I almost got speared by a bull for this. The night wasn’t going too well.. I had forgotten my tripod head, making the heavy tripod legs I had been carrying around completely useless. I searched my bag over and over, I even walked back to the van just in case I had taken it out for some mad reason. I hadn’t taken it out, it wasn’t there, I had left it at home. This was particularly frustrating as the conditions were perfect! I sat and stared at my bag not knowing what to do, perhaps I should drive home, get the tripod head and catch the last of the milky way just before light? Maybe it is in my bag and I just missed it the first ten times I looked? Should I just give up and crawl into bed? I could get a fresh start at sunrise and make the most of tomorrow. No, I thought, I’m going to try to capture something. I headed back out with a wimpy gorilla pod in my hands, a feeble device that would surely not hold the weight of my camera and wide angle lens. I walked back to the field, making my way further in, until the milky way was lined up with the lighthouse. To my surprise I found that I could actually balance my camera on the hedge and the composition wasn’t all too horrible! It wasn’t good, but at least it was level and I had the main elements of the image in the frame. I busily locked in my settings, found focus, checked the focus, and took an exposure. The back of the camera exploded into colour and detail, the milky way looked glorious. I started to think that my persistence may actually pay off. Just as I was marvelling at the results of my haphazard set up I heard something, a loud grunt a few feet behind me. It was dark, I had no idea what the hell it could be. I jumped up onto the hedge and turned around. Shining my headtorch I saw two big red eyes, with enormous horns emerging from either side. It was a bull, a big bull standing there staring right at me. He was grunting and snorting, and was clearly not pleased that I was in his field. He started to walk slowly past, my camera and lenses down there with him.. (maddeningly, there is no resolution to this story, because Jenkin ran out of characters!)

This is the day my camera died… We decided to head up to the fields nice and early, giving us time to explore the area. The weather was glorious, blistering hot with barely any wind. We walked the paths around the fields, admiring the flowers and watching the bees buzz. It’s an incredibly beautiful area and the poppies were in full swing. The conditions were perfect!🌞. I found a composition that I was happy with and waited for the scene to change. Soft warm light was hitting the poppies, and the clouds were looking excellent for sunset. We still had plenty of time, just waiting for the colour in the clouds to come. We watched as lots of other photographers came and went, the light starting to fade on the poppies and the temperature beginning to drop. I could see that the clouds were close to catching with colour, so I flicked off a test shot to check my exposure, the camera clicked and when I reviewed the image I noticed a strange band of light across my frame.. Immediately I knew something was wrong. The live view showed a black band from top to bottom. And I knew it, my shutter had failed.. My heart sank, my camera was dead, with a shutter count of just 78k. That sunset was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, the colour was rich and intense, spanning the whole sky, I’m sure a lot of you experienced it last Sunday. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture any of the colour, so here’s an image from slightly earlier in the day. I think it’s probably better without an awesome sky anyway…

Something truly incredible happened on a recent night photography shoot with @stucornell. We arrived at the location early and as we walked along the coast path we spotted these strange green lights dotted around. We couldn’t quite believe it, and under further inspection we saw that the green lights were in fact glowworms! I was so excited, it’s one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had, something pretty rare in this part of the world. We spent half of the shoot trying to capture the glowworms and the stars together, after an hour or so they burrowed down out of sight. Just before this one turned in for the night I got this image.

Porth Chapel is one of my all time favourite beaches, I’ve spent a lot of time here, but never spent the night until now. It was absolutely beautiful, completely dark, just the light from the stars. The waves were crashing below and I had to constantly wipe sea spray from my lens.

I almost didn’t take this image. I spent most of the evening driving around looking for somewhere that I had once been when I was a child. I was so frustrated by the fact that I didn’t find it that I almost gave up, almost to return home with an empty card.. I decided to push on, and at the very least get out of the car and walk off my frustration. I arrived at an old favourite location of mine and was greeted by rolling sea mist and not another soul in sight. It was absolutely breathtaking, I felt so isolated, completely alone in the elements. Much of the coast was obscured, but through the mist I could see the location I had initially been searching for! Just the next cove along.. It was too late to go there this time, but next time I know exactly where it is!

Early mornings are an acquired love for me, but always worth it. I have to work hard to keep it up, as I tend to slip back into my old night owl habits. There is just something amazing about watching the sun break over the horizon and illuminate the landscape with warm beautiful light. Everything looks magical at sunrise and It definitely feels more special to me than a sunset does.  This morning at Corfe Castle was exceptionally beautiful, with only a few hours sleep we marched up the hill and watched as the sun rose, and the last of the mist disappeared.