darkness (and cold!) to get some shots, albeit they aren't great!

Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, Iceland

Gullfoss, Iceland

Deer rut

The Red Deer rut is very popular with photographers, so I thought I'd check out some fallow deer instead.  This video shows some males preparing for the rut - well worth watching with sound!

Fallow Deer rutting

Birdlife in the UK

In January, the year started nicely with a sighting of a Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) in Surrey - an infrequent visitor to the UK.  They have incredible plumage in the right light.  Apparently.

Glossy Ibis

 The following week, I tried to get a photograph of birds landing on my feeders, but need to work a lot harder to get a decent shot:

An 'artistic' (i.e. technically poor!) shot of a Blue Tit

...and in February, I got a nice shot of a Nuthatch in the garden too:

Nuthatch

More recently, Redwings have returned, so it was good to get a shot of one of them eating a berry whole:

Redwing

Stock photography

Finally, my year of stock photography has yet again suffered from an almost complete lack of uploading new images.  Some of the old favourites still paid-out though, and continuing a trend of the last few years, Shutterstock is easily my most successful site:

My most popular images for sale at Shutterstock:

Finally, following my footage of flooding on Christmas Eve 2013 in Guildford which was shown on BBC London news, I was paid for the footage to be used in a Channel 4 documentary, "The Storm that Stole Christmas", which aired around April time.