A very warm welcome to everyone and may I wish you all a very Happy, Safe and Healthy New Year.

What does a landscape photographer do when its winter, it snows a bit, it rains a lot, it floods a very lot and there is a raging pandemic all over the country?                 Answer: – Prioritises

I have been unable, or have more accurately chosen not, to venture out with my cameras much since March 2020 for reasons which affect us all. Being in an “at risk” age group, my number one priority has been my health as well as those of my family, who I can still see, and the community in which I live and work. This has been particularly relevant since November 2020 with the risk of being infected and/or passing it on becoming much greater.  Loosing several friends and acquaintances to Covid 19 has only served to reinforce the thought that “if I don’t have to go out and there are other things I can be doing, why take the risk”.

Since November last, I have embarked on a programme of measures to try and improve my business appearance, maintenance of equipment and preparation for the coming spring and summer.

You are looking at the results of the first of those efforts, as, in conjunction with Jenny Hannigan at www.8woodview.co.uk, my website has been totally rebuilt. I hope you like the results and my thanks go to Jenny for being so tolerant of my constant questioning.

Heavy snow at the beginning of this week and constant rain since has produced destructive flooding all over the Yorkshire Dales and beyond. North Yorkshire police have advised that going out would not only be dangerous but also may be in breach of Lockdown restrictions. Whether it is or isn’t I’m not taking the risk and so I have decided to use my time productively.

Making sure all my gear is in good order, processing images from the last twelve months, making improvements to my workflow processes and looking through old images that may benefit from a reshoot with better equipment and more experience, are just a few of the things I either am doing or plan to do while I’m waiting to be let out of this Covid cage. Making notes of event dates that may be worthy of shooting and compiling a diary of places to visit. The Yorkshire Dales, Moors and Coastline are a massive area to cover with thousands of photographic opportunities.

Nobody is too old to stop learning and that includes me. So I plan on picking the brains of some of my fellow photographers to pick up more knowledge and tips on how to improve. Online or “Zoom” training sessions are a good way to do this. And it’s a change from talking to all four walls.

Finally, my trigger finger hasn’t been totally idle. I’ve set up my tripod, camera and appropriate filters and lenses to photograph garden birds feeding in my garden. Sparrows to Nuthatches, Coal Tits to Woodpeckers are all frequent visitors even if they are a tad difficult to study and predict.

I hope I’ve given you some ideas of how to occupy your time whilst staying safe and healthy. I look forward to writing again next month when, as well as giving you an update, I might get a little technical for those who are new to photography and are wondering what everything means and does behind those dials on your camera.

Cheers