A Moment Captured! A Memory Forever!

A Moment Captured! A Memory Forever!

I have photographs on my website taken in places as far away as Iceland and Venice! Never did I expect that my most popular picture would be one I shot no more than a few miles from my own front door!

‘Lean on Me’ has been my best seller for several years now, I’ve sold prints of it across the world!

It’s extremely cute, even if I do say so myself, and means different things to different people.

It continues to be popular around Mother and Father’s Day, representing the love between parent and child and has also been bought as a gift or greetings card offering support!

During the pandemic it was included in the launch of my motivational, quoted prints selection and continues to be available to buy as a quoted A4 print and quoted greetings card as well as being available without the quote as a print, card, coaster, mug, and lots more.

The photo to me was 100% meant to be…..

I was driving home one day and from my van window I spotted the Highland cows in the field. I had my camera with me, so I pulled over and got out to take a closer look.

The weather was decent, and the cows were feeding, I watched them for about 10 to 15 minutes fascinated by these beautiful creatures. The mum or dad, I’m not sure of the sex, leant down to feed on the hay and then all of a sudden, the little head appeared, I’ll never forget it and I feel really lucky to have caught it on camera!

About 2 minutes later I managed to capture, ‘The Wee Man Highland Cow and Calf’, although again with not being sure of the sex, maybe I need to rename this one ‘The Wee Man or Woman Highland Cow and Calf’!

The eye contact I had with the little one when taking both pictures was perfect, I couldn’t be happier with the finished product!

I took about 250 pictures at that field on that day, this hopefully gives you some idea of what’s involved in capturing that perfect second! A memory that will stay in my head forever!

Muddy, Injured and Trapped!

Muddy, Injured and Trapped!

For months I had been looking forward to visiting this private woodland area to take photographs of the bluebells and on Thursday 27th May I finally got the chance to go.

To catch the golden hour light, I arrived around 6pm. I pulled up in the van, grabbed my kit and headed through the gates across the field towards the flowers.

It was so muddy due to all the rain we had over the previous weeks, I had to watch my step. One minute I was very carefully making my way down a slope and the next minute, ‘CRASH’, I was flat on my back with my camera bag underneath me and my camera and tripod on top of my chest! It bloody hurt!

I gradually got myself to my feet, covered in mud and a little shell-shocked but being the trooper I am I carried on towards the bluebells.

As always, I explored the area and had a look around to find the best position before I took the photos and video as planned.

Once I’d finished, I headed back, by this time I was starting to feel achy and sore and was looking forward to getting home and cleaning myself up. As I went to drive out of the car park, I realised the gate was locked and I was stuck! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! Eventually after several phone calls, the gate was unlocked, and I was free to leave!!!

My point to this story is that there is so much more to being a photographer than you realise! You just see the finished product!

2 weeks on and I still haven’t fully recovered.

Just another day in the life of a photographer! I love it really!

Surrounded, St Mary’s Island, Whitley Bay

Surrounded, St Mary’s Island, Whitley Bay

The Picture, The Story!

My thought here was to capture the Lighthouse from the other side, I was aiming for something different.

As I walked past the Lighthouse and got to the rocks, I spotted an inlet and instantly thought that it would be a great leading line for the photograph.

To get to exactly where I wanted to be I had to step across a ravine, luckily, I was wearing my wellies and the fact that I’m well over 6ft tall was a big advantage! Safety first though, I could see the tide going out, so I knew I was ok.

I positioned myself at the edge of the sea, one step backwards and I would have been in it!

As I set up the shot, I wanted to slow down the movement of the water to lead you into the Lighthouse. The sun was setting, and the sky and water colours were very similar.

I managed to capture exactly what I wanted. If you look really closely to the right of the white house, just down from the wall you can even see a seal trapped on the rocks, which I didn’t see myself until I processed the picture.

This is one of my favourites!

Rainbow’s End, Seaton Sluice.

Rainbow’s End, Seaton Sluice.

The Picture, The Story!

It was the 1st of January 2018, the first light of a new year. I made my way to Old Hartley, North Tyneside to get some shots of the sunrise looking towards St Mary’s Island. When I got there however, something didn’t quite seem right, I wasn’t where I needed to be. Photographers intuition maybe!!!

As I looked around, I could see dark skies heading out towards the sea, I knew they would drift across behind the hill in the Harbour at Seaton Sluice and that the sun would rise and light up the scene. Perfect for the picture! I made the decision to head along there. It was the right decision!

To capture the dark sky like this, was fantastic, the double rainbow was a huge bonus! Due to my M.E. my memory isn’t the best, but I remember this like it was yesterday and think I always will.

I wasn’t going to mention the fact, that as I was leaving, the skies opened and to say I got drenched is an understatement.

All part of the job though and I wouldn’t have it any other way!