It wasn’t so long ago now, but it seems like an eternity away when we visited the Lake District for the second time this year. We were very fortunate with the weather and had a wonderful two weeks of hill walking. It was challenging, but also immensely satisfying and despite eating well, I still managed to work my belt down a few notches!

Some of the fells we climbed this time around included:

Skiddaw 931 metres (3,054 ft) – after several failed attempts due to bad weather on our previous visit, we finally managed to reach the summit.  Perhaps, it was because …more

In March, the Mrs and I went to the Lake District for a week-long break, staying in cottage in Bassenthwaite just outside of Keswick. It was a much quieter visit than some of our previous due to the extended snap of cold weather and with it being in the school term.  Unfortunately, the weather at times was just too much and it either prevented me from getting my camera out of my rucksack or it forced us to cut our walks short and head back to shelter.

Amongst our plans was a trek to the Skiddaw summit and another to …more

A few weeks ago, at the tail end of October, the missus and I spent a weekend photo-trekking up in the Lake District.  Having had a taste of hill walking from our previous visits, we decided we would step it up a gear and tackle some bigger walks than our last visit up Cat Bells (or is it Catbells?)

To make the most of the fantastic weather we were having this weekend, I revisited West Kirby Marine Lake with a photographer friend of mine.

There wasn’t as much activity on the lake as I’d seen on previous visits, but the conditions made it ideal for capturing some waterscapes with this being my favourite:

This image is actually a composite of 3 separate long exposures blended together using HDR techniques.  Personally, I think this composite represents what I saw more accurately than any of the single exposures.

There was another shots I was trying to get and it involved this boat:

As …more

A question that I often see being asked in photography forums is

What’s a good walkabout lens for my xxxD?

Rather than it being a reference to lenses with legs, a walkabout lens is one with which you might take out on a day of walking whether it be to a park, to the shops or to your friends barbeque. The requirement being that because you don’t know what type of subject you’re going to come across you take a lens that can cover most general situations rather than lugging about a heavy bag filled with lenses.

Prime lenses don’t fall into …more

On Saturday, a group of us took a trip up to Buttermere, a stretch of water in the north-west of The Lake District. As we arrived at Saturday lunchtime and the weather was looking a bit gloomy, we stopped for lunch at The Fish Hotel before setting off for a leisurely walk around the lake.

The clouds started to break as we started walking which provided ideal conditions for some landscape photos as patches of sun were rolling over the surrounding mountains. The very bright sky presented a problem in so much it made getting a suitable exposure to preserve …more

… Or you’ve just dropped it 200-feet during an aerial shoot. What are you going to do?

With typical SLR photography equipment costing hundreds and even thousands of pounds, any loss or damage could be rather expensive to rectify.

It’s possible that a household contents or travel insurance policy would cover any damage or loss, but it’s worth checking what restrictions are in place e.g.

If you’re covered for everywhere you’re likely to go – you may not be covered whilst you’re traveling or for the complete length of your trip.
If you’re covered at all times – some policies might …more

I just recently got back from a 3-week trip to Hong Kong where I put my new Canon EOS 40D kit through its paces and took over 2,000 shots of the landscape, people, food, animals, architecture, basically anything and everything that I found interesting.

Most days consisted leaving the hotel early in the morning and then spending the day seeing the sights, eating the food, meeting the people and taking lots of photos! Whilst Hong Kong has arguably one of the best public transport systems in the world, there was also a fair bit of walking which allowed more …more