Planning for the Year Ahead

Having a 'Clucking' Good Time this winter

Image taken with Nikon D300, with 18-200mm lens @ 200mm, ISO 400, 1/3200th, F9

In This Issue:-

Editorial
Photographers Diary
January Wildlife Diary

Well we are now in 2010 and what are we going to do this coming year. Is it a case of deciding to continue with what we didn't achieve last year, or to look forward setting new goals for the year ahead. Aimlessly going along with no real plan can sometimes mean that we do not achieve anything and probably miss a lot of photographic opportunities that could have been there for us. With a plan and some forward thinking we could have a great year not only with the list of photographs we now have, but also enjoying our time out and about meeting people with common interests and getting some great photos as well.

So do we stay at home or go abroad and widen our horizons taking in other cultures, sites and yes in most cases probably warmer weather and in some places guaranteed sunshine. Over the past few weeks though many will probably start to question if going abroad is the right direction, what with tighter security checks at airports, the threat potentially of more airlines going out of business and with the weather in many countries becoming more unpredictable are we always guaranteed good weather when we go abroad. Staying at home we are less likely to get tummy upsets, and other travelling experiences we could do with out.

Over the past couple of weeks we have ourselves been looking at what to do during this coming year. We looked at the potential of going abroad, but when we looked closer to home we found there are still many areas of this beautiful country that we have not visited. Our own country, the UK is steeped in history, has fantastic landscapes, we are completely surrounded by the sea and have great coastal views and structures and yet many of us have not seen the half of it. Yes the British are obsessed with the weather, you've only got to watch the news over the last couple of days with almost half of it being used up with reports on the snow and how some believe the country is coming to a standstill. But there are some at this time of year that go abroad to get the snow, to be able to ski etc, so why is it different when we are in our own country. There is no guarantee when you go abroad even to the hotter countries at this time of year, such as Australia, that you are going to have good hot weather, recently the east side has been terrorised by wild fires from over heating where as New South Wales has had so much rain, it has had floods that it hasn't seen for many years and people having to be evacuated from some areas. I suppose many will use the holiday abroad as a means of escape from their normal everyday life, but you can do this by just choosing to explore a different part of the UK from that you live in.

There is so much to do within the UK and so much to explore, at any time of year. Britain does not completely close for winter and there are many houses and attractions that are Open All Year. Recently we had a week in East Sussex and Kent and amongst other things went to visit and take pictures of every Windmill with Sails in these counties, we used our Windmill Section to identify those that we wanted to take. Okay it rained one day and going in the autumn meant the daylight hours were shorter but we had a great time. We explored not only the windmills, but looked at castles, roman sites, the Battle of Hastings site and abbey, and other museums. We haven't managed to write up our finds yet, but we can do that in the coming months and you can then see what you can get too.

During the summer we took two long weekends exploring Hadrian's Wall and all its attractions. The Romans were in Britain for a long period of our history, all around the UK there are many sites with remains, artefacts and discussions on how they impacted on a particular area of the country. Our Roman Section details many attractions around the UK that can be visited, explored and photographed. We are planning a major feature this year on Hadrians Wall having photographed much of it.

Another major feature we took on last year were the Castles of Wales. We took time out to both visit many of the castles in both North and South Wales and some of these are in the most fantastic locations. In North Wales you have the well known Caernarfon Castle which sits on the edge of the Menai Straits, but there is also the less well known Cricceth Castle which sits on a mound on the coast in a most fantastic location where you can get both the castle and seascapes. In fact the day we visited Cricceth there was a mist and the most haunting of images could be taken of the castle above the mist. In South Wales you also have many castles from the moated and impressive Caerphilly Castle to the fairy tale Castle Coch, just north of Cardiff. Now many say it's always raining in Wales, and of course like the rest of the UK it gets rain, but after living there for many years, some years back, I can tell you it doesn't rain all the time and there is some fantastic scenery to be had from impressive structures, coastal spots, waterfalls, and of course Mountains, whether you're in North, South, or Mid Wales there is always a gem of a photo to be had and for many of us it's not that far away, just merely overlooked. Our Castle Index page lists many of the Welsh Castles we visited, but also lists some in England, hopefully we'll complete the full English list this year with many more location guides.

In the current economic climate it may be that looking closer to home is the best option. There are many places close to each of us that we can visit and explore and probably overlook in our busy schedules. Many places in the UK are accessible within a day out from our homes, but if you want to explore an area that you haven't been to before there is an endless list of opportunities available and using our resource here will help you identify something whatever your interest. Don't forget to take a look at our Controlling Costs section to find out ways of Cutting the Cost of Getting your Photographs, looking at ways of getting about and getting into places economically and using local tourist passes.

Over the next few weeks we are planning to create ourselves a map of the UK and highlight those areas we haven't visited yet. Just thinking about it while I'm writing this I can think of many large areas of the UK we have yet to visit, as well as many areas of different parts of the UK we have already visited. Alongside our list of places we would like to visit and create location guides for this website over the coming year, we hope to put together a list of photo targets we want to achieve. This list will both include those places that will require staying away for either a weekend or longer period, as well as those that we can visit within a day from where we live. It is also possible that we will look at our sections to identify those that could do with expanding, or even those that we would like to start. So this exercise in planning what we want to photograph during this coming year will not only give us a list of items to aim for, but also will give us a direction on where this website will grow over the coming year.

Remember to check out this website for ideas on what to photograph and using the diary, wildlife and Section Index you should be able to come up with as varied a list of potential photo opportunities for your year ahead, and of course we will keep you up to date with what we are achieving here.

Photographic Feature

We were hoping to have a 3D feature for you this month, but we had been waiting for some products to arrive that we wanted to review and update you on. These did eventually arrive but only a day prior to publication and so we have not yet been able to complete this feature. We are completing this now and intend to have the full 3D feature with reviews, articles, example pictures, exercises and more available in the February issue, due out on the 1st of February.

The Photographers Diary

The February diary is now in the 'next month' slot with January moved to 'this month'. Both months have a lot of opportunities for everyone. Some highlights for January that are of particular interest are the various fire festivals in various parts of Scotland, such as the Up Helly Aa, Lerwick, Shetland on the 26th January. With the current snow falls we have all been experiencing, children have been out in local parks and hillsides sledging, on the 23rd January the Aviemore Sled Dog Rally takes place. For parades The Mall in London is the place to be on Sunday 31st January for the annual Kings Army Whitehall Parade along its streets. Remember to look through our January Diary for other events and activities taking place throughout the UK.

Up Helly Aa, Shetland

February also has it's own set of crazy or unusual events in the UK. For example Shrove Tuesday, celebrated as Pancake Day brings some village and town streets alive with many a Pancake Race or the Pancake Olympics in Littlehampton Sussex, we have some listed in our February diary page, but also search for 'Pancake Races 2010' in the search engine and you may find something local to you. Shrove Tuesday is also celebrated in some areas with football matches, such as that held in Ashbourne, Derbyshire or Skipping Festivals. Also February 14th this year has two celebrations, that of Valentines Day, but also it is the start of the Chinese New Year, with 2010 being the Year of the Tiger. Many Chinese communities across the UK will be celebrating during February such as in London, Liverpool and Birmingham.

Wildlife Photography In January

We have another article added to our series looking at what wildlife and nature highlights you can photograph in each month covering January. We are now in the full grip of winter and all our summer visitors have returned home, but there is still much wildlife and nature available to photograph for those who don't mind venturing out in the cold.

The frosts of the winter offer a picture postcard setting for great landscape shots, or shots of mystery and haunting with single trees stood in fields looking like something left over from the Christmas decorations. Severe frosts offer crystals or diamond effects on leaves and fallen twigs on the ground. Woodlands are magical with no leaves you can see the shapes and forms the branches make, and as the month goes on the annual carpets of snowdrops will start to appear from the woodland floor.

Visiting our Wetland Centres around the country you will see the largest numbers of the winter visitors such as swans and geese being thankful for us making the effort to supplement their food at this time. If you're brave enough to visit our coastlines, many estuaries will be full of Knot and Avocets feeding on the mudflats when the tide is out, and then as the tide marches back in they will form dancing flocks in the sky to find other areas slightly inland to wait up for the next low tide.

At the end of the month you can take part in the annual Big Garden Watch weekend and spend an hour trying to identify the many garden birds that visit your garden feeders, or in your local park. Our garden birds start to become more active looking for good nesting sites, calling out to mark their territories and of course coming into our gardens for their much needed winter top up feed.

There is still much to see and enjoy in our glorious countryside even at this time of year, so take a look at our January wildlife diary as well as our Wildlife Photography in January page.

Locations Guides Added This Issue

Beeston Castle, Taporley, Cheshire