We were fortunate with the weather when we took a short holiday break to Plymouth and St Mawes. August was a hit and miss month with the weather but we were fortunate on our visit. There was one glorious morning when the clouds made a dramatic backdrop to the sunrise. There were many good photographic opportunities that presented during the few days we were down there. Here are a selection with many more on Google+, The West Country photo album
Biking from home to Coughton Court for a photographic visit. Each time I visit this National Trust property, I always spot something new to see. The house is full of interesting rooms and the views from the Tower are wonderful. There are also recounts of the history of the Gunpowder plot. These pictures give a small insight to what I saw around the house and the beautiful gardens.
The canal system around Birmingham provides terrific photographic opportunities. If you have the combination of a nice day and the time to wander along the canal network with your camera then there are few places that can match the views that you can find. Here is an early Monday morning walk along the Canal Network. Thank you to the West Midlands Branch of the Canal and River Trust for their work in maintaining our canal network.
Situated at the University of Birmingham, Winterbourne House is well worth a visit. Here are a few pictures from my recent trip there with the family. Lots of colour in the summer and next time we will remember to take our picnic hamper with us.
I had great fun photographing the Dragon Boat Racing in Brindley Place Birmingham today. Lots to see and do. It was also possible to get close to the action allowing me to get some close up pictures. There were Romans, Star Wars, Egyptians and Disney Characters amongst the crews. There was even a capsize of a couple of boats but I missed that unfortunately as I was checking my pictures. Lesson learnt 🙂 It would also be good to get involved with it as well.
There are always people browsing your Flickr photographs and I was contacted by Dorling Kindersley, a London based publishing house.who are part of the Penguin Random House group. They informed me that they are creating a presentation entitled, Flora.
To illustrate the text on Leaf Skeleton, they wished to use the below image from my Flickr collection:
I agreed that DK may use the image. It is one image and I let it go forward for a PDF and an acknowledgement in the book. I was flattered that they wished to use the image but I don’t get any financial award 🙁 By letting them use the picture then they have my consent to use this image in all editions in all forms of Flora (including digital products based on Flora) in all languages throughout the world.
I can take some comfort from the accompanying text they sent me. DK is an award-winning global publisher of distinctive, highly visual products for adults and children. Founded in London in 1974, we are enormously proud to be the worlds leading illustrated reference publisher. Therefore I may not get financial compensation but a lot of people will get to see the image and it may lead to more recognition.
The changing nature of the weather is so fascinating. The colours at dawn and dusk can be amazing. During the day there may be storms, rainbows and even sunny weather that just has to be captured. I regularly post to the BBC Weather Watchers page as it is always fun to get your picture on the Television. The Weather watchers page will tag your photos with “Editors Picks” and then you will know thet the picture has been featured on the television. I was one of the first weather watchers to be selected as a feature of the pages and able to share my experiences of taking pictures of the weather. I also contribute to the Yahoo Weather Project for the mobile phone where your photographs are selected from the Flickr Group.
Dammo’s Weather Watchers Profile
IgersBirmingham is run by Fraser and Beth and they highlight pictures taken around Birmingham. They hold regular instameets and I have been fortunate to attend those that took place around Harborne, Soho House and Spaghetti Junction. They also have a feature on Instagram called PICTURE OF THE DAY and one picture is selected by the team. Last year three of my pictures were featured and these along with many many others were selected as picture of the day. In December, IgersBirmingham held a photographic exhibition which was a celebration of the Instameets and the pictures of the day. The exhibition was very successful and my images were part of a large projection of the photographs as part of the exhibition.
Well done to the IgersBirmingham team and I am proud to be part of their photographic movement.
This is a project that I did for a Lynne a friend from work. She wanted four pictures of bridges from around the world. These were to be printed out and displayed in her kitchen. Hope you recognise them as they are iconic bridges.
It is always a thrill to have your photographs published in the local paper and this is easier than you think. I discovered that the Birmingham Post and Mail have a Flickr Group and if you post your pictures into this group then you stand a chance of being selected for publication in the paper. Steve was the first journalist who ran the group and soon I found that my pictures were being regularly selected for the paper. The selection process is now run by Marcus who will leave a comment in your flickr page letting you know that your pictures have been selected. All good fun.
